Zechariah 1-4

Zechariah preached in the same period as did Haggai. But the present Book of Zechariah combines Zechariah’s own words in chapters 1-8 with a series of later oracles in chapters 9-14 which were delivered by an unknown prophet against the Greeks about one hundred and fifty years later. Just as most scholars now refer to a First Isaiah as well as a Second and Third Isaiah, they often speak of First Zechariah and Second Zechariah to describe these two parts.

Zechariah delivered his prophetic words between November 520 and November or December 518 B.C. These include at least three sets of oracles (Zec 1:1-6, 7:1-14, 8:1-23) and eight visions (Zec 1:7-6:15). He shares Haggai’s concerns for rebuilding the temple, creating a purified community, and predicting the coming of a new messianic age centered on Zerubbabel. One of the differences between the two prophets is the greater attention to priestly matters in Zechariah. He is himself the son of a priest (Ezr 5:1), and he makes a special point of emphasizing the role of the high priest Joshua beside that of Zerubbabel as prince. In chapter 4 he has a vision of a gold lampstand with two olive trees beside it. Zechariah asks what the two olive trees represent. An angel replies: “These are the two anointed who stand beside the Lord of the entire world” (Zec 4:14).

A second difference between Haggai and Zechariah is seen in the use of visions. Zechariah uses highly symbolic figures of horses of different colors (Zec 1:7-17), four horns (Zec 1:18-21), angels who explain the visions (chapters 3-5), a flying scroll (Zec 5:1-11), and flying chariots (Zec 6:1-8). Earlier prophets had also depended on visions in their preaching. Amos 7-8 contains a series of visions, and Ezekiel had a number of visions during his years of preaching, including the chariot of Yahweh (Ez 1), a scroll full of writing (Ez 2:8-10), and a valley full of dead bones (Ez 37:1-14) But Zechariah uses visions as the major point of his prophetic work, and his visions are much more mystical and symbolic than the rather clear metaphors of Ezekiel or Amos. Instead of making the message clearer, these colorful descriptions mask its real meaning to all except those who know what the prophet is talking about. Thus was born a prophetic code known to believers but hidden from pagans and outsiders. This use of an almost-secret language becomes more and more common in the last centuries of the Old Testament era, and reaches its fullest use in apocalyptic books such as Daniel or Revelation in the New Testament….

Despite this new way of expression, Zechariah stands within the tradition of Israel’s prophets. He clearly follows the lead of Ezekiel in combining purification, moral uprightness and the divine blessings upon the people. He follows Ezekiel in hoping for a day of restoration when the land will have prosperity and peace. He matches the finest thought of the prophets who came before the exile when he says:

Thus says the Lord of hosts: Do true justice, show compassion and mercy to your brother, do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the foreigner or the poor; and do not plan evil against one another in your hearts (Zec 7:9-10).

Lawrence Boadt, Reading the Old Testament, pp. 440-441

Several verses stood out to me today in reading Zechariah 1-4. First, Zechariah 1:3, “Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you.” It occurs to me that this is something we need to do every day.

Second, Zechariah 2:8 talks about the Jews being the apple of God’s eye. The apple of the eye is the pupil. The expression suggests that the people whom God has his eye on are reflected in his eye. The phrase also suggests that we see who we really are when we look at our reflection in God’s eye.

On one occasion, I attended a Sunday evening service at St. Mark’s Dundela in Belfast, C. S. Lewis’ childhood parish. Communion was served followed by prayers for healing. I went forward and knelt at the altar railing seeking emotional healing for a certain heartbreaking situation in which I was involved as well as others. I will never forget the priest referring to me as “the apple of God’s eye” as he prayed over me, not knowing that was the word I most needed to hear at that moment.

You too are the apple of God’s eye. He has his eye on you. He loves and cares for you more than you can possibly imagine.

