I asked, "Where are you going?" He answered me, "To measure Jerusalem, to find out how wide and how long it is." – Zechariah 2:2

Today's Scripture Reading (October 4, 2023): Zechariah 2

Canada is one of the least populated countries in the world, with a population density of four people per square km. In fact, among nations with a population of more than 25 million people, only Australia is less dense than Canada, coming in at three people per square km. Of course, much of Canada's less inhabited land lies in the inhospitable northern portion of the country. Eighty percent of the nation's population lies within a two-hour drive north of the border.

As a young person, I had a job pumping gas at a full-service service station, a rarity today, in a small town in Southern Canada. I remember when a motor home from the United States pulled up to the pumps. The driver got out and engaged me in conversation. It was his first time in Canada, and he was amazed that things in Canada seemed very much like they were in his country to the south. He showed me where he had installed a couple of extra fuel tanks in his motorhome because he expected service stations to be rare in the Northern country. And then he marveled at the colossal city he had just driven through. The city, known colloquially as "Little L.A.," had a population of just under 100,000 people, relatively small even for Canada. I warned him that there was a city just an hour up the road with a population more than ten times the size of the town he had just come through. And then, if he drove west or east, he would reach other cities that were more than five times larger than the city that was an hour to the north. As long as you stay close to the American border, very little is visibly different between Canada and the United States. But if you keep pushing north, you do run into areas with fewer people and amenities. It all depends on where you want to go in the country. (I once joked with some friends in the Southern States that I twisted my ankle when I fell off my dogsled at the Canadian-American border, but that is another story.)

Zechariah meets a man, most likely an angel, who had been sent to Jerusalem to measure the city. The reason for the measurement is that the angel was evaluating Jerusalem to see if there was room for all the people coming to the city in the future. The reader needs to realize that, at the time of this measuring, there were relatively few people in the city. It would be like measuring Canada to see if there was room for more people in the country. Although much of it might be inhospitable, there is still room. The same was true for Jerusalem. Structures still needed to be rebuilt, but there was lots of space. But the message that the angel needed Zechariah to understand was that there would be many more people coming to the city. Jerusalem would not remain empty. God would bring the people, but first, the people needed to start restoring the city so there would be room for them when they arrived.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Zechariah 3