July 04th, 2020

Last week the focus was on a text from Jeremiah; his book is second in the ‘prophets’ section of the scriptures. This week the focus is on a text from Zechariah, and his book is the second-LAST prophet in the ‘prophets’ section of the scriptures. Jeremiah is the longest book of the bible (we are not considering all 150 Psalms as one book), and Zechariah is the longest book of the so-called ‘minor prophets’. But, the sad fact is, we do not often go to either of these two books. The only text from Zechariah in the entire three-year series is the text for this Sunday [9:9-12], and we do not go often to Jeremiah either, especially when compared to a book such as Isaiah. Perhaps there is something ‘secondary’ about being second.

Whereas Jeremiah was around the year 600 B.C., Zechariah was around the year 500 B.C. He is closer to the New Testament, and perhaps he is also closer in seeing what was ahead of him.

This year, when we are focused on the Gospel according to Matthew, the connection to the Old Testament is emphasized. While the Gospel according to Luke could be considered as looking ‘forward’ with the book of Acts, the Gospel according to Matthew could be considered as looking ‘behind’. Some people do not think that what is behind you is important. But where you come from sometimes makes a big difference as to where you are headed.

The four gospel accounts are SO different, one would think that they were not in communication with one another. One might THINK that, but there is a significantly different conclusion that says the writers WERE in communication with each other. The conclusion of this writer is one that was also within the early church, that there is a deliberate variety within the four accounts that reflects the four different living creatures that make up the LORD’s throne. These are the four different ways that the LORD shows his authority and glory.

The Gospel according to Matthew has traditionally been connected to the living creature of the man, and a man is a teacher, and that is what we often see Jesus doing in this gospel account. He shows his authority and glory by teaching. The variety of Old Testament passages that this writer quotes and connects to Jesus may not be dependent on a different source, but they simply have a different emphasis. These are bible passages that are literally central in the Old Testament.

It is important to remember that the Old Testament in Jesus’ day did not have the structure of chapter and verse with which we are familiar. For the reader or the listener to be helped in the progression of a text, the writer would sometimes put something important in the middle of the text, as a clue to arriving at a halfway point within a certain section of a text. (It is easy to forget what was in the middle; the beginning and the ending are usually the most memorable; this is especially the case with movies.) And it is certainly a nice addition to the text that sometimes an aspect of Jesus was at the center of those texts. One of the earliest middle points is the turn of the story at Genesis 8:1, when ‘God remembered Noah’. Then things start to get significantly better. For God to remember something puts the important action on him--rather than on Noah.

Chapter nine of Zechariah starts by identifying what is coming as a ‘burden’ or ‘oracle’. What comes after are some promises as to what will happen and, more importantly, what the Lord will do. As the chapter progresses, the Lord starts to get more involved, and the first use of the ‘first person’, that ‘I will do something’, starts in verse six. In verse seven, there is the mention of ‘our God’, but the first time that the speaker is talking DIRECTLY to someone starts in verse nine, with the start of our text. There are not only two imperatives (‘rejoice’ and ‘shout’) with this text—and imperatives are the use of the 'second person'—but there is also the use of ‘your king’, that ‘he comes to you’. Such a focus on YOU is quite rare throughout the rest of the book. Where 'you' is first mentioned, verse nine, this verse is quoted when Jesus is coming into Jerusalem (see Matthew 21:5).

Verse nine also happens to be in the middle of this chapter (you can see that quite easily since there are a total of eight verses both before and after verse nine). When counting the words in the original language, the middle is between the description of the donkey and colt.

Even more important than the differences between those two animals is the difference between when the LORD talks and when he talks TO YOU. The important action is still on him, but, this time, it makes an important difference to YOU. This change to ‘you’ happens near the middle, and it also happens near the middle elsewhere in the scriptures. Psalm 23 is a good example of this, where the middle word of the entire Psalm is the first mention of ‘you’ in the phrase in verse four, ‘For you are with me, your rod and your staff they comfort me.’

The middle can be important, just as those things that are second can sometimes be important as well.