Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadLange Commentary - Zechariah 6:9 - 6:15
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Zec_6:9-15
9–10And the word of Jehovah came to me saying, Take from the exiles, from Cheldai, from Tobiah, and from Jedaiah, and go thou on that day, go into the 11house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah whither they have come from Babylon; And take silver and gold and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua, the 12son of Josedech, the high priest; And speak to him saying, Thus speaketh Jehovah of Hosts, saying, Behold a man whose name is Branch, and from his place he 13shall grow up, and build the temple of Jehovah. Even He shall build the temple of Jehovah, and He shall bear majesty, and shall sit and rule upon his throne, and shall be a priest upon his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. 14And the crowns shall be to Chelem, and to Tobiah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen, the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of Jehovah. 15And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of Jehovah; and ye shall know that Jehovah of Hosts hath sent me to you; and it will come to pass, if ye will hearken unto the voice of Jehovah your God—
a. The Symbolic Action (Zec_6:9-11).
Zec_6:9. And the word, etc. Therefore this is not a vision.
Zec_6:10. Take from the exiles…from Babylon. The exiles is a term applied by Ezra (Ezr_4:1; Ezr_6:19) to the returned captives (Ezr_4:1; Ezr_6:19), but here evidently means those who were still in exile, and of whom the persons named as having come from Babylon, were representatives. Of these three persons and their host Josiah, we know nothing more than what the passage itself relates. Several interpreters (Jerome, Hengstenberg, Baumgarten), following the LXX., consider their names as significant, but there is nothing to require this here more than elsewhere, nor do the results thus obtained contribute anything to the proper understanding of the section. The E. V. makes àֲùֶׁø the subject of áָàåּ (Targum, Peshito, Vulgate, Luther, Henderson), but it is better to take it as an accusative of place, referring to the house of Josiah (Nordheimer, H. G., 902, 1 b.). So Hengstenberg, Köhler, Keil, etc. According to this view the three men are deputies from the Jews in Babylon, and the fourth was the host with whom they lodged in Jerusalem. On that day, the day mentioned (Zec_1:7).
Zec_6:11. Crowns. The plural which is repeated in Zec_6:14 must be significant, and represents, if not two distinct diadems, at least one composite crown of two or more parts, The former is the more natural (cf. Rev_19:12) and better suited to the connection which treats of the combination of two distinct offices in one person. Ewald, Hitzig, and Bunsen interpolate “and upon the head of Zerubbabel” after the words “high priest;” but for this there is no authority whatever, critical or exegetical.
b. The Explanation and Promise (Zec_6:12-15).
Zec_6:12-13 explain the meaning of the symbolical action just commanded.
Zec_6:12. And speak to him. Joshua of course would know that the regal function, so firmly fixed in the family of David, could not possibly be conferred upon him as an individual, and that therefore its insignia were placed upon his head typically. This is put beyond doubt by the address here made to him. Behold points to the Messiah as if he were present. He is called Branch as if it were a proper name, as appears not only by the lack of the article, but by the established usage of the earlier Prophets. See on Zec_3:8. Of this branch or sprout from the fallen trunk of David, it is said, from his place he will grow up. Some (LXX., Luther, Hitzig, Pressel, etc.) render this clause impersonally, “there will be sprouting or growth;” but this overlooks the îï in îִúַּçְúּéå , and besides, changes the subject without reason. Better is the view (Cocceius, Hengstenberg, Baumgarten, Keil, etc), that the Branch will grow up from his place (cf. Exo_10:23), i. e., from his own land and nation, not an exotic, but a genuine root-shoot from the native stock to which the promises had been made. Build the temple—not the earthly temple then in progress, for this was to be Completed by Zerubbabel (Zec_4:9); not a new and more glorious one of the same kind, for Zerubbabel’s temple was to be glorified in the Messianic times (Hag_2:7-9; Mal_3:1); but (Hengstenberg, Tholuck, Köhler) the spiritual temple of which the tabernacle and Solomon’s splendid edifice were only types, the holy house composed of living stones (Eph_2:21; 1Pe_2:5). Not a temple, but the temple,—one still in existence and always the same, but destined to an unprecedented exaltation by the Messiah. “The temple of God is one, namely, the Church of the saved, originating in the promise given in Paradise, and lasting to the end of the world “(Cocceius).
