This week, we shall finish the study
of the book of Zechariah and begin the study of the book of Nahum in the Old
Testament.
This chapter contains a symbolic act in in which the prophet assumes the office of a shepherd over the flock as commanded by the Lord. In essence, it is the prophecy of Jesus Christ as He is identified with God clearly in v. 10:
11:1-3—The Wrath of God against Israel/Judah
(1) To which part of Israel is judgment directed? (v. 1)
(2) Why does the Lord also call on the juniper/pine trees and the oaks of Bashan to wail? (v. 2)
(3) How will the ruin of the land affect the shepherds and the lions? (v. 3)
(4) Since “Lebanon (is) the frontier of the Holy Land, and Bashan, the northern part of the territory of the Israelites to the east of the Jordan” (K&D, 589), what kind of judgment do these verses depict? (This section appears to be an elaboration of the judgment pronounced in 10:3 against the shepherds of Judah.)
11:4-14—The Good Shepherd
(5) A reality check for Israel (vv. 5-6)
a. How does the Lord depict the house of Israel? (v. 4 )
b. Who are the ones who sell them to be slaughtered by the buyers (the nations)? (v. 5)
c. What kinds of shepherd-leaders would you say they are? (you may consult Jn. 10:12-13)
d. The Lord appears to have given up on the people (v. 6)
i. At the time of this prophecy, what have the people of Israel gone through?
ii. What can they expect in the future according to this oracle?
(6) The command to shepherd them (vv. 7-8a)
a. As much as the flock has been marked for slaughter, what does the Lord ask the prophet (who symbolizes the future Shepherd) to make?
b. What does the staff of a shepherd symbolize?
c. In calling one “Favor”, the other one “Union”, what does the appointment of this new Shepherd signify?
d. One month obviously signifies a very short period of time and based on what follows, this Shepherd can only refer to Christ Jesus. What might the three (kinds of bad) shepherd-leaders refer to at the appearance of Christ?
(7) The rejection by the flock (vv. 8b-14)
a. How does the flock treat this new Shepherd? (v. 8b)
b. How has this prophecy been fulfilled in Christ Jesus? (Acts 3:13ff)
c. The Shepherd will revoke the covenant with all the nations “on that day” (vv. 9-11)
i. At the rejection of the flock (the Jews), what favor will God withdraw from Israel?
ii. What has the history of Israel (revealed after the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus) reflected the fulfillment of the words in v. 9?
iii. What should Israel have learned from this? (v. 11)
d. The getting rid of their Shepherd (vv. 12-14)
i. As they detest their Shepherd, what will they do to get rid of Him? (v. 12)
ii. Why does the Lord call the price they pay to get rid of Him as “the handsome price”? (see Exod. 21:32)
iii. How has this prophesy been fulfilled concerning Christ Jesus? (see Matt. 26:14-16; 27:3-10)
iv. At this, the Union staff is also broken:
1. What does it mean? (v. 14)
2. While the Shepherd no longer just holds a staff that belongs only to Israel and Judah, what kind of a Shepherd has He become? (Jn. 10:16)
1:15-17—The Foolish Shepherd
(8) At the rejection of the Good Shepherd, what will happen to the land (and people) of Israel?
(9) Again, what does the history of Israel after Christ’s ascension reveal about the fulfillment of the prophecy in v. 16?
(10) Does it mean that the Lord has given up on the people of Israel and is oblivious to their plight? (v. 17)
(11) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“So I shepherded the flock marked for slaughter, particularly the oppressed of the flock. Then I took two staffs and called one Favor and the other Union, and I shepherded the flock.” (Zech. 11:7)
One of the prophecies about the Lord Jesus in the Old Testament that has been fulfilled undeniably is the one about His betrayal by Judas for thirty pieces of silver.
This prophetic word is framed within the larger prophecy concerning the fate of the whole house of Israel (i.e. Judah and Israel together) who would continue to draw the wrath of God (11:1-3). Instead of giving up on them, the prophecy reaches its climax with the arrival of the new Shepherd who holds two staffs conveying one last opportunity to the whole house of Israel. The first one is called “Favor”, denoting God’s covenant with the nations to hold off their total destruction of Israel, and the second one is called “Union”, denoting God’s favor to shepherd them as one people under Him.
