“Whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye.”

(2:8)

Vision of 4 horses Vision of 4 horns Vision of the measuring line Vision of Joshua, Satan, and the Angel of

the LORD Vision of the lampstand and 2 olive trees Vision of the flying scroll Vision of the woman in the basket Vision of 4 chariots The reason for the exile The future king The 2 shepherds Future Jerusalem

“Return to me and I will return to you…” (Zechariah 1:3)

“In the second year that Darius was emperor, on the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the LORD gave me a message in a vision at night. I saw someone riding a red horse. He had stopped among some myrtle trees in a valley, and behind him were other horses---red, dappled, and white. I asked him, ‘Sir, what do these horses mean?’ He answered, ‘I will show you what they mean.” (Zechariah 1:7-9)

The LORD sent them to go and inspect the earth.’ They reported to the angel: ‘We have been all over the world and have found that the whole world lies helpless and subdued.’ Then the angel said, ‘Almighty LORD, you have been angry with Jerusalem and the cities of Judah for seventy years now. How much longer will it be before you show them mercy?’ The LORD answered the angel with comforting words, and the angel told me to proclaim what the LORD Almighty had said: ‘I have a deep love and concern for Jerusalem, my holy city…My Temple will be restored, and the city will be rebuilt.” (Zechariah 1:10-14)

Four is the number of the world: “…the four corners of the earth.”

(Isaiah 11:2)“After this I saw four angels standing at

the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds so that no wind should blow on the earth…”(Rev 7:1)

[He] will come out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth…”(Rev 20:8)

“The LORD sent them to go and inspect the earth…the whole world lies helpless and subdued” (Zechariah 1:10)

“The LORD answered the angel with comforting words, and the angel told me to proclaim what the LORD Almighty had said: ‘I have a deep love and concern for Jerusalem, my holy city…My Temple will be restored, and the city will be rebuilt.” (Zechariah 1:13-16)

“Then I looked up and saw four animal horns. ‘What are these?’ I asked the angel who was talking with me. He replied, ‘These horns represent the nations that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.’ Then the LORD showed me four blacksmiths. ‘What are these men coming to do?’ I asked. The angel replied, ‘These four horns—these nations—scattered and humbled Judah. Now these blacksmiths have come to terrify those nations and throw them down and destroy them.’” (Zechariah 1:18-21)

“In another vision I saw a man with a measuring line in his hand. ‘Where are you going?’ I asked. ‘To measure Jerusalem,’ he answered, ‘to see how long and how wide it is.’ Then I saw the angel who had been speaking to me step forward, and another angel came to meet him. The first one said to the other, ‘Run and tell that young man with the measuring line that there are going to be so many people and so much livestock in Jerusalem that it will be too big to have walls. The LORD has promised that he himself will be a wall of fire around the city to protect it and that he will live there in all his glory.’” (Zechariah 2:1-5)

“...Anyone who strikes you strikes what is most precious to me.” (Zechariah 2:8 GNB)

“...Whoever strikes you also strikes at my open eye.” (The Anchor Bible)

“Whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye.” (GW) “Little Man of the Eye” – the tiny reflection of

yourself that you can see in other people’s pupil

“Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature….God created human beings; he created them godlike, reflecting God’s nature.” (Genesis 1:26,27 MSG)

“The enemies of the people of Judah and Benjamin heard that those who had returned from exile were rebuilding the Temple of the LORD, the God of Israel.” (Ezra 4:1)

“Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the heads of the clans told them, ‘We don't need your help to build a temple for the LORD our God. We will build it ourselves, just as Emperor Cyrus of Persia commanded us.’ Then the people who had been living in the land tried to discourage and frighten the Jews and keep them from building. (Ezra 4:3-4)

“At that time two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo, began to speak in the name of the God of Israel to the Jews who lived in Judah and Jerusalem. When Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Joshua son of Jehozadak heard their messages, they began to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem, and the two prophets helped them.” (Ezra 5:1-2)

“In another vision the LORD showed me the High Priest Joshua standing before the Angel of the LORD. And there beside Joshua stood Satan, ready to bring an accusation against him. The Angel of the LORD said to Satan, ‘May the LORD condemn you, Satan! May the LORD, who loves Jerusalem, condemn you. This man is like a stick snatched from the fire.’ Joshua was standing there, wearing filthy clothes.” (Zechariah 3:1-3)

