1) A Conflict with Sons of Greece

There is a prophecy in Zechariah speaking of Messiah's kingdom. Messiah comes as king riding on a donkey. As Yeshua has come riding a donkey it will be for a second time, but this time Yahweh will “cut off the battle bow”, and end war so that Yeshua will speak peace.

Zec 9:9 Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem!

Behold, your King comes to you! He is righteous, and having salvation;

lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Zec 9:10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem;

and the battle bow will be cut off; and he will speak peace to the nations:

and his dominion will be from sea to sea,and from the River to the ends of the earth.

Yeshua, will at that time, which is the the second time he comes on a donkey, will be given dominion and rule all the earth

Zec 9:11 As for you also, because of the blood of your covenant,

I have set free your prisoners from the pit in which is no water.

Zec 9:12 Turn to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope!

Even today I declare that I will restore double to you.

Yeshua comes and because of the blood of his covenant will release 'prisoners', which were in a pit with 'no water', as the Jewish people's leaders didn't give the people the “water” the word of God.

Zec 9:13 For indeed I bend Judah as a bow for me. I have filled the bow with Ephraim;

and I will stir up your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece,

and will make you like the sword of a mighty man.

Zec 9:14 Yahweh will be seen over them; and his arrow will go flash like lightning;

and the Lord Yahweh will blow the trumpet, and will go with whirlwinds of the south.

Zec 9:15 Yahweh of Armies will defend them; and they will destroy and overcome with sling stones; and they will drink, and roar as through wine;

and they will be filled like bowls, like the corners of the altar.

Zec 9:16 Yahweh their God will save them in that day as the flock of his people;

for they are like the jewels of a crown, lifted on high over his land.

In this section the conflict of the day of Messiah's coming is between the sons of Zion and the sons of Greece. The sons of Zion who were without water, will drink, and be filled, and then “roar”. Yahweh himself will be over the sword of the sons of Zion when they war against the sons of Greece.

2) Who are the sons of Greece?

It does not say 'Greeks' but 'sons' of Greece. Who was this Greece that Zechariah referred to?

The term in Hebrew is Yâvân. Yaven is a son of Japheth

The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah. And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations. (Genesis 10:2-5)

The passage identifies these sons of Yaven as settling the 'isles'. For the Hebrews the isles were quite close and Yaven came to relate more to the Ionian Isles, North West of Israel (the modern Greek Isles). The sons of Yaven include Tarshish. Tarshish was reached both from Joppa and Eziongeber. Kittim came to mean to the Hebrews 'West' including Rome and Macedonia. Dodanim is identified with Rhodes and the Dorians (from which we have the Doric order).

Yaven has a meaning in Hebrew

<To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.> I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry (yaven) clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. (Psalm 40:1-2)

<To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, A Psalm of David.> Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire (yaven) , where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. (Psalm 69:1-2)

It is used for 'watery mud', or the dregs of effervescing wine. It is related to the word for fermented wine and drunkenness. It is possible Japheth named the son for his character of effervescence.

In the time of Ezekiel, sons of Yavan are mentioned as trading with Tyre.

Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus; And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty...Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; the company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim. Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spread forth to be thy sail; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was that which covered thee. The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners: thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots. The ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers: all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise. .... Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs. Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants: they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market. They of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses and horsemen and mules. (Ezekiel 27:2-15)

Damascus was thy merchant in the multitude of the wares of thy making, for the multitude of all riches; in the wine of Helbon, and white wool. Dan also and Javan going to and fro occupied in thy fairs: bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were in thy market. (Ezekiel 27:18-21)

Dan most likely not the tribe of Dan but the Achaeans who were also known as Danaans, who were a sub-group of the ancient Greeks or Yavan, as they are mentioned together. The sons of Yavan were traders from the isles, first on the list is Kittim (Chittim) or Cyprus, or any Island of Greece or of Rome. The ancient Greeks, who used a lot of ivory obtained ivory from North Africa. Elishah may be Crete (as there have been found many Murex shells in excavations from the era of the Minoan culture to make blue and purple dye. Yaven is associated with brass (in modern terms copper or Bronze which is copper & tin), which would be identified with the modern Greek isles as they had much copper. Yavan and the people descended from the sons of Yavan featured in the trade of Tyre when Ezekiel wrote approximately from 580-560BC. The beginning of the Archaic Greek culture is dated approximately 750BC, when they adopted Phoenician text, with the classical period beginning in 500BC considered to be the height of their artistic achievement.