Zec_6:13. Even He shall build. The repetition is not useless, but emphatic, as the expressed pronoun shows. Even he, notwithstanding his lowliness of origin, shall accomplish this great work. Bear majesty, i. e., kingly glory and honor, for which çåֹø seems to be the proper and normal term (1Ch_29:25; Dan_11:21; Psa_21:5). Will sit and rule upon his throne. “The former denotes the possession of the honor and dignity of a king, the latter the actual exercise of royal authority” (Hengstenberg). The suffix in “his throne” refers not to Jehovah (Vitringa), which is too remote, but to the Branch himself, as is shown by the recurrence of the word in the next clause. And will be a priest. Ewald and Hitzig render, “there will be a priest upon,” etc., which s both arbitrary and unmeaning. Nearly all interpreters, ancient and modern, render as in the text, and understand the clause to mean, that the Branch would be both king and high priest on one and the same throne. Between them both. Not the Branch and Jehovah (Cocceius, Vitringa), nor the Branch and an ideal priest (Ewald, Bunsen), nor the royal and the priestly offices (Rosenmüller, Hengstenberg, etc.); but the king and the priest who sit upon the throne, united in one person, the Branch (Hengstenberg, Umbreit, Köhler). Upon this view, the counsel of peace cannot mean perfect harmony, for that would be a matter of course—yet Jerome, Michaelis, Maurer, and Hengstenberg favor this view,—but is a counsel which aims at or results in peace, like “the chastisement of our peace” in Isa_53:5, i. e., which has for its object our peace. The sense, then, is that the Branch, uniting in himself royalty and priesthood, will take such counsel as shall result in peace and salvation for the covenant people.
Zec_6:14-15. The Prophet having explained the meaning of Joshua’s coronation, now proceeds to give the reason why the silver and gold of which the crowns were composed, were to he obtained from the messengers of the Jews who lived at a distance from their native land.
Zec_6:14. And the crowns shall be. The crowns, after having been placed upon the head of Joshua, were not to become his personal property, but to be preserved in the temple as a memorial of the deputies from Babylon. The names of these persons are the same as those given in Zec_6:10, except the first and last; Helem standing for Heldiah, and Hen for Josiah. In the former case the two names are so nearly alike that there is a general agreement in the view which refers them to the same person, and considers the variation as a copyist’s error. In the latter, Keil and Köhler render the second name as an appellative noun with the sense of favor, and consider it a record of the gracious hospitality which the son of Zephaniah had shown to the deputies from Babylon. But this is certainly artificial, and it is better to assume that Josiah had this additional name. The object of depositing the crowns in the temple was not simply to do honor to the liberality of the contributors from Babylon, but also to extend the typical significance of the whole proceeding. These men, sending from afar their gifts for the house of God, were types of many who would one day come from heathen lands and help to build the temple of the Lord.
Zec_6:15. And they that are afar off. A manifest prediction that distant strangers should actively participate in setting up the kingdom of God. And ye shall know, etc. The occurrence of this result would be a proof of the divine origin of what is here predicted in word and deed. The last clause, and it will.…your God, is considered by Hengstenberg and Henderson as an aposiopesis, If ye will hearken, then—. This certainly gives an emphatic and spirited close to the prophecy, and grammatically agrees better with the form of the original than the supposition that a pronoun has been omitted as the subject of åְäָéäָ . The suppressed apodosis of course is, ye shall participate in all the blessings which the Branch is to secure. For other instances of aposiopesis, see Gen_31:42; Gen_50:15 (in Hebrew), and the very striking instance (Psa_27:13). The question, whether Zechariah really performed the symbolical action here enjoined, is left undecided by some (Hengstenberg, Keil), but there seems little reason to doubt that he did, since the crown was to be hung up in the temple as a memorial.
2. One of these was to build the Temple of the Lord. His type, Joshua, was busily engaged in forwarding the erection of the new structure on Moriah, and that edifice, by successive additions in a long course of years, became a most stately and magnificent pile. But it was a far nobler building to which the Branch applied himself, one which was truly a habitation of God through the Spirit, one composed of living stones. The glory of the Temple at Jerusalem was that there the Most High manifested his presence; and all beauty of form and grace of ornamentation was valued only in so far as it rendered the house fit for the residence of God. Now the true temple, the spiritual house, is the actual dwelling-place of Jehovah, where He displays the fact, not by signs or symbols, not by a material Shekinah, but by the graces of his Spirit inwrought in the hearts and manifested in the lives of his people. He dwells not merely among them as a whole, but in each particular member. Ubi Spiritus, ibi ecclesia. These members vary widely in other respects, but they are all alike characterized by the indwelling of the Spirit, the source of their life and the bond of their connection with Christ, the head. Now it is this living temple which the Branch builds. He is, according to the common Scripture metaphor, the foundation, the corner-stone; but here he appears as builder. Sending forth his servants he began and still continues the work, collecting, shaping, and laying the materials, until already an innumerable multitude have been framed into such a structure as earth never saw before. The Church on earth has many imperfections, yet after allowing for all these, it is still a coetus Sanctorum, a civitas Dei, a holy temple in the Lord; and it bears witness in every part to the grace and skill of its great Founder. He, only He, did build, could build such a glorious edifice.
