What will the future bring? Will Messianic days be just as bad - or good - as some prophets promised? Are we there yet?
Now, more than ever, with so much unknown and increasing dread, many are wondering. Some religious folks are turning to the Bible for prophetic clues. For others - the turn to scriptures when fused with politics is exactly the problem.
For Zechariah, who wraps up his book today with a wild vision of the future of Jerusalem - the religious and political merge with a series of mythic images that baffle the senses — perhaps a blueprint for better days that has at its core a central pilgrimage holiday.
The most popular Jewish holiday in the 21st century is the one coming up - Passover - celebrated by 80% of American Jews and those who love and live with them.
This upcoming holiday, while this brutal war continues and so many dissenting views and opinions are ripping many families and relationships apart, is a source for Seder-anxiety: How can we come together to celebrate liberation and tribal pride while so conflicted, confused, hurting and divided? There are many ways to prepare for this Passover and turn Seder, as much as possible, into an arena of deep listening, healing and hope. It is after all, the night on which we invite home a prophet.
(You can join me tomorrow night on zoom for one such prep project: SAYDER PREP 2024. )
But what Zechariah’s final prophetic chapter teaches us is that another holiday may have been - and will one day be - the main attraction on the Jewish holiday list. The future he imagines will include this holiday’s central role in bringing all people together, with a world united by faith, thirsty for peace.
Zechariah’s last vision is a fantastic fantasy that includes a lot of elements and have baffled readers through the ages.
Martin Luther famously admitted that he does not understand the prophet’s symbols:
“Here, in this chapter, I give up. For I am not sure what the prophet is talking about.”
The end begins with the image of YHWH standing on the Mount of Olives, as an earthquake splits this mountain apart.
A great light will shine in ways unseen prior, and from the mountain will emerge a river that will flow from the heart of Jerusalem in two directions - west to the Mediterranean, and east to sweeten the salt of the Dead Sea.
The entire geography of the region will radically adjust - as will the world’s theology. It’s worth reading the details of this dream-like drama:
וְהָיָ֖ה בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֑וּא לֹֽא־יִֽהְיֶ֣ה א֔וֹר יְקָר֖וֹת וְקִפָּאֽוֹן׃ וְהָיָ֣ה יוֹם־אֶחָ֗ד ה֛וּא יִוָּדַ֥ע לַיהֹוָ֖ה לֹא־י֣וֹם וְלֹא־לָ֑יְלָה וְהָיָ֥ה לְעֵֽת־עֶ֖רֶב יִֽהְיֶה־אֽוֹר׃ וְהָיָ֣ה ׀ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֗וּא יֵצְא֤וּ מַֽיִם־חַיִּים֙ מִיר֣וּשָׁלַ֔͏ִם חֶצְיָ֗ם אֶל־הַיָּם֙ הַקַּדְמוֹנִ֔י וְחֶצְיָ֖ם אֶל־הַיָּ֣ם הָאַחֲר֑וֹן בַּקַּ֥יִץ וּבָחֹ֖רֶף יִֽהְיֶֽה׃ וְהָיָ֧ה יְהֹוָ֛ה לְמֶ֖לֶךְ עַל־כׇּל־הָאָ֑רֶץ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֗וּא יִהְיֶ֧ה יְהֹוָ֛ה אֶחָ֖ד וּשְׁמ֥וֹ אֶחָֽד׃
On that day, there shall be neither sunlight nor cold moonlight,
but there shall be a continuous day—only YHWH knows when—of neither day nor night, and there shall be light at night.
On that day, fresh water shall flow from Jerusalem, part of it to the Eastern Sea and part to the Western Sea, throughout the summer and winter.
And YHWH shall be sovereign over all the earth; on that day there shall be one GOD with one name.
Zechariah 14:3-9
The final words about God’s global name may be familiar to those who know Jewish liturgy, as they have made it into the strategic position of the prayer book- right before the end of services.
