Page:Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah (Baron, David).djvu/164

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sanctuary is probably that suggested by Kliefoth, who says:

"The fact that the writing which brings the curse upon sinners has the same dimensions as the Tabernacle signifies that the measure will be meted out according to the Holy Place "; or, in the words of an English theologian: " Men are not to be judged as to sin by their own measures, or weighed in their own false balances the measure of the sanctuary is that by which man's actions are to be weighed"

(i Sam. ii. 3).^[1] And the judgment which is to fall on the unrepentant, unpardoned transgressor will not only be " according to the measure of the sanctuary," but in strict correspondence with the majesty and holiness of the law which has been broken: " For every one that stealeth shall be purged out " (literally, cleansed away, " as something defiled and defiling which has to be cleared away as offensive ") " on (or from ) this side according to it"

(namely, as already explained, according- to the writing on the one side of it); " and every one that sweareth shall be cleansed away according to " (the writing) " on the other side of it."^[2]

↑ Dr. C. H. H. Wright.
↑ The verb n^ (niqqah) is here the Niphal. The Piel is alike in form. The probable meaning of the root is to carve out, to hollow, then to be empty, to be pure, free from fault. Hence the Niphal is used in the sense of to be pure, free from fault, followed by jD (mitt, "from," "out of"). Luther has taken it here in this meaning, translating " for all thieves shall according to this letter be pronounced pious " (denn alle Diebe werden nach diesem Briefe fromm gesprochen). That is, it is a curse upon the land that theft and perjury are regarded no more as crying evils, nor as deserving of punishment. Similarly the Syriac. But this is evidently not the meaning. Modern scholars rightly render it shall be cleared, or cleansed away. " The verb is used of a city being emptied of inhabitants, i.e., laid waste and ruined (Isa. iii. 26). Here the verb may be employed in the sense of being rendered solitary, emptied of society, driven out of communion (Fiirst), or as signifying extirpated (Gesenius). It has probably the signification of cleaning away, as the Greek /caflaptfw in Mark vii. 19, as Pusey suggests, or as tKKa.Oa.ipu in I Cor. v. 7, as Pressel has given."
The late Rev. D. Edwards, for many years an honoured missionary to the Jews in connection with the Free Church of Scotland, wrote some thirty-five years ago a striking pamphlet, which is not now in my possession, on the two visions of this 6th chapter of Zechariah, in which he gave expression to the view that the Flying Roll symbolised the false, counterfeit law, namely, the Talmud, and doctrines of modern Judaism, which (in contrast to the holy law of God) justified, or "declared innocent," all manner of transgressors.

[1] Dr. C. H. H. Wright.

[niqqah-2] The verb n^ (niqqah) is here the Niphal. The Piel is alike in form. The probable meaning of the root is to carve out, to hollow, then to be empty, to be pure, free from fault. Hence the Niphal is used in the sense of to be pure, free from fault, followed by jD (mitt, "from," "out of"). Luther has taken it here in this meaning, translating " for all thieves shall according to this letter be pronounced pious " (denn alle Diebe werden nach diesem Briefe fromm gesprochen). That is, it is a curse upon the land that theft and perjury are regarded no more as crying evils, nor as deserving of punishment. Similarly the Syriac. But this is evidently not the meaning. Modern scholars rightly render it shall be cleared, or cleansed away. " The verb is used of a city being emptied of inhabitants, i.e., laid waste and ruined (Isa. iii. 26). Here the verb may be employed in the sense of being rendered solitary, emptied of society, driven out of communion (Fiirst), or as signifying extirpated (Gesenius). It has probably the signification of cleaning away, as the Greek /caflaptfw in Mark vii. 19, as Pusey suggests, or as tKKa.Oa.ipu in I Cor. v. 7, as Pressel has given."
The late Rev. D. Edwards, for many years an honoured missionary to the Jews in connection with the Free Church of Scotland, wrote some thirty-five years ago a striking pamphlet, which is not now in my possession, on the two visions of this 6th chapter of Zechariah, in which he gave expression to the view that the Flying Roll symbolised the false, counterfeit law, namely, the Talmud, and doctrines of modern Judaism, which (in contrast to the holy law of God) justified, or "declared innocent," all manner of transgressors.

[1]

[2]