Day 274. Zechariah 1-6

As we have had occasion to note before—and will again--apocalyptic literature is often intentionally obscure, designed to reveal its meaning to the chosen few but to withhold it from others. It is crisis literature—written in times of stress and persecution, it reflects the fears and uncertainties of the community to which it is addressed. In such times God feels remote and distant. Whereas classic prophetic literature is a dialogue between God and the prophet, the messages of apocalyptic writers like Zechariah is often mediated through angels.

Zechariah is a contemporary and partner of Haggai; both prophets are involved in the rebuilding of  Jerusalem, one taking up where the other leaves off. Zechariah's first oracle is dated a month after the delivery of Haggai's last—November, 520 B.C.—and his chief concern, like Haggai's, is the rebuilding of the temple and restoration of Israel's worship.  

He begins—quite appropriately—with a few words on prophecy and the many prophets that had been sent to Israel with the same message from the LORD—"Return to me. . .and I will return to you" (1:3).  When the people did not heed the prophetic call to repentance, they perished. The prophets also did not live forever. But in time the truth of their message "overtook" the descendents of their original hearers, and they repented and surrendered to the LORD's will (1:6). Now again Israel is being called upon to repent and change the direction of their communal life, so that God can use them to fulfill his ultimate purposes in history.

In the first six chapters of the Book of Zechariah we find eight visions--the first is dated February 15, 519 B.C. This vision richly deserves to be called "surreal"—dream-like. It even takes place in the night and everything about it suggests a dream. Ancient people took dreams very seriously as divine messages and warnings.  In this dream-vision the prophet sees a man on a red horse resting in a grove of myrtle trees. There are other riders there as well—more dimly seen through the gloom--on red, sorrel and white horses.  This glen is apparently a peaceful place where these heavenly riders habitually pause to rest from their real task—"they are those whom the LORD has sent to patrol the earth" (1:10)—angelic secret agents. The four riders report that presently "the whole earth remains at peace" (1:11). Under the authority of the powerful Persian kings, peace reigns; there is no war.  But tranquility does not rule the hearts of the people of God. They are uneasy. God also is dissatisfied with the situation. He has been angry with his people and withheld his mercy from them for "seventy years" (1:12)—in the Bible the symbolic span of punishment and exile. But now God has forgiven their sins and become "jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion," his own chosen possession (1:14). The suffering of God's people is disproportionate to their crimes, and the LORD's anger has shifted from Israel and to "the nations," because when the LORD was "only a little angry," they "made the disaster worse" (1:15). They were vicious and tyrannical. But now God has "returned to Jerusalem with compassion," and he is determined his "house shall be built in it" (1:16). The finished temple will be not only a visible symbol of God's presence among his people, but also a sign that he has not forgotten his eternal covenant with them.

In his second dream-vision Zechariah sees "four horns"; these are symbolic of four dominant world powers (1:18).  These are the nations that have in the past "scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem" (1:19). Then the prophet is shown four blacksmiths, and told that they "have come to terrify [these enemy nations], to strike down the horns of the nations that have lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter its people" (1:20). The people of God should be encouraged because their enemies will imminently be clobbered.

In his third dream-vision the prophet is shown a young man with a measuring line—a surveyors cord used to measure off distance. And in answer to the prophet's question, he says he is assigned "to measure Jerusalem" (2:2). But the young man is immediately informed by angels that the restored and glorified Jerusalem shall be of immeasurable size, like a village without walls "because of the multitude of people and animals in it." It cannot be enclosed (2:4). And as for fortifications, the LORD himself will be both "a wall of fire all around it" and "the glory within it" (2:5).

