sacrifice for sins, and according to ver. 14, the sprinkling of many nations is rendered possible by his atoning death. This is also indicated in chap. xii. 10, where the saving look at the pierced one is referred to. As we have an allusion in the passage before us to Num. xix., so have we, in the verse just mentioned, to Num. xxi. 9, " and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, he looked at the brazen serpent and lived." Michaelis, therefore, is quite correct in saying, "Christ himself has been opened as a fountain." The blood, which forms the back-ground of the water, has in fact been mentioned with sufficient distinctness in the context:-viz., in the expression," they pierced," and the funereal lamentation in chap. xii. 10. Hence we have an intimation here of the fact, which is expressly stated in 1 John i. 7, "the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin." That the fountain for sin and uncleanness was opened to the inhabitants of Jerusalem immediately after the death of Christ, is evident from Acts iii. 19, where Peter says to the Jews: "repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out," and from Acts v. 30, where Peter and the apostles say in the presence of the Sanhedrim, "the God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew, and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel (chap. xii. 10) and forgiveness of sins."

The consequence of the forgiveness of sins is a new life in righteousness and holiness, a removal, under the help of the Lord, of every thing opposed to his will.

Ver. 2. "And it shall come to pass in that day, saith Jehovah of hosts, that I cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered; and also I cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.”

In order to express the idea of the removal of every form of ungodliness from the forgiven people, the prophet selects two specific examples, idolatry and false prophecy, which had been most rife in the earlier times, particularly in the days of Jeremiah, in whose prophecies Zechariah "lived and moved." We can draw no conclusion from this, as to its prevalence in the prophet's own times, or in the future which he describes. The peculiar manifestation is merely an accident; the essence is un

godliness, which is always the same, whether it assume the form of idolatry, of false prophecy, or of pharisaism. Such an assumption need cause the less difficulty here, on account of the many striking examples we have already had, of descriptions of the future under the forms of the past or the present, which may differ in appearance but are essentially the same. The expressions "to cut off the names," and "that they be no more remembered,” denote the most complete extermination; compare Hosea ii. 19. With regard to the latter Calvin has well observed, "his meaning is, that the hatred of superstition will be so great, that the people will shudder even at the very name."-That we have no ground for inferring, as Eichhorn, Rückert, and others have done, that we have here an announcement of the cessation of the gifts of prophecy, but that it is rather the removal of false prophets which is here predicted, is evident from the fact that the prophets are classed with idols on the one hand, and with an unclean spirit on the other; from the expression, "I will cause to pass out of the land," which indicates a forcible extermination of something bad in itself, and a pollution to the land; and from the further expansion given afterwards, where two different kinds of false prophets are mentioned,-namely those who speak in the name of the Lord, and those who combine false prophecy with idolatry. The unclean spirit presents a contrast to the spirit of grace, spoken of in chap. xii. 10 as afterwards to be poured out, on the one hand, and to the fountain opened for the cleansing away of uncleanness, on the other. The special allusion to idolatry and false prophecy, particularly the latter, is evident from the connection. From the fact that a spirit of uncleanness is referred to, it follows that the false prophets, as well as the true, and possibly the worshippers of idols, as well as those of the true God, were under the dominion of a principle external to themselves, to whose power they had given themselves up by an act of free will. This is also apparent from 1 Kings xxii., where in accordance with the character of the vision, the spirit of prophecy is introduced in a personal form, and offers to deceive Ahab, by putting false prophecies into the mouths of the prophets of the calves. It follows from this, that the false prophets, as well as the true, were subject to an influence from without,—a doctrine, which is confirmed by the New Testament view of the kingdom

of darkness and kingdom of light, as being both equally in possession of the minds of those who belong to them (compare, for example, the parable of the tares). In Luke xi. 25 the "unclean spirit" (an expression taken from this passage) is a power existing apart from the individual, and is contrasted with the Holy Spirit (ver. 13). The same remark applies to the three unclean spirits in Rev. xvi. 13.1

Ver. 3. "And it cometh to pass, if any still further prophesieth, his father and mother, that begat him, say to him, Thou shall not live, for thou hast spoken lies in the name of the Lord. And his father and mother, that begat him, pierce him through, when he prophesieth."

