Today’s Scripture Reading (July 21, 2017):
Zechariah 6
In 1644, Beijing fell to the
Jurchen Aisin Gioro clan of North Eastern China. The Jurchen were inhabitants
of an area that has traditionally been known
as Manchuria. The result of the Jurchen
overthrow of Beijing was the beginning of the last imperial dynasty of China –
the Qing dynasty – which ruled over China for almost three centuries
(1644-1911). What is significant about the Qing Dynasty was that it was governed by the minority. Manchurian
Chinese are a smaller group when compared with the much more populous Han
people. As a result, there was always the problem that, over time, the
Manchurian people would be utterly
absorbed by the Han people.
But such an absorption was not
deemed to be acceptable to the Qing leadership. And as a result, the Qing made a series of laws that
were intended to segregate the Manchurian people from the Hans. One of the
steps was that intermarriage between the Manchurians and Hans was made illegal
by Chinese law. But a more physical change that was
included in the segregation attempt was that a series of ditches and
embankments into which Willow trees were planted
known as the Willow Palisade. The sole purpose of the Palisade was to make it
harder for movement in and out of Manchuria and therefore limit the contact of
the Manchurian people with other ethnic people groups.
The Jewish people seemed to
major on segregation. According to Jewish tradition, there were only two people
groups on the earth – the Jews (very much a minority group when compared to the
rest of the people on the earth) and everybody else (known as the Gentiles.)
Those who dared to marry outside of the Jewish race were ostracized. But maybe
even more apparent was the effect that
segregation had on the Temple. The Temple area was
divided into courts. The outermost
court was the court of the Gentiles. Unless you were a Jew or had converted to Judaism, you could go no further. In a male
dominated culture, even Jewish woman could get closer to the Temple than a
Gentile male or female could. And then in the innermost
area was the Court of Israel – and Jewish men only need apply for admittance.
But Zechariah speaks of another
time. In this period, those who are far
off – or those who are not allowed to come close to the temple – will help
build the temple. The allusion is to a day when the Gentile would help to build
a spiritual temple side by side with the Jews. Taken with the rest of
Zechariah, we get a picture of a day when the Jews who refuse to fear God would
be removed, and the Gentiles who fear God
would be invited to take their place. The Apostle Paul would describe it this
way – There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither
slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ
Jesus. If you belong to Christ,
then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise (Galatians
3:28-29).
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Zechariah 7
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