[777] iv. 6. Unless this be taken as an earlier prophecy. See above, p. 260.
[779] See above, p. 214, where this is stated as an argument against Kosters’ theory that there was no Return from Babylon in the reign of Cyrus.
[785] Its origin was the Exile, whether its date be before or after the First Return under Cyrus in 537 B.C.
[791] חִלָּה אֶת־פְּנֵי יהוה. The verb (Piel) originally means _to make weak_ or _flaccid_ (the Kal means _to be sick_), and so _to soften_ or _weaken by flattery_. 1 Sam. xiii. 12; 1 Kings xiii. 6, etc.
[793] Second Vision, ii. 1-4 Heb., i. 18-21 LXX. and Eng.
[795] xxi. 36 Heb., 31 Eng.: _skilful to destroy_.
[798] Myrtles were once common in the Holy Land, and have been recently found (Hasselquist, _Travels_). For their prevalence near Jerusalem see Neh. viii. 15. They do not appear to have any symbolic value in the Vision.
[799] For a less probable explanation see above, p. 282.
[801] Ewald omits _riding a brown horse_, as “marring the lucidity of the description, and added from a misconception by an early hand.” But we must not expect lucidity in a phantasmagoria like this.
[802] מְצֻלָה, Meṣullah, either _shadow_ from צלל, or for מְצוּלָה, _ravine_, or else a proper name. The LXX., which uniformly for הֲדַסִּים, _myrtles_, reads הרים, _mountains_, renders אשר במצלה by τῶν κατασκίων. Ewald and Hitzig read מְצִלָּה, Arab, mizhallah, _shadowing_ or _tent_.
[803] Heb. שרקים, only here. For this LXX. gives two kinds, καὶ ψαροὶ καὶ ποικίλοι, _and dappled and piebald_. Wright gives a full treatment of the question, pp. 531 ff. He points out that the cognate word in Arabic means sorrel, or yellowish red.
[804] _Who stood among the myrtles_ omitted by Nowack.
[805] Isa. xxxvii. 29; Jer. xlviii. 11; Psalm cxxiii. 4; Zeph. i. 12.
[807] _Who talked with me_ omitted by Nowack.
[808] Heb. _helped for evil_, or _till it became a calamity_.
[809] Marcus Dods, _Hag., Zech. and Mal._, p. 71. Orelli: “In distinction from Daniel, Zechariah is fond of a simultaneous survey, not the presenting of a succession.”
[810] For the symbolism of iron horns see Micah iv. 13, and compare Orelli’s note, in which it is pointed out that the destroyers must be smiths as in Isa. xliv. 12, _workmen of iron_, and not as in LXX. _carpenters_.