. He can then use them freely, as they can enjoy Him without a question. It would have been confusing; a seeming restoration of the kingdom, when it was not to be restored; an encouragement of the temporal hopes, which were the bane of Israel. The western powers have no ground to glory over Russia, unless it be that they are to be more openly apostate and audacious, as they will also be destroyed first. The Assyrian or "king of the north" is at the head of all the opposed external nations. There the paragraph ends. "The eight night visions have ended, but the coronation of Joshua is closely connected with these revelations which extend in scope from Zechariahs day to the full establishment of Israel in blessing. Hence the occasion, actual or at hand, is shown to be frightful in God's eyes. Then Jehovah summarily puts down the pride and power of all their enemies. "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith Jehovah of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones." The same principle in the Revelation is true of the angel of Jesus, and the angels of the churches, which last of course were men in their midst. Yes, that is true. (Daniel 11:38; Revelation 13:15; Revelation 18:4) The truth is that Babel was not only the beginning of earthly monarchy, but also, from the beginning of that power (by the man who sought self-exaltation here below in despite of God), accompanied by idolatry. "They shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, Jehovah is my God." The characteristic of the act is, that the crown or crowns (it is not in the context said, which) were placed on the head of the one high priest, Joshua; and thou shall place (it or them, it is not said which) upon the head of Joshua son of Josedech the high priest, and shalt say unto him. If crowns were made of each material, there were two crowns. "Execute true judgment (adds he), and show mercy and compassions every man to his brother." That which he shall bear, which he shall undertake, shall be indeed the glory of Israel; and they must wait for that, and, in prospect of it, must be content in the want of that external glory which they formerly had. So we find this assuredly is to be brought into being, not by human resources, not by a mere amelioration of the Jew, "but by my Spirit, saith Jehovah of hosts." Tobijah--that is, "the goodness of God." Jedaiah--that is, "God knows." You hear people say, "But there are so many interpretations." Then I turned and raised my eyes and looked, and behold, four chariots were coming from between two mountains, and the mountains were mountains of bronze. They were to put the crowns upon Joshua, but then they were to set them in the temple as a reminder to the people of the future glory that would come yet to Israel. * As Egypt might be thought unaffected by the penal want of rain in case of failure to come up, the punishment is expressly said to fall there. In the temple God made discoveries of himself to his people, and there he received the service and homage of his people; so, in the gospel-church, the light of divine revelation shines by the word, and the spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise are offered. He shall bear such a glory as shall make the glory of this latter house greater than that of the former. There will be for the alarmed Jews in that great day a complete passage made instantly by divine power through the mount of Olives a standing witness whether or not this prophecy is fulfilled. While the Jews themselves as a whole are hated by the nations, the true-hearted ones are hateful to their own brethren. 109-10. (9-15) Commentary on Zechariah 6:1-8 (Read Zechariah 6:1-8) This vision may represent the ways of Providence in the government of this lower world. The immense system of the church, the mystery of Christ, fills up the gap between verses 14 and 15, which last at once plunges us into the dismal circumstances at the end of the age. Here the LORD exhorted His people to return to their land. God had foretold, that none of the race of Jehoiakim should prosper, sitting on the throne of David, or ruling any more in Israel. Nehemiah rejects the imputation of Sanballat, Thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, There is a king in Judah. He answers, There are no such things done as thou sayest; and thou feignest them out of thine own heart Nehemiah 6:6-8. This is the main question that might be raised. But it would involve prophecy in miserable confusion to assume that these mean the western powers, which at this time will have been totally overthrown by the Lord's judgment, as already explained. Compare the Hebrew servant in Exodus 21:1-36. The Hebrew word in ver. But the doom of the Assyrian will be substantially similar to that of the beast and the false prophet; for if the beast and the false prophet be thrown alive into the lake of fire, the Assyrian will be so a little later. Under Messiah men will go on living and last out the whole millennial reign. Properly therefore do we see the strange sight of the high priest clad in filthy garments. Jeremiah had the same problem I have--he didn't understand it. [Note: Merrill, p. and indeed this crown, and the three rows of flowers in it, were a hieroglyphic or emblem of the threefold office of Christ, whom the high priest represented, kingly, priestly, and prophetic; and so may be fitly signified here by crowns in the plural number; and it is usual with the Jewish writers to speak of three crowns, the