CHAPTER 1
1. In the eighth month in the second year of Daryawesh, the Word of YHWH came to Z’kharyah the son of Berekhyah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying:
Daryawesh: the Persian emperor under whom Dani’el was put in the lions’ den.
2. “YHWH has been twig-splinteringly enraged with your ancestors.
3. “So tell them, ‘This is what YHWH [Master] of Armies says: “Return to Me—the utterance of YHWH [Master] of Armies—and I will return to you.” YHWH [Master] of Armies has spoken.’
I will return to you: For YHWH to turn His face toward us is part of the highest blessing the high priest could confer on Israel. (Num. 6:24ff) But His back was turned to Yehudah after so many warnings to repent, and it was up to them to turn around first before He would.
4. “Do not be like your ancestors to whom the early prophets cried out, saying, ‘This is what YHWH [Master] of Armies says: “Please turn from your evil ways and your evil practices!” But they did not listen, nor did they pay attention to Me,’ declares YHWH [Master] of Armies.
[Master] of Armies: a military title, whose heavy usage warns the hearer to fear because those who go against this “supreme commander’s” wishes will get hurt. He has the power to enforce this authority. Evil: from a root meaning to be corrupt, because indeed these practices do “spoil” our relationship with Him.
5. “Your ancestors—where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?
6. “However, My words and My customs which I prescribed for My servants the prophets—didn’t they overtake your ancestors? And they repented and said, ‘Just as YHWH [Master] of Armies planned to deal with us according to our ways and our practices, that is how He has dealt with us.’”
They are acknowledging that He did warn them and they did not obey, and recognizing His justice in doing exactly what He had said He would do.
7. On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month (that is, the month Sh’vat) in year two of Daryawesh, the Word of YHWH came to Z’kharyah the son of Berekhyah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying:
8. “I had a vision of the night, and behold! A man riding a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle [trees] that [were] in the [deep dark] ravine, and behind him [were] red, sorrel, and white horses.”
The fact that Z’kharyah had made the long trek to a hostile place for this purpose shows that he was a pure vessel fit for YHWH to use for this purpose. Sorrel: literally, “fox-colored”, but from a root meaning “whistlingly red”—a color that would immediately grab the viewer’s attention. Compare Revelation 6:4.
9. Then I said, “My master, what are these?” And the messenger [who was] speaking to me said, “I will let you perceive what these are.”
10. And the man who stood among the myrtle [trees] responded and said, “These are [the ones] whom YHWH has sent to walk back and forth throughout the Land.”
Walk back and forth: to “spy out” its condition. (Compare Iyov 1:7.)
11. And they replied to the messenger of YHWH who stood among the myrtle [trees], and said, “We have been walking back and forth throughout the Land, and, lo and behold! The whole Land is sitting still and is undisturbed.”
12. Then the messenger of YHWH responded and said, “O YHWH, [Master] of Armies, how long will You not have pity on Yerushalayim or on the cities of Yehudah, with which You have expressed Your indignation these seventy years?”
13. And YHWH answered the messenger who was talking with me [in] pleasant words and comforting words.
14. So the messenger who was speaking with me said to me, “Call out, saying, ‘This is what YHWH, [Master] of Armies, says: “I am jealous for Yerushalayim and for Tzion with a great jealousy.
15. “‘“And with furious anger I am angry at the nations who are at ease [in their security], in that I was slightly enraged, but they abetted the evil.
The nations influenced Israel’s sins to worsen, thereby requiring YHWH to judge them more harshly, which He did not want to do.
16. “Therefore, this is what YHWH says: ‘I have returned to Yerushalayim with compassions; My House will be built in it,’ declares YHWH [Master] of Armies, ‘and a measuring line will be stretched out over Yerushalayim.
Compassions: strong, passionate “gut” feelings. (See note on 2:17.) A measuring-line: to prepare for construction of His Temple.
17. “‘Call out again, saying, “This is what YHWH, [Master] of Armies, says: ‘My cities will again spread out due to prosperity, and YHWH will again comfort Tzion, and has still chosen Yerushalayim.’”’”
CHAPTER 2
1. Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and beheld four horns!
2. And I said to the messenger who was speaking with me, “What are these?” And he answered me, “These are the horns that have dispersed Yehudah, Israel, and Yerushalayim!”
These are the series of four military powers listed in Daniel 7, or possibly Assyria, Bavel, Greece, and Rome (though the latter two had not yet arisen), since the Medes and Persians did no actual plundering of the Holy Land. Assyria, which did not disperse Yehudah, did disperse Israel (the Northern Kingdom). Rome was responsible for the last dispersion of Yerushalayim, which is listed separately, though it is part of Yehudah, because it is especially where YHWH’s heart is (v. 12) and where Messiah’s Davidic throne will again be placed over both peoples (Y’hezq’El/Ezek. 34:23). Rome actually dispersed Israel again, too, after the Northern tribes had begun to come back in, by muddying the knowledge of their identity through the admixture of the concept of believers not being part of a literal Israel. Rome still has much influence today in less obvious ways.
3. Then YHWH showed me four engravers.
Engravers: or possibly plowmen; the term means “one who cuts into”.
4. So I said, “What are these coming to do?” And He spoke, to say, “These are the horns that have scattered Yehudah, like the word [that] not a man lifts up his head. But these are coming to rout them, to throw down the horns of the Gentiles who are lifting up a horn toward the Land of Yehudah in order to scatter it.
Scattered: or, sown. Rout: Heb., from the root kharad, a word-play on the term for engraver in v. 3, which is kharash. Word: literally, mouth. Lift up a horn: an idiom for threatening militarily. What has been is what will again take place (Koheleth/Eccles. 1:9), so this prophecy may have a secondary fulfillment that is yet to come.
5. Again I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a man, and in his hand, a measuring cord!
6. So I said, “Where are you going?” And he told me, “To measure Yerushalayim, to see what its width is and what its length is.”
7. Then, indeed, the messenger who was speaking to me left, and another messenger came out to meet him,
8. and told him, “Hurry! Speak to this young man, to say, ‘Yerushalayim will remain unwalled because of the great number of men and beasts within her,
9. “‘and I will become for her,” declares YHWH, “a wall of fire all around, and I will serve as a reputation within her.’
A reputation: what is honored, respected, or authoritative, and in this context, what is weighty or threatening enough to keep enemies from attacking. A physical wall is therefore not necessary. Most of Yerushalayim is already unwalled today.
10. “Alas! Alas! Escape, then, out of the land of the north,” says YHWH, “because I have spread you abroad [in many pieces] like the four winds of the heavens,” declares YHWH.
Then: in the hope of the promise of Yerushalayim’s restoration (v. 8). North: where the trade route from Bavel entered Israel, following the Fertile Crescent. It was often called the Land of the North for this reason, though it is technically east of Israel. Assyria had come from the north and taken Israel captive as well. But the meaning of the Hebrew word for north (tsafon) also means a treasure hidden in a dark place. He has hidden His people, whom He calls His special treasure, among the nations, and warns us to flee from there:
11. “Alas, O Tzion! You who inhabit the daughter of Bavel, deliver yourself!
Tzion…who inhabit [or remain as] the daughter of Bavel: Those who are truly Israel and love YHWH, but who, by remaining in the Church because she has deceived them, are acting and living just like the ancient Babylonian-Greco-Roman culture, having unwittingly carried on their traditions under a thin coat of quasi-biblical paint. The meaning of the name Bavel is “confusion due to mixing”. A “daughter” of a city was often one of the hills surrounding it, especially those that had suburbs. Rome is one of the empires that continued the Babylonian philosophy and it accepted into its pantheons whatever deities the conquered peoples served. But Israel’s Elohim will not be one of many, and tells His people to come out of Bavel. (Rev. 17-18) The first step in doing so is to end the confusion through the straightforward clarification His Word brings and stop mixing paganism with what is truly Scriptural.
12. “Because this is what YHWH [the Master] of Armies says: ‘He has sent me after glory, to the nations that plundered you, because whoever touches you touches the pupil of His eye!’
Pupil: i.e., the part of one’s body that anyone will defend at all costs. Birds of prey pick at the eye because they know that if something has even an ounce of life left in it, it will still defend its pupil.
13. “Because look at Me—[I am] waving My hand over them, and they will become plunder for those who labor for them, and you will know that YHWH [the Master] of Armies has sent me.
14. “Give a ringing shout [of victory] and be glad, O daughter of Tzion, because look! I am coming, and will settle in your innermost part,” declares YHWH.
Daughter of Tzion: those who act like Hebrews, in contrast to those who still live as the daughter of Babylon. (v. 11) Will settle: Leviticus 23 tells us over and over that His appointments would be never-ending statutes wherever we may dwell. That term for “dwell” stems from the word used here for “settle” (or sit). When we are following His instructions regarding His set times, He can truly settle among His people who form His spiritual dwelling place. (1 Kefa/Peter 2:5) The Messiah will also establish His throne in Yerushalayim. The king was the only one permitted to sit down in the Temple precinct, and the seat reserved for him was at the entrance to the innermost courtyard, close to the altar.
15. “And in that day many ‘Gentiles’ will join themselves to YHWH and will come to serve as a people for Me, and I will settle in your innermost part, and you will know that YHWH [the Master] of Armies has sent me to you.
A people: here, a collective term which relates directly to the restoration of what He removed from us in punishment. (Hos. 1:9, 10) These are Gentiles only because their ancestors chose to be, but here He is reversing the curse. This prophecy has never yet been fulfilled, though He restored the city of Yerushalayim once before.
16. “Then YHWH will inherit Yehudah [as] His share on the Holy Ground, and will again choose Yerushalayim!
Thus far Yehudah is the only tribe of Israel that can inhabit the Holy Land.
