Zechariah (Part 1)

Richard Belcher provides an overview of the early chapters of the Book of Zechariah. He focuses on the prophet’s visions and their implications for Israel’s restoration and future hope. Belcher explores themes of repentance, renewal, and the messianic expectations that are foundational to the book’s message.

The following unedited transcript is provided by Beluga AI.

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This audio lecture is brought to you by RTS on iTunesu at the virtual campus of Reformed Theological Seminary. To listen to other lectures and to access additional resources, please visit us at itunes rts.edu. For additional information on how to take distance education courses for credit towards a fully accredited Master of Arts in religion degree, please visit our website at virtual rts.edu.

Zechariah. Let’s talk a little bit about the historical situation of Zechariah. Zechariah is a contemporary of Haggai, as they both preach to encourage the people to work on the temple.

At least the first eight chapters of Zechariah specifically relate to that. Chapters nine through 14 are a little bit different. Haggai has been called the builder. Zechariah has been called the artist, adding colorful windows of gaiety and light. It’s one how I think Baldwin describes it. Zechariah begins his preaching two months after Haggai. So they are both prophets, about 520, with the focus at least Zechariah 1-8, the focus on rebuilding the temple. Haggai has gotten the people started in terms of rebuilding the temple.

Zechariah adds his encouragement to that effort in chapters one through eight. And we know that by 516, the temple was finished and dedicated. So that’s the historical context of Zechariah one through eight. It’s the same thing that we saw with Haggai. Chapters nine through 14, we’ll talk about when we get there. They’re a little more difficult. They don’t seem to have a specific historical context. And there are different approaches to chapters nine through 14 that we’ll talk about. The theme of Zechariah.

God is going to preserve his remnant from all the world powers which threatened their destruction. So the covenant community in this post-ISIL situation is a community that is threatened in many ways, and it’s a community that struggles. And part of the message of Zechariah is that God will preserve his people from the world powers. And ultimately, the book of Zechariah ends with the victory of God’s people. And we’ll see that when we get to chapters 9 through 14. Now, to look at chapters 1 through 8, there are, I think, eight visions.

Yeah, eight visions in chapters one through eight framed. Those eight visions have an introduction. And then there is a concluding section of chapters one through eight and the introduction to these eight visions. Chapter 1:1-6. Zechariah calls God’s people to repentance, and he stresses the authority of his message. Do you remember? Haggai stressed that his message was from God, and many verses he had. Thus says the Lord of hosts, or something similar. Well, Zechariah in six verses also stresses that his message is from God.

Five times he mentions that his message is from God. “Thus declares the Lord of hosts” is one way that he does this. So, you have both in Haggai and Zechariah a real emphasis on the fact that their message comes from God. Now, basically, he tells them in the first six verses, “your forefathers are dead, the old prophets are dead, but their word came true.” The prophetic word came to fulfillment in the covenant community, especially the word of judgment and the outworking of covenant curse that that community had experienced.

And so there’s an emphasis here because of the truthfulness and reality of that prophetic word. There is an encouragement for God’s people to repent and to return to the Lord, not like their fathers had done. Don’t be like your forefathers, but hear the word and return to the Lord. Verse four,

⁴ Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried out, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ But they did not hear or pay attention to me, declares the Lord . (Zechariah 1:4, ESV)

And he goes on then to say, where are your fathers? Where are the prophets? But my words continue, and they overtook your fathers. The prophetic word came to fulfillment in your fathers. And so, this is the foundation for Zechariah to call God’s people to repentance. That’s the proper response. This is what this community, this post-exilic community needs to do, to turn to God in repentance so that God will then return to them and pour out the covenant blessing. Now, that’s followed by eight visions.

And these eight visions deal with things that were troubling to the post exilic community as they were trying to rebuild, especially as they were trying to reconstitute the community and rebuild the temple. And these eight visions, one way to sort of get them before us is, I don’t think this particular thing may be in your notes, but here are the eight visions laid out. And you see that vision one, vision two, vision three, and vision eight all deal with the problem of the gentile nations. So one through three and then eight.

