Zechariah 6

Zechariah 6
The beginning part of the Book of Zechariah (1:1-6:15) in Latin in Codex Gigas, made around 13th century.
Book Book of Zechariah
Bible part Old Testament
Order in the Bible part 38
Category Nevi'im

Zechariah 6 is the sixth chapter of the Book of Zechariah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.[1][2] This book contains the prophecies spoken by the prophet Zechariah, and is a part of the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets.[3][4]

Text

Textual versions

Some most ancient manuscripts containing this chapter in Hebrew language:

Ancient translations in Koine Greek:

Structure

NKJV groups this chapter into:

Verse 11

Then take silver and gold, and make crowns,
and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest;[7]
  • "Silver and gold": That which had been brought from Babylon. However unwilling the Jews were to let the Samaritans take part in the good work, they were quite ready to receive contributions from their brethren in the dispersion, and likewise from heathen kings and princes (see Ezra 6:8, etc.; Ezra 7:15, etc.).[8]
  • "Make crowns". The prophet was to get the crowns made (compare Exodus 25, passim). The plural may here be used intensively for "a noble crown," as in Job 31:36[8] (also in Job 19:9, Proverbs 4:9; Proverbs 12:4; Proverbs 14:24; Proverbs 16:31. Proverbs 17:6);[9] or it may signify the two metals of which the crown was made, two or more wreaths being intertwined to form it. It is certain that only one crown was to be made, and that that was to be placed on Joshua's head. There is no mention of Zerubbabel in the passage; so the plural cannot be taken to intimate that there was a crown for the high priest and a crown for the princely ruler, as Ewald and Bunsen assert. Zerubbabel had no kingly position. Rather, all mention of Zerubbabel is expressly excluded, in order to denote that in the Person of him whom Joshua symbolized, the offices of priest and king were united (Psalm 110). We may note that in Revelation 19:12 Christ is said to have on his head many crowns, by which is meant a diadem composed of many circlets. The high priest's mitre is never called a crown. That which was placed on Joshua's head was a royal crown, a token of royal dignity, not his own, but his whom he represented - Jesus ("Joshua" in Hebrew) Christ the eternal Priest, the universal King.[8]
  • "And set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech the high priest": Joshua the High Priest, on whose head a fair mitre was set; see Zechariah 3:5 and with the mitre was wore by the high priest the holy crown, made of pure gold; and which was no other than the plate or "flower" of gold, on which was engraved "Holiness to the Lord", Exodus 28:36 and this, according to the Jewish writers,[10] was a plate of gold two fingers broad, and reached from ear to ear; though Josephus[11] seems to give a different account of it; he says, "the golden crown surrounds (either the mitre, or perhaps rather the forehead or temples); and on it were three rows of cups or flowers, like those of the herb we call "saccharus"; and the Grecian botanists "hyosciamus";" or henbane; and after describing the herb, and the figure of the buds, cups, or flowers of it, he adds, "like to these is made a crown reaching from the hinder part of the head unto both temples; for the flowers do not encompass the forehead; but there is a golden plate, which has the name of God engraved in sacred letters;" which seems to disagree with the accounts of other Jewish writers; unless, as Braunius[12] observes, they may be thus reconciled, that "the crown was nothing else but the plate that was two fingers broad, and was in length from ear to ear; so that about the temples it was ornamented with three rows of henbane flowers on each side: and these three rows may give occasion for the use of the word in the plural number"; and some have called it a "triple crown";[13] and Popish writers fail not to improve it in favour of the crown their pontiff wears; and Lyra[14] speaks of "little crowns" or "coronets", even in the "mitres" of the common priests; which (he says) "were circles in the lower part of them" so called; wherefore the rows of flowers in the high priest's crown, from whence it might be called a flower, might with more propriety bear that name. Philo the Jew,[15] speaking of the golden plate, says it was like a crown engraven with four letters of the name (Jehovah); and further observes, that "the mitre under it kept the plate from touching the head, on which the "cidaris" or diadem was put; for it was like the cidaris which the eastern kings used for a diadem:" and indeed this crown, and the three rows of flowers in it, were a hieroglyphic or emblem of the threefold office of Jesus Christ, whom the high priest represented, kingly, priestly, and prophetic; and so may be fitly signified here by crowns in the plural number; and it is usual with the Jewish writers to speak of three crowns, the crown of the law, the crown of the kingdom, and the crown of the priesthood;[16] and very probably from the high priest among the Jews wearing crowns it was that the priests among the Heathens had the same ornaments on their heads; and to be crowned was with them the same as to exercise the office of priesthood,[17] and who was an eminent type of the Messiah, and in this of having crowns put upon his head, as the following words show.[18]