Ezekiel when speaking of Tyre captures the trade and industry of those of the Greek Isles (coasts), including Crete and Cyprus who by the mid 6^th Century BC had colonies, as a result of trade by sea, dotted around the coasts of Mediterranean, from Spain, France, Italy North Africa to the Black Sea, far in excess of the area of modern Greece.

3) Classical Greece and a Hellenised world

If the culture of Yavan was made dominant by its sea trade and industry of making goods by 500BC, it was to become greater still when the Yavan, whose many tribes collectively called themselves Hellen, became a superpower. Daniel was told that after the Medes and Persians would arise another king of Yavan (Hellen), out of whom would come 4 kingdoms.

And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end shall be. The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. And the rough goat is the king of Grecia (Yavan): and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.

The Athenian Treasury at Delphi built to commemorate the Greek victory over the Persians circa 480BC

Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power. And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand. (Daniel 8:19-25)

Out of one of the kingdoms in the latter part, was to come another king. A king who would continue the Hellenistic culture. Daniel was told after the 4th great prince of Persia was removed, then the prince of Yavan (Hellen) would come.

Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia(Yavan) shall come. (Daniel 10:19-20)

And now will I show thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all: and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia(Yavan). And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled: for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those. (Daniel 11:2-4)

Alexander the Great irrevocably changed the world, and began the Hellenistic period dated from 323 BC to about 146 BC. The Hellen people colonized the then known world taking their language and culture with them. Even Egypt was dominated by Alexandria the city of Hellenistic learning, and Egyptian arts reflected Greek style. The Greeks referred to those who became Hellenised as Epigonoi which means “offspring” or “sons”.

The zealous Jews versus Hellenists

In the approximate geographical centre of Alexander's Hellenistic empire, was the remnant struggling Jewish state centred at Jerusalem. While Alexander had accepted Jewish submission and respected the Jews by bypassing them on his conquest, his Seleucid successors in the Middle East sought to Hellenise, and homogenise, their polyglot kingdom, including the Jews. The Seleucids to lesser or greater degrees, promoted Hellenistic culture, but Antiochus IV Epiphanes sought to forcefully impose Greek culture on all minorities, including the Jews.

But from a zealous Jewish perspective the Hellenistic culture was diametrically opposed to their own. The Hellen worshipped many gods, whereas the Jews worshipped one. The Hellenistic culture promoted material possessions, the Jewish did not. The Hellenistic culture valued the representation of the naked human form, an abomination to the Jews. The Hellen in their thinking separated soul and mind, whereas the Jews believed they were united. The Hellen thought there was an immaterial world that was perfect, whereas the Jews, only had one world, the physical one. The Hellen valued abstract philosophic discussion, whereas the Jews valued focussed study of their Law and wisdom in action. Lastly the greatest difference which could not be disguised was that the Hellen elevated human thinking, whereas the Jews saw human thinking as being possibly evil and often opposed to their God.

The Seleucids gave privileges, power and influence to those in their empire who adopted their Hellenistic culture, and in so doing forced a sharp social divide in the Jewish people. Some chose to become Hellenised and these saw themselves as progressive, others chose to retain their own customs. Wherever there were Jews in the Empire, there could be seen two types of people.

4) Sons of Zion

Zion is the name that David gave the citadel conquered from the Jebusites (compare 2 Samuel 5:7, i kings 8:1). Zion means a 'monumental pillar', a 'waymark' or 'sign'. Zion is clearly not merely an alternate name for Jerusalem, it is a name that makes a point. We need to go back to Jacob in Genesis to understand what point David is making. At Bethel Jacob sees Angels ascending and descending and concludes that it is the “gate of God (El)”. Jacob then sets up a pillar (Genesis 28:18) and calls the place Bethel or 'the house of El'. This idea of the gate or entrance to the dwelling of God (El) is explained in a psalm,

For Yahweh has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his habitation.

