utterances.

IV. Zechariah's Assurances of Jehovah's Care. In his initial vision
concerning the angelic horsemen he recognizes that the storms that have
swept over the Persian Empire are beginning to subside, but he tells his
fellow-laborers that, if they persist, Jehovah's temple shall be rebuilt
and that the lands about Jerusalem shall again be sold to eager buyers,
and the cities of Judah shall enjoy their former prosperity, for "Jehovah
will surely comfort Zion." In the vision of the four horns and of the four
smiths whose mission it is to smite the horns, he assures the people that
Jehovah in his good time and way will overthrow the nations that now wrong
and oppress them. Although there is no promise that Jerusalem will be
surrounded by walls, he declares that it shall enjoy a prosperity and a
growth which no walls can confine, and that Jehovah himself will be its
protection, as well as its glory, that he will gather the scattered
exiles, and that they, together with the nations which shall acknowledge
Jehovah's rule, shall yet come streaming back to Judah.

In his next vision the prophet graphically presents a scene in Jehovah's
court. Joshua the priest, representing the ceremonial service of the
polluted temple, is charged by the adversary with uncleanness. Here for
the first time in Hebrew literature we catch a glimpse of Satan, who is
regarded not as hostile to God but as the prosecuting attorney of heaven.
As in the prologue of the book of Job, he is an accredited member of the
divine hierarchy. His task is to search out and report to Jehovah the
misdeeds of men. In Zechariah's vision, however, the divine judge acquits
Joshua of the charge, and causes him to be clad with clean garments, thus
proclaiming the divine approval of the modest yet devoted service of the
Judean community.

V. Preparations for the Crowning of Zerubbabel. Regarding Zerubbabel,
Zechariah declares, in language highly figurative, that he shall yet be
crowned and rule over a happy and prosperous people. He is spoken of as
Jehovah's servant, the Branch. The term is probably original with
Zechariah, although again used in the supplementary passages in Jeremiah
23:5 and 33:15. The word is akin to the term "shoot of the house of Jesse"
used in Isaiah 11, to describe a certain scion of the house of David, who
in all probability was the young Zerubbabel. Zechariah's figure describes
the prince as an offshoot of the same royal tree. The obscur