Background

Tower of Hananel

The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament 14:1-21: The Lord Reigns The Tower of Hananel was positioned on the northwest side of the city near the Temple Mount. This is about the same location as the Antonio Fortress in Herod’s Jerusalem. Finally, the king’s winepresses were probably in the area of the king’s garden (see comment on Neh 3:15) at the southern end of the city. The winepresses combined with the Tower of Hananel span the city from north to south.

Outline

The Lord become King over all the earth (v1-9) Jerusalem abide in security (v10-11) Plague on peoples who wage war against Jerusalem (v12-15) The remnants worship the Lord in Jerusalem (v16-21)

Bibliography :

1. New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition. 2021. Friendship Press.
2. Baldwin, Joyce G. 1972. Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi: An Introduction and Commentary. Vol. 28. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
3. Matthews, Victor Harold, Mark W. Chavalas, and John H. Walton. 2000. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament. Electronic ed. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Devotional meditation

This chapter focus on the prophecy of the Day of the Lord, which was also mentioned by the major & minor prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Zephaniah. That would be the time of judgement of the Lord which involved the activities of war, plagues, cosmic activities. Usually when there’s war, there’ll be war crime such as rape, oppression, hidden or public exploitation not that it’s absent in a non-war circumstance anyway. There will be half of the people to go into exile but half remain in the city of Jerusalem. This is the battle of the Lord where He will go forth and fight against the nations. There shall be bloodshed, division, fleeing & earthquake, we can take it literally as the history recorded the earthquakes and war of the Jews, empires of Greece, Roman…etc. The point is, this prophecy came to pass. We can also take it illustratively in terms of how earthquake shakes not only physically but illustratively, just imagine a structure or a foundation of any kind, whether it’s physical building, belief, for example how Jesus Christ spoke to the disciples of the parable of building the house on the rock or sand that when the water comes, the house is gone. This is because in the context of the wadi in the geographical locations of the land of Israel, there were a lot of this valley, gully or streambed where the sand gathered that becomes dry when there’s no rain, but when the rain falls, there will be flash flood & it will wash away anything there. So if the foundation is weak, when shaking comes, it will topple. So sometimes earthquake is used as an illustration to bring out the meaning that God is the only foundation & everything that’s not built upon God, it will fall.
Jerusalem’s meaning in Hebrew means foundation of peace, house of God, and it was chosen as what people would call a “landmark” in terms of geographical navigation, but in theology it is significant of an endpoint towards God’s kingdom which consists of the priestly nation of Israel, the laws & rituals, the principle behind all the rules & commandments which is to love God & to love others as ourselves, which is to point all nations to the direction to know that the Lord is God. That’s the calling & destiny that derives from Abraham, Isaac & Jacob which derives from the history of Adam & Eve. It’s a way back to the garden of Eden illustratively where the Book of Revelation mentioned the ultimate pictures of the tree of life, river of life, throne of God all thru the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ, in Hebrew, Yeshua HaMaschiah. There will be a plague that strikes those who were against Jerusalem, meaning the people who were against God. The rotting of the flesh represent decay, dying, become useless in it’s purpose, there’s no life in it even when they were still on their feet, it’s an illustration of being a zombie, alive but dead; which I personally think that it can also mean spiritual rot, spiritual decay… There shall be also a remnant who will survive, which then will become the worshipper of God. Rain often means blessing from God, as crops which is the food source of all mankind needs rain, so the mention of v17 is a known analogy to the people of Israel based on the book of Deuteronomy. So the end of the book of Zechariah spoke of the eschatological events that shall be unfold as the time progress where it is also known as part of the progressive revelation as we read & interpret the scripture. Zechariah is a book of warning, hope, judgement, mercy, comfort & encouragement to trust in the Lord & walk according to His will, but most importantly I see the patience of God who loves deeply, a God of justice who is merciful & impartial. One can only be in awe of Him with that dawning sense of truly the Lord is God.

Notes

It is important not to take the word in scriptures literally but in context whether it’s a known analogy or in other terms “inside joke”. When an illustration or picture or as we now say “meme” or even slangs or abbreviation of a long word or sentence, immediately those who know the context, background, history, knows exactly what the author meant. For example : Now there’s a slang ‘sigma’, we all know if we take it literally it’s the 18th Greek word Σς, but in the culture of younger generation, they really mean “alpha”. Literally it’s the first letter of the Greek word, again in the culture of the younger generation it refers to someone who is independent, confident, and popular, often seen as a model of success and attractiveness. It can also be used to describe something as the best or really good. So context is key & it’s dangerous to take a certain sentence out of it’s context. This doesn’t mean that all people intentionally mislead, it’s just a progress of learning & people learn from mistakes or others’ mistakes.