Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Zechariah 9:11

As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein [is] no water.

11. As for thee also ] Lit. also thou, i.e. as regards thee (O daughter of Sion), I will also (in addition to all that has been promised, Zec 9:9-10) liberate thy captives.” So Maurer: “Gaude, Sionia! veniet rex tuus tibi, justus cet.; removebuntur instrumenta belli, alta pax erit; auctum erit imperium tuum mirum in modum; etiam captivos tuos, qui in terris exteris detinentur, tibi restituam memor fderis facti cum majoribus.”

by the blood of thy covenant ] because of, &c. R. V., i.e. the covenant which I have made with thee. Exo 24:5-8. Comp. for the higher reference, Mat 26:28; Heb 9:15.

the pit wherein is no water ] The “pit,” Gen 40:15, or “house of the pit,” Exo 12:29; Jer 37:16, as denoting the nature of its dungeons, which may in some cases have been actually empty wells (comp. Gen 37:24), is a common name for a prison in the O. T. The expression, “wherein is no water,” is probably added to emphasize the horrors of such a dungeon. “The prisoner in the land of his enemies was left to perish in the pit (Zec 9:11). The greatest of all deliverances is that the captive exile is released from the slow death of starvation in it (Isa 51:14). The history of Jeremiah, cast into the dungeon or pit (Jer 38:6; Jer 38:9), let down into its depths with cords, sinking into the filth at the bottom (here also there is no water), with death by hunger staring him in the face, shews how terrible an instrument of punishment was such a pit. The condition of the Athenian prisoners in the stone-quarries of Syracuse ( Thuc. vii. 87), the Persian punishment of the (Ctesias, Pers. 48), the oubliettes of medival prisons present instances of cruelty more or less analogous.” Bible Dict., Art. “Pit.”

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

As for thee also – The prophet turns from the deliverance of the whole world to the former people, the sorrows which they should have in the way, and the protection which God would bestow upon them for the sake of Him, who, according to the flesh, was to be born of them. Thou too; he had spoken of the glories of the Church, such as her king, when He should come, should extend it, embracing earths remotest bounds: he turns to her, Israel after the flesh, and assures her of the continued protection of God, even in her lowest estate. The deliverance under the Maccabees was, as those under the judges had been, an image of the salvation of Christ and a preparation for it. They were martyrs for the One God and for the faith in the Resurrection, and, whether by doing or by suffering, preserved the sacred line, until Christ should come.

By the blood of thy covenant – Osorius: Not by the blood of those victims of old, but by the blood of thy covenant, wilt thou be united to the empire of Christ, and so obtain salvation. As the Lord Himself says, This is the blood of covenant, which is shed for you. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance Rom 11:29. That symbolic blood, by which, fore-signifying the New Covenant, He made them His own people, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words, Exo 24:8, endured still, amid all their unfaithfulness and breaches of it. By virtue of it God would send forth her imprisoned ones out of the deep, dry pit, the dungeon wherein they could be kept securely, because life was not threatened (as in Gen 37:24). Out of any depth of hopeless misery, in which they seemed to be shut up, God would deliver them; as David says, He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings Psa 40:2; and Jeremiah, They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me. I called upon Thy Name, O Lord; out of the low dungeon Thou hast heard my voice Lam 3:53, Lam 3:55-56. Augustine, de Civ. Dei. xviii. 35. 3): The dry and barren depth of human misery, where are no streams of righteousness, but the mire of iniquity.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Zec 9:11

By the blood of thy covenant i have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water

The delivered prisoners

Enlarge on the Gospel promise in immediate connection with the text.

It calls on the daughter of Zion to rejoice in the coming of the Saviour. It describes His character; the nature of His kingdom; the means by which it shall be spread; and the extent of it. The deliverance of the Jews from captivity was a step towards the coming of Messiah, and the earnest of it. Just as, through the remembrance of His covenant with Israel by blood, God delivered the Jewish Church, so through the blood of the everlasting covenant does He deliver His people under the Gospel.

I. The prisoners and their prison house. Thy prisoners. This most aptly describes the state of those who are convinced by the Spirit of God of their lost and undone condition, and who are looking only for wrath. The prison house of such is described as the pit wherein there is no water; i.e. no comfort, no peace. No way of escape is apparent, and if the prisoner remain in it, he dies. But, though the pit is deep and horrible, yet the prisoners voice can be heard, when he calls for deliverance; and his voice is never unheeded. Therefore let all prisoners cry mightily unto Him that is able to save.

II. The way of deliverance. Justice must be satisfied ere the mouth of the pit can be opened. This is implied in the expression–the blood of the covenant. Jesus covenanting to shed His blood for their ransom–the Father covenanting to accept this ransom, and to set the prisoners free on account of it. Enlarge on this covenant as a covenant of promise, the greatness, the freeness, the sureness. How is this belief, this trust in the promise, brought about? Faith by hearing, hearing by the Word–the Spirit of God applying. (John D. Lawe, M. A.)

The blood of the covenant

1. The deeper any of the people of God be in trouble, they lie nearer His heart and help: and He would have them look on the comforts of the kingdom of Christ and the covenant, as especially intended for them, therefore doth He apply the general comforts of Christs kingdom to the distressed Jews.

2. As the afflictions of the Lords people may be very bitter, and so ordered aa they may be trials indeed; so there will be special notice taken of them when their rods become so insupportable that there is no subsisting under them; for He eyes them, when they are prisoners in a pit, wherein is no water, as some time they may be.

3. God entering in a covenant with His people, condescends to take in all their outward necessities, and engages to have a care of them in these as well as in things spiritual; and so all their mercies come by covenant; for it is by the covenant that the prisoners are sent forth.

4. The mercies of the Church are not only rich and refreshful in themselves, and in their original, that they come through a covenant of love, but in their purchase, that they are bought, and the covenant concerning them made sure by the blood of the Son of God. By the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners.

5. The Lord minds His covenant, and through and for Christ makes the promises of it forthcoming for His peoples good, when they have broken it on their part; for, though for their perfidiousness they were scattered, yet the covenant stands to bring them back. (George Hutcheson.)

What Christ has done for, and what He is to His people

Though this passage may refer to many temporal blessings bestowed upon Gods ancient Church; yet its spiritual significance is immediately connected with the kingdom of Messiah.

I. The ruined state of the Church. Prisoners in a pit wherein is no water.

1. The degradation of this state.

2. The pollution of this state.

3. The misery of this state.

4. The hopelessness of our state.

II. The means of accomplishing our salvation.

1. God is the Author of redemption.

2. Redemption was effected by the blood of the covenant.

3. By the covenant blood the circumstances of the Church are altered.

III. The present state of Gods redeemed people according to their names. Prisoners of hope.

1. Until delivered they are actually prisoners–to sin, Satan, the law; and they are delivered also from the bondage of a corrupt and stubborn will. Under the Gospel dispensation every vessel of mercy is delivered by the Lord Jesus Christ, and is brought into a lively hope of eternal glory by faith of the operation of the Spirit.

2. Then this hope is in Christ.

3. This hope is according to the Word.

4. It is a sure hope of eternal life.

5. It is a present security to the soul.

IV. Christ is a stronghold to all His people.

1. From error and unbelief.

2. From sin and Satan.

3. To God they turn generally.

4. To God in Christ especially. I will render unto thee double.

(1) Pardon and righteousness.

(2) Great peace of mind.

(3) Full assurance of understanding.

(4) Joy here, and certainty of glory hereafter.

(5) Salvation of soul and body, from sin, death, and hell. (T. B. Baker.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 11. As for thee also (Jerusalem) by the blood of thy covenant] The covenant made with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the Israelites in general, and ratified by the blood of many victims; until the time should come in which the Messiah should shed his blood, as typified by the ancient sacrifices.

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

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

As for thee, O Zion, and Jerusalem, thou Jewish church: these words are Christs words to her, not the prophets words to Christ, though papists would have it so, to countenance a limbus patrum.

By the blood, by my blood, saith Christ,

of thy covenant, in which thy covenant is confirmed: it is Gods covenant as made by him, it is Zions covenant as made for her, it is Christs also as made in him.

I have sent forth thy prisoners; I have delivered and released. Cyrus indeed by his edict sent the Jews home, but in this he was Christs servant, and Christ was mindful of the covenant, and, to perform this, brought them up.

Out of the pit wherein is no water; Babylon, compared to a pit in which no water was, wherein the Jews must have perished, had not mercy from Christ visited them; here is no limbus patrum, though some say so among the popish commentators.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

11. As for thee alsothat is,the daughter of Zion,” or “Jerusalem” (Zec9:9): the theocracy. The “thee also,” incontradistinction to Messiah spoken of in Zec9:10, implies that besides cutting off the battle-bow andextending MESSIAH’S”dominion to the ends of the earth,” God would alsodeliver for her her exiled people from their foreigncaptivity.

by the blood of thycovenantthat is, according to the covenant vouchsafed to theeon Sinai, and ratified by the blood of sacrifices (Exo 24:8;Heb 9:18-20).

pit wherein . . . nowaterDungeons were often pits without water, miry at thebottom, such as Jeremiah sank in when confined (Gen 37:24;Jer 38:6). An image of the miseryof the Jewish exiles in Egypt, Greece, c., under the successors ofAlexander, especially under Antiochus Epiphanes, who robbed andprofaned the temple, slew thousands, and enslaved more. God deliveredthem by the Maccabees. A type of the future deliverance from theirlast great persecutor hereafter (Isa 51:14Isa 60:1).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

As for thee also,…. These words are not spoken to Christ, for , “thee”, is of the feminine gender; but the congregation of Israel, as Kimchi observes; or the church of God: nor are they the words of Christ to her; he is the person before spoken of; but of God the Father, who, having given out prophecies concerning the coming of Christ, and the peaceableness and extensiveness of his kingdom, declares to the church the benefits that she and those that belonged to her should receive by the incarnation, sufferings, and death of Christ:

by the blood of thy covenant; not of the covenant of works, nor of circumcision, nor of that that was made at Sinai, as the Jewish writers interpret it; all which were a yoke of bondage; but of the covenant of grace, namely, the blood of Jesus, which is a considerable article in that covenant; that by which it is ratified and confirmed, and through which all the blessings of it come, as redemption, peace, pardon, justification, and admission into heaven: and this covenant is called the church’s covenant, because it is made with her in Christ, her covenant Head, in whom she was considered; and it was made on her account, and she has an interest in it, and in all things contained therein. God is her covenant God and Father; Christ her surety, Mediator, Redeemer, and Saviour, and the covenant itself unto her; and all things in it, the blessings of grace and promises of good things, are hers: and though the covenant at Sinai is not the covenant here intended, that being a covenant which gendered to bondage, and under which men were held as convicted and condemned malefactors; and so cannot be that, the blood of which is the cause of a release from prison, and of bringing into a state of liberty; yet the allusion is unto it, which was a typical covenant; and the blood of the sacrifices then sprinkled on the people is called “the blood of the covenant”,

