| The Book of Zechariah |
|
The book of Zechariah is among the twelve "minor prophets" and is thus overlooked by many people. It is perhaps the best known of the minor prophets aside from Jonah however. It is quoted and alluded to in the New Testament numerous places because of several Messianic prophecies contained in it.
Zechariah is set in the same time period of Haggai. The exiles have returned from Babylon and like Haggai, Zechariah exhorts them to rebuild the temple.
Perhaps the greater significance of the book is found in the numerous Messianic prophecies though. Zechariah foretells:
Christ's coming in lowliness (6:12)
his humanity (6:12, 13:7)
his rejection and betrayal for 30 pieces of silver (11:12-13)
his crucifixion (by the "sword" of the Lord) (13:7)
his priesthood (6:13)
his kingship (6:13, 9:9, 14:9,16)
his coming in glory (14:4)
his building of the Lord's temple (6:12-13)
his reign (9:10)
his establishment of enduring peace and prosperity (3:10, 9:9-10)
(List taken from the NIV Study Bible chapter introduction notes.)
Aside from the Messianic predictions, Zechariah looks further into the future at the end times and prophesies what will take place in a yet future time. So the book still holds prophetic significance to those awaiting the second coming of the Messiah as well.
This study was contributed by Paul George, author of the Haggai Bible study and several sermons featured on this site as well.
The Book of Zechariah – Part 1
A call to Repentance
Zechariah 1: 1 – 6
Zechariah (Yahweh remembers) is an appropriate title for this book because the reader of the book is told the good news; Yahweh remembers His chosen people and His promises and will be faithful to them. It is a book of comfort and hope, beginning with a call to repentance and ending with prophecies concerning the return and reign of Christ.
Like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Zechariah was both a priest and prophet. Nehemiah tells us he was the head of a priestly family when Joiakim, who succeeded Joshua, was high priest (Nehemiah 12:16). He was probably born in Babylon and returned to Judah with Zerubbabel and Joshua. He succeeded his grandfather Iddo, who returned to Judah in 536BC, as a leading priest in Judah. He began his ministry in Judah two months after Haggai began his ministry. His ministry supplemented Haggai’s ministry. Both prophets compared the present with the past and the future. Haggai stressing the rebuilding of the temple as a sign and source of the Lord’s blessing and Zechariah emphasizing the need to repent and spiritual renewing. Haggai and Zechariah’s ministries followed the ministries of Ezekiel and Daniel who ministered to the captives in Babylon.
The purpose of Zechariah’s ministry was to motivate the captives that had returned to Judah and Jerusalem to finish restoring the temple and to rededicate themselves to the Lord of hosts.
The central theme of the book is encouragement and hope. The key to this hope is the coming of Messiah and His overthrow of ungodly forces and establishment of His kingdom on earth. The bases of his ministry are divine authority, “the word of the Lord” (Zechariah 1:1). He received a divine commission to be the Lord’s spokesman, with instructions what to say to the returned captives and he delivered to the people what he received.
Chapter One
Verse one and two - “In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo saying, The Lord was very angry with your fathers.”
Why was the Lord angry with the fathers of the returned captives? Two reasons are given in 2nd Chronicles 36:14-36; idolatry and a failure to give the land seventy sabbatical years of rest. Every seventh year the land was to have a Sabbath rest (Leviticus25:2-7). It was for this reason the wrath and anger of the Lord “were poured out and burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem” (Jeremiah 44:6). The Lord through Ezekiel told the Israelites He would deal with them “in wrath” and His eye “will have no pity nor shall” the Lord will not spare them even though they cry out for mercy. He will not listen to them (Ezekiel 8:18).
The captives who have returned to Judah and Jerusalem are aware of the reason for the Babylonian captivity. Ezekiel and their fathers told them why they were born in captivity and the wrath and anger of the Lord poured out on the cities of Judah, Jerusalem, and the people. They told them why the temple was destroyed. They have come to Judah and Jerusalem and have seen the results of the disobedience of their fathers.
This should be a warning to all Christians. There is a time when the Lord can no longer permit the disobedience of His children and though we find it hard to believe the Lord will deal harshly with the disobedient He will do as He did with the ancient Israelites. We have been warned of and witnessed the consequence of disobedience has its consequences. The prophets have warned us. The apostles have warned us. Above all others Jesus has warned us. Today, the Holy Spirit warns us. Are we listening and heeding the warnings? Before you answer look at the conditions in the world, in our cities, and in our families. The returning captives looked at the destruction of their cities, Jerusalem, and the temple. We are witnessing the results of disobedience in the world, our cities, and families. The judgments of those who have gone before us should be a warning not to follow their example if they lead us to the same situation the captives found themselves.
The word of the Lord told Zechariah, tell the returned captives:
Verse three - “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Return to Me’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘that I may return to you,’ says the Lord of hosts.”
The captives who have returned to Judah and Jerusalem are to turn to the Lord in faith and repentance and make their peace with the Him if they will do this the Lord will extend His mercy and favor to them. They will find peace and be reconciled to Him. The Lord of hosts told Malachi, tell the builders of the wall around Jerusalem, “From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statues and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you.” (Malachi 3:7).
The Lord told these backslidden people through Zechariah:
Verse four - “Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying, ‘thus says the Lord of hosts, Return now from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ “But they did not listen or give heed to Me,” declares the Lord.”
In Psalm 78 psalmist speaks to the people about the early history of the nation in order to warn future generations they are not to be like their fathers who he said, were a stubborn and rebellious generation “that did not prepare its heart and whose spirit was not faithful to God” (v. 8).
Although the fathers had forsaken the Lord He sent prophets to them but they would not listen to the prophets (2 Chronicles 24:19). “They continually mocked the prophets of the Lord and despised the words of the Lord and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, until there was no remedy” (2 Chronicles 36:16).
If the children of the captives expect to escape the penalty for their acts of disobedience, they must turn from their evil ways and their evil deeds. They must not harden their hearts as their fathers did. The results of the hardening of the heart by their fathers should have caused the children to turn from their evil ways and evil deeds. To this point and time in the lives of the children, the price their fathers had to pay for their disobedience had little or no effect. Parents need to understand the examples of life they set before their children can have a lasting impression on the life of their children.
Why should the children listen to and heed the words of Zechariah? While it is true, the fathers who did not listen to or heed the former prophets and went into captivity they were able to live a comfortable life. They were able to build homes and business, marry, have children, and even have an informal form of worship.
Zechariah, asks the returned captives:
Verse five - “Your fathers where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?”
Where are the fathers? They are dead, buried in Babylon. They no longer walk the streets of the cities and towns, seen shopping in the shops and stores or the worship service, their voices are silent. Where are they? They are somewhere. When they left the physical world, they entered the spiritual world, an unchanging and unchangeable world. They are either in torment or in paradise.The captives who have returned to their homeland will follow their fathers if they do not turn from their disobedience.
Have you considered where you will be when you enter the spiritual world?
The third question Zechariah asks the returned captive concerns the words of the Lord.
Verse six - “But did not My words and My statues, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers?”
Both the fathers and prophets are dead, but the word of the Lord is still alive. Not one iota or title fell to the ground. The judgments the Lord can upon the fathers of the returning captives. The fathers of the captives experienced what they would not believe or fear. The words of the prophet could not bring conviction upon the fathers but the calamities threatened overtook them and they could not escape them or get out of their way. “Then they repented and said, ‘As the Lord of hosts purposed to do to us in accordance with our ways and our deeds, so He has dealt with us’” (v.6).
Zechariah’s point is, pay attention to the Word of God because, through prophets die, it endures, and the proof that it endures is that its warnings come true.
The Book of Zechariah – Part 2
The Visions of Zechariah – Part 1
Zechariah 1: 7 – 2:13
Horses and Riders (1:7-17)
Verses seven and eight - "On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, as follows: I saw at night, and behold a man riding on a red horse, and he was standing among the myrtle trees which were in the ravine, with red, sorrel and white horses behind him."
The man on the red horse is no mere man or angel. He is the same man Joshua saw "standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand." The man Joshua asked, "Are you for us or for our adversaries?” and the man answered, “No; rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the Lord" (Joshua 5:13-14). He is the One whose voice Moses heard in the burning bush (Exodus 3:4). He is the pre-incarnated Christ. He appears in the vision in the form of a man because of his office as an intercessor and advocate for His people.
Mounted on a red horse signifies his majesty and glory as a king or general of an army and his readiness, willingness, and ability to defend his people and deliver them from the hands of their enemies. Standing in the myrtle tree grove tells us he is among his people in their present situation. He wants to defend them and deliver them from their present situation if they will call on him.
In this man, we see the willingness of Christ to come to earth to deliver all humanity from the hand of their enemy and the enemy of the Lord. He willingly left the throne of God, set aside his royal robes, took the form of a man and assumed the human nature. He willingly suffered, bled and died on a Roman cross. He paid the penalty demanded for the redemption of humanity, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, took his place on God’s throne and is our intercessor and advocate. One day he will return to earth and establish his kingdom on earth and rule over all nations. He will return to earth mounted on a white horse with a sword in his hand. He will defeat the enemies of God and his people. He will bring all evil, wickedness, violence, and suffering to an end.
There are times in this life when the temptations are strong and faith weak. It seems like God has turned His face away from us, Christ has deserted us and the Holy Spirit has removed His influences from the world. The life and power of the church seems to be fading. It is in these times we need to see what Zechariah saw in the myrtle tree grove, a man mounted of a red horse in the midst of His people and ready to defend His people.
Zechariah asked:
Verse nine and ten - “My lord what are these? And the angel who was speaking with me said to me, I will show you what these are. And the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered and said, ‘These are those whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth.’”
The man who is standing among the myrtle trees answered Zechariah’s question instead of the angel with Zechariah. The horses "are those whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth." In the Book of Job we are told Satan "walks to and fro in the earth," implying restless activity, seeking ways to harm the people of God (Job 1:7). The Lord sends angels to "walk to and fro" countering the activity of Satan and defending God’s people (Psalm 34:7; 91:11; 103:20, 21).
The patrolling angels report:
Verse eleven - "We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth is peaceful and quiet."
The enemies of God’s people are prospering and self-confidently secure while the people of God are depressed and downtrodden. The world was free from wars. In Jerusalem and Judah, the enemies of God’s people were hindering the restoration of the temple. The appointed time of punishment fulfilled, it is time for the Lord to intervene in the affairs of His people.
The man in the myrtle tree grove is not only among the people he is their intercessor. He asks:
Verse twelve - "O Lord of hosts, how long will You have no compassion for Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which You have been indignant these seventy years?"
Prior to the completion of the appointed time of punishment was not the time to intercede for Israel and the people. The fulfillment of the appointed time of punishment is the proper time to intercede.
Zechariah did not record the answer of the prayer. It is possible, he did not hear the answer or under the direction of the Holy Spirit, he did not record the answer. Before entering the Promised Land Moses told the Israelites, "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever" (Deuteronomy 29:29). This verse sets the limits and purpose of God’s revelation. Some things the Lord chooses to keep to Himself. The answer to the question the angel of the Lord asked might be something that the Lord did not want revealed.
Verse thirteen - “The Lord answered the angel who was speaking with me with gracious words, comforting words.”
In this verse, the Lord answered the angel who was speaking to Zechariah and the angel told Zechariah:
Verse fourteen - "Proclaim, saying, ’Thus says the Lord of hosts, I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and Zion.”
The Lord of host’s jealousy is like a husband’s jealousy for his wife who others have wronged and abused, so is the Lord’s jealously for Judah and Jerusalem the Gentiles have abused. Because they have abused His people the Lord is, "very angry with the nations who are at ease; for while I was only a little angry they furthered the disaster" (v. 15). The Lord’s anger with His people is temporary and for their chastening. His anger with the Gentiles who have injured His people is final and fatal (Jeremiah 30:11).
The Gentile nations were the Lord’s instruments for chastening His people. However, they went beyond what was necessary. They sought the utter extinction of Judah and Jerusalem to gratify their own ambitions and revenge (Isaiah 47:6; Ezekiel 25:3, 6). The Lord will "return to Jerusalem with compassion" and His "house will be built in it." In anger the Lord had withdrawn from Jerusalem (Hosea 5:15). The Lord made it very clear He will not share the city He loves and the land He has set aside for Himself. He will do what is best for His people. He will pour out His wrath upon those who abuse His people. The Lord will dwell in His house, the Temple. The cities of Judah will be filled to overflow with all the blessings of grace and good tidings, the people blessed and comforted.
Horns and Craftsmen (1:18-21)
In a vision following the vision of the horses and riders, Zechariah saw four horns:
Verse eighteen - “Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, there were four horns.”
Because animals used the horn as a weapon, it came to symbolize power and pride. The false prophet Zedekiah, in Ahab’s reign made horns of iron to portray how Ahab was going to defeat the Syrians (1 Kings 22:11). The psalmist in his warning to the wicked said “the God of Jacob” will cut off all the horns of the wicked but the horns of the righteous “shall be exalted” (Psalm 75:10). David spoke of God as the horn, or strength, of his salvation (2nd Samuel 22:3; Psalm 18:2).
The horns Zechariah saw represent four kingdoms or kings “which have scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem” (v.19).
There are scholars who claim the four horns represent all the enemies of Israel that were round about them, such as the Syrians, Assyrians, and Babylonians on the north; the Ammonites and Moabites on the east; the Edomites and Egyptians on the south; and the Philistines on the west. A second opinion is the horns represent four kings, Shalmaneser, Nebuchadnezzar, Xerxes, and Artaxerxes the first, also called Longimanus. A third opinion is, the four horns represent Assyria, Egypt, Babylon, and Medo-Persia. A fourth opinion is the horns represent the demonic hosts of Satan, always assembled for moral combat, who seek to influence the affairs of nations. There is an example of intervening in humans affairs by the demonic hosts of Satan in Daniel chapter ten.
Following the vision of the four horns, Zechariah saw four craftsmen:
Verse twenty - “Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen.”
Zechariah asked the angel who was speaking to him:
Verse twenty-one - “What are these coming to do? And he said, ‘these are the horns which have scattered Judah so that no man lifts up his head; but these craftsmen have come to terrify them, to throw down the horns of the nations who has lifted up their horns against the land of Judah in order to scatter it.”
These craftsmen have come to put terror into the kings and kingdoms, to destroy and take their power away from them. Who are they? Again, there are several opinions. Some scholars believe the four craftsmen are David, Ephraim, Elijah, and the priest of righteousness. Others believe they are angels used in the destruction of the enemies of God’s people or preventing them from doing harmful things to God’s people. They stir-up the spirits of kings and princes to support God’s people as they did the spirit of Cyrus.
Surveyor (2:1-13)
In his next vision, chapter 2:1-13, Zechariah saw a man with a measuring line. Zechariah asks the man where he was going. He said he was going to measure Jerusalem in its present state that it might be known what was necessary for the rebuilding of the wall and by comparing its dimensions with the vast numbers that should inhabit it, what additions were necessary for the receiving and containing the multitudes that will come to Jerusalem (Isaiah 60:4).
The angel who was speaking with Zechariah was going out, and another angel was coming out to meet him, and said to him, "Run, speak to that young man, saying, Jerusalem will be inhabited without walls because of the multitude of men and cattle within it.” The purpose of this meeting between the two angels is to explain the meaning of the measuring of Jerusalem so that it would not cause any speculations. The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall increase, and multiply so that it shall extend itself far beyond the present dimensions. This increase of the numbers of a people is a fruit of the Lord’s blessing on them and an earnest of further blessings (Psalm 107:38). It will be as safe and great as the presence of the Lord can make it.
The purpose of the walls of a city is to defend it. They also keep the inhabitants confined within the boundaries of the walls. However, Jerusalem will not be a walled city. Yet it shall be as safe as if it had the strongest walls.
When Zechariah saw this vision, Jerusalem had no walls about it. She lay naked and exposed. When she had walls her enemies not only broke through them, but also broke them down, but now the Lord will be to her a wall of fire that cannot be broken through, nor scaled, nor undermined, nor the foundations of it neither undermined nor approached, without danger to the assailants. Some think it alludes to shepherds that made fires about their flocks, or travelers that made fires about their tents in desert places, to frighten wild beasts from them. The Lord will do much more. He will build a hedge around Jerusalem as He did Job (Job1:10). He will not only build a hedge around Jerusalem, He will be as the mountains round about her. The Lord will not only make a wall of fire about her, but He will Himself be such a wall; for the Lord is a consuming fire to His enemies and the enemies of His children. Jerusalem will be a great city because the Lord Himself will be the glory in the midst of the city. His temple, His altar, shall be set up and attended there, and His institutions observed, and there shall the blessings of His presence and favor be, which will be the glory in the midst of them and will make them truly admirable in the eyes of all about them. The people will honor the Lord and He will put honor upon them.
Those that have the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for their God have Him for their glory; those that have Him in the midst of them have glory in the midst of them. The people and places that have the Lord in their midst have Him for a wall of fire round about them. Jerusalem became a very flourishing city, beyond expectation, considering how long it laid in ruin.
One would have thought that Cyrus’s proclamation, which gave liberty to the captive Jews, would have brought them all back to their homeland, as when Pharaoh gave them permission to leave Egypt and their house of bondage, about 50,000 left Babylon. The greater part of the captives stayed in Babylon. The land of their captivity was to most of them the land of their birth and they had taken root there, some perhaps had gotten estates and business. They did not think they could better themselves by returning to their own land. They had no great affection to their own land, and considered the difficulties they would encounter if they returned to Judah and Jerusalem beyond what they cared to experience.
This refusal to return to Judah and Jerusalem preceded from a distrust of the power and promise of God, a love of ease and worldly wealth, and indifference to the religion of their country and to the God of Israel Himself. They expressed their attitude toward the Lord and their homeland in their rash and adverse comments about the Lord. This attitude had a bad effect upon the people. They could not sing Psalm 137 because they were so far from preferring Lord and the land that was their joy before the captivity. They preferred what joy they could find in the land of captivity. This resulted in another proclamation issued by the God of Israel, strictly charging and commanding all His freeborn subjects to speedily return into their own land and render themselves to the work of rebuilding the temple and Jerusalem.
This was the proper thing to do. If the Lord will rebuild Jerusalem for them and their comfort, they must come and inhabit it for Him and His glory, and not continue living in Babylon. The promises and privileges with which the Lord has blessed us should motivate us, whatever it cost us, to join ourselves to them.
The Lord tells the captives His scattering them was in wrath, and they must take this invitation to return to their homeland as a sign of the Lord’s willingness to be reconciled to them. They rejected the invitation so the Lord tells them to deliver themselves, flee from the oppressor in the best way they can. When the Lord proclaims deliverance to the captives, which He has caused to be available to all who are in captivity we should “deliver ourselves...Loose ourselves from the bands of our necks” (Isaiah 52:2), resolve, “sin shall not have dominion over us.”
