THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ZECHARIAH
Lesson 5: Chapters 12-14
Part II: Prophesies that Point to the Messianic Age
Holy and Eternal Father,
Your prophecies of the end times remain shrouded in
mystery, and we may not fully understand them until those events are unfolding
in real time in the history of humanity. It is not so much the understanding
as it is the preparation for those times that is important to us in each
generation that moves closer to "that Day." Give us the strength of the
obedience of faith to keep our souls ready for our individual judgment day when
we come to the end of our earthly journeys. Also, give us the wisdom to teach
our children the truth of the Gospel of salvation, so they will be able to
teach their children. We do not know if Your Final Day of Judgment will arrive
in our lifetimes or the lifetimes of future generations, but we do know it will
come. Give Your holy Church the guidance she needs to prepare Your holy people
for that Day! We pray in the name of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
+ + +
It is in
discovering the greatness of God's love that our heart is shaken by the horror
and weight of sin and begins to fear offending God by sin and being separated
from him. The human heart is converted by looking upon him whom our sins have
pierced (cf. Jn 19:37; Zech 12:10).
Catechism of the
Catholic Church, 1432
The good
shepherd who gives his life for his sheep [...] is struck down by the will of the
Father, and the Man who said, "the Father is in me and I am in the Father" (Jn 10:38; 14:11), is united with God. He is nailed to the cross, and says:
"Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit!" (Lk 23:46). At that moment, the
whole flock of those who believed in Christ was scattered [...]. When the little
ones have been tested, the ones whom the Lord has guided and tended with his
hand, and when the whole multitude of nations has answered the call to believe
in him, then the whole company of believers will call Christ by his name: to
him who said, "They are my people, they will respond, The Lord is my God."
St. Jerome, Commentarii
in Zachariam, 13.7-9
Zechariah 12:1-14:21 is the second section of Part II of the Book of Zechariah. Like section I, it begins with the Hebrew word massa, that means "burden" but translated as "proclamation" or "oracle" in Zechariah 9:1 and 12:1. Although the word massa frequently appears elsewhere in the Old Testament associated with carrying a burden (e.g., Ex 23:5) or being a burden (e.g., Job 7:20), it only appears three times related to the word of Yahweh in Zechariah 9:1, 12:1, and Malachi 1:1.
The prophecies in the Oracle in Part I find fulfillment historically in the Greek invasion of Alexander the Great that results in the defeat of the Persian Empire, the cruel rule of the Syrian Greeks over Judah, and the resulting Maccabean revolt. At the end of Part I in Chapter 11:4-17, the Oracle returns to Zechariah's time and the command for him to condemn the false shepherds of Judah and consign them to God's judgment. Our lesson addresses the second great Oracle in Zechariah Part II. Like Part I, this part of the Book of Zechariah provides the historical countdown to the coming of the promised Davidic Messiah, His rejection and death, His glorious return at the end of the Age, and the promise of a permanent restoration of Jerusalem and God's holy people in a new and eternal creation event.
In Part II Chapters 12-14, the words "when that day comes," or "in that day" in Hebrew introduces each of the prophecies in this section, and the entire collection of prophesies concludes with the same phrase which occurs seventeen times in 12:3-14:21 and seven times in Chapter 14 (12:3, 4, 6, 8 twice, 9, 11; 13:1, 2, 4; 14:4, 6, 8, 9, 13, 20 and 21). The phrase refers to the day in which God acts definitively in human history to give His people victory over evil. In that day, God's covenant people will:
Zechariah 12:1-6 ~ The Deliverance of and Restoration of Jerusalem
1 A
proclamation [massa]. 2b The
word of Yahweh about Israel (and also about Judah). Yahweh, who spread out the
heaven and founded the earth and formed the human spirit within, declares: 2a "Look, I shall make Jerusalem a cup to
set all the surrounding peoples reeling. (That will be at the time of the
siege of Jerusalem). 3 When
that day comes [in that day], I shall make Jerusalem a stone too heavy for all
the peoples to lift; all those who try to lift it will hurt themselves
severely, although all the nations of the world will be massed against her. 4 When that day comes [in that day],
declares Yahweh, I shall strike all the horses with panic and their riders with
madness. And I shall strike all the peoples with blindness. (But I shall keep
watch over Judah.) 5 Then
the rulers of Judah will say to themselves, The strength of the inhabitants of
Jerusalem lies in Yahweh Sabaoth their God.' 6 When that day comes [in that day], I shall make the
rulers of Judah like a brazier burning in a pile of wood, like a torch flaming
in a sheaf; and they will devour all the peoples round them to right and left.
And Jerusalem will be full of people as before, where she stands (in
Jerusalem). [...] = Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English, vol. III, page 2174.
1 A
proclamation [massa].
The word massa (burden) serves to divide the two
sections of Zechariah Part II (see Zec 9:1 and Mal 1:1). However, the three
formulaic introductions where this word appears each vary slightly from the
others:
2b
The word of Yahweh about Israel (and also about Judah).
The reference to Israel is somewhat surprising since the
rest of Chapter 12 and the next two chapters only concern Judah and Jerusalem
while Chapters 9-11 referred explicitly to "Israel." Nowhere else in Chapters
12-14 mentions Israel except this one verse. Therefore, the use of "Israel," in
this verse likely means:
Yahweh, who spread out the heaven and founded the
earth and formed the human spirit within
Heaven and earth express the totality of the creation
event that climaxes with the creation of human beings in Genesis chapter 1
(also see similar language in Isaiah 45:5). The expression referring to the
creation event in this way at the beginning of the Oracle accomplishes several
things:
2a "Look,
I shall make Jerusalem a cup to set all the surrounding peoples reeling. (That
will be at the time of the siege of Jerusalem).
