Zechariah (Part 2)

Richard Belcher focuses on the latter chapters of the book of Zechariah. He explores the themes of divine judgment and the restoration of Jerusalem. Belcher discusses the visions Zechariah received, which convey messages of hope and encouragement for God’s people, emphasizing God’s plans for a redeemed community and a restored city.

The following unedited transcript is provided by Beluga AI.

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All right, Zechariah seven and eight these are not visions, but chapter seven and eight respond to a question that the community is asking in the context of rebuilding the Temple.

Should they continue some of the fasts that were instituted in relationship to the destruction of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple? When the temple was destroyed and the city of Jerusalem was destroyed, one response of the people was to institute some fasts, regular fasts, as a way of expressing contrition, lament in the context of that tragedy. Now that they’re back in their own land and the Temple is in process of being rebuilt, should they continue these? Chapter 7:3.

³ saying to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts and the prophets, “Should I weep and abstain in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?” (Zechariah 7:3, ESV)

Basically, the fifth month is specifically mentioned. Part of the response is, your fasts have been insincere. Verses five through nine, you’ve missed the main problem. Obedience to the word of God is much better than fasting. And so, if the people will obey God and listen to the prophetic word, God will pour out his covenant blessings, a fast of joy and gladness, as it’s mentioned in chapter eight, around verse 19. And the people then will fulfill, if they will respond in obedience to the prophetic word, the people will begin to fulfill the mission that God had originally meant for the people to fulfill.

You get this, especially in chapter eight, verses 20 through 23, where it talks about the peoples coming to Jerusalem, that picture that we’ve talked about of the mission of Israel to live in obedience to God in the land that God had given her and the nations would come to her. We saw that in Isaiah 2, and you see it here in Zechariah 8:22, which says,

²² Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the Lord . ²³ Thus says the Lord of hosts: In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.'” (Zechariah 8:22-23, ESV)

This picture of members of the nation grabbing ahold of the arm of a Jewish person and say, take us up to Jerusalem. We have heard that God is in your midst. That’s a fulfillment of the original design of what God meant for the people of Israel to be a witness to the nations.

So that goal is still very much held out there for the people if they will turn to God, repent, and obey the word of God. We come to chapters 9-14, which really does talk about the full restoration of God’s people. Ultimately, these chapters are important. As some note, they are the most quoted section of the prophets in the passion narratives, and some have pointed out their influence on the author of the book of Revelation as well. So chapters nine through 14 are significant for later revelation. However, these chapters are very difficult.

The events described in chapters nine through 14 are much more obscure in relationship to concrete history, even more obscure in some ways than parts of Daniel. At least some of the parts of Daniel you had an idea of connections that you can make to present history or future history. These chapters are more difficult in that regard. Baldwin thinks it may be due to the heavenly standpoint of Zechariah. There’s a debate, we’ll lay this out briefly in a few minutes, about the relationship of these chapters to historical matters. Or are these chapters just eschatological? Fully eschatological.

So those are some major questions. Part of the difficulty of this section is that there are abrupt transitions, and so there’s not a flow in terms of these chapters. And the abrupt transitions make it difficult to sort of grasp at times what is going on. What is being said is not always that difficult to understand, but the connections between sections sometimes are difficult, and so events appear to be chaotic in terms of any order in this section. So nine through 14 is very difficult. Let me just.

There are three, and you can add some more nuances here, but three basic ways that these chapters are laid out. I’ll just list them up here. And then as we go through the chapters, we may come back to some of this. We may not. But one way to approach nine through 14 is from a purely historical approach. Older commentaries like Leupold. you’ve heard of Leupold, connect these chapters to first century BC, the Maccabean period, or things before the Maccabean period.

So there’s an attempt, like you might do in Daniel 10-12, which does seem to connect to some of those events. There’s an attempt to understand these chapters purely historically. Leupold’s a conservative, older, conservative German scholar. Another approach is to see these chapters as purely eschatological. Merrill, some of you may be familiar with Merrill’s history of Israel. The Kingdom of Priests, I think, is the name of it. He has a commentary on Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, I think. And he takes basically an eschatological approach, that all these chapters are purely eschatological.

