Book of Zechariah

Click here for the previous book, Haggai.

CHAPTER 1

This ties Hosea for the longest book of Minor Prophets: 14 chapters.  This is also widely believed to be a collection of more than one prophet.  There are too many differences in tone/style throughout.  Also, the section part (Chapters 9 to 14) comes a ways after the first eight chapters.  The first part comes from after the Babylonian Captivity, and the second part is possibly the very last prophet of them all. 

When this starts, Zechariah is aware of other prophets.  He refers to the previous books.  (He’s an heir to their tradition; a man who has read their books). 

For his own contribution, Zechariah has a series of visions.  He’s a latter day, low cost, knock-off version of Ezekiel.  Oh great – I never cared much for that weird visionary Ezekiel. 

His first vision if of horses.  They are patrolling the earth for God.  I guess God likes horses.  I don’t get the meaning (if any) behind it. 

CHAPTER 2

We get two more visions here.  One is of four horns and four smiths.  The number four, again.  That was big in the visions in the second half of Daniel.  The next vision is of a man with a measuring chord (essentially, an ancient version of measuring tape).  He is looking to measure Jerusalem.

What does it all mean?  There are some words at the end trying to make sense of it.  If I’m reading it right, God is coming to dwell in their midst.  Oh.  (Bad news: God isn’t coming to dwell in their midst.  Even if you’re a Christian, Christ is still quite a few centuries away).

CHAPTER 3

This is a vision of the high priest Joshua.  No, not the stone killer who succeeded Moses as leader.  He’s the high priest when everyone comes back from exile.  Well, that helps date this Biblical prophet. 

There is one interesting bit to me: the chapter mentions that people wear turbans.  Huh. The ancient Jews wore turbans.  I know that ethnically that Jews and Arabs are linked – they are both Semitic peoples – and little details like this can remind you of that fact.  Some parts of the Bible also say that the Hebrew women wore veils, so there is that parallel as well.

CHAPTER 4

Zechariah’s next vision is of lamps and trees.  There are seven lamps with seven sprouts on each lamp.  Sure, why not?  An angel asks him if he knows what they are.  He doesn’t.  Good – glad I’m not the only one.  So the angel explains: they are the seven eyes of the Lord.  (Why seven eyes?  Eh, just roll with it).  There are two trees and they stand for two anointed ones?  Wait – two anointed ones?  I don’t get that.  I wonder how Christianity tries to handle that one.  A single anointed one is great – that’s Christ.  What’s the second?  The Holy Ghost?

CHAPTER 5

Zechariah has two more visions.  The first is the weirdest one yet. It’s a flying scroll.  Huh.  Flying parchment.  Even stranger – the scroll is a curse.  What’s especially weird about that is the religion has so far been very pro-literacy, pro-writings.  It is, after all, a Holy Book.  But now a scroll is a curse. 

We get a sixth vision – a basket of wickedness.  He takes everyday objects and associates them with bad things – a scroll as curse, a basket of wickedness.  I wonder what he’d do in modern day life.  An easy chair of damnation?  A waffle iron of doom? 

CHAPTER 6

We get the last vision – as this ends the sequence associated with the Original Zechariah.  He sees four chariots pulled by four horses, and finds out that God wants these horses to patrol the earth.  Again, Zechariah has a thing for horses unlike anything previously encountered in the Bible. 

CHAPTER 7

After a series of wild visions dominate the first half of this Bible book, the second half is very different.  The visions are gone.  That’s a large part of the reason why many scholars think that this was written by another prophet and later put together. 

This is just some ethical discussion.  In short, people should treat each other well.  The Hebrew will be punished because they’ve gone back on God’s words. Most notably, they treat each other poorly – they abuse the orphan, the widow, and the resident alien.  That’s a nice call back – while the prophets are given a lot of attention for advancing the religion from just a tribal religion based on loyalty to God – there was always a strong ethical component going back to the Torah’s continual interest with looking after aliens, widows, and orphans.

CHAPTER 8

This one has a weird sentence.  God says, “I am intensely jealous for Zion.”  Why would God be jealous?  It’s not really clear.   Based on how the chapter goes on, I wonder if that’s even the right word being used.  God says he’s returned to Jerusalem and will dwell in the city of Jerusalem.  Instead of sounding jealous, he sounds welcoming.

