Today's Scripture Reading (October 8, 2023): Zechariah 6
The monument was finished in 2011. It features two structures.
One is a 410-foot-long flat structure that features ninety-one windows, the
other is a building surrounded with smoked glass, and at the center of the
building is a chair that has been set on fire. Together, the two structures
form what is commonly referred to as "The Witch Memorial" in Vardo,
Norway, remembering the ninety-one people, seventy-seven women and fourteen
men, who were burned at the stake during the witch trials, which peaked in
1662-1663 in Norway. It was a time of heightened fear, and it seemed that
anyone could be blamed for society's ills. At that time, conspiracy theories
reigned, and ninety-one people died due to rumors and fear.
It took 348 years for the memorial to be built.
Still, someone decided that we didn't want to forget that period of history,
and maybe more importantly, we didn't want to forget the men and women who were
burned as a sacrifice to the societal fear of the era.
Memorials are strange things. Sometimes, they are
built so that we remember something bad that has happened in our society.
Others are constructed to remind us of something positive that has occurred. An
example of an optimistic memorial is the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri.
We sometimes forget that the Gateway Arch is a memorial, in this case, in
remembrance of the Westward expansion of European civilization in North America
and all of those pioneers who gave their lives to tame the continent's Western
sections.
However, some memorials remind us of events that are
coming but are yet to happen. Zechariah speaks of this kind of memorial. The
memorial itself is a crown. The crown is to be placed on the head of Joshua,
the High Priest. But Zechariah reminds his readers that this is just a
memorial, a reminder of the day that was to come but hadn't yet arrived. The
day would come when the High Priest and the King would be the same person. In
all of history, that had never happened. Israel ran on a system where the King
and the High Priest performed a system of checks and balances on each other.
They were intended to be two, taken from two different tribes: the king from
the tribe of Judah and the High Priest from the Tribe of Levi. But one day,
sometime in the future, they would be one. This crown would be placed in the
Temple and would serve as a reminder of that day that was to come.
Partially, or at least in an illegitimate manner,
this prophecy was fulfilled by Aristobulus I. He was the first person to claim
to be both the King and the High Priest during his reign (104-103 B.C.E.). But
Aristobulus was not of the tribe of Judah, let alone the Davidic line from
which most believed the king needed to emerge—especially the Pharisees, who
were enraged by the idea of King Aristobulus.
Of course, for Christians, the real priest and King
was Jesus. And he was the legitimate fulfillment of this prophecy.
Tomorrow's
Scripture Reading: Zechariah 7
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