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- à men, riding upon a rod horse, standing among the myrtle trees

H.G. Mitchell, Haggai and Zechai-lah.

159

- behind him are red, sorrel, and white horses,

presumably with their riders

- the niTT! i]sb^ , who is standing among the myrtle trees - there is a talk of the Lord Yahweh answering gracious

words *.

The phrase "riding upon a red horse" (vs.8) is regarded as an a d d i t i o n T h e r e seems indeed to be a oontradiotion between "riding" and "standing" in that same verse * Moreover in vs #10 the man is described as "standing" among the myrtle trees. Is he the same

person as the lilY, who is also standing among the myrtle trees (vs.11)? Objections have been raised against

that identification:

1# the descriptive phrase, that follows, would be super­ fluous as a means of identifying the Angel of the Lord (v)9»ll)

2* this "man" is presumably the leader of the group consisting of red, sorrel, and white horses, which stand behind ( VBnn ) him.^^^

3# the mere fact that they are called with different

^®^0f# Horst, op. Pit.. ad loo; mtohell, ov»

clt., ad loo.

105_{Of #, Horst, o p cit., ad loo. J. Eidderbos,}

names ; the "man, standing among.the myrtle trees"

and "the MY, who was standing among the myrtle trees, " Other factors, however, argue more cogently

for identifying hoth figures (of» Vsb*8,10,11) ?

a# the man standing among the myrtle trees seems to ho the principal figure in this vision. He is mentioned first in the vision and fully descrihed. His posi­ tion on the foreground suggests that he must he an important figure in this vision* Ihis is indeed the ease if we see him in vs #11 identified with the MY, receiving the reports from the other horsemen and making intercession for Jerusalem. i‘he parallel

statement in vs#11 conoerhing the MY, "who was standing among the myrtle trees" confirms this

identity rather than denies it; of. first objection ahov©.

h# Against the second objection, mentioned above, the

word could also have a temporal meaning:

"after him" # In this sense Zeoharialx saw a lively scene in the vision* He first saw this man riding on a red horse and stopped among the myrtle trees

106

and after him appewed the other horses and riders. 0# That the man among the myrtle trees himself did not

161

belong to these patrolling group of riders, is

evident from vs .10. He explained, "These are they

whom the Lord has sent , He was the receiver

of the reports given by the group*

Thus the MY seems to he identical with "the man standing among the myrtle trees". The "angel inter­ preter" who spoke to the prophet is not identical with the MY. He is as Davidson said "the hypostatized

prophetic spirit",

In vs *12 we see the function of the MY as an intercessor for the people of Israel. He represents God as well as the people. He acts as the defender of the people, cf. %ech.3:l~^3# In connection with this Mitchell declares, that 2»echariah seems to have adopted a conception of the MY which prepared the way for the later doctrine according to which each people had its

g'uardian-^angel, ^

Another problem arises from vs.13s is the Lord identical with the MY? And why is the answer given to

"the angel who talked with me"? Stonard*s view is that the Lord and the MY is one and the same speaker, "♦**

''Angel'S in HDB, I, I898, p.96 ^ Mitoliell, qp. olt*. ad loo.

162

since no other person "but the angel Interoessox* is de­ scribed to be present, they [i.e. these comfortable words] must have proceeded from Him. But he is ho other than Jehovah h i m s e l f T h i s conclusion is rather too simple. It is unlikely that the MY prayed to himself and answered the prayer by himself, even if he had the double aspects identified with and distin­ guished from Yahweh» In this prayer it is clear that he is distinguished from Yahweh himself, praying to him

in the second person. A satisfactory explanation is found by Mitchell, in comparing this vision with the

eighth vision, where Yahweh seems to be present but unseen, i.e. in the palace before which the chariots

13 Û

are mustered, of# 20Oh*6î5. Thus in this passage

the Lord himself is present among the myrtle trees,

invisible but presumably audible by Hie comforting words to the angel. Why is the answer of the Lord not directed to the MY, but to the angel? We see here that the func­ tion of the MY is not proclaiming the very Word of God, but to intercede on behalf of the people of Israel;

so it is obvious that the answer of God was directed to the people and given to the angel interpreter, who would forward it to the prophet and the prophet to the

163

1 1 1

people.

The MY here indeed acts as a representative of the Lord in accepting the reports of the riders * He is the "grand Vizir" and as such is distinguished from

U p

Yahweh. He is the angel intercessor for Israel,

protecting and defending Israel# The relationship be­ tween the MY and men becomes more transcendental.

