The Skeptics Annotated Bible (714 page)

23 In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the LORD, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the LORD of hosts.

I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another.
—
Zechariah 11.9

Zechariah is as bizarre as it is cruel. Here are the highlights:

• Zechariah has a long conversation with an angel, a man in a myrtle tree, some horses of different colors, and God. Chapters 1 - 6
  
• God has seven eyes that “run to and fro through the whole earth.”
  4.10
  
• Zechariah sees a 30 foot flying scroll that burns down the houses of thieves and liars.
  5.1-4
  
• God will “set all men one against his neighbor.”
  8.10
  
• “Thus saith the LORD of hosts … ten men … shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew.”
  8.23
  
• Someday we’ll see God flying over us with his lightning-like arrows. He’ll be blowing his trumpet and sending whirlwinds down south.
  9.14
  
• God “will hiss for them.”
  10.8
  
• “He shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up.”
  10.11
  
• “I will no more pity … saith the LORD: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour’s hand … And I will feed the flock of slaughter.”
  11.6-7
  
• God will force everyone to eat “the flesh of another.”
  11.9
  
• He will open his eyes and smite “every rider with madness … and every horse … with blindness.”
  12.4
  
• A prophet must be killed by his own parents by “thrusting him through when he prophesieth.”
  13.3
  
• God will “go forth and fight” with “his feet” on the mount of Olives.
  14.3
  
• On the day of the Lord, the mount of Olives will be split in two and half the mountain will be removed.
  14.4
  
• God will smite the people with plagues that will cause their flesh, eyes, and tongues to rot away.
  14.12
  
• He will make everyone fight and kill his or her neighbor.
  14.13
  
• He sends his plagues on animals too.
  14.15
  
• Whoever survives all these plagues and slaughters must worship the God who caused them.
  14.16
  

(1.1, 7; 7.1) You need to know the year, month, and day that “the word of the LORD” repeatedly comes “unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet.”

1
In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet
, saying,

(1.1)
“In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet.”
286 Was Zechariah Iddo’s son or grandson?

2 The LORD hath been sore displeased with your fathers.

3 Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts.

4 Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the LORD.

5 Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?

6 But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the LORD of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.

7
Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet
, saying,

(1.7) “Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet.”

(1.8-15) Zechariah sees a man riding on a red horse and carries on an extended, multi-way conversation with an angel, a man in a myrtle tree, some horses of different colors, and God.

8
I saw by night
, and behold
a man riding upon a red horse
, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom;
and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white.

(1.8)
“I saw by night … a man riding upon a red horse … and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white.”

9
Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be.

(1.9)
“Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be.”

10 And
the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the LORD hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.

(1.10)
“The man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the LORD hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.”

11 And
they answered
the angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle trees, and said,
We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.

(1.11)
“They
[the multi-colored horses]
answered … We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.”
According to the horses of different colors, “the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.”

12 Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, O LORD of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years?

13 And
the LORD answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words.

(1.13)
“The LORD answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words.”

14
So the angel
that communed with me
said
unto me,
Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.

(1.14)
“So the angel … said … Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.”

15 And
I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.

(1.15)
“I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.”

16 Therefore thus saith the LORD; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the LORD of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.

17 Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.

(1.18-21) Zechariah sees four horns that are sawed off by four carpenters.

18
Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns.

(1.18)
“Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns.”

19 And
I said unto the angel
that talked with me,
What be these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.

(1.19)
“I said unto the angel … What be these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”

20
And the LORD shewed me four carpenters.

(1.20)
“And the LORD shewed me four carpenters.”

21 Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but
these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.

(1.21)
“These are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.”

(2.1-5) Next Zechariah sees a man with a measuring line in his hand, who told him he was going to measure Jerusalem. Then an angel stopped by to chat, and finally God shows up and says he’ll build a wall of fire around Jerusalem, and he’ll be the glory inside.