5-6. The detection of one of the false prophets dramatically represented. He is seized by some zealous vindicator of the law, and in fear cries out, "I am no prophet."
man--that is, one.
taught me to keep cattle--As "keeping cattle" is not the same as to be "an husbandman," translate rather, "Has used (or 'appropriated') me as a servant," namely, in husbandry [Maurer]. However, husbandry and keeping cattle might be regarded as jointly the occupation of the person questioned: then [Am 7:14], "herdman," will accord with English Version. A Hebrew kindred word means "cattle." Both occupations, the respondent replies, are inconsistent with my being a "prophet."
7. Expounded by Christ as referring to Himself ([Mt 26:31], ). Thus it is a resumption of the prophecy of His betrayal ([Zec 11:4], 10, 13, 14), and the subsequent punishment of the Jews. It explains the mystery why He, who came to be a blessing, was cut off while bestowing the blessing. God regards sin in such a fearful light that He spared not His own co-equal Son in the one Godhead, when that Son bore the sinner's guilt.
Awake--Compare a similar address to the sword of justice personified ([Jr 46:6], ). For "smite" (imperative), [Mt 26:31] has "I will smite." The act of the sword, it is thus implied, is God's act. So the prophecy in [Is 6:9], "Hear ye," is imperative; the fulfilment as declared by Jesus is future ([Mt 13:14]), "ye shall hear."
sword--the symbol of judicial power, the highest exercise of which is to take away the life of the condemned ([Psa 17:13]; [Ro 13:4]). Not merely a show, or expression, of justice (as Socinians think) is distinctly implied here, but an actual execution of it on Messiah the shepherd, the substitute for the sheep, by God as judge. Yet God in this shows His love as gloriously as His justice. For God calls Messiah "My shepherd," that is, provided ([Re 13:8]) for sinners by My love to them, and ever the object of My love, though judicially smitten ([Is 53:4]) for their sins ([Is 42:1]; ).
man that is my fellow--literally, "the man of my union." The Hebrew for "man" is "a mighty man," one peculiarly man in his noblest ideal. "My fellow," that is, "my associate." "My equal" ([De Wette]; a remarkable admission from a Rationalist). "My nearest kinsman" [Hengstenberg], ([Joh 10:30]; , ; [Php 2:6]).
sheep shall be scattered--The scattering of Christ's disciples on His apprehension was the partial fulfilment ([Mt 26:31]), a pledge of the dispersion of the Jewish nation (once the Lord's sheep, [Psa 100:3]) consequent on their crucifixion of Him. The Jews, though "scattered," are still the Lord's "sheep," awaiting their being "gathered" by Him ([Is 40:9], ).
I will turn ... hand upon ... little ones--that is, I will interpose in favor of (compare the phrase in a good sense, [Is 1:25]) "the little ones," namely, the humble followers of Christ from the Jewish Church, despised by the world: "the poor of the flock" ([Zec 11:7], ); comforted after His crucifixion at the resurrection ([Joh 20:17-20]); saved again by a special interposition from the destruction of Jerusalem, having retired to Pella when Cestius Gallus so unaccountably withdrew from Jerusalem. Ever since there has been a Jewish "remnant" of "the little ones ... according to the election of grace." The hand of Jehovah was laid in wrath on the Shepherd that His hand might be turned in grace upon the little ones.
8-9. Two-thirds of the Jewish nation were to perish in the Roman wars, and a third to survive. Probably from the context ([Zec 14:2-9]), which has never yet been fulfilled, the destruction of the two-thirds (literally, "the proportion of two," or "portion of two") and the saving of the remnant, the one-third, are still future, and to be fulfilled under Antichrist.
Chapter 14
Zec 14:1-21. Last Struggle with the Hostile World-Powers:
Messiah-Jehovah Saves Jerusalem and Destroys the Foe, of Whom the Remnant Turns to the Lord Reigning at Jerusalem.
1. day of the Lord--in which He shall vindicate His justice by punishing the wicked and then saving His elect people ([Joe 2:31]; ; Mal 4:1, 5).
thy spoil ... divided in the midst of thee--by the foe; secure of victory, they shall not divide the spoil taken from thee in their camp outside, but "in the midst" of the city itself.