Ex 24:8. It was not unusual with the Heathens, at making covenants, to use blood, even human blood: it was a custom with them to draw it from each other, and drink it, at least lick and taste of it, as particularly with the Medes and Lydians k; and was reckoned by them the most sacred bond of covenants; and such covenants with the Carmeni and Scythians were accounted the chief covenants of friendship, and their mutual blood they used the greatest bond of concord l; and the surest pledge of keeping faith, and that it would abide m: but the blood of Christ shed is a far greater proof, as well as cement, of love, concord, and friendship; and a much firmer bond of the covenant of grace; and a surer pledge of the continuance of it, and of its being faithfully performed; and which, having the nature of a will or testament, becomes of force through the death of him the testator; see Da 9:27:

I have sent forth thy prisoners: that is, the church’s prisoners; not prisoners to her, or in her; for the church of Christ is no prison; nor are those that have a name and a place in her prisoners; they walk at large, and walk at liberty; are fellow citizens with the saints; are Christ’s freemen, and are possessed of many privileges and immunities: but these design such persons as are in a secret relation to her, and yet, being in a state of nature, are prisoners; and so are such as are not members of any visible church; nor as yet converted persons and believers in Christ, who have an open relation to the invisible church; but they are such who secretly belong to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, written in heaven, whose names are in the Lamb’s book of life; or are chosen in Christ, and also redeemed by his blood: but, being as yet in a state of unregeneracy, are prisoners to sin; are under the power, dominion, and guilt of it; and, being transgressors of the law, are arraigned by it as guilty persons; are convicted and condemned, and shut up in it, and held under it; and are also the captives of Satan, being led as such by him, at his will; and thus they are prisoners, though there is a secret connection between the church and them: and sooner or later, by virtue of the blood of that covenant, which she and they have an interest in, they are brought

out of the pit wherein [is] no water; which is expressive of the state and condition men are in by sin, and while in unregeneracy; they are in mire and clay, in a most filthy and famishing condition, in a very wretched and uncomfortable one; as in a dark and lonesome dungeon, and where no refreshment can be had; where there are no true peace, joy, and comfort. The allusion is to the custom of the eastern countries, and still continues, who, in the nighttime, put their slaves into a well or pit, and there shut them up till the morning, when they are let out for business: now, from this state of captivity and bondage to sin, Satan, and the law, and from all the miseries of such a state, are the Lord’s people, and who belong to Zion, the general assembly and church of the first born, delivered by virtue of the blood of Christ, shed for the redemption of them; in consequence of which it is said to these prisoners of sin, Satan, and the law, go forth; these are made sensible of their wretched condition, and are called and drawn out of it, and delivered from it, and brought into a state of liberty. Ben Melech interprets this pit of the captivity of the Jews.

k Herodot. Clio, sive l. 1. c. 74. l Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 5. c. 3. m Mela de situ Orbis, l. 2. c. 1.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

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

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

Here he applies his former doctrine to its right use, so that the faithful might emerge from their sorrow, and come to that joy which he had before encouraged them to entertain. He then addresses Jerusalem, as though he had said, “There is no reason for thee to torment thyself with perplexed and anxious thoughts, for I will accomplish what I have promised — that I would become a deliverer to my people.” For this doubt might have occurred to them — “Why does he exhort us to rejoice, while the Church of God is still in part captive, and while those who have returned to their country are miserably and cruelly harassed by their enemies?” To this objection Zechariah answers in the person of God — that God would be able to deliver them, though they were sunk in the deepest gulf. We hence see how this verse harmonises with the other verses: he had before spoken of the happy state of the Church under Christ as its king; but as the condition of the people then was very hard and miserable, he adds, that deliverance was to be expected from God.

But we must observe, that a pronoun feminine is here used, when he says, even thou, or, thou also. Both the Latins and Greeks have been deceived by the ambiguity of the language used, (108) and have thought that the words are addressed to Christ, as though he was to draw his captives from a deep pit; but God here addresses his Church, as though he had said, “Hear thou.” And the particle גם, gam, is emphatical, meaning this — “I see that I do not prevail much with you, for ye are in a manner overwhelmed by your calamities, and no hope refreshes you, as you think yourselves visited, as it were, with a thousand deaths; but still, though a mass of evils disheartens you, or at least so far oppresses you as to render inefficacious what I say — though, in short, ye be of all men the most miserable, I will yet redeem your captives.” But God addresses the whole Church, as in many other places under the character of a wife.

He says, By the blood of thy covenant. This seems not to belong properly to the Church, for there is no other author of the covenant but God himself; but the relation, we know, between God and his people, as to the covenant, is mutual. It is God’s covenant, because it flows from him; it is the covenant of the Church, because it is made for its sake, and laid up as it were in its bosom. And the truth penetrated more fully into the hearts of the godly, when they heard that it was not only a divine covenant, but that it was also the covenant of the people themselves: Then by the blood of thy covenant, etc. Some refer this, but very unwisely, to circumcision, for the Prophet no doubt had regard to the sacrifices. It was then the same as though he had said — “Why do ye offer victims daily in the temple? If ye think that you thus worship God, it is a very gross and insane superstition. Call then to mind the end designed, or the model given you from above; for God has already promised that he will be propitious to you, by expiating your sins by the only true sacrifice: And for this end offer your sacrifices, and that blood will bring expiation with it. Now since God has not in vain appointed your sacrifices, and ye observe them not in vain, no doubt the benefit will come at length to light, for I have sent forth thy captives. For God does not reconcile himself to men, that he may destroy or reduce them to nothing, or that he may suffer them to pine away and die; for why does God pardon men, but that he may deliver them from destruction?” (109)

We now perceive why the Prophet thus speaks of the blood of the covenant in connection with the salvation of the whole people. “Ye daily offer victims,” he says, “and the blood is poured on the altar: God has not appointed this in vain.” Now since God receives you into favor, that ye may be safe, he will therefore deliver the captives of his Church; I will send forth, he says, or, have sent forth thy captives: for he expresses here in the past tense what he would do in future.

I will send forth thy captives from the pit in which there is no water. He means a deep gulf, where thirst itself would destroy miserable men without being drawn forth by a power from above. In short, he means, first, that the Jews were sunk in the deep; and secondly, that thirst would consume them, so that death was nigh at hand, except they were miraculously delivered by God: but he reminds them, that no impediment would prevent God from raising them to light from the deepest darkness. We then see that this was added, that the Jews might learn to struggle against all things that might strengthen unbelief, and feel assured that they would be preserved safe, for it is God’s peculiar work to raise the dead. This is the meaning. He now adds —

(108) Rather by following the Septuagint who changed the person of the verb “[ ἐξαπέστειλας ], though hast sent forth.” The pronoun “[ συ ], thou,” in Greek, has no gender, as in Hebrew. It was in this way that Theodoret, Cyril, and Augustine were led astray as to the sense of this passage. The Targum retains the reading of the Hebrew. — Ed.

(109) “The words,” says Newcome, “allude to the Jewish custom of ratifying covenants by the blood of victims.” It was called “thy” covenant, because it was a covenant made with the daughter of Sion. The meaning is, “the covenant ratified with thee by blood,” that is, of victims. see Exo 24:6. The [ ב ] here means for, or on account of. The verse may be thus rendered —

As to thee also, on account of the blood of thy covenant Have I sent forth thy prisoners From a pit without water in it.

It was thought by Drusius and Newcome that the deliverance of the people from Babylon is here referred to, which is the most probable opinion, as the next verse seems to have been addressed to them. But Marckius and Henderson agree with Calvin, that the past tense is used for the future. — Ed.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CRITICAL NOTES.]

Zec. 9:12. Strong hold] Fortress, forcibly contrasting with pit (Psa. 40:2). To-day] No need to despair; their condition miserable, yet not hopeless. Double] Not strictly of twice the quantity, but simply of great abundance. A large amount of blessing far outweighing the misery of bndage [cf Wardlaw].

Zec. 9:13.] The method of victory represented figuratively. Judah, the extended bow; Ephraim, the arrow by which Jehovah would overcome the Grecians.

Zec. 9:14-16.] Gods presence with his people. Seen] Conspicuously displaying power, like the pillar of old: seen like lightning, the arrows of God in a thunderstorm. South] (cf. Isa. 21:1; Hos. 13:5). Southern storms always most violent.

Zec. 9:15. Eat] the flesh and drink the blood of the enemy, like a lion devouring its victim (Num. 23:24). Subdue] Lit. tread underfoot the sling-stones, hurled by the foe. Missiles will not hinder their progress, but fall at their feet, and be trampled to the dust. Bowls] of sacrifices. Corners] Horns of the altar, sprinkled with blood from the bowls (Exo. 29:12; Lev. 4:18); priestly figures intimating holy war and victory.

Zec. 9:16. Stones] Gems in the crown of the conqueror; not the sling-stones trodden by the foot.

Zec. 9:17. How great] (exulting exclamation) in bestowing victory and fruitful seasons. Corn and wine] indicate peace and plenty to those pressed by the foe and pinched in circumstances (Deu. 33:28; Psa. 4:8).

HOMILETICS

PRISONERS OF HOPE.Zec. 9:11-12

With the promise of release is connected the duty of the captives to embrace the opportunity of returning to their own land, where they would enjoy the protection and favour of Jehovah.

I. There is no imprisonment without hope. Prisoners of hope.

1. To saints in trouble. In trials and straits they must maintain hope.

2. To sinners in wickedness. A stronghold is provided for all; secure from the stroke of offended justice, and from the attack of the foe. No case is desperate. None should despair or say, Our hope is lost. I would not despair unless I knew the irrevocable decree was passed, saw my misfortune in the book of fate, and signed and sealed by necessity [J. Collier].

II. There are grounds for hope in the provisions of Divine mercy.

1. In the atonement of Christ. In the covenant blood we have every hindrance removed, and every means provided for the salvation of man.

2. In the promise of Scripture. I will render double unto thee. Grace to convert and strengthen, the Holy Spirit to teach and direct, are offered. Blessings double in themselves, and as pledges of others.