The third thing that stood out to me in this reading was the picture of the high priest Joshua being accused by Satan, then having his filthy clothes removed and festal apparel put on him. I believe that is a picture of each of our positions before the host of heaven. Satan seeks to accuse us of all manner of things, but the Lord will have none of it. Rather than accuse us, he removes from us that which is offensive and unclean, and he replaces it with a party frock, so to speak. What a beautiful image!

And how does God do this? Zechariah refers to the guilt of this land being removed in a single day (Zechariah 3:9). Certainly that is a prophetic picture of what God did through Jesus on the cross—he removed our guilt in a single day. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

Comments

C. S. Lewis on Homosexuality

Arthur Greeves In light of recent developments in the United States on the issue of gay marriage, I thought it would be interesting to revisit what C. S. Lewis thought about homosexuality. Lewis, who died in 1963, never wrote about same-sex marriage, but he did write, occasionally, about the topic of homosexuality in general. In the following I am quoting from my book, Mere Theology: A Guide to the Thought of C. S. Lewis . For detailed references and footnotes, you may obtain a copy from Amazon, your local library, or by clicking on the book cover at the right.... In Surprised by Joy , Lewis claimed that homosexuality was a vice to which he was never tempted and that he found opaque to the imagination. For this reason he refused to say anything too strongly against the pederasty that he encountered at Malvern College, where he attended school from the age of fifteen to sixteen. Lewis did not rate pederasty as the greatest evil of the school because he felt the cruelty displa

Fact, Faith, Feeling

"Now Faith, in the sense in which I am here using the word, is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods. For moods will change, whatever view your reason takes. I know that by experience. Now that I am a Christian I do have moods in which the whole thing looks very improbable: but when I was an atheist I had moods in which Christianity looked terribly probable. This rebellion of your moods against your real self is going to come anyway. That is why Faith is such a necessary virtue: unless you teach your moods 'where to get off', you can never be either a sound Christian or even a sound atheist, but just a creature dithering to and fro, with its beliefs really dependent on the weather and the state of its digestion. Consequently one must train the habit of Faith." Mere Christianity Many years ago, when I was a young Christian, I remember seeing the graphic illustration above of what C. S. Lewis has, here, so

C. S. Lewis Tour--London

The final two days of our C. S. Lewis Tour of Ireland & England were spent in London. Upon our arrival we enjoyed a panoramic tour of the city that included Westminster Abbey. A number of our tour participants chose to tour the inside of the Abbey where they were able to view the new C. S. Lewis plaque in Poets' Corner. Though London was not one of Lewis' favorite places to visit, there are a number of locations associated with him. One which I have noted in my new book, In the Footsteps of C. S. Lewis , is Endsleigh Palace Hospital (25 Gordon Street, London) where Lewis recovered from his wounds received during the First World War.... Not too far away from this location is King's College, part of the University of London, located on the Strand, just off the River Thames. This is the location where Lewis gave the annual commemoration oration entitled The Inner Ring on 14 December 1944.... C. S. Lewis occasionally attended theatrical events in London.

The Shepherds' Perspective on Christmas

On December 21, 2015, the following headline appeared in the International Business Times: “Bethlehem Christmas 2015 Cancelled”. To be fully accurate, religious celebrations of Jesus’ birth went forward last year in Bethlehem, but many of the secular celebrations of Christmas that usually surround it were toned down due to instability in the area. Looking back a decade, there was even one year when Christian Arabs canceled community celebrations of Christmas in support of the Palestinian uprising. However, the Jewish government would have no part of that, so the Israeli military sponsored its own holiday celebrations in the area. It is also interesting to note who celebrated the first Christmas and who didn’t. The first Christmas was not celebrated by the emperor Caesar Augustus, nor Quirinius, the governor of Syria, nor was it celebrated by the lowly innkeeper. But Christmas was celebrated by a few lonely shepherds along with Joseph and Mary and the angels of heaven. How

