High Priest Joshua, part 4

We continue in Zechariah 6. Zechariah is still with the angel in his vision. Now he sees four chariots with four different color horses, coming from between two mountains of bronze. These horses are sent in the four cardinal directions throughout the earth.

Next, the word of the lord came to Zechariah, telling him to take silver and gold from some of the exiles, make a crown, and set it on the head of the high priest Joshua. Then, Zechariah is to say, "Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the lord. It is he who will build the temple of the lord, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two." So here the high priest Joshua is called the branch. The author of Zechariah seems to be saying saying that Joshua is the fulfillment of the prophecies about the Branch, found in Isaiah 4 and Ezekiel 17. Jeremiah 23 and 33 also mention a righteous branch. After this, the crown is to be given back to the exiles, but kept in the temple as a memorial. This is to remind them the temple will be built if they obey the lord.

Since it is clear from this passage that Joshua was the Branch. It seems quite plausible that he could have become a larger than life mythological figure or symbol in Judaism, or among some Jews, representing a man of righteousness and favor with god. After the destruction of the second temple, in the days of Rome, wouldn't the Jews be looking for a second Joshua/Branch to rebuild the temple and be anointed as high priest by Yahweh? It's a compelling thought.

In chapter 7 of Zechariah, we start with a short paragraph written in third person, possibly inserted later. It is now supposed to be the 4th year of Darius, ninth month, 4th day. People of Bethel came to ask the lord a question, through the priests. They wanted to know if they should continue to mourn and fast in the fifth month as they had done for years.

Next, in verse 4, we have first person passage where god asks Zechariah to ask all the people and priests if they had really been fasting for yahweh, or even feasting for yahweh, over the last seventy years. Hadn't the prophets of old asked the same thing when the Jerusalem and the surrounding area were at peace? The appearance of the number seventy usually has some prophetic significance.

In verse 8, we switch back to third person. Verses 8-10 appear to be inserted in the text. They disrupt the continuity of the passage. If they were left out the rest of chapter eight would make more sense, continuing in the vein of what happened when the prophets of old warned the people but they did not listen. Then the lord scattered them among the nations. It's about the past. However, verses 8-10 seem to be trying to connect it with Zechariah's time. It is slightly confusing.

Moving on to chapter 8, we are back in first person. Yahweh tells Zechariah he will return to Jerusalem to live. Once again there will be peace and prosperity. Yahweh will save his people from the east and the west and the will come back to live in Jerusalem. Everyone hearing those words needed to be strong to rebuild the temple. The lord was not going to treat the remnant of his people as he did in the past. (That didn't work out so well, did it?) Crops would grow, rain would fall, and the remnant's inheritance would flourish. Judah and Israel would be a blessing. Yahweh brought disaster upon their ancestors when they angered him, but now he is determined to do good again to Jerusalem. These are the things Yahweh required of them: to speak the truth, be just, and treat their neighbors right.

So, to answer the question from verse four, the mourning fasts are to become festivals of joy. Many people from other lands will come and seek out Yahweh. They will beg to live in the land of the Jews.

More to come.

Judges chapter 2

After reading chapter 2:

*The Angel of the lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim.  One might ask what the Angel of the lord was doing in Gilgal to begin with and why he needed to travel. One explanation is that it was a prophet giving the people a message from Yahweh, not a supernatural being. Bokim does not appear anywhere else in scripture and no one knows where it was supposedly to have been. It was named after this event, in which the "Angel of the lord" rebukes the Israelites for having been disobedient. Now, Yahweh will not help them drive out the natives. They will be thorns in their sides and their gods will be a snare. One also wonders how many Israelites actually heard this message, since they were now spread out over Canaan. The Israelites wept and offered sacrifices at Bokim to Yahweh. Some Commentaries say this must have actually been Shiloh, because that was the only approved place for sacrifices. ...but that's not what this passage says.

*It appears that we weren't given the back story for the above rebuke, so the rest of the chapter enlightens us. After Joshua sent the Israelites off, each to his own inheritance, the Israelites were obedient through Joshua's lifetime and through the lifetimes of the remaining elders who had seen the conquest of Canaan. After that generation died, there came a generation who apparently knew absolutely nothing about Yahweh and what he had done for them. Looks like the previous generations dropped the ball, or didn't care about Yahweh enough to pass the info down to their kids. (Or there was nothing to pass down or remember because none of it ever happened.) Then the Israelies served the Baals and the Ashtoreths. Because of this Yahweh handed the Israelites over to their enemies who raided and plundered them.  Seems like they never did become the strong ones subjugating the Canaanites to their will.

*Because the Israelites were distressed, Yahweh gave them judges who would save them from the raiders. They wouldn't listen to the judges and continued to worship other gods. Whenever there was a new judge, Yahweh would be with the judge and would save the Israelites from their enemies. But as soon as a judge would die, the Israelites would be back to their wicked ways, even worse than before. Yahweh became very angry and declared that he would no longer help the Israelites drive out the nations Joshua left when he died. Instead, he would use those nations as a test to see if the Israelites would be obedient after all. I thought Yahweh was supposed to be omnipotent, according to christianity? Hadn't  he already known that all these events would happen? Doesn't he already know if the Israelites will pass his test?

This chapter sets the stage for the rest of the book of Judges.