Commentary on the Old Testament Volume 2-4, Biblical commentary 7 · minor prophets · Zechariah · Chapter 9
CHAP. IX.
THe burthen of the Word of the Lord in the land of Hadrack and Damascus shall be V. 1.the rest thereof. The Lord having before comforted and incouraged his people by promising after the temple built, happy times unto them, now lest they should be afraid of the interruption of their joy by their enemies round about them, he here comforteth them against this fear. By the land of Hadrack some understand Arabia, but others more probably Syria, because Damascus here also spoken of is the chief city of Syria. And that the Syrians were great enemies of the Jewes, and nigh unto them, we read in sundry places. Now that they may not fear the Syrians, he saith not only the burthen, whereby alwaies some great judgement tending to destruction is meant, but also, that Damascus shall be the rest of this burthen, that is, being laid on, it Zech. 5.shall there continue, as was said before of the Ephah, that it should be setled upon the Basis in the land of Shinar, When the eyes of man and of all the tribes of Israel shalbe towards the Lord. Here the time is pointed out, when the enemies of the children of Israel should thus lye under Gods heavie judgements, viz. when their eyes should be towards the Lord, and this is by hearkening to his Commandements to do them, as Psal. 113. 1. As the eyes of a servant are towards the hand of his master, so are our eyes toward thee, and by not trusting in an arme of flesh, but in God alone, whereas heretofore they had trusted in their own strength, wisdome, and wealth, which who so doth, cannot have his eyes towards God, and so the help and comfort before spoken of from him. And he saith first, the eyes of man, and then of all the tribes, to intimate that they had done before but like carnall men, and they not a few, but generally all the tribes of Israel, for there was a generall corruption amongst them, but this being purged out, they, he sheweth, should generally above man depend wholly upon and trust in him.
Hamath also shall border thereby, Tyrus and Sidon though very wise. That is, V. 2.these cities, how mighty and politick soever, shall fear no better then Syria before spoken of, touching two of which, Tyrus and Sidon and their wealth and pride the Prophets often speak; of Hamath, as a very great city of Syria the Prophet Amos speaketh, it was furthest remote from Damascus, and so a place which thought to escape, when the burthen should take up Damascus for the rest thereof. The distance of a place from that, upon which God sends his judgements, is nothing to hinder their piercing thither also, God can Note. and will joyn places furthest distant one from the other being alike in sin in the like heavie judgements, he hath both a sword and bow, to slay nigh at hand and afar off.
Ashkelon shall see it and fear, and Gaza, &c. and a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod. V. 4, 5.Tyrus and Sidon being destroyed by Gods judgements, the Philistims come next to be threatned, whose the cities or lordships here named were: for they were most infest enemies to the Jewes. For a bastard inhabiting Ashdod, the vulg. hath a separator; Gualter, a stranger, the word is foreign of Gualter.foreign to be a stranger, as a bastard is called, because he comes of another, a stranger and not of a wedded husband. And if we take it for a stranger, the sense is plain, the enemy being a stranger having subdued Ashdod shall dwell there, as Arrianus saith, that Alexander having subdued the Philistims countrey, after Tyrus and Sidon, placed some of his forces in Ashdod, as he saw it most commodious for him for the subduing of other peoples thereabouts. Lyra upon the word separatour saith, that Alexander might well be so called, because he divided the land there amongst his souldiers, yet as the word signifieth a bastard, so he saith Alexander might well be thus called, for he was begotten by Kendebeus in the likenesse of Jupiter Ammonius lying with his mother, as his History sheweth. Calvin by a stranger here understands a few of Calvin.that city left, and keeping there now but as strangers, here one, and there another. And why did the Lord thus to the Philistims? The next words shew, For their pride, and I will take the bloud out of his mouth and the abomination from between his teeth. Whereby is meant, that the Philistims were great shedders of V. 7.bloud, and therefore