The resulting response from this flock is one of detestation and rejection of the Good Shepherd who is identified in v. 10 as God Himself. This is obviously referring to the Son of God who has come among His people and was rejected. As they detest Him, the prophecy foretells the price they are willing to pay to get rid of Him as “thirty pieces of silver” which is actually the amount to be compensated under the Law of Moses for the killing of a slave (Exod. 21:32). This reflects how the people would treat the Son of God, and this is fulfilled in the payment Judas got from the priests in his betrayal of his Lord Jesus (Matt. 26:15): “'What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?'. So they counted out for him thirty silver coins.”
The fulfillment does not stop there, as the prophetic words continue to say, “Throw it to the potter…at the house of the Lord” (11:13). This has been fulfilled to a tee as Judas sought to return the money when his conscience was pricked by the pronouncement of death of Jesus by the Sanhedrin, and he “threw the money into the temple…so they (the priests) decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners.’ (Matt. 27:5, 7)
With undisputable prophecies like this, no wonder the Acts of Apostles reports that:
“So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.” (Acts 6:7)
The last message of the rejection of the Good Shepherd and the consequences of their rejection is now followed by a message of hope for Israel.
12:1-9—The Physical Deliverance of Israel
(1) Who the Lord is (v. 1)
a. How does the Lord address Himself?
b. What is the importance of this reminder of who He is?
(2) A summary of the message (v. 2)
a. What is the bad news about Jerusalem?
b. What is the good news?
(3) The first “On that day”(v. 3)
a. How serious will the siege of Jerusalem be?
b. How will Jerusalem be a cup to send the nations reeling?
(4) The second “On that day” (vv. 4-5)
a. How will God watch and protect Judah? (v. 4)
b. How will the clan of Judah interpret God’s deliverance?
(5) The third “On that day” (vv. 6-7)
a. How will Jerusalem be a cup to send the nations reeling? (v. 6)
b. Why will God save the dwellings of Judah first? (v. 7)
c. Why shouldn’t the house of David and Jerusalem be greater than that of Judah?
(6) The fourth “On that day” (v. 8)
a. Against such formidable armies of the nations, how can the people in Jerusalem not be fearful and weak?
(7) The fifth “On that day” (v. 9)
a. What will be the fate of these attacking nations?
12:10-13—The Salvation of Israel
(8) What kind of a spirit will be poured upon them on that day? (v. 10)
(9) What is the result of the pouring of such a spirit?
(10) Who is the one that they have pierced? (Isa. 53:5; Jn 19:34, 37)
(11) How bitter will the mourning and grieving be? (vv. 10-11; see 2 Chr. 35:24-25)
(12) What does it signify?
(13) Who else will be mourning? (v. 12)
(14) What does clan by clan and “their wives” signify? (see Note below)
(15) Eventually, will only the whole house of Israel look upon Him and mourn? (see Rev. 1:7)
(16) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Note:
“This universality of the lamentation is individualized in vv. 12-14, and so depicted as to show that all the families and households of the nation mourn, and not the men only, but also the women…Of the several families named, two can be determined with certainty―namely, the families of the house of David…and the families of the house of Levi…But about the other two families, there is a difference in opinion.”
(K&D, 611-2)
Personally, I believe that the listing of clan by clan and the emphasis of wives as separate from husbands point to individual repentance rather than collective repentance.
“The LORD, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the human spirit within a person, declares.” (Zech. 12:1)
As Zechariah inches close to the end of the oracles that he receives from the Lord, the theme of his prophecies clearly goes far beyond the present rebuilding work of the temple of Jerusalem but reaches not only to the first coming of the Messiah but also to His second coming.
12:10 is quoted by the Apostle John to affirm the piercing of the side of Jesus on the cross by one of the soldiers as its fulfillment:
“Instead (of breaking Jesus’ legs), one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it (i.e. the Apostle John) has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: 'Not one of his bones will be broken', [Psalm 34:20] and, as another scripture says, 'They will look on the one they have pierced'.” (Jn. 19:34-37)
What the Apostle John means is that Jesus is the one whom they, the people of God, have pierced, though through the hand of this Roman soldier, as prophesied by the prophet Zechariah. However, the looking on the one they have pierced would have to wait till the End-time when Jerusalem will be surrounded by invading nations. In leading up to such an act of repentance by the people of Israel, the prophecy actually begins with these words: “The LORD, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the human spirit within a person, declares” (12:1). Such a “preamble” is important in that it shows:
- These are the words of the Creator of the heavens and earth and thus cannot be taken lightly for the following reasons:
(1) His words are firmer than His creation.