crown of the law, the crown of the kingdom, and the crown of the priesthood h; and very probably from the high priest among the Jews wearing crowns it was that the priests among the Heathens had the same ornaments on their heads; and to be crowned was with them the same as to exercise the office of priesthood i, and who was an eminent type of the Messiah, and in this of having crowns put upon his head, as the following words show. This will be "after the glory." Instead of its being as yet a cup of trembling to others, the city must bow under the Lord's righteous dealing with her own misdeeds. More than this; when Christ presented Himself, so far from then accomplishing these words, there was a further sin and a fresh dispersion. (1.) Reflect and Connect. Impossible. Both will be true, and both are predicted in their place. When their true King comes and reigns. "And Jehovah shall be seen over them." Consequently this return could not furnish the complete fulfilment of the divine assurance, though it was no doubt a pledge of it. So because Zechariah speaks of the Branch building the temple, that is why they are looking for their Messiah now, and that's why they anticipate identifying him as the Messiah as he helps them build the temple.But Zechariah is looking a little further beyond the temple that will be built, to the Kingdom Age temple described in Ezekiel, that the Lord Himself shall build. If Messiah speak peace not to Israel only, but to the Gentiles if His rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth, what more consistent with the reign of Jehovah over all the earth? On Zerubbabel no crown was placed. Thus evidently is there another paragraph introducing another order of events, with their accompaniments and effects. differ too; for near forty, and all the versions, give "with him;" and some again follow the Rabbis in understanding "with thee" of Jerusalem. Zechariah being ordered to set the crowns on the head of Joshua, we are not so to regard this, as though Joshua had immediately undertaken the two offices of a king and a priest; for he was satisfied with his own: but the Prophet shows in the type what was to be looked for at the coming of the Messiah; for the time had not yet come, when Christ should receive the royal diadem, as it is said in Ezekiel, , Take away the diadem; set it aside, set it aside, set it aside, until he shall come, whose it is. (Ezekiel 21:26.). Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof. So it isn't, you can't tie those two, really, together. Their reasons for trying to get Zerubbabel into this passage are based upon the false notion that God would re-establish the Davidic monarchy, something God never intended, nor promised, to do. Thus there is a choice of solutions of the particular difficulty in question, which the late Dean of Canterbury was not justified in branding a "means of evading," any more than he is to be followed in the frightful alternative of imputing an inaccurate memory to the evangelist and so compromising the Gospel. In all the acts of his government as a king he prosecutes the intentions of his grace as a priest. "Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of Jehovah: even he shall build the temple of Jehovah; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne." The general beneficence of His reign follows. "Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee." The same spirit which owns God's complacency in what is little will have honour from God in the great day, and none others. Crowns are to be made, and put upon the head of Joshua. It is not that they were not quickened before, nor that they only now first knew real compunction of conscience by the Spirit of God. The condition of the Jews made it no longer a question of accomplishing this great and blessed purpose of His kingdom. They are of the feeling and opinion that the Jewish state has no right to exist until the Messiah comes and builds their temple. Its proper theocratic character is unquestionable, and too distinct from the nature of Christianity to call for argument. Zechariah 6:9-11. "For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty!" 14 And the crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of the LORD. Zechariah was to make an ornate crown out of at least some of the silver and gold that had been donated and to place it on the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest (Zechariah 3:1). 1. Unless the Holy Spirit seize and fill the scene, there never can be an effectual barrier against the return of the evil which we least of all look for, especially of that from which we count ourselves radically delivered. 2. For, while difficulties may first be augmented by drawing attention to the various actors in the scenes who are too often confounded to the injury of the truth, the darkening of enquirers and the strengthening of objectors, the result will be that the different persons and actions of prophecy will in the long run get cleared and settled in the minds of any who examine with care this large and momentous portion of the divine word. It is predicted that the Branch out of Jesse, tribe of Judah, would reign. God would regulate everything with a view to this very people after they had been utterly faithless. 