Then Yahweh will go out and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. His feet will stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in two, from east to west, making a very great valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and half of it toward the south. You shall flee by the valley of my mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azel; yes, you shall flee, just like you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Yahweh my God will come, and all the holy ones with you. It will happen in that day, that there will not be light, cold, or frost. It will be a unique day which is known to Yahweh; not day, and not night; but it will come to pass, that at evening time there will be light.
It will happen in that day, that living waters will go out from Jerusalem: half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea. It will be so in summer and in winter.
Yahweh will be King over all the earth. In that day Yahweh will be one, and his name one. All the land will be made like the Arabah, from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; and she will be lifted up, and will dwell in her place, from Benjamin’s gate to the place of the first gate, to the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananel to the king’s wine presses. Men will dwell therein, and there will be no more curse; but Jerusalem will dwell safely. This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike all the peoples who have fought against Jerusalem: their flesh will consume away while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will consume away in their sockets, and their tongue will consume away in their mouth. It will happen in that day, that a great panic from Yahweh will be among them; and they will each hold onto the hand of his neighbor, and his hand will rise up against the hand of his neighbor. Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered together: gold, and silver, and clothing, in great abundance.
A plague like this will fall on the horse, on the mule, on the camel, on the donkey, and on all the animals that will be in those camps. It will happen that everyone who is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, Yahweh of Armies, and to keep the feast of booths. It will be, that whoever of all the families of the earth doesn’t go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh of Armies, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt doesn’t go up, and doesn’t come, neither will it rain on them. This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike the nations that don’t go up to keep the feast of booths. This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations that don’t go up to keep the feast of booths. In that day there will be on the bells of the horses, “HOLY TO YAHWEH”; and the pots in Yahweh’s house will be like the bowls before the altar. Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to Yahweh of Armies; and all those who sacrifice will come and take of them, and cook in them. In that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of Yahweh of Armies.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv3–21 Zechariah here amplifies the favor of God, — that…
Zechariah here amplifies the favor of God, — that he will go forth openly, and avowedly carry on war against all the enemies of Jerusalem. It was not indeed a small mitigation of their evils, that a part of the Church would be saved. But the Prophet declares here what is still far better, — that when God afflicted his Church, and suffered it to be violently assailed by enemies, he would become at length the avenger of all the wrongs they might have done. We know how we are wounded and tried, when God gives loose reins to the ungodly, and when they grow wanton in their wickedness and triumph, insult God, and almost spit as it were at the very clouds. When therefore the ungodly thus petulantly exult, and God in the meantime hides himself and is still, it is difficult to wait patiently for the issue. Hence the Prophet promises that God will become the avenger, after having allowed his Church to be for a time chastised by ungodly and wicked enemies.
Go forth, he says, shall Jehovah. We know the meaning of this metaphorical expression. The Prophets sometimes extend the phrase, “Go forth shall God from his holy place,” as though they said — that the Jews would find by experience that God’s name is not invoked in vain in his temple, and that it has not been said in vain, that God is seated between the cherubim. But the Prophet seems here to speak of God generally, as going forth armed from his recesses to resist the enemies of his Church. Go forth then shall God; for he had for a time concealed his power. In a like manner, we know that God hides his face from us when he brings us no help, and when we also think that we are neglected by him. As then God, as long as he hides his power, seems to be without power, hence the Prophet says here, Go forth shall Jehovah, and he will fight against these nations
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By these words he intimates, that there is no reason for the faithful to envy their enemies, even when all things go on prosperously with them; for they will at length find that they cannot injure the Church without God undertaking its cause, according to what he has promised,
“I will be an enemy to thine enemies.” (Exodus 23:22.)
But as this is a thing difficult to be believed, he calls to mind ancient history, —
As in the day, he says, in which he fought in the day of battle. Some confine this part to the passage through the Red Sea; but I think that Zechariah includes all the instances which God had given to the Jews to prove that they were the objects of his care. God then, not only once, not at one time, nor in one manner, had put forth his power, that the Jews might plainly see that they became conquerors through his aid. This is what Zechariah means. He in effect says, “Both you and your fathers have long ago found that God is wont to fight for his Church; for he has honored you with innumerable victories; you have been often overwhelmed with despair, and his favor unexpectedly shone upon you, and delivered you beyond all that you hoped for: you had often to contend with the strongest enemies; they were put to flight, even when ye were wholly unequal to them in number, and yet God bestowed upon you easy victories. Since then God has so often and in such divers ways cast down your enemies, why should you not hope for the same aid still from him?”
We hence see why the Prophet now refers to the ancient battles of God, even that he might by facts confirm the Jews in their hope, and that they might not doubt but that God was endued with power sufficiently strong to subdue all the ungodly, for he loses none.
And he adds, in the day of battle, even when there is need of help from heaven. He indeed calls it the day of engagement or contest, for so the word קרב, koreb, properly means. When therefore it was necessary for God to engage with enemies, then his power appeared: “There is hence no reason for you hereafter to doubt, but that he will still prevail against your enemies.” We know that this mode of speaking is frequently and commonly used by the Prophets, that is, when they adduce examples of God’s favor and power, by which he has proved that there is in him alone sufficient help for the deliverance of his Church.
It behaves us now to apply to ourselves what is here said, for Zechariah did not only speak for the men of his age, or for those of the next generation, but he intended to furnish the Church with confidence till the end of the world, so that the faithful might not faint under any trials. Whenever then the ungodly prevail, and no hope shines on us, let us remember how often and by what various means God has wonderfully delivered his Church as it were from death; for it was not his purpose only once to help and aid his own people, but also to animate us, that we at this day may not despond, when we endure evils with which the fathers formerly struggled. He then adds —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 18, 20, 21 As your fathers and you have had experience both…
As your fathers and you have had experience both at the red sea, and at all other times.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv3–21 Zec 14:3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and…
Zec 14:3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
Ver. 3. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations] Some read it, among those nations; he shall be the Archistrategus, the commander-in-chief of those armies, which he hath brought together against Jerusalem, to revenge upon her the quarrel of his covenant. But I like the other way better; because it is purposely spoken for the comfort of saints in evil times. When therefore there is dignus vindice nodus, et periculum par animo Alexandri, as he was wont to say, when it is time for God to arise, that his enemies may be scattered, and those that hate him flee before him; he will arise and have mercy upon Zion; he will awake, as in the days of old; he will come forth from his holy place to the rescue of his praying people. "There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle. Selah," Psa 76:3. There he appeared "more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey." There he did, and there he will; for this is a common and current Scriptural medium. God shall fight against those nations, the very rod of his wrath, Isa 10:9; which, after he hath worn to the stump, he will cast it into the fire. The wicked are called God’s sword, Psa 17:13. But it will fall out with them as with that sword which Hector gave Ajax: which as long as he used it against his enemies it served for help and defence; but after he began to abase it to the harm of harmless beasts it turned into his own bowels.
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As when he fought in the day of battle] With his own bare hand, as it were, Isa 52:10, and in a miraculous manner, as he did for Israel at the Red Sea, for Joshua, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, &c., and as he shall do at that last great battle against Antichrist and his adherents, Rev 20:8-10, which is here haply pointed at. Let the Lord but arise only and his enemies shall be scattered; but if he once take hold of shield and buckler for defence, draw out the spear and sword, these weapons of offence, and appear as a man of war, Exo 15:3, or as a Lord and victor of wars (so the Chaldee there hath it), he will charge through and through, he will "burn them together," Isa 27:4, and in the same place, 2Sa 23:7.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv3–21 Then, after that he hath sufficiently punished Jerusalem and…
Then, after that he hath sufficiently punished Jerusalem and the rest of the Jews,
shall the Lord go forth, out of his holy place, (spoken after the manner of men,) as a warrior prepared for battle.
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Fight against those nations, which had sacked Jerusalem, and oppressed his people.