This is the first of 11 mentions of Jerusalem in verses
2-11; only verse 4 is missing the name of the Holy City. Jerusalem is God's
choice, among all the places on earth, as a "dwelling place for His Name" (Dt 12:11;
1 Kng 11:13, 36; 2 Kng 21:7; 2 Chron 6:6) and the focus of what is
central to God's divine plan for the future. The "cup of reeling" in Hebrew is
sap-ra'al. Sap can refer to a small container, vessel, basin or
a threshold; therefore, the phrase can also be translated as "threshold of
reeling." The use of "cup" suggests the covenant judgment of drinking from the
"cup of Yahweh's wrath" on a day of divine judgment. Also see the imagery of
Yahweh's "cup of wrath" in Psalm 75:8; Isaiah 51:17;
Jeremiah 13:13; 25:15-18;
48:26; 49:12; 51:7; Lam 4:21; Ez 23:32-34; Obadiah 16 and Habakkuk 2:15-16.
Drinking the cup of God's wrath is one of the judgment images of the prophets;
see the chart on the "Symbolic Images of the Old Covenant Prophets."
3 When that
day comes [in that day], I shall make Jerusalem a stone too heavy for all the
peoples to lift; all those who try to lift it will hurt themselves severely,
although all the nations of the world will be massed against her. 4 When that day comes [in that day],
declares Yahweh, I shall strike all the horses with panic and their riders with
madness. And I shall strike all the peoples with blindness. (But I shall keep
watch over Judah.)
The formula "When that day comes" (or
"in that day") appears 17 times in Chapters 12-14 (12:3, 4, 6, 8 twice, 9, 11;
13:1, 2, 4;
14:4, 6, 8, 9, 13, 20 and 21). The phrase suggests the
culminating day of Yahweh's victory as Divine Warrior, winning His final triumph
over evil. Verses 3-9 describe a purging of Jerusalem and the city's
conflict with the surrounding nations and also with Judah. Verse 3 recalls the
prophet Daniel's stone not cut by human hands in the day when the God of
heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and this kingdom
will not pass into the hands of another race: it will shatter and absorb all
the previous kingdoms and itself last forever, just as you saw a stone,
untouched by hand, break away from the mountain and reduce iron, bronze
earthenware, silver and gold to power in the Messianic Age (Dan 2:44-45).
Yahweh's chosen city of Jerusalem becomes a "stone too heavy for all the peoples" on the "day of Yahweh." The focus is on the election of Jerusalem and the eternal covenant with the House of David (2 Sam 7:16) in establishing the Messianic Age. Jerusalem will be surrounded by enemies, but God will "keep watch over Judah."
Zechariah 12:7-14 ~ The Restoration of the House of David
7 Yahweh
will first save the tents of Judah, so that the glory of the House of David and
the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not increase at Judah's expense. 8 When that day comes [in that day],
Yahweh will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and the frailest of them will
be like David when that day comes [in that day], and the House of David will be
like God, like the angel of Yahweh, at their head. 9 When that day comes [in that day], I
shall set about destroying all the nations who advance against Jerusalem. 10 But over the House of David and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, I shall pour out a spirit of grace and prayer, and
they will look to me. They will mourn for the one whom
they have pierced as though for an only child, and weep for him as people weep
for a first-born child. 11 When that day comes [in that day], the
mounting in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad Rimmon in the
Plain of Megiddo. 12 And the country will mourn clan by clan: The clan of
the House of David by itself, and their women by themselves; the clan of the
House of Nathan by itself, and their women by themselves; 13 the clan of the House of Levi by
itself, and their women by themselves; the clan of the House of Shimel by
itself, and their women by themselves; 14 all
the rest of the clans, every clan by itself, and their women by themselves."
[...] IBHE, vol. III, page 2175.
Verse 7 is the first mention of the "House of David." Chapters 12 and 13 repeats King David's name 6 times (12:7, 8 twice, 10, 12; 13:1) and "House of David 5 times (12:7, 8, 10, 12, 13:1). The repetition of David' name and specifically "House of David" are to remind the reader that the eternal covenant God made with David and his descendants is still in effect and will come to fulfillment in the return of the Davidic Messiah. Yahweh promised David and the Scriptures continually repeated that the Messianic Redeemer-Messiah would come from the "House of David" to shepherd God's people and rule an eternal kingdom ( 2 Sam 7:16; 23:5; 1 Kng 2:45; 2 Chron 13:5; Ps 89:3-5; Sir 45:25; 47:11/13; 2:45; Is 11:1-5; Jer 23:5-6; 33:14-16; Ez 34:23-24).
Verses 8-9 describe a great battle of nations that will gather before Jerusalem. When the Romans conquered Judah in 63 BC, their army had soldiers from every part of the Roman Empire, representing many nations. They surrounded Jerusalem and took the city after a great battle. Ninety-three years later, in AD 30, the Roman governor Pontius Pilate reluctantly pronounced a death sentence over Jesus of Nazareth who gave up His life on a Roman cross. "In that day," those in Jerusalem who believed Jesus was the promised Davidic Messiah mourned for the man pierced by a Roman spear as a fountain of blood and water flowed from His side.