This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it. (Psalm 132:13-14)

Therefore Jerusalem was called 'Zion' by David to indicate it was the place of a pillar, which was the sign of the habitation of Yahweh. When the physical house of El, called the sanctuary, was lost, due to the Babylonian destruction Jeremiah laments,

How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street. The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter! (Lamentations 4:1-2)

The sons of Zion are those who make the way, or sign of the presence of Yahweh's habitation their hope. When the physical Sanctuary of Zion is lost these sons of Zion are not strong malleable gold but weak clay. Therefore the sons of Zion see their strength and glory only exists in the presence of Yahweh. For the Jews, all their glory as a nation was bound up in the temple and the temple service, or in other words in the idea of Zion.

The sons of Zion and the sons of Yavan (Hellen)

Antiochus IV Epiphanes by banning most aspects of the Jewish worship forced the sons of Zion to revolt. From 166 BC the sons of Zion fought the sons of Yavan (Greece). By 143 BC, the Jewish Maccabees fully established an independence. But there were still Jews who were culturally sons of Yavan (Hellen) in their midst. However, the Jewish success led to another complexity when people who were not Jews, the Hellen, converted to the Jews' religion.

By the birth of Messiah, there were Jews who were living like Hellen, and there were people who had at one point become Hellenised who were living as Jewish proselytes. In the early congregation of the followers of Messiah there were many who were clearly non-Jewish proselytes called Hellen.

And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians (Hellen) against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. (Acts 6:1)

But yet at the same time there were many Jews who were called Hellen in Jerusalem, and these were antagonistic to Paul's preaching

And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. And he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem. And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians (Hellen): but they went about to slay him. (Act 9:26-29)

Generally the Middle Eastern world from Asia Minor to Egypt was made up of two types of people Hellen or Jews.

And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians (Hellen), preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord. (Acts 11:20-21)

Even though the Romans ruled, the two languages were Hebrew and Greek. It is symptomatic of the mixed population at Jerusalem that the inscription over Yeshua's stake was written in 3 languages.

And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. (Luke 23:38)

Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin. (John 19:19-20)

John implies that the label being in 3 languages helped people to read it, and indicates possibly many Jews had so assimilated that Greek may have been easier for them to read. Though the Romans were more powerful, the Hellen culture had been such that they maintained an influence over Rome. The dominance led Rome to incorporate Greek language and customs into Roman culture. Many Roman leaders were educated by Greeks (Hellen). Even Latin came to include many Greek words.

5) Two cultural inheritances

History perhaps shows why Zechariah used the term 'sons of Yavan', as the culture was so dispersed that people not genetically descended from Yavan (from the Hellen tribes), were called Hellenised. They were not Hellen (Greeks), but were sons by a cultural inheritance.

That Zechariah uses the term 'sons of Zion' as a pair with 'sons of Yavan', is another pointer to the term not being related to a genetic descent but to a cultural inheritance. For of course Zion is a place and so the sons are not by descent but must therefore be the inhabitants. But Zion is an idea not a place. The sons of Zion were those who took on the Jewish hope, thinking and culture.

But the history of the dominance of the Hellenistic culture did not stop, as it went on to dominate three cultures, the Byzantine, Catholic and Muslim. Byzantine culture was centred at Constantinople which had been the heart of the Classical Greek empire, and though they saw themselves as a continuation of the Roman empire, in the 7th century they made Greek their official language, retained the learning and metaphysics of classical Greek writers and were seen by others as the Empire of the Greeks. The Catholic culture inherited the culture of Greece through the original Hellenistic influence on Rome. The Arab culture not only had the inheritance of Seleucids, but in the 8th century they translated the works of Ptolemy and other Greek philosophers into Arabic. Greek thought was learnt by Muslim scholars who saw the Classical ideas as theories requiring further inquiry.

During this time the Jewish people were dispersed in the Greek speaking Byzantine empire, and the Latin speaking Catholic West. A clear division was attempted, with many restrictions of Jews, so that sons of Zion remained separated from the sons of Greece.

Though the Jewish people were often repressed, Jewish study, tradition and culture remained very strong and it was dispersed over a great area. In parallel, though dominant, ironically, Classical Greek learning made little progress (except in Arab lands where they assumed it could be wrong) and the culture gradually declined.

