_Behold, the day of the Lord cometh_ A day of the Lord's great wrath and indignation will soon overtake you, O sinful, unthankful, bloody Jews! A day remarkable for the execution of divine vengeance upon you, and your city, Jerusalem. This chapter ought to have been joined to the preceding; for here... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then shall the Lord_ After he hath sufficiently punished Jerusalem and the rest of the Jewish nations; _go forth_ Out of his holy place, as a warrior prepared for battle. This is spoken after the manner of men; _and fight against those nations_ Which had taken and destroyed Jerusalem, and oppressed... [ Continue Reading ]
_And it shall come to pass in that day_ Namely, when the Lord shall come forth to fight against the enemies of his church, the nations that fought against Jerusalem, as foretold Zechariah 14:3; or, in that day when he shall come to convert and restore the Jews, and spread his gospel through all the... [ Continue Reading ]
_And it shall be in that day_ Spoken of Zechariah 14:6, when _the light shall not be clear, nor dark_, that is, during the whole of the forementioned period; _living waters shall go out from Jerusalem_ The enlightening, quickening, and saving truths of Christianity, accompanied by the power of the H... [ Continue Reading ]
_All the land_ The whole land of Judea, a type of the whole earth, the seat of the universal church, filled with the knowledge of God, and abounding with multitudes of converts: _shall be turned as a plain_ All high, uneven places, all rocky and barren grounds, shall be changed into fruitful vineyar... [ Continue Reading ]
_And this shall be the plague_, &c. Those that do not die in battle, nor fall by the hand of their brethren, shall be destroyed by famine, or consumption. _Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet_ They shall be miserably emaciated, even while they stand in arms ready to fight... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Judah also shall fight at_ [or rather, _for_] _Jerusalem_ The meaning seems to be, that while the enemies of Jerusalem are engaged in fighting with each other, Judah also (Hebrew, וגם יהודה,) will come up and join their forces with those of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, will fall upon the weake... [ Continue Reading ]
_And every one that is left of all the nations_ Such as escape the fore-mentioned strokes of divine judgment, and are by mercy preserved; _of all the nations which came against Jerusalem_ That is, many among all these nations shall consider God's hand, repent, and submit to his law. Such a change sh... [ Continue Reading ]
_Whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth_ If there be any remiss herein, and neglect to worship the Lord; _even upon them shall be no rain_ They shall be punished with want of rain, and of the blessings which plentiful and seasonable rains produce; their land shall be barren, and the... [ Continue Reading ]
_In that day_ When the nations are converted to God, as is foretold Zechariah 14:16; _shall there be upon the bells of the horses_ Written, as it were, on every common thing; HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD This was the inscription on the mitre of the Jewish high-priest, denoting the great holiness of his of... [ Continue Reading ]