Now, some of that is driven by his premillennialism, so that these chapters are primarily talking about the millennium. He’ll make connections to things in the first century, but primarily eschatological. Now, Leupold, when he gets to chapters twelve through 14, may also see those chapters as eschatological, but some of the earlier ones would be more historical. Then you have an approach, and I haven’t had time to work through this commentary, but this is the Nyvac commentary, Boda on Haggai and Zechariah.

And he thinks that there are three levels, three major levels, and he sees the beginning of this section as historical, related to exile and return, which would be most of chapter nine and a portion of chapter ten. And then he sees eschatological chapters, especially toward the end, thinks the end is eschatological. And then he sees another level scattered, related to the shepherd motif. And you have the shepherd motif scattered throughout this section. And so he sees these three major levels in chapters nine through 14.

And I haven’t had a chance to work through, but, I mean, there’s a lot of food for thought here, and I think I’ve been happy with what I’ve read so far. So I would just give that to you for your future studies in Zechariah. I don’t think this commentary is in your commentary review; it’s a fairly new commentary. The NyvaC series is a fairly new series, and they’re putting out these commentaries pretty quickly, 2004. So at this point, I would sort of lean toward the analysis that I’ve read; it makes a lot of sense to me.

So because part of the problem has been trying to get a handle on these chapters in light of the historical situation. How do they relate to the historical situation? Are they only eschatological? There’s some ambiguity and nebulousness here about how these chapters relate to the historical situation. And I think some of the work that he’s done is very helpful. Yes, he relates that major level. He relates that to what is going on in the community. And we’ll talk briefly about that when we get to some of those chapters.

But what we’ll do is sort of work our way through these chapters and just pointing out some of the highlights. We’ll not always stop. I’ll not always stop and try to connect it as Leupold does, to the first century, Alexander the Great, or Maccabeans will not. If you’re interested in pursuing that, you can pick up Leupold’s commentary. But these chapters generally are divided into two sections: nine through eleven, and 12-14, as both of them begin with the burden of the word of the Lord.

Chapter nine through ten focus on the redemption of God’s people, with chapter nine emphasizing the coming of the king to Jerusalem. Earlier prophecies had talked about an army from the north or an enemy from the north. In chapter nine, the lord himself comes from the north, and as he makes his way toward Jerusalem, he conquers cities along the way. And this procession of Yahweh and the divine warrior, in essence making his way toward Jerusalem, he comes to Jerusalem.

In chapter nine, verse eight says,

⁸ Then I will encamp at my house as a guard, so that none shall march to and fro; no oppressor shall again march over them, for now I see with my own eyes. (Zechariah 9:8, ESV)

And so you have Yahweh coming to his city to protect it and to guard it. And it’s in this context that you have nine. Verse nine.

⁹ Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9, ESV)

Shout aloud, o daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you, righteous and translation, having salvation, is he humble and mounted on a donkey? On a colt, the foal of a donkey? In verse ten,

¹⁰ I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. ¹¹ As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. (Zechariah 9:10-11, ESV)

And it goes on to talk about the blood of my covenant with you. You have the king’s entry into Jerusalem amid shouts of joy, with the character of the king being emphasized. This king is righteous or just, which is an important characteristic of a king. And the reign of a king should be a righteous reign. It should be a just reign. So, this king that comes is righteous; he’s just. And it says in the ESV, “having salvation,” which would mean this king brings salvation. Now, this is where some of the debate takes place, because this phrase “having salvation” in the Hebrew is a nifal, probably.

I put that up on the board for what’s the oomph of a nif owl? Passive or reflexive, and having salvation, showing himself a savior is the way one commentator puts it, is perhaps a way to try to bring out the reflexive idea. But the passive idea would relate to the fact that this king needs to be delivered. He’s just. He’s righteous, but he needs to be delivered. And of course, many people struggle with that idea in the context, although it goes on to talk about his humble nature as king.

He rides on a donkey, not a charging white horse, at least at this point. So that needing to be saved, if you want to stress that angle, would fit in with that humility of the king who comes riding a donkey. But then it goes on to talk about the fact that he’s going to cut off the chariot and cut off the battle bow in the war chariot from Judah. So you’ve got these different ideas here, sort of ideas that you don’t always associate together.