But Zechariah doesn’t stop there — there will after another brutal war - and afterwards — the unity of things will be finally determined and whoever survives from the entire world will travel to Jerusalem to celebrate the harvest holiday on the full moon of the fall:
וְהָיָ֗ה כׇּל־הַנּוֹתָר֙ מִכׇּל־הַגּוֹיִ֔ם הַבָּאִ֖ים עַל־יְרוּשָׁלָ֑͏ִם וְעָל֞וּ מִדֵּ֧י שָׁנָ֣ה בְשָׁנָ֗ה לְהִֽשְׁתַּחֲוֺת֙ לְמֶ֙לֶךְ֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה צְבָא֔וֹת וְלָחֹ֖ג אֶת־חַ֥ג הַסֻּכּֽוֹת׃
“All who survive of all those nations that came up to fight against Jerusalem shall make a pilgrimage, year by year, to bow low to the Supreme Sovereign, YHWH GOD of Hosts and to observe the Feast of Sukkot - the Holiday of Tabernacles.”
Zechariah 14:16
Why the Sukkot festival of all the holidays chosen to be the Jewish fantasy of the future?
Prof. RabbiJoshua Garroway ponders this apocalyptic vision:
“Why is Sukkot singled out by Zechariah as the aspect of Jewish observance that Gentiles ultimately will adopt? Is Sukkot here a metonym standing for all three pilgrimage festivals or perhaps even for Jewish life in general, or does the author mean Sukkot and only Sukkot?
Most interpreters have opted for the latter view, taking as their guide the preeminent status Sukkot appears to have acquired in the Persian and Hellenistic periods…as Jeffrey L. Rubinstein has put it, by the third century B.C.E. Sukkot “became the main pilgrimage and primary temple festival, and retained this status until the destruction in 70 C.E.”
It is no wonder, therefore, that the seer in Zechariah 14, probably writing at some time between the fifth and second centuries B.C.E., portrayed the ultimate obedience of the gentiles to God by their participation in the ultimate Temple festival, Sukkot.
The representation of a gentile pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the idealized future in Zechariah 14 taps into a widespread trope in ancient Jewish eschatology.”
Garroway goes on to demonstrate Sukkot’s central role in both Jewish and Christian eschatological texts, including the Book of Revelations, and with proof from archeology and historical records.
What’s interesting about the vision of Sukkot as the penultimate global holiday of the future is that this holiday’s root is not about Jewish identity — but about our reliance on rain -and the sacred role of water at the heart of all human survival and ritual life.
The source of water that will emerge from Jerusalem to fill the seas and chart new roadmaps is the solution to the annual Sukkot prayer that was the centerpiece of the ancient temple festival - the prayer for rain.
The thirst that we know is already a growing problem in the world is just one of the fears we have from the future. And as many prophets have already said - water is also the symbol for the deeper nourishment we seek.
Perhaps what the prophet is hinting at here is that the holiday that will unite humanity will be a celebration of collaboration — overcoming scarcity and fear , short sighted greed and planetary plunder - making sure we have enough water and love for all of us to drink?
Who knows what the future holds? The holiday of Sukkot in 2024 will mark one year since the disaster of Oct. 7 and the violent tribulations that we are enduring since.
Will this day, one day, transform to become a global pilgrimage of peace, a step towards the healing that we all hope will emerge like a river and endure?
Zechariah makes no promises, but he leaves us with the images and symbols that one day may become apparent, and perhaps, quench our thirst for validation, and for truth.
Will we ever be united around some sense of the shared sacred?
We bid farewell to Zechariah, and move over to Malachi - the last of the prophets, with just three chapters, he’ll bring us with surprising theatrical devices to the end of the second section of The Book.
TOMORROW: From Prophets to Poets - Ready for the Pslams?!
Dear Below the Bible Belt Readers,
We’ve been following the words of prophets for many, many months, giving us both consolation and tough truths that echo in this troubled time — but now we come to a threshold of transition - prophecy replaced by poetry, and later on by rabbinic tradition. This historical shift is reflected in the Hebrew Bible’s choice of book sequence, as we part with all the prophets and begin to read the Psalms.
What does this mean to us today and why do I call them THE PSLAMS?
Join me on 4/4/24 for our monthly Zoom conversation Below the Bible Belt - as we wrap up the journey with the prophets, and prepare for the third and final section of the Hebrew Bible.
April 4, 2024, 5pm ET
Here’s the link to the next Below the Bible Belt Zoom Live Conversation:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88915392821
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We pray for healing and peace, prophetic wisdom and activism, along with poetry to help us through these days.
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