In fact, one and eight sort of parallel each other. The fate of the gentile nations. Two and three sort of go together, dealing with opposition from the gentile nations. And then you’ve got four and five being related encouragement to the leaders and then six and seven are related, dealing with sin within the covenant community. So you can see there is a relationship and a connection among these visions. One and eight parallel, but one through three and eight, all deal with the gentile nations and the restoration of Jerusalem.

So let’s just take a few minutes to look at some of the important things related to these visions. In the first vision, which is chapter one, verses seven through 17, there are four multicolored horses. And God sends these, the riders on these horses out among the nations to sort of these are emissaries of God sent out on a mission to bring back a report in terms of what’s going on. Verse ten of chapter one, the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered, these are they whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth.

And they answered, the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees and said, “We have patrolled the earth. And behold, all the earth remains at rest.”

¹⁰ So the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered, ‘These are they whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth.’ ¹¹ And they answered the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees, and said, ‘We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth remains at rest.’ (Zechariah 1:10-11, ESV)

So they patrol the earth. They come back with the report, “All the earth remains at rest.” Now, that you might think is a positive thing. But the vision goes on. In verse twelve,

¹² Then the angel of the Lord said, ‘O Lord of hosts, how long will you have no mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against which you have been angry these seventy years?’ (Zechariah 1:12, ESV)

And here you have reference to the 70 year period. We talked about this in Daniel nine, probably the 70 year period from 586 to 516. The world is at rest. Well, how long, lord, until you have mercy on your people? That’s the response to the statement that the world or the earth remains at rest. The idea here may be that they are looking for a shaking, an upheaval.

They’re looking for a movement of God on the earth that will bring about the reestablishment, the full reestablishment of God’s people, and that God will then show mercy on Jerusalem and deal with the nations. Because at this point in history, Persia is in control. And in one sense, yes, the world is at rest. But the condition of God’s people in Jerusalem is not good. And that seems to be the focus.

And so the response, the answer to this in verses 14, God says, “I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion, and I am angry with the nations that are at ease.”

¹⁴ So the angel who talked with me said to me, ‘Cry out, Thus says the Lord of hosts: I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion. ¹⁵ And I am exceedingly angry with the nations that are at ease; for while I was angry but a little, they furthered the disaster. (Zechariah 1:14-15, ESV)

And so you have this statement here of God’s concern and that he is going to act on behalf of his people and his city. And verses 14 through 16, basically, God will ensure that his people are reestablished. Sort of a similar idea. God controls history for the sake of his people. Ephesians 1 makes a similar point. Ephesians 1:22-23, Christ rules all things. Why?

For the sake of the church. So here it’s Yahweh rules history for the sake of his people, which then is parallel in Ephesians, Christ rules all things for the benefit and the sake of his people. So you get that parallel idea. But that’s the first vision dealing with God’s anger related to the nations, and that he will act on behalf of his people. Then vision two, chapter one, verses 18 through 21. And some of these visions are shorter than others.

And some people think that the short visions are brief, maybe to make more of an impact. Perhaps that’s true. But in this second vision, you have four horns and four craftsmen, and the horns are kingdoms. The horn is a metaphor for military and political power. And these horns represent kingdoms that scatter God’s people. So here we’re dealing with opposition from the gentile nations. So there are four horns, but there are also four craftsmen. These four craftsmen are skilled, and they know how to deal with the horns.

And so, how they deal with the horns is left open, but the craftsmen are there in order to take care of the horns. And so, the point of this vision is that God will take care of the nations who are rallying at times against God’s people, and He will crush those who oppose them. As the end of this vision, Chapter 1:21.

Toward the end of verse 21, these have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations who have lifted up their horns against the land of Judah, to scatter it. So these horns that are against Judah will be taken care of. And it’s presented in this vision of four horns and four craftsmen.

So again, this vision deals with opposition from the Gentiles, as does the next vision, which is the third vision, also dealing with opposition from the Gentiles. Vision number three, which is chapter two.