Now there is a pause in the flow of the book. The exiles who remain "with daughter Babylon" are called to "flee from the land of the north" and "escape to Zion" (2:6). Their safety is in peril. God is about to "raise [his] hand" against those who have plundered his people—whoever has touches them "touches the apple of [his] eye" (2:8).  So the people of God are urged to depart from those nations—notably Babylon—because they are about to be attacked and to "become plunder for their own slaves" (2:9). But God will dwell in the midst of a restored Jerusalem, and "many nations will join themselves to the LORD in that day." These foreigners shall also be God's chosen people (2:11). After the exile in Babylon among some Jews there was a new emphasis upon the conversion of the Gentiles and the role of a restored Israel as a center to which other nations would be drawn.

In the fourth vision Satan appears as he does in the Book of Job, as the "the accuser" in the divine law court.  Here he stands up to accuse the high priest Joshua. He had suffered in exile, and that is the source of the LORD's description of the priest as "a brand plucked from the fire" (3:2).  His degradation is also underlined by his "filthy clothes" (3:3).  But Satan is prevented from accusing Joshua by the LORD's vindication. Instead the angel orders those standing by to take off the high priest's filthy clothes and cloth him in festal apparel as a sign that his guilt—and the guilt of the people--is taken away. The clean turban and apparel (3:5) are signs that the guilt and punishment associated with exile are over, and a new life has begun.

After the Babylonian exile the high priests of the Jerusalem temple assumed more than  ritual importance; through his prophet  God assures Joshua that he "shall rule my house and have charge of my courts" (3:7).  The prophet, however, also suggests that the LORD intends to "bring my servant the Branch" (3:8). Who this Branch is intended to be is not altogether clear, but here it seems to be Zerubbabel, who is governor of the Persian province of Judea and a descendent of the house of David. The language is very obscure and guarded here, however—and for good reason. This talk of setting up a rival king would be considered treasonous by the Persian king, if he should get wind of it.

Zechariah's prophecy steps back from dangerous ground and returns to the high priest Joshua, upon whose headpiece the LORD proposes to place a stone with seven facets engraved with the seven Hebrew letters spelling the phrase—"Holy to the LORD" (3:9). The restored people will shepherded by a holy priesthood who be able to offer a sacrifice that will remove "the guilt of this land" and its people. And in the future they will live together in peace each "under [his] own vine and fig tree" (3:10).

Again the fifth vision takes place at night. The prophet is awakened from sleep by an angel and sees a golden lamp stand with seven oil lamps like the one which was part of the furniture of the temple. The seven lamps in the golden lamp stand represent the "eyes of the LORD" (4:10) that range over the whole world.  The golden lamp stand is surmounted with a golden bowl. On either side of it the prophet sees is an olive tree which pours oil into the bowl through golden pipes. The two olive trees seem to symbolize the two powers in the community—the "anointed ones" (4:14)--the Davidic governor Zerubbabel and the Zadokite high priest Joshua, who "stand by the LORD of the whole earth."

The LORD directly addresses Zerubbabel—one of his "anointed ones"--giving him encouragement and a mandate for the task before him—the rebuilding of the temple; it will be accomplished "not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit" (4:6). The message to Zerubbabel is a very personal one. Some obstacle that stands before him—a "great mountain" –will be leveled and become "a plain" (4:7). "The top stone," perhaps the capstone of the old temple, will be used in laying the foundation of the new one, giving it legitimacy. The works will be surrounded by rejoicing and by acclamations of "Grace, grace to it."

And Zerubbabel , who laid the foundation of the temple, is further assured that he shall complete it. Therefore, he is not to lose heart in the face of obstacles on the "day of small things"--this probably refers to the humble beginnings of the temple. The "plummet" is a leaden plumb bob used by masons to keep a wall straight. Those who were once uncertain and disillusioned will rejoice to see the governor, the LORD's chosen, will keep the project in plumb and on course to the end.

In his sixth dream-vision the prophet sees an enormous flying scroll—33 feet by 15 feet—with writing on both sides. It is a command to live righteously and contains curses directed at anyone who steals or swears falsely.  The LORD demands honesty and integrity of the reconstructed community, and he himself will enter the house of anyone who disobeys his commands to and "consume it, both timber and stones" (5:4).

