{"id":79076,"date":"2020-08-20T16:24:01","date_gmt":"2020-08-20T13:24:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=79076"},"modified":"2020-08-20T16:24:01","modified_gmt":"2020-08-20T13:24:01","slug":"zechariahs-equine-vision-of-consolation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/zechariahs-equine-vision-of-consolation\/","title":{"rendered":"Zechariah\u2019s Equine Vision Of Consolation"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"79076","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":73524,"related_cahpter":"551","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Cryptic but comforting\r\n\r\n","content":"

Zechariah begins what appears a new form of prophetic literature. The first six chapters contain thirteen separate revelations, cryptic visions that Zechariah himself was often unable to interpret, requiring an angel’s assistance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rashi begins his commentary thus:<\/span><\/p>\n

Zechariah is extremely enigmatic, because it contains visions resembling a dream that requires an interpretation. We cannot ascertain the truth of its interpretation until the teacher of righteousness (Messiah) comes.<\/span><\/p>\n

The next two chapters deal with the question of mourning over history against the joy of the present rebuilding, and the final six chapters are so mystical that most commentators despair of attempting to decipher them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Commentators attempt to understand why God would provide Zechariah with such difficult messages, and the value of his attempts to understand them. According to <\/span>Ibn Ezra, before the destruction of the Temple in 586 BCE, due to the closeness between the Divine Presence and the Jewish people, the prophecies were generally explicit, but as exile approached and the distance between God and His people grew, the clarity of the prophecies blurred, requiring interpretation. As Zechariah began to prophesy along with Haggai in 520-519 BCE, near the beginning of the second Temple, the distance remained, creating the challenge of understanding and interpretation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Unlike the period of the First Temple, the role of the prophet was lessened, and the people had to make a greater effort to ascertain God’s will. This is reflected in Zechariah\u2019s own struggles to understand his visions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The book of Ezra (5:1-2) describes how Zechariah and Haggai prophesied together, and how they were successful in inspiring the people to overcome their hesitations and rebuild the Temple: <\/span>\u201cThen the prophets Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews\u2026 to build the house of God which is in Jerusalem; and the prophets of God were with them, helping them\u201d (Ezra 5:1-2).<\/span><\/p>\n

Zechariah has a vision of four horsemen. In his style of connecting prophecies to historical events, Abrabanel attempts to identify them as Alexander’s four generals who divided the known world after his death. However, most identify the horsemen as representative of the Persian Empire, whose control over the Middle East was enabled by its army of horse messengers (see Megillat Esther). They report that they have scouted the earth, and all is peaceful except for Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, which have been left plundered for seventy years. Angry over the state of His city, God offers words of consolation, promising that he has chosen to return to Jerusalem, build His house, and bring prosperity and comfort to his cities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One can imagine what these words meant to Zechariah’s listeners, spoken to people who had left behind relative prosperity to return to Israel with all its hardships and tribulations.<\/span><\/p>\n

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