The remedy to losing heart in God’s work (Zech 1:18-21)

Most of us, I suspect, have moments when we look at our lives and feel its smallness, its insignificance. We may meet a person or read about the life of someone who has achieved great things for God. They usually give the impression of boundless energy, with countless books written, conference talks given to thousands, maybe significant changes effected in the lives of suffering millions. Their achievements seem to dwarf ours by comparison. In the mundane reality of our everyday, it may feel that all we do is plod along, whether it is ministers preparing a sermon, church members comforting those who are sick or down, the music team choosing songs for Sunday worship, or Christians involved in any number of ordinary and practical jobs in the running of a church. Given the context we know from Haggai 1:2-11, the exiles were likewise discouraged at times when they considered the building of God’s temple. Does it really matter what happens there? Does their contribution to the building make any difference?

Four horns

Zechariah’s first vision raised two important issues, namely the question of God’s justice on those who oppressed His people and the promise that His temple will be built (Zech 1:15-16). These are now taken up in this next vision. As the prophet raises his eyes, we see from his perspective (Zech 1:18; ‘behold!’ or in more contemporary language ‘look!’ usually means we are about to see something from the protagonist’s viewpoint). Horns on an animal are powerful weapons to skewer or tear a victim open and it came to symbolise power in the human realm (sometimes military men fixed horns on their helmet to express their might). Zechariah sees four horns, explained as signifying the nations who scattered God’s people (Zech 1:19, 21). The four seems to function here as a number for totality (think the four directions of the compass), so that it refers to any and every power that wages war on God’s people, not only in the historic time of the prophet (i.e. the Babylonians), but all throughout the history of Israel.

Four craftsmen

God’s judgement against them will come through the craftsmen or artisans (the most common meaning of the Hebrew ḥarashim), who will terrify and destroy those powers (v.21). This seems nonsense though, so some translations render the word as blacksmiths probably because they conjure up a more powerful image and this meaning is attested in the Bible, albeit in only two instances (1 Sam 13:19; Isa 54:16). The majority of the references in the Bible, however, use the term to mean craftsmen, artisans, carpenters working on the temple (or with negative connotations, those who make idols).[1] Thus, it is these seemingly weak and negligible people building the temple, who will participate in bringing down God’s judgment on the nations much like Noah built the ark by faith and condemned the world through it (Heb 11:7).[2] The theme of strength in weakness through God’s power will be made explicit in Zechariah 4:6, where it is through God’s Spirit that the apparently impossible will be achieved.

The significance of building God’s temple/church

The point then is that those who engage in building the temple will enable and foster the relationship with God and this is no sideline among all the other things that matter. Yet, how will this make a difference to what is going on in the world? As Webb puts it,

[T]he judgment of the world is already being put into effect wherever God deploys his workmen. Through them God brings his kingdom into this world, a kingdom that will eventually sweep away and replace every earthly power. In other words, precisely because it is the work of his kingdom it can never be a mere sideshow while the main game happens elsewhere. It is the main game![3]

Thus as Webb points out, righting the world’s wrongs (eliminating wars, hunger or poverty) and bringing justice are important matters and should not be neglected but proclaiming the gospel and building the kingdom, is the ultimate key and foundation to all these other endeavours.[4] Zechariah’s vision teaches us that no matter how small our contribution, it matters, whether we speak the good news to a neighbour, support Christian work with earnings from the marketplace, or help build up the members of Christ’s body. May we not lose heart and perspective on what matters to the Lord.

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[1] In the sense of craftsmen engaged in temple-related work the word is used in Exod 28:11; 35:35; 38:23; 2 Kings 12:11; 22:6; 1 Chron 22:15; 29:5; 2 Chron 24:12; 34:11; Ezra 3:7. In the sense of makers of idols (i.e. religious objects), the word occurs in Deut 27:15; Isa 40:19-20; 41:7; 44:11, 12, 13; 45:16; Hos 8:6; 13:2.

[2] I am indebted to Barry Webb for this interpretation. The Message of Zechariah, BST (Nottingham: IVP, 2003), 74-79. See also Anthony R. Petterson, who argues similarly. Haggai, Zechariah & Malachi, AOTC 25 (Downers Grove: IVP, 2015), 122-25.

[3] Webb, Zechariah, 78.

[4] Ibid., 79.

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