Today, we enter into week 2 of our Zechariah study. Last week's verses were kind of an intro to the book, and my guess is that that prophetic word felt "normal." Many of you have heard my earlier series on Haggai, Nahum, and Zephaniah, and Zechariah starts off sounding a lot like them. It's a different prophet, but the message was familiar. Last week perhaps felt like slipping on a pair of old jeans; everything just feels right. And the message last week, was one we find scattered throughout the Bible: "Return to God, and He will return to you. Don't follow in the evil paths your ancestors walked. Don't harden your hearts, and close your ears to what I'm saying. Instead, take the road that leads to God."
This week will have a very different feel. As we leave the intro behind, and enter into the meat of Zechariah, we will find two different types of material (form criticism here). The first, is prophetic messages/oracles from God to the people. Those messages will sound familiar. But the second type, and the type that sticks out the most in these chapters, is called "a vision report" (*Michael Floyd). In these reports, the prophet is given visions of spiritual realities. Zechariah sees things, and hears things, that aren't visible to anyone else.
Now, the book doesn't quite tell us this, but it gives the impression that Zechariah sees all these things at night (Zechariah 1:8; arguably, but I'd say wrongly, Zechariah 4:1). And so what Zechariah sees are often called "night visions." It'd be easy to get a little off-track, and think that we are seeing and hearing Zechariah's dreams. But what Zechariah sees is NOT a dream. You see visions from God when you're awake.
I know a couple people who have had visions from God, and the way they describe them is something like this:
Some of you have bifocals. You struggle to see things, either far, or close. And with bifocals, you're able to clearly see far and close, but not at the same time. The thing you're not focusing on is still there. You're aware of it. You can still make out parts of it. But it's not the focus. That's sort of how I think visions work. When God gives you a vision, you're still aware of your surroundings. If you were out walking when God gave you a vision, you'd be able to put one foot in front of the other. You'd be able to dodge fallen trees, or even open doors. You'd know where you are. But when the vision comes, you'd almost certainly stop, and let God reveal his vision to you, because that vision almost entirely fills your vision.
The other thing I should say about visions, is that sometimes, they are like a photograph. You're given this picture (Jeremiah 1:11). Other times, they're like a movie, and you might or might not be a participant in that movie.
I say all of this in part because I expect that some of you, maybe many of you, will receive visions from God at some point in your life. The expectation in Acts 2:17, which quotes from Joel 2, is that "in the last days, which are happening right now, "God will pour out his Spirit on all people, and your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young people will see visions, and your older people will dream dreams."
If this happens, my hope is that my words right now will somehow come to mind, and you'll be able to understand the crazy thing that just happened to you. God gives visions and dreams as a way to communicate to his people. And it seems to me that I'd much rather receive visions, than dreams, because dreams are a lot more tricky, as far as knowing what's from God, and what's just me eating too much sugar before bed. But let me just encourage you to believe that God still speaks to his people, just as he spoke to Zechariah. Sometimes, he speaks through visions that are like pictures and movies. And that's one of the things we should seek out, and be able to recognize when we receive them.
So, Zechariah receives these visions, maybe mostly at night. Today, we will work through the first two visions, starting in Zechariah 1:7:
(7) On the 24th day of the 11th month-- this is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius-- the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah son of Berekiah son of Iddo, the prophet, saying:
(8) I saw at night,
and LOOK! A man! A rider upon a reddish-brown horse,
Now, he [was] standing still among the myrtle shrubs which were in the shadowy place,
and behind him reddish-brown ones, sorrel ones, and white ones,
So it's the middle of the night. The time of day when you sometimes can hardly see your hand in front of your face. And Zechariah clearly sees this movie scene, in full color (*Carol Meyers, Zechariah 1-8). He sees a man-- a rider upon a reddish-brown horse-- who takes center stage in this movie (he's the focus, who immediately follows the LOOK! statement). This guy is part of a larger group, and they're meeting in a quiet, secluded, secret place.
The Hebrew word I've translated as "shadowy place" is a little uncertain-- it might be a ravine, possibly-- but probably it has the idea of shadows in it (*Mark Boda?; *Max Rogland?). So whatever meeting we find ourselves peeking in on, is not public knowledge. It's a behind-the-scenes meeting, with three separate groups of horses, and one guy who takes center stage.
Verse 9:
(9) and I said,
"What are these, my lord?,"
and the angel/messenger speaking with me, said to me,
"I will show you what they are-- these ones,"
Here, we see that there are two more characters in our movie. Zechariah himself is part of what he sees. And there's also an angel who speaks to him.
This angel who speaks to Zechariah is going to be a regular character in these night visions. He's the one who God sends to Zechariah, to make sure that Zechariah understands what he's seeing. These visions are movies, with a message from God. And the angel will unpack that message. We will call him "the interpreting angel."
