The Burdens of the Word of the Lord. Chaps. 9 14 Abruptly and with no preface beyond the title, _The Burden of the Word of the Lord_, prefixed to each of them (Zechariah 9:1; Zechariah 12:1), the later prophecies of Zechariah are introduced. Each of the two groups into which they are collected occu... [ Continue Reading ]
_The burden_ It is difficult to decide between the meanings _burden_and _utterance (onus_and _effatum_) for this word, which is of frequent occurrence, especially in Isaiah. If we translate _burden_, it will mean the heavy judgment of Jehovah. In favour of this is the fact that the word is almost al... [ Continue Reading ]
Zechariah 9:1-8. The punishment of Israel's enemies The first section opens with a prediction (Zechariah 9:1-8), from which the title of the whole of this first group of prophecies is derived, of the judgments of God upon the enemies of Israel and of the deliverance of Jerusalem, as a preparation f... [ Continue Reading ]
_shall border thereby_ i.e. as it is near Damascus in situation and like it in character, so shall it be the neighbour or companion of Damascus in the calamities which shall come upon it. The clause may, however, be rendered, AND ALSO HAMATH, WHICH BORDERS BY IT (Damascus), shall be its rest, i.e. t... [ Continue Reading ]
_a strong hold_ There is a paronomasia, or play on the words -Tyre" and -stronghold," in the Hebrew. The reference is to the strongly fortified position of Tyre, which when Alexander attacked it "was situated on an island, nearly half a mile from the mainland. It was completely surrounded by prodigi... [ Continue Reading ]
_cast her out_ Or, _dispossess her_, R. V. Lit. TAKE POSSESSION OF HER, i.e. by ejecting her and coming into her place. Comp. Exodus 34:24. Ewald renders less satisfactorily _will impoverish her_. _her power in the sea_ The order of the Hebrew words is, _shall smite in the sea her power_; where "pow... [ Continue Reading ]
_her expectation_ The cities of Philistia, to which (Zechariah 9:5-7) after the subjugation of Syria (Zechariah 9:1-2) and Phœnicia (Zechariah 9:3-4), the scourge passed, had naturally looked to Tyre to check the course of the invader and so save them from his onslaught. _the king shall perish from... [ Continue Reading ]
_a bastard_ The word only occurs here and in Deuteronomy 23:2 (3, Heb.). There it is probably used of one born of incest or adultery. (_Speaker's Commentary_, Vol. I. pt. ii. p. 884.) Here perhaps it is employed rather as a term of contempt, "a mixed and ignoble race" (_a bastard race_, R. V. margin... [ Continue Reading ]
_his blood out of his mouth_, &c. Lit., BLOODS, i.e. blood as shed (comp. Genesis 4:10). According to Calvin the Philistine, the nation personified, is here compared to a wild beast from whose jaws the prey which he is devouring is torn. "Abominationes enim intelligit quicquid injusta violentia ad s... [ Continue Reading ]
_about mine house_ Rather, FOR MY HOUSE. It is a kind of _dativus commodi_. I will pitch my camp for (the sake of, the protection of) my house, i.e. either of the Temple, or of the people. Comp. Zechariah 3:7, note. _because of_ Lit. FROM, which may mean, _so as to defend it from the army, from him... [ Continue Reading ]
_thy King cometh_ The reference to Christ, the true King of Israel, is direct and immediate. Even if the prophecy be placed before the exile, no event in Jewish history answers, even typically, to this prediction. After the exile no Jewish ruler bore the title of King. "The prophet here briefly shew... [ Continue Reading ]
The Coming of the King The great event for which all that had been foretold in the preceding verses of the chapter, and indeed all the preceding history of Israel and of the world, had been a preparation, and in which as purposed and promised by God was the pledge of Israel's preservation for its a... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will cut off_ Like Himself and His advent shall the character of His kingdom be. Not by weapons of earthly warfare shall it be established. As a kingdom of peace it shall cover the widest extent of the promised land, and thence extend over all the heathen nations of the world. Compare Isaiah's pr... [ Continue Reading ]
_As for thee also_ Lit. ALSO THOU, i.e. as regards thee (O daughter of Sion), I will also (in addition to all that has been promised, Zechariah 9:9-10) liberate thy captives." So Maurer: "Gaude, Sionia! veniet rex tuus tibi, justus cet.; removebuntur instrumenta belli, alta pax erit; auctum erit imp... [ Continue Reading ]
This verse coheres closely with the verse which precedes it, and a full stop should be printed at the end of it, as in R. V. There is a sharp contrast between the _stronghold_here and the _pit_there. And the _prisoners of hope_in this verse are the _prisoners_to whom, while yet in the _pit_, the pro... [ Continue Reading ]
_bent_ Lit. TRODDEN, because the foot was placed on the bow in bending it. The warriors of Israel are weapons in the hand of God. Judah is the bow, Ephraim the arrow, the sons of Zion are now raised or lifted up by Him as a spear (comp. 2 Samuel 23:18, where the Heb. word is the same), now wielded a... [ Continue Reading ]
The prophecy now moves forward, and takes for its groundwork a later epoch in the future history of the Jews. As their deliverance from their enemies without fighting, in the times of Alexander (Zechariah 9:1-8), was foretold as the pledge and type of Messiah's kingdom of peace (Zechariah 9:9-12), s... [ Continue Reading ]
_whirlwinds of the south_ which were the most vehement and destructive. Isaiah 21:1; Job 37:9.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lord of hosts shall defend them_ See, for examples of the first fulfilment, 1Ma 3:16-24; 1Ma 4:6-16; 1Ma 7:40-50. _devour_ It is not said what they shall devour. Calvin takes this and what follows literally of eating and drinking, i.e. of enjoying plenty: "Adjungit etiam fore illis copiam panis... [ Continue Reading ]
_lifted up as an ensign upon_ Rather, RAISED ALOFT OVER, or perhaps, SHINING, or GLITTERING. So R. V. _lifted on high over_. Margin, _glittering upon_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_his goodness … his beauty_ i.e. either Israel's (_their prosperity_, R. V. margin), as thus delivered and honoured by God (comp. Hosea 14:6), or God's, the exclamation being drawn from the prophet by the consideration of the great things he had been commissioned to make known. "The goodness and the... [ Continue Reading ]