Zechariah 9 commentary

Here are judgements foretold on several nations. While the Macedonians and Alexander's successors were in warfare in these countries, the Lord promised to protect his people. God's house lies in the midst of an enemy's country; his church is as a lily among thorns. God's power and goodness are seen in her special preservation. The Lord encamps about his church, and while armies of proud opposers shall pass by and return, his eyes watch over her, so that they cannot prevail, and shortly the time will come when no exactor shall pass by her any more.

The prophet breaks forth into a joyful representation of the coming of the Messiah, of whom the ancient Jews explained this prophecy. He took the character of their King, when he entered Jerusalem amidst the hosannas of the multitude. But his kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. It shall not be advanced by outward force or carnal weapons. His gospel shall be preached to the world, and be received among the heathen. A sinful state is a state of bondage; it is a pit, or dungeon, in which there is no water, no comfort; and we are all by nature prisoners in this pit. Through the precious blood of Christ, many prisoners of Satan have been set at liberty from the horrible pit in which they must otherwise have perished, without hope or comfort. While we admire Him, let us seek that his holiness and truth may be shown in our own spirits and conduct. These promises have accomplishment in the spiritual blessings of the gospel which we enjoy by Jesus Christ. As the deliverance of the Jews was typical of redemption by Christ, so this invitation speaks to all the language of the gospel call. Sinners are prisoners, but prisoners of hope; their case is sad, but not desperate; for there is hope in Israel concerning them. Christ is a Strong-hold, a strong Tower, in whom believers are safe from the fear of the wrath of God, the curse of the law, and the assaults of spiritual enemies. To him we must turn with lively faith; to him we must flee, and trust in his name under all trials and sufferings. It is here promised that the Lord would deliver his people. This passage also refers to the apostles, and the preachers of the gospel in the early ages. God was evidently with them; his words from their lips pierced the hearts and consciences of the hearers. They were wondrously defended in persecution, and were filled with the influences of the Holy Spirit. They were saved by the Good Shepherd as his flock, and honoured as jewels of his crown. The gifts, graces, and consolations of the Spirit, poured forth on the day of Pentecost, Ac 2 and in succeeding times, are represented. Sharp have been, and still will be, the conflicts of Zion's sons, but their God will give them success. The more we are employed, and satisfied with his goodness, the more we shall admire the beauty revealed in the Redeemer. Whatever gifts God bestows on us, we must serve him cheerfully with them; and, when refreshed with blessings, we must say, How great is his goodness!

Chapter 9

Zechariah 9:1

1. The burden of the word of the Lord in the land of Hadrach, and Damascus shall be the rest thereof: when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the Lord

1. Onus sermonis Iehovae in terra Chadrak, et Damascus quies ejus; quia ad Iehovam oculus hominis et omnium tribuum Israel.

One thing had escaped my notice in the words of the Prophet — that great people and strong nations would come. We have said that “great” rather than “many” ought to be adopted. The latter meaning may indeed be allowed that the worshipers of God would come from various cities; but as the word עצומים, otsumim properly signifies strong, and as it is certain that the Prophet means the same thing by the two words, it is more probable that he speaks of strong and valiant people, as they are not so easily subdued; for the more any one excels in prowess, the more stiff is his neck to undertake the yoke. As then the strong and the brave, and such as are eminent in the world, are not so easily brought to submit to God, the Prophet expressly says, that they shall become teachable, and be made willing, so that pride, as it is usually the case, shall not be a hindrance to them. There seems to be no good reason for considering the two adjectives as describing the same thing. On the contrary, the reverse is most probable. Their number as well as their character is evidently here set forth; they were “many,” and “strong,” or mighty or powerful. The Septuagint and Jerome render the word “many,” and so do most interpreters. — Ed.

I come now to the passage in which the Prophet announces a heavy burden, or a severe and fearful prophecy respecting Syria and other neighboring nations. I prefer to retain the word “burden,” rather than to render it prophecy, as many expositors have done; for though משא, mesha, is sometimes taken simply for prophecy, yet there is here, as it appears to me, something particular intended; for the Prophet denounces God’s judgment both on Syria and on the surrounding countries, and the word prophecy is not suitable; for to say “the prophecy of the word,” would be strange and without meaning. But when he says, The burden of the word of God, the sentence is full, and flows well; for he reminds us that his word would not be ineffectual, but full of effect, as it would lie as a burden on Syria and on other countries, which they should not be able to shake off. The burden then of the word of Jehovah; that is, “I have now a prediction which will be grievous and severe to those heathens who now disturb the Jews, the chosen people.”

But this doctrine contains consolation to the godly; for they may hence know that they are safe under God’s protection, as he carries on war with their enemies; nay, his vengeance was now prepared against all those who harassed the Jews. As then he had before promised that incredible favor of God which we have noticed, so now he declares that the Church would be safe under the protection of God, inasmuch as vengeance was in readiness for all the ungodly.

But the Prophet mentions here only the cities known to the Jews, for it was enough to refer to them as an example, that the Jews might hence conclude that God would be always the protector of his Church, so that no enemies shall escape unpunished. The Prophet then no doubt mentioned these few cities to the Jews, that they might feel assured that nothing is so strong and impetuous in the world which God cannot easily subdue and lay prostrate. Now as we apprehend the Prophet’s object, we shall come to the words.

Some think that the word חדרך, chedrak, includes the whole of Syria, which seems to me probable. Others suppose that some notable city is meant, as Damascus is immediately subjoined. But as the matter is uncertain, and as there is no doubt but that the Prophet speaks of the kingdom of Syria, I will not contest the point. Be it then the name of a city or of a country, Blayney thinks it to be the name of a Syrian king, and so does Henderson. The former quotes Josephus, who calls Rehob, in 2 Samuel 8:3, [Λραχος]. This prince reigned over a part of Syria called Zobah. If this be admitted, then the three chief kingdoms of Syria are here named — Zobah, Damascus, and Hamath. But Henderson is disposed to think that it is a corruption of the word [חרר], the common name of the kings of Syria. — Ed. it is all the same, for the Prophet means that the vengeance of God was impending over the Syrians, and impending in such a manner, that it would not depart from them until they were wholly destroyed. For when he adds that its rest would be Damascus, he intimates that God’s judgment would not be like a storm, which soon passes away, but that it would be a heavy and burdensome mass, which could not be dissipated, according to what Isaiah says —

“The word came on Jacob and fell on Israel;” (Isaiah 8:9;)

that is, what God pronounced against Jacob fell on Israel. He indeed changes the name, but it is the same as though he had said — “When God shall punish Jacob, can the Israelites escape?” for they were the same. The sentence then shall fall, that is, it shall find its own place: in vain will they run here and there to escape. The Jews then will gain nothing by their flight; for the vengeance now denounced by the Lord shall lay hold on them. So also in this place he says, the burden of the word of Jehovah on the land of Chadrak and Damascus, the royal city, the metropolis, shall be its rest, its dwelling; for the Lord’s vengeance will fix its station there, and it cannot be thence removed. In vain then will the Syrians try in various ways to escape, for they must be pressed down by God’s hand, until they be laid prostrate. We now then understand in what sense the Prophet says that Damascus would be the rest, the habitation, or the abode of God’s vengeance.

He afterwards adds, For to Jehovah the eye of man. The particle כי, ki is to be taken here, I think, as an adverb of time, “When”. There is indeed in reality but little difference, except that the common rendering of it greatly obscures the meaning of the Prophet. But if it be taken as an adverb of time, the passage will read better, When the eye of man shall be to Jehovah, and of all the tribes of Israel; that is, when the Jews shall begin to turn to God without any dissimulation, but with real sincerity; then he says, God will in every way bless them, and raise up his hand against their enemies. The Prophet had before exhorted the Jews to repentance; for they had been too much given to sacrifices and fastings, while no integrity existed among them. So also he shows again that their hypocrisy was an hindrance, which prevented God to manifest his favor to them; and thus he reminds them, that the gate would be opened, and the way made plain and even for God’s favor and blessings, whenever they raised their eyes to him, that is, whenever they derived their hopes from him, and fixed on him their dependence. For to direct the eyes to God is nothing else than to look to him so as to fix on him all our thoughts. Some understand by “man” all mortals, but of this I approve not; nor do I doubt but that the Prophet refers to the Jews alone; and doubtless it is not consistent with the context to regard any but the Jews. It is indeed true, that the Prophet speaks here of the calling of the Gentiles, but so as to begin with the Jews; for as they were the first-born, so it was necessary for them to have the precedence. The Prophet then here declares that God would be glorious in his chosen people, and would lay prostrate all the bordering enemies. Then the eye of man signifies the same as the eye of the whole people; as though he had said, that after the Jews had begun to lay aside all dissimulation and devoted themselves to God, and cast all their hopes on him, they would then find God sufficiently powerful to lay in the dust all their enemies.

But he afterwards adds, by way of explanation, and of all the tribes of Israel. Some give this rendering, “How much more,” as though the Prophet reasoned here from the less to the greater. But, as I have already said, this cannot be maintained. First, this explanation is strained, “The eye of man, and especially of all the tribes of Israel;” for the Jews ought to have had the first place: and secondly, the particle waw has no amplifying sense. In short, he intended by a small particle to show that precedence belonged to the Jews. I do not then understand what they mean, who would include all nations in the word “man,” and then regard the Prophet as proceeding to mention the tribes of Israel. Now what I have stated, that the true servants of God were then few, is probable enough; hence the Prophet here exhorts the whole people to a union in religion. Whenever then the whole tribes of Israel directed their eyes to God, the burden of his word would then come upon Damascus and all the Syrians. This sentence is one of some difficulty. The Septuagint, the Targum, the Syriac, and the Arabic versions, give this meaning, — that Jehovah sees, i.e., observes, and therefore judges, all men, as well as the ten tribes of Israel: and this is the view taken by Grotius, Piscator, Marckius, Dathius, and Newcome. The version of the last is, —

For the eye of Jehovah over man, And over all the tribes of Israel.

Literally it is,

For to Jehovah (belongs) the eye (i.e. the seeing) of man And of all the tribes of Israel.

The “eye” here is supposed to be put for the capacity of seeing, and is rendered by some “spectator — the beholder,” or judge,—”For it belongs to Jehovah to be the beholder or the eyer of man,” or of mankind, “and of all the tribes of Israel.”

But Kimchi, Blayney, and Henderson agree in the view of Calvin and of our version. The former meaning seems most suitable to the context, as a reason is given for God’s judgments on the surrounding Gentiles, for he observes the conduct of man in general as well as of the tribes of Israel: it is a declaration that his providence extends over all mankind. The paraphrase of Dathius is, “For Jehovah by his providence governs all men as well as the tribes of Israel.” — Ed.

Prayer

Grant, Almighty God, that as thou kindly and graciously extends thy hand to us, not only to show us once for all the right way, but also to lead us through our whole life, and even to sustain us when wearied, and to raise us up when fallen, — O grant, that we may not be ungrateful for this thy great kindness, but render ourselves obedient to thee; and may we not experience the dreadful power of thy judgment, which thou denounces on all thine enemies, who are to sustain a vengeance that is to sink them in the abyss of endless perdition; but may we suffer ourselves to be ever raised up by thy hand, until we shall at length reach that blessed rest, to which thou invites us, and art ready to lead us, where we shall enjoy the fullness of those blessings which have been obtained for us by thy only-begotten Son — Amen.

Lecture One Hundred and Fifty-second

Zechariah 9:2-4

2. And Hamath also shall border thereby; Tyrus, and Zidon, though it be very wise.

2. Etiam Chemath terminabit in ea; Tyrus et Sidon, quia (vel quamvis) sapiens sit valde.

3. And Tyrus did build herself a strong hold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets.

3. Et aedificavit Tyrus munitionem sibi, et coacervavit argentum quasi pulverem, et aurum quasi lutum platearum.

4. Behold, the Lord will cast her out, and he will smite her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire.

4. Ecce Dominus expellet (vel, ad inopiam rediget) eam, et percutiet in mari potentiam ejus, et ipsa igne devorabitur.

CHAPTER 9

Zec 9:1-17. Ninth to Fourteenth Chapters Are Prophetical.

Written long after the previous portions of the book, whence arise the various features which have been made grounds for attacking their authenticity, notwithstanding the testimony of the Septuagint and of the compilers of the Jewish canon in their favor. See Introduction.

Alexander's Conquests in Syria (Zec 9:1-8). God's People Safe because Her King Cometh Lowly, but a Saviour (Zec 9:9-10). The Maccabean Deliverance a Type Thereof (Zec 9:11-17).

1. in ... Hadrach--rather, concerning or against Hadrach (compare Is 21:13). "Burden" means a prophecy BURDENED with wrath against the guilty. Maurer, not so well, explains it, What is taken up and uttered, the utterance, a solemn declaration.

Hadrach--a part of Syria, near Damascus. As the name is not mentioned in ancient histories, it probably was the less-used name of a region having two names ("Hadrach" and "Bikathaven," Am 1:5, Margin); hence it passed into oblivion. An ancient Rabbi Jose is, however, stated to have expressly mentioned it. An Arab, Jos. Abassi, in 1768 also declared to Michaelis that there was then a town of that name, and that it was capital of the region Hadrach. The name means "enclosed" in Syrian, that is, the west interior part of Syria, enclosed by hills, the Coelo-Syria of Strabo [Maurer]. Jerome considers Hadrach to be the metropolis of Coelo-Syria, as Damascus was of the region about that city. Hengstenberg regards Hadrach as a symbolical name of Persia, which Zechariah avoids designating by its proper name so as not to offend the government under which he lived. But the context seems to refer to the Syrian region. Gesenius thinks that the name is that of a Syrian king, which might more easily pass into oblivion than that of a region. Compare the similar "land of Sihon," Ne 9:22.

Damascus ... rest thereof--that is, the place on which the "burden" of the Lord's wrath shall rest. It shall permanently settle on it until Syria is utterly prostrate. Fulfilled under Alexander the Great, who overcame Syria [Curtius, Books 3 and 4].

eyes of man, as of all ... Israel ... toward the Lord--The eyes of men in general, and of all Israel in particular, through consternation at the victorious progress of Alexander, shall be directed to Jehovah. The Jews, when threatened by him because of Jaddua the high priest's refusal to swear fealty to him, prayed earnestly to the Lord, and so were delivered (2Ch 20:12; Psa 23:2). Typical of the effect of God's judgments hereafter on all men, and especially on the Jews in turning them to Him. Maurer, Pembellus and others, less probably translate, "The eyes of the Lord are upon man, as they are upon all Israel," namely, to punish the ungodly and to protect His people. He, who has chastised His people, will not fail to punish men for their sins severely. The "all," I think, implies that whereas men's attention generally (whence "man" is the expression) was directed to Jehovah's judgments, all Israel especially looks to Him.

2. Hamath--a Syrian kingdom with a capital of the same name, north of Damascus.

shall border thereby--shall be joined to Damascus in treatment, as it is in position; shall share in the burden of wrath of which Damascus is the resting-place. Maurer understands "which"; "Hamath, which borders on Damascus, also shall be the resting-place of Jehovah's wrath" (the latter words being supplied from Zec 9:1). Riblah, the scene of the Jews' sufferings from their foe, was there: it therefore shall suffer (2Ki 23:33; 25:6, 7, 20, 21).

Tyrus ... Zidon--lying in the conqueror's way on his march along the Mediterranean to Egypt (compare Is 23:1-18). Zidon, the older city, surrendered, and Abdolonymus was made its viceroy.

very wise--in her own eyes. Referring to Tyre: Zec 9:3 shows wherein her wisdom consisted, namely, in building a stronghold, and heaping up gold and silver (Eze 38:3, 5, 12, 17). On Alexander's expressing his wish to sacrifice in Hercules' temple in New Tyre on the island, she showed her wisdom in sending a golden crown, and replying that the true and ancient temple of Hercules was at Old Tyre on the mainland. With all her wisdom she cannot avert her doom.

3. The heathen historian, Diodorus Siculus [17.40], confirms this. "Tyre had the greatest confidence owing to her insular position and fortifications, and the abundant stores she had prepared." New Tyre was on an island seven hundred paces from the shore. As Isaiah's and Ezekiel's (Eze 27:1-36) prophecies were directed against Old Tyre on the mainland and were fulfilled by Nebuchadnezzar, so Zechariah's are against New Tyre, which was made seemingly impregnable by a double wall one hundred fifty feet high, as well as the sea on all sides.

4. (Eze 26:4, 12; 27:27).

cast her out--Hebrew, "dispossess her," that is, will cast her inhabitants into exile [Grotius]. Alexander, though without a navy, by incredible labor constructed a mole of the ruins of Old Tyre (fulfilling Eze 26:4-12, &c., by "scraping her dust from her," and "laying her stones, timber, and dust in the midst of the water"), from the shore to the island, and, after a seven months' siege, took the city by storm, slew with the sword about eight thousand, enslaved thirteen thousand, crucified two thousand, and set the city on "fire," as here foretold [Curtius, Book 4].

smite her power in the sea--situated though she be in the sea, and so seeming impregnable (compare Eze 28:2, "I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the sea"). "Her power" includes not only her fortifications, but her fleet, all of which Alexander sank in the sea before her very walls [Curtius, Book 4]. Eze 26:17 corresponds, "How art thou destroyed which wast strong in the sea!"

5. Ashkelon, &c.--Gath alone is omitted, perhaps as being somewhat inland, and so out of the route of the advancing conqueror.

Ekron ... expectation ... ashamed--Ekron, the farthest north of the Philistine cities, had expected Tyre would withstand Alexander, and so check his progress southward through Philistia to Egypt. This hope being confounded ("put to shame"), Ekron shall "fear."

king shall perish from Gaza--Its government shall be overthrown. In literal fulfilment of this prophecy, after a two month's siege, Gaza was taken by Alexander, ten thousand of its inhabitants slain, and the rest sold as slaves. Betis the satrap, or petty "king," was bound to a chariot by thongs thrust through the soles of his feet, and dragged round the city.

6. bastard--not the rightful heir; vile and low men, such as are bastards (De 23:2) [Grotius]. An alien; so the Septuagint; implying the desolation of the region wherein men shall not settle, but sojourn in only as aliens passing through [Calvin].

7. take ... his blood out of ... mouth--Blood was forbidden as food (Ge 9:4; Le 7:26).

abominations--things sacrificed to idols and then partaken of by the worshippers (Nu 25:2; Ac 15:29). The sense is, "I will cause the Philistines to cease from the worship of idols."

even he shall be for our God--"even he," like Hamath, Damascus, Tyre, &c., which, these words imply, shall also be converted to God (Is 56:3, "son of the stranger joined himself to the Lord") [Rosenmuller]. The "even," however, may mean, Besides the Hebrews, "even" the Philistine shall worship Jehovah (so Is 56:8) [Maurer].

he shall be as a governor in Judah--On the conversion of the Philistine prince, he shall have the same dignity "in Judah as a governor"; there shall be no distinction [Henderson]. The Philistine princes with their respective states shall equally belong to the Jews' communion, as if they were among the "governors" of states "in Judah" [Maurer].

Ekron as a Jebusite--The Jebusites, the original inhabitants of Jerusalem, who, when subjugated by David, were incorporated with the Jews (2Sa 24:16, &c.), and enjoyed their privileges: but in a subordinate position civilly (1Ki 9:20, 21). The Jebusites' condition under Solomon being that of bond-servants and tributaries, Calvin explains the verse differently: "I will rescue the Jew from the teeth of the Philistine foe (image from wild beasts rending their prey with their teeth), who would have devoured him, as he would devour blood or flesh of his abominable sacrifices to idols: and even he, the seemingly ignoble remnant of the Jews, shall be sacred to our God (consecrated by His favor); and though so long bereft of dignity, I will make them to be as governors ruling others, and Ekron shall be a tributary bond-servant as the Jebusite? Thus the antithesis is between the Jew that remaineth (the elect remnant) and the Ekronite.

8. encamp about--(Psa 34:7).

mine house--namely, the Jewish people (Zec 3:7; Ho 8:1) [Maurer]. Or, the temple: reassuring the Jews engaged in building, who might otherwise fear their work would be undone by the conqueror [Moore]. The Jews were, in agreement with this prophecy, uninjured by Alexander, though he punished the Samaritans. Typical of their final deliverance from every foe.

passeth by ... returneth--Alexander, when advancing against Jerusalem, was arrested by a dream, so that neither in "passing by" to Egypt, nor in "returning," did he injure the Jews, but conferred on them great privileges.

no oppressor ... pass through ... any more--The prophet passes from the immediate future to the final deliverance to come (Is 60:18; Eze 28:24).

seen with mine eyes--namely, how Jerusalem has been oppressed by her foes [Rosenmuller] (Ex 3:7; 2:25). God is said now to have seen, because He now begins to bring the foe to judgment, and manifests to the world His sense of His people's wrongs.

