Out of Babylon to Zion by Prof. Lucas A. Reed

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Sep 13, 1910

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 37, No. 36.

"Out of Babylon to Zion"

By Prof. Lucas A. Reed

XXIII. Zion versus Greece

Zechariah 9

THE ninth chapter of Zechariah is a prophecy of coming events, and deals principally with the conquests of the coming nation. Persia was at this time ruling as the great universal empire, but in this chapter we are told in prophetic words of the oncoming of Greece. A number of the cities that are to be punished, even destroyed, by Alexander the Great, are given in the first seven or eight verses, but Jerusalem is to be spared. Says the Lord, "I will encamp about Mine house because of the army, because of him that passeth by, and because of him that returneth; and no oppressor shall pass through them any more: for now have I seen with Mine eyes."

Evidently reference is here made to the march of the conqueror of the Persians, Alexander the Great. His was one of the most eventful expeditions in the history of mankind. Persia was destroyed in a very short period, and the empire of Alexander himself was soon greatly changed. As was prophesied by Daniel, he cast Persia down to the ground, and waxed very great, and when he was strong the great horn was broken. With remarkable perception he realized the dependableness of the Jewish people, and impressed the same thing upon his successors. When he came into Judea he sent to the high priest for aid against Tyre, and also demanded the tribute paid to Darius, promising that the ruler of the Jews would not repent for having chosen the friendship of the Macedonians. The high priest refused on the grounds of his oath to Darius. Alexander threatened to make Jerusalem an example for this disobedience to him, and after the conquest of Gaza he prepared to fulfil his threat.

Jaddua the high priest, and his people, prayed to the Lord, and the priest was shown in a dream by night that he need not fear the wrath of the king, and he went with perfect confidence to meet the great conqueror. The gates of the city were thrown wide open, and there marched out, not an army such as encountered the Romans, but a multitude in white garments, the priests going before in raiment of fine linen. The high priest in his apparel of purple and gold, on his head the miter, and on the miter the golden plate wherein was written the name of God, advanced alone to meet the great Alexander. Alexander, who was expected to give the city to be plundered, and the high priest to be insulted and slain, kissed the name of God, for he recognized in the priest one whom he had seen in like dress in a dream, and who had bidden him, when hesitating, to cross to Asia, for he would go before his army, and deliver the Persian empire into his hands.

As the result of this experience Alexander the Great made very liberal terms with the Jews. They were allowed to live in Judea according to their own laws; the tribute was remitted every seventh year; and he made other conditions very favorable to them.

Sons of Zion and Greece

And now began to come true the great promise of God that He would set the sons of Zion against the sons of Greece; make His children as the sword of a mighty man. Verse 13. Yes; as one studies the history of that time he realizes that verse 14 has been truly fulfilled: "And the Lord shall be seen over them, and His arrow shall go forth as the lightning; and the Lord God shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south." Verses 16, 17: "And the Lord their God shall save them in that day as the flock of His people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon His land. For how great is His goodness, and how great is His beauty!"

Then it was that Alexander's dream was fulfilled, for the high priest showed him the prophecies of Daniel which declared that a Greek would destroy the Persian empire.

Alexander could not but see in the vision of the notable horn a picture of himself, and so his dream that a priest clothed like this high priest would urge him on into Asia to conquer Persia he now saw fulfilled; he could go forward with confidence believing in this word of the prophet and the priest of the most high God of the Israelites. Some may doubt this historical fact, but there is one thing that can not be doubted by the student of history.

Alexander made that people who had been the most despised part of the enslaved under the Medes and Persians equal in privilege to his own Macedonians. While Alexander could hardly brook the absorption of the Persians, he honored the Jews with the highest grade of citizenship. God's people, who had been the most despised of the enslaved, became the most trusted of the trusted. They became a large portion of the second and third then known cities of the world. They became citizens of Alexandria, and Antioch, and Ephesus, without in any sense ceasing to be Jews.

The immediate successors of Alexander followed the policy of their great exemplar; and wherever God's people failed of these gracious privileges, it was because of unfaithfulness to the Lord, bringing troublous times upon them because of their sins. But in a remarkable sense for hundreds of years God gave His people grace and favor before the world.

A Type of Things to Be

But the prophecy is not fulfilled alone in the Jews before the first advent. That prophecy looks forward as well to our own time. God's people to-day have favor before the world in the execution of the closing work. "And the Lord their God shall save them in that day as the flock of His people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon His land. For how great is His goodness, and how great is His beauty!"

In the midst of these promises that God would protect His people during the great march when Alexander would destroy all the peoples about them, the Lord throws in the wonderful promise of the coming of the Messiah: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass." Verse 9. It was customary for the king of the Jews to ride in this way when about to be crowned; therefore when Christ was seen riding upon the ass, and advancing toward the city of Jerusalem, it was a declaration of His Messiahship, and those who read properly the sign gave Him the allegiance that belonged to a king. But there were those who refused; those who controlled the destiny of the nation, those who were the rulers among the chosen people, refused the Christ, and brought upon themselves swift destruction.

Grecian Philosophy

There is another particular in which God set His chosen against the power of Greece. The system of philosophy generalized by Plato and Aristotle, formulated by Socrates and his followers, has held a commanding influence in the world from the time of these teachers until to-day. It was a philosophy of great power and influence even in the time of Christ, but God puts His truth in antagonism with that materialistic teaching. How grandly Christianity conquered for years, the history of the opening centuries of the Christian era well exemplified; but there came a time when so-called Christian teachers began to rationalize; began to formulate Christianity in terms of Grecian philosophy. The apostasy came as a result; Christianity was Grecianized, Platonized. But even to-day pure, vital, true Christianity is more than a match for all the philosophy of the Grecians. Note what some say as to the power of Grecian teaching even now:

"We are all Greeks. Our laws, our literature, our religion, our art, have their roots in Greece."—Shelly.

"Except the blind forces of nature, there is nothing that moves in the world to-day that is not Greek in origin."—Henry Sumner Maine.

But Grecian philosophy is of Egypt.

"These are strong statements, but let us see if conditions to-day do not prove their accuracy. Much of the learning and philosophy of Greece was taken from Egypt, that land of dense darkness,— so designated by the Word of God. Many of the Egyptian myths and gods were adopted by the Greeks, thus the Greek conception of truth was based largely upon Egyptian philosophy."—John K. Jones.

Evolution itself, the great form under which all science teaching is nowadays cast, comes direct from the Grecian and the Indian philosophies; but against these atheistic teachings of Greece, Christianity opposes itself. God sets the sons of Zion against the sons of Greece; and if they cling faithfully to the Word of God, the issue is not at all uncertain. The man arrayed by that Word which is the sword of the Spirit becomes as the sword of a mighty man. Over such the Lord is seen, and the prosperity and success are a sign of God's all-triumphing Word.

God keep us from the Grecian philosophies that are to-day taught in the world as scientific truth. May we be sons of Zion rather than sons of Greece.