(2) He is the Almighty God who has absolute control over all His creation.
(3) His has a plan for all His creation, the existence of which is not accidental.- That as the One who forms not just the person but his spirit, He will not only hold them accountable, but will bring His plan of saving them to fruition.
As it turns out, the sending of His Son to be pierced and to die is not just for the salvation of Israel, but for the Gentiles as well, although Israel, in general, might lag behind the latter and would only turn to the Lord Jesus Christ in their final hours of history. Just the same, the end of this prophecy clearly signifies that repentance has to be personal and individual, as even each clan had to repent by itself, “with their wives by themselves” (12:12).
The message of Israel’s salvation continues with the theme, “On that day”:
(1) A fountain will be opened (v. 1)—The house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem represent the whole house of Israel. (see K&D, 613, Rom. 11:26)
a. What will this fountain do to them?
b. Who is that fountain that can cleanse people from sins? (1 Jn. 1:7)
c. Is it only open to them?
d. Why then will it be open to them “on that day”? (12:10)
(2) Total spiritual transformation “On that day” (vv. 2-6)
a. What are the things that will be totally exterminated on that day? (v. 2; see Note below)
b. Utter rejection of false prophets by the people (v. 3)
i. According to the Law of Moses, how should false prophets be dealt with? (see Deut. 18:20)
ii. How does this hyperbole illustrate the people’s utter rejection of false prophets?
c. Utter repentance of false prophets (vv. 4-6)
i. In this hyperbole, how do false prophets show their repentance? (vv. 4-6)
ii. What lesson can we learn from them in disassociating ourselves from our former sinful lives?
(3) The striking of the Shepherd (v. 7)—in order to provide the fountain for cleansing, something has to happen first:
a. What is the relationship between this Shepherd and the Lord Almighty? (v. 7)
b. What will happen when the Lord Almighty strikes the Shepherd?
c. How is this fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ? (see Matt. 26:31, 56)
d. Why should the Lord Almighty strike His Shepherd in order to open the fountain of cleansing? (Matt. 26:28; 1 Jn. 5:6)
(4) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Note:
Idolatry and false prophecy “were the two principal forms in which ungodliness manifested itself in Israel” (K&D, 613). Revelation 16:13 testifies to the relationship between false prophets and unclean spirits.
“On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.” (Zech. 13:1)
The house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem are used by the prophet to represent the whole house of Israel (Rom. 11:26) who will repent and look upon the one they pierced, the Lord Jesus Christ (12:10). It is interesting to read that “on that day”, the day of their repentance, “a fountain will be opened” to them. The truth of the matter is, according to Zechariah 12-14, this fountain, the blood of Christ, has been opened to all; it is just that the house of Israel, in general, has not chosen to repent and does not believe in their Messiah until shortly before the second coming of Christ. However, this speaks to a spiritual truth that is relevant to all.
No one can come to repentance and belief in the Lord Jesus Christ, unless God pours out the spirit of grace and supplication (12:10) on the person, because by ourselves, there is not even an ounce of goodness in us that draws us to God. In the words of the Apostle Paul, before we came to Christ “we were dead in transgression and sins” (Eph. 2:1). As a dead person, we could not respond to things spiritual; it is only when God’s Spirit awakes in the mind of man the acknowledgement of sin and guilt that spurs him onto repentance and belief. As a result, our salvation is by the grace of God through and through as the Apostle Paul puts it, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” (Eph. 2:8)
Indeed, no one can boast of their faith in Christ, it is all grace (Eph. 2:9).