9. From the coming of the Grecian conqueror, Zechariah makes a sudden transition, by the prophetical law of suggestion, to the coming of King Messiah, a very different character.

daughter of Zion--The theocratic people is called to "rejoice" at the coming of her King (Psa 2:11).

unto thee--He comes not for His own gain or pleasure, as earthly kings come, but for the sake of His Church: especially for the Jews' sake, at His second coming (Ro 11:26).

he is just--righteous: an attribute constantly given to Messiah (Is 45:21; 53:11; Jr 23:5, 6) in connection with salvation. He does not merely pardon by conniving at sin, but He justifies by becoming the Lord our righteousness fulfiller, so that not merely mercy, but justice, requires the justification of the sinner who by faith becomes one with Christ. God's justice is not set aside by the sinner's salvation, but is magnified and made honorable by it (Is 42:1, 21). His future reign "in righteousness," also, is especially referred to (Is 32:1).

having salvation--not passively, as some interpret it, "saved," which the context, referring to a "king" coming to reign, forbids; also the old versions, the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, give Saviour. The Hebrew is reflexive in sense, "showing Himself a Saviour; ... having salvation in Himself" for us. Endowed with a salvation which He bestows as a king. Compare Margin, "saving Himself." Compare Mt 1:21, in the Greek, "Himself shall save His people"; that is, not by any other, but by Himself shall He save [Pearson On the Creed]. His "having salvation" for others manifested that He had in Himself that righteousness which was indispensable for the justification of the unrighteous (1Co 1:30; 2Co 5:21; 1Jo 2:1). This contrasts beautifully with the haughty Grecian conqueror who came to destroy, whereas Messiah came to save. Still, Messiah shall come to take "just" vengeance on His foes, previous to His reign of peace (Mal 4:1, 2).

lowly--mild, gentle: corresponding to His "riding on an ass" (not a despised animal, as with us; nor a badge of humiliation, for princes in the East rode on asses, as well as low persons, Jud 5:10), that is, coming as "Prince of peace" (Zec 9:10; Is 9:6); the "horse," on the contrary is the emblem of war, and shall therefore be "cut off." Perhaps the Hebrew includes both the "lowliness" of His outward state (which applies to His first coming) and His "meekness" of disposition, as Mt 21:5 quotes it (compare Mt 11:29), which applies to both His comings. Both adapt Him for loving sympathy with us men; and at the same time are the ground of His coming manifested exaltation (Joh 5:27; Php 2:7-9).

colt--untamed, "whereon yet never man sat" (Lu 19:30). The symbol of a triumphant conqueror and judge (Jud 5:10; 10:4; 12:14).

foal of an ass--literally, "asses": in Hebrew idiom, the indefinite plural for singular (so Ge 8:4, "mountains of Ararat," for one of the mountains). The dam accompanied the colt (Mt 21:2). The entry of Jesus into Jerusalem at His first coming is a pledge of the full accomplishment of this prophecy at His second coming. It shall be "the day of the Lord" (Psa 118:24), as that first Palm Sunday was. The Jews shall then universally (Psa 118:26) say, what some of them said then, "Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord" (compare Mt 21:9, with Mt 23:39); also "Hosanna," or "Save now, I beseech thee." "Palms," the emblem of triumph, shall then also be in the hands of His people (compare Joh 12:13, with Re 7:9, 10). Then also, as on His former entry, shall be the feast of tabernacles (at which they used to draw water from Siloam, quoting Is 12:3). Compare Psa 118:15, with Zec 14:16.

10. (Is 2:4; Ho 2:18; Mi 5:10).

Ephraim ... Jerusalem--the ten tribes, and Judah and Benjamin; both alike to be restored hereafter.

speak peace--command it authoritatively.

dominion ... from sea ... river ... ends of ... earth--fulfilling Ge 15:18; Ex 23:31; and Psa 72:8. "Sea ... sea," are the Red Sea and Mediterranean. The "river" is the Euphrates. Jerusalem and the Holy Land, extended to the limits promised to Abraham, are to be the center of His future dominion; whence it will extend to the remotest parts of the earth.

11. As for thee also--that is, the daughter of Zion," or "Jerusalem" (Zec 9:9): the theocracy. The "thee also," in contradistinction to Messiah spoken of in Zec 9:10, implies that besides cutting off the battle-bow and extending Messiah's "dominion to the ends of the earth," God would also deliver for her her exiled people from their foreign captivity.

by the blood of thy covenant--that is, according to the covenant vouchsafed to thee on Sinai, and ratified by the blood of sacrifices (Ex 24:8; He 9:18-20).

pit wherein ... no water--Dungeons were often pits without water, miry at the bottom, such as Jeremiah sank in when confined (Ge 37:24; Jr 38:6). An image of the misery of the Jewish exiles in Egypt, Greece, &c., under the successors of Alexander, especially under Antiochus Epiphanes, who robbed and profaned the temple, slew thousands, and enslaved more. God delivered them by the Maccabees. A type of the future deliverance from their last great persecutor hereafter (Is 51:14; 60:1).

12. stronghold--in contrast to the "pit" (Zec 9:11); literally, "a place cut off from access." Maurer thinks, "a height" (Psa 18:33). An image for the security which the returning Jews shall have in Messiah (Zec 9:8) encamped about His people (Psa 46:1, 5; compare Is 49:9; Pr 18:10).

prisoners of hope--that is, who in spite of afflictions (Job 13:15; Psa 42:5, 11) maintain hope in the covenant-keeping God; in contrast to unbelievers, who say, "There is no hope" (Jr 2:25; 18:12). Especially those Jews who believe God's word to Israel (Jr 31:17), "there is hope in the end, that thy children shall come again to their own border," and do not say, as in Eze 37:11, "Our hope is lost." Primarily, the Jews of Zechariah's time are encouraged not to be dispirited in building by their trials; secondarily, the Jews before the coming restoration are encouraged to look to Messiah for deliverance from their last oppressors.

even to-day--when your circumstances seem so unpromising; in contrast with the "day of the Lord," when Zion's King shall come to her deliverance (Zec 9:9).

I will render double--Great as has been thy adversity, thy prosperity shall be doubly greater (Is 61:7).

13. bent Judah--made Judah as it were My bow, and "filled" it "with Ephraim," as My arrow, wherewith to overcome the successor of the Grecian Alexander, Antiochus Epiphanes (compare Notes, see on Da 8:9; Da 11:32; 1 Maccabees 1:62; 2:41-43), the oppressor of Judah. Having spoken (Zec 9:1-8) of Alexander's victories, after the parenthesis (Zec 9:9, 10) as to Messiah the infinitely greater King coming, he passes to the victories which God would enable Judah to gain over Alexander's successor, after his temporary oppression of them.

O Zion ... O Greece--God on one hand addresses Zion, on the other Greece, showing that He rules all people.

14. Another image: "Jehovah shall be seen (conspicuously manifesting His power) over them" (that is, in behalf of the Jews and against their foes), as formerly He appeared in a cloud over the Israelites against the Egyptians (Ex 14:19, 24).

his arrow ... as ... lightning--flashing forth instantaneous destruction to the foe (Psa 18:14).

blow ... trumpet--to summon and incite His people to battle for the destruction of their foe.

go with whirlwinds of the south--that is, go forth in the most furious storm, such as is one from the south (Is 21:1). Alluding, perhaps, to Jehovah's ancient miracles at Sinai coming "from Teman" ("the south," in the Margin).

15. devour--the flesh of their foes.

drink--the blood of their foes; that is, utterly destroy them. Image (as Jr 46:10) from a sacrifice, wherein part of the flesh was eaten, and the blood poured in libation (compare Is 63:1, &c.).

subdue with sling-stones--or, "tread under foot the sling-stones" hurled by the foe at them; that is, will contemptuously trample on the hostile missiles which shall fall harmless under their feet (compare Job 41:28). Probably, too, it is implied that their foes are as impotent as the common stones used in slinging when they have fallen under foot: in contrast to the people of God (Zec 9:16), "the (precious) stones of a crown" (compare 1Sa 25:29) [Maurer]. English Version is good sense: The Jews shall subdue the foe at the first onset, with the mere slingers who stood in front of the line of battle and began the engagement. Though armed with but sling-stones, like David against Goliath, they shall subdue the foe (Jud 20:16; 1Ch 12:2) [Grotius].

noise--the battle shout.

through wine--(Zec 10:7). The Spirit of God fills them with triumph (Ep 5:18).

filled--with blood.

like bowls--the bowls used to receive the blood of the sacrifices.

as ... corners--or "horns" of the altar, which used to be sprinkled with blood from the bowls (Ex 29:12; Le 4:18).

16. save them ... as the flock of his people--as the flock of His people ought to be saved (Psa 77:20). Here the image of war and bloodshed (Zec 9:15) is exchanged for the shepherd and flock, as God will give not only victory, but afterwards safe and lasting peace. In contrast to the worthless sling-stones trodden under foot stand the (gems) "stones of the crown (Is 62:3; Mal 3:17), lifted up as an ensign," that all may flock to the Jewish Church (Is 11:10, 12; 62:10).

17. his goodness ... his beauty--the goodness and beauty which Jehovah-Messiah bestows on His people. Not as Maurer thinks, the goodness, &c., of His land or His people (Psa 31:19; Jr 31:12).

make ... cheerful--literally, "make it grow."

new wine the maids--supply, "shall make ... to grow." Corn and wine abundant indicate peace and plenty. The new wine gladdening the maids is peculiar to this passage. 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].

The burden of the word of the Lord - The oracle contained in the word which Jehovah now speaks.

This is a prophecy against Syria, the Philistines, Tyre, and Sidon, which were to be subdued by Alexander the Great. After this the prophet speaks gloriously concerning the coming of Christ, and redemption by him.

Most learned men are of opinion that this and the succeeding chapters are not the work of Zechariah, but rather of Jeremiah; Hosea, or some one before the captivity. It is certain that Zac 11:12, Zac 11:13, is quoted Mat 27:9, Mat 27:10, as the language of Jeremiah the prophet. The first eight chapters appear by the introductory parts to be the prophecies of Zechariah: they stand in connection with each other, are pertinent to the time when they were delivered, are uniform in style and manner, and constitute a regular whole; but the six last chapters are not expressly assigned to Zechariah, and are unconnected with those that precede: - the three first of them are unsuitable in many parts to the time when Zechariah lived; all of them have a more adorned and poetical turn of composition than the eight first chapters, and they manifestly break the unity of the prophetical book.

I conclude, from internal marks, that these three chapters, (9, 10, 11), were written much earlier than the time of Jeremiah, and before the captivity of the ten tribes. They seem to suit Hosea's age and manner; but whoever wrote them, their Divine authority is established by the two quotations from them, Zac 9:9; Zac 11:12, Zac 11:13. See below.

The twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth chapters form a distinct prophecy, and were written after the death of Josiah, Zac 12:11; but whether before or after the captivity, and by what prophet, is uncertain, although I incline to think that the author lived before the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. See on Zac 13:2-6 (note). They are twice quoted in the New Testament, Zac 12:10; Zac 13:7. - Newcome.

My own opinion is, that these chapters form not only a distinct work, but belong to a different author. If they do not belong to Jeremiah, they form a thirteenth book in the minor prophets, but the inspired writer is unknown.

The land of Hadrach - The valley of Damascus, or a place near to Damascus. Alexander the Great gained possession of Damascus, and took all its treasures; but it was without blood; the city was betrayed to him.

Damascus shall be the rest thereof - The principal part of this calamity shall fall on this city. God's anger rests on those whom he punishes, Eze 5:13; Eze 16:42; Eze 24:13. And his rod, or his arm, rests upon his enemies, Psa 125:3; Isa 30:23. See Newcome.

When the eye of man - Newcome translates thus: "For the eye of Jehovah is over man,

And over all the tribes of Israel."

This is an easy sense, and is followed by the versions.

And Hamath also shall border thereby - Hamath on the river Orontes; and Tyre and Sidon, notwithstanding their political wisdom, address, and cunning, shall have a part in the punishment.

These prophecies are more suitable to the days of Jeremiah than to those of Zechariah; for there is no evidence - although Alexander did take Damascus, but without bloodshed - that it was destroyed from the times of Zechariah to the advent of our Lord. And as Tyre and Sidon were lately destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, it is not likely that they could soon undergo another devastation.

And Tyrus did build herself - The rock on which Tyre was built was strongly fortified; and that she had abundance of riches has been already seen, Eze 28:1, etc.

Will smite her power in the sea - See Eze 26:17. Though Alexander did take Tyre, Sidon, Gaza, etc.; yet it seems that the prediction relative to their destruction was fulfilled by Nebuchadnezzar. See Amo 1:6-8; Zep 2:4, Zep 2:7.

Ashkelon shall see it, and fear - All these prophecies seem to have been fulfilled before the days of Zechariah; another evidence that these last chapters were not written by him.

Her expectation shalt be ashamed - The expectation of being succoured by Tyre.

A bastard shall dwell in Ashdod - This character would suit Alexander very well, who most certainly was a bastard; for his mother Olympia said that Jupiter Ammon entered her apartment in the shape of a dragon, and begat Alexander! Could her husband Philip believe this? The word signifies a stranger.

I will take away his blood out of his mouth - The Philistines, when incorporated with the Israelites, shall abstain from blood, and every thing that is abominable.

And Ekron as a Jebusite - As an inhabitant of Jerusalem. Many of the Philistines became proselytes to Judiasm; and particularly the cities of Gaza, and Ashdod. See Josephus Antiq. lib. xlii., c. 15, s. 4.

I will encamp about mine house - This may apply to the conquests in Palestine by Alexander, who, coming with great wrath against Jerusalem, was met by Jaddua the high priest and his fellows in their sacred robes, who made intercession for the city and the temple; and, in consequence, Alexander spared both, which he had previously purposed to destroy. He showed the Jews also much favor, and remitted the tax every seventh year, because the law on that year forbade them to cultivate their ground. See this extraordinary account in Josephus Antiq. lib. xi., c. 8, s. 5. Bishop Newcome translates: "I will encamp about my house with an army, so that none shall pass through or return."

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion - See this prophecy explained on Mat 21:5 (note).

Behold, thy King cometh - Not Zerubbabel, for he was never king; nor have they had a king, except Jesus the Christ, from the days of Zedekiah to the present time.

He is just - The righteous One, and the Fountain of righteousness.

Having salvation - He alone can save from sin, Satan, death, and hell.

Lowly - Without worldly pomp or splendor; for neither his kingdom, nor that of his followers, is of this world.

Riding upon an ass - God had commanded the kings of Israel not to multiply horses. The kings who broke this command were miserable themselves, and scourgers to their people. Jesus came to fulfill the law. Had he in his title of king rode upon a horse, it would have been a breach of a positive command of God; therefore, he rode upon an ass, and thus fulfilled the prophecy, and kept the precept unbroken. Hence it is immediately added: -

I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem - No wars shall be employed to spread the kingdom of the Messiah; for it shall be founded and established, "not by might nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts," Zac 4:6.

As for thee also (Jerusalem) by the blood of thy covenant - The covenant made with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the Israelites in general, and ratified by the blood of many victims; until the time should come in which the Messiah should shed his blood, as typified by the ancient sacrifices.

I have sent forth thy prisoners - Those who were under the arrest of God's judgments; the human race, fast bound in sin and misery, and who by the pitifulness of his tender mercy were loosed, he dying in their stead.

Turn you to the strong hold - Ye who feel your sins, and are shut up under a sense of your guilt, look up to him who was delivered for your offenses, and rose again for your justification. Ye have hope, let that hope lead you to faith, and that faith to the blood of the covenant; and, through that blood, to God, the Father of all.

I will render double unto thee - Give thee an abundance of peace and salvation.

When I have bent Judah - Judah is the bow, and Ephraim is the arrows; and these are to be shot against the Greeks. I am inclined, with Bp. Newcome, to consider that the language of this prophecy is too strong to point out the only trifling advantage which the Maccabees gained over Antiochus, who was of Macedonian descent; and it is probable that these prophecies remain to be fulfilled against the present possessors of Javan or Greece, Macedonia, and a part of Asia Minor.

The Lord shall be seen over them - Shadowing and refreshing them, as the cloud did the camp in the wilderness.

His arrow shall go forth as the lightning - They shall be conquered in a way that will show that God fights for his followers.

The description here is very sublime; we have a good imitation of it in Nonnus: - Και τοτε γαιαν ἁπασαν επεκλυσεν ὑετιος Ζευς, Πυκνωσας νεφεεσσιν ὁλον πολον· ουρανιη γαρ Βρονταιοις παταγοισι Διος μυκησατο σαλπιγξ.

Nonn. Dionys., lib. 6. ver. 229. "When heaven's dread trumpet, sounding from on high,

Breaks forth in thunders through the darken'd sky;

The pregnant clouds to floods of rain give birth.

And stormy Jove o'erwhelms the solid earth."

J. B. B. C.

In these two verses there is a fine image, and an allusion to a particular fact, which have escaped the notice of every commentator. I must repeat the verses: Zac 9:13 : When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man. Zac 9:14 : And the Lord shall be seen over them, and his arrows shall go forth like lightning.

The reader will consult what is said on Hos 7:16, relative to the oriental bow, which resembles a [figure C] in its quiescent state, and must be recurved in order to be strung. Here, Judah is represented as the recurved bow; Ephraim, as an arrow placed on the string, and then discharged against the Javanites or Greeks with the momentum of lightning; the arrow kindling in its course through the air, and thus becoming the bolt of death to them against whom it was directed.

Volat illud, et incandescit eundo,

Et quos non habuit, sub nubibus invenit ignes. "It flies apace; and, heating, mounts on high,

Glows in its course, and burns along the sky."

The Lord of hosts shall defend then - He alone is the sure trust of his Church.

Subdue with sling-stones - This was an ancient and powerful instrument in the hands of the Hebrews. See the note on Jdg 20:16.

They shall drink - After the victory gained as above, thy people shall hold a feast, and drink and be filled with wine. There is no intimation here that they shall drink the blood of their enemies, as some barbarous nations were accustomed to do. When they have gained the victory, they shall banquet abundantly on the spoils taken from the enemy.

As the corners of the altar - They shall pour out libations of wine at the foot of the altar, as the priests were accustomed to pour out the blood of the victims.

Shall save them in that day - They are his flock, and he is their Shepherd; and, as his own, he shall save and defend them.

As the stones of a crown - אבני נזר מתנוססות abney nezer mithnosesoth, "crowned stones erecting themselves;" i.e., being set up by themselves, as monuments of some deliverance, they seem to be lifting themselves up; offering themselves to the attention of every passenger. It may however refer to stones anointed with oil; a sort of temporary altars set up to the Lord for a victory gained. The same word is used, Lev 21:12 : "Because the crown, נזר nezer, of the anointing oil of his God is upon him." Perhaps most of those upright stones, standing in circles, which pass for druidical monuments, were erected to commemorate victories, or to grace the tomb of an illustrious chief. These verses may refer to some final victory over the enemies of God's people.

How great is his goodness - In himself and towards them.

And how great is his beauty! - His comeliness, holiness, and purity, put in and upon them.

Corn shall make the young men cheerful - They shall be gladdened and strengthened by plenty of food; and they shall speak aloud of God's mercies in their harvest home.

And new wine the maids - Who shall prepare the wine from an abundant vintage.

Hadrach - This is the name of a city in Celosyria, and here signifies the country also. It was not far from Damascus. The rest thereof - This burden shall lie long as well as heavy on Damascus. Towards the Lord - For as all men's appeals in cases of wrong are to heaven, so they who have been wronged by Syrian injustice, look to heaven for right.

Hamath - A principal town of Syria. Shall border - Shall be so near the storm, that they shall not quite escape. Very wise - Each of them are subtle, and think by craft to save themselves, but God derides their wisdom.

Cast her out - Of her inheritance, as the word properly means.

Her expectation - Her hope that Tyre would break Alexander's power, or hold out against it. Ashamed - Turned into shame and confusion. The king - The government shall be overthrown. Shall not be inhabited - For many years.

A bastard - Strangers, who have no right of inheritance.

Take away his blood - Though proud and warlike nations have delighted to shed blood, and, as it were, to eat the blood of their enemies, yet God will overthrow their power, and take the prey out of their mouth. Abominations - Their abominable sacrifices which they offered and feasted on. God will punish their idolatries, and by destroying the cities of those abominations, will remove them for ever. The remnant - That small select number who escape the sword, shall be the Lord's peculiar ones. As a governor - For the honour which shall be given them. As a Jebusite - The city is put for the people, and this one city and people for all the other: all the remaining Philistines shall be as Jebusites, servants to the people of God.

I will encamp - To defend it from all its enemies. Mine house - This temple, but as it is an emblem of the church. The army - Of the Persian and the Grecian army, whose march lay through Judea.

Thy king - The Messiah. He is just - The righteous one, who cometh to fulfil all righteousness. Having salvation - To bestow on all that believe in him.

I will cut off - When the Messiah comes and sets up his kingdom, he will need no external force. Neither chariot, bow nor sword, brought salvation to him, neither shall they be mentioned in the day of his conquest. The heathen - The Heathens through him shall be reconciled unto God, and one another, Eph 2:17. From the river - From Euphrates to the utmost end of Canaan, to the Mediterranean sea; a type of all the world, which was in due time to be the inheritance of Christ.

As for thee - Oh Jerusalem; these words are Christ's words to her. By the blood - By my blood, in which thy covenant as confirmed; 'tis God's covenant as made by him, 'tis Zion's covenant as made for her, 'tis Christ's also as made in him. Sent forth - I have delivered the Jews out of Babylon: compared to a pit in which no water was, wherein the Jews must have perished, had not God visited them.