Part of chapter two shows a man with a measuring line, and this man measures Jerusalem with the promise that Judah will be populated by people and protected by God. And if you have a city without walls, it’s defenseless. And you have specifically stated here that God himself will be a wall of fire around the city. But this vision talks about God protecting the city of Jerusalem. So again, it’s dealing with opposition from the gentile nations. God will not only take care of the nations, but God will protect his city.

There also occurs in chapter two what seems to be non visionary material, perhaps beginning in verse six, non visionary material that may sort of bring the vision down to earth. And there is an encouragement for God’s people, beginning in verse six, to flee from the land of the north. And again, we’re still in that exilic situation, post exilic situation, where the encouragement is for God’s people to come back to the land. And just a couple things that are mentioned here.

The nations will become plunder, verses eight and nine, and the emphasis in verse eleven that the nations will join themselves to the Lord. So again, you have in this third vision opposition from the gentile nations. And what follows this third vision is some material that deals specifically with the nations. They’ll become plunder, but they will also join with the Lord as well. So you have two emphases there related to the nations. So the first three visions, in essence, deal with the gentile nations, which relates specifically to the problems that the post-exilic community is experiencing.

Then you have two visions, visions four and five, that deal with the leaders of the community. And with visions four and five, we’re brought into the temple area where the high priest is, and the first vision deals with the high priest, Joshua. And you sort of have the gospel picture in verses three and four of chapter three, Joshua the high priest is standing before the angel of the Lord. And you have Satan accusing him, and the Lord rebuked Satan.

And then you have verses three and four relating to the cleansing of the high priest, who is representative of the people.

¹ Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord , and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. ² And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?” (Zechariah 3:1-2, ESV)

Bj, would you mind reading for us verses three and four? And you’ll see sort of why this is called the Gospel of Zechariah.

³ Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. ⁴ And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.” (Zechariah 3:3-4, ESV)

You’re going to go on and talk about putting a clean turban on his head as priestly garments, but you have taken away the filthy garments and clothed him with clean garments. And Joshua here is a representative of the people. And so, this is a reference to the cleansing that will come to God’s people as they are represented by Joshua, the high priest. You then have, following this vision in chapter three, an emphasis upon the branch. So, you have Joshua the high priest.

And then, at the end of verse eight, I will bring my servant the branch. And the emphasis is still on removing the iniquity of the land in a single day.

⁹ For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. (Zechariah 3:9, ESV)

But there’s an emphasis here on the branch idea. So, you have the high priest, and then with the emphasis on the branch, you have the royal line brought into the picture, and it ends with a picture of security, sort of this pouring out of covenant blessing with verse ten that everyone will sit under his vine and under his fig tree.

That’s the beautiful picture of security in the blessings of the mosaic covenant, everyone living in security under his own vine without threat of someone coming through and taking away that which you have worked for. And so you have the priestly emphasis here with Joshua the high priest, as he’s representative of the people, and the people are cleansed. But then you have the branch idea that is going to be picked up a little bit later in Zechariah.

And in fact, there’s debate we’ll see when we get there, about the relationship between the whole royal and priestly offices and ministries. But vision four relates specifically to the high priest. Then vision five, which is in chapter four, is a message to encourage Zerubbabel in his work of rebuilding the temple from Haggai’s standpoint or from some of the people that Haggai prophesied to it, looked fairly bleak. And there may be that going on here as well. Discouragement may have set in.

And so, there’s a real emphasis in this vision that the work of rebuilding the temple will not be accomplished through human effort or power, but that that work will be accomplished through divine effort. God will be at work. And you see this especially in verse six, where the word of the Lord says, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts.

⁶ Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. ⁷ Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!'” (Zechariah 4:6-7, ESV)

Whatever the obstacles are, through the power of God, the power of the spirit, God will remove those obstacles so that this work will be completed. And you have an emphasis in verse ten not to despise a day of small things. It may look, at times like this, rebuilding effort is weak, small, but keep working. That’s exactly what the message Haggai had. Keep working. Don’t despise a day of small things. Small steps in this project are significant and will be an encouragement to God’s people.

