Today, I am reading and commenting on  Zechariah 11-14.

Zechariah prophesies a day of destruction when God will refine His people.  On that day, all the nations of the world will attack God’s people and suffering will abound, but it will result in living water pouring out from God to all those who call Him Lord.  On that day God will call everyone who calls Him Lord His people.  I will be perfectly honest, reading today’s passage both fills me with fear and with hope.  The fear comes because it seems to suggest great suffering to come for God’s people.  The hope comes because it says that God will accept as His people, and will shield them.  The thing about this passage is that I am sure that it prophesies the hope portion.  And while I am sure it prophesies the fear portion, it seems to me that when it does it talks about a time which has already come to pass.  I am not fully convinced of this, but I am inclined to think that the time of great suffering for God’s people which Zechariah prophesies here occurred around the time of Jesus.  I am hesitant to interpret a passage in that manner, but today I do not fully understand what Zechariah is writing and the portion I do understand refers to Jesus’ life on this earth.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Zechariah 7-10.

In the past I have seen chapters seven and eight as having different themes.  Chapter seven stands as a bit of condemnation for us when we worship God and perform the rituals He has commanded for our own sake, rather than for God and for others.  Chapter eight focuses on God’s promise to restore the people of Israel, and by extension to build the Church.  I want to interject that I do not believe that the Church has inherited all of the Old Testament prophecies concerning Israel.  In this particular case, I believe the prophecy concerns both the people of Israel and the Church, in slightly different ways.  Having said all of that, today I realized that there is a theme running through both chapter seven and chapter eight.  In chapter seven God tells those who consulted Zechariah the following: “Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.  Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.”  Then in chapter eight God says this to His people: “Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; do not plot evil against each other, and do not love to swear falsely. ”  This is the same message.  And it is a message which God sent through His prophets again and again.  God keeps trying to tell us that His commands are designed to either empower us to do those things, or to show us how to do them.  When we start to think we can follow His commands by going through the steps without caring about people, we miss the point.  When we start understanding that following God’s commands are not about what’s in it for us, but rather about helping others, then we are starting to truly do as God desires.  And when we do that we will see what God prophesied through Zechariah here.  Ten people will latch on to one of God’s people because they see that God is with them.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Zechariah 1-6.

There is a line early in this passage that I think is worth thinking about.  God says the following, “I am very angry with the nations that feel secure. I was only a little angry, but they went too far with the punishment.” The context suggests that God sent nations to punish Israel and Judah. but that those nations went above and beyond in bringing suffering upon those people.  Zechariah’s vision goes on to show him craftsmen coming from God to throw down and terrify the four nations which scattered the people of Israel and Judah.  Which is interesting because I am not sure to what four nations the prophecy is referring.  I would think that two of them would be Assyria and Babylon, perhaps Egypt would be a third, but I have no ideas for a fourth.  I did come across someone who suggested that it was four nations against whom Ezekiel prophesied who were destroyed by the Persians.  Those four would be: Ammon (Ezekiel 25:1-7), Moab (Ezekiel 25:8-11), Edom (Ezekiel 25:12-14), and Philistia (Ezekiel 25:15-17).  I find this suggestion fascinating, but I am not sure about it.

However, I want to combine Zechariah’s visions about the high priest Joshua and the governor Zerubbabel to look at the message I see in them today.  The vision concerning Joshua begins with the Accuser, Satan, accusing him before God, but God rebukes the Accuser.  God takes away Joshua’s sin and dresses him in righteousness.  God does the same for us before all who will accuse us, the most important of those accusers being ourselves.  God rebukes those who accuse us of sin, not because we do not sin, but because He has taken that sin from us.  All He asks of us is that we walk in obedience to Him going forward.  Which brings me to the vision concerning Zerubbabel.  In that vision, God tells Zerubbabel that it is not by might or power that Zerubbabel will do God’s will, but by God’s Spirit.  In the same way, we will not do God’s will by might or power, but by God’s Spirit.  So, God has taken our sins from us and dressed us in His righteousness, let us not start relying on might and power to overcome sin.  Instead, let us rely on God’s Spirit.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Zechariah 11-14.

I struggle with today’s passage because it seems to be composed of multiple separate prophecies, and I am unclear where the breaks are between one of them and the next.  I am not quite sure of the implications of the first thing which struck me.  As Zechariah speaks about the ways in which God provides shepherds for His people, he writes that God will raise up a bad shepherd over His people.  One who will not care about the lost, nor seek the young.  One who will not heal the injured or feed the healthy.  A shepherd whose only concern will be for what is in it for him.  The context seems to imply that God did this (will do this?) because His people did not value the Good Shepherd He had given them.  When I read about that bad shepherd it reminded me of so many of the leaders we have today, religious, political, and even business leaders.  Leaders who are not concerned with the care of those whom they ostensibly lead.  God has given us such leaders because we have stopped following the Good Shepherd He sent to care for His flock.  I want to point out that thinking of it that way can be very scary.  Until you think about what Jesus said when He took upon Himself the mantle of Good Shepherd.  He is looking for, and caring for, the sheep who have wondered away.  Let us follow His voice when He calls us.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Zechariah 7-10.

