Day #265

Sermon - Audio
Zechariah 8-14 - Audio
Zechariah 8-14 - Reading

Daily Insights - Please Comment

8

The messages of judgment in chapter 7 are now balanced by messages of blessing. The chapter is an extended *golden age prophecy that pictures an ideal society blessed by God. When we move to interpreting the details, we can legitimately begin with the prophet’s immediate situation and see in the vision a *hyperbolic and symbolic picture of the returned exiles setting up life in restored Jerusalem. But once again, the imagery and vocabulary bring to mind the blessings of the messianic kingdom that Christ brought during his life, death, and resurrection and, further, the coming glory of eternity (pictured as finding its center in Jerusalem as the place of salvation for the world). A good way to assimilate the chapter is to compile a running list of the categories and specific pictures that make up the good life that is pictured. The rhetorical form in which the visions are packaged is the formula “Thus says the Lord” or “The word of the Lord came to me, saying . . .” - ESVLB-

v3 - The Lord says that Jerusalem will be restored.

v4-5 - The picture of Jerusalem being restored comes with people coming to full age and children free to play in the streets. No fear of man.

v8 - A familiar phrase is used: "They shall be my people, and I will be there God"

v9-17 - Again, the covenantal promise of Israel being a blessing to the nations is reiterated.

God's ideal for a restored/blessed city = Speak Truth to one another, Promote justice in your city, Promote peace among the people, Pursue righteousness, Love and honor God.

v18-19 - Fasting in anticipation of this moment will turn into a time of celebration (feasts). It is in light of the coming celebration that we take heed of God's direction.

v20-22 - Many nations will be influenced by God's people. They will exalt Him.

9

Vision of a coming king [ chapter 9 ]. The motif of a coming golden age carries over from chapter 8, as does the messianic content of the vision. The book of Zechariah as a whole combines priestly and kingly motifs. The priestly motif has dominated thus far, but with chapter 9 the kingly motif is established. The structure of the material is fluid, but we can discern the following general outline: God’s promise to protect Judah from its enemies (vv. 1–8); the triumphant arrival of Zion’s gentle king to save his precious people (vv. 9–17). The mode is poetic and symbolic; the fulfillment is messianic. -ESVLB-

v1 - Most likely, this burden (cities mentioned) is fulfilled by the armies of Alexander the Great when he conquered these regions/cities.

v5-8 - The Philistines (opposition of God) will be conquered as well.

*Once again, God uses a godless people to do His work. - Alexander (Greeks)

v9 - Sound familiar? John 12 maybe? Riding the donkey shows the humility the Messiah is coming with. Also, Triumphal Entry - Matt 21

v11-17 - Judah is liberated and blessed.

Thought - The idea is that the Lord Himself leads the battle. Both the Bible and the Koran have the idea of the holy war - which Islam calls Jihad - but there is a huge difference between the idea of the holy war in the Bible and in Islam. Jesus alone carries out the Biblical holy war - never His people. In Islam, the Jihad is the responsibility of every good Muslim.

10

With the king’s having arrived, the prophet now turns to an expanded vision of the blessings of his rule. On a good day, the returned exiles might have seen the details as a hyperbolic and *metaphoric account of their life in the old land, but the more obvious application of the details is messianic and eschatological. The affective or emotional level of meaning is important in OT golden age prophecies, so we need to be receptive to the feelings and mood that this material awakens in us. -ESVLB-

v2 - Shepherd is a common OT metaphor for the king (see esp. Jer 2:8; 3:15; 10:21; 23:1–2; 50:6; Ezek 34).

v6-12 - The Restoration of the Flock. God will care for the remnant of both Judah and Ephraim, restoring them as his people after the exile.

