THOSE who bring discredit to God’s
name — those encouragers of idolatrous practices — those harlots of harm — those
shepherds who are not shepherds — will be struck down by the Shepherd: Yahweh.
Yahweh will deliver his remnant; those who ask for rain (verse 1) from the only
one who can give rain.
The teraphim that “utter
nonsense” are small household gods or idols, not unlike the little buddhas and other
spiritual trinkets we see in households of misguided persons in this day. The
diviner is the false teacher who leads the people away from truth. They’re a
shepherd who is no shepherd at all; the people lack good direction, and they’re
given “empty consolation.” Think nowadays of the preachers of prosperity (“success”)
doctrine.
These shepherds
who are no shepherds at all — for they betray truth at every turn — shall be
punished. They offer vain hope in the name of hope; a bad faith when only a
good faith ought to be preached.
The Lord, himself, Yahweh, is empowering the
people to be like a “battle horse” driven by but one purpose: speed… to run
headlong, with audacity, into battle. No fear is present in this people who
trust their God, as the martyrs have century after century over the corpus of Christian
history.
“Out of them” (the
people being redeemed) shall come a leader — a cornerstone, a securing peg, a
highly tensioned strong battle bow — a commander who is an oppressor of the
oppressors. Little wonder that Israel’s religious elite were expecting a mighty
military conqueror as their saviour — not a lamb to the slaughter in Jesus. But
Jesus fights a fight that the evil one could not conceive. This is the only
viable finalising oppression of the oppressor of oppressors.
Those that fight
this good fight for the Lord are
assured of his Presence. They’ll put to shame those better equipped warriors on
horses because of who they fight for and for the way they fight. They will never be put to shame.
The remnant are “strengthened”
and saved by Yahweh. Those from the house of Judah (the Southern kingdom) and
those from the house of Joseph (Ephraim; the Northern kingdom) are delivered in
such a way as if the exile had never occurred. Such is the Lord’s compassion, his “answer” is to
redeem them and restore them. Imagery of close kinship is developed here, as
the Lord “whistles” to his people.
The promises of
land and progeny are made in verses 8 through 10. There was no better sign of
the Lord’s blessing in ancient
times than possession of a good land and the provision of many children. Though
the people of God were scattered now they shall be gathered, to walk in Yahweh’s
name.
That they shall pass
through the sea of distress is a promise of prevailing in Yahweh’s Presence, no
matter the affliction. The waves of threat are cut off and Assyria and Egypt
are made no menace at all.
Verse 12 is ever
significant; a refrain for and of the covenant people:
The Lord makes the people strong; they that
walk in his name!
Yahweh, the Lord, is adored, by those in his Presence who are assured.
© 2015 Steve Wickham.
Reference: Petterson,
A.R., Haggai, Zechariah & Malachi
(Apollos Old Testament Commentary, Vol. 25) (Nottingham: InterVarsity Press,
2015).
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