~ZECHARIAH
• The Tenfold
Vision of the Prophet zechariah 1-6
• The Manifold
Vanities of the People zechariah 7-8
• The Twofold
Visitation of the Prince zechariah 9-13
THE TEN VISIONS _
1 . RIDER ON A RED HORSE (1:7-17)
• An appearance of Christ himself, along with some angels, keeping watch over Jerusalem.
2 . THE FOUR HORNS (1:18,19)
• May represent the four Gentile world powers which scattered (or would scatter) Israel
1. Assyria (Captured northern kingdom.)
2. Babylon (Captured southern kingdom.)
3. Persia (Plot against all Jews. See Esther.)
4. Rome (Has scattered and will scatter Israel.)
THE FOUR ARTISANS (1:20, 21)
•A probable reference to the first four sealed judgments
in Revelation 6:1-8
4 . MAN WITH A MEASURING LINE (2:1-13)
• Reference to the measuring of Jerusalem during the
millennium (Ezek. 40:1-5; 48:30-35)
5 . THE CONFRONTATION IN HEAVEN (3:1-10)
The Charge The wearing of filthy garments
The Charged Joshua and the people of Jerusalem The Prosecutor Satan
The Defender The Branch—called this four times in
the Old Testament
The Branch of Gospel fulfill- David (Isa. 11:1; ment—Matthew
Jer. 23:5; 33:15)
My Servant, the Gospel fulfill- Branch (Zech. 3:8) ment—Mark
Joshua The man Branch Gospel fulfill-
Cleansed (Zech. 6:12) ment—Luke
n oa a "i oH The Branch of Gospel fulfill-
Reassured Jehovah (Isa. 4:2) ment-John
6. THE GOLDEN LAMPSTAND AND THE TWO OLIVE TREES (4:1-14)
• Historical meaning
• Prophetical May refer to the anointed team of
meaning Elijah and Moses. (See Rev.
11:3-12.)
7 . THE FLYING SCROLL (5:1-4)
• Meaning
May refer to the anointed team of Zerubbabel and Joshua.
• Reason
God’s judgment upon the land.
Man had broken his entire moral law.
Sin of Against Vertical
swearing God
Sin of Against Horizontal
stealing man
8
THE WOMAN IN THE EPHAH (5:5-11)
• The woman A type of sin and rebellion •The cover A type of God’s restraining power
• The destination To establish itself in Babylon
Organized Had begun here
rebellion (Gen. 11)
Organized May end here
rebellion (Rev. 18)
THE FOUR CHARIOTS (6:1-8)
• Four heavenly spirits (angels) are driving these chariots, proceeding from two brass mountains
•The chariots may represent the first four plagues of Revelation 6 and the mountains the judgment of God
1 0 . THE CROWNING OF JOSHUA (6:9-15)
• Zerubbabel does this to illustrate the threefold ministry of the coming Messiah
1. He would build the Temple
2. He would minister as a Priest
3. He would rule as a King
1. The two brass mountains speak of God's judgment. (See Num. 21:9; John 3:14.)
2. The angel-driven chariots represent God's agents to effect various judgments upon Gentile nations. (See Rev. 7:1-3; 8:2, 7, 10, 12; 9:14, 15; 11:15; 15:1; 16:1-3.)
3. The various colored horses doubtless tie in with those mentioned in Revelation 6.
a. The red ones speak of war and bloodshed. (See Rev. 6:4.)
b. The black ones speak of famine and starvation. (See Rev. 6:5, 6.)
c. The white ones speak of false peace. (See Rev. 6:2.)
d. The gray ones speak of death. (See Rev. 6:8.)
Note: We are told that those who proceeded "toward the north country have quieted my spirit ..." (6:8).
This may be a reference to the future divine judgment upon Russia during the tribulation. (See Ezek. 38, 39.)