2. gather all nations, &c.--The prophecy seems literal (compare [Joe 3:2]). If Antichrist be the leader of the nations, it seems inconsistent with the statement that he will at this time be sitting in the temple as God at Jerusalem ([2Th 2:4]); thus Antichrist outside would be made to besiege Antichrist within the city. But difficulties do not set aside revelations: the event will clear up seeming difficulties. Compare the complicated movements, [Da 11:1-45].
half ... the residue--In [Zec 13:8], , it is "two-thirds" that perish, and "the third" escapes. There, however, it is "in all the land"; here it is "half of the city." Two-thirds of the "whole people" perish, one-third survives. One-half of the citizens are led captive, the residue are not cut off. Perhaps, too, we ought to translate, "a (not 'the') residue."
3. Then--In Jerusalem's extremity.
as ... in ... day of battle--as when Jehovah fought for Israel against the Egyptians at the Red Sea ([Ex 14:14]; ). As He then made a way through the divided sea, so will He now divide in two "the Mount of Olives" ([Zec 14:4]).
4. The object of the cleaving of the mount in two by a fissure or valley (a prolongation of the valley of Jehoshaphat, and extending from Jerusalem on the west towards Jordan, eastward) is to open a way of escape to the besieged (compare [Joe 3:12], ). Half the divided mount is thereby forced northward, half southward; the valley running between. The place of His departure at His ascension shall be the place of His return: and the "manner" of His return also shall be similar ([Ac 1:11]). He shall probably "come from the east" ([Mt 24:27]). He so made His triumphal entry into the city from the Mount of Olives from the east ([Mt 21:1-10]). This was the scene of His agony: so it shall be the scene of His glory. Compare [Eze 11:23], with [Eze 43:2], "from the way of the east."
5. ye shall flee to the valley--rather "through the valley," as in [2Sa 2:29]. The valley made by the cleaving asunder of the Mount of Olives ([Zec 14:4]) is designed to be their way of escape, not their place of refuge [Maurer]. Jerome is on the side of English Version. If it be translated so, it will mean, Ye shall flee "to" the valley, not to hide there, but as the passage through which an escape may be effected. The same divinely sent earthquake which swallows up the foe, opens out a way of escape to God's people. The earthquake in Uzziah's days is mentioned ([Am 1:1]) as a recognized epoch in Jewish history. Compare also [Is 6:1]: perhaps the same year that Jehovah held His heavenly court and gave commission to Isaiah for the Jews, an earthquake in the physical world, as often happens ([Mt 24:7]), marked momentous movements in the unseen spiritual world.
of the mountains--rather, "of My mountains," namely, Zion and Moriah, peculiarly sacred to Jehovah [Moore]. Or, the mountains formed by My cleaving Olivet into two [Maurer].
Azal--the name of a place near a gate east of the city. The Hebrew means "adjoining" [Henderson]. Others give the meaning, "departed," "ceased." The valley reaches up to the city gates, so as to enable the fleeing citizens to betake themselves immediately to it on leaving the city.
Lord my God ... with thee--The mention of the "Lord my God" leads the prophet to pass suddenly to a direct address to Jehovah. It is as if "lifting up his head" ([Lu 21:28]), he suddenly sees in vision the Lord coming, and joyfully exclaims, "All the saints with Thee!" So [Is 25:9].
saints--holy angels escorting the returning King ([Mt 24:30], ; Jude 14); and redeemed men ([1Co 15:23]; [1Th 3:13]; ). Compare the similar mention of the "saints" and "angels" at His coming on Sinai ([De 32:2], ; [Ac 7:53]; [Ga 3:19]; [He 2:2]). Phillips thinks Azal is Ascalon on the Mediterranean. An earthquake beneath Messiah's tread will divide Syria, making from Jerusalem to Azal a valley which will admit the ocean waters from the west to the Dead Sea. The waters will rush down the valley of Arabah, the old bed of the Jordan, clear away the sand-drift of four thousand years, and cause the commerce of Petra and Tyre to center in the holy city. The Dead Sea rising above its shores will overflow by the valley of Edom, completing the straits of Azal into the Red Sea. Thus will be formed the great pool of Jerusalem (compare [Zec 14:8]; [Eze 47:1], &c.; [Joe 3:18]). Euphrates will be the north boundary, and the Red Sea the south. Twenty-five miles north and twenty-five miles south of Jerusalem will form one side of the fifty miles square of the Lord's Holy Oblation ([Eze 48:1-35]). There are seven spaces of fifty miles each from Jerusalem northward to the Euphrates, and five spaces of fifty miles each southward to the Red Sea. Thus there are thirteen equal distances on the breadth of the future promised land, one for the oblation and twelve for the tribes, according to [Eze 48:1-35]. That the Euphrates north, Mediterranean west, the Nile and Red Sea south, are to be the future boundaries of the holy land, which will include Syria and Arabia, is favored by [Ge 15:8]; [Ex 23:31]; [De 11:24]; [Jos 1:4]; [1Ki 4:21]; [2Ch 9:26]; [Is 27:12]; all which was partially realized in Solomon's reign, shall be antitypically so hereafter. The theory, if true, will clear away many difficulties in the way of the literal interpretation of this chapter and [Eze 48:1-35].