This chapter is about making things right.  Hey, the Jews have had a rough go of it as of late, but now it’ll be made fine.  God says, “I am going to rescue my people from the land of the rising sun, and the from the land of the setting sun.”  That’s a nicely expressed sentiment, but its appeal has been lessened by circumstances beyond the Bible’s control.  The land of the rising sun?  That’s the nickname for Japan!  Now, the ancient Jews had no knowledge of Japan, let alone it’s nickname, but I get this interesting image of God promising to save Jews from the Japanese. 

In that case, what’s the land of the setting sun?  Portugal is the end of continental Europe, but then again Japan isn’t part of the continent.  So how about Ireland?  Sure, we’ll call Ireland land of the setting sun.

CHAPTER 9

This is more happy talk.  The land of Israel will be restored.  The king will enter into Jerusalem. The people will be restored.  This prophet must be living around the time of Ezra, or shortly before.  Actually, I guess he could be later.  He doesn’t talk about restoring a temple after all.  Sounds more like he wants an independent kingdom.  If so, that explains why this guy was collapsed into Zechariah.  His statements could get him in hot water with the authorities, so he was anonymous.  And later, his sayings were combined with one of the last named prophets, Zechariah.  That’s my theory anyway.

CHAPTER 10

It’s time for more happy talk about how the Lord will help out the Children of Israel.  This is a rather triumphalist prophet, not at all like the weird visionary from the first six chapters. 

CHAPTER 11

The Second Zechariah shifts gears here.  Instead of just saying wonderful things about how God loves the Jews, Zechariah starts denouncing some Jews.  In particular, he has a grudge against the rich who think they have it all because they are rich and powerful.  Duly noted – but we’ve read this from others who made the point better.

CHAPTER 12

It’s back to the happy talk once again, as God says he’ll destroy Judah’s neighbors.  It’s just more of the same.

CHAPTER 13

God talks about the coming apocalyptic day of the Lord, the day of his grand reckoning.  But don’t worry – it’ll be all good for the believers in Jerusalem. 

There is one interesting tidbit here.  The prophet tells us that on that day, all the false prophets will be done away with.  So clearly, there is discord in prophet-land.  That’s nothing new.  Odds are, this guy doesn’t get along with the official priestly/prophet class.  That’s been the case frequently in the Old Testament.

CHAPTER 14

This has an unexpected beginning.  The last several chapters have almost all been about how great God will be to the Jews when the time comes.  This chapter, however, begins with the destruction of Jerusalem.  Huh?  What’s going on?  Well, the downfall is just temporary.  It’s just a purification process.  It’s something we’ve seen in many prophets, going all the way back to Isaiah. 

Jerusalem will be restored and the Jews will be saved.  Their enemies?  So screwed; so very, very screwed.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

Meh.  It’s a weird book, and I can see why most scholars assume there are multiple prophets involved.  The second half is pretty generic with nothing that original.  The first guy is distinctive with all of his visions, but that weird visionary type of prophet doesn’t do much for me. 

Meh.

Click here for the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi.

Book of Haggai

Click here for the previous book, Zephaniah.

CHAPTER 1

Haggai is one of the later prophets.  He’s living as the Babylonian Captivity has ended.  The Jews have returned, but they don’t have a temple.  Haggai has a message fro God: build it, dummies!  “Is it time for you to swell in your paneled houses while this house lies in ruins?”  Yeah, he’s got a good point there.

He also talks about Zerubbabel.  He’s the governor of the land for Persia.  He’s more than that – he’s the grandson of the last king of Judah – and as such a direct descendent of David.  By previous covenants, he’s supposed to be the leader of the Jews.  And here he is leading people – but he totally disappears from the story.  He appears briefly in Ezra and Nehemiah, but then disappears.  It’s weird. 

CHAPTER 2

It’s more of the same – guys, build the damn temple! 

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

It’s OK.  It’s not bad.  But there isn’t too much to it.  The book hits its message and goes away.  It’s boring, but at least it distinguishes itself from the other Minor Prophets.