The prophet has here expressed in his own pictorial style the thought, that, in that day, love to God will be manifested with unbounded energy. If the pictorial character of the verse be overlooked, difficulties of various kinds immediately arise; though any one may see at once that they do not really exist. In Deut. xiii. 6-10, which form the basis of the prophet's drapery, a judicial procedure is alluded to, and the nearest relations merely commence the execution. 27, in the passage before us, is supposed by many commentators to mean simply corporeal punishment and not a mortal wound. But the opposite of this is evident, both from the words "thou shalt not live," this being merely the execution of the sentence, and also from those passages in the law, which the prophet had in his mind. In the latter it is not punishment in general, but capital punishment, that is commanded. Compare Deut. xviii. 20, "but the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of strange gods, even that prophet shall die;" see also chap. xiii. 6—11, and Michaelis Mosaisches Recht. v. §. 252. The severest punishment also is best suited to express the

1 In numerous passages of the Sohar the fulfilment of this prediction is assigned to the Messianic times. We quote a few of these. "Sin will not cease from the world till the king Messiah comes, as the Scriptures say, 'I will cause the unclean spirit,' &c.' "The left side will have the upper hand, and the unclean will be strong, till the holy God shall build the temple and establish the world. Then will his word meet with due honour, and the unclean side will pass away from the earth. And this is what the Scripture saith, 'I will cause the unclean,' &c." (compare these passages in Schöttgen, Jesus der wahre Messias, p. 407 sqq.)

thought intended by the prophet. The cause, which has led to this conclusion, has been the erroneous assumption, that the false prophet mentioned here must be one of those, whose actions are described in the following verse. There is an allusion in p to chap. xii. 10, where the same verb is employed. (Compare the remarks on that passage).-In the laws of Moses respecting the false prophets, two classes are mentioned, those who utter false prophecies in the name or by the authority of the true God, pretending to be His servants and messengers, and those who prophesy in the name of strange gods, and derive their inspiration from them. In the verse before us the prophet introduces one of the former; in vers. 5 and 6 one of the latter.

Ver. 4. "And it cometh to pass in that day, the prophets will desist, with shame, from their vision in their prophesying, and they will no more put on the hairy mantle to lie."

Upon the prophets themselves,-the deceivers, who are least open to good impressions, the great revolution will have such an influence, that they will give up their occupation with shame. The hairy garment was the dress of the true prophets, and was imitated by the false ones, to impose upon the common people, in whose estimation the dress makes the man (compare Is. xx. 2; 2 Kings i. 8; Rev. xi. 3). According to the general idea the prophets wore this kind of clothing as ascetics; and Vitringa (on Isaiah) has very strenuously defended this view. But as the hairy garment is on other occasions always peculiar to mourners, as the prophets themselves not infrequently order it to be worn as a sign of sorrow for sin and for the judgments of God, which are either threatened or have already fallen, it is a more natural conclusion, that in their own case also it had the same meaning, that it was a sermo prophcticus realis, a symbol of the prophet's grief for the sins of his nation, and the consequent judgments of God; and this supposition is confirmed by the fact, that we have no indication that any of the prophets of the Old Testament led a strictly ascetic life. The expression "to lie" may either mean that they dressed in this way to give themselves out as true prophets and the better to impose upon the people, or that they did it to gain credence to their lying prophecies. The former is the more probable on account of the following verse, where the false prophets, who have hitherto pre

tended to be true, are

described as candidly confessing that they are no prophets at all. Strange to say, it has been maintained by Ewald and even by Schmieder, that the prophet foretels the overthrow of the whole existing order of prophets, and that, in fact, the words of vers. 2-4 betray the author's opinion, that the prophets, as a whole, were false. (Hitzig). This is just as rash as the conclusion, to which some have come, that the rejection of sacrifice is announced in Is. i. and lxvi. In every one of the three verses we have a distinct sign, which serves to mark the prophet as a false one; in ver. 2 the association of the unclean spirit along with the notice of the prophet; in ver. 3 his speaking lies; and in ver. 4 his deceiving. If the prophet had disputed the claims of the prophets, he would by so doing have denied his own existence. It is evident, however, from chap. vii. 3, 7, and 12, that he held the true prophets in very great esteem. This is also apparent from the fact that his announcements universally rest upon the predictions of the earlier prophets. A future revival of prophecy is expressly predicted by Malachi, the last of the old line, in chap. iii. 1.

Ver. 5." And he saith, I am no prophet, I am a husbandFor a man has sold me from my youth."

man.

The false prophets were, for the most part, of humble rank. The leading motives, by which they were actuated, were idleness, which made them dislike to work for their living, and ambition, which led them to push themselves into the more respectable order of teachers of the people. This is evident from many passages; among others from Is. ix. 13, 14, where the honourable man is described as the head of the nation, the false prophet, on the contrary, as the tail, the representative of the common people.-At the time referred to, however, better principles will so thoroughly have gained the upper hand, that they will prefer to pass for what they are, even though they may be nothing more than common husbandmen, rather than for what they once wished to be considered. The prophet depicts a scene between a man, who has formerly been a false prophet, and some one who asks him what he is. At first he is ashamed to answer, and tries to hide the fact that he has been a false prophet; but a second question forces from him the humiliating acknowledgment (ver. 6). This dramatic character of the whole