He’s king, he’s just, he’s righteous, he’s able to stop war, he’s able to cut off the war chariot, but on the other hand, he’s humble and he either having salvation or he himself needs to be delivered. Those two sides of the coin don’t always go together when you think about a king, and that’s why some people reject the passive idea that he’s a king that needs to be delivered. However, there are other psalms. Psalm 30:16 talks about the king is not delivered by his army, but he’s delivered by God.

So you do have other psalms that talk about the human king being dependent upon deliverance through the power of Yahweh. And I think it’s appropriate, the passive idea, I think is appropriate here. And you do get both ideas come together in the person of Christ, don’t you? The fact that he’s powerful, he can stop war, he’s divine, but the fact that he’s human, and from his human nature, he in one sense needs to be delivered.

On the one hand, you have one passage in the New Testament, the Gospel of John, that talks about Christ will deliver himself, but then on the other hand, you have passages that talk about his calling to the Father in heaven for deliverance. So you have sort of both of those sides come together uniquely in terms of who Christ is in his humanity and his deity.

But obviously, this passage in Zechariah 9:9 is used in relationship to the triumphal entry as he rides into Jerusalem on the donkey, coming in humility, being rejected by the people, and ultimately being crucified on the cross with the statement above the cross, the king of the Jews. And those two ideas don’t go together, do they? King crucified. Well, again, you have those two ideas in the Old Testament that don’t seem to go together, but they do come together in Christ. So you have a discussion here in this passage about whether this is nifal, passive.

Whether this passive idea should be emphasized or not. And obviously, when it goes on in verse ten to say, “I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the warhorse from Jerusalem,” you’ve got to put that into a now but not yet context in light of what Jesus did at his first coming, in light of what he will do at his second coming. At his first coming, he rides on a donkey. At his second coming, he rides on a white horse, which relates to the major focus of his ministry. Rides on a donkey.

He’s humble, he’s come to be crucified. At the second coming he rides on a white horse. His robe is dipped in blood, but he comes with the sword as the one who will bring in the fullness of the kingdom and bring judgment as well. So you can see how these old testament concepts, you have a hard time putting them together until you see the fullness of revelation in Christ.

The chapter nine goes on verses eleven through 17 to talk about how this king will ensure victory for God’s people, and that God will defend his people because of the blood of the covenant, as is mentioned in verse eleven. And that is used to encourage God’s people to return because of this future victory. God’s people should then return to the land and come back to the land because God is at work in restoring his people. God will defend his people. God will save his people. God will prosper his people.

And you have an emphasis at the end of chapter nine, verses 15 through 17, on this coming what God will do with the people as they are back in the land. So, this is not unrelated to what is going on in that historical community. Now, in chapter ten, verses one through three, you have a section that talks about covenant blessings as coming from the Lord, and that those covenant blessings should not be sought after in ways that are outside of God’s plan and God’s will.

Diviners are mentioned, false dreamers, and at the end of verse two and in verse three, you have the first emphasis on the shepherd motif. So when we talk about the shepherd motif, and these are going to be somewhat scattered, this is the first passage related to the shepherd motif. And it’s that God is angry with the shepherds, so that what’s going on in the community, as it’s described here, is in some way related to the leadership of this community.

And you have here a statement that God is angry with the leaders in contrast to bad leadership. In verses two and three, there is an emphasis on proper leadership, but in 10:3-12, it’s not just leadership. There’s a broader focus here on restoration, the restoration of God’s people, with an emphasis here on both Judah and Ephraim. Judah representing the southern kingdom, Ephraim representing the northern kingdom.

And so there’s a broad emphasis on restoration, the restoration of all of God’s people, Judah and Ephraim, with not without or not apart from leadership, especially verse four, which follows verse three. From him shall come the cornerstone, from him, the tent peg, from him the battle bow. From him, every ruler, all of them together. And that leads to this broader restoration of all of God’s people.

And most people understand cornerstone, tent peg, battle bow as referring to the leaders of this community and even perhaps having some messianic connotations; leadership necessary for restoration would be the focus here. So you have the shepherds mentioned at the beginning of chapter ten, and in contrast to that, you have verse four, these rulers mentioned. That lays the foundation to go on to talk about the restoration of all of God’s people. So restoration is the focus of the rest of chapter ten and the restoration of all of God’s people.