Turn ye - The prophet exhorts the Jews to hasten to Christ, who is the salvation and high tower of the church. Prisoners of hope - Captives, yet not without hope. Even to - day - In this day of lowest distress. Double - Twice as much good as thou hast suffered evil.

When I have bent Judah - In the day's when Judah shall be in my hand as a strong bow, already bent. Ephraim - Ephraim, the remainder of the ten tribes (which returned with Judah) shall be for a supply of warriors; as the quiver filled is a supply of arrows to the bow - man. O Greece - Against the Grecians or Ionians, who had oppressed the Jews, and bought them for slaves, against whom the Jews took arms, under the conduct of the Maccabees, to whom Christ made good much of this promise.

Shall be seen - Shall manifestly appear for them. His arrow - His judgments, swift, irresistible, and sudden. As the lightning - Which breaks forth with violence, and runs from east to west in a moment. The Lord God - Their God, the God of Israel, shall give the alarm to them, and sound the call to bring them together. Of the south - In which the mightiest whirlwinds are raised; some think the prophet alludes to the tempest at the delivery of the law.

Devour - Destroy their enemies. With sling - stones - As David did Goliath. Shall drink - In their festivals, when they offer sacrifices of thanksgiving for their victories. Make a noise - Shout with shouts of triumph, as men do whose hearts are glad with success, and cheared with wine. Shall fill - With the blood of the sacrifices they offer.

As the flock - As a shepherd saves his flock. As the stones of a crown - Precious in my sight. As an ensign - Or trophy.

His goodness - Infinite goodness is the fountain of all the good done for this people. His beauty - How wonderful the beauty of Divine Providence in Israel's deliverance and salvation? Corn - Plentiful harvests shall make the young men chearful in sowing, reaping, and eating the fruits thereof. New wine - There shall be such plenty of wine, that all, young and old, shall be cheared with it.

1 THE burden of the word of the LORD in the land of Hadrach , and Damascus shall be the rest thereof : when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel shall be towards the LORD.

i. e. The heavy, sad, and grievous, the menacing prediction of future Evils coming upon a people, so burden in prophetick stile, Isa. 13.1, and 15.1. Nah. 1.1. Hab. 1.1 signifieth.

In which from Gods own mouth Zechariah threatneth. This might be read in Apposition thus, The burden, the word, for when the word of the Lord threatneth sad Afflictions, they will come as a heavy burden, they cannot decline without Repentance, nor shake off by their own strength.

O▪ Hosts, the God of Israel, who determins what he will do against Israels Enemies, and none can altar his purpose.

Or, on, against, Heb.

Not Messiah's Land as some, nor the Land of an Idol. called Hadrach, i. e. the Sun as others, nor yet the Land or Countreys that lye round about Iudea, as others, or yet is Arabia here meant as others, but 'tis the name both of a City in Caelosy[illegible: 1 letter]ia, and here signifieth the Country also, this Town was not far from Damascus, and about 25 miles distant from Bosira, a Sea Town of Phaenicia, which is not far from Byblos, now called Gible[illegible: 1 letter], or Gibelletto, says my Author, no farther mention is made of it in Scripture. It was likely an Enemy to the Iews, and had sin'd therein, and now must account for it, and be punished.

Chief City of that part of Syria, and whether Abel were slain there, or no, or whether that Murther gave it the Name, or whether the Etymology be rightly given (Dam.) blood, (Sack.) a bag. I say not. But 'twas no friend to God's people, Isa. 7. and here 'tis threatned among other their Enemies, the Countrey is intended here as well as the City.

This burden shall ly long as well as heavy on Damascus.

Rather, For, Heb.

Eye, Heb. as we read it, it is of some difficult interpretation, but more easie if read, as it may be thus, For unto the Lord is the eye of man, and of the Tribes of Israel, i. e. unto the Lord it belongeth to look to, and by his providence to dispose of all men as well as of Israel, and all mens appeals in cases of wrong are to Heaven, so they who have been wrong'd by Syrian injustice look to Heaven for right, and to be avenged, and God will do it.

Marginal references: Amos 1.3.

2 And Hamath also shall border thereby, Tyrus , and Zidon , though it be very wise .

A principal noted Town of Syria, once called Epiphania, it was near Neighbour to the Iews, for 'twas a boundary of the Land of Promise.

Shall be so near to this storm which cometh, that they shall be the worse for it. The Country call'd by this Name, in which Riblah was, and where the barbarous murther of many Nobles of the Iews, the murther of Zedekiah's Children, and his Eyes were put out; all which cruelty, and such like Hamath must suffer, for now God rides his Circuit, and [illegible: 1 letter]udgeth.

A famous Mart as ever the World had, on which Ezekiel bestows his 26, 27, and 28 chap. which see.

Another M[illegible: 1 letter]rt, and on the same Sea, more antient than Tyrus, and as much an Enemy to the Iews, threatned as here; so by Ezek. chap. 28. Tyrus ver. 3. Zidon ver. 21. which see.

Each of them, i. e. the People, the Governours, and Counsell[illegible: 1 letter]rs of both these Cities are subtle, and think by Craft to save themselves, but this shall not be, God derides their Wisdom, Ezek. 28.3.

Marginal references: Obad 10.

3 And Tyrus did build her self a strong hold , and heaped up silver as the dust , and fine gold as the mire of the streets.

Which was naturally a strong hold, scituate on a great rock in the Sea.

Fortified her self mightily, and then thought her self impregnable.

Gather'd Treasure, and laid it up, so that there was no end of it.

'Tis a proverbial speech, and speaks the very rich stores of their Gold and Silver, by which they might buy their peace, or maintain their War: So that here is Wisdom, Strength, and Treasure, the Master sinews of War, yet all these cannot profit them in the day of their calamities approaching.

'Tis a proverbial speech, and speaks the very rich stores of their Gold and Silver, by which they might buy their peace, or maintain their War: So that here is Wisdom, Strength, and Treasure, the Master sinews of War, yet all these cannot profit them in the day of their calamities approaching.

Marginal references: Io[illegible: 1 letter] 2.

4 Behold , the LORD will cast her out , and he will smite her power in the sea , and she shall be devoured with fire .

Observe it, for I tell you truth, though strange, 'twill be so.

The Lord will do this, he will eject and cast her out of her Inheritance, as the word in the Heb. and he will inherit her, as the word also bears. God will do both, he will selfe into his hand by some or other, and so put them out of all. Her Fortifications shall not be able to secure her Possession.

The Lord declares how he will do what he threatens against Tyrus, where their strength lieth, he will break them, take away their shipping, and then both Treasures will waste Trade will fail, and Auxiliaries will not be gotten.

Tyrus, probably Zidon with her.

That is, by the Enemy in the siege, or at the taking of her. All which was done about An. M. 3672. one hundred eighty five years after this Prophesie, when Alexander Magnus master'd Tyrus at Sea with a fleet of 190, or 200 Ships, took the City, slew many Thousands of them, and as Curtius reports, burnt the City.

Marginal references: Isa. [illegible: 1 letter]. and [illegible: 1 letter].

5 Ashkelon shall see it , and fear : Gaza also shall see it, and be very sorrowful , and Ekron : for her expectation shall be ashamed , and th[illegible: 1 letter] king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited .

Threatned by Zephaniah, chap. 2. ver. 4. which threat was executed by the Babylonians soon after the Iews Captivity, when Nebuchadnezzar wasted the Sea-coast, and besieged and took Tyrus, but this threat of Zechariah was fully executed by Alexander Mag. as is most likely.

As Cities see the fall of Neighbouring Cities, they shall have the news of it, and know it, perhaps some Ashkelonites may be there and see the s[illegible: 1 letter]ege and tell it.

As men that have no power to defend themselves, nor means left of flying from the Enemy.

Another strong Town, a Principality of the Philistins, Enemy to Israel, which in Nebuchadnezzars time suffered with Tyrus, Z[illegible: 1 letter]ph. 2.4. let. u. and shall again to suffer in Alexander's time, as here foretold

At the news of Tyrus fall shall take a fright, and fall into sorrows of a travelling Woman, as the word imports.

A City famous for Idolatry, see Zeph. 2.4. let. d. Shall as much fear and grieve as Ashkelon or Gaza.

Her hope that Tyrus would break Alexander's Power, or hold out against it, and be a refuge to her Citizens, who could not hope to withstand the Conquerour.

Turned into shame and confusion.

The Government be overthrown, and perhaps this literally was fulfilled when Alexander Mag. took Gaza after two Moneths siege, and two slight wounds received, and finding Betis the King, or Roytelet advanced to that dignity by Darius, thought good to put him to a cruel Death, as Curtius. l. 4.

i. e. For some years it shall be as waste, or, as 'twas, laid by the Babylonian according to Zeph. 2.4.

6 And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod , and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines .

Some say Alexander Mag. was by Olympia's confession declared to be a Bastard, and that he is here pointed at; but I think rather strangers, who have no right of Inheritance, yet did dwell here are, meant, call'd Bastards, because not the rightful Heirs, but Intruders.

Azotus now a strong Town, a City of the Philistines, but still of the same temper with the rest against the Iews, and now as before, Zeph. 2.4. must suffer with them.

In these strong Cities did the Philistines glory, and boast themselves as having been too hard for the Iews even at their first coming to Canaan, who could not take their Cities from them, but now the fatal change is foretold, God will cut off this pride of theirs as he did in the times of the Graecians, the Seleucidae, and the Maccabees.

7 And I will take away his blood out of his mouth , and his abominations from between his teeth : but he that remaineth, even he shall be for our God; and he shall be as a Governour in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite .

Though proud and warlike Nations have delighted to shed blood, nay, (if some judge aright) to eat the blood of their slain Enemies, yet now God will restrain, nay, overthrow their power, and take the prey out of their mouth, they shall neither breathe out slaughter, nor act it with their hands.

This may possibly be explanatory of the former, but I think it rather is meant of their abominable Sacrifices which they offered and feasted on, so the word in Deut. 7.27. with 26. 1 Kings 11.5, 7. 2 Kings 23.13. and by Hos. 9.10. God will punish for these sins, Idolatries, and by his destroying the People and Cities of those abominations will remove them for ever.

The remnant, even that, (so it might be read) if so read, it points out that small select number who escape the Sword, and are reserved to be for God, to Worship, Obey, Honour, and Love him; such a remnant as Isa. 4 3. or as Isa. 17.6. or Isa. 24.6. Those few Iews whom God preserved from the rage and cruelty of these bloody Idolaters, shall be the Lords peculiar ones.

For respect and honour which shall be given to them, 'tis not said they shall be Governours, but they shall be as like Governours.

The City for the People, and this one City and People for all the other: All the Philistines shall be as Iebusites, Servants to the people of God, or slain.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 paragraph]

8 And I will encamp about mine house , because of the army , because of him that passeth by, and because of him that returneth ; and no oppressiour shall pass through them any more: for now have I seen with mine eyes.

Pitcht, not the Tents of Travellers and Shepherds, but of an Army, God in the midst of his own Hosts, and Angels among them, Guardians too.

This material Temple, but as 'tis an Emblem of the Church.

Of the Persian and Graecian Army, whose march lay either through or near to Iudaea, and Ierusalem.

Armies are very troublesom, costly, and dangerous in all their marches, the people of God, his City, and Temple shall be as Garrison'd and Fortified, as if secur'd by an host, God will have Angels pitch their Tents round about those that fear the Lord. Iudea was a thorough fare to the Aegyptian and Syrian Armies, to the Graecian and Persian, an unadvised attempt to stop Pharaoh Necho in his passage through once, cost Iosiah his Life, but God will be a guard to his people, whilest their Enemies are moving. All this was accomplished in the times of Alexander and his Successors, in midst of whose Wars, though the Iews suffered somewhat, yet they were mightily defended by their God.

As formerly, when they had ingress, egress, regress at their pleasure, as if Lords of the Soil, and of the People too.

I ever saw it, but now I manifest that I take notice of it purposely to redress it: I see how vilely they use my people, they shall do so no more. I Behold, as Psal. 10.14. mischief and spite to require it.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 letter]hap. 2.5.

9 ¶ Rejoice greatly , O daughter of Zion ; Shout , O daughter of Jerusalem : behold, thy King cometh unto thee : he is just , and having salvation ; lowly , and riding upon an ass , and upon a colt, the foal of an ass .

The Prophet calls for such a joy as expresseth it self in outward gesture, as indeed the Daughters of Zion did in their Hosannahs, when this had its accomplishment.

Ierusalems Inhabitants, or the Church.

Proclaim aloud your joy at the news I now tell you.

Before it was Daughter of Zion, now it is Daughter of Ierusalem, both the Church and State among the Iews had great cause to triumph at this.

The Redeemer, Expected, Promised Messiah, Son of David, the only restorer of your lapsed State.

Christ cometh to thee, to redeem and save thee; he cometh for thee, as well as to thee.

The righteous one, who cometh to fulfil all righteousness, and to be our righteousness.

Designs to save, and hath that in his eye, that he can save, 'tis in his power: He can save us as he did save himself, by raising himself from the Dead.

Low and mean of State, and meek or lowly of mind.

A Beast of no state or price, an emblem of his outward state.

In this some footsteps of Sovereignty appeared in the colts taking, and bearing him quietly, Luk. 15.35.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] 62.11. [illegible: 1 word] 2.10.; [illegible: 1 paragraph]

10 And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim , and the horse from Jerusalem , and the battel bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace unto the heathen , and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea t, and from the river , even to the ends of the earth .

When the Messiah comes and sets up his Kingdom, he will need no external force, he will do that by the power of his Spirit; Chariots of War are for other kind of Kings and Kingdoms, but in promoting of his own Kingdom, he will make no use of such force,

Either literal, or typical.

Another Instrument of war, but not useful to the Prince of Peace, neither bow, nor Sword brought Salvation to him, nor shall they be mentioned in the day of his conquest.

Make peace for them, and then publish it to them; that on the Cross, this in the Gospel; the Gentiles shall through him be reconciled unto God, and one another, Ephes. 2.17.

How mean soever on the Ass, yet hath a large Dominion, is King of the Universe.

Euphrates utmost bound East

to the utmost end of Canaan, toward the Mediterran[illegible: 1 letter]an Sea; a Type of all the world to be the Inheritance of Christ. These things promised here are of Spiritual Nature, and be blessings of a Spiritual Kingdom.

From the Red S[illegible: 1 letter]a, and from the Arabian Gulf, to the Syrian Sea.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 paragraph]; [illegible: 1 word] 72.8.

11 As for thee also, by the blood , of thy covenant I have se nt forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water .

Oh Zion, and Ierusalem, thou Iewish Church, these words are Christ's words to her, not the Prophets words to Christ, though Papists would have it so, to countenance a Limbus Patrum.

By my blood, saith Christ,

in which thy Covenant is confirmed; 'tis God's Covenant as made by him, 'tis Zions Covenant as made for her, 'tis Christ's also as made in him.

I have delivered and released, Cyrus indeed by his Edict sent the Iews home, but in this he was Christ's Servant, and Christ was mindful of the Covenant, and to perform this, brought them up.

Babylon, compared to a Pit in which no water was, wherein the Iews must have perished, had not mercy from Christ visited them; here no Limbus Patrum, though some say so among the Popish Commentators.

Marginal references: Or, whose covenant is by b[illegible: 1 letter]ood.; Isa. 61.1.

12 ¶ Turn ye to the strong hold , ye prisoners of hope : even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee.

The Prophet exhorts the Iews, both those in Babylon still, and those already in Canaan, to hasten up

to Ierusalem say some, which had been a strong hold, and which was now to be built again, as the high places of the Earth; or to Christ, who is the Salvation and High Tower of his Church.

Captives in Babylon, [illegible: 1 letter]et under a promise from God, and under an Edict from Cyrus that you shall return, this gives you hope, this maketh you Prisoners of Expectation.

In this day of lowest distress, I declare, &c.

Either more than thy Fathers ever received, or double, that is, twice as much good enioyed, as ever was thy evil suffered, as Isa. 40.2.

13 When I have bent Judah for me , filled the bow with Ephraim , and raised up thy sons, O Zion , against thy sons, O Greece , and made thee as the sword of a mighty man .

In the days when Iudah shall have recovered strength and courage, and be in my hand as a strong bow, ready bent.

Ephraim the remainder of the ten Tribes (which return'd with Iudah) shall be for supply of Warriours; as the Quiver filled, is supply of Arrows to the Bow-man.

Explicatory to the former.

Against the Graecians, or [illegible: 1 letter]nians, the sons of Iavan, who had formerly oppressed the Iews, and bought them for Slaves, and did again oppress them in the Reigns of the Seluc[illegible: 1 letter]dae, and the Lagidae, against whom the Iews took Arms and Courage under the Conduct of the Maccabees, to whom Christ made good much of this promise,

O Zion or Ierusalem, you O Iews!

A sharp Sword of a mighty man, or Giant, who cuts down all that stands in his way, as the Maccabees did.

14 And the LORD shall be seen over them , and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning : and the Lord GOD shall blow the trumpet , and shall go with whirlwinds of the south .

The Almighty God, the God of Israel. Lord of Hosts

shall manifestly appear for them by his works of Power against their Enemies,

Alluding to Warriours that then used the Bow; God's Judgments which slew his Churches Enemies, were swift, irresistible and sudden in striking and killing them.

Which breaks forth with violence, and runs from East to West in a moment, which is very terrible many times.

Their God, the God of Israel.

Give the Alarm to them to provide for the War, sound the Call to bring them together, and the March also for their moving, and sound the Charge too, God will infuse new courage, and give Directions

in the head of them as Captain General.

With fury and strength like that of Whirlwinds

In which the mightiest Whirlwinds are raised; or Whirlwinds of Teman, some think the Prophet alludes to the Tempest about Sinai, at the delivery of the Law when, all Israel and Moses too quaked for fear, Deut. 5.23, 24, 25. ye quaked exceedingly, and desire to see no more such [illegible: 1 letter]ight.

15 The LORD of hosts shall defend them , and they shall devour , and subdue with sling-stones , and they shall drink , and make a noise as through wine , and they shall be filled like bowls , and as the corners of the altar.

In the most dangerous attempts the Iews under their Captains in the Wars against the Graecians, were preserved to a miracle according to this promise.

A few of them destroy many of their Enemies:

As we read this passage, it seems to refer to the slaughter of Goliah with a sling, by David a stripling; so weak means in the hand, and under the blessing of the great God, shall do mighty things: others read the words, they shall subdue the sling-stones, that is, conquer the Gr[illegible: 3 letters]ians, who in their Wars used the sling, and that with great dexterity and success.

In their Festivals, when they offered Sacrifices of thanksgiving for their Victories.

Shout with shouts of Triumph,

Make a great noise, as men do whose hearts are glad with success, and chear'd with Wine.

Rather they shall fill, i. e. with the blood of the Sacrifices they offer both the bowles and corners of the Altars, all shall be full of the blood of Eucharistical Sacrifices.

Marginal references: Or, subdue the stones of the sling; Or, shall fill both the bow[illegible: 1 letter]s.

16 And the LORD their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people for they shall be as the stones of a crown , lifted up, as an ensign upon his land .

As in Covenant with them, not only as Lord of Hosts by his power, but as their God in mercy and faithfulness.

Fully deliver them, i. e. the sons of Zion

in the day of their contest, and wars with the sons of Iavan.

As a shepherd saves his flock, as David saved his.

Or, seeing that they are precious; and of value with me as the stones of a Royal Crown, or as the stones of Trophey set up in memory of some Noble atchievement.

Which ars as an Ensign lifted up, to which who so repair, may give thanks, and rejoice in their deliverance, a form of which, for ought I know, may follow.

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 .

Infinite Goodness is the fountain of all that good done for this people, the Prophet admires it, and suggests what is fit to be done by those that come and view those stones set up for Trophies.

How wonderful the beauty of Divine Providence in all the great effects of it in Israels deliverance and salvation.

Plentiful Harvests shall make the young men cheerful in sowing, reaping, labouring in Harvest work, as well as in eating the Fruits thereof.

Such plenty of Wine, that all young and old shall be cheared with it. And now these are the sweet Fruits of Temporal Salvation, but the Fruits of Spiritual shadowed out by these, are much more glorious, refreshing, and worth our praise and wonder.

Marginal references: Or, grow, or, speak.