So this is very much in parallel with Haggai’s message related to discouragement. Now, in this vision, you also have at the beginning of the vision a lampstand. And lampstands need olive oil so their lamps can burn. This lampstand is supplied a never-ending supply of olive oil from two olive trees, so you have a lampstand with two olive trees, and the olive trees supply oil to the lampstand. And, of course, there’s some discussion about what these things represent.

Most people believe the lampstand, probably in this context, is a reference to the rebuilding work itself, that rebuilding effort. Maybe there’s some connection to the temple, the lampstand in the temple, but that is the work itself that the lampstand stands for. Then if that’s true, what do the two olive trees stand for? And there’s debate. Some say they stand for Joshua and Zerubbabel, the two leaders of the post exilic community. Others say they refer to Haggai and Zechariah, the two main prophets who were very involved in the work.

I don’t know if I have a strong argument one way or the other. The point, whatever the point, is still the same. Keep working. This is an important project. Through God’s strength, you will be able to complete this building project. So these two visions address the two leaders, Joshua and Zerubbabel, and our encouragement to those two leaders.

All right, then you have vision six and seven, which now deal more with the community, the covenant community, and the sin that’s within the covenant community.

Vision six is in chapter five; you have a flying scroll, and related to this scroll is a curse, verse three, that goes out over the face of the whole land. And then you have mentioned the covenant unfaithfulness related to the members of the covenant community, stealing or robbing, swearing falsely. And so this flying scroll seems to represent law and covenant that has the curse connected to it. So that as sin continues within the covenant community, that’s a major problem.

And if God’s people don’t repent as they are encouraged to at the beginning of Zechariah, then they will experience covenant curse. The emphasis being here on covenant faithlessness among the members of the covenant community, how they treat each other. Vision seven also focuses on sin within the covenant community. And in vision seven, which is chapter five, verses five through eleven, you have a woman sitting in a basket, and this woman is identified in verse eight. This is wickedness. And he thrust her back into the basket and thrust down the leaden weight on its opening.

And something like a stork comes and removes the basket from the covenant community. And so again, wickedness must be removed from the covenant community. Many associate this vision with covenant faithlessness, not among the members of covenant community, but faithlessness toward God and the woman some associate with idolatry, and that this must be removed from the covenant community, but generally identified here as wickedness taken out of the covenant community. So vision six and seven both deal with the problem of sin within the covenant community.

So you can see, all these visions focus on things that that community was struggling with to reconstitute themselves as the community after the exile and to rebuild this temple. And hopefully, you can see how appropriate connections can be made to the covenant community today as we are building a spiritual house, Ephesians, and how these principles and visions also are important for the church as we face opposition as well, and as leaders need to be encouraged and as sin needs to be dealt with.

So there are general things here that also could relate to God’s people today. But God will remove all obstacles. God will ensure through his power that these things will happen. The gates of hell will not be able to stand in the way of God’s work then or now. We come. Let me take a break here in a few minutes.

To the last vision, which really parallels the first vision, where you have four chariots, four horses, with an emphasis here, chapter six, verses one through eight, that God’s messengers are sent out to accomplish his purposes.

So now you have sort of the inauguration of some of the things that maybe were mentioned here earlier in relationship to the gentile nations. God was angry with the nations, but now it seems like there is movement on God’s part to accomplish these things. And then you have a section, and I’m not sure this made your notes specifically, but you have a section at the end of chapter six before we get to chapter seven and eight, which sort of brings this first section to an end.

But you have a section, chapter six, verses nine through 15, where two figures reappear again. Two leaders are emphasized. Again, you have Zerubbabel as the branch. So you had the branch idea in a chapter earlier in relationship to chapter three, which appears again here in chapter six. Zerubbabel, as the branch, sits on the throne as a prototype of the one to come. But then you also have Joshua, the high priest, mentioned. And what’s interesting here, it says in verse 13, actually, Joshua seems to be the focus of this whole section.

There’s some debate about whether there are two mentioned here or one. But notice what is the interesting thing here? That’s what’s said about Joshua. If you look at verse twelve,

¹² And say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord . (Zechariah 6:12, ESV)

And so you have a royal emphasis here. But then notice what the next sentence says. There shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both, and the crown shall be in the temple of the Lord.

