the matter, because there are so many other verses in the Old Testament which give such clear evidence regarding the Deity of Christ.

In the other passage of Zechariah it is thus written: 'Awake, ^l O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered.' As to the meaning of this verse there can be no doubt. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself quoted part of it on the night before His crucifixion, thereby declaring that it referred to Himself and His disciples, for we read in the Gospel: 'Then ² saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended in me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.' We notice that in the passage in Zechariah God Himself speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ not only as His shepherd, but above all as His own 'fellow' or 'associate' or 'companion', for these are the meanings of the Hebrew word here used. Who is there to whom such a title can fittingly be given? This is explained in the Gospel. There the Lord Jesus Christ says: 'I ³ am the good shepherd, the good shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep . . . . I am the good ⁴ shepherd; and I know mine own, and mine own know me, even as the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father;

and I lay down my life for the sheep .... My Father, which hath given them unto me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand .... The Father is in me ¹ and I in the Father.' When, therefore, we compare the Lord Jesus Christ's own teaching with what the prophet Zechariah has here written, the meaning is evident, and it is clear that in this passage also the Old Testament is in accordance with the New in ascribing Deity to the Word of God.

The last of the books of the Old Testament is that of the prophet Malachi, and in it the following passage occurs: 'Behold, ² I send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in, behold he cometh, saith the LORD of hosts.' The Jewish commentators on this passage say much that is of value. For example, Aben Ezra says that 'the Lord' here denotes the person also called in the same verse 'the messenger (or angel) of the covenant', and he says that this angel of the covenant is 'the glory', that is to say the Shekinah, the wonderfully-bright cloud ³ which rested upon the tent ⁴ of meeting, and which