Chapter 12 gives us a glimpse of the future as imagined 2,500 years ago -- and while a lot of it may seem familiar from bloody historical records -- there is yet much more to come. A lot of it feels like right now.
Zechariah imagines the epic battle of Jerusalem at the end of time. It includes what seems like a terrible tribal conflict between Juden tribes themselves -- fighting against Jerusalem’s Davidic dynasty. It reads a lot like civil war. And though many other nations will join the battle - somehow, the prophet says, Jerusalem will survive. But a terrible price. The lamenting and public grief will be beyond proportions and will have no parallel. Or actually, the prophet notes, there IS a parallel from previous perils, and what he mentions as another public grief is a surprising and intriguing note:
בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֗וּא יִגְדַּ֤ל הַמִּסְפֵּד֙ בִּיר֣וּשָׁלַ֔͏ִם כְּמִסְפַּ֥ד הֲדַד־רִמּ֖וֹן בְּבִקְעַ֥ת מְגִדּֽוֹן׃
On that day, the wailing in Jerusalem shall be as great as the wailing at Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddon.
Zechariah 12:11
What historical precedent is the prophet talking about? Who or what is Hadad-Rimmon and why all that wailing?
Robert Alter takes us right into the mythic element, which calls to mind the way Jesus as a resurrected deity echoes earlier gods that defy death:
“Hadad and Rimmon are two Canaanite gods, here conflated, as they may have been in popular religion. The mourning indicates that Hadad-Rimmon was a dying god, like Tammuz and the Greek Adonis, whose annual descent into the underworld was marked by rites of grief.”
But there’s also a historical possibility to make sense of what Zechariah is alluding to -- perhaps as a warning sign for future times.
Dr. Moshe Sokolow explains:
“Megiddon looks like Megiddo, a formerly Canaanite fortress city overlooking the Jezreel Valley that became a royal city in the northern Kingdom of Israel. In 609 BCE, the Egyptians, under Pharaoh Necho, captured Megiddo on their way to Carcemish to join their Assyrian allies against the up-and-coming Babylonians, in which battle the Judean King Josiah was killed (2 Kings 23:29, 2 Chronicles 35:20-27). The place of death? Hadad-rimmon.
Hadad-rimmon makes no other appearance in the Hebrew Bible, either as two hyphenated words, or, as some medieval texts have it, as a single word Hadadrimmon.”
King Josiah was the great religious reformer of Jerusalem and his death in battle may have been that epic time of public grief.
And there’s another surprising option.
The Aramaic Targum Yonatan, or Pseudo Jonathan, relying on some biblical references suggests that this is a conflation of two royal losses and laments:
“At that time, the lament in Jerusalem will be greater than the lament over the King of Israel, Ahab son of Omri, who was slain by Hadadrimmon ben Tabrimon, king of Damascus, and the lament over Josiah son of Amon, who was slain by Pharaoh Necho in the Valley of Megiddo.”
Public grief for fallen heroes or leaders is not new to us, and it can indeed provide an outlet for emotion and community-bonding in powerful ways that few can anticipate or predict. Whatever Zechariah meant - the visions of public grief that he depicts are horrifying. Not only is there major mourning - but it’s also done in isolation -- families separate from each other, men and women apart as well.
כֹּ֗ל הַמִּשְׁפָּחוֹת֙ הַנִּשְׁאָר֔וֹת מִשְׁפָּחֹ֥ת מִשְׁפָּחֹ֖ת לְבָ֑ד וּנְשֵׁיהֶ֖ם לְבָֽד׃
“And all the other families, every family by itself, with their women by themselves.”
Zechariah 12:14
Grief can be a source of solace and consolation, even communal growth -- but it can also lead into isolation and despair.
As he imagines the future days - Zechariah gives us both options. Out of the sorrow there will be an opening for consolation - we’ve got two chapters to go with those.
But the tears must be allowed to flow, and real grief must be the public outpouring of pain for those who survived and will live to see the future.
How we take on this responsibility for redemptive grief that connects us instead of dividing us - is up to us.
Whether we cry for the dead gods or heroes, innocent victims and loss of innocence and hope -- cry we must, and these dreadful days of violence call on us to do so — and from these tears the rivers of repair will flow and change everything -- that’s coming up next, with fantastic and fabulous force.
May there be healing and consolation to so many of us who are holding these days of terror with so much lamentation for too much loss.
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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