that that which they refused to hear and to receive into their hearts in order to obey was the rnin (torak) " law," which we must take in the usual sense as describing the law of Moses, and the B 1 " 1 .^ (debharim), "words" of "the former prophets," neither of which originated with man, both being " sent by Jehovah of hosts through the Spirit "; which is a very remarkable incidental statement of the Bible's own claim to inspiration.[1]
The human channel of communication used of God may be Moses, or Isaiah, or Jeremiah, or any of the other " prophets," but the wonderful things they spoke came not by the will of man, but these holy men of God " spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost " (2 Pet. i. 20, 21).
And the process of apostasy here described by Zechariah did not end with the rejection of the law and the words which God spoke through the prophets. It continued even after the partial restoration, as far as the great majority of the people was concerned. The climax was reached when, after the continued process of disobedience and self-harden ing, and because their hearts were already alienated from God, Israel turned their backs upon Him Who was not only the greatest of the prophets, but was Himself " the Word of God" "the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person."
Nor, alas! can Christendom boast or glory over the Jews, for its history, too, is one of continued rebellion, not only against the law and the prophets, but against the greater light of New Testament revelation, and culminates in the greatest apostasy in the history of the human race, when Satan shall be worshipped instead of God, and Anti christ preferred to Christ.
The consequence of this continued provocation of God and the hardening of their hearts against His word was that there came great wrath from Jehovah of hosts" for God is not mocked, and, however great and wonderful His
- ↑ The same we have in Nch. ix. 30; "And testifies! against (hem by Thy Spirit through the prophets."