When we go to church on Sunday, or any other time, are we really doing that for God?  Or, are we doing it for ourselves?  When we celebrate Christmas and Easter, is that for God, or for us?  When we do those things they are supposed to remind us of what God really wants from us.  He wants us to show mercy and compassion to each other.  God wants us to show His love to those around us.  Let us not be as those who saw visions which are lies and recount dreams that are false.  If we love truth and seek God, He will do good for us.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Zechariah 1-6.

I see a lot I could write about in today’s passage, but there are two quotes which God gave to the prophet I want to focus on.

‘Return to me,’ declares the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will return to you,’

and

‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.

The first of these quotes addresses how we should respond when we feel cut off from God.  The second reminds us of how we carry out the missions God gives us.  For me this means that when I look at society around me and see how far it is from God, I must return to God and pray that He returns to those around me, drawing them unto Him.  I will not transform society around me, or even myself, by my strength, my power, or even my wealth (not even should I miraculously acquire the wealth of Elon Musk).  I will not transform society around me by teaming up with others and pooling our strength, power, and wealth.  Transformation of our society will only happen by the Spirit of God.  Transformation of individuals will only happen by the Spirit of God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Zechariah 11-14.

I am unsure what to make of this passage.  Everything from chapter 12 to the end of today’s passage reads to me as being part of the same prophecy, but different parts of it seem to be about different events while all pointing to “that day”.  So, here is what I see the parts I think  I understand to say.  The nations of the world will unite against the nation of Israel and suffer a devastating defeat at the hands of Israel.  I will state that this seems to be intended to be taken as hyperbole: fulfillment of this prophecy does not require that no nations ally with Israel, just that Israel face overwhelming odds against it.  This event will lead the people of Israel to praise God and acknowledge the great things He has done for them.  Also on that day, or perhaps on another “that day”, God’s grace will pour out on the people of Jerusalem, cleansing them of their sin and impurity and causing the names of idols to be forgotten (another case of possible hyperbole where the names are not actually forgotten, but are just no longer considered names of power).  Finally, on “that day” there will be neither sunlight nor darkness and God will be the only Lord over the earth.  All of the peoples of the earth will worship Him.  So, what does all of this mean for us?

1. 1. Do not go to war against Israel or God’s people
   2. God reigns supreme over all of the earth, and sooner or later everyone will acknowledge His rule
   3. God freely offers to cleanse us of our sin and corruption

• I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Zechariah 7-10.

Zechariah writes what God had asked of His people through the prophets who preceded him…and as I have read through the Bible I have seen that this was indeed what those prophets had said.  God had called on them to administer true justice, show mercy to one another, and not oppress the fatherless, the widow, the foreigner, or the poor.    Then Zechariah writes that the people should not be afraid because God once more intends to do good for them, for us.  All that He asks is that we speak the truth to each other, render true and sound judgment, do not plot evil against each other, and do not swear falsely.  So, God’s message did not change.  If we do as God commands, people from all nations will join us in seeking the Lord and we will need have no fear.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Zechariah 1-6.

The first thing I want to comment on is this phrase which Zechariah writes that the Lord said, “I was only a little angry, but they went too far with the punishment.”  This suggests to me that when God chooses a nation to punish His people, sometimes that nation goes beyond what God intended.  I want to note that in this context “His people” means the people of Israel, the descendants of Jacob, but this message may also apply to Christians (I do not know that such is the case, but I believe that many Old Testament prophecies concerning the people of Israel also have application to Christians).  As an example, one my father actually suggested to me many years ago, God may have allowed the Nazis to come to power in Germany in order to punish the Jewish people in Europe, but the Holocaust was them going far beyond the punishment God intended.  The Holocaust was evil which impacted more than the Jewish people, but it did result in the establishment of the modern state of Israel.  Even if God allowed the Nazis to rise to power in order to punish the Jewish people (something I am not convinced is the case), it does not mean that the Jewish people are to blame for the Holocaust.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Zechariah 11-14.

The first thing which struck me concerned the prophecy about breaking the staff called “Union”, which symbolized the breaking of the family bond between Judah and Israel.  Zechariah prophesied after the Return from Exile, so theoretically after the split between Israel and Judah had become moot.  However, this come just before God told Zechariah that He was going to raise up a worthless shepherd over the land, a shepherd who would not care for the lost, nor seek  the young, nor heal the injured.  This shepherd would divide the members of the flock against one another (this is me interpreting what I am reading here).  This prophecy of abandonment comes after Zechariah had prophesied that the oppressed of the flock had rejected God as their shepherd.   This gave this whole passage a meaning I had never seen before.  God has promised to protect the weak, the powerless, and the oppressed, but when those who fall into those categories reject His protection He will allow “leaders” to arise who will show them their folly.  When those whom God has vowed to protect reject His protection He will allow leaders to arise who divide them against one another and take advantage of them for the benefit of the leader.  Look around and I think you will see how that is happening today.

All of the above being said, Zechariah follows that with a prophecy of promise.  God promises that the day will come when He will pour out His Spirit on people and they will mourn for what they have done.  Then He will purify them as silver is purified by fire and they will burn like a fire in straw, purifying the world around them.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.