Verse 12

And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying,
Behold the man whose name is The Branch;
and he shall grow up out of his place,
and he shall build the temple of the Lord:[19]
  • "Behold, the man": Namely, "shall arise". Pilate unconsciously spake God's will concerning Him, "Behold the man" (John 19:5). The sense here is, "Behold in Joshua a remarkable shadowing forth of Messiah." It is not for his own sake that the crown is placed on him, but as type of Messiah about to be at once king and priest. Joshua could not individually be crowned king, not being of the royal line of David, but only in his representative character.[20]
  • "He shall grow up out of his place": retaining the image of a "Branch" (Zechariah 3:8; Isaiah 4:2; Isaiah 11:1; Jeremiah 23:5; Jeremiah 33:15); "He shall sprout up from His place," that is, the place peculiar to Him: not merely from Bethlehem or Nazareth, but by His own power, without man's aid, in His miraculous conception [Henderson]; a sense brought out in the original, "from under Himself," or "from (of) Himself" [Calvin]. Moore makes it refer to His growing lowly in His place of obscurity, "as a tender plant and a root out of a dry ground" (Isaiah 53:2), for thirty years unknown except as the son of a carpenter. Maurer translates, "Under Him there shall be growth (in the Church)." English Version accords better with the Hebrew (compare Exodus 10:23). The idea in a Branch is that Christ's glory is growing, not yet fully manifested as a full-grown tree. Therefore, men reject Him now.[20]
  • "And he shall build the temple of the Lord" - The material temple was soon to be finished, and that by Zerubbabel, to whom this had been promised, Zechariah 4:10, not by Joshua the High Priest. It was then a new temple, to be built from the foundation, of which He Himself was to be "the foundation" Isaiah 28:16; 1 Corinthians 3:11; Ephesians 2:20-21, as He said, "On this rock I will build My Church" Matthew 16:18; and in Him "all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple to the Lord" Ephesians 2:21. Osorius: "He it is, who built the house; for neither Solomon nor Zerubbabel nor Joshua son of Josedech could build a house worthy of the majesty of God. For "the Most High" Acts 7:48-49, Stephen says, "dwelleth not in temples made with hands, as saith the prophet; Heaven is My throne and earth is My footstool; what house will ye build Me, saith the Lord?" For if they could have built a house for God, He would not have allowed His house to be burned and overthrown. What then is the house of God which Christ built? The Church, founded on faith in Him, dedicated by His Blood, stablished by the stayedness of divine virtue, adorned with divine and eternal riches, wherein the Lord ever dwelleth."[9]

See also

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Collins 2014.
  2. ↑ Hayes 2015.
  3. ↑ Metzger, Bruce M., et al. The Oxford Companion to the Bible. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.
  4. ↑ Keck, Leander E. 1996. The New Interpreter's Bible: Volume: VII. Nashville: Abingdon.
  5. 1 2 Dead sea scrolls - Zechariah
  6. ↑ Timothy A. J. Jull; Douglas J. Donahue; Magen Broshi; Emanuel Tov (1995). "Radiocarbon Dating of Scrolls and Linen Fragments from the Judean Desert". Radiocarbon. 38 (1): 14. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  7. ↑ Zechariah 6:11
  8. 1 2 3 Joseph S. Exell; Henry Donald Maurice Spence-Jones (Editors). The Pulpit Commentary. 23 volumes. First publication: 1890. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  9. 1 2 Barnes, Albert. Notes on the Old Testament. London, Blackie & Son, 1884. Reprint, Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  10. ↑ Maimon. Cele Hamikdash, c. 9. sect. 1. Jarchi in Exodus 28.36.
  11. ↑ Flavius Josephus. Antiqu. l. 3. c. 7. sect. 7.
  12. ↑ Braunius. De Vestitu Sacerdot. Hebr. l. 2. c. 28. sect. 18. p. 807.
  13. ↑ Fortunatus Scacchus in Myrothec. l. 3. c. 40. p. 1000. Solerius de Pileo, sect. 13. p. 266.
  14. ↑ Lyra in Exodus 39.27.
  15. ↑ Philo. De Vita Mosis, l. 3. p. 670, 671.
  16. ↑ Pirke Abot, c. 4. sect. 13.
  17. ↑ Paschalius de Coronis, l. 4. c. 13.
  18. ↑ John Gill. John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible. Exposition of the Old and New Testament. Published in 1746-1763. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  19. ↑ Zechariah 6:12
  20. 1 2 Robert Jamieson, Andrew Robert Fausset; David Brown. Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary On the Whole Bible. 1871. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

Bibliography

  • Collins, John J. (2014). Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures. Fortress Press.
  • Hayes, Christine (2015). Introduction to the Bible. Yale University Press.

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Christian

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