Extreme Jealousy

Beginning in verse 14, the angel sent to interpret Zechariah’s vision begins to deliver the message that Yahweh had spoken. In answer to the question “How long?” Yahweh professes His intense jealousy for Jerusalem and Zion. Then, in verse 15, He reveals that, while it may appear the oppressive nations surrounding Israel are enjoying peace and tranquility, the truth is that He is “fiercely angry” with them. In both His descriptions of His jealousy over Jerusalem and Zion and His anger toward the nations, God used double emphases in the Hebrew language, literally declaring that He is “jealous with great jealousy” (v. 14) and “angry with great anger” (v. 15). Indeed, He had only been “a little angry” toward Israel (v. 15), intending for His people to be punished for a season by the surrounding nations but not to be oppressed to the extent and intensity that Israel had been.

Motivated by His jealous love and offended at Israel’s mistreatment by the nations that were now at ease, God declared in verse 16, “In mercy, I have returned to Jerusalem.” God’s tender mercy (rachamim) toward His people reached out to them in spite of the judgment they deserved. In Deuteronomy, long before the time of Zechariah, God had prophesied Israel’s apostasy and eventual exile but had also promised that Israel’s return to the Lord would be met with God’s mercy:

When all these things happen to you—the blessings and curses I have set before you—and you come to your senses while you are in all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, and you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey Him with all your heart and all your soul by doing everything I am giving you today, then He will restore your fortunes, have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. (Deut 30:1-3)

God’s mercy—which had spared Israel from utter destruction even when they had been unrepentant—would now work to restore His repentant people. Because of His mercy, God made four promises to Zechariah and Israel.

(1) He promised His returned presence. “I have returned to Jerusalem; My house will be rebuilt within it.” Prior to the exile, Ezekiel had seen a vision of God’s glory departing from the temple (Ezek 10:18-19; 11:22-23). Now God declared that He had returned and that His dwelling place, the temple, would be rebuilt in Jerusalem.

(2) He promised restored stability. “A measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.” This measuring line, prophesied earlier (Jer 31:38-40), is a symbol of restoration. The holy city, which had been desecrated in the past and which now was fragile and vulnerable to attack, would become established and stable.

(3) He promised rich blessing. “My cities will again overflow with prosperity.” Though the towns of Judah were currently impoverished, God foretold a coming day when they would, in the most literal sense of the words, “spread out with prosperity.” The language paints a picture of towns that were so blessed with God’s abundance that the city walls would not be able to hold all the wealth.

(4) He promised renewed favor. “The Lord will once more comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.” The Lord promised to make Jerusalem His chosen place. The renewed city would become a model for the world, reflecting God’s favor and affection.

From a dispensational eschatological perspective, the ultimate fulfillment of these promises to Israel will only be realized with the second coming, the millennial temple, and the thousand-year reign of Christ on earth (Lindsey, “Zechariah,” 1551). Even so, the anticipation of God’s fullest expression of His mercy to Jerusalem would have invigorated the people of Israel to continue rebuilding the temple in Zechariah’s day. Understanding the hope and encouragement of God’s mercy also spurs us on when our situation seems bleak and hopeless.

God shows His people mercy. His words to Jerusalem centuries ago have never changed: “In mercy, I have returned.” He loves us so much that He overflows with mercy for us. His mercy moves Him to love us deeply. Because of His mercy, God is compassionate toward us with a kindness that we could never deserve. Whoever you are, wherever you have been, and whatever you have done, God longs to be merciful to you.

Luis Palau tells a beautiful story about a mother who approached the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte seeking a pardon for her son. The emperor listened to her request, but then he replied that this young soldier had committed a certain offense twice and that justice demanded death.

The mother said, “I’m not asking you for justice; I’m asking you, I’m pleading, for mercy.”

Napoleon answered, “Your son does not deserve mercy.”

And the mother cried, “Sir, if he deserved it, it wouldn’t be mercy, and mercy is all I ask for.”

The emperor said, “Well, then, I shall have mercy,” and he spared the woman’s son (Palau, “Hope for Healing”).

