p. 10 | ZECHARIAH by F. D. Starr

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Aug 16, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 33.

ZECHARIAH.

By F. D. Starr

WE see by comparing the first verse of this book with the first verse of the previous book, that Haggai and Zechariah prophesied in the same year. They lived and labored in the days of Darius, king of Persia. Their work was to encourage the people in rebuilding the temple.

The spirit of the entire book under consideration may be seen in chapter 1, verse 13: "And the Lord answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words." This is the most correct statement that could be made concerning the nature of the contents of this book, and those who neglect the perusal and study of the book, lose much of the comfort and consolation that the Lord designed they should have.

The Holy Spirit is designated, by Him who has sent it into the world, as the Comforter. The inspired books having been written under the direction of this Spirit, they are themselves messages of comfort to the people of God. Only a very few of these expressions of comfort can be considered here, but the searcher will find many more of them as he reads the book.

Two forces are brought to view in the last of chapter one, the one to scatter the people of God, the other to resist this scattering power, and exert a gathering influence. What is our influence? Is it to scatter or to gather? Our Saviour has said, "He that gathereth not with Me scattereth abroad." Matt. 12:30.

Chapter three gives an incident in the great controversy between Christ and Satan. As has already been noticed, Joshua in Hebrew and Jesus in Greek are the same name. The Septuagint version of Zech. 3:1 reads: "And the Lord showed me Jesus the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and the devil stood on his right hand to resist him." It is true there was then a high priest by that name, as we see from Hag. 1:1; and so this prophecy, like so many others, had a local application at that time, while having reference to the work of the Lord in a more extensive and important manner. Jude gives us a glimpse of this controversy when he tells of the dispute between Michael and the devil. Jude 9. It is past human conception that the Son of the infinite God, He who is now our High Priest, Jesus, should so humble Himself as to take our nature, submit to all our environments, and be clothed, as it were, in the habiliments of finite man, but these He bore not long; He was granted a change of raiment. He has put off the common garments and is now clothed in priestly robes with the fair mitre upon His head. Soon He will have another change of raiment, when He shall put off the sacerdotal attire, and come in glory with a vesture on which is written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." Rev. 19:16.

Think Not Evil.

This exhortation is given in Zech. 7:10, "Let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart." The Septuagint reads: "Let none of you remember in his heart the injury of his brother." What an excellent Christian virtue is here held before us—forgetting the injuries others may have done to us. But is it possible for us to forget? Sometimes people say, "I can forgive, but I can not forget." But that is not going far enough. The Lord says forget. And is that possible? He who gives command can give us power to perform. Listen to the testimony of the patriarch Joseph, "God hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house." The same power that will bring all things to our remembrance that the Lord has said to us (John 14:26) will also give us the power to forget. It has been said that it is a sin to forget, and so it is when it pertains to matters of duty that we ought to remember. But may it not as truly be said that it is a sin to remember when it comes to matters that ought to be forgotten? The fact is that so often the remembrance of those things that should pass from our minds causes us to forget the things we ought to remember, by crowding them from our memories. Let us train our memories by divine help so that we can forget the things that are behind. Phil. 3:13.

One of the gracious promises to Jerusalem is found in Zech. 8:5: "And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof." A street education is counted a great misfortune, but it is evident from this text that the trouble is not in the street itself, but in the associations found there. With inhabitants such as would be found in holy Jerusalem, there would be no more contamination for the children in the streets of the same than in any other part of the city.

The treatment that our Lord received when "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not," is shown in Zech. 13:6: "And one shall say unto Him, What are these wounds in Thine hands? Then He shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of My friends." That this refers to the experience of our Saviour, is shown by verse seven, from which a quotation is made by our Lord as applying to Himself. This is found in Matt. 26:31.

Thus in this book, as in all other parts of the Old Testament, we are constantly finding passages that refer to Christ and His work. Surely the ancient Scriptures contain much that points the student to the world's Redeemer, Christ in the Old Testament. Chapter 14 contains perhaps some of the most difficult portions of Holy Writ to understand, but remembering that many of these predictions have a double fulfilment, applicable in part to the events of ancient times, and in part to matters of the present dispensation, and to the future, the meaning of these utterances will be more readily seen. The grand culmination of all predictions is seen in verse five, "The Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with Thee." For that event may we all be prepared, so that we can say at that time, "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us." Isa. 25:9.