he speaks of them as of Lions, or Wolves, out of whose mouthes silly sheep are plucked, which they are devouring bloud and flesh and all, & by victories and getting other mens goods into their possession they were greatly puffed up with pride. But he addeth, he that remaineth shall be for our God, and a governour in Judah and Ekron, as a Jebusite, wherein he prophesieth of their conversion to Christ also, after all this suffered, so many of them, as escaped. But why shall Ekron alone be as a Jebusite, one of the old inhabitants of Canaan, whom the Lord expelled before Israel without any mercy. Some, saith Calvin, think, that hereby it is meant, that they of Ekron shall have the honour to dwell in Jerusalem, as the Jebusites long did, but he rejecting this, saith, that the meaning is, Ekron, although it shall be longer in destroying, then the other cities of the Philistims, yet it shall be but as the Jebusite, who kept the tower of Sion till Davids time, but then they were by him expelled. But forsomuch as the judgements to come upon the Philistims cities or principalities went before, whereof Ekron was one, and here the Prophet turns from speaking terrour to speak comfort, I rather hold that as of them, which remained he saith, that they should be to God, and be as princes in Judah; for so the word signifieth, that is, in high and honourable account in the Christian Church set forth by Judah, so the inhabitants of Ekron in particular, that remained, should be as the Jebusites dwelling amongst the Jewes, when the Amorites, and Canaanites were expelled, and that in the chief part of the land Jerusalem, which anciently was called from them Jebus, according to the distick. Solyma, Luza, Bethel, Jerusolyma, Jebus, Elia, Vrbs sacra Jerusalem, dicitur at{que} Salem: for so it is said, Josh. 15. The Jebusites dwelt with the Jewes in Jerusalem to this day, neither could they be expelled. But of these Philistims it is not meant so much, that they should be, as the Jebusites, in that place, but that they should be by faith incorporated into the Church, the company of which it consisteth being called Jewes within, according Rom. 2. 29.to the spirit, though not in the flesh. Lyra expounds it of their being at length subdued to the faith of Christ, as the Jebusites were finally subdued by David.
And I will encampe about my house because of the army. Having hitherto spoken V. 8.of the heavie judgements to come upon the Jewes enemies, so that they should not need to fear them, but chearfully go on in the work of building God house, now he addeth further for their comfort, if any other enemies should arise, something of his continuall keeping watch and ward about it. For these words, because of the army and him that goeth out and returneth, the vulg. hath it, of the army passing and repassing: expounded by Lyra of Judas Maccabaeus with his army subduing the enemy and purging Gods house from idolatry, Lyra.of which we read in the Maccabees, and the Hebr. will well bear this reading, although the preposition foreign here used be most commonly translated from, and it may well go either way, it being hereby shewed, as from whom his should be saved, so by whom, and thus the oppressour or exactour, Antiochus Epiphanes, who raged so much against Gods people, he sheweth should be kept from doing so any more, and as a reason hereof, he saith, for I have seen with mine eyes, that is, saith Calvin, I have seen the great sufferings of my Calvin.people to come by that tyrant, and therefore out of my great compassion to mine own, I have thus decreed to succour and help both them and my house so horribly abused. For neither doth the Prophet speak this of himself, as if nothing were meant, but that by the spirit he foresaw it, according to some, nor of the bare foreknowledge, or foresight of God, according to others.
Rejoyce, O daughter of Zion. Here the Prophet commeth plainly to prophesie V. 6.of Christ, of whom he spake but obscurely before, in saying; that the remnant of the Philistims should be as princes in Judah. That which is here said, is so well explained Matth. 21. that I shall need to say nothing more upon it in this place: only whereas he saith here, poor and saved, there it is meek, for the word, foreign signifieth to be saved, vulg. poor and a Saviour, New Translation, Bringing salvation, Calvin, saved, expounding it of his being Calvin.saved in his members through his humbling himself to the poor and to suffer.
