Zechariah 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.

For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! - the goodness and beauty which JEHOVAH-MESSIAH bestows on His people. Not, as Maurer thinks, the goodness, etc., of His land or His people (Psalms 31:19; Jeremiah 31:12).

Corn shall make the young men cheerful - literally, make to grow [ yªnowbeeb (H5107), from nuwb (H5107), to grow up].

And new wine the maids - supply, 'shall make ... to grow.' Corn and wine abundant indicate peace and plenty. The new wine gladdening the maids is special to this passage [ tiyrowsh (H8492), must, or, sweet new wine, such as women like: from yaarash (H3423), to take possession of, as wine is apt to do]. It confutes those who interdict the use of wine as food. The Jews, heretofore straitened in provisions through pressure of the foe, shall now have abundance to cheer, not merely the old, but even the youths and maidens (Calvin). Remarks:

(1) Times of trouble are sent by God, in order that "men's eyes" my be directed "toward the Lord" (Zechariah 9:1). Thus evil is overruled to good; and the chastisements inflicted on the children of God prove to be their greatest mercies, because they are thereby led more entirely to look unto the Lord, who is the Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

(2) With all Tyre's wisdom, "very wise" as she was reputed (Zechariah 9:2), and with all her "heaping up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets" (Zechariah 9:3), she could not deliver herself from the conqueror Alexander. "There is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel against the Lord" (Proverbs 21:30). What He spake against Tyre by His prophet, in the midst of Tyre's prosperity, ages before the event, all came to pass, however unlikely it seemed at the time. "The sea," the very element on which she based her power, was made the instrument of her destruction (Zechariah 9:4). Let us hence learn how vain are all creature-confidences apart from God.

(3) The neighbours of Tyre, the Philistines, had expected that Tyre would check the progress of the conqueror Alexander before he reached themselves. But their "expectation" was put to shame (Zechariah 9:5). "Pride" (Zechariah 9:6), and a bloodthirsty spirit, are sure to bring down condign punishment at last (Zechariah 9:7).

(4) What a blessed contrast to these does the people of God's covenant present! They were, in the prophet's time, comparatively but a scanty few "remaining" (Zechariah 9:7). But the Lord was on their side.

Therefore, alike in the trials to which they were exposed under the Persian government, in rebuilding the temple, and in those which subsequently they encountered under Alexander and his successors, the elect remnant was preserved. By a marvelous interposition, "the Lord encamped about his house, because of the army" (Zechariah 9:8) of their enemies, when the Grecian conqueror threatened their capital. The Lord Himself made the wrath of man to praise Him. And this is but the earnest of a still more wonderful deliverance which He will yet vouchsafe to His ancient people. Then shall they turn to Messiah their Lord, and shall thenceforth be wholly "for our God." Then "no oppressor shall pass through them anymore," after the long ages of oppression to which they have been exposed. So in the case of the spiritual Israel, the Christian Church. She now is surrounded with enemies; but the Lord's own "eyes" are upon her; and His goodness and His power alike are pledged for her final salvation and triumph.

(5) Zion is called on to "rejoice greatly," and to "shout" for joy in the prospect of her King coming unto her (Zechariah 9:9). His coming is unto, and for, His people. Therefore they may well rejoice "with joy unspeakable and full of glory" (cf. Isaiah 25:9; Isaiah 61:10). None have such reason for joy as those who know, by blessed experience, Christ the Saviour to have come unto themselves.

(6) "He is just," and yet He "hath salvation" for the unjust: and this not in violation of, but in strictest conformity with His perfect justice. For He hath fulfilled all the demands of justice for us as our Representative man. He hath, by his blood-shedding, paid the whole debt due to justice, and so removes all the guilt and penalty of our disobedience and corruption; moreover, by His perfect obedience to the whole law in His life as man, He has worked out for us a perfect righteousness, which is imputed to all (Romans 5:19; 2 Corinthians 5:21) who, through faith in His blood, have been forgiven and accepted before God. Thus His justice or righteousness secures to us not merely deliverance from wrath, but also a title to heaven, on the grounds not only of mercy, but also of justice. God's justice, therefore, so far from being relaxed in its holy strictness, is actually "magnified and made honourable" in the acceptance of the sinner, who stands in the righteousness of the infinitely-perfect Saviour (Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 42:21). (7) What a contrast to the Grecian king, who came only to destroy, does our Lord and King, Jesus, present, who came to save! Nor is this all: He is coming again in justice both to His enemies and to His people. He shall inflict righteous vengeance on the ungodly, and shall thus show Himself the antitype to David, the man of war, before His manifestation as "Prince of Peace," the antitype to Solomon (Zechariah 9:10). "Unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time, without sin, unto salvation" (Hebrews 9:28). His past "lowliness" (Zechariah 9:9) shall be the ground of His coming exaltation in manifested glory (Philippians 2:7). His people, too, as having shared His humiliation, and as having "learned of" Him who is "meek and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29), shall share in His universal "dominion" (Zechariah 9:10).

(8) "The blood" of Jesus, which ratifies the Gospel "covenant," is the antitype to the blood of beasts, by which the covenant of Sinai was ratified (Zechariah 9:11). By Him believers, who were once "shut up" (Galatians 3:23) under condemnation, as in a prison, and who were without hope, are "sent forth out of the pit wherein is no water" (Zechariah 9:11). Are any of us unbelievers? Though such are still prisoners, their case is not yet hopeless. They are, in this dispensation of grace, "prisoners of hope." Therefore let them "turn" at once to their "strong hold," the Saviour of sinners. Are we believers? Then we also are, in a higher sense, "prisoners of hope." Though in many trials we are like "prisoners," we can maintain a well-grounded "hope" in our covenant-keeping God. Our wisdom is to turn continually to our stronghold, the Lord, who will not disappoint our hope.

(9) The literal Israel's "hope" seems now lost. God assures her that "there is hope in her end" (Jeremiah 31:17), and that great as has been her adversity, He will "render double" unto her (Zechariah 9:12). As after the storm comes the rainbow, so after Israel's affliction shall come her consolation. Whereas the enemy shall be "trodden" under foot as worthless "sling stones" (Zechariah 9:15), the elect people, the Lord's own "flock" (Zechariah 9:16), "shall be as the stones of a crown," attracting by their beauty all the nations to the Lord's "ensign." Then shall the universal liturgy of praise ascend to the Lord. All the glory of man's salvation and blessedness shall be ascribed, not to any human goodness, but to the Lord, "for how great is His goodness, and how great is His beauty!" (Zechariah 9:17.)