And that’s important, that Judah and Ephraim are both mentioned in light of something that’s going to happen a little bit later in Zechariah that we’ll see when we get there. Now, chapter eleven deals primarily with the problem of false shepherds. And Zechariah 11:1-3 is an opening poem that’s full of symbolism relating to shepherds leaders. And this, some would say, is another short passage that has a shepherd motif. And the emphasis here is a prophecy of destruction, a prophecy of destruction against the shepherds.

You have these great trees that are felled, and the wailing of the shepherds in verse three, for their glory is ruined. And many times in scripture, these mighty trees are symbolic of kings and leaders. And so, you have another short poem related to the shepherd motif that is followed by the main shepherd narrative. The main shepherd narrative, which Boda says, all the rest of the smaller shepherd motifs sort of revolve around this main shepherd narrative in chapter eleven, verses 4-16, I believe it is.

Yeah, four through 16 with another shepherd motif, short shepherd motif in 11:17. The woe to the worthless shepherd. But there’s a lot of questions surrounding 11:4-16. But 11:4-16 seems to be many. Take it to be a sign act by the prophet. We saw some of these in Ezekiel where he would act out some of those things that God told him to act out. Many believe that this passage, chapter 11:4-16, is a sign act, or maybe a couple of sign acts related to this whole issue of the shepherds of God’s people.

And so, if this is a sign act, not everybody takes it as a sign. Some think the prophet here sort of expresses an experience of a shepherd, but it’s really Yahweh, and they don’t necessarily go the sign act route. But let’s take it as a sign act. Verse four: Become shepherd of the flock, doomed to slaughter. The prophet is told. And how exactly he’s going to do this, we’re not totally sure, but he’s told to become a shepherd and to become a shepherd of a flock that is doomed to slaughter.

And why is the flock doomed to slaughter? It’s because the shepherds of this flock have had no pity on the flock. They’ve not taken care of the flock. As it says at the end of verse five, their own shepherds have no pity on them. Verse six, I’ll no longer have pity on the inhabitants of this land. I will call each of them to fall into the hand of his neighbor. And so, you have God telling the prophet to shepherd, to become a shepherd. So, verse seven.

⁷ So I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders. And I took two staffs, one I named Favor, the other I named Union. And I tended the sheep. ⁸ In one month I destroyed the three shepherds. But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. ⁹ So I said, “I will not be your shepherd. What is to die, let it die. What is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed. And let those who are left devour the flesh of one another.” (Zechariah 11:7-9, ESV)

Now, you can imagine all kinds of discussion, you know, going on around this. In one month, I destroyed three shepherds. Now, what in the world is he referring to here? If this is a sign act, what does this mean? This is where there’s all kinds of debate about what this refers to.

Some of those who take an historical approach refer this to the events surrounding the Maccabean period, maybe with the deposing of Onias or those events. Merrill actually takes this as a reference to the end of the southern kingdom. And the prophet here is sort of representative of Yahweh, who had to become shepherd for his people, because the kings at the end of the southern kingdom were not being true shepherds.

And the posing of three shepherds in one month might relate to some of those events at the end of the southern kingdom when you have a turnover of kings in a fairly short period of time. Others just take this as pure symbolism. If this is a sign act, then the three might be symbolic of the purging of the leadership in a short period of time, in a one month period.

But you can see how this would lend itself to a variety of different ways of trying to understand what this means and whether or not this relates to a particular historical incident or whether this is just symbolic as a part of the sign act. But usually, sign acts are acted out. And you sort of wonder, how would the prophet act out this sign act? That’s where some of the difficulty comes.

But to continue, I became impatient with them. They detested me. So the shepherd became impatient with the people. The people detested the shepherd. And so, verse ten,

¹⁰ And I took my staff Favor, and I broke it, annulling the covenant that I had made with all the peoples. (Zechariah 11:10, ESV)

This is also very debated here. One of the staffs, which is named Favor, yes, was broken, annulling the covenant I had made with all the peoples. Well, what does that refer to?