I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem, and the V. 10.battell bow shall be cut off and he shall speak peace, &c. Here lest any should imagine, when the comming of Zions king is spoken of, that he would gather the people of Israel and by force of armes joyning the two kingdomes together subdue the nations unto him, he saith so, as that they might easily gather the contrary, that none of his people should be armed to set him up as king over all either with chariots, horses, bowes or other warlike instruments: but that by speaking peace wheresoever he should come with his word this should be done, as indeed it was, when he bad his disciples comming to any city or house say, peace be to this city or house, and going thus out into all nations set up his kingdome there, and by preaching subdued the world unto him, of which large Empire of his he speaketh in the next words, And his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth.
As for thee also, by the bloud of the covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of V. 11.the pit, wherein there is no water, the vulg. Thou also hast sent forth. Hebr. Thou also I have sent forth. Here for foreign thou a masculine is foreign thou afeminine which the Rabbins expound of the Church of the Jewes, as if the Prophet had turned his speech to them, thus seeking to elude a plain evidence touching Christ Jesus, as if it had been said, also thou O Judah, I have sent out thy prisoners, making use of the letter signifying thy being a feminine also further to confirm the same. Some to avoid this inference, say that the Jewes have corrupted the Text, putting foreign for foreign, and foreign or foreign. But Calvin saith also; that this speech is directed to the Church of the Jewes, as a wife by God marryed to him, rendring the words, heus tu, Calvin.O thou, I have sent out, as if he had said, thou haply maist slight all that hath been spoken of the king riding upon an asse to come bringing salvation, &c. because thou hast many enemies still, and sufferest much misery, but fear nothing, by the bloud of thy covenant, which thou hast from me confirmed by bloud, Exod. 24. when Moses sprinkling the book, wherein it was written, bound the people unto it, for which he saith, by the bloud of thy covenant, I have sent out thy bound ones, &c. that is, thy members in the bands of many and great miseries, wherein they lay, as in a pit without water, that is, both in misery like a dark deep pit without all comfort, and a place, where for want of water there is danger of dying through thirst. And likewise Gualter saying, he argueth from their deliverance past to confirme them Gualter.in the hope and expectation by the King or Messiah to come, taking Babylon to be the place here compared to a pit without water for the uncomfortable and dangerous case, wherein they were there, but God had graciously delivered them from thence, and therefore this might be a ground of confidence, that as by the bloud of the Old Testament, or covenant in circumcision they had been delivered from thence, so by Christs bloud, which is the bloud of the New Covenant, or Testament, they should have everlasting deliverance and life through faith in his name. These words then hang together with the former, and carry this sense thus. He had said, that this King in appearance poor should speak peace to the nations, and extend his dominion amongst them farre and wide. Now that the Church of the Jewes might not be without hope in him he addeth, also thou my first wife, by the bloud of thy covenant, that is, the bloud of my son, the said King, whereby I have made a new covenant with thee, not of works, but of faith, I have brought out thy prisoners, or bound ones, that is, long bound up in infidelity, but towards the end of the world converted, out of the pit, wherein was no water, that is, the foresaid pit of insidelity, so called, because deep, and no hope of a …s self to get out; and through darknesse uncomfortable, for no man, John 6. 44.saith Christ, cometh to me, except the Father draw him. And when one by believing comes to Christ, he comes out of darknesse into a marvellous light; and it is a pit without water, that is, water of which Christ speaketh, saying, If any one thirsteth, let him come to me, and I will give him of the water of life: John 7. 37.and all this is spoken of in the preter tense, as already done; for the certainty thereof, whereas Ribera supposeth a corruption in the Hebr. to be here, it may be conceived, by that which hath been said, how vain an imagination that is; besides that, it is dangerous to yeild hereunto, as being derogatory to the credit of Gods Word in the Originall, which is by all means, in every title to be upheld. And whereas Lyra, by the pit wherein there is no water, understands Lyra.Limbus Patrum, where the faithfull were before Christs Ascension, but then taken up with him, they being the bound here spoken of, it is not solid, neither is it seconded by any other place of Scripture, teaching, that there ever was any such place. To conclude, for corruption here in the Text, it would nothing avail the Jewes, to make it for the avoiding of a Prophesie touching Christ; seeing it is neither thus avoided, as I have shewed, neither is there an evidence touching Christ, in the words before going, ver. 9, 10. more full and plain wanting, although this should not to him be applyed. Yea, so plain, as Chrysostome, and other ancients say, that alone it is sufficient to convince any Jew, that Jesus is the King, who was to come, Chrysost.because never any other King but he, rode into Jerusalem upon an Asse whilst the city stood.