17. “Keep silent, all flesh, because of the presence of YHWH, because He has been aroused from His set-apart place of marital cohabitation!”
He has selected Yerushalayim as His bride. (v. 16; Rev. 21:9-10) At last He will have her, and He hangs a “do not disturb” sign outside His private nuptial chamber.
CHAPTER 3
1. And He showed me Y’hoshua the high priest standing in front of the Messenger of YHWH, and the Accuser standing at his right hand in order to prosecute him.
Y’hoshua: referred to by his shorter, Aramaic form, Yeshua, in Ezra and Nehemyah. He came out of Babylon with Zerubbavel to help rebuild the Temple. Accuser: adversary or opponent; Heb., satan, used in modern Hebrew courts to mean the prosecuting attorney.
2. But YHWH said to the Accuser, “YHWH will reprove you, O Accuser! Indeed, may YHWH, who makes Yerushalayim His choice, rebuke you! Isn’t this [one] a firebrand snatched out of the flames?”
Snatched out: rescued. He is the namesake of the Messiah and thus a picture of him who made it possible for humanity to be salvaged from both sin and death:
3. Now Y’hoshua was clothed with filthy garments while he stood in front of the Messenger.
Filthy: from a root word meaning “to issue”; in other words, dirtied by running sores or other bodily secretions that render one ritually impure, and thus ineligible to carry out priestly duties.
4. So he responded by telling those who were standing in front of him, “Remove the filthy garments from upon him!” Then he told him, “Look! I have caused your perversion to pass away from [being] on you, and clothe you [with] equipping garments!”
Equipping: appropriate for getting his job done, often used in the context of war; the root term means drawn out, taken off, saved, made strong, braced, or armed. The garments of privilege and beauty worn by the high priest had been won back from this very same Adversary (see Y’hezq’El/Ezek. 28:13-15). The high priest’s breastplate bears much resemblance to haSatan’s former vesture. (Compare Ex. 28:17ff and Rev. 21:19-20.) This vision may be a reflection of Y’hoshua’s own thought process. He sees himself and his position as weak, but he sees that this self-doubt is opposed to what he is meant to be. He now reasons if what the foregoing chapter said is indeed the case, he needs to step up and take responsibility for it. He has a mission; why would this task be set in front of him if he were not capable of accomplishing it with YHWH's power?
5. Then I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they set a clean turban on his head, and clothed him [in] garments while the Messenger of YHWH waited.
6. Then the Messenger of YHWH solemnly warned Y’hoshua, saying,
7. “This is what YHWH [Master] of Armies says: ‘If you will walk in My ways and if you will keep watchful guard over what I [have given you to] protect, and you also judge My House and guard My courts, then I will give you free access to walk among these who are standing firm.
8. “‘Listen now, Y’hoshua the high priest—you and your fellows who are sitting before you, because symbolic men they are, since I am indeed bringing in My servant the Offshoot!
Symbolic: a sign or token of a wondrous display of YHWH’s power that was yet to come. The Offshoot: one who would also have the same name as Y’hoshua (6:12). The term can denote a new shoot that grows from the stump of a tree that was cut down, restoring hope. The throne of David was cut off (Yirmeyahu 22:30), but both Zerubavel and Yeshua, both in line to be king if there were a throne, showed that this line was still worthy to be leaders in whatever way was needed in their day. He is also the offshoot of Adam who made possible the restoration of the doomed human race by being righteous where Adam was not.
9. “‘Because look [here] at the stone that I have set in front of Y’hoshua: on one stone are seven eyes. Watch Me engrave its facet!’ says YHWH [Master] of Armies, ‘Then I will remove the perversion of that Land in one day!
Eyes: or, springs or fountains. Seven indicates completeness; i.e., fullness of vision, and eyes in Hebrew are also idiomatic of generosity--i.e., seeing beyond oneself. Engrave its facet: or, open up (free, loosen) its engraving. It may mean to scrape off the accusations seen in verse 1 and write a better prophecy over it. Remove the perversion: Y'hoshua's own experience was a parable of what YHWH wanted to do for the whole nation.
10. “‘In that day,’ declares YHWH [Master] of Armies, ‘each of you will invite his fellow to [come] under a vine and [to a place] under a fig tree.’”
Under a fig tree: This is what Y’shua was referring to when he said he had seen Nathan’el under the fig tree (hence his astonished response in Yochanan 1:48). He was saying that he had already seen him here in his Kingdom, where there is no guile. “Under one’s vine and under one’s fig tree” is also an idiom for dwelling in safety (1 Kings 4:25; compare Micha 4:4, which is clearly in the context of the Messianic Kingdom), because both require peacetime to tend properly, as they ripen at different times and need constant attention to keep predators away. It was the people's maltreatment of one another that had taken away their peace, but the generosity spoken of in verse 9 could restore it. But these people are not just sitting there enjoying the peace, but are hospitable toward one another.
CHAPTER 4
1. Then the messenger who was speaking to me came back and roused me like a man who is awakened from his sleep,
2. and he said to me, “What do you see?” And I said, “I have given [it] consideration, and indeed [it is] a menorah completely of gold with a [spherical] bowl on its top, and its seven lamps are above it, with seven conduits to each of the seven lamps that are on top of it,
Seven conduits to each of the seven: the seven-times-seven pattern shows up in the seven weeks leading up to Shavuoth (Lev. 23:15) and the seven cycles of shmittah that lead up to the year of Yovel (Lev. 25:4, 10). Alt., simply, seven conduits to the seven lamps. Compare the seven congregations of Yahshua that are described as menoroth (Rev. 2, 3).
3. and two olive trees over it, one on the right [side] of the [round] bowl and one on its left.”
The oil comes from these trees into the bowl, then through the conduits to the seven lamps. (v. 12)
4. Then I responded by saying to the messenger who was speaking with me, “What are these, my master?”
5. And the messenger who was speaking to me answered and said, “Don’t you know what these are?” And I said, “No, my master!”
6. So he began to answer by telling me, “This is the word of YHWH to Zerubbavel, and I quote: ‘Not by special forces and not by heavy [artillery], but by My wind instead’, says YHWH [Master] of Armies.
The Hebrew nuances here indicate that your battle plan is not what will win the war; if YHWH's wind is not blowing in that direction, the most capable, expert, elite armies and most powerful bombs in the world will not accomplish anything significant. (Compare Psalm 20:6-8) This is addressed to the one "sown in Bavel", so it can apply to those of us who are in exile and longing to return to our homeland. If the wind is not right, it is very difficult to sail in that direction. Religion says that if it was once YHWH's will, the same thing is always His will, but wind can change directions, and the application of Torah may end up being the opposite of what it was last year. For someone who is stuck in only one way of doing things, this would be disastrous. The righteous are compared to the palm tree, whose roots are not very extensive, yet which is flexible enough to bend with even hurricane-force wind and still thrive. (So righteousness is less about our roots than about how we respond to the wind.) So how do we tell which way His wind is blowing? What are our weathervanes? We can determine YHWH's will by what doors open and which ones shut (what options are left to us), what wisdom comes to light when we are all together and our resources are pooled, the witnesses and confirmation YHWH gives us through our experiences, but most of all, through Torah, because if it goes against that, it is not truly YHWH's wind (Yeshayahu 8:20); someone else may have just turned on a fan!
7. “Who are you, great mountain? Before Zerubbavel, [you will turn] to a level plain! And he will bring out the head-stone [with] clamorings [of], ‘Favor, favor to her!’”
Favor: acceptance, elegance, gracious charm. YHWH will be pleased with the result. After the bloodline of Y’chonyah was cursed—that none of his descendants would sit on the throne of David (Yirm. 36:30)—the right to the title of king, nonetheless, continued through that line, but the bloodline from which Messiah would come, which descended from a different son of David, converged again with the title line in Zerubavel, who was She’alti’el’s son through a levirate arrangement. Had there been a throne at this time, Zerubavel would have qualified for it. Though his sons were for some reason disqualified as well, the bloodline from the other side was passed through his daughter, Shelomith, who also inherited the title to the throne which was passed down to Yosef, Yeshua’s legal father. Thus Zerubavel was a crucial linchpin that guaranteed that both lines could continue to converge again in Yeshua. (Custance) But he also did not let the fact that there was no throne in place make him slack; he put this nobility to use and was a prominent player in the rebuilding of Israel after the return from the Captivity, thus proving worthy of the title.
8. Then the Word of YHWH came to me, saying,
9. “The hands of Zerubavel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will finish it. Then you will know that [it is] YHWH [Master] of Armies [who] has sent me to you!
Zerubavel: the immediate reference is to a particular man who led in this venture, but his name means “sown in Babylon”, and that is the condition of all who are returning to our identity as the scattered House of Israel—born outside His Land and within the system that rules the rest of the world. We are being called back out of Babylon (Rev. 18:4) to be His set-apart people again. This is how “Zerubavel” will complete the task of building a proper dwelling place for YHWH.
10. “For who has considered the day of small things to be insignificant? And they will rejoice when they see the plummet stone in the hand of Zerubavel. These seven are the eyes of YHWH; they rove to and fro throughout the whole earth.”
Small things: Even the Holy of Holies, where YHWH dwells, is the smallest room in the Temple. Plummet stone: literally, stone of tin alloy, from a root word meaning separation or making a distinction. Again, judgment is being taken up and justice is finally brought about. Earth: or simply, Land. Seven eyes: symbolic of the completeness of YHWH’s vision, from which nothing can be hidden (Heb. 4:13). The imagery refers back to 3:9, in which the seven eyes are part of a stone. This plummet stone is the stone being spoken of there.
11. Then I responded by saying to Him, “What are these two olive trees on the right [hand] of the menorah and on its left?”