III. Future of the World-Powers, and of the Kingdom of God - Zechariah 9-14

The two longer prophecies, which fill up the last part of our book (ch. 9-11 and 12-14), show by their headings, as well as by their contents, and even by their formal arrangement, that they are two corresponding portions of a greater whole. In the headings, the fact that they have both the common character of a threatening prophecy or proclamation of judgment, is indicated by the application of the same epithet, Massâ' debhar Yehōvâh (burden of the word of Jehovah), whilst the objects, “land of Hadrach” (Zec 9:1) and “Israel' (Zec 12:1), point to a contrast, or rather to a conflict between the lands of Hadrach and Israel. This contrast or conflict extends through the contents of both. All the six chapters treat of the war between the heathen world and Israel, though in different ways. In the first oracle (ch. 9-11), the judgment, through which the power of the heathen world over Israel is destroyed and Israel is endowed with strength to overcome all its enemies, forms the fundamental thought and centre of gravity of the prophetic description. In the second (ch. 12-14), the judgment through which Israel, or Jerusalem and Judah, is sifted in the war with the heathen nations, and translated into the holy nation of the Lord by the extermination of its spurious members, is the leading topic. And lastly, in a formal respect the two oracles resemble one another, in the fact that in the centre of each the announcement suddenly takes a different tone, without any external preparation (Zec 11:1 and Zec 13:7), so that it is apparently the commencement of a new prophecy; and it is only by a deeper research into the actual fact, that the connection between the two is brought out, and the relation between the two clearly seen, - namely, that the second section contains a more minute description of the manner in which the events announced in the first section are to be realized. In the threatening word concerning the land of Hadrach, ch. 9 and Zec 10:1-12 form the first section, ch. 11 the second; in that concerning Israel, the first section extends from Zec 12:1 to Zec 13:6, and the second from Zec 13:7 to the end of the book.

Fall of the Heathen World, and Deliverance and Glorification of Zion - Zechariah 9 and Zec 10:1-12

Whilst the judgment falls upon the land of Hadrach, upon Damascus and Hamath, and upon Phoenicia and Philistia, so that these kingdoms are overthrown and the cities laid waste and the remnant of their inhabitants incorporated into the nation of God (Zec 9:1-7), Jehovah will protect His people, and cause His King to enter Zion, who will establish a kingdom of peace over the whole earth (Zec 9:8-10). Those members of the covenant nation who are still in captivity are redeemed, and endowed with victory over the sons of Javan (Zec 9:11-17), and richly blessed by the Lord their God to overcome all enemies in His strength (Zec 10:1-12). The unity of the two chapters, which form the first half of this oracle, is evident from the close substantial connection between the separate sections. The transitions from one complex of thought to the other are so vanishing, that it is a matter of dispute, in the case of Zec 10:1, Zec 10:2, for example, whether these verses should be connected with ch. 9, or retained in connection with Zec 10:4.

Zec 9:1

Judgment upon the Land of Hadrach; and Zion’s King of Peace. - Zec 9:1. The true interpretation of this section, and, in fact, of the whole prophecy, depends upon the explanation to be given to the heading contained in this verse. The whole verse reads thus: “Burden of the word of Jehovah over the land of Hadrach, and Damascus is its resting-place; for Jehovah has an eye upon the men, and upon all the tribes of Israel.” There is a wide divergence of opinion concerning the land of חדרך. We need not stop to give any elaborate refutation to the opinion that Hadrach is the name of the Messiah (as some Rabbins suppose), or that it is the name of an unknown Syrian king (Ges., Bleek), or of an Assyrian fire-god, Adar or Asar (Movers), or of a deity of Eastern Aramaea (Babylonia), as Hitzig maintained, since there is no trace whatever of the existence of such a king or deity; and even Hitzig himself has relinquished his own conjecture. And the view defended by J. D. Mich. and Rosenmüller, that Hadrach is the name of an ancient city, situated not far from Damascus, is destitute of any tenable basis, since Hengstenberg (Christol. iii. p. 372, transl.) has proved that the historical testimonies adduced in support of this rest upon some confusion with the ancient Arabian city of Drâa, Adrâa, the biblical Edrei (Deu 1:4). As the name Hadrach or Chadrach never occurs again, and yet a city which gives its name to a land, and occurs in connection with Damascus, Hamath, Tyre, and Sidon, could not possibly have vanished so completely, that even the earlier Jewish and Christian commentators heard nothing of it, Chadrach can only be a symbolical name formed by the prophet himself (as Jerome maintained, according to a Jewish tradition), from chad, acris, sharp, brave, ready for war (in Arabic, ḥdd, vehemens fuit, durus in ira, pugna), and râkh, soft, tender, in the sense of sharp-soft, or strong-tender, after the analogy of the symbolical names. Dumah for Edom, in Isa 21:11; Sheshach for Babylon, in Jer 25:26; Jer 51:41; Ariel for Jerusalem, in Isa 29:1-2, Isa 29:7. This view can no more be upset by the objection of Koehler, that the interpretation of the name is a disputed point among the commentators, and that it is doubtful why the prophet should have chosen such a symbolical epithet, than by the circumstance that the rabbinical interpretation of the word as a name for the Messiah is evidently false, and has long ago been given up by the Christian commentators. That Hadrach denotes a land or kingdom, is raised above all reach of doubt by the fact that 'erets (the land) is placed before it. But what land? The statement in the following sentence by no means compels us to think of a province of Syria, as Hitzig, Koehler, and others suppose. As the cities and lands which follow are quoted under their ordinary names, it is impossible to imagine any reason for the choice of a symbolical name for another district of Syria bordering upon Damascus and Hamath. The symbolical name rather points to the fact that the land of Hadrach denotes a territory, of which Damascus, Hamath, Tyre, Sidon, and Philistia formed the several parts. And this is favoured by the circumstance that the words, “Burden of the word of Jehovah upon the land of Hadrach,” form the heading to the oracle, in which the preposition ב is used as in the expression משּׂא בּערב in Isa 21:13, and is to be explained from the phrase נפל דּבר ב in Isa 9:7 : The burdensome word falls, descends upon the land of Hadrach. The remark of Koehler in opposition to this, to the effect that these words are not a heading, but form the commencement of the exposition of the word of Jehovah through the prophet, inasmuch as the following clause is appended with ו, is quite groundless. The clause in Isa 14:28, “In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden,” is also a heading; and the assertion that the ו before דּמּשׂק is not a ו explic., but an actual ו conjunct., rests upon the assumption that the cities and lands mentioned in the course of this prophecy have not already been all embraced by the expression ארץ חדרך - an assumption which has not been sustained by any proofs. On the contrary, the fact that not only is Damascus mentioned as the resting-place of the word of Jehovah, but Hamath and also the capitals of Phoenicia and Philistia are appended, proves the very opposite. This evidently implies that the burden resting upon the land of Hadrach will affect all these cities and lands.

The exposition of the burden announced upon the land of Hadrach commences with ודמּשׂק. This is attached to the heading with Vav, because, so far as the sense is concerned, massâ' is equivalent to “it presses as a burden.” The exposition, however, is restricted, so far as Damascus and Hamath are concerned, to the simple remark that the burdensome word upon Hadrach will rest upon it, i.e., will settle permanently upon it. (The suffix in מנחתו refers to משּׂא דבר יי.) It is only with the lands which stood in a closer relation to Judah, viz., Tyre, Sidon, and the provinces of Philistia, that it assumes the form of a specially prophetic description. The contents of the heading are sustained by the thought in the second hemistich: “Jehovah has an eye upon men, and upon all the tribes of Israel.” עין אדם with the genit. obj. signifies the rest of mankind, i.e., the heathen world, as in Jer 32:20, where “Israel” and “men” are opposed to one another. The explanatory clause, according to which the burden of Jehovah falls upon the land of Hadrach, and rests upon Damascus, because the eyes of Jehovah looks upon mankind and all the tribes of Israel, i.e., His providence stretches over the heathen world as well as over Israel, is quite sufficient in itself to overthrow the assumption of Hofmann and Koehler, that by the land of Hadrach we are to understand the land of Israel. For if the explanatory clause were understood as signifying that the burden, i.e., the judgment, would not only fall upon Hamath as the representative of the human race outside the limits of Israel, but also upon the land of Hadrach as the land of all the tribes of Israel, this view would be precluded not only by the circumstance that in what follows heathen nations alone are mentioned as the objects of the judgment, whereas salvation and peace are proclaimed to Israel, but also by the fact that no ground whatever can be discovered for the application of so mysterious an epithet to the land of Israel. According to Hofmann (Schriftb. ii. 2, p. 604), ארץ חדרך signifies the whole of the territory of the kingdom of David, which is so called as “the land of Israel, which, though weak in itself, was, through the strength of God, as sharp as a warrior’s sword.” But if a judgment of destruction, which Hofmann finds in our prophecy, were announced “to all the nations dwelling within the bounds of what was once the Davidic kingdom,” the judgment would fall upon Israel in the same way as upon the heathen nations that are named, since the tribes of Israel formed the kernel of the nations who dwelt in what was once the Davidic kingdom, and Israel would therefore show itself as a sharp-soft people. Hence Koehler has modified this view, and supposes that only the heathen dwelling within the limits of the nation of the twelve tribes are threatened with Jehovah’s judgment, - namely, all the heathen within the land which Jehovah promised to His people on their taking possession of Canaan (Num 34:1-12). But apart from the unfounded assumption that Hadrach is the name of a district of Syria on the border of Damascus and Hamath, this loophole is closed by the fact that, according to Num 34:1., Hamath and Damascus are not included in the possession promised to Israel. According to Num 34:8, the northern boundary of the land of Israel was to extend to Hamath, i.e., to the territory of the kingdom of Hamath, and Damascus is very far beyond the eastern boundary of the territory assigned to the Israelites (see the exposition of Num 34:1-12). Now, if the land of Hadrach, Damascus, and Hamath were not within the ideal boundaries of Israel, and if Hamath and Hadrach did not belong to the Israelitish kingdom in the time of David, the other lands or cities mentioned in our oracle cannot be threatened with the judgment on account of their lying within the Mosaic boundaries of the land of Israel, or being subject to the Israelites for a time, but can only come into consideration as enemies of Israel whose might was to be threatened and destroyed by the judgment. Consequently the land of Hadrach must denote a land hostile to the covenant nation or the kingdom of God, and can only be a symbolical epithet descriptive of the Medo-Persian empire, which is called sharp-soft or strong-weak on account of its inwardly divided character, as Hengstenberg and Kliefoth assume. Now, however difficult it may be satisfactorily to explain the reason why Zechariah chose this symbolical name for the Medo-Persian monarchy, so much is certain, that the choice of a figurative name was much more suitable in the case of the dominant empire of that time, than in that of any small country on the border of Damascus or Hamath. All the cities and land enumerated after “the land of Hadrach,” as losing their glory at the same time, belonged to the Medo-Persian monarchy. Of these the prophet simply refers to Damascus and Hamath in general terms; and it is only in the case of the Phoenician and Philistian cities that he proceeds to a special description of their fall from their lofty eminence, because they stood nearest to the kingdom of Israel, and represented the might of the kingdom of the world, and its hostility to the kingdom of God, partly in the worldly development of their own might, and partly in their hostility to the covenant nation. The description is an individualizing one throughout, exemplifying general facts by particular cities. This is also evident from the announcement of salvation for Zion in Zec 9:8-10, from which we may see that the overthrow of the nations hostile to Israel stands in intimate connection with the establishment of the Messianic kingdom; and it is also confirmed by the second half of our chapter, where the conquest of the imperial power by the people of God is set forth in the victories of Judah and Ephraim over the sons of Javan. That the several peoples and cities mentioned by name are simply introduced as representatives of the imperial power, is evident from the distinction made in this verse between (the rest of) mankind and all the tribes of Israel.

Zec 9:2-4

Zec 9:2. “And Hamath also, which borders thereon; Tyre and Sidon, because it is very wise. Zec 9:3. And Tyre built herself a stronghold, and heaped up silver like dust, and gold like dirt of the streets. Zec 9:4. Behold, the Lord will cause it to be taken, and smite its might in the sea, and she will be consumed by fire.” Chămâth is appended to Damascus by vegam (and also). Tigbol-bâh is to be taken as a relative clause; and bâh refers to chămâth, and not to 'erets chadrâkh (the land of Hadrach). “Hamath also,” i.e., Ἐπιφάνεια on the Orontes, the present Hamah (see at Gen 10:18), which borders on Damascus, i.e., which has its territory touching the territory of Damascus, sc. will be a resting-place of the burden of Jehovah. The relative clause connects Hamath with Damascus, and separates it from the names which follow. Damascus and Hamath represent Syria. Tyre and Sidon, the two capitals of Phoenicia, are connected again into a pair by the explanatory clause כּי חכמה מאד. For although חכמה is in the singular, it cannot be taken as referring to Sidon only, because Tyre is mentioned again in the very next verse as the subject, and the practical display of its wisdom is described. The singular חכמה cannot be taken distributively in this sense, that being wise applies in just the same manner to both the cities (Koehler); for the cases quoted by Gesenius (§146, 4) are of a totally different kind, since there the subject is in the plural, and is construed with a singular verb; but צידון is subordinate to צר, “Tyre with Sidon,” Sidon being regarded as an annex of Tyre, answering to the historical relation in which the two cities stood to one another, - namely, that Tyre was indeed originally a colony of Sidon, but that it very soon overshadowed the mother city, and rose to be the capital of all Phoenicia (see the comm. on Isaiah 23), so that even in Isaiah and Ezekiel the prophecies concerning Sidon are attached to those concerning Tyre, and its fate appears interwoven with that of Tyre (cf. Isa 23:4, Isa 23:12; Eze 28:21.). Hence we find Tyre only spoken of here in Zec 9:3, Zec 9:4. This city showed its wisdom in the fact that it built itself a fortress, and heaped up silver and gold like dust and dirt of the streets. Zechariah has here in his mind the insular Tyre, which was built about three or four stadia from the mainland, and thirty stadia to the north of Palae-tyrus, and which is called מעוז היּם in Isa 23:4, because, although very small in extent, it was surrounded by a wall a hundred and fifty feet high, and was so strong a fortification, that Shalmaneser besieged it for five years without success, and Nebuchadnezzar for thirteen years, and apparently was unable to conquer it (see Delitzsch on Isaiah, at Isa 23:18). This fortification is called mâtsōr. Here Tyre had heaped up immense treasures. Chârūts is shining gold (Psa 68:14, etc.). but the wisdom through which Tyre had acquired such might and such riches (cf. Eze 28:4-5) would be of no help to it. For it was the wisdom of this world (1Co 1:20), which ascribes to itself the glory due to God, and only nourishes the pride out of which it sprang. The Lord will take the city. Hōrı̄sh does not mean to drive from its possession - namely, the population (Hitzig) - for the next two clauses show that it is not the population of Tyre, but the city itself, which is thought of as the object; nor does it mean to “give as a possession” - namely, their treasures (Calv., Hengst., etc.) - but simply to take possession, to take, to conquer, as in Jos 8:7; Jos 17:12; Num 14:24 (Maurer, Koehler). And will smite in the sea חילהּ, not “her bulwarks:” for חיל, when used of fortifications, neither denotes the city wall nor earthworks, but the moat, including the small outer wall (2Sa 20:15) as distinguished from the true city wall (chōmâh, Isa 26:1; Lam 2:8), and this does not apply to the insular Tyre; moreover, חיל cannot be taken here in any other sense than in Eze 28:4-5, which Zechariah follows. There it denotes the might which Tyre had acquired through its wisdom, not merely warlike or military power (Koehler), but might consisting in its strong situation and artificial fortification, as well as in the wealth of its resources for defence. This will be smitten in the sea, because Tyre itself stood in the sea. And finally, the city will be destroyed by fire.

Zec 9:5-7

Zec 9:5. “Ashkelon shall see it, and fear; Gaza, and tremble greatly; and Ekron, for her hope has been put to shame; and the king will perish out of Gaza, and Ashkelon will not dwell. Zec 9:6. The bastard will dwell in Ashdod; and I shall destroy the pride of the Philistines. Zec 9:7. And I shall take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth; and he will also remain to our God, and will be as a tribe-prince in Judah, and Ekron like the Jebusite.” From the Phoenicians the threat turns against the Philistines. The fall of the mighty Tyre shall fill the Philistian cities with fear and trembling, because all hope of deliverance from the threatening destruction is thereby taken away (cf. Isa 23:5). תּרא is jussive. The effect, which the fall of Tyre will produce upon the Philistian cities, is thus set forth as intended by God. The description is an individualizing one in this instance also. The several features in this effect are so distributed among the different cities, that what is said of each applies to all. They will not only tremble with fear, but will also lose their kingship, and be laid waste. Only four of the Philistian capitals are mentioned, Gath being passed over, as in Amo 1:6, Amo 1:8; Zep 2:4, and Jer 25:20; and they occur in the same order as in Jeremiah, whose prophecy Zechariah had before his mind. To ועזּה we must supply תּרא from the parallel clause; and to עקרון not only תּרא, but also ותירא. The reason for the fear is first mentioned in connection with Ekron, - namely, the fact that the hope is put to shame. הובישׁ is the hiphil of בּושׁ (Ewald, §122, e), in the ordinary sense of this hiphil, to be put to shame. מבּט with seghol stands for מבּט (Ewald, §88, d, and 160, d), the object of hope or confidence. Gaza loses its king. Melekh without the article is the king as such, not the particular king reigning at the time of the judgment; and the meaning is, “Gaza will henceforth have no king,” i.e., will utterly perish, answering to the assertion concerning Ashkelon: לא תשׁב, she will not dwell, i.e., will not come to dwell, a poetical expression for be inhabited (see at Joe 3:20). The reference to a king of Gaza does not point to times before the captivity. The Babylonian and Persian emperors were accustomed to leave to the subjugated nations their princes or kings, if they would only submit as vassals to their superior control. They therefore bore the title of “kings of kings” (Eze 26:7; cf. Herod. iii. 15; Stark, Gaza, pp. 229, 230; and Koehler, ad h. l.). In Ashdod will mamzēr dwell. This word, the etymology of which is obscure (see at Deu 23:3, the only other passage in which it occurs), denotes in any case one whose birth has some blemish connected with it; so that he is not an equal by birth with the citizens of a city or the inhabitants of a land. Hengstenberg therefore renders it freely, though not inappropriately, by Gesindel (rabble). The dwelling of the bastard in Ashdod is not at variance with the fact that Ashkelon “does not dwell,” notwithstanding the individualizing character of the description, according to which what is affirmed of one city also applies to the other. For the latter simply states that the city will lose its native citizens, and thus forfeit the character of a city. The dwelling of bastards or rabble in Ashdod expresses the deep degradation of Philistia, which is announced in literal terms in the second hemistich. The pride of the Philistines shall be rooted out, i.e., everything shall be taken from them on which as Philistines they based their pride, viz., their power, their fortified cities, and their nationality. “These words embrace the entire contents of the prophecy against the Philistines, affirming of the whole people what had previously been affirmed of the several cities” (Hengstenberg).

A new and important feature is added to this in Zec 9:7. Their religious peculiarity - namely, their idolatry - shall also be taken from them, and their incorporation into the nation of God brought about through this judgment. The description in Zec 9:7 is founded upon a personification of the Philistian nation. the suffixes of the third pers. sing. and the pronoun הוּא in Zec 9:7 do not refer to the mamzēr (Hitzig), but to pelishtı̄m (the Philistines), the nation being comprehended in the unity of a single person. This person appears as an idolater, who, when keeping a sacrificial feast, has the blood and flesh of the sacrificial animals in his mouth and between his teeth. Dâmı̄m is not human blood, but the blood of sacrifices; and shiqqutsı̄m, abominations, are not the idols, but the idolatrous sacrifices, and indeed their flesh. Taking away the food of the idolatrous sacrifices out of their mouth denotes not merely the interruption of the idolatrous sacrificial meals, but the abolition of idolatry generally. He also (the nation of the Philistines regarded as a person) will be left to our God. The gam refers not to the Phoenicians and Syrians mentioned before, of whose being left nothing was said in Zec 9:1-4, but to the idea of “Israel” implied in לאלהינוּ, our God. Just as in the case of Israel a “remnant” of true confessors of Jehovah is left when the judgment falls upon it, so also will a remnant of the Philistines be left for the God of Israel. The attitude of this remnant towards the people of God is shown in the clauses which follow. He will be like an 'alluph in Judah. This word, which is applied in the earlier books only to the tribe-princes of the Edomites and Horites (Gen 36:15-16; Exo 15:15; 1Ch 1:51.), is transferred by Zechariah to the tribe-princes of Judah. It signifies literally not a phylarch, the head of an entire tribe (matteh, φυλή), but a chiliarch, the head of an 'eleph, one of the families into which the tribes were divided. The meaning “friend,” which Kliefoth prefers (cf. Mic 7:5), is unsuitable here; and the objection, that “all the individuals embraced in the collective הוּא cannot receive the position of tribe-princes in Judah” (Kliefoth), does not apply, because הוּא is not an ordinary collective, but the remnant of the Philistines personified as a man. Such a remnant might very well assume the position of a chiliarch of Judah. This statement is completed by the addition “and Ekron,” i.e., the Ekronite “will be like the Jebusite.” The Ekronite is mentioned fore the purpose of individualizing in the place of all the Philistines. “Jebusite” is not an epithet applied to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, but stands for the former inhabitants of the citadel of Zion, who adopted the religion of Israel after the conquest of this citadel by David, and were incorporated into the nation of the Lord. This is evident from the example of the Jebusite Araunah, who lived in the midst of the covenant nation, according to 2Sa 24:16., 1Ch 21:15., as a distinguished man of property, and not only sold his threshing-floor to king David as a site for the future temple, but also offered to present the oxen with which he had been ploughing, as well as the plough itself, for a burnt-offering. On the other hand, Koehler infers, from the conventional mode of expression employed by the subject when speaking to his king, “thy God,” and the corresponding words of David, “my God” instead of our God, that Araunah stood in the attitude of a foreigner towards the God of Israel; but he is wrong in doing so. And there is quite as little ground for the further inference drawn by this scholar from the fact that the servants of Solomon and the Nethinim are reckoned together in Ezr 2:58 and Neh 7:60, in connection with the statement that Solomon had levied bond-slaves for his buildings from the remnants of the Canaanitish population (1Ki 9:20), viz., that the Jebusites reappeared in the Nethinim of the later historical books, and that the Nethinim “given by David and the princes” were chiefly Jebusites, according to which “Ekron’s being like a Jebusite is equivalent to Ekron’s not only meeting with reception into the national fellowship of Israel through circumcision, but being appointed, like the Jebusites, to service in the sanctuary of Jehovah.” On the contrary, the thought is simply this: The Ekronites will be melted up with the people of God, like the Jebusites with the Judaeans. Kliefoth also observes quite correctly, that “there is no doubt that what is specially affirmed of the Philistians is also intended to apply to the land of Chadrach, to Damascus, etc., as indeed an absolute generalization follows expressly in Zec 9:10.... Just as in what precedes, the catastrophe intended for all these lands and nations is specially described in the case of Tyre alone; so here conversion is specially predicted of the Philistines alone.”