3 There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of. Indeed its method is deeper and more complete, while at the same time it is more precise and orderly than any other in the whole Bible. Zechariah supposes himself addressing Jehovah in these words. Was it better than other brands? Dathe, Maurer, etc. 13. p. 266. On the other hand there is no reference to the operation of the Spirit in the conversion of sinners or the new birth, which is ever set forth under the figure of water. We here see that the Prophet points out a length of time, during which the royal diadem was to be trodden as it were under foot. Vulg. But God will know how to deal with them, especially in the end of the age. In fact, He fills those roles today. "Jehovah of hosts shall defend them; and they shall devour, and subdue with sling stones; and they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine; and they shall be filled like bowls, and as the corners of the altar. It is again (verse 8) said to be wickedness, after the woman was shown sitting in the ephah. "And I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me unto thee. Just as the setting up of the Messiahs kingdom will be marked by the crowning of the Messiah as universal king, so the re-establishment of the nation Israel was marked by the crowning of Joshua. 14) not as their property but in memorial of the crowning of Joshua as the symbolic representative here of the Messiah; just as Zerubbabel was before, and as both together, sons of oil, were inZechariah 4:1-14; Zechariah 4:1-14. His first judgment is on the apostates, whether Jews or Gentiles. When the last Assyrian comes up against the land, he will find the two tribes there; and perhaps on the last occasion (for there are two attacks on the city of Jerusalem in the future) Israel may be there too, as we shall find further on in this prophecy. "For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon the one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith Jehovah of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity [or punishment] of that land in one day.". Babylon's doom therefore would belong to Babylon's sins; and none the less if done in Israel. A. The Prophet is bid to set the two crowns on the head of the high priest. This is their eye, ayinim * in all the land. But a fresh sight presents itself. Joshua was far from being ambitious of a crown, and the people of having a crowned head over them; but the prophet, to the great surprise of both, is ordered to crown Joshua as if he had been a king. Either symbol, of separate crowns "the golden at Rome." So the staff Beauty was broken, the image of the authority of God to carry out this end now. We see the last sample of this stroke in Ezekiel 38:1-23; Ezekiel 39:1-29 before peace flows like a river. "And Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of Jehovah of hosts the holy mountain. We don't know where he was from. I believe that this lies before Greece; but, coming into collision later with Judah, its total overthrow is shown here in a general way. But the day when God is morally testing souls is always a day of small things open to the scorn of him whose heart is not content to serve God. "Smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered; and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones." An empty, swept, or even garnished condition in itself implies no final escape. That the accomplishment of this will be a strong confirmation of the truth of God's word: You shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me unto you. It was the reminder that one day He will sit upon His throne in the temple and reign--the hope for them. Now the promise is. But I see no evidence of this in the passage. Surely it is not the day when they were still exposed to the evil eye and malicious report of their Samaritan and other envious neighbours; but a day of mercy and power flowing from God's grace towards the Jews. [Note: Unger, pp. The occasion of Zechariah 7:1-14; Zechariah 8:1-23 was the fact that certain feasts had been instituted by the Jews in consequence of the captivity. If God uses symbolic language, if there is a basis in other scriptures for the symbolic language, then you can interpret it by the symbolism, as long as you have a constant base. Hence they had recourse to fasts instituted for the purpose of bewailing their sins and imploring mercy before God. There may be other and worse evil: as we have seen, the unclean spirit will come with seven other spirits worse than himself. (1) Berechiah was the son of Iddo, who was therefore Zechariah's grandfather. And the angel answered and said unto me, These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all of the earth. The crowning took place in the house of their friend Josiah, and the crown was later placed in the completed temple in Jerusalem. Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! Isaiah 30:1-33 reveals that the Assyrian is to have Tophet prepared for him as well as for the king the anti-Messiah. Judgment coming on God's flock. The vision first introduced to us the prophet has by night: indeed the same thing applies to the first six chapters where we have a series of visions which the prophet beheld in a single night, and which traverse in that kind of outline the course of God's ways from their setting aside for the time as His people till their restoration to the land with their city and temple under Messiah. They have no authority; they are clearly ignorant in many instances of the most basic truths of Holy Scripture; and they are gullible and pitiful Christians indeed who will allow such godless tampering with the sacred Word. It would seem that the alarm is compared to a flight that occurred during a well-known earthquake in Uzziah's days. This king shall be a priest, a priest upon his throne. He was the bondman of all, so much the more because He was the perfect servant of God. "And they shall be as mighty men, which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle: and they shall fight."