Zechariah 9:1

The burden It is difficult to decide between the meanings burdenand utterance (onusand 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 always used (Zechariah 12:1; Malachi 1:1, are referred to as exceptions, but the second of these passages can hardly be called so) to introduce a prophecy of judgment. "The sentence issued against an individual or a community hung as a heavy weight, which at last dragged them down." (Speak. Com. on Isaiah 13:1. Comp. 2 Kings 9:25.) On the other hand, from the use of the cognate verb in the sense of "taking up," i.e. "uttering," a word or speech (as, "thou shalt not take up the name of Jehovah, thy God, in vain," Exodus 20:7; "He took up his parable," Numbers 23:18), many prefer to render utterance, or oracle.

in the land upon the land, R. V.

Hadrach This word, which occurs nowhere else in the O. T., caused, till recently, much perplexity to commentators. Some of them explained it to be the name of a king, others of an idol, while others regarded it as a symbolical name composed by the prophet. The question, however, as to the meaning of the word appears to have been satisfactorily set at rest, by its being discovered in the Assyrian inscriptions "in the catalogue of Syrian cities tributary to Nineveh." Sir H. Rawlinson, quoted by Pusey, says, "It is now certain that there was a city called Hadrach in the neighbourhood of Damascus and Hamath, although its exact site is not known … In the Assyrian Canon Hadrach is the object of three Assyrian expeditions."

the rest thereof Or, its resting place, R. V., i.e. the place on which it (the burden, or utterance, of the word of the Lord) shall light and settle. See Zechariah 6:8, and note there.

when the eyes of man, &c. Or, for the eye … is, R. V. This has been explained as implying "a conversion of Gentiles, as well as Jews. For man, as contrasted with Israel, must be the heathen world, mankind. -The eyes of all must needs look in adoration to God, expecting all good from Him, because the Creator of all provided for the well-being of all." " Pusey. Or, since the context, which is minatory in tone, seems not to admit of this interpretation, the words have been thus paraphrased: "When the fulfilment of the oracles takes place upon Hadrach and Damascus, and the wrath of God descends upon those cities and districts, the eyes of the nations as well as those of the people of Israel will look towards Jehovah, and marvel at the wonders of judgment which will then be performed in their sight in accordance with the solemn warnings of the prophet." Rev. C. H. H. Wright. It is, possible, however, to render, for to Jehovah is (i. e. Jehovah has) an eye on man, and on all the tribes of Israel, the sense being that of such passages as Jeremiah 32:19, and Psalms 10:14.