12. And I responded a second [time], saying, “What are the two olive clusters that, by the hand of the two golden feeding-pipes, pour the shimmering [oil] out from themselves [until they are empty]?”
Shimmering: the root meaning of “golden”, the usual translation for the word used here.
13. And He spoke to me, saying, “Don’t you know what these are?” And I said, “No, my master!”
14. So He said, “These are the two sons of fresh oil who are standing over the Master of the whole earth.”
Standing: or, stationed. The Master of the whole earth: a poetic parallel for YHWH’s Name in Micha 4:13. Sons of fresh oil: sometimes interpreted “anointed ones” by extension. Revelation 11:3-4 identifies these two olive trees as YHWH’s two witnesses who prophesy for 1,260 days. The subsequent verses describe them by the deeds which Moshe and Eliyahu did. Thus, they may represent the entirety of the Torah and the Prophets, an idiom for the whole Scripture (Luke 16:29-31; Acts 28:23), which all pointed to Y’shua. (Luke 24:27, 44; Yochanan 1:45; 5:46), thus contributing to and giving authority to his Anointing, as these two trees did for the menorah. On another level, they may correlate with the king and the priest in 6:13 below—both anointed—who work together in agreement. (Tabor) The oil represents the Spirit of YHWH (1 Shmuel 16:13), which enlivens those who in turn feed all the congregations.
CHAPTER 5
1. And returning, I lifted up my eyes and perceived, and there was a scroll hovering about!
Hovering about: or, flying.
2. And He said to me, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a hovering scroll, its length twenty by the cubit, and its width ten by the cubit.”
These are the exact dimensions of the Holy Place, the first room the priests entered in the Tabernacle. So this is something that correlates to that room. This is the room that was opened up when the veil in front of the Temple was torn at Y’shua’s death. (Luke 23:45) So there is open access to that room. However, the dimensions of the Holy of Holies, where YHWH’s presence dwelt, are excluded. So what it represents will have part of YHWH’s truth, but be lacking the most intimate aspects of His presence.
3. So He told me, “This is the curse that goes out over the surface of the whole earth: according to it,‘From this [time forth], anyone who steals will be purged out,’ and according to it, ‘from this [time forth], anyone who swears an oath will be purged out.’
4. “I will bring it out,” declares YHWH [Master] of Armies, “and it will enter into the house of the thief and into the house of the one who swears fraudulently by My Name. And it will lodge within his house and [consume it away] completely along with its timbers and its stones.”
Compare the laws regarding house-leprosy in Lev. 14:34ff.
5. Then the messenger who [was] speaking to me told me, “Please lift up your eyes and see what this is that is going forth.”
6. So I said, “What is it?” And He said, “This is the eyfah that goes forth.” He also said, “This is their eye throughout the whole earth.”
Their eye: or, wellspring, the fountain from which a counterfeit “truth” flows. Eyfah: a dry measure equivalent to ten omers (Ex. 16:36). Since an omer is the amount needed to feed one man for one day (16:16), it represents one man. Ten men represents a minyan (quorum), and thus symbolizes a complete congregation. So this measuring basket represents a congregation just as the flying scroll did, seemingly the Church as the counterfeit tabernacle, overemphasizing YHWH’s grace and underemphasizing the holiness YHWH requires where His presence is to dwell.
7. And, lo and behold, a [whirling] round talent-weight of lead was lifted off, and this singular woman was sitting inside the eyfah [basket].
Round talent-weight: all one term in Hebrew. In the context of the flying scroll, it probably represents the winged sun-disk so common as a pagan symbol, the spirit of which the Church adopted by emphasizing the “day of the Sun”. This came about by allowing the woman to teach Y’shua’s servants. (Rev. 2) She is the spirit of Yisabel (Jezebel), which means “exalted husband”, though she exalted herself over her husband. By claiming the right to change the Sabbath and the festivals, the Church usurps Y’shua’s authority. Singular: or unified, and Rome is trying to do that. But YHWH is building a unified man. (Eph. 2:15)
8. And He said, “This is the Lawlessness,” and He flung it into the midst of the ephah, and cast the leaden stone [weight] onto its mouth.
The Lawlessness: being “without Torah”--a “mystery” which is held back at present, but will not always be. (2 Thess. 2:7) But when it is released, it will be judged.
9. Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and, lo and behold, two women came forth with the wind in their wings. Now they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they suspended the eyfah between the earth and the heavens.
Stork: an unclean bird, but the same word as the Hebrew term for a faithful, pious woman. They represent those in both houses of Israel who are returning to YHWH’s covenant, while still unclean and in exile, yet doing the job YHWH has for us now. Between the earth and the heavens: a plane where visions are seen (1 Chron. 21:16; Y’hezq’El/Ezek. 8:3) Place was found in neither for lawlessness. (Dan. 2:35)
10. And I asked the messenger who was speaking to me where they were going with the eyfah,
11. and he told me, “To build a house for her in the land of Shinar, and it will be fastened and left there on its own base.
Shinar: where the Tower of Bavel, the seat of the first unification of mankind--against YHWH--after the Flood. It was a place designed to withstand another flood, and corresponds with the sense the Church has that it is above and immune to judgment, and even has authority greater than the Torah, which Y’shua would not claim for himself. Base: or, resting-place. Note that this is not a foundation YHWH designed, but its own creation. So it is going back to where it belongs, and will not be permitted to move from there. Babylon is also called a woman in Rev. 17 and 18. This may correlate with haSatan’s being bound for 1,000 years. (Rev. 20:2)
CHAPTER 6
1. And I returned and lifted up my eyes and looked, and beheld four chariots coming out from between two mountains, and the mountains were mountains of bronze.
YHWH said we would be able to dig bronze out of the hills of the Land of Israel (Deut. 8:9), symbolizing plenty.
2. With the first chariot were red horses, and with the second chariot, black horses;
These horses may correspond to and give the context for those in Revelation 6.
3. with the third chariot, white horses, and with the fourth chariot, spotted and dappled horses.
Dappled: from a word for strong. It may mean “bright-colored”. The fourth horse in Revelation 6 is called “pale” or “sickly green”.
4. So I responded by saying to the messenger who was speaking to me, “What are these, my Master?”
5. And the messenger answered and told me, “These are the four spirits of the heavens that proceed out from stationing themselves around the Master of the Whole Earth.
Spirits of the heavens: or, winds of the skies.
6. “The black horses proceed into the land of the north, and the white horses go out to their rear. Then the spotted [ones] go out into the land of the south.
North: or, the place where hidden treasure is stored, but also often an idiom for Babylon (Bavel) or Assyria. South: place of the right hand (when oriented eastward), and also the Hebrew name for Yemen. Compare Yeshayahu/Isa. 43:6.) Black and white together symbolize removing the gray areas and making clear judgments and rulings rather than leaving individuals to each go their own way. The result of this must be that Y’shua’s own come out of Bavel. (v. 10; Rev. 18:4)
7. But the dappled ones went out and were asking to depart so they could walk back and forth throughout the earth, so He said, “Go, walk back and forth throughout the earth!” And they did walk back and forth throughout the earth.
This is what haSatan had said his occupation was. (Iyov 1:7; 2:2)
8. Then He summoned me and spoke to me, saying, “See, those that go out toward the land of the north have caused My Spirit in the land of the north to rest.”
9. Then the Word of YHWH came to me to say,
10. “Take up [a collection] from the exiles—from Khelday, from Toviyah, and from Y’da’yah, who have come from Bavel, and on that day you come in and enter the house of Yoshiyah the son of Tz’fanyah,
Khelday means “worldly” or “my swift gliding”, Toviyah, “YHWH is beneficent”, and Y’da’yah, “YHWH has known”. These men must have been especially wealthy.
11. “then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set [them] on the head of Y’hoshua the son of Y’hotzadaq, the high priest,
Note the plurality of crowns; another Y’shua is seen wearing “many crowns” in Rev. 19:12. Take up: compare Yeshayahu/Isaiah 18:7; Tz’fanyah 3:10. Silver represents redemption by blood, and gold represents the highest quality.
12. “and tell him, ‘This is what YHWH [Master] of Armies says: “Here is a man; his name is ‘Offshoot’. And he will sprout up from [the place] that is under him and YHWH’s Temple [will be] built.
Here is a man: The same phrase Pontius Pilatus used when referring to Y’shua (Yochanan 19:5), who was also wearing a “crown” at that time with a sign revealing his kingship soon thereafter posted above his head. To those who knew prophecy, this scenario would bring this very passage to mind. We are told in 3:8 that this Y’hoshua is a symbol of YHWH’s Servant (a specific title for the Messianic King in Yeshayahu 52:13) who is there called the Offshoot, because he grows back from the stump of David’s dynasty, which appeared to have been cut off. Now we are told that Y’hoshua’s name is “Offshoot”. In Ezra and Nekhemyah, Y’hoshua is usually called Y’shua. For those who have “eyes to see”, this is a prophecy about what the Messiah’s name would be.
13. “And he [is the one who] will build YHWH’s Temple, and he will take up the majesty, and he will sit and reign on his throne. He will also be a priest [while] on his throne, and peace will come about [from the] deliberation between the two of them.
Majesty: Heb., hod, which comprises both splendor and vigor. Peace: Heb., shalom, which means complete well-being and soundness. A priest while on his throne: an abnormal situation in Israel, where the division between these two offices is clear since they are from different tribes. (2 Chron. 26:18) Melchitzedeq and Y’shua are said to hold both posts; the Maccabees (Hasmoneans) also mixed the two roles. Deliberation: exchange of counsel, purpose, even conspiring. In other words, the proper, most healthy balance of earthly rule and relationship with Heaven will at last be achieved as a result of his holding both of these positions in the Kingdom. Compare Y’hezq’El 45:17; 46:4, where we see the Prince responsible for offering sacrifices in the Temple. So Y’shua, who some people say superseded the sacrificial system (based on Heb. 9:11 et al), will actually be the very one to restore it.