As when he fought in the day of battle; as in any of those days past, when God fought for his people and gave them great victories.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv8, 16 Here are, I. Blessings promised to Jerusalem, the gospel-Jerusalem,…
Here are, I. Blessings promised to Jerusalem, the gospel-Jerusalem, in the day of the Messiah, and to all the earth, by virtue of the blessings poured out on Jerusalem, especially to the land of Israel.
1. Jerusalem shall be a spring of living waters to the world; it was made so when there the Spirit was poured out upon the apostles, and thence the word of the Lord diffused itself to the nations about (Zac 14:8): Living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; for there they began, and thence those set out who were to preach repentance and remission of sins unto all nations, Luk 24:47. Note, Where the gospel goes, and the graces of God's Spirit go along with it, there living waters go; those streams that make glad the city of our God make glad the country also, and make it like paradise, like the garden of the Lord, which was well watered. It was the honour of Jerusalem that thence the word of the Lord went forth (Isa 2:3); and thus far, even in its worst and most degenerate age, for old acquaintance-sake, it was made a blessing, and to be so is to be blessed. Half of these waters shall go towards the former sea and half towards the hinder sea, as all rivers bend their course towards some sea or other, some eastward, others westward. The gospel shall spread into all parts of the world, into some that lie remote from Jerusalem one way and others that lie as far off another way; for the dominion of the Redeemer, which was thereby to be set up, must be from sea to sea (Psa 72:8), and the earth must be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea, and as the waters that in various channels run to the sea. The knowledge of God shall diffuse itself, (1.) Every way. These living waters shall produce both eastern churches and western churches, that shall each of them in its turn be illustrious. (2.) Every day: In summer and in winter it shall be. Note, Those who are employed in spreading the gospel may find themselves work both winter and summer, and are to serve the Lord therein at all seasons, Act 20:18. And such a divine power goes along with these living waters that they shall not be dried up, nor the course of them be obstructed, either by the droughts in summer or by the frosts in winter.
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2. The kingdom of God among men shall be a universal and united kingdom, Zac 14:9. (1.) It shall be a universal kingdom: The Lord shall be King over all the earth. He is, and ever was, so of right, and in the sovereign disposals of his providence his kingdom does rule over all and none are exempt from his jurisdiction; but it is here promised that he shall be so by actual possession of the hearts of his subjects; he shall be acknowledged King by all in all places; his authority shall be owned and submitted to, and allegiance sworn to him. This will have its accomplishment with that word (Rev 11:15), The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. (2.) It shall be a united kingdom: There shall be one Lord, and his name one. All shall worship one God only, and not idols, and shall be unanimous in the worship of him. All false gods shall be abandoned, and all false ways of worship abolished; and as God shall be the centre of their unity, in whom they shall all meet, so the scripture shall be the rule of their unity, by which they shall all walk.
3. The land of Judea, and Jerusalem, its mother-city, shall be repaired and replenished, and taken under the special protection of Heaven, Zac 14:10, Zac 14:11. Some think this denotes particular favour to the people of the Jews, and points at their conversion and restoration in the latter days; but it is rather to be understood figuratively of the gospel-church, typified by Judah and Jerusalem, and it signifies the abundant graces with which the church shall be crowned, and the fruitfulness of its members, and the vast numbers of them. (1.) The church shall be like a fruitful country, abounding in all the rich products of the soil. The whole land of Judea, which is naturally uneven and hilly, shall be turned as a plain; it shall become a smooth level valley, from Geba, or Gibeah, its utmost border north, to Rimmon, which lay south of Jerusalem and was the utmost southern limit of Judea. The gospel of Christ, where it comes in its power, levels the ground; mountains and hills are brought low by it, that the Lord alone may be exalted. (2.) It shall be like a populous city. As the holy land shall be levelled, so the holy city shall be peopled, shall be rebuilt and replenished. Jerusalem shall be lifted up out of its low estate, shall be raised out of its ruins; when the land is turned as a plain, and not only the mount of Olives removed (Zac 14:4), but other mountains too, then Jerusalem shall be lifted up, that is, shall appear the more conspicuous; she shall be inhabited in her place, even in Jerusalem, Zac 12:6. The whole city shall be inhabited in the utmost extent of it, and no part of it left to lie waste. The utmost limits of it are here mentioned, between which there shall be no ground lost, but all built upon, from Benjamin's-gate north-east to the corner-gate north-west, and from the tower of Hananeel in the south to the king's wine-presses in the north; when the churches of Christ in all places are replenished with great numbers of holy, humble, serious Christians, and many such are daily added to it, then this promise is fulfilled. (3.) This country and this city shall both be safe, both the meat in the country and the mouths in the city: Those that dwell in it shall dwell securely, and there shall be none to make them afraid; there shall be no more of that utter destruction that has laid both town and country waste, no more anathema (as some read it), no more cutting off, no more curse, or separation from God to evil, no more such desolating judgments as you have been groaning under, but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited; there shall be no danger, nor any apprehension of it; neither shall its friends be fearful to disquiet themselves nor its enemies formidable to disquiet them. That promise of Christ explains this - that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church; and so do the holy security and serenity of mind which believers enjoy in relying on the divine protection.
II. Here are judgments threatened against the enemies of the church, that have fought, or do fight, against Jerusalem; and the threatening of these judgments is in order to the preservation of the church in safety. Men that read and hear of these plagues will be afraid of fighting against Jerusalem, much more when these threatenings are fulfilled in some will others hear and fear. Those that fight against the city of God, and his people, will be found fighting against God, against whom none ever hardened his heart and prospered (Zac 14:12): This shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; whoever they are, God will punish them for the affront done to him, and avenge Jerusalem upon them. 1. They shall waste away under grievous and languishing diseases: Their flesh shall consume away, and they shall be miserably emaciated, even while they stand on their feet, so that they shall be walking skeletons; nothing shall remain but skin and bones. The flesh which they pampered and indulged, and made provision for, when they were fed to the full with the spoils of God's people, shall now consume away, that it cannot be seen, and the bones that were not seen shall stick out, Job 33:21. They keep their feet, and hope to keep their ground, crawling about as long as they can; but they must yield at last. The organs of sight, the outlets of sin, their eyes, shall consume away in their holes, shall sink into their heads or perhaps start out of them; their envious malicious, adulterous eyes, the eyes they had so often fed with spectacles of misery, these shall consume, which shall make not only their countenances ghastly, but their lives wretched. The organs of speech, the outlets of sin, their tongue, shall consume away in their mouth, whereby God will reckon with them for all their blasphemies against himself and invectives against his people. Thus their own tongues shall fall upon them, and their punishment shall be legible in their sin, as his was whose tongue was tormented in hell-flames. Thus Antiochus and Herod consumed away. 2. They shall be dashed in pieces one against another (Zac 14:13): A great tumult from the Lord shall be among them. But are tumults from the Lord, who is the God of order, and not of confusion? As they are the sin of those that raise them they are not from the Lord, but from the wicked one, and from men's own lusts; but, as they are the punishment of those that suffer by them, they are from the Lord, who serves his own purposes, and carries on his intentions, by the sins, and follies, and restless spirits, of men. It is of themselves that they bite and devour one another, but it is of the Lord, the righteous Judge, that thus they are consumed one of another (Gal 5:15); as Ahab was deceived by a lying spirit from the Lord, so Abimelech and the men of Shechem were divided, and so destroyed, by an evil spirit from the Lord, Jdg 9:23. Note, Those that are confederate and combined against the church will justly be separated, and set against one another; and their tumults raised against God will be avenged in tumults among themselves. And they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, to hold him from striking, or to bind him as his prisoner; nay, his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour, to strike and wound him. Note, Those that aim to destroy the church are often made to destroy one another; and every man's sword is sometimes set against his fellow, by him whose sword they all are. Some think this was fulfilled in the factions and dissensions that were among the Jews, when the Romans were destroying them all; for they had fought against the spiritual Jerusalem, the gospel-church; and to that well enough agrees Zac 14:14, Thou also, O Judah! shalt fight against Jerusalem; the Jewish nation shall be ruined by itself, shall die by its own hands; the city and country shall be at war with each other, and so both shall be destroyed. Suis et ipsa Roma viribus ruit - Rome was urged into ruin by its very strength. 