This week we are reading Zechariah 11, arguably the most enigmatic gloomy section of the whole book. The chapter’s prelude (11:1-3) is a dark poem with the vivid portrayal of personified trees wailing over their own destruction. Shepherds and lions join in with the trees’ lament, mourning their own loss of pasture and thicket. Lebanon’s cedars and cypress burn while Bashan’s oaks tumble in a cascade of destruction. 

The poem cries, “the glorious trees are ruined!” (11:2) in reference to the fall of the most prized trees in the Ancient Near East, Lebanon’s cedars. David acquired cedar logs from Lebanon to build his palace (2 Sam. 5:11). Cedar paneling from Lebanon adorned Solomon’s Temple (1 Kings 6:6). Even in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the mythic king risked his life to go to Lebanon’s cedar forest and bring back the precious wood to his kingdom. 

To Zechariah’s listening audience, the destruction of the cedar trees, forever associated with strength and glory, demonstrated Yahweh’s superiority. If Yahweh is mightier than the stately cedar tree, he is greater than all things. When the Psalmist praised God’s strength, he compared his voice to the cedar: “The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon” (Ps. 29:5). 

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This week we are studying Zechariah 10. Our previous chapter ended with the promise of such agricultural fertility that “grain shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the young women” (9:17). The guarantee of satiated bellies carries over into today’s reading with Zechariah reminding the petition the Lord and he will send the “spring rain” and “the vegetation in the field” (10:1). 

After encouraging the people to pray to Yahweh for their needs, the prophet warns them not to seek their protection and provision through other means. He cautions the people against falling back into idol worship, reminding them, “the teraphim utter nonsense, and the diviners see lies; the dreamers tell false dreams and give empty consolation” (10:2). 

During the divided monarchy, the people of Israel and Judah were fond of merging Yahwism with the occult. But, even before the age of the prophets, God’s people had been flirting with all kinds of pagan divination. Rachel brought her father’s statues (Gen. 31) into Canaan. Right after the Exodus, when they should have been thanking God for his saving grace, they constructed the golden calf at Mount Sinai (Ex. 32). And there is even the strange scene in 1 Samuel of King Saul consulting a medium to conjure up the ghost of Samuel (1 Sam. 28). 

For the most part, biblical historians believe that idol worship stopped being a big problem after the exile. The Bible indicates this was the case and the archaeology confirms it. The prophets Hosea and Ezekiel prophesied that after the ordeal of captivity, the people would eradicate idol worship (Hos. 3:4; Ezek. 37:23). Hosea foresaw a time when “the Israelites shall remain many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or teraphim” (Hos. 3:4).

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This week we are studying Zechariah 9. Three units make up the book of Zechariah: the vision sequence in chapters 1-6, the prophet’s answer to Bethel in chapters 7-8, and eschatological oracles in chapters 9-14. 

I will get it out in the open. The oracles in the last six chapters of Zechariah are quite different than the first eight chapters. The writing style pivots and the focus changes. In Zechariah 1-8, he was concerned with the key issues of the day which were mainly the rebuilding of the Temple and the return of the exiles. Zechariah 9-14 are forward looking, anxious for the coming period of blessing in the messianic age. For that reason, those chapters are riddled with Messianic prophecies that became very relevant for the New Testament. 

The first eight chapters name Zechariah’s historical contemporaries: Joshua, Zerubbabel, the exiles with the offerings, and the Bethel delegation. In Zechariah 9-14, the leadership is unnamed. They are merely corrupt shepherds.

The sudden shift in Zechariah 9 has led many scholars to theorize that the book of Zechariah has multiple authors and two different dates of composition. Zechariah, the historic postexilic prophet, likely wrote the first eight chapters and someone else added the last oracles later, perhaps one of his followers. Scholars refer to the author of Zechariah 9-14 as Second Zechariah. Some experts theorize that Jeremiah authored those chapters, especially since the gospel writer Matthew attributed the verses found in Zechariah 11:12-13 to the prophet Jeremiah. 

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This week we are studying Zechariah 8, a continuation of the prophet’s response to the Bethel delegation’s question about fast days. In chapter 7, the question provoked a somewhat testy sermon from Zechariah. He warned the people about the consequences of straying from God and the pitfalls of hypocrisy and empty religion. 

In chapter 8, the tone changes from rebuke to reassurance. The prophet encourages the people to obey and experience the fullness of their inheritance. But there is a hitch. The blessings are contingent on their ability to “love truth and peace” (8:19). 

Last week, we covered the importance of all the minute details in the historical narrative: the timing of the prophecy, the historic enmity of Bethel and Jerusalem, and the continuation of Babylonian influence in the remnant. Zechariah 7-8 is a classic example of the importance of studying the historical and cultural background of the prophets. Of course, the same is true for the entire Bible. 

The Bible has a dual nature. While the Bible’s message is eternal, Zechariah, and all the other biblical writers, ministered to a particular people, at a certain time and place. They packed their message in the language, commands, and stories most relevant to those people in that day. 

