Teaching Notes Book of Zechariah - Chapter 6
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Quarantine Day 76. Wednesday.
Look for God in the way things are not in the way you want them to be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZNfmC8lTKg
Hugh C. Wood, Atlanta, Georgia
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Zechariah 6 New International Version (NIV)
Zechariah 6
New International Version
Four Chariots
6 I looked up again, and there before me were four chariots coming out from between two mountains—mountains of bronze. 2 The first chariot had red horses, the second black, 3 the third white, and the fourth dappled—all of them powerful. 4 I asked the angel who was speaking to me, “What are these, my lord?”
5 The angel answered me, “These are the four spirits[a] of heaven, going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world. 6 The one with the black horses is going toward the north country, the one with the white horses toward the west,[b] and the one with the dappled horses toward the south.”
7 When the powerful horses went out, they were straining to go throughout the earth. And he said, “Go throughout the earth!” So they went throughout the earth.
8 Then he called to me, “Look, those going toward the north country have given my Spirit[c] rest in the land of the north.”
A Crown for Joshua
9 The word of the Lord came to me: 10 “Take silver and gold from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon. Go the same day to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah. 11 Take the silver and gold and make a crown, and set it on the head of the high priest, Joshua son of Jozadak.[d] 12 Tell him this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the Lord. 13 It is he who will build the temple of the Lord, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he[e] will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two.’ 14 The crown will be given to Heldai,[f] Tobijah, Jedaiah and Hen[g] son of Zephaniah as a memorial in the temple of the Lord. 15 Those who are far away will come and help to build the temple of the Lord, and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. This will happen if you diligently obey the Lord your God.”
Footnotes
Zechariah 6:5 Or winds
Zechariah 6:6 Or horses after them
Zechariah 6:8 Or spirit
Zechariah 6:11 Hebrew Jehozadak, a variant of Jozadak
Zechariah 6:13 Or there
Zechariah 6:14 Syriac; Hebrew Helem
Zechariah 6:14 Or and the gracious one, the
New International Version
Four Chariots
6 I looked up again, and there before me were four chariots coming out from between two mountains—mountains of bronze. 2 The first chariot had red horses, the second black, 3 the third white, and the fourth dappled—all of them powerful. 4 I asked the angel who was speaking to me, “What are these, my lord?”
5 The angel answered me, “These are the four spirits[a] of heaven, going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world. 6 The one with the black horses is going toward the north country, the one with the white horses toward the west,[b] and the one with the dappled horses toward the south.”
7 When the powerful horses went out, they were straining to go throughout the earth. And he said, “Go throughout the earth!” So they went throughout the earth.
8 Then he called to me, “Look, those going toward the north country have given my Spirit[c] rest in the land of the north.”
A Crown for Joshua
9 The word of the Lord came to me: 10 “Take silver and gold from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon. Go the same day to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah. 11 Take the silver and gold and make a crown, and set it on the head of the high priest, Joshua son of Jozadak.[d] 12 Tell him this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the Lord. 13 It is he who will build the temple of the Lord, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he[e] will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two.’ 14 The crown will be given to Heldai,[f] Tobijah, Jedaiah and Hen[g] son of Zephaniah as a memorial in the temple of the Lord. 15 Those who are far away will come and help to build the temple of the Lord, and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. This will happen if you diligently obey the Lord your God.”
Footnotes
Zechariah 6:5 Or winds
Zechariah 6:6 Or horses after them
Zechariah 6:8 Or spirit
Zechariah 6:11 Hebrew Jehozadak, a variant of Jozadak
Zechariah 6:13 Or there
Zechariah 6:14 Syriac; Hebrew Helem
Zechariah 6:14 Or and the gracious one, the
Zechariah 4Q80 Dead Sea Scrolls 50BCE
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Manuscripts of the 12 Manuscripts
https://www.bible.ca/manuscripts/bible-manuscripts-Septuagint-twelve-Greek-Minor-prophets-scroll-Nahal-Hever-Bar-Kochba-Cave-of-Horrors-letters-Dodekapropheton-Greek-8HevXIIgr-50BC.htm
The Greek Septuagint Twelve Minor Prophets scroll (2100 years old)
Introduction:
1. The Greek minor prophets scroll was discovered in 1952 AD is one of the most important archeological finds ever.
a. Dodekapropheton is the Greek name for the 12 prophets as a collection.
b. It is a scroll of the entire 12 minor prophets even though much of the text is destroyed over time.
c. It shows the Bible we hold today is the same as it was before the time of Christ.
d. It proves the entire Old Testament was translated by Jews into Greek before the time of Christ.
