Zechariah 1 – Call for National Repentance & Angels and Guardian Spirits in the Bible and the Ancient Near East

Hands OutThe book of Hebrew lets us know that we may meet angels and not know they are angels (Heb 13:2).  And since we know You let angels come down here, we can’t say that there are not bad angels because the devil and his punk cronies are here too (Eph 6:12, Jude 1:6).

Plus, in verse 10 noted below, says that You sent some to “walk to and fro through the earth.”  In Job 1:7 and 2:2 You asked Satan what he was doing and he said he told You that he was “walking to and fro of the earth.”

1 There are reference to flying machines
There are reference to flying machines in the temple carvings and in the ancient writings. The images found on the ceiling beams of a 3000-year old New Kingdom Temple, located several hundred miles south of Cairo and the Giza Plateau, at Abydos resembles modern day Aircrafts.

Reference to ancient Indian flying vehicles comes from ancient Indian sources, many are the well known ancient Indian Epics, and there are literally hundreds of them. Most of them have not even been translated into English yet from the old sanskrit.

 

Therefore, we have no idea what the devil and his demons do, but it certainly isn’t good.  We also don’t know if You created other beings, even though it would only make since that You did, and they come down here. 

So there may be aliens or the aliens may only be Satan’s demons.  And in regards to Ghosts, I can’t believe they’re anything but fallen angels.  I figure a ghost is probably a fallen angel with very small rank, like a private (Eph 6:12).

Also, some people say that there are no female angles, but Zechariah says others wise in Zec 5:9.

Yet, I know there is nothing to fear, I got You on my side, but I do know that we aren’t supposed to take advantage of You and start smart mouthing the devil.  Jesus said so Himself:

“…It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God” (Matt 1:7).

Paul also warned of us from trying to use You:

“Be not deceived: God is not to be mocked…” (Gal 6:7).

And Peter told us to stay away from Satan:

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet 5:8).

Since we’re kinda on the subject of the real and the not-real, let’s see if anyone has investigated the possibility of…

Zechariah 1
Call for National Repentance

2 Hammurabi Stele
Hammurabi Stele
In this stele, the flame shouldered sun-god Shamash(has 8 horned headdress) holds the symbols of divine power(ring and staff) and has his hands stretched towards Hammurabi.

Hammurabi has his hand raised in prayer. Shamash is in a combined front and side view. Made from Basalt (1780 B.C)

1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,

“Eighth month…the second year” – October-November, 520 B.C.  Haggai also began his prophetic ministry in Dairus’s second year, on the first day of the sixth month, i.e., on August 29, 520 B.C.

2 The LORD hath been sore displeased with your fathers.

3 Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts.

4 Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the LORD.

“Former prophets” – such as Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

5 Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live forever?

“Do they live forever?” – No, but God’s words through them live on to be fulfilled.

6 But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the LORD of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.

7 Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,

1:7-17 – the first vision.  Although God’s covenant people are troubled while the oppression nations are at ease, God is jealous for His people and will restore them and their towns and the temple.  The imagery of the first vision is reflected in that of the eighth and final vision.

3 Neo babylonian
Neo-babylonian art with 60 figures of lions molded in relief on high colored(yellow brown, and red) glazed bricks. Each lion is NOT individually characterized. Carefully depicts muscles, snarling muzzles, and long nervous tails. (575 B.C.)

“Four and twentieth day of…Sebat” – February 15, 519 B.C., about three months after the date of v. 1.

8 I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white.

“I saw” – not in a dream, but ion a vision.

“Night” – Zechariah had all eight visions in one night.

9 Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be.

10 And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the LORD hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.

11 And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.

4 Ishtar Gate
Ishtar Gate
Has the processional way pass through it and has flanking crenelated towers. Made of glazed bricks with superimposed tiers of alternating profile figures of the dragon of Marduk and the Bull of Adad. (575 B.C.)

12 Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, O LORD of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years?

“Threescore and ten years” – 70 years.

13 And the LORD answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words.

14 So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.

15 And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.

“Helped forward the affliction” – God was angry with Israel and used the Assyrians and Babylonians to punish her, but they went too far by trying to destroy the Jews as a people.

16 Therefore thus saith the LORD; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the LORD of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.

17 Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.

18 Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns.

1:18-21 – the second vision.  The nations that devastated Israel will in turn be destroyed by other nations.

