Theological Commentary: Click Here
This is a
wickedly complex chapter. Zechariah
becomes a shepherd over the flock doomed for destruction. This is a harsh comment, especially given
that this flock doomed for destruction is just returning from exile! It’s like God isn’t giving them a chance!
In a sense,
He isn’t. God knows human beings. We are sinful. We will fall into destruction. We will always feel the tug of sin and always
need to resist it. Even as God is restoring
us, He is prepping for the next time we fall.
If that wasn’t true, we wouldn’t really need Christ!
The Hebrew
people are a great case study of this. The
were in exile in Exodus when God made them His people. He allowed them freedom, but they demanded a
king. He gave them a king and the fought
against the oppression and did things their own way. As a result, God put them back into
exile. When the people return, the prophets
and priests create a strict set of laws to prevent people from slipping back
into the rebellion. However, this strict
set of rules leads to the staunch legalism that is around when Jesus comes to
the Hebrew people. Instead of rebelling
into selfishness, the Hebrew people rebel into legalism! They truly are a people doomed for
destruction.
None of us
are really any different. Life is not lived
in the extremes. We cannot find
righteousness through self-centered interests.
Neither can we find righteousness in legalism. As a people doomed for destruction, we only
find righteousness in the pursuit of a Christlike nature. We only find righteousness when we realize we
cannot obtain it ourselves and receive it from God.
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