CURRENT EVENT – MAY 13, 2012
The Roger Clemens perjury trial resumed on April 30. A jury has been seated and opening arguments have now been presented.
A WORD FROM THE EDITOR – MAY 13, 2012
What is the relationship between personal repentance and the purification of one’s community? Today’s text explores the last three of Zechariah’s eight visions.
REFERENCE SHELF – MAY 13, 2012
The power of the completed Temple to destroy evil is an important theme for Zechariah. The prophet senses the disasters that had befallen the people through the exile and recognizes the extent of impurity that must be eradicated. Thus, Zechariah envisions the removal of iniquity itself from Jerusalem.
RESOURCES – MAY 13, 2012
The sixth vision (5:1-4) revealed a huge flying scroll that served as a reminder that those who did not obey God’s laws would be punished.
CURRENT EVENT – MAY 6, 2012
In a traditional Ojibway ceremony, Archbishop James Weisgerber, head of the Catholic Archdiocese of Winnipeg, was symbolically adopted into the aboriginal community.
A WORD FROM THE EDITOR – MAY 6, 2012
Through “gracious and comforting words” (v. 13), God commissions Zechariah to proclaim God’s determination to restore the fortunes of Jerusalem. Despite the people’s past sins, God has returned to Zion and will once again “comfort” and “choose” them.
REFERENCE SHELF – MAY 6, 2012
The thematic introduction to the prophecies of Zechariah begins with a date formula placing the prophecy in October or November 520 B.C.E., toward the end of Darius’s second year as Persian emperor. Zechariah begins his prophecy just before Haggai’s last recorded ORACLE. According to Ezra 5:1 and 6:14, HAGGAI and ZECHARIAH worked together.
RESOURCES – MAY 6, 2012
The messages of chaps. 1-8 are dated over a two-year period from October-November 520 B.C.E. (1:1) to November-December 518 B.C.E. (7:1). Haggai emphasized the material prosperity Judah would enjoy upon completion of the Temple. Zechariah’s focus was on the subsequent glories and exaltation of the messianic kingdom.