Well, Maril thinks it refers to, again, he relates this to the end of the southern kingdom of Judah, and that this refers to the breaking of the covenant by God’s people and God’s annulling that covenant and bringing destruction upon the city of Jerusalem. The problem with that is the way it’s stated, I made with all the peoples. It seems to be broader. It seems to be a covenant not made with Judah, but made with the nations.

And those who take it that way usually refer to God’s using of a nation to bring blessing on Israel, that in some way God’s sovereignty over the nations, he would have used the nations to bring blessing on Israel. But now that will no longer happen. So that’s another way that this particular phrase is taken. And some take this in the direction that because of the condition within the post-exilic community with these false shepherds, that the nation is open to exile again, that the nation is open to being not protected by God. Then you have verse twelve.

¹² Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. (Zechariah 11:12, ESV)

Alright, so my work as shepherd is done. Pay me time for you to give me my wages. And they weighed out as my wages 30 pieces of silver, which in context here is stressing what they felt about the work of the shepherd. They didn’t think much about the work of the shepherd. 30 pieces of silver is not very much in that context of the work of the shepherd. And so it’s their rejection of the worth of the work of the shepherd. And so the shepherd, the prophet lord said to me, verse 13,

¹³ Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”— the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord , to the potter. (Zechariah 11:13, ESV)

And there’s a lot of debate here about a particular word in this context, but whether it’s the treasury or whether it’s a potter connected to the temple, both of those ideas would be connected to the temple. And so, this 30 pieces of silver thrown back to the people, the leaders. And in verse 14, says,

¹⁴ Then I broke my second staff Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. (Zechariah 11:14, ESV)

Now, on one level, you could see this as the opposite of what God said He would do in Ezekiel 34, and in many ways, the opposite of what God had promised even earlier in Zechariah to bring together Judah and Ephraim, because now He’s broken that brotherhood.

And so, what seems to be taking place is the leadership of the post-exilic community, perhaps following Joshua and Zerubbabel, has taken God’s people in a bad direction, and that these are prophecies, perhaps related to the bad leadership that grew up during this period. And God is bringing these prophecies against the leadership. And in that context, then he will begin to talk about eventually raising up a true leader. But here, this prophecy is almost against Ezekiel 34.

I mean, goes in the opposite direction of Ezekiel 34, and it goes against that union, that restoration of Judah and Ephraim, because now that’s broken. And so the question is, how does this fit in? Is this going back to the end of the southern kingdom, which is the way some people take it? Or is this some reflection on what’s going on in that post-exilic community following Joshua and Zerubbabel? After Zerubbabel, there is no one who rises as a leader of God’s people.

You can go in terms of a king now, Ezra and Nehemiah; they may be significant later. So you can see the difficulty of this section, and perhaps it relates to the restoration period. And it’s showing that the bad leadership of the post-exilic community was a part of the problem of that restoration not being fulfilled. Then the other thing here in these verses, verse 15,

¹⁵ Then the Lord said to me, “Take once more the equipment of a foolish shepherd. (Zechariah 11:15, ESV)

And so now, perhaps this is a second sign act where he is to act as a foolish shepherd who does not care for those being destroyed, or seek the young, or heal the maimed, or nourish the healthy. You see, this is where Ezekiel said God would do these things, and then God would raise up a leader who would care for the flock. Well, here the prophet is to be a foolish shepherd. And that leads to this woe oracle in verse 17: Woe to my worthless shepherd who deserts the flock.

And so what’s clear is chapter eleven is dealing with the problem of the leadership of God’s people. The question is, where do you fit this end of southern kingdom, where Merrill puts it, describing that? Or is it more related to the post exilic community, which is where boda tends to understand it? So those are some of the difficulties surrounding these questions. In a general sense, you can see how the gospels pick up on this passage.

In relationship to Christ, you have a situation where a shepherd leader is rejected by the leaders of the nation, rejected for 30 pieces of silver. And that’s part of the focus that the Gospels pick up on. Christ as shepherd is rejected by the people and by the leaders, and is rejected for 30 pieces of silver. And so, in a broad sense, without getting into, there’s a lot of questions, specific questions we don’t have time to get into. In a broad sense, you can see how this does relate to the ministry of Christ.

