ZECHARIAH
9
A
Bible Study - Commentary by Jim Melough
Copyright
2002 James Melough
9:1. “The burden of the word of the Lord in the
land of Hadrach, and Damascus shall be the rest thereof: then the eyes of man,
as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the Lord.”
As used here the word “burden” is associated with the thought of an
announcement of doom, the RSV rendering this verse, “... the word of the Lord
is against the land of Hadrach, and will rest upon Damascus. For to the Lord
belong the cities of Aram....” Hadrach is believed to have been a place north
of Hamath; and Damascus was the capital of Syria (Aram).
The conquests of Alexander the Great were the immediate but partial
fulfillment of the predictions of verses 1-8; and the immediate but partial
fulfillment of the predictions of verses 11-17 were carried out by the
Ptolemies (Egyptians), and the Selucids (Syria), two of the four parts into
which Alexander’s kingdom was divided after his death, hence the reference to
them in 9:13 as “thy sons, O Greece.” The complete fulfillment, however, will
come in the now imminent Tribulation, and in that day these Gentile nations,
like Israel, will be compelled to acknowledge the Lord’s power over them.
9:2. “And Hamath also shall border thereby;
Tyrus, and Zidon, though it be very wise.”
The first part of this verse means that Hamath (a city north of Damascus),
together with Tyre and Sidon would all be destroyed, no matter how wise they
might appear to be in the estimate of men. It is the height of folly, not
wisdom, for a man, a city, or a nation to make itself the object of God’s
wrath.
9:3. “And Tyrus did build herself a strong hold,
and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets.”
Tyre had fortified herself so that she and everyone else considered her to be
impregnable, and within her fortified walls had amassed vast wealth; but
nothing could save her from the judgment of the omnipotent Jehovah Whom she
had scorned.
9:4. Behold, the Lord will cast her out, and he
will smite her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire.”
In 664 BC Tyre was captured by the Assyrians after a 5-year siege, but
eventually regained her independence; but was again captured c.574 by the
Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar after a 13-year siege. In 332 BC Alexander,
after a relatively brief 5-month siege, captured the city again, and it is
generally believed that that is the destruction referred to here. It
eventually recovered, however, and was in fact a thriving city during the time
of the Lord’s ministry. It exists today under the name Sur, its final
destruction awaiting the Tribulation era.
9:5. “Ashkelon shall see it, and fear, Gaza also
shall see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron; for her expectation shall be
ashamed; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be
inhabited.”
These towns were all located in Philistine territory, and the destruction of
Tyre would sound their own death knell, for with mighty Tyre gone, there would
be nothing to stand between them and the invader. The expectation of Ekron,
like that of these other cities, was that Tyre would defeat their common
enemy.
9:6. “And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I
will cut off the pride of the Philistines.”
Ashdod was also a Philistine city, and its becoming the home of “a bastard”
means simply that it would be occupied by foreigners.
9:7. “And I will take away his blood out of his
mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth: but he that remaineth,
even he, shall be for our God, and he shall be as a governor in Judah, and
Ekron as a Jebusite.”
Taylor’s translation of this verse eliminates the ambiguity of the KJ
version. It reads, “I will yank her idolatry out of her mouth, and pull from
her teeth her sacrifices that she eats with blood. Everyone left will worship
God and be adopted into Israel as a new clan: the Philistines of Ekron will
intermarry with the Jews, just as the Jebusites did so long ago.”
“... he shall be as a governor in Judah,” means that the remnant which will
survive will have its own governor, and will be accepted as an equal of any of
the tribes of Israel. This obviously looks on to the Millennium, so that the
foretold destruction will come in the Tribulation era, leaving only a
believing remnant to enter the Millennium.
9:8. “And I will encamp about mine house because
of the army, because of him that passeth by, and because of him that returneth:
and no oppressor shall pass through them anymore: for now have I seen with
mine eyes.”
This is generally understood to refer to the fact that on Alexander’s first
invasion of Palestine he left Jerusalem untouched, as he did also on his
victorious return march; but as with virtually all of this section, complete
fulfillment awaits the Millennium.
The phrase “now have I seen with mine eyes” means that His omniscient eye will
be watching over her then with the same ceaseless vigilance as in the past.
9:9. “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion;
shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold thy King cometh unto thee: he is just,
and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal
of an ass.”
This was partially fulfilled on the day when the Lord rode into Jerusalem, and
was hailed as King by the multitude; but clearly complete fulfillment awaits
the end of the Tribulation and the beginning of the Millennium. (According to
The Bible Knowledge Commentary “In the ancient Near East, if a king
came in peace, he would ride on a donkey instead of a war stallion). There is
nothing in Scripture to indicate that Christ will ride into Jerusalem on a
donkey at His second advent. That was appropriate to His coming as God’s
Lamb, but at the end of the Tribulation He will come as the omnipotent Lion of
Judah to execute judgment, banish His foes, and inaugurate His millennial
kingdom.
Israel’s being referred to as a daughter speaks of her subjection to Christ in
that coming glorious age, for a daughter is used symbolically to portray
loving willing obedience.
As has been noted earlier, Zion was the name of the Temple mount, and was
therefore synonymous with Israel’s religious life. Jerusalem, the whole city,
on the other hand, was the center of her political and economic life, so that
the mention of Zion and Jerusalem therefore points to the fact that in the
Millennium Christ will be Ruler over every aspect, not only of Jewish life,
but of all the nations.