11

The messianic thread continues in this chapter, but changes are introduced as well. The format of visions gives way to an *allegorical narrative involving shepherds and sheep. After a lead-in announcing doom (vv. 1–3), the prophet pictures himself as undertaking the task of being a good shepherd to the flock of the Lord. The unfolding action is mysterious, but we are helped in piecing together the main action if we realize that the story that is told is a rejection story: the prophet, in his role as good shepherd, fails to be accepted by the flock and therefore abandons his attempt to shepherd the flock. There is a messianic dimension to these prophecies: the good shepherd is Christ; the rejection of the good shepherd is a metaphoric picture of what happened to Christ during his earthly life, including his atoning death; the shepherd’s rejection of the sheep and annulment of the covenant (vv. 8–11) is God’s temporary withdrawal of blessing from his wayward people, as when Israel and Judah were carried into captivity; the annulling of brotherhood between Judah and Israel (v. 14) refers to the division of the kingdom. -ESVLB-

v1-3 - Judah's leaders (shepherds) will be made low.

v1-17 - The readers of this literary subunit learn much about the worthless shepherds and their fate. Building upon common ancient Near Eastern and biblical imagery, these shepherds are political leaders, but significantly their identity is never revealed, nor even hinted at, so as to allow and even encourage multiple interpretations. -JSB-

4-17 - A Sign-act: The Shepherd Rescues His Flock but Is Rejected. Zechariah himself acts out the role of a shepherd whom the sheep come to detest, and who then leaves the flock to a worthless shepherd. -ESVSB-

12-13

We need to acknowledge at the outset of the concluding unit of the book of Zechariah that the oracles of redemption in biblical prophecy employ a metaphoric and symbolic mode that is open-ended in its potential applications. Language and imagery are often identical for the following three types of prophecy: (1) predictions of military and political events that are on the verge of happening; (2) predictions of an intermediate future from the time perspective of the prophet that were fulfilled with the coming of Christ; (3) eschatological, apocalyptic visions of the end of history and the ushering in of eternity. Often our intuition tells us that it is one of these rather than the others (or simultaneously with the others), but we may find it difficult to prove beyond doubt that our identification is true. A further consideration is that if certain lavish promises of restoration and blessing were not fulfilled in the history of Israel or Judah, we can probably take that as warrant to give those visions a messianic and/or eschatological interpretation. With those ground rules before us, we can probably see in these two chapters symbolic renditions of (1) the blessings of salvation in Christ (e.g., 12:10; 13:1) and (2) premonitions of events surrounding God’s final conquest of evil and establishing of his kingdom in the eschaton. Again, we need to allow the poetic medium to pierce our imagination and emotions -ESVLB-

v2 - "cup of staggering" - cup of intoxicating liquor bringing shame, destruction, etc.

v7 - The Abrahamic covenant will be fulfilled.

v10-14 - Hadad-rimmon could be the name of a town near Megiddo, making this a reference to the deep mourning that followed King Josiah’s death in a battle there (v. 11; see 2 Chron. 35:24). The identity of the one who is “pierced” (Zech. 12:10) and on whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem … look is difficult to discern. If on me is defined by the following phrase (“whom they have pierced”), then the reference is to God himself, perhaps in the person of the shepherd who will be struck in 13:7, a prophecy that John 19:37 sees fulfilled in the person of Jesus. The mourning will affect the entire community, family by family, men and women alike. Two particular lines are singled out: the royal line of David, by way of his son Nathan (Zech. 12:12; cf. 1 Chron. 14:4), and the priestly line of Levi (Zech. 12:13), by way of his grandson Shimei (1 Chron. 6:16–17). -ESVSB-

14

1-11 - Jerusalem’s Judgment, Deliverance, and Exaltation. Terrible times are yet in store for the people of Jerusalem, but God will visit them and make Jerusalem secure and prominent.

v6 - On that day. It is difficult to determine what period of time is being indicated by the remarkable prophecies in this entire chapter, whether a future time in this present age, or a future millennial kingdom and the rebellion that follows it, or the events that surround Christ’s return and the beginning of the eternal state (see note on Ezek. 40:1–48:35; see also 1 Pet. 1:10–11). -ESVSB-

v7 - In the evening there will be light. The normal pattern is that light breaks through in the morning (Gen 1:3) but in the day of the LORD in judgment it would do so in the evening. In a sense the universe will be “de-created” in order to be “recreated

v8 - Living waters will flow out from Jerusalem. Ezekiel sees this same phenomenon in conjunction with the inauguration of the messianic age (Ezek 47; cf. Rev 22:1–5; also John 7:38).

v9 - The expression the LORD will be seen as one with a single name is an unmistakable reference to the so-called Shema, the crystallized statement of faith in the LORD as the covenant God of Israel (cf. Deut 6:4–5). Zechariah, however, universalizes the extent of the LORD’s dominion — he will be “king over all the earth.”

v10 - Geba to Rimmon - all of Judah

v12-21 - The Nations Humbled and Brought into Submission. After the nations have suffered a gruesome defeat, they will dedicate themselves to worshiping the true God in Jerusalem.