3. In the stronghold provided. The height (Psa. 18:30) is prepared the rock contrasting with the pit. The Rock of our Salvation immovable and inaccessible. Low defences are soon scaled, and weak ones soon destroyed. But this refuge is eternally secure. Its sanctity none can invade, its power none destroy.

III. Men are urged to avail themselves of these provisions. Hope should inspire our hearts in danger, and prompt us to get out of it.

1. They are commanded to escape. Turn ye to the stronghold. Divine authority and affection are set forth in the prediction.

2. Escape should be made immediately. Even to-day. The Jews were not to wait for future opportunity, when all might return together. While there was hope, individually they must hasten, and make no delay. To-morrow may be too late. To see the light of day fade away is sad, but much worse to lose hope for eternity. Flee for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before you.

Ye prisoners of hope. This title is not a fanciful one. To the Jew it had a triple significance.

1. He was under the yoke of a foreign despot, and longed to regain his freedom.
2. He was under the yoke of an unfulfilled promise, and yearned for the day star to arise.
3. He was under the the yoke of the unrealized prophecies concerning the glory of the Messiahs kingdom, and the eternal felicity of his followers. The words of the text are the true designation of every Christian.

I. We are prisoners to an unredeemed body (cf. Rom. 8:23). Observe

1. There is a sense in which the body is already redeemed.

2. There is another sense in which our bodies are not redeemed. (a) They are not yet free from manifold infirmities. (b) Not yet redeemed from sensuous appetites. (c) Not yet redeemed from the dominion of death.

3. Hope anticipates the possession of an immortal body. (a) From which every element of weakness and infirmity is excluded. (b) In which carnal appetites shall have no place. (c) Which shall be no more subject to death.

II. We are prisoners to a limited and superficial knowledge. Now I know in partthere is bondage. Then shall I know even as I am knownthere is freedom.

1. Our knowledge touches not the essence, but only the phenomena.

2. Reaches men not as they are, only as they appear

3. Is limited by the brevity of life, and the conditions of its existence.

4. Hope anticipates the solution of the dark enigma of human life.

III. We are prisoners to a circumscribed Christian fellowship. The great family of God is sadly dismembered.

1. Doctrinal divergence.

2. Suspicion, the offspring of imperfect knowledge.

3. Social status is a barrier to fellowship.

4. Distance and death contribute to limit the measure of fellowship.

5. Hope anticipates the universal and perfect fellowship of saints. (a) This will include all ages; (b) all climes; (c) all classes and creeds.

IV. We are prisoners to an imperfect vision of Christ. We see through a glass darkly, and through a mirror in an enigma [Lange]. Yet note

1. Christ is really apprehended by faith even here.
2. This vision is a test, a dim one.
3. Human nature in its present state is not capable of a more open vision.
4. Hope anticipates not only an immediate vision of Christ, but a nature capable of beholding it. Lessons.

1. This hope inspires the heavenward pilgrim(a) with patience to endure as seeing him, &c. (b) With courage to war a good warfare.

2. This hope was a sanctifying virtue.
3. This hope amounts to an assurance [The Homiletic Quarterly]

THE DOUBLE RECOMPENSE TO GODS PEOPLE.Zec. 9:13-15

The abundance of the blessings promised after release is expressed by the word double, which conveys the idea of compensation, a measure of glory outweighing all former sufferings. For your shame ye shall have double.

I. Victory over the world will be granted. The sons of Javan are the Greeks, as the world-power, the Grco-Macedonian monarchy (cf. Dan. 8:27), against which the Lord will make his people into a heros sword [Keil]. This was fulfilled in some measure in the wars of the Maccabees and Seleucid, but must not be confined to that period. The Gospel is destined to overthrow the wisdom of the Greeks, and subdue the world to Christ.

1. Victory by human agency. Ephraim and Judah have to fight. Apostles and ministers have to preach. Heaven made us agents, free to good or ill [Dryden].

2. Victory by Gods blessing upon human agency. I have been raised up, &c. These words found an echo in Judas Maccabus, when the company with him asked, How shall we be able, being so few, to fight against so great a multitude and so strong, seeing that we are ready to faint with fasting? It is no hard matter, answered Judas, for many to be shut up in the hands of a few; and with the God of heaven it is all one, to deliver with a great multitude, or a small company (1Ma. 3:16-19; cf. 2Ch. 14:8-11).

II. The special presence of God will be displayed. The Lord shall be seen over them, conspicuously displaying his power for them.

1. As a shield to defend them. The Lord of Hosts shall defend them, in the midst of enemies numerous, powerful, and bitter. He delivered by providential arrangements, by earthquakes, by angelic messengers, by direct punitive and deadly judgments. He released them, to the amazement and confusion of their enemies, from the closest and most vigilant confinement [Wardlaw].

2. As a conqueror to help them. Taking the sling-stones as a figure of the enemy [Keil], they were trampled beneath the feet of the Jews. The souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling (1Sa. 25:29). A phrase denoting security from the assaults of the enemy under the special protection of God.

3. As a shepherd to provide for them. The Lord their God shall save them in that day the flock of his people (Zec. 9:16). Not only victory, but lasting peace. Constant care and tenderness will be exercised over his people (Psalms 23).

III. Great honours will be conferred upon them. Jobs latter end was better than the beginning. The dignity of Gods people shall be double their shame.

1. Moral beauty. How great his beauty! The beauty Christ bestows upon his people in character and conduct is more than human; it is Christs own beauty. Thou art fairer than the children of men.

Old friends shall lovelier be,
As more of heaven in each we see [Christian Year].

2. Unwonted prosperity. Young men shall be made cheerful, and no longer suffer scarcity. Maidens, ready to faint from hunger and thirst, shall have plenty of new wine. This abundance of the fruits of earth typifies the recompense to Gods people. They will be strengthened, and made glad; be led to admire Gods free love and favours, and to commend all past dealings as excellent and good. For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty!

Beauty armed with virtue bows the soul,
With a commanding, but a sweet, control [Percival].

THE MIGHTY STRUGGLE AND THE GLORIOUS VICTORY.Zec. 9:13-17

I. The army is collected. The Lord God shall blow the trumpet. The terms are martial. The trumpet blowing naturally represents the proclamation of the Gospel by Divine authority, and with accompanying Divine power; the design being thus the gathering of outcast sinners to Christs standard; and thus the enlargement of his spiritual host, and the increased rapidity of his conquests [Wardlaw].

1. The foes. Against thy sons, O Greece.

2. The friends. Judah the bow, and Ephraim the arrow.

3. The commander. Jehovah seen over them, like the pillar of cloud and fire.

II. The conflict is described. The description is poetical.

1. Terrible as a storm. His arrow shall go forth as the lightningsuddenly and irresistibly (cf. Psa. 18:14). The whirlwind of the south sweeps everything before it. No power in earth or in hell can resist the might of Divine grace. Thousands will yet be subdued.

2. Furious as wild beasts. They shall devour, a metaphor from beasts. Like devouring lions, they would eat the flesh and drink the blood of the enemy. Behold a people like the boness; it rises up, and like the lion does it lift itself up: it lies not down till it devour the prey, and drink the blood of the slain (Num. 23:24).

III. The victory is gained. The result is not uncertain. Conquering and to conquer.

1. Victory given as a shepherd to his flock. God shall save them in that day as the flock of his sheep.

2. Victory recorded in the crown of the conqueror. Precious stones or gems were set in crowns, and the elevation of the crown indicated victory. A victory is twice itself, when the achiever brings home full numbers [Shaks.].

3. Victory celebrated in the joy of the conqueror. The general idea is that of sacred joy, the songs and shouts of victory, inward delight and exultation of spirit. They shall drink, and make a noise as through wine.

HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES

Zec. 9:11-12. Duty, and encouragements to perform it; or, the strongholdhow to get it, and the blessings of its security; or, salvation may be had. This salvation only gained by effort. Turn ye, &c.

Zec. 9:12.

1. Available refuge. The stronghold, impregnable, secure, and lasting.
2. Access to it free, and should be immediate.

Zec. 9:14. Arrows. Strongly express the speed and the resistless power of his converting grace. The arrow of Divine truth, with which the Apostolic bow was fitted, carried conviction to the conscience, and quickening power to the heart. By killing it made alive. We are reminded of the language of Psa. 45:3-5 [Wardlaw].

Zec. 9:16. Gods people glorified. Here we see the dignity of the Lords people. They are stones, precious stones, set in the crown of the King of kings. Here is also their exhibition: these stones of a crown are lifted up. They are not to be concealed. Here is also their utility: these stones are to be lifted up as an ensign upon the landan oriflamme suspended over the royal tent; designed to attract followers to the cause in which he is engaged [Jay].

Zec. 9:17. How great his goodness! Gods free love (benevolence) the fountain of all mercies.

1. Great in the gift of Christ.
2. Great in the conversion of sinners.
3. Great in the support of his people. How great were the sacrifices which Christs goodness made! How great are the gifts which his goodness bestows! How great the extent to which his goodness spreads! How great is the duration of his goodness! [Sacred Garland]. But it is not the goodness of God alone that is to be seen in the Gospel. How great is his beauty! The loveliness of his entire characterits light, as well as its lovethe united harmony of all its attributes in the work of Christ! We are not truly under the renewing influence of the Holy Spirit, if it is only his goodness that we admire. The faith of the Gospel imparts a spiritual taste for the beauty of holiness, as well as of love. It teaches and disposes us to delight in all that God is [Wardlaw]. Hence, great his beauty

1. In himself. The brightness of the Fathers glory, &c. The glory of the only begotten, &c. He is beautiful in his Divine and human nature.

2. In his people. The kings daughter all glorious.

All human beauties, all Divine,
In my Beloved meet and shine.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 9

Zec. 9:11-12. Pit. Some of the pits referred to in the Bible were prisons, one such I saw at Athens, and another at Rome. To these there were no openings, except a hole at the top, which served for the window and door. The bottoms of these pits were necessarily in a filthy and revolting state, and sometimes deep in mud. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay: one of these filthy prisons being in the Psalmists view; in Isa. 38:17 called the pit of corruption, or putrefaction and filth [John Gadsby].

Zec. 9:13-15. Mighty man. It is held that valour is the cheapest virtue, and most dignifies the haver [Shake.]. When a man goes in the fulness of his strength upon any enterprise, how do his blood and spirits triumph beforehand! No motion of hand or foot is without a sensible delight. The strength of a mans spirit is unspeakably more than that of the outward man; its faculties and powers more refined and raised; and hence are rational or intellectual exercises and operations much more delightful than corporal ones can be [Howe].

