Daily Thoughts from Zechariah: The Remnant (Zechariah 9:1-8)

The oracle of the word of the LORD is against the land of Hadrach and Damascus is its resting place.  For the LORD has an eye on mankind and on all the tribes of Israel, and on Hamath also, which borders on it, Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise.  Tyre has built herself a rampart and heaped up silver like dust, and fine gold like the mud of the streets.  But behold, the Lord will strip her of her possessions and strike down her power on the sea, and she shall be devoured by fire.

Ashkelon shall see it, and be afraid; Gaza too, and shall writhe in anguish; Ekron also, because its hopes are confounded.  The king shall perish from Gaza; Ashkelon shall be uninhabited; a mixed people shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of Philistia.  I will take away its blood from its mouth, and its abominations from between its teeth; it too shall be a remnant for our God; it shall be like a clan in Judah, and Ekron shall be like the Jebusites.  Then I will encamp at my house as a guard, so that none shall march to and fro; no oppressor shall again march over them, for now I see with my own eyes. (Zechariah 9:1-8, ESV)

If you were looking at a map of Israel and her neighbors and followed the names of the cities mentioned in Yahweh’s oracle (an oracle is a divine revelation) your eyes would begin in the north above Israel and travel down the west coast along the Mediterranean Sea.  These were the cities of the Syrians and Phoenicians and Philistines, often at odds with Israel.  God’s eyes, He says, are on these cities also because they are at rest even though they are in opposition to God.  This is how the book of Zechariah started out, with nations at rest that needed to be shaken because they had punished Israel and God was now restoring Israel to her homeland.  This second half of Zechariah’s book of prophecy looks at a yet future shaking of the nations who, at the end of the first half in chapter 8, were finding interest in Israel’s God.

Does God care about the nations other than Israel?  Yes, they are very much on His mind.  In these messages they are subjects of His judgment because they trust in their own abilities (“I will cut off the pride of Philistia”) and engage in behaviors that are antithetic to righteousness (“blood” and “abominations” in their mouths).  But He also promises the salvation of a remnant of them.  Like the Jebusites, the original inhabitants of Jerusalem whom David defeated, they will continue “like a clan in Judah” and serve Israel.  Then God’s house, the Temple, will be safe from these oppressors and there will never again be any nation who marches against God’s people.  This is all yet future for this has yet to be fulfilled.

Most of you reading this are part of the nations, Gentiles, not Jews, whom God has cared for enough to rescue.  But at this time Israel is the remnant, and within her is a smaller remnant of those who have received Jesus as their Messiah (Romans 11).  He has cut off our pride and so we came humbly to Jesus with repentance in our hearts, recognizing our unrighteousness and receiving Christ’s forgiveness.  God is still concerned about the nations and how they respond to His people, both Israel and Christians.  A day is coming, a day of reckoning for all nations.  As God’s holy remnant may we give voice to what He sees taking place that needs repentance.  Help us, Lord, to spread the oracle of the gospel so all might see.