The Angel said to his heavenly attendants, ‘Take away the filthy clothes this man is wearing.’ Then he said to Joshua, ‘I have taken away your sin (guilt) and will give you new clothes to wear.’ He commanded the attendants to put a clean turban on Joshua's head. They did so, and then they put the new clothes on him while the Angel of the LORD stood there.” (Zechariah 3:4-5)

“Then the angel of the LORD spoke very solemnly to Joshua and said, ‘This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: If you follow My ways and carefully serve Me, then you will be given authority over My Temple and its courtyards.” (Zechariah 3:6-7) “…a hint of the increasingly important

role the high priest played in the postexilic Jewish community, especially in the absence of a monarchy.” (NET Bible footnotes)

“The Hebrew word (tso’im) means “excrement” (NET Bible footnotes)

Jewish writers interpret this as the sin of his children (or his sin) in marrying strange wives

“This is the list of the men who had foreign wives: Priests, listed by clans: Clan of Joshua and his brothers, sons of Jehozadak: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah.” (Ezra 10:18)

“Darius the Mede, who was the son of Xerxes, ruled over the kingdom of Babylonia. In the first year of his reign I was studying the sacred books and thinking about the seventy years that Jerusalem would be in ruins, according to what the LORD had told the prophet Jeremiah. And I prayed earnestly to the Lord God, pleading with him, fasting, wearing sackcloth, and sitting in ashes.” (Daniel 9:1-3)

“We have sinned, we have been evil, we have done wrong. We have rejected what you commanded us to do and have turned away from what you showed us was right. We have not listened to your servants the prophets…You are merciful and forgiving, although we have rebelled against you. We did not listen to you, O LORD our God, when you told us to live according to the laws which you gave us through your servants the prophets…We sinned against you…But even now, O LORD our God, we have not tried to please you by turning from our sins or by following your truth…we did not listen to you…we have sinned; we have done wrong…we are praying to you because you are merciful, not because we have done right.” (Daniel 9:5-18)

“By the seventh month the people of Israel were all settled in their towns. On the first day of that month they all assembled in Jerusalem, in the square just inside the Water Gate. They asked Ezra, the priest and scholar of the Law which the LORD had given Israel through Moses, to get the book of the Law.” (Nehemiah 8:1)

“When the people heard what the Law required, they were so moved that they began to cry.”(Nehemiah 8:9)

“Take away the filthy clothes this man is wearing.’ Then he said to Joshua, ‘I have taken away your sin (guilt) and will give you new clothes to wear.” (Zechariah 3:4)

Symbolizes the end of national mourning over the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile (Good News Bible footnote)

“In another vision the LORD showed me the High Priest Joshua standing before the angel of the LORD. And there beside Joshua stood Satan, ready to bring an accusation against him.” (Zechariah 3:1)

“Daniel, don’t be afraid. God has heard your prayers ever since the first day you decided to humble yourself in order to rain understanding. I have come in answer to your prayer.” (Daniel 10:1,11-13)

“The angel prince of the kingdom of Persia* opposed me for twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief angels, came to help me… Now I have to go back and fight the guardian angel of Persia. After that the guardian angel of Greece will appear. There is no one to help me except Michael, Israel’s guardian angel. He is responsible for helping and defending me” (Daniel 10:13,20; 11:1 – GN).

* ”spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia”

Isaiah 14 “How you are fallen from heaven, O

shining star, son of the morning! You have been thrown down to the earth, you who destroyed the nations of the world.” (Isaiah 14:12 NLT)

Ezekiel 28 “Son of man, sing this funeral song for

the king of Tyre. ‘You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and exquisite in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God… (Ezekiel 28:12-13 NLT)

“His pride is invincible; nothing can make a dent in that pride. Nothing can get through that proud skin-- impervious to weapons and weather. (Job 41:15,16) When it raises itself up the gods are afraid; at the crashing they are beside themselves.” (Job 41:25) “Nothing on earth is his equal-- a creature without fear. He looks down on all that are haughty; he is king over all that are proud.” (Job 41:33,34)

“The nations surrounding Israel were polytheistic, worshiping many gods. In a polytheistic culture, the good things are attributed to the good gods, bad things to the evil ones. And those evil deities could be so volatile that humans were constantly brewing up incantations and magic rituals to placate them…The great danger for Israel lay in the temptation to worship Satan as another god. So rather than just forbidding magic and incantation, God went a step further and claimed full responsibility for both good and evil.” – Alden Thompson

“As a result, throughout most of its pages, the Old Testament portrays God as the active agent in all things. God is the one who causes everything. Satan simply drops from sight until the very end of the Old Testament.” – Alden Thompson