3. The plunder of their camp shall greatly enrich the people of God, or the spoils of their country (Zac 14:14): Judah also shall eat at Jerusalem (so one learned interpreter reads it); people shall come from all parts to share in the prey; as when Sennacherib's army was routed before Jerusalem there was the prey of a great spoil divided (Isa 33:23), so it shall be now; the wealth of all the heathen round about, that had spoiled Jerusalem, shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance, that an equal dividend may be made among all the parties entitled to a share of the prize. Note, The wealth of the sinner is often laid up for the just, and the Israel of God enriched with the spoil of the Egyptians. 4. The very cattle shall share in the plague with which the enemies of God's church shall be cut off, as they did in divers of the plagues of Egypt (Zac 14:15): All the beasts that shall be in the tents of these wicked men, when God comes to contend with them, shall perish with them, not only beasts used in war, as the horse, but those used for travel, or in the plough, as the mule, the camel, and the ass. Note, The inferior creatures often suffer for the sin of man and in his plagues. Thus God will show his indignation against sin, and will make the creature that is thus subject to vanity groan to be delivered into the glorious liberty of the children of God, Rom 8:21, Rom 8:22.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv3–21 Then shall the Lord go forth,.... Out of his…
Then shall the Lord go forth,.... Out of his place in heaven, either in person, or by the display of his power; that is, the Lord Jesus Christ; whose name is called the Word of God, and is the King of kings, and Lord of lords, described as a mighty warrior, Rev 19:11, &c.:
and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle: the Targum adds, "at the Red Sea"; when the Lord fought for, Israel against the Egyptians, Exo 14:25 and afterwards against the Canaanites, when they entered the land of Canaan under Joshua: thus Christ shall judge, and make war in righteousness, and overcome those that shall make war with him; and with the sharp sword that goeth out of his mouth shall smite nations, and with a rod of iron rule them, and break them to shivers, Rev 14:14 see also Eze 38:21.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 20, 21 Then - After he hath sufficiently punished the Jews.…
Then - After he hath sufficiently punished the Jews. As when he fought - As in those days when he fought for his people.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv3–21 Verse 3. Then shall the Lord go forth, and…
Verse 3. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations] Against the Romans, by means of the northern nations; who shall destroy the whole empire of this once mistress of the world. But this is an obscure place.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv3, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 17, 20 Zec 14:3. Then shall the Lord — After he…
Zec 14:3. Then shall the Lord — After he hath sufficiently punished Jerusalem and the rest of the Jewish nations; go forth — Out of his holy place, as a warrior prepared for battle. This is spoken after the manner of men; and fight against those nations — Which had taken and destroyed Jerusalem, and oppressed his people. As when he fought in the day of battle — As in those days when he evidently fought for his people. The meaning is, that in after times God would discomfit and destroy the posterity of these nations, namely, the Roman idolaters and those under their empire; that when he had made use of them as a scourge to his people, he would execute his judgments upon them, as when he fought against the enemies of his church formerly, the Egyptians, Canaanites, and others. Observe here, reader, the instruments of God’s wrath will themselves be made the objects of it; for it will come to their turn to drink of the cup of trembling; and whom God fights against, he will be sure to overcome. It is observable that the Roman empire never flourished after the destruction of Jerusalem as it had done before; but God evidently fought against it, and against all the nations under its dominion, or in alliance with it, till at last it was subverted and destroyed, its richest cities taken and plundered, and its various provinces ravaged by the Goths and Vandals, and other barbarous invaders.
Zec 14:4-5, And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, &c. — It is very difficult to say to what time this prediction refers, or what is its precise meaning. Commentators are not at all agreed on the subject. Some think the passage refers to the time immediately subsequent to the destruction of Jerusalem, foretold in Zec 14:1-2, and that it is to be understood figuratively, namely, 1st, That by the Lord’s standing before Jerusalem on the east, is meant, his drawing peculiarly near to his church and people, here, as frequently elsewhere, signified by Jerusalem; and that he would be at hand to succour and save them; and would give success to, and be manifested in, the gospel preached by his apostles, who received their commission on that mount before Christ’s ascension. 2d, That by the cleaving of the mount of Olives in the midst, toward the east and toward the west, so as to make a very great valley, is meant the removing of the ceremonial law, which was like an aspiring mountain, or partition wall, between the Jews and Gentiles, and a great obstruction to the conversion of the latter, and their entrance into the church of God: but that, by the destruction of Jerusalem, this mountain should be made to cleave, as it were, in the midst, this partition wall be broken down, and God’s church, the spiritual Jerusalem, made of easy access to the Gentiles. Thus the way of the Lord would be prepared, every mountain and hill brought low, and a plain and pleasant valley, or open way of communication, be found in the place of them: see Isa 40:4. 3d, That by the valley of the mountains, is meant the gospel church, to which, as a place of refuge, many of the Jews should flee, as people fled formerly from before the earthquake here mentioned, and should hasten into it together with the Gentiles. 4th, That by this valley reaching to Azal, or, to the separate place, as the word signifies, is signified that the privileges of the church should not be limited, as formerly, to any particular nation, or people, but should be extended to all those who, in obedience to the call of God, should come out from the world, separate themselves from sinners, devote themselves to God, and become his peculiar people. And, 5th, That by the Lord’s coming, and all his saints with him, is signified the spiritual coming and extension of his kingdom, whereby a multitude of converts, both of Jewish and Gentile extraction, should be made, who, through faith working by love, should become saints, or holy persons. This, in substance, seems to be Henry’s view of the passage, as it is that of many others.
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Lowth, on the other hand, interprets it literally, as follows: His feet shall stand upon the mount of Olives — “The glory of the Lord, that is, the Shechinah, or symbol of God’s presence, when it departed from the city and temple, settled itself upon the mount of Olives, Eze 11:23; so when God shall return to Jerusalem, [that is, to Jerusalem rebuilt and inhabited by the converted Jews restored to their own land, at the beginning of the millennium,] and make it the seat of his presence again, it [the Shechinah] shall return by the same way it departed, Eze 43:2. We may add, that when our Lord ascended from the mourn of Olives, the angels told his disciples, he should come again in like manner, that is, in a visible and glorious appearance, at the same place, Act 1:11-12. And the mount of Olives shall cleave, &c. — By an earthquake, such as was in the time of King Uzziah: see Amo 1:1. The middle of mount Olivet shall cleave asunder, and sink into a deep valley, so as to leave the two points, or tops of the hill, north and south, still standing. For mount Olivet, as we learn from Maundrell, had three tops, or eminences; one on the north side, another on the south, and a third in the middle, from whence Christ ascended, and where the Christians in after times erected a cross, in memory of his ascension there. And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains — When ye see the mount of Olives cleave asunder, ye shall flee toward the valley for fear. The margin reads, The valley of my mountains, which may be understood of Zion and Moriah; but the Chaldee and LXX. read, The valley of my mountains shall be filled up; for the valley of the mountains shall join even to Azal, it shall even be filled up, as it was by the earthquake in the days of Uzziah. Josephus writes, (Ant. Jud., lib. 9. cap. 10,) ‘That before the city, at a place called Ερρωγη, [or the cleft,] one half of the mountain, on the western side, was broken off, and having rolled four furlongs toward the eastern mountain, stopped, so that the roads were choked up, and the king’s gardens.’ And the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints [or holy ones] with thee — Or with him, as the Chaldee and LXX. read.” “The words,” Lowth adds, “are a description of Christ’s coming to judgment, attended with all the holy angels, as the writers of the New Testament express it, the word קדשׁים, translated saints, often signifying angels: see Deu 33:2; so the word saints seems to be used 1Th 3:13; and St. Jdg 1:14, quoting the prophecy of Enoch, says, The Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, or holy ones: a place exactly parallel with this of the text.”