So this interpreting angel lets Zechariah know that this opening scene of a rider on a horse, in this secret place with other horses, is something that will be explained. It's not like the visions or dreams we sometimes have, where we snap out of them, and wonder what to make of what we just saw. The angel says, in response to Zechariah's question, that he will show him what "these ones" are. Zechariah will know their identity, basically.
Are you with me? It's about to get tricky.
At this point, we expect the interpreting angel to tell us what's what. But as it turns out, the man on the horse is the one who answers. Verse 10:
(10) and the man standing still among the myrtle bushes answered/responded,
and he (the one standing still, not the interpreting angel) said,
"These [are] the ones who Yahweh has sent out to explore/go to and fro across the land," [compare Job 1:7]
Normally in movies, the characters only speak to each other. But once in a while, in certain movies or TV shows, a character will break the fantasy, and speak directly to the camera, and the audience. This is called "breaking the fourth wall." That's what happens here. The rider hears the interpreting angel and Zechariah having this little conversation, and he's the one who answers.
So who, or what, are these three groups of horses?
These are the ones Yahweh has sent out to explore the whole land-- all of earth. The idea here is one that's not natural to us. When we think about what God sees, and what He knows, we tend to think of God, in splendid isolation, looking across the world, and seeing each one of us. God watches us, and hears us, and helps us. We tend to think that God does this all by himself.
But in the OT (and NT, probably; John 1:51; though this isn't something the NT emphasizes), God involves his heavenly family-- the sons of God, the angels-- in everything (?) that He does. His heavenly family plays an active role in helping God rule his creation. They were involved at the time of God creating the earth (Job 38:7). They get input into how God will carry out his plans. They get a role in those plans (2 Chronicles 18:18-21). And here, we see that God uses angels to see what's going on in the world.
It's not that God needs angels to do all these things. But God chooses to use his creation to carry out his plan. God uses his angels, in much the same way as God uses his church. Like the angels, we have input into God's divine council (Zechariah 3:7; probably part of the idea of Ephesians 2:6). We have roles to play in establishing God's kingdom on earth. We are used by God. And so are angels.
So verse 10 broke the fourth wall. The rider addressed Zechariah, and told him what's what. Now, the fourth wall is repaired, and the scene continues. The rider, and the three groups of horses, return to what they were doing.
Verse 11:
(11) and they responded [to] the angel/messenger of Yahweh-- the one standing still among the myrtle shrubs--
and they said,
"We have explored/gone to and fro the land,
and LOOK! The whole land [is] dwelling in peace/rest,"
There's a lot going in verse 11. We were initially told that the rider on the horse was a man. Here, he's called something very different. Now he's called "the angel of Yahweh." The angel of Yahweh is running the show (which we expected after he was focused early on). The three groups report to the angel. And what they report, in this secret, shadowy place, is that the world is at peace. Everyone dwells in peace.
Is world peace a good thing?
Would it be nice if humans would stop killing each other, and live in rest, and peace?
Verse 12:
(12) and the angel/messenger of Yahweh responded,
and he said,
"Yahweh of Armies, how long [is it that] you won't show compassion to Jerusalem and to the cities of Judah with which you have been angry 70 years?,"
The angel of Yahweh hears this report, and he thinks world peace is terrible news. And based on the angel's response, there's two problems with this particular type of world peace.
The first, and more obvious, is that the land God picked out for his people isn't fully experiencing this peace and rest. Some of God's people have returned to Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah. But they're struggling. They're trying to rebuild a land ruined by war. Life is hard. And the reason it's been hard, was something that last week's verses addressed. God has been angry with his people, and with his land, for 70 years. Is 70 years long enough to be angry? Is 70 years long enough to deliberately withhold compassion? The angel thinks that 70 years-- a full human lifespan-- is long enough.
Now, this mention of 70 years is deliberate and important. The number 70 was the key number in Jeremiah. 70 years was the length of time that God would leave his people scattered across the Babylonian empire, and refuse to have compassion on them. At the end of that 70 years, God promised to do two things:
(1) To bring judgment on Babylon. God used Babylon as a weapon to punish his people, but Babylon was far more harsh than God intended, and God was going to bring judgment on Babylon (Jeremiah 25:11-14; Jeremiah 50; Jeremiah 51).
(2) To bring blessing and prosperity to his people once they return to Jerusalem (Daniel 9:1-3; Jeremiah 29:10-15, which includes the most misused verse in the whole Bible, but I'll choose to control myself here also. God promises he won't harm his people if they return [Jeremiah. 25:6]. They don't, so He brings harm. But at the end of that 70 years, once an entire generation dies out, the plan is to prosper them and not harm them. Any mention of Jeremiah 29:11 needs to take seriously the larger context of the book, and Jeremiah 25:6 in particular. Whether God brings harm, or prosperity, depends on how his people live toward Him).
