Day 9

Zechariah 6: 12-13

Thus says the Lord of hosts: Here is a man whose name is Branch: for he shall branch out in his place,

and he shall build the temple of the Lord. It is he that shall build the temple of the Lord; he shall bear royal honour, and shall sit and rule on his throne.

Branch

There is a yearning among many of us to understand our forebears and for years researching family trees has been a popular hobby.  This has been taken to a new level with DNA kits being available to not only work out our geographic origins, but to trace others with similar DNA.  A recent estimate indicates that more than 26 million people worldwide have undergone genetic ancestry testing and one in 20 Britons. 

On Day 3, we read of the root of Jesse (the father of David) here with a capital B, Branch, also refers to the kingly line of David. 

But here the word branch takes on much richer layers of  meaning than family ancestry –  the Branch here is a perfect priest and king in one person, a concept prophesied six centuries before Jesus was born.   It was also associated with fruitfulness and life and ‘He shall branch out’ speaks of spreading life and fruitfulness.  May we too ‘branch out’ to embrace the priestly king, the one who brings us peace.   

Gill