5 Putto Figure
Putto
Figure of a human baby or toddler almost always male often naked and having wings.

“Four” – if the number is to be taken literally the reference is probably to Assyria, Egypt, Babylon, and Medo-Persia.

“Horns” – symbolic of strength in general (Ps 18:2), or the strength of a country, i.e., its king or as here, the power of a nation in general.

19 And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What be these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.

20 And the LORD shewed me four carpenters.

“Four carpenters” – if the number is to be understood literally, probably the reference is to Egypt, Babylon, Persia and Greece.  What is clear is that all Judah’s enemies will ultimately be defeated.

21 Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.

Angels and Guardian Spirits in the Bible
and the Ancient Near East

6 Found in Ur
Found in Ur
Object was found in a royal grave. It is a box found that depicts two different scenes (designated as the “war side” and “peace side”).

Tells a story that is read from left to right AND Bottom to top. Little overlapping of figures(which are in “loose” profile) otherwise known as conceptual approach. Relative size on this object shows importance. Made of wood with Lapis lazuli, red limestone, and shell inlays. (2700 B.C)

Both the Hebrew and the Greer words that are translated into English as “angel” also mean “messenger.” This reflects the fact that an angel is a messenger from God.

It was sometimes difficult to determine whether a messenger from God during Bible times was human or angelic (Jdg 13:2- 22), since angels were often perceived as humanlike in appearance and evidently seemed to be either male or female (Zec 5:9).

The situation is also confusing in the case of “the angel of the LORD,” since this being sometimes appears to have been a mere angel but at other times God himself.

Human messengers in the ancient Near East acted as heralds, envoys and ambassadors, bearing the authority of the sender. In like manner angels functioned in the Bible as God’s representatives.

The “message” an angel carried may have been verbal, but it may also have been an action indicative of a judgment (2 Sam 24:15-17), a ministry to believers (1 Kgs 19:5-8) or a service as a guardian of God’s people (Ps 91:11).

Beings analogous to angels also appear in the mythology of Israel’s neighbors:

7 Tell Asmar Statuettes
Tell Asmar Statuettes
These range in size from one foot to 30 inches in height. Made of gypsum with shell and black limestone inlays. Sizes represent differences in relative importance. Represented mortals who were waiting for the apparition of the divinity.

Over-sized eyes and undersized hands are a feature of each of these which may symbolize the eternal wakefulness of common people.

Lists of gods from Mesopotamia often name the servants of the great gods. These lesser divinities purportedly functioned as messengers and agents for the high gods.

Sometimes the myths present these lower gods as a kind of heavenly peasant class who did menial work for the high gods but who, if pushed too hard, were inclined to rebel against their heavenly overlords.

Lesser deities or “personal gods” in the ancient world also functioned as protective spirits with regard to individuals (analogous to the idea of guardian angels or patron saints).They were thought to watch over the lives of devotees in return for their allegiance.

Another group of lower deities encompassed the gatekeepers, typically depicted as fearsome, hybrid creatures, such as winged bulls or lions with human heads.

Colossal statues of such creatures flanked the entrances of temples and palaces and were thought to ward off evil spirits, serving as guardians and attendants of both gods and kings.

The British Museum now houses several of these statues, averaging over 9.8 feet in height. Their Egyptian counterparts were the sphinx and the uraeus serpent.

Biblical cherubim and seraphim are analogous to the supernatural gatekeepers of the ancient Near East. Cherubim secured the way into Eden after the expulsion of the man and woman (Gen 3:24), and figures of winged cherubim also symbolically guarded the ark of the covenant and the Tent of Meeting (Ex 25:18-22; 26:1 ).

8 Gudea StatueGudea Statue
Gudea Statue
These statues focus is concentrated mainly on the head.

This is made evident in heads disproportionate size and the great detail of the eyebrows. Hands were oversized (probably to symbolize piety). Made of Dorite (2100 B.C.)

Seraphim served as attendants in the heavenly throne room in Isaiah’s vision (Isa 6). Cherubim are sometimes described in terms reminiscent of the hybrid creatures of ancient Near Eastern art (Ex 37:9; Eze 10:1 -11), and some interpreters believe that the seraphim were serpentine.

Both cherubim and seraphim are closely associated with God’s holiness, sovereignty and purity.

…Ancient aliens.

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