14. And for Khelem, Toviyah, Y’da’yah, and Khen the son of Ts’fanyah, the crowns will come to [serve as] a memorial in YHWH’s Temple.
Khelem: another name for Kheldai (v. 10). It means “dream”. Khen (favor): another name for Yoshiyah (v. 10), or possibly his brother.
15. And those who are far off will come in and rebuild within the Temple of YHWH. Then you will know that it is YHWH [Master] of Armies who has sent me to you. This will come about if you listen to the voice of YHWH your Elohim in order to obey [it].
Those who are far off: a reference to Israel—particular, those of “all Israel” (not just Yehudah, which is mentioned separately) who were driven into other nations because of disobedience to YHWH. (Daniel 9:7; compare Yeshayahu 57:19; Eph. 2:13.) But this prophecy of the rebuilding had a more immediate fulfillment in Z’kharyah’s own day.
CHAPTER 7
1. Now what took place in the fourth year of King Daryawesh was that the Word of YHWH came to Z’kharyah, on the fourth of the ninth month (in Kisleu).
2. Now Shar’etzer and Regem-melekh and his men sent off to Beyth-El to beseech the face of YHWH--
Beseech: to beg in a way that expresses deep grief to the point of sickness.
3. to speak to the priests who belong to the House of YHWH [Commander] of Armies and to the prophets, saying, “Should I wail in lament in the fifth month, setting myself apart devotedly, as I have for these many years?”
The way they sought YHWH was to speak to His messengers, rather than mediums that circumvented the order He had set up. Fifth month: a reference to the traditional “Tesha’ b’Av” fast on the day when the Temple was destroyed. (The wall of the Temple Mount would again be breached on this date when the Romans came against it, and the Temple burned the next day.) This fast had not been ordered by YHWH, and now that the Temple was being rebuilt, they wondered whether it was still meaningful, or whether it might even be an affront in light of YHWH’s intervention.
4. And the Word of YHWH [Commander] of Armies came to me, saying,
5. “Speak to all the people of the Land, as well as to the priests, saying, ‘When you fasted and wailed in the fifth and seventh [months]—indeed these seventy years—was it really for Me that you fasted?
Fast of the seventh month: not Yom Kippur (which YHWH does not change), but the fast of Gedalyah, the Jewish governor under the Babylonians who was assassinated by his fellow Jews in the seventh month. (2 Kings 25:25)
6. “And when you ate and drank, wasn’t it you who were eating and you who were drinking?
Ate and drank: i.e., on YHWH’s feast days. They only had the food and the personal enjoyment in mind, not the fact that it was an appointment with YHWH.
7. “Aren’t these the [very] things that YHWH shouted by the hand of the earlier prophets when Yerushalayim was inhabited and at prosperous ease, along with all the cities surrounding her—when the Negev and the Sh’felah were inhabited?”
Their ancestors had been exiled for ignoring these very proclamations.
8. And the Word of YHWH came to Z’kharyah, saying,
9. “This is what YHWH [Commander] of Armies says, and I quote: ‘Make [your] rulings with verified judgment, and let [each] man practice kindness and compassion toward his brother.
Verified judgment: not by the mouth of only one witness uncorroborated by at least one or two others. This echoes Mikhah 6:6-8.
10. “‘And do no wrong to a widow, orphan, sojourner, or one who is impoverished, and let no man devise evil in your heart [against] his brother.’
No wrong: the term especially connotes extortion, oppression, defrauding, violence, or deceit. Sojourner: a temporary visitor who has come to learn from Israel, or a newcomer who lacks inherited rights. Devise evil: or possibly, do not take into account the evil of his brother, or do not esteem one’s brother as evil. As Yaaqov, Y’shua’s brother, said, these things are the true religion, more important to YHWH than fasting and denying self for its own sake.
11. “But they refused to pay attention, and offered a stubborn shoulder, and made their ears [too] dull to listen.
Dull: literally, heavy.
12. “They also set up their hearts as a sharp stone to keep from hearing the instruction and the words that YHWH [Commander] of Armies has sent through His Spirit by the hands of the earlier prophets. So there was great indignation from [with] YHWH [Commander] of Armies.
Sharp: one that pricks and thus serves as an unmoving guard against. Instruction: Heb., Torah.
13. “So it turned out that just as He called out and they would not listen, likewise when they were calling, I would not listen,” says YHWH [Commander] of Armies,
14. “and I drove them by a storm onto all the nations with which they were unfamiliar, and the Land is left desolate behind them from passing through and from returning, because they turned the desirable Land into a horrifying wasteland.”
Leviticus 26:31-35 predicted this; now it is stated as a historical fact.
CHAPTER 8
1. Then the Word of YHWH [Commander] of Armies came, saying,
2. “This is what YHWH [Commander] of Armies says: ‘I have been jealous for Tzion with a great jealousy, and was zealous for her with great heat.’
3. “This is what YHWH says: ‘I have come back to Tzion and have settled within Yerushalayim. And Yerushalayim will be called “a reliably faithful city”, and the Mountain of YHWH [Commander] of Armies, “the set-apart mountain”.’
4. “This is what YHWH [Commander] of Armies says: ‘There will again be old men and old women sitting in the open plazas of Yerushalayim, each one also [having] a support in his hand from the great number of [his] days.
5. ‘And the open plazas of the city will be full of boys and girls playing [and laughing] in her plazas.’
This is beginning to be fulfilled again today.
6. “This is what YHWH [Commander] of Armies says: ‘Just because it will be extraordinarily difficult in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, must it also be extraordinarily difficult in My eyes?’ says YHWH [Commander] of Armies.
7. “This is what YHWH [Commander] of Armies says: ‘Watch Me liberate My people from the land of the sunrise to the land of the setting of the sun!
8. “‘And I will bring them in, and they will inhabit the inner part of Yerushalayim, and they will serve as a people for Me and I will be an Elohim to them—genuinely and in the right way.
The inner part: the Old City, and more specifically, the area closest to the Temple Mount—the very area disputed today by both Palestinians and those who want to make it an internationally-neutral zone. Genuinely and in the right way: for centuries we have had many genuine followers of Y’shua who nonetheless were not following in the right way as YHWH had prescribed.
9. “This is what YHWH [Commander] of Armies says: ‘Your hands will be strengthened, O you who hear these words from the mouth of the prophets in those days, that on the day the House of YHWH has been founded, the Temple will be rebuilt.
In those days: when the Old City has been returned to Israel, so this may be speaking directly to our time.
10. “‘Because before those days there was no reward for mankind nor was there wage for the beast, and there was no sense of well-being for one who went out or one who came in due to the distress, because for all humanity I let each one loose against his fellow man.
No reward: much like our confession as those having lived as Gentiles, that our fathers had inherited things “in which there is no ascending” (or profit, Yirmeyahu 16:19) This “letting loose” of all humanity began at the Tower of Bavel, where the communal selfishness was shown for what it really was and everyone now had to fend for themselves. This was to set the stage with a backdrop of darkness so His light would stand out in the optimal contrast. Mankind: literally “the Adam”, and the beast is the nickname for the counterfeit Messiah, the successor to Bavel’s spirit in its latter-day resurgence. There is no progress for either until YHWH determines it is time…
11. “‘But now, I will not [be] as in the former days for the remnant of this people,’ declares YHWH [Commander] of Armies,
12. “‘because for the seed [there will be] the prosperity: the vineyard will yield its fruit, the earth will yield its produce, and the heavens will give their mist, and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things.
Yield…mist: clues that conditions will be like those in the Garden of Eden before the fall of Adam (the Hebrew word for mankind and humanity in the preceding verses.) Compare Gen. 2:6; 3:17-19; 4:12. So now there is a reward for “the Adam”. (v. 10)
13. ‘And it will come about that just as you were treated as of little account among the Gentiles, O House of Yehudah and House of Israel, to that extent I will liberate you, and you will be a [source of] blessing. Do not be afraid; let your hands be strong.
Strong: resolute. Finish the task at hand in light of the coming blessings. Compare v. 9 and v. 19.
14. “because this is what YHWH [Commander] of Armies says: ‘Just as I devised a plan to harm you when your ancestors provoked Me to anger,’ says YHWH [Commander] of Armies, ‘and I was not moved to compassion,
15. “‘to the same extent I have come back; I have devised a plan to benefit Yerushalayim and the House of Yehudah in those days. Do not be afraid.
16. “‘These are the things that you must do: Let each [man] speak truth to his fellow. Truth and complete justice must rule in [the judgment-courts of] your gates.
17. “‘A man must not invent evil plans against your neighbor in your heart, nor love a deceitful oath, because I hate all such [things as] these,’ declares YHWH.
18. Then the Word of YHWH [Commander] of Armies came to me, saying,
19. “This is what YHWH [Commander] of Armies says: ‘The fast of the fourth [month] and the fast of the fifth, as well as the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth shall come to be for rejoicing, celebration, and rich [pleasant] appointed [feast]s for the House of Yehudah. So love the truth and the soundness.
The fast of the fourth month: when the famine was most severe and the wall of Yerushalayim had been breached by the Babylonians. (2 Kings 25:3-4) The fifth month is when the Temples were destroyed. The fast of the tenth: when Nevukhadnetzar had begun this same siege of Yerushalayim (25:1). For each of these, there will apparently be a tikkun (an event that brings reparation for the particular damage done on that specific date) of such profound impact that there will be a new festival celebrated regularly for each.
20. “This is what YHWH [Commander] of Armies says again: that there will come peoples, and inhabitants of many cities,
21. “and the inhabitants of one will go to [another] one to say, ‘Let’s depart to go beseech the [favor of the] face of YHWH, and to seek YHWH [Commander] of Armies; I myself will go too!’