¹³ It is he who shall build the temple of the Lord and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”‘ (Zechariah 6:13, ESV)

As a reminder, you have a priest sitting on the throne, which is unusual in the context of the way Israel is set up. King and priest are separate. And although the king may have some responsibilities toward the temple, the king may have responsibilities for building the temple.

And remember, David brings the ark up before the building of the temple. He brings the ark up to the city of Jerusalem, and he has some responsibilities there, and he even ministers in some way there as king. But the kings do not and are not allowed to offer sacrifice in the temple. Remember, Uzziah tried to do this and was struck with leprosy. These two are kept separate from each other within the context of the offices in Israel.

But you get a glimpse here in Zechariah 6 and then in Psalm 110 that a person combines both kingly and priestly offices in one person. In Psalm 110, there are two oracles, an oracle that is a royal oracle and a priestly oracle, and they both relate to the same individual. You get a glimpse of it here in Zechariah 6, where you have a priest sitting on the throne. And this makes sense to us because the way we understand how Christ has fulfilled these things.

But, and there are glimpses of this in the Old Testament related to Melchizedek and then Psalm 110 and this passage in Zechariah. But it would have been difficult for Old Testament believers to put this all together. And so the Old Testament gives you these threads that all sort of converge on Christ, who is both king, son of David, from the line of Judah, and priest according to the order of Melchizedek, which is a problem on one level to the Jewish people. The book of Hebrews wrestles with that. How can Jesus be our priest?

He’s not from the tribe of Levi. Well, there is a greater order of priesthood, a priesthood that ministers in the heavenly tabernacle, not the earthly tabernacle. That’s just a copy of the heavenly Tabernacle, and Christ is of the priesthood order that ministers in the heavenly tabernacle. So, these two things that were separate in the Old Testament come together in Christ, and you have glimpses of it at several places in the Old Testament. This is one of those places where you have both of these offices sort of merging together and significant for understanding Christ.

And we understand it better than what they understood it, because we live on the other side of the fullness of revelation that has come in Jesus Christ. So an important passage here in Zechariah 6. Yes, sir. Refer to priest and king or something else. At the end of verse 13, there shall be a priest on the throne, and council of peace shall be between them both.

¹³ It is he who shall build the temple of the Lord and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”‘ (Zechariah 6:13, ESV)

Well, see, that’s the reason there is debate about whether you have, whether these two are separated here or whether they are converge or what’s the relationship to them.

And I think Kyland Dalitz seems to say that they’re separate. But when you say there’s a priest on the throne, I mean, there’s a movement here toward looking at these two coming together, whether you see them as separate, but there certainly is a bringing together of these two offices in a much closer way than what you normally have in the context of the Old Testament. Council of peace shall be between them both. Yeah, I have to double check. It could refer to both of them coming together. It certainly is.

That seems to be what’s going on here, because it’s related to both of them. And of course, they do come together. Christ. But in this context, there’s no animosity between the two, no competition, if you will, but it’s a working together. Any other comments or questions before we take a break? Yes, sir. Through these two roles, that’s part of the purpose. Yes, there’s a number of different purposes. Yeah, but that’s interesting. This is a way that these visions end. It comes back to this.

So that is prominent in these visions along with the other things that have been mentioned. Is there significance to the number eight? It allows you to have parallels. One and eight parallel, two and three, four and five, six and seven parallel. I don’t know if there’s any other significance to it than that. It’s just, it is interesting that you have two visions that deal with the same issue. Four and five, six and seven, two and three, and then one and eight sort of parallel each other.

But beyond that, I don’t know if there’s any real significance to the number eight. Sometimes there may be some significance to numbers, but I don’t know here if there’s any symbolism. All right, let’s go ahead and take a break, and we’ll come back up and briefly look at chapters seven and eight.

This audio lecture is brought to you by RTS on iTunesU at the virtual campus of Reformed Theological Seminary. To listen to other lectures and to access additional resources, please visit us at itunes.rts.edu.

For additional information on how to take distance education courses for credit towards a fully accredited Master of Arts in Religion degree, please visit our website at virtual rts.edu.