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Welcome to Bible Fiber where we are encountering the textures and shades of the prophetic tapestry in a year-long study of the twelve minor prophets. I am Shelley Neese, president of The Jerusalem Connection, a Christian organization devoted to sharing the story of the people of Israel, both ancient and modern. 

This week we are studying Zechariah 7. Zechariah 7-8 is a distinct unit, a narrative event occurring between the prophet’s visions and his concluding oracles. 

The section opens with a precise date superscription: “in the fourth year of King Darius” (7:1). Right off, we know two years have passed since the prophet experienced his visions (1:1, 7). At this point, around 518 BCE, the Temple construction is proceeding quickly and is only two years from completion (Ezra 6:15). The people are beginning to feel confident of Jerusalem’s reemergence and therefore are paying less attention to their spiritual condition. In this context, Zechariah receives a divine word of warning (7:1), prompted by a visiting delegation of leaders from Bethel. 

The narrative explains that the townspeople of Bethel sent a delegation to Jerusalem to settle a dispute in their community about whether they should continue to observe certain fast days. The fast days began in exile to lament the destruction of Jerusalem (7:2-3). 

Considering they had returned to Judah and the Temple was almost finished, perha

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Welcome to Bible Fiber where we are encountering the textures and shades of the prophetic tapestry in a year-long study of the twelve minor prophets. I am Shelley Neese, president of The Jerusalem Connection, a Christian organization devoted to sharing the story of the people of Israel, both ancient and modern. 

This week we are studying Zechariah 6. Zechariah 6 provides the eighth vision in the sequence. The final vision concludes with what biblical scholars call a prophetic sign-act, a real-life action on the part of the prophet that symbolizes a divine revelation. Chapter 6 upholds the major theme of all Zechariah’s visions: the restoration of Judah and construction of the Temple. 

The vision opens with the prophet looking up and seeing “four chariots coming out from between two mountains—mountains of bronze” (6:1). Colored horses—red, black, white, and dappled—pull the chariots (6:2). Zechariah asks the messenger for the meaning of the horses. The messenger explains that the chariots are “the four winds of heaven going out” from the presence of the Lord (6:5). 

The elements of commonality between vision eight and vision one signal to the reader that the last vision is the bookend to the first. Zechariah’s last vision is wrapping up what the first vision started. The first vision has four horses of four different colors ridden by four horsemen. 

In the eighth vision, there are four chariots pulled by horses of varied colors. In the first vision, the horses are standing among the myrtle trees. In the last vision, horse-drawn chariots appear from between bronze mountains. In both visions, the teams of horses and their envoys are doing the work of Yahweh by patrolling the earth (1:10; 6:7). The horsemen in the first vision are tasked with a reconnaissance mission before any warfare. By the last vision, the appearance of horse-drawn chariots, instruments of warfare in antiquity, signals the commencement of a military campaign. 

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Zechariah’s sixth vision opens with a flying scroll. In my imagination, the scroll is like one of those aerial advertisement banners that fly over busy beaches encouraging people to “Eat at Joe’s.” Obviously, this sky banner is a religious scroll and there is no attached airplane. 

An anonymous speaker in the vision asks Zechariah to identify what he sees. The speaker is likely the angelic messenger but the text leaves it vague. Zechariah gives him the dimensions of the flying scroll: twenty cubits by ten cubits (5:2). 

A cubit was the standard biblical unit of measurement in Bible times, equal to about eighteen inches, the distance from the elbow to the fingertips. In our terms of measurement, the unfurled scroll was thirty by fifteen feet. 

Somehow Zechariah was able to estimate the dimensions of a scroll even though the scroll was in flight. Possibly, the dimensions are a subtle way of connecting the scroll to Solomon’s Temple. The porch or portico of Solomon’s Temple had the same dimensions as the flying scroll (1 Kings 6:3), and so did the cherubim with their wings outstretched across the Ark of the Covenant (1 Kings 6:23-26). The exact dimensions of the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle are hard to discern from Exodus (26:5-18), but some scholars believe the Holy of Holies was also twenty by ten cubits. If the vision is intentionally correlating the scroll with the Temple, the deeper meaning is that God’s holy word is to be upheld, just like his holy place. 

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We are halfway through Zechariah’s vision sequence. Before we move on, I want to review the tradition of visions in the Hebrew scriptures. You may be wondering if Zechariah’s constant dreaming is out of line with the rest of the prophets. 

Since the time of the Exodus, God has provided a series of righteous human mediators to communicate his will to the Jewish people. During the forty years of wilderness wanderings, God appointed Moses for the role. God declared Moses to be the humblest man on earth, so to him God spoke “face to face—clearly, not in riddles” (Num. 12:8). After the death of Moses came Joshua and then a series of judges who heard the voice of God even if they did not see his form. 

After King Solomon, very few of Judah and Israel’s kings even pretended to seek after God. It was during this time of unrighteous leadership that God supplied a steady stream of prophets for the people. Some wrote their prophecies down and gave us the prophetic books. With this new line of mediators, God often spoke to them in dreams and visions. Read Numbers 12 to see how God, in a dialogue with Aaron and Miriam, predicted a day that dreams and visions would be his preferred method of revelation. 