22. “Then many peoples and vast nations will come to seek YHWH [Commander] of Armies and to beseech the [favor of the] face of YHWH.
The face of YHWH: mirrored in Y’shua as the moon reflects the sun (2 Cor. 3:18; Yochanan 1:18)--the only way we can see His face and survive. (Ex. 33:20)
23. “This is what YHWH [Commander] of Armies says about those days: that ten men out of each of the languages of the nations will be strengthened and take hold of the corner [of the garment] of a Jewish man to say, ‘Let us go with you [people], because we have heard [that] Elohim is with you!’”
Ten men: a minyan or quorum for a congregation to be considered complete. According to Asquith Michael, it was with this intent in mind that King Shlomoh married 700 wives—ten from each of the 70 nations—to have a son with each so that this remnant could be ready in all nations when the right time came. A Jewish man: one fulfillment of this is Y’shua the Messiah, though it may have other references as well. Corner of the garment: where the tzitzit (identifying fringe-tassel with a thread of blue) is to be worn, reminding Israelites of who we are and who we are to obey. (Num. 15:38)
CHAPTER 9
1. The burden of the Word of YHWH against the land of Hadrakh and Dameseq on which it rests, because the eyes of mankind and all the tribes of Israel are toward YHWH.
Hadrakh: an Aramean region north of Damaseq (Damascus) and Hamath and south of Aleppo; called Hataraka in the annals of Assyrian kings when detailing the campaigns of 750-730 B.C.E., and Hatarikka in an Aramaic inscription by Zakur of Hamath around 780 B.C.E. It was once the seat of a district governor. But it was named after the deity worshipped in that region.
2. “Even Hamath will set limits on it, as well as Tzur and Tzidon, because [it is] very skillful.
Set limits on it: in the sense of forming a border it cannot pass. Tzur: often known as Tyre, 40 km. South of Tzidon, the earlier port city of which it was a “daughter”. It was a principal Phoenician seaport that worshipped Ba’al and Astarte, as evidenced in nearly all the names of its rulers. Under Persian rule (current at the time of this writing), Tzidon provided the majority of the empire’s fleet.
3. “Though Tzur builds a siege-entrenchment for herself, and piles up silver like dust, and fine gold like the mud of the streets,
Siege-entrenchment: Heb., matzur, a play on the name Tzur. Fine gold: the poetic use of a word meaning sharp, diligent, strict (i.e., meeting the most stringent standards). But it could also mean a moat or trench—which would be even more practical in this situation. Tzur once used the sea itself as a moat, moving the population to an island off its coast.
4. “watch Adonai cause her to be dispossessed! He has even dealt a blow to her prowess in the sea, and she will be consumed with fire.
Though Tzur was conquered on numerous occasions (most notably by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C.E.) and revived after each conqueror’s decline, there was no recorded destruction during the time frame of this writing (just before 500 B.C.E.). This is sandwiched between references to the dawning of the Messianic Kingdom, so it should probably be read as relating to that time.
5. “Ashqelon will see and be afraid; Gaza will writhe with extreme pain, and Eqron will be ashamed for having put confidence in her. The king will vanish from Gaza, and Ashqelon will not be inhabited.
These were all Philistine cities at the time of this writing. The Hebrew words for “see” and “be afraid” here sound alike except for the pitch of one vowel.
6. “An alien ruler will sit in Ashdod, and I will cause the pride of the Philistines to be cut off.
An alien ruler will sit: or, an illegitimate child will dwell. Pride of the Philistines: apparently, at this point, something derived from Tzur. But the Palestinians of today carry on the name and occupying position of the Philistines, though there appears to be no racial connection. So these prophecies may relate to them.
7. “I will also remove his bloods from his mouth and his abominations from between his teeth, but the one who survives—he too will belong to our Elohim, and he will come to be like a docile chief in Yehudah, and Eqron [will be] like a Yevusite.
Bloods: possibly the other nations they devour, or favorite delicacies that involved eating blood, in the context of the abominations between his teeth. A docile chief: or friend, someone who is no longer a threat. Yevusite: the pre-Davidic inhabitants of Yerushalayim who were conquered but mostly left alive to serve Israel.
8. “And I will encamp for My house [as a] garrison stationed [to protect it] from the one who crosses over and the one who comes back, and no oppressive exactor of tribute will ever pass through them again, because now I have seen with My eyes.
Israel would never again be ruled over by another nation, especially one out to siphon away its resources.
9. “Be extremely glad, O daughter of Tzion! Give a shout of triumph, O daughter of Yerushalayim! Look! Your King will come to you, righteous and being delivered, humble and mounted on a donkey and on a beast of burden, the son of a [dependable] she-ass.
On a donkey: as opposed to a horse. This indicates that His chief purpose is to serve those He rules, not show off His royal glory. (Luke 22:25)
10. “And I will cause the chariot to be cut off from Efrayim, and the horse from Yerushalayim, and the war-bow will be cut off, and He will command peace for the nations, and His dominion [will be] from sea to sea, and from the river to where the Land ends.
Chariot…horse: what all other nations depend on, but what Israel is not to rely on. But modern Israel does depend on another nation’s power, and so is a vassal state still. The United States has taken control of Babylon’s palaces (in Iraq), and so the scepter of ancient Babylon has passed to it, so the references to Ashur (whose scepter Babylon/Bavel took over) and Babylon in this passage may relate to this present “Babylon” in which much of Israel is still exiled. River: the Ferath (Euphrates): these are the borders YHWH promised to Avraham (Gen. 15:18).
11. “You too! By the blood of your covenant have I let your captives loose from the cistern in which there is no water.
You: the pronoun is feminine in Hebrew. Cistern in which there is no water: hewn out of their own doing (Yirmeyahu 2:13).
12. “Turn back to the supremely inaccessible enclosure, O captives of the expectation! This very day I am announcing that I will restore to you double,
13. “because I have bent Yehudah [with My feet]; I have filled the bow with Efrayim, and stirred up your sons, O Tzion, against your sons, Yawan, and appointed you [to be] like the sword of a valiant man!”
Yawan: Greece. The two sons of Tzion, Yehudah and Efrayim, together will defeat the Greek ways that so permeate the financial, political, and religious systems of global society today.
14. Then YHWH will appear over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning. Adonai YHWH will sound the shofar, and will go like the windstorms of the Negev.
15. YHWH [Commander] of Armies will bring about a covering over them [that will surround and defend them], and they will devour and bring sling stones into subservience. Then they will drink and make a commotion as [with] wine, and will be full like a pitcher, like the prominent parts of the altar.
Sling stones: What the enemy intended to use against Israel, YHWH will make part of Israel’s captured arsenal. Prominent parts of the altar: where wine was indeed poured with water on the last day of Sukkoth during the water-pouring ceremony during which Y’shua stood up and invited all who thirst to come to Him for living water. The covering can be a reference to Yom haKippurim, and the shofar in the previous verse alludes to Yom T’ruah (Rosh haShanah). All three of these festivals foreshadow the latter days, so these allusions reemphasize the time in history this prophecy refers to.
16. And YHWH their Elohim will deliver them in that day as a flock of His people, because they are stones of consecration displayed over His ground.
17. For how pleasant and beautiful is the young men’s grain, and fresh wine will make the virgins blossom!
CHAPTER 10
1. Request rain from YHWH at the season of the latter rains; YHWH is preparing thunderstorms, and will provide for them rain showers--for each, green herbage in the field!
Latter rains: related to the word for gathering in, so they are the rains that come in the late spring to bring the crops to maturity. The early rains come shortly after the harvest.
2. Because [what] the household idols promised [has come to] nothing; [what] the diviners foresaw has proven disappointing. They have been speaking forth empty dreams; their consolation is an empty vapor. That is why they set out to depart like a flock; they were weakened because there was no shepherd.
Disappointing: the term means a deception that makes one feel betrayed when the truth is revealed.
3. “On account of the shepherds, My anger has been kindled, and I have been paying direct attention to the he-goats, because YHWH [Commander] of Armies has mustered His droves, the House of Yehudah, and made them like a horse of His majesty in the battle.
In this transition from the context of livestock to one of military terminology, the middle clauses have a double meaning, and could also read, “…and I have been passing the chiefs in review, because YHWH [Commander] of Armies has mustered His ranks…” There was no true shepherd, because those posing as leaders kept YHWH’s congregations docile by mishandling and browbeating them until they were like dumb sheep (the meaning of “weakened” in v. 2), He is searching out those He misses and making them disciplined (an additional meaning of the word for “mustered” or “passed in review”), so those once under the “opiate of the masses” will surprise their oppressors by being strong after all once He has trained them to be the troops He sometimes needs them to be. (Compare Yirmeyahu/Jer. 50:6; Y’hezq’El/Ezek. 34.) Alt., I have punished the he-goats—contrasted with sheep in Mat. 25, as goats tend to go their own way rather than huddling together as a close community like sheep do.
4. “From Him is the corner bulwarks; from Him the [tent] peg; from Him the battle-bow; from Him alike proceeded everyone who exerts pressure.
5. “And they will be like strong [men] who trample down the mud of the streets in the battle, and they will fight, because YHWH is with them, and they will put to shame those who are mounted on horses.
I.e., they will have the vigor to outrun them as Eliyahu did King Ahav’s chariots. (1 Kings 18:44-46)
6. “And I will make the house of Yehudah stronger and bring deliverance to the House of Yosef, and I will bring them back [and resettle them] because I have had tender compassion on them, and they will become as though I had never cast them off, because I am YHWH their Elohim and I will answer [and bear witness to] them.