Day #264

Sermon - Audio
Zechariah 1-7 - Audio
Zechariah 1-7 - Reading

Daily Insights - Please Comment

Zechariah 1:1-6 Zechariah , who came from a priestly family, was born in Babylonia but was part of the first group of exiles to return to Judah in about 538 B.C. He joined forces with and followed up the ministry of the prophet Haggai, who encouraged the returnees by revealing God’s plan to establish his rule and identified the rebuilding of the temple as the initial phase of this plan. Zechariah took restoration to another level by calling the people to covenant renewal alongside their rebuilding project.

1:2 God was angry because of the covenant-breaking sins of the Jews’ pre-exilic forefathers. God’s anger should not be explained away, for to deny that God has genuine emotions is to deprive his of one of the clear marks of personality.

1:6 The returnees confessed that their fathers deserved the exile. Moreover, they also confessed that they had themselves received what they deserved from God during the disappointing early years of the restoration. Admitting the justice of God’s judgment was a crucial element of their repentance.

Zechariah 1:7- 6:8 Zechariah received eight visions from God concerning what God would do about the current difficulties the returnees faced.

1:7-17 The Man Among the Myrtle Trees. Although God’s covenant people are troubled while the oppressing nations are at ease, God will vindicate Judah for the violations against her and will restore them and their towns and the temple. The vision called God’s people to look beyond their present circumstances and to place their trust in the promises of God.

1:8 Zechariah had all eight visions in one night. The visions were given to Zechariah while he was fully awake. They were not dreams.

1:15 God was angry and used the Assyrians to punish, but they went too far by trying to destroy the Jews as people.

1:17 God’s choice of this people and their capital city distinguished them from pagan nations. The result of his choice was to bring them prosperity. If they would repent of their wicked ways and rebuild the temple, God would bring many blessing to the newly formed community in Jerusalem.

1:18-21 Four Horns and Four Craftsmen. Animal horns were symbolic of power and pride in the ancient Near East and elsewhere in the Old Testament. In this vision the four horns represent four nations that oppressed God’s peoples. The four craftsmen represent the nations that would destroy the horns.

1:21 The four craftsmen came to overthrow the power of the oppressing nations. This symbolizes that other nations would destroy the nations that had afflicted God’s people, a fulfillment of God’s assurance to Abraham that he would curse those who cursed Abraham’s descendants.

2:1-5 A Man With a Measuring Line. Zechariah’s third vision stresses that God would protect his people with his own presence. Jerusalem’s walls were probably not yet built and the city was subject to attack from roving bands. These prophecies would be fully realized only in the great son of David, Jesus.

2:1 A Measuring Line was an implement that symbolized Jerusalem’s rebuilding .

2:5 The day of restoration was portrayed by Zechariah and Isaiah as a second exodus with the imagery of the pillar of fire. As God had once protected Israel from her enemies, so he would again guard her from oppressors.

2:6-13 In this section of the chapter, Zechariah addressed the Jews both in Babylon and in Jerusalem.

2:11 “many nations” refers to a time when salvation will extend to the Jews and also to the Gentiles.

Zechariah 3:1-10 The fourth vision, “A Clean Garment for the High Priest” concerns Joshua. This vision deals with the problem of defilement of the priesthood. It begins by showing how God would take care of the problem and ends by depicting how God would wipe away the sins of the people.

3:1 In a courtroom scene, Satan accuses Joshua of his unworthiness of the priesthood. Accusation is a favored ploy of Satan against believers. It differs from the conviction of the Holy Spirit who convinces us of our sin in order to move us to repentance and forgiveness. Satan’s accusations are not always false, but his goal is destructive, not redemptive.

