Zechariah 1:7-17

7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah son of Iddo; and Zechariah said, 8 In the night I saw a man riding on a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in the glen; and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses. 9 Then I said, "What are these, my lord?" The angel who talked with me said to me, "I will show you what they are." 10 So the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered, "They are those whom the LORD has sent to patrol the earth." 11 Then they spoke to the angel of the LORD who was standing among the myrtle trees, "We have patrolled the earth, and lo, the whole earth remains at peace." 12 Then the angel of the LORD said, "O LORD of hosts, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which you have been angry these seventy years?" 13 Then the LORD replied with gracious and comforting words to the angel who talked with me. 14 So the angel who talked with me said to me, Proclaim this message: Thus says the LORD of hosts; I am very jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion. 15 And I am extremely angry with the nations that are at ease; for while I was only a little angry, they made the disaster worse. 16 Therefore, thus says the LORD, I have returned to Jerusalem with compassion; my house shall be built in it, says the LORD of hosts, and the measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem. 17 Proclaim further: Thus says the LORD of hosts: My cities shall again overflow with prosperity; the LORD will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem. (Zechariah 1:;7-17, NRSV)

The date for this passage, the twenty-fourth day of Shebat (mid-January to mid-February) in the second year of Darius, would come in early February of 519 B.C., thus about two months later than the latest of the five dates in Haggai (noted in comments last Saturday). The earlier date in Zechariah, “in the eighth month, in the second year of Darius” (mid-October to mid-November, 520 B.C.) (Zech. 1:1) would include Haggai’s third date among its beginning days. (Later in Zechariah, another date appears: 4^th yr. of Darius, 4^th day, 9^th mo., Chislev = mid-Nov. to mid-Dec., 518 B.C.) Haggai focused on rebuilding the temple and restoring its worship; Zechariah is concerned about the rebuilding of the temple as well. “Therefore, thus says the LORD, I have returned to Jerusalem with compassion; my house shall be built in it, says the LORD of hosts, and the measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem” (Zech. 1:16). But he proclaims restoration and prosperity (tôv) for the cities as well (v. 17).

Today’s reading from Zechariah presents the first of eight visions of Zechariah (Zech. 1:6-6:15). Gregory Mobley notes a pattern in the presentation of these visions: “(a) vision, (b) question about its meaning, (c) angelic interpretation” (Gregory Mobley, NOAB, 3^rd ed., on Zech. 1:6-6:15). The first vision is of a”a man riding on a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in the glen; and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses” (Zech. 1:8). It is explained that “They are those whom the LORD has sent to patrol the earth” (v. 10), and that their patrol has determined that “the whole earth remains at peace” (v. 11). Mobley explains, “the nations have not yet received their judgment” (Mobley, on v. 11). A conversation follows between the angel and the LORD. “How long,” asks the angel, “will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem?” (v. 12), and the LORD’s answer includes the promises noted above (vv. 14-17)

Revelation 3:7-13

The Message to Philadelphia

7 "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:

These are the words of the holy one, the true one,

who has the key of David,

who opens and no one will shut,

who shuts and no one opens:

8 "I know your works. Look, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. 9 I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but are lying--I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you. 10 Because you have kept my word of patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth. 11 I am coming soon; hold fast to what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. 12 If you conquer, I will make you a pillar in the temple of my God; you will never go out of it. I will write on you the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem that comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. 13 Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. (Revelation 3:7-13, NRSV)

Christ is identified as “the holy one, the true one,/who has the key of David,” a symbol of authority to open and shut (Rev. 3:7; cf. comments of Bruce M. Metzger, NOAB, 2^nd ed.). We soon learn that Christ has set before the Philadelphian church “an open door, which no one is able to shut” (v. 8). Christ will oppose “those of the synagogue of Satan” (v. 9). This phrase “reflects the tension between Jews and Jewish Christians” (Jean Pierre-Ruiz, NOAB, 3^rd ed., on Rev. 2:9 with a cross reference from 3:9). But these are opponents, and for the church of Philadelphia itself there is no criticism, only praise. "Look, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut.... Because you have kept my word of patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth" (vv. 8, 10).

Matthew 24:15-31 (NRSV) (the left-hand column)

For a similar table of the Beginning of Jesus’ Eschatological Speech, see the comments for August 20, 2005, in the Archive. (The readings at that time were from Mark.) Some of the following comments have been adapted from the comments on August 22, 2005.

The prototype of the “desolating sacrilege” (Mt. 24:15; Mk. 13:14 NRSV; “abomination of desolation” KJV) was the defiling of the temple by Antiochus Epiphanes, “Now on the fifteenth day of Chislev, in the one hundred forty-fifth year [167 B.C.], they erected a desolating sacrilege on the altar of burnt offering” (1 Maccabees 1:54, cf. vv. 41-64). After a Jewish war led by the family of Judas Maccabeus against the Hellenistic Syrian overlords, the temple was cleansed and rededicated (1 Macc. 4:36-61)–an event still celebrated as Hanukkah. In Jesus’ time, the very presence of the Roman army standards in Jerusalem and Judea must have been provocative. One “near miss,” we might call it, was Emperor Caligula’s attempt to erect statues in the temple in Jerusalem. Lambert Dolphin tells this story (http://www.templemount.org/destruct2.html#anchor596423):

Shortly after the death and resurrection of Jesus, the mad Emperor Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus - nicknamed Caligula ("little boots") - attempted to desecrate the Temple. Everywhere else in the Roman empire subjugated peoples had been forced to conform to the cult of Rome and acknowledge not only Caesar as Lord but also fall into line by adopting the Roman pantheon of gods. The Jews had been left alone and it was time they began to conform. Caligula gave an order to set up his statue in the Holy of Holies in the Temple:

Now Caius Caesar did so grossly abuse the fortune he had arrived at, as to take himself to be a god, and to desire to be so called also, and to cut off those of the greatest nobility out of his country. He also extended his impiety as far as the Jews. Accordingly he sent Petronius with an army to Jerusalem to place his statues in the temple, and commanded him that, in case the Jews would not admit of them, he should slay those that opposed it, and carry all the rest into captivity. (Flavius Josephus, Antiquities, 15, 403 ff.)

The Roman writer Tacitus adds that Caius commanded the Jews to place his effigies in the Temple. Josephus records that the Jews pleaded with Petronius not to do this. The Jews in their stubborn monotheism were willing to sacrifice their whole nation before they would allow the Temple to be defiled. Petronius marveled at their courage and ceased with the process so confrontation was temporarily averted. An enraged Caligula commanded that Petronius be put to death. Josephus records that Caligula himself died soon thereafter and due to bad weather at sea, the letter ordering Petronius' death arrived three weeks after the news arrived of Caligula's death. Petronius was not executed and the Temple was spared this particular abomination.

Both Philo and Josephus tell this story, and both say that it was fortunate that Caligula died before the order was carried out.

As for false Messiahs and false prophets among the Jews of Jesus’ day, several are described by Josephus. Some of these stories are retold by Richard Horsley in Bandits, Prophets and Messiahs (1988). In a general sense there have been numerous desolating sacrileges throughout history and in our own time. But the main point remains that we do not know the time of the Son of Man’s coming (Mt. 24:36; Mk. 13:32), and we are well advised to be ready at all times. Matthew describes the Parousia in graphic detail:

Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see 'the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven' with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Mt. 24:30-31, NRSV)

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

rworden@houston.rr.com