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not been assigned by those who suppose that the feast of tabernacles is specially mentioned, because it was regarded by the Jews as peculiarly holy. This was not the case; the passover was the chief festival, and the proof of this is to be found in the fact that, in reality, it was at this festival alone that all Israel assembled at the place of the sanctuary. The actual reason has been given by Dachs, C. B. Michaelis, and others, who trace it to the essential characteristics of the feast of tabernacles. According to Lev. xxiii. 33 it was a feast of thanksgiving for the gracious protection afforded by the Lord to His people during the pilgrimage through the desert, which had been the sole cause of their being purified, instead of destroyed, by the dangers to which they were exposed, and attaining to the possession of the land of Canaan. But these wanderings of the Israelites were a type (1 Cor. x. 11), not only of similar dealings on the part of God with the same people in later periods of the Old Testament economy, especially in the time of the Babylonian captivity, at the termination of which, when God had delivered them out of the "wilderness of the nations" (Ezek. xx. 34-38), the feast of tabernacles was celebrated with peculiar earnestness (Ezra iii. 1 sqq., and Psalm cvii.), Zechariah himself taking part in it,—but also of His dealings with the people of the New Covenant the latter the feast of tabernacles will be celebrated, "when at the close of their tedious wanderings through the horrible desert of this world, they shall see an approach to their inheritance, and an entrance into Canaan fully laid open before them." (Dachs). It will not be kept outwardly, but spiritually, like the Sabbath in Heb. iv. 9, and the Passover in 1 Cor. v. 7, 8. In the feast of tabernacles, just as in the other two great festivals, not only were the blessings of God in history commemorated, but also the blessings of God in nature. It was a feast of thanksgiving for the completion of the harvest. It is possible that the prophet may also have this view of the festival in his mind, and may regard the feast of tabernacles as a feast of thanksgiving for the rich gifts of mercy, bestowed upon the new citizens of the kingdom of God. A New Testament feast of tabernacles is also met with in the Book of Revelation (see my commentary on chap. vii. 9); but it is one which is to be celebrated in heaven by those who have ended their dangerous pilgrimage of suffering and

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temptation through the desert of life, and have safely reached the heavenly Canaan, the place of their repose.-The expression "all that is left," &c., calls to mind a point of agreement between the type and the antitype. Just as it was not all that came out of Egypt who entered Canaan and celebrated the feast of tabernacles, but on the contrary the greater portion had been destroyed by the judgments of God during the march through the wilderness; so the heathen, who formerly marched against Jerusalem, will not all go thither in gratitude and love, but only the remnant, which has been spared by the mercy of God, after the obstinate despisers of His name have been destroyed by the judgments depicted before.

Ver. 17. "And it cometh to pass, whoso will not come up of the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King Jehovah of Sabaoth, upon them there will be no rain.”

The rain is a particular example employed to denote generally the blessing of God, which is withdrawn from the wicked despisers. The thought, that the Lord will not then leave the heathen to themselves, as he does now, but will require of them the fulfilment of their duties towards him, is expressed by the prophet thus: all, who do not join the procession to Jerusalem, will be visited with one of the punishments denounced in the law against those who transgress it, and one which was frequently carried out in history, for example in the case of Ahab, namely the want of rain.

Ver. 18. "And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, there will not (be) upon them (any rain; but) there will be (upon them) the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite all the nations, which shall not go up to keep the feast of tabernacles."

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The strange notion, that the prophet must necessarily pay strict attention to the natural characteristics of Egypt, which is not indebted for its fertility to the rain, but to the Nile, seeing that the former falls but sparingly anywhere, and not at all in upper Egypt, though of course the water of the river must come originally from the rain, even if it falls beyond the limits of Egypt,—has led many commentators to adopt the most forced interpretations. They must be taken in the same sense in this verse as in the preceding one, and therefore own must be supplied; and the plague can be no other

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than the withdrawal of rain. Egypt, which is mentioned here by way of example, had also been assured by Isaiah of a full participation, at some future period, in the blessings and privileges of the people of God (see.vol. ii. p. 143). But this is also directly associated with accountability for the abuse of these blessings.

Ver. 19. "This will be the sin of Egypt, and the sin of all the nations, which shall not go up to keep the feast of tabernacles."

This; namely, that no rain falls upon them. The sin cannot directly signify the punishment of sin; but is looked at here in the light of its consequences, which, according to the scriptural view, are to be regarded as an appendage of the sin; compare Lam. iv. 6; Gen. iv. 13; and 1 Sam. xxviii. 10. The inseparable character of the connexion between sin and punishment is apparent from Num. xxxii. 23, "your sin, which findeth you."

Ver. 20. "In this day there will stand upon the bells of the horses 'holy to the Lord,' and the pots in the house of the Lord will be as the sacrificial bowls before the altar."