One observation seems needful to be made here: if the visible and personal coming of Christ be intended in these verses, it certainly cannot be his coming to raise the dead and judge the world in righteousness, because that view of the passage would not, by any means, be consistent with what is said in the two next verses concerning the continually increasing light of knowledge, holiness, and happiness in the gospel church, till, at length, at evening time it shall be quite light: but it must rather be understood of his coming to introduce, establish, and perfect his millennial reign, believed in and expected generally in the first Christian church. The reader will consider these different interpretations, and will of course adopt that which he thinks the most probable.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv3–21 The Lord shall go forth and shall fight -…
The Lord shall go forth and shall fight - Jerome: “Is to be taken like that in Habakkuk, ‘Thou wentest forth for the salvation of Thy people, for salvation with Thine Anointed” Hab 3:13, and in Micah, ‘For behold, the Lord cometh forth out of His place, and will come down and will tread upon the high places of the earth, and the mountains shall be molten under Him, and the valleys shall be cleft” Mic 1:3-4; and Isaiah also, “The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man; He shall stir up jealousy like a man of war; He shall cry; He shall prevail over His enemies” Isa 42:13. “God is said to ‘go forth,’ when by some wondrous deed He declares His Presence - His Deity is, as it were, laid up, so long as He holds Himself in, and does not by any token show His power. But He ‘goes forth,’ and bursts forth, when He exercises some judgment, and worketh some new work, which striketh terror.” God then will “go forth out of His place,” when He is constrained to break through His quietness and gentleness and clemency, for the amendment of sinners. He who elsewhere speaketh through the prophet, ‘I, the Lord, change not’ Mal 3:6, and to whom it is said, ‘Thou art the same’ Psa 102:28, and in the Epistle of James, ‘With whom is no change’ Jam 1:17, now ‘goeth forth’ and fighteth ‘as in the day of battle,’ when He overwhelmed Pharaoh in the Red sea; and ‘fought for Israel.’” “The Lord shall fight for you,” became the watchword of Moses Exo 14:14; Deu 1:30; 13:22; Deu 20:4 and the warrior Joshua in his old age (Jos 23:10; compare Jos 10:14, Jos 10:42; Jos 23:3), after his life’s experience Jos 10:14, Jos 10:42; Jos 23:3, and Nehemiah. “Be not afraid by reason of this great multitude” Neh 4:20, said Jahaziel, son of Zachariah, when the “Spirit of the Lord came upon” him; “for the battle is not your’s, but God’s” 2Ch 20:15.
As He fought in the day of battle - Osorius: “All wars are so disposed by the power of God, that every victory is to be referred to His counsel and will. But this is not seen so clearly, when people, elate and confident, try to transfer to themselves all or the greater part of the glory of war. Then may the war be eminently said to be the Lord’s, when no one drew sword, as it is written, “The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace” Exo 14:14. Of all God’s wars, in which human insolence could claim no part of the glory, none was more wondrous than that, in which Pharaoh and his army were sunk in the deep. “The Lord,” said Moses Exo 15:3, “is a man of war: the Lord is His Name.” “That day of battle” was the image of one much greater. In that, Pharaoh’s army was sunk in the deep; in this, the power of evil, in Hell: in that, what could in some measure be conquered by human strength, was subdued; in this, a tyranny unconquerable; in that, a short-lived liberty was set up; the liberty brought by Christ through subdual of the enemy, is eternal. As then the image yields to the truth, earthly goods to heavenly, things perishable to eternal, so the glory of that ancient victory sinks to nothing under the greatness of the latter.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21 Shall. Septuagint, "will stand in battle array among," &c.…
Shall. Septuagint, "will stand in battle array among," &c. (Greek: parataxetai en) though he will one day punish the victorious Romans. (Haydock) --- Now he fought with them as [the] Hebrew may signify. (Calmet) --- Various prodigies made this clear: (Josephus, Jewish Wars vii. 12, 16.) so that Titus would not receive the crown which was presented to him, as he looked upon himself only as the instrument employed by divine justice. (Philost. vi. 14.) --- This sense is given by St. Cyril, &c. (Calmet) --- In the days of Epiphanes, God defeated his projects. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv3–21 Then--In Jerusalem's extremity.
Then--In Jerusalem's extremity.
as . . . in . . . day of battle--as when Jehovah fought for Israel against the Egyptians at the Red Sea (Exo 14:14; Exo 15:3). As He then made a way through the divided sea, so will He now divide in two "the Mount of Olives" (Zac 14:4).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18 3. Then — When the conflict will have reached…
3. Then — When the conflict will have reached this stage Jehovah will interfere.
Shall Jehovah go forth — To fight and destroy the nations. Why he will do this after commissioning them to execute judgment upon the city is not stated. It may be because they will go beyond their commission (compare Isa_10:7).
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As when he fought in the day of battle — Refers to all the occasions in the past when Jehovah fought for Israel (Jos_10:14; Jos_10:42; Jos_23:3; Jdg_4:15, etc.). These acts of the past will be repeated.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv3–21 3. in the day of battle] Some, as Calvin,…
3. in the day of battle] Some, as Calvin, refer this generally to God’s manifold interpositions on behalf of His people, throughout the course of their history; but it is better to confine it to the first great typical interposition, when the word of command was, “Jehovah shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace”; and even the enemy was fain to confess, “Jehovah fighteth for them against the Egyptians,” Exo_14:14; Exo_14:25; comp. Hab_3:15. A comparison may perhaps be suggested between the dividing of the Red Sea (Psa_136:13), and of the Mount of Olives as here predicted.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 (3) Then shall the Lord go forth.—In the hour…
(3) Then shall the Lord go forth.—In the hour of Israel’s direst need the Lord will appear as their champion, as of old. (Comp. Jos_10:14-42; Jos_23:3; Jdg_4:15; 1Sa_7:10; and especially 2Ch_20:15.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv3–21 Vers. 3-7. Then the Lord himself comes to her…
Vers. 3-7. Then the Lord himself comes to her help, great convulsions of nature accompanying his presence.
Shall go forth. God is said to "go forth" when he manifests his power by delivering his people and punishing their enemies. (comp. Isa_26:21 Isa_42:13 Mic_1:3) As when he fought in the day of battle. The Hebrew is in general terms, "as when he fighteth in a day of battle," or, "slaughter;" Septuagint, kaywra parataxewv autou en hmera polemou , "as a day of his battle in a day of war;" Vulgate, sicut praeliatus est in die certaminis. There is nothing in the text to confine the reference to any one special interposition; it refers rather to the general course of God"s providence in defending his people, though, doubtless, the prophet has in his mind the crowning act of mercy at the Red Sea, (Exo_14:13, Exo_14:14, Exo_14:25) which is so often referred to as a typical deliverance. (comp. Isa_11:11 Jer_16:14 Jer_23:8 Hab_3:15; and above, Zec_10:11)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 16, 20 And His feet shall stand in that day upon…
Zec_14:4-5
And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives
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God in relation to a suffering world
The men in Jerusalem were in great suffering and imminent peril, and here is a figurative representation of the Almighty in relation to them.
I. He observes their terrible condition. And His feet shall stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east. The idea suggested here is that God observes men in all their calamities and dangers. His eye is on them. This is especially the ease with His people. We are assured that His eye is ever upon the righteous; Job said, He knoweth the way I take.