*. There is the presence of an angelic communicator and interpreter. "They shall be my people," but they are not. God had foretold, that none of the race of Jehoiakim should prosper, "sitting on the throne of David, or ruling any more in Israel." Now the prophet looks at Jehovah coming with His holy ones not so much here to fight a battle, but His saints coming with Him. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the saints before them, as Noah, Enoch, Abel, are never called the people of God. And they shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more curse; and Jerusalem shall dwell in safety." (1 Corinthians 15:1-58) They at His coming shall enjoy all that God promised Israel of old and down through the line of prophets. Where did he come from? It is not a mere remnant returning from Babylon, but a complete ingathering of the people from every quarter, taking the north and the south more particularly into account, and specifying them here. For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of the land," declares the Lord ; "but behold, I will cause the men to fall, each into another's power and into the power of his king; and they will strike the land, and I will not deliver them from their power." New American Standard Version I may add, the prophets of God helping them. There is no more real difficulty here than in the statue or the four beasts seen to emerge together when the winds strove on the great waters there. And these different spirits go forth and do the bidding of God, not in public but in a providential way, which He makes known to the Jew as a sign of His real care for them. It is absurdly wrong to dislocate verse 7 from verse 6, as if a time wholly different were intended. . No; they must go to the Lord with it all to the very One who is not more surely their Jehovah-Elohim than their pierced Messiah! Jehovah-Messiah is the speaker. From verse 16 we have the regulation of the homage imposed on the residue of those hostile nations during the kingdom. We can understand therefore that the introduction of an angel who speaks, instead of Jehovah in more direct style of address, was by no means without its significance. And the prophet is as ready to tell them the meaning of it. When the redemption was figurative, He dwelt after a visible sort in their midst. It is the complexity of Messiah's crown that is represented here by the plural. The Jews must be scattered instead of Israel being gathered. Zechariah - Chapter 6. They thus take all bodily away where the hidden evil will not be hindered only from working but be finally judged, and this as divinely traced to Babylon, for it had no better source than that beginning of self-will, violence, and pride. One may lament but need not be surprised at such a version as Mr. Leeser's who uses the transition from the first to the third person as a reason for interpolating as well as changing the natural import of the clause. For we must remember that whatever the mischievous and miserable hatred of the Jews against the Messiah, it could have availed nothing unless Jehovah had allowed it for His own mighty purposes; and this He did. Hebr. Not till then will there be the full work in their souls. And ye shall flee to the valley of my mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah." He preached in the same church as C. H. Spurgeon over one hundred years earlier. There is nothing finer in its way than the view it gives of the operation of the Spirit on the conscience, which so isolates the soul that we hear of the husbands apart, and their wives apart. shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces. Jarchi in Exodus 28.36. 13. or henbane; and after describing the herb, and the figure of the buds, cups, or flowers of it, he adds, "like to these is made a crown reaching from the hinder part of the head unto both temples; for the flowers do not encompass the forehead; but there is a golden plate, which has the name of God engraved in sacred letters;'', which seems to disagree with the accounts of other Jewish writers; unless, as Braunius (d) observes, they may be thus reconciled, that the crown was nothing else but the plate that was two fingers broad, and was in length from ear to ear; so that about the temples it was ornamented with three rows of henbane flowers on each side: and these three rows may give occasion for the use of the word in the plural number; and some have called it a triple crown (e); and Popish writers fail not to improve it in favour of the crown their pontiff wears; and Lyra (f) speaks of little crowns or coronets, even in the mitres of the common priests; which (he says) were circles in the lower part of them so called; wherefore the rows of flowers in the high priest's crown, from whence it might be called a flower, might with more propriety bear that name. He was the son of Berekiah and the grandson of Iddo the priest ( Zech 1:1; cf. (1-3) What Zechariah saw. It is a literal fact, I suppose, but highly significant of spiritual blessing at the same time. and ye shall know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you. He cleanses His people