Question: What connection did the Gospel of John
make concerning Jesus death and Zechariah' prophecy in 12:10?
See Jn 19:33-37?
Answer: St. John quoted from Zechariah 12:10 as a
fulfillment statement concerning the event when a Roman soldier's spear pierced
the side of Christ in John 19:37.
The Church has always seen the piercing of Jesus' chest and the flow of blood and water from His side as a fulfillment of God's promise to pour out a spirit of grace and prayer upon the world. "The Church is born primarily of Christ's total self-giving for our salvation, anticipated in the institution of the Eucharist and fulfilled on the cross. The origin and growth of the Church are symbolized by the blood and water which flowed from the open side of the crucified Jesus' For it was from the side of Christ as he slept the sleep of death upon the cross that there came forth the wondrous sacrament of the whole Church' As Eve was formed from the sleeping Adam's side, so the Church was born from the pierced heart of Christ hanging dead on the cross" (CCC 766).
Zechariah's prophecy is that the Messianic Age depends on the passion and mysterious death of a son of Judah. Those hearing Zechariah's prophecy would have thought of the fate of Isaiah Suffering Servant (Is 52:13-53:12).
10 But over the House of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
I shall pour out a spirit of grace and prayer, and they will look to me. They will mourn for the one [look on me]
whom they have pierced [and shall mourn for him] as though for an only child, and weep for him as people weep for
a first-born child. […] = Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English, vol. III, page 2175.
The reading of "me," 'elay, first-person singular, is supported in all the major ancient manuscripts of this passage,
the Jewish Massoretic text, and in the Greek Septuagint translation. Most modern translations do not support this reading because
it seems to contradict the third-person references to the "pirced one" that follow this verse and the quotes in
John 19:37 and Revelation 1:7, where this text is quoted using a third-person translation.
The Church Fathers interpreted the first-person reading as referring prophetically to God the Son, Jesus Christ, speaking of Himself.
11 When
that day comes [in that day], the mounting in Jerusalem will be as great as the
mourning for Hadad Rimmon in the Plain of Megiddo.
When they mourn for the one whom they have pierced as
though for an only child, and weep for him as people weep for a first-born
child, the lamentations will be as great as the day when King Josiah died.
The covenant people regarded Josiah as one of Judah's greatest Davidic kings
because of his remarkable desire for religious reform (2 Kng 23:25). He was
mortally wounded on the battlefield at Megiddo in an attempt to prevent
Egyptian assistance from reaching the Assyrians in their war with the
Babylonians. The Plain of Megiddo was part of the Plain of Esdraelon where it
spreads out to the north of Megiddo between Mount Carmel and Mount Gilboa in
northern Israel near the coast. In the Book of Revelation, a place called the Mount
of Megiddo, Armageddon, is the apocalyptic image of where the struggle between
good and evil will take place (Rev 16:16; 20:7; also see Zec 14:1-2).1
12 And the
country will mourn clan by clan: The clan of the House of David by itself, and
their women by themselves; the clan of the House of Nathan by itself, and their
women by themselves; 13 the
clan of the House of Levi by itself, and their women by themselves; the clan of
the House of Shimel by itself, and their women by themselves; 14 all the rest of the clans, every clan
by itself, and their women by themselves."
Nathan was a son of King David and the ancestor of Jesus
in St. Luke's genealogy that is believed to be the Virgin Mary's lineage (2 Sam 5:14; Lk 3:31). The House of Levi refers to the chief priests and Levitical
ministers, but the House of Shimel should probably read "House of Shimei," a
clan of Levitical ministers who were descendants of Gershon son of Levi (Ex 6:17; Num 3:21) and a clan of Levi in the way "House of Nathan" was a clan of
David. It is unclear why these clans are singled out other than the mention of
the House of David and Nathan sets the reader up for the next verse in 13:1.
Zechariah 13:1-6 ~ Purification of Sin Through the
House of David and the End of False Prophecy
1"When
that day comes [in that day], a fountain will be opened for the House of
David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to wash sin and impurity away. 2 When that day comes," Yahweh declares,
"I shall cut off the names of the idols from the country, and they will never
be remembered again; I shall also rid the country of the prophets, and of the
spirit of impurity. 3 Then,
if anyone still goes on prophesying, his parents, his own father and mother
will say to him, You shall not live, since you utter lies in Yahweh's name.'
And even while he is prophesying, his parents, his own father and mother will
pierce him through. 4
When that day comes, the prophets will all be ashamed to
relate their visions when they prophesy and no longer put on their hair cloaks
with intent to deceive. 5 Instead,
they will say, I am no prophet. I am a man who tills the soil, for the land has
been my living since I was a boy.' 6 And
if anyone asks him, What are these gashes on your chest?' He will reply, I
got them when I was with my friends.'" [...] IBHE, vol. III, pafe 2176.
The "fountain" is the first of two references in Zechariah to the river of God that flows from the Jerusalem Temple to cleanse the people; also see Zechariah 14:8 where God promised living waters would pour forth from Jerusalem in the Messianic Age (for other references see Ps 46:4; Ez 47:1-12; Joel 3:18 and Rev 22:1-2). In John 4:14 and 7:37-38, Jesus compares Himself to this life-giving flowing stream:
This same imagery appears in the Book of Revelation when a "river of life" flows from the throne of God and the Lamb in the eternal Jerusalem (Rev 22:1-2).