Zec. 9:16. Flock. What condescension, for the Infinite Lord to assume the office and character of a Shepherd towards his people! It should be the subject of grateful admiration that the great God allows himself to be compared to anything which sets forth his great love and care for his people. No man has a right to consider himself the Lords sheep, unless his nature has been renewed, for the Scriptural description of unconverted men does not picture them as sheep, but as wolves or goats. A sheep is an object of property, not a wild animal; its owner sets great store by it, and frequently it is bought with a great price [Spurgeon].

Zec. 9:17. Goodness and beauty.

Oh, he is good,he is immensely good,
Who all things formed, and formed them all for man:
Who marked the climates, varied every sone,
Dispensing all his blessings for the best,
In order and in beauty! [Smart].

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

(11) Theei.e., Zion.

By the blood of thy covenant.Comp. Exo. 24:3-8.

By means in consideration of.

The pit.i.e., Babylon.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

Deliverance and exaltation of the exiled Jews, 11-17.

The advent of the Messianic king will be followed by a restoration of the Jews still in exile, and their exaltation to highest glory.

In Zec 9:11-12 deliverance is promised to the captives.

As for thee The daughter of Zion (Zec 9:9).

Also Is to be taken not with thee, but with the verb: “As for thee, I have also sent forth.” In addition to the blessings promised in Zec 9:9-10 Jehovah will set free the captives (G.-K., 153).

By the blood of thy covenant R.V., “because of the blood of thy covenant.” Made at the time of the exodus (compare Exo 24:8), and kept alive throughout the entire history by means of sacrifices and offerings. To this covenant, and even to the earlier covenant with Abraham, Jehovah will remain true, and because of it he will bring back the scattered exiles.

I have sent forth Better, R.V., “I have set free.” The tense is the perfect of prophetic certainty, equivalent to “I shall surely set free.”

Thy prisoners Prisoners of war and exiles in foreign lands (Joe 3:1 ff.; Oba 1:20).

Out of the pit The place of imprisonment (Exo 12:29; Jer 37:16).

Wherein is no water This adds to the horrors. Death stares the prisoners in the face. The whole is a picture of the horrors of an enforced exile.

In Zec 9:12 the prophet turns directly to the prisoners, exhorting them to return, for the time of their deliverance is at hand.

Turn Better, margin R.V., “Return.”

Stronghold Where they may find safety from the enemy; here, the promised land, where they will be under the protection of Jehovah (Zec 9:8).

Prisoners of hope Since they are members of the covenant nation (Zec 9:11), their depressed condition cannot continue forever; though in exile, they may live in hope of a restoration. Israel is pre-eminently a nation of hope. The promise of deliverance is followed by another.

I will render double There will be a twofold recompense for all loss and affliction (compare Isa 61:7; Isa 40:2).

Unto thee If the text is correct Zion is addressed as in Zec 9:11; however, the change is surprising; one would expect “unto you.”

Even today In the face of all the difficulties which seem to make fulfillment impossible.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

This Future Deliverance and Prosperity is Promised Even to the Returning Exiles ( Zec 9:11 to Zec 10:1 ).

This promise of hope is already available in part. The exiles can come out of their ‘prisons’ because of the blood of the covenant. The promises of God at Sinai still hold for those who obey Him. And they will become effective against all men.

Zec 9:11

‘As for you also, because of the blood of your covenant, I have sent forth your prisoners out of the pit in which there is no water. Turn you to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope. Even today do I declare that I will render double to you. For I have bent Judah for me, I have filled the bow with Ephraim, and I will stir up your sons, Oh Zion, against your sons, Oh Javan, and will make you as the sword of a mighty man.’

The offer of hope is now made more personal to the present circumstances. Its basis lies in ‘the blood of the covenant’. This of course refers to the blood of the sacrificial system which was at the heart of God’s covenant with His people, and had sealed the covenant in Exodus 24. Now it was available again in the new Temple. It is because He accepts their offering for sin and again acknowledges His covenant with them that He can show mercy on them. But at its heart is the blood of the new covenant which the coming king will seal in His own blood. In that is the true hope for the prisoners of hope who will be saved by ‘the blood of the covenant’ (Mat 26:28).

So God’s people are depicted as having been like prisoners in a waterless pit. They were far from home, living in darkness and thirsty in soul. But He has delivered them and brought them back so that they now have hope. This is a fitting description too of salvation coming to the heart of a man.

‘Turn you to the stronghold.’ The word for stronghold is a rare one, but comes from the root btsr. It would seem to mean an inaccessible and fortified place, a bastion against all enemies. Here God is depicted as their mighty stronghold to which they should turn, their deliverer and protector, the One Who has set them free from their prison. Babylon is the waterless prison. God is their stronghold. (Compare Pro 18:10; Psa 18:2; Psa 61:3; Psa 91:2; Psa 144:2).

‘I will render double to you.’ God’s mercy is such that He will give them double what they had before. When He provides He always provides munificently.

‘I have bent Judah for me, I have filled the bow with Ephraim.’ Judah is like a bow bent to receive the arrow. The arrow is Ephraim (Israel) filling the bow. God will give them future victory. The triumph of His people is sure. Indeed He will make them as the sword of a champion, totally invincible. Even ‘Javan’ is to experience the effects of God’s intervention, as they are conquered by God’s people.

But in the light of Zec 9:10 this is not to be seen as by war. The battle bow has been cut off. God’s people have themselves become God’s bow and arrow.

‘And I will stir up your sons, Oh Zion, against your sons, Oh Javan, and will make you as the sword of a mighty man.’ Zion have become God’s sword and they will overcome the sons off Javan, the peoples across the sea. But in the context of the passage not by warfare. Like the coming King their conquest will be in peace.

‘Oh Javan’. Javan was one of the ‘sons’ of Japheth who ‘fathered’ Elishah (Alasia), Tarshish (Spain?), Kittim (Cyprus) and Dodanim (Rhodes) (Gen 10:4). It therefore refers to powers to the West across the sea. It eventually became synonymous with Grecian influence as referring to the Ionians.

In the light of what has gone before in terms of the Philistines (Zec 9:7) we may see this as indicating that even these peoples across the sea will be brought into subjection to YHWH. For it will be noted from Zec 9:10 that war bows are no more.

This mention of Javan has been seen as referring strictly to Greece and the later Grecian empire and therefore to indicate a late date for the prophecy, but this need not be so. For there were in fact large contingents of Greek mercenaries in the Persian army, and the returned exiles would have come in close contact with them. And they would have been very familiar with Greek traders. Notice with regard to this that the prophecy is not directed at Javan itself but at ‘the sons of Javan’. So Zechariah could well have foreseen these sons of Javan being brought under the influence of God’s people.

As with much prophecy Zechariah spoke in terms that he knew. Indeed it should be noted that Tyre is destroyed while the Philistines are humbled and become part of the people of God. In the same way Zechariah offers nothing to the Persians. His offer it to the peoples across the sea whose soldiers are but servants of the Persians.

We may, of course see that God Himself saw the wider picture and that Israel would indeed see the rise of a Greek Empire and clash with it, but if this is latent in the prophecy, it is not patent. What is patent is the triumph of God and His people.

There were also at this time certainly spasmodic raids by the peoples of the sea against the Palestine coastline, and this may well have directly affected the returned exiles and suggested the need for a future relationship with these people. Such a recent raid may well have been known to Zechariah and it could have been the cause of his concern over Javan.

Alternatively it may be that Zechariah did not want to refer directly to the downfall of Persia, and yet, foreseeing who would be the people who would bring about that downfall, refers to them as the people of the future, indicating thereby that they will eventually have replaced the Persians.

So the reference to Javan may simply be to the only peoples that Zechariah could foresee as a threat to Persia, whom he saw as under the judgment of God. As a result they would be then represent the future ‘opposition’. Better then that they be brought into submission to YHWH.

Note on Javan.

These peoples across the sea were not a totally unknown quantity. They were well known through trading activities and stories of their prowess would no doubt have filtered through. Thus given that they were also known for frequent sporadic raids on the Palestinian coastline, and that a considerable part of the Persian army was made up of Greek mercenaries, Zechariah had good reason to see these mysterious people as possible future enemies, and, having reflected unfavourably on the part they were playing in preventing Judah’s freedom, to foresee their necessary defeat by God’s people before the final triumph was possible. In that case Zechariah would be justified in seeing Javan as in some way a future threat to Judah, and may well possibly have foreseen through it the necessary downfall of the Persian empire. Thus it was necessary that the sons of Zion should be sure that they would be victorious against the sons of Javan.

This is not the only mention of ‘Javan’. It is also mentioned in Isa 66:19 as a part of the far off peoples who would be involved in God’s judgments, and in Joe 3:6 it is to ‘the Ionians’ that the people of God have been sold by Tyre and Sidon, and Philistia. They are therefore certainly seen there as involved with God’s people and meriting God’s judgment. So it is clear that the ‘sons of Javan’ were regularly seen as genuine enemies of God’s people even in the time of Joel. Zechariah may well have had this in mind when he speaks of Javan.

That the name ‘Javan’ became at some stage almost synonymous with the Grecian empire is demonstrated in the book of Daniel (Dan 8:21; Dan 10:20; Dan 11:3), and indeed Greece would arise from among the far off nations across the sea as destroyer of the Persian Empire, although as Macedon, the kingdom of Alexander the Great, did not originally see itself as being Greek we must be careful not to be too dogmatic about restricting the use of the term. As such Javan would begin to trouble Judah and Israel.

But the important thing here is that the Jews are assured that they need not fear ‘the sons of Javan’, the mysterious peoples across the sea, but would achieve great victories against them. God caters for the future as well as the present. All His enemies will fail.

The Jews did, of course, become a part of that Greek Empire, and suffered defeat at their hands. But historically they did also finally gain ‘great’ victories against the Seleucid part of the Greek Empire and gain a certain amount of relative freedom including freedom of worship. And we may say that Zechariah does not actually promise more than this, and that what is at the back of it all is that Judah and Israel need not finally fear the Greeks.

It is, of course, always possible that the words were added later as an application of the promise under divine influence, but there is no evidence for this other than their existence here in this form and it is not really necessary.

We must, however, recognise that Zechariah is describing Israel’s influence over Javan as over the Philistines earlier. He is not necessarily speaking of warfare.

End of Note.

Zec 9:14

‘And YHWH will be seen over them, and his arrow will go forth as the lightning, and the Lord YHWH will blow the trumpet, and will go with the whirlwinds of the South.’

