Burning Myrtle

In his first vision, Zechariah sees the Angel of Yahweh among the myrtles. James Jordan suggests that the small but beautiful and aromatic myrtle is the new tree for the returned exiles. As the terebinth was the tree of the Abrahamic period, and the cedar the tree of monarchy, so the hadas is the tree of restoration.

Twice the angel is said to stand “among” (Heb. byn ) the myrtles (1:8, 11). An angel in a bush reminds one of Yahweh’s appearance to Moses at Mount Sinai (Exodus 3:2; Act 7:30). Zechariah’s encounter with the burning angel in the myrtle bush interpellates the prophet as a new Moses and his visions as the making of a new covenant.