1. He sees what we have to endure.
2. He sees how we behave ourselves in our condition, whether under our afflictions we are trustful, patient, and submissive or otherwise; whether in our perils we are making an effort to escape. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
II. He makes a way for their deliverance. And the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley. These verses, says Dr. Henderson, convey, in language of the most beautiful poetical imagery, the assurance of the effectual means of escape that should be provided for the truly pious. We accordingly learn from Eusebius that on the breaking out of the Jewish war the Christian Church at Jerusalem, in obedience to the warning of our Saviour (Mat_24:16) fled to Pella, a city beyond Jordan, where they lived in safety. As the Mount of Olives lay in their way, it is represented as cleaving into two halves, in order to make a passage for them. It is not necessary to suppose that the Mount of Olives was thus riven asunder. The idea is, that the obstruction to their escape, though formidable as a mountain, should be removed. The Almighty would give them every facility to escape to the refuge. This He does for our suffering race. He makes a way for their escape, from guilt, ignorance, and misery, which has been blocked up by mountains of difficulties.
III. He provided a refuge for their safety.
1. The scene of refuge, Azal. An unknown place. Some spot to secure them from danger.
2. The impulse of flight.
3. The necessity for the flight.
The Lord thy God shall come. In some great manifestation of His power. Conclusion. How thankful we should be to know that God has not deserted humanity in its sins and sorrows. (Homilist.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v8 Zec_14:8. Living] i.e. running, perennial, refreshing; opposed to stagnant,…
CRITICAL NOTES.
Zec_14:8. Living] i.e. running, perennial, refreshing; opposed to stagnant, noxious waters; an image of copious streams of gifts and grace from the Church, the source of all blessings. Eastern, i e. Dead sea; Western, i.e. Mediterranean.
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Zec_14:9.] In consequence of the universal spread of the gospel. Jehovah will be king] i.e. supreme, and his name one]. Idolatry will cease, and the unity of the Godhead unanimously recognized.
Zec_14:10.] The whole land turned] levelled to a plain to elevate Jerusalem, which will be restored to its former grandeur (Mic_4:1). This figurative of spiritual elevation. The boundaries cannot be determined with certainty.
Zec_14:11. Dwell] securely, without fear of attack or captivity (Isa_65:19). Utter destruction] Exemption from curse the ground of this security. No more civil or national punishments on account of sin, implying that the nation is holy.
Zec_14:12-15.] The hostile nations forming the final confederacy will be punished (cf. Isa_59:18; Ezekiel 37; Revelation 19). Plague] always an infliction from God. This stroke most terrible. “A living death; the corruption (Gal_6:8) of death combined in ghastly union with the conscious sensibility of life” [Fausset].
Zec_14:13. Tumult] Civil discord another way of destruction, created by panic (cf. Jdg_7:22; 1Sa_14:20). Lay hold] Seeking help, but finding arms turned against one another. “The grasp of the other’s hand is a hostile one in this case, the object being to seize him, and, having lifted his hand, to strike him dead” [Keil].
Zec_14:14. Judah] The whole covenant people will carry on the conflict at Jerusalem, seize as booty the costly possession of the heathen, and visit them with retribution for the plunder of Jerusalem (Zec_14:2).
Zec_14:15.] So complete will be the destruction, that beasts of burden, used in warfare, and all cattle will be destroyed by the same plague as men [Keil].
Zec_14:16.] Some heathen will be preserved, converted to God; go up] i.e. join in solemn acts of worship.
Zec_14:17. Not] come up; penalty will be inflicted upon absentees. Upon them no rain] i.e. the blessings of Divine grace will be withdrawn from them.
Zec_14:18. If] The menace repeated with special application to Israel’s hereditary foe. “Egypt will join the procession Zionwards, or feel the retributive curse.”
Zec_14:19.] Sin including its effects (cf. Num_32:23).
Zec_14:20. Bells] suspended from the neck, as tinkling ornaments. Holiness, &c.] The sacred symbol engraved upon the diadem of the high priest (Exo_28:36). The distinction between sacred and profane would cease. The commonest things would be holy, because devoted to God. Pots] Vessels used for cooking would be as holy, be upon a par with those considered most sacred, viz. “the bowls before the altar.”
Zec_14:21.] The same idea carried out fully. Not only temple-pots would be equal to sacrificial bowls, but every common pot in the city and in the land would be deemed as holy as the utensils of the temple, and would be freely used for sacrifice. Canaanite] No more godless members of the covenant nation; all worshippers would be righteous and sincere, and “the whole kingdom of God will be transformed by the Lord into a holy of holies (see Rev_21:22; Rev_21:27)” [Keil].
HOMILETICS
THE LIVING STREAM.—Zec_14:8-11
The blessings which should diffuse themselves in their abundance and value are set forth under the image of a stream; a parallel to which is found in Ezekiel’s waters which swept through the desert, healing stagnant pools and fertilizing scenes of death (Eze_47:1-12). Notice—
I. The source of the living stream. “Living waters shall go out from Jerusalem.” Connected with the Christian Church are all the means of grace and the blessings which result from the diffusion of Divine truth. “There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God.”
II. The direction of the living stream. “Half of them toward the former, i.e. the eastern or Dead Sea, into which they might naturally flow, and toward the hinder, i.e. the western or Mediterranean Sea, which natural waters could not reach.” It flows in all directions, without hindrance, “from sea to sea.”
III. The perpetuity of the living stream. The heat of summer shall not dry them, like the deceitful brook of Job; the frosts of winter will not bind them. These streams are not transient, like Cherith, nor muddy, like the Nile; but an unfailing supply in all seasons, turning the desolate heritages into the garden of the Lord. “In summer and winter shall it be.”
IV. The fertility of the living stream. The effect of this stream will be to subjugate the world to God. Idolatry will be renounced, and he will be acknowledged universal King. Kingdom after kingdom shall be won, until all willingly bow to him and crown him Lord of all. “All nations shall serve him.”
THE FUTURE EXALTATION OF ZION.—Zec_14:9-11
Nothing will prevent the perpetual flow of the living waters. The land will be levelled to a plain, the city elevated and restored to former grandeur. “Jerusalem, as the residence of the God-King, is the centre of the kingdom of God; and in the future this is to tower high above all the earth. The figurative description is attached to the natural situation of Jerusalem, which stood upon a broad mountain ridge, and was surrounded by mountains which were loftier than the city. The exaltation is a figurative representation of the spiritual elevation and glory which it is to receive” [Keil].
I. Zion will be completely restored. It will recover from the ruin of Zec_14:1. The rubbish of cities and countries in which God delights shall be taken away, and calamities end in the complete restoration of the Church. There will be a great moral awakening, from which streams of life shall issue to reconstruct society and change the world.
II. Zion will be securely inhabited. None shall go out by flight, nor be taken as captives (Zec_14:2; Zec_14:5).
1. The city will no more be exposed to danger. Neither captured nor plundered again. “No more utter destruction.”
2. The city will be no longer under a curse. Sin brought a curse, and a curse extermination (cf. Jos_6:18). It will be holy, no more tainted with an accursed thing (Mal_4:6), and a type of that city where “there shall be no more curse” (Rev_22:3).
3. The city will be perpetually secure. No danger without from hostile assaults, no danger from desolation within; not only safely inhabited, but permanently secure from that time. “There shall be no more utter destruction.”
III. Zion will be gloriously exalted. “And it shall be lifted up.” Lifted up above danger and ruin into perfect security and glory.
1. Honoured above other societies and cities.
2. Honoured by the supremacy of Jehovah (Zec_14:9). Gross polytheism and refined idolatry will cease. No other object of worship, no other God but Jehovah will be acknowledged. Fading crowns encircle the brows of earthly monarchs, but an eternal diadem belongs to him “on whose vesture and thigh is written the name King of kings and Lord of lords.”