‘YHWH will be seen over them.’ This may refer to some manifestation of the divine presence as in the pillar of fire, but more likely it signifies that He will be over them as their protector and commander. It is as commander that He ‘will blow the trumpet’ (i.e. command the trumpeter to blow it).

‘His arrow will go forth as the lightning.’ In Zec 9:13 the arrow of God is Ephraim, in which case ‘the whirlwinds of the south’ may be Judah (in Isa 21:1 the phrase possibly refers to a commonly known phenomenon in Judah used as a vivid picture). But as Zec 9:10 has demonstrated they will not be involved in warfare. The probability is that the picture has changed and that reference is being made directly to His own activity, for lightning arrows (2Sa 22:15; Psa 18:14; Psa 144:6) and strong wind (Jer 4:11; Jer 51:1) are regularly symbolic of God’s power and deliverance. With the King present fighting is unnecessary.

Zec 9:15

‘YHWH of Hosts will defend them, and they will eat, and will tread down the sling stones, and they will drink and make a noise as through wine, and they will be filled like bowls, like the corners of the altar.’

This confirms a twofold application of Zec 9:14. It is YHWH Himself Who defends His people, and the result is that they go are able to feast and tread down the slingstones of their enemy in contempt.

‘Will tread down the sling stones.’ In the hands of experts the sling was a deadly weapon and its stones to be feared, but God’s people will tread them down with contempt for they will have been under God’s protection.

‘And they will drink and make a noise as through wine.’ To drink is to participate in successfully and while YHWH is triumphing they will be drinking wine and becoming merry.

‘And they will be filled like bowls, like the corners of the altar.’ Reference here is to the sacrificial ritual where the bowls are filled with blood which is flung on the corners of the altar. They will similarly be satiated with wine.

The idea may be of a siege where, as in the days of Isaiah 37, YHWH disposes of the enemy and the people simply have to watch in faith the salvation of God. It is in direct contrast to Isa 22:13 where they ate and drank in unbelief with the result that disaster followed. But the overall thought is that none can make them afraid under any circumstances.

Zec 9:16

‘And YHWH their God will save them in that day as the flock of his people, for they will be as the stones of a crown lifted on high over his land.’

In that day their deliverance will be from YHWH. They are His sheep, His flock over whom He is shepherd. And they will share His triumph as stones in His crown as He sets it over His land.

‘Lifted on high.’ Possibly ‘raised up as a banner’. The word is rare, (compare Psa 64:4 (Psa 64:6 in Hebrew)). But the idea is of triumphal rule under God.

Zec 9:17

‘For how great is his goodness and how great is his beauty. Corn will make the young men flourish, and new wine the maids.’

A paean of praise to the goodness and glory of God. His greatness and His splendour are revealed in the victory and prosperity of His people. Both young men and young women will have great cause for celebration. ‘Corn’ parallels ‘new wine’ and may therefore possibly refer to drinks made from corn. Alternately it may be saying that there will be abundance of food and drink.

So, as we have seen, the prophecy looks ahead to God’s dealings with His people. To them all was seen as one, but as we look back we see different strands of promises, some dealing with the more near future, others with the more distant future. The returning exiles were facing great difficulties and needed great encouragement, and this is what God gives them. And history saw them arise from adversity and become well established in the land.

And to us these words can also be an encouragement as they stress His faithfulness to His people. But, as always, included with God’s future actions on behalf of His people there is in mind His final action when He will bring His purposes to fruition through His chosen King and God will be all in all. For in the end all God’s actions lead up to the final triumph. And it is at this time that His people will be triumphant.

The People Are Called On To Cry To YHWH For The Latter Rain.

Zec 10:1

‘Ask you of YHWH rain in the time of the latter rain, even of YHWH who makes lightnings, and he will give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.’

This promise links with the previous verses, and with those which follow. God has promised fruitfulness and blessing. Once that time has come His people can ask for rain, both spiritual and physical. The fields will blossom and so will the hearts of His people. For YHWH the Creator is over all.

‘Rain.’ This looks back to Isa 32:15; Isa 44:3-5 where rain and the coming of the Spirit are paralleled. The blessing of God will be poured out is such a way as to provide all that is needed, to supply abundance of provision, and to fill the people with life and joy in the Spirit.

‘The time of the latter rain.’ The importance of rain in Palestine cannot be exaggerated. The land depended on rain. Rain came there at a certain time of the year, and if it failed to come it was disastrous. In mid-October, although often delayed, there was the former rain as the rainy season began, and the latter rain followed at the end of the rainy season around April before the beginning of the hot summer, at which time ‘the winter is past, the rain is over and gone’ (Son 2:11). Often at the time of the latter rain there was longing for more rain as the rainfall had been insufficient and here this is used to illustrate God’s provision for His people. When the rain appears to be over they can call on Him and He will provide further abundant rain. The phrase has finally in mind ‘the end times’, the times of the Messiah. At the right time the rain will come unexpectedly when men are expecting the heat of summer with its accompanying barrenness. This was pictured by John the Baptiser in his baptism of repentance which depicted the falling, life-giving rain of the Spirit with its resultant harvest. The latter rains had come!

‘YHWH who makes lightnings.’ Rain in Palestine is regularly accompanied by lightning. Baal, the primary Canaanite god, was seen by the Canaanites as the Lord of Storm and Lightning, and as the source in their eyes of the life-giving rain. But as Elijah had so ably demonstrated (1Ki 18:24) it is really YHWH Who produces the lightning, and He and He alone is the controller and provider of the rains. Note the connection with Zec 9:14. The lightning maker Who had protected them will now make provision for them.

‘To everyone grass in the field.’ Compare Amo 4:7 where the rain fell in some places and not in others. In the time of the latter rain all will benefit and be blessed. Thus the promise is of future blessing, fulfilled at least partially in the times of John the Baptiser and of Jesus Himself followed by the ministry of the Apostles.

So this whole passage from Zec 9:1 to Zec 10:1 pictures God’s eschatological salvation. The proud will be brought low and He will raise up the humble and meek. And He will do it through His righteous King and through the blood of the covenant. And the result will be worldwide blessing.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Zec 9:11. It is more than probable, that the remaining part of this prophesy, to the end of the next chapter, relates to matters of which the time is not yet come. It is but reasonable to presume, that as the prediction follows that of the Messiah’s coming, the accomplishment was meant to take place in the same order of succession. But since the time of our Saviour’s appearance on earth nothing has happened to the Jewish nation in any degree answerable to what is here predicted; no return from captivity, no victories, no successes, but an uninterrupted series of misfortunes and calamities. This has been thought to favour the notion of Jeremiah’s being the author of these chapters, and of his foretelling the return of the Jews from Babylon, and their successes under the Maccabees, when they had to contend with the Macedonian kings of Syria, the successors of Alexander the Great, emphatically called king of Javan, or Greece, Dan 8:21. But let it be noted, that the promise of restoration is here made not to Judah only, but also to Ephraim, that is, the ten tribes, who are still, we know, in their dispersions, and have never yet, in a national capacity at least, experienced any favourable change in their affairs since their first abduction. There is however good ground to expect from the writings of other prophets, as well as that before us, that the time will come, when “all Israel shall be saved,” as well as Judah, and hereafter be brought back to dwell in their own land in the full enjoyment of the like national prosperity.

By the blood of thy covenant When thou wast in the blood of thy covenant: that is, when thou wast yet wet with the blood that was sprinkled on thee in confirmation of the covenant which God made with thee. See Exo 24:8. Heb 9:19-20.The same form of speech occurs, Eze 16:6. bedamaiik, “When thou wast yet in thy blood;” that is, stained with the blood of thy filthiness, like an infant not yet washed.

The pit wherein is no water Anciently in great houses, and particularly in the east, deep dry pits, called dungeons, were appropriated for the confinement of prisoners. Into one of these Jeremiah was cast. Jer 38:6. Here, I presume, the land of Egypt is metaphorically intended, in which the children of Israel were heretofore detained as in a prison, until God delivered them out of it, and at the same time entered into covenant with them. To this deliverance he compares that which was destined for them in future.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

3. VICTORY OVER THE SONS OF JAVAN

Zec 9:11-17

A. Deliverance promised (vers.11, 12). B. Name of the Foe (Zec 9:13). C. Jehovah fights for his People (Zec 9:14-15). D. Salvation (Zec 9:16). E. General Prosperity (Zec 9:17).

11 As for thee also,for the sake of thy covenant-blood,19

I send forth20 thy prisoners from the pit wherein is no water.

12 Return to the strong hold,21 O prisoners of hope,

Even to-day I declare, I will repay double22 to you.

13 For23I bend for me Judah, fill the bow24 with Ephraim,

And stir up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Javan,
And make thee like the sword of a hero.

14 And Jehovah shall appear above them,

And like lightning shall his arrow go forth,
And the Lord Jehovah shall blow the trumpet
And go forth in the storms of the South.

15 Jehovah of Hosts shall protect25 them,

And they devour, and tread down sling-stones,26

And they drink and make a noise as from27 wine,

And become full as the sacrificial bowl,28 as the corners of the altar,

16 And Jehovah their God saves them in that day,

(Saves) like a flock29 his people,

For jewels of a crown shall they be,
Sparkling over his land,

17 For how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty!

Corn makes the young men thrive,30 and new wine the maidens.

EXEGETIGAL AND CRITICAL

A new scene opens. The prophet turns away from the beautiful picture of a peaceful king extending his beneficent sway over all the earth, to describe a period of distress and weakness, to which, however, he gives a promise of full deliverance, to be gained by actual conflict. This warlike period evidently belongs to a nearer future than the one just described, and the prevalent opinion justly refers it to the Maccabean age. The passage begins with a general assurance of deliverance (Zec 9:11-12); the foe is mentioned by name (Zec 9:13); the Lord fights for his chosen (Zec 9:14-15); the result is salvation (Zec 9:16); this is followed by general prosperity (Zec 9:17).