The purifying blood and water of Baptism and the Eucharist, flowing from Jesus' pierced heart, will wash away the sins of humanity (Jn 19:34). And it is the outpouring of God's Spirit on the Feast Pentecost (Acts 2) that will baptize all who believe in Christ in the sanctifying waters of the New Covenant, forgiving all their sins to inaugurate a New Covenant people of God. The Davidic Messiah will be their shepherd-prince forever in a covenant of peace that is an everlasting covenant (Jer 32:40; 50:5; Ez 37:24-28; 2 Pt 1:11).
Verse 13:2 refers to false prophets. On the day God pours forth His spiritual fountain from the Davidic Messiah, all idols and all false prophets become discredited. The people and even their parents will reject them. They will be ashamed of the self-inflicted wounds that identified them as "prophets" (1 Kng 18:28) that were meant to impress people by allowing them to reach a false state of ecstasy in their prophecies (verses 2-6).
4 When
that day comes [in that day], the prophets will all be ashamed to relate their
visions when they prophesy and no longer put on their hair cloaks with intent
to deceive.
Hairy garments were a sign of a prophet. Both Elijah and
John the Baptist wore hairy garments (2 Kng 1:8; Mt 3:4; Mk 1:6). False
prophets continued to be a problem in Zechariah's post-exile period and also in
the future; Jesus and St. Paul will condemn their activities (Mt 24:4-5, 11,
23-24; 2 Thess 2:2-4).
Zechariah 13:7-9 ~ Invocation to the Sword That Struck
Down God's Shepherd
7 "Awake,
sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me, declares Yahweh
Sabaoth! Strike the shepherd, scatter the sheep! And I shall turn my hand
against the young! 8 So it
will be, throughout the country, declares Yahweh Sabaoth, two-thirds in it will
be cut off (be killed) and the other third will be left. 9 I shall pass this third through the
fire, refine them as silver is refined, test them as gold is tested. He will
call on my name, and I shall answer him; I shall say, He is my people,' and he
will say, Yahweh is my God!'"
13:7-9 is a continuation of 11:15-17 that was a condemnation of the "good for nothing shepherd" of Zechariah's time. Instead, Yahweh will send "My shepherd." There are several interpretations of the individual identified as God's man:
The third option is most likely the reference since Yahweh's shepherd will be rejected and struck down by the people in verse 7b. This individual, in his rejection and suffering, opens the way for the purification and ultimate salvation of the people (see Mt 26:31; Mk 14:27).
Jesus quoted verse 7a before His arrest in Matthew 26:31 and Mark 14:27. After the Last Supper, as Jesus and the disciples left for the Mount of Olives, He gave His disciples a warning, quoting from Zechariah 13:7, applying the scattering of the sheep to the dispersal of His Apostles and disciples (the bold is to emphasize the quote from Zechariah 13:7):
The fulfillment of the first part of the prophecy in Zechariah 13:7-9 is at the Garden of Gethsemane and later at Jesus' crucifixion when the guards came with swords to arrest Jesus, and the disciples abandoned Jesus and "scattered like sheep." But the fulfillment of the second part of the prophecy took place after the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ at Pentecost. Jesus' disciples were "passed through the fire" of fear and suffering. They emerged strengthen by their experience to be able, after Pentecost to be united to each other as One Body in Christ by the purifying "fire" of the Holy Spirit, to call on the Lord Jesus as their God (Jn 20:28), and to be called in turn God's "(covenant) people" (Zec 13:9c).
Zechariah 13:7 can also apply to Jesus' judgment
on the people of Jerusalem for rejecting Him in Matthew 23:37-24:25 and the
fulfillment of those prophecies of judgment.
Question: What prophecies does Jesus give concerning the future
of Jerusalem in those verses?
Answer:
8 So it
will be, throughout the country, declares Yahweh Sabaoth, two-thirds in it will
be cut off (be killed) and the other third will be left. 9 I shall pass this third through the
fire, refine them as silver is refined, test them as gold is tested. He will
call on my name, and I shall answer him; I shall say, He is my people,' and he
will say, Yahweh is my God!'"
The typological dispersion of the Jews occurred in AD 70 when the
Romans suppressed the Jewish Revolt that began in AD 66 by destroying Jerusalem
and the Temple and sending nearly a million Jewish survivors as slaves through
the Roman Empire. In his book, The Jewish War, first-century-AD
priest-historian, Flavius Josephus, who witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem
and the Temple wrote that the Romans killed one-third of the population of
Judah, sold one-third into slavery, and a third survived. Many of these scattered
Old Covenant "sheep" sent into the "fields" of nations across the Roman Empire
would convert to Christianity and gathered in Jesus' New Covenant Kingdom of
the Church. In the Book of Revelation, St. John receives oracles and visions
concerning destruction in thirds (Rev 8:7-9:18).
Chapter 14
Chapter 14:1-21 is the last prophecy in the apocalypse of Zechariah. It foretells the cosmic events produced in the second advent of the Davidic Messiah. When He returns, time becomes unified in one continuous day, and the earth is transformed in its leveling of the Holy Land and abolishing the occasions for and memory of idolatry and divination (stars and seasons, Gehenna and Tophet, Mount of Scandal, etc.). Also, there will be a unifying of religion to believe in the One God who will be "all in all." Verses 1-5 describe the end times battle continued in verses 12-15. Between these passages is a description of the new order in the new Age that is unending.