THE CHASTISEMENT OF THE ENEMY.—Zec_14:12-15
These words might be taken in connection with Zec_14:1-7, but the prophetic pause in description of the purified Church directs special attention to the chastisement of the hostile nations.
I. The enemy are smitten with the plague from God. The Lord smites “all the people that have fought against Jerusalem.” The picture is most horrible and appalling. While standing their flesh shall consume away, their eyes decay in their sockets, and their tongue petrify in their mouth.
II. The enemy are confused with panic among themselves. “A great tumult from the Lord shall be among them.” Fear will disturb their ranks. Each will find a foe in his comrade, and while grasping another’s hand for help will find “every man’s sword against his fellow.” “When there is no unity in God each seeks his own, suspects another, and is ready to be fanned into a flame.”
III. The enemy are completely frustrated in their designs.
1. They failed in their means of defence. The cavalry, mules and camels, the entire encampment shared in the consternation and destruction (Zec_14:15).
2. They were overcome by God’s people. “Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem.” The whole covenant people took part in the conflict, and were victorious through God.
3. They were robbed of all their spoil. The wealth and apparel which they had taken from others were taken from them. Whatever the world takes from the Church shall be regained, and converted nations shall bring their treasures for the adornment and defence of Zion (cf. Isa_60:16-17).
THE CONVERTED REMNANT.—Zec_14:16-19
The nations that have taken part against Jerusalem shall be humbled; a remnant will acknowledge Jehovah, and as friends and allies worship with the people whom they sought to destroy. Their conversion is described as going up yearly to the feast of tabernacles at Jerusalem.
I. They observe the feast in the spirit of unity. Homage will be paid to Jehovah by voluntary worshippers and “commissioned representatives” in communion with the chosen race. Religious ordinances will become as a bond of union among the nations of the earth, make them feel and act as one people. From all quarters will they come; not in the spirit of enmity as before, not as in the days of monkish superstition, but in the spirit of love and fealty.
II. They observe the feast in a spirit of gratitude. The great feast reminds them of past deliverances and mercies. “In like manner the nations will celebrate the goodness which has brought them through their tedious and perilous wanderings in this life to the true and everlasting kingdom of peace and rest” [Lange]. In every heart Zion will be enthroned as the city of the great King. Then shall prayer and praise wait for God, and the vow be performed. To all the members of God’s family on earth will “her walls become salvation, and her gates praise.”
III. Nations who refuse to observe the feast will be punished. A punishment which God alone is said to inflict.
1. Absence of rain to some. “Upon them shall be no rain.” God only “gives rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.”
2. Plague is threatened to others. “If the family of Egypt go not up there shall be plague.” This is accounted for by some in the natural peculiarities of the country, which was refreshed by channels cut in the ground (Deu_11:10). But Egypt was an old and special enemy of Israel, depended upon rain for the overflowing of the Nile, and must either join in procession to Zion or feel the curse of God. What a lesson for us! The worst are not excluded from hope, may join the Church of God and receive his mercy. But God will suspend his favours from those who despise his ordinances. No rain will fall upon those that refuse his grace. “The nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.”
THE HOLY CITY.—Zec_14:19-20
The meaning of these words seems to be, that the day will come when holiness will be the prevalent feature, and the actions of common life will be as much the worship of God as the sacrifices on the altar; when common things will be consecrated to God, and “Holiness to the Lord” inscribed everywhere.
I. The inhabitants of the city will be holy. “No more the Canaanite in the house.” No Canaanite in the Church, self-righteous in spirit and unholy in life; no Canaanite among the people. No godless member in the covenant nation; no people laden with sin and under the curse. “Upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness.”
II. The transactions of the city will be holy. Business in the market will be as sacred as worship in the temple; the furniture of the house as holy as the vessels of the sanctuary. Wars and contentions will cease, trades and handicrafts will be hallowed, cooking-pots and drinking-cups consecrated to God. Restrictive ceremonies will be abolished, and everything in ordinary use will be employed in the spirit of devotion. “There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth.”
RELIGION IN COMMON LIFE.—Zec_14:20-21
The holiness of that day penetrates things secular as well as sacred, and is set forth in three symbols. Bells upon the horses as holy as the mitre of the priest; the meanest vessels of the temple as sacred as the holiest; and the utensils of domestic life consecrated as sacramental cups. We adapt from Wardlaw.
I. The religious spirit will predominate in the ranks of common life. No Canaanite to make gain or take advantage; no enmity between priests and people, but all ranks of life bound together by loyalty to Jehovah.
II. The religious spirit will predominate in the actions of common life. “Men are not to become monks or anchorites; the ordinary conditions of human life are not to be reversed; but, on the contrary, the infusion of grace will be so large and general that every rank and class will feel it, and its effects will be seen in all the relations of life, purifying and elevating without upturning or destroying” [Lange].
1. There will be no divorce between secular and sacred things. No divorce between morality and religion, between domestic life and the service of God.
2. There will be a recognition of God’s claims in secular and sacred things. Nothing withheld from God. The most solemn acts of the temple and the common duties of life—the offering of sacrifices and the yoking of horses—will be done for God. Persons and property devoted to him, and every department of life under the domain of conscience. “Her merchandise and her hire shall be for holiness to the Lord: it shall not be treasured nor laid up” (Isa_23:18).
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Zec_14:9-15.
1. The mercy of God (Zec_14:9-11).
2. The severity of God (Zec_14:12-15).
Zec_14:12-15. The precedent promises that were so great and glorious the prophet doth now further enlarge and illustrate. First the conquest of the enemies (Zec_14:12-15); next the profession of Christ among all nations of the world (Zec_14:16-19); and lastly the sanctity of the Church (Zec_14:20-21). The conquest of the enemies is set forth, first, by God’s strange judgments upon them (Zec_14:12); secondly, by the means—both they shall despatch one another, and Judah shall fight bravely against them (Zec_14:13-14); thirdly, their wealth and substance shall become a prey (Zec_14:14); fourthly, their horses of service and all the beasts they bring with them shall be as strangely plagued as the men themselves (Zec_14:15) [Trapp].
Zec_14:16-21.
1. The worship of God’s house.
2. The holy character of its attendants.
3. The punishment of those who neglect. “Those who desire to partake of the grace and salvation provided by Christ must ‘come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God.’ They must partake faithfully, joyfully, and reverently of the word and sacraments and other means of grace, and the refreshing rain and dews of the Holy Spirit will fall upon them. But if they will not comply with these conditions their souls will be parched and will wither away with spiritual drought” [Wordsworth].
Zec_14:20. Prevalent holiness.
1. Holiness is the sweet result of all dispensations toward the Church. 2. Nothing is so profane but it may be sanctified and made holy.
3. Holiness doth then bear full sway when that which was against God shall be consecrated to him, for the bells of the horses had been employed against the Church [Hutcheson].
Zec_14:20-21. Three things specially characteristic of “that day”—the period of the restoration of Israel, and of the fulness of the Gentiles.
1. The cessation of all the distinctions of ceremonial holiness. The sanctity of mere things shall no longer exist. No places give holiness or acceptance to sacrifices. Men “everywhere lift up holy hands” and find the same acceptance.
1. The universal prevalence of personal and domestic consecration to God.
3. Purity of ministry and membership in the Church of God. Learn—
1. The necessity of seeking true holiness—holiness of heart.
2. Study practically the duty of carrying religion into everything.
3. Let the Churches of Christ aim more and more at scriptural purity of communion [Wardlaw].
Holiness to the Lord.
1. The aim of worship.
2. The beauty of common things.
3. The rule of daily life. “In days of yore nothing was holy but the beautiful” [Schiller]. Happy day when holiness shall mark the Church of God, when seen in every purpose and in every action! “Then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.”