Zec 9:11-12 contain a promise of deliverance. As for thee also. The person addressed is the whole nation, as is apparent from the mention of Ephraim and Jerusalem in Zec 9:10, and of Zion in Zec 9:13, and also from the phrase blood of the covenant, which belonged to the twelve tribes; see Exo 24:8. , even thou, stands absolutely at the head of the sentence for the sake of emphasis (cf. Gen 49:8), and the sense is, Even though you are in such a forlorn condition, seemingly lost, yet I have mercy in store for you. The ground of this promise is stated before the promise itself, in the peculiar Mosaic expression covenant blood, the force of which is well expressed by Hengstenberg. The covenant-blood, which still separates the Church from the world, was a sure pledge to the covenant nation of deliverance out or all trouble, provided, that is, that the nation did not make the promises of God nugatory by wickedly violating the conditions He had imposed. Thy prisoners resumes and explains the thou at the opening of the verse. It does not mean such of the Jews as were still captives in foreign lands (Henderson, Khler), but the entire people. The pit without water, an allusion to the history of Joseph (Gen 37:24), denotes not so much a condition of captivity as of general distress. The escape from this condition to one of security and prosperity is predicted under the form of a command, Return to the strong hold. See the same figure in Psa 40:2, where the rock and the pit are put in sharp contrast. Since the people had this prospect, they were justly entitled prisoners of hope, a beautiful expression which explains itself. Even to-day, i.e., in spite of all threatening circumstances (Ewald, Hengstenberg). Repay double, namely, double the prosperity you formerly enjoyed. Cf. Isa 40:2; Isa 41:7.

Ver.13. The prophet proceeds to show more particularly how the deliverance just promised is to be effected. It is to be by a glorious victory over their oppressors. The method of this victory is represented by a bold and beautiful figure. Judah is the extended bow; Ephraim the arrow which the Lord shoots at the foe. Israel therefore is to carry on the conflict, and Jehovah to give them success. For I bend for me Judah, i.e., as a bow. The word rendered bend, literally means tread; because a bow was often stretched by setting the foot upon it, this term came into use. Fill the bow. As only one arrow ran be shot at a time from a bow, it is full when this is placed upon it. The complete sense of both clauses is, Judah and Ephraim are bow and arrow in the hand of Jehovah. I stir up, not brandish as a lance (Hitzig, Khler), which would require the object to be expressed. Javan, the name of the fourth son of Japhet (Gen 10:2), is the Hebrew word for Greece, usually identified with Ion or Ionia. Some suppose the persons meant by the sons of Zion are the Hebrews held as slaves in Greece (Ewald, Hitzig), who are now incited to insurrection. It is enough to say in reply that the contest here spoken of is manifestly carried on in the Lords own land. A comparison with Dan 8:21 shows that we must regard Greece here as a formidable secular power, the Grco-Macedonian monarchy, especially in its successor in Syria, the Seleucid. To refer the passage to the days of Uzziah on account of the mention of Greece in Joel 4:6 (cf. Amo 1:6; Amo 1:9), is wholly unreasonable; since that passage does not allude to any conflict with the Greeks, but simply speaks of them as the parties to whom the Tyrians had sold certain Jewish captives. And it is the Tyrians, not the Greeks, who are there censured.

Ver.14. Will appear above them, because He fights from heaven on their behalf. The remainder of the verse is a poetical description of a battle in the imagery of a tempest. The lightnings are Jehovahs arrows, the thunderblast is the signal of his trumpet, and He Himself marches in a furious storm sweeping up from the great southern desert. Storms of the South (cf. Isa 21:1; Hos 13:15) were always the most violent.

Ver.15. Jehovah shall protect, etc. The Lord not only fights for his people, but is also their shield, covering their heads in the day of battle. And they devour, etc. The image is that of a lion who eats the flesh and drinks the blood of his victim. Cf. Num 23:24. The figure is vigorous, but need not be called a heathenish abomination (Pressel). Tread down sling stones= subdue the enemy, contemptuously styled sling-stones or mere pebbles from the brook. Flesh is to be supplied as the object of devour, and blood as that of drink. The vessel mentioned in the last clause denotes, not any bowl, but one in which the priests catch the blood of a sacrifice. Corners, of course, include the horns which stood upon them. These figures are priestly, and intimate a holy war and victory.

Ver.16 gives the result of this victory,salvation. By an exquisite change of figure this is represented as bestowed upon them in the character of the Lords flock, which at once suggests the peaceful blessings recounted in the 23d Psalm. In the next clause, with a designed antithesis to the sling stones in the previous verse, the prophet compares Zions sons to jewels of a crown, which sparkle over his land, i. e., Jehovahs. Hengstenberg takes the participle here in the same way as in Psa 60:6= rising up. But, as Keil says, crown stones do not lift themselves up. It is better to take the word in the sense of shining, glittering (Ewald, Maurer, Khler, Frst). The reference is to precious gems set in a crown and flashing from the brow of a conqueror as he stalks over the land.

Ver.17. For how great, etc. The passage closes with an exulting exclamation. The pronouns in the first clause refer to Jehovah (Hengstenberg, Ewald, Pressel), but mean the goodness and the beauty which He bestows (Henderson). This avoids the difficulty of ascribing beauty to the Lord,31 and yet retains the full force of the apostrophe. Corn and new wine are the customary expressions of abundance (Deu 33:28; Psa 4:8), and are here rhetorically divided between the youths and the maidens. Copious supplies of food lead to a rapid increase of population. Psa 72:16. The drinking of must by young females is peculiar to this passage; but its being here expressly sanctioned by divine authority, furnishes an unanswerable argument against those who would interdict all use of the fruit of the vine (Henderson). We know that when there is but a small supply of wine, it ought by right of age to be reserved for the old, but when wine so overflows that young men and young women may freely drink of it, it is a proof of great abundance (Calvin).

THEOLOGICAL AND MORAL

1. Few words are so precious to a devout believer as covenant. It suggests thoughts of grace, privilege, and security which are not easily attained in any other way. Our trust for this world and the next rests not upon voices of nature or conclusions of reason, but upon the promise of God,a promise which He has chosen to present in the form of a compact with stipulations (and sometimes even when the stipulations were all on one side, Gen 9:9), and not only so, but to confirm it by sacrifice. This was vividly set before Israel when the law was given on Sinai. Moses sprinkled the blood of the offerings both upon the altar and upon the people, saying, Behold the blood of the covenant which Jehovah has made with you concerning all these words. Now it is true that the Mosaic dispensation was a national compact with the Hebrew people, and that it also contained a complete and absolute rule of human duty, but besides these aspects it was a covenant of grace, representing the merciful provision God had made for the salvation of his people, and in this sense its relation to the Gospel economy was that of sunrise to the blaze of noon. It confirmed the promise made to Abraham, and rendered the believers hope still more firm and clear, as resting upon an immutable bond. The force of that bond continued unimpaired down through the generations. The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers [only], but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day (Deu 5:3). Again and again, in times of emergency or doubt, did the Old Testament saints reassure their souls and reanimate their hopes by recurring to that old covenant, the word which He commanded for a thousand generations (Psa 105:8). They might be involved in gloom and perplexity, and the eye of sense could see no way out; but they knew that God had made with them a covenant ordered in all things and sure, and this was all their salvation, and all their desire. The same blessed assurance continues to believers under the Gospel. Nay, it is stronger now, for we have the blood of a new covenant (Mar 14:24), i. e., of a new administration of the old covenant, to confirm our faith. The covenant blood, on which the faith of Christians lays hold, is not that of bulls and goats, but of a lamb without spot, not the crimson stream of a typical sacrifice, but that which poured from the gaping wounds of the incarnate Son of God. The compact which has been ratified by such an oblation as was made at Golgotha, is necessarily imperishable. It can never fail. The blood of the cross is the blood of an everlasting covenant (Heb 13:20). Here the devout soul rests in peace and security. The malice of the world, the roar of Satan, the clamor of conscience, all are still before the thought of the pledged and ratified word of Jehovah. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the Word of our God abideth forever. The Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for He is not a man that He should repent.

2. This portion of the chapter presents a remarkable contrast to the two verses which precede it. There we read of an eminently peaceful king under whom all weapons of war are destroyed. Without noise or conflict he quietly extends his dominion till it becomes universal. Here, on the contrary, Judah is the Lords bow and Ephraim his arrow, and there is a terrible struggle set forth by images taken from the storm, the lightning, and the whirlwind. The language is not an exaggeration of what occurred in the heroic struggle for Judan independence under the sons of the aged priest Mattathias. That struggle was essentially a religious one. It began in a determined resistance to the attempt of Antiochus Epiphanes to exterminate the faith of the Jews and impose the impure and idolatrous worship of the Greeks; and although other elements were developed in the course of time, this always was the chief consideration. During the course of it, the good report through faith of which the Epistle to the Hebrews speaks (Heb 11:36-39), was obtained by many who were tortured, not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection. Others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonments. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were slain with the sword. The atrocities of heathen persecution roused a flame which was irresistible. Neither Antiochus nor any of his successors on the Syrian throne was able to subdue the zeal of the Jews for their ancestral faith. Again and again the armies of the alien were put to rout in pitched battles, and veterans of many a Well-fought field were no match for men who fought for God as well as their native land. The Maccabees really earned the name (Maccabus=hammerer) by which they are now generally known, and although disregarded by the haughty heathen, still they shine as jewels of a crown among all disinterested observers. None have surpassed them in accomplishing a great end with inadequate means; none ever united more generous valor with a better cause (Milman). They began with a few personal followers, and they ended with a strong and well-organized nation. The struggle lasted for a quarter of a century (B. C. 168143), and notwithstanding the unequal resources of the parties, Jehovah of Hosts made feeble Jews like the sword of a hero, while the mailed warriors of Syria were trodden down like the small stones of a sling.

3. For more than one half of the four centuries which elapsed between the close of the Old Testament and the opening of the New, the history of the Jews is almost a total blank, and of the other half there is much less information to be drawn from Ethnic sources than might have been anticipated. But it is very apparent from many scattered indications that Israel had often occasion to say, How great is his goodness and how great his beauty! The population multiplied with a rapidity like that of their forefathers in Egypt. The few feeble struggling colonists gradually emerged into a strong, energetic, and well-organized commonwealth. Their land resumed its ancient fertility. Just as in the palmy days of old, its rocks were crowned with mould and its sands covered with verdure, and a wide-spread commerce on both seas furnished the conditions of growing wealth. At the same time a spirit of enterprise, or a love of adventure, led many to distribute themselves all over the Roman world, so that there was scarcely a province either in the east or the west, where they were not found in numbers. Still in every quarter, under every form of government, and in the midst of every social system, they retained their national faith and usages with unconquerable tenacity. This was manifested not only by a persistent refusal to amalgamate with the various peoples among whom they lived, but by their regular and liberal contributions to the temple. A curious illustration of the latter is seen in the fact mentioned by Cicero, that Flaccus was compelled to forbid such offerings from the province of Asia, because the enormous export of gold affected the markets of the world. Thus even the emigrating Jews contributed to the prosperity of those who remained at home. It is evident then that the statements of increase contained in this chapter and the one that follows were verified to the letter. Parts of the land were as thickly settled as any portions of modern Europe. And notwithstanding all the outward conflicts in which they were engaged, or the suffering they may have experienced, from the contentions of rival kingdoms around, corn made the young men thrive, and new wine the maidens, and the covenant people were preserved in their integrity and distinctness, until He came, for whose appearing they had been appointed and preserved for more than twenty centuries.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Moore: Ver.11. The covenant love of God and his faithful promises that are sealed with blood are the hope of the Church in time of trouble.Ver.12. Let sinners who are also prisoners of hope, turn to the stronghold Christ, ere it be forever too late, and God will give them a double blessing.

