The+Turban+and+the+Crown

toc = = = The Turban and the Crown =

Throughout the course of Zechariah, there is a theme of God remembering His children. While Israel is loosing hope and wondering why God is abandoning them, God is saying I remember. I haven’t forgotten. I haven’t given up. I have a plan and I have always had a plan even though it may not seem like it. Zechariah is going to show how this plan will unfold. The book wraps around the prophecy of a coming Messiah who will come for the betterment of Israel and the world. He is going to radically change the systems of Israel and ultimately bring them salvation. Furthermore, Jesus was coming to claim ultimately authority. God is the head of Israel and He is going to send His Son to take over the earthly roles of priest and king and prophet. Zechariah is going to specifically focus on the messiah coming and fulfilling the roles of priest and king.

There is one thing you cannot join together: the king and the priest. At the current time, Israel had separate ideals for the priest and king. They both came from different tribes. They both had different responsibilities. A priest came from the tribe of Levi (Numbers 18, Exodus 28). He represented relationship with the people. He is a mediator between God and His people. The priest represented God’s presence. God choose them to be the spiritual leaders on the earth. The word for priest is kohen which literally means to serve or to direct[1]. He was responsible for making sacrifices on behalf of the sins of the people. The high priest acted just like a priest with the additional role on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16). The priest holds a very high position and as long as there is a priest in the land it means that God’s presence is still there. If he is rejected from priestly service, they [the nation] are” [2]. He has not given up on the people. He still is working among them.

The king represented an authoritative presence. The Israelites were the ones who asked for a king who would act on their behalf (1 Samuel 8). It wasn’t God’s original plan. He was the one who was ultimate authority and ruled over His nation but the people rejected God as their King. Therefore God was very careful with who He choose as a king. He ordains all of them. The king comes from the line of David (1 Samuel 16, 2 Samuel 7, 1 Chronicles 17). Deuteronomy provides certain stipulations for the king: he could not come from a foreign nation, he could not have too many horses, or accumulate too much wealth, or have too many wives[3]. The King had certain responsibilities. He was the commander of the army, this was one of the main reasons why the Israelites asked for a king: “Let our king rule over us and go out at our head to fight our battles” (1 Samuel 8:20). He also serves as a ruler and a judge over the nation (1 Kings 3:14). “They dispense justice and righteousness and protect the weak and the downtrodden…one who judges the cause of the widow, and declares the right of the orphan” [4]. The king shared a special relationship with God (1 Samuel 7:14, Psalm 2:7). They were viewed as God’s servants but like with the priest the king symbolized God’s presence in the land and when there is no king it means that God’s presence has left the people.

Clearly the king and the priest had separate roles. No priest was also a king and no king took on the role of a priest. Bad things happened to those who tired. An example of this is King Uzziah when he tried to overstep his bounds and burn incense at the temple altar (2 Chronicles 26:16-21). Uzziah was a king who did right in the site of the Lord (2 Chronicles 26:4) but when he tried to do something the priest was responsible for God punished him with leprosy. God has ordained an entire system so that man cannot merge the two roles. He does this through genealogy and punishment like curses. But what is going to happen is that there is going to be a man who does. In Zechariah we will see that everything is being set up so that the priestly and kingly roles will be combined. God is setting up a job description that only one man can fulfill. And because no ordinary man can fulfill the job, it is more significant when there is one who comes that can. This man will have unrestricted divine authority. Throughout Zechariah there is a setting up for this special man. There is a growing need for a new high priest and a new king, someone who can come and lead the people nationally and spiritually. The children of Israel were called the nation of priests. It was because they were called to represent God. However they were sent into exile because they were not representing Him. “The priesthood had become polluted and the subject of condemnation in prexilic and exilic times, as Ezekiel 22:26 shows” [5]. Zechariah’s vision of these new priest king would restore the peoples confidence in the priesthood and kingship and its service[6]. There needs to be a transformation. From Zechariah 6:13 we see that there will be a new temple and therefore there needs to be an ultimate new priest. This starts with the transformation of Joshua the current priest.

Joshua is to be clothed with rich or fine garments- God’s representative clothed in God’s righteousness. God’s servant goes from filthy garments to festive garments. The ‘rich garments’ (the Hebrew word is used only here and Isaiah 3:22) speak of purity, joy, and glory; but their chief significance is that they symbolize the restoration of Israel to her original calling (Ex 19: 6, Isa 61:6). There is a contrast here: Joshua in filthy garments, representing Israel as a priest but defiled and unclean, versus Joshua in festive garments, representing Israel’s future glory in consecration to the priestly office. [7].