J. The crowning of Joshua (6:9-15).
1. Zechariah is told that three Jewish exiles will soon return to Jerusalem from Babylon, carrying gifts of silver and gold from the remnant there. Zechariah is instructed to make a golden crown from these gifts and place it upon Joshua, explaining to him that he rep-
resents the future Branch of Israel, the Messiah himself.
2. This blessed Messiah will someday function both as Priest and King. He will also build the Temple of God.
3. Zechariah is told the three returning exiles represent many others who will someday come from distant lands back to Palestine. (See also Isa. 56:6-8.)
II. The vanities of the people (7-8).
A. A group of Jews had come to Jerusalem from Bethel to ask the priests there if they could set aside their traditional custom of fasting and mourning each year during the month of August. The New Scofield Bible (p. 969) says in a footnote:
"The mission of these Jews of the Captivity concerned a fast day instituted by the Jews in commemoration of the destruction of Jerusalem, wholly of their own will and without warrant from the Word of God. In the beginning there was doubtless sincere contrition in the observance of the day; now it had become a mere ceremonial. The Jews of the dispersion would be rid of it, but seek authority from the priests. The whole matter, like much in modem pseudo-Christianity, was extra-Biblical, formal and futile."
B. God tells them through the priests that it doesn't really make much difference what they do, for their hearts are insincere. He admonishes them to be honest in their dealings with both their God and their neighbors.
C. He promises that, because of his grace, their fast days will someday be feast days, and their sorrow turned into singing. (See 8:3, 4, 5, 8, 22, 23.)
III. The Visitation of the Prince (9-14).
A. The first coming of the Prince.
1. He came to feed the flock as his Father had instructed him to do (11:7).
2. The false shepherds of Israel, however, rejected him (11:8).
3. He thus broke one of his two staffs and set Israel aside for awhile (11:10). (See also Mt. 21:19, 42-46; 23:37-39.)
4. He finished his ministry by the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy King cometh unto thee; he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass" (9:9). This was dramatically fulfilled, of course, in Matthew 21:1-11.
5. He was sold for thirty pieces of silver (11:12), the price of a slave which had been gored by an ox. (See Ex. 21:32.) This was fulfilled in Matthew 26:15.
6. This price, contemptuously given, was then cast aside with additional contempt, for the word "cast" used here is a gesture of disgust (as seen from Ex. 22:31; Isa. 14:19; 2 Sam. 18:17; 2 Ki. 23:12). This prophecy was fulfilled in Matthew 27:3-10.
7. He then broke his second staff, signifying perhaps the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 a.d. This tragedy ended all unity which existed in Israel.
8. He was finally crucified (12:10).
B. The Second Coming of the Prince:
1. The blood-letting of the false shepherd.
a. Because they rejected their Good Shepherd at his first coming, Israel will be given over for awhile to the cruel antichrist shepherd just prior to the second appearing of their glorious shepherd (11:15-17).
b. Two out of three will die in this horrible purge (13:8).
2. The bereavement of Israel (12:10-14). When he comes again, Israel will finally recognize him and mourn their heinous national crime of rexicide, the killing of one's own King.
"And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son . . ." ( 12 : 10 ).
3. The battle of Armageddon (12:1-9; 14:1-3, 12-15).
4. The bow of victory (10:4). This bow is, of course, the Son of God. We are assured of his deity because of the Father's statement in 13:7: "The man who is my fellow, said the Lord of hosts." This is literally translated, "the man who is my equal." From the bow of God this avenging arrow comes to earth.
