And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
The visions are over. Now a new word sends Zechariah to three travellers from Babylon: he is to take their silver and gold and crown the high priest with it. That short opening line of verse 9 carries a picture of the coming priest on the throne.
The phrase that opens this verse does more than start a paragraph. One writer shows how it looks back to the visions and forward to the chapters ahead:
"And the word of the LORD came to me" (v. 9). These words deserve close attention. We have just seen that the end of the book of visions links back to everything before it, and that it crowns it all. But these words from verse 9 also link the book of visions with the two chapters that follow, which belong to the book of the oracles of God. In fact, the expression "the word of the Lord came to me" marks new revelations four more times (Zech. 7:4, 8; 8:1, 18). This clear link between the two books of Zechariah destroys the claim of the so-called "higher criticism," that this prophetic book is really two books by different authors with no connection to each other.
The word comes with an errand attached. It names three men who have arrived from Babylon, and one writer weighs what their journey shows:
We find no other mention of these names, and it seems they had come from Babylon with offerings for the Lord's work in building the temple. They had not taken up the freedom that Cyrus offered by his proclamation, to return to Judah with their fellow Jews. They had not the faith for that, yet they shared the aim of those who had returned.
Commentators differ on how to read these men. One sees people who lacked the faith to come home. Another reads their names and their gift as a picture of real faith:
The meaning of these men's names is striking: Heldai — forbearing; Tobijah — the Lord is good; Jedaiah — the Lord knows. They came to stay in the house of Josiah — the Lord supports — the son of Zephaniah — the Lord hides. Nearly all of them carried the name of the Lord in their own names, and so they were His witnesses… By faith they saw the temple finished before it was finished. They saw the King on His throne, though He had not yet appeared, and they brought Him their gifts.
Their gift also points forward. One writer sees in it a small sample of a far larger giving to come:
There is a very instructive thought here: the men from the exile, named above, were the ones to bring the silver and the gold for making the crowns. The time will come when the whole exiled nation, so long scattered and stripped, yet even while scattered the richest nation on earth, will bring their silver and gold, their glory and their all and lay it at the feet of the King.
The crown went on Joshua the high priest, not on Zerubbabel the builder. That is the point of the sign:
The building of Zerubbabel was precious in Jehovah's eyes, but most of all because it set before His eyes a greater Son of David and a lasting glory, when He sits a priest upon His throne. Zerubbabel was in no sense a priest; Joshua was in no sense a king. The Messiah alone can build the glory, and He will display it to the glory of God here below.
The command must have sounded strange to the men who heard it. Its words came back later, in a place no one expected:
It must have astonished Joshua and the people to hear such a command, for the royal crown did not belong to the high priest but to the descendant of David… Pontius Pilate was fulfilling prophecy when he led Jesus of Nazareth out before that roaring crowd and said, "Behold the man." If the Jews gathered there had known the Scriptures, they would have recognised the phrase. But how did He come out then? He wore a crown of thorns.
The builders on site received a quiet correction along with the encouragement:
Thus was set forth the Coming One, who was to build the temple of the Lord. But were they not engaged in the building of a temple? They were: but they were thus notified that all they were building was provisional and not the final thing.
The crowns had one more job after the ceremony:
The prophet then received orders to store these crowns in the house of the Lord, in the care of certain keepers, as a memorial of all the promised glory and power that will appear in the last days, in the person of the Branch.
- Word — the line that opens verse 9 joins the visions to the chapters that follow. The same formula returns four more times.
- Gift — travellers from Babylon hand over silver and gold for the crown. Their gift pictures a whole nation one day laying its wealth at the King's feet.
- Crown — it goes on the priest, not on Zerubbabel the builder. No one then held both offices; only the Messiah unites them.
- Man — Pilate said "Behold the man" and was fulfilling prophecy; the crown the King wore that day was thorns.
- Memorial — the crowns went into God's house as a reminder of the glory the Branch will bring.
Take [gifts] of them of the captivity, of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah, and come thou the same day, and enter into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, whither they are come from Babylon;
The word of the Lord gives Zechariah a plain errand: go to one house, on one day, and collect the silver and gold of three men who had just come from Babylon. That small errand becomes a picture of Christ as both King and Priest.
These three had stayed behind in Babylon when others went home. Their gifts still came up to Jerusalem:
We find no other reference to these names, and it seems they had come from Babylon with offerings for the Lord's work in building the temple. Cyrus's proclamation gave them freedom to return to Judah with their brothers. They had not taken it up. But though they did not have faith for that, they shared the aim of those who had returned.
Their arrival also said something about the people already in the land:
We don't know why they stayed in Babylon. We see here that they came to Jerusalem to bring their gifts of silver and gold to the house of the Lord. At that time the temple had hardly risen above its foundations. Their deed was a silent judgment on the slackness of the people in rebuilding the temple.
The verse names three visitors, a host, and the host's father. Each name means something:
The meaning of these men's names is remarkable: Heldai — forbearing; Tobijah — the Lord is good; Jedaiah — the Lord knows. They came to lodge in the house of Josiah — the Lord supports — who was the son of Zephaniah — the Lord hides. Nearly all of them bore the name of the Lord and were in this way His witnesses.
Zechariah must turn that silver and gold into crowns. Whose head they land on is the surprise:
The crowns are not set on Zerubbabel the Governor, but on Joshua the High Priest. The next few verses show the reason clearly. Joshua the High Priest, crowned, becomes a picture of the Melchizedek priesthood of Christ in the coming day of glory.
Some call this a ninth vision. It is a command, and it astonished those who heard it:
Some consider this to be the ninth vision of the prophet. It is, however, the word of the Lord that comes to the prophet. There can be no doubt that the command was actually carried out. The three men gave their silver and gold. Crowns made from it went on the head of Joshua the high priest. But the action had a much deeper meaning. It was deeply symbolic. It must have astonished Joshua and the people to hear such a command. The royal crown did not belong to the high priest but to the descendant of David.
Their gifts were an act of trust in what no one could see yet:
Through faith they saw the temple finished before it was finished. They saw the King on His throne when in reality He was not yet revealed, and they brought Him their gifts.
Distance from Jerusalem cost these men nothing with God:
God accepted a few men who came from Babylon just as He had received those in Jerusalem. He did so because they acknowledged the house of the Lord when it did not yet exist in the eyes of men. They saw it with the eye of faith and brought their precious gifts there. Those gifts would serve to crown and glorify the true king. God kept these crowns in His temple as a memorial of their deed… From then on Heldai was called Helem — power — and Josiah would be called Hen — grace! … Those three men who had come from Babylon had little strength, but they had not denied the Lord's name. So the Lord makes them pillars in His temple (see Revelation 3:8, 12).
The record keeps two things — who gave, and who the crowns honour:
The crown would then remain in the temple of the Lord as a memorial to the three men mentioned in verse 10. It would also be a memorial to the grace or kindness of the son of Zephaniah, who welcomed the three exiles from Babylon. The returning exiles are a picture of the remnant of Israel returning in the last days. The crowns show them giving the Lord Jesus the place of supreme authority as both King and High Priest of His people.
- Gift — Three men came from Babylon with silver and gold for a temple barely off the ground.
- Rebuke — Their giving exposed the slackness of those already in the land.
- Crown — Their metal became crowns for a priest, not for the governor — Christ as King and Priest.
- Faith — They saw the finished house and the enthroned King before either was visible. So they gave.
- Memorial — God kept the crowns in His temple and gave the givers new names: power, and grace.