In the seventh dream-vision the prophet sees a basket brought in. When the leaden cover is lifted it reveals a woman crouched inside. An angel informs the prophet-- "This is Wickedness" (5:8)--and thrusts her back into the basket and puts a leaden weight on the top to keep her inside. The woman is probably representative of the female fertility goddesses so common in the ancient Middle East—Astarte, Asherah, Ishtar, and "the queen of heaven" (Jeremiah 44:11-19)—their sensual worship presented a constant temptation to the people of God. But in the reconstructed Israel idolatry has no place, and we are told that the prophet sees "two women" with "wings like a stork" (5:9) who lift basket containing incarnate Wickedness up "between earth and sky." In response to the prophet's question, the angel tells him that the basket is being carried to "the land of Shinar"—another name for Babylon—where a "house"—a temple—is to be built for it. (The goddess Ishtar was indeed one of the patrons of that city.) But Wickedness has no place in the renewed Jerusalem.

In the last of dream-visions Zechariah sees four chariots bursting forth from between two "mountains of bronze" (6:1).   In answer to the prophet's question he is told by the angel that "these are four winds of heaven going out, after presenting themselves before the LORD of all the earth" (6:5). Winds from the four points of the compass are represented as the LORD's agents traversing to report what goes on there. For some reason no chariot is sent east—perhaps nothing significant is happening there.

The "north country" (6:8) refers to Babylonia—there is peace in that quarter.  The LORD commands that an offering of silver and gold be collected "from the exiles" who have just returned from there to make a crown for the high priest Joshua. He is hailed here as the "Branch" (6:11) because he will "build the temple of the LORD" (6:12). Earlier in Zechariah's prophecy the Branch had been identified with the Davidic governor Zerubbabel (3:8) and for the same reason. But here the high priest is given "royal honor" and placed "upon his throne" to rule (3:13). It seems clear that in Zechariah's vision of the reconstituted Israel the secular and the religious princes will share the title of "Branch" and together rule a theocratic state as equal representatives of the LORD.  

 

  

Day 273. Haggai

This short book has only one purpose—to encourage the people and their leaders to start to rebuild the temple. A group of Judean exiles, under the sponsorship of the Persian King Cyrus, had returned to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon. Almost immediately the returned exiles set about rebuilding the city's walls and their own houses and homesteads. Work on the temple, which had been destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 B.C., was delayed for lack of resources and "spirit" for the task. Many considered the community too poor to undertake the project. Others were afraid of the attention the project would draw from hostile neighbors.

Now eighteen years have passed since the return of the first group of exiles and the temple is still a heap of ruins. In response a prophet named Haggai arises to provide the necessary spirit for undertaking the task. In the second year of the Persian King Darius he delivers "the word of the LORD" to Zerubbabel, the governor of the province, and Joshua, the high priest, and through them to the community.   Zerubbabel is a royal prince of the house of David, the grandson of King Jehoiachin, but is not himself a king. He is the last of David's descendants to exercise political authority. Joshua, the hereditary high priest is second in command in the province, and a political as well as religious power. High-priestly prestige and authority will continue to grow in the Jewish community during the post-exilic period.

The book of Haggai is composed of four carefully dated prose oracles delivered during the period of a single year—520 B.C.  

The first, revealed on August 29, 520 B.C., is a response to certain people—the prophet leaves them unnamed—who are saying that "the time has not yet come to rebuild the LORD's house" (1:2). The oracle is the LORD's answer to these gainsayers. God calls upon the people to consider how they have fared since their return from exile (1:5). The community has not prospered either economically or spiritually—those who "earn wages earn wages to put them into a bag with holes" (1:6).  The reason is the lack of a focus for faith and worship.

They have built their own houses, so the LORD bids the leadership of the community to get busy and "build [his] house," so that he can "take pleasure in it and be honored" (1:8). The people have fared ill because they have left God's "house in ruins, while [they] hurry off to build [their] own houses" (1:9). That is the reason that the land, the animals, and human beings now suffer from drought and pestilence. They must build the temple.