From the heaven he sends out the patrol and hears their reports about the earth, nevertheless he is still

representing Yahweh in a unique way, as we shall see in the next passage*

Zeoh.Bsl-T

In this fourth vision we again see many figures? the high priest Joshua, Satan standing at his right hand, the MY before whom they stand, "those" standing before the MY ( vs &4), the Lord himself addressing

Satan*(VS.2) •

The high priest Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, representing the people of Israel in their sinfulness. These filthy garments, the sign and the symbol of people's unworthiness, were tak$n away and

lllg^^ Hidderbos, oj>* cit*, ad loo* ?S

164

they clothed him in robes of state befitting his office aa the religioua head and repreaentative of a chosen

11'A

people. A different interpretation has been given

by Welch. He starts from the presupposition that the authority of Joshua and his fellow-priests from the exile was not instantly acknowledged in Jerusalem, but was met with serious objections, as it is pictured in the vision by the filthy garments and the accusation of Satan. The fact, that Joshua is especially called here as the "high priest", denotes that his office is now at stake and the vision is given to restore his office and the priesthood in the new temple in

Jerusalem.

Satan was standing at his right hand side to accuse him, "Satan" simply means an "adversary" or

"accuser", whose task here was to recall and to sum up Israel's iniquities. The idea of "Satan" as we know in the NT, as the Tempter to all evil, as the one who is always trying to thwart God^s purposes, was still un­ familiar in this period. As an illustration Of the development of this idea we can compare II 8am,24*1,2, where Yahweh incited David to number the people,

^^%i'to'hell, op. cit., ad loo.

165

But in I Ohron.21:l, which is a later quotation of

this verse, the word "Satan" has been employed Instead of Yahweh. "Satan" later on became an appellative *

Both were standing before the MY. Thus Satan's accusation against Joshua was presented to the MY,

This means that Satan, recognized the authority of the MY as the Judge, The content of his accusation is not mentioned here.

The MY, however, rebuked Satan and rejected all his accusations. Again the MY acted as the protector or defender of the high priest and the priesthood, and in a wider sense also of Israel as God's people.

The ÎVÎY is distinguished from the Lord, but still representing Him, clothed with full authority. In the content of the rebuke the MY spoke of Yahweh in the

third person : "The Lord rebuke you The Lord who has

chosen Jerusalem Moreover, concerning this vs.2,

the Syriac version has the word MY Instead of Yahweh ;

"And the MY said to Satan With these evidences

it is very likely that in vs.2 it was the MY (on behalf of the Lord) who spoke to Satan or it was the Lord who Spoke through the MY to Satan,

In vss,4 and 5 the MY ordered "those" who were standing before Him to remove the filthy garments from Joshua. Who were these "those"? They were the servants

166

of the MY, who executed the orders of the MY (y s.5).

As there are no other desoriptlona about these "those", we can presume that they were no other than the

"mal*aldaim" (angele) who were serving and obeying the MY (of*2:36). The MY himself issued the orders which were executed by them* The MY was oonoeived to be

sublime in glory, supervising the work of the other angels.

Zaph.12 g8

The second part of this book, i.e. Ohs.9-14 is apparently not written by the prophet ^echariah himself, but by another hand and originates from a different time. Some text-oritios consider the phrase "like the Angel of the Lord" as a later addltion.^^^ It is as such con­ sidered as a comment on *elohim and distinguishes him from Yahweh himself.

Again we see the promise of redeiaption for Israel. "On that day" the Lord will redeem the inhabitants of Jerusalem, will protect them and defeat all enemies of Judah ( Vs.9 ). Vs .8 is a description of the redemption

Of, Fr. Horst, Das zwdlf klèine Pronheten.

Zeohariah, HBAT, 1938, ad^tobTT^i:^ 5el$In,nEs 3w81f

Prophetehbuch. KzAT, 1930, p.573* L. Koehler, Old

167

and the situation of Jerusalem "at that day".

Metaphor!o.al language is used in this description #

The fact that

Yahweh

would redeem and protect

Jerusalem did not mean that the people of Jerusalem could just he inactive* There was a time when this

$

indeed had happened (of. II Kgs. 6:8-23) and

in

the

year 701 BC during the liberation of Jerusalem from

Assyria

(of. II Kgs.19:35,36). At this present situa­

tion the inhabitants themselves had to join in the fight. The Lord would strengthen them for battle and give them courage ( Vs. 9 ). They all would become heroes,

even the feeblest among them would be like David, that ?

Is to say, as courageous as David. And what about the P

house or the desoendents of David himself? "And the ft

house of David shall be like 'alohim." According to ft'

the LXXt "and the house of David shall be like the

house of God ( oi/coc; ) »» ; this shows the steadfast- vi

ness of the house of David. Formerly

David

had been

several times compared with the MY (of. II Sam.14:17;

19:27)*

This

denotes

the

highest praise in popular

pictorial language.

Now later editors can safely add "like the without causing any contradiction. Indeed in former days the MY, as the self-manifestation of God "encamped" round about Israel (of, Ps*34:7) to protect end deliver

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