Pressel: Vers.11, 12. How wide is the range of Gods covenant with man! It extends so far that it forms, as our Lord said to the Sadducees, the immovable basis of our hope of eternal life. But if the salvation of this covenant, whether in its older or newer form, is ever to become ours, the first condition and the last isTurn to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope. Again: (1) There is no imprisonment without hope, for the covenant-blood speaks louder than our sins, and the Lord can break every fetter; but (2) There is no hope without conversion, for without conversion we are still in the pit without water, and fall short of the strong-hold which alone secures return to fellowship with God.

Cowles: Ver.12. It is altogether the way of the Lord to send grief and affliction only in single measure, but joy and blessing in double, weighing out the retributions of justice carefully, and the inflictions of his rod very tenderly; but pouring forth the bounties of his mercy as if He could not think of measuring them by any rule less than the impulses of infinite love!

Wordsworth. [This learned man spiritualizes the entire passage, but is not quoted here, because, as Hengstenberg says, While the outward conflict was undoubtedly the prelude of a still grander conflict between Israel and Greece, to be fought with spiritual weapons, it is opposed to all the principles of sound interpretation to refer the words immediately to the latter.]

Jay: Ver.16. Here we see the dignity of the Lords people. They are stones, precious stones, set in the crown of the King of kings. Here is also their exhibition; these stones of a crown are lifted up. They are not to be concealed. Here is also their utility; these stones are to be lifted up as an ensign upon the land. An oriflamme suspended over the royal tent; designed to attract followers to the cause in which he is engaged.

Footnotes:

[19]Zec 9:11. being in thy covenant-blood=being sprinkled with it. The covenant of Jehovah with his people was sealed with sprinkled blood. Exo 24:8. The compound term covenant-blood best represents the form and force of the original phrase.

[20]Zec 9:11. is the common prophetic preterite.

[21]Zec 9:12. , a cut off place, h. inaccessible, fortified, (LXX.), munitio (Vulg.).

[22]Zec 9:12. . Pressel seems to be alone in giving to this word the sense, the second place. The rendering of the E. V. is sustained both by usage and the connection.

[23]Zec 9:13. The E. V. needlessly continues here the sentence of the previous verse, and renders when. A literal rendering is at once more forcible and more accurate.

[24]Zec 9:13. . Some connect this with what precedes, but nothing is gained by departing from the Masoretic interpunction.

[25]Zec 9:15. = covers protectingly. Cf. Zec 12:8.

[26]Zec 9:15. With sling-stones, in the text of E. V., introduces a needless preposition. The marginal rendering is to be preferred.

[27]Zec 9:15. is an abbreviated comparison. Cf. Zec 10:7.

[28]Zec 9:15.Sacrificial bowl. The qualifying epithet must be introduced in order to give the full force of . Cf. Zec 14:20.

[29]Zec 9:16.The E. V. flock of his people, is grammatically impossible.

[30]Zec 9:17. The first marginal rendering of the B. V., make grow, is better than its text, make cheerful. The word is derived from the sprouting of plants, and evidently refers to a prolific increase. Frst gives to make eloquent, which is conjectural and inept.

[31]The beauty of the Lord, In Psa 90:17, represents a different word (), which, however, is best explained thus: May the loveliness of Jehovahall that renders Him an object of affection and desirebe made known to us in our experience. Cf. Psa 27:4.

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

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

How sweetly, and blessedly, is God the Father here speaking to God the Son, in his Almighty character, as Mediator. And how fully is this promise answered, in the instance of every poor sinner whom the Lord makes willing in the day of his power. Jehovah then remembers his everlasting covenant, and Jesus then receives the reward of his services, as Jehovah’s servant in that covenant. See Isa 42:6-7 ; Luk 4:16-19 . Some have thought however, that these words are not directly spoken to Christ, but to the Church, because the word is feminine. But in either sense, the thing is the same. For although the Church hath no prisoners, yet till Christ brings out his Church, in every individual instance of it, every child of God is by nature a prisoner to sin and Satan. And this is a pit indeed, wherein there is no water of salvation.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Zec 9:11 As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein [is] no water.

Ver. 11. As for thee also ] O daughter of Sion, O my Church; not, O Christ, the King of the Church, as the Greek and Latin Fathers, and after them the Popish commentators, will needs have it, the better to establish their chimera a of Limbus Patrum, Christ here, by an aposiopesis (an ordinary figure), or keeping back something unspoken through earnestness of affection, bespeaks his people in this sort; Etiam tu, As for thee also, I will surely impart unto thee the benefits of that of my kingdom, as I have already begun to do in delivering you out of that waterless pit, that dirty dungeon of the Babylonish thraldom.

By the blood of thy covenant ] By the blood of Christ figured, by the blood that was sprinkled upon the people, Exo 24:8 Psa 74:20 Heb 13:20 ; and by virtue of the government confirmed thereby.

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

Out of the pit wherein is no water ] But mud only, as in Joseph’s pit and Jeremiah’s dungeon, Gen 37:24 Jer 38:6 . The saints have temporal deliverances also by virtue of the covenant; and if any of Christ’s subjects fall into desperate distresses and deadly danger, yet they are prisoners of hope, and may look for deliverance by the blood of the covenant.

a A fabled fire-breathing monster of Greek mythology, with a lion’s head, a goat’s body, and a serpent’s tail (or according to others with the heads of a lion, a goat, and a serpent), killed by Bellerophon. D

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Zec 9:11-17

11As for you also, because of the blood of My covenant with you,

I have set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.

12Return to the stronghold, O prisoners who have the hope;

This very day I am declaring that I will restore double to you.

13For I will bend Judah as My bow,

I will fill the bow with Ephraim.

And I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece;

And I will make you like a warrior’s sword.

14Then the LORD will appear over them,

And His arrow will go forth like lightning;

And the Lord GOD will blow the trumpet,

And will march in the storm winds of the south.

15The LORD of hosts will defend them.

And they will devour and trample on the sling stones;

And they will drink and be boisterous as with wine;

And they will be filled like a sacrificial basin,

Drenched like the corners of the altar.

16And the LORD their God will save them in that day

As the flock of His people;

For they are as the stones of a crown,

Sparkling in His land.

17For what comeliness and beauty will be theirs!

Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine the virgins.

Zec 9:11 the blood of My covenant This is a CONSTRUCT of BDB 196 and 136. This can either refer to the original covenant of God with Abraham mentioned in Gen 15:9-11 or to the Mosaic covenant in Exo 24:8. This phrase is also used by Jesus in the Upper Room in Mar 14:24. See Special Topic: COVENANT .

I have set your prisoners free from the waterless pit The VERB (BDB 1018, KB 1511) is a Piel PERFECT. Apparently this is a metaphor describing the returning Jewish exiles (cf. Isa 24:22; Isa 51:14).

Zec 9:12 Return This is a Qal IMPERATIVE. Zec 9:11-12 both are encouragement to the returning remnant (cf. Ezra and Nehemiah). Very few of the Jews in exile ever returned to Palestine.

This term (BDB 996, KB 1427), however, is often used for repentance (cf. Zec 1:3-4). God’s people must return to Him, not just to a geographical location or even to an ancient promise. Biblical faith is personal. See Special Topic: Repentance in the Old Testament .

NASB, NKJVthe stronghold

NRSVyour stronghold

TEVyour place of safety

NJBthe fortress

JPSOABizzaron

This term (BDB 131) is found only here in the OT. Its basic root means

1. is cut off (used of grapes)

2. inaccessible (used most often for fortifications, e.g., Zep 1:16)

3. fortress by enclosure (cf. Isa 22:10)

The TEV takes it as a metaphor for God’s care and protection in the Promised Land (cf. Jer 16:19; Joe 3:16). The JPSOA, in its footnote, thinks it is a nickname (fortress) for Samaria, the northern capital of Israel destroyed in 722 by Assyria.

NASBprisoners who have the hope

NKJVyou prisoners of hope

NRSVO prisoners of hope

TEVyou exiles who now have hope

NJByou prisoners waiting in hope

The hope is in the covenant-making (cf. Zec 9:11), promise-keeping, deliverance-giving God. This phrase is given either to encourage those who have returned or to motivate others to return (NJB).

I will restore double to you The VERB (BDB 996, KB 1427) is a Hiphil IMPERFECT. This is an idiom for something that is complete and full. It can relate to YHWH’s judgment (cf. Isa 40:2; Jer 16:18) or YHWH’s promise of restoration (cf. Isa 61:7). YHWH is just and acts according to His word.

Zec 9:13 I will bend Judah as My bow This chapter is filled with paradoxes! The coming Messianic peace is mentioned in Zec 9:8-11 and yet Zec 9:13 speaks again of war (BDB 201, KB 231 Qal PERFECT). Possibly this verse shows the promise of Zec 9:8!

As Zec 9:10 mentioned Ephraim and Jerusalem, which denotes Israel and Judah, so too, Zec 9:13 a,b. The divided kingdom will be reunited! As a bow and arrow are used as one instrument, so too, God’s reunited people (cf. Zec 10:4 d).

‘I will stir’ The term (BDB 734 I, KB 802, Polel PERFECT) is used several times in Zechariah.

1. YHWH is aroused from His holy habitation, Zec 2:13

2. the interpreting angel wakes the prophet, Zec 4:1 (twice)

3. YHWH arouses the inhabitants of Zion against the Greeks, Zec 9:13

4. YHWH arouses His sword against His own Shepherd, Zec 13:7

Two other prophets use this same term in connection with Greece, Dan 11:2 and Joe 3:6. Isaiah uses this term often in connection with God directing the history of His people (e.g., the Medes, Isa 13:17; one from the east, Isa 41:2; one from the north, Isa 41:25; Cyrus, Isa 45:13; Jerusalem and Zion, Isaiah 51; Isaiah 52). Isaiah’s use of this term in chapters 51 and 52 may parallel Zec 9:13 d, I will make you like a warrior’s sword. It is God’s strength and purpose, but He chooses to use human instrumentality.

