Day 68 - Zechariah 11:1 - Matthew 4:25

In today's section, we read about:

Good and evil shepherds
Future deliverance for Jerusalem and a fountain of cleansing
The end times when God will rule over the whole earth
In Malachi, condemnation of unworthy sacrifices and neglect of the tithes
God's hatred of divorce
The coming day of judgment, a call to repentance and faithfulness and God's promise of mercy
In Matthew, the genealogy of Jesus
The birth, flight to Egypt and return to Galilee of Jesus and visit of the wise men from the east
John the Baptist calls to repentance
Jesus is baptised and is tempted
Jesus calls the first disciples

Some thoughts that occurred to me today:

Zech 11:12 - according to Ex 21:32, 30 pieces of silver was the price to be paid for a slave gored to death by a bull. Thus a slave's price is to be paid, and the reference in v13 was fulfilled in Matt 27:7-10

12:10 - "Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem.

13:1 - the fountain of cleansing, cf Jn 4:13-14, "living water .... a fresh, bubbling spring," also Ezek 47:8-12 (Zech 14:8)

13:7 foretells Matt 26:31

14:9 - "the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day there will be one Lord—his name alone will be worshiped."

After all the outlandish visions of the rest of the prophecy of Zechariah, the book ends on a very prosaic note on cooking pots. This ends a section where all the nations will have to come and celebrate the Festival of Shelters (Succoth) in Jerusalem, after they have been made to acknowledge the kingship of God through God's judgment on them.

The opening of Malachi shows that the Israelites thought they were doing OK, yet instead they were displeasing God by withholding their tithes, offerings and bringing damaged animals to be sacrifices. To emphasise God's displeasure with the people who take pride in being His chosen people, He recalls Deut 32:21 when He says in 1:11, "But my name is honoured by people of other nations from morning till night. All around the world they offer sweet incense and pure offerings in honour of my name. For my name is great among the nations."

2:5 reiterates that the purpose of the Covenant (ie the Law) was to bring life and peace. Too often the tendency is to see the law as onerous and in opposition to the grace of the New Covenant in Jesus. Instead, the Law is a gift from God to create in us an awareness of spiritual realities, spur us to a hunger for righteousness and grace. It is not something to be got round as much as possible, but something to point us to a fuller understanding of God's love revealed to us through the life, love and sacrifice of Jesus.

2:15-16, "Didn’t the Lord make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his. And what does he want? Godly children from your union. So guard your heart; remain loyal to the wife of your youth. “For I hate divorce!” says the Lord, the God of Israel. “To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “So guard your heart; do not be unfaithful to your wife.”

3:1-4 points the way towards Jesus, announced by God's messenger. Jesus will come to purify and cleanse, "he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal, or like a strong soap that bleaches clothes".

3:6 - "I am the Lord, and I do not change". 3:7, "Now return to me, and I will return to you"

3:10 shows the way God wants his economy to work - we bring Him the first and best of what we have, and He can't wait to shower us with more blessings than we can imagine.

3:16 is a wonderful image - "those who feared the Lord spoke with each other, and the Lord listened to what they said. In his presence, a scroll of remembrance was written to record the names of those who feared him and always thought about the honour of his name." This is followed up in 3:17, "they will be my people... they will be my own special treasure." Then we read in 4:2, "for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture."

Then in 4:5-6, the Old Testament ends with a promise of something new that God will send, that people will have to respond positively and consciously to.

I was struck by the way in which Joseph was spoken to in a vision, not once but four times, whenever there was some momentous decision that had to be made (Matt 1:20; 2:13,19,22). God speaks to us and deals with us according to our needs as individuals.

I was struck by the extent to which Matthew was keen to stress that all this had been promised through the prophets before (Amos 4:7). We see references in 1:23 (Is 7:14, 8:8); 2:6 (Mic 5:2, 2 Sam 5:2), 2:15 (Hos 11:1); 2:18 (Jer 31:15); 2:23 (?????); 3:3 (Is 40:3); 4:15-16 (Is 9:1-2).

Exactly the same message is preached by John (3:2) and Jesus (4:17).

I was also struck by the description in 4:20 and 4:22, where the first disciples were called by Jesus and followed *AT ONCE*, leaving their boats and families. This made me think of Lk 14:25-33 where Jesus cautions those who would be his disciples to count the cost of following him, "if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple" (Lk 14:27). Also Matt 10:34-39.

One verse from today - "And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day there will be one Lord—his name alone will be worshipped" (Zech 14:9)