3. The source of his power and success is indicated in the very peculiar functions assigned to Him in the text. He is a priest upon his throne,—a combination wholly strange to the experience of the covenant people, and heretofore known to them only in the dim tradition from patriarchal days, of the mysterious Melchisedek who was at once king of Salem and a priest of the most high God. In the Branch, the Aaronic line and the Davidic line should both culminate. He should fulfill the highest ideal of each. As the one, real, atoning priest, he was to attain all ἐîïõóßáí for the forgiveness of sins and the removal of guilt; and as the one, real, reigning king, he was to exercise all äýíáìéí for the inward support and outward protection of his people. The two functions coincided in extent and object. Those for whom the priest offered and interceded, were the very parties over whom the king extended his beneficent reign. This counsel between the two offices, this harmony of aim and purpose, cannot but insure peace=the highest good, temporal and spiritual, of his people. The combination of right and power is irresistible. So it has been in all the past; so it will be in all the future. This man hath an unchangeable priesthood, and his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed (Heb_7:24; Dan_7:14). We can see the value of this combination more clearly by considering the consequences, if either function stood alone. Of what avail would be the pardon of sin, if there were no security against its recurrence and dominion in the future? The wiping out of the old score would simply make room for a new one. On the other hand, of what use would be the mastery of all concupiscence for the present and all time to come, so long as no provision was made for the arrearages of former transgression and guilt? The burden of the past would only be the more intolerable as its enormity would be the more clearly discerned and felt. We need a Priest and a King, and, blessed be God, we have them, with a resulting counsel of peace.
4. The calling of the Gentiles belongs to the building of the ideal temple. This is set forth typically by taking materials from Babylon for the double crown to be placed upon Joshua, and directly by the declaration that they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the Lord. This very expression the Apostle Paul uses to designate the Gentile Ephesians (Eph_2:17), “you that are far off.” Zechariah faithfully echoes the words of all his predecessors as to the extent of the final dispensation of grace. The universality indicated in the first promise, and clearly expressed in the oft-repeated covenant with Abraham, was never lost sight of. Even amid the narrow restrictions and close lines of Judaism there were significant intimations that the barriers of race were only incidental and temporary (see on Zec_2:11), and that one day the light and life of Zion should extend to the ends of the earth. Just as Isaiah (Isa_60:2; Isa_60:6; Isa_60:9) sets forth the future triumph of the Gospel by representing huge caravans as journeying toward Zion, and the ships of Tarshish as engaged in transporting the sons of strangers thither with their silver and their gold, so our Prophet expresses the same truth by depicting the far-off nations as builders in the temple. As living stones they come, and insert themselves in the sacred edifice, being built upon “Jesus Christ Himself, in whom the whole building groweth into an holy temple in the Lord.” And not only that, but under the master-builder, they are the means of gathering others, and so lifting yet higher the walls of that spiritual house which is the temple of the living God. The chief upholders to-day of heathen evangelization are nations farthest off from the old seat of the theocracy.
Bradley: The temple of Jehovah. If God so loves his Church as to call it his house, to dwell in it and delight in it; if He deems it so sacred as to call it his temple; if He sees so much grandeur and beauty in it as to speak of its glory; surely, we may find in it something to love, something to delight in, something to revere and admire.…He shall build. Christ is the builder. (1.) He forms the plan. (2.) He prepares the materials. (3.) He joins the materials together.
Jay: The temple is the Church of God. His people, therefore, should remember that all they have and all they are is the Lord’s; and that to take anything pertaining to a temple is not only robbery but sacrilege.…. Christ is the sole real builder. All others build only as instruments. Even Paul and Apollos were only ministers by whom men believed, even as the Lord gave to every man. Too often men are insensible of this, and begin like Melancthon, who supposed in his fervor that he should convert all who heard him.
Pressel: Every contribution toward the building up of the Church, coming from a true heart, has its memorial before God, and as a testimony before the world of the divinity of the Gospel.…The slowness of the far-off nations to enter into the kingdom of Christ, is due not so much to the hardness of their hearts as to the feeble attention of Christians to the voice of their God and Saviour.
Footnotes:
Zec_6:10.—The infin. absol. ìָ÷åֹçַ , used for the imperative, has no object, and is therefore to be considered as resumed in the ìָ÷ַçְúָּ of Zec_6:11. This requires us to view the latter half of Zec_6:10 as a parenthesis, which, as Pressel says, “is somewhat harsh but not harsher than we often find even in German” or in English.
Zec_6:10.— âåֹìä , abstract for concrete=the exiles.
Zec_6:10.—The repetition of áָàúָ is one of the eases which have subjected Zechariah’s style to the charge of being heavy and dragging.
Zec_6:11.—This is noted by the Masorites as one of the twenty-six verses, each of which contains all the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
Zec_6:12.— éִöîַç — öֶîַç . Observe the paronomasia: “a sprout will sprout up.”
Zec_6:13.—The first word is very emphatic, Even He and not another. So in the next clause, and He.
Zec_6:15.—The aposiopesis is striking (cf. Luk_13:9), “And if it bear fruit—; and if not, then,” etc.
Tacitus.