acceptable to Jehovah? Another problem was: What were the relations and
the respective duties of Zerubbabel and Joshua, the civil and religious
authorities in the community? It was also inevitable that at this time the
hope of securing their independence under the leadership of Zerubbabel
should come prominently to the front. To each of these problems Zechariah
addressed himself, and his book records his convictions and public
utterances.

IV. Zechariah's Assurances of Jehovah's Care. In his initial vision
concerning the angelic horsemen he recognizes that the storms that have
swept over the Persian Empire are beginning to subside, but he tells his
fellow-laborers that, if they persist, Jehovah's temple shall be rebuilt
and that the lands about Jerusalem shall again be sold to eager buyers,
and the cities of Judah shall enjoy their former prosperity, for "Jehovah
will surely comfort Zion." In the vision of the four horns and of the four
smiths whose mission it is to smite the horns, he assures the people that
Jehovah in his good time and way will overthrow the nations that now wrong
and oppress them. Although there is no promise that Jerusalem will be
surrounded by walls, he declares that it shall enjoy a prosperity and a
growth which no walls can confine, and that Jehovah himself will be its
protection, as well as its glory, that he will gather the scattered
exiles, and that they, together with the nations which shall acknowledge
Jehovah's rule, shall yet come streaming back to Judah.

In his next vision the prophet graphically presents a scene in Jehovah's
court. Joshua the priest, representing the ceremonial service of the
polluted temple, is charged by the adversary with uncleanness. Here for
the first time in Hebrew literature we catch a glimpse of Satan, who is
regarded not as hostile to God but as the prosecuting attorney of heaven.
As in the prologue of the book of Job, he is an accredited member of the