Malachi 4: The day of punishment is coming

We read:

1-3 “Count on it: The day is coming, raging like a forest fire. All the arrogant people who do evil things will be burned up like stove wood, burned to a crisp, nothing left but scorched earth and ash—a black day. But for you, sunrise! The sun of righteousness will dawn on those who honor my name, healing radiating from its wings. You will be bursting with energy, like colts frisky and frolicking.

Many passages in Old Testament refers to the day of the Lord, a day of punishment for the arrogant and day of joy for the righteous.

The Old Testament ends with:

5-6 “But also look ahead: I’m sending Elijah the prophet to clear the way for the Big Day of God — the decisive Judgment Day! He will convince parents to look after their children and children to look up to their parents. If they refuse, I’ll come and put the land under a curse.”

Reading the New Testament, Jesus says that Elijah refers to John, the Baptist. So, we may understand that he is the one who clears the way for the Big Day of God; but did we see a day of punishment? Jesus was punished by our sins but all the arrogant people seemed to have a victory on that day; so it wasn't a day of punishment. Thus, this prophecy is uncompleted. We still hope that the day of the Lord as day of punishment, we hope for the second coming of Jesus.

Malachi 3: How can I offend the Lord?

Malachi warns that the people has been offending the Lord, but they reply: "How can we offend Him? Is it possible that we mere humans offend Him?". The people is accused of stealing the Lord when they don't take care of the levites, widows, orphans and foreigners that should be sustained from their tithes. The people is accused of speaking rude words against the Lord when they envy the unbeliever who is not obliged to serve Him. The Lord is offended when his people sees the Lord as a demanding God instead of recognizing Him as the Lord of Grace.
Malachi ends the Old Testament. In this last chapter we read:

1 “Look! I’m sending my messenger on ahead to clear the way for me. Suddenly, out of the blue, the Leader you’ve been looking for will enter his Temple—yes, the Messenger of the Covenant, the one you’ve been waiting for. Look! He’s on his way!” A Message from the mouth of God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
2-4 But who will be able to stand up to that coming? Who can survive his appearance?

In the New Testament, this messenger is taken as the John, the Baptist while Jesus is the Lord who live among us. Interestingly, only reading Malachi, it seems that the Lord comes to punish. "Who can survive his appearance?"
I have many doubts about how the prophecies of Old Testament are fulfilled in the New Testament, but the story is not yet finished. Some prophecies will be fulfilled in the second coming of Jesus.

Malachi 2: Does God love sinners?

Malachi preaches against the priests because they sin against the Lord.
Malachi preaches against the men because they divorce from their wives to marry idolatrous women.
So, how can we say that the Lord loves sinners? We read:

17 You make God tired with all your talk.
“How do we tire him out?” you ask.
By saying, “God loves sinners and sin alike. God loves all.” And also by saying, “Judgment? God’s too nice to judge.”

Malachi goes against the preaching that God loves sinners, thus He won't punish anyone. Malachi is warning: the Lord will punish, so repent before it is too late.

Malachi 1: God loves Jacob/Israel but not vice-versa

Malachi is a prophet that lived around 100 years after exile. The second temple is already built. It is composed of questions. It begins with a statement to the people in post exile:

1 A Message. God’s Word to Israel through Malachi:
2-3 God said, “I love you.”
You replied, “Really? How have you loved us?”

Perhaps, we should expect as an answer something like: "I have made you return from exile, I was with you rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, etc.". Instead, the Lord answers that He, in his power, has chosen Jacob instead of Esau; however that is not because Jacob has been more faithful. In fact:

6 “Isn’t it true that a son honors his father and a worker his master? So if I’m your Father, where’s the honor? If I’m your Master, where’s the respect?” God-of-the-Angel-Armies is calling you on the carpet: “You priests despise me!

Here, Malachi discusses how the chosen people has despised the Lord: when they present defected animals as sacrifices.


It makes me think that I believe that the Lord has chosen me and loved me; however, it is common that I believe on it intellectually. May the Spirit of the Lord rebuke me and lead me back to Him whenever it is necessary.

