Five Pebbles from the BrookEnglish, George Bethune
Religion
Five Pebbles from the Brook
English, George Bethune
Everett, Edward, 1794-1865. Defence of Christianity; Rationalism
"Mr. Everett tries to shove out this objection, by taking for granted,
p. 98 of his work, that the chapter of Zechariah in which this
prophecy is found, is a series of chronological predictions. But I
must remind Mr. Everett that this pretention is inadmissible. None
of the predictions of the prophets, except some in Daniel, are
arranged in chronological order; they were delivered by parcels,
and at intervals, frequently of some years; and these parcels
generally have no connexion with each other. Mr.. Everett's
reasoning upon the assumption here contradicted, is therefore
inadmissible.
Finally, the German Biblical Scholars so frequently mentioned,
deny that this was a prediction of Jesus, and affirm that it is
quoted by the Evangelists merely by way of accommodation.
The next passage adduced is Zechariah xii. 10., "And I will pour
upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
the spirit of grace and supplications, and they shall look upon [or
towards] me[fn38] whom they have blasphemed, [or pierced,] and
they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for an only son."
The meaning of this prophecy is obscure. The word translated
"pierced" in the English version, may also in the opinion of Grotius,
and I add of Rosenmuller too, as quoted by Mr. Everett in the 104.
p. of his book, be best rendered "blasphemed or reproached." It
may refer to the time when, according to the Old Testament, the
hearts of the house of Israel shall be cleansed from sin, and they
shall turn to God "with their whole heart and with all their souls,"
as predicted by Moses.
I conclude with observing, that this passage, quoted in the New
Testament; John ch. xix. has long since ceased to be considered
as a prophecy of Jesus by the German Critics, and is believed by
them, to have been adduced in the gospel merely by way of
allusion. (See Rosenmuller's observations in his notes on the
passage.)
I am afraid that the reader has found these discussions rather
tedious, and am therefore happy to be at liberty to proceed to the
consideration of the three famous prophecies of Jacob, Isaiah,
and Daniel.
"The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a Law-giver from
between his feet for ever; for Shilo shall come, and to him shall
the obedience of the peoples be ." Gen. xlix. 10. So I maintain the
passage should be translated.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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