Build and sit

Peter J. Leithart
April 27, 2010
Category: Bible - OT - Zechariah

Moses built a tent, and then Yahweh sat on His throne, the glory above the cherubim.

Solomon built a house, and then the glory of Yahweh settled on His throne in the debir.

Zechariah predicts something novel: A man named “Branch” will build the house of Yahweh, and then the Branch will take a throne (Zechariah 6:12-13).  When the temple is completed, Zechariah says, a “priest” will be on a throne, a priest who “bears glory” (on glory, hod, see Numbers 27:20; 1 Chronicles 16:27; 29:25; Psalm 8:1; 21:5; 45:3; 96:6; 104:1).

This may go some way to resolving the crux in verse 13: “peace between the two of them,” but who are “them”?  If Zechariah’s oracle is a riff on the temple-building/enthronement episodes earlier in Scripture, then the reconciliation is between Yahweh’s throne and David’s.  God’s throne and man’s will no longer be competitive, no longer a zero-sum game, ultimately, of course, because Yahweh and David have united in the single person of Jesus.


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