So the angel of Yahweh looks at his calendar, and at how long God's people have suffered, and at the situation in the promised land, and he knows it's time for God to do something different. It's time, or maybe even past time (Daniel 9:1-3), for God to look on the desolation of Jerusalem (Daniel 9:8), and have compassion on it. The angel hears the report, he looks at his calendar, and he asks God, "How long will this go on?" Is it not time to show compassion?
Verse 13-16:
(13) and Yahweh responded to the angel-- the one speaking with me-- with good words-- compassionate/comforting words,
(14) and the angel/messenger-- the one speaking with me-- said,
"Call out, saying, [2nd masc. sing; this is the message Zechariah is to give]
"Thus has said Yahweh of Armies:
"I am passionate toward Jerusalem and toward Zion a great passion,"
(15) while [with] a great anger I [am] angry concerning/against the nations that are at ease,
because I was a little angry,
while they joined together for evil/disaster.
(16) Therefore, thus has said Yahweh:
"I hereby return to Jerusalem with compassions.
My house will be built in it-- utterance of Yahweh of Armies--
while a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.
Again call out, saying,
Thus has said Yahweh of Armies:
Again they will overflow-- my cities-- from good/prosperity,
and Yahweh will comfort/have compassion again on Zion,
and He will choose again Jerusalem.
So the angel of Yahweh speaks to Yahweh, asking him "how long?" Yahweh is invisible, but from off-stage, out of the scene, comforts the angel. And Yahweh gives his angel a message to be passed on to Zechariah. That message, basically, is this: There is a type of world peace that makes God incredibly angry. A world peace that is built on harming God's people, and holding God's people down, is not the type of peace that God desires. That's a peace that God will bring judgment on. When nations oppress God's people, persecute them, dominate them-- God sees that. He knows what's going on. Those nations are messing with people who God passionately cares for.
So how will God respond, now that the 70 years are up?
In fulfillment of the prophecies in Jeremiah, God announces good news to his angel, who is to pass that good news on to Zechariah. God has officially returned to Jerusalem with compassion (the qatal is a performative speech act: "I hereby return to Jerusalem."). He will make sure that his house is built in it, so that He has a home among his people, and can live with them. God will mark off Jerusalem as his own. He once again "chooses" Jerusalem, claiming it for himself. And He will make sure that his cities overflow with good things-- they will prosper in a way that leaves them bursting at the seams.
So what type of world peace, and rest, makes God and his angel happy? Half the answer, is that it has to be the type where God's own people fully join in it, and where blessings are poured out on them.
The other half, we find in our second night vision of the day. I'll just read the whole thing, Zechariah 1:18-21:
(18) and I lifted up my eyes,
and I saw,
and LOOK! Four horns!,
(19) and I said to the angel/messenger-- the one speaking with me--
"What [are] these?,"
and he said to me,
"These [are] the horns
that scattered [Leviticus 26:33] Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem,"
(20) and Yahweh showed me four artisans/smiths,
(21) and I said,
"What [are] these ones about to come to do?,"
and he spoke, saying,
"These [are] the horns which scattered Judah, so that no one can lift his head,
and these ones came to terrify them,
to throw down the horns of the nations-- the ones lifting up a horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.
Horns are a symbol of power. An animal's horns are its strength. Four is a symbolic number that probably symbolizes completeness. So the idea in this second vision, probably, is that all of the nations who scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem, were going to be punished. Some group would come against them, and throw down the horns.
This vision is connected to verse 15 from the first vision. God is really angry with the nations who came against his people. And the nation at the top of this list, is Babylon. God is planning terrible things against Babylon.
Through the prophet Jeremiah, God had promised that he would bring terrible judgment on Babylon (Jeremiah 25:11-14; Jeremiah 50-51). Babylon would be destroyed, and put to shame. A nation would come and lay waste to it.
But what actually happened was very different from that (what follows is from Mark Boda, NIVAC commentary, who probably has the solution to what's been debated among scholars here forever). The Persian king, King Cyrus, was welcomed into Babylon, and there was a smooth, peaceful transition of power from one empire to the next. Many of the administrators in the city transferred over to this new Persian empire. Nothing really terrible happened to Babylon, at all. And it looked like Babylon somehow dodged a bullet, and avoided God's judgment.
But this second vision tells us God isn't yet done. The judgment he planned against Babylon was still to take effect. And historically, what happened was that Babylon rebelled against Persia twice, and the second time in particular, terrible things happened to that city (*Mark Boda, Haggai-Zechariah, NIVAC). When nations commit to harming God's people, God will always judge that nation eventually (Revelation 18).
So when we read these two visions as a whole, what we see is that these are visions that offer hope.