As the whole book of prophecy by Zechariah is brought to a glorious close in chapter 14, the event that leads to the repentance of Israel, in which they will look upon the one whom they have pierced, is now made clear:
13:8-9—The Future Tribulation of Israel Foretold—the “whole land” apparently refers to the whole land of Israel as the rest of the prophecy makes clear:
(1) What will happen to two-thirds of its inhabitants? (v. 8)
(2) What will happen to the rest (i.e. remaining third)? (v. 9)
(3) What will be the result of this refining? (v. 9b)
14:1-2—More Details on the Refining
(4) What is this day of refining called? (v. 1)
(5) Who will be the oppressors of Israel? (v. 2)
(6) What “fire” will the remaining third go through? (v. 2)
14:3-5—The 2nd Coming of the Messiah/Christ
(7) Who will come and fight against the nations and how? (vv. 3-4; see Isa. 29:6; 66:15-16)
(8) Who in fact is the one being referred to? (Acts 1:9-12)
(9) What will happen to the Mount of Olives so that they may escape? (vv. 4-5; see Note below)
(10) Who will accompany the Lord at His return? (v. 5b; Matt. 25:31 )
14:6-9—The Consummation of Salvation
(11) How unique will that day be in terms of climate and natural order? (vv. 6-7)
(12) How does it resemble the eventual New heavens and new earth foretold in Revelation 21:22-26 and 22:5?
(13) It also affirms the vision of Ezekiel 47:1-12. What is the emphasis here about the Living Water? (See also how it resembles the Living Water in Rev. 22:1-2.)
(14) What has brought about these tremendous blessings? (v. 9)
(15) What is the message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Note:
While it is not clear where Azel is, one early church father, Cyril, thinks that it is a city east of Mount Olives. The earthquake in the days of Uzziah is only alluded to in Amos 1:1.
“I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city." (Zech. 14:2)
As I read the tribulation that is foretold in Zechariah 14, I cannot help but think of the destruction of Jerusalem in the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, the even more horrible destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 in the hands of General Titus of Rome as vividly described by the Jewish historian Josephus, and also the Holocaust the Jews suffered in the hands of Hitler. To read that they will at least go through one more equally tragic tribulation at the End-time sends chills down my spine. What is worse are the words spoken by our Lord Jesus concerning this particular suffering of the Jews:
“For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.” (Matt. 24:21-22)
The sufferings of the Jews, especially during the Holocaust, have caused many to doubt if God is really a God of Love. Listen to the bitter objection of this older gentleman who wrote to challenge his son who sought to share the gospel with him:
“Do you know how easy it would have been for God to simply snuff out Hitler and save the lives of all those Jewish children? Why not just abort the bastard before he’s born? Or give him a fatal disease when he’s a kid? Hell, it happens all the time. Why not to him…Think how many millions of Jewish parents banged God’s ear off during the Holocaust? All they got was silence.”
To this, his wise son shared his own thoughts:
“But I thought at the time (of his own struggle over the same issue), the suffering of the world says that there can’t be a God. It all came to a head for me one cold February night as I was walking back from an astronomy class at the University of Minnesota. Thinking of the grandeur of the stars we had just been looking at, I was saying to myself, ‘there must be a God'. But thinking of the nightmarish suffering in Auschwitz, I was saying to myself, ‘there can’t be a God'. The two thoughts were battling with each other at hyperspeed. I was tormented.
“Finally, just as I approached my car, I looked up to the sky and cried out with a loud, angry voice—'The only God I can believe in is one who knows firsthand what it's like to be a Jewish child buried alive, and know what it’s like to be a Jewish mother watching her child be buried!’. And just then it occurred to me (or was it revealed?): That is exactly the kind of God Christianity proclaims. There is no other belief which does this. Only the gospel dares to proclaim that God enters smack-dab into the middle of the hell we create. Only the gospel dares to proclaim that God was born a baby in a bloody, crap-filled stable, that He lived a life befriending the prostitutes and lepers no one else would befriend, and that He suffered, firsthand, the hellish depth of all that is nightmarish in human existence. Only the gospel portrait of God makes sense of the contradictory fact that the world is at once so beautiful and so ugly…God was suffering with you, and me (referring to the death of his mother when he was a child). He cries too. And through His participation in our pain, He wants to redeem it. He wants to bring about whatever healing is possible to you, and to me, and to all involved. His healing strength is in His vulnerability to pain. He’s begun to bring about His healing in my life. He can do it in yours as well.” (Letters from a Skeptic, 72-77)
The consummation of God’s plan on earth also means the restoration of Jerusalem above all other nations:
14:10-11—Elevation of Jerusalem
(1) There will also be a geographical change concerning Jerusalem in that the whole land surrounding Jerusalem will be levelled into a plain, causing it to be elevated above its neighboring land. What does it signify? (see Note below)
(2) What will the city of Jerusalem become? (v. 11: Note, “never again will it be destroyed” is more literally translated as “there will be no more curse”.)