But this situation was changed by the 17th century Enlightenment.

The Enlightenment

The term 'the Enlightenment' refers to an era from Britain's Glorious Revolution of 1688 (where the parliament removed the Catholic monarch to establish Protestant rule), to the French Revolution of 1789. In this era many philosophies emerged that were often contradictory. There was a revival or the learning of the sons of Greece, in France. Holland and England.

Some trace the origin of the Enlightenment to Descartes' 1637 Discourse on the Method. Descartes approach came from late Aristotelianism, the 16th century revival of Stoicism and Augustine. In other words Descartes was a son of Greece, as were those who followed him.

Others consider the Enlightenment had origins in the ideas of Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677), a Dutch Jew. He both opposed Descartes' mind–body dualism, and Greek influenced Christian ideas. However, he also, as the Classical Greeks did, rationalised and denied the culture of the sons of Zion. This revival of the Hellenistic culture, just as it had in the days of the Maccabees, found Jewish people who became Hellenists.

Arcade in Denmark from late 1800's

Not seen in much official history was another event. The mass of publications by the Unitarians, Socinians and the study of Jewish works led to a few people aligning themselves with Zion by placing value in Jerusalem as a 'sign' of the presence of God.

Curiously, the result of a revival of the original culture of the Yavan/ Hellen which valued diverse human thinking, was that from this time some people had more freedom to chose to be either a son of Greece or a son of Zion.

The great Classical Revival of the mid-1700's to today

The Enlightenment brought to the fore the study of ancient Greek Classical works in popular culture from Russia, to Scandinavia, to Holland and England. In England, especially, to be 'educated' came to mean one had and education in the 'Classics', by which they meant Classical Greek writings. In the expansion of the English language after 1600 many of the new words had Greek origins. Today though only 5% of English words are from Greek directly, about 25% have Greek origins. Ironically, Greek inspired words for scientific and technological items in English have gone back into Greek as new words.

Church in Helsinki

Philosophers and historians from both England the Continent were finding in Greek culture and ideas the origins of what they called 'Western' civilization. Some wrote that the beginning of scientific thinking was in Greek knowledge. Others wrote that the origin of 'Western' philosophy was in Greek Philosophy.

The result was a new era of Greek art and architecture. There came to be more Doric, Ionic and Corinthian columns outside the former Greek Empire than in it. One reason for this was the removal of them from Greece to put in museums, the other was the prolific construction of Greek inspired edifies, from banks to Parliament buildings and even churches.

In more practical terms this was the era of Democracy in politics, which was undoubtedly a Greek idea. Revolutionary France, and the Greek culture inspired Thomas Jefferson who was an author of the Declaration of Independence (1776). From his stay in Paris he brought back an appreciation of the classical style and a belief that Greek style most represented American democracy. His influence ensured that the style became that used for Federal buildings, and therefore, that the United States became associated with Classical Greek Culture.

Court House in St Louis USA

By the 20^th Century from Finland to Australia, from Greece to America, Classical Greek ideas were considered the foundation of Western Culture, and their art and architecture had been re-created in the modern world. The influence of the Greek inspired Western Culture was increased by the post WW2 influence of the United States on the world. In the 1980's a later, smaller, revival in Classical culture occurred in art, writing, fashion and buildings, which affected the United States and Britain and other nations exposed to their culture. The sons of Greece (Yavan, Hellen) can now be found throughout the Western world.

Crematorium in Sweden

The revival of the sons of Zion from mid-1700's to today

Paralleling the revival of Classical Greek culture, especially with its emphasis on human reasoning, was another, that of the number people willing to elevate the thinking of the Bible in general and some few who accepted the idea of elevating Zion specifically. It was so distinctive a phenomena that United States historians called them Great Awakenings (1730-55, 1790-1840, 1850-1900, with a smaller one about 1960-1980). The Great Awakenings were associated with awareness of Messiah's second coming. The 1857–1860 revival in America, Canada, Ireland, and Great Britain which spread even to Australia and New Zealand, was a time when people began studying their Bibles at home. Some understood that the return of Jews to Zion was a sign for the second coming of Christ. The 1800's saw a parallel growth in political Zionism amongst Jews. The numbers of the sons of Zion grew from about 1960 with the fulfilment of prophecy in the unlikely acquisition of Jerusalem by Israel.

