Mining the Minors: Zechariah (22)

Four times in the book of Revelation the Lord Jesus or God identifies himself as “the Alpha and the Omega”: the beginning and the end or the first and the last, depending on your translation. This is not a title men have given him but a name by which he chooses to make himself known. It’s a reminder of the truth boldly stated numerous times throughout the New Testament (and probably not well understood prior to that time) that the Word was in the beginning with God and nothing at all was made without his participation.

The Son was personally active in the beginning, and he will be personally active again in the end. The title means more, of course, but that is certainly one implication.

At the very beginning of this final section of Zechariah, the prophet says the same things about YHWH: that he “stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him” — the universe, the world and human beings — everything we find taught in the first chapters of Genesis. This forms the doctrinal basis for the statement I’ve heard many times that “The YHWH of the Old Testament is the Jesus of the New”, though there are plenty of other evidences of that.

III. Two Oracles (continued)

2/ Concerning Israel (continued)

Zechariah 12:1-9 — The Siege of Jerusalem (WWΩ)

“The oracle of the word of the Lord concerning Israel: Thus declares the Lord, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him: ‘Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah. On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it. On that day, declares the Lord, I will strike every horse with panic, and its rider with madness. But for the sake of the house of Judah I will keep my eyes open, when I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. Then the clans of Judah shall say to themselves, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem have strength through the Lord of hosts, their God.’

“On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a blazing pot in the midst of wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves. And they shall devour to the right and to the left all the surrounding peoples, while Jerusalem shall again be inhabited in its place, in Jerusalem.

“And the Lord will give salvation to the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not surpass that of Judah. On that day the Lord will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the Lord, going before them. And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.”

Back to the Beginning

I find it interesting that Zechariah, in commencing three chapters concerned with the end of our present era, first takes us back to the very beginning, reminding us that this world’s history is not merely a record of a bunch of unrelated things that just happened. Rather, it is a story written by the sovereign God with a beginning, a middle and an end. Now comes the end.

We need not be afraid to call it the end. The apostle Paul certainly did. “Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.” The great tribulation and the millennial reign are the means by which the Lord Jesus does just that. This age will not close until the Lamb abruptly quashes Satan’s final rebellion and all rule and authority of fallen creatures is forever put to an end. Then comes the New Jerusalem, our eternal home, where God will be all in all.

This, then, is the beginning of the end and if you read it carefully, you might find it more Jewish than you expect. It’s all centered around Jerusalem.

Concerning Israel

This is the “oracle of the Lord concerning Israel”, but that is the last time in Zechariah you will hear the nation called by that name, probably because Zechariah was talking first and foremost to Judeans. When his prophecy was written, the ten tribes exiled by Assyria were still distributed among the nations, their former territory occupied by half-breeds Judah would shortly dissociate from permanently. Zechariah’s original audience were rightly concerned about what would happen to their nation, and that’s what they got. Nine times in these chapters, Zechariah speaks of Judah, though we know his audience probably included many from Levi, Simeon and Benjamin, as well as the descendants of earlier refugees from the north.

Judah is also of concern because the primary battle Zechariah describes will take place there, rather than play out in Samaria or elsewhere. Joel places it in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, not Megiddo, as we sometimes hear from students of prophecy. As we have seen earlier in Zechariah, Ephraim too has a role to play as the shock troops of Israel’s army, subduing the nations after WWΩ, but first he must be regathered to his repentant brothers and sisters in Judah. These chapters detail how we get to that point.

The statement that “the siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah” probably implies that while the focus of the enemy forces with be Israel’s capital, other cities within the nation will necessarily be targeted in the process of moving troops into place for the siege. The reference to the “tents of Judah” initially appears anachronistic: Zechariah’s Jews didn’t live in tents, and modern Israel is full of permanent dwellings. Still, it’s also possible the tents may be literal. As the armies of the world move into Palestine and overrun the cities of Judah, it is plausible the size of the invasion will force surviving Jews outside Jerusalem into the temporary role of nomadic insurgents.

Three Analogies

Judah and Jerusalem’s role in the destruction of the hostile kingdoms of the world comes packed in three analogies: the cup of staggering, the heavy stone and the blazing pot. Each describes a different aspect of Judah’s effect on the nations. The cup of staggering makes the world career around like a drunk on a bender, panicked, blind and mad. The heavy stone gives the world the political equivalent of a hernia. Judah’s enemies will not be able to budge it without major injury, and it will not be moved. The blazing pot devours the nations like fire in every direction. All the world’s anger is focused on Jerusalem, but Jerusalem and Judah will triumph in the name of their God, rightly attributing their strength to him.

The enemies of Jerusalem are variously referred to as “all the surrounding peoples”, “all the peoples” and even “all the nations of the earth”. Given the relatively small size of Palestine and the prophesied concentration of the war effort around Jerusalem, we should probably expect these to be representative armies from the nations rather than the mustering of the entire global armed forces, with a heavy emphasis on armies of the “surrounding peoples”. If the siege of Jerusalem takes place in the near future, these surrounding peoples would include Jordan, Lebanon, Gaza, Syria, Iran, Iraq and Egypt, for starters. The end of all this will be the comprehensive destruction of the foreign armies in Israel and the total inability of those nations to defend themselves at home.

Every Horse with Panic

Speaking of anachronisms, as discussed in last week’s overview, Zechariah describes a future conflict in terms understandable to ancient readers, including multiple references to cavalry and other animals often dismissed as figurative. Still, if literal, that would certainly explain how the Lord will throw the camps of the enemy into wild disarray, animals included. “I will strike every horse with panic, and its rider with madness.”

In the midst of all this chaos and blindness, the Lord says, “I will keep my eyes open.” As he so often does, the sovereign God will stage manage events in such a way that the home team can only attribute their unexpected success against so many enemies to divine assistance.

Israel’s Armies

The final few verses of this section of the narrative distinguish Israel’s warriors in three tiers. The main body is “the tents of Judah”, who will not be left out of the glory, and who will be saved first. Then there are the “inhabitants of Jerusalem”, whom the Lord will protect and of whom the feeblest will be “like David”, presumably striking down their ten thousands. Finally, there will be the “house of David”, who will be as destructive in battle as the angel of the Lord himself. You may remember the angel of the Lord was responsible for the instant death of 185,000 Assyrians besieging Jerusalem many centuries earlier. In this case, the house of David will reprise the angel’s role. The mathematics of the carnage are beyond me, but the death toll among Israel’s enemies will be staggering. The “blood as high as a horse’s bridle” of Revelation 14 (those horses again!) likely puts these same events into perspective. John calls it the “harvest of the earth” and the “great winepress of the wrath of God”.

Again, as mentioned last week, it is interesting that the house of David will apparently be able to identify themselves as his descendants. This is not as far-fetched as it sounds. Some Jews make that claim even today. If you like, the King David Private Museum and Research Center in Tel Aviv will even run your name through the museum’s online database and tell you if you are related to him.

If so, maybe sharpen up your sword. Just in case.