14:12-19—God’s Dealing with the Nations
(3) How will the Lord strike the nations that are mentioned in 14:1?
(4) Read the description of the plague carefully (vv. 12b-13, 15). What kind of modern-day warfare does it resemble with the same destructive power extended to animals?
(5) What will happen to those in the nations who survive such a plague? (v. 16)
(6) Why is the Festival of Tabernacles particularly mentioned here? (See Deut. 16:13-15. While commanded by the Lord during their wandering in the wilderness, it was obviously first celebrated upon their entrance into the Promised Land which marked the fulfillment of God’s promise.)
(7) Non-compliance of this future command would not happen during God’s complete reign on earth: What does such a warning, particularly against Egypt (the nation that symbolizes slavery to sin) serve to illustrate? (vv. 17-19)
14:20-21—All Things are Holy
(8) Where were the words “Holy to the Lord” originally commanded to be engraved on? (see Exod. 28:36-38)
(9) Where will these words be inscribed during God’s reign on earth? (v. 20)
(10) What does this signify?
(11) Within the house of the Lord (v. 20b)
a. Why should the sacred bowls in front of the altar be treated differently from the cooking pots?
b. What does it mean now that they will be treated equally?
(12) Outside of the house of the Lord (v. 21a)
a. Why would even common household pots be treated as holy as those used in the house of the Lord?
(13) There
will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord (v. 21b). Note:
The original Hebrew word "refers...sometimes to merchants" (TWOT,
446). Keil and Delitzsch opine that "The Canaanites are mentioned
here not as merchants...but as people laden with sin and under
cure" (see Gen. 9:25; Lev. 18:24-30; Deut. 7:2; 9:4).
a. Why were Canaanites prohibited in the house of the Lord in the first place? (see Gen. 9:25; Lev. 18:24-30; Deut. 7:2; 9:4)
b. What then does it mean by this statement?
(14) As we come to the end of the book of Zechariah, spend a bit of time going through your notes and take note of the following:
a. How important this book of prophecies concerning the first coming of the Lord is
b. How important this book of prophecies concerning the future of Israel and the world is
c. What is the most important message to you and how may you apply it to your life?
Note:
Land
surrounding Jerusalem:
With respect to the Benjamin gate,
“On that day HOLY TO THE LORD will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the cooking pots in the LORD’s house will be like the sacred bowls in front of the altar." (Zech. 14:20)
The Law of Moses contains many regulations that guard against the mixing of consecrated things with the “common” or unclean in order to maintain the holiness of the temple. Sometimes, such offences could lead to death as was the case with the touching of the Ark by Uzzah, even though he was trying to prevent the ark from falling off the cart (2 Sam. 6:6-7).
However, Zechariah points out that on the day when “the Lord will be king over the whole earth” (14:9), the distinction between the “common” and the “sacred” will be completely wiped out.
Before, only the turban of the High Priest can bear the words, “Holy to the Lord” (Exod. 28:36) to denote the sacredness of his ministry in the Holy of Holies. And yet, in the future, things as common as the bells of the horses will bear such words. “On that day”, not only are cooking pots and sacred bowls equally holy within the house of the Lord, even pots used by common folks are said to be holy to the Lord Almighty (14:21). One wonders why?
The answer to this question is given in the very last verse of the whole book of Zechariah: “And on that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the LORD Almighty.” (14:21b).
No, it does mean that Gentiles, especially the Canaanites cannot enter into the house of the Lord; the term Canaanite is used to denote a people laden with sin and under the curse of God (Gen. 9:25; Lev. 18:24ff; Deut. 7:2; 9:4). What Zechariah means is that “the whole of the holy city, yes, the whole of the kingdom of God, will be transformed by the Lord into the holy of holies” (K&D, 627) and is void of sinners! It is the people who are holy that causes all things they use to become holy as well.
This reminds me of the saying of a servant of God in the 50’s, “There are no spiritual and carnal things, only spiritual people and carnal people. To a spiritual person, cutting an orange is a spiritual act.”