Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 54:216 (Oct 1897)
Article: A Sketch Of The History Of The Book Of Zechariah
Author: Walter R. Betteridge

BSac 54:216 (Oct 1897) p. 634

A Sketch Of The History Of The Book Of Zechariah

Walter R. Betteridge

The unity of the book of Zechariah was first questioned, about the middle of the seventeenth century, by the English scholar Joseph Mede (d. 1638). From that date to this, these prophecies have been one of the most interesting subjects of criticism; and the history of these investigations forms one of the most instructive chapters in the history of biblical criticism.

The quotation of Zech. 11:13 by Matthew (27:9–10) as from Jeremiah seems to have called Mede’s attention to the authorship of the last six chapters of the book of Zechariah. The doubt as to the unity of the book raised by this quotation was strengthened, rather than removed, by an examination of the character of the chapters in question. He says: “Certainly, if a man weighs the contents of some of them [chaps. 9–14], they should in likehood be of an elder date than the time of Zachary; namely, before the Captivity: for the subjects of some of them were scarce in being after that time. There is no scripture saith they are Zachary’s; but there is scripture saith they are Jeremy’s, as this of the Evangelist.”1 Mede’s opinions found some recognition in England, for they were advocated during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by Hammond, Kidder, and Whiston. Their arguments were essentially the same as Mede’s, and all of them supported

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their conclusions chiefly upon Matthew’s statement. These authors were opposed by Carpzov,2 who devoted himself to defending the unity of the book, noticing especially the arguments of Whiston. The quotation in Matthew he disposed of by asserting that Matthew simply quoted from the order of the prophets, which order he designated by the name of the first prophet in the list, a position which, according to the oldest Jewish authorities, was occupied by Jeremiah. The reference was thus parallel to the citation of the order of the Hagiographa as the Psalms (Luke 24:44).

But Mede, Hammond, Kidder, Whiston, and Carpzov were only the heralds of the coming conflict. With the appearance of an anonymous work on Zechariah in Germany in 1784 from the pen of Flügge, archdeacon of Hamburg, and the book of Bishop Newcome in England in 1785, the real critical battle began,—a battle which has been waged unceasingly, and with varying fortunes, from that day to this. Both Newcome and Flügge advocated the preëxilic...