If we inquire now into the historical allusion or fulfilment of this prophecy, it seems most natural to think of the divine judgment, which fell upon Syria, Phoenicia, and Philistia through the march of Alexander the Great from Asia Minor to Egypt. After the battle at Issus in Cilicia, Alexander sent one division of his army under Parmenio to Damascus, to conquer this capital of Coele-Syria. On this expedition Hamath must also have been touched and taken. Alexander himself marched from Cilicia direct to Phoenicia, where Sidon and the other Phoenician cities voluntarily surrendered to him; and only Tyre offered so serious a resistance in its confidence in its own security, that it was not till after a seven months’ siege and very great exertions that he succeeded in taking this fortified city by storm. On his further march the fortified city of Gaza also offered a prolonged resistance, but it too was eventually taken by storm (cf. Arrian, ii. 15ff.; Curtius, iv. 12, 13, and 2-4; and Stark, Gaza, p. 237ff.). On the basis of these facts, Hengstenberg observes (Christol. iii. p. 369), as others have done before him, that “there can be no doubt that in Zec 9:1-8 we have before us a description of the expedition of Alexander as clear as it was possible for one to be given, making allowance for the difference between prophecy and history.” But Koehler has already replied to this, that the prophecy in Zec 9:7 was not fulfilled by the deeds of Alexander, since neither the remnant of the Phoenicians nor the other heathen dwelling in the midst of Israel were converted to Jehovah through the calamities connected with Alexander’s expedition; and on this ground he merely regards the conquests of Alexander as the commencement of the fulfilment, which was then continued throughout the calamities caused by the wars of succession, the conflicts between the Egyptians, Syrians, and Romans, until it was completed by the fact that the heathen tribes within the boundaries of Israel gradually disappeared as separate tribes, and their remnants were received into the community of those who confessed Israel’s God and His anointed. But we must go a step further, and say that the fulfilment has not yet reached its end, but is still going on, and will until the kingdom of Christ shall attain that complete victory over the heathen world which is foretold in Zec 9:8.

Zec 9:8-9

Whilst the heathen world falls under the judgment of destruction, and the remnant of the heathen are converted to the living God, the Lord will protect His house, and cause the King to appear in Jerusalem, who will spread out His kingdom of peace over all the earth. Zec 9:8. “I pitch a tent for my house against military power, against those who go to and fro, and no oppressor will pass over them any more; for now have I seen with my eyes. Zec 9:9. Exult greatly, O daughter Zion; shout, daughter Jerusalem: behold, thy King will come to thee: just and endowed with salvation is He; lowly and riding upon an ass, and that upon a foal, the she-ass’s son. Zec 9:10. And I cut off the chariots out of Ephraim, and the horses out of Jerusalem, and the war-bow will be cut off: and peace will He speak to the nations; and His dominion goes from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth.” Chânâh, to encamp, to pitch a tent. לביתי, dat. commod. “for my house,” for the good of my house. The house of Jehovah is not the temple, but Israel as the kingdom of God or church of the Lord, as in Hos 8:1; Hos 9:15; Jer 12:7, and even Num 12:7, from which we may see that this meaning is not founded upon the temple, but upon the national constitution given to Israel, i.e., upon the idea of the house as a family. In the verse before us we cannot think of the temple, for the simple reason that the temple was not a military road for armies on the march either while it was standing, or, as Koehler supposes, when it was in ruins. מצּבה stands, according to the Masora, for מצּבא = מן־צבא, not however in the sense of without an army, but “on account of (against) a hostile troop,” protecting His house from them. But Böttcher, Koehler, and others, propose to follow the lxx and read מצּבה, military post, after 1Sa 14:12, which is the rendering given by C. B. Michaelis and Gesenius to מצּבה. But this does not apply to חנה, for a post (מצּבה, that which is set up) stands up, and does not lie down. מצּבה is more precisely defined by מעבר וּמשּׁב, as going through and returning, i.e., as an army marching to and fro (cf. Zec 7:14). There will come upon them no more (עליהם, ad sensum, referring to בּיתי) nōgēs, lit., a bailiff or taskmaster (Exo 3:7), then generally any oppressor of the nation. Such oppressors were Egypt, Asshur, Babel, and at the present time the imperial power of Persia. This promise is explained by the last clause: Now have I seen with mine eyes. The object is wanting, but it is implied in the context, viz., the oppression under which my nation sighs (cf. Exo 2:25; Exo 3:7). ‛Attâh (now) refers to the ideal present of the prophecy, really to the time when God interposes with His help; and the perfect ראיתי is prophetic.

God grants help to His people, by causing her King to come to the daughter Zion. To show the magnitude of this salvation, the Lord calls upon the daughter Zion, i.e., the personified population of Jerusalem as a representative of the nation of Israel, namely the believing members of the covenant nation, to rejoice. Through מלכּך, thy King, the coming one is described as the King appointed for Zion, and promised to the covenant nation. That the Messiah is intended, whose coming is predicted by Isaiah (Isa 9:5-6), Micah (Mic 5:1.), and other prophets, is admitted with very few exceptions by all the Jewish and Christian commentators.See the history of the exposition in Hengstenberg’s Christology. לך, not only to thee, but also for thy good. He is tsaddı̄q, righteous, i.e., not one who has right, or the good cause (Hitzig), nor merely one righteous in character, answering in all respects to the will of Jehovah (Koehler), but animated with righteousness, and maintaining in His government this first virtue of a ruler (cf. Isa 11:1-4; Jer 23:5-6; Jer 33:15-16, etc.). For He is also נושׁע, i.e., not σώζων, salvator, helper (lxx, Vulg., Luth.), since the niphal has not the active or transitive sense of the hiphil (מושׁיע), nor merely the passive σωζόμενος, salvatus, delivered from suffering; but the word is used in a more general sense, endowed with ישׁע, salvation, help from God, as in Deu 33:29; Psa 33:16, or furnished with the assistance of God requisite for carrying on His government. The next two predicates describe the character of His rule. עני does not mean gentle, πραΰ́ς (lxx and others) = ענו, but lowly, miserable, bowed down, full of suffering. The word denotes “the whole of the lowly, miserable, suffering condition, as it is elaborately depicted in Isa 53:1-12” (Hengstenberg). The next clause answers to this, “riding upon an ass, and indeed upon the foal of an ass.” The ו before על עיר is epexegetical (1Sa 17:40), describing the ass as a young animal, not yet ridden, but still running behind the she-asses. The youthfulness of the animal is brought out still more strongly by the expression added to עיר, viz., בּן־אתנות, i.e., a foal, such as asses are accustomed to bear (עתנות is the plural of the species, as in כּפיר אריות, Jdg 14:5; שׂעיר העזּים, Gen 37:31; Lev 4:23). “Riding upon an ass” is supposed by most of the more modern commentators to be a figurative emblem of the peacefulness of the king, that He will establish a government of peace, the ass being regarded as an animal of peace in contrast with the horse, because on account of its smaller strength, agility, and speed, it is less adapted for riding in the midst of fighting and slaughter than a horse. But, in the first place, this leaves the heightening of the idea of the ass by the expression “the young ass’s foal” quite unexplained. Is the unridden ass’s foal an emblem of peace in a higher degree than the full-grown ass, that has already been ridden?We may see how difficult it is to reconcile the emphasis laid upon the ass’s foal with this explanation of the significance of the ass, from the attempts made by the supporters of it to bring them into harmony. The assertion made by Ebrard, that עיר denotes an ass of noble breed, and בּן־אתנות signifies that it is one of the noblest breed, has been already proved by Koehler to be a fancy without foundation; but his own attempt to deduce the following meaning of this riding upon a young ass from the precepts concerning the sacrifices, viz., that the future king is riding in the service of Israel, and therefore comes in consequence of a mission from Jehovah, can be proved to fail, from the fact that he is obliged to collect together the most heterogeneous precepts, of which those in Num 19:2; Deu 21:3, and 1Sa 6:7, that for certain expiatory purposes animals were to be selected that had never borne a yoke, have a much more specific meaning than that of simple use in the service of Jehovah.

And secondly, it is indeed correct that the ass was only used in war as the exception, not the rule, and when there were no horses to be had (cf. Bochart, Hieroz. i. p. 158, ed. Ros.); and also correct that in the East it is of a nobler breed, and not so despised as it is with us; but it is also a fact that in the East, and more especially among the Israelites, it was only in the earlier times, when they possessed no horses as yet, that distinguished persons rode upon asses (Jdg 5:10; Jdg 10:4; Jdg 12:14; 2Sa 17:23; 2Sa 19:27), whereas in the time of David the royal princes and kings kept mules for riding instead of asses (2Sa 13:29; 2Sa 18:9; 1Ki 1:33; 38:44); and from the time of Solomon downwards, when the breeding of horses was introduced, not another instance occurs of a royal person riding upon an ass, although asses and mules are still constantly used in the East for riding and as beasts of burden; and lastly, that in both the ancient and modern East the ass stands much lower than the horse, whilst in Egypt and other places (Damascus for example), Christians and Jews were, and to some extent still are, only allowed to ride upon asses, and not upon horses, for the purpose of putting them below the Mohammedans (for the proofs, see Hengstenberg’s Christology, iii. pp. 404-5). Consequently we must rest satisfied with this explanation, that in accordance with the predicate עני the riding of the King of Zion upon the foal of an ass is an emblem, not of peace, but of lowliness, as the Talmudists themselves interpreted it. “For the ass is not a more peaceful animal than the horse, but a more vicious one” (Kliefoth).

Zec 9:10

Just as the coming of the King does not contain within itself a sign of earthly power and exaltation, so will His kingdom not be established by worldly power. The war-chariots and horses, in which the kingdoms of the world seek their strength, will be exterminated by Jehovah out of Ephraim and Jerusalem (cf. Mic 5:9). And so also will the war-chariots, for which “the battle-bow” stands synecdochically. Ephraim denotes the former kingdom of the ten tribes, and Jerusalem is mentioned as the capital in the place of the kingdom of Judah. Under the Messiah will the two kingdoms that were formerly divided be united once more, and through the destruction of their military power will their nature be also changed, the covenant nation be divested of its political and worldly character, and made into a spiritual nation or kingdom. The rule of this King will also speak peace to the nations, i.e., will not command peace through His authoritative word (Hitzig, Koehler, etc.), but bring the contests among the nations to an end (Mic 4:3); for dibbēr shâlōm does not mean to command peace, but it either simply denotes such a speaking as has peace for its subject, giving an assurance of peace and friendship, i.e., uttering words of peace (a meaning which is inapplicable here), or signifies to speak peace for the purpose of bringing disputes to an end (Est 10:3). But this is done not by authoritative commands, but by His gaining the nations over through the spiritual power of His word, or establishing His spiritual kingdom in the midst of them. It is only as thus interpreted, that the statement concerning the extension of His kingdom harmonizes with the rest. This statement rests upon Psa 72:8, “from sea to sea,” as in Amo 8:12 and Mic 7:12, viz., from the sea to the other end of the world where sea begins again. “From the river:” i.e., from the Euphrates, which is intended here by nâhâr without the article, as in Mic 7:12 and Isa 7:20, and is mentioned as the remotest eastern boundary of the land of Israel, according to Gen 15:18; Exo 23:31, as being the terminus a quo, to which the ends of the earth are opposed as the terminus ad quem.

The leading thought in the promise (Zec 9:8-10) is therefore the following: When the catastrophe shall burst upon the Persian empire, Israel will enjoy the marvellous protection of its God, and the promised King will come for Zion, endowed with righteousness and salvation, but in outward humiliation; and through the extermination of the materials of war out of Israel, as well as by the peaceful settlement of the contests of the nations, He will establish a kingdom of peace, which will extend over all the earth. On the fulfilment of this prophecy, we learn from the gospel history, that when Jesus took His last journey to Jerusalem, He so arranged His entrance into this city, that our prophecy (Zec 9:9), “Say ye to the daughter Zion, Behold, thy King cometh,” etc., was fulfilled (cf. Mat 21:2., Mar 11:2., Luk 19:30., and Joh 12:14.). The exact agreement between the arrangement made by Jesus on this occasion and our prophecy is especially evident from the account given by Matthew, according to which Jesus ordered not only the ass’s foal (πῶλον ὀνάριον), upon which He rode into Jerusalem, to be brought, as Mark, Luke, and John relate, but a she-ass and a foal with her (Mat 21:2, Mat 21:7), “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet” (Mat 21:4), although He could really only ride upon one animal. The she-ass was to follow, to set forth Zechariah’s figurative description with greater completeness. For we see, from the corresponding accounts of the other three evangelists, that Jesus only mounted the ass’s foal. John, even when quoting our prophecy, only mentions the “sitting on an ass’s colt” (Joh 12:15), and then adds in Joh 12:16, that the allusion in this act of Jesus to the Old Testament prophecy was only understood by the disciples after Jesus was glorified. By this mode of entering Jerusalem before His death, Jesus intended to exhibit Himself to the people as the King foretold by the prophets, who, coming in lowliness, would establish His kingdom through suffering and dying, so as to neutralize the carnal expectations of the people as to the worldly character of the Messianic kingdom. The fulfilment, however, which Jesus thereby gave to our prophecy is not to be sought for in this external agreement between His act and the words of the prophet. The act of Jesus was in itself simply an embodiment of the thought lying at the basis of the prophecy, - namely, that the kingdom of the Messiah would unfold itself, through lowliness and suffering, to might and glory; that Jesus, as the promised Messiah, would not conquer the world by the force of arms, and so raise His people to political supremacy, but that He would found His kingdom by suffering and dying, - a kingdom which, though not of this world, would nevertheless overcome the world. The figurative character of the prophetic picture, according to which “riding upon an ass” merely serves to individualize עני, and set forth the lowliness of the true King of Zion under appropriate imagery, has been already pointed out by CalvinCalvin says: “I have no doubt that the prophet added this clause (viz., 'riding upon an ass,' etc.) as an appendix to the word עני, as much as to say: The King of whom I speak will not be illustrious for His magnificent and splendid state, as earthly princes generally are.” He then gives this explanation of the riding upon the ass: “He will not prevail by His great exaltation; nor will He be conspicuous for arms, riches, splendour, the number of his soldiers, or even the royal insignia, which attract the eyes of the people.” and Vitringa; and the latter has also correctly observed, that the prophecy would have been fulfilled in Christ, even if He had not made His entry into Jerusalem in this manner.Vitringa says, on Isa 53:4 : “In that passage of Zechariah, indeed, according to its spiritual and mystical sense, his meaning would have been evident without this accident of the entry of Christ into Jerusalem; but when God would put all the emphasis of which the words are capable upon the predictions uttered by the prophets, His own providence took care that this accident should also occur, so that no part of the machinery might be wanting here.”

Hengstenberg and Koehler adopt the same view. Nevertheless, this entry of Christ into Jerusalem forms the commencement of the fulfilment of our prophecy, and that not merely inasmuch as Jesus thereby declared Himself to be the promised Messiah and King of Zion, and set forth in a living symbol the true nature of His person and of His kingdom in contrast with the false notions of His friends and foes, but still more in this respect, that the entry into Jerusalem formed the commencement of the establishment of His kingdom, since it brought to maturity the resolution on the part of the Jewish rulers to put Him to death; and His death was necessary to reconcile the sinful world to God, and restore the foundation of peace upon which His kingdom was to be built. With the spread of His kingdom over the earth, treated of in Zec 9:10, the fulfilment continues till the annihilation of all the ungodly powers, after which all war will ceased. But this end can only be reached through severe conflicts and victory. This is the subject of the following section.

Zec 9:11-12

Israel’s Redemption from Captivity, and Victory over the Heathen. - Zec 9:11. “Thou also, for the sake of thy covenant blood, I release thy captives out of the pit wherein there is no water. Zec 9:12. Return to the fortress, ye prisoners of hope. Even to-day I proclaim: Double will I repay to thee.” This is addressed to the daughter Zion, i.e., to all Israel, consisting of Ephraim and Judah. We not only learn this from the context, since both of them are spoken of before (Zec 9:10) and afterwards (Zec 9:13); but it is also obvious from the expression bedam berı̄thēkh, since the covenant blood belonged to all Israel of the twelve tribes (Exo 24:8). גּם־אתּ stands at the head absolutely, on account of the emphasis lying upon the אתּ. But as the following clause, instead of being directly attached to אתּ, is so constructed that the pronoun אתּ is continued with suffixes, the question arises, to what the גּם is to be taken as referring, or which is the antithesis indicated by גּם. The answer may easily be obtained if we only make it clear to ourselves which of the two words, with the second pers. suffix, forms the object of the assertion made in the entire clause. This is not בּדם־בּריתך, but אסיריך: thou also (= thee) - namely, thy prisoners - I release. But the emphasis intended by the position in which גּם־אתּ is placed does not rest upon the prisoners of Israel in contrast with any other prisoners, but in contrast with the Israel in Jerusalem, the daughter Zion, to which the King is coming. Now, although גּם actually belongs to אסיריך, it refers primarily to the אתּ to which it is attached, and this only receives its more precise definition afterwards in אסיריך. And the allusion intended by גּם is simply somewhat obscured by the fact, that before the statement to which it gives emphasis בּדם־בּריתך is inserted, in order from the very first to give a firm pledge of the promise to the people, by declaring the motive which induced God to make this fresh manifestation of grace to Israel. This motive also acted as a further reason for placing the pronoun אתּ at the head absolutely, and shows that אתּ is to be taken as an address, as for example in Gen 49:8. בּדם־בּריתך: literally, being in thy covenant blood, because sprinkled therewith, the process by which Israel was expiated and received into covenant with God (Exo 24:8). “The covenant blood, which still separates the church and the world from one another, was therefore a certain pledge to the covenant nation of deliverance out of all trouble, so long, that is to say, as it did not render the promise nugatory by wickedly violating the conditions imposed by God” (Hengstenberg). The new matter introduced by גּם־אתּ in Zec 9:11 is therefore the following: The pardon of Israel will not merely consist in the fact that Jehovah will send the promised King to the daughter Zion; but He will also redeem such members of His nation as shall be still in captivity out of their affliction. The perfect shillachtı̄ is prophetic. Delivering them out of a pit without water is a figure denoting their liberation out of the bondage of exile. This is represented with an evident allusion to the history of Joseph in Gen 37:22, as lying in a pit wherein there is no water, such as were used as prisons (cf. Jer 38:6). Out of such a pit the captive could not escape, and would inevitably perish if he were not drawn out. The opposite of the pit is בּצּרון, a place cut off, i.e., fortified, not the steep height, although fortified towns were generally built upon heights. The prisoners are to return where they will be secured against their enemies; compare Psa 40:3, where the rock is opposed to the miry pit, as being a place upon which it is possible to stand firmly. “Prisoners of hope” is an epithet applied to the Israelites, because they possess in their covenant blood a hope of redemption. גּם־היּום, also to-day, i.e., even to-day or still to-day, “notwithstanding all threatening circumstances” (Ewald, Hengstenberg). I repay thee double, i.e., according to Isa 61:7, a double measure of glory in the place of the sufferings.