It was discouraging to those who remained in Babylon to hear of the difficulties and oppositions that their brethren met when they returned to Judah and Jerusalem, but there is good news. The Lord of hosts will judge the nations that have plundered Israel, after the glorious beginning of their deliverance for He is the finisher of that work. He will lift up his mighty hand against those who have plundered Israel and lay His heavy hand upon them. He will “bruise them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Psalm 2:9). This passage shows how easily God can subdue and humble the oppressors with the turn of his hand, but it is the shaking His hand over them and the work is done. The oppressors will be slaves to those whom they had enslaved, and plundered by those whom they had plundered.
In Esther’s time this was fulfilled, when the Jews ruled “over those that hated them (Esther 9:1) and often in the time of the Maccabees. The promise is further fulfilled in Christ’s victory over our spiritual enemies, His, “spoiling principalities and powers and making a show of them openly (Colossians 2:15). Christ will reckon with all that are the enemies of the church and eventually will make them “His footstool” (Psalm 110:1; Revelation 3:9). What Christ will do for His church shall be proof of the Lord’s tender care of it and affection to it.
“He that touches you touches the apple of His eye” is a high expression of the Lord’s love to his people. By His resentment of the injuries done to them show how dear they are to Him, how He is concerned about their welfare and takes what is done against them as a personal insult.
The Jews that had returned were in distress and danger, their enemies in the neighborhood were spiteful against them, their friends that remained in Babylon were cool towards them, shy of them, and declined coming in to their assistance; yet they are to sing and rejoice even in tribulation. Those that have recovered their purity, and integrity, and spiritual liberty, though they have not yet recovered their outward prosperity, have reason to sing and rejoice to give glory to God.
If their brethren in Babylon will not come to them, those of other nations shall, and shall replenish Jerusalem and the cities of Judah. “Many nations will join themselves to the Lord in that day and will become" God’s people. Then God will dwell in their midst, and they will know that the Lord of hosts has sent Christ to them.
The Jewish nation, after the captivity, multiplied by the accession of proselytes to it, naturalized, and was entitled to all the privileges of native Israelites, and perhaps they were equal in number; and therefore Paul mentions it as an honor to him that many Jews did not have. It was strange that this joining of many nations to the Lord should be so great an offence to the Jews, as we find it was in the apostles’ times. There had been one law, so should there be one gospel for whatever nation a person may come from, when they join themselves to the Lord. When they join themselves to the Lord, they become as dear to the Lord, as Israel had been.
The Lord will own those for His people who with purpose of heart join themselves to Him; and, when many do so, we ought to look upon them, not with a jealous eye, but with a joyful one. Angels rejoice, and therefore so should the daughter of Zion. Those to whom the Lord comes have reason to rejoice, for He will be to them their chief joy. The Lord will come, not to make them a visit only, but to reside with them and preside over them. Those who have the Lord dwelling in their midst have a divine power with them no matter where they may go. In the incarnation of Christ, He that promises to dwell among them is that Lord whom the Lord of hosts has sent. He came and dwelt in the midst of the Jewish nation. He is the eternal Word that in the flesh dwelt among men. This was the great honor reserved for Israel.
Verse twelve - “The Lord will possess Judah as His portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem."
Canaan shall be a holy land again, not polluted by sin as it had been formerly, not profaned by the enemies as it had been of late. Judah shall be in this holy land, shall inhabit it, and enjoy the comfort of it, and no longer be lost and scattered in Babylon. Judah shall be the Lord’s portion; He will delight in, and be dear to Him. The Lord will inherit Judah as His portion, will claim His interest, and recover the possession out of the hands of those that has invaded His right. He will protect His people and govern them as a man does his inheritance, and will be at home among them. He will choose Jerusalem again, as He had chosen it formerly, to put His name there. He will renew and confirm the choice.
The daughter of Zion must sing, but all flesh must be silent because the Lord has for the relief of his people raised up out of His holy habitation as a man out of sleep (Psalm 44:23; 78:65), or as a man entering with resolution upon a business that he will go through with. Heaven is His holy habitation above. All flesh is to be silent because the Lord is about to do something unusual, unexpected, and very surprising. He is going to plead His people’s cause, which had long seemed neglected.
The Book of Zechariah – Part 3
The visions of Zechariah – Part 2
Zechariah 3:1 – 4:14
The vision of the surveyor gave assurances of the reestablishing of the Jewish nation.
The Vision of Joshua the High Priest (3:1-10).
The angel that talked with Zechariah showed him Joshua the high priest. It is possible Zechariah saw Joshua many times, spoke to him, and there was a close friendship between Zechariah and Joshua, but Zechariah only saw how Joshua appeared before men. If Zechariah is to know how Joshua stands before the Lord, he must see him standing before the Lord.
In this vision, Satan is standing at Joshua’s right hand as the prosecutor, or witness stands at the right hand of the prisoner. Satan being an unfaithful servant accuses Joshua. There are those who believe Satan has brought the charge of unfaithfulness against Joshua because the priests under his authority were marrying foreign women (Ezra 9:1, 2; Nehemiah 3:28). When God is about to reestablish the priesthood Satan brings a charge against the high priest that would render him unworthy of the honor bestowed upon him.
It is by our own foolishness that we give Satan advantage against us and furnish him with matters for reproach and accusation. If there is, any fault found in us, Satan uses it against us in the complaints he files against us. In this vision, Satan stood before the Lord with Joshua to oppose the service Joshua was doing for the public good. He stood at Joshua’s right hand, the hand of action, to discourage Joshua and place obstacles in his way.
When we are fulfilling our call to serve the Lord we must expect to meet with all the resistance that Satan’s subtlety and malice can give us. We must resist him that resists us in the performance of our duty and he will flee from us. We must never let the obstacles placed in our paths discourage us or turn us away from the course the Lord has set for us.
In verse two, a victorious defense:
Verse two - “The Lord said to Satan, ‘The Lord rebuke you, Satan!’ Indeed the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?’”
The One who has authority over him silences Satan. His indictment quashed, and his charge against Joshua declared malicious and frivolous. Those that belong to Christ He vigorously defend them when Satan viciously attacks them. He does not plea bargain with Satan but shuts his mouth immediately with this sharp reprimand, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan.” This is the best way to deal with a furious enemy.
The Lord lets Satan know his charge against Joshua will be fruitless; it will serve no purpose to attempt any thing against Jerusalem or His chosen high priest. He has chosen Jerusalem to be His dwelling place and Joshua to be the head servant in His house and He will abide by his choice. The Lord said Joshua is a “brand plucked from the fire,” delivered out of the fire of captivity that God might be glorified and He will not cast him off or abandon him. A converted soul is a brand plucked out of the fire by a miracle of free grace and not left to be a prey to Satan.
Joshua appears before the Lord as one polluted. He was clothed in garments that were not fitting of his office and the sanctity of his work. By the Law of Moses, the garments of the high priest were to be “for glory and for beauty” (Exodus 28:2), Joshua’s garments were a shame and reproach to him. He had no clean linen wherein to minister and to do the duty of his office. This conveys the idea that the priesthood was not only poor, despised, and loaded with contempt, but that there was a great deal of iniquity cleaving to the holy things.
The returned Jews thought they did not need to confess their sins, and were not aware that they were hindrances of the progress of the Lord’s work among them. Because they had turned from idolatry, they thought they were no longer chargeable with iniquity. God showed them there were many things wrong in them, which hindered the bestowing of the Lord’s favor towards them. Their sins were spiritual enemies warring against them and more dangerous than any of the neighboring nations.
Joshua had sons who married foreign women (Ezra 10:18). Though his children did not do as they should, yet the covenant of priesthood was not broken.
Christ bears with his people, whose hearts are right with Him, and admits them into communion with Himself, notwithstanding their many infirmities. The Lord gave orders to the angels that attended Him, and were ready to do His pleasure, to put Joshua into a better state. Joshua presented himself before the Lord in his filthy garments and the Lord graciously looked upon him with compassion, and not as He might have justly done. Although He loathed the filthiness of Joshua’s garments, yet the Lord did not put him away, but put them away. This is what the Lord by His grace does with those whom He chooses to be priests to Himself. He parts them from their sins and this prevents their sins from parting them from their Lord. He reconciles Himself to the sinner, but not to the sin.
Two things happened, representing a double work of divine grace wrought in and for believers, filthy garments taken from him and clean garments given to him.
His guilt taken away by pardoning mercy, the stench and stain of it by peace spoken to the conscience, and the power of it broken by renewing grace. When the Lord forgives our sins, He causes our iniquity to pass from us, that it may not appear against us, to condemn us; it passes from us as far as the east is from the west. When He sanctifies the nature, He enables us to put off the old man. He cast away from us the filthy rags of our corrupt affections and lusts, as things we will never have any thing more to do with or appear in us. Christ washes away our sins in His own blood.
Cleansed from the pollution of sin, clothed in clean garments, Joshua has not only the shame of his filthiness removed, but also the shame of his nakedness covered. Joshua had no clean linen of his own, but Christ provided for him clean garments, because He will not let a priesthood of His own instituting be lost, contemptible before men or unacceptable before God. The change of raiment is rich costly raiment, such as worn on high days. Joshua shall appear as lovely as he appeared loathsome.
Those that minister in holy things shall not only cease to do evil, but also learn to do well. The Lord will make them wise, and humble, diligent, and faithful, and examples of every thing that is good. Those whom Christ makes spiritual priests are clothed with the spotless robe of His righteousness and appear before God in them, and with the graces of His Spirit, which are ornaments to them. The righteousness of the saints, both imputed and implanted, is the fine linen, clean and white, with which the bride of the Lamb’s wife, is arrayed (Revelation 19:8).
Joshua not only has his sins pardoned, and is furnished with grace sufficient for himself, but acquitted in the Lord’s court and restored to his former honors and trusts. The crown of the priesthood put upon him. Now that he looks clean, let him also look great; let him be dressed up in all the garments of the high priest.
When the Lord plans the restoring or reviving of religion He stirs up his prophets and people to pray for it, and does it in answer to their prayers. Zechariah prayed that the angels might set the turban on Joshua’s head, and they did it immediately, and clothed Joshua with the priestly garments while the angel of the Lord stood by overseeing the work of the angels. He stood by, as one well pleased with what He has done.
The angel of the Lord “admonished Joshua saying," (v.6):
The angel of the Lord told Joshua if he would do the duty of his office, he would enjoy the dignity and reward of the office. The Lord of hosts put Joshua on notice. He must live a good life and be holy in all manner of conversation; he must go before the people in the paths of God’s commandments, and walk circumspectly. He must keep the Lord’s charge and carefully do all the services of the priesthood. He must see to it that the inferior priests perform their duties.
What the Lord has done for Joshua and his fellow priests, as the prophet and his children (Isaiah 8:18), are a shadow of the coming of Messiah, for signs and for wonders will cease when the Messiah comes. The promise itself is for the comfort and encouragement of Joshua and his friends in the work of building the temple, which they now engaged in. The promise relating to the coming of the Messiah and His kingdom would be an encouragement in the difficulties they will encounter in the building temple and their other services.
The Messiah is God’s servant, employed in His work, obedient to His will, and entirely devoted to His honor and glory. He is the branch of the Lord (Isaiah 11:1), a branch out of the roots of Jesse (Jeremiah 23:5), a righteous branch (Jeremiah 23:15). His beginning will be as a tender branch, but in time, He should become a great tree and fill the earth (Isaiah 53:2). He is the stone laid before Joshua.
The stone laid before Joshua is a reference to the foundation or chief corner stone, of the temple laid, with great solemnity, in the presence of Joshua. Christ is not only the branch, which is the beginning of a tree, but also the foundation, which is the beginning of a building; and seven eyes shall be upon Him, the eye of the Father, to take care of Him, and protect Him, especially in his sufferings. The eyes of heaven shall be on Him when they place Him in a tomb out of men’s sight, but not out of the Lord’s. The eyes of all the prophets and Old Testament saints were upon this one stone, Abraham rejoiced to see Christ’s day, and he saw it and was glad. The eyes of all believers are upon him as the eyes of the stung Israelites were upon the brazen serpent.
There are scholars who believe this stone that is to have seven eyes in it as the wheels had in Ezekiel’s vision denotes the perfection of wisdom and knowledge which Jesus Christ was endued with, for the good of His church. God Himself will beautify him, and put honor upon him. This stone the builders refused, as rough and unsightly God smoothes, polish and forms so that it shall be the head stone of the corner, the most beautiful in all the building. Christ was God’s workmanship and the abundance of His wisdom appears in our redemption.
This stone is a precious stone, though used for a foundation. The engraving of it seems to refer to the precious stones in the breastplate of the high priest, which had the names of the tribes, engraved upon them (Exodus 28:21-22). In that breastplate, there were twelve stones laid before Aaron, but there shall be one worth more them all the stones laid before Joshua, and that is Christ himself. This precious stone shall sparkle as if it had seven eyes.
God will entrust Christ with all His elect, He shall appear as their representative, and agent for them, as the high priest did when he went in before the Lord with the names of all Israel engraved in the precious stones of his breastplate. When the high priest had the names of Israel engraved on the precious stones, he bore the iniquity of the land, as a type of Christ. However, he could not take away the iniquity of the land only Christ, the blessed Lamb of God, that takes away the sin of the world and He did it when He suffered and died on a Roman cross. The Lamb of God accomplished what no sacrifices of ages before on all the days of atonement could accomplish.
There are other scholars who believe the engravings signify the wounds and stripes that Christ underwent for our transgression and iniquity, by which we are healed. When our iniquity is taken away, we reap precious benefits and privileges from our justification, more precious than the products of the vine or the fig tree (Romans 5:1). We rest in a sweet tranquility freed from the fear of evil. We live as Israel in the peaceable reign of Solomon (1 King 4:24-25) for he is the prince of peace. We ought to invite others to come to partake with us in the enjoyment of these privileges, to come and sit with us for mutual conversation under the vine and fig tree, and to share with them the fruits the Lord has provided.
In there present situation the Israelites did not think they could rebuild the temple and replenish the city of Jerusalem. The purpose of the vision of the golden lamp stand is to show the people that the Lord by His own power would complete the rebuilding and replenishing of Jerusalem though the assistance given to the project by its friends even though they were weak and the resistance to the project even through it is very strong.
The vision begins with an awakening of Zechariah. It seems, though he was in conference with an angel about matters of great and public concern Zechariah became tired and fell asleep. It is also possible the angel let Zechariah rest for a while so that he might be fresh and able to receive new discoveries.
In our service for the Lord, there are times when we need to take a break. There are times when we grow weary. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. It is in times like these we need the Holy Spirit to come and awaken us. We need Him to renew us.
The Golden Lampstand:
The angel asked Zechariah, “What do you see?" He said, "I see a lamp stand all of gold with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps on it with seven spouts belonging to each of the lamps which are on the top of it; also two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on its left side.”
When Zechariah awakened, he saw a golden lampstand, like the one in the temple the Babylonians destroyed and will stand in the rebuilt temple. Today, the church is as a lampstand set up for the enlightening of this dark world and bring forth the light of divine revelation to the world. The gold denotes the great worth and excellence of the church. This golden lamp stand has seven lamps branching out from it and each was a burning and shining light.
Although the Israelites were in captivity, they had synagogues where they gathered to hear the reading of the law. In the sight of the Lord, they belonged to one lampstand. Under the law of grace, Christ is the center of unity, and not Jerusalem, or any one place. The apostle John saw Him standing in the middle of seven golden lampstands that represented seven particular churches and in His right hand He held seven stars and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword (Revelation 1:12-16).
The lampstand Zechariah saw represents what the apostle John saw when he was in exile on the isle of Patmos. The lampstand Zechariah saw had one bowl or common receiver on the top of it into which oil was continually dropping into the lamps. They were always kept burning without any care or attendance of man.
In verse three, Zechariah tells us, he saw two olive trees, one on each side of the lampstand. They were so fruitful that of their own accord they continually poured oil into the bowl, which by two larger pipes (v. 12) dispersed the oil into the bowl and from the bowl the oil was dispersed to the lamps, so that nobody needed to attend this lampstand or furnish it with oil.
The purpose of this vision of the golden lampstand is to show the Lord can easily and often does accomplish His gracious purposes concerning His people by His own wisdom and power, without any labor of man. He uses men as instruments in accomplishing His goal for humanity. He neither needs them nor is dependent upon them. He can do His work without them rather than let His purpose be unfulfilled. The Lord will do what He has said He will do it regardless of spiritual and physical resistance.
Zechariah does not understand what is the meaning and purpose of the vision; he does what we should do when we encounter situations in this life we do not understand.
Note if you will how respectfully Zechariah speaks to the angel, he calls him “my lord.” We need to remember, something that has been lost in this present age, students must give honor to their teachers.
Zechariah saw there was something important in what he sees and he desired to know the meaning of the lampstand. If we want to understand what the Lord is doing in our lives and the world we live in we need to ask questions. If we do, the Lord will answer them.
The angel answered Zechariah’s question with a question. He asked Zechariah, "Do you not know what these are?" Zechariah answered, “No my lord.” Zechariah did not understand the vision because he compared the physical, what he can see, with the spiritual, what he cannot see. Zechariah knew that there was a golden lampstand in the temple and it was the duty of the priests to supply it with oil and to keep it burning. In his vision, he sees the lampstand with lamps always burning, but there are no priests to supply the oil and keep the lamps burning. Zechariah might conclude, although the Lord has reestablished the priesthood, He will carry on His purpose for Israel without the help of the priests.
The angel asked Zechariah this question, to draw him from his own conclusions. Visions have their own purpose and often are hard to understand. The prophets often found it hard to understand what the Lord was revealing to them. Those that seek knowledge must first acknowledge their own ignorance and seek instructions from the Lord. If we do this, the Lord will teach us. The Lord will always teach the meek and humbled and not the conceited and depend on their own understanding. We need to remember, man’s ways are not God’s ways.
Without an explanation of every element of the vision, the purpose of the vision is lost. The good work of building the temple and Jerusalem must by under the special care of the Lord. It is important Zechariah and the people understand this. Men do not build the kingdom of heaven. The builder is the Lord. He uses men to build His kingdom. We need to remember the enemies of the King are many and mighty. The friends and workers are few and feeble.
In the explication of visions and parables, we must look at the principal purpose of them. Too often, men take the visions and parables, twist, and turn them to fit their purpose. We may not be able to explain every situation in a vision or parable or make it fit our purpose in life or explain what is happening in the world. Like the angel who explained the purpose of this vision, the Holy Spirit will often give us an explanation of a vision or parable that will enable us to understand something we may encounter in the future. The purpose of this vision was to encourage the people and their leaders to go on with the building of the temple. Let them know they are working together with the Lord in the building of the temple.