Turn ye to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope, even to day doe I declare, that I will V. 12.render double unto thee. Here the Prophet upon the premises, cometh to the Jewes sent from Babylon, chap. 7. 2. bidding them to return to Jerusalem, under the name of the strong hold, and not to dwell any longer in Babylon; and he calleth Jerusalem a strong hold, for promises of God made of incamping about his house there, because they might think it, being yet without walls, that it was weak, and in continuall danger of enemies; and he calls them prisoners of hope, to distinguish them from the wicked Jewes, that would not beleeve any thing spoken by the Prophets touching the future happinesse of their Nation; wherefore the Prophet speaks not to them, but giving them over as desperate, he addresseth himself to such as beleeved; that although they had long been prisoners in Babylon, yet they hoped still for a better, and more joyfull time, according to Gods Word, and then he saith, I will render double unto thee: that is, making thine estate far more happy than ever it was: Which, because it was not done before the coming of the Messiah, must needs be understood of the time of the Gospell, at their conversion to Christ, and then mystically by the strong hold must be meant the Church of the faithful under the Gospell, which is built upon a rock, so strongly, that it cannot be shaken, and the prisoners of hope must be those before spoken of, thy bound ones, but by being turned to the faith, loosed and brought into perfect liberty.
When I have bent thy sons for me (O Judah) filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised V. 13.up Zion against thy sons (O Greece) and made thee as the sword of a mighty man: Here the Prophet goes on in particular to foretell to the comfort of the Faithfull, what mighty acts he would inable the Jewes to doe in the time of the Grecians power, which he foresaw by the spirit in the time of the Kingdomes in Aegypt and Syria raised up out of Alexanders Empire. For then specially did this Prophesie work according to the letter. Judah was bent as a bow, by the strength not of man, but of God, and Ephraim, as arrowes filled it, &c. when Mattathtas rose up, and his sons, Judas Maccabeus, and his brethren in the time of that tyrant, Antiochus Epiphanes, and so mightily prevailed against his Armies, and Captaines, as in the books of Maccabees is shewed at large. For then God most apparently made them his Bow, and Arrows, and Sword, as it were, against this Grecian King. And the sons of Zion were raised up against the sons of Grecia, because the Captaines, and most renowned, used by God, in these expeditions, were men of the Church, or House of God in Zion, which the Heathen intolerably prophaned, and for this they w…e stirred up against them, and so miraculously prevailed. But all this is spoken of, as done by God, because by his power: and so it is alwayes, when the people of God prevail against their enemirs; it is not by their own strength, but God useth them as his instruments, they being able of themselves to doe Note. nothing, no more then a bow, or a sword, but by the hand of a mighty man, shooting, or smiting therewith.
The Lord shall be seen over them, &c. Here the same is further prosecuted, in V. 14.alluding to that, which was done of old, when the Heathen enemies saw, and confessed, that God fought for his people, and that by thunder, and 1 Sam. 7.lightning, as in the dayes of Samuel: and so he did afterwards, when in the time of Marcus Aurelius, at the intercession of the Christian Legion in great want of water, he sent thunder and lightning, and rain, whereby the whole Army was relieved, and the enemies, by the tempest, being upon their faces, confounded. With the found of trumpet, and whirlwinds out of the south: in adding this, he puts them in minde of Gods powerfull presence amongst them of old, when with the sound of a trumpet he came down to mount Sinai, and the Priests in war at his appointment, sounded with the silver trumpets, at it is particularly noted in the dayes of Abijah, and a wonderfull victory was obtained. For the whirlwinds out of the south, this is spoken to shew the irresistible 1 Kings 14.force, whereby God came upon their enemies, for the south, Hab. 3. speaking to the same effect, saith, God came from Teman, which lay southward from Jerusalem, when from that wildernesse, where he had shewed himself so full of terror, he went as a whirlwind overthrowing the Canaanites.
