The questioning of Zechariah (Zech 4:4-4:5)

“I said to the angel

Who talked with me.

‘What are these?

My lord!’

Then the angel

Who talked with me

Answered me.

‘Do you not know

What these are?’

I said.

‘No!

My lord.’”

Zechariah questioned the angel who had been talking to him.  He wanted to know what did this vision meant.  The angel then responded to Zechariah by asking him the same question.  He seemed bewildered that Zechariah did not understand this vision about the lampstands and the olive trees.  However, Zechariah was very respectful by calling the angel “lord.”

The future good harvests (Hag 2:18-2:19)

“Consider from this day on,

From the twenty-fourth day

Of the ninth month!

Consider since the day

That the foundation

Of Yahweh’s temple

Was laid!

Is there any seed

Left in the barn?

Does the vine

Still yield nothing?

Does the fig tree

Still yield nothing?

Does the pomegranate tree

Still yield nothing?

Does the olive tree

Still yield nothing?

From this day on,

I will bless you.”

As opposed to the bad harvests of the past, the harvests of the future would be good from this day forward, because this 24th day of the 9th month was the day of the foundation laying for the Second Temple of Yahweh.  Then in a series of questions, Yahweh indicated that there would be no seeds left in the barn.  The vines, the fig trees, the pomegranate trees, and the olive trees would yield great harvests rather than nothing.  From this day on, they were going to be blessed.

Ezra explains the landing in the Promised Land (Neh 9:22-9:25)

“You gave them kingdoms and peoples.

You allotted to them every corner.

They took possession of the land of King Sihon of Heshbon.

They took possession of the land of King Og of Bashan.

You multiplied their descendants like the stars of heaven.

You brought them into the land

That you had told their ancestors to enter and possess.

The descendants went in and possessed the land.

You subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites.

You gave them into their hands,

With their kings and the peoples of the land.

Thus they might do with them as they pleased.

They captured fortified cities and a rich land.

They took possession of houses filled with all sorts of goods.

They took possession of hewn cisterns, vineyards, olive orchards

And fruit trees in abundance.

They ate.

They were filled.

They became fat.

They delighted themselves in your great goodness.”

Our ancestors got to the Promised Land. They took possession of the kingdoms of Heshbon and Bashan on the east side of the Jordan. Their descendents became as numerous as the stars. They took over the land and the people inhabited by the Canaanites. They captured the fortified cities and the rich land. They took possession of the cisterns, the vineyards, and the olive trees already there. They ate and became fat. They delighted themselves with the great goodness that they had received.