Zechariah 14:1-5 ~ The Eschatological (End Times)
Battle
1 Look,
the Day of Yahweh is coming, when the spoils taken from you will be shared out
among you. 2 For I shall
gather all [the] nations to Jerusalem for battle. The city will be taken, the
houses plundered, the women ravished. Half the city will go into exile, but
the rest of the people will not be ejected from the city. 3 Then Yahweh will sally out and fight
those nations as once he fought on the day of battle. 4 When that day comes [in that day], his
feet will rest on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east, and
the Mount of Olives will be split in half from east to west, forming a huge
valley; half the Mount will recede northwards, the other half southwards. 5 The valley between the hills will be
filled in, yes, it will be blocked as far as Jasol, it will be filled in as it
was by the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. And Yahweh my God
will come, and all the holy ones with him.
[...] IBHE, vol. III, page 2177.
The "Day of Yahweh" is a day of divine judgment for the nations that surround Jerusalem with their armies. The Book of Revelation Chapters 16-19 describes the same event in a battle near Megiddo called the Battle of Armageddon (mount Megiddo) when the Christ will arrive to defeat the forces aligned with the Antichrist to restore the Davidic line and establish the new Kingdom of God on earth.1
Question: What three acts of violence will the
attackers inflict on the citizens of Jerusalem?
Answer: The capture of the city, the houses
looted, and the women sexually abused.
At first, the foreign nations will seem victorious. The city will be captured, plundered, and women sexually assaulted, common tactics of terror rooted in the dynamics of ancient warfare. The phrase "all the nations" is the first of four times it appears in this chapter, highlighting the universal extent of Zechariah 14 that will end in a dramatic change in the status of "all the nations" in verse 16 (see Zec 14:2, 12, 16, 19).
The language recalls the historical events in 587/6 BC when the Babylonians captured Jerusalem and repeated in AD 70 when the Romans conquered the city as Jesus foretold in His Olivet Discourse in Matthew Chapter 24. The image of this verse of Jerusalem being divided up as spoil, along with the first word of the next verse, "I will gather" anticipates the ultimate resolution of Jerusalem's fate. The perpetrators of Jerusalem's destruction (the Romans?) will themselves become despoiled with their possessions "gathered" in Jerusalem (verse 14). The status of the holy city among the nations will be reversed because of Yahweh's intervention
Half the city will go into exile, but the rest of the
people will not be ejected from the city.
The fifty-fifty division of the citizens with half exiled
and a half left behind conflicts with the description at the end of the chapter
where the prophet foretells a threefold division: one part perishes, one part
exiled, and one part remaining. Instead of a discrepancy, this is more likely
the description of two different events where Jerusalem became the prize of a
foreign army: the Romans in AD 70 and the eschatological battle at the end of
time. However, Zechariah's prophecy for Jerusalem seems to point to a devastation
of Jerusalem that will precede the return of Yahweh in Glory on the final Day
of Divine Judgment.
3 Then
Yahweh will sally out and fight those nations as once he fought on the day of
battle. 4 When that day
comes [in that day], his feet will rest on the Mount of Olives, which faces
Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives will be split in half from east
to west, forming a huge valley; half the Mount will recede northwards, the
other half southwards.
Zechariah records the Divine Warrior will intervene,
arriving to touch down on the Mount of Olives (Verses 3-4). The result is a
major seismic event forming an extraordinary rift that emerges as the weight of
the feet of Yahweh touching down will split the Mount of Olives in half with
one divine foot on each side of the rift. The newly created valley will allow
for Yahweh's people to escape. This rift is not the existing Kidron Valley
that is parallel to the Mount of Olives since the Kidron turns eastward just
south of Jerusalem and extends as far as the Dead Sea. Directly across from
the Mount of Olives are the walls of Jerusalem. The gate in the wall by which
Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm/Passion Sunday was closed off with stones by
the Muslims sometime after they conquered the city in the 7th
century AD to prevent the Christian Messiah from reentering the city and
fulfilling the prophecies in Zechariah and Acts Chapter 1. The entrance to the
Eastern Gate remains closed, but will not stop the return of the Messiah, the
great earthquake and the resulting rift will announce the coming of Yahweh the
Divine Warrior!
The only mention of the Mount of Olives in the Old Testament is in Zechariah 14:4 and 2 Samuel 15:30 when David escaped from Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives, weeping as his rebellious and ungrateful son entered Jerusalem. However, the "hill east of Jerusalem," where the Mount of Olive stands is where King Solomon constructed pagan shrines for his foreign wives (1 Kng 11:7-8; cf. 2 Kng 23:13), and it is probably the same location as the site of the sacrifice and burning of the Red Heifer (Num 19:1-22). The ashes of the Red Heifer were the essential ingredient in the purifying water used to cleanse persons and objects defiled by human death. In the New Testament, the greater power of Christ's blood that cleanses every believer in Christ of dead works (Heb 9:13-14) surpasses the Old Covenant ritual purifications. The ritual of the Red Heifer and other New Testament events all point to prophecies of judgment associated with this mountain.
Zechariah Lesson 4 listed passages in the New Testament that
were associated with the Mount of Olives and Jesus' ministry. However, during
Jesus' ministry, passages referring to the Mount of Olives are often associated
with judgment. What are some examples of judgment? Take into consideration
that the town of Bethany and the Garden of Gethsemane were on the Mount of
Olives. See
Mt 21:17-19;
Mk 11:12-14, 20-24;
Mt 24:1-44;
Mk 13:5-13;
Lk 21:5-19;
Mt 26:6, 14-16; 30-42, 47-50;
Mk 14:3, 10-11, 32-45;
Lk 22:40-47;
Jn 18:1-3.