When Zechariah told the angel he did not understand the vision the angel told him, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.”
The Lord will carry on and complete this work, as He had begun their deliverance from Babylon, not by external force, but by internal influences upon the minds of men. He who makes this claim will do it not by human might or power, but by His own Spirit. What the Holy Spirit does is not by might and power, but it stands in opposition to visible force. The Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and into Canaan, by might and power. But they were brought out of Babylon, and into Canaan the second time, by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts working upon the spirit of Cyrus, and inclining him to proclaim liberty to them, and working upon the spirits of the captives, and causing them to accept the liberty offered them. The Spirit of the Lord of hosts moved the people to rebuild the temple. The same Spirit moved the heart of Darius to further the good work that the sworn enemies of it could not hinder it. The work of God is often successfully when done silently, and without the assistance of human force.
All the difficulties and oppositions to the rebuilding of the temple and Jerusalem will be defeated, even those that seem insurmountable. The enemies of the Jews are proud and hard as great mountains; but when God has work to do; the mountains that stand in the way of it shall dwindle into molehills. All the difficulties shall vanish, and all the objections overcome. Every mountain and hill brought low when the way of the Lord is to be prepared (Isaiah 40:4).
Verse eight and nine - “Also the word of the Lord came to me saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will finish it. Then you know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.”
The same hand that has begun this good work will finish it. The hands of Zerubbabel laid the foundation of the temple and though the completion of the building delayed and is still under opposition it shall be finished and Zerubbabel will live to see it finished. He will be involved in the finishing of the rebuilding of the temple. He will bring forth the head stone with shouting and loud acclamations of joy, among the spectators.
When the work is finished, the people must thankfully acknowledge that it was the Lord through grace and not by their own power, the work was completed. The Lord’s good will towards them, His good work in them and for them. Grace must be applied not only to the head-stone, but to the foundation-stone, the corner-stone, and indeed to every stone in the Lord’s building, from first to last it is nothing of works, but all of grace, and all crowns must be cast at the feet of free grace.
Grace is the language of prayer as well as of praise now that this building is finished and all happiness attends it! Peace is within its walls. Let the beauty of the Lord be upon it. What comes from the grace of the Lord may in faith, and upon good grounds, be committed to the grace of the Lord, for the Lord will not forsake the work of his own hands. This shall be a full ratification of the prophecies of the Israelites’ return to the Promised Land and their settlement again in the land. The exact accomplishment of the prophecies is a convincing proof of their divine original. The Lord confirms the word of His servant, by saying to Jerusalem; you shall be built (Isaiah 44:26). No word of God shall fall to the ground, nor one iota or title of it.
Zechariah’s prophecies of the approaching day of deliverance to the people shall effectually silence those that looked with contempt upon the beginning of this work.
The Israelites who had returned to Judah and Jerusalem despised the foundation of the second temple, because it was likely to be so far inferior to the first (Ezra 3:12). Their enemies despised the wall when it was in the building Nehemiah 2:19; 4:2-3). In the Lord’s work, do not despise the day of small things. Though the instruments are weak and unlikely, the Lord often chooses them to bring about great things. As a great mountain becomes a plain before Him when He pleases, so a little stone, cut out of a mountain without hands, comes to fill the earth (Daniel 2:35). Though the beginnings are small, the Lord can make the end greatly increased; a grain of mustard-seed may become a great tree. Despise let not the dawning light, for it will shine more and more to the perfect day. The day of small things is the day of precious things, and will be the day of great things.
Those that despaired the finishing of the work began shall rejoice when they see Zerubbabel busy among the builders, giving orders and directions and seeing to it that the work done with great exactness, that it may be both fine and firm. It is a matter of great rejoicing to all good people to see their leaders careful and active in the building of the Lord’s house, to see a shovel in the hand of those who have power to do much more than being a laborer. The people do not see Zerubbabel with a trowel in his hand but see him with a shovel in his hand, and he considers it an honor to do what he can in the rebuilding of the temple. Zerubbabel does his part, does as much as man can do to forward the work, but he could do nothing if the watchful, powerful, gracious providence of the Lord did not go before him and go along with him in it. Except the Lord had built this house, Zerubbabel and the rest would have labored in vain (Psalm 127:1).
We must not think that the Lord is so busy with the affairs of His church He neglects the world. It is a comfort to know that the same all wise, almighty Lord that governs the nations of the earth is concerned about the church. Those seven eyes that run through the earth are upon the stone that Zerubbabel is laying to see that it is properly laid. Those that have a part in the building of the church must look up to the eyes of the Lord and submit to His plan for the building of the church.
The angel said enough to Zechariah to encourage him and to enable him to encourage others, with reference to the building of the temple that was the principal intention of the vision. However, he still questions that needed answered. He understood the meaning of the lampstand with its lamps, but he wants to know what these two olive trees are.
Verse eleven and twelve - “Then I answered and said to him, ’What are these two olive trees on the right of the lampstand and on its left.’ Then I asked the second time and said to him, ‘What are the two olive branches which are beside the two golden pipes, which empty the golden oil from themselves?’”
The angel did not answer Zechariah’s first question so he asked the angel a second time what was the meaning of what he saw. If we do not receive satisfactory answers to our enquiries and requests, we renew them, and repeat them. Zechariah’s second question varied somewhat from the first. He first asked, “What are these two olive trees?” In the second he asked, “What are these two olive branches that hung over the bowl and distilled oil into it? In his questions Zechariah asked what was the meaning of not only what was obvious at first sight but also what was not obvious.
The angel asked Zechariah, “Do you not know what these are?" And he said, "No, my lord."
It is only after Zechariah admits he does not understand the meaning of the two branches he explains what Zechariah saw. “These are the two anointed ones who are standing by the Lord of the whole earth.”
If the lampstand is a symbol of the visible church that is to be the source of light that comes from above and the two branches represent the two anointed ones who receive direction from the Lord that are to be given to the people, they represent the office of priest and king. Their wisdom, courage, and zeal, were continually emptying themselves into the golden bowl, to keep the lamps burning; and, when they are gone, others rise up to carry on the same work. If the lampstand represents the true believers in Christ, the two anointed before the Lord of the whole earth represent Christ and the Holy Spirit, the Redeemer and the Comforter. The Holy Spirit pours the golden oil of grace into those who are true believers in Christ. This is what keeps their lamps burning, and without a constant supply of which they would soon go out. The Father will send the Son and the Holy Spirit into the world in the time appointed.
The Book of Zechariah – Part 4
The Visions of Zechariah – Part 3
Zechariah 5: 1 – 6:8
The Flying Scroll (5:1-4):
Zechariah’s first five visions were visions of peace and all the words Zechariah heard were comforting. However, God’s prophets are not only His ambassadors of peace but proclaim war against those that delight in war, and persist in their rebellion. In chapter 5, we have two visions, by which "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men." God will do great and kind things for His people, which the faithful sons of Israel shall rejoice in, but "let the sinners in Zion be afraid;" for God will reckon severely with those particular persons among them that are wicked and profane. While God is showing kindness to the faithful of the nation and blessing them, the wicked and profane and their families shall be under the curse Zechariah sees in a flying scroll.
The angel with Zechariah asked him, “What do you see?" Zechariah answered, "I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits and its width ten cubits.”
The angel, to get Zechariah’s attention, and to raise in him a desire to have what he sees explained asks Zechariah, “What he sees?” Zechariah tells the angels he sees a flying scroll and as near, as he can guess by his eye it is twenty cubits long (ten yards) and ten cubits wide (five yards).
The angel with Zechariah told Zechariah, “This is the curse that is going forth over the face of the whole land; surely everyone who steals will be purged away according to the writing on one side, and everyone who swears will be purged away according to the writing on the other side.”
The scroll contains a declaration of the righteous wrath of God against those sinners especially who by swearing affront His majesty or by stealing, invade their neighbor’s property. Let every Israelite rejoice in the blessings of his country with trembling; for if he swears, if he steals, if he lives in any course of sin, he shall not have the comfort of them.
The flying scroll goes over the face of the whole earth, not only the land of Israel. It goes over the face of the whole earth because that law only shall judge those that have revolted against the law written in their hearts. All humanity is liable to the judgment of God; and, wherever sinners are, any where upon the face of the whole earth, the curse of God can and will find them and seize them.
The sinners, this curse is leveled against is thieves. Every one that by fraud or force takes that which is not his own and especially that robs God and converts to his own use what was devoted to God and his honor. Those that robs their fathers and mothers and say it is not transgression (Proverbs 28:24).
The swearer, this curse is leveled against is those who swear rashly and profanely. They bring the curse upon themselves by their perjury, against those who use God’s name to confirm a lie.
The enforcer of this curse is the Lord of hosts. The Lord of hosts bring the curse forth denotes it is a righteous curse, for He is righteous. He brings it forth with power. Who can put aside or resist the curse that a God of almighty power brings forth? The effect of this curse; it is very dreadful. Every one that steals are cut off, not corrected, but destroyed, cut off from the land of the living. God will not spare the sinners He finds among His own people, nor shall the holy city be a protection to the unholy. He will cut them off from the face of the whole earth, over which the curse flies, according to the curse, for the judgments of God’s hand are exactly agreeable with the judgments of his mouth.
God’s curse comes with a warrant to break open doors where the sinner is most secure, and thinks himself out of danger in his own house the curse of God will seize him. It shall fall not only upon him but also upon his family. It shall not only beset his house but it shall remain in the midst of his house. It shall dwell where he dwells, and be his constant companion at bed and board, to make both miserable to him. Having got possession of him it shall keep it unless he repents.
The curse shall consume the house even though the timber be the heart of oak and the stones rigidly set they shall not be able to stand before the curse of God. Their ruins will be standing monuments of God’s justice and lasting witnesses of the sinner’s injustice. Sin is the ruin of houses and families, especially the sins of injury and perjury.
The Woman in the Ephah (5:5-11):
The vision of the flying scroll was very plain and easy to understand. In the vision of the woman in the ephah, things are dark and hard to understand. Some scholars believe it foretells the final destruction of the temple and the nation and the dispersion of the Jews following the crucifixion of Jesus and the persecution of His followers. Therefore, these events are in obscure figures and expressions, lest the plain denunciation of the second overthrow of temple and state might discourage those who were restoring the temple.
Zechariah contemplating the power and terror of the curse which consumes the houses of thieves and swearers is told, "Lift up now your eyes and see what this is going forth.”
Zechariah will see greater desolations than those made by the curse of God for the sin of man. It seems Zechariah could not tell what it was he was seeing, so he asked the angel, “What is it? The angel said, "This is the ephah going forth." Again he said, "This is their appearance in all the land and behold, a lead cover was lifted up" and there is a woman sitting inside the ephah.
Zechariah saw an ephah, a barrel, used in commerce to measure corn. The ephah represents the Israelite filling up their measure of iniquity, which God has set for them. When it is full, as the ephah of corn, they will be delivered into the hands of those to whom God has sold them for their sin as an ephah of corn is measured to be sold at the market or to be milled. On the other hand, an ephah, used in buying and selling, represents the fraud, deceit, and extortion in commerce that these people were guilty of committing. The woman represents the sinful state of the religion of Israel and the nation. God’s people are called the corn of His floor (Isaiah 21:10). Here He puts this corn into the ephah in order to part Himself from them.
The angel told Zechariah, “This is Wickedness! And he threw her down into the middle of the ephah and cast the lead weight on its opening.”
The angel told Zechariah, Israel is a wicked nation. If she were not a wicked nation, God would not reject her. The wickedness of Israel is an abominable wickedness. No wickedness is more abominable, scandalous, detestable, and outrageous, as when found among professors of religion.
The purpose of the vision is to show the people the wrath of God against impenitent sinners is, unavoidable, and they cannot escape it. Guilt is upon the sinner as a talent of lead, to sink him to the lowest level of hell.
Zechariah sees the ephah with the woman in it carried away into some far country. The instruments employed to carry the ephah and woman into some far country were two women. These two women had large and strong wings that enabled them to fly swiftly. They had the wind in their wings denoting the great violence and expedition with which the Romans destroyed the Jewish nation. God has not only winged messengers in heaven, but He can, when He pleases, give wings to those also whom He employs in this lower world; and, when He does so, He sends them with the wind in their wings.
The two women lifted up the ephah and the woman between earth and the heavens denoting the terrors that will pursue the wicked Israelites and their being a public example of God’s vengeance to the world. The lifting up the ephah and the woman between the earth and the heavens implies the ephah and the woman in the ephah were unworthy of the earth and the heavens and abandoned by both.
Zechariah asked the angel, “Where are they taking the ephah?” Zechariah enquired where the women were carrying their prisoner. The carrying away of the ephah indirectly implies that the punishment of the Israelites will be a final dispersion and forced to dwell in foreign countries, particularly in the country of Babylon, where many of the scattered Israelites went after the destruction of their country by the Romans. This implies the distress of the Israelites will continue from generation to generation and that they shall be so dispersed that they shall never unite or incorporate again. They shall settle in a perpetual unsettlement, and Cain’s doom shall be theirs, to dwell in the land of shaking. Their iniquity shall continue and their hearts shall be hardened in it. Blindness has happened to the Israelites. God has given them a spirit of slumber, lest at any time they should confess and be healed (Romans 11:8).
The Four Chariots (6: 1 – 15):
In this chapter we see, God, as King of nations, ruling the world by the ministry of angels, in the vision of the four chariots. And God, as King of the saints, ruling the church by the mediation of Christ, in the figure of Joshua the high priest. It seems as if Zechariah is looking forward to receiving this vision. He lifted up his eyes and saw “four chariots were coming forth from between the two mountains; and the mountains were bronze mountains. (v. 1), horses of different colors drew the four chariots.
Zechariah asked the angel that was with him, “What are these, my lord?” The angel answered and said, "these are the four spirits of heaven, going forth after standing before the Lord of all the earth’” (v.5).
There are scholars who claim this is a reference to what Daniel saw in the vision of the four winds of the heaven stirring up the great sea and four beasts were coming up from the sea. (Daniel 7:2-3). The red horses (v. 2) represent the Babylonian Empire. The black horses (v. 2) represent the Persian Empire who executed God’s judgments upon Babylon and freeing the Jews from their captivity. The white horses represent the Grecians who overthrow the Persian Empire. The spotted horse (v. 2) represent the Romans who conquered the Grecian Empire and are said to go forth towards the south country, Egypt, which was the last part of the Grecian Empire that was subdued by the Romans.
In the Bible, angels are often called the “chariots of God” (Psalm 68:17). The servant of Elisha saw “the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (2 Kings 6:17). The decrees of God are the beginning of all events in the world and they are immovable as mountains of brass. God performs the things that are appointed for us and what He performs for us is according to His will. Whatever God has decreed we should see them coming from between mountains of brass and it is useless to oppose His will. It is our duty to submit to the will of God.
God executes His decrees in the world as a king who rides in an open chariot, to show His glory to the world, in which, as in chariots of war, He rides forth conquering and to conquer and triumphing over all the enemies of His glory and government. God is great and terrible in his doings (Psalm 66:3), and in them we see the goings of our God, our King (Psalm 68:24). He moves swiftly and strongly as chariots, but all directed and governed by His infinite wisdom and sovereign will, as chariots by their drivers.
The angels in heaven are the ministers of God and employed by Him as the armies of heaven for the executing of His decrees among the inhabitants of the earth. They are the chariots that come from between the mountains and are the horses that draw the chariots, great in power and might, and who, like the horse that God himself describes in Job 39:19, are clothed with thunder, are terrible, but cannot be terrified nor made afraid. They are chariots of fire and horses of fire that carried one prophet to heaven and guarded another on earth. They are as observant of and obedient to the will of God as well-managed horses are to their rider or driver. Not that God needs them or their services, but He is pleased to make use of them, that He may put honor upon them, and encourage our trust in His providence.
The horses pulling the first chariot were red signifying war and bloodshed. Those pulling the second chariot were black signifying the consequences of war, it puts all into mourning, lays all waste, introduces famines, and pestilences, and desolations. Those pulling the third chariot were white signifying the return of comfort, and peace, and prosperity, after these dark and dismal times. Those pulling the fourth chariot of mixed colors signifying different types of events, a day of prosperity and a day of adversity. These chariots are the four spirits that come from God, and from Him they receive their commissions and instructions.
When Zechariah asked the angel “What are these?” The angel told him, “These are the four spirits of heaven, going forth after standing before the Lord of all the earth, with one of which the black horses are going forth to the North Country; and the white ones go forth after them, while the dappled ones go forth to the south country.”
The four spirits stand before the Lord of the earth to receive orders from Him and report their activity on this earth. When He tells them to go forth, they go as His messengers and ministers of His justice and mercy. The black horses that went forth carried with them events that will make every thing look black. However, the white horses that will follow the black horses will carry joy to those that mourned, and turn the night into day, this is the way God deals with His people. If the black horses go forth, the white ones presently go after them; for where affliction abounds consolation abounds much more. The horses that went to the south country requested the privilege to patrol the earth.
If we go through out the earth, we shall find the events that occur in this world are neither all black nor all white, but ash-colored, or gray, mixed of black and white. Such is the world we live in. In this world, God’s people are to sing in times of mercy and times of judgment. We are to praise with our songs the God of both (Psalm 101:1) and at the same time seek the will of God for our lives.
Then the Lord cried out, “See, those who are going to the land of the north have appeased My wrath in the land of the north.”
God executed His wrath upon the enemies of His people and His favor conferred upon His people, in both God fulfilled His will, and accomplished His word as He spoke in Isaiah 1:24.
God in the past spoke to His people through the prophets He spoke in various manners. In the first part of this chapter, He spoke by a vision, which only Zechariah saw. In the second part, He speaks by a sign, or type, which many saw, and explained to them. It was an illustrious prediction of the Messiah as the priest and king of His church.
The Book of Zechariah – Part 5
A Delegation From Bethel
Zechariah 7: 1 – 14
In the fourth year of the reign of King Darius of Persia, a delegation was sent from Bethel to Jerusalem to “seek the favor of the Lord” (v.v. 1, 2).
Verse three: “Speaking to the priests who belonged to the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, ‘Shall I weep in the fifth month and abstain, as I have done these many years?’”
The men who came from Bethel were not so bound to the priests they ignored or didn’t trust the prophets, who by the gifts that has been given them, were well qualified to answer the question they asked. They were not so impressed by the words of the prophets they rejected the words of the priests. They spoke to both the priests and to the prophets, and, in consulting both; they gave glory to the Lord that one Spirit works in all called by the Lord.
The delegation wanted to know if they should continue the fasts initiated by the priests and observed during the seventy years of captivity and the twenty years following Cyrus’ proclamation permitting the captives to return to their homeland.