Zechariah 14: on that day

 In a lot of passages Zechariah talks about one specific day in the future. Here we read that godless nations will fight against Jerusalem. It will be difficult days for Jerusalem because there will be: "Houses plundered,    women raped". "Half the city taken into exile,    the other half left behind". Zechariah is a prophet after the Babylon exile but he foresess another exile. He sees a day when the Lord will reign on earth:

3-5 But then God will march out against the godless nations and fight—a great war! That’s the Day he’ll take his stand on the Mount of Olives, facing Jerusalem from the east. The Mount of Olives will be split right down the middle, from east to west, leaving a wide valley. Half the mountain will shift north, the other half south. Then you will run for your lives down the valley, your escape route that will take you all the way to Azal. You’ll run for your lives, just as you ran on the day of the great earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah. Then my God will arrive and all the holy angels with him.

6-7 What a Day that will be! No more cold nights—in fact, no more nights! The Day is coming—the timing is God’s—when it will be continuous day. Every evening will be a fresh morning.

8 What a Day that will be! Fresh flowing rivers out of Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea, half to the western sea, flowing year-round, summer and winter!

9 God will be king over all the earth, one God and only one. What a Day that will be!

When the Lord will be king over all the earth? We understand that it will happen when Jesus return.

Zechariah 13: Strike the Shepherd

In the first part of Zechariah 13, we read about the Big Day when sins will be washed, idols will be removed and false prophets will be silenced and humiliated. It ends with:

7-9
“Sword, get moving against my shepherd,
    against my close associate!”
        Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
“Kill the shepherd! Scatter the sheep!
    The back of my hand against even the lambs!
All across the country”—God’s Decree—
    “two-thirds will be devastated
    and one-third survive.
I’ll deliver the surviving third to the refinery fires.
    I’ll refine them as silver is refined,
    test them for purity as gold is tested.
Then they’ll pray to me by name
    and I’ll answer them personally.
I’ll say, ‘That’s my people.’
    They’ll say, ‘God—my God!’”

The gospel (Matthew and Mark) reads this text as a prophecy that fulfills when Jesus (the Shepherd) was taken by the soldiers and the disciples abandoned Him. Zechariah goes on saying that two-thirds of the sheep will be devastated and one-third will survive that will pass through refinery fires. At end, there will be a communion between the Lord and the remaining.

Zechariah 12: Jerusalem and the One who was pierced

In Zechariah's days, in post exile, the temple was being rebuilt. Let us suppose that we lived around year 1000 AC: Jerusalem had been destroyed a long time ago by the Romans. How would we read Zechariah 12? Perhaps, we would engage in a crusade to free Jerusalem from Muslims. Now, in 2025 the situation is very different: Jews live in Jerusalem and it seems that prophecies about Jerusalem may be fulfilled more literally:

6 “On the Big Day, I’ll turn the families of Judah into something like a burning match in a tinder-dry forest, like a fiercely flaming torch in a barn full of hay. They’ll burn up everything and everyone in sight—people to the right, people to the left—while Jerusalem fills up with people moving in and making themselves at home—home again in Jerusalem.

The most interesting verses are:

10-14 “Next I’ll deal with the family of David and those who live in Jerusalem. I’ll pour a spirit of grace and prayer over them. They’ll then be able to recognize me as the One they so grievously wounded—that piercing spear-thrust! And they’ll weep—oh, how they’ll weep! Deep mourning as of a parent grieving the loss of the firstborn child.

The Lord says that He is the One wounded. In NASB:

10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and of pleading, so that they will look at Me whom they pierced; and they will mourn for Him, like one mourning for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.

The inhabitants of Jerusalem will to look the Lord whom they pierced, i.e. they pierced the Lord; but how can the Lord, the YHWH be pierced? They will mourn form Him like on mourning the an only son. I can easily understand that it refers to Jesus and the Jews repenting for crucifying Jesus in the last days as many commentators say. It reminds Romans 11 where St. Paul says:

25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, 26 and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written:
“The deliverer will come from Zion;
    he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
27
And this is my covenant with them
    when I take away their sins.”

Zechariah 11: The Rejection of the True Shepherd

This chapter is very interesting and it is very difficult to understand because it points to the betrayal of Judas Iscariot's and it is not so clear to me how this linkage works.

We read:

4-5 God commanded me, “Shepherd the sheep that are soon to be slaughtered. The people who buy them will butcher them for quick and easy money. What’s worse, they’ll get away with it. The people who sell them will say, ‘Lucky me! God’s on my side; I’ve got it made!’ They have shepherds who couldn’t care less about them.”

