The vision in isaiah 65 spoke of yahweh’s creating “jurusalem a rejoicing.” close to the heart of every visionary was the restoration of the holy city to a state of holiness and splendor intended salely to glorify god. Zechariah 14 develops this theme in detail.
The chapter begins with yahweh’s announcing a day when he will gather “all the nations” to attack the holy city, jurusalem. The devastation of life and property will be terrible. But then there will occur a stunning reversal:” then yahweh, my god, will come, and all the holy ones with him.” the result of yahweh’s intervention will be the inauguration of a totally new era of peace and blessing, which we shall describe shortly.
But first it is important to note that this chapter is building upon a very old tradition and using it to shed light on the ambiguities of the world of many faithful jews of the early post-exilic era. Though we are unable to establish the provenance of zechariah 14 with precision, it likely reflects the experience of visionary dissidents of the fifth century. They struggled with the twin trials of subjugation under the persian empire and the dominance within the jerusalem cult of a priesthood the deemed defiled and thus responsible for the low state of righteousness and morale in the jewish community. Their hopes worn thin by repeated setbacks, they no longer felt empowered to initiate reform measures that could reestablish justice and religious freedom in the nation. To keep faith alive they adopted an apocalyptic outlook and turned to the divine warrior for deliverance.
The specific tradition they adopted has deep roots in ancient near eastern myth, though it had already been used within the royal theology of the davidic dynasty to explain the election and special divine favor enjoyed by the kin gs of judah. In its original form this myth described the attack of hostile deities on the mountainous habitation of the patron god of a given city-state or empire. The mountain in question was of central importance both for the welfare of the nation and for the stability of the cosmos, for from it the god both reigned over the cosmic hosts and showered prosperity on the earth. An attack on this mountain was thus an attack on the very order and harmony upon which human life depended.
The protagonists of zechariah felt that the situation within which they lived was just that serious: adversaries within the community and enemies from foreign lands had formed an ungodly coalition that threatened the very existence of the world. Life was locked in a deadly struggle, most vividly describable in terms of the conflict myth.
The experience of a world permeated with evil not only led to the adoption of this mythic tradition to explain their suffering but also to the shaping of the future hope with which they came to identify themselves. For evil to be defeated and for peace and justice to prevail, nothing less that a new creation was necessary. The form of this new creation would be quite unusual: the polarities at the heart of the old order, such as winter and summer or day and night, would be overcome. There would be continuous light, warmth, and fertility. And the source of this beneficence would be yahweh’s jurusalem, whence the living waters that fructify the earth would pour forth.
The key to this entire picture of a healed and regenerated creation is found in verse 9:” then yahweh will become king over all the earth: on that day yahweh will be one and his name one”.
The vision in isaiah 65 spoke of yahweh’s creating “jurusalem a rejoicing.” close to the heart of every visionary was the restoration of the holy city to a state of holiness and splendor intended salely to glorify god. Zechariah 14 develops this theme in detail.The chapter begins with yahweh’s announcing a day when he will gather “all the nations” to attack the holy city, jurusalem. The devastation of life and property will be terrible. But then there will occur a stunning reversal:” then yahweh, my god, will come, and all the holy ones with him.” the result of yahweh’s intervention will be the inauguration of a totally new era of peace and blessing, which we shall describe shortly.But first it is important to note that this chapter is building upon a very old tradition and using it to shed light on the ambiguities of the world of many faithful jews of the early post-exilic era. Though we are unable to establish the provenance of zechariah 14 with precision, it likely reflects the experience of visionary dissidents of the fifth century. They struggled with the twin trials of subjugation under the persian empire and the dominance within the jerusalem cult of a priesthood the deemed defiled and thus responsible for the low state of righteousness and morale in the jewish community. Their hopes worn thin by repeated setbacks, they no longer felt empowered to initiate reform measures that could reestablish justice and religious freedom in the nation. To keep faith alive they adopted an apocalyptic outlook and turned to the divine warrior for deliverance.The specific tradition they adopted has deep roots in ancient near eastern myth, though it had already been used within the royal theology of the davidic dynasty to explain the election and special divine favor enjoyed by the kin gs of judah. In its original form this myth described the attack of hostile deities on the mountainous habitation of the patron god of a given city-state or empire. The mountain in question was of central importance both for the welfare of the nation and for the stability of the cosmos, for from it the god both reigned over the cosmic hosts and showered prosperity on the earth. An attack on this mountain was thus an attack on the very order and harmony upon which human life depended. The protagonists of zechariah felt that the situation within which they lived was just that serious: adversaries within the community and enemies from foreign lands had formed an ungodly coalition that threatened the very existence of the world. Life was locked in a deadly struggle, most vividly describable in terms of the conflict myth. The experience of a world permeated with evil not only led to the adoption of this mythic tradition to explain their suffering but also to the shaping of the future hope with which they came to identify themselves. For evil to be defeated and for peace and justice to prevail, nothing less that a new creation was necessary. The form of this new creation would be quite unusual: the polarities at the heart of the old order, such as winter and summer or day and night, would be overcome. There would be continuous light, warmth, and fertility. And the source of this beneficence would be yahweh’s jurusalem, whence the living waters that fructify the earth would pour forth. The key to this entire picture of a healed and regenerated creation is found in verse 9:” then yahweh will become king over all the earth: on that day yahweh will be one and his name one”.
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