ZECHARIAH AND THE PRINCE
The Two Visitations of the Prince
• He comes to feed the flock of God (11:7)
• He is rejected by Israel’s leaders (11:8)
• He thus set aside Israel (11:10)
(Possible meaning of his breaking the staff called beauty)
• He makes his triumphal entry into Jerusalem (9:9)
• He is sold for thirty pieces of silver (11:12)
• He predicts the destruction of Jerusalem (11:14) (Possible meaning of his breaking the staff called band)
• He is crucified (12:10)
• The cruel reign of the antichrist (11:16)
• Jerusalem to be surrounded and taken (14:2)
• Two thirds of the Jews to perish (13:8)
• One third of the Jews to be saved (13:9)
• Christ to appear upon the Mount of Olives (14:4,8)
• Armageddon to be fought (12:3; 14:2, 3)
• God’s enemies to be destroyed (12:4, 9; 14:12-15)
• Israel to recognize Christ (12:10-14)
• Israel to be cleansed (13:1)
• Israel to be settled in the land (10:6-12; 8:8)
• Gentiles to worship the Lord (14:16-19)
•Jerusalem to be filled with happy boys and girls (8:5)
• Christ to build the temple (6:13)
•Christ to rule as the Priest-King over all the world (6:13; 9:10)
a. He punishes those nations which have persecuted Israel. (See 9:1-8, 12-16.)
b. He will then strengthen the house of Judah, and "hiss [whistle] for them, and gather them" (10:8).
Note: God had previously said he would summon their enemies against them by hissing (Isa. 7:18, 19). Now, in the same way, he summons his people back to their own land.
c. He will finally "speak peace unto the nations; and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth" (9:10).
d. He will personally and visibly perform all this (14:4, 8).
5. The blessings of God (9:16, 17; 13:1, 9; 14:9, 10, 11, 16, 20, 21).
MALACHI (435-396 B.c.)
1. Malachi means "my messenger."
2. Absolutely nothing is known of Malachi beyond his name and the fact that he was the last Old Testament prophet.
3. Malachi may be looked upon as a miniature summary of the entire Old Testament, for the prophet briefly covers those five key truths found in the other books. These are:
a. The selection of Israel by God (1:2; 2:4-6, 10).
b. The transgression of Israel against God (1:6; 2:11,17).
c. The manifestation of the Messiah (3:1; 4:2).
d. The tribulation upon the nations (4:1).
e. The purification of Israel at last (3:2-4, 12, 16-18; 4:2-6).
4. Malachi may be compared to Moses.
a. Moses gives us the first Old Testament prophecy concerning the Messiah. (See Gen. 3:15.)
b. Malachi lists the last Old Testament prophecy concerning the Messiah. (See 4:2.)
5. Malachi's book may be considered as a partial fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy in 9:24-27. This great prediction, known as the seventy-weeks (actually a 490- year period) began in 445 b.c. and was divided into three main segments. The first covered a period of forty-nine years. This would thus bring it to 396, or the approximate date many feel Malachi completed his book.
I. The love of God stated (1:1-5).
A. In the second verse of his book Malachi lists the first of seven rather flippant questions the carnal Israelites had required of God. Each question was the result of a previous clear statement from God. These were:
1. In what way hast thou loved us? (1:2).
2. In what way have we despised thy name?
3. In what way have we polluted thee? (1:7).
4. In what way have we wearied him? (1:13).
5. In what way shall we return? (3:7).
6. How have we robbed thee? (3:8).
7. What have we spoken so much against thee? (3:13).
B. S. Franklin Logsdon writes the following concerning this first question:
"The question, "Wherein hast thou loved
us?" indicates an irritation on the part of the people which led them to accuse the Lord of failure to prove his love. They had a bitter recollection of the attitudes and actions of the Edomites when Jerusalem was plundered by the Philistines and Arabians (2 Chron. 21:16, 17). These descendants of Esau were there aiding and abetting the enemy in the defeat of their brethren, and the Lord did not restrain them (Obad. 11).
They showed sadistic pleasure over Judah's misfortune by mocking at her calamities (Obad. 12). They shared the spoils with the enemy when the city was captured (Obad. 13). They assisted the enemy by blocking the retreat of refugees (Obad. 14). They turned over to the insurgents those that could not escape (Obad. 14). Thus, in Judah's trying hours, the Edomites looked, laughed, insulted, robbed, trapped, and murdered because of their inherited hatred toward Jacob (and his posterity) for fraudulently obtaining the blessing.