Mercy is God withholding from us the judgment we deserve because of our sin. Had Judah been guilty of rebelling and sinning against God? Yes. Had they deserved to be trampled by the nations around them? Yes. But in God’s mercy, He promised to restore them and give them prosperity again. Here’s why: His love will not let His people go. You can come to the God of the universe, throw yourself at His feet, and He will show you mercy. God extends His mercy to us because of the cross of Jesus Christ. God’s people can count on His overflowing mercy.

Beginning in verse 18, Zechariah receives a second vision from the Lord, this one consisting of four horns and four craftsmen. Among the Jews, the horns of an animal were a measure of that animal’s power. We have the same idea today. The avid hunter goes after the twelve-point buck. The rancher prizes the longhorn bull. Because horns represent strength in the animal world, the horn was also used figuratively in the OT to symbolize political or military strength. For instance, in Micah 4:13 God said, “Rise and thresh, Daughter Zion, for I will make your horns iron and your hooves bronze, so you can crush many peoples.” Horns were also used to symbolize kingdoms, as in Daniel 7:24. The four horns that Zechariah saw represented the power of the nations that had scattered Jerusalem, an interpretation made clearer by the words of the angel in verses 19 and 21.

A more difficult interpretive question is the significance of four horns. Why that specific number? What nations or kingdoms are being symbolized? Some interpreters have suggested that the four kingdoms are the world empires of Babylonia, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. Some have countered that earlier kingdoms—Assyria, Egypt, Babylonia, and Medo-Persia—are in view (Barker, Zechariah, 615). Others have proposed the four horns represent attacks against Israel from all sides: north, south, east, and west (Kaiser and Ogilvie, Micah, 318). No matter what the exact significance of the number, the four horns clearly portray total domination of the people of Israel by the powers that attacked and conquered them.

Because of His jealous love, God assured Zechariah that He would act with justice to override the great power of these conquering kingdoms. The four craftsmen in Zechariah 1:20 represent God’s instruments to bring justice to the nations that had abused God’s people. The image of the craftsmen is somewhat unusual. The Hebrew term charash refers to someone who is skilled at working in some type of medium, including metalwork (1 Chr 29:5), woodwork (Isa 40:20), or stonework (Exod 28:11). Zechariah himself does not ask about the identity of the craftsmen, however. Instead, he asks about their function: “What are they coming to do?” (Zech 1:20). The answer, which presumably comes from the angel, is that they have come to “terrify” the four horns that have abused Judah and “to cut off the horns” of these nations, indicating a dismantling of their power.

Perhaps the vision of the four craftsmen is meant to evoke the idea that just as a craftsman does his work slowly, carefully, and skillfully, so God skillfully works His justice in His own time. Also, sometimes we can only understand the work of a craftsman once it is finished. In the same way, God’s ultimate justice will only be fully understood when time has drawn to a close and God’s purposes are complete.

Ravi Zacharias tells the story of visiting the city of Varanasi in northern India. There he walked into the small side room of a building where a father and son were working together to make a wedding sari, a spectacular traditional garment that every bride in India wants to wear on her wedding day. He writes,

The father sits on a raised platform with huge spools of brilliantly colored threads within his reach. The son sits on the floor in the lotus position. . . . Before my eyes, though it did not appear so at first, a grand design appears. The father gathers some threads in his hand, then nods, and the son moves the shuttle from one side to the other. A few more threads, another nod, and again the son responds by moving the shuttle. The process seems almost Sisyphus-like in its repetition, the silence broken only occasionally with a comment or by some visitor who interrupts to ask a question about the end design. The father smiles and tries in broken English to explain the picture he has in mind, but compared to the magnificence of the final product, it is a mere lisp. Throughout the process, the son has had a much easier task. Most likely he has often felt bored. Perhaps his back has ached or his legs have gone to sleep. Perhaps he has wished for some other calling in life—something he might find more stimulating or fulfilling. He has but one task, namely to move the shuttle as directed by the father’s nod, hoping to learn to think like the father so that he can carry on the business at the appropriate time. Yet, the whole time, the design has remained in the mind of the father as he held the threads. (Zacharias, Grand Weaver, 15–16)

In the same way, sometimes we look at our lives and, from our limited earthly human perspective, we cannot see the pattern or the plan. We cannot see God’s justice at work, and life looks incredibly messy and unfair. Life is not fair, but God is fair, God is just, and God is greater than this life.