The captives observed four anniversary fasts, one in the fourth month, in remembrance of the breaking down of the wall of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 52:6), another in the fifth month, in remembrance of the burning of the temple (Jeremiah 52:12-13), another in the seventh month, in remembrance of the killing of Gedaliah, which completed their dispersion, and another in the tenth month, in remembrance of the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem (2 Kings 25:1). Here only one, that of the fifth month is mentioned.
The question seems to imply a readiness to discontinue the fast. The question that may have been on the delegation’s mind, but was not asked, would discontinuing the fast be evidence of a false sense of security or add to the displeasure of the Lord. In their present situation, the people were still in distress, and under the Lord’s displeasure.
From the human viewpoint, the Lord has changed His method of dealing with His people, why continue the feasts? Since the Lord is returning to them in the way of mercy would, it not be proper to change their method of performing their duties as the children of the Lord? It seems as if the main concern of the delegation is the fast held on the fifth month, the remembrance of the burning of the temple. Now that the temple was almost completely restored is there any reason to keep this fast? However, having kept it for seventy plus years the delegation felt it would not be a good idea to discontinue the fast without approval from the priests and prophets.
Should we abandon or alter a good and productive method of religious services, which we have found beneficial to others and ourselves because of the changes taking place in our society and the world? What should be our purpose for coming to the house of the Lord? The delegation’s purpose for coming to the house of the Lord was to pray and seek the will of God in this matter of the continuance of the fasts. Our purpose for coming to the house of the Lord should be to pray and seek the will of the Lord for our lives and to worship Him. It is not for entertainment.
When we present our requests to the Lord, it must be with a readiness to receive instructions from Him. If we refuse to listen to what the Lord has to say to us, there is no way we can expect the Lord to accept our prayers. The question we should bring before the Lord is not, what will You do for me, but what can I do for You, even though You don’t need my help.
In His answer to the question, the Lord of hosts asked the question, “When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months these seventy years, was it actually for Me that you fasted? When you eat and drink, do you not eat for yourselves and do you not drink for yourselves?”
Here is another of those questions, although not stated as such, “consider your ways?’ Consider what you are doing and why. The answer to the question involves not only the delegation, but to all the priests and people of the land. We are included in the answer.
The Lord of hosts asked this question because the question the delegation from Bethel asked seems to be more concerned about the ceremony than about the substance of it. They seemed to be boasting of their fasting, and implying The Lord should have returned to them in mercy sooner then He did. It appears they are asking the Lord to give them a reason why He has not returned in mercy to them sooner than He did as the people in Isaiah’s day asked “Why have we fasted and You do not hear? Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice? (Isaiah 58:3).
What was the source of the question the delegation asked, unbelief? If they had given the fasts the credit that was due to them, there was no reason why they should doubt that they should lay the fasts aside, now that the occasion of them was over. Therefore, the first answer to the question is a very sharp reproof of their hypocrisy, directed not only to the people of the land but also to the priests who inaugurated the fasts, and were keeping them to serve some purpose of their own. The Lord of hosts wanted the priests and the people to know He was not made a debtor to them by these fasts. In fact, they were not acceptable to Him.
What the priests and people were doing was not wrong. They did it in the right way. The Lord was not charging them with omission or neglect of their duty. He was charging them with a wrong intent. He was telling them those who come seeking God’s mercy must first be willing to admit their faults, a hard thing to do. Those who are zealous for the performance of a duty ought to examine themselves faithfully whether they have the right attitude regarding the duty. They must ask themselves, why I am doing what I am doing.
The Lord of hosts appeals to the consciences of the delegation. They will be a witness against them if they have not been sincere in the performance of their duty and their worship of the Lord. They need to understand and we need to understand, there is One who is far greater then the consciences. One who knows the heart and knows all things will be a witness against them.
The Lord of hosts makes it very clear what they did was not for Him but for themselves. In their fasting and worship, there was a form of godliness but they lacked life, soul, and power. The stress was upon the repetition of the rituals instead upon the worship of the Lord. Even those who were seeking to please the Lord and obtain His favor, and sincere in their intention to find favor in His sight were wanting. This is why in the sight of the Lord their fasts was a mockery and provoked Him. They were using the fasts as a covering for their sin. There fasts were like Jezebel’s fast, or as the Pharisees’ fasts that rested in outward expressions of humiliation while their hearts were not humble.
If our fasting and praying, though frequent and long do not bring us into a stronger relationship with the Lord. If they do not increase godly sorrow for our falling short of the glory of the Lord and our mistakes and alter the temper of our minds and the course of our lives for the better, they do not at all answer the purpose of fasting and prayer. They have the same purpose of eating and drinking. Something we have always done.
In verse seven, the priests and the people are told what the Lord of hosts has said is not something new. The question seems to imply they have forgotten.
Verse seven - “Are not these the words which the Lord proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous along with its cities around it, and the Negev and the foothills in inhabited?”
The good thing the captives should have done they left undone. On their fast days, the captives wept and separated themselves from their daily activities as a sign of their sorrow for the judgments they were under. This was not enough. What they should have done was search the Scriptures and they would have seen the reason for God’s controversy with their fathers, and might have taken warning by their miseries not to tread in the steps of their iniquities.
The delegation asked, “Shall we do as we have done, in fasting, the answer is no. You must do what you have not done, repent of your sins and change your lifestyle. This is what Zechariah is calling the people to do, just as the former prophets called the fathers to do.
The affliction that has come upon the people was to wake them up. Bring them to repentance. Put in their minds the former flourishing state of their country: Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous as well as the cities and country around Jerusalem. However, the Lord, by the prophets, cried out to the fathers, “amend your ways and doings, or else your prosperity would soon be gone.” Zechariah told them, "you should take notice of that, and understand that what was required of them for the preventing of the judgments they didn’t do. If you don’t do what is required of you for the removal of the judgments all you’re fasting and weeping signify nothing." The words of Zechariah agree with those of the former prophets. Whether people are in prosperity or adversity, they must leave their sins and do their duty; this must still be the message of every sermon.
Zechariah dealt with the fathers’ disobedience and what was the consequence of it in chapter one and now here again. The disobedience of others and the consequences should be a warning to us. God’s judgments upon Israel of old for their sins were written for admonition to Christians (1 Corinthians 10:11).
In verses nine and ten, Zechariah preached the sermons the former prophets preached to the fathers of the priests and the people because the same things were required of them now.
Verses nine and ten - “Thus has the Lord of hosts said, ‘Dispense true justice and practice kindness and compassion each to his brother; and do not oppress the widow or orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.’”
The duties that are required of the priests and the people here would have lengthening the tranquility of their fathers. The children must fulfill the duties that are required of the priests and people to restore their tranquility. They will not restore their tranquility through the keeping of fasts and offering sacrifices but by doing the duties that, they were bound to do by the light and law of nature. Judges must administer justice impartially, according to the maxims of the law and the merits of the cause, without respect of persons and execute the sentence they have decreed. Neighbors must have a tender concern for one another, and must not only do one another no wrong, but must be ready to do one another all the good that lie in their power. They must extend mercy and compassion to their brothers. The infirmities of others, as well as their calamities, they are to look upon them with compassion. They must not deal harshly with those whom they have advantage over and who, they know, are not able to help themselves. They must not business transactions oppress the widow, the fatherless, the stranger and the poor. The must not oppress the weak or take advantage of them. They must not only do no physical harm to others but also must not imagine evil against others in their hearts or wish it. The law of God lays a restraint upon the heart, and forbids the entertaining, forbids the admitting, of a malicious, spiteful, ill-natured thought (Deuteronomy 15:9).
The fathers of the priests and the people were obstinate and headstrong. They persisted in their transgressions of the law purely from a spirit of contradiction to the law. If it were possible, they would not listen to what the Lord told the prophets to say to them. If they could not avoid hearing what they said, they resolved they would not heed it and looked another way as if the prophet had not spoken. If they did hear what the prophet said to them, and, as it seemed, inclined at first to comply with it, when it came time to respond to what they heard like a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke they pulled away and would not submit to the easy yoke and light burden of the Lord’s commandments. On the other hand, they submitted for a short time. They were like the son that said, I go, but did not go. They filled their own minds with prejudices against the word of God, and had some objection to every sermon they heard. They stopped their ears so they could not hear what the prophets had to say to them.
There is no one as deaf spiritually as those that will not hear the word of the Lord. No matter what they hear or see has an impact upon them. No one is so hard as the heart of a presumptuous sinner and those whose hearts are made hard by their own hardening, and it is just thing that God does when He gives them over to a reprobate sense, to the hardness and impenitence of their own hearts. These stubborn sinners hardened their hearts on purpose lest they should hear what the Lord has to say to them by the written word, by the Law of Moses, by the words of the prophets. They did not regard the words of the prophets, though they were words that the Lord of hosts sent to them, though He sent them immediately by His Spirit in the prophets. In their rejection of the words of the prophets, they insulted the Lord, resisted the Holy Spirit, and grieved Him. The disobedience of the fathers resulted in unanswered prayers, scattering, and desolation.
Verses thirteen and fourteen - “And it came about that just as He called and they would not listen, so they called and I would not listen, says the Lord of hosts; but I scattered them with a storm wind among all the nations whom they have not known. Thus the land is desolate behind them so that no one went back and forth, for they made the pleasant land desolate.”
The Lord was highly displeased with His people and His displeasure was just. He required nothing of them but what was reasonable in itself and beneficial to them, yet they refused to honor Him, and in a most insolent manner too. What master would be so abused by His servant and not punish him? Such an implacable enmity as this to the law and the prophets was that which brought the wrath of the Lord upon His people. Sins against the Lord of hosts, whose authority is incontestable, bring the wrath of the Lord of hosts, whose power is irresistible, upon the abusing servant. The effect of the abuse, as they ignored the word of the Lord of hosts He ignored their prayers. As He cried out to them in their prosperity to leave their sins and they would not hear, but persisted in their iniquities, so they cried out to Him in the day of their trouble to remove His judgments, He would not hear them, but lengthened out their calamities. But the Lord has said it, and will abide by it, “He that turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be an abomination” (Proverbs 28:9). Iniquity in the heart will certainly spoil the success of prayer (Psalm 66:18).
As they rejected their duty and allegiance to the Lord, the Lord threw them about as chaff before a whirlwind among the nations where they could not expect to receive any kindness. They violated all the laws of their land, so God took away all the glories of it: All the country that was the kingdom of the two tribes, after the dispersion of the remaining Jews, upon the slaughter of Gedaliah, were uninhabited. There was not man, woman, or child, in it, until the Jews returned at the end of seventy years’ captivity. The Lord kept the empty for their return. For the present, the judgment appears much more dismal; for what a horrid wilderness must a land be that had been so many years uninhabited. However, the people must understand it was by their own wickedness the pleasant land is desolated. It was not so much the Assyrians and Babylonians that did it they did it themselves.
The desolation of a land is always due to the wickedness of its inhabitants (Psalm 107:34). This desolation of the land came because of their willful disobedience to the law of God. The present generation saw how desolate sin had made that pleasant land, and they were rejecting the call to return to the Lord.
The Book of Zechariah – Part 6
The Future of Jerusalem
Zechariah 8: 1 – 23
Zechariah’s answer to the question the delegation from Bethel asked about continuing or discontinuing the public fasts was in the form of reproof. In this chapter, there is a change; he speaks words of encouragement to the obedient priests and people.
Zechariah is told to tell the priests and the people the Lord of hosts says, “I am exceedingly jealous for Zion, yes, with great wrath I am jealous for Her. I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.”
The great wrath that was against Jerusalem (7:12) will be turned against her adversaries. The sins of Zion that were her worst enemies, and had done her the most harm the Lord in His jealousy for her honor and comfort will take them away and He will dwell in Zion. There will be a great reformation in Jerusalem, and the religion of Israel. The power of it will prevail and flourish throughout the land. Jerusalem will once more become famous for her fidelity and honesty and called “the City of Truth.” The faithful city that had become a harlot (Isaiah 1:21) shall become the dwelling place of the Lord. What had been the “Mount of corruption” (2 Kings 23:13), will become the mountain of the Lord of hosts. There shall be in Jerusalem a great increase of people. It will become a peaceable and prosperous city. When Jerusalem becomes “the City of Truth,” the Lord of hosts says:
“Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each man with his staff in his hand because of age. And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in the streets.”
The streets that had been filled with the bodies of the slain, or deserted and left desolate men and women who have not been cut off by untimely deaths, either through their own intemperance or God’s vengeance, will have their days lengthened. They shall have their staffs to support them as Jacob worshipped the Lord leaning on his staff (Hebrews 11:21). Because the city has become the “City of Truth”, a multitude of children will dwell in the city. They will increase and replenish the city. The children will be healthful, strong, and active. They shall be hearty, cheerful, and play in the streets, a dangerous place in this 21st century. They will enjoy perfect security. Playing in the streets is a sign that there is little fear there. Their will be love and peace among them. There will be no fighting in the streets, as it is in cities divided into factions and parties and the children express their resentments of the parents and the law. When Jerusalem becomes the “City of Truth”, the children shall play in the streets and not devour one another. The games they play shall be harmless and inoffensive.
The childish youthful games played in the streets will be confined to the age of childhood and youth. While it is a pleasing sight to see boys and girls, playing in the streets it is not a pleasing sight to see men and women who should be spending their time with work and business loitering in the streets. It is a good thing, which we see very little of in this 21st century, to see children sitting with the elderly asking questions, but it is no fit way for men and women, who are able to work stand all day in the streets doing nothing worthwhile.
The Lord of hosts will bring back from all parts of the land the scattered Israelites.
Verses seven and eight - “I am going to save My people from the land of the east and from the land of the west; and I will bring them back and they will live in the midst of Jerusalem; and they will be My people, and I will be their God in truth and righteousness.”
The Lord of hosts will save His people from being lost, or losing themselves, in Babylon, or in Egypt, or in any other country where they were driven, held captive by the nations or incorporated into them. The Lord of hosts will separate His people from the nations and bring them to their own land. He will renew His covenant with His people. He will be faithful to them and make them faithful to Him. They will be His people and He will be their God. They will obey His laws and He will secure their future. He will never leave nor forsake them and they shall never leave nor forsake Him as they have done in the past.
Between the captivity and Christ’s time on earth, the fulfillment of these promises did not occur, they will in the age to come.
At this point and time, it seemed unlikely Jerusalem would be restored to her former glory. The people were few and feeble. Everything the Lord of hosts has said is good news in these troubled days. Considering how bad the times are how can these things happen? We do both God and ourselves a great deal of wrong when we think what is impossible to us is impossible to the Lord. This is what these people were doing. They were looking at the promises through the eyes of the week and feeble and not through the strong and powerful eyes of the Lord. We need to remember “with God all things possible.”
In the following verses the Lord of hosts, through Zechariah, gives further assurances of the mercy He has in store for Judah and Jerusalem. These verses contain strong encouragements for those who, in obedience to the call of God by his prophets, applied in good earnest their hands to the building of the temple.
Verse nine - “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Let your hands be strong, you who are listening in these days to these words from the mouth of the prophets, those who spoke in the day that the foundation of the house of the Lord of hosts was laid, to the end that the temple might be built.’”
Those who have obeyed the words of the Lord of hosts in the day when they continue the work of restoring the temple need their hands strengthened and their hearts comforted. They will find comfort in the promises and reap the harvest of their labor. It is the obedient to the words of the Lord may expect to be encouraged by Him. Those who lay their hands to the plough of duty shall have them strengthened with the promises of mercy; and those who avoid their fathers’ faults will have the curse turned into blessing.
Verse ten and eleven - “For before those days there was no wage for man or any wage for animal; and for him who went out or came in there was no peace because of his enemies, and I set all men one against another. But now I will not treat the remnant of this people as in the former days, declares the Lord of hosts.”
The Lord of hosts is going to bestow blessings upon those who have been faithful in the restoring of the temple. Before the days of the restoring of the temple and Jerusalem, the times had been very bad, and the calamities and difficulties of them were many and great. Trade was dead; there was nothing done and therefore nothing to be got, the fruits of the earth were thin and poor, so that the farmer had no need to hire people to harvest his corn, nor teams to carry it and put it in his barns and storehouses. Merchants did not need to hire men or beasts because they had no goods to import or export. The men, who lived by their labor, had no way of getting bread for themselves and their families.
Traveling was dangerous, so that all commerce by both sea and land was impossible. The people did not travel abroad to visit their families and friends. The Samaritans, and Ammonites, and their other evil neighbors through small raiding parties seized all they could lay their hands on. The roads infested with highwaymen, and homes broken into both in the city and country. Neither men’s persons nor their goods were safe at home or abroad. What encouragement shall they now have to proceed in the good work they are doing and to hope that it shall yet be well with them?
Verse twelve: The seed they sow will yield a great increase. The vine will yield its fruit and the ground its produce. The heavens will give them dew and rain without which the earth would not yield her increase. This will be a constant reminder of the beneficence of the Lord of heaven to men on earth and of their dependence on him, a sweeping rain leaves no food (Proverbs 28:3) but the gentile dew waters the earth that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater.
The Lord of hosts will cause the remnant of His people to possess all these things. He will take care of them and they shall want nothing that is fit for them. This confirms what the prophet Haggai said (Haggai 2:16, 19). The Lord’s people that serve him faithfully, have great possessions. They shall also recover their credit among their neighbors.
Verse thirteen - “It will come about that just as you were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you that you may become a blessing. Do not fear, let your hands be strong."
Every one censured, condemned and spoke ill of the Israelites and wished ill to them because of the great disgrace that they were under, but the Lord of hosts will save them and they will be a blessing. Their enemies will see the honor the Lord of hosts will bestow on His people. They will be applauded and admired as much as when they were vilified, slighted and abandoned. The promises were made to Israel, the Northern Kingdom and Judah, the Southern Kingdom. God Himself will determine to do them good.
Verses fourteen and fifteen - “For thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Just as I purposed to do harm to you when your fathers provoked Me to wrath,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘and I have not relented, so I have again purposed in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of David. Do not fear!’”
When the fathers provoked the Lord of hosts, He said He would punish them and He did. He will do them good now that they are obeying Him. He will be as true to His promises as He was to His judgments. All their comforts will rise from the thoughts of the love that God has towards them (Jeremiah 29:11). The difficulties they will encounter in their work must not drive them from it because their reward will be great. The dangers from their enemies must not terrify them. Those that have God for them need not fear what man can do against them. Let them do the duty that those promises call for from them.
Verses sixteen and seventeen - “These are the things which you should do; so speak the truth to one another; judge with truth and judgment for peace in your gates. Also let none of you devise evil in your heart against another, and do not love perjury; for all these are what I hate, declares the Lord.”
