‘Who has despised the day of small things?’ asked Zerubbabel. He happened to be holding a plummet in his hands at the time, so perhaps he had a sense of humour (unlike the touchy Elisha, who was much put ouit by small boys and their comments). A good person to answer Zerubbable’s question would have been Zacchaeus.
Zacchaeus was very rich and very inquisitive. Being a rich man, he must have made friends and enemies in his adulthood. But he ignored them, put his dignity on the line, ran ahead and climbed a tree (a sycamore) to get a good view of this wonder-worker Jesus. Said in its prime to be hugely impressive, the lighthouse Pharos was said to be 450 feet high and could be seen at a distance of 42 miles, near Alexandria, Egypt. Nowadays light-house-keepers have been replaced by automatic lights so that this servicing group and its eccentricities is no more. Zacchaeus might have found a vacancy there.
Zacchaeus came as near as was possible to acknowledge that any rich man has questions to answer. He made a prompt offer of reparation. It was generous. Jesus warmed to him and described him as a true son of Abraham. (Luke19.9) So much for descent and family trees. Zacchaeus had the root of the matter in him.
’I do not like thee, Doctor Fell’ runs an old piece of verse, perhaps a nursery rhyme. We all take an instant shine or an instant dislike to a new acquaintance. It is instinctive, unguarded and unreasonable. We do this in matters frivolous and matters serious. The stone held by Zerubbabel had seven eyes which enabled the Lord to know all that was going on on the earth.
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