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 14
Zec_14:8. Living waters. The grand feature of the latter day is copious and continuous effusions of grace; no longer intermittent and scanty, or of small extent, but radiating in all directions at once, permanently filling every channel, and limited only by the wants of the race. Quickly but surely, with the same noiseless energy with which the great providential forces work, do these spiritual agencies perform their work [Lange].
Zec_14:11. Safely. The weakest believer is safe, because, believing, he is within the strongest of all defences [Anon.].
Zec_14:12-15. Plague. It is one of the greatest praises of God’s wisdom that he can turn the evil of men to his own glory [Bp. Hall].
Zec_14:16-18.Worship. It is for the sake of man, not of God, that worship and prayers are required; not that God may be rendered more glorious, but that man may be made better, that he may be confirmed in a proper sense of his dependent state, and acquire those pious and virtuous dispositions in which his highest improvement consist [Blair].
“Look to thy actions well;
For churches either are our heaven or hell” [G. Herbert].
Zec_14:20-21. Holiness to the Lord. Zechariah is one of the most sublime and impassioned among “the goodly fellowship of the prophets.” It seems as if the Spirit designed to teach the world by him, the last but one in the prophetic line, that if prophecy was to become mute (as it became for about four centuries after Zechariah) its silence was not due to any failure or exhaustion of power in the Divine author of prophecy. No; the light of the sunset of prophecy in Zechariah is brilliant and glorious as its noonday splendours. He passes on to the evangelization of the heathen, the conversion of the Jews, to the last struggle and overthrow of all antichristian powers, and to the full and final victory of Christ and the everlasting glory and felicity of his Church [Wordsworth].
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v20 HOLINESS TO THE LORD.’ - Exo 28:36.
Exodus
THREE INSCRIPTIONS WITH ONE MEANING
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HOLINESS TO THE LORD.’ - Exo 28:36.
HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD.’ - Zec 14:20.
‘His name shall be in their foreheads.’ - Rev 22:4.
You will have perceived my purpose in putting these three widely separated texts together. They all speak of inscriptions, and they are all obviously connected with each other. The first of them comes from the ancient times of the institution of the ceremonial ritual, and describes a part of the high priest’s official dress. In his mitre was a thin plate of gold on which was written, ‘Holiness to the Lord.’ The second of them comes from almost the last portion recorded of the history of Israel in the Old Testament, and is from the words of the great Prophet of the Restoration-his ideal presentation of the Messianic period, in which he recognises as one feature, that the inscription on the mitre of the high priest shall be written on ‘the bells of the horses.’ And the last of them is from the closing vision of the celestial kingdom, the heavenly and perfected form of the Christian Church. John, probably remembering the high priest and his mitre, with its inscription upon the forehead, says: ‘His servants shall do Him priestly service’-for that is the meaning of the word inadequately translated ‘serve Him’-’and see His face, and His name shall be in their foreheads.’
These three things, then-the high priest’s mitre, the horses’ bells, the foreheads of the perfected saints-present three aspects of the Christian thought of holiness. Take them one by one.
I. The high priest’s mitre.
The high priest was the official representative of the nation. He stood before God as the embodied and personified Israel. For the purposes of worship Israel was the high priest, and the high priest was Israel. And so, on his forehead, not to distinguish him from the rest of the people, but to include all the people in his consecration, shone a golden plate with the motto, ‘Holiness to the Lord.’ So, at the very beginning of Jewish ritual there stands a protest against all notions that make ‘saint’ the designation of any abnormal or exceptional sanctity, and confine the name to the members of any selected aristocracy of devoutness and goodness. All Christian men, ex officio, by the very fact of their Christianity, are saints, in the true sense of the word. And the representative of the whole of Israel stood there before God, with this inscription blazing on his forehead, as a witness that, whatsoever holiness may be, it belongs to every member of the true Israel.
And what is it? It is a very unfortunate thing-indicating superficiality of thought-that the modern popular notion of ‘holiness’ identifies it with purity, righteousness, moral perfection. Now that idea is in it, but is not the whole of it. For, not to spend time upon mere remarks on words, the meaning of the word thus rendered is in Hebrew, as well as in Greek and in our own English, one and the same. The root-meaning is ‘separated,’ ‘set apart,’ and the word expresses primarily, not moral character, but relation to God. That makes all the difference; and it incalculably deepens the conception, as well as puts us on the right track for understanding the only possible means by which there can ever be realised that moral perfection and excellence which has unfortunately monopolised the meaning of the word in most people’s minds. The first thought is ‘set apart to God.’ That is holiness, in its root and germ.
And how can we be set apart for God? You may devote a dead thing for certain uses easily enough. How can a man be separated and laid aside?
Well, there is only one way, brethren, and that is by self-surrender. ‘Yield yourselves to God’ is but the other side, or, rather, the practical shape, of the Old and the New Testament doctrine of holiness. A man becomes God’s when he says, ‘Lord, take me and mould me, and fill me and cleanse me, and do with me what Thou wilt.’ In that self-surrender, which is the tap-root of all holiness, the first and foremost thing to be offered is that most obstinate of all, the will that is in us. And when we yield our wills in submission both to commandments and providences, both to gifts and to withdrawals, both to gains and to losses, both to joys and to sorrows, then we begin to write upon our foreheads ‘Holiness to the Lord.’ And when we go on to yield our hearts to Him, by enshrining Him sole and sovereign in their innermost chamber, and turning to Him the whole current of our lives and desires, and hopes and confidences, which we are so apt to allow to run to waste and be sucked up in the desert sands of the world, then we write more of that inscription. And when we fill our minds with joyful submission to His truth, and occupy our thoughts with His mighty Name and His great revelation, and carry Him with us in the hidden corners of our consciousness, even whilst we are busy about daily work, then we add further letters to it. And when the submissive will, and the devoted heart, and the occupied thoughts are fully expressed in daily life and its various external duties, then the writing is complete. ‘Holiness to the Lord’ is self-surrender of will and heart and mind and everything. And that surrender is of the very essence of Christianity.
What is a saint? Some man or woman that has practised unheard-of austerities? Somebody that has lived an isolated and self-regarding life in convent or monastery or desert? No! a man or woman in the world who, moved by the mercies of God, yields self to God as ‘a living sacrifice.’
So the New Testament writers never hesitate to speak even of such very imperfect Christians as were found in abundance in churches like Corinth and Galatia as being all ‘saints,’ every man of them. That is not because the writers were minimising their defects, or idealising their persons, but because, if they are Christians at all, they are saints; seeing that no man is a Christian who has not been drawn by Christ’s great sacrifice for him to yield himself a sacrifice for Christ.
Of course that intrusive idea which has, in popular apprehension, so swallowed up the notion of holiness-viz. that of perfection of moral character or conduct-is included in this other, or rather is developed from it. For the true way to conquer self is to surrender self; and the more entire our giving up of ourselves, the more certainly shall we receive ourselves back again from His hands. ‘By the mercies of God, I beseech you, yield yourselves living sacrifices.’
II. I come to my next text-the horses’ bells.
Zechariah has a vision of the ideal Messianic times, and, of course, as must necessarily be the case, his picture is painted with colours laid upon his palette by his experience, and he depicts that distant future in the guise suggested to him by what he saw around him. So we have to disentangle from his words the sentiment which he expresses, and to recognise the symbolic way in which he puts it. His thought is this,-the inscription on the high priest’s mitre will be written on the bells which ornament the harness of the horses, which in Israel were never used as with us, but only either for war or for pomp and display, and the use of which was always regarded with a certain kind of doubt and suspicion. Even these shall be consecrated in that far-off day.
And then he goes on with variations on the same air, ‘In that day there shall be upon the bells of the horses, "Holiness unto the Lord,"‘ and adds that ‘the pots in the Lord’s house’-the humble vessels that were used for the most ordinary parts of the Temple services-’shall be like the bowls before the altar,’ into which the sacred blood of the offerings was poured. The most external and secular thing bearing upon religion shall be as sacred as the sacredest. But that is not all. ‘Yea! every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts, and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them,’ and put their offerings therein. That is to say, the coarse pottery vessels that were in every poverty-stricken house in the city shall be elevated to the rank of the sacred vessels of the Temple. Domestic life with all its secularities shall be hallowed. The kitchens of Jerusalem shall be as truly places of worship as is the inner shrine of the Most High.