The very same duties which the former prophets commanded the fathers to do to avoid the wrath threatened Zechariah commanded the children to do to receive mercy. To do this was their part of the covenant. They must never tell a lie, but always speak the truth both in their business dealings and in common conversation. Those entrusted with the administration of public justice must see to it that no one is falsely accused and those falsely accused exonerated. Let the judges that sit in the gates in all their judicial proceedings have regard both to truth and to peace; let them take care to do justice, to accommodate differences, and to prevent unnecessary lawsuits. They are to make a judgment of truth in order to make peace, and making those friends that were at variance, and a judgment of peace as far as is consistent with truth, and no further.
No man must bear malice against his neighbor. Every-one must not only keep their hands from doing evil, but must watch over their hearts so that they do not imagine any evil against their neighbors. Injury and mischief must be crushed in the bud. Great reverence must be had for an oath, and conscience made of it. Never make a false oath. Do not impose oaths upon others, lest they swear falsely and make a false oath. All of these things the Lord hates, therefore His people must hate them if they expect to have God their friend.
Verses 18-23 contain two promises, for the further encouragement of those that were gladly involved in building the temple.
Verse 19 is a direct answer to the enquiry concerning the fasts (chapter 7:3). Those who fasted in hypocrisy their doom spelled out. However, those who in sincerity humbled themselves before God, and sought His face are assured they will be given a large share of the happy times approaching. The four yearly fasts that they had religiously observed will be to the house of Judah a joyful time.
Joyous times come to the church after troublous times. If weeping endures for a night, joy comes in the morning. When God comes towards us in ways of mercy, we must meet Him with joy and thankfulness. When God turns judgments into mercies, we must turn fasts into festivals and walk after the Lord. Those who sow tears with Zion will reap the joy promised Zion. Those who submit to the restraints of her solemn fasts will share in the triumphs of her cheerful feasts when they come (Isaiah 66:10). The entire Lord’s people are to be faithful and honest in all their dealings. However, they do not profit as those who are dishonest. Live peaceably with all men. Let the truths of God rule in your heads, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts.
Great numbers will be added to the religion of Israel (v.v. 20-23). This was fulfilled in part through a large number of proselytes from all the countries around Israel and some that were in the remote parts of the known world. They came yearly to worship at Jerusalem, which added very much both to the grandeur and wealth of Jerusalem. But it will be accomplished much more fully in the conversion of the Gentiles to the faith of Christ, and the incorporating of them with the believing Jews in one great body, under Christ the head, a mystery which is made manifest by the words of the prophets (Romans 16:26).
Who will be added to the church? Those added to the church were not a few ignorant country people that may be easily imposed upon, or some idle people that have nothing else to do, but intelligent inquisitive citizens, men of business and acquaintance with the world, shall embrace the gospel of Christ (v.v. 22-23). By this, it appears that they who will be brought into the church will not be through persuasion, for they are of different languages. It will not be by external force, for they are strong nations, able to hold their ground if they are attacked. It will be purely by the effectual working of divine truth and grace. They will come to pray before the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts (v.v. 21-22). No mention is made of their offering sacrifices, because these were not expected from the proselytes but because when the Gentiles will be brought in, sacrifice and offering will be abolished.
Those who are brought into a fellowship with Christ should do all they can to bring others to Him, as Andrew invited Peter to Christ and Philip invited Nathanael. True grace hates monopolies. Those who are duly sensible of their need of Christ, and of the favor of God through Him, will stir up themselves and others without delay to come to Him and find rest for their weary soul. It is for our lives and the lives of our souls that we do not delay in a matter as important as the welfare of our souls and the souls of others.
The Book of Zechariah – Part 7
The Messiah
Zechariah 10: 1 – 11:17
The Blessings:
The purpose of this chapter is much the same as that of the 9th, the encouragement of the captives that had returned to their homeland. They have been under the rebukes of the Lord for their negligence in rebuilding the temple. Surrounded with enemies and dangers they were told why all the events that have occurred in the past were the acts of the Lord of hosts.
In this chapter, the Lord tells the people He will bless them and make them prosperous at home and victorious abroad. They will receive strength and success from the Lord in all their struggles with their enemies. All they need to do is ask the Lord for His help.
In the past years because of the unseasonable weather, there had been great scarcity of both. In the close of chapter nine Zechariah told the people there will be a great harvest of corn and the fruit of the vine. They are told to pray for rain.
Verse one - “Ask rain from the Lord at the time of the spring. The Lord who makes the storm clouds; And He will give them showers of rain, vegetation in the field to each man.”
They are not to pray to the clouds, nor the stars for rain as their neighbors did, but to the Lord “who makes the storm clouds.”
There were two important rainfalls. One occurred in the autumn during the planting of the seed and the second in the spring, between March and May. If either of these rains failed, there was a lack of food for both the people and their animals because from the end of May to September they never had any rain at all. When the rains did not come in the time, they normally occurred the people viewed this as a sign the Lord was displeased with His people. Zechariah told the people they must pray for rain. The people are to ask for rain in the time when the rains normally came. If they ask in the right time, the Lord will send the rain in great abundance.
In verse two, the people are told of their folly in calling on the gods of their neighbors as their fathers had done. The idols the fathers prayed to and consulted in their distress could not tell them when they could expect the rain to come so how could they command rain to fall from heaven. The diviners, the prophets of the gods, promised the people the gods would send them rain but it never came. The intent of the visions of the diviners and the promises was to mislead the people. The biggest problem in the promises of rain that never came, those who prayed to the false gods lost the favor of the true God. This is why they went into captivity, were troubled, and harassed, like scattered sheep, without shepherds. Why they had no king, no priest to intercede for them, none to take care of them and keep them together.
In verse three, the Lord told Zechariah, “My anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the male goats; for the Lord of hosts has visited His flock, the house of Judah, and I will make them like His majestic horse in battle.”
“The male goats” is a term used to describe the wicked magistrates. The shepherds are the priests who were not fulfilling their duties. The captivity in Babylon was a sign of the Lord’s anger against them. Though the body of the nation suffered in the captivity, yet it was only the political leaders (goats) and the religious leaders (shepherds) that the Lord was angry with, and that He punished. The afflictions of the body of the nation came from the love of God, and were but a fatherly chastisement, which to them came from His wrath, and was judicial punishment.
We need to remember in troubled times the innocence often suffer with the guilty. Our situations are for the most part our own doing. However, there are times when we suffer from the acts of the ungodly and unrighteous. When things began to change for the better, the Lord gave them the blessings. He visited His flock with favor and provided them with what He finds proper for them. He beautified them, took care of them, managed and made use of them, as a man does the horse he rides on. He made them valuable in themselves and formidable to those about them. From them will come a cornerstone and a tent peg.
Verses four and five - “From them will come the cornerstone, from them the tent peg, from them the bow of battle, from them every ruler, all of them together. They will be as mighty men, treading down the enemy in the mire of the streets in battle; and they will fight, for the Lord will be with them; and the riders on horses will be put to shame.”
Zechariah explained to the people all the power brought engaged against them was from the Lord. Out of the Lord came all the combined force of their enemies. Every oppressor did but what the Lord had decreed. Nor could they have had such power against them unless it came from above, likewise, all the power that benefited them came from the Lord. Out of Him came forth the power of magistrates, which keeps the several parts of the state together. Out of Him came the military power that defends the nation, and out of Him came every oppressor that had the civil power in his hand to oppress the people of God.
However, we must never forget, what the Lord gives to man that is not used to benefit all men will be taken from him.
In verses 5-12 there are promises made to the people of God, which look further than to the state of the Israel in the days of Zechariah. They pertain to events beyond the latter days of Israel’s history. They have reference to the Church and all true believers in Christ. The Israelites will have God’s favor and presence, and shall be owned and accepted of Him. This is the foundation of all the rest: He takes on their cause, takes their part, and is on their side. All their social standing and joy will be due to the Lord’s mercy.
Although cast off and could not pretend to merit anything from the Lord except His wrath and the curse they are promised, they shall be as though they had not been cast off. The Lord will be as perfectly reconciled to them as if He had never contended with them. They shall have such a full assurance of the Lord being reconciled to them they shall be reconciled to each other; this is the favor the Lord shows to all repenting sinners, who are by nature children of wrath. The fellowship and the freedom He gives them. Their covenant is the original covenant made with their fathers. The communion they have with the Lord is the same as their fathers had with the Lord. They can speak to the Lord and receive from Him an answer of peace, for as He never said before and never will, say to Jacob’s seed, “Seek you Me in vain.” They shall be victorious over their enemies that would draw them from their duty to the Lord or their comfort in the Lord. They shall be men that are both strong in body and bold in spirit, men of vigor. Those of Ephraim as well as those of Judah, shall be like mighty men. They will be men that will go about a difficult project and will be able to finish it. They shall be as mighty men and tread down their enemies in battle as the dirt thrown out of the houses and trodden with other dirt in the streets. They shall fight because the Lord is with them. Some will argue that they may sit still, and do nothing, because the Lord is with them but this is not the way the Lord works among His people. The Lord’s gracious presence with us is to help us help ourselves and we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling. They shall fight with readiness and resolution because, if God is with them, they are sure to be conquerors.
The preachers of the gospel of Christ went forth to war. They charged bravely, because the Lord was with them; and those that opposed them were confounded for the Lord chose the weak and foolish things of the world to confound the wise and mighty. Where did they find all this might? Why were they so able, so active? It is in the Lord, and in the power of His might.
The Lord saves us by strengthening us, and works out our happiness by working in us so that we are able to do His calling. We are to use the strength the Lord gives us and when the battle is over the Lord must have the glory. The Lord is our strength, and becomes both our song and our salvation.
The Lord will gather those that have been scattered into one body. The Lord will bring them from other lands and place them in their own land. This will be a sign of their restoration to all their other ancient privileges. In order to this the Lord said, “I will whistle for them to gather them together, for I have redeemed them; and they will be as numerous as they were before.”
The Lord will whistle for them as the shepherd with his pipe calls his sheep together and they gather around him. There are scholars who think Ptolemaeus Philadelphus king of Egypt fulfilled this promise when he sent 120,000 Jews out of his country into their own land. There are also scholars who believe the gathering of Israelites out of Assyria by Alexander the son of Antiochus Epiphanies fulfilled this promise. However, the promise has its spiritual accomplishment in the gathering of precious souls out of bondage worse than that in Egypt or Assyria, and the bringing of them into the glorious liberties of the children of God and their enjoyments, which are as the beautiful fruitful pastures in the land of Gilead and Lebanon.
All the land of promise is theirs, even Gilead, the utmost border of it eastward, and Lebanon, the utmost border northward. The question is, how shall this be, how shall a people separated by such a great distance from their own country be brought to it again? It is true the difficulties seem impossible but they shall be as easily, as effectual accomplished as those that lay in the way of their deliverance out of Egypt and their entrance into Canaan.
The chosen people of the Lord shall greatly multiply. They shall increase as they increased in Egypt and a great number added to their numbers, as in the days of David and Solomon. When the Lord gathers His redeemed ones to Himself they shall help to gather in others with them, and their moving homeward shall be like a snowball.
The scattering the Israelites shall be like the scattering of seed in the ground, not to bury it, but to increase it, that it may bring forth much fruit. It is a fact the Israelites were scattered into every nation under heaven (Acts 2:5) and it was the problems they faced in their homeland caused some of them to move into other nations. Others transplanted themselves into colonies because the land of Israel was too strait for them; and many were natives of other nations proselyte to the Jewish religion. This transplanting among the nations contributed to the spreading of the gospel. The Jews that came from all parts to worship at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost took the gospel message to their own countries, as those in Acts 2 and the eunuch in Acts 8. Their synagogues in the cities of the Gentiles were the first places the apostles and their preaching, where heard. Thus, the Lord sowed them among the nations that the Gentiles might not hurt them. He took care that they should remember Him and make mention of His name in far countries and, by keeping up the knowledge of God among them as He had revealed himself in the Old Testament, they would be the more ready to admit the knowledge of Christ as He has revealed Himself in the New Testament.
This shall last into future ages. The church shall not be a temporary thing in the world but a seed in it. Converts to Christ shall have their children whom they shall teach the knowledge of the Lord, and bring with them when they turn again to the Promised Land the way of holiness. Peter said to those to whom the gospel was first preached, “The promise is to you and to your children" (Acts 2:39). Christ’s family upon earth shall never be extinct, nor his purchased possession lost for want of heirs. The Lord, Himself will be both their strength and their song. In Him, they shall be comforted, and shall have abundant satisfaction. Their heart shall rejoice because of Christ’s love in their hearts.
How are they enabled and invigorated for their duty? Zechariah said the Lord said, “I the Lord will strengthen them” in other words in the Messiah. It is through Christ that we can do all things, and without Him, we can do nothing. If the Lord strengthens us, we must be active and busy in the work of the Lord. We must be industrious men and women, losing no time, and letting no opportunity slip through our fingers. Whatever we do in word or deed, we must do the name of our Lord Jesus.
The Rejection (11: 1 – 17):
In the previous chapters, Zechariah was an ambassador sent to promise peace. In this chapter, he is a herald sent to declare war. Israel will recover its prosperity, and shall flourish for a while. The people will be very happy looking forward to the coming of the long expected Messiah, in the preaching of His gospel, and in the setting up of His standard. But, when a remnant among them are united to Christ, the body of the nation, persisting in unbelief, will be utterly abandoned and given up to ruin, for rejecting Christ; and it is this that is foretold here in this chapter, the rejection of the Messiah and the wrath for that sin came upon them. The purpose of the prediction of the destruction that will come upon Israel, Jerusalem, and the temple is so that when it comes to pass the people cannot say they were not warned.
In the announcement of destruction, Zechariah uses figurative expressions, a normal practice in the predictions of things that are in the future. The people will not open the door to let their King in now they must open the door to let in destruction. There are scholars who believe the doors refer to doors of the temple because the builders of the temple used cedars and stones from Lebanon. The Romans burned it with fire, and its gates forced open by the fury of the soldiers.
Others believe it is Jerusalem, or the whole land of Canaan, to which Lebanon was a means of entering the land from the north. All land will be open to the invader, and the cedars, the mighty and eminent men destroyed and this will cause great alarm to the poor. If the cedars fall, how can the cypress escape?
The fall of the wise and good into sin, and the fall of the rich and great into trouble, are loud alarms to those that are in every way their inferiors.
The fallen cry and weep because of their grief and shame, and those who see the fallen cry and weep they cry and weep because they fear what is coming their way. However, the powerful men receive the alarm with the utmost confusion. These powerful men are the shepherds who cry and weep because they are tormented more than others are. They should have protected the Lord’s flock committed to their charge, but they were as young lions that terrorize the flock with their roaring and the flock is a prey. It is sad when people who should be as shepherds to the Lord’s flock are as young lions to them.
Why do the shepherds cry and weep. Their pastures, and the flocks which were the glory of the shepherds are laid waste.
The pride of Jordan was the thickets on the banks, in which the lions rested and when the river overflowed, the lions came up from them and they came up roaring. When those who have power proudly abuse their power, instead of being shepherds they are as young lions and the righteous God will humble their pride and break their power.
In verses 4-14 Zechariah is made a type of Christ, as the prophet Isaiah sometimes was; and the scope of these verses is to show that for judgment Christ came into this world (John 9:39), for judgment of Israel which was at the time of His coming wretchedly corrupted and degenerated by the worldliness and hypocrisy of their rulers. Christ would have healed them, but they rejected healing and are left desolate, and abandoned to ruin.
The Lord tells Zechariah, “Pasture the flock doomed to slaughter. Those who buy them slay them and go unpunished, and each of those who sell them says, ‘Blessed be the Lord, for I have become rich!’ And their own shepherds have no pity on them.”
In the days of Zechariah, the people, under the tyranny of their own governors, in their own country, were as miserable as they were in their captivity in strange countries. In Christ’s time the chief priests and the elders who were the possessors of the flock, by their traditions, the commandments of men, and their impositions on the consciences of the people, became perfect tyrants, devoured their houses, engrossed their wealth, and fleeced the flock instead of feeding it. The Sadducees, who were deists, corrupted their judgments. The Pharisees, who were bigots corrupted their morals, by making void the commandments of God (Matthew 15:16). They slew the sheep of the flock or sold them. They did not care what became of them so they could gain their own ends and serve their own interests. They justified what they were doing. They could see no harm in what they were doing. They never thought the chief Shepherd, the Lord, would demand an accounting for what they were doing. They acted as if the power given to them was for destruction and their edification. They believed because they sat in Moses’ seat, they were not under the obligation of Moses’ law but might dispense it at their pleasure. Those who have their minds blinded will do evil in the sight of the Lord and justify themselves in doing it. However, God will not hold those guiltless who hold themselves guiltless. They added insult to injury by giving thanks to the Lord for what they gained in their oppression of their fellow man. They said, “Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich,” as if, because they prospered in their wickedness, the Lord had made Himself a part of their unjust practices and He had become an associate of their guilt.
What we get honestly we ought to give the Lord thanks for it, and bless Him whose blessing makes rich and adds no sorrow with it. However, under what pretence can we go to the Lord either to beg a blessing upon the unlawful methods of getting wealth or to thank Him for what we have gained through these unlawful methods? When these people did what they were doing. They mocked the Lord by making the gains of sin a gift of God. In this they put contempt upon the people of God and unworthy of compassion. Their own shepherds did not pity them. They made them miserable. The good Shepherd had compassion for the multitude because they fainted and were scattered abroad as if they had no shepherd. It is a sad thing when pastors have no tenderness, no compassion for precious souls, when they can look upon the foolish, the wicked, the weak, the poor without pity.
There was a general decay of religion among them, and they were doing nothing about it. Therefore, the Lord said, "I shall no longer have pity on the inhabitants of the land, declares the Lord, but behold, I shall cause the men to fall, each into another’s power and into the power of his king; and they will strike the land and I shall not deliver them from their power.”
God is telling the people, they have brought their own destruction upon themselves. The truly miserable are those whom the Lord of mercy Himself will no longer show them compassion. Those who are willing to have their consciences seared by those who teach the commandments of men as the Jews who were called the Rabbi did (Matthew 15:9; 23:7) are often punished by oppression in their civil interests, and justly so, for those who forfeit their own rights give up the Lord’s rights. The Jews did and who can pity them if they are ruled with rigor?
The Lord said, He would deliver them into the hand of the oppressors, every one into his neighbor’s hand, so that they shall use one another outrageously. There were several parties in Jerusalem that did this. The Zealots committed greater outrages than the common enemy did, as Josephus relates in his history of the wars of the Jews.
The Lord said, they should be delivered every one into the hands of his king, that is, the Roman emperor, whom they chose to submit to rather than to Christ, saying, “We have no king but Caesar.” They thought they could find favor in the sight of their lords and masters. It is for this reason the Lord brought the Romans upon them that He would not deliver them out of their hands. “They shall strike the land,” the whole land, and the Lord said, He would not deliver them from their hand. If the Lord does not help them, none else can, nor can they help themselves.