The world might look like God is absent, or sleeping, or uninvolved. It might look like you've officially messed up so hard that you will never see good things again. You can never patch things up with God. You can never move back to a path of blessing. But here, behind the scenes, in secret, God is planning to radically change how the world is structured. Zechariah's original audience was struggling. God had been far away. God's plan for their fathers, because their fathers refused to return to him, had been to harm them, and not make them prosper. His plan was to stay far off, and refuse to help. But that half of God's plan was now finished. And now, in the second half of God's plan, God wanted to prosper them, and not harm them. He planned to give them hope and a future, and to hear their prayers (Jeremiah 29:10-14).
And, it might make us uncomfortable, but part of how God does good to his people, is by bringing judgment on everyone who brings us harm. The people and nations who persecute us are storing up great wrath for themselves. Knowing this helps us to be strong in hard times. It helps us accept our current suffering.
I think it's important to keep in mind that these two visions were not directly addressed to us. They aren't straightforward visions of the end times. But at the same time, the promises God offered his people then, are basically the same exact promises he offers us today. Life is often hard for God's people. We have been pretty sheltered in the U.S., but for our brothers and sisters in places like Gaza, Israel, Nigeria, and Syria, life is hard. When they say, "Come Lord Jesus," they do so with an urgency, and desperation, that we don't. But our situation will eventually get better. One day, there will be a type of world peace where God's people are full participants in it. The places we live will overflow with prosperity (Revelation 21:26). God will fully dwell among us. We will be the new Jerusalem, the new temple of God. God will live among us. He will comfort us, and have compassion on us (Revelation 21:1-4). And God will bring one final judgment against everyone who harmed his people (Revelation 17: 19:19-21). This world will be cleansed of the people who destroy it (Revelation 11:18), and we will live in rest, and peace, and prosperity, with God forever.
Sometimes, we suffer because of our own sin. Other times, we suffer because of other people's sins. But in the end, if we are a people who have drawn near to God, and returned to Him, we can take passages like this as a comfort. Life will not always look like this. God is the one who was, and is, and God is the one who is coming (Revelation 4:8).
Translation:
(7) On the 24th day of the 11th month-- this is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius-- the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah son of Berekiah son of Iddo, the prophet, saying:
(8) I saw at night,
and LOOK! A man! A rider upon a reddish-brown horse,
Now, he [was] standing still among the myrtle shrubs which were in the shadowy place,
and behind him reddish-brown ones, sorrel ones, and white ones,
(9) and I said,
"What are these, my lord?,"
and the angel/messenger speaking with me, said to me,
"I will show you what they are-- these ones,"
(10) and the man standing still among the myrtle bushes answered,
and he (the one standing still, not the interpreting angel) said,
"These [are] the ones who Yahweh has sent out to explore/go to and fro across the land,"
(11) and they responded [to] the angel/messenger of Yahweh-- the one standing still among the myrtle shrubs--
and they said,
"We have explored/gone to and fro the land,
and LOOK! The whole land [is] dwelling in peace/rest,"
(12) and the angel/messenger of Yahweh responded,
and he said,
"Yahweh of Armies, How long [is it that] you won't show compassion to Jerusalem and to the cities of Judah with which you have been angry 70 years?," [Jeremiah 25:8-14; Jeremiah 29:10-14; Jeremiah 50 and 51]
(13) and Yahweh responded to the angel-- the one speaking with me-- with good words-- compassionate/comforting words,
(14) and the angel/messenger-- the one speaking with me-- said,
"Call out, saying, [2nd masc. sing; this is the message Zechariah is to give]
"Thus has said Yahweh of Armies:
"I am passionate toward Jerusalem and toward Zion a great passion,"
(15) while [with] a great anger I [am] angry concerning/against the nations that are at ease,
because I was a little angry,
while they joined together for evil/disaster.
(16) Therefore, thus has said Yahweh:
"I hereby return to Jerusalem with compassions.
My house will be built in it-- utterance of Yahweh of Armies--
while a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.
(17) Again call out, saying,
Thus has said Yahweh of Armies:
Again they will overflow-- my cities-- from good/prosperity,
and Yahweh will comfort/have compassion again on Zion,
and He will choose again Jerusalem.
(18) and I lifted up my eyes,
and I saw,
and LOOK! Four horns!,
(19) and I said to the angel/messenger-- the one speaking with me--
"What [are] these?,"
and he said to me,
"These [are] the horns
that scattered [Leviticus 26:33] Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem,"
(20) and Yahweh showed me four artisans/smiths,
(21) and I said,
"What [are] these ones about to come to do?,"
and he spoke, saying,
"These [are] the horns which scattered Judah, so that no one can lift his head,
and these ones came to terrify them,
to throw down the horns of the nations-- the ones lifting up a horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.