3:2 “A burning stick snatched from the fire” is a metaphor for the exile from which the people of God had been snatched.

3:3 Satan comes with the accusation that Joshua is wearing filthy clothes, and was unclean and unworthy. If the high priest is unclean, who could make atonement for the people’s sins?

3:4 God made Joshua fit for the priesthood by giving him new garments. This cleansing of the priesthood took place to some extent in the postexilic period. Yet what happened to Joshua also pointed to the need for permanent purity in Israel’s priesthood, which would occur only in Christ.

3:8 “The branch” is a title for the Messiah. It combines the offices of priest and king.

3:9 “The stone” is probably a reference to Jesus or his kingdom. “Seven eyes” seems to be a symbol of God’s omniscient and watchful care.

3:10 To “sit under the vine and fig tree” expresses an image of peace and prosperity. The ultimate state of God’s kingdom is in view. On the same day that the sin of the land was removed, peace and contentment would prevail.

Zechariah 4:1-14 The vision of “the gold lampstand and the tow olive trees” focuses on how the work of rebuilding the temple would be completed. Joshua and Zerubbabel were human beings with natural limitations. The empowerment for completing the task would have to come from God. The temple that was built at this time was but a foreshadowing of the greater presence of God that would become a reality when Jesus came as God’s final temple.

4:3 The “two olive trees” stand for the priestly and royal offices and symbolize continuing supply of oil. The two olive branches stand for Joshua the priest and Zerubbabel from the royal house of David. These two leaders were to do God’s work. The combination of the priestly and royal lies and their functions points ultimately to the Messianic King-Priest and his offices and functions.

4:6 “Not by might.” God’s people are repeatedly cautioned not to depend on military powerand foreigh alliances to accomplish their calling.

4:14 The reference “anointed” is to Zerubbabel and Joshua. As God’s chosen leaders they would be supplied by the Holy Spirit with the necessary6 strength to finish the temple. Together they foreshadowed the Messiah, the great Anointed One, who would unite the offices of priest and king into one person.

Zechariah 5:1-4 The vision of “the flying scroll” sends a message to God’s people that he who loves and restores is righteous and will still punish wickedness.

5:3 Like the Ten Commandments, the scroll had writing on both sides. The curse was probably directed at all sins, not just the two commandments written.

5:4 Those who break God’s laws will surely suffer the consequences that this curse brings.

Zechariah 5:5-11 The vision of “the flying basket” describes the iniquity being removed from the land and taken to Shinar.

5:6-7 The prophet saw a small container filled with the iniquity in the land, personified as a woman. She was trapped in the container by a leaden cover weighing approximately 75 pounds.

5:8 Wickedness personified in female form may represent an idolatrous image of a female deity or foreign wives. The two were connected since foreign wives often led the Israelites into idolatry.

5:11 The basket was transported to a new location (Babylon). All the idolaters would be removed along with the object of their idolatry to a safe distance from God’s people.

Zechariah 6:1-8 Zechariah sees four chariots, symbolic of God’s power ruling over the earth.

6:1-3 Chariots were the ancient equivalent of tanks, the key symbol of military power. These chariots were pulled by strong horses, and there were four of them, the number of completeness.

6:5 The chariots represent the four winds of heaven, stressing that nowhere in the world is outside their reach.

6:7 The prime target was the north country (Babylon), which was the objective assigned to two of the four chariots. Victory is easily accomplished. This implies the full and final defeat of those opposed to God.

Zechariah 6:9-15 This oracle looks forward to the successful building of the temple.

6:11 The composite crown reflects the expectation of Hag. 2:8 that both of these elements would come to the temple from afar and fill it with glory.

6:12 Zechariah reiterates Jeremiah’s promise of a coming king who will build the temple of the Lord and bear royal honor, reflecting the authority of the king’s rule.

Zechariah 7:1-14 Zechariah emphasizes that ritual without obedience and justice is empty.

7:3 The fifth month was the month in which the temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar nearly 70 years earlier. Now that the temple was being rebuilt, it was natural to question whether there was any need to observe the rite any longer.

7:7 If the people had learned the lesson that the destruction of the temple was intended to teach and they had truly repented and turned from their sins, then they could stop fasting.