The Lord said, “So I pastured the flock doomed to slaughter, hence the afflicted of the flock. And I took for myself two staffs: the one I called Favor and the other I called Union, so I pastured the flock.”
The two staffs symbolized the good intentions of Zechariah acting the part of a good shepherd; in bring “Favor” and “Union” to Israel and Judah, a foreshadow of Christ. The Lord had sent His servants, the prophets, to them in vain, but last of all He sent His Son to them, saying, “They will reverence My Son” (Matthew 21:37). Many prophets had spoken of God’s Son as the “Shepherd of Israel” (Isaiah 40:11; Ezekiel 34:23). Jesus told the Pharisees that He was the “Shepherd of the sheep” and those who pretended to be shepherds were “thieves and robbers (John 10:1-2, 11), apparently referring to this passage.
The charge Jesus received from His Father to try what might be done with this flock, “Thus says the Lord My God, Christ called His Father His God because He acted in compliance with His will and with an eye to His glory in everything He said and did.
The flock doomed to slaughter was the Israelites, the Lord’s flock their enemies had killed them all the daylong and considered them as sheep for slaughter. Their own rulers “slew them” and the Lord Himself had doomed them to the slaughter. Yet, He tells the good Shepherd to “feed them” by reproof and comfort them. Provide wholesome food for those who so long been fed the leaven of the scribes and Pharisees.
Jesus said He had other sheep that were not of this flock and must be brought into the flock. His acceptance of this charge and He did what He was told to do. Since it was the will of the Father, it was the will of the Son. Christ will not only care for these lost sheep, He will go among them teaching and healing the poor of the flock. The shepherds that made a prey of the flock did not regard the plight of the poor. However, Christ preached His gospel to the poor (Matthew 11:5). It was a sign of His humiliation that His ministry was mostly with the poor. His disciples were of the poor of the flock. The Lord furnishes Himself with tools proper for the charge He had undertaken, two staffs. Other shepherds have but one crook, but the good Shepherd has two, denoting the double care He took of His flock, and what He did both for the souls and for the bodies of men. David speaks of the Lord’s rod and staff (Psalm 23:4), a correcting rod and a supporting staff.
One of these staves, called “Favor” denotes the temple. The second staff called “Union” denotes their civil state. In the fulfillment of his duties as the chief Shepherd, he fed the flock and replaced the under-shepherds that were false to their trust.
Some scholars believe the three shepherds represent the offices of kings, priests, and scribes or prophets, who, when Christ had finished His work ended because of their unfaithfulness. Others believe they represent the three sects among the Jews, of Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians, all whom Christ silenced in the dispute recorded in Matthew 22 and soon after were cut off for all time.
Christ came to His own, the sheep of His own pasture so that there might be between them and Him the same affection that exists between the shepherd and his sheep. He intended them kindness, but could not do them the kindness He intended them because of their unbelief (Matthew 13:58). He was disappointed in them, discouraged concerning them, grieved for them, not only for the shepherds whom He cut off, but for the people whom Christ often looked upon with grief in his heart and tears in his eyes. Their provocations even wore out his patience and He was weary of that faithless and perverse generation.
Whatever estrangement there is between God and man, it begins on man’s side. The Jewish shepherds rejected this chief Shepherd, as the Jewish builders rejected this chief corner stone. They were emotional displeased with Christ’s doctrine and miracles, and His interest in the people, to whom they did all they could to render Him detestable as they had made themselves detestable to Him.
There is a mutual enmity between God and wicked people; they are hateful to God and haters of God. Nothing speaks more the sinfulness and misery of an unregenerate state than this does. The carnal mind, the friendship of the world, are enmity to God, and God hates all the workers of iniquity; and it is easy to foresee what this will end in, if the quarrel is not ended in time (Isaiah 27:4-5).
The sentence of their rejection is found in verse nine.
The good Shepherd said He would no longer take care of the flock. They could go their own way. He will do nothing to save its forfeited life. That which will make itself a prey to the wolf, let it be a prey, and let the rest forget his or her own mild and gentle nature. Let them fight amongst themselves like dogs.
A sign of rejection is given in verses ten and eleven.
The breaking of this staff signified the breaking of God’s covenant that He had made with all the tribes of Israel, and all other people who, by being proselytes to their religion, incorporated into their nation. The Jewish religion was now stripped of all its glory; its crown was profaned and cast to the ground, and all its honor laid in the dust; for God departed from it, and would no more own it for His. When Christ told the people the kingdom of God would be taken from them and given to another people the staff of Favor was broken (Matthew 21:43). It was broken in that day when Christ went to the cross, although Jerusalem, the temple and the nation lasted forty years longer, yet from that day we may reckon the staff of Favor broken. However, the great men did not, or would not; understand it as a divine sentence. The poor of the flock, the disciples understood with what authority Jesus spoke, and could distinguish the voice of their Shepherd from that of a stranger and trembled at it, and were confident that it should not fall to the ground.
The Shepherd comes to them for his wages. He tells them if they no longer want him to pasture the flock pay him for his service and he will move on. On the other hand, discharge him without paying him; it makes no difference to him. They paid him thirty shekels of silver. The silver being no way equal to his worth Zechariah gave it to the potter. Let him take it and buy clay with it or for any use that this small amount of money could buy. It may be enough for a potter to buy the clay he needs but it is not enough pay for a shepherd such as the one they were discharging. Zechariah did as the Lord told him.
The completing of the rejection of the people is the cutting asunder of the second staff.
The cutting into pieces of the first staff denoted the breaking of the covenant between God and the people. The cutting into pieces of the second staff denotes the breaking of the union of Judah and Israel, the reviving of animosities and contention among them, such as were of old between Judah and Israel. Nothing ruins a people more than the breaking of the staff of Union and the weakening of fellowship among a people. The breaking of the staff Union makes the nation an easy prey to the common enemy. When iniquity abounds love waxes cold. When the staff of Favor is broken, the staff of Union will also be broken.
Zechariah is told to play a second role. He is to take "the equipment of a foolish shepherd.”
The Lord having showed the misery of this people in their being abandoned by the good Shepherd, here shows their further misery in being shamefully abused by a foolish shepherd. Zechariah impersonates and represents this pretended shepherd. He is told take the equipment that a foolish shepherd would appear in; for such a shepherd shall be set over them. These people will be under the ministry of unfaithful ministers. Their scribes, priests, and doctors of their law, shall bind heavy burdens upon them, and with their traditions imposed, shall make the ceremonial law much more a yoke than God had made it.
The description of the foolish shepherd suits very well with the character Christ gives of the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23:2. They shall be under the tyranny of unmerciful princes that shall rule them with rigor, and make their own land as much a house of bondage to them as Egypt or Babylon was.
What a curse this foolish shepherd should be to the people, he will not do the duty of a shepherd. He will not visit those separated from the community, nor go after those that go astray, nor seek those that are missing, to find them and bring them home, as the good shepherd does in Matthew 18:12-13. He will not care for the young ones that need his care and are well worthy of it. He will not heal that which is broken, but let it die of its bruises, when a little healing ministry would have saved it. He will not feed those who through weakness are ready to faint, and cannot go forward. He will leave them behind. He will care only for his own well-being. His passions are as ill governed as their appetites.
In verse seventeen, we are told this foolish shepherd will bring upon himself a curse. "A sword will be on his arm and on his right eye! His arm will be totally withered and his right eye will be blind.” He will be like the idol-shepherd who like an idol, has eyes and sees not, who, like an idol, receives abundance of respect and homage from the people and the chief of their offerings, but neither can nor will do them any kindness. He leaves the flock when they most need his care. He leaves them destitute, and flees because he is a hireling. His doom is that the sword of the Lord’s justice shall be upon him. He will not help others when it was required he shall not know how to help himself. He will not be able discern the danger that his flock is in, nor know which way to look for relief. This was fulfilled when Christ said to the Pharisees, “I have come that those who see may be made blind (John 9:39). Those that have gifts that qualifies them to do well, if they do not do well with them, shall lose them. Those that should have been workers, but were slothful and would do nothing, will justly have their arm dried up and those that should have been watchmen, but were sleepy and would never look about them, will justly have their eye blinded.
The Book of Zechariah – Part 8
The Second Oracle – Part 1
Zechariah 12: 1 – 14
The focus of this charter is the promises the Lord made to Israel. The burden of the word of the Lord is a prediction. It is as if a weight were pressed upon the people, and will be very pressing to all the enemies of Israel, like the talent of lead in chapter five verses seven and eight. For Israel, it is for their comfort and benefit.
The purpose of this chapter is to assure the people the Lord has both the authority to make these promises and the ability to fulfill them. He is the Creator of the world and the Creator of humanity. Therefore, He has an incontestable irresistible dominion. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain, keeps them in their place. He will do so until the end of time when He will roll the heavens together like a scroll. He lays the foundation of the earth and keeps it firm and fixed on its own basis, or rather on its own axis, though it is founded on the seas (Psalm 24:1-2), though it is hung upon nothing (Job 26:7). He is the ruler and the judge of earth and its inhabitants. Those who say “The Lord has forsaken the earth deceive themselves. If He forsakes the earth, it would sink into outer space. He forms the spirit of man within him. We derive our body from our parents but the “Father of spirits” (Hebrews 12:9) infuses the soul. He fashions the hearts of humanity and they are in His hand. He casts them into what mold He pleases so He can serve His own purposes with them.
From the time of her creation, the enemies of God and His kingdom bear a great deal of malice and ill will to Jerusalem, and are determined to destroy her. However, they are preparing ruin for themselves.
The Lord declares, “Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah.” The enemies of the Lord and His people believe the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah will be like a cup of wine which they can easily and with great pleasure drink. However, Jerusalem will be like a cup of poison.
Throughout the ages, there has been a succession of enemies making war upon Israel and the Church. Those that are for keeping up and advancing the kingdom of sin in the world look upon Jerusalem and the Church as the great obstacle to their designs, and their goal is the destruction of both, but they will find it harder to do than they think. God will have a church in this world in spite of them. The church will outlast her enemies because the Lord builds her upon a rock. The stone, cut out of the mountain without hands will not only keep it, but it will fill the earth (Daniel 2:35). It will break into pieces all who oppose it as the stone smote the image (Daniel 2:35). Those that make a jest of religion, and sacred things, will find them a burdensome stone. They will bring upon themselves an insupportable sinking load of guilt. Our Savior seems to allude to these words when he speaks of Himself as a burdensome stone to those that will not have Him for their foundation stone, which shall “fall upon them and grind them to power” (Matthew 21:44).
The Lord promised “In that day,” when the people of the earth are gathered together against Jerusalem He will make the horses of the enemy unsuitable for service. The horses and their riders shall both forget the military exercises taught them and trained and instead of keeping ranks, they shall both grow mad, and destroy themselves. Israel’s army will overcome the enemy’s cavalry; and those who put their trust in their military power shall be frustrated. Jerusalem re-peopled and replenished (verse 6). The natives of Jerusalem will not incorporate in a colony in some other country, and build a city there and call it Jerusalem and see the promises the Lord has made to them fulfilled there. They shall have a New Jerusalem upon the same foundation, the same spot of ground, with the old one. They will be able to defend themselves, and yet shall be under divine protection. The Lord Himself will defend, not only Jerusalem but every inhabitant of it. He will not only be a wall of fire about the city to fortify it but He will encompass particular persons with His favor as with a shield so that no part of the besiegers shall touch them. He does this by giving them strength and courage to help themselves.
The Lord will give His people the strength and power they need to do what they must do and He will not be lacking in doing His part. God strengthens those that need His help, knows, and admit they need it and will be the most thankful for it.
In that day the feeblest of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will be as David, as will be as men of war, as bold and brave, as skilful and strong, as David himself. They will attempt and accomplish great things, as David did, and become as serviceable to Jerusalem in guarding it as David himself was in founding it, and as formidable as he was to the enemies of it. Divine grace makes children not only men, but champions, makes weak saints to be not only good soldiers, but great soldiers, like David. The Lord often does His own work as easily and effectually, and more to His own glory, by weak and obscure instruments.
The Lord will increase the gifts and abilities both of the people and their rulers in proportion to the respective services. The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be as strong and fit for action as nature made David, and their rulers as wise and fit for counsel as grace made David. This will have its full accomplishment in Christ. In the present situation the house of David looked little and weak. However, in Christ the house of David will shine more brightly than ever, and its countenance will be as that of an angel. In Him Israel will become more blessed, and more a blessing than it ever had been. There will be no envies or jealousies between the people and their governors. There will be an agreement between the city and the country, the head and the body. This is necessary to the health, welfare, and safety of any nation.
The governors of Judah and the judges will treat the people fairly and the citizens, merchants and tradesmen will not speak ill of them and contrive how to keep them under their control. They will respect Jerusalem, as the mother-city, the ruling-city. In times of public danger and distress, they will come to its defense. Not so much because it will be a rich city, nor because it is a populous city, nor its inhabitants are generally the most ingenious active men, the best soldiers and have the best commanders but because it is a holy city. The city where the Lord’s house is located and where the people worship Him and His feasts observed and it is now more than ever a praying city. The governors of Judah shall say, “These are my strength.” These are the strengths of the governors because of their relation to and their communion with the Lord of hosts.
Verse eight and nine - “In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who is feeble among them in that day will be like David and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord before them. And it will come about in that day that I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.”
The day here spoken of is the day of Jerusalem’s defense and deliverance, that glorious day when the Lord will appear for the salvation of His people. In these verses, we have an account of two remarkable works the Lord will do “in that day.”
Many and mighty nations will come against Jerusalem but they shall all be destroyed, their power broken, and their attempts baffled. The harm they intend shall return upon their own head. The Lord will destroy them. In the Lord’s first coming, His enemies tried to destroy Him. Instead, He bruised the serpent’s head, and broke all the powers of darkness that fought against God’s kingdom among men and against the faithful subjects of that kingdom. In his second coming, He will complete their destruction. He will put down all opposing rule, principality, and power and death swallowed up in victory.
When the Lord destroys the enemies of His people, He will pour upon His people the Spirit of grace and supplication (verse 10). When the Lord intends great mercy for His people, the first thing He creates in them is a strong desire to seek Him and ask Him to do for them what He has promised He would do. What He does for His people He does it for His own glory. The Lord puts this honor on prayer and upon praying people. It is a happy occasion to the distressed to know their deliverance is approaching, and is, as it were, the dawning of a new day.
This promise has reference to the giving of the Spirit of grace and supplication to all believers (Isaiah 44:3). It is a promise of the Spirit, and with Him all the spiritual blessings in heavenly things.
We might think the effect of the pouring out of the Spirit of grace there would be rejoicing, and it is true that this is one of the fruits of the pouring out of the Spirit, but the Lord says they will mourn, a mourning that will end in rejoicing and has a blessing in it. It is a mourning grounded upon a sight of Christ. Predicted in this verse is the piercing of Christ, it is quoted in John 19:37 and fulfilled when Christ’s side was pierced upon the cross. The piercing in this verse is primarily a reference to the Jews in their rejection of Jesus as their Messiah. However, it is also true of Christians and all non-Christians. We have pierced Christ, inasmuch, as our sins were the cause of His death. Those that truly repent of sin look upon Christ as one whom they have pierced and they mourn. This is the effect of their looking to Christ.
When Peter preached, Christ crucified those who had a hand in piercing Him cried out, “What shall we do? All who are sorrow for the sins they have committed; they look to Christ, and mourn for Him, not so much for His sufferings as for their own sins. The genuine sorrows of a penitent soul flow from the believing sight of a pierced Savior.
It is a great mourning. It is like the mourning of a parent for the death of a child. As the Egyptians when there was a cry throughout all their land for the death of their first-born. Sometimes the sorrow of children when their parents die is a false sorrow, soon wears off, and forgotten, but the sorrow of parents for a child, for a son, for an only son, for a first-born, is natural, sincere, unforced, and unaffected, it is secret and lasting. Such are the sorrows of a true penitent, flowing purely from love to Christ above any other.
The mourning Zechariah refers to shall be like the mourning when the good king Josiah was slain, for whom there was a general lamentation (verse 11), and perhaps the greater because they were told that it was their sin that provoked God to deprive them of so great a blessing. It is a universal mourning every family by itself, the family of the house of David by itself and their wives by themselves. The family of Nathan by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Levi by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the Shimeties by itself and their wives by themselves; all the families that remain, every family by itself and their wives by themselves.
The land mourned at the death of Christ, for there was darkness over all the land and the earth trembled. However, this is a promise that in consideration of the death of Christ, multitudes will be brought to sorrow for their sin and turn to God. It shall be such a universal gracious mourning as it was when “all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord” (1 Samuel 7:2). Some think this is yet to have its complete accomplishment in the general conversion of the Jewish nation.
It is also a private mourning. Every family shall mourn. All have contributed to the guilt, and therefore all shall share in the grief. National fasts observed, not only in the synagogues, but also in the home. In the mourning, the wives mourn apart by themselves, in their own apartment, as Esther and her maids.
Four families are specified as examples to others in this mourning. Two of them are royal families, another son of David, brother to Solomon, from whom Zerubbabel descended, as appears by Christ’s genealogy (Luke 3:27-31), the house of David particularly that of Nathan, which is now the chief branch of that house, shall go before in this good work. The greatest princes must not think themselves exempted from the law of repentance, but rather obliged most solemnly to express it, for the exciting of others, as Hezekiah humbled himself (2nd Chronicles 32:26), the princes and the king (2nd Chronicles 12:6), and the king of Nineveh (Jonah 3:6). Two of them are sacred families (verse 13), the house of Levi, which was God’s tribe, and in particularly the family of Shimei, which was a branch of the tribe of Levi (1 Chronicles 6:17) and probably some of the descendants of that family were now of note for preachers to the people or ministers to the altar.
As the princes must mourn for the sins, so must the priests for the iniquity of the holy things. In times of general tribulation and humiliation the Lord’s ministers are instructed “to weep between the porch and the altar (Joel 2:17) and not only there, but in their houses apart; for in what families should godliness, both in the form and in the power of it, be found, if not in the minister’s families?
The Book of Zechariah – Part 9
The Second Oracle – Part 2
Zechariah 13: 1 – 9
In this chapter, we have promises relating to the Church age, the remission of sins (verse 1), reformation of manners (verse 2) and particularly of the convicting and silencing of false prophets (verses 2-6), a prediction of the sufferings of Christ and the dispersion of His disciples (verse 7), the destruction of the greater part of the Jewish nation not long after (verse 8), and the purifying of a remnant of them, a peculiar people to God (verse 9).
John the Baptist said, “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.” For this reason the Son of God was manifested (1 John 3:5). He takes away the guilt of sin by the blood of His cross.
Verse one - “In that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and impurity.”