The Lord commands Zechariah to shepherd his people, however, he says "the people who buy the sheep will butcher them". I don't know who will sell these sheep: Zechariah or others (as corrupted pastors)? It seems that corrupted pastors will take advantage of the sheep and they will foolish themselves thinking that the Lord is on their side.

6 God’s Decree: “I’m washing my hands of the people of this land. From now on they’re all on their own. It’s dog-eat-dog, survival of the fittest, and every person for themselves. Don’t look for help from me.”

The Lord is abandoning his people. Zechariah won't get help from the Lord when shepherding his people.

7-8 So I took over from the crass, money-grubbing owners, and shepherded the sheep marked for slaughter. I got myself two shepherd staffs. I named one Lovely and the other Harmony. Then I went to work shepherding the sheep. Within a month I got rid of the corrupt shepherds. I got tired of putting up with them—and they couldn’t stand me.

Zechariah took the sheep from their owners. These sheeps were marked to be slaughtedered. He took care of them with love and harmony. He also got rid ot the corrupt shepherds. I think that Zechariah points to Jesus.


9 And then I got tired of the sheep and said, “I’ve had it with you—no more shepherding from me. If you die, you die; if you’re attacked, you’re attacked. Whoever survives can eat what’s left.”


Here a problem: Zechariah got tired of the sheep. It doesn't fit Jesus giving his blood to save sinners.

10-11 Then I took the staff named Lovely and broke it across my knee, breaking the beautiful covenant I had made with all the peoples. In one stroke, both staff and covenant were broken. The money-hungry owners saw me do it and knew God was behind it.

Zechariah reflects the Lord abandoning his people, breaking the beautiful covenant. He broke the staff name Lovely.

12 Then I addressed them: “Pay me what you think I’m worth.” They paid me an insulting sum, counting out thirty silver coins.

This passage is mentioned in the New Testament. Judas betrayed Jesus for thirty silver coins. Judas was the one who received the coins. Anyway, Jesus took care of the sheep to be slaughtered but his work wasn't properly evaluated.

13 God told me, “Throw it in the poor box.” This stingy wage was all they thought of me and my work! So I took the thirty silver coins and threw them into the poor box in God’s Temple.

Judas is the one who throw the coins in the temple. We see a parallel but obviously Jesus and Zechariah can't fit very well.

14 Then I broke the other staff, Harmony, across my knee, breaking the family ties between Judah and Israel.

Here, the harmony between Jews and Samaritans (in Jesus time) were broken. However in Zechariah time there was Israel and Judah. Perhaps there is no order on how prophecies are fulfilled so in Jesus time, the harmony between Jews and Samaritans were already broken.

15-16 God then said, “Dress up like a stupid shepherd. I’m going to install just such a shepherd in this land—a shepherd indifferent to victims, who ignores the lost, abandons the injured, and disdains decent citizens. He’ll only be in it for what he can get out of it, using and abusing any and all.

We know that the Lord is Merciful, that He is Love, so it is very difficult to read that the Lord himself will install a shepherd that is indifferent to the injured, victims, etc. instead, this shepherd will be abusive.

17
“Doom to you, useless shepherd,
    walking off and leaving the sheep!
A curse on your arm!
    A curse on your right eye!
Your arm will hang limp and useless.
    Your right eye will go stone blind.”

The Lord is a God of Love. In verse 17, the Lord is cursing this useless shepherd.
In conclusion, it is very difficult to read this chapter and link Judas with the 30 silver coins. It is clear that the Lord wants good shepherds for his people and abusive shepherds will be punished.

Zechariah 10: God’s Work of Rebuilding

 1 Pray to God for rain—it’s time for the spring rain—
    to God, the rainmaker,
Spring thunderstorm maker,
    maker of grain and barley.
2-3
“Store-bought gods babble gibberish.
    Religious experts spout rubbish.
They pontificate hot air.
    Their prescriptions are nothing but smoke.
And so the people wander like lost sheep,
    poor lost sheep without a shepherd.
I’m furious with the so-called shepherds.
    They’re worse than billy goats, and I’ll treat them like goats.”