Answer:
The Mount of Olives forms a ridge running north and south for about 2 miles (3 km) across the Kidron Valley east of Mount Moriah and Jerusalem. Zechariah 14:4 predicts in the eschatological future (end times) that Israel's enemies will launch a final battle against Jerusalem that will end with the return of the Divine Messiah to fight for His city. His feet will touch the Mount of Olives and cause a split in the mountain that will run from east to west. This divide will form a valley and an avenue of escape for the people of Jerusalem from their enemies (verse 5).
5 The
valley between the hills will be filled in, yes, it will be blocked as far as
Jasol, it will be filled in as it was by the earthquake in the days of Uzziah
king of Judah. And Yahweh my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.
Jasol is the rendering in the Greek Septuagint that is
Azal in Hebrew and possibly means "very near," suggesting the way of escape
will be made easy. Or, if it is a place name, it may refer to some place near
the western extreme of the valley, the limit to which the ravine of the Mount
of Olives will extend. The prophet Amos mentions an earthquake during the reign
of King Uzziah (Amos 1:1), and Isaiah 6:4 may allude to the same event.
Earthquakes are frequent occurrences in the region which lies along the great
Rift Valley extending from the upper Jordan River down to the Gulf of Eilat and
along East Africa.
There are six earthquakes recorded in Scripture:
Details about the events immediately preceding the final great battle in the Book of Revelation include:
Only then will the forces of evil, the Antichrist leading the rulers of the whole world, and the Messiah, the rider on the white horse (Rev 19:11-14) meet for battle at Armageddon, mentioned for the first and only time in the Bible. These events are examples that support the Biblical testimony that all natural phenomena (earthquakes, wind, storms, rain, hail, celestial events, etc. are under divine control and are part of God's sovereignty in ruling the world in righteousness.
The coming of Yahweh with "all the holy ones with him" in Zechariah 14:5b suggests divine warfare and has elements of St. Paul's prophecy in 2 Thessalonians 4:16 and events in the Book of Revelation. Paul describes the Lord returning with a full complement of saints and angels, and in the Book of Revelation, "The Word of God" and the armies of heaven, wearing fine linen, white and pure, come to defeat evil in the final battle (Rev 19:11-16, 19-20:3). The Book of Revelation agrees with Zechariah that the final battle will be in Jerusalem and not at Armageddon. The Battle of Armageddon will be the first phase of the final conflict.2 The second, final battle will take place in Jerusalem.
Zechariah 14:6-11 ~ The Events on the Day of Yahweh's Judgment
6 That Day
[in that day], there will be no light, but only cold and frost. 7 And it will be one continuous day,
Yahweh knows, there will be no more day and night, and it will remain light
right into the time of evening. 8 When
that Day comes [in that day], living waters will issue from Jerusalem, half
towards the eastern sea, half towards the western sea; they will flow summer
and winter. 9 Then Yahweh
will become king of the whole world. When that Day comes [in that day], Yahweh
will be the one and only and his name the one name. 10 The entire country will be
transformed into a plain, from Bega to Rimmon in the Negeb, but Jerusalem will
stand high in her place and be full of people from the Benjamin Gate to
the site of the earlier gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel
to the king's winepresses. 11 People
will make their homes there. The curse of destruction will be lifted;
Jerusalem will be safe to live in. [...] IBHE, vol. III, page 2177-78.
In 14:6-7, the sun displaced by the glory of God recalls the same imagery in Isaiah 24:23; 60:19-20 and Revelation 22:5. The eternally flowing "living waters" imagery in 14:8, already mentioned in 13:1, that flow from the Temple of God that is the new Jerusalem recalls Jesus' promise to the Samaritan woman in John 4:10-14 and 7:37-39 and the waters John describes in the Book of Revelation 7:17; 11:15, and 21:23.
8 When
that Day comes [in that day], living waters will issue from Jerusalem, half
towards the eastern sea, half towards the western sea; they will flow summer
and winter.
Question: In verse 8, God says, "living waters
will issue from Jerusalem." What did Jesus say only He could offer in John 4:10-14 and 7:37-39 and how does one obtain this special gift?
Answer: The waters of eternal life are available
to all who have faith through baptism by water and the Spirit.
In verse 8, the "eastern sea" is the Dead Sea. Scripture calls the Dead Sea the Salt Sea (Gen 14:3), the Sea of Arabah (Dt 3:17), or the eastern sea (Zec 14:8 and Joel 2:20).3
9 Then
Yahweh will become king of the whole world. When that Day comes [in that day],
Yahweh will be the one and only and his name the one name.
In that Day, the entire earth will acknowledge God's
sovereignty. He will be One and His name One, suggesting the victory of
undivided of loyalty and faith in Yahweh (as professed in the Shema of Dt 6:4). The universal honor of the name of Yahweh is also in Malachi 1:1 and in
the doxology offered to Yahweh by foreign kings in Revelation 11:15-18 and
15:3-4. In that day, the entire country will be transformed, but Jerusalem
will continue to stand at a height above everything and everyone.