On the whole, the prophet’s teaching is that, in the ideal state of man upon earth, there will be an entire abolition of the distinction between ‘sacred’ and ‘secular’; a distinction that has wrought infinite mischief in the world, and in the lives of Christian people.
Let me translate these words of our prophet into English equivalents. Every cup and tumbler in a poor man’s kitchen may be as sacred as the communion chalice that passes from lip to lip with the ‘blood of Jesus Christ’ in it. Every common piece of service that we do, down among the vulgarities and the secularities and the meannesses of daily life, may be lifted up to stand upon precisely the same level as the sacredest office that we undertake. The bells of the horses may jingle to the same tune as the trumpets of the priests sounded within the shrine, and on all, great and small, may be written, ‘Holiness to the Lord.’
But let us remember that that universally diffused sanctity will need to have a centre of diffusion, else there will be no diffusion, and that all life will become sacred when the man that lives it has ‘Holiness to the Lord’ written on his forehead, and not else. If that be the inscription on the driver’s heart, the horses that he drives will have it written on their bells, but they will not have it unless it be. Holy men make all things holy. ‘To the pure all things are pure,’ but unto them that are unclean and disobedient there is nothing pure. Hallow thyself, and all things are clean unto thee.
III. And so I come to my third text-the perfected saints’ foreheads.
The connection between the first and the last of these texts is as plain and close as between the first and the second. For John in his closing vision gives emphasis to the priestly idea as designating in its deepest relations the redeemed and perfected Christian Church. Therefore he says, as I have already explained, ‘His servants shall do Him priestly service, and His name shall be in their foreheads.’ The old official dress of the high priest comes into his mind, and he paints the future, just as Zechariah did, under the forms of the past, and sees before the throne the perfected saints, each man of them with that inscription clear and conspicuous.
But there is an advance in his words which I think it is not fanciful to note. It is only the name that is written in the perfected saint’s forehead. Not the ‘Holiness unto the Lord,’ but just the bare name. What does that mean? Well, it means the same as your writing your name in one of your books does, or as when a man puts his initials on the back of his oxen, or as the old practice of branding the master’s mark upon the slave did. It means absolute ownership.
But it means something more. The name is the manifested personality, the revealed God, or, as we say in an abstract way, the character of God. That Name is to be in the foreheads of His perfected people. How does it come to be there? Read also the clause before the text-’His servants shall see His face, and His name shall be in their foreheads.’ That is to say, the perfected condition is not reached by surrender only, but by assimilation; and that assimilation comes by contemplation. The faces that are turned to Him, and behold Him, are smitten with the light and shine, and those that look upon them see ‘as it had been the face of an angel,’ as the Sanhedrim saw that of Stephen, when he beheld the Son of Man ‘standing at the right hand of God.’
My last text is but a picturesque way of saying what the writer of it says in plain words when he declares, ‘We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.’ The name is to be ‘in their foreheads,’ where every eye can see it. Alas! alas! it is so hard for us to live out our best selves, and to show to the world what is in us. Cowardice, sheepishness, and a hundred other reasons prevent it. In this poor imperfect state no emotion ever takes shape and visibility without losing more or less of its beauty. But yonder the obstructions to self-manifestation will be done away; and ‘when He shall be manifested, we also shall be manifested with Him in glory.’
‘Then shall the righteous blaze forth like the sun in My heavenly Father’s Kingdom.’ But the beginning of it all is ‘Holiness to the Lord’ written on our hearts; and the end of that is the vision which is impossible without holiness, and which leads on to the beholder’s perfect likeness to his Lord.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv4, 9 and the mount of Olives
and the mount of Olives
Zec 14:5 implies that the cleavage of the Mount of Olives is due to an earthquake, and this is confirmed by; Isa 29:6; Rev 16:19. In both passages the context, as in Zec 14:1-3 associates the earthquake with the Gentile invasion under the Beast; Dan 7:8; Rev 19:20. Surely, in a land seamed by seismic disturbances it should not be difficult to believe that another earthquake might cleave the little hill called the Mount of Olives. Not one of the associated events of Zechariah 14 occurred at the first coming of Christ, closely associated though He then was with the Mount of Olives.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v12 The Remnant of the Nations Saved
The Remnant of the Nations Saved
v. 12. And this shall be the plague, the special infliction, wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem, those who oppose the Church and its work:. Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, so that they would rot away in a living death, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth, all these punishments making them unfit for further attacks upon the city of God.
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v. 13. And it shall come to pass in that day that a great tumult, a confusion and panic, from the Lord shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor. It has always been a matter of good fortune, so far as the Church is concerned, that its enemies disagree among themselves and thus often frustrate their own evil intentions.
v. 14. And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem, the Church itself taking part in the warfare against the enemies threatening her life; and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, the treasures of the enemy, their most precious possessions, being taken by the Church, gold and silver and apparel, In great abundance.
v. 15. And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague, so that the defeat of the enemy would be complete in every way. All the enemies of the Church of God who persist in their enmity will finally, inevitably, be destroyed.
v. 16. And it shall come to pass that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, after the destruction of the enemies that would not repent, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles, to join with the Church in its adoration of the one true God.
v. 17. And it shall be that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain, the spiritual blessings of the Lord being withheld from them.
v. 18. And if the family of Egypt, representative of all the world-powers and enemies that have tried to oppress the Church of God throughout history, go not up and come not that have no rain, or, the lack of rain would be its plague or infliction; there shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles, refuse to be received into the Church and take part in its worship.
v. 19. This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. It is a fact borne out by history and experience that the enemies of the Lord, in opposing His Church and refusing to accept His Word, entrench themselves behind a wall of their own foolishness and shut themselves out from the highest spiritual blessings. Meanwhile the Lord is building up His Church to a state of glorious perfection.
v. 20. In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, those suspended from their harness, which tinkled as they marched forward in a triumphal procession, Holiness unto the Lord; and the pots in the Lord’s house, used for the seething of the sacrificial meat, shall be like the bowls before the altar, in which the blood of the sacrifices was kept. In other words, the difference between the sacred and profane would be entirely eliminated, everything used in the service of the Lord being equally sacred in His eyes. Cf 1Ti 4:4-5.
v. 21. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts, all the distinctions of the Ceremonial Law being eliminated; and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them and seethe therein, preparing for the sacrificial feasts without fear of contamination; and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts, no openly godless people being permitted as members of the Church of God. The nearer the Church approaches its perfection, the clearer is shown the cleavage between those who are in truth the servants of the Lord and those who merely bear the name of His ministers; and the final revelation of those who in the accepted time, in the day of salvation, were for and against the Lord Jehovah will conic on the Last Day.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv3, 5, 6, 9, 12, 14, 16, 19, 20 General Information:
General Information:
These verses continue the description of the final war for the city of Jerusalem and of how God will save it. In this prophecy, Yahweh is described as a warrior who will come and fight in battle.
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as when he wages war on the day of battle
"just as he fought battles in the past"
On that day
"At that time"
his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives
Here "feet" represents Yahweh. AT: "he will stand on the Mount of Olives" (See: Synecdoche)
The Mount of Olives will be split ... by a very great valley
This can be stated in active form. AT: "The presences of Yahweh will split the Mount of Olives ... causing there to be a very great valley" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
Yahweh
nation
Mount of Olives
Jerusalem
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 20, 21 14:3 fought in times past: An example would be…
14:3 fought in times past: An example would be the exodus from Egypt (Exod 14–15; see Isa 42:13).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.