Zechariah says that the Lord is against the "religious experts" of his time.  No wonder the prophets were persecuted. He says that we should pray to God for rain, water and we may infer, that we should pray for basic things that keep us alive, while religious experts will be punished.
In Zechariah's time, there was no Israel as the northern kingdom, yet he says:

6-12
“I’ll put muscle in the people of Judah;
    I’ll save the people of Joseph.
I know their pain and will make them good as new.
    They’ll get a fresh start, as if nothing had ever happened.
And why? Because I am their very own God,
    I’ll do what needs to be done for them.
The people of Ephraim will be famous,
    their lives brimming with joy.
Their children will get in on it, too—
    oh, let them feel blessed by God!
I’ll whistle and they’ll all come running.
    I’ve set them free—oh, how they’ll flourish!
Even though I scattered them to the far corners of earth,
    they’ll remember me in the faraway places.
They’ll keep the story alive in their children,
    and they will come back.
I’ll bring them back from the Egyptian west
    and round them up from the Assyrian east.
I’ll bring them back to sweet Gilead,
    back to leafy Lebanon.
Every square foot of land
    will be marked by homecoming.
They’ll sail through troubled seas, brush aside brash ocean waves.
    Roaring rivers will turn to a trickle.
Gaudy Assyria will be stripped bare,
    bully Egypt exposed as a fraud.
But my people—oh, I’ll make them strong, God-strong!
    and they’ll live my way.” God says so!

Zechariah doesn't write saying that people from Judah are better than people from Israel. The Lord reveals him a great future for Israel/Ephraim. Part of them were in Egypt, other part in Assyria but the Lord will gather them again as his people in the promised land. I can't understand well how this will happen or happened because it is too difficult to identify people from Ephraim today. The point is that the Lord makes Jews and Samaritans live in harmony.

Zechariah 9: the humble King

The Jews came from exile. In this chapter, we read that the Lord will punish the surrounding nations, specially Tyre.
The Lord says that He will protect his people:

8 I will set up camp in my home country
    and defend it against invaders.
Nobody is going to hurt my people ever again.
    I’m keeping my eye on them.

The Lord will establish a king in Jerusalem:

9-10
“Shout and cheer, Daughter Zion!
    Raise your voice, Daughter Jerusalem!
Your king is coming!
    a good king who makes all things right,
    a humble king riding a donkey,
    a mere colt of a donkey.
I’ve had it with war—no more chariots in Ephraim,
    no more war horses in Jerusalem,
    no more swords and spears, bows and arrows.
He will offer peace to the nations,
    a peaceful rule worldwide,
    from the four winds to the seven seas.

Jesus took care to enter in Jerusalem riding a donkey and the crowd understood that He was the Messiah, this king that Zechariah prophesied.
Did Jesus offer peace to the nations? Was this prophecy fulfilled?
We Christians believe so, but it happened in a way that was very obscure to understand: Jesus was crucified, He resurrected, and through his disciples, He offered peace to the nations.

Zechariah 8: fasting as a sign of joy

In Zechariah 7, people from Judah asked if they should fast as in Babylon in order to show sadness in exile. In Zechariah 8 we read:

18-19 Again I received a Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:
“The days of mourning set for the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months will be turned into days of feasting for Judah—celebration and holiday. Embrace truth! Love peace!

The days of mourning will become feasting days, besides:

20-21 A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:
“People and their leaders will come from all over to see what’s going on. The leaders will confer with one another: ‘Shouldn’t we try to get in on this? Get in on God’s blessings? Pray to God-of-the-Angel-Armies? What’s keeping us? Let’s go!’
22 “Lots of people, powerful nations—they’ll come to Jerusalem looking for what they can get from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, looking to get a blessing from God.”

The Lord didn't call Israel to be a super country, living as rich man isolated in his castle. The Lord called Israel to be a blessing to all nations. Jerusalem will gather people form many countries who seek the blessing from God.

Zechariah 7: religious devotion instead of mercy

 Jews had returned from Babylon and some of them were living in Bethel. In Babylon they used to mourn and fast next August to show sorrow for being there, but now, as circumstances changed they sent a message to the high priest asking if they should continue with the fasting. The Lord sent a message to Zacheriah as an answer:

4-6 God-of-the-Angel-Armies gave me this Message for them, for all the people and for the priests: “When you held days of fasting every fifth and seventh month all these seventy years, were you doing it for me? And when you held feasts, was that for me? Hardly. You’re interested in religion, I’m interested in people.

In a more concrete way, what the Lord wants?

10 ... Well, the message hasn’t changed. God-of-the-Angel-Armies said then and says now:

    “‘Treat one another justly.
    Love your neighbors.
    Be compassionate with each other.
    Don’t take advantage of widows, orphans, visitors, and the poor.
    Don’t plot and scheme against one another—that’s evil.’