And they shall devour and subdue with sling-stones, and they shall drink, and make a noise, as through wine, and be filled like bowls, and as the corners of the Altar: that is, as David with a stone out of a sling slew Goliah, so shall they their mightiest V. 15.enemies; and for devouring, and drinking, it is allegorically spoken, their subduing of their enemies being likened to a feast unto them. For as at a feast men eat flesh, and drink wine abundantly, till they are filled herewith; so they in destroying their enemies, did, as it were eat their flesh and fat, for which, in the like case it is said, I will make a feast in Bozrah of fat things, and of wine upon the Lees. And Revel. 19. there is an invitation to a Supper. But Esay. Revel. 19. 18.what is it, that is added, as the horns of the Altar? verily, that they should, by the slaughter of their enemies, be outwardly, as dipt in bloud, or sprinkled, because, when a sacrifice was killed, the priests put some upon the horns of the Altar: and this is added, to shew, that the slaughter of the enemies made, should be as an holy offering acceptable to God, and well-pleasing, although bloud-shed generally be most defiling. And it is said, they should make a noise; as men having drank wine plentifully, sing and shout for mirth, so they should make a chearfull noise, in chanting out Gods praises.
For they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensigne upon his land. This is spoken in respect of the honourable account, wherein they should be had, V. 16.even as pretious stones adorning a Crown after the subduing of their enemies before spoken of. And truly the Maccabees were for this had in high honour amongst the Romans, who take them for their friends, and other great potentates of the Earth a long time, as may be seen in my continuation of the History after Nehemiah.
How great is his goodnesse, how great his beauty? corn shall make the young men cheerfull, and new wine the maids. Here he concludeth with an Epiphonema to V. 17.the Lord, as good and gracious to his people beyond expression, and returning again, to the great increase of the Vine, and of the earth before spoken of, chap. 8. 12. he concludeth with it, Corne shall make young men cheerfull, and wine the maids; not hereby to countenance maids drinking of wine, but to shew the abundance should be so great, that not onelyonly parents should have enough of the best, and most refreshing Corne and wine for themselves, but for their children all to give them some with them, whereas at other times, when there is no such plenty, their sons are fed more coursly, and there comes little wine to their daughters share, but water, and to this effect almost Calvin. But in all this, as most Expositours agree, the subduing of Nations to Christ in the Calvin. The Mystery.time of the Gospell, is Mystically set forth, and the great joy then of both Sexes, from the oldest unto the youngest, in him who is the true Bread, that came down from Heaven; and wine causing more chearfulnesse to the heart of the Faithfull, then that wine, which the Vine yeildeth to make glad the Psal. 104.heart, and the Corne, which the earth bringeth forth to strengthen man. For then Judah was bent as a bow, &c. when the Apostles, who were Jewes, went out by preaching, and miraculous operations subduing Greeks, and Barbarians, as if conquered by bow and arrows, and the sword, as the penetrative force of the Gospell is called, Psal. 45. Thy Arrowes are sharp and keen; and Heb. 4. 12. The Word is sharper then any two-edged sword; and these went out of Zion. And to thunder and lightning the Lord compared some of them, when he called them Boanerges, and preaching is spoken of, as the trumpets sounding, 1 Cor. 14. and as a whirlwind the Gospel went out with such celerity, overthrowing strong holds, and of the Apostles being pretious stones, see Revel. 21. Esai. 54. Then the Spouse, the Church makes acclamations of Christs beauty, as in Cant. and the spirituall joy coming by him.