As though: We will pick up where our ancestors left off, and He will not treat us like the deserters our ancestors were.
7. “Then Efrayim will be like a valiant champion, and their heart will be gladdened as [with] wine, and their sons will see and be glad, and their heart will delight in YHWH.
8. “I will whistle for them and assemble them, and they will multiply as they multiplied [before].
9. “Though I sow them among the peoples, they will remember Me [while] in the far-off [places], and they will be revived along with their children, and come back.
This follows the Torah prophecy in Deut. 30:1. Revived: restored to life or health; i.e., those who are hearing YHWH’s call to come back to being Israelites after being Gentiles for so many generations, not just their children, will have the strength to participate in the restored Kingdom in the Land, as Kalev was as able at eighty to enjoy his inheritance after his whole generation had died off, because he had confidence in YHWH.
10. “I will even bring them back out of the land of Egypt and gather them away from Ashur, and bring them into the land of Gil’ad and Levanon, and no [room] will be found for them!
No room will be found: This is also very steep, hilly terrain that receives ample snow, so in this sense also the land would be unable to sustain a large population. But it is already “overflow” territory from the actual borders of Israel, which is nearly filled up now even from just one of the twelve tribes living there!
11. “So the strait in the sea will pass away, and He will beat back [and subdue] the waves of the sea, and all the [sunken] depths of the [Nile] River will dry up, and the raised parts of Ashur will be lowered, and the part of Egypt that branches off will retract [and move over].
It appears that in this way, more land will be created for Israel. Some satellite photos have shown what appears to be a huge sand bar off the coast northwest of Israel, which, if further built up, could move Israel’s coast far westward, leaving a large lake between it and the present coast, which might also bless Israel with a new source of countless minerals. Dry up: possibly not completely, but, like the malaria-ridden swamps of Israel a century ago, the excess water of the swampland may be removed, making the amply-watered land much more habitable. The part of Egypt that branches off: probably the Nile delta; a change in the river’s course could make Israel, rather than Egypt, its beneficiary; or, figuratively, the scepter of Egypt. Waves of the sea, the Nile, Ashur (Assyria), and Egypt are also symbols of Israel’s Gentile oppressors over the centuries. Raised parts: additional terrain within the scope of the land promised to Avraham (9:10; Gen. 15:18) will be leveled to provide farm and pastureland; or, figuratively, Assyria’s pride will be brought down. (Compare Yeshayahu/Isa. 40:4)
12. “And I will make them strong in YHWH, and in His Name they will move around,” declares YHWH.
Move around: or, walk about.
CHAPTER 11
1. Open your doors, O Levanon, and fire will destroy your cedar trees!
Levanon: where the best quality of building materials came from. The same variety of cedars do not grow as well in Israel. Yet YHWH says their pride will be brought low.
2. Howl, O cypress, because the cedar has fallen, the majestic ones have been devastated. Howl, O oaks of Bashan, because the inaccessible forest has come down!
Bashan: the Golan Heights today, a very hilly area with steep ravines which would have made forests hard to get to at that time just as the city of Gamla was so hard to reach that tax collectors even passed over it.
3. [There is the] sound of howling by the shepherds, because their magnificent cloak has been violently devastated—the sound of the roaring of young lions, since the pride of the Yarden has been devastated.
Magnificent cloak: They have been known as “men of the cloth”! Pride: or swelling. The Yarden’s own name means “descender”, and today it is so diminished by excessive use of the water from the Kinnereth (Sea of Galilee) elsewhere that it is difficult to even call it a river any longer; it is more like a creek.
4. This is what YHWH my Elohim says: “Bring the flock that is being slaughtered to pasture,
5. “whose purchasers slay them and do not acknowledge that they are guilty, and those who sell them say, ‘May YHWH be blessed, because I will be rich!’, and their [own] shepherds do not show them pity--
6. “because I will no longer show pity on the inhabitants of the Land,” declares YHWH. “But look here! I will cause every man to be discovered by his neighbor’s hand and by his king’s hand, and they will cause the Land to be pounded, and I will not rescue them from their hand.
Discovered: i.e., exposed and turned over to an enemy. Pounded: hammered, or shattered by blows.
7. “But I will lead the flock that is being slaughtered to pasture, even [down] to the poor of the flock. Then I will procure two rods for Myself. To the one I have given the name ‘Pleasantness’ and to [the other] one I have given the name ‘The One that Binds’. And I Myself will lead the flock to pasture.
YHWH will be selective in His judgment, sparing those who are not to blame but are the ones who have been oppressed. Rods: shepherds’ staffs. The one that binds: as in a rope that ties things together.
8. “I will also annihilate three shepherds in one month when My soul becomes impatient with them, since their soul has also loathed Me.
Annihilate: efface, conceal, or destroy. It can have the sense of firing or sending someone off, and this may be how Z’kharyah acted out the picture. These three shepherds may be three popes who die in rapid succession.
9. “So I said, ‘I will not give you pasture; let what is dying die, and let what is being annihilated be annihilated, and as for those who are left, let each eat the flesh of her fellow.
10. “And I have taken My rod, ‘Pleasantness’, and chopped it in two, to cause the covenant that I had cut with all the peoples to be broken.
YHWH therefore no longer has covenant with any nation (or religious entity) but Israel. Any last illusion of protection elsewhere is removed. Those within Christianity or Islam have to recognize that to retain covenant with Him, they must recognize and reestablish their connection with Israel. (Gen. 22:18) Even the Renewed Covenant is made only with the House of Israel and the House of Yehudah. (Yirmeyahu 31:31)
11. “So in That Day it will be broken.” Then the humble among the flock who were guarding me acknowledged that it was indeed the Word of YHWH.
Humble: or poor and afflicted—those whom YHWH had said He would provide for. (v. 7) In That Day: an idiom for the Messianic Kingdom, which seems to be the time frame being described here.
12. So I told them, “If it is appropriate in your eyes, set the wage for my hire, but if not, let it drop.” And they weighed out My hire-price: thirty [pieces] of silver.
This is also the price the owner of an ox that gores someone else’s slave is responsible to pay his master. (Ex. 21:32) Thus it is the price of a servant—the very title of Messiah (Yeshayahu/Isa. 52:13). And indeed thirty pieces of silver is the exact price paid to Yehudah (Judas) for his betrayal of Y’shua. (Mat. 27)
13. So YHWH told me, “Throw it to the potter” (the magnificent value at which I was appraised by them!) So I took the thirty [pieces of] silver and threw it to the potter in YHWH’s House.
The money Judas was paid for tips leading to Y’shua’s capture was in fact returned to the priests in YHWH’s house, but they could not use it for anything holy, since it was blood money, so they used it to buy the Potter’s Field as a place to bury foreigners. (Mat. 27:3-10) The Greek version of Matithyahu says this was from the prophet Yirmeyahu. Yirmeyahu 18 indeed speaks of a potter, but this passage of Z’kharyah is what is paraphrased there. The Aramaic and Syriac versions of Matithyahu, which are older than the Greek, do not specify which prophet was being quoted, but the Hebrew (Shem-Tov) version—most likely the earliest—does correctly specify that it was Z’kharyah.
14. Then I chopped in two My second rod, ‘The One that Binds’, to break the kinship between Yehudah and Israel.
Though at this point Israel as a nation had been gone for 200 years, it is still fresh in mind for YHWH. He will not talk about Yehudah’s welfare without that of his brother, for until Israel (the lost tribes of the Northern Kingdom) is back as well, there can be no Kingdom, for both houses of Israel must together enthrone the same Shepherd who will reign in David’s line. (Y’hezq’El 34:23; 37:22-25) Then the two sticks will be joined back together into one. (Y’hezq’El 37:16-19)
15. Then YHWH told me, “Take up again for yourself the paraphernalia of a foolish shepherd,
16. “because indeed, I Myself will raise up a shepherd in the Land. He will not care for those that are being annihilated. He will neither seek the scattered nor nurse what is crippled nor nourish the one that remains stationary. Rather, he will eat the flesh of the fat and tear off their hooves.
This is the Counterfeit Messiah, who has had many predecessors in Antiochus IV, Herod, Constantine, etc. Those who wait just a little longer will be given the real remedy for their lack of a shepherd. (Gen. 49:17-18)
17. “Woe to the worthless shepherd who abandons the flock! A sword against his forearm and against his right eye! His arm will be completely withered, and his right eye will completely fail.
Worthless: or, imaginary. Might this be one further way to identify the Counterfeit Messiah—by a withered arm and a patch over one eye? But this also applies to many other “pastors” who are more concerned with what the sheep can do for them than what they can do for the sheep. (Yochanan 10:12-13)
CHAPTER 12
1. The burden of YHWH about Israel: YHWH, who spreads out the skies and lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of a man within him, declares,
2. “Here I am, making Yerushalayim a goblet of reeling to all the peoples that surround [it], when they are entrenched for siege against both Yehudah and against Yerushalayim!
3. “And [what] will take place in That Day,” declares YHWH, “[is that] I will make Yerushalayim a burdensome stone for all the peoples; all who burden themselves with her will severely lacerate themselves, though all the nations of the earth assemble against her.
4. “In That Day,” declares YHWH, “I will strike every horse with bewilderment and its rider with madness, and I will open My eyes over the House of Yehudah, but every horse belonging to the peoples, I will strike with blindness.
In a mere moment YHWH can remove the threat from any army, however massive. (2 Kings 6:14ff; compare Gen. 19:11.)
5. “And the chiefs of Yehudah will say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of Yerushalayim will be my strength through YHWH [Commander] of Armies their Elohim.’
6. “In That Day I will make the chiefs of Yehudah like a pan of fire among the sticks, and like a lighted torch on a swath of fallen grain—that is, they will devour all the peoples that surround [them] on the right hand and on the left, but Yerushalayim will again be set in her place—at Yerushalayim.
