Bible Reading Challenge Blog

Here we have a prophet who served during a very specific and well known time period in the history of Israel.  We know for sure that his prophecies take place in October and November of 520 BC and December 17 in 518 BC.  Remember the people of Israel had just been in exile and now they are back in the land and looking to rebuild.  Zechariah was very adamant that the temple ought to be one of the first things that was rebuilt.  This book of the Bible is divided very clearly into two sections.  The first section, chapters 1-8 and the second section is 9-14.  Let’s look at chapter 1.

The name Zechariah means in Hebrew: “God remembered.”  What a wonderful name for a son whose family is heading back into Israel after years of  captivity and slavery in a foreign land.  They are finally settling back into what they know had been assigned to them by the Lord as the promised land.  But since their nation was unfaithful, they had to leave, they were taken, and now they are back.  Now, after all these years, God remembered, and we are back.  

Do you notice which word is repeated quite a few times?  The word return and specifically the phrase: “return to me”  is repeated quite a few times which makes sense since that just happened and the people are “returning” back to the place that they understand as being their home.  But they are also returning back to the Lord and his commandments.  Nothing reflects that more than rebuilding the temple which is in essence the presence of the Lord in structure form.

Then you get this image of horsemen who were sent to protect and guard over the earth.  It seems like we went from pretty normal prophecy stuff of returning home to now all of a sudden some pretty apocalyptic revelation type stuff that causes a lot of our eyes to glaze over.  The good news is that it is pretty explicable.  There is peace over  the land as the horses find themselves in a quiet meadow.  If you look at vs.16 you will see that a measuring line has been drawn over Jerusalem which indicates new construction.  The first thing on the agenda is the reconstruction of the temple.  Then we move  forward with the people who have returned.

I told you that there was going to be a chapter of encouragement and a time when God is going to turn around and look for an opportunity to bless.  The change in tone is seen in these words which are found at the end of vs.13 where we read “no one shall make them afraid.”  Isn’t that a part of what all of us want?  There can be an overriding desire in all of us to make sure that we do what we can so that we are not afraid, so that we do not find ourselves making decisions based on fear.  What a relief to hear that we shall not be afraid, at least at some point in our history.

From that things only get better.  We start in vs.14 with a song of joy.  It is a song of joy because as this chapter began with a castigation against Jerusalem, so it ends with things being restored under the watchful and caring hand of God.  So we went from a castigation against Israel in chapter 1, to a castigation against the nations in chapter 2, and now 3 begins with a castigation against Jerusalem.  

If you look at vs.10 you see a reference to what some people say is the scene at the birth of Christ where the wise men offer him gifts.  It is a reference where people from afar bring offerings.  What a great way to finish the chapter.  From destruction and desolation to a song of joy.

While the past chapter was a castigation against all the people of Israel, actually all the people of the earth, in this chapter he actually identifies those countries that are going to be destroyed.  While the last chapter was pretty much focused on the people of God and their impending destruction, this chapter stretches the focus wider and names the countries that are going to be under the wrath of God.

But did you notice in vs.3 that a recipe is given on what needs to be done in order to potentially escape the wrath of God.  If you seek the Lord and do his commands then you might be hidden on the day of the Lord’s wrath.  This possibility wasn’t even given to the people  of God, this loophole wasn’t even mentioned as a possibility to those who were considered the chosen ones of God.  But here we have a recipe to what could allow us to escape the punishment.  While in the last chapter there was no escape, in this chapter there is a possibility, even though a slim one, of escaping the wrath of God.

But then the rest of the chapter is more destruction and desolation.  I’m thinking chapter 3 is going to give us even more possibilities of escape and salvation.  

Zephaniah is described in vs.1 as the son of Cushi.  It is thought that the term Cushi comes from the word Cushite which is to us Ethiopian.  We find in this book of the Bible that Ethiopia comes to the Lord, as opposed to being antagonistic which makes me think that Zephaniah’s background is from Ethiopia.  What would that make him?  How about a black Jew.   That’s not unusual as we see in Acts when Philip runs across an Ethiopian Eunuch who had comes to celebrate God in Jerusalem.  So this is fairly common, or at least not uncommon.

As we begin to read Zephaniah we see that the prevalent theme for the book, and the first chapter and the chapters to follow, is the Day of the Lord.  If you had any thought of anticipation and looking forward to the day of the Lord, well, maybe you’ll have second thoughts after reading this.  Aren’t we programmed to look forward to the second coming of Christ?  Don’t we naturally say Maranatha!  Come Lord Jesus!  But if we say that naturally, then are we taking into account that on this day the following will take place: “I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth.”  There is no differentiation whether people are righteous or not.  There will be a full scale destruction, according to Zephaniah.  

Just in case you aren’t completely convinced about the tone and the tenor of this Scripture look at vs.15.  There is no redeeming value about that day and no hint that if you are righteous or on the side of the Lord then you will be spared the wrath, anguish, ruin and devastation, darkness, gloom, clouds and thick darkness.  No one seems to be spared.  Just to make sure that we understand that he isn’t kidding he finishes it off with: for a full, a terrible end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.  So, take that for data.