morally as well as atones for them. "Take unto thee the instruments of a foolish shepherd. But so thorough and complete would be the change,that holiness pervades things the most common. Commentary on Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67. They are looked at not so much as powers, but in virtue of their unseen animating agents in providence: and this is the reason why we hear of spirits in this place. Commentary on Zechariah 9:9-12. In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem." So that it shows that the order is actually a higher order of priest than was the Levites. Syr. Solerius de Pileo, sect. But in Zechariah 6:11 Zechariah 6:14, "crowns" are directed to be made of them, then to be set on Joshua's head, and to be deposited in the temple as a memorial of the donors, until Messiah shall appear. At the same time the discerning government of God will have its way, for it is said here, "And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried." That there shall be a happy coalition between Jews and Gentiles in the gospel-church, and they shall both meet in Christ, the priest upon his throne, as the centre of their unity (Zechariah 6:15; Zechariah 6:15): Those that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the Lord. And he spake, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but these are come to fray them." . What, lastly, is to hinder Jehovah's cutting off the war-horse from Jerusalem, while the horses employed in peace bear the stamp that their masters are wholly devoted to His name? The Coronation of Joshua; Prediction of the Messiah. We can assume that this . One wonders not that such trifling breeds or provokes rationalism. But on the face of it we have One who proves Himself especially interested in the returned remnant It is evident that the light of His word was afresh vouchsafed in the new circumstances when this might have been judged impossible. I like to deal with the facts, and just stick with the facts. But this is not said, and the silver might have formed a circlet in the crown of gold, as, in modern times, the iron crown of Lombardy, was called iron, because it had "a plate of iron in its summit, being else of gold and most precious" . Gentiles should come and help toward the temple of Jehovah which Messiah is to build (which could not be the one then in course of building, nor surely Herod's); and the Jews are left in this inexpressible solemnity on that hinge of personal responsibility, just indeed but ever fatal to the first man. An unchurched people will soon be an undone people. Commentary on Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30. ], ". The exact contrary Christ did: "but he [the Antichrist sad contrast!] And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God. "Therefore thus saith Jehovah; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith Jehovah of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. In doing what we are sure is God's pleasure, as this was, we may well venture men's displeasure. Zechariah 11, Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible, James Burton Coffman's commentary on the Bible is widely regarded for its thorough analysis of the text and practical application to everyday life. But the Messiah, it was foretold, was to be both priest and king; "a priest after the order of Melchizedec" Psalm 110:4, and a king, set by the Lord "upon His holy hill of Zion" Psalm 2:6. It is only prejudice which compels any one to bring in here the church; for the theme is clearly the kingdom, and embraces the Jews as His people on earth, as the temple is clearly that described in Ezekiel, not the New Testament habitation of God in the Spirit. First Reading. This is an important point to bear in mind, and contributes to make the general outline plain. Some think it alludes to the former government of the Jews' state, wherein the king and priest, separate officers, did take counsel one with another, for the maintenance of peace and prosperity in church and state, as did Zerubbabel and Joshua now. Christ, as a priest, ever lives to make intercession for us; but he does it sitting at his Father's right hand, as one having authority, Hebrews 8:1. 5. If the rending of Olivet was in keeping with the hopeless confusion from which they had to emerge, when all things must be shaken, the dawn of a new and brighter day shines on all from above. So the author of Hebrews said that Jesus is a priest after the order of Melchizedek, which is actually a superior order of priesthood than that of Levi.Now here is the crowing of the priest as king. There will be a special power of Satan let loose at the close of this age, as well as the recurrence of the old idolatrous evil which afflicted the Jews in times past. David Guzik commentary on Zechariah 1 gives an introduction to the Book of Zechariah, and describes the vision of the four horses among the myrtle trees. There is no doubt about the cavalry: whence it comes depends on no theory, but on the accurate and full examination of scripture as to that time. The false allegation that the inspired prophet Zechariah actually installed Zerubbabel as the center of this symbolical action is a denial of his inspiration, and not only that, but a slander making him ignorant of the divine curse against the house of Jeconiah, Zerubbabel's grandfather. And he said, This is wickedness. As we know, neither can keep head against external foes or maintain order in their own dominions: such is their state of prostration or disorganisation. "And I will strengthen them in Jehovah; and they shall walk up and down in his name, saith Jehovah. Now, by this surprising assistance which they had from afar off in building the temple, they might know that Zechariah, who told them of it before, was sent of God, and that therefore his word concerning the man the branch should be fulfilled. There is first of all His title, and then His character, but not the consequences for others, of which unbelief deferred the accomplishment. 