And they respond positively. We are told that Haggai, "the messenger of the LORD," delivers this message to the governor and the high priest and "the remnant of the people," and they obeyed. And with the command of God, the prophet conveys this word of encouragement—"I am with you, says the LORD" (1:13). You are not alone. So the LORD "stirred up the spirit" of the governor, the high priest, and "all the remnant of the people" and they worked on the temple (1:14). We are given the date on which the work commences.

The second oracle is dated October 17, 520 B.C., seven weeks after the first. It is addressed to the whole Jerusalem community.  Apparently there are some among the returned exiles—very aged people—who remember the temple of Solomon before it was destroyed. In their sight this new temple is "as nothing" (2:3)—a very "hole-in-the-wall" affair—and they are saying as much. Such criticism has damaged the morale of the people as a whole. But on behalf of the LORD the prophet tells all the classes of society, high and low, to take courage and work. The LORD of hosts is with them, "according to the promise that [he] made [them] when [they] came out of Egypt." The LORD will not go back out of his covenant promises; he is always faithful. Furthermore, his "spirit"—his creative will--abides among them. Therefore they should "not fear" (2:5). 

True, this temple will be not nearly as magnificent as Solomon's was. But the LORD promises to "shake the heavens and the earth" as he did when he brought Israel out of Egypt. And as the children of Israel plundered Egypt of its gold and silver on their way out—Exodus 3:21-22—so the earth will be spoiled to enrich the house of the LORD. He will "shake all the nations"—shake them down, so to speak—so that their treasures will fill his temple. All the gold and all the silver in the world belong to the LORD anyway—why should he not claim them?  He will make his new house "greater than the former" (2:9), and in the place of poverty and depression he will "give prosperity" and joy to Jerusalem.

Haggai issues his third oracle a few months later—on December 18, 520 B.C. Again, it is addressed to the entire community of returned exiles, calling them to work on the new temple and not slacken. In a divine cause and effect relationship, prosperity and security will follow obedience.

Haggai uses an example drawn from the Law of Moses to illustrate this. The Mosaic Law, especially the ritual laws regarding uncleanness and purity, had much greater importance after the Babylonian exile. The meaning of this oracle depends upon an understanding of the laws regarding the communication of sacredness and of ritual impurity. Haggai presents two questions to the priests, whose job it was during this period to interpret the law. (It would later be the task of lay rabbis.) The first question involves whether flesh sacrificed in the temple communicates its sacredness to things it touches. The expert option is no, it does not. The second question regards contact with a dead body—the regulations on this subject are found in Numbers 19:11-13. Does physical contact with a corpse make a person ritually unclean. And the answer is yes.

From this Haggai draws his conclusion: It is the unclean rather than the clean that is contagious, disobedience rather than obedience. Therefore when the people did not work on the temple, acting contrary to God's will, the community did not prosper. Their disobedience contaminated everything—their crops were destroyed by "blight and mildew and hail" (2:17). But since the day they began to build the temple their crops have flourished—since that day the LORD has blessed all that they put their hands to. Obedience to God's will is the source of life and prosperity to the covenant community.

Haggai's fourth oracle is dated the same day as the third, December 18, 520 B.C., but it has quite a different purpose. It is addressed to Zerubbabel alone, not to the people. It may have been delivered as a secret communication, because its message could well be construed as treasonous to the governor's Persian overlords. The LORD tells the governor—in confidence--that he is "about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms and nations" (2:21). Change is in the air. But "on that day" the LORD promises to take Zerubbabel, heir to the house of David, and make him "like a signet ring" (2:23). In ancient times kings and others in authority wore signet rings as a sign of authority. Zerubbabel, David's son, is to be the expression of the LORD's authority on earth. For this role he has been "chosen" by God. This is dangerous stuff, and does seem to encourage the governor to seek a higher office. Perhaps it is not surprising that soon after Haggai delivers his oracles Zerubbabel vanishes from the scene. Perhaps the Persian king got wind of his exulted expectations. In any case, in the Gospel of Matthew (1:12) we find Zerubbabel among the ancestors of our LORD, who as Messiah and Son of David is indeed the expression of God's authority on earth.    

