My dead shall live again, my corpses shall arise; wake up and rejoice, ye who lie in the dust! For the dew of the heavenly bodies is thy dew, and the earth shall bring forth shades." It is the entire New Testament Apocalypse which we have here before us in nuce, only that, as also in 1 Cor. xv., the discourse is exclusively concerning the resurrection to life, and is also limited to the narrow frame of the Tрτη ἀνάστασις (Rev. xx. 5 f.). In general that which is magnificent in these chapters (xxiv.-xxvii.) is that the redemption is conceived of as radical, spiritual for mankind. So that the end of the history of redemption is bound together with the beginning, which is written upon the first pages of Genesis.

Who this great prophet was, whether DeuteroIsaiah or another, and when he wrote, whether in the exile or later, can never be satisfactorily explained. That which is relatively most probable is the unity of the great anonymous of chaps. xl.-lxvi. with the great anonymous of chaps. xxiv.-xxvii. With this view we have arranged the concluding portion after II. Isaiah of the time of the exile, the end of which we now pass over.

CHAPTER X.

THE PROPHECY OF THE PERIOD OF THE RESTORATION.

§ 45. Post-Exilic Prophecy in view of the New Temple.

A

S after the first year of the sole rule of Cyrus (537 B.C.) the people gathered together out of their banishment to their native country, it soon appeared that prophecy is not only θεῖον, but ἀνθρώπινον. The divine plan of salvation is served, not only through the far-sightedness which is rendered possible through the Spirit, but also through the short-sightedness which is not removed; for, if prophecy afforded a chronological knowledge concerning the course of the future, it would render faith, hope, and effort lame, and would aid fleshly security. It is not strange therefore that the prophets of the exile beheld the final glory in close contact with the end of the exile, and that those who returned hoped to live long enough to experience this glory, or at least something of it. But as, in the year 534 B.C., the foundation of the new temple was laid there was mingled with the cry of joy loud weeping over the smallness of the present (Ezra iii. 12 f.), and as under Cambyses the hostility of the Samaritans put a stop to the building of the temple, the people came to experience their ever-enduring servile dependence. Nevertheless, the building of the temple was

continued. Darius Hystaspis approved in 520 B.C. the continuation. But those who were building the

temple and the city needed such imposing task-masters as Zerubbabel and Joshua, as Ezra, and later Nehemiah; above all, such prophetic exhorters as Haggai and Zechariah.

The four addresses of the writing of Haggai are all dated after the months and days of the second year of Darius Hystaspis (520 B.C.) of the year of the resumption of the building of the temple. It was given to this prophet to announce that the fulfilling of redemption was connected with the second temple, and the world rule of the house of David with the family of Zerubbabel (cf. Jer. xxii. 24, 30): "Yet once more [is the announcement of God, Hagg. ii. 6-9], it is only a little while until I will shake the heavens, and the earth, the sea, and the mainland, and will shake the nations." From this shaking the temple, as the celebrated centre of the world, will go forth: "and the desirable things of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with glory, saith Yahweh of hosts." It is shown that herein is not intended personally of the Messiah, not only from the plural of the predicate N, but also from the following establishment of that which is placed in prospect: "Mine is the silver and mine the gold, utterance of Yahweh of hosts." Under poor circumstances arises now a new temple from the ruins of the old; but He, whose house it is, is the one who possesses all things, and who has all power, who knows how to provide for

But

the adornment of His house (cf. Isa. lx. 5-7). not only outwardly will this invisible temple be more glorious than the first, but also historically: "Greater shall be the final glory of this house than that in the beginning, saith Yahweh of hosts; and in this place will I give peace-utterance of Yahweh of hosts." Although the wealth of redemption is named here without the mediator of redemption, nevertheless this promise is not to be thought of without relation to the Messiah, who in Isa. ix. 5 f. is called the Prince of peace, whose dominion is directed to peace without end, and concerning whom Micah says (v. 4) that He is i, the incarnate peace. Indirectly therefore Haggai prophesies the appearance of the Messiah at the time of the second temple; and since the Herodian rebuilding of the temple was never considered as a third house, na, and the temple of Ezekiel must remain out of consideration as a problematical ideal of the future, the Jewish people had reason to expect the Messiah while the post-exilic temple was still standing, and from its destruction in the year 70 A.D. there was the conclusion for those who were unprejudiced, that He must have come already.

The appearance of the Messiah at the time of the second temple was directly prophesied by Zechariah, who entered upon his ministry only two months later than Haggai, in the same second year of Darius (520 B.C.). In the first part of the book which bears his name the Messiah is twice predicted as the future Zemach (), since in chap. iii. as well as in chap.

vi. the present of the prophecy itself is stamped as type of the man of the future. Joshua the high priest and the priests who are subordinate to him are called is, homines prodigii, which is equivalent to porridigii, as such who prepare the way, represent beforehand, and stand security for the coming of the future One; "for behold [thus it is established, iii. 86] I bring hither my servant Zemach." Two things impress themselves even here upon us: (1) this immediate appearance of the Messianic name presupposes the preparation which we find in Isa. iv. 2; Jer. xxiii. 5, xxxiii. 15; (2) while, according to Jeremiah, Zemach (2) signifies sprout, which Yahweh causes to sprout to David, hence a Davidic king, which corresponds here to the idea of the kingdom of promise, the priestly side of the future One, is turned forward, for only thus can it be explained that the priesthood which again receives its office is indicated as a prefiguration of the future One. The promise is more extended in vi. 10 ff., where the prophet is enjoined to place a manifold crown (nipy) upon the head of Joshua the high priest,1 prepared from the silver and gold provided by the exiles. The words which are directed to Joshua (Zech. vi. 12, 13) indicate what the manifold crown upon one head signifies: "Behold a man whose name is Zemach; and

1 The modern improvement of text introduces at this point, "and upon the head of Zerubbabel," under the supposition that these words have fallen out from the text. They are rather contrary to it.