Daily Old Testament: Zechariah 9-10 and My Own Article on "What DId I Say?" (Part 6)

Zechariah 9 – The prophet foresees doom on all the great cities of the region – Damascus, Hamath, Tyre, Sidon and the Philistine cities of Gaza and Ashdod. Those who survive will turn to the worship of Yahweh. “I will guard my Temple and protect it from invading armies” (9:8).

The people of Zion should rejoice! “Rejoice heart and soul, daughter of Zion. Shout with gladness, daughter of Jerusalem. See now, your king comes to you; he is victorious, he is triumphant, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (9:9).

“I will remove the battle of chariots from Israel and the warhorses from Jerusalem. I will destroy all the weapons used in battle, and your king will bring peace to the nations. His realm will stretch from sea to sea and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth” (9:10).

The Lord promises to repay his people for all their sorrows – two blessings for every sorrow. The image of their victory is painted in words of war and images of peace combined The Lord’s people “will shout in battle as though drunk with wine. They will be filled with blood like a bowl, drenched with blood like the corners of the altar” (9:15). This is followed with these words: “On that day the Lord their God will rescue his people, just as a shepherd rescues his sheep” (9:16).

Zechariah 10 – The Lord will restore his people. He warns them never to look to the seers of the pagan world – household gods, fortune-tellers, interpreters of dreams. They deal only in lies and worthless advice (10:2).

The Lord’s people wander “like lost sheep; they are attacked because they have no shepherd” (10:2). He speaks of his anger towards the shepherds who failed to care for the people.

But now the people are going to be restored and the arrogance and dominance of those around them will be ended. Though they have been scattered “like seeds among the nations, they will still remember me in distant lands. They and their children will survive and return again to Israel” (10:9). In a prophecy that some saw as a prognostication of Alexander the Great’s victory over them, the prophet says that the “pride of Assyria will be crushed, and the rule of Egypt will end” (10:11).

From Leadings: A Catholic’s Journey Through Quakerism -

“What Did I Say?”

Part 6

I realized that the Friends’ “culminationist” way of seeing Christ—the idea that he ends history and the need for all outward religion—was something they came to because they were unwilling or unable to see that the real human history that came after him was part of the redemption story as well, the second half of the story, and that this second half might be meaningfully complex. In this they were like other Christians of their day, especially the Reformation Christians, who looked so exclusively to the biblical text and its first-century orientation. But the church had a life too; its history also mirrored or recapitulated the story of God’s first people.

Friends had always assumed that the individual believer would go through something like a recapitulation of the Old Testament story in coming to God, but it apparently had never occurred to them that the church Christ started might itself go through such a recapitulation. But why not? The church was not just a human institution, a place that contained the truth within four walls like a bank has money. It was a living organism, the assembly [ekklesia] of God’s people, Christ’s Body in the world. And if the in-gathering and shaping of the Jews as a people had taken two thousand years (and was in fact still going on), then how many millennia might it not take to gather in all the “nations” of the world formed as a people for God? How many challenges might that project involve? There would be times of faithfulness, but there might well also be times of scandal and disorder. The first people of God had known such times. Why should those gathered by Christ expect to fare better?

        

The story of God’s first people was in the Scriptures. I am not saying it is history as we might write it today, or that it is all perfectly written or perfectly understandable, but its general line is comprehensible and instructive. It is a story of people who were bearers of a promise from God, who brought to the world an understanding of what it is to live lives consecrated and devoted to God and to God’s purposes for man. What Christ did was to open that redemption to all; he revealed to all the depth and perfection of that redemption, but he did not end the story. He bestowed a promise on the leader of his disciples to bear that redemption forward in time. The assembly of people bearing that promise—the church—would not necessarily be any more perfect than his first people had been. They might even be so rebellious and unfaithful that God would be tempted to withdraw his promise from them, but there would always be enough of a remnant to go on. God’s work among us was not over; he might still perform great works among his people that we cannot even imagine.

Daily Bible Reading: Psalms 70-73 and Matthew 9

Psalm 70 – “Please, God, rescue me! Come quickly, Lord, and help me. May those who try to kill me be humiliated and put to shame. May those who take delight in my trouble be turned back in disgrace” (70:1-2).

