This section records the eighth (and final) vision in the series,[b] which forms aninclusio with the first, referring to the pacifying of "the north country". This is the direction from which the majority of attacks on Israel had come (cf. references to the threat from the north inJeremiah 1:14).[5]
And the angel answered and said to me, “These are four spirits of heaven, who go out from their station before the Lord of all the earth."[15]
"Spirits of heaven": or "winds of heaven" (MEV). The Hebrew word for "spirit" may also mean "wind" or "breath", depending on the context (cf. ASV, NRSV, CEV "the four winds of heaven").[16]
Following the final vision, the remaining verses in this chapter close the "vision cycle" by describing the crowning ofJoshua the High Priest as a 'messianic' leader.[5]Zerubbabel, the governor andtemple-builder, and Joshua are referred to together in the prophecies of Zechariah's contemporaryHaggai,[17] and both have been the subject of earlier references in Zechariah.[18] Larkin suggests that Zerubbabel would have been included here originally and his name has been "blatantly" removed during the evolution of the text, leaving only the name of Joshua.[5] The editors of theJerusalem Bible argue that Joshua's namereplaced that of Zerubbabel in the original text once thehigh priests had become the leaders of the Jewish community:[19] seeHigh Priest of Israel#Late Second Temple.
Take from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon, and go the same day to the house of Josiah, the son of Zephaniah.[20]
The prophet is to take "an offering" from these returning exiles.[21] Some translations refer to Heldai as "Helem" in verse 14.[22]
and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest;[23]
"Silver and gold": A part of what was brought fromBabylon or the contributions from the Jews in the diaspora, the kings and princes in the area (seeEzra 6:8, etc.;Ezra 7:15, etc.).[24]
"Make crowns": Zechariah was to get the crowns made (compareExodus 25,passim). The plural may here be used intensively for "a noble crown", as inJob 31:36[24] (also inJob 19:9,Proverbs 4:9;Proverbs 12:4;Proverbs 14:24;Proverbs 16:31.Proverbs 17:6); or it may signify the two metals of which the crown was made, two or more wreaths being intertwined to form it.[24] Here Joshua may symbolize 'a Person in whom the offices of priest and king were united' (cf.Psalm 110; inRevelation 19:12 Jesus (= "Joshua" in Hebrew) is said to wear many crowns on his head, referring to 'a diadem composed of many circlets'), because a high priest's "mitre" (Zechariah 3:5; made of the plate or "flower" of pure gold with the engraving "Holiness to the Lord"Exodus 28:36[25]) is never called a crown, but what to be set on Joshua's head is a royal crown.[24]
"Behold, the man" (Hebrew:הנה איש,hi-nêh’îš[27]): This phrase is used in a speech to draw attention to someone different from the one in conversation (1 Samuel 9:6,17;2 Samuel 18:26; cf.Joshua 2:2), so Joshua here is not the Branch (the Sprout figure), but that figure is 'accessible and approaching' the scene.[28]Pilate spoke similar words regardingJesus, "Behold the man" (John 19:5).[29]
"He shall build the temple of the Lord": In the time of Zechariah, the temple was soon to be finished by Zerubbabel, to whom this had been promised (Zechariah 4:10), not byJoshua the High Priest, but then a new temple is to be built from the foundation, of which the builder is to be "the foundation" (Isaiah 28:16;1 Corinthians 3:11;Ephesians 2:20–21), as said, "on this rock I will build My Church" (Matthew 16:18); and in him "all the building, fitly framed together0, groweth unto an holy temple to the Lord" (Ephesians 2:21).[30]
^TheAleppo Codex (930) now only contains Zechariah 9:17b–14:21.[9]
^Some writers, such as the German commentatorsCarl Friedrich Keil andFranz Delitzsch, hold that the sixth and the seventh visions are parts of a single vision,[14] and therefore they only enumerate seven visions in all.
^abcdExell, Joseph S.; Spence-Jones, Henry Donald Maurice (Editors).On "Zechariah 6". In:ThePulpit Commentary. 23 volumes. First publication: 1890. Accessed 24 April 2019.
Boda, Mark J. (2016). Harrison, R. K.; Hubbard, Jr, Robert L. (eds.).The Book of Zechariah. New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.ISBN978-0802823755.