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Day 272. Zephaniah 1-3

Zephaniah is another vivid little book of prophecy that moves from despair to hope.  We know little its author except that his oracles are addressed to the southern kingdom of Judah—the northern kingdom of Israel had been destroyed-- during the reign of King Josiah (640-609 B.C.). It was written—perhaps a better word would be "revealed"--before Josiah began the celebrated reforms that would make him, together with king Hezekiah, one of the two great saintly heroes of the period of the Divided Kingdom.  We are given a little of the prophet's family history. The name of his father—"Cushi" (1:1) or "son of Cush" –is a non-Israelite name and may indicate that he is foreigner, perhaps from ancient Cush—Ethiopia. And the land of Ethiopia appears in the prophet's writing in several interesting contexts, as we shall we.

But the prophet's focus of concern centers upon the tiny kingdom of Judah, and he portrays a nation in trouble--sunk deeply in "violence and fraud" and larded with idolatry. In fact, things have gone so far that God even contemplates undoing creation, utterly sweeping "away everything from the face of the earth" (1:2), as he did in the time of Noah—see Genesis 7:21-23. Only this time the destruction will come by fire and not by water. The particular objects of the LORD's wrath are the "idolatrous priests" (1:4), who practice and teach a syncretism that combines the worship of the God of Israel with the Canaanite fertility god Baal and the "host of heaven"—those astral deities—the moon and the stars--widely worshipped in the ancient Near East, especially in Babylon. The people—both lay and clergy-- do not seek the LORD, and instead bow down and swear equally by Milcom—which is another name for the evil Ammonite god Molech, who routinely demanded child sacrifice of his followers.

Alone and weighted with guilt, Judah now faces the dark and terrible "day of the LORD," which is now at hand (1:7). The LORD has prepared a sacrifice and "consecrated his guests"—this one is by invitation, and only the worthy may appear. But "the officials and the king's sons and all who dress themselves in foreign attire" (1:8) will be excluded. The problem is not so much with their mode of dress, but with the accommodation with alien ideas and pagan deities it implies.

"On that day"—the day of the LORD-- the neighborhoods of Jerusalem—Zephaniah mentions the "Fish Gate, the Second Quarter, the Mortar" --will cry and wail because commerce has ceased. God will search the districts of the city "with lamps," looking for those who say that "the LORD will not do good, nor will he do harm" (1:12), and live out their agnosticism in lives of moral complacency. They will see their hoarded wealth plundered. They will not enjoy the good things they have worked and sacrificed for in the Promised Land; they are doomed to lives of emptiness and frustration as exiles in a strange country (1:13).

Zephaniah sees the day of the LORD approaching quickly and the sound of it "is bitter" (1:14)—it is a day of wrath and anguish, a day of invasion and siege and exile. For people spoiled by luxury and unprepared it will be day of stunned suffering, a day in which the anger of a righteous God will be poured out upon all humanity. Creation is a gift—not a given. The day of the LORD stands as a possibility at every moment. Human history is in constant jeopardy; at any time "the fire of [the LORD's] passion" may break out "and the whole earth . . . be consumed" (1:18). The God who creates can also un-create, and make "a full, a terrible end" of all his works.

Everything is contingent upon the will of God. And in awareness of this, a "shameless nation," under the LORD's judgment, is called upon to "gather" and seek the LORD" before "the day of his wrath." If its people "seek righteousness, seek humility" perhaps the fury to come will pass over them (2:3) and they will be saved. Otherwise Judah will suffer that same fate that awaits their traditional enemies, and Zephaniah gives a laundry list of those. "The word of the LORD is against" the Philistines and Cherethites, Sea Peoples who lived in what is now called the Gaza Strip. They will be utterly decimated (2:4-5) and their empty lands will provide pasture for a restored "house of Judah" (2:7). Moabites and Ammonites likewise, nations that have taunted the people of Israel, shall be treated like Sodom and Gomorrah, their lands will be a poisoned waste forever. Their wealth will be plundered, and their gods shriveled by the furious heat of the LORD's anger (2:10-11).

