Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: A gold nugget often overlooked the Book of Zechariah by Bart D. Ehrman Read by John Paul Middlesworth last week. For some reason I can't remember, I decided to see what I had written about the Book of Zechariah in my textbook, the A Historical and Literary Introduction, Oxford University Press As I read it, I thought I bet most people on the blog haven't actually read Zechariah, one of the minor prophets in the Old Testament. Called minor not because they are unimportant, but because they are shorter than the major ones Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel. And I bet most people who have read it couldn't summarize it to save the planet. And hey, why should they summarize it, not save the planet, so why not give a bit of info on it? It's a great little book.
Here's what I say about it in my undergraduate textbook Zechariah like other books of the Hebrew Bible, most famously Isaiah, the Book of Zechariah does not appear to be the work of a single writer.
Scholars have long considered Zechariah 18 to be by one author called First Zechariah, and 914 by a different one living later, Second Zechariah First Zechariah like Haggai, with which it is closely associated, the author of 1 Zechariah gives us a precise date for when he began his prophecy.
The second year of King Darius of Persia, in the eighth month, that is in October or November, 520 BCE.
This is the time when the leaders and elites of Judah, who had been taken into exile by the Babylonians after the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in 586bce, were expecting to be allowed to return to the land by their current overlords, the Persians who had recently defeated the Babylonians, and that setting is crucial for understanding the book.
Unlike other prophetic books by other prophets, which are usually written in poetic verse, it is written in prose.
The book consists of eight symbolic visions that predict that Jerusalem will be rebuilt and will be glorious.
To take the first vision as an example, the author sees at night a man riding a red horse and notices among a group of trees, a number of horses.
He asks an angel who happens to be standing by to take his question what these horses are and presumably the riders who were on them. The angel tells him that they are the ones who patrol the earth, apparently as God's overseers, to know what is happening in the world.
The horsemen come up to the angel and report that they have patrolled the earth and all is at peace.
The angel responds by asking God himself how long he will withhold his mercy from Jerusalem, with which he has been angry these 70 years.
The chronology doesn't work since Jerusalem was not destroyed until 586 BCE. 70 may simply be a round number, meaning for all these years.
God replies that he is about to act on Jerusalem's behalf, and the temple in Jerusalem will soon be rebuilt.
When that happens, my city shall again overflow with prosperity. The Lord will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.
[00:03:16] Speaker A: 1:17 and so this again is a prophet of the return, prophesying in the context of the events narrated in Ezra and Nehemiah, rather than condemning the leaders for not building the temple, contrast Haggai. This prophet is in favor of what is happening and issues words of hope that all will be well with Jerusalem, since God is on its side. It is a place to which all the Judean inhabitants of Babylon should come.
Chapter 267 the place where once more God will dwell.
Thus says the I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city.
[00:03:58] Speaker A: There are two passages that allude to a Davidic Messiah in this new Jerusalem that will be be holy to God.
In the first, chapter three, 6:10 God tells the high priest Joshua, called Yeshua elsewhere, as we have seen, that a Davidic figure is soon to come.
I am going to bring my servant to the branch from the pen of this prophet. The branch appears to be an allusion to a tradition evidently widely known by this time, found in the writings of Isaiah of Jerusalem, which we discussed at an earlier stage. See also Jeremiah 23:33 A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of its roots. The Spirit of the LORD shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding. His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
[00:04:52] Speaker A: Isaiah 11:1.
In its context in Isaiah, this is a prediction that a future king from the line of David, the stump of Jesse Jesse was David's father would come and rule the people Israel.
Here in Zechariah, that prophecy is reaffirmed to Joshua and his fellow priests. We are not told who the branch is, but most interpreters understand it to be a reference to Joshua's colleague Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, who was from the Davidic line, grandson of King Jeo Hakin.
The second reference to the branch 61113 is somewhat more confusing, because there we are told that Joshua himself is horrible, a man whose name is Branch, for he shall branch out in his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord.
[00:05:42] Speaker A: 6:11 13 what adds to the confusion is Joshua the branch now instead of Zerubbabel, is that elsewhere in this book it is Zerubbabel who is said to be the one who will build the temple. 4 Nine interpreters have suggested a number of ways to resolve this problem.
Possibly the prophet sees these two leaders of the returned people to be working so closely together, side by side, that it is not possible to differentiate the political leader, the governor, from the religious leader, the High Priest.
2nd Zechariah 2 Zechariah appears to have been written somewhat later, possibly in the 5th century BCE.
This text is obscure in many places and notoriously difficult to interpret.
Still, certain features are the prophet, whoever he was, pronounces judgment on the enemies of Israel and salvation for the people of both Judah and Israel.
I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph. I will bring them back because I have compassion on them, and they shall be as though I had not rejected them.
[00:06:52] Speaker A: At that time. The land will be purified, and there will be no more idol worship of false prophets.
13:2 through 6 Moreover, the enemies of Jerusalem will be overcome, and on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
[00:07:11] Speaker A: 12:9.
