"Ho there! Flee from the land of the north," declares the LORD, "for I have dispersed you as the four winds of the heavens," declares the LORD. "Ho, Zion! Escape, you who are living with the daughter of Babylon." For thus says the LORD of hosts, "After glory He has sent me against the nations which plunder you, for he who touches you, touches the apple of His eye. For behold, I will wave My hand over them so that they will be plunder for their slaves. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me. Sing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for behold I am coming and I will dwell in your midst," declares the LORD. "Many nations will join themselves to the LORD in that day and will become My people. Then I will dwell in your midst, and you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me to you. The LORD will possess Judah as His portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.
"Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD; He is aroused from His holy habitation."
- Zechariah 2
This entire chapter appears to be about God redeeming Israel and returning them to Jerusalem. The measuring seems to be a way of preparing to bring them back as the Lord gets things ready to move forward with His plan. Just as we break out the tape measure and start getting ready when we're expecting a baby, for example, and we measure how big the room is, where we're going to put the crib and the dresser and the changing table and all that, so God is preparing to bring His people back.
Interestingly, while cities in those times had walls around them for protection, God indicates that He will be the protective wall around Jerusalem and that they will not be surrounded by walls. This seems a bit strange since Zechariah came and prophesied these things before Nehemiah came to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem. So, how is it that we can reconcile these two things?
Well, that question is where I left it quite a while ago and, in the limited amount of time that I have had to look into it since then, I have not yet found any satisfactory answer. There are two speculative answers that I have been able to identify, though to be honest I don't know that either one is particularly satisfying to me. So, I will have to keep that as an open question for now and hope that I am able to find a more satisfying answer at some point later.
As for the two potential answers, one is that this was a metaphorical description; that God would be the "wall" that protected Jerusalem, though they would still have a physical wall. The other explanation was that this was referring to a time after the Judgement when the dead are raised and those who will live in the presence of God forever would be behind His "wall." Neither of those explanations seem very strong.
The first one seems a bit weak to me because it seems like any time there is something confusing in the Bible, the "go-to" explanation is that it is "metaphorical." While I think that is sometimes true, it is so over-used that it has become a red flag to me. The second explanation seems to be less plausible as the verse goes on to refer to the number of men and cattle, which seems like it is referring to a more "here and now" sort of time frame.
Does this mean I'm no longer to believe the Bible? No! Absolutely not. I merely means that this is a challenging part of scripture that I do not currently understand and will perhaps better understand with further research and study. What if it is just wrong and there is no explanation for it? In that case, I think the strength of the historical reliability of the majority of the Bible stands on it's own two feet and does not threaten my faith.
The remainder of this section seems to be an announcement from God that He is going to free His people from captivity and return them to their land and restore them. Of course, that language He uses is a bit more colorful than mine and a bit more inspirational, but then it was meant to be. This was to be an encouragement and an inspiration to His people about what He was going to be doing for them. He wanted to them to be excited! He wanted to energize them! This was about celebration of a pending victory. A HUGE victory!
He has heard His people and is coming to save them. Good times are coming. Here comes the LORD!
Well, that question is where I left it quite a while ago and, in the limited amount of time that I have had to look into it since then, I have not yet found any satisfactory answer. There are two speculative answers that I have been able to identify, though to be honest I don't know that either one is particularly satisfying to me. So, I will have to keep that as an open question for now and hope that I am able to find a more satisfying answer at some point later.
As for the two potential answers, one is that this was a metaphorical description; that God would be the "wall" that protected Jerusalem, though they would still have a physical wall. The other explanation was that this was referring to a time after the Judgement when the dead are raised and those who will live in the presence of God forever would be behind His "wall." Neither of those explanations seem very strong.
The first one seems a bit weak to me because it seems like any time there is something confusing in the Bible, the "go-to" explanation is that it is "metaphorical." While I think that is sometimes true, it is so over-used that it has become a red flag to me. The second explanation seems to be less plausible as the verse goes on to refer to the number of men and cattle, which seems like it is referring to a more "here and now" sort of time frame.
Does this mean I'm no longer to believe the Bible? No! Absolutely not. I merely means that this is a challenging part of scripture that I do not currently understand and will perhaps better understand with further research and study. What if it is just wrong and there is no explanation for it? In that case, I think the strength of the historical reliability of the majority of the Bible stands on it's own two feet and does not threaten my faith.
The remainder of this section seems to be an announcement from God that He is going to free His people from captivity and return them to their land and restore them. Of course, that language He uses is a bit more colorful than mine and a bit more inspirational, but then it was meant to be. This was to be an encouragement and an inspiration to His people about what He was going to be doing for them. He wanted to them to be excited! He wanted to energize them! This was about celebration of a pending victory. A HUGE victory!
He has heard His people and is coming to save them. Good times are coming. Here comes the LORD!
No comments:
Post a Comment