‘O Zion, against your sons, O Greece’ The term here for Greece is Jawan or Javan, which was used originally in the OT for a descendant of Japheth (cf. Gen 10:2; Gen 10:4; Isa 66:19), while in Isa 66:19 it is used for a nation. In the books of Daniel and Joel, it is used to designate Greece (cf. Dan 8:21; Dan 10:20; Joe 3:6). I agree with Joyce Baldwin, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, that it is used in its Genesis 10 sense of a distant people on the fringe of civilization, which is how it is used in this eschatological context (cf. p. 169).

Zec 9:14 Then the LORD will appear over them The VERB (BDB 906, KB 1157) is a Niphal IMPERFECT. This may be an allusion to the promise of protection in Zec 2:5 (cf. Zec 9:8 a). It also may be an allusion to Isa 31:5, where God is a protecting bird of prey (cf. Exo 19:4 b) or a mother bird hovering overhead (cf. Deu 32:11; Psa 91:4). The third possibility is borrowing the imagery of Assyria where their god fluttered over his troops in battle.

Zec 9:14-17 are the hyperbolic language of theophany. The phrases are reminiscent of other prophetic texts. They are patterned, standard idioms (see Plowshares and Pruning Hooks: Rethinking the Language of Biblical Prophecy and Apocalyptic, D. Brent Sandy).

His arrows will go forth like lightning Lightning and arrows are often used metaphorically of YHWH’s fighting on behalf of His people (cf. Psa 18:14; Psa 144:6; Hab 3:11). The concept of YHWH’s arrows being like lightning is found in Psa 7:12-13, where it may refer to arrows set on fire to incinerate wooden defenses.

the Lord GOD This is the combination of the Hebrew term YHWH (BDB 217) and adon (BDB 10). Because it would be repetitive in English to say Lord, LORD, when these two terms appear together (so too, YHWH and Elohim, e.g., Zec 9:16 and Gen 2:4). They are translated, Lord GOD.

blow the trumpet Trumpet (shofar) has an uncertain etymology. It came to be used in Hebrew for a ram’s horn (BDB 1051). The rabbis designated it to be made (softened and lengthened by soaking it in water) from the left horn of a male goat. It is used for

1. military purposes, Jos 6:4-5; Jos 6:20; Jdg 7:8; Jdg 7:16

2. religious purposes, Exo 19:13; Exo 19:16; Exo 19:19; Lev 25:9; 2Sa 6:15; 2Ch 15:14; Psa 81:3; Psa 98:6; Psa 150:3

3. information gathering (usually about military matters), Jdg 3:27; Jdg 6:34; 1Sa 13:3

4. coronation of a king, 1Ki 1:34; 1Ki 1:39; Psa 47:5

5. invasion of the land, Jer 4:5; Jer 6:1; Hos 5:8; Hos 8:1; Joe 2:1; Amo 2:2; Amo 3:6; Zep 1:16

Notice in this context it is YHWH who blows (i.e., sounds, BDB 1075, Qal IMPERFECT) the trumpet (cf. Isa 27:13; Mat 24:31; 1Co 15:52; 1Th 4:16; Rev 11:15).

the storm winds of the south This could be a reference to (1) the Siniatic covenant (cf. Exodus 24); (2) God’s presence as a desert storm (cf. Isa 29:6; Eze 1:4; Eze 13:11; Eze 13:13); or (3) the south being the antonym to the north, which was a metaphor for invasion. The south is a metaphor for salvation and deliverance (cf. Jdg 5:4-5; Hab 3:3).

Zec 9:15 The LORD of hosts will defend them God Himself will act on His people’s behalf. His victory is their victory. The term hosts in this context would refer to the angelic army at YHWH’s command. See Special Topic: Lord of Hosts .

The VERB defend (BDB 170, KB 199, Hiphil IMPERFECT) can be translated cover, surround, or defend (cf. Zec 12:8). In Isa 31:5 it is used of a mother bird protecting her young (cf. Deu 32:11; Psa 91:4). Here it is used as a shield protecting the soldiers from projectiles.

the sling stones These were stones used in sling weapons (BDB 887 I), which were used to defend cities and forts (cf. Jdg 20:16; 1Sa 17:40; 1Sa 17:50; 2Ch 26:14; Job 41:28). This is a metaphor for the complete destruction of a military foe.

they will drink and be boisterous as with wine Both VERBS (BDB 1059, KB 1667 and BDB 242, KB 250) are Qal PERFECTS. This refers to the victory celebration of God’s soldiers (cf. Psa 78:65). See Special Topic: Biblical Attitudes Toward Alcohol and Alcohol Abuse .

filled like a sacrificial basin English translations differ on how to understand these last two poetic lines. They seem to refer to the previous line about God’s people rejoicing with wine over His victory (i.e., another Qal PERFECT VERB, BDB 569, KB 583). The wine reminded our author about (1) the blood of the slain enemies, captured in a bowl or (2) blood as an aspect of sacrifice to YHWH. The corners of the altar are where the blood in the bowl was poured out at the base of the altar of sacrifice.

YHWH made a blood covenant with the descendants of Abraham (cf. Zec 9:11). Now He defends them by spilling the blood of their enemies.

Zec 9:16 the LORD their God will save them in that day This is parallel to the opening lines of Zec 9:14-15. As Zec 9:14 had Adon YHWH, this verse has YHWH Elohim.

The term save (BDB 446, KB 448, Hiphil PERFECT) includes several connotations from the context: (1) military victory; (2) spiritual renewal and inclusion; and (3) God’s personal care, protection, and provision.

As the flock of His people This whole section of Zechariah reflects Jer 31:10-14. God is the shepherd (e.g. Psalms 23) who acts on behalf of His flock. Later in this section of Zechariah the Messiah will be described as the wounded shepherd (cf. chapters 12-13) and His people as the afflicted flock (cf. chapter 11).

as the stones of a crown This may be (1) a contrast to the sling stones mentioned in Zec 9:15; (2) an allusion to Isa 62:3, the precious stones used to describe God’s people; or (3) an allusion to the coronation of the new king (the Messiah as YHWH’s representative)

NASBSparkling in His land

NKJVLifted like a banner over His land

NRSVthey shall shine on his land

NJBsparkle over his country

The VERB in the Hithpoel form is rare and ambiguous.

1. BDB – to be high, conspicuous, prominent (BDB 651 II)

2. Lexicon, William Holladay, rally around the banner (p. 240). This comes from Psa 60:4, which may refer to Exo 17:15 or possibly Isa 62:10

3. KB – to assemble under the banner (KB 704)

4. sparkle, glitter, shine are the most common English translations (cf. Isa 62:3)

Zec 9:17 As the previous verses may be an allusion to Jer 31:10-11, so too, this may refer to the return from exile, but extends it to the eschatological future and the time of the new covenant (cf. Jer 31:31-34).

The promised days of abundance and stability for an obedient covenant people (cf. Deuteronomy 27-29) have now been realized by the gracious actions of YHWH, not human performance (cf. Jer 31:31-34).

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought-provoking, not definitive.

1. Why is this chapter so difficult to place in its historical setting?

2. Does this chapter refer to the judgment of pagan nations or to their inclusion in the covenant people?

3. Is there a definite historical separation between Zec 9:1-10 and Zec 9:11-17? Why?

4. Explain the Messianic elements in Zec 9:9 and show their NT counterpoints.

5. To whom does Javan refer? Why is the nation mentioned?

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

thee = thee [O Zion] (feminine; agreeing with Zion), which is also feminine in verses: Zec 9:9, Zec 9:13.

the blood of thy covenant: or, thy covenant of blood. Reference to Pentateuch (Exo 24:5-8) Compare Heb 13:20.

have sent forth = i.e. sent forth [from their captivity].

out of the pit, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Gen 37:24).

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Marg

prisoners Cf. Isa 24:17-23 fix the time as the day of the LORD. Rev 19:11-21.

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

As: Deu 5:31, 2Sa 13:13, 2Ch 7:17, Dan 2:29

by the blood of thy covenant: or, whose covenant is by blood, Exo 24:8, Mat 26:28, Mar 14:24, Luk 22:20, 1Co 11:25, Heb 9:10-26, Heb 10:29, Heb 13:20

I have: Psa 69:33, Psa 102:19-21, Psa 107:10-16, Isa 42:7, Isa 42:22, Isa 49:9, Isa 51:14, Isa 58:12, Isa 61:1, Luk 4:18, Act 26:17, Act 26:18, Col 1:13, Col 1:14

out: Psa 30:3, Psa 40:2, Jer 38:6, Luk 16:24, Rev 20:3

Reciprocal: Gen 8:16 – General Gen 37:24 – the pit Exo 12:29 – dungeon Lev 25:10 – proclaim Job 33:24 – Deliver Psa 107:14 – brake Psa 146:7 – looseth Isa 24:22 – shall they Isa 49:25 – Even Lam 3:34 – all Oba 1:21 – saviours Zec 10:8 – for Joh 8:36 – General Act 16:26 – and every Rom 7:24 – who Eph 1:7 – whom Heb 9:20 – This 1Jo 5:6 – blood

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Zec 9:11. The pronoun thee stands for Zion in verse 9. Blood of thy covenant is rendered whose covenant is by blood” in the margin which is correct. God had made a covenant with Abraham that his seed (blood descendants) were to be HiB people and that he would never entirely cast them off. That is why God caused them to be released from captivity. Pit … no water. A pit with water in it would have destroyed those cast therein, but a dry pit could serve as a prison but permit the victims to live. That is why God sent his people into Babylon, so they would be In bondage but not destroyed.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Zec 9:11. As for thee also O Jerusalem, or church of God; for the prophet, speaking in the name of God, must be supposed to direct his discourse to her, the pronoun and the affixes, in the Hebrew, being in the feminine gender; by the blood of thy covenant By the blood of the Messiah, in which thy covenant is confirmed: for though it is Gods covenant as made by him, and Christs as made in and through him, it is Zions covenant as made for her. I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit, &c. By the prison here, Blayney thinks the land of Egypt is metaphorically intended, in which Israel were heretofore detained as in a prison, until God delivered them out of it, and at the same time entered into covenant with them. But it seems more probable the deliverance from Babylon, so lately experienced, is referred to. So most interpreters understand the passage. Bishop Hall paraphrases it thus: As for thee, O Zion, whose covenant with me is made, and confirmed by the precious blood of the Messiah. I do herein give thee a type of thy future deliverance from all thy spiritual miseries, in that I have brought forth thy captives out of the miserable captivity at Babylon. Deep, dry pits, says Capellus, were frequently prisons in the East. Or by the pit