Click here for the next book, Zechariah.

Book of Zephaniah

Click here for the previous book, Habakkuk.

CHAPTER 1

Despite being pushed towards the back, Zephaniah is one of the earlier of the Minor Prophets.  He apparently lived during the reign of Josiah, possibly before he began his reforms.  Thus he’d be an early contemporary of Jeremiah, possibly even a little older than him. 

He says the Day of the Lord will come and everyone will be so screwed when that happens.  We’ve heard stuff like this before, so this isn’t very memorable.  I was about to say it isn’t very original – but hey, he actually said it before many guys who said the same thing, but got their book placed earlier in the Bible.

CHAPTER 2

God will judge all nations.  And they all suck so they’ll get theirs.  Yawn.

CHAPTER 3

Now it’s Jerusalem’s turn to be denounced.  Then, after taking them to task for a spell, he shifts his rhetoric.  After being devastated by the Lord, God will return to them.  It’s hard to say much about this, because so much of it has been noted before this point in the Bible.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

Yawn.  Maybe there is a new thought somewhere in this book, but I’ll be damned if I know what it is.  It’s tough keeping all the Minor Prophets straight, and that is certainly the case here.  A few minutes after reading Zephaniah, and I can barely remember what it said.  

Click here for the next book, Haggai.

Book of Habakkuk

Click here for the previous book, Nahum.

CHAPTER 1

This is one I’m predisposed to like.  We’ve seen Habakkuk before.  He made a surprise, and frankly bizarre appearance late in the Book of Daniel.  That the author of Daniel (or at least that part of Daniel) would pick Habakkuk as his random prophet to drop into the story made me like this particular Minor Prophet.

Then I read the introduction, and it also sounds nice.  Apparently, this book is unique among the prophets in that it is entirely a challenge to God’s justice.  It’s like a miniature version of Job.  Oh, I liked Job.  Also, it’ll focus on justice – you know, like Amos did.  Oh, I liked Amos. 

So it’s a shame that the Book of Habakkuk itself is a let down.  It’s not bad.  It’s just a let down. 

It’s a dialogue between Habakkuk and God.  Habakkuk has a question for God: if you are just then why did you let horrible people have power?  Habakkuk is living in Judah late in the nation’s existence and the rulers are wicked and the just suffer.

God has an answer – chill, dude. Sure the wicked are riding high and mighty for now, but don’t worry – they’ll get theirs.  I’m sending the Chaldeans (i.e. the Babylonians) after them and soon they’ll be slaughtered and crushed.  So he’ll punish the well off for their wickedness.

But that just leads to Habakkuk’s second complaint.  Dear Lord – these Babylonians suck.  They are violent and lord over us. 

CHAPTER 2

Did I mention that Habakkuk has award chapter breaks? Well it does, as evidenced here.  Anyhow, God does respond to Habakkuk’s second complaint.  Don’t worry, eventually I’ll care for the faithful.

Yeah, these really aren’t very satisfactory answers.  God’s answer to the first question just causes a new problem.  Congrats!  We know longer have Hebrew elite hurting us ….instead, we have Babylonians elites hurting us.  Good one, God. The second answer is so vague it’s so generally worded that I had to read it twice to see how it answered the question – and even then I’m not sure I wouldn’t have gotten it if it wasn’t for the book’s introduction) and slight (just three verses!) that it’s hardly even worth being an answer.

Look, being a mini-Job book is a tough act.  Job is one of the standout books in the Bible so you’re setting yourself up for failure by mining that same ground.   But do you have to fall this short of Job-ian standards?

The rest of the chapter is a long series of statements against tyrants.  It’s nice to see Habakkuk raise the flag for social justice, as he opposed the rich and elite who use their power to serve self-centered aims.  It’s nothing that original, but it’s a Bible theme I approve of.  The more we repeat this refrain, the more we make monotheism centered on equitable treatment to our fellow man. As a non-believer, that’s a statement I can get behind.