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Commentators are all agreed as to the rendering to be given to the first clause, except that many of them give a different rendering toy, some rendering it bridles, as the Septuagint and Vulgate have done, and others, like Luther, trappings or armour. It is also generally acknowledged that the prophet alludes to the sacred plate on the diadem of the High Priest, upon which was engraved, like the engraving of a signet, "holy to the Lord" (Ex. xxviii. 36). There are many things, which are represented in the Old Testament as holy to the Lord, but this was the only case in which such an inscription was borne, and the only one therefore in which the analogy was perfect; since it is not merely stated here, that the bells of the horses will be holy to the Lord, but that on the bells of the horses, that is engraven upon them, there will be "holy to the Lord." But, notwithstanding this agreement, there are no small

1 The passages, which prove that it was a custom in ancient times, particularly in the East, to suspend bells upon the horses and mules, sometimes for use, viz., for the same purposes to which they are still applied among ourselves, and sometimes for ornament, have been most diligently collected by Dougtaeus (in the analecta sacra p. 297 ed. 2). Thus, for example, Dio

differences in the explanations which have been given. The Jewish commentators have gone farthest away from the truth (e.g., the Jew whom Jerome questioned, Jarchi, Kimchi, and Abenezra). They were kept from the correct interpretation by the fact that it would involve the abrogation of the entire ceremonial law, and understood the words as denoting the consecration of the bells to purposes of religious worship, and their employment in the manufacture of sacred vessels. The untenable character of this interpretation is sufficiently evident from the fact, that Grotius, whose superficial tendencies lead him to adopt it in the main, insensibly substitutes for the bells the whole trappings of the horse, from a feeling, no doubt, that the bells of the horses were too contemptible a gift for the Lord. But it will be still more obvious, if we compare the second clause with ver. 21, where there is no reference, such as we should expect according to this explanation, to gifts consecrated to the Lord, but to the cessation of the distinction between sacred and profane. And lastly, by this exposition, the reference to the plate on the forehead of the High Priest, which is evidently a deeply significant one, is changed into quite a common allusion. -There is greater plausibility in the explanation given by Marck, particularly with the embellishments added by Pels.1 Having adduced several examples of the custom prevalent among idolatrous nations of marking persons and things with the image or name of an idol (3 Macc. ii. 21; Acts xxviii. 11), he proves from passages quoted from ancient authors, that among the Persians the horses were sacred to the sun; and conjectures, chiefly on the strength of the assertion made by Curtius iii. 3 to the effect that there were figures of gods on the chariot of Jupiter (Ormuzd), that it was a customary thing with the Persians to write the name of their deity on the bells of their horses, and in this way to indicate that they were sacred to the god. He then proceeds to show that, in the time of the prophet,

dorus says, in his description of Alexander's funeral procession (Bk. 18. ed. Wessel. p. 279): “ὥστε τοὺς ἅπαντας ἡμιόνους εἶναι ἑξήκοντα καὶ τέσσαρας· ἕκαστος δὲ τούτων ἐστεφάνωτο, κεχρυσωμένῳ στεφάνῳ καὶ παρ ἑκατέραν τῶν σιαγόνων εἶχεν ἐξηρτημένον κώδωνα χρυσοῦν." And Nicetas Choniates says of the Persians, "they rode upon beautiful horses, which, in addition to other ornaments, καὶ περιηρτημένους ἔχουσι ἠχετικοὺς κώδωνας.

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1 Dissertatio ad Zach. xiv. 20, 21, praes. J. H. Hottinger, Marb. 1711.

the cavalry was the strength and pride of the Persians. In his opinion the meaning is, that the glorious day would hereafter arrive, when the idolatrous nations and everything belonging to them, which had hitherto been dedicated to their idols, would be consecrated to the Lord. But the second clause and ver. 21 show, that the reference is not to something to be done for the Lord, but to something to be effected by Him. And this is confirmed by the allusion to the golden plate on the forehead of the High Priest, which was not a merely human invention, a sign that the priest had consecrated himself to God; but, on the contrary, was the symbol of the holiness imparted by God to the High Priest as the representative of his people. This may be clearly seen from Ex. xxviii. 38, (" And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall hallow, and it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord"), where it is represented as containing in itself the objective holiness, imparted by God, by which every imperfection in the subjective holiness was removed, and in consequence of which the people were all regarded and treated by the Lord as holy, so long as this relation lasted, notwithstanding the imperfections by which their holy services were all defiled. The meaning therefore is this: in that day the Lord will adorn the horses with the symbol of holiness, which has hitherto been borne by the High Priest alone. We have thus an important truth in a priestly garb (see also chap. ix. 15, where the priestly character of the prophet peeps out again). The distinction between sacred and profane originated with the fall. To abolish this distinction, and re-establish the sole supremacy of holiness, was one of the ultimate designs of the divine economy of salvation; whilst on the other hand, the prince of this world endeavoured to exterminate altogether the other of the two, namely, everything holy. In order to secure his purpose more perfectly at last, the Lord allowed the two to exist for a long period side by side, that the points of contrast might be more and more conspicuous. He set apart for Himself a holy nation, in comparison with which all other nations were profane; and to this nation he gave a law, in which the distinction between sacred and profane was universally maintained in things small as well as great. He

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