Zechariah Pleads for Righeousness

GOLDEN TEXT: “Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassions every man to his brother.”—Zechariah 7:9

ZECHARIAH 1:1-4—God’s message to the returned exiles which he gave through the Prophet Zechariah was begun only two months later than that of Haggai, the later being dated in the sixth month of the second year of Darius, while that of Zechariah was in the eighth month of the same year. The Lord gave a further message to Zechariah two years later, or in the fourth year of Darius.—Hag. 1:1; Zech. 7:1

Both of these prophets served Israel just at the time when they had returned from Babylonish captivity, and both messages are related to the essential rebuilding program. Through Haggai the Lord directed that work on the temple should continue, while Zechariah’s message seems to deal more particularly with Jerusalem, as a literal city, and also as a type of the Jewish polity. An important phase of both messages was their exhortation for the Israelites to rebuild their fidelity to God and to his law. The calamity of the exile had befallen them because of their sin, and there was no point in rebuilding their city and temple unless they also reconstructed their way of life.

A unique feature of both these prophecies is the fact that while they had to do first of all with conditions in Israel at that time, and with the reconstruction work immediately at hand, they also take occasion to foretell a future and much more significant return from captivity, and the building of a more glorious temple and city of which the literal city of Jerusalem and its temple were types, that is, the kingdom of Christ.

In Haggai 2:6-9 we read of the antitypical temple and its marvelous glory—a temple through which all nations will approach unto God and serve him when “the desire of all nations shall come.” We know that this passage is a reference to the establishment of Christ’s kingdom because the Apostle Paul so applies it in Hebrews 12:26.

Zechariah, on the other hand, through the direction of the Lord, uses the circumstances associated with the work then in hand as an occasion to tell of a greater Jerusalem yet to be constructed, a Jerusalem from which “living waters” would flow for the blessing of all nations. And in that day, the prophet explains, the Lord “shall be king over all the earth.” The Jerusalem of that wonderful “day of the Lord” will be so important in the divine arrangements “that whose will not come up of all the families of the earth … to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.”—Zech. 14:8,9,17

The Lord instructed Zechariah to say to Israel, “Turn ye unto me, … and I will turn unto you.” The Israelites had turned far from the Lord, and apparently their long exile in Babylon had not wrought the repentance in their hearts which warranted the Lord in showing them his full favor. The entire history of that nation was largely one of backsliding and unfaithfulness. This was climaxed when they rejected their Messiah and put him to death.

Then followed the beginning of their age-long dispersion from the land and scattering among all nations, from which they are only now beginning to return. And now, even as when they returned from Babylon, the Lord’s full favor will not be upon them until they turn to him with their whole heart. And with the Gentiles, even as with the Jews, this will be the condition upon which they may expect to receive the blessings of the kingdom.

ZECHARIAH 7:8-14—This passage is a further enlargement of the thought already expressed concerning the need of turning to the Lord and of obeying him in order to have his blessing. Here the Lord stresses the importance of that part of his law which has to do with the relationship of his people to one another. They were to execute “true judgment,” “show mercy and compassions every man to his brother” as our Golden Text states, and they were not to oppress the “widow,” the “fatherless,” the “stranger,” nor the “poor.” And besides, they were not to “imagine evil” against one another.

This is a high standard of human relationship, and quite out of harmony with the inclinations of the fallen flesh; so much so that they did not want to hear it. They turned away from these instructions, the Lord says, and because of that he turned away from them, refusing to hear, even when they called to him. This is why he had allowed them to go into exile. He had “scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not,” and their land became “desolate.”

ZECHARIAH 8:16, 17—In the passage cited above, the Lord explains to Israel why they had been driven out of the land. It was because they had not given heed to his statutes. Now that they were back from captivity he admonished them to obey those same statutes. God’s law does not change. It was not because his statutes were faulty that the Israelites had gone into captivity, It was because they had failed to obey them—And if now they were to enjoy his continued blessing it would be necessary for them to make an earnest effort to keep his law—Thus they would honor him and deal unselfishly with one another, and his blessing would be upon them in all their ways.

QUESTIONS:

At what period in Israel’s history did Zechariah serve them as prophet?

Compare briefly the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah.

Upon what conditions may any people at any time be justified in expecting God’s blessing?

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