The Glory of Kings: A Festschrift for James B. Jordan

Fyodor Dostoevsky
(Christian Encounters Series)

Athanasius
(Foundations of Theological Exegesis and Christian Spirituality)

The Four: A Survey of the Gospels

Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom

From Behind the Veil: The Epistles of John

Deep Exegesis:The Mystery of Reading Scripture

Jane Austen
(A Biography)

Solomon Among the Postmoderns

The Baptized Body

1 & 2 Kings
Brazos Theological Commentary

The Promise Of His Appearing: An Exposition Of Second Peter

A Great Mystery: Fourteen Wedding Sermons

Deep Comedy: Trinity, Tragedy, And Hope In Western Literature

Miniatures & Morals: The Christian Novels of Jane Austen

The Priesthood of the Plebs: A Theology of Baptism

A Son To Me: An Exposition of 1 & 2 Samuel

Against Christianity

From Silence to Song: The Davidic Liturgical Revolution

Ascent to Love: A Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy

Blessed Are the Hungry: Meditations on the Lord's Supper

A House For My Name: A Survey of the Old Testament

Heroes of the City of Man: A Christian Guide to Select Ancient Literature

Brightest Heaven of Invention: A Christian Guide To Six Shakespeare Plays

Wise Words: Family Stories That Bring the Proverbs to Life

The Kingdom and the Power: Rediscovering the Centrality of the Church

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Bible - OT - Zechariah: Structure in Zechariah 2

Zechariah 2 seems to divide between verse 5 and 6, as we move from a promise of Yahweh’s dwelling in Jerusalem to an exhortation to “flee from the land of the north.”  While I have not been able to discern an overall structure in the passage, there are signs that it’s there.

The passage is enclosed by references to the Lord’s choice and inheritance of Jerusalem.  In the opening verses (vv. 1-2), Zechariah sees a man with a measuring line in his hand going to measure Jerusalem, while in verse 12 Yahweh takes possession of Judah and chooses Jerusalem “again.”  There is also, perhaps, an inclusio between verses 3-4 and verse 11: Verses 3-4 describe a city overflowing with men and animals, and verse 11 infors us that many who come to inhabit Zion will be Gentiles.

Within that inclusio, there are several short chiasms.

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Bible - OT - Zechariah: Jubilee

Zechariah 2 contains several references to the Jubilee.  Jerusalem, the Lord says, will become like an unwalled city (2:4), the kind of city where the Jubilee rules do apply (Leviticus 25).  At the end of the passage, the prophet learns that Yahweh will inherit Jerusalem, a unique usage in the Old Testament, which never uses Yahweh as the subject of “inherit.”  but the Jubilee is again behind that promise, since the whole rationale of the Jubilee legislation is that the land belongs to Yahweh, not Israel.

Isaiah also uses Jubilee to describe Israel’s return from exile, her return to her “ancestral property.”  Zechariah gives a twist on that theme.  Jerusalem is going to be treated like an unwalled city, which means that it will be restored to its original owner.  And that original ower, v. 12 tells us, is Yahweh Himself.  The return from exile here is not simply Israel’s return to the land, but Yahweh’s recovery of His own city and dwelling place.

Bible - OT - Zechariah: Perichoresis

Yahweh promises to be a wall around Jerusalem (Zechariah 2:5), as well as the glory in her midst.

Jerusalem dwells within the fiery wall that is Yahweh’s consuming presence.

Jerusalem is indwelt by the fiery glory that is Yahweh’s consuming presence.

And, if Jerusalem indwells and is indwelt by Yahweh, so Yahweh is indwelt by and indwells Jerusalem.

Bible - OT - Zechariah: Cast down by praise

The craftsmen who throw down the “horns” that have scattered Judah (Zechariah 1:18-21) are like the craftsmen that built the tabernacle and temple.  They are destroying horns (of an altar), and so gaining the victory over the Gentiles.

Zechariah gives a neat little verbal twist to this in verse 21, using the verb yadah in the sense of “throw down.”  That word is more typically translated as “praise,” “confess,” or “give thanks.”  It can mean shoot or throw down, but that meaning comes out only in a few places.  Zechariah seems to hint playfully at the lesson of Nehemiah: The joy of Yahweh is our strength.