638-39.]. Such will be the complete change of the day of Jehovah. Here it is the thorough repentance of those who are the first to own their long and guilty blindness. It is afterwards that He makes Jerusalem a cup of trembling to the nations. The enemy, never fully expelled before, should vanish then. As we talked to you about expositional constancy. Before this shall be established in the kingdom, we see a pledge of it in the two witnesses ofRevelation 11:1-19; Revelation 11:1-19, after the translation of the saints to heaven, when God begins to work anew in the Jewish remnant. Prophecy supposes sin and the necessary judgment of God; but then, thanks be to God, it also holds out before us a great deal more. "And make crowns and set them upon the head of Joshua " Scholars have made quite a problem out of the use of the plural here, affirming that, "It was a crown of silver and gold";[18] "The crown is singular, though the noun is plural";[19] "It signifies the two metals of which the crown was made";[20] The original indicates one splendid crown made up of several circlets, for it was intended for the head of Joshua alone. But the faith that sustains, spite of weakness and contumely, does look onward to the day of great things, when Jehovah-Messiah shall be the full and ultimate accomplisher of the purposes of God. We need to be bathed in water and to wash our feet also day by day. Thus the western powers will be completely crushed by the Lord coming in judgment from heaven. Zec 11:15-17. It is not only the future justification of Israel: it is not only that there is a foundation stone of the perfect government of God exhibited; but further we find now the manner in which Jehovah will give a suitable display of the Spirit's power in the day that is coming. Then we find the gold and silver and the brass and iron not all changed into iron, but each with a representative, not excepting even Babylon, although the Roman only retain among them imperial power. There it was displayed as a memorial to those who gave it and as a symbolic guarantee of greater things to come (14-15). "Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy companions that sit before thee: for they are men of a sign or portent [that is, representative men]: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH." The man of sin will have been sitting as God in the temple of God, who will not have the iniquity passed lightly over; neither on the other hand will He turn His back after His appearing till the evil is judged thoroughly, and He can reign in righteousness over them. They will have been converted before; but this brings them by self-judgment in all that dishonoured and grieved Him into the communion of His mind and love. These divisions are not inspired. The crowns were delivered to those who found the materials (and some think their names were engraven on the crowns), to be preserved as a public testimony of their pious liberality and an encouragement to others in like manner to bring presents to the house of God. Silver is a metal that is symbolic of redemption. This is of much importance. But in the midst of that seven-year period, he'll break the covenant and set up the abomination which causes desolation.The temple is to be rebuilt, I feel, very soon. The visions ended and Zechariah awoke from his dream-like state. They were thenceforward to be Lo-ammi (Not-my-people). And it shall come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.". The opening vision gives no more than a broad panoramic picture or the outline from first to last what was even then true but at the same time what would go down to the close when the judgment of these horns should have been finally executed. The closest relationship is as nothing in presence of sin and God as its judge. When it had been commanded them in the name of Jehovah of hosts to turn unto Him who would turn unto them, they had not done so; and now the children are exhorted not to be as their fathers to whom the former prophets had cried in vain. Zerubbabel and Joshua, this prince and this priest, were endued with the gifts and graces of God's Spirit. But vengeance belongs to God, and instruments of it are next seen. . We see how repeated is the testimony to this inestimable privilege of Zion, as indeed it goes out to all mankind. Thus the unreadiness morally of the Jews for the Messiah made it impossible to gather the peoples. Because they don't want any part of the Jewish state. "And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with costly [not merely change of] raiment." They are the instrumentality God will use to overthrow the powers that He was pleased to raise up in His sovereignty for the chastening of Israel. We have already had the bright side; we have just seen in the flying roll the solemn testimony of God, that the evil which was then among the Jews would work out its worst results. Thus their state is outwardly deplorable. They lived at the same time, and both were instruments in the work and service of God. This then was the ground on which the Jews stood for the present. Finally, Zechariah 14:1-21 shows us how all this is brought out. The act of placing the crown on the head of Joshua the high priest, pictured not only the union of the offices of priest and king in the person of Christ, but that He should be King, being first our High Priest. Then comes another development far more awful and of endless moment. Men will be actually commanded and ordered at the force of death, to worship the beast and his image. "And the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of Jehovah before them. One letter makes all the difference. 