The fountain represents a provision made for the cleansing from the pollution of sin for those who truly repent and are sorry for them. “In that day” the Spirit of grace is poured out to cause them to mourn for their sins, they shall not mourn as those who have no hope, but they shall have their sins pardoned, and the comfort of their pardon in their hearts. Their consciences purified and pacified “by the blood of Christ, which cleanses from all sin” (1st John 1:7).
Christ is exalted to give both repentance and remission of sins; and when He gives the one, He gives the other. This “fountain opened” is the pierced side of Jesus Christ, spoken of in chapter 12:10, from which came out “blood and water” and both for cleansing. Those who “look upon Christ pierced” and mourn for their sins that pierced Him rejoice in Him, because it pleased the Lord to smite this rock, that it might be to us a “fountain of living waters.”
We need this “living waters” because we have sinned, and sin is uncleanness, it defiles the mind and conscience, and renders us odious to God and uneasy in ourselves, unfit in the service of God and communion with Him, as those who were ceremonially unclean and shut out of the sanctuary.
The house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem are under sin, which is uncleanness. The truth is, we are all as an unclean thing and deserve to have our place with the unclean. However, there is a fountain opened for us to wash in, and there are streams flowing to us from that fountain, so that, if we are not made clean, it is our own fault. The blood of Christ and God’s pardoning mercy in that blood, revealed in the new covenant is a fountain. There is mercy enough in God and merit enough in Christ, for the forgiving of the greatest sins and sinners.
There is a fountain opened for whoever will, may come and take the benefit of it. It is opened not only to the house of David, but also to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to the poor as well as to the rich and great. It is opened for all believers, who, as the spiritual seed of Christ, are of the house of David and as living members of the church, are inhabitants of Jerusalem. Through Christ all that believe are justified, are cleansed of their sins in His blood that they may be “made kings and priests” (Revelation 1:5-6). It is promised in that day, idolatry shall be abolished and the people shall be effectual cured of their inclination to it.
Verse two - “It will come about in that day,” declares the Lord of hosts, ‘that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered; and I will also remove the prophets and the unclean spirit from the land.”
In that day the worship of the idols of their fathers shall be so perfectly rooted out that in one generation or two it shall be forgotten that there ever were such idols among them. They shall either not be named at all or not with any respect; as was promised (Hosea 2:17). This was fulfilled in the rooted aversion that the Jews had, after the captivity, to idols and idolatry, and retain to this day. It was also fulfilled in the conversion of many to the faith of Christ, by which they no longer made an idol of the ceremonial law, as the unbelieving Jews did; it is still being fulfilled when souls are brought out from the world and the flesh that they may cleave to God only.
In that day, false prophecy will end. The prophets that are under the influence of the unclean spirit removed from the land. The devil is an unclean spirit, sin and uncleanness is from him; he has his prophets that serve his interests and receive their instructions from him. When the unclean spirits are taken away the prophets will not deceive as they do; take away the false prophets that produce sham commissions, and the unclean spirit could not do the mischief he does.
When God silences the false prophets, He banishes the unclean spirit out of the land that dwells in the false prophets and is a rival with Him for the throne in the heart of man. When the Israelites worshipped idols, they were following the advice of false prophets, who flattered them in their sins with promises of impunity and peace. However, here it is promised, as a blessed effect of the promised reformation that they will turn against the false prophets and zealous enthusiastic clear the land of them. They did this after the Babylonian captivity, but through the blindness and enthusiasm they had, Jesus put to death claiming among other charges He was a false prophet. After that many false prophets and false Christs arose and deceived many as Jesus predicted (Matthew 24:11). It is foretold in this chapter that false prophets, instead of being tolerated indulged and favored will be put to death by their parents.
Verse three - "And it will come about that if anyone still prophesies, then his father and mother who gave birth to him will say to him, ’You shall not live, for you have spoken falsely in the name of the Lord’; and his father and mother who gave birth to him will pierce him through when he prophesies.”
In that day if anyone preaches or teaches a doctrine that tends to draw people from God and to confirm them in sin, his own parents shall be the first to prosecute him for it, according to the law (Deuteronomy 13:6-11). His own parents shall prevent any further temptation from him.
We ought to retain, a very great detestation and dread of every thing that would draw us away from the truth. A holy zeal for God and godliness should make us hate sin, and dread temptation, most in those we love and are nearest to us. We should show our love for God as Levi, who, in the cause of God, did not acknowledge his brothers nor know his own children (Deuteronomy 33:9). We must forsake our nearest relatives when they come in competition with our duty to God (Luke 14:26).
Verses four - six - "Also it will come about in that day that the prophets will each be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies, and they will not put on a hairy robe in order to deceive; but he will say, ’I am not a prophet; I am a tiller of the ground, for a man sold me as a slave in my youth. And one will say to him, ’What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then he will say, ’Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’”
The pretenders had appeared in the habit of true prophets; but their folly being now made known they shall lay it aside and no longer deceive the people. Modest dress is a very good thing, if it is the genuine indication of a humble heart, but it is a bad thing if it is the hypocritical disguise of a proud ambitious heart, and used to deceive. Let men be really as good as they seem to be, but not seem to be better than really they are.
This pretender, as a true penitent, shall no longer pretend to be a prophet. He will tell those who ask him if he is a prophet “I am no prophet.” as I have pretended to be, was never called or commissioned to the office, never educated nor brought up for it. He will say, “I am a tiller of the ground.” Amos was originally a tiller of the ground but was called to be a prophet (Amos 7:14-15). However, this deceiver never had such a call.
Those who are truly sorry for deceiving will confess their sin, and will be so just as to rectify the mistakes that they have caused. He shall return to his own proper employment. He will apply himself to his calling and no longer meddle in those things that do not belong to him.
When a person is convinced, he was not called to leave his employment and enter the ministry he must give evidence of the truth by returning to the employment he left. He shall acknowledge to those who are his friends who were instrumental in revealing the error he has committed he has repented.
When a person who with the greatest assurance had asserted himself to be a prophet suddenly drops his claims, and says, I am no prophet, every body will be surprised at it, and some will ask, “What are these wounds between your arms?” How did you come by them, have you been beaten into acknowledging you are not a prophet, was it the rod and reproof that gave you this wisdom? Then he will say my friends bound me and beat me into acknowledging I am not a prophet.
Some interpreters claim this is a reference to Christ. They claim that these are the words of that great prophet Jesus and not the word of the false prophet referred in the previous verses. Christ was wounded in His hands, when the Roman soldier nailed to the cross and after His resurrection, He had the marks of these wounds and here He tells how he came by them. He received them as a false prophet, for the chief priests called him a deceiver, and upon that, account would have Him crucified. This line of thinking ignores the facts stated in verse six; friends inflicted these wounds. The Jews should have been Jesus’ friends, for He came to His own and though they were His bitter enemies, yet He called them His friends as He did Judas.
Verses seven -nine - "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, And against the man, My associate," Declares the Lord of hosts. Strike the Shepherd that the sheep may be scattered; And I will turn My hand against the little ones. "It will come about in all the land," Declares the Lord, That two parts in it will be cut off and perish; But the third will be left in it. And I will bring the third part through the fire, Refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them; I will say, ’They are My people, And they will say, the Lord is my God."
These are the words of God the Father, giving order and commission to the sword of His justice to awake against His Son, when He had voluntarily made His soul an offering for sin; for “it pleased the Lord to bruise Him and put Him to grief; and He was stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:4, 10).
The Shepherd that is to be stricken, smitten of God was from eternity with God, One brought up with Him, and, in the work of man’s redemption, He was His elect, in whom His soul delighted, and the counsel of peace was between them both. As Mediator, He is God’s Shepherd, the great and good Shepherd that undertook to feed the flock (Zechariah 11:7). He is the Shepherd that was to lay down his life for the sheep.
Note how God uses the great and good Shepherd, “Awake, O sword against Him.” If the great and good Shepherd is to be a sacrifice, He must be slain, for without the shedding of blood, the life-blood, there is no remission of sin.
It is not said in the passage a rod was given to correct the great and good Shepherd, for He needed no correction. A sword was given to slain Him, for “Messiah the prince must be cut off, but not for self” (Daniel 9:26), but for the flock. It is not the sword of war that is given that He may die in the bed of honor, but the sword of justice, that He may die as a criminal, upon an ignominious tree. He had no sin of his own to answer for; the sword of justice had nothing to say to Him until, by particular order from the Judge of all. The sword of justice had long slumbered, until now at length it is called upon to awake and smite Him, for God “spared not His own Son.”
“Smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.” This was fulfilled “when the disciples were offended because of Him” the night when He was betrayed (Matthew 26:31; Mark 14:27). They all “forsook Him and fled.” The smiting of the Shepherd is the scattering of the sheep. They were “scattered every one to his own, and left Him alone” (John 16:32). They were like timorous sheep, yet the Shepherd provided for their safety, for He said, “If you seek Me, let these go their way.”
Some make another application of this; Christ was the “Shepherd” of the Jewish people, they smote Him, and therefore they were justly scattered abroad, and dispersed among the nations. These words, “I will turn My hand upon the little ones” may be understood either as a threatening, as Christ suffered, so shall his disciples. They shall “drink of the cup that He drunk of” and “be baptized with the baptism that He was baptized” with or as a promise that God would gather Christ’s scattered disciples together again, and He should give them the meeting in Galilee. Though the little ones among Christ’s soldiers
may be dispersed, they shall rally again; the lambs of his flock, though frightened by the beasts of prey, shall recover themselves, shall be gathered in His arms and laid in His bosom.
Sometimes, when the sheep are scattered and lost in the wilderness, yet the little ones, which, it was feared, would be a prey (Numbers 14:31), are brought in, are brought home, and God turns His hand upon them.
Of the rejection and ruin of the unbelieving Jews (v. 8); and this word has, and shall have, its accomplishment, in the destruction of the corrupt and hypocritical part of Israel. The Roman army laid the country waste, and slew at least two-thirds of the Jews. Some understand by the “cutting off” and “dying” or “two parts” in all “the earth” is the abolishing of heathenism and Judaism that Christianity, the third part, might be left to reign alone. The destruction of Jerusalem and the temple took the Jewish worship away.
When Jerusalem and Judea were destroyed, all the Christians in that country, having among them the warning Christ gave them to “flee to the mountains” for their own safety, and were sheltered in a city called Pella, on the other side Jordan. We have first the trials and then the triumphs of the Christian church, and of all the faithful members of it. The bringing of the third part through the fire of affliction, and the refining and trying them as silver and gold are refined and tried was fulfilled in the persecutions of the primitive church (1 Peter 4:12).
Those whom God sets apart for Himself must pass through a probation and purification in this world; they must be tried that their faith may be found to praise and honor (1 Peter 1:6-7) as Abraham’s faith was when it was tried by the command given him to offer up Isaac. They must be tried, that both those that are perfect and those that are not may be “made manifest.” They must be refined from their dross, their corruption must be purged out; they must be brightened and bettered. Their communion with God is their triumph. They call to the Lord by prayer, and receive from Him answers of peace. Their covenant with God is their triumph. They are His people, whom He has chosen and loved, and will own They shall say “the Lord God my God” and in God they shall boast every day and all the day long, this is our God for ever and ever.
The Book of Zechariah – Part 10
The Second Oracle – Part 3
Zechariah 14: 1 – 21
Zechariah 14 describes the last siege of Jerusalem, the second coming of Christ and the millennial kingdom that follows.
Verse one- “Behold, a day is coming for the Lord when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you.”
After He had answered the disciples question concerning the destruction of the temple Jesus described the events leading up to His Second Advent (Luke 21:5-38). The events He describes are similar to those that will occur in the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem by the Roman army.
Jesus told His disciples the “times of the Gentiles” would continue until the end of the age. Ever since 605 b.c., when Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem, to the present time, Jerusalem has been under oppression by the Gentiles. There has been a brief time when God’s chosen seemed to have a temporary freedom, it was short lived. Today, the goal of the Gentiles is to control Jerusalem and drive the Jews from the Promised Land.
The Lord told Zechariah, “I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city.”
The Apostle John saw “coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty, ...And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon” (Revelation 16:13-14, 16).
The world government organized without a fight, through satanic deception and power prior to Christ’s return to earth will be the object of a desperate attack by the major armies of the nations for control of the land God has given to His people. The same power that influenced the organization of this government will gather the armies of the world to challenge this world government.
Zechariah 14:2 clearly contradicts the claim the “times of the Gentiles” was fulfilled when Israel was given the status of a state in what is called Palestine. Since this verse states that Jerusalem will be “trampled on” again in the future, the “times of the Gentiles” will extend into the time when the Messiah returns to earth. The final, universal, everlasting kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ will replace man’s world government system. When this day comes, Zechariah is told, The Lord will go forth and fight for Israel as He did against the Egyptians at the Red Sea, when He divided the sea and provided a way of escape for His people. In that day, His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives that is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. When this day comes, the Lord shall come to the place of His ascension in the same manner that He ascended into heaven (Acts 1:11). He will probably come from the east, as He did when He made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem, (Matthew 21:1-10). This was the place of His agony and it will be the place of His glory. He will split the Mount of Olives
In verse five the people are told what they are to do:
Verse five - “You will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach from Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him!”
The valley created by the separation of the Mount of Olives is an escape route and not a place of safety. They will flee as they did during the great earthquake during the reign King Uzziah over Judah (Amos 1:1). Then the Lord will come with all His holy ones with Him, Christians and angels. He comes to fulfill every word that He has spoken.
Verse six - seven - “It will come about in that day that there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle. For it will be a unique day which is known to the Lord, neither day or night, but it will come about that at evening time there will be light.” This phenomena will occur on a day that only the Father knows (Matthew 24:36; Acts 1:7).
When that day comes, “living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of it toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it well be in summer as well as in winter.” Here are blessings promised to Jerusalem in the day of the Lord and to all the earth, by virtue of the blessings poured out on Jerusalem, especially to the land of Israel. Jerusalem will be a spring of living waters to the world, half of it flowing east into the Dead Sea and half west into the Mediterranean Sea. This water will flow all year round, even in the summer when most streams in this area dry up. This water is both natural, for the land and spiritual, for the people.
Where the gospel goes, and the graces of God’s Spirit go along with it, there living waters goes. The streams that make glad the city of God make glad the country also and make it like paradise, like the Garden of Eden, which was well watered. The gospel shall spread into all parts of the world, into some that lie remote from Jerusalem one way and others that lie as far off another way; for the dominion of the Redeemer, which was thereby to be set up must be from sea to sea and the earth must be full of the knowledge of the Lord.
Verse nine - “And the Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one.”
The kingdom of the Lord among men will be a universal kingdom. No one will be exempt from His jurisdiction. All humanity will submit to His authority and their allegiance sworn to Him. It will be a united kingdom. All humanity will worship one God only, and not idols, and shall be unanimous in the worship of Him. All false gods shall be abandoned, and all false ways of worship abolished. The Lord will be the centre of their unity, in which they shall all meet, so the scripture will be the rule of their unity, by which they shall all walk. The land of Judea and Jerusalem will be repaired and replenished, and taken under the special protection of the Lord.
Verses ten and eleven - “All the land will be changed into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; but Jerusalem will rise and remain on its site from Benjamin’s Gate as far as the place of the First Gate to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s wine presses. People will live in it, and there will be no more curses, for Jerusalem will dwell in security.”
The whole land of Judea, which is naturally uneven and hilly, shall be turned into a plain due to the earthquake, from Geba, or Gibeah, about six miles north of Jerusalem, to Rimmon south of Jerusalem, about 35 miles southwest of Jerusalem. The sites mentioned in Jerusalem were on the east, west, north, and south sides of Jerusalem, marking the city’s limits. The whole city will be inhabited.
This country and this city shall both be safe. Those who dwell in the land and the city will never again suffer deportation by being put under the curse, no more curse or separation from God to evil, no more desolating judgments. The people will enjoy security because Jerusalem will never again suffer destruction.
Verses 12-15 describe what will follow verse 3.
Verse twelve - “Now this will be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples who have gone to war against Jerusalem; their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongue will rot in their mouth.”
Here are judgments threatened against the enemies of Israel. Men that hear of these plagues will be afraid to attack Jerusalem. Those that will fight against God and His people in the day that is coming God will punish them for the affront done to Him, and avenge Jerusalem. They will waste away under grievous and languishing diseases. They shall be walking skeletons; nothing shall remain but skin and bones. The flesh that they pampered and indulged, and made provision for, when they were fed to the full with the spoils of God’s people will rot away. The organs of sight, the outlets of sin, will sink into their heads. Their envious malicious, adulterous eyes, the eyes they had so often fed with spectacles of misery will rot away. The organs of speech, the outlets of sin, God will reckon with them for all their blasphemies against Himself and invectives against His people will rot away.
Verse thirteen - It will come about in that day that a great panic from the Lord will fall on them; and they will seize one another’s hand, and the hand of one will be lifted against the hand of another.”
Those that have battled against Jerusalem, plundered houses, ravished the women, deported and killed God’s people will be separated and set against one another. Those whose goal is the destruction of God’s people are often made to destroy one another; and every man’s sword is sometimes set against his fellow, by him whose sword they all are. Some think this was fulfilled in the factions and dissensions that were among the Jews, when the Romans were destroying them.
Zechariah is told, “Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered, gold and silver and garments in great abundance.”
The Israelites will also fight their enemies and will gather much spoil from the people they will defeat. The plunder will greatly enrich the people of God. People will come from all parts to share in the prey as when Sennacherib’s army was routed before Jerusalem (Isaiah 33:23).
In the day that is coming the Lord will use three instruments to defeat Israel’s enemies a plague (v. 12), themselves (v. 13), and the Israelites (v. 14). The plague that the Lord will send upon the enemies of Israel will also afflict their animals.
Verse fifteen - “So also like this plague will be the plague on the horse, the mule, the camel, the donkey and all the cattle that will be in those camps.”
The animals in that day will be cut off, as they did in divers of the plagues of Egypt. All the animals of the enemies of God’s people will be cut off when God comes to contend with them shall perish with them, not only beasts used in war, as the horse, but those used for travel, or in the ploughing of the fields. Thus, God will show His indignation against the enemies of His people.
Three things are foretold in verses 16-21.
Verse sixteen - “Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths.”
Those of the enemies of God’s people that will be left after the final world war will be so sensible of the mercy of God to them in their narrow escape that they shall apply themselves to the worship of the God of Israel, and pay their homage to Him. Those that were not killed in the war will be converted, and this makes their deliverance a mercy indeed, a double mercy. It is a great change that the grace of God makes upon them that found their attempts vain and fruitless, will be an admirer of Jerusalem as were her adversaries, and will come to Jerusalem to worship there with those who they were determined to wipe off the face of the earth.