The literary prophets all fell between 900 and 500 BCE. During the four hundred years that prophets ministered in Israel and Judah, not all of them recorded dreams or visions. Haggai, for example, had a very direct message for the postexilic community and no visionary experiences. The books most known for their prophetic visions are Amos, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. Amos had visions of swarming locusts, consuming fire, a basket of fruit, and an almond tree (Amos 7-9). His visions were mostly static. Jeremiah also had static visions, one of a blossoming almond tree (Jer. 1:11) and another of a boiling pot tilted toward Judah (Jer. 1:13). Ezekiel was a prolific visionary and his scenes glitter with detail and movement. Among the most famous of his visions are the valley of the dry bones (Ezek. 37), God’s battle chariot flown by winged beings (Ezek. 1), and the divine blueprints of the New Jerusalem (Ezek. 40-48). 

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This week we are studying the third chapter of Zechariah, the prophet’s fourth vision out of a sequence of eight. The end of Zechariah’s third vision segues into the opening scene of the fourth vision. At the close of Zechariah 2, the prophet called for silence from “all flesh” out of reverence for Yahweh who “roused himself from his holy dwelling” (2:13). In chapter three, the prophet awakens to find that he has been transported to what seems like a heavenly throne room. Among the divine council, Zechariah identifies three characters: Joshua the high priest, the Angel of the Lord, and the accuser. 

Joshua is the first historical character introduced in Zechariah’s visions. Joshua is known from other biblical books as one of the returnees in 538 BCE (Hag. 1:1, Ezra 2:2, Neh. 12:1). Even before the vison, Joshua was well known to the prophet Zechariah as they were both leaders of the postexilic community. In the vision, Joshua was standing before the Angel of the Lord (3:1). When the Bible uses the Hebrew verb for “standing before,” it often has a courtroom connotation. The person “standing before” someone is usually being judged. This verb is the reason most commentaries discuss Zechariah’s fourth vision as if it was a tribunal. 

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Welcome to Bible Fiber where we are encountering the textures and shades of the prophetic tapestry in a year-long study of the twelve minor prophets, one prophet each month. I am Shelley Neese, president of The Jerusalem Connection, a Christian organization devoted to sharing the story of the people of Israel, both ancient and modern. 

This week we are studying the second chapter of Zechariah, a continuation of the prophet’s vision sequence: eight visions in one night making up the first six chapters of the book. The chapter begins with the prophet speaking in first person, “I looked up and saw a man with a measuring line in his hand” (2:1). Looking up or being roused is Zechariah’s standard introduction for every vision except the fourth. 

Zechariah, accustomed to interacting with the characters in his visions, asked the man with the measuring line, “where are you going?” The man answered the prophet, “To measure Jerusalem, to see how wide and how long it is” (2:2). The man’s optimistic answer comes off as either naïve or noble. In the sixth century BCE, the postexilic community was tasked with rebuilding their once beautiful but now ruinous city. They were low on resources and, according to Haggai, also low on enthusiasm. The young man’s response is heartening to Zechariah. He is not only measuring the foundations of the Temple, but he is also surveying Jerusalem’s old boundary lines, in anticipation of the full city’s restoration. 

In Zechariah’s first vision, Yahweh assured the prophet that as he rebuilt the nation a “measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem” (1:16). Now the task of the measuring line is being carried out. When reading Zechariah, it is helpful to keep a look out for how the themes of each vision interlock as the scenes and characters change. 

The man with the measuring line represents the community once they have internalized God’s message through Haggai and set ambitiously to the task of rebuilding Jerusalem. The man in the vision cannot see how God is complementing his efforts. The same is true with the returnees. While they might feel discouraged that Jerusalem is never going to reach its former stature, Yahweh is moving in another sphere of time and space to bring about their redemption. Only Yahweh knows every link in the chain of the restoration process. 

In verse three, two new characters enter the vision. Zechariah refers to the first as “the angel who spoke with me” and the second is vaguely referred to as “another angel” (2:3). Zechariah scholars often identify the first angel with the angel on the red horse from the scene in the myrtle trees. The second angel may be the mediating angel that was also in the previous vision. Throughout Zechariah’s dream sequence, certain angels appear and reappear, giving the sequence continuity of characters. 

Zechariah addresses his questions to the second angel while the first angel runs to meet the young man with the measuring line. The scene has a lot of hurried movements. The first angel instructs the young man to stop his work because he has good news to share: “Jerusalem shall be inhabited like unwalled villages because of the multitude of people and animals in it” (2:4). 

Apparently, the man was measuring Jerusalem’s dimensions in order to rebuild the city’s wall. The angel tells the man that Jerusalem cannot have a wall because an influx of returnees is coming that will far surpass the city’s capacity. The new Jerusalem has to be unwalled and unlimited.

Ezekiel, the prophet in exile, also experienced a vision of an unlimited Jerusalem (Ezek. 40-48). In Ezekiel’s vision, the prophet was transported to a mountaintop overlooking all of Israel. An angel with a bronze-like appearance met Ezekiel on the mountaintop with a measuring reed in his hand (Ezek. 40:3). The angel preceded to giv

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