C. S. Lewis on Church Attendance

A friend's blog written yesterday ( http://wesroberts.typepad.com/ ) got me thinking about C. S. Lewis's experience of the church. I wrote this in a comment on Wes Robert's blog: It is interesting to note that C. S. Lewis attended the same small church for over thirty years. The experience was nothing spectacular on a weekly basis. For most of those years Lewis didn't care much for the sermons; he even sat behind a pillar so that the priest would not see the expression on his face. He attended the service without music because he so disliked hymns. And he left right after holy communion was served probably because he didn't like to engage in small talk with other parishioners after the service. But that life-long obedience in the same direction shaped Lewis in a way that nothing else could. Lewis was once asked, "Is attendance at a place of worship or membership with a Christian community necessary to a Christian way of life?" His answer w

Does the Bible mention treating animals with kindness?

When I solicited questions to be addressed in this series, a member of the congregation wrote this to me: “Animals are mentioned in the Bible as beasts of burden and sacrificial animals. Is there any mention of treating animals with kindness?” The short answer to that question is: yes. However, it is important to note that what the Bible says about caring for animals comes in the midst of a great narrative. It is a narrative of Creation, Fall, and Redemption. Let’s look at these three great acts in the narrative play of world history one by one. First, let’s look at creation. Creation At the very beginning of the Bible, in the book of Genesis, chapter 1, verses 26 through 28, we read this: Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the

A Prayer at Ground Zero

Christmas Day Thought from Henri Nouwen

" I keep thinking about the Christmas scene that Anthony arranged under the altar. This probably is the most meaningful "crib" I have ever seen. Three small woodcarved figures made in India: a poor woman, a poor man, and a small child between them. The carving is simple, nearly primitive. No eyes, no ears, no mouths, just the contours of the faces. The figures are smaller than a human hand - nearly too small to attract attention at all. "But then - a beam of light shines on the three figures and projects large shadows on the wall of the sanctuary. That says it all. The light thrown on the smallness of Mary, Joseph, and the Child projects them as large, hopeful shadows against the walls of our life and our world. "While looking at the intimate scene we already see the first outlines of the majesty and glory they represent. While witnessing the most human of human events, I see the majesty of God appearing on the horizon of my existence. While

Sheldon Vanauken Remembered

A good crowd gathered at the White Hart Cafe in Lynchburg, Virginia on Saturday, February 7 for a powerpoint presentation I gave on the life and work of Sheldon Vanauken. Van, as he was known to family and friends, was best known as the author of A Severe Mercy , the autobiography of his love relationship with his wife Jean "Davy" Palmer Davis. While living in Oxford, England in the early 1950's, Van and Davy came to faith in Christ through the influence of C. S. Lewis. Van was a professor of history and English literature at Lynchburg College from 1948 until his retirement around 1980. A Severe Mercy tells the story of Davy's death from a mysterious liver ailment in 1955 and Van's subsequent dealing with grief. Van himself died from cancer in 1996. It was my privilege to know Van for a brief period of time during the last year of his life. However, present at the White Hart on February 7 were some who knew Van far better than I did--Floyd Newman, one of Van&

Glenmerle

Glenmerle in the 1950s In 2013 I published a biography on one of my favorite authors, Sheldon Vanauken. If you are interested, you can learn more and/or purchase a signed copy here: Signed Copy or an unsigned copy here: Amazon . One of the things that got me writing the book was my search for the location of Glenmerle, Vanauken's childhood home, so lovingly described in his book, A Severe Mercy . A visit to Van's alma mater, Staunton Military Academy, alerted me to the fact that Van grew up in Carmel, Indiana. Then, with the help of a local historian, we identified the location of Glenmerle. Because Van had suggested, in my first conversation with him, that Glenmerle was destroyed, I naturally assumed that the house no longer existed. However, another one of Van's fans recently contacted me to let me know that she believed she had found Glenmerle still in existence. I was able to look up the house on a real estate web site and compare current interior photos o

Will Vaus

Search This Blog