Category Archives: People of the Bible

Zechariah – In Context

Posted on by
4

To read Zechariah, I think you need to put it in context with the Haggai and Ezra.  I know that Malachi has been put last in the Old Testament because of 4:5, that is about Elijah coming again, but it has no time stamps as to when it was written.  Haggai and Zechariah are time-stamped so it is very easy to believe that these were the last two prophets to write their visions and words from the Lord. (Ezra, Esther, and Nehemiah were written after Haggai and Zechariah but they are “historical” books.)

Zechariah is written in two sections, which of course means someone has to say it has two different authors from two times!  The sections are chapters 1 – 8 and 9 – 14; 1 – 8 deal with the building of the Second Temple and 9 – 14 are independent “oracles” that could have come at any time during Zechariah’s time as a prophet.  This second section, to me, could be a recap of many of the Prophets before his time and the Father is restating and adding to words and ideas that have come before. I see Zechariah as a man “standing on the shoulders” of people who have come before him.

This seems to be the order of the timestamps that I was talking about:

  • 2y of Darius – Ezra 4:24 Starts his telling of the story about the building and the opposition to the Temple
  • 2y, 1d, 6m – Haggai 1:1; call to restart building the Temple

24d, 6m – Haggai 1:15; building starts again

  • 2y, 21d, 7m – Haggai 2:1; to encourage Zerubbabel
  • 2y, 8m – Zechariah 1:1; call to return to the Lord
  • 2y,24d, 9m – Haggai 2:10; was defiled now blessed

Haggai 2:18; blessings from this day on

Haggai 2: 20; encouraged Zerubbabel

  • 24d, 11m – Zechariah 1:7; various visions for the leaders and people
  • 4y, 4d, 9m – Zechariah 7:1; call to administer true justice and words of encouragement
  • 6y, 3d, 12m – Ezra 6:15 Temple completed
  • 7y, 14d, 1m – Ezra 6:19 Passover celebrated

Zechariah – The Prophet With A Family History

Posted on by
14

The word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berekiah, the son of Iddo.  Zechariah 1: 1(NIV)

When you do a study on people in the Bible it is good to look at the meaning of their names, and like this study who was related to them.  Given the fact that names were given to later generations in honor of their forefathers, this can prove tricky to be as accurate as people want.  This study is one of those that could have several possibilities but I will try my best; please be merciful.  So, first, we will look at the meanings of the names and a common city that turned up with several of them.  (The numbers are Strong’s Concordance Hebrew references numbers.)

  • Zechariah (#2148) Jah (God) has remembered
  • Berekiah (#1296) knee or “blessing” of Jah
  • Iddo – (#5714, 3260, 3035, 112) 5714 – timely; 3260 – appointed or JEDI (for you Star Wars fans); 3035 – praised; 112 may be related to Edom or worshipper of Him. It seems that changing the spelling of the name happened for the same person.

Zechariah – There are many people with that name in the Bible, so not much there.

Berekiah – It seems there are two “major” families that share that name.

  1. A relative of King Jehoiakim – 1 Chronicles 3:20 and probably the family in Nehemiah 3:4, 30, and 6: 18. They rebuilt a portion of the wall and married into the family of a troublemaker for Nehemiah.
  2. A Levite from the tribe of Merarites from Mahanaim – 1 Chronicles 9:16, 15:17,23

Iddo – Other than “our” Zechariah there are four people(s) with this name.

  1. 1 Kings 4:14 and 1 Chronicles 27:21 talk about an Iddo from Mahanaim who was an administrator for Solomon.
  2. The seer who wrote down history and genealogies for Solomon and Abijah. 2 Chronicles 9:29, 12: 15, and 13: 22
  3. A leader of Levites that Ezra asked for help. 1 Chronicles 6:21 and Ezra 8: 17
  4. A priest whose son (Zechariah) went to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel. Nehemiah 12:4, 16

Mahanaim is a city that was east of the Jordan River.  It is first mentioned in the Bible as the place where Jacob wrestled the angel (Genesis 32: 2).  It was a “city of refuge” for people who accidentally killed someone.  This is where King Saul’s general, Abner, set up Saul’s last son, Ish-Bosheth, to reign as king. Finally, it is where King David went when he ran from Absalom.  It is easy to see that this was a town of some importance in the area of Gilead.  So, Mahanaim was either a fortified city that was very important on the edge of the kingdom or they were trying to use the Law as protection against those looking to harm them.

