Zechariah – Background and History
Zechariah was a prophet who ministered among the people who were
returning from exile. Whereas Haggai
encouraged the production of the temple, Zechariah focused on the repentance of
the people. He was born in Babylon and
like Ezekiel and Jeremiah he was both a priest and a prophet. Zechariah was a contemporary to Haggai and
Zerubbabel.
It is often said that Zechariah is the most messianic,
apocalyptic, and eschatological books of the Old Testament. Many read the second coming of Christ into
Zechariah as read the first coming of Christ into Isaiah. Zechariah is quoted or alluded to no less
than 41 times in the New Testament alone. This is a book that shaped much of the
pervading religious thought around Jesus and what the people around Him were
anticipating with respect to the Messiah.
Zechariah’s Call
About the time that Haggai gave his second message, Zechariah
receives his call to come and do the work of the Lord. From the very beginning of this book we can
feel the emphasis upon repentance.
Zechariah is quick to remind the people where they were before their
exile under Babylon.
I love Zechariah’s description.
He is blunt and straightforward.
He reminds the people that their forefathers messed up. God sent them the prophets. They didn’t listen. They went into exile because of their
rebellion. The short lesson is this: disobey
God and you will get what the rebellious desire of your heart leads unto you.
But there is a longer lesson that this. Zechariah is also quick to remind the people
of a greater truth. As they stand amidst
a ruined Jerusalem and a ruined temple, Zechariah reminds them that the words
of the Lord are still standing.
Everything that the Hebrew people desired in their rebellion is
gone. Their wealth, their pagan
religion, their city – it is all gone and destroyed. The only thing that remains is the word of
God.
I hope you can see the profound nature of this line of
thinking. It is so easy to get caught up
in the things of the world. We want
bigger and better homes. We want more
wealth and better opportunities for our kids.
We want grand buildings with all kinds of comforts. But in the end, what is the only thing that
lasts the test of time? It is God’s
Word. We spend so much of our time
chasing after things that in 80 years – much less a millennia or so – won’t
even exist anymore! Our hearts are
indeed easily distracted.
Zechariah’s Vision of the Horses
Here Zechariah has a vision of a red horse rider who stands among
the myrtle trees. This passage and a
passage in Zechariah 6 are the likely sources of inspiration for the famous
passage of the four horseman of the Apocalypse we find in the book of
Revelation. Notice that as we find in
Revelation, the horseman here is an agent of God.
The angel among the myrtle trees is standing beside his horse as
though waiting for a report from the riders of the other horses. As Zechariah meets him, this angel hears the
report. The nations of the world are at
rest. This is an interesting juxtaposition. The world is at rest while the Hebrew people –
God’s people! – are not at rest.
There are three possible understandings for this passage, and I
believe all three are correct. First,
this describes the peace brought onto the known world by the military conquest
of the Persian people under Darius.
Second, I believe this is a future hint towards the condition of the
world under Caesar when the Messiah would first appear. The Roman armies in the
time of Jesus had quite proficiently brought peace to the known world through
their warfare. Third, I believe this is
also a comment looking forwards to the second coming of the Messiah. There will be peace across the known world
and like the peace of the first two interpretations of this passage I look for
that peace to be manmade peace brought about through military conquest.
God looks down upon this condition at the report of the angelic
messengers. God makes a bold
pronouncement that He is jealous for His people. His people will be rebuilt. His cities will overflow with abundance. People will once more choose Jerusalem – that
is, choose to dwell with God.
As with the report of peace, I believe this declaration would have
the same three interpretations. At the
time of Darius, the city and the temple will be rebuilt. A few centuries into the future around the
time of Christ the temple will be enlarged and even among the Roman Empire
there was great interest in Judaism among God-fearers. But I believe the greatest fulfillment of
this prophecy will come when Christ returns.
The world will fall into judgment and those who have chosen Christ will
dwell with Him.
Zechariah’s Second Vision
Zechariah now looks up and sees four horns. These four horns represent the people that
scattered Judah. The horn was often used
as a symbolic reference to Gentile power.
Thus, many people believe these to be Assyria, Egypt, Babylon, and
Persia – but while likely it is uncertain.
Then Zechariah sees four craftsmen. Craftsmen were people who took natural
resources and inflicted upon them their will.
In this case, the craftsmen come to follow the horns to inflict upon
them God’s will. The point of the vision
is extremely subtle but powerful. There
is natural power in the world, but God can send agents to tame the natural
power of mankind so that His will is done.
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