Mining the Minors: Zechariah (18)

Earlier this week, I quoted from Israel’s rather bloodthirsty-sounding Finance Minister, who gave a much-panned speech calling for the total annihilation of the Palestinian cities of the Gaza Strip, in which he also referred to aspiring to destroy Hezbollah “with God’s help” and send a message to the enemies of Israel.

Those of us who have read the prophetic scriptures know Israel cannot count on God’s help apart from first coming to genuine national repentance for their rejection of Messiah, so Mr. Smotrich may be presuming just a little. Terrible things must happen both in Israel and to Israel to bring them to the point of desperation and cause them to cry out to the Messiah they crucified.

That said, we also know the remnant of Israel will repent, and that the Lord will return to fight on their behalf. The rest of chapter 9 is concerned with this battle and its aftermath.

III. Two Oracles (continued)

1/ Against the Nations (continued)

Zechariah 9:14-17 – Salvation of Israel’s Remnant

“Then the Lord will appear over them, and his arrow will go forth like lightning; the Lord God will sound the trumpet and will march forth in the whirlwinds of the south. The Lord of hosts will protect them, and they shall devour, and tread down the sling stones, and they shall drink and roar as if drunk with wine, and be full like a bowl, drenched like the corners of the altar.

On that day the Lord their God will save them, as the flock of his people; for like the jewels of a crown they shall shine on his land. For how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty! Grain shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the young women.”

The Lord Will Appear

One of the things that appeals to me about a futurist interpretation of verses 11-13 is that it flows directly into these final verses of chapter 9. The words Yᵊhōvâ rā'â are here translated “the Lord will appear”. It might be too obvious to belabor, but when those two words occur together in the Old Testament, there was always something glorious, supernatural and very visible to behold. The Lord “appeared” to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We do not know exactly what they saw when he did so, since God always appeared veiled in some fashion, whether in a dream, in the person of the angel of the Lord, in a pillar of cloud, or in some manifestation of glory. But no one could reasonably doubt the impression YHWH’s “appearance” made on his senses.

So when Zechariah says that “the Lord will appear” over the sons of Zion, Judah and Ephraim together, as they go out to battle, we are not merely talking about some spiritualized sense of God’s presence, or a mighty enabling of the troops, but an awesome visual spectacle that will terrify Israel’s enemies and inspire his people to victory. Let’s just say this phrase lays an all-but-impossible burden of proof on the historicist who takes the position this particular prophecy was fulfilled during the Maccabean period.

Ephraim the Arrow

Moreover, the presence of the sons of Ephraim in Israel’s army in significant numbers also suggests a futurist interpretation. If we step back a couple of verses, Judah is the bow and Ephraim is the arrow that “will go forth like lightning”. Ephraim will be Israel’s “shock troops” in the final battle.

You may recall the vast majority of Ephraimites were scattered throughout the various empires that succeeded Assyria in the years after the fall of Samaria. They remain scattered abroad to this day. Those Ephraimites left behind in the land in the wake of the Assyrian deportations intermarried with foreigners. They became known as Samaritans. During the intertestamental period, Jews destroyed the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerazim, creating a permanent rift between the two groups. By the first century, Jews had no dealings with Samaritans. The concept of Jews and Samaritans as historical wartime allies during this period is highly implausible, and nothing in 1 or 2 Maccabees supports it.

Further, the imagery of this battle is apocalyptic, accompanied by the trumpet of the Lord God and the whirlwinds of the south. We find a similar apocalyptic vision in Habakkuk, as discussed here and here. The final verses of Micah 2, I believe, also anticipate the same events: a regathered Israel led out to battle by a returned Christ.

Other Interpretations

Despite compelling reasons to take a futurist interpretation of this passage, some commentators differ. John Gill, for example, spiritualizes the Lord’s appearance, making both the arrow and the trumpet into the preaching of the gospel by the church in the years since Pentecost, and the “whirlwinds” the enabling of the Holy Spirit. Such an interpretation for the phrase “the Lord will appear” is unprecedented in scripture. What are we to make of the sons of Zion roaring as if drunk with wine and drenched with blood? That would be some of the most ferocious gospel preaching in history! The best Gill can offer is that the spiritual joy and fullness of gifts of the Spirit cause the believer to “shine as the blood that shines on the wall of the altar”. I will leave it to the reader to decide if that sort of strained interpretation does justice to the language of Zechariah. Nevertheless, Matthew Henry takes a similar approach.

According to Jerome, later Jewish interpreters attempted to apply this prophecy to the Maccabean period, and the wars between Jews and Greeks of those days. Keil and Delitzsch prudently comment that “it must not be restricted to this”, adding the verses 14 and 15 point to “the complete subjugation of the imperial power”. The apocryphal 2 Maccabees retells the history of the Jewish resistance to Seleucid Greece, flavoring the more prosaic battle accounts of the original with a few miraculous events, like the appearance of “five resplendent men on horses” from heaven. These showered arrows and thunderbolts on the enemy so that they were thrown into disorder and cut to pieces by the Jewish army. It’s highly likely the writer was lifting those arrows and rough weather conditions straight out of Zechariah 9. Fortunately, he neglected to have the Lord appear. That might have been pushing it too far for a devout Jew.

Like all other attempts to graft this passage onto the Maccabean period, early or recent, this one falls short.

The Whirlwinds of the South

Another indication this portion of Zechariah points us toward the future is that the Lord God will “march forth in the whirlwinds of the south”. Commentators tell us the winds from the south are the mightiest and most terrifying. Isaiah also speaks of these whirlwinds and calls the south “a terrible land”.

But an approach from the south is also associated with the second coming of Christ and his leadership of the remnant of Israel in its final battle. Isaiah 63 has the Lord coming from Bozrah, from Edom in the south, treading the winepress in apparel red with the lifeblood of the nations. It’s difficult not to see the Isaiah passage as finding its fulfillment in the Lord’s return described in the final verses of Revelation 19.

Where the focus of both Isaiah and John is on the glorified Christ in battle, Zechariah reminds us that the earthly people of God will also enthusiastically participate in his victory over their enemies.

Jewels of a Crown

We don’t sing it much anymore, but I suspect the hymn “When He Cometh” takes its inspiration from this passage. As it was used in my youth, the song invited Gentile children to appropriate Zechariah and see ourselves as the “bright gems” in the crown of our Redeemer upon his return to earth. It’s a nice thought, but I’m not sure it is entirely fair to the passage, which very much concerns the victorious sons of Judah and Ephraim as they enter the millennial reign of Christ.

Frankly, I can understand why generations of Christians preferred reading themselves into these passages rather than applying them as Zechariah’s original audience would have. Talmudic Judaism is a dreary religion with nothing good to say about our Savior, and has been, at very best, empty and dry for two millennia. If we look at the warmongering of American Jewish politicians and media figures, we see little to inspire us to cheer for Israel’s regathering and glorious future as the nation from which Christ will rule this world. Then again, God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. There was a time when, by any righteous standard, we too were unlovable and unlovely. While we wallowed in our sin, the Father and Son planned our salvation.

So too with Israel. They will shine on his land like jewels in a crown. The land will produce plentiful grain and new wine, symbols of blessing and God’s favor, and a new generation will be born into a nation of endless promise ruled over by the greatest of all Kings, not because of who and what Israel is, but because of the grace, mercy and faithfulness of God.