And there’s debate about who these worthless shepherds might be. Are they the Israelite kings? Are they the rebellious leaders who reject Christ? Are they leaders within the post-exilic community? I mean, they can be Israelite kings or leaders within the post-exilic community and then still act as sort of related to the first century situation of leaders who reject Christianity. You can see how this passage is full of questions as to how it all works out. But the general emphasis, I think, of the passage is fairly clear.

And in those general emphasis, you can see how it does relate to Christ. Yes. Why would he be talking about something that happened in the past, past the leadership, as opposed to something that was happening in the present and future, being a prophetic word, as maybe sort of an example of what should not happen in the post.

I mean, you can relate it to the post exilic community, even if you look at it as the end of the southern kingdom, as an example of types of leaders that should not be among God’s people and that perhaps are still among God’s people, although the parallel is not as good, because there you have kings and you don’t really have a king that arises in that post New Zealand community. So there are some adjustments that you have to make. Yes, sir.

Seeing the connection between what the prophet is describing in Jesus and Judas situations, does that argue in favor of him not actually fulfilling the destruction of the three shepherds, but sort of just a descriptive way of prophetic? That’s part of the struggle: how some of the details, even in general details, relate. If they have to relate to that whole first century situation, you can see how generally it relates. But part of the difficulty is, should we try to find some connection with these three shepherds in the first century?

And a lot of people don’t see any specific connections. So the answer to your question may be yes, if I understand your question. Yes, sir. What is the equipment of the pool of shepherds? That’s a good question. Shepherd has a staff, but it may be the way he uses it. But I mean, that’s. A shepherd is a shepherd. It’s not the equipment that’s foolish. It’s how that equipment is used. Unless it’s talking here about some kind of equipment that a normal shepherd wouldn’t use, but a shepherd uses, like a sword.

A shepherd doesn’t usually use a sword, but maybe. But it’s a little speculative is exactly what usually it’s described as. As the way the shepherd goes about shepherding and using the shepherd’s equipment. So you can see there’s all kinds of questions related to this passage.

All right, twelve through 14, the triumph of God’s kingdom. Definitely eschatological themes come into play in this section. There’s war, there’s victory localized in Jerusalem. And in chapter twelve, all the people that have come against Judah will be defeated, as there’s a great battle brewing in chapter twelve.

And there is in chapter twelve, great rejoicing because of victory, which then moves very quickly. This is one of those abrupt transitions into mourning. Chapter 12:10-13, one mourning for someone who’s pierced. And there is some difficulty in chapter twelve, verse ten. I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy. So God here is taking the initiative to pour out on the house of David Grace. So that. And this is where the difficulty begins.

¹⁰ “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. (Zechariah 12:10, ESV)

Now, if Yahweh is talking here, the question is, how can Yahweh be pierced? They will look on me whom they have pierced. And why the change of pronoun? They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child. Those are the difficulties. How can Yahweh be pierced? They will look on me whom they pierced and why the change of pronoun to him?

They will look on him whom they have; they will mourn for him. Many people try to differentiate between Yahweh and the one pierced. “They will look to me concerning the one they pierced” is the way Myers does it, separating Yahweh from the one pierced. And there are several solutions that sort of go in that direction. Yahweh cannot be the one pierced. So you take it in a way where Yahweh and the one pierced is separated from each other. Calvin takes the piercing as metaphorical.

Yahweh is pierced, wounded by the sins of the people, not literally pierced, but metaphorically pierced. Interesting. In all cases where this verb is used, it’s always a literal piercing. Ultimately, this passage, which is difficult in its context, does make sense in light of Christ, because we can understand how in light of the work of Christ, Yahweh can be pierced. And there can be a change of pronoun. And so we see another situation where, because of who Jesus is, being, both fully God and fully man, this passage makes some sense in light of that.

And this passage is used in Revelation 1:7. They who pierced him shall see him. And John 19:37 may refer to this in terms of piercing Jesus’ side on the cross. This piercing leads to a fountain of cleansing being opened, Chapter 13:1, leading to restoration and sanctification and the cutting off of idolatry and false prophecy, Chapter 13:2-6. And so, you have priestly things mentioned, the cleansing idea. You have prophecy mentioned here in Chapter 13. And then, at the end of this chapter, you have royal emphasis.

