Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: Zechariah 9-14

Theme: Messianic flashes in Zechariah 9-14

Date: 03/19/2017 File Name: MinorProphets16f.wpd

ID Number:

History is replete with evil kings.

Ironically, one of the most diabolical was Herod the great who ruled Judea at the time of Christ’s birth.

Herod was born in 73 B.C. and was confirmed by the Roman Senate as “King of Judea “ in 40 B.C.

The Jewish people resented him because he was an Idumean.

Herod did accomplish some good for the country.

He was one of the greatest builders of the ancient world, and his construction projects reshaped Israel.

He built the port of Caesarea, rebuilt Judean cities and made palaces for himself.

His greatest achievement was the remodeling of the temple, begun in 19 B.C., Which transformed the temple complex into one of the world’s most glorious buildings.

Yet the good he did is far outweighed by the wickedness he did.

executions and murder were commonplace with Herod.

He murdered his favorite wife, Mariamne, as well as her mother.

Fearing that his two sons by Mariamne, Alexander and Aristobulus, would attempt a coup in retaliation, have them strangled.

Fearing that Mariamne’s brother, Aristobulus III, might seek revenge invited his brother-in-law to a party and then had him drowned during the celebration.

Five days before his death, Herod had another son, Antipater, executed.

Caesar Augustus — the same Caesar Augustus of Luke’s Gospel — upon hearing the news of Antipater’s death, quipped, “It’s better to be Herod’s pig than his son.”

As a Jew who wouldn’t eat pork, the lives of Herod’s pigs, if he had any, were safer than his son’s lives.

According to the Jewish historian Josephus, on his deathbed King Herod ordered many prominent Judeans to be executed so that there would be great weeping and wailing in the country.

He knew that his Jewish citizens would not weep and wail for his death, and so decided he would give them something to weep and wail about.

Thankfully, his sister rescinded the order.

One of Herod’s most dastardly deeds occurred near the end of his reign, and that story is told us in the Bible.

Magi had arrived to his court and informed him that the “King of the Jews” had been born in Judea.

According to the prophet Micah, the messianic King would be born in Bethlehem.

When the Wisemen did not return with specifics, Herod, in a fit of fanatical age, had all the babies under two years old in the tiny village massacred.

Herod the great is only one example of an endless number of history’s wicked tyrants.

What the world needs is a righteous king who will rule justly and lovingly.

This is the kind of Messiah Zechariah describes in his closing chapters.

I. THE COMING OF A WORLD CONQUEROR

1. as we come to chapter 9 of Zechariah’s prophecy, we arrive at a whole new section of his book

a. it’s a radical departure from the first eight chapters

1) in fact, it’s so sharply different that critical Old Testament scholars have alleged that chapters 9–14 were written by a different author

2) there is no reason not to believe, however, in the traditional view that Zechariah is the author of the entire prophecy

2. the first eight verses of chapter nine reveal the coming of a worldly king who would conquer the world (at least most of the known world of that day

A. JUDGMENT ON ISRAEL’S ENEMIES 9:1-8

“An Oracle The word of the LORD is against the land of Hadrach and will rest upon Damascus— for the eyes of men and all the tribes of Israel are on the LORD— 2 and upon Hamath too, which borders on it, and upon Tyre and Sidon, though they are very skillful.

3 Tyre has built herself a stronghold; she has heaped up silver like dust, and gold like the dirt of the streets.

4 But the Lord will take away her possessions and destroy her power on the sea, and she will be consumed by fire.

5 Ashkelon will see it and fear; Gaza will writhe in agony, and Ekron too, for her hope will wither.

Gaza will lose her king and Ashkelon will be deserted.

6 Foreigners will occupy Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.

7 I will take the blood from their mouths, the forbidden food from between their teeth.

Those who are left will belong to our God and become leaders in Judah, and Ekron will be like the Jebusites.”