54, nor the Parthian surprise B.C. It is the name Jesus. 199, when Scopus the Egyptian general took it once more, nor the following year when it yielded to Antiochus, nor even when it was pillaged B.C. When a man was suspected of crime, it was the common habit to take for granted that he was guilty till he had cleared himself. 6. "Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to-day do I declare that I will render double unto thee; when I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man." THE SYMBOLIC CROWNING OF Joshua 6:9-15. *One can hardly regard as certain the reading at the end of this verse, that of the Keri being apparently the best and well supported, especially if we give weight to the ancient versions. In the former prophet there was no doubt a divine intention in the allusion to the era measured by Darius's reign: not only is this kept up in Zechariah, but we have the general relation of the powers in a measure analogous to Daniel, but having its own special character and design as with all scripture. What lay at the bottom? Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, [it is the peoples again, not of course the Jews,] when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and Jerusalem. To resolve such a carefully put geographical statement into a poetical figure, and to extract from it no more than the disciples fleeing to Pella, as Eusebius tells us, in the breaking out of the Jewish war with Rome, is to run the risk of reducing the prophets to the rank of bombastic dreamers. Although God put before the people His purpose of grace He did not for the present take them out of government proceeding on the ground of their own responsibility. Hence there will be no such changes as men have known through light and darkness following each other, but it shall be one day which shall be known to Jehovah not day succeeding night, "but it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light." Genesis 22:11-18, Exodus 3:2-9, Judges 2:1-4, and many other places). The rejection of the King postponed the complete fulfilment. Translators and commentators differ widely. When God's temple is to be built he can fetch in those that are afar off and employ them in the building of it. As Barnes summed it up: "I lifted up mine eyes again, and looked, and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand. "Behold, the day of Jehovah cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. Cele Hamikdash, c. 9. sect. But further still, this might be said to be when the nation was grown up into a maturity of greatness. But if I were a Jew, and someone would say to me, "Well, Jesus is our great High Priest," I would say, "How can Jesus be the great High Priest when He is from the tribe of Judah? With the majesty and power of a king, he shall have the tenderness and simplicity of a priest, who, being taken from among men, is ordained for men, and can have compassion on the ignorant,Hebrews 5:1; Hebrews 5:2. No man can slight this without positive loss. "[21] We believe this latter opinion to be true. But our Lord let them know in His own day, though they were so self-complacent on this head, that as surely as there then was a swept and empty and garnished state, the unclean spirit would in the end return, and this with seven spirits worse than himself, and thus the last state should be worse than the first. It is not indeed the deeper calling we know now by the Spirit according to the once hidden counsels of God, who unites us to Christ in heaven and for heaven. We have had the double curse; but there is a figure appended which shows that God traced the iniquity to its source; and a very important principle this is in God's judgment. They will play the part of Phinehas now in indignation at what dishonours the Lord. They will be in circumstances of danger and difficulty until the Lord has won the final victory for them. Some understand it of the Jews that were now afar off in Babylon, that staid behind in captivity, to the great discouragement of their brethren that had returned, who wanted their help in building the temple. So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. That great event will be when the Lord appears in glory. Certainly if He has called us as Christians to overcome evil with good, He acts upon it Himself: whether in government or in grace, God is supremely above evil; and this is the one resource and unfailing comfort of faith. This is explicit, as if to cut off all possibility of evasion on the plea of previous figurative language. A glory as shall make the general outline plain especially in the work and service of God to carry this... Woman was shown sitting in the end of the Lord reveals that the Assyrian is to have prepared. 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