A. C. 457. the stones of 13 When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O' Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man. 14 And the LORD shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the Lord GoD shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south. 15 The LORD of hosts shall defend them; and they shall Or, subdue devour, and * subdue with sling stones; and they shall drink, the sling. and make a noise as through wine; and they shall be filled + Or, shall fill both the bowls, like bowls, and as the corners of the altar. &c. 16 And the LORD their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land. 17 For how great is his goodness, and how great is his Or, grow, beauty! corn shall make the young men chearful, and new wine the maids. or, speak. 1 Jer. x. 8. Hab. ii. 18. Heb. tera phims, Judg. xvii. 5. || Or, answer ed that, &c. ZECHARIAH X. 1 God is to be sought unto, and not idols. 5 As he visited his flock for sin, s will save and restore them. 1 27 Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field. 2 For the idols '§ have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd. 3 Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I *Heb. visited * punished the goats: for the LORD of hosts hath visited his flock the house of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle. upon. 4 Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together. 5¶ And they shall be as mighty men, which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle: and shall make the they shall fight, because the LORD is with them, and † the riders on horses shall be confounded. + Or, they riders on horses ashamed. 6 And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall From ver. 1-3. prosperity is still promised to the Jews; and from ver. 4. to the end, their victories over their enemies are again foretold. It is probable that this prophecy remains to be fully accomplished in the final restoration of the Jews.-Horne's Crit. Introd. be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the LORD A. C. 457. their God, and will hear them. 7 And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the LORD. 8 I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased. 9 And I will sow them among the people: and they shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and turn again. 10 I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and place shall not be found for them. 11 And he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the rivers shall dry up: and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away. 12 And I will strengthen them in the LORD; and they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the LORD. ZECHARIAH XI. 1 The destruction of Jerusalem. 3 The elect being cared for, the rest are rejected. 10 The staves of Beauty and Bands broken by the rejection of Christ. 15 The type and curse of a foolish shepherd. 1 Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars. 2 Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the *mighty is spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the Or, gallants. forest of the vintage is come down. 3. There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled. 4 Thus saith the LORD my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter; 5 Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich and their own shepherds pity them not. + Or, the de. fenced forest, to be found. 6 For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one t Heb. make into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them. 7 And I will feed the flock of slaughter, § even you, O Or, verily poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one the poor. A.C.457. I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock. *Or, Binders. + Heb. was straitened for them. m Jer. xv. 2. 8 Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul +lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me. 9 Then said I, I will not feed you: "that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and Heb. of his let the rest eat every one the flesh of another. & xliii. 11. fellow, or, Beighbour. Or, the poor of the flock, 10 ¶ And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people. 11 And it was broken in that day: and § so the poor of &c. certainly the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the LORD. knew. || Heb. If it be good in your 12 And I said unto them, || If ye think good, give me Matt. xxvi. my price; and if not, forbear. So they "weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. eyes. n 15. o Matt. xxvii. 9, 12. Or, Binders. 13 And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the ° potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD 28. 14 Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even * Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. 15¶ And the LORD said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd. 16 For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which +Or, hidden. shall not visit those that be † cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor + feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces. + Or, bear. p Jer. xxiii. 1. Ezek. xxxiv. 17 P Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the 2. John x. 12, sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened. 13. ZECHARIAH XII 29. 1 Jerusalem a cup of trembling to herself, 3 and a burdensome stone to her adver- 28 This prediction was literally fulfilled in the person of Christ. The chapter predicts the rejection of the Jews, for their rejection of Christ. Lebanon (ver. 1.) is supposed to mean the temple with its cedar buildings, the doors of which, according to Josephus, opened of their own accord before its destruction. 29 This chapter contains a series of prophecies relating principally to the latter times of the Gospel. From ver. 1-9. is predicted the preservation of Jerusalem against an invasion in the last ages of the world, which most commenta the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth A.C. 457. the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. * Or, slum. 2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling ber, or, poison. unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the tor, and also siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. against Judah shall be be which shall against Jeru. 3¶ And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome be in sicge stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it salem. shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. 4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness. 5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God. 6¶ In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem. 7 The LORD also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah. Or, There is strength to me and to the inhabitants, &c. Joel iii. 16. Or, abject, 8 In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is § feeble among them at that ballen. day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them. 9¶ And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. John xix. 10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications and they shall look upon me whom they have 3,37. Rev. i. pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for 7. his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. 2 Chron. 11 In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jeru- Acts ii. 37. salem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. tors think is that of Gog and Magog, more largely described in the xxxviiith and xxxixth chapters of Ezekiel. From ver. 10. to the end, the grief of the Jews, on their conversion, for their fathers having pierced the Messiah is then foretold.Horne's Crit. Introd. XXXV. 24, A.C. 457. 12 And the land shall mourn, *every family apart; the Heb. fami. family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; lies, families. the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; 13 The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives + Or, of Si apart; the family + of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; 14 All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart. meon, as LXX. Heb. spa ration for uncleanness. t Ezek. xxx. 13. ZECHARIAH XIII 30. 1 The fountain of purgation for Jerusalem, 2 from idolatry, and false prophecy. 7 The death of Christ, and the trial of a third part. 1 In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. 2¶ And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land. 3 And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, that his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of the LORD: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth. 4 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he Heb. a gar. hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment || to deceive: ment of hair. || Heb. to lic. 4 But he shall say, I am no prophet, I am an husbandman; for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth. 6 And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. 7 ¶ Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against u Matt. xxvi. the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: "smite 31. Mark xiv. the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones. 27. 8 And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. So This chapter opens (ver. 1.) by predicting the admission of the Jews by baptism to the privileges of the Gospel covenant; and from ver. 2-7. their de liverance from the delusions of false prophets. In ver. 7. the prophet foreshews the dispersion of Christ's disciples, and the preservation of a small remainder of his converts, whose faith should be tried in affliction.-Dr. Gray in loc. |