In her place: literally, under herself—a probable allusion to the fact of the heavenly and earthly Yerushalayims corresponding exactly to one another. Eden hovers directly above this place where the stairway descended for Yaaqov (Gen. 28). The misalignment of the two since Adam fell, or at least since the Temple was destroyed, is due to the incongruities between the two, which will vanish as the ancient foundations (both literal and figurative) are rediscovered and it is rebuilt exactly where it was.
7. “And YHWH will liberate the tents of Yehudah first, so that the splendor of the House of David and the splendor of an inhabitant of Yerushalayim may not be magnified above Yehudah.
Tents of Yehudah first: this is the order in which Israel was always to pitch or break camp. (Num. 2:3) Yehudah indeed has been freed to move its dwelling place back to the Land already. But “first” implies that there are other tribes to follow! (Angus Wootten) But tents are also an idiom for places of learning. So it may be the Torah scholars who will be saved before the majority of the Jewish population in the Land, because many of the rest are secular and not paying YHWH much attention, while many of the scholars truly are.
8. “In That Day, YHWH will surround the inhabitants of Yerushalayim with a protective covering, so that the feeblest among them on That Day will become like David, and the House of David will be like Elohim—like the messenger of YHWH in their presence.
The House of David includes the Messiah, who is indeed “like Elohim” (the very status Adam had been offered the wrong way to achieve but which Y’shua achieved the right way), and whose title often is “the Messenger of YHWH”. But here the emphasis is on everyone, from the least to the greatest, becoming much stronger than they were before.
9. “And what will take place on That Day is that I will search for, in order to destroy, all the Gentiles that come against Yerushalayim.
I will: Yet when He said He would drive out the inhabitants of Kanaan, He made it possible but told the Israelites to do the physical driving out. It may be the same in this case.
10. “And I will pour out on the House of David and on the inhabitants of Yerushalayim a spirit of acceptance and of begging for favor, and they will show regard to me, the one they have pierced through, and they will mourn for him as one laments for an only son, [to the point of] being in bitterness over him like the bitterness over a firstborn.
Over a firstborn: This is the ultimate in weeping. Y’shua is indeed called the “firstborn”. (Luke 2:7; Rom. 8:29; Col. 1:15, 18; Heb. 11:28; 12:23) Is the “me” Z’kharyah, or is he speaking for YHWH? Many see in this the mass acceptance of Y’shua by the Jews in the Land, for he must be king over all of Israel. Interestingly, while it was the tribe of Yehudah that first crowned Y’shua’s ancestor David, Yehudah was the last tribe to accept him back after the rebellion of Avshalom, who is a picture of the Counterfeit Messiah. (2 Shmuel 2:4; 19:11) Note that Y’shua is both called “Me”—for he is the representative who speaks for YHWH—but also “him”, showing his distinction from the One who sent him as well. (Compare Yochanan 1:18; 10:30; 14:28)
11. “In That Day the mourning in Yerushalayim will become as great as the mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.
Hadad-Rimmon: a place named after two Syrian deities. It was here that there was a national lamentation for the righteous king Yoshiyahu, who was killed while needlessly meddling in the battle of Pharaoh Nekho, who was simply passing through the Land. (2 Kings 23:29-30) The Plain of Megiddo is the area in front of the tel known as “Har-megiddo” (from which the name Armageddon is derived).
12. “And the Land will lament, each family by itself—the family of the House of David by itself, and their wives by themselves, the family of the House of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves,
The House of Nathan: either the son of David through whom the Messiah came physically, or the prophet who brought David many messages.
13. “the family of the House of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves, and the family of Shim’i by itself, and their wives by themselves--
Shim’i: a descendant of Gershon the Levite, whose name means “exile”, so he represents those “sons of the exiles” who will yet return to the Land “in That Day”. This pattern corresponds with the command that “the descendants of Israel shall pitch their tents, each with his own camp, and each with his own banner, according to their companies.” (Numbers 1:52)
14. “any of the families that remain, each family by itself and their wives by themselves.”
These who mourn separately from their wives were the analogy behind the decision to build a special balcony in the Court of Women during Sukkoth to keep men and women separate while the celebration became more and more intense.
CHAPTER 13
1. “On That Day, a flow will be let loose for the House of David and for the inhabitants of Yerushalayim in regard to sin and in regard to separation [due to of ritual impurity].
Flow: a wellspring that gushes out when opened up—“living” water that cleanses away ritual impurity. The particular separation that this flow is to cover is that detailed in Yeshayahu/Isa. 64:4ff, in which the standard of righteousness that Israel choose for ourselves is described as like the clothing an ancient Hebrew woman wore in public when in her monthly period so that men would know not to touch her. We are saying in effect to YHWH, our Husband, “Keep Your distance; I am not available to You.” The blood and water that flowed from Y’shua (Yoch. 19:34) when pierced (see 12:10 above) has made a way for us to be relieved of that sort of “righteousness”. A woman who had had a flow of blood for twelve years (representing all twelve tribes) was healed by her faith in the promise that Y’shua had healing in His wings. (Mat. 9:20)
2. “And on That Day what will take place,” declares YHWH, “[is that] I will cut off the names of the vexing images from the Land, and they will never be remembered again. I will even cause the prophets and the spirit of impurity to pass away from the Land.
3. “In fact, if a man prophesies again, then his father [who begot him] and his mother, who gave birth to him, will tell him, ‘You cannot remain alive, because you are speaking fraudulently in the Name of YHWH.’ And his father [who begot him] and his mother, who gave birth to him, will when he prophesies.
It appears that there will not be a need for true prophets at that time, possibly because people will know YHWH well enough without their help. (Yirm./Jer. 31:34)
4. “And what will take place in That Day [is that] each of the prophets will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies, and they will not wear a hairy garment in order to deceive.
Hairy garment: what some true prophets, like Eliyahu and Yochanan the Immerser, wore.
5. “Rather, each will say, ‘I am no prophet! A tiller of the soil I am, because a man taught me to acquire since my youth!’
Tiller of the soil: literally, man who serves the ground. The wording in Hebrew suggests an allusion to Qayin, since he was called a man from the day of his birth (Gen. 4:1), was a tiller of the soil, and killed his brother, a shepherd (v. 7), and the word “man” in the second phrase is Adam in Hebrew. The term for “acquire” here is qanah, the root word for Qayin’s name.
6. “And if someone says to him, ‘What are these stripes between your hands?’, then he will say, ‘[That’s] from when I was beaten in the house of my friends!’
Stripes between your hands: possibly a common mark of a pagan prophet. But Qayin was also permanently marked after he killed Hevel. Friends: literally, lovers.
7. “O sword, unsheathe yourself on account of My Shepherd, and on account of the [strong] man who is My associate,’ declares YHWH [Commander of] Armies. “Cause the Shepherd to be struck down, and the flock will be scattered abroad, and I will allow My hand to come back over those that are brought low.
On account of: or, against, for it was YHWH’s will to bruise Him. (Yeshayahu 53:6, 10) Associate: companion, friend, fellow, suggesting a deep similarity. According to Mat. 26:31, this is a prophecy about Y’shua, but the same pattern would hold true for most flocks unless they have internalized all that their shepherds have taught them. Brought low: or made insignificant, those that have grown small—i.e., humbled themselves. Not until Hevel was killed and Chavvah conceived again does Scripture say Adam had a son in his likeness, allowing the process of repair of the scattered image of Elohim to begin. Y’shua clinched the victory, and we are to finish the mop-up.
8. “So it will be throughout the whole Land,” declares YHWH. “Two mouths will be cut off and expire, but the third will be left [alive] in it.
9. “And I will cause the third to come through the fire, and I will refine them as silver is refined, and I will scrutinize them as gold is scrutinized, and that [third] will call on My Name, and I will answer it. I will say, ‘This is My people!’ and it will say, ‘YHWH is my Elohim!’”
Third: compare Y’hezq’El 5. YHWH always preserves a remnant for Himself. Refine: to test by smelting. Scrutinize: to examine by trial. In other words, He will prove who is really on His side through many difficult tests. This is what is alluded to in 1 Kefa/Peter 1:6-9. (Compare 1 Cor. 3:13; Yaaqov 1:3) It: literally, “he”, yet called “they” as well, for it will be unified by the smelting into an entity that operates as a unit. My people: the full reversal of the curse the Northern Kingdom brought upon herself. (Hoshea 1:9-10). After the fire has done its work they are again spoken of as a unified entity.
CHAPTER 14
1. “Indeed, a Day is coming that belongs to YHWH, and your spoils will be distributed [from] right in your midst,
Distributed: divided and apportioned out as shares of the plunder. Midst: literally, nearest part; when speaking of Yerushalayim, this is the Temple Mount, which is both nearest to YHWH’s heart, and the place Israel and the nations come to draw near to Him.
2. “because I will assemble all the Gentiles to Yerushalayim in order to make war, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, and the women raped, and half of the city will go into exile [as captives], but the remainder of the people will not be cut off from the city.
Half of the city: possibly the Old City, which, as before 1967, is indeed cut off from the rest of the city by the deep Hinnom Valley, and is where the Temple Mount—YHWH’s most treasured property and therefore that which His enemies want--lies.
3. “Then YHWH will go forth and fight against those Gentiles, like the day He waged war in the time of drawing near [for battle].
When YHWH went out before Israel to battle in the past, not a man was lost.
4. “When His feet have taken their stand on That Day atop the Mount of Olives, which faces Yerushalayim from the east, then the Mount of Olives will split down the middle from east to west [into] a very large valley, and half of the mountain will move away toward the north, and half toward the south.