10 The
entire country will be transformed into a plain, from Bega to Rimmon in the
Negeb, but Jerusalem will stand high in her place and be full of people from
the Benjamin Gate to the site of the earlier gate, to the Corner Gate, and from
the Tower of Hananel to the king's winepresses.
Verse 10 describes the city of Jerusalem as well as the
area around it. Geba was about 6 miles (10 km) north-northeast of Jerusalem at
the northern boundary of the tribal lands of Judah. Rimmon was about 35 miles
(56 km) south-southwest of Jerusalem where the Judean hill country slopes away
into the Negeb to the south. The Arabah runs from the Sea of Galilee to the
Gulf of Aqaba, but sometimes the term is used to refer specifically to the
desert valley extending from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. The Benjamin
Gate, the earlier or First Gate, and the Tower of Hananel were all probably
located at the northeastern part of the city wall. The corner Gate was at the
northwestern corner, and the king's winepresses were south of the city. The
point is that nothing will prevent the coming of the Messiah and His New Age since
Yahweh will make a path for its inauguration with Jerusalem as the center.
11 People
will make their homes there. The curse of destruction will be lifted;
Jerusalem will be safe to live in.
In the Messianic Age, the curse-judgment of 11:6 will be
lifted, and the people who belong to Him will experience Yahweh's blessings of
protection and prosperity.
Zechariah 14:12-15 ~ The Plague of Destruction
12 And
this is the plague with which Yahweh will strike all the nations who have
fought against Jerusalem; their flesh will rot while they are still standing on
their feet; their eyes will rot in their sockets; their tongues will rot in
their mouths. 15 And the
plague afflicting the horses, mules, camels, donkeys and all the other animals
in those armies will be the same. 13 When
that Day comes [in that day], a great terror will fall on them from Yahweh;
each man will grab his neighbor's hand, and they will fall to fighting among
themselves. 14 Even Judah
will fight against Jerusalem. The wealth of all the surrounding nations will
be heaped together: gold, silver, clothing, in vast quantity.
The translators have placed verse 15 after verse 12 since they believe the sense of the passage required this adjustment. In these passages, "Jerusalem" becomes a symbolic image of God's covenant people and His restored Kingdom. The curse-judgment will be lifted from "Jerusalem" and directed toward her enemies. Those who choose to fight against God's holy covenant people will suffer the same fate as those Israelites who broke faith with Yahweh after entering the Promised Land.
Question: What did God warn would be the fate of
those Israelites about to enter the Promised Land who abandoned their covenant
with Him in Deuteronomy 28:20-22?
Answer: They would not prosper, all their works
would accomplish nothing lasting, and they would be struck down will diseases.
Zechariah 14:16-21 ~ The Temple of the Lord After the
Return of the Messiah
16 After
this, all the survivors of all the nations which have attacked Jerusalem will
come up year after year to worship the King, Yahweh Sabaoth, and to keep the
Feast of Shelters. 17 Should
one of the races of the world fail to come up to Jerusalem to worship the King,
Yahweh Sabaoth, there will be no rain for that one. 18 Should the race of Egypt fail to come
up and pay its visit, on it will fall the plague which Yahweh will inflict on
each of those nations which fail to come up to keep the Feast of Shelters. 19 Such will be the punishment for Egypt
and the punishment for all the nations which fail to come up to keep the Feast
of Shelters. 20 When that
Day comes [in that day], the very bells on the horses will be inscribed with
the words, "Sacred to Yahweh," and the cooking pots of the house of Yahweh will
be as holy as the sprinkling bowls before the altar. 21 Yes, every cooking pot in Jerusalem
and Judah shall be sacred to Yahweh Sabaoth, and all who come to offer
sacrifice will help themselves and do their cooking in them, and there will be
no more traders [Canaanites] in the Temple of Yahweh Sabaoth, when that Day
comes [in that day].
[...] IBHE, vol. III, 2179.
Verses 16-21 describe the new age beyond the "Day of Yahweh" when the remnants of other nations will come to the Lord God and keep an annual pilgrimage like the Feast of Shelters/Tabernacles/Booths which celebrated the dedication of the desert Sanctuary and God's covenant with His holy people (Lev 23:39-43).
The Oracle is positive for the Gentile nations because they will be able to find relief in the Lord's presence (Is 19:16-25). According to the Book of Revelation, the de-creation of the earth of humankind will be followed by a new era with a "new heaven and earth when a Final Judgment Day will take place with the resurrected dead judged according to their works (Rev 20:11-15; 21:1-8). All the Gentile nations are invited to be part of the new order, even the Egyptians, the historical enemies of the covenant people.
20 When
that Day comes [in that day], the very bells on the horses will be inscribed
with the words, "Sacred to Yahweh," and the cooking pots of the house of Yahweh
will be as holy as the sprinkling bowls before the altar. 21 Yes, every cooking pot in Jerusalem
and Judah shall be sacred to Yahweh Sabaoth, and all who come to offer
sacrifice will help themselves and do their cooking in them, and there will be
no more traders [Canaanites] in the Temple of Yahweh Sabaoth, when that Day
comes [in that day].