Can we know for sure exactly who was the family of Zechariah?  No, but I will go with this idea.  He was a Levite (not the priest) whose family had lived in Mahanaim and his grandfather had been the seer and administrator who worked for Solomon.  This would mean that he was part of a family that had served God for many generations as prophets; that is quite a family legacy.

The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament – David

Posted on by
4

Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.  1 Samuel 16:13 (KJV, bold added)

The word here for “came upon” is tsȃlach.  It seems that the Holy Spirit stayed with him and did not depart.  If we substitute the main uses of the word of tsȃlach; God prospered David all of his life, and it is not a problem to see that blessing throughout his life.

At first, it bothered me that the Holy Spirit is mentioned just six times in connection with David, but He is mentioned less with Moses!  Then I realized that it is in perfect harmony with the Holy Spirit.  His primary purpose is to bring attention to Jesus, not Himself.  So even though David, the writer, was led by the Spirit; the Spirit had him write about Jesus in the Psalms.

Below are the six verses that directly connect David and the Spirit.  I put them into a timeline in David’s life, even though the middle four do not have a defined time stamp in reference to the others.  Read the whole reference so that the verses are in context, I think they will show growth in knowing and understanding the importance of the Spirit in David’s walk with God.

  • 1 Samuel 16: 13 (the coming upon)
  • Psalm 139: 7 (a song of praise and thanks) To put this into after he acted crazy to escape the Philistines when he was hiding from Saul.
  • Psalm 51: 11 (Bathsheba and his cries for the Spirit to not leave him like He did Saul)
  • Psalm 143: 10 (a cry for mercy) If I would guess where/when this was written; I would put this during the time when David was running from Absalom after he crossed the Jordan near Lo Debar.
  • 1 Chronicles 28: 12 (plans for the Temple)
  • 2 Samuel 23: 2 (last words)

When you read about David’s life; we tend to think he was anointed by Samuel and then went to work for Saul right away.  If there was a gap then his ability to kill the lion and the bear compares very well to that of Samson, when the Spirit came upon him.

Cut Jesse Some Slack!!!!!

Posted on by
11

Cut Jesse Some Slack!!!!!

Having heard these sermons for several years now I can truthfully say we should cut Jesse some slack.  When Samuel anointed David as king, David was not there initially.  It has become the rage to blast Jesse for disrespecting his youngest son, the sermon this weekend included David’s mother in the “let’s hate David club.”  I am not sure what it would be like to be the youngest of eight sons, but I would bet the toughest of Jesse’s sons was David.  Why he had seven bothers to fight with, that lion and bear never stood a chance.  I would guess that by the time he was anointed, David was the overachieving little brother who would not back down from anyone or anything.

Think about the day Samuel shows up in Bethlehem.  The town leaders were in panic mode, and they had to find Jesse and sons.  David, as the youngest, was tending the sheep, and probably left at first light.  A job that every other brother had done when they were the youngest.  David may have been an hour or two walk from town by the time Jesse was told to come with his sons.

In our twentieth century, western mentality it was WRONG to leave David out.  What if it was just normal and practical to hurry to the sacrifice because it would have been rude to keep Samuel waiting three hours while they tried to find the pasture David was tending the sheep in?   Who knows, David may have been composing the 23 Psalm that morning, and it was inconvenient for him to leave in the middle of the tune!

In addition to all of that Jesse is mentioned forty-four times in the NIV.  God did not seem to upset about David’s treatment because in Isaiah 11: 1 and 10, and in Romans 15: 12 the term “the root of Jesse” is used to describe Jesus.  The term “root of David” is used twice in Revelations, chapter 5 and 22.

