In this connection Zechariah declared that Jehovah would remove all obstacles from before Zerubbabel, and that he who had begun the work should live to see its completion.  In an address recorded in the latter part of the sixth chapter of his prophecy (intentionally revised by a later scribe), Zechariah threw aside all symbolism and gave directions to make a crown for the head of Zerubbabel from the silver and gold that had been brought as a gift by a deputation from the Jews of Babylon.  He also plainly predicted that this descendant of David should sit on the throne of Judah and that Joshua the priest should be his minister like the priests in the pre-exilic kingdom.

VI.  Disappointment of These Patriotic Hopes.  With Zechariah’s prediction that Zerubbabel should reign on the throne of Judah the descendants of the house of David suddenly and forever disappear from Old Testament history.  Whether the Jews made the attempt to shake off the yoke of Persia Or whether Zerubbabel was quietly set aside cannot be determined.  Contemporary history states that within at least six months after Zechariah voiced the patriotic hopes of his people the authority of Darius was fully established throughout the empire.  He at once began thoroughly to organize the vast realm.  Post roads bound together the distant provinces, and satraps, appointed largely from the ranks of the royal family, unified the whole empire and held it under firm control.  As a rule Persian governors were substituted for the native princes.  With the institution of this policy Zerubbabel may well have been quietly set aside.  The event evidently made a profound impression upon the messianic expectations of the Jews.  Henceforth, for three or four centuries, the temporal, kingly type of messianic hope, which had been inspired by the glories of the reign of David, entirely disappeared.  It was not revived until the military victories of the Maccabean era had again brought prominently to the front this phase of national glory (cf.  Section CXVI).  As a result of these disappointments Israel’s hopes were universalized and spiritualized.  Jehovah, instead of a scion of the house of David, was henceforth regarded as the one supreme King of Israel.

VII.  Zechariah’s Later Exhortations and Predictions.  In chapters 7 and 8, which conclude the original sermons of Zechariah, the apocalyptic language with which he clothed his earlier predictions regarding the future of the Judean community disappeared, and he spoke as did Amos and Haggai, plainly and directly regarding the questions which were then stirring the people.  When a deputation came from the north to inquire whether or not, now that the temple was being rebuilt, they should continue to observe their fasts in memory of the destruction of Jerusalem and the death of Gedaliah, the prophet raised the searching question of whether their motive in these services was to please Jehovah or to please themselves.  He then went on to declare that the only effective way to serve Jehovah was by deeds of justice and kindness, especially to the dependent classes in the community, and that the horrors of the exile had come because their fathers had failed to worship Jehovah by righteous deeds.