“I create both light and darkness; I bring both blessing and disaster. I, the LORD, do all these things.” (Isaiah 45:7 GNB)

“Indeed, only three passages in the entire Old Testament are explicit in their reference to the “Satan” who was God’s great adversary, and all three passages were either written or canonized toward the end of the Old Testament period.” – Alden Thompson

“The LORD was angry at Israel again, and he made David think it would be a good idea to count the people in Israel and Judah.” (2 Samuel 24:1)

“Satan wanted to bring trouble on the people of Israel, so he made David decide to take a census.” (1 Chronicles 21:1)

“The Israelites left Mount Hor…But on the way the people lost their patience and spoke against God and Moses. They complained, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We can't stand any more of this miserable food!’ Then the LORD sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many Israelites were bitten and died.” (Numbers 21:4-6 GNB)

“Every day of their travels they had been kept by a miracle of divine mercy. In all the way of God’s leading they had found water…peace and safety under the shadowy cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. Angels had ministered to them…Notwithstanding the hardships they had endured, there was not a feeble one in all their ranks. Their feet had not swollen in their long journeys, neither had their clothes grown old. God had subdued before them the fierce beasts of prey and the venomous reptiles of the forest and the desert. If with all these tokens of His love the people still continued to complain, the Lord would withdraw His protection until they should be led to appreciate His merciful care, and return to Him with repentance and humiliation.”

“Because they had been shielded by divine power they had not realized the countless dangers by which they were continually surrounded. In their ingratitude and unbelief they had anticipated death, and now the Lord permitted death to come upon them. The poisonous serpents that infested the wilderness were called fiery serpents, on account of the terrible effects produced by their sting, it causing violent inflammation and speedy death. As the protecting hand of God was removed from Israel, great numbers of the people were attacked by these venomous creatures.” (Patriarchs and Prophets, pages 428, 429)

God

Human Non-Human

“The huge dragon was thrown out---that ancient serpent, named the Devil, or Satan, that deceived the whole world. He was thrown down to earth, and all his angels with him…the one who stood before our God and accused believers day and night has been thrown out of heaven.” (Revelation 12:9-10)

“Now the snake was the most cunning animal that the LORD God had made. The snake asked the woman, ‘Did God really tell you not to eat fruit from any tree in the garden?’” (Genesis 3:1 GNB)

“You may eat the fruit of any tree in the garden…” (Genesis 2:16 GNB)

“The snake replied, ‘That’s not true; you will not die..’” (Genesis 3:2-4)

“God said that because he knows that when you eat it, you will be like God and know what is good and what is bad.” (Genesis 3:5)

Job When the day came for the heavenly beings to appear

before the LORD, Satan was there among them. (Job 1:6)

“Have you ever seen anyone like this man Job? He never shows respect for God. He likes the company of evil people and goes around with sinners” (34:7-8).

“Job, have you confessed your sins to God and promised not to sin again? Have you asked God to show you your faults, and have you agreed to stop doing evil?...Think through everything that Job says; you will see that he talks like an evil man. To his sins he adds rebellion; in front of us all he mocks God” (34:31-36); “But now you are being punished as you deserve” (36:17).

Moses “Not even the chief angel Michael did

this. In his quarrel with the Devil, when they argued about who would have the body of Moses, Michael did not dare condemn the Devil with insulting words, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’” (Jude 1:9)

JoshuaHeavenly councilJoshua the individualThe people

Jesus“And a voice from heaven said,

‘This is My dearly loved Son, who brings Me great joy.’” (Matthew 3:17)

“If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.” (Matthew 4:3)

“In view of all this, what can we say? If God is for us, who can be against us? Certainly not God, who did not even keep back his own Son, but offered him for us all! He gave us his Son---will he not also freely give us all things? Who will accuse God's chosen people? God himself declares them not guilty!” (Romans 8:31-33)

Who, then, will condemn them? Not Christ Jesus, who died, or rather, who was raised to life and is at the right side of God, interceding with him for us! Who, then, can separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble do it, or hardship or persecution or hunger or poverty or danger or death?...For I am certain that nothing can separate us from his love: neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future, neither the world above nor the world below---there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:34-39)

"the prince of this world." (John 12:31, 14:30)

"the god of this age", and "the ruler of the kingdom of the air" (2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2).

"the whole world is under the control of the evil one" (1 John 5:19)

“Keep us safe from the Evil One.” (Matthew 5:37)