Zechariah 6:12

Hebrew Bible

10 “Choose some people from among the exiles, namely, Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, all who have come from Babylon, and when you have done so go to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah. 11 Then take some silver and gold to make a crown and set it on the head of Joshua the high priest, the son of Jehozadak. 12 Then say to him, ‘The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says, “Look—here is the man whose name is Branch, who will sprout up from his place and build the temple of the Lord. 13 Indeed, he will build the temple of the Lord, and he will be clothed in splendor, sitting as king on his throne. Moreover, there will be a priest with him on his throne and they will see eye to eye on everything. 14 The crown will then be turned over to Helem, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Hen son of Zephaniah as a memorial in the temple of the Lord.

John 2:19

New Testament

15 So he made a whip of cords and drove them all out of the temple courts, with the sheep and the oxen. He scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold the doves he said, “Take these things away from here! Do not make my Father’s house a marketplace!” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will devour me.” 18 So then the Jewish leaders responded, “What sign can you show us, since you are doing these things?” 19 Jesus replied, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again.” 20 Then the Jewish leaders said to him, “This temple has been under construction for 46 years, and are you going to raise it up in three days?” 21 But Jesus was speaking about the temple of his body.

 Notes and References

"... John reports that at this point Jesus also said, "I will destroy this Temple that 1s made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands" (Mark 14:58; compare Matt. 26:61). In Mark (14:57-59), however, this is the testimony of a false witness. If it was true that Jesus really said that he would rebuild the Temple, then Caiaphas, the Sadducee, was not listening to rabbinic fantasies. There is a biblical verse which was understood by all to speak about the Messiah, who would build the Temple. 'The man whose name is Branch ... he shall build the Temple of God' (Zech. 6:12). The Branch was generally understood to be a designation for the Messiah. It's therefore logical to suppose that if Jesus said that he would build the Temple, he confessed that he was the Messiah. Likewise, it would be logical for the high priest to respond and ask him 'Are you then the Christ?' ..."

Flusser, David & Notley, R. Steven Jesus (pp. 138-141) Magnes Press, 1997

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