He leads a united Israel back into the Land together in a raid to rescue the remnant in the city and retake it as Y’hoshua did. When a present-day hotel was being built for tourists on the Mount of Olives, it had to be redesigned because a fault line was found running directly through the initially-planned site. Apparently it was expected that the way YHWH’s feet would be seen was through the Messiah, because when Y’shua began climbing the Mount of Olives (Acts 1:6), his students asked if this was the time he would restore the Kingdom to Israel (the Northern Kingdom as well as Yehudah under a single shepherd again, per Y’hezq’El 34:23).
5. “And you will escape [through] the gorge of My mountains, because the gorge of the mountains will extend toward Atzal, and you will [be able to] escape as you escaped from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziyah, king of Yehudah. Then YHWH my Elohim will come, [and] all of the holy ones with you.
The now-sealed Eastern Gate may open up to allow them to escape. Atzal: possibly a variation on Az’azel, where the “scapegoat” was cast off the cliff in the wilderness some twelve miles east of Yerushalayim in the days of the Second Temple. This would open a passage all the way to the Great Rift Valley, from which united Israel, returning from the days in the wedding chamber with Y’shua, can approach from the other direction to meet these refugees. (Compare Luke 21:21.)
6. “And what will take place on That Day [is that] there will come to be no light; precious stones will congeal.
Precious stones: Compare Mal’akhi 3:17. Congeal: probably melt together (see v. 12 below).
7. “And that will be one day known to YHWH—neither day nor night—but what will take place is that at evening, there will come to be light!
One day: an allusion to “day one” when YHWH said “Let there come to be light”—a return to Genesis 1, for Eden will return to earth as this “city which is coupled together in unity” is manifested physically once again and the river that divides rather than merging (Gen. 2:10) will be reopened, a sign that the Kingdom has been realized “on earth as it is in Heaven:
8. “And what will take place on That Day is that living waters will proceed out from Yerushalayim, half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the western. It will be [the same ] in [both] summer and winter.
Living waters: an idiom for running water, and this is what is required for a ritual cleansing (such as the “flow” in 13:1). Literally, half toward the former sea and half toward the latter. Y’hezq’El (Ezekiel) 47 provides more detail about this event.
9. “And YHWH will come to be King over all the earth. In that day YHWH will come to be united and His Name [will only be] one.
This is what we allude to when we say while putting on tzitziyoth, binding t’fillin, or shaking the lulav at Sukkoth, “For the sake of the unification of the holy One… in fear and love to unify the Name YH with WH in perfect unity…” No other names for YHWH will be substituted. During the thousand years that follow, the full physical realization of the reunification of His image in mankind (which was divided when Chavvah was taken out of Adam and further scattered when they sinned) will be completed.
10. “Then the whole Land will be turned around like the Aravah, from Geva to Rimmon south of Yerushalayim, and it will rise up, but remain lower than what belongs to [the area] from the Gate of Binyamin to the site of the first gate as far as the Gate of the Corners and the Tower of Hanan’El as far as the king’s winepresses,
Turned around: possibly transformed (changed to become as green and well-watered as this Yarden River Valley) or overturned, as indeed the Great Rift Valley (the Aravah) was when YHWH destroyed S’dom and Ghamorah. (Gen. 19:25-29) Geva: a city in Benjamin, modern ‘Jeba’, which stands on the top of a steep terraced hill, six miles or ten kilometers north east of Jerusalem. Rimmon: a town in the southern portion of Judah allotted to Shim’on. In other words, the whole region surrounding and including Yerushalayim, will rise in altitude, but this particular section of Yerushalayim will still be higher than the rest. (Compare Mikhah 4:1) Tower of Hanan’El: then located at the site of where the Fortress of Antonia stood during the Roman occupation. Gate of the Corners: at the approximate location of today’s Jaffa Gate. (Custance) Gate of Binyamin: close to the Temple, the site where Yirmeyahu was held in stocks. (20:2) First (or original) gate: possibly the Eastern Gate, the most direct route by which one could enter the Temple, compared to the roundabout way in required once it was sealed off—a reminder of the long, circuitous route by which we have to come back to YHWH’s presence after the direct way available in the Garden of Eden was closed off to us.
11. “and they will dwell on it, and there will never again be penetration, and Yerushalayim will remain safe.
Penetration: i.e., by besiegers. Alt., anything devoted to destruction, or an enclosure that sets something off-limits.
12. “And this will be the plague with which YHWH will strike any [from] the peoples who has taken up arms against Yerushalayim: his flesh will be made to rot while he stands on his feet, and his eyes will be decayed [while] in their sockets, and his tongue will be festered away in their mouth.
This is a complete decomposition within seconds with the structure left intact—a perfect description of the effects of a neutron bomb—a form of atomic weapon. It rids the area of undesirables but does not destroy the city. Yehudah is indeed amassing such weapons now, and the evil nations were all brought together so YHWH can destroy them all in one fell swoop (Ps. 92:7), and this is another reason those in the besieged city are able to escape. By fleeing to a much lower altitude, the radiation would go over their heads.
13. “And what will take place on That Day is that there will be a great panic [from] YHWH among them, and each will seize his fellow’s hand and raise his hand against the hand of his fellow.
14. “And Yehudah, too, will involve itself in battle at Yerushalayim, and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be amassed—gold, silver, and garments until it is very abundant.
It seems like the siege camp is abandoned like that at Shomron in Elisha’s day. (2 Kings 7)
15. “And the plague will be the same as this plague for the horse, the mule, the camel, and the donkey, or any beast that may be in those camps.
16. “And [the end result] will be that anyone who is left [alive] from any of the nations that came up against Yerushalayim will ascend year by year, as often as [prescribed], to bow before the King, YHWH [Commander] of Armies, and to make a pilgrimage [to celebrate] the Feast of Sukkoth.
The surrender of all nations to the Messiah appears to be instantaneous, since they fought against us as one unit and can therefore be brought into subjection in one fell swoop. But as with every time Israel fulfills its calling as a light to the nations, even the tribute required will be beneficial for all of mankind, for Sukkoth is a festival that has always represented the extension of the joy of the knowledge of YHWH to all nations.
17. “And what will be the case for anyone from among the clans of the earth who does not go up to Yerushalayim to bow before the King, YHWH [Commander] of Armies, is that there will be no rain on them.
18. “And if [the] family of Egypt will not ascend or will not enter in, then no [rain will come] on them. [This] will be the plague with which YHWH will strike the Gentiles who do not come up to celebrate the Feast of Sukkoth.
19. “This will be [the penalty for] Egypt’s sin or the sin of any Gentile [nation] that will not come up to celebrate the Feast of Sukkoth.
20. “On That Day, there will be [engraved] on [the] bells [on] the horse’s [bridle], ‘Set apart for YHWH’, and the cooking pots in the House of YHWH will become like the pitchers [used] before the altar,
‘Set apart for YHWH’: the same thing that was engraved on the high priest’s turban-crown. (Ex. 28:36) Pitchers: used to toss the blood of the sacrificial animals against the side of the altar. In other words, everything will take on a higher level of holiness, or the holiness of the altar will extend to everything in the Temple, and that of the Temple will extend to everything in the city. The reason for this may be that there are so many people returning to bring offerings that there are simply not enough of the vessels prescribed as set apart to go around, so more have to be employed in this service, but they cannot then return to their lower level of sanctity. The Messiah himself will perform some of these ritual slaughters (Y’hezq’El 45:17-22), so the presence of renewed “sacrifices” in no way contradicts his “finished work”. One key to understanding this is the fact that the blood of bulls and goats never did take away sin. (Heb. 10:4) It atoned for sins, which means it effected a covering over them for our sakes so we would not have to live with constant guilt, but could have a sense of closure. With so many people who know little or nothing about YHWH now being required to come up for His feast, these offerings are, as they were in the past, a means of teaching us the multifaceted aspects of what it means to draw near to YHWH, for “drawing near” is really what the Hebrew term often rendered “sacrifice” really means.
21. “and every cooking pot in Yerushalayim—even in Yehudah—‘Set apart for YHWH [Commander] of Armies’, and any of those who slaughter may come and select from them and boil in them, and there will never again in That Day be a Kanaanite in the House of YHWH [Commander] of Armies.”
Kanaanite: or a merchant or trader. There may be a double meaning intended: not only will the job the first Y’hoshua could not complete now be fully accomplished, but there will also no longer be “gouging” of any poor worshippers who want to come to YHWH’s House but used to find the cost prohibitive. When Y’shua drove out the moneychangers from the Temple, He was foreshadowing this Day.
THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET
Z'kharyah
INTRODUCTION: Z’kharyah prophesied in the days of Ezra at the time of the return of the Southern Kingdom of Yehudah from the Babylonian captivity. (Ezra 5:1) When the Jewish elders listened to his prophecies and Haggai’s, they prospered and were successful in completing the reconstruction of the Temple. (Ezra 6:14) Josephus notes that when they were being terrorized by enemies of this work, they were encouraged and cheered and, persuaded that the Persians were not truly a threat to their progress, they applied themselves earnestly to the task and did not stop for even one day. (Antiquities of the Jews 11.4.5) Z’kharyah was the head of the household of Iddo and was among the priests who presided over the celebration at its dedication. (Nekhemyah 12:16) He wrote to those of Yehudah who were still in Bavel (Babylon), but those of us who are in the Northern Kingdom are in a similar situation of exile in an extremely prosperous place that allows religious freedom and has great Biblical scholars, so his words are for us as well. His prophecies have a constant flavor of victory for Yerushalayim and bespeak another day when again the city will be surrounded and infiltrated by enemies, but YHWH will again prove triumphant. This book is meant to encourage us to be strong and keep this hope alive in the forefront of our hearts as we do battle for the renewal of Yerushalayim as not just a political capital but a place truly set-apart to YHWH.