6. light ... not ... clear ... dark--Jerome, Chaldee, Syriac, and Septuagint translate, "There shall not be light, but cold and ice"; that is, a day full of horror ([Am 5:18]). But the Hebrew for "clear" does not mean "cold," but "precious," "splendid" (compare [Job 31:26]). Calvin translates, "The light shall not be clear, but dark" (literally, "condensation," that is, thick mist); like a dark day in which you can hardly distinguish between day and night. English Version accords with [Zec 14:7]: "There shall not be altogether light nor altogether darkness," but an intermediate condition in which sorrows shall be mingled with joys.
7. one day--a day altogether unique, different from all others [Maurer]. Compare "one," that is, unique ([So 6:9]; [Jr 30:7]). Not as Henderson explains, "One continuous day, without night" ([Re 22:5]; ); the millennial period ([Re 20:3-7]).
known to ... Lord--This truth restrains man's curiosity and teaches us to wait the Lord's own time ([Mt 24:36]).
not day, nor night--answering to "not ... clear nor ... dark" ([Zec 14:6]); not altogether daylight, yet not the darkness of night.
at evening ... shall be light--Towards the close of this twilight-like time of calamity, "light" shall spring up ([Psa 97:11]; ; [Is 30:26]; , ).
8. living waters--([Eze 47:1]; [Joe 3:18]).
former sea--that is, the front, or east, which Orientalists face in taking the points of the compass; the Dead Sea.
hinder sea--the west or Mediterranean.
summer ... winter--neither dried up by heat, nor frozen by cold; ever flowing.
9. king over all ... earth--[Is 54:5] implies that this is to be the consequence of Israel being again recognized by God as His own people ([Da 2:44]; [Re 11:15]).
one Lord ... name one--Not that He is not so already, but He shall then be recognized by all unanimously as "One." Now there are "gods many and lords many." Then Jehovah alone shall be worshipped. The manifestation of the unity of the Godhead shall be simultaneous with that of the unity of the Church. Believers are one in spirit already, even as God is one ([Ep 4:3-6]). But externally there are sad divisions. Not until these disappear, shall God reveal fully His unity to the world ([Joh 17:21], ). Then shall there be "a pure language, that all may call upon the name of the Lord with one consent" ([Zep 3:9]). The Son too shall at last give up His mediatorial kingdom to the Father, when the purposes for which it was established shall have been accomplished, "that God may be all in all" ([1Co 15:24]).
10. turned--or, "changed round about": literally, "to make a circuit." The whole hilly land round Jerusalem, which would prevent the free passage of the living waters, shall be changed so as to be "as a (or the) plain" ([Is 40:4]).
from Geba to Rimmon--Geba ([2Ki 23:8]) in Benjamin, the north border of Judah. Rimmon, in Simeon ([Jos 15:32]), the south border of Judah; not the Rimmon northeast of Michmash. "The plain from Geba to Rimmon" (that is, from one boundary to the other) is the Arabah or plain of the Jordan, extending from the Sea of Tiberias to the Elanitic Gulf of the Red Sea.
it shall be lifted up--namely, Jerusalem shall be exalted, the hills all round being lowered ([Mi 4:1]).
inhabited in her place--([Zec 12:6]).
from Benjamin's gate--leading to the territory of Benjamin. The same as Ephraim's gate, the north boundary of the city ([2Ki 14:13]).
the first gate--west of the city [Grotius]. "The place of," &c. implies that the gate itself was then not in existence. "The old gate" ([Ne 3:6]).
the corner gate--east of the city [Grotius]. Or the "corner" joining the north and west parts of the wall [Villalpandus]. Grotius thinks "corners" refers to the towers there built (compare [Zep 3:6], Margin).
tower of Hananeel--south of the city, near the sheep gate ([Ne 3:1]; ; [Jr 31:38]) [Grotius].
king's wine-presses--([So 8:11]). In the interior of the city, at Zion [Grotius].