Ethiopians—the biblical land of Cush--shall also suffer on the day of the LORD, though we are not told exactly why.  Judeans during this period seem to have had close relations with that exotic land, which lay to the south of Egypt, and some of them took refuge there in times of danger. Zechariah himself may have had Ethiopian family connections on his father's side (1:1 and 3:10).

Assyria is also in line for destruction. We already know something of the fall of Assyria and its capital of Nineveh from the writings of the prophet Nahum. Zechariah predicts what Nahum celebrates—the day when the LORD will "make Nineveh a desolation" (2:13).  This prophecy is fulfilled when the city falls to the Medes and Babylonians in 612 B.C., and the "exultant city that lived secure" (2:15) did indeed become "a lair for wild animals."

But Zephaniah reserves his most elaborate condemnation for the holy city of Jerusalem itself—the "soiled, defiled, oppressing city" (3:1), as the prophet calls it. Unashamed and unreformed, "it has not trusted in the LORD; it has not drawn near to its God" (3:2), but remains unrepentant.  "The LORD within it is righteous" (3:5), but everyone else is corrupt. Its officials are predatory; the prophets attached to the temple have proved themselves "reckless, faithless persons" (3:4); its priests tolerate of idolatry and violate the Law of Moses. All are secure in the promise to David that the city will be protected by the LORD.

But God has destroyed other greater cities and mightier nations and made them desolate. Their example should by rights make the citizens of Jerusalem more ready to "accept correction." But these examples have not improved them--in fact its inhabitants seem even "more eager to make all their deeds corrupt" (3:7) than ever.

Again the prophet finds himself in the cosmic courtroom—"wait for me, says the LORD, for the day when I arise as a witness" (3:8). His testimony cannot be controverted and his verdict is already in—only the sentence waits to be carried out. "In the fire of my passion all the earth shall be consumed" (3:8), says the LORD. But this is not the end; from this fire will come a new creation in which the "speech of the peoples" will be changed "to a pure speech," so that they may "call on the name of the LORD and serve him with one accord" (3:9).  In this restoration the LORD's "suppliants," his "scattered ones" from the furthest corners of the earth will bring offerings; "from beyond the rivers of Ethiopia" (Cush) they will come to Jerusalem to worship (3:10).

From these suppliants, a new nation shall emerge, "humble and lowly" (3:12) and purged of the "proudly exultant ones." This new Israel shall "no longer be haughty in [the LORD's] holy mountain (3:11). And out of this "remnant" the LORD will fashion a new humanity who shall "utter no lies" and no "deceit" shall "be found in their mouths" (3:13). They shall live in integrity, and the LORD, the Good Shepherd, will pasture and protect them so that "no one shall make them afraid" (3:13).

So in the end the kingdom of God shall be established in history, not beyond it. The wicked shall perish and the righteous shall live in peace in a Promised Land restored and enlarged. So the Book of Zechariah reaches its happy conclusion, not in the Jerusalem that is, but in the Jerusalem to come. There the LORD will take control as "king of Israel," and the city will "fear disaster no more" (3:15). God "the warrior who gives victory" will renew his love of the city and share with it his glory. He will establish justice there, dealing "with all [the people's] oppressors" (3:19), both indigenous and foreign. Those who have been marginalized by custom and religious law will be gathered into a new community, marked by mercy and equality. The LORD will "save the lame and gather the outcast" (3:19), transforming their shame into praise. When the LORD steps in to "restore [the] fortunes" (3:20) of Judah and Jerusalem, those who once were scattered throughout the earth will be brought back to the Promised Land in a new and glorious Exodus, and the LORD will make Israel again "renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth" (3:20).