As some of Christ’s foes shall be made his footstool, so others of them shall be made his friends and when the principle of enmity is slain in them, their former acts of hostility are pardoned and their services are admitted and accepted, as though they had never fought against Jerusalem. They will no longer worship the Molochs and Baals, the kings and lords that the Gentiles worship, the creatures of their own imagination, but the Lord of hosts, the everlasting King, the King of kings, the sovereign Lord of all. In the ordinances of worship, that God Himself has appointed. The worship of the Lord of hosts is referred to as keeping the Feast of Booths.
The life of a good Christian is a constant act of devotion. We must go to Christ our temple with all our offerings, for in Him only is our spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God (1 Peter 2:5). If we rest in ourselves, we come short of pleasing God; we must go up to Him, and mention His righteousness only.
Those who neglect the duties of worship shall be reckoned with for their neglect. God will compel them to come and worship before him, by suspending His favors from those that keep not His ordinances.
Verse seventeen - “And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them.”
Some understand it figuratively; the rain of heavenly doctrine shall be withheld, and of the heavenly grace, which should accompany that doctrine. It is a righteous thing with God to withhold the blessings of grace from those that do not attend the means of grace, to deny the green pastures to those that do not attend the Shepherd’s tent. On the other hand, we may take it literally: The gifts of common providence are denied to those that neglect and despise instituted ordinances. Those that neglected to build the temple were punished with the want of rain (Haggai 2:17) and so were those that neglected to attend there when it was built.
There are many who do not worship God, as they should. They go off from God, and then He walks contrary to them. If we omit or postpone the duties God expects from us, it is just with Him to deny the favors we expect from Him.
What will happen to the land of Egypt, to whom the threatening of the lack of rain is no threat? They do not need it they do not desire it. The river Nile waters their land, and makes it fruitful, so what is a punishment to others is none to them.
Verses eighteen and nineteen - If the family of Egypt does not go up or enter; then no rain will fall on them; it will be the plague with which the Lord smites the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feasts of Booths. This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.”
The same plague wherewith other nations are smitten for their neglecting the Lord will involve, restraining the overflowing of the river Nile, which is equivalent to the shutting up of the clouds; or if the river rises as high as it used to do. The Lord has other ways of bringing famine upon them, such as destroying the fruits of their ground, as He did by several of the ten plagues of Egypt. This will be Egypt’s punishment.
Those who think themselves least indebted to, and depending on, the mercy of heaven, cannot think they can avoid the justice of Heaven. It does not follow that those who can live without rain can therefore live without God. Those who forsake the duty forfeit the privilege of communion with God. Those who perform the duties of worship shall have privilege of communion. This is promised in verses 20 and 21.
In the day that coming the most common things will be consecrated to the glory of the Lord. The weapons used in war will no longer be used against the Lord and His people, as they have been, but for Him and them. Even their wars shall be holy wars, their troops serving under God’s banner. Travelers shall have it upon their bridles, with which they guide their horses, as those who desire always to be put in mind of it, by having it continually before them, and to remind them that this is what we ought to be influenced by and make profession of to others, wherever we go.
The furniture of their houses will be consecrated to God, to be employed in His service. The vessels that they use for their own tables shall be used in a religious manner, with sobriety and temperance, devotedness to the glory of God, and a mixture of pious thoughts and expressions. Their meals shall look like sacrifices; they shall eat and drink, not to themselves, but to Him that spreads their tables and fills their cups. What they eat and drink out of these shall nourish their bodies for the service of God; and out of these, they shall give for the relief of the poor. For both in our getting and in our spending we must have an eye to the will of God as our rule and the glory of God as our end.
In the day, coming true worshippers shall worship God in spirit and in truth and not only in Jerusalem. One place will be as acceptable to God as another will. Little regard will be had to the circumstance, provided there is nothing indecent or disorderly, while the substance is religiously preserved and adhered to. Some think it intimates that there should be greater numbers of sacrifices offered than the vessels of the sanctuary would serve for; but, rather than any should be turned back or deferred. They shall make no difficulty at all of using common vessels, as the Levites in a case of necessity helped the priests to kill the sacrifices (2 Chronicles 29:34). In the day coming no ungodliness will be introduced into the sacred things, to corrupt them.
There are those who believe the statement, “there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts” this was fulfilled when Christ drove the buyers and sellers out of the temple. Though those that were Canaanites, strangers and foreigners, shall be brought into the house of the Lord, yet they shall cease to be Canaanites; they shall have nothing of the spirit or disposition of Canaanites in them. On the other hand, that though in this day that is coming people will grow indifferent as to holy vessels, yet they will be very strict in church-discipline, and careful not to admit the profane to special ordinances, but to separate between the precious and the vile, between Israelites and Canaanites.
Yet this will not have its full accomplishment short of the heavenly Jerusalem, into which no unclean thing will enter, for at the end of time, and not before, Christ shall gather out of His kingdom every thing that offends, and the tares and wheat shall be perfectly and eternally separated.
In the Book of Zechariah we have seen the Messiah portrayed as the complete and perfect King by applying six royal functions of the ancient Near Eastern kingship to Him; the mediating Servant (3:8), Priest (6:13, Judge (14:16-19), Warrior (10:4; 14:3-4), Shepherd (11:8-9; 13:7), and Peace bring King (3:10; 9:9-10).
We have been told in the day that is coming there will be holiness in public life, the bells of the horses (v. 20), in religious life, the cooking pots in the Lord’s house (v. 20), in private life, every pot in Jerusalem and Judah (v. 21). The common things become holy when they are used for the glory of the Lord and His service. This is the life we are to live in this day, looking forward to the day coming when every knee will bow before our Lord Jesus Christ and every tongue confess He is King of kings and Lord of lords.
The Book of Zechariah – Part 10
The Second Oracle – Part 3
Zechariah 14: 1 – 21
Zechariah 14 describes the last siege of Jerusalem, the second coming of Christ and the millennial kingdom that follows.
Verse one- “Behold, a day is coming for the Lord when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you.”
After He had answered the disciples question concerning the destruction of the temple Jesus described the events leading up to His Second Advent (Luke 21:5-38). The events He describes are similar to those that will occur in the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem by the Roman army.
Jesus told His disciples the “times of the Gentiles” would continue until the end of the age. Ever since 605 b.c., when Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem, to the present time, Jerusalem has been under oppression by the Gentiles. There has been a brief time when God’s chosen seemed to have a temporary freedom, it was short lived. Today, the goal of the Gentiles is to control Jerusalem and drive the Jews from the Promised Land.
The Lord told Zechariah, “I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city.”
The Apostle John saw “coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty, ...And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon” (Revelation 16:13-14, 16).
The world government organized without a fight, through satanic deception and power prior to Christ’s return to earth will be the object of a desperate attack by the major armies of the nations for control of the land God has given to His people. The same power that influenced the organization of this government will gather the armies of the world to challenge this world government.
Zechariah 14:2 clearly contradicts the claim the “times of the Gentiles” was fulfilled when Israel was given the status of a state in what is called Palestine. Since this verse states that Jerusalem will be “trampled on” again in the future, the “times of the Gentiles” will extend into the time when the Messiah returns to earth. The final, universal, everlasting kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ will replace man’s world government system. When this day comes, Zechariah is told, The Lord will go forth and fight for Israel as He did against the Egyptians at the Red Sea, when He divided the sea and provided a way of escape for His people. In that day, His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives that is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. When this day comes, the Lord shall come to the place of His ascension in the same manner that He ascended into heaven (Acts 1:11). He will probably come from the east, as He did when He made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem, (Matthew 21:1-10). This was the place of His agony and it will be the place of His glory. He will split the Mount of Olives
In verse five the people are told what they are to do:
Verse five - “You will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach from Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him!”
The valley created by the separation of the Mount of Olives is an escape route and not a place of safety. They will flee as they did during the great earthquake during the reign King Uzziah over Judah (Amos 1:1). Then the Lord will come with all His holy ones with Him, Christians and angels. He comes to fulfill every word that He has spoken.
Verse six - seven - “It will come about in that day that there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle. For it will be a unique day which is known to the Lord, neither day or night, but it will come about that at evening time there will be light.” This phenomena will occur on a day that only the Father knows (Matthew 24:36; Acts 1:7).
When that day comes, “living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of it toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it well be in summer as well as in winter.” Here are blessings promised to Jerusalem in the day of the Lord and to all the earth, by virtue of the blessings poured out on Jerusalem, especially to the land of Israel. Jerusalem will be a spring of living waters to the world, half of it flowing east into the Dead Sea and half west into the Mediterranean Sea. This water will flow all year round, even in the summer when most streams in this area dry up. This water is both natural, for the land and spiritual, for the people.
Where the gospel goes, and the graces of God’s Spirit go along with it, there living waters goes. The streams that make glad the city of God make glad the country also and make it like paradise, like the Garden of Eden, which was well watered. The gospel shall spread into all parts of the world, into some that lie remote from Jerusalem one way and others that lie as far off another way; for the dominion of the Redeemer, which was thereby to be set up must be from sea to sea and the earth must be full of the knowledge of the Lord.
Verse nine - “And the Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one.”
The kingdom of the Lord among men will be a universal kingdom. No one will be exempt from His jurisdiction. All humanity will submit to His authority and their allegiance sworn to Him. It will be a united kingdom. All humanity will worship one God only, and not idols, and shall be unanimous in the worship of Him. All false gods shall be abandoned, and all false ways of worship abolished. The Lord will be the centre of their unity, in which they shall all meet, so the scripture will be the rule of their unity, by which they shall all walk. The land of Judea and Jerusalem will be repaired and replenished, and taken under the special protection of the Lord.
Verses ten and eleven - “All the land will be changed into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; but Jerusalem will rise and remain on its site from Benjamin’s Gate as far as the place of the First Gate to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s wine presses. People will live in it, and there will be no more curses, for Jerusalem will dwell in security.”
The whole land of Judea, which is naturally uneven and hilly, shall be turned into a plain due to the earthquake, from Geba, or Gibeah, about six miles north of Jerusalem, to Rimmon south of Jerusalem, about 35 miles southwest of Jerusalem. The sites mentioned in Jerusalem were on the east, west, north, and south sides of Jerusalem, marking the city’s limits. The whole city will be inhabited.
This country and this city shall both be safe. Those who dwell in the land and the city will never again suffer deportation by being put under the curse, no more curse or separation from God to evil, no more desolating judgments. The people will enjoy security because Jerusalem will never again suffer destruction.
Verses 12-15 describe what will follow verse 3.
Verse twelve - “Now this will be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples who have gone to war against Jerusalem; their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongue will rot in their mouth.”
Here are judgments threatened against the enemies of Israel. Men that hear of these plagues will be afraid to attack Jerusalem. Those that will fight against God and His people in the day that is coming God will punish them for the affront done to Him, and avenge Jerusalem. They will waste away under grievous and languishing diseases. They shall be walking skeletons; nothing shall remain but skin and bones. The flesh that they pampered and indulged, and made provision for, when they were fed to the full with the spoils of God’s people will rot away. The organs of sight, the outlets of sin, will sink into their heads. Their envious malicious, adulterous eyes, the eyes they had so often fed with spectacles of misery will rot away. The organs of speech, the outlets of sin, God will reckon with them for all their blasphemies against Himself and invectives against His people will rot away.
Verse thirteen - It will come about in that day that a great panic from the Lord will fall on them; and they will seize one another’s hand, and the hand of one will be lifted against the hand of another.”
Those that have battled against Jerusalem, plundered houses, ravished the women, deported and killed God’s people will be separated and set against one another. Those whose goal is the destruction of God’s people are often made to destroy one another; and every man’s sword is sometimes set against his fellow, by him whose sword they all are. Some think this was fulfilled in the factions and dissensions that were among the Jews, when the Romans were destroying them.
Zechariah is told, “Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered, gold and silver and garments in great abundance.”
The Israelites will also fight their enemies and will gather much spoil from the people they will defeat. The plunder will greatly enrich the people of God. People will come from all parts to share in the prey as when Sennacherib’s army was routed before Jerusalem (Isaiah 33:23).
In the day that is coming the Lord will use three instruments to defeat Israel’s enemies a plague (v. 12), themselves (v. 13), and the Israelites (v. 14). The plague that the Lord will send upon the enemies of Israel will also afflict their animals.
Verse fifteen - “So also like this plague will be the plague on the horse, the mule, the camel, the donkey and all the cattle that will be in those camps.”
The animals in that day will be cut off, as they did in divers of the plagues of Egypt. All the animals of the enemies of God’s people will be cut off when God comes to contend with them shall perish with them, not only beasts used in war, as the horse, but those used for travel, or in the ploughing of the fields. Thus, God will show His indignation against the enemies of His people.
Three things are foretold in verses 16-21.
Verse sixteen - “Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths.”
Those of the enemies of God’s people that will be left after the final world war will be so sensible of the mercy of God to them in their narrow escape that they shall apply themselves to the worship of the God of Israel, and pay their homage to Him. Those that were not killed in the war will be converted, and this makes their deliverance a mercy indeed, a double mercy. It is a great change that the grace of God makes upon them that found their attempts vain and fruitless, will be an admirer of Jerusalem as were her adversaries, and will come to Jerusalem to worship there with those who they were determined to wipe off the face of the earth.
As some of Christ’s foes shall be made his footstool, so others of them shall be made his friends and when the principle of enmity is slain in them, their former acts of hostility are pardoned and their services are admitted and accepted, as though they had never fought against Jerusalem. They will no longer worship the Molochs and Baals, the kings and lords that the Gentiles worship, the creatures of their own imagination, but the Lord of hosts, the everlasting King, the King of kings, the sovereign Lord of all. In the ordinances of worship, that God Himself has appointed. The worship of the Lord of hosts is referred to as keeping the Feast of Booths.
The life of a good Christian is a constant act of devotion. We must go to Christ our temple with all our offerings, for in Him only is our spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God (1 Peter 2:5). If we rest in ourselves, we come short of pleasing God; we must go up to Him, and mention His righteousness only.
Those who neglect the duties of worship shall be reckoned with for their neglect. God will compel them to come and worship before him, by suspending His favors from those that keep not His ordinances.
Verse seventeen - “And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them.”
Some understand it figuratively; the rain of heavenly doctrine shall be withheld, and of the heavenly grace, which should accompany that doctrine. It is a righteous thing with God to withhold the blessings of grace from those that do not attend the means of grace, to deny the green pastures to those that do not attend the Shepherd’s tent. On the other hand, we may take it literally: The gifts of common providence are denied to those that neglect and despise instituted ordinances. Those that neglected to build the temple were punished with the want of rain (Haggai 2:17) and so were those that neglected to attend there when it was built.
There are many who do not worship God, as they should. They go off from God, and then He walks contrary to them. If we omit or postpone the duties God expects from us, it is just with Him to deny the favors we expect from Him.
What will happen to the land of Egypt, to whom the threatening of the lack of rain is no threat? They do not need it they do not desire it. The river Nile waters their land, and makes it fruitful, so what is a punishment to others is none to them.
Verses eighteen and nineteen - If the family of Egypt does not go up or enter; then no rain will fall on them; it will be the plague with which the Lord smites the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feasts of Booths. This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.”
The same plague wherewith other nations are smitten for their neglecting the Lord will involve, restraining the overflowing of the river Nile, which is equivalent to the shutting up of the clouds; or if the river rises as high as it used to do. The Lord has other ways of bringing famine upon them, such as destroying the fruits of their ground, as He did by several of the ten plagues of Egypt. This will be Egypt’s punishment.
Those who think themselves least indebted to, and depending on, the mercy of heaven, cannot think they can avoid the justice of Heaven. It does not follow that those who can live without rain can therefore live without God. Those who forsake the duty forfeit the privilege of communion with God. Those who perform the duties of worship shall have privilege of communion. This is promised in verses 20 and 21.
In the day that coming the most common things will be consecrated to the glory of the Lord. The weapons used in war will no longer be used against the Lord and His people, as they have been, but for Him and them. Even their wars shall be holy wars, their troops serving under God’s banner. Travelers shall have it upon their bridles, with which they guide their horses, as those who desire always to be put in mind of it, by having it continually before them, and to remind them that this is what we ought to be influenced by and make profession of to others, wherever we go.
The furniture of their houses will be consecrated to God, to be employed in His service. The vessels that they use for their own tables shall be used in a religious manner, with sobriety and temperance, devotedness to the glory of God, and a mixture of pious thoughts and expressions. Their meals shall look like sacrifices; they shall eat and drink, not to themselves, but to Him that spreads their tables and fills their cups. What they eat and drink out of these shall nourish their bodies for the service of God; and out of these, they shall give for the relief of the poor. For both in our getting and in our spending we must have an eye to the will of God as our rule and the glory of God as our end.
In the day, coming true worshippers shall worship God in spirit and in truth and not only in Jerusalem. One place will be as acceptable to God as another will. Little regard will be had to the circumstance, provided there is nothing indecent or disorderly, while the substance is religiously preserved and adhered to. Some think it intimates that there should be greater numbers of sacrifices offered than the vessels of the sanctuary would serve for; but, rather than any should be turned back or deferred. They shall make no difficulty at all of using common vessels, as the Levites in a case of necessity helped the priests to kill the sacrifices (2 Chronicles 29:34). In the day coming no ungodliness will be introduced into the sacred things, to corrupt them.
There are those who believe the statement, “there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts” this was fulfilled when Christ drove the buyers and sellers out of the temple. Though those that were Canaanites, strangers and foreigners, shall be brought into the house of the Lord, yet they shall cease to be Canaanites; they shall have nothing of the spirit or disposition of Canaanites in them. On the other hand, that though in this day that is coming people will grow indifferent as to holy vessels, yet they will be very strict in church-discipline, and careful not to admit the profane to special ordinances, but to separate between the precious and the vile, between Israelites and Canaanites.
Yet this will not have its full accomplishment short of the heavenly Jerusalem, into which no unclean thing will enter, for at the end of time, and not before, Christ shall gather out of His kingdom every thing that offends, and the tares and wheat shall be perfectly and eternally separated.
In the Book of Zechariah we have seen the Messiah portrayed as the complete and perfect King by applying six royal functions of the ancient Near Eastern kingship to Him; the mediating Servant (3:8), Priest (6:13, Judge (14:16-19), Warrior (10:4; 14:3-4), Shepherd (11:8-9; 13:7), and Peace bring King (3:10; 9:9-10).
We have been told in the day that is coming there will be holiness in public life, the bells of the horses (v. 20), in religious life, the cooking pots in the Lord’s house (v. 20), in private life, every pot in Jerusalem and Judah (v. 21). The common things become holy when they are used for the glory of the Lord and His service. This is the life we are to live in this day, looking forward to the day coming when every knee will bow before our Lord Jesus Christ and every tongue confess He is King of kings and Lord of lords.
  |