The connection between praising Yahweh and casting down enemies is apparently evident in Hebrew vocabulary.  The typical word for “cast down” is yarah, which differs only by a tittle from yadah.

Bible - OT - Zechariah: Throwing down the horns

Zechariah 1:21 (Hebrew 2:4) has a neat, sort-a-chiastic structure.  In answer to Zechariah’s question, Yahweh (v. 20) says that the craftsmen come to bring down the horns of the Gentiles.

A. These are horns

B. Which scatter Judah

C. So that a man does not lift his head

A’. These [craftsmen] are coming to terrify and to thrown down the horns of the nations

C’. Which lift up a horn

B’. To scatter Judah

There are a couple of striking things to note about this structure.

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Bible - OT - Zechariah: Anger to jealousy

In an earlier post, I noted that Zechariah 1:2 pictures Israel as hemmed in by Yahweh’s anger: Anger-fathers-anger is the word order.

Zechariah 1:14 does the same.  Zechariah’s message to Israel is

qinne’ti liyrushalaim (jealous I am to Jerusalem)

ultziyyon qin’ah gedolah (and to Zion great jealousy)

Jealousy rather than anger now surrounds Jerusalem and Zion.

Is that an improvement?  Anger is often the expression of aroused jealousy, offended love.  Whether it’s anger or jealousy, it’s the burning flame of Yah’s love.  Either way, Israel’s hemmed in by Yahweh.  Either way, it can get pretty hot.  But Zechariah does introduce this oracle as “good words, words of compassion” (v. 13).  Yahweh’s jealousy here is His protective jealousy, the wall of flame that protects Jerusaelm and burns against the enemies of Jerusalem and Zion (v. 15).

Bible - OT - Zechariah: Structure of Zechariah

Meredith Kline has argued that the entire book of Zechariah is organized as a pair of “diptychs,” each of which “hinges” on a passage about the work of the King-Shepherd of Israel.  The entire book itself, moreover,  is a diptych, hinging around the crowning of Joshua in Zechariah 6:9-15.  Below I present Kline’s conclusions in outline form.

A. First “Diptych,” 1:1-6:8

1. Exhortation, 1:1-6

2. Visions, 1:7-2:13

a. Horses in myrtle grove, 1:7-17

b. Horns (of altar) cast down, 1:18-21

c. Jerusalem without walls, 2:1-13

Minor Hinge 1: Joshua reclothed, 3:1-10

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Bible - OT - Zechariah: Beset by anger

Zechariah 1:2 has a neat bit of text-painting.  The verse uses the root “be angry” (qatzaph) twice.   That of course gives the term emphasis.  Yahweh is not merely angry; He’s ANGRY!

The verse is surrounded by the root qatzaph so that the verse reads: “Angry was Yahweh at your fathers – anger!”  The fathers are surrounded by Yahweh’s anger.  Or, perhaps better, Yahweh and the fathers encounter one another within the walls of Yahweh’s anger.  Anger is the framework of their relationship.

Bible - OT - Zechariah: Word patterns in Zechariah 1

Zechariah 1:1-6, the introduction to the prophecy, uses a number of words or phrases a significant number of times.

“Yahweh” is used eight times.  Eight is the number of rebirth, a new week, resurrection on the day after the Sabbath.  Plus, Zechriah begins to prophecy in the eighth month.

Of those eight uses, five are in the phrase “Yahweh of hosts,” or “Yahweh of Armies.”  Five is associated with military formation, and so the fievold use of the militant name of Yahweh is fitting.  He’s getting ready to fight on behalf of Israel.

“Return” is used four times.  Though Israel has returned from their scattering to the four corners of the earth, Yahweh is not satisfied with that return.  He wants them to “return” to Him rather than fall away as their fathers did (v. 4).  Interestingly, Israel’s return is both prior to and a prerequisite of Yahweh’s return to Israel (v. 3).  ISrael is the pursuing bride, whose Lord and Lover will respond to her love.

Bible - OT - Zechariah: No Canaanites

Zechariah ends with “In that day there shall no longer be a Canaanite in the house of Yahweh of hosts.”