We may not experience the fullness of His plan for us in this lifetime. We may find ourselves wondering, Why am I suffering this way? Why am I going through this? But, like a craftsman, God is working everything together (Rom 8:28). As a result, we can say, “God, I know that You are just. I know that You are righteous. And I am counting on Your ultimate justice, that You’re going to take care of things, even if I don’t quite understand how.” God promised overriding justice to His people Judah. He promises that to us, as well.

Zechariah 2 records a single vision that continues the theme of God’s jealous commitment to His people. In this vision Zechariah sees a man with a measuring line in his hand. The prophet asks the man where he is going, and the man indicates that he is on his way to take the measurements of Jerusalem (vv. 1-2). Then, as now, surveying property in this way was done in preparation for building. The man in the vision represents God’s desire to restore and rebuild the city. In verses 3-4 another angel instructs Zechariah’s interpreting angel to tell Zechariah, to whom he refers as “this young man,” that Jerusalem would have to expand its walls because so many people and livestock will be in it. This would have been a surprising message. At the time of Nehemiah, the city was in such ruin and so unstable that very few wanted to live in it, preferring the surrounding area in Judah (Neh 11:1-2). Verse 5 shows the reason the city would once again become safe for inhabitants. The Lord Himself would be the city’s defense, with His protection circling the city like “a wall of fire” and His glorious presence providing stability within it.

Based on this vision, in verses 6-13 Zechariah proclaims a message to the people of God. The message includes the following elements:

(1) The exiles remaining in Babylon should return to Jerusalem as quickly as possible (vv. 6-7). In verse 6 the “land of the north” is Babylon, identified explicitly in verse 7. The people of Zion, whom God has scattered out “like the four winds of heaven” in every direction, are urged to return immediately to Jerusalem.

(2) The nations that had been harming Israel will be judged (vv. 8-9). God promises to judge Babylon and other nations that have harmed Israel, which is another reason that the people of Judah needed to leave Babylon so quickly. Ironically, those who have plundered God’s people will now be plundered by the Lord Himself. The word for “plunder,” shalal, means to take by force.

(3) God will bless Israel and many nations through Israel (vv. 10-12). The expressions of God’s blessing on Israel include the Lord “coming to dwell” among them, other nations that “will join themselves to the Lord on that day and become My people,” and the Lord taking possession of Judah “as His portion in the Holy Land.”

(4) All people should be silent in the presence of the Lord (v. 13). In light of what God had revealed to His people, the only fitting response was awe-filled and silent submission to the Lord’s might.

Verse 8 contains a key phrase that reveals the overwhelming love of God for His people: “Anyone who touches you touches the pupil of His eye.” The figure of speech originates in Deuteronomy 32:10, where Moses says that the Lord found Jacob in a desolate wilderness, surrounded him, cared for him, and “protected him as the pupil of His eye.” More famously translated “the apple of His eye,” the word literally means the gate or opening of the eye, which is the part of the eye most easily injured and most in need of protection. Because of His love for His people, God placed Israel under His own protective and powerful care.

John Hyde, a missionary to India who died in 1912, became known as “Praying Hyde.” He told of the greatest lesson God ever taught him about prayer. Hyde was praying for a national pastor in India, a man who was causing problems.

Hyde began his prayer, “O God, Thou knowest this brother, how . . .” He was going to say “cold,” when suddenly a voice seemed to tell him, “He that touches him touches the apple of My eye.” Horror swept over Hyde. Falling to his knees, Hyde confessed his own sin and then prayed, “Father, show me what things are lovely and of good report in my brother’s life.”

Hyde instantly remembered the many sacrifices this pastor had made for the Lord, how he had given up all for Christ, how he had suffered deeply for Christ. He thought of the many years of difficult labor this man had invested in the kingdom, and the wisdom with which he had resolved congregational conflict. Hyde remembered the man’s devotion to his wife and family, and how he had provided a model to the church of godly husbanding. John Hyde wound up spending his prayer time that day praising the Lord for this brother’s faithfulness.

Shortly afterward, Hyde traveled to see this pastor, and he learned that the man had just experienced a personal revival and spiritual renewal (Carre, Praying Hyde, 136–37).

God’s overwhelming love for us that protects us, draws us back to Himself, and renews us is the ultimate root of God’s extreme jealousy for us. He will not let us go, because we are precious to Him!