2. The Greek minor prophets scroll dates to about 50 BC:
a. “Dating Conclusion: Both hands give the impression of belonging to the late Ptolemaic or early Roman period. Some features favour an earlier rather than a later date; no feature recommends a later rather than an earlier date.” (Greek Minor Prophets Scroll from Nahal Hever, Emanuel Tov, p25, 1990 AD)
b. Late Ptolemaic is 100-30 BC and Early Roman begins at 30 BC.
c. So Emanuel Tov, a Jewish Scholar living in Israel dates the Greek scroll to before the Birth of Christ and favours the “early date” ie. Before the Roman Era.
3. There are two caves where scrolls were found: Cave 8 “Cave of Horrors” and Cave 5-6 “Cave of Letters”
4. The Greek minor prophets scroll was discovered at cave 8 in the Nahal Hever which is located about 5 km south of En Gedi
a. Nahal (river) Hever (Hebron = friend) means “river of the friend”. The town of Hebron is due west.
b. During the Bar Kochba rebellion of 135 AD, also known as the “Second Jewish War with Rome”, the rebel Zealot had moved from Qumran, Gamla and Kh. El Maqatir to Masada and the two caves high in the hills of the Nahal Hever.
c. Cave 8 is known as the “Cave of Horrors” (Ma'arat Ha'Eimim) because 40 skeletons were found here, the remains of those seeking refuge during the Bar Kokhba Revolt. Archaeologists found three ostraca, which had been placed on the skeletons, inscribed with the names of the deceased.
d. The Romans killed the rebel Jews by smoke inhalation by setting fires at the entrance.
e. In 1952 AD skeletons of Men, women and children were excavated and reburied in the inner cave area.
f. The scroll of the 12 prophets represented a high value possession to these Jews in 135 AD, being 200 years old at the time.
g. Fragments of Jewish prayers were found in Aramaic.
5. In the “Cave of Letters” (cave 5-6) the following was found letters that date from 94-132 AD and included three collections:
a. A leather waterskin containing 15 letters (in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek), most of which were sent by Shim'on Bar Kohkba (Shim'on b. Kosiba), the leader of the Bar Kohkba revolt.
b. A wrapped package stored inside a leather purse, containing 35 personal financial records, belonging to a woman named Babatha.
c. Five contracts belonging to Eleazar ben Shmuel, a farmer from Ein Gedi.
d. Four languages were used on the manuscripts: Greek, Hebrew, Nabatean, Aramaic
e. Of special note is that all the scripture manuscripts were in Aramaic also known as “Square Hebrew”. This is a different language and Mosaic Hebrew and modern Hebrew. Remember, in the first century Hebrew was almost extinct being used only by the Jerusalem temple elites.
f. Three other special documents were found in the Cave of Letters (cave 5-6):
i. Marriage Contract (5/6Hev37) A woman named Babata who was married and divorced/widowed twice had a marriage contract in her possession that was found in cave 5-6. It was written by husband which said, "If I [Babata's husband] die before you, you will live in my house and receive maintenance from it and from my possessions.". (5/6Hev37, Babata marriage contract, 135 AD)
ii. Sale Contract (5/6Hev47)
iii. Redemption of a Writ of Seizure (5/6Hev36)
I. The Greek 12 minor prophets scroll of the Septuagint
1. The Greek scripture scroll (cave 8) is the longest scroll ever found in Israel at 32 feet long and are currently housed in the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem.
a. Two different men wrote the entire scroll. We know this by graphology of textual styles that point to two different “hands” through handwriting analysis.
b. Printed on vellum (animal skin) with carbon ink.
c. Many skins were joined to create a scroll 10 meters long and 35 cm high.
