Readings:
Zechariah 1-3
1 Timothy 4

Zechariah 1-3

The prophet Zachariah lived towards the end of the exile, and began prophesying at a time after the first couple waves of exiles already returned to Jerusalem. His prophecies mostly concerned the rebuilding of the temple, purity in worship and rededication to God and his laws.

There’s evidence to suggest Zachariah was from a priestly family and may have been a priest as well as a prophet. This pedigree would make sense of how familiar he was with temple liturgy and how concerned he was with its proper execution.

The first half of the book is filled with prophetic visions given to Zachariah and the second half takes a different direction with its prophecies of a coming messiah.

The opening of the book contains a short intro where God tells him that he constantly begged the Israelites to return to him and he’d return to them, but they didn’t heed his voice and went their own ways. This is a warning going forward, to not do the same thing the last generations did.

His first couple of visions concern the rehabilitation of Jerusalem and a promise of its future prosperity and also a vision of the four horns being the four kingdoms that destroyed and looted Israel and Judah.

The third vision of the man with a measuring tape seems to be sending the message that God is going to bring so many people to dwell in the rebuilt city that it won’t be large enough to hold them.

The fourth vision is about Joshua, who was chosen as the first high priest when the temple was rebuilt. He is standing next to satan and vindicated before the accuser by the angel giving him clean clothes, signifying he’s cleansing and worthiness to serve in the holy of holies.

The “branch” mentioned here is likely a reference to Zerubbabel, the man appointed as governor by the Persians. But on a deeper level, the “branch of David” is a messianic prophecy and is embodied in Jesus Christ.

1 Timothy 4

The beginning of this chapter has two items that are often used against Catholics in Protestant polemics. Paul warns against false teachers, some of which forbid marriage (most likely gnostics) and some who force people to abstain from certain foods (most likely a reference to the Judaizers).

Neither of these are applicable to the Catholic tradition of (in the Latin Church) priestly celibacy or the traditional abstinence from meat on certain days. Paul himself wrote that he’d prefer everyone was consecrated to God in his services and remained single, but recognized that this wasn’t for everyone. He also upholds the goods and holiness of a marriage between two Christians. While the gnostics forbade marriage all together in some sects.

The same can be said of the abstinence reference. The judaizers were trying to force gentile converts to adopt the kosher diet and would never eat unclean animals. But Catholics recognize all food is clean since Jesus declared it so and since Peter had the vision in Acts, but we willingly forgo these goods as a sacrifice in a very similar way to fasting. In fact, it’s a form of fasting.

Paul encourages Timothy to continue in his ministry and remember the gift he received when the other bishops laid hands on him and consecrated him for this task.

Tomorrow’s Readings:
Zechariah 4-5
1 Timothy 5