Zec 9:13-15

This thought is supported in Zec 9:13. by a picture of the glory intended for Israel. Zec 9:13. “For I stretch Judah as my bow, fill it with Ephraim, and stir up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Javan, and make thee like the sword of a hero. Zec 9:14. And Jehovah will appear above them, and like the lightning will His arrow go forth; and the Lord Jehovah will blow the trumpets, and will pass along in storms of the south. Zec 9:15. Jehovah of hosts will shelter above them, and they will eat and tread down sling-stones, and will drink, make a noise, as if with wine, and become full, like the sacrificial bowls, like the corners of the altar.” The double recompense which the Lord will make to His people, will consist in the fact that He not only liberates them out of captivity and bondage, and makes them into an independent nation, but that He helps them to victory over the power of the world, so that they will tread it down, i.e., completely subdue it. The first thought is not explained more fully, because it is contained implicite in the promise of return to a strong place; the “double” only is more distinctly defined, namely, the victory over Javan. The expression, “I stretch,” etc., implies that the Lord will subdue the enemies by Judah and Ephraim, and therefore Israel will carry on this conflict in the power of its God. The figurative description is a bold one. Judah is the extended bow; Ephraim the arrow which God shoots at the foe. קשׁת is indeed separated from יהוּדה by the accents; but the lxx, Targ., Vulg., and others, have taken it more correctly, as in apposition to יהוּדה; because with the many meanings that דּרך possesses, the expression דּרך יהוּדה needs a more precise definition; whereas there is no difficulty in supplying in thought the noun qesheth, which has been mentioned only just before, to the verb מלּאתי (I fill). מלּאתי is to be understood as signifying the laying of the arrow upon the bow, and not to be explained from 2Ki 9:24, “to fill the hand with the bow.” A bow is filled when it is supplied with the arrow for shooting. We must bear in mind that the matter is divided rhetorically between the parallel members; and the thought is this: Judah and Ephraim are bow and arrow in the hand of Jehovah. עוררתּי, I stir up, not I swing thy children as a lance (Hitzig and Koehler); for if עורר had this meaning, חנית could not be omitted. The sons of Zion are Judah and Ephraim, the undivided Israel, not the Zionites living as slaves in Javan (Hitzig). The sons of Javan are the Greeks, as the world-power, the Graeco-Macedonian monarchy (cf. Dan 8:21), against which the Lord will make His people into a hero’s sword. This took place in weak beginnings, even in the wars between the Maccabees and the Seleucidae, to which, according to Jerome, the Jews understood our prophecy to refer; but it must not be restricted to this, as the further description in Zec 9:14, Zec 9:15 points to the complete subjugation of the imperial power.

Jehovah appears above them, i.e., coming from heaven as a defence, to fight for them (the sons of Zion), as a mighty man of war (Psa 24:8). His arrow goes out like the lightning (כ the so-called כ veritatis; for the fact described, compare Hab 3:11). Marching at the head of His people, He gives the signal of battle with a trumpet-blast, and attacks the enemy with terribly devastating violence. The description rests upon the poetical descriptions of the coming of the Lord to judgment, the colours of which are borrowed from the phenomena of a storm (cf. Psalm 18 and Hab 3:8.). Storms of the south are the most violent storms, as they come from the Arabian desert, which bounds Canaan on the south (Isa 21:1; cf. Hos 13:15). But Jehovah not only fights for His people; He is also a shield to them in battle, covering them against the weapons of the foe. This is affirmed in יגן עליהם in Zec 9:15. Hence they are able to destroy their enemies, and, like devouring lions, to eat their flesh and drink their blood. That this figure lies at the foundation of the horrible picture of ואכלוּ, is evident from Num 23:24, which was the passage that Zechariah had in his mind: “Behold a people like the lioness; it rises up, and like the lion does it lift itself up: it lies not down till it devour the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.” Hence the object to אכלוּ is not the possessions of the heathen, but their flesh. כּבשׁוּ אבני קלע does not mean, they tread down (subdue) the enemy with sling-stones (lxx, Vulg., Grot.); for אבני ק cannot, when considered grammatically, be taken in an instrumental sense, and is rather an accus. obj.; but they tread down sling-stones. The sling-stones might be used per synecdochen to signify darts, which the enemy hurls at them, and which they tread down as perfectly harmless (Kliefoth). But the comparison of the Israelites to the stones of a crown, in Zec 9:16, leads rather to the conclusion that the sling-stones are to be taken as a figure denoting the enemy, who are trampled under the feet like stones (Hitzig, Hengstenberg). Only we cannot speak of eating sling-stones, as Koehler would interpret the words, overlooking כּבשׁוּ, and appealing to the parallel member: they will drink, reel as if from wine, which shows, in his opinion, that it is the sling-stones that are to be eaten. But this shows, on the contrary, that just as there no mention is made of what is to be drunk, so here what is to be eaten is not stated. It is true that wine and sacrificial blood point to the blood of the enemy; but wine and blood are drinkable, whereas sling-stones are not edible. The description of the enemy as sling-stones is to be explained from the figure in 1Sa 25:29, to hurl away the soul of the enemy. They drunk (sc., the blood of the enemy) even to intoxication, making a noise, as if intoxicated with wine (כּמו יין, an abbreviated comparison; cf. Ewald, §221, a, and 282, e), and even to overflowing, so that they become full, like the sacrificial bowls in which the blood of the sacrificial animals was caught, and like the corners of the altar, which were sprinkled with the sacrificial blood. זויּת are corners, not the horns of the altar. The sacrificial blood was not sprinkled upon these; they were simply smeared with a little blood applied with the finger, in the case of the expiatory sacrifices. According to the law (Lev 1:5, Lev 1:11; Lev 3:2, etc.), the blood was to be swung against the altar. This was done, according to rabbinical tradition (Mishn. Seb. 1Sa 25:4., and Rashi on Lev 1:5), in such a manner, that with two sprinklings all the four sides of the altar were wetted, - a result which could only be ensured by swinging the bowls filled with blood, so as to strike the corners of the altar.

Zec 9:16-17

Through this victory over the world-power Israel will attain to glory. Zec 9:16. “And Jehovah their God will endow them with salvation in that day, like a flock His people; for stones of a crown are they, sparkling in His land. Zec 9:17. For how great is its goodness, and how great its beauty! Corn will make youths to sprout, and new wine maidens.” הושׁיע does not mean to help or deliver here; for this would affirm much too little, after what has gone before. When Israel has trodden down its foes, it no longer needs deliverance. It denotes the granting of positive salvation, which the explanatory clause that follows also requires. The motive for this is indicated in the clause, “like a flock His people.” Because Israel is His (Jehovah’s) people, the Lord will tend it as a shepherd tends his flock. The blessings which Jehovah bestows upon His people are described by David in Psa 23:1-6. The Lord will do this also, because they (the Israelites) are crown-stones, namely as the chosen people, which Jehovah will make a praise and glory for all nations (Zep 3:19-20). To the predicate אבני נזר the subject המּה may easily be supplied from the context, as for example in מגּיד in Zec 9:12. To this subject מתנוססות וגו attaches itself. This verb is connected with nēs, a banner, in Psa 60:6, the only other passage in which it occurs; but here it is used in the sense of nâtsats, to glitter or sparkle. The meaning, to lift up, which is given by the lexicons, has no foundation, and is quite unsuitable here. For crown-stones do not lift themselves up, but sparkle; and the figure of precious stones, which sparkle upon the land, denotes the highest possible glory to which Israel can attain. The suffix attached to אדמתו refers to Jehovah, only we must not identify the land of Jehovah with Palestine. The application of this honourable epithet to Israel is justified in Zec 9:17, by an allusion to the excellence and beauty to which it will attain. The suffixes in טוּבו and יפיו cannot refer to Jehovah, as Ewald and Hengstenberg suppose, but refer to עמּו, the people of Jehovah. יפי is quite irreconcilable with an allusion to Jehovah, since this word only occurs in connection with men and the Messianic King (Psa 45:3; Isa 33:17); and even if it were used of Jehovah, it would still be unsuitable here. For though the vigorous prosperity of the nation is indeed a proof of the goodness of God, it is not a proof of the beauty of God. Mâh is an exclamation of Amazement: “how great!” (Ewald, §330, a). טוּב, when affirmed of the nation, is not moral goodness, but a good appearance, and is synonymous with יפי, beauty, as in Hos 10:11. This prosperity proceeds from the blessings of grace, which the Lord causes to flow down to His people. Corn and new wine are mentioned as such blessings, for the purpose of individualizing, as indeed they frequently are (e.g., Deu 33:28; Psa 72:16), and are distributed rhetorically between the youths and the maidens.

Prophecy against Syria; Prophecy against the Enemies of Israel; Judgments and Mercies. (b. c.  510.)

1 The burden of the word of the Lord in the land of Hadrach, and Damascus shall be the rest thereof: when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the Lord . 2 And Hamath also shall border thereby; Tyrus, and Zidon, though it be very wise. 3 And Tyrus did build herself a strong hold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets. 4 Behold, the Lord will cast her out, and he will smite her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire. 5 Ashkelon shall see it, and fear; Gaza also shall see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron; for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited. 6 And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. 7 And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth: but he that remaineth, even he, shall be for our God, and he shall be as a governor in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite. 8 And I will encamp about mine house because of the army, because of him that passeth by, and because of him that returneth: and no oppressor shall pass through them any more: for now have I seen with mine eyes.

After the precious promises we had in the foregoing chapter of favour to God's people, their persecutors, who hated them, come to be reckoned with, those particularly that bordered close upon them.

I. The Syrians had been bad neighbours to Israel, and God had a controversy with them. The word of the Lord shall be a burden in the land of Hadrach, that is, of Syria, but it does not appear why it was so called. That that kingdom is meant is plain, because Damascus, the metropolis of that kingdom, is said to be the rest of this burden; that is, the judgments here threatened shall light and lie upon that city. Those are miserable upon whom the burden of the word of the Lord rests, upon whom the wrath of God abides (John iii. 36); for it is a weight that they can neither shake off nor bear up under. There are those whom God causes his fury to rest upon. Those whom the wrath of God makes its mark it will be sure to hit; those whom it makes its rest it will be sure to sink. And the reason of this burden's resting on Damascus is because the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel (or rather, even of all the tribes of Israel), are towards the Lord, because the people of God by faith and prayer look up to him for succour and relief and depend upon him to take their part against their enemies. Note, It is a sign that God is about to appear remarkably for his people when he raises their believing expectations from him and dependence upon him, and when by his grace he turns them from idols to himself. Isa. xvii. 7, 8, At that day shall a man look to his Maker. It may be read thus, for the Lord has an eye upon man, and upon all the tribes of Israel; he is King of nations as well as King of saints; he governs the world as well as the church, and therefore will punish the sins of other people as well as those of his own people. God is Judge of all, and therefore all must give account of themselves to him. When St. Paul was converted at Damascus, and preached there, and disputed with the Jews, then the word of the Lord might be said to rest there, and then the eyes of men, of other men besides the tribes of Israel, began to be towards the Lord; see Acts ix. 22. Hamath, a country which lay north of Damascus, and which we often read of, shall border thereby (v. 2); it joins to Syria, and shall share in the burden of the word of the Lord that rests upon Damascus. The Jews have a proverb, Woe to the wicked man, and woe to his neighbour, who is in danger of partaking in his sins and in his plagues. Woe to the land of Hadrach, and woe to Hamath that borders thereby.

II. Tyre and Zidon come next to be called to an account here, as in other prophecies, v. 2-4. Observe here,

1. Tyrus flourishing, thinking herself very safe, and ready to set God's judgments, not only at a distance, but at defiance: for, (1.) She is very wise. It is spoken ironically; she thinks herself very wise, and able to outwit even the wisdom of God. It is granted that her king is a great politician, and that her statesmen are so, Ezek. xxviii. 3. But with all their wit and policy they shall not be able to evade the judgments of God when they come with commission; there is no wisdom nor counsel against the Lord; nay, it is his honour to take the wise in their own craftiness. (2.) She is very strong, and well fortified both by nature and art: Tyrus did build herself a strong-hold, which she thought could never be brought down nor got over. (3.) She is very rich; and money is a defence; it is the sinews of war, Eccl. vii. 12. By her vast trade she has heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets, that is, she has an abundance of them, heaps of silver as common as heaps of sand, Job xxvii. 16. Solomon made silver to be in Jerusalem as the stones of the streets; but Tyre went further, and made fine gold to be as the mire of the streets. It were well if we could all learn so to look upon it, in comparison with the merchandise of wisdom and grace and the gains thereof.

2. Tyrus falling, after all. Her wisdom, and wealth, and strength, shall not be able to secure her (v. 4): The Lord will cast her out of that strong-hold wherein she has fortified herself, will make her poor (so some read it); there have been instances of those that have fallen from the height of plenty to the depth of poverty, and great riches have come to nothing. God will smite her power in the sea; her being surrounded by the water shall not secure her, but she shall be devoured with fire, and burnt down to the ground. Tyrus, being seated in the midst of the water, was, one would have thought, in danger of being some time or other overflowed or washed away by that; yet God chooses to destroy it by the contrary element. Sometimes he brings ruin upon his enemies by those means which they least suspect. Water enough was nigh at hand to quench the flames of Tyre, and yet by them she shall be devoured; for who can put out the fire which the breath of the Almighty blows up?

III. God next contends with the Philistines, with their great cities and great lords, that bordered southward upon Israel.

1. They shall be alarmed and affrighted by the word of the Lord lighting and resting upon Damascus (v. 5); the disgraces of Israel had many a time been published in the streets of Ashkelon, and they had triumphed in them; but now Ashkelon shall see the ruin of her friends and allies, and shall fear; Gaza also shall see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron, concluding that their own turns come next, now that the cup of trembling goes round. What will become of their house when their neighbour's is on fire? They had looked upon Tyre and Zidon as a barrier to their country; but, when those strong cities were ruined, their expectations from them were ashamed, as our expectation from all creatures will be in the issue.

2. They shall themselves be ruined and wasted. (1.) The government shall be dissolved: The king shall perish from Gaza, not only the present king shall be cut off, but there shall be no succession, no successor, (2.) The cities shall be dispeopled: Ashkelon shall not be inhabited; the rightful owners shall be expelled, either slain or carried into captivity. (3.) Foreigners shall take possession of their land and become masters of all its wealth (v. 6): A bastard shall dwell in Ashdod; a spurious brood of strangers shall enter upon the inheritances of the natives, which they have no more right to than a bastard has to the estates of the legitimate children. And thus God will cut off the pride of the Philistines, all the strength and wealth which they prided themselves in, and which were the ground of their confidence in themselves and their contempt of the Israel of God. This prophecy of the destruction of the Philistines, and of Damascus, and Tyre, was accomplished, not long after this, by Alexander the Great, who ravaged all these countries with his victorious army, took the cities, and planted colonies in them, which Quintus Curtius gives a particular account of in the history of his conquests. And some think he is meant by the bastard that shall dwell in Ashdod, for his mother Olympia owned him begotten in adultery, but pretended it was by Jupiter. The Jews afterwards got ground of the Philistines, Syrians, and others of their neighbours, took some of their cities from them and possessed their countries, as appears by the histories of Josephus and the Maccabees, and this was foretold before, Zeph. ii. 4, and Obad. 20.

3. Some among them shall be converted, and brought home to God, by his gospel and grace; so some understand v. 7, as a promise, (1.) That God would take away the sins of these nations—their blood and their abominations, their cruelties and their idolatries. God will part between them and these sins which they have rolled under their tongue as a sweet morsel, and are as loth to part with as men are to part with the meat out of their mouths, and which they hold fast between their teeth. Nothing is too hard for the grace of God to do. (2.) That he would accept of a remnant of them for his own: He that remains shall be for our God. God would preserve a remnant even of these nations, that should be the monuments of his mercy and grace and be set apart for him; and the disadvantages of their birth shall be no bar to their acceptance with God, but a Philistine shall be as acceptable to God, upon gospel-terms, as one of Judah, nay, as a governor, or chief one, in Judah, and a man of Ekron shall be as a Jebusite, or a man of Jerusalem, as a proselyted Jebusite, as Araunah the Jebusite, 2 Sam. xxiv. 16. In Christ Jesus there is no distinction of nations, but all are one in him, all alike welcome to him.

IV. In all this God intends mercy for Israel, and it is in kindness to them that God will deal thus with the neighbouring nations, to avenge their quarrel for what is past and to secure them for the future.

1. Thus some understand the seventh verse, as intimating, (1.) That thus God would deliver his people from their bloody adversaries, who hated them, and to whom they were an abomination, when they were just ready to devour them and make a prey of them: I will take away his blood (that is, the blood of Israel) out of the mouth of the Philistines and from between their teeth (Amos iii. 12), when, in their hatred of them and enmity to them, they were greedily devouring them. (2.) That lie would thus give them victory and dominion over them: And he that remains (that is, the remnant of Israel) shall be for our God, shall be taken into his favour, shall own him and be owned by him, and he shall be as a governor in Judah; though the Jews have been long in servitude, they shall recover their ancient dignity, and be victorious, as David and other governors in Judah formerly were; and Ekron (that is, the Philistines) shall be as the Jebusites, and the rest of the devoted nations, who were brought into subjection under them.

2. However, this is plainly the sense of v. 8, that God will take his people under his special protection, and therefore will weaken their neighbours, that it may not be in their power to do them a mischief: I will encamp about my house because of the army. Note, God's house lies in the midst of an enemy's country, and his church is as a lily among thorns; and therefore God's power and goodness are to be observed in the special preservation of it. The camp of the saints, being a little flock in comparison with the numerous armies of the powers of darkness that are set against it round about, would certainly be swallowed up if the angels of God did not encamp about it, as they did about Elisha, to deliver it, Rev. xx. 9; Ps. xxxiv. 7. When the times are unusually perilous, when armies are marching and counter-marching, and all bearing ill-will to Zion, then Providence will as it were double its guards upon the church of God, because of him that passes by and because of him that returns, that whether he return a conqueror or conquered he may do it no harm. And, as none that pass by shall hurt them, so no oppressor shall pass through them any more; they shall have no enemy within themselves to rule them with rigour, and to make their lives bitter to them with sore bondage, as of old in Egypt. This was fulfilled when, for some time after the struggles of the Maccabees, Judea was a free and flourishing state, or perhaps when Alexander the Great, struck with an awe of Jaddus the high priest, favoured the Jews, and took them under his protection, at the same time when he wasted the neighbouring countries. And the reason given for all this is, "For now have I seen with my eyes, now have I carefully distinguished between my people and other people, with whom before they seemed to have their lot in common, and have made it to appear that I know those that are mine," This agrees with Ps. xxxiv. 15, The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous; now his eyes, which run to and fro through the earth, shall fix upon them, that he may show himself tender of them, and strong on their behalf, 2 Chron. xvi. 9.

Predictions Relating to Messiah. (b. c. 510.)

9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. 10 And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth. 11 As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.

That here begins a prophecy of the Messiah and his kingdom is plain from the literal accomplishment of the ninth verse in, and its express application to, Christ's riding in triumph into Jerusalem, Matt. xxi. 5; John xii. 15.

I. Here is notice given of the approach of the Messiah promised, as matter of great joy to the Old-Testament church: Behold, thy king cometh unto thee. Christ is a king, invested with regal powers and prerogatives, a sovereign prince, an absolute monarch, having all power both in heaven and on earth. He is Zion's king. God has set him upon his holy hill of Zion, Ps. ii. 6. In Zion his glory as a king shines; thence his law went forth, even the word of the Lord. In the gospel-church his spiritual kingdom is administered; it is by him that the ordinances of the church are instituted, and its officers commissioned; and it is taken under his protection; he fights the church's battles and secures its interests, as its king. "This King has been long in coming, but now, behold, he cometh; he is at the door. There are but a few ages more to run out, and he that shall come will come. He cometh unto thee; the Word will shortly be made flesh, and dwell within thy borders; he will come to his own. And therefore rejoice, rejoice greatly, and shout for joy; look upon it as good news, and be assured it is true; please thyself to think that he is coming, that he is on his way towards thee; and be ready to go forth to meet him with acclamations of joy, as one not able to conceal it, it is so great, nor ashamed to own it, it is so just; cry Hosanna to him." Christ's approaches ought to be the church's applauses.

II. Here is such a description of him as renders him very amiable in the eyes of all his loving subjects, and his coming to them very acceptable. 1. He is a righteous ruler; all his acts of government will be exactly according to the rules of equity, for he is just. 2. He is a powerful protector to all those that bear faith and true allegiance to him, for he has salvation; he has it in his power; he has it to bestow upon all his subjects. He is the God of salvation; treasures of salvation are in him. He is servatus—saving himself (so some read it), rising out of the grave by his own power and so qualifying himself to be our Saviour. (3.) He is a meek, humble, tender Father to all his subjects as his children; he is lowly; he is poor and afflicted (so the word signifies), so it denotes the meanness of his condition; having emptied himself, he was despised and rejected of men. But the evangelist translates it so as to express the temper of his spirit: he is meek, not taking state upon him, nor resenting injuries, but humbling himself from first to last, condescending to the mean, compassionate to the miserable; this was a bright and excellent character of him as a prophet (Matt. xi. 29, Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart), and no less so as a king. It was a proof of this that, when he made his public entry into his own city (and it was the only passage of his life that had any thing in it magnificent in the eye of the world), he chose to ride, not upon a stately horse, or in a chariot, as great men used to ride, but upon an ass, a beast of service indeed, but a poor silly and contemptible one, low and slow, and in those days ridden only by the meaner sort of people; nor was it an ass fitted for use, but an ass's colt, a little foolish unmanageable thing, that would be more likely to disgrace his rider than be any credit to him; and that not his own neither, nor helped off, as sometimes a sorry horse is, by good furniture, for he had no saddle, no housings, no trappings, no equipage, but his disciples' clothes thrown upon the colt;' for he made himself of no reputation when he visited us in great humility.

