“[Zechariah’s] night visions and oracles … project a new theological
world
wherein the distinct and historically separated
offices of priest and king
are harmonized in a single, messianic figure—the
Shepherd-King”.
Luke R. Shori
I (Damien Mackey) wrote this in the hope that many will read, in full,
Luke R. Shori’s inspired 2025 article:
The Shepherd-King: Christological Typology and Covenantal Preservation
in the Visions of Zechariah
## **Abstract** This study investigates the Christological
typology of the **Shepherd‑King** in the book of Zechariah, arguing that the
prophet’s night visions and sign‑acts project a theological world that
anticipates the union of priestly and royal offices in the Messiah. Drawing on
**Paul Ricoeur’s** concept of the *surplus of meaning* and **Nicholas
Wolterstorff’s** model of *divine discourse*, the research contends that
Zechariah’s visions transcend their post‑exilic historical setting to
articulate a messianic trajectory fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
Through detailed analysis of the crowning of Joshua (Zechariah 6), the
rejection of the Good Shepherd (Zechariah 11), and the striking of the Shepherd
(Zechariah 13), the study demonstrates how the text shapes a typological
pattern in which the Priest‑King secures covenantal preservation through
sacrificial suffering. Integrating insights from **Meredith Kline’s** Glory‑Spirit
theology and **G.K. Beale’s** temple typology, the paper shows that the
Shepherd‑King builds the eschatological temple, reconciles the offices of
justice and mercy in the “counsel of peace,” and preserves the Abrahamic‑Davidic
promises through the refining of a remnant. Zechariah’s vision thus culminates
in a coherent Christological synthesis in which covenantal fidelity is
maintained not through political restoration but through the redemptive work of
the divine Shepherd who is both Priest and King.
….
Introduction
The post-exilic restoration of Yehud under the Persian hegemony of
Darius I (ca. 520 B.C.) constitutes one of the most intellectually and
theologically volatile periods in the history of Israel.
The community of the Golah, having returned from the trauma of
Babylonian captivity, found itself suspended in a liminal space between the
grandeur of pre-exilic prophetic promises and the grim reality of a ruined
capital, a halted temple reconstruction, and the conspicuous absence of a
Davidic monarch on the throne. It is within this chasm between eschatological
expectation and historical experience that the prophet Zechariah operates. His
night visions and oracles do not merely offer a linear prediction of future
events; rather, they function as a sophisticated mechanism of symbolic
reconfiguration. They project a new theological world wherein the distinct and
historically separated offices of priest and king are harmonized in a single,
messianic figure—the Shepherd-King. This figure emerges not merely as a
political ruler but as the ontological guarantor of covenantal preservation,
ensuring that the divine promises to Abraham and David endure through the
refining fire of judgment.
This research report provides an exhaustive analysis of the
Christological typology of the Shepherd-King in the book of Zechariah. It
specifically examines the union of the priestly and royal offices in the
crowning of Joshua (Zechariah 6:13), the rejection of the Good Shepherd
(Zechariah 11), and the refining of the remnant (Zechariah 13).
To elucidate the complex hermeneutical mechanics at play in these texts,
the study employs Paul Ricoeur’s philosophical concepts of the "world of
the text" and "surplus of meaning," alongside Nicholas
Wolterstorff’s analytic philosophy of "divine discourse."
Furthermore, the redemptive-historical insights of Meredith Kline regarding the
"Glory Spirit" and G.K. Beale’s temple theology provide the necessary
biblical-theological grounding. The central thesis is that Zechariah’s visions
possess a "surplus of meaning" that transcends their immediate
historical referents, projecting a messianic trajectory that finds its ultimate
illocutionary fulfilment in Jesus Christ.
In this schema, the Shepherd-King secures the covenant not through the
preservation of the geopolitical status quo, but through the sacrificial agency
of the Priest-Victim and the purification of a remnant.
….
Conclusion
The book of Zechariah
offers a profound "surplus of meaning" that reshapes the identity of
the people of God in the wake of the exile. Through the hermeneutical lens of Paul
Ricoeur, we see how the text projects a world where the impossible becomes
actual: a Priest sits on a throne, a Shepherd is struck by the sword of the
Lord, and a remnant survives the refining fire. Through the philosophy of Nicholas
Wolterstorff, we hear the "divine discourse" promising a future
that transcends the modest rebuilding efforts of 520 B.C., speaking a word of
promise that echoes into the New Testament. The figure of the Shepherd-King
is the linchpin of this theology. He is the Branch who builds the true,
eschatological Temple. He is the Priest who bears the crown, harmonizing
the offices of justice and mercy in the "counsel of peace." He is the
Shepherd who pays the price of the covenant with His own life, being
sold for thirty pieces of silver and struck by the sword of the Father.
And He is the Fellow of
Yahweh who restores the Glory to the midst of the people.
In this Christological
typology, "covenantal preservation" is secured. The promises to David
and Abraham are not lost in the rubble of Jerusalem; they pass through the
refining fire of the Cross and emerge in the resurrected Shepherd and His purified
flock. As the "counsel of peace" determined before the ages, the
Priest-King establishes a kingdom that cannot be shaken, a "city of
truth" (Zech 8:3) inhabited by a refined people who declare, with full
assurance, "The LORD is my God."
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