How’d we get Canaanites in the house of the Lord to begin with?  Sweeney points out that the LXX of Zechariah 11:7 assumes a different vowel-pointing than the MT, and thus has “the Canaanites of the sheep” rather than the “poor of the sheep.”  He notes that “Canaanite” can mean “merchant,” which fits the context of Zechariah 11 with its reference to commerce in human sheep.  Zechariah ends by promising that the house of the Lord will be cleansed of sheep-merchants who serve only for their own gain.  Like Ezekiel 34, Zechariah promises true shepherds for the people of God, shepherds led by and following the example of the divine Shepherd.

Bible - OT - Zechariah: Horses

Zechariah begins and ends with horses.  In the first night vision, the horses are in a glen (1:8ff).  They have returned from patrol, and the world is at peace.  That’s not good; sometimes peace is complacency and established evil, and war needs to begin.  By the end of the night visions, the horses are heading out “between the two bronze mountains” (6:1), and are heading out to conquer.

A similar scene ends the book – again there are two mountains, between which people pass (14:4-5), and again there are horses, holy horses wearing high priestly bells (14:20).  They are ready for holy war, ready to charge out between the mountains to ensure that no Canaanite is left in the house of Yahweh.

The whole process of Zechariah – temple building, restored priesthood, suffering and deliverance, the shepherd raised up and struck down, the city besieged and saved – all of it has the goal of preparing an army for Yahweh, horses who will patrol the earth, led by the One on the white horse who goes out conquering and to conquer.

Bible - OT - Zechariah: Donkey theology

Ken Way of Biola University gave a very interesting paper on the various Hebrew terms for donkeys and mules.  He focused on Zechariah 9, which, he argued, has long been mistranslated.  It has the largest cluster of donkey terms in the Hebrew Bible, refers to the prophecy concerning Judah in Genesis 49, and should be translated that the ruler comes “on a donkey, even a purebred son of a jenny.”  The phrase “son of a jenny” doesn’t refer to the youth of the animal at all, but only to the fact that the donkey is pure, that is, not a mule.

On his interpretation, Zechariah 9 seems to contrast the coming of the new king of Judah with the coming of Solomon, who arrived at Zion for his coronation on a mule.

Bible - OT - Zechariah: Tyre’s sacrifice

Zechariah predicts that Tyre will be dispossessed and her wealth cast into the sea (v. 4), and then the city will be “consumed with fire.”  The verb is the common verb for “eating,” and the picture of an “eating fire” sends the mind back to the sacrificial system, where the bread of Yahweh was consumed on the altar.  Tyre’s destruction has a sacrificial character, like the destruction of the cities of Canaan in Joshua’s conquest.

Bible - OT - Zechariah: Wisdom of Tyre

Zechariah 9:1-4 focuses on the conquest of Tyre, the “wise” city, shrewd at least in amassing wealth (v. 3).  But the celebratory description contains a subversive pun.  The Hebrew for Tyre is tsor (“rock”), and Zechariah says that Tyre has built herself a fortress, a word built on the same Hebrew root (matsor).  But the word for “fortress” is more commonly used to mean “siege” (Deut 28:53; 2 Kings 24:10; Ezekiel 4:2-3).  In her “wisdom,” Tyre thinks she’s building a fortress, but is actually preparing a siege that will destroy her.

The pun continues in verse 12, an exhortation to return to the stronghold (bitstsaron), apparently a reference to Jerusalem, the city to which prisoners return.  Jerusalem is the true fortress/stronghold, the true “stone” (eben, 12:3), the true city of wisdom.

Bible - OT - Zechariah: Mountain to plain

Isaiah tells Israel to prepare for the coming of Yahweh by leveling mountains and raising valleys (40:3-5), and when Yahweh comes the mountains melt away (Psalm 97:5; Micah 1:4).

But the angel of Yahweh tells Zechariah that the mountains will give way to Zerubabbel (Zechariah 4:7), a true son of David and son of Yahweh. Jesus makes the same promise to His disciples; they are all Zerubbabels, who can say to this mountain “Cast yourself into the sea,” and it will happen (Matthew 21:21).

This is the power of those who walk by the Spirit (Zechariah 4:6).

