{"id":1391,"date":"2017-02-16T13:29:17","date_gmt":"2017-02-16T19:29:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rbooker.com\/?p=1391"},"modified":"2017-02-16T13:29:17","modified_gmt":"2017-02-16T19:29:17","slug":"the-cultural-context-of-zechariah-122-3-part-5-of-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rbooker.com\/?p=1391","title":{"rendered":"The Cultural Context of Zechariah 12:2-3 PART 5 OF 6"},"content":{"rendered":"

And What it Means to Our World Today\u2014Right Now!<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Dr. Richard Booker<\/strong><\/p>\n

PART 5 OF 6<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cBehold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness
\nto all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against
\nJudah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I
\nwill make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples;
\nall who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces,
\nthough all nations of the earth are gathered against it\u201d
\n(Zechariah 12:2-3)<\/em><\/p>\n

Jerusalem \u2013 A Very Heavy Stone<\/strong><\/p>\n

When Zechariah calls Jerusalem a very heavy stone, he is saying that Jerusalem is God\u2019s boundary marker. It is His landmark. It is His property line. To \u201cheave it away\u201d means to move the sacred border or boundary of Jerusalem as the city of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.<\/p>\n

Anyone who tries to heave it away (conquer and divide it) will learn that it is a stone too heavy for them to lift. In other-words, they will fail in their attempts because the battle is a spiritual one. The attackers are not just fighting Israel; they are fighting the God of Israel who will defend His territory. He is promising to protect Jerusalem from all intruders even though all nations of the earth are gathered against it. Let me say it again, the One True God will destroy any government or nation that \u201ctramples underfoot\u201d Jerusalem by trying to take it from the Jewish people or dividing it. Of course this has happened in the past but Zechariah is prophesying about the end of days.<\/p>\n

Zechariah says that God will \u201ccut them in pieces.\u201d He is using a phrase that everyone understood. As I explained earlier, this was the curse on anyone who tried to dishonor or break a sacred blood covenant. As they split the animal down the middle, God will cut into pieces (destroy the armies) any nation or group of people that cross His sacred threshold of Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

Zechariah further explains, \u201cThus says the LORD of hosts: \u2018I am zealous for Zion with great zeal; with great fervor I am zealous for her.\u2019 Thus says the LORD of hosts, \u2018I will return to Zion, and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth, the Mountain of the LORD of hosts, the Holy Mountain.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cBehold, I will save My people from the land of the east
\nand from the land of the west; I will bring them back,
\nand they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. They shall
\nbe My people and I will be their God, in truth and righteousness\u201d
\n(Zechariah 8:2-3, 7-8).<\/p>\n

I will explain Jerusalem \u2013 God\u2019s Blood-Stained Threshold in Part 6. Be looking for it.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And What it Means to Our World Today\u2014Right Now! By Dr. Richard Booker PART 5 OF 6 \u201cBehold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone … Continue reading The Cultural Context of Zechariah 12:2-3 PART 5 OF 6<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":211,"featured_media":1094,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recent-comments"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbooker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbooker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbooker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbooker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/211"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbooker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1391"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rbooker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1392,"href":"https:\/\/rbooker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1391\/revisions\/1392"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbooker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbooker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbooker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbooker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}