CHAPTER 3

This is just a series of statements about how great and powerful God is. It’s well done, but this is a theme we’ve seen a lot of before now.  And as a non-believer, this doesn’t do nearly as much for me as the social justice theme.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

It’s disappointing, but I’ll give it credit for trying.  The dialogue with God is poorly done, but I like the notion that God’s justice is centered on proper treatment of people.  Habakkuk’s heart is in the right place, but his goals exceed his talent as a prophet.

Click here for the next book, Zephaniah.

Book of Nahum

Click here for the previous book, Micah.

CHAPTER 1

Nahum is a prophet with a message that is at best unseemly and at worst downright awful.  He’s a prophet of schadenfreude.  His book is a book of joy – joy in the sufferings of Assyria.

To be fair, the Assyrians could really be a nasty bunch of bastards.  They were a conquering nation that would cut off heads, pile them up outside the cities they took over, and then advertise what they’d done to everyone else.  They were the biggest bully on the block – and they were a pretty successful bully for about 300 years.

Around when Nahum lives, they finally get theirs.  And Nahum is practically peeing himself in joy over that fact.

This chapter has an introduction extolling God’s immense power.  Then we move onto our main theme – how it’s time for Nineveh (Assyria’s capital) to get what they have coming  to them.

CHAPTER 2

This is a Bible chapter that Jerry Bruckheimer would love.  It’s full of action imagery.  It’s hard to see a real point, as Nahum more interested in giving us a sense of Nineveh’s downfall than really discussing its theological implications.  Nahum is more about the what than the why. 

Thus we get a bunch of lines, like: “The chariots dash madly through the streets, and wheel in the squares, looking like torches, bolting like lightning.”  We’ve had plenty of prophets discuss downfalls of cities before, but I don’t think any quite get so into the actual physical description of the place’s downfall.  It’s always a bit more abstract.  But Nahum loves diving into that imagery.  He could write screenplays for Michael Bay (assuming Michael Bay actually makes movies with scripts instead of just a series of random explosions).

CHAPTER 3

It’s more of the same.  It’s just a series of impressionistic images of Nineveh’s fall: “The crack of the whip, the rumbling of wheels, horses galloping, chariots bounding, cavalry charging, the flash of the sword, the gleam of the spear, a multitude slain, a mass of corpses.”  Yup, throw in a few explosions and you have yourself a script Michael Bay will pay a premium for. 

Nahum does come to his point: “Nineveh is destroyed: who can pity her?”  It was a city that subjugated others and treated them like dirt, so when their time has come, why not celebrate?

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

There isn’t much theology here.  It’s just a three-chapter dance upon the grave of an enemy nation.  But Assyria really was a bunch of jerks.  That makes this more tolerable than Obadiah’s ranting at Edom.  Whereas Israel and Judah had been the overlords of Edom, and Obadiah was upset that Edom didn’t care for their inferior status, Assyria was the bully – one that destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel and took away the ten “lost tribes” of Israel. 

Also, this also has the benefit of being a more exciting read.  So while Nahum is a lot like Obadiah, it’s also a lot better.  

Click here for the next book, Habakkuk.

Book of Micah

Click here for the previous book, Jonah.

CHAPTER 1

Time for Micah.  We actually heard of him earlier.  He was a key part of the defense argument that saved Jeremiah from being murdered back in his book.  Jeremiah had been detained for preaching against the Hebrew, and some priests wanted to murder him.  However, others noted that once upon a time Micah had similarly denounced the Hebrew and not been executed, so there is precedent for allowing prophets to say stuff like that.  Had it not been for Micah, maybe Jeremiah would’ve been killed right then and there. 

So now we get Micah’s own book.

And yeah – you can see how he’d be a precedent for Jeremiah.  He foretells doom.  People have sinned, they are corrupt, and for that they’ll be punished. He says of Jerusalem, “her wound is incurable.”  Bummer. 

The introduction notes that Micah is not from the capital itself, but from the surrounding area.  He’s not part of the power circle, but from the lowly born.  In all of these ways he is like Amos.  So he’s a bridge between Amos and Jeremiah.  He has a similar message as Amos, but says it in the southern kingdom while Amos went north.  And Micah will make doom-laden prophecies similar to Jeremiah, but he wouldn’t do it during the actual moment of doom, which is why he doesn’t come as close to death as Jeremiah will later on.