Okay, I do not know why David was not there to start with.  But this may be one time to not westernize a Bible story to make a point that was not there.  Saul’s servant in 1 Samuel 16: 18 certainly had plenty of good things to say about David and I find it hard to believe that Jesse was not proud of all of his sons, especially the child of his old age.

In Samuel – The Anointing of David I look at it from Samuel’s side.  I believe it was a test for the old prophet to go and anoint a new king.

pic from:  http://clipart.christiansunite.com/1379673661/Bible_Characters_Clipart/David_Clipar

Christmas Characters – Matthew and Luke

Posted on by
20

No, I have not lost my mind!  Yes, I do read my Bible.  The reason I wanted to include these two Gospel writers is that they took the time to listen to Mary and record her “ponderings.”  These two men had different audiences so their approach to the story is slightly different – Thank God.  Matthew wrote for a Jewish-Christian audience while Luke was writing for Greeks.   Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:22 that Jews want signs and Greeks want knowledge.  I think Matthew and Luke go against this thought (a little) in their writing of the Christmas story.  Matthew lays a very solid fountain built on the Scripture and tradition while Luke gives sign after sign in his story.

Matthew

Matthew connects immediately to his Jewish readers by introducing Jesus as the son of David.  He does this by using three sets of fourteen names.  The name David, using the numerical values of the letters, adds up to fourteen (nun); a very knowledgeable connection to draw his readers into his story. Using the three sets of fourteen makes this family, and brings his readers to the idea that a new age is ready to begin.  The first set is made up of patriarchs, the second set is the kings of Israel and ends with the fall of Jerusalem, the final set begins with the governor of Jerusalem and then goes to “citizens” who do not show up anywhere else in history.  He also uses four mothers in the genealogy something that was not usually done, actually five since we need to include Mary.  This genealogy is really Joseph’s family tree since it comes through Solomon and not Nathan.

Matthew uses the reader’s knowledge of their history to firmly plant Mary and Jesus as acceptable additions into this sorted family tree. Tamar was a scorned woman who resorted to trickery in order to bear children.  Rahab was an innkeeper/prostitute who hid the spies from Joshua son of Nun and later married into the royal lineage.  Faithful Ruth was a Moabite, she should not have been allowed near the Tent of Meeting because of the Balaam incident.  Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba, really stirred the pot because of how David took her as his wife.  So using the groups of fourteen names was a very scholarly approach on Matthew’s part to show the less than spotless lineage from David and so the humanity of Jesus.

Angel and Dreams

Joseph is the center of attention here as he had several dreams, with angels in them, to lead and protect his new family.  These would have connected his readers to the prophets and leaders of old, putting Joseph in a very elite company of people.

Magi and Herod

The Magi or Wise Men had knowledge of the stars and the sign they saw was enough to set them on a very long journey.  (God used the three gifts to supply the little family while they were in Egypt.)  When they got to Herod he had the priest supply a place to look for the King by searching the scrolls.  Matthew shows his knowledge of the Scriptures by quoting Isaiah, Micah, Jeremiah, and Hosea in his telling of the birth of Jesus.

Luke

Luke starts with the signs and wonders right away.  An angel in the Temple, a mute priest, an older barren woman, now pregnant; that was to just get an “Elijah” to prepare the way of the Lord.  The answered plea of Zechariah and Elizabeth also reflects the nation of Israel as they were seeking redemption from the Romans.  The signs continue as baby John jumps in the womb because Jesus came into the room and Zechariah speaks after he shows his faith.  After Jesus’ birth angels sing to shepherds and people prophesying about Jesus when He is in the Temple fulfilling the Law for His birth.  Luke certainly used the parables of Jesus to satisfy the Greek hunger for knowledge, but he started his story with an impressive list of signs.

I have tried to connect Zachariah’s service with the birth of Jesus in the Post – The Day of Atonement, Passover, and Epiphany.  The results are not what I expected about the birth time of Jesus.  The legend/history is better than I thought.

Suggest reading: Joy to the World by Scott Hahn