Finally we get a picture of restoration.  It looks like we have a vision of what things will be when things get back to the way that God wants them to be.  The first word of this chapter is the word “return”.  This implies that the Lord is asking Israel to come back to him, again much like the father is looking out on the horizon waiting for his son to “return”.  When we return, when Israel returns, when those who have run from their Father return, then restoration is able to take place.  Restoration cannot take place in a way that is one sided and the initiative coming from a single person.  

There has to be a recognition that salvation can come at the hand of the Lord and at his hand alone.  There is no redemption in a country, there is no redemption in the work of our hands, there is no redemption in our equipment for war.  Only the Lord can bring about redemption.  

In the very last verse of this chapter we find a proverb by which we can live: “The ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them…”  That’s a good way to finish this book of the Bible which speaks so strongly about those who have transgressed the ways of the Lord.  We all have, but we have all been called to return.  It is time to return.

Remember that the only reason why Israel received a king in the first place was that they asked that God would appoint to them a king who would rule over them.  God did not really want that, it wasn’t the most ideal plan, because he told them that a king will require taxes from you, a king will take your sons and make them join the army, a king will take your daughters and they will be a part of his court.  Basically with a king you will not have the same freedoms that you have now.  But we want one, the Israelites said, because everyone else had one and they seem to be doing fine.  

But now that they have turned their back on the Lord the king will serve no purpose because this king is not drawing the people closer to the Lord, but rather has his own intentions on his mind.  He has his own desires and his own interests in mind which do not correspond to the interests of the nation, or certainly not of the interests of God.  

As I read vs.14 and following it makes me think of Paul’s Scripture in I Corinthians 15.  Death, where is your sting etc.  Read it again starting in I Corinthians 15:54-55.  It is a great consolation and assurance in times when we are in need of a reminder that God is in control even in the midst of death.  The death that is depicted in vs.16 is a terrifying one.  It is one that is echoed in Psalm 137 especially in verses 8 and 9.  

It looks like the offending parties in these few chapters are Egypt and Assyria who end up taking the people into captivity.  Egypt was more of a historical remembrance of being in captivity since it was Babylon and Assyria who took the people into captivity in the more recent modern era.  When I say more recent I mean in the 700’s and the 500’s BC.  Egypt was much earlier than that.

Really the only thing that is left of the Lord to do is to say – Remember when?  And there you have the origin of Israel as Jacob wrestled with God and so was given that name.  But those memories are wearing thin and the current situation is one where they are proud of who they are thinking that they got to where they are on their own.  

Again, hearkening back to the patriarch who was the father of Joseph who allowed the people of Israel, at least the 12 brothers, to be reunited in Egypt and live there peaceably.  But now Ephraim, remember to be understood as Israel, has to repay for the evil that it has committed in turning its back to the Lord.  That is going to happen.  

While we read about the unfaithfulness of Israel, we begin to see something turn around with a promise that the Lion will roar and when that happens, then his cubs will come back to him from wherever it may have been that they strayed…Egypt, Syria, wherever.

I love the image of God as a mighty lion, partially because I am sympathetic to the Narnia series put together by C.S. Lewis which has a wonderful portrayal of our God who sacrificed it all for His people.  God is Aslan who is a lion in the Narnia series.  

The beginning of this chapter also has a picture of God remembering how much He loved his child when they were young.  He taught them how to walk, he held them, he even healed their wounds, but they were oblivious to it all even as he was healing and making them better.  They were distracted and looked away from him, even while he was healing them. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwEke2WGgi8

The blood that had to be shed was  the blood of Jesus, in this clip, the blood of Aslan.

Hosea begins by thinking back on glory days.  Speaking of…

The author speaks about the way in which Israel had grown, like a “luxuriant vine.”  But this reminiscing comes to a quick conclusion, actually it is only one verse, and then he begins to lay into Israel in vs.2 like he had before.  There is a mourning because they had lost their king because they did not fear the Lord. 

He portrays the mourning and the trembling of the inhabitants because the glory of Israel had departed.  It had departed because people were offering up sacrifices to false idols and priests had aligned themselves with false gods and idols.   The places will be abandoned and the people will no longer know their God and their God will be ashamed of them.  It sounds a lot like Genesis 6:6 where we read “and the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.”  Now that is pretty serious.

But there is still a way forward and you see that in vs.12 where we read: “sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, that he may come rain righteousness upon you.”  It sounds a  lot like: “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”  I know that the phrase the Lord helps those who help themselves is not in the Bible, but there is a bit of a tendency in these verses to point us in that direction.  It is completely contrary to our theological Protestant stance, but there has to be some motivation on the part of people in order to reap, as this chapter states, the full benefits of the Lord.

We find ourselves once again with the image of the prophet marrying the prostitute and the impact that had upon his life which was to be a metaphor for God and the people of Israel.  The unfaithfulness of the people of God is without question and this in turn leads to God abandoning those who were His people.

So this should give us some pause because the God that we know and love did not abandon us when we abandoned Him.  Rather, even while we were yet sinners, even while we decided not to follow Jesus, He went to the cross to die for us.  While this chapter in Hosea speaks of a punishment that will be carried out on the offspring, the glory that we find in our Savior is the hope for redemption and salvation that is offered not only to us, but to all those generations that will  come, to all who hope for His appearing.  So, while Hosea continues to provide a dark and gloomy picture and the sure destruction of the people of  God, we know that is not how the story ends.