III. His kingdom is here set forth in the glory of it. This king has, and will have, a kingdom, not of this world, but a spiritual kingdom, a kingdom of heaven. 1. It shall not be set up and advanced by external force, by an arm of flesh or carnal weapons of warfare. No; he will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horses from Jerusalem (v. 10), for he shall have no occasion for them while he himself rides upon an ass. He will, in kindness to his people, cut off their horses and chariots, that they may not cut themselves off from God by putting that confidence in them which they should put in the power of God only. He will himself undertake their protection, will himself be a wall of fire about Jerusalem and give his angels charge concerning it (those chariots of fire and horses of fire), and then the chariots and horses they had in their service shall be discarded and cut off as altogether needless. 2. It shall be propagated and established by the preaching of the gospel, the speaking of peace to the heathen; for Christ came and preached peace to those that were afar off and to those that were nigh; and so established his kingdom by proclaiming on earth peace, and good-will towards men. 3. His kingdom, as far as it prevails in the minds of men and has the ascendant over them, will make them peaceable, and slay all enmities; it will cut off the battle-bow, and beat swords into plough-shares. It will not only command the peace, but will create the fruit of the lips, peace. 4. It shall extend itself to all parts of the world, in defiance of the opposition given to it. "The chariot and horse that come against Ephraim and Jerusalem, to oppose the progress of Zion's King, shall be cut off; his gospel shall be preached to the world, and be received among the heathen, so that his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth, as was foretold by David," Ps. lxxii. 8. The preachers of the gospel shall carry it from one country, one island, to another, till some of the remotest corners of the world are enlightened and reduced by it.

IV. Here is an account of the great benefit procured for mankind by the Messiah, which is redemption from extreme misery, typified by the deliverance of the Jews out of their captivity in Babylon (v. 11): "As for thee also (thee, O daughter of Jerusalem! or thee, O Messiah the Prince!) by the blood of thy covenant, by force and virtue of the covenant made with Abraham, sealed with the blood of circumcision, and the covenant made with Israel at Mount Sinai, sealed with the blood of sacrifices, in pursuance and performance of that covenant, I have now of late sent forth thy prisoners, thy captives out of Babylon, which was to them a most uncomfortable place, as a pit in which was no water." It was part of the covenant that, if in the land of their captivity, they sought the Lord, he would be found of them, Lev. xxvi. 42, 44, 45; Deut. xxx. 4. It was by the blood of that covenant, typifying the blood of Christ, in whom all God's covenants with man are yea and amen, that they were released out of captivity; and this was but a shadow of the great salvation wrought out by thy King, O daughter of Zion! Note, A sinful state is a state of bondage; it is a spiritual prison; it is a pit, or a dungeon, in which there is no water, no comfort at all to be had. We are all by nature prisoners in this pit; the scripture has concluded us all under sin, and bound us over to the justice of God. God is pleased to deal upon new terms with these prisoners, to enter into another covenant with them; the blood of Christ is the blood of that covenant, purchased it for us and all the benefits of it; by that blood of the covenant effectual provision is made for the sending forth of these prisoners upon easy and honourable terms, and proclamation made of liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those that were bound, like Cyrus's proclamation to the Jews in Babylon, which all those whose spirits God stirs up will come and take the benefit of.

Gospel Invitations; Promises of God's Favour to Israel. (b. c. 510.)

12 Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee; 13 When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man. 14 And the Lord shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the Lord God shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south. 15 The Lord of hosts shall defend them; and they shall devour, and subdue with sling stones; and they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine; and they shall be filled like bowls, and as the corners of the altar. 16 And the Lord their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land. 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.

The prophet, having taught those that had returned out of captivity to attribute their deliverance to the blood of the covenant and to the promise of the Messiah (for they were so wonderfully helped because that blessing was in them, was yet in the womb of their nation), now comes to encourage them with the prospect of a joyful and happy settlement, and of glorious times before them; and such a happiness they did enjoy, in a great measure, for some time; but these promises have their full accomplishment in the spiritual blessings of the gospel which we enjoy by Jesus Christ.

I. They are invited to look unto Christ, and flee unto him as their city of refuge (v. 12): Turn you to the strong-hold, you prisoners of hope. The Jews that had returned out of captivity into their own land were yet, in effect, but prisoners (We are servants this day, Neh. ix. 36), yet prisoners of hope, or expectation, for God had given them a little reviving in their bondage, Ezra ix. 8, 9. Those that yet continued in Babylon, detained by their affairs there, yet lived in hope some time or other to see their own land again. Now both these are directed to turn their eyes upon the Messiah, set before them in the promise as their strong-hold, to shelter themselves in him, and stay themselves upon him, for the perfecting of the mercy which by his grace, and for his sake, was so gloriously begun. Look unto him, and be you saved, Isa. xlv. 22. The promise of the Messiah was the strong-hold of the faithful long before his coming; they saw his day at a distance and were glad, and the believing expectation of the redemption in Jerusalem was long the support and consolation of Israel, Luke ii. 25, 38. They, in their dangers and distresses, were ready to turn towards this and the other creature for relief; but the prophets directed them still to turn to Christ, and to comfort themselves with the joy of their king coming to them with salvation. But, as their deliverance was typical of our redemption by Christ (v. 11), so this invitation to the strong-hold speaks the language of the gospel-call. Sinners are prisoners, but they are prisoners of hope; their case is sad, but it is not desperate; yet now there is hope in Israel concerning them. Christ is a strong-hold for them, a strong tower, in whom they may be safe and quiet from the fear of the wrath of God, the curse of the law, and the assaults of their spiritual enemies. To him they must turn by a lively faith; to him they must flee, and trust in his name.

II. They are assured of God's favour to them: "Even to day do I declare, when things are at the worst, and you think your case deplorable to the last degree, yet I solemnly promise that I will render double unto thee, to thee, O Jerusalem! to every one of you prisoners of hope. I will give you comforts double to the sorrows you have experienced, or blessings double to what I ever bestowed upon your fathers, when their condition was at the best; the glory of your latter state, as well as of your latter house, shall be greater, shall be twice as great as that of your former." And so it was no otherwise than by the coming of the Messiah, the preaching of his gospel, and the setting up of his kingdom; these spiritual blessings in heavenly things were double to what they had ever enjoyed in their most prosperous state. As a pledge of this, in the fulness of time God here promises to the Jews victory, plenty, and joy, in their own land, which yet should be but a type and shadow of more glorious victories, riches, and joys, in the kingdom of Christ.

1. They shall triumph over their enemies. The Jews, after their return, were surrounded with enemies on all sides. They were as a speckled bird; all the birds of the field were against them. Their land lay between the two potent kingdoms of Syria and Egypt, branches of the Grecian monarchy, and what frequent dangers they should be in between them was foretold, Dan. xi. But it is here promised that out of them all the Lord would deliver them; and this promise had its primary accomplishment in the times of the Maccabees, when the Jews made head against their enemies, kept their head above water, and, after many struggles and difficulties, came to be head over them. It is promised, (1.) That they shall be instruments in God's hand for the defeating and baffling of their persecutors: "I have bent Judah for me, as my bow of steel; that bow I have filled with Ephraim as my arrows, have drawn it up to its full bent, till the arrow be at the head;" for some think that this is signified by the phrase of filling the bow. The expressions here are very fine, and the figures lively. Judah had been taught the use of the bow (2 Sam. i. 18), and Ephraim had been famous for it, Ps. lxxviii. 9. But let them not think that they gain their successes by their own bow, for they themselves are no more than God's bow and his arrows, tools in his hands, which he makes use of and manages as he pleases, which he holds as his bow and directs to the mark as his arrows. The best and bravest of men are but what God makes them, and do no more service than he enables them to do. The preachers of the gospel were the bow in Christ's hand, with which he went forth, he went on, conquering and to conquer, Rev. vi. 2. The following words explain this: I have raised up and animated thy sons, O Zion! against thy sons, O Greece! This was fulfilled when against Antiochus, one of the kings of the Grecian monarchy, the people that knew their God were strong and did exploits, Dan. xi. 32. And they in the hand of an almighty God were made as the sword of a mighty man, which none can stand before. Wicked men are said to be God's sword (Ps. xvii. 13), and sometimes good men are made so; for he employs both as he pleases. (2.) That God will be captain, and commander-in-chief, over them, in every expedition and engagement (v. 14): The Lord shall be seen over them; he shall make it appear that he presides in their affairs, and that in all their motions they are under his direction, as apparently, though not as sensibly, as he was seen over Israel in the pillar of cloud and fire when he led them through the wilderness. [1.] Is their army to be raised, or mustered, and brought into the field? The Lord shall blow the trumpet, to gather the forces together, to proclaim the war, to sound the alarm, and to give directions which way to march, which way to move; for, if God blow the trumpet, it shall not give an uncertain sound, nor a feeble ineffectual one. [2.] Is the army taking the field, and entering upon action? Whatever enterprise the campaign is opened with, God shall go forth at the head of their forces, with whirlwinds of the south, which were of incredible swiftness and fierceness; and before these whirlwinds thy sons, O Greece! shall be as chaff. [3.] Is the army actually engaged? God's arrows shall go forth as lightning, so strongly, so suddenly, so irresistibly; his lightnings shall go forth as arrows and scattered them, that is, he shot out his lightnings and discomfited them. This alludes to that which God had done for Israel of old when he brought them out of Egypt, and into Canaan, and had its accomplishment partly in the wonderful successes which the Jews had against their neighbours that attacked them in the time of the Maccabees, by the special appearances of the divine Providence for them, and perfectly in the glorious victories gained by the cross of Christ and the preaching of the cross over Satan and all the powers of darkness, whereby we are made more than conquerors. [4.] Are they in danger of being overpowered by the enemy? The Lord of hosts shall defend them (v. 15); The Lord their God shall save them (v. 16); so that their enemies shall not prevail over them, nor prey upon them. God shall be unto them for defence as well as offence, the shield of their help as well as the sword of their excellency, and this as the Lord of hosts, who has power to defend them, and as their God, who is engaged by promise to defend them, and by the property he has in them. He shall save them in that day, that critical dangerous day, as the flock of his people, with the same care and tenderness that the shepherd protects his sheep with. Those are safe whom God saves. [5.] Did their enemies hope to swallow them up? It shall be turned upon them, and they shall devour their enemies, and shall subdue with sling-stones, for want of better weapons, those that come forth against them. The stones of the brook, when God pleases, shall do as great execution as the best train of artillery; for the stars in their courses shall fight on the same side. Goliath was subdued with a sling-stone. Having subdued, they shall devour, shall drink the blood of their enemies, as it were, and, as conquerors are wont to do, they shall make a noise as through wine. It is usual for conquerors with loud huzzas and acclamations to glory in their victories and proclaim them. We read of those that shout for mastery, and of the shout of a king among God's people. They shall be filled with blood and spoil, as the bowls and basins of the temple, or the corners of the altar, were wont to be filled with the blood of the sacrifices; for their enemies shall fall as victims to divine justice.

2. They shall triumph in their God. They shall take the comfort and give God the glory of their successes. So some read v. 15. They shall eat (that is, they shall quietly enjoy) what they have got; God will give them power to eat it after they have subdued the sling-stones (that is, their enemies that slung stones at them), and they shall drink and make a noise, a joyful noise, before the Lord their maker and protector, as through wine, as men are merry at a banquet of wine. Being not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but filled with the Spirit, they shall speak to themselves and one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, as those that are drunk do with vain and foolish songs, Eph. v. 18, 19. And, in the fulness of their joy, they shall offer abundance of sacrifices to the honour of God, so that they shall fill both the bowls and the corners of the altar with the fat and blood of their sacrifices. And, when they thus triumph in their successes, their joy shall terminate in God as their God, the God of their salvation. They shall triumph, (1.) In the love he has for them, and the relation wherein they stand to him, that they are the flock of his people and he is their Shepherd, and that they are to him as the stones of a crown, which are very precious and of great value, and which are kept under a strong guard. Never was any king so pleased with the jewels of his crown as God is, and will be, with his people, who are near and dear unto him, and in whom he glories. They are a crown of glory and a royal diadem in his hand, Isa. lxii. 2, 3. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord, in that day when I make up my jewels, Mal. iii. 17. And they shall be lifted up as an ensign upon his land, as the royal standard is displayed in token of triumph and joy. God's people are his glory; so he is pleased to make them, so he is pleased to reckon them. He sets them up as a banner upon his own land, waging war against those who hate him, to whom it is a flag of defiance, while it is a centre of unity to all that love him, to all the children of God, that are scattered abroad, who are invited to come and enlist themselves under this banner, Isa. xi. 10, 12. (2.) In the provision he makes for them, v. 15. This is the matter of their triumph (v. 17): For how great is his goodness and how great is his beauty! This is the substance, this the burden, of the songs wherewith they shall make a noise before the Lord. We are here taught, [1.] To admire and praise the amiableness of God's being: How great is his beauty! All the perfections of God's nature conspire to make him infinitely lovely in the eyes of all that know him. They are to him as the stones of a crown; but what is he to them? Our business in the temple is to behold the beauty of the Lord (Ps. xxvii. 4), and how great is that beauty! How far does it transcend all other beauties, particularly the beauty of his holiness. This may refer to the Messiah, to Zion's King that cometh. See that king in his beauty (Isa. xxxiii. 17), who is fairer than the children of men, the fairest of ten thousand, and altogether lovely. Though, in the eye of the world, he had no form or comeliness, in the eye of faith how great is his beauty! [2.] To admire and give thanks for the gifts of God's favour and grace, his bounty as well as his beauty; for how great is his goodness! How rich in mercy is he! How deep, how full, are its springs! How various, how plenteous, how precious, are its streams! What a great deal of good does God do! How rich in mercy is he! Here is an instance of his goodness to his people: Corn shall make the young men cheerful and new wine the maids; that is, God will bless his people with an abundance of the fruits of the earth. Whereas they had been afflicted with scarcity to such a degree that the young men and the maidens were ready to swoon and faint away for hunger and thirst (Lam. ii. 12, 21; iv. 7, 8; v. 10), now they shall have bread enough and to spare, not water only, but wine, new wine, which shall make the young people grow and be cheerful, and (which some have observed to be the effect of plenty and the cheapness of corn) the poor will be encouraged to marry, and re-people the land, when they shall have wherewithal to maintain their families. Note, What good gifts God bestows upon us we must serve him cheerfully with, and must race the streams up to the fountain, and, when we are refreshed with corn and wine, must say, How great is his goodness!

CHAP. IX.

Verſe 1. THE burden] i. e. the bitter and burdenſome Prophecy. See the Note on Mal. 1.1.

In the land of Hadrach] Better; on the land of Hadrach: whereby is meant,Becauſe Meſſiah is chad ſharp to the Nations, but rach gentle to the Iſraelites. not thy land O Immanuel, or, O Meſſiah (as Hierom, after Rabbi Benaiah) nor a countrey that is neer, or lying round about another countrey, as Junius and Danaeus expound the Syrian word. But either a province, or a city, of ſome Note in Syria, not fat from Damaſcus: Diodate maketh it to be an Idoll of the Syrians; which repreſented the Sunne: from which the countrey took its name, as Eſay 8. 8. Jer. 48.46. Hoſ. 10.5.

and Damaſcus] The Metropolis of Syria, built ſay ſome, in the place where Cain ſlew Abel; and therehence called Dameſech, or a bag of blood; a great ſcourge to Iſrael, chiefly famous for Saint Pauls converſion there, and his rapture into the third heaven, during that three-dayes darkneſſe, Act, 9.9. with 2 Cor. 12.2.

ſhall be the reſt thereof] ſc. of that bitter burden which ſhall here abide, and be ſet upon its own baſe, as chap. 5.11. See a like expreſſion, Joh. 3.36. the wrath of God abideth upon an unbeleever, tanquam trabali clavo fixa: he can neither avert nor avoid it.

when the eyes of man, &c.] That is, of other men the Gentiles alſo, who as yet are carnall and walk as men, ſhall be toward the Lord, lifted up in prayer, and confident expectation of mercy. See Pſal. 122.2.

Verſe 2. And Hamath alſo ſhall border thereby] i. e. ſhall ſhare in the ſame puniſhment with Damaſcus, and fare the worſe for its neighbourhood.

though it be very wiſe] and think to out-wit the enemy: to be too hard for him that way, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. 1 Cor. 3.19. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. as Midian was for Iſrael, by his wiles rather then by his warres, Num. 25.18. God taketh theſe Wiſards in their own craft, (as beaſts in a toil) and makes very fools of them, notwithſtanding their many fetches; ſpecially when they boaſt of their wit, as Tyrus did, Ezek. 28.3, 4, &c. and truſt in it, Prov. 3.5. The Phoenicians and Tyrians were wont to boaſt, that they firſt found out the uſe of letters, &c. Sure it is that by much trading by Sea, they were grown cunning and crafty Merchants, to coſen others: and this they coloured with the name of wiſdome. Wiſe they were in their generation, Luke 16.8. but ſo is the fox, the ſerpent, and the devil: who when he was but young, out-witted our firſt parents. And wee are ſtill ſenſible of his ſlights, and not ignorant of his wiles, his methods, and his ſtratagems.

Verſe 3. And Tyrus did build her ſelf a ſtrong-hold] Thor did build her ſelf Matſor: An Elegancy not to be Engliſhed. (ſuch as are many in the old Teſtament, but eſpecially in Eſay) It is as if it ſhould be ſaid, A ſtrong hold (ſuch as Tyrus which was naturally fortified) did build it ſelf a ſtrong hold, ſc. by the induſtry and diligence of men; ſo that ſhe might ſeem impregnable: yet all ſhould not do.A Lapide. Alexander, after ſeven moneths ſiege, took it and deſtroyed it.

and heaped up ſilver as duſt] Pulverizavit argentum quaſi pulverem. Shee had money enough (by means of her long and great trade with all the world, Ezek. 27.) and ſo might hire what ſouldiers ſhe pleaſed for her defence. The ſinewes of warre were not wanting to her. She heaped up her hoards as it were to heaven: her Magazines were full fraught. The word here rendred, heapt up, ſignifieth to comport and gather in money, as men do corn into barnes and granaries. Exod. 8.10. Pſal. 39.7. But riches avail not in the day of wrath. And Tyrus converted, leaves laying up, and treaſuring, and falls to feeding, and cloathing Gods Saints, Eſay 23.18.

Verſ. 4. Behold the Lord will caſt her out] Or, impoveriſh her, as ſome render it: that's for her money. God can ſoon let her blood in the vena cava, called Marſupium: and make her nudam tanquam ex mari. And then for her munitions:

He will ſmite her power in the ſea] She was ſeated in a Iſland, upon munitions of rocks: the ſea was to her inſtead of a three-fold wall and ditch. She was better fortified then Venice is; which yet hath flouriſhed above nine hundred years, and was never in the enemies hands: whence ſhe hath for her Motto, Intacta manet. But Tyrus was taken Nebuchadnezzar, as his wages; and afterwards by Alexander, who never held any thing impoſſible that he undertook, how unlikely ſoever it were to be effected. He found means to fill up the ſea with ſtones, trees, and rubbiſh, where it divided Tyrus from the Continent: and made himſelf maſter of it.

and ſhe ſhall be devoured with fire] though ſeated in the heart of the ſea, Ezek. 28.2.Curt. lib. 4. Plin. lib. 5. c. 19 and had motted up her ſelf againſt Gods fire. Nothing ſhall quench the fire that he kindleth.

Verſe 5. Aſhkelon ſhall ſee it and fear] for, jam proximus ardet Ʋcalegon, her next neighbours houſe was now on fire; and ſhe might well fear ſhe ſhould be daſht at leaſt with the tail of that over-flowing ſtorm, that had ſwept away Tyrus. The ſword was now in commiſſion: it was riding circuite, Ezek. 14.17. and God had given it a ſpeciall charge againſt Aſhkelon, and againſt the Sea-ſhore: there had he appointed it, Jer. 47.6, 7. Now Aſhkelon, Gaza, and Ekron, were ſcituate all along the Sea-coaſt, Southward of Tyre and Sidon. All theſe were bitter enemies to the Church: and were therefore deſtroyed by Alexander the Great, that man of Gods hand.

Gaza alſo ſhall ſee it, and be very ſorrowfull] like a travailing woman, as Eſay 26.17, 18. where the ſame word is uſed: her heart ſhall ake and quake within her: ſhe ſhall have ſore throwes and throbs.

and Ekron: for her expectation ſhall be aſhamed] Her hope hath abuſed her, her confidence is cut off, her countenance is covered with confuſion. She looked that Tyrus ſhould have been a bulwark to her: or, at leaſt a refuge, if need were. But now ſhe ſeeth her expectation ſhamed: The expectation of the wicked ſhall periſh. They look out of the window with Siſerah's mother, and ſay, Have they not ſped? have they not divided the prey, &c? But what ſaith the Church, So let thine enemies periſh, O Lord, &c. Judg. 5.30, 31.

and the king ſhall periſh from Gaza] Rex, id eſt, Regulus: for there were five Princes of the Philiſtines; each great city having a Prince over it. The Prince of Gaza that is here deſigned to deſtruction may very well be that Betis, whom Darius the laſt king of Perſia had ſet over Gaza. He having kept out Alexander for two moneths, was at length taken by him together with the city, and put to a cruell death, as Curtius teſtifieth.Q. Curt. l. 4,

and Aſhkelon ſhall not be inhabited] It was ſo waſted by warre, and diſpeopled, that it became cottages for ſhepherds, and folds for ſheep. See Zeph. 2.4, [illegible: 1 letter]. Howbeit after this it was reinhabited; for that bloody Herod that ſlew the Infants was borne there, being ſirnamed Aſcalonita: and at this day it is a ſtrong gariſon of the Saracens. Saladine pulled down the walls of it: but our Richard the firſt ſet them up again, as Adrichomius telleth us out of Gul. Tyrius.

