Thoughts for the Day

In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, saying: 'The Lord was very angry with your ancestors. Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord of hosts: Return to me.... and I will return to you. Do not be like your ancestors.....they did not hear or heed me, says the Lord.... ’

The word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah.... and said, In the night I saw a man riding on a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in the glen; and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses. Then I said, ‘What are these, my lord?’ The angel who talked with me said to me, ‘I will show you what they are.’ .... ‘They are those whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth.’ Then the angel of the Lord said, ‘O Lord of hosts, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which you have been angry these seventy years?’ Then the Lord replied with gracious and comforting words to the angel.... 'I have returned to Jerusalem with compassion; my house shall be built in it, says the Lord of hosts, and the measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem......My cities shall again overflow with prosperity; the Lord will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem'.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Recently we looked at the books of Ezra and Nehemiah (click Ezra or Nehemiah above), and now we dip into the book of Zechariah, whose words did much, some 80 years earlier to encourage the people to keep on building. Often we look at Zechariah at Christmas or Easter when he refers to the coming of the Messiah as King.

The exiles in Babylon were allowed to return to Jerusalem in 538 BCE when King Cyrus issued a decree to allow the rebuilding of the Temple, which began under Zerubbabel when the foundation stone for the Second Temple was laid on the anniversary of their deportation to Babylon. But we have seen that life was extremely difficult when they faced opposition from those with pagan ancestors who had settled in Jerusalem.

Zechariah was probably a member of a priestly family, and his work (along with the prophet Haggai) emphasised that the exile to Babylon was in the past and the time of salvation was near. He encourages the returned exiles to look ahead, and to go on believing that God was at work fulfilling the promises made to earlier prophets.

God still speaks today through these ancient prophets and their visions - if only we will open our eyes and ears to His messages!

Almighty God,
all too often we are just like
those exiles returning from Babylon.
We fail to believe the prophets of old
assuming their warnings and prophecies
are just words.
Help us to read our Bibles
expecting to hear Your words,
and to apply them to our daily life today.
Amen.