Chapter 13, verses seven through nine is another shepherd motif where a shepherd is smitten and the remnant is spared. And the debate here in this passage is whether this shepherd is one of those worthless shepherds that’s cut down and the remnant there is is spared, or whether this shepherd fits that earlier context of a worthless shepherd. Either way, this certainly can relate to Christ in terms of him being smitten.

Now, he obviously is not a worthless shepherd, but he would take upon himself the judgment that is due the people of God, but also due the worthless shepherds. So this judgment against the shepherd we could see related to Christ in terms of Christ taking that judgment upon himself, being smitten, and ultimately delivering the flock. Although initially struck, the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered, which Jesus uses in reference to his death.

We come finally, and we have to move quickly to chapter 14, which seems to bring us to this last great battle where Yahweh fights for his people and brings deliverance. You have the alteration of the geology in verses four and five, with the Mount of Olives and Jerusalem being described here as now a level plain so that people are able to flee to refuge in this great day of upheavals. You have verses six through nine describing cosmic changes, a continuous day with no night, which reminds you of Revelation 22.

You have water flowing from Jerusalem, which reminds you of that picture in Ezekiel 47. And in Revelation 21 and 22, water flowing from the temple. And you have the Lord being king of all the earth, and the city of Jerusalem is delivered. There’s this great battle and the destruction of the enemies of God’s people. And then you have survivors from the nations who are represented here as coming to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of booths.

So you have at the end of Zechariah this great picture of the nations, the survivors of this great battle coming to Jerusalem, which is again, sort of a fulfillment of that Old Testament ideal of the nations coming to Jerusalem. And what I think you have going on here at the end of Zechariah is a universalization, a universal application of the mosaic covenant. We talked about this in relationship to the end of Isaiah.

I think you even see it clearer here, because if those survivors of the nations do not come up to Jerusalem to worship Yahweh at the feast of booths, they will experience covenant curse. God will withhold the rain from them. And so now you have those covenant blessings and cursings of the Mosaic covenant, now applying to the nations—a universalization of the Mosaic covenant. And you have the concept here at the end of this chapter. The concept of holiness now expanded to include not just the vessels in the temple, but holiness. Now every vessel is holy.

²⁰ And on that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “Holy to the Lord .” And the pots in the house of the Lord shall be as the bowls before the altar. (Zechariah 14:20, ESV)

The horse is not a clean animal, and now it’s holy. Everything is holy because of what has happened. And you have here a way for Zechariah to describe the glorious future in light of the Old Testament picture of the mission of Israel in relationship to the nations and what it would be like if all the nations were under the mosaic covenant and Israel fulfilling her mission for the nations to come to Jerusalem. That’s the picture after this last great battle. And of course, some of these ideas then are picked up in the New Testament. You have to adjust this picture in light of the coming of Christ.

And some of these ideas are picked up in the New Testament in relationship to the new heavens and the new earth, where the nations walk in the light of the new Jerusalem, where the nations bring their glory and honor to the new Jerusalem, where everything is holy, nothing is there that is defiled. The wicked are confined to that place of destruction, but they are not there within that holy city.

So you have the book of Revelation picking up on some of these concepts, but just like Ezekiel describes from his perspective what it would be like for God to dwell among his people, the Lord is there, this great temple. And really, as we talked about that, it’s more than just a literal temple. The whole universe is affected, the land is not the same. Something much greater is being described.

And I think you’ve got a similar thing here in Zechariah, where he talks about this great future in terms of that Old Testament perspective of the fulfillment of the mission of Israel, which then is picked up in the New Testament in light of the coming of Christ and in light of our mission, it’s picked up in the New Testament to refer to, in some ways the new heavens and the new earth, obviously in light of the differences that come because of the coming of Christ.

So these are tough Old Testament passages, and how we navigate them is important. Well, quick comment or question, because we really need to move. Yes, Canaanite can mean merchant. So the point is whether Canaanite there has those negative connotations that it does in the Old Testament, or whether here it’s just referring to a merchant. So it would be one of those options.

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