God is at hand. He is forgiving and starting to transform the role of the priest. Joshua was wearing filthy robes and his filthiness demonstrated the state of the nation he represented. But God was taking away these filthy garments and the sins along with it. And God is giving Him new robes. Here is when we start getting the idea of a priest king. The word used here to speak of the new garments, is not the normal one for the robes of the high priest. It describes the apparel of royalty or wealth. The point is that Joshua forms with Zerubbabel a diarchic rule in which the high priest increasingly enjoyed political as well as cultural authority[8].

Furthermore the turban will demonstrate a transformation of this role. The new priestly role is going to receive a new turban. Once the rich clean apparel has been placed on the priest he gains also a new turban for his head. This object distinguished the high priest from his fellows (Exodus 28:39) but the most striking thing about it was the inscription attached to its front “holy to YHWH” (Ex 28:36). The defilement and unholiness of Joshua have been dealt with so radically that he now appears as the epitome of holiness[9]. This turban with the inscription on it was the stamp of God’s presence. Joyce Baldwin says that the exact word used for turban here is not the same word used in Exodus and Leviticus for the high priest and their turban. It was used for a figurative context and symbolized acceptance to the heavenly court [10].

Furthermore the turban and the crown will be united. Ezekiel 21:26 mentions the one who will come and wear the two. “The messiah will be a priest upon his throne” [11]. “He is to bear the millennial glory of the son of David on his throne, and this on into eternity” [12]. The two characters of a priest and a ruler united in the person of the messiah. Jesus is this perfect king. The king has authority to reign over a nation. He was called this by man and Jesus accepted that title (Matthew 2:2, 27:11). He acts on the people’s behalf. He defends them. Furthermore, Christ is the ultimate priest. Man was created to relate to God, to have relationship with Him but because of the fall we can no longer do that directly anymore, therefore there was a need for a priest: someone to mediate between God and man. And Jesus is the perfect mediator (1 Timothy 2:5). Jesus is called Emmanuel: God with us, walking with us. He brought us a greater relationship with God. Also the job of the priest was to make sacrifices to God. He offered himself up as the ultimate sacrifice atoning for our sins: He became the forerunner for us, the High priest forever (Hebrew 6:20). The messiah will also come and build the new temple of the Lord (Zechariah 6:13, Daniel 9) and part of the requirements of that is to clean up the people. The messiah is going to restore Israel. He is going to change the system of priest and king. He will bring a permanence, security and finished redemption[13]. While man lacks the ability to perfectly rule and heal man, the messiah can greatly accomplish it. Israel just has to patiently wait for that day.

Bibliography

Baldwin, Joyce G. //Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi//. InterVarsity Press: Great Britian: 2012. Feinberg, Charles Lee. //The Minor Prophets//. Moody Press: Chicago, 1976. Garland, David E. //The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Daniel – Malachi//. Zondervan: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2008 Klein, George L. //Zechariah: New American Commentary//. Nashville: B & H Publishing Group, 2008 Merrill, Eugene H. //An Exegetical Commentary: Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi//. Moody Press: Chicago, Michigan, 1994. Myers, C.L. //Zechariah 9-14: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary//. Edinburg: T, 1993 []: The Role of Kingship in Biblical Israel. Viewed: April 26, 2013. []: The Temple Institute, Jerusalem, Israel: 1991-2013. Viewed: April 26, 2013.

[1] []: The Temple Institute, Jerusalem, Israel: 1991-2013

[2] Feinberg, Charles Lee. //The Minor Prophets//. Moody Press: Chicago, 1976. Pg 283. [3] []: The Role of Kingship in Biblical Israel. Viewed: April 26, 2013. <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">[4] []: The Role of Kingship in Biblical Israel. Viewed: April 26, 2013.

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">[5] Feinberg, Charles Lee. //The Minor Prophets//. Moody Press: Chicago, 1976. Pg 283. <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">[6] Baldwin, Joyce G. Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. InterVarsity Press: Great Britian: 2012. Pg 87. <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">[7] Garland, David E. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Daniel – Malachi. Zondervan: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2008. Pg 755-756. <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">[8] Merrill, Eugene H. An Exegetical Commentary: Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. Moody Press: Chicago, Michigan, 1994. Pg 135 <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">[9] Merrill, Eugene H. An Exegetical Commentary: Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. Moody Press: Chicago, Michigan, 1994. Pg 136 <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">[10] Baldwin, Joyce G. Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. InterVarsity Press: Great Britian: 2012. Pg 87. <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">[11] Feinberg, Charles Lee. //The Minor Prophets//. Moody Press: Chicago, 1976. Pg 302. <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">[12] Feinberg, Charles Lee. //The Minor Prophets//. Moody Press: Chicago, 1976. Pg 301. <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">[13] Feinberg, Charles Lee. //The Minor Prophets//. Moody Press: Chicago, 1976. Pg 302.

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