11-13 “But did your ancestors listen? No, they set their jaws in defiance. They shut their ears. They steeled themselves against God’s revelation and the Spirit-filled sermons preached by the earlier prophets by order of God-of-the-Angel-Armies. And God became angry, really angry, because he told them everything plainly and they wouldn’t listen to a word he said.


So, the Lord wants me to love people, to be compassionate husband and father, to love and treat well people.

Zechariah 6: A Man Named Branch

In Zechariah 6, the Lord commands Zechariah to crown the high priest Joshua. At this moment, he gives the message to Joshua:

12-13 “‘A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies. Be alert. We have a man here whose name is Branch. He will branch out from where he is and build the Temple of God. Yes, he’s the one. He’ll build the Temple of God. Then he’ll assume the role of royalty, take his place on the throne and rule—a priest sitting on the throne!—showing that king and priest can coexist in harmony.’

It is the second time Zechariah (Zechariah 3:8-9) talks about the Branch. Here, we read that He is the one who builds the Temple of God and is king and priest. Jesus was accused of blasphemy for saying that He is Messiah as in Daniel 7. This happened after someone said that He claimed that He would rebuild the temple. In fact, Jesus is the temple of the Lord (where earth and heaven connects), the King and the Priest.

Zechariah 5: cleaning sins

The new temple is to be built. Zechariah 5 has two visions, both about cleaning sins. In the first vision, a book curses thieves and liars.
In the second vision, there is a basket with the sins of the whole earth. Inside this basket there is a woman: Miss Wickedness. This basket is being carried to Babylon. In chapter 1 we read that Babylon will be destroyed.
The Lord lives in clean places, places with no sin. Fortunately, He is the One who clean sins.

Zechariah 4: strength to rebuild the temple

Zechariah has another vision concerning the temple:

6 Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of armies. 7 ‘What are you, you great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring out the top stone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”’”

The great mountain must be great obstacles to rebuild the temple. These obstacles will be removed by the Spirit of the Lord.
I pray that my father trust in the Lord before he dies, but he is demented and can't reason well. I must believe that by the Spirit, the Lord can remove obstacles.

Zechariah 3: the high priest in the new temple

 The temple in Jerusalem is to be restored. Joshua is the high priest in the new temple, but there is a problem: Satan is ready to accuse him because he is not fit to the temple. The Lord rebukes Satan. Although Jerusalem is going up in fire, she will be saved. Joshua filthy clothes are changed.
We read:

8-9 “‘Careful, High Priest Joshua—both you and your friends sitting here with you, for your friends are in on this, too! Here’s what I’m doing next: I’m introducing my servant Branch. And note this: This stone that I’m placing before Joshua, a single stone with seven eyes’—Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies—‘I’ll engrave with these words: “I’ll strip this land of its filthy sin, all at once, in a single day.”

10 “‘At that time, everyone will get along with one another, with friendly visits across the fence, friendly visits on one another’s porches.’”

The Lord will strip this land of its filthy sin, all at once, in a single day, but how? As a Christian, it is clear that this prophecy was fulfilled when Jesus was crucified, but I can't imagine how a Jew reading this passage would interpret it; I suppose there are a multitude of explanations. The prophecy goes on saying that people will get along with one another. The church is the place that gather (our should gather) people that are natural enemies. This happens when we look to Jesus instead to ourselves.

Zechariah 2: time to leave Babylon

The Lord is guiding his people through the prophets. Jeremiah told that the Jews should settle in Babylon and help it prosper; but now, it is time to leave Babylon and return to Jerusalem. We read:

8-9 God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the One of Glory who sent me on my mission, commenting on the godless nations who stripped you and left you homeless, said, “Anyone who hits you, hits me—bloodies my nose, blackens my eye. Yes, and at the right time I’ll give the signal and they’ll be stripped and thrown out by their own servants.” Then you’ll know for sure that God-of-the-Angel-Armies sent me on this mission.

Although the people of the Lord were in Babylon, their values and priorities should be different. Now, the Lord is commanding Judah to return to Jerusalem that was devastated. We read:

4 And he said to him, “Run, speak to that young man there, saying, ‘Jerusalem will be inhabited as open country because of the multitude of people and cattle within it. 5 But I,’ declares the Lord, ‘will be a wall of fire to her on all sides, and I will be the glory in her midst.’”

Jerusalem was once dead, but now she comes back to life again, protected by the Lord.