(Zechariah 9:1–7, NIV84)

1. this passage reveal the coming conquest of the nations Syria, Phoenicia, and Philistia

a. these are nations that had been a perennial thorn-in-the-side of Israel ever since the people had come into the Promised Land

1) the land of Hadrach in vs. 1 is a reference to the area of controlled by the city of Damascus, and Hamath is about 130 miles north of there; together they make up the area of Syria

2) Tyre and Sidon were the major cities of Phoenicia, known as Lebanon today

a) Tyre was indeed a stronghold being built on an island ½ mile off the coast with walls 150 feet high surrounding the entire island

b) as the primary trade city of the eastern Mediterranean, Tyre was also an exceedingly rich city that had indeed heaped up silver like dust, and gold like the dirt

3) Ashkelon, a prosperous port city, and Ekron are cities in the Gaza area, in what was then known as Philistia

a) when they see what happens to Tyre they will see it and fear, they will writhe in agony

b) the loss of political independence, the splendor of their cities, and the glory of their temples would be a crushing blow to the Philistine pride

2. God will use a young Macedonian monarch to accomplish this

a. he was Alexander III of Macedon, but we know him better as Alexander the Great

1) the parallels between what is described in verse 1-8, and Alexander’s invasion of the region are unmistakable

b. after routing the Persians in October 333 B.C. at Issus, Alexander marched toward Egypt, conquering Syria, Phoenicia, and Philistia along the way

3. 1st, in this prophecy, God reveals the means whereby He would sweep away Israel’s hostile neighbors

ILLUS.

When Alexander arrived at Tyre, he simply built a causeway out to the city, brought in his siege engines and captured the city in a mere seven months.

Because they resisted, executed 10,000 citizens, sold 30,000 into slavery, and burned the city.

Ashkelon did fear, but they also resisted, and after Alexander conquered them, executed 10,000 of its citizens and sold the rest into slavery.

The king of Ashkelon was tied behind a chariot and dragged to death.

a. even Egypt and the Medo-Persian Empire of Zechariah’s day would fall before Alexander

4. 2nd, in this prophecy, God promises that He will protect His people and keep them safe

“But I will defend my house against marauding forces.

Never again will an oppressor overrun my people, for now I am keeping watch.”

(Zechariah 9:8, NIV84)

a. God promises to protect His people

ILLUS.

The 1st-century Jewish historian, Josephus tells us the story.

Alexander went to Jerusalem after having taken Gaza.

Jaddua, the high priest, had a warning from God received in a dream, in which he saw himself vested in a purple robe, with his miter—that had the golden plate on which the name of God was engraved—on his head.

Accordingly he went to meet Alexander at the Temple.

Followed by the priests, all clothed in fine linen, and by a multitude of citizens, Jaddua awaited the coming of the king.

When Alexander saw the high priest, he reverenced God, and saluted Jaddua; while the Jews with one voice greeted Alexander.

The Jews showed Alexander the Book of Daniel that declares one of the Greeks should destroy the Persian Empire, and Alexander assumed he was the Greek of the prophecy.

The following day Alexander asked the Jews what favors he should grant them; and, at the high priest's request, he accorded them the right to live in full enjoyment of the laws of their forefathers.

He also granted that right to Jews in whatever lands he conquered.

b. the last half of the verse points to a final deliverance — Never again will an oppressor overrun my people — and anticipates the second Advent of the Messiah

B. JUDGMENT ON ISRAEL'S ENEMIES PREPARES THE WORLD FOR MESSIAH

1. OK, OK, so why is this important?

a. it was no mere accident that Jesus Christ showed up on the scene of history when he did

b.

God in his providence, was preparing the world for the coming of Christ and Christianity

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,” (Galatians 4:4, ESV)

1) when the fullness of time had come is Paul’s way of saying, at just the right time when everything was in place

2. at the dawn of Christianity the common language of the Roman Empire was not Latin but Koine Greek, Koine simply meaning common

a. Classical Greek was the language of the Greek sages, philosophers, and novelists

1) it was the language of Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates

a) it is one of the great literary languages, for through it the deepest and most complex thoughts can be expressed

2) but Koine was the language of the people

b. after the resurrection, when the Christians began to go into all the world, they went into a world where everyone spoke the same language

1) this provided the early Christian missionaries with an open door to preach in the common language of the people of the Empire from Mesopotamia to Britain

2) it’s why New Testament was written in Koine Greek

c. this could only be explained by the providential working of a Divine Mind

3. the world spoke Greek because of what Zechariah prophesies in 9:1-8

a. Alexander would, in a mere ten years, conquer the known world, and in doing so he spread the Greek language and Greek culture in Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, Persia and Western India