The Lord's people carried a painful grievance concerning this. It was a festering sore in their memory. They recalled how their fathers, as captives, sitting along the rivers of Babylon, cried out, 'Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said. Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof' (Ps. 137:7). The question in Malachi's day is, in substance. 'Why did God permit this if He loved us?' " ( Malachi, or, Will a Man Rob God? pp. 14, 15)
C. God answers their first question by pointing out two facts.
1. He would never allow Edom to prosper because they had mistreated the apple of his eye, Israel.
2. He had already preferred Israel over Esau. Some have been greatly troubled over God's statement that he loved Jacob and hated Esau. Here several factors must be observed.
a. The Genesis account which gives us the history of both boys never records that God actually and personally hated Esau and loved Jacob. (See Gen. 25, 27.)
b. The statement may have well referred to those nations founded by the two men. God definitely did abhor the sinful attitudes and actions of the Edomites, as spoken of by the prophet Obadiah.
c. The name Jacob here is a plural noun, which may indicate the entire nation of Israel.
d. The Hebrew word for hate is sane, and sometimes is used to indicate preference or priority instead of abhorrence. This is also the case with the Greek word for hate which is misco. Note the following example:
(1) "And when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren" (Gen. 29:31). In no way does the record indicate that Jacob hated his first wife, but simply that he preferred his second.
(2) "The poor is hated even by his own neighbor, but the rich hath many friends" (Prov. 14:20).
"If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and motherland wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple" (Lk. 14:26).
Here it is perfectly obvious that our Lord was not teaching an individual to despise and abhor his own flesh and blood, but simply that God must be given first priority in a believer' s life!
e. The real problem in Malachi's passage, however, is probably not the fact that God "hated" Esau, but that he could love Jacob. The fact is that he did indeed love his sinful nation. During his final address to Israel, Moses reminds them of this love no less than seven times. (See Deut. 4:37; 7:8, 13; 10:15; 15:16; 23:5; 33:3. Other passages stating this fact are: Isa. 43:4; 48:14; 63:9; Jer. 31:3; Hosea 3:1; 11:1, 4; 14:4.)
II. The Love of God Scorned.
A. By the prophets.
1. Who cheated the Lord through their shabby offerings (1:6—2:9).
a. They had offered lame and sick animals to God. These cheap sacrifices were refused by the Lord, who challenged them if they dared to "offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person?" (1:8).
(See also David's testimony in 2 Sam. 24:24.)
b. They had not offered that proper honor and respect to God that:
(1) a child should give to his father (1:6)
(2) a servant should render to his master (1:6)
(3) a citizen should pay to his king (1:14)
2. Who cheated the people through their shabby example (2:7-9).
B. By the people.
1. through their inequalities (2:10)
2. through their intermarriages (2:11)
3. through their immorality (2:14)
4. through their insincerity (2:17)
5. through their indebtedness (3:8-10)
6. through their incriminations (3:13-15)
III. The Love of God Shown.
A. By remembering his own saints (3:16, 17). Especially to be noted are the last five words in 3:16, "that thought upon his name." This no doubt included the various names for God given in the Old Testament, along with their meanings. A summary of God's names would include:
1. Elohim —used 2,570 times, refers to God's power and might (Gen. 1:1; Ps. 19:1).
2. El —four compounds of this name—
a. Elyon, the strongest strong One (Gen. 14:17-20; Isa. 14:13, 14)
b. Roi, the strong One who sees (Gen. 16:13)
c. Shaddai, the breasted One (used forty- eight times in Old Testament; see Gen. 17:1; Ps. 91:1)
d. Olam, the everlasting God (Isa. 40:28)
3. Adonai —Master, Lord. God owns all his creation (Mai. 1:6).
4. Jehovah —most common name. Occurs 6,823 times. The Self-existent One, the God of the covenant (Gen. 2:4).
There are nine compound names of this name: