Zechariah 14:1-21

The Judgment of the Heathen. Exaltation of Jerusalem

This chapter has the appearance of a late work. It has all the general characteristics of the style of literature known to students in the book of Enoch, and popular in the Jewish church about the beginning of the Christian era. The terrible punishment of the heathen (Zechariah 14:12), and the ceremonial purity of Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:20), are typical of the narrower phases of late Judaism.

1, 2. Jerusalem again assaulted and taken.

3-7. The Lord descends to the help of Jerusalem, and strange phenomena follow.

8-21. Then comes the Messianic age; the face of nature is changed; the heathen are subdued; Jerusalem, restored, becomes the centre of worship, and all therein are consecrated to the Lord.

1. Lo! a day is coming by the instrumentality of the Lord, i.e. a judgment day. Thy spoil] The city is taken and sacked.

2. Cp. Joshua 3:2.