Bible - OT - Zechariah: Zechariah 5:1-4

A couple of notes on the first vision of Zechariah 5, and then translation.

1)  Verse 3 is difficult to translate, and is somewhat surprising.  The scroll represents, the angel says, the curse going throughout the land, but the effect of the curse in verse 3 is not negative and destructive but purgative.  Everyone who steals, the angel says, will be “freed” or “exempted.”  The verb means “be innocent” (Judges 15:2) or “remain unpunished” (Jeremiah 25:29).  At times, it can have a more negative connotation – a city is “freed” of people in Isaiah 3:28.  But the general use suggests a redemptive theme: This is a liberating curse.

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Bible - OT - Zechariah: Zechariah 4

Some notes on Zechariah 4, with a rough translation following.

1) Structurally, the passage is most clearly organized around the exchanges between the interpreting angel and Zechariah.  Most obvious is the parallel between verses 4-5 and 11-13; together with the angel’s response, these questions form a frame around a central section which is (uniquely in this chapter, cf. 1:1, 7; 6:9; 7:1, etc.) delivered by the word of Yahweh (vv. 8-10).  Thus, the structure is roughly:

A. Vision, vv. 1-3

B. Exchange regarding the meaning of the vision, vv. 4-7

A’. Word of Yahweh, vv. 8-10

B’. Exchange regarding meaning of vision, vv. 11-14

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Bible - OT - Zechariah: Branch and Stone

The “seven-eyed” stone in Zechariah 3:9 has been variously interpreted – for example, as the crown on the head of the high priest Joshua (the seven eyes being the letters engraved on the crown), as the kingdom of God, as a stone with seven “springs” (in Hebrew, the same word is used for “eye” and “spring”).

The sequence of verses 8-9 suggest that the Branch and the stone are related and perhaps one and the same.  That is, the stone, whatever else may be involved, is the Davidic Messiah, the stone cut without hands that demolishes the empires of the ancient world and grows into  mountain, the stone in the wilderness that flows with seven spirits of God, the stone that is Yahweh the Rock.

Bible - OT - Zechariah: Overthrown by craftsmen

The four horns of Zechariah’s second night vision (1:18) are likely horns of an altar, an altar of false worship that scatters Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. Four craftsmen, horns of power in their own right, appear on the scene to thrown down the threatening horns.

The word for “craftsman” is variously translated as engraver, jeweler, carpenter, or more generically as “craftsman.” And in that sense, Zechariah is saying that the Lord will throw down Israel’s enemies through labor. In Zechariah’s setting, though, the word has a more specific connotation. It is used frequently to refer to the laborers who built the tabernacle and temple (Exodus 35:34-35; 38:23; 1 Kings 7:13-14; Ezra 3:6-7). Zechariah is not merely talking about laborers in general but encouraging the people to keep re-building the temple. The altars of false gods will be cast down, but the flip side is that the Lord’s house must be built if Israel is going to be delivered from her oppressors.

No doubt this kind of prophecy was in the minds of Jewish zealots who challenged Rome in the first century A.D.

Bible - OT - Zechariah: Grove in the sea

 

In the first of his night visions, Zechariah (1:8) sees myrtle trees “in the ravine” (NASB). Some commentators take the word translated as “bottom” or “ravine” as symbolic of the low and depressed condition of the Jewish community in Zechariah’s day. But the word is best translated not as “ravine,” but as “depths” of the sea (cf. Exodus 15:5; Nehemiah 9:11; Jonah 2:4). The myrtle grove is “in” the depths of the sea. This might suggest water coming from beneath the ground to nourish the myrtle grove. Like the tree of Psalm 1, the myrtle grove is fed by subterranean waters from the deeps.

The wording of Zechariah 1:8, though, suggests something more unusual – a grove that is actually “in” the depths. That does describe Israel’s situation, but not a condition of depression. Rather, it describes Israel’s condition in exile: They are Yahweh’s grove of myrtles, His “booth” and temple, but now cast out into the “depths” of the sea. Think of a garden floating on the waves of the ocean. Or perhaps an underwater grove, Yahweh’s grove overflowed by Gentiles but still His grove.

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