PHOTO: Not everyone is happy about the new unity government

It took a while, but the Right and Left finally agreed on a unity government. A pandemic succeeded where common sense could not. It is not certain that this emergency government will actually deliver the hope it promises, but the desire’s there. The diametrically opposed worldview wear down society. But that’s part of the history of Israel. The prophet Zechariah speaks about this between the lines when addressing how to save Jerusalem.

After the Babylonian captivity, the Jewish people slowly return and resettle the Land of Israel. They also rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. Zechariah (520 BC) was not only a prophet, but also a leading priest who had returned from exile in Babylon (Nehemiah 12:16). His name means “God has remembered.” And his prophecies are rather complicated. The reconstruction of the Jerusalem temple is his topic. For Zechariah, the project symbolizes the return of the children of Israel to their God. But according to Christians, the prophet carries a somewhat different message.

According to Jewish interpretation, his...