Verſe 6. But a baſtard ſhall dwell at Aſhdod] Perhaps he meaneth Alexander: In deſcrip[illegible: 1 letter]. Tur. ſan[illegible: 1 letter] who was a baſtard, by his mother Olympia's confeſſion. The Greek here hath [non-Latin text not transcribed], a ſtranger, an alien, or one of another generation, as the Greeks under Alexander, and afterwards the Jews under the Maccabees. Whence the Chaldee turnes this Text thus; The houſe of Iſrael ſhall dwell in Aſhdod, and ſhall be there as ſtrangers which have no father. In the Acts we find that the Jewes were ſcattered up and down Paleſtina, and ſome found at Azotus, or Aſhdod, chap. 8.40.

and I will cut off the pride of the Philiſtines] that is, their wealth, ſtrength, and whatſoever elſe they gloried in, and grew inſolent, and injurious to the Church.

Verſe 7. And I will take away his blood out of his mouth] That is, his bloody prey, (for ſaith Aben-Ezra, theſe Philiſtines did according to the ſalvage cuſtome of thoſe times, eat of the fleſh, and drink of the blood of their ſlain enemies) and I will keep them from devouring my people any more.

and his abominations] Hoc eſt, praedas abominabiles, ſaith Calvin, his abominable ſpoils, his bloody robberies, and pillages.

and he that remaineth The ſmall remnant of Jews not yet altogether devoured by theſe cruell Canniballs, the Babylonians, Philiſtines, and other enemies.

even he ſhall be for our God] Though they be but an Hee, a ſmall poor company of them: yet God will both own them, and honour them.

and he ſhall be as a governour in Iudah] They ſhall all be Magnifico's, little Princes, of high rank and dignity: even as Governours in Iudab; God will honour them in the hearts of all men. See chap. 12.8.

and Ekron as a Iebuſite] i. e. either ſlain, or ſlave and tributary. I know this Text is otherwiſe expounded by Iunius and others: but I now like this Interpretation, as moſt proper.

Verſe 8. And I will encamp about mine houſe] Though it be otherwiſe but ill fenced and fortified: yet I will ſee it ſafegarded and ſecured from the inrodes and incurſions of enemies, who are ranging up and down, and not onely robbing, but raviſhing, Pſal. 10.9. For what was Alexander but an Arch-pirate, a ſtrong theef, as the Pirate whom he had taken told him to his teeth? And whether here be intimated by theſe words, becauſe of him that paſſeth by, and him that returneth] ſomething of Alexanders voyages, who paſſed by Judaea into Egypt, and to Ammons Oracle with his Army; and thence returned to Perſia by the ſame way, not hurting the Jewes; or ſomething about the many expeditions of the Seleucidae, and Lagedae to and fro from Egypt to Syria, and back again: among which hurly-burly the Jewes State ſtood faſt, though ſometime a little ſhaken; I dare not ſay, (ſaith a learned Interpreter:) It may be both thoſe and all other the like dangers are here generally comprized.

and no oppreſſour ſhall paſſe thorow them any more] Chald. No Sultan: not the Turkiſh tyrant, Lord of Greece, as verſe 13. ſay thoſe that take the text of the Jew glorious ſtate at laſt. Calvin thinkes that by this clauſe, he only expounds what he had figuratively ſaid before. Danaeus takes it of violence and oppreſſion among themſelves, or of wringing and vexing by their own rulers: they ſhall be free from violence both abroad an at home.

for now have I ſeen with mine eyes] i. e. I have taken good notice of it, I have ſeen, I have ſeen, as Exod. 3.7. and mine eye hath affected mine heart. I have well obſerved that the enemy is grown unſufferably inſolent, and therefore come to reſcue and relieve my people. The Chaldee hath it thus, I have now revealed my power to do them good: Ahen-Ezra makes theſe to be the Prophets words of himſelf, q. d. I have ſeen all this in a manifeſt viſion. But this is frigidum imo inſulſum, ſaith Calvin and odd conceit: unleſſe we refer it (with Montanus) to the following words, and make this the ſenſe, (which yet I like not ſo well) Behold I ſee in the ſpirit with the eyes of my mind, the Lord Chriſt comming and entring with ſtate, the city and temple.

Verſe 9. Rejoyce greatly, O daughter of Zion] Draw all thy waters with joy out of this welſpring of ſalvation. Loe here is the ſumm of all the good news in the world;Ier. 31.12. and that which ſhould make the ſaints everlaſtingly merry, even to ſhouting and ſinging in the height of Zion, that their king commeth. This ſhould ſwallow up all diſcontents, and make them ſing Hoſanna in the higheſt: Bleſſed is he that commeth in the name of the Lord.

behold thy King commeth] Not Zorobabel, or Judas Maccabeus, as ſome Jewes interpret it: nor yet Alexander the Great (as ſome others) but a greater then he, even Meſſiah the Prince, as Chriſt is ſtiled Dan. 9.25. who ſhall cut off the charret &c. as it followeth in the next verſe, yea all the 4 charret or Monarchies, as ſome expound chap. 6. how much more Tyrus, Gaza, Ekron, Damaſcus, &c. of which he ſpake before in this chapter.

unto thee] i. e. meerely for thy behoof and benefit, and not for his own. Other kings are much for their own profit, pleaſures, pomp, &c. Chriſt emptied himſelf of all his excellencies, that we might be filled with his fulneſſe.

he is juſt and having ſalvation] That he may juſtifie thee by his righteouſneſſe: and ſave thee by his merit and ſpirit. The Vulgar rendreth it, Iuſt and a Saviour, ſo doth the Chaldee. Salvation properly denotes the negative part of mans happineſſe, freedome from all evils and enemies: but it is uſually taken for the poſitive part alſo, viz. fruition of all good: becauſe it is eaſier to tell from what, then unto what we are ſaved by Jehovah our righteouſneſſe.

lowly] Or poor, afflicted abject, See them ſet together Zeph. 3.12. and Phil. 4.12. I have learned to want and to be abaſed. Poverty rendreth a man contemptible, and ridiculous. Pauper ubique jacet, men go over the hedge where it is loweſt: the poor are trampled upon, and vilipended as Luke 16.30. This thy Son, he ſcorned to call him brother: becauſe he was poor. Now Chriſt became poor to make us rich, 2 Cor. 8. Rom. 2.7. a worm and no man (nullificam[illegible: 1 letter]n populi, as Tertullian phraſeth it) that we might be advanced to glory, and honour, and immortality. Neither was he more low and mean in his eſtate, then lowly and meek in mind: as farr from pride and ſtatelineſſe, as as his ſtate was from Pomp and magnificence.

riding upon an aſſe] A poor ſilly beaſt uſed by the meaner ſort of people.

yea upon a colt the foale of an aſſe] Heb. aſſes, becauſe the colt whereon Chriſt rode ran after two aſſes coupled together in one yoke, whereof one was his damm Mat. 21.5. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. 1.2. See the Note there. Theſe aſſes uſed to the yoke Heſiod calleth [non-Latin text not transcribed] wretched, or enduring great toyle and labour. That Chriſt ſhould ride upon the foale of ſuch a hard labouring aſſe, a yong wild colt, not yet ready tamed and trained to the ſaddle, as it ſhewes his humility, ſo alſo his power over the creature (Clareſcente gloriâ inter humilem ſimplicitatem) and his peaceableneſſe too, as Kimchi thinkes from that in the next verſe, that the Iſraelites under Chriſts government ſhould have no need of horſes and charrets. All this deſcription of Chriſts perſon and kingdome we know was punctually fulfilled in our Saviour according to Mat. 21. Mar. 11. Luke 19. Ioh. 12. foure ſufficient witneſſes. The old Rabbines and with them R.Galatin. lib. 8. cap. 9. Solomon (though a ſworn enemy to Chriſtians) take the text of the promiſed Meſſias his ſolemne entrance into Ieruſalem: Of Jeſus the crucified ſon of Mary they will not yeeld, becauſe they ſtumble at his poverty and expect pomp: But if they had conſulted their own Prophets, they would have found, that Meſſiah was foretold, as deſpicable Eſay 53.2. Poor, as here: crucified Dan. 9.26. Num. 21.9. among malefactours Eſay 53.9. nailed Pſal. 22.16. pierced Zech. 12.10. mocked Pſal. 69.7. And that their very rejection of him for his meaneneſſe and meekneſſe proveth him to be Chriſt Pſal. 118.22. Act. 4.11. It is reported of Ageſilaus, that comming to help the king of Egypt in his diſtreſſe, he was deſpiſed by the Egyptians, becauſe of the plaineneſſe of his perſon, and the homelineſſe of his attire: for they thought that they ſhould ſee the king of Sparta ſuch an one, as the king of Perſia was, bravely habited, and pompouſly attended. Semblably the Iewes expect a Chriſt like to one of the mighty Monarches of the earth: and they are ſtrongly poſſeſt with the fond conceit of an earthly kingdome. Hence, when they ſaw Mahomet ariſing in ſuch power, they were ſtraight ready to cry him up for teir Maſſias. The rich hath many friends, ſaith Solomon, but the poor is hated, or ſlighted, even of his own noighbour Prov. 14.20. Chriſt came to his own: but his own received him not. When it was ſometime diſputed among the Romanes in the Councell uſing to deify great men, whether Chriſt having done many wonderfull works ſhould be received into the number of the gods? the Hiſtorian ſaith, that they would not therefore receive him, becauſe he preached poverty, and made choice of poor men to follow him, whom the world careth not for.

Verſe 10. And I will cut off the charret &c.] This the ſame in effect with that of Eſay chap. 9.7. Of the encreaſe of Chriſts government and peace there ſhall be no end, and chap. 2.4. they ſhall beat their ſwords into plowſhares, and their ſpeares into pruning-hookes: nation ſhall not lift up ſword againſt nation, neither ſhall they learne warr any more. Chriſt was born in the raigne of Auguſtus Caeſar, then when having vanquiſhed Lepidus, Antonius, and the reſt of his enemies both at home and abroad, he ſet open gates of Janus in token of an univerſall peace: and raigned as Lord and Monarch of the Roman world.De invent r[illegible: 1 letter]r. lib. 4.1. Polydor Virgill out of Oroſius tells us, that the ſelf-ſame day wherein Chriſt was born, Auguſtus Caeſar made proclamation that no man ſhould thenceforth give him the title of Lord, manifeſto praeſagio majoris dominatus qui tum in terris ortus eſt, ſaith he, not without a manifeſt preſage of a greater Lord then himſelf then born into the world: greater 1. both for the peaceableneſſe of his government, as here; no uſe of weapons or warllike engines. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but ſpiritual. 2 Cor. 10.4. Chriſt ſhall bring both to Jewes and Gentiles the Goſpel of peace and the peace of the Goſpel.

he ſhall ſpeake peace unto the Heathen] peace of countrey, and peace of Conſcience too: and 2. for the extent of his government, It ſhould be as large as the world, a Catholike kingdome.

his dominion, ſhall be from Sea to Sea] From the red Sea the Mediterranean Sea, or the Sea of Paleſtina: for theſe two ſeas were the bound; of the land of Canaan Num. 23.31. for the Jews ſcarce knew any other ſea but theſe two. And the Prophet here alludeth to the times of Solomons reigne, a[illegible: 1 letter] appeares by Pſal. 72.8. He ſhall have dominion alſo from ſea to ſea: and from the river unto the ends of the earth: that is, from Euphrates to the utmoſt bounds of the holy land which by a common cuſtome of ſpeech are put for the utmoſt quarters of the world.

Verſe 11. As for thee alſo] O daughter of Sion, O my Church: not, O Chriſt the king of the church, as the Grreek and Latine fathers, and after them the Popiſh comm[illegible: 2 letters]tarours will needs have it; the better to eſtabliſh their Chimera of Limbus Patrum Chriſt here, by an Apoſ[illegible: 2 letters]p[illegible: 1 letter]ſis (an ordinary figure) or keeping back ſomething unſpoken through earneſtneſſe of affection, beſpeaks his people in this ſort: E[illegible: 1 letter]iam tis, As for thee alſo, I will ſurely impart unto thee the benefits of that my kingdome, as I have already begun to do in delivering you out of that [illegible: 1 word] that [illegible: 1 letter]irty dungeon of the Babyloniſh thraldome.

by the blood of thy covenant] by the blood of Chriſt figured, by the blood that was ſprinkled upon the people Exod. 24.8. Pſal. 74.20. Heb. 13.20. and by vertue of the Covenant confirmed thereby.

I have ſent forth thy priſoners] I have enlarged thy captives.

out of the pit wherein is no water] but mud only,Gen. 37.24. Ier. 38.6. as in Ioſephs pit, and Ieremies dungeon. The Saints have temporall deliverances alſo by vertue of the covenant: and if any of Chriſts ſubjects fall into deſperate diſtreſſes and deadly dangers, yet they are priſoners of hope: and may look for deliverance by the blood of the covenant.

Verſe 12. Turn ye to the ſtrong hold] i. e. to Chriſt the rock of ages Iſa. 26.4. the hope of Iſrael Ier. 17.13. the expectation of all the ends of the earth. Luke 2.25, 38. Or, to the Promiſe, that ſtrong tower, whereunto the righteous run and are ſafe: that are Chriſti munitiſſima, as Cyrill here ſaith, ſtrong hold of Chriſt. Thou art my ſhield, ſaith David, I truth in thy word Pſal. 119.114. And againe, Remember thy word to thy ſervant wherein thou haſt cauſed me to truſt, Verſe 49. When yong Ioaſh was ſought for to the ſhambles by his murderous grandmother Athaliah, he was hid in the houſe of the Lord for ſix yeers. But whence was this ſafety? Even from the faithfull promiſe of God 2 Chron. 23.3. Behold the kings ſon muſt raigne, as the Lord had ſaid of the ſons of David, that he ſhould never want a man to raigne after him. Hence Pſal. 91.4. his faithfulneſſe and his truth ſhall be thy ſhield and buckler. Under this ſhield, and within this ſtronghold of the promiſes God had made them in the foregoing verſes, theſe priſoners of hope, theſe heires of the promiſes, were to ſhroud and ſecure themſelves amidſt thoſe dangers and diſtreſſes as incompaſſed them on every fide. And that they might know that the needy ſhould not alwayes be forgotten, Pſal. 9.18. the expectation of the poor ſhould not periſh for ever, here's as precious promiſe of preſent comfort.

even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee] Though you be now at never ſo great an under, yet I do make an open promiſe unto you, verbis non ſolum diſertis ſed & exertis, I do aſſure you in the word of truth, that I will render unto thee thou poor ſoule that lieſt panting under the preſent preſſure, double, that is, life and liberty, ſaith Theodoret: Grace and Glory, ſaith Lyra: Or double to what thou hopeſt, I will be better to thee then thy hopes, ſaith Hierom: Or double, that is, multiplied mercy; but eſpecially Chriſt, who is caled the Gift of God by an excellency Ioh. 4.10. the Benefit 1. Tim. 6.2. that which ſhall abundantly countervaile all croſſes and miſeries Mar. 10.30. Iob had all double to him. Valentinian had the Empire; Q Eliſabeth the Crown. God will be to his Hannah's, better then ten children.

Verſe 13. When I have bent Judah for me] God himſelf did the work though by the ſons of Zion, as his inſtruments whom he uſed, and proſpered againſt the ſons of Greece, that is the ſucceſſours of Alexander the Great, who led them out of Greece againſt the power of Perſia, and who ſeizing upon Egypt and Syria, cruſht and ground the poor Jews betwixt them, as betwixt two milſtones. This Propheſie was fulfilled in the Maccabes: but may have on eye to the Apoſtles, who were ſome of them of Judah, ſome of Ephraim; that is, of the ten tribes, as of Zebulon,Pſal. 45.5. Nepthali &c. theſe Chriſt uſed as bowes and arrowes in the hand of a mighty man, whereby the people fell under him; the ſons of Greece eſpecially, where ſo many famous churches were planted, as appeares by the Acts and the Revelation. See Rev. 6.2. with the Note.

and made thee as the ſword of a mighty man] given thee both armes, and an arme to weild them. For it is God that ſtrengtheneth and weakeneth the armes of either party in battel Ezek. 30.24. It is he alſo that rendreth the weapons vaine or proſperous Iſa. 54. ult. Ier. 50.9. This Judas Maccabeus well underſtood: and therefore had his name from the capitall letters of this motto written in his Enſigne, Mi camoca belohim Jehovah, who is like thee O Lord among the Gods? St. Paul alſo that conquered ſo many countries, and brought in the ſpoiles of ſo many ſoules to God (whence the change of his name from Saul to Paul, as ſome think,2 Cor. 10. 1 Cor. 15. from Sergius Paulus the Proconſul, whom he converted to the faith Act. 13.9.) The weapons of our warfare, ſaith He, are mighty through God to the caſting down of ſtrong-holds. Not I, but the grace of God that is with me &c. And ye men of Iſrael, why look ye ſo earneſtly upon us, ſaith Peter, as if by our own power of holineſſe &c. Act. 3.12.

Verſe 14. And the Lord ſhall be ſeen over them] ſhall be conſpicuous amongſt them: he ſhall appeare for them in the high places of the field, he ſhall make bare his arm, and bathe his ſword in blood. How many do you reckon me at? ſaid Antigonus to his ſouldiers, when they feared the multitudes of their enemies. May not God ſay ſo much more to his? Hath ever any waxed fierce againſt him and proſpered? If he but ariſe onely, his enemies ſhall be ſcattered,Pſal. 68.1. and thoſe that hate him ſhall flee before him.

his arrow ſhall go forth with the lightening] Here the former matter is illuſtrated by many lofty tropes and alluſions, either to thoſe ancient deliverances at the red-ſea, and againſt the Canaanites, and Philiſtines, by thunders, lightening, and tempeſt, or elſe, as Calvin rather thinks to the terrible delivery of the Law, with thunderings and lightenings, and ſound of trumpets, to the great amazements of the people, inſomuch as Moſes himſelf ſaid, I exceedingly fear and quake. He confers Habak. 3.3, 4, 5. and further alledgeth, that Teman here rendred the South, was the ſame with Sinai, and lies South from Judaea. Lightening, thunder, and whirl-winds are a part of Gods Armies, which he can draw forth at his pleaſure againſt his enemies. Such things as theſe fell out oft-times in the warres of the Maccabees. And how the Lord mightily aſſiſted his Apoſtles, whoſe arrowes went forth as the lightening, ſwiftly, ſuddenly, irreſiſtibly, and whoſe thunder gave a loud alarum to all Nations, I need not relate.

Verſ. 15. The Lord of hoſts ſhall defend them] Heb.Paulum quo[illegible: 1 letter]ieſcunque lego, non verba mihi audire videor ſed tonitrua. ſhall hold his buckler over them, which none can ſtrike thorow.

and they ſhall devour] ſc. their enemies, that till then did eat up Gods people as they eat bread, Pſal. 14.5.

and ſubdue with ſling-ſtones] with weak means, as David did Goliath.

and they ſhall drink and make a noiſe] Tumultuabuntur quaſi temulenti, 'Tis a Catechreſis ſignifying the very great deſtruction of their enemies: ſo that they might be even drunk with their blood, if they had any mind to it: the tongues of their dogges ſhould be dipped therein, as Pſal. 68.23, 24.

and they ſhall be filled like bowls, &c.] that held the blood of the ſacrifices.

and as the corners of the altar] which were all beſprinkled with the blood of the ſacrifices. A Lapide applies all this to thoſe heavenly Conquerours, and more, that is, Triumphers, the Apoſtles and Martyrs.

Verſe 16. And the Lord their God ſhall ſave them] Not defend them onely as Lord of Hoſts, verſe 15. but as a further favour, ſave them as their God in Covenant with them.

as the flock of his people] reſcuing them as David did his lamb from the lion and bear, and tending them continually.

as the ſtones of a crown] Coſtly and precious, or Monumentall-ſtones, with crowns on the top, and ſet up for Trophies.

Verſe 17. For how great is his goodneſſe] He ſhuts up all with this ſweet Epiphonema, or exclamation, admiring the ſingular goodneſſe of God to his people in all the former particulars: and yet promiſing them Abundance of outward neceſſaries, even to an honeſt affluence: they ſhould have ſtore of corn and wine; ſo much as ſhould make them ſucculent and vigorous, full of ſappe and good humours. Provided, that firſt they content not themſelves with the naturall uſe of the creature, but taſt how good the Lord is. And next, that they put this promiſe into ſuit by their prayers, as chap. 10.1.