All the nations that had been enemies of God's people
will participate in the sacred life of Jerusalem as the embodiment of the
Kingdom of the Church of the people of God in the New Age that follows the Messianic
Age. Even the bells worn by the warhorses as well as bowls and cooking pots
will be ritually purified and called "Holy (or Holy) to Yahweh," The phrase
"Sacred to Yahweh" was engraved on the golden plate worn by the anointed high
priest on his miter (Ex 28:36-38) as a reminder of his consecration to God's
service. In the New Age, everyone and everything will be consecrated to God's
divine service. The end of this passage concerns: Yahweh's defeat of Israel's
enemies by altering the created order, the acceptance of Yahweh's sovereignty
by the survivors of those enemies, and the sanctity of the heavenly beings that
have accompanied Yahweh in overturning nature to produce a new world order.
Zechariah's final prophecy affirms that Yahweh, God of Israel, is and will remain the one who controls the course of human history. These verses anticipate the gathering of all nations to the new Jerusalem Kingdom of the Messiah with the exclusion of "traders," in Hebrew "Canaanites," referring to those who refuse to worship Yahweh as the One God who will be denied entrance to His kingdom like God ordered the original Canaanites to be cast out of the Promised Land. The term "Canaanites" represented anyone who was morally or spiritually unclean and could not be included among the chosen people of God.
These final chapters culminate in a vision of God's ultimate victory over the people throughout history who continued to persecute His covenant people and resist His divine will to bless humanity (12:1-9). The Divine Warrior will return and bring all humanity to justice (14:1-21). Zechariah's final oracle celebrates the King's return and ultimate victory over evil, fulfilling not only the purpose of Christ's first advent but also the necessity of His second. Thus, all peoples of the earth who bow to God's sovereignty will be welcomed and sanctified to become fit to serve as worshipers in the new Jerusalem Sanctuary that is the center of worship for all humanity when "that Day comes."
In the Book of Revelation, the last Bible book, the Resurrected and glorified Christ's servant, John, like Zechariah, will receive visions and oracles concerning the return of the Messiah in glory. The victorious Christ will defeat Satan's last grip of power over the earth, bring the Final Judgment to all human beings, and create a new Heaven and earth with an eternal Jerusalem as the center of worship. In Hebrew, the word for "salvation" is y'shuah that comes from the Hebrew root yasha which means "to bring into a large, wide, open space." Through God's gift of salvation in Christ Jesus, that is precisely what Yahweh has prepared for humanity. His covenant people will inherit the new creation which will be given to them as the new Eden of one covenant family. This event is the last vision of St. John in the Book of Revelation: "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; the first heaven and the first earth had disappeared now, and there was no longer any sea" (Rev 21:1). It is what Jesus tells St. John in Revelation 21:5, "Behold, I am making the whole of creation new."
Jesus will speak of faithful Zechariah son of Jehoiada son of Barachiah in a homily during His last week in Jerusalem, warning His generation: you will draw down on yourselves the blood of every upright person that has been shed on earth, from the blood of Abel the holy to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar (Mt 23:35-36). The inspired writer of 2 Chronicles recorded Zechariah's martyrdom: The spirit of God then invested Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood up before the people and said, "God says this, ‘Why transgress Yahweh's commands to your certain ruin? For if you abandon Yahweh, he will abandon you.'" They then plotted against him and, at the king's order, stoned him in the court of the Temple of Yahweh. Thus King Joash, forgetful of the devotion which Jehoiada father of Zechariah had displayed on his behalf, murdered his son, who cried out as he died, "Yahweh will see this and avenge it" (2 Chron 24:20-22). As Jesus' condemnation showed, Zechariah spoke prophetically!
A Question for discussion or reflection:
In John 16:33, Jesus commanded His disciples and all Christians of
every generation to "Be courageous!" We can be courageous because, in the same
verse, Jesus assured us: "I have conquered the world!" Jesus gives us
this assurance: if He has conquered the world, then united with Him, we can
also overcome evil in the world! It is a promise Jesus repeated to St. John in
Revelation 3:21, "I will give the victor the right to sit with me on my throne,
as I myself first won the victory and sit with my Father on his throne." What must
do we need to do to continue Jesus' victory over the world so that one day, we
can sit with Him in heavenly glory?
Endnotes:
1. Armageddon is mentioned only once in the Bible in
Revelation 16:16, but Megiddo appears 12 times in the Old Testament.
2. Some Biblical scholars suggest that the identification of the site of the first battle as Armageddon (Mount of Megiddo) with Megiddo is in error. They claim that there is no true mountain at Megiddo and propose that the reference must be to another mountain in the Jezreel Valley, such as Mount Gilboa or Mount Tabor in the east. Others suggest instead that Armageddon should be translated as "Mount of Assembly," from the Hebrew Har Mo'ed (cf. Is 14:13), making the reference to Mount Zion or Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. The only raised area at Megiddo is a man-made one, formed from the remains of successive cities built at the site in ancient times.
3. The region of the Dead Sea has the lowest surface on earth, 1,300 feet (400 m) below sea level. It occupies a geologic fault that extends from Syria through the Red Sea into Africa, 47 by 10 miles (76 x 16 km) or approximately 300 square miles (777 sq. km) with cliffs that rise 1,500 to 2,500 feet (457-762 m) on either shore. North of Lisan ("the tongue") the water's depth is 1,3000 feet (400 m), although to the south it averages less than 10 feet (3 m).
Michal Hunt, Copyright © 2019 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.
Catechism references (* indicates Scripture quoted
or paraphrased in the citation):
Zec 12:10 (CCC 1432*, 2561*)
13:1 (CCC 2561*)
14:8 (CCC 694*)
Jn 7:37-39 (CCC 244*, 690*, 694*, 728*, 1287*, 1999*, 2561*)