2. The document is in Greek expect for Mosaic Hebrew (Paleo-Hebrew) where they wrote the name of God YHWH in the extinct Hebrew alphabet.
a. Other documents found at the same time would use four stars **** as an early “nomina sacra” substitution.
b. This substitution of Mosaic Hebrew for Greek in the name of God is probably the very beginning point of “nomina sacra”.
c. Nomina sacra developed into the Christian era and became almost ridiculous because they would create substitutional abbreviations for other “sacred” things including: God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Saviour, Cross, Christ etc.
d. While Christians eventually abandoned the practice of nomina sacra altogether, the Jews continue the practice by writing the word God in English as G-D where a dash is substituted for the letter O.
e. Of course the ultimate substitution was provided by the Holy Spirit himself in the 27 books of the New Testament that consistently substitute KURIOS (Greek for “Lord”) for YHWH in all Old Testament quotations in the New Testament.
f. Jehovah’s Witnesses, in their standard delusional ignorant bliss, will point to YHWH written in Mosaic Hebrew as proof that their New World Translation (NWT) is superior to all other Bibles because they “RESTORED” the name of God with Jehovah. Since a Jw is forbidden to read non-Watchtower religious materials on the internet, their knowledge is no greater than what the Watchtower tells them. To illustrate their unscholarly delusions, almost no JW even knows that the letter “J” does not exist in Greek, Hebrew. Worse still, not even English, which was derived directly from Hebrew, had a letter “J” before about 1650 AD. The 1611 AD KJV for example, does not have contain a single “J”. They spelled Jesus’ name as IESUS instead. So the NWT very modern substitution of JEHOVAH for the original autograph KURIOS in the Greek New Testament is beyond bizarre. There are no known Hebrew copies of Matthew, only rumours. And if these rumors were true, it was probably a translation from the original Greek Matthew into Hebrew. Of course 100% of Greek new testament manuscripts use KURIOS (LORD) and NEVER use YHWH. So it was the Holy Spirit “who willed” the substitution of Kurios for YHWH throughout the New Testament. Of course none of the truthful information ever phases a JW because they blindly follow the Watchtower Magazine when it contradicts the Bible. Jesus said, “leave them alone, they are blind guides”.
3. The 12 minor prophets are all accounted for but extant fragments exist only for Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, and Zechariah. Here are the actual sections of text that have survived and can be read today. The rest is lost due to damage and decay over 2100 years.
a. Jonah 1:14-2:7; 3:2-5; 3:7-4:2; 4:5.
b. Mic 1:1-8; 2:7-8; 3:5-6; 4:3-5; 4:6-10; 5:1(2)-6(7).
c. Nah 1:13-14; 2:5-10; 2:13-14; 3:3; 3:6-17.
d. Hab 1:5-11; 1:14-2:8; 2:13-20; 3:8-15.
e. Zeph 1:1-6; 1:13-18; 2:9-10; 3:6-7.
f. Zech 1:1-4; 1:12-15; 2:2-4(1:19-21); 2:6-12(2-8); 2:16(12)-3:2; 3:4-7; 8:19-21; 8:23-9:5.
4. The Greek scroll of the 12 minor prophets has clear signs of correction of the Greek text to fit it to the Hebrew text then current.
a. It is almost identical to our modern text in our bibles today but small differences do exist.
b. The does not necessarily mean the scroll was translated from an older text that was corrected with a different new text. Most of the differences can be explained by the original translators trying to convey the meaning from Hebrew into Greek. Just like our modern English Bibles differ widely in specific words used and word order, in the end they all say basically the identical thing.
c. What is most interesting, is that the text sometimes agrees with the both the LXX and Masoretic, while in other cases differs from them both, while in other cases agrees with the LXX over the Masoretic and vice versa.
No claim to (c) owned by Steve Rudd: November 2017
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Bible Project
Overview: Zechariah
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Zechariah is specific about dating his writing (520–518 BC).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Zechariah
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Dead Sea Scrolls Bible Translations
http://dssenglishbible.com/scroll4Q80.htm
Commentary on Zechariah 6
https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/kdo/zechariah-6.html
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How to Read the Bible: The Prophets
Bible Project
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Hugh C. Wood, Atlanta, Georgia
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
The Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament is a derivative of a public domain electronic edition.
Keil, Carl Friedrich & Delitzsch, Franz. "Commentary on Zechariah 4:5". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/kdo/zechariah-3.html. 1854-1889.
No claim to (c) owned by Steve Rudd: November 2017
17 USC § 107 Fair Use. No claim of monetary remuneration on same.
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END
"Hugh C. Wood", "Hugh Wood", Peachtree Church, Zechariah 6, Zechariah 5, 4Q80, 4Q76, A Crown for Joshua, Four Chariots,
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