CHAPTER 2

Micah moves from general prophecies of doom to attacks on particular people.  He has it in for the leadership class and the powerful – again, like Amos.  “Ah!  You plotters of iniquity who work out evil in your beds!  In the morning light you carry it out for it lies within your power.”  It’s the people in charge that make him want to vomit.

And they are so damn prideful – undeserved pride, at that.  They walk with their heads held high, but they’ll get theirs: “On that day you shall be mocked and there will e bitter lament.”  Yeah, you jerks – look what will come your way!

Some people don’t want to hear Micah’s message.  He notes that some are saying that no one should preach these things and they have no reason to feel shame.  For Micah, that’s all the more reason why he is right to say this.  They are so corrupt that they are blind to one who will point out their corruption.

CHAPTER 3

Micah again makes clear that his main problem is with the leaders of society: “Hear, you leaders of Jacob, rulers of the house of Israel!”  You guys suck!  It’s the rulers and the priests that Micah most scorns.  Sure he’s a prophet of God, but he’s a real prophet, not some ceremonial priest.  He wasn’t born into his job – God himself called him.

Why are they so damned before God?  “Because of the evil they have done.”  Once again, when it comes to the prophets, ethics matter.  Just being born into the tribe doesn’t guarantee permanent claim to the land.  It means you have to re-earn God’s trust everyday.  If you fail to do that, he can fail to help you, too.  If you assume that no evil can come to Jerusalem – which they are claiming – then that just shows why God WILL destroy the city.

CHAPTER 4

Micah steals a line from Isaiah – one of the most famous lines from Isaiah: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.”  That’s 2:4 in Isaiah.  Actually, I guess the question is who is ripping off whom?  The chronology in front of the Bible says that Isaiah was the prophet shortly before Micah, but you could argue it’s the other way around.  Still, it most likely came from Isaiah first.  Micah is just quoting the previous prophet to help drive home his point.

His point here is one of salvation – but it’ll only come after a dark, nasty period.  Actually, that’s the same as Isaiah as well.

CHAPTER 5

This is more talk of eventual salvation.  This sounds very, very different from the earlier apocalyptic Micah in that he’s talking about Hebrew successes.  In fact, he says that if Assyria invades, the Hebrew will win. God will stand with the Hebrew and destroy all those who oppose their God.  You get a more tribal sense of God here.

It’s a little hard to make this fit in with the rest.  Sure, you can make it fit in – God isn’t breaking with his covenant.  Once they return to God, then God will return to (and fight with) them.  But it just seems a bit out of place.  Isaiah also combined shifts from apocalyptic visions to beneficial ones, but it wasn’t so jarring the way he did it.

CHAPTER 6

And now we go back the other direction.  Apparently, people must plead their case before God and God has a case against his people.  How many religions describe their people’s relationship with God in legal terms?  Probably not many. 

You also get some definite class antagonism here.  Micah denounces, “You whose wealthy are full of violence.”  Just a reminder: Micah isn’t from the typical high ranking class.  People treat each other unjustly, and therefore, “I will deliver you up to ruin.”  That sounds funny right after Chapter 5.  Micah needs to take transition lessons from Isaiah.

CHAPTER 7

The first part is bemoaning the terrible future immediately before the Hebrew.  It actually begins, “Woe is me!”  Then it stays that bleak for a half-dozen verses.

Then it transitions to a sign of confidence in the long-term future.  It’s actually a well-done transition (maybe he was taken lessons from Isaiah after all).  It has a great line that helps some up Micah’s theology: “Though I sit in darkness, the Lord is my light.”  That’s nicely done.  Sure, he’s a prophet of gloom for the most part, but the Lord is still the light.  Some sunshine exists in his world, no matter how cloudy it is at the moment.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

Yeah, he’s a lesser prophet all right.  You get this weird mash up of Jeremiah’s gloom, Amos’s sense of justice for your fellow man, and Isaiah’s shifts from immediate doom to long term glory. 

I probably have less a feel for Micah than any prophet so far. Actually, that might be his status.  He’s the guy that amplifies messages of other prophets rather than a distinctive voice in his own right.

Click here for the next book, Nahum.