Classical Vienna

6) At that time, in those days

Whereas we may have wondered at how relevant Zechariah was in speaking of the sons of Greece existing in the time of Messiah's coming, now we may wonder who in the world isn't, by cultural inheritance, a son of Greece!

Zechariah wrote,

Zec 9:13 For indeed I bend Judah as a bow for me. I have filled the bow with Ephraim;

and I will stir up your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece,

and will make you like the sword of a mighty man.

Joel also speaks of the Grecians, Yavanim or Hellenists, existing at the time when, firstly, Judah is delivered from captivity, and then Jerusalem.

For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink. Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon (Lebanon), and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head; Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things: The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians (Yavanim), that ye might remove them far from their border. (Joel 3:1-6)

Classical Vienna

Those of Lebanon and Palestine, Joel says, will sell the Jews and the children of Jerusalem to the Grecians or Hellenists. The term is not Yavan but Yavanim or those of , or pertaining to, Yavin. By contrast Isaiah speaks of Yavan as a nation.

For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory. And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Yavan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles. And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the LORD out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD. (Isaiah 66:18-20)

At the time when Yahweh Elohim will set a 'sign', just as the word Zion means, in the world, then those who escape of the nations will go amongst other places, to the nation of Yavan, or Greece. The same messengers will, in a reverse of what the Yavanim (the Hellenists) did, bring the Jews to Jerusalem.

The amazing thing to note is that once the Western world was divided into many ideologies, but in only the last few years the West is divided into a much simpler division: pro-Zion vs anti-Zion.

This is due to the revival of a call to partition the Holy Land (which was done once in 1947), and now also there are calls to divide Jerusalem, the place of the sign (Zion), of the habitation of Yahweh Elohim.

The pro-Zion are in the minority. They are characterised by having a literal understanding of the Bible, a respect for the sovereignty of the God of Israel, and believe the Jews' possession of the land of Israel is the God-given 'sign' of Zion. They see any division of the Land as an opposition to God, and know the prophecy that speaks of the fate of those who do divide the land. The sons of Zion are born, or come to exist because of the Sign.

The Anti-Zion are characterised by a respect for human reason (inherited directly from the philosophers of Classical Greece), elevation of the human form and superficial beauty to the level of idolatry, a love of divergent philosophy and utter lack of respect for the text of the Bible, or the commands of the God of Israel. They desire to impose their human ideas, including a liberal secular democracy, (and idolatry) on all the world. They see no reason not to divine the Holy Land and Zion, as they don't value the word of God. These are the sons of Greece, (Hellen,Yaven). In Hebrew Yaven means effervescing 'mire'. The sons of Yaven are those who are out of the effervescing watery mire of the earth, born from earthy human thinking.

This call to divide Jerusalem, and the divide over Zion, is due to the agitation of another group in the Middle East, who are by descent more related to the Jews. Though they despise the sons of Greece, they have some inheritance from the Hellenistic culture. They hold in esteem the book of the bitter words of one man. This group want to remove Zion as a sign to legitimise their leader's words.

It is interesting to note that Zechariah says Yahweh will have to 'stir up' the dormant, accepting, sons of Zion against the dominant sons of Greece. It took idolatry in the temple for the Maccabees to stand up against the Hellenists, and unite and cast the Hellenists out. But there is a greater zealot coming,

Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel. Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame has covered my face. I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children. For the zeal of thine house has eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me. (Psalm 69:6-9)

When Yeshua came to Jerusalem he cast out the money changers from the temple in his zeal for the house, or habitation of God. This habitation is called Zion. But the first time Yeshua came to Zion he did not bring peace, rather he brought conflict and war (Matthew 10:34). When the sons of Zion have been stirred up and made free by Messiah, at that time shall the daughters of Zion rejoice, as Messiah will bring salvation and speak peace to the nations.

Zec 9:9 Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem!

Behold, your King comes to you! He is righteous, and having salvation;

lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Zec 9:10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem;

and the battle bow will be cut off; and he will speak peace to the nations:

and his dominion will be from sea to sea,and from the River to the ends of the earth.

A short printable articleDivisive Zion: Sons of Hellenists, sons of Zion

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