His being “just, and having salvation” declares that perfect justice will
characterize His reign, and He will be available to the millennial peoples as
Savior, just as He has always been to people in every age, for it is to be
remembered, that apart from the saved remnant that will pass from the
Tribulation into the Millennium, every person born during those thousand years
will require a new spiritual birth to fit him for the eternal state that will
follow the Millennium. And as has been noted already, during that glorious
age Christ will be reigning from the heavenly Jerusalem, while His regent, a
literal descendant of David, will reign over the earth from the throne in the
earthly Jerusalem.
It is emphasized that He rode into Jerusalem two thousand years ago, not on
the mother ass, but on her colt, and a special significance attaches to that
fact, for the ass represents the body of the natural man; the colt (second
generation), the body of the born-again man. That second generation ass, with
Christ on its back controlling it, rode into Jerusalem, which means double
peace, the spiritual truth being taught symbolically in this being that
when we submit our lives to Christ’s control, the result is the enjoyment of
His peace which passeth understanding.
9:10. “And I will cut off the chariot from
Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off:
and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea
even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.”
This declares the truth that in the Millennium wars will cease. Neither
Israel, nor any of the nations will require an army during the glorious reign
of the Prince of peace, whose dominion will be “from sea to sea, and from the
river (Euphrates) even to the ends of the earth,” i.e., worldwide.
9:11. “As for thee also, by the blood of thy
covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.”
The covenant mentioned here is generally understood to be that which God made
with Abraham, see Ge 15; but ultimately the reference must be to the covenant
sealed with the blood of Christ. At the end of the Tribulation God will
deliver imprisoned Jewish exiles from across the earth, and gather them back
into their own land again, the certainty of that deliverance being guaranteed
by His describing it as a thing already accomplished.
The pit without water is generally taken to refer to an empty cistern being
used as a dungeon, a figurative way of describing Israel’s two thousand year
scattering amongst the nations. Since water, in a bad sense, is used
scripturally to designate death (see the symbolic references to Christ’s death
under such a figure in Ps 42:7; 69:1, 2, 14, 15; 88:6, 7, 16-18), the absence
of water here may be an oblique assurance that Israel’s present long judgment
is not for her destruction, but to bring her to repentance and blessing
following the final judgment of the Tribulation era.
9:12. “Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners
of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee:”
The “strong hold” is millennial Jerusalem; and the “prisoners of hope,” the
Jewish exiles scattered across the earth. Following the Tribulation they will
be gathered back to Palestine which will then burgeon phenomenally as
described in Amos 9:13-15, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the
plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth
seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.
And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall
build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and
drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of
them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled
up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.”
“I will render double unto thee,” means simply that the abundance of blessing
will more than compensate for all they will have suffered in the Tribulation.
9:13. “When I have bent Judah for me, filled the
bow with Ephraim (the ten northern tribes), and raised up thy sons, O Zion,
against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man.”
Taylor has translated this verse, “Judah, you are my bow! Ephraim, you are my
arrow! Both of you will be my sword, like the sword of a mighty soldier
brandished against the sons of Greece.” This defeat of Greece by Israel was
partially fulfilled by the Maccabees in the period between 169-135 BC; but the
ultimate application is to Israel’s defeat of her Gentile enemies at the end
of the Tribulation, and of her dominion over their believing descendants in
the Millennium, Greece being used here as representative of all the Gentile
nations.
9:14. “And the Lord shall be seen over them, and
his arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the Lord God shall blow the
trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south.”
This certainly may refer to God’s enablement of the Maccabees in the past, but
the ultimate application is to His deliverance of the believing remnant of
Israel from the Gentile armies gathered against them towards the end of the
Tribulation. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself, returning in power and glory,
will destroy their foes. The lightning speaks of Christ’s swift and deadly
power; the trumpet declares it to be a time of battle; and the notoriously
destructive power of the whirlwinds from the south will be as nothing compared
with that with which the Lord will come against Israel’s foes.
9:15. “The Lord of hosts shall defend them; and
they shall devour, and subdue with sling stones; and they shall drink, and
make a noise as through wine; and they shall be filled like bowls, and as the
corners of the altar.”
With His power put forth on their behalf they will be invincible. The modern
weapons which are the equivalent of the sling stones of ancient times, will be
virtually useless against the Israelites, the completeness of the carnage
being likened to the victors’ drinking the blood of their enemies so that
they, the victors, will be like bowls filled with wine, or like the corners of
the altar drenched with the blood of the animal sacrifices.
9:16. “And the Lord their God shall save them in
that day as the flock of his people: for they shall be as the stones of a
crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land.”
The RSV renders the latter part of this verse, “... for they are the people of
his flock ... like the jewels of a crown they shall shine on his land.” This
continues to emphasize the universal dominion and glory that will be given
Israel in the Millennium.
9:17. “For how great is his goodness, and how
great is his beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the
maids.”
Taylor has translated this verse, “How wonderful and beautiful all shall be!
The abundance of grain and wine will make the young men and girls flourish;
they will be radiant with health and happiness.”
The blessedness of Christ’s millennial reign continues to be portrayed here.
[Zechariah
10]