“But may all who search for you be filled with joy and gladness in you. May those who love your salvation repeatedly shout, ‘God is great!’ But as for me, I am poor and needy; please hurry to my aid, O God. You are my helper and my savior; O Lord, do not delay” (70:4-5).

Psalm 71 – “O Lord, I have come to you for protection; don’t let me be disgraced. Save me and rescue me, for you do what is right. Turn your ear to listen to me, and set me free. Be my rock of safety where I can always hide” (71:1-3).

“O Lord, you alone are my hope. I’ve trusted you, O Lord, from childhood” (71:5).

“Now, in my old age, don’t set me aside. Don’t abandon me when my strength is failing” (71:9).

His enemies say his God has abandoned him. “[P]lease hurry to help me. Bring disgrace and destruction on my accusers . . . But I will keep on hoping for your help; I will praise you more and more” (71:12-14).

“Let me proclaim your power to this new generation, your might miracles to all who come after me” (71:18). May it be so, Lord.

Psalm 72 – “Give your love of justice to the king, O God, and righteousness to the king’s son. Help him judge your people in the right way; let the poor always be treated fairly” (72:1-2).

“May the king’s rule be refreshing like spring rain on freshly cut grass, like the showers that water the earth. May all the godly flourish during his reign. May there be abundant prosperity until the moon is no more” (72:6-7).

“The western kings of Tarshish and other distant lands will bring him tribute. The eastern kings of Sheba and Seba will bring him gifts. All kings will bow before him, and all nations will serve him. He will rescue the poor when they cry to him; he will help the oppressed, who have no one to defend them” (72:10-12). Seems like a little Christmas in these words to me.

“May the king’s name endure forever; may it continue as long as the sun shines. May all nations be blessed through him and bring him praise . . . Praise his glorious name forever! Let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen!” (72:17-19). It is noted that this marks the end of David’s prayers.

Matthew 9 – Jesus goes back across the sea to Capernaum, his own town. There he heals the paralyzed man and equates the healing with forgiveness of sin. Some are angry that he seems to think he’s God – claiming to have the power to forgive sins. 

Matthew, the tax collector, is called and there is a dinner in his home. This man is called Levi in Mark and Luke. The Pharisees ask why he eats with sinners, and Jesus tells them because “healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do” (9:12).  “’I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners’” (9:13).

The disciples of John come and ask why his disciples do not fast, and he tells them he is like the bridegroom and they like wedding guests—they will not mourn till he is gone. This is followed by the bit about not sewing a new piece of cloth on an old cloak and not putting “new wine into old wineskins” (9:17). You don’t want the old skins to “burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins” (9:17).

A leader of the synagogue comes and begs Jesus to raise his daughter who has just died. Jesus starts to go with him.

Then a woman comes up and touches his cloak so her hemorrhages will be cured. Jesus looks at her and tells her that her faith has made her well.

He arrives at the synagogue official’s home and sends the funeral musicians away; he goes in, takes the girl by the hand and raises her. “The report of this miracle swept through the entire countryside” (9:26).

Two blind men follow him, calling him the “Son of David” and begging him to have mercy on them.  He asks them if they believe he can make them see, and they say yes.  He touches their eyes and cures them, but tells them not to tell (they do anyway).

Similarities with Mark’s Bartimaeus story (Mark 10:46) include the form of address to Jesus—“Son of David”—and the intensity of the plea for healing. But here there are two blind men.  Matthew also doubles the number of demoniacs in the Legion story too.  Is there some reason? To complicate matters – or make them more intriguing - Matthew has this story again later on in chapter 20:29, but specifically sets that story in Jericho—and again he has makes Bartimaeus into two blind men! Luke has the story at chapter 18—no name attached, but only one man and in Jericho.

Then a demoniac who was mute is brought to him and is cured.  The Pharisees say he is casting out demons by invoking the ruler of demons.

Jesus goes all around proclaiming the good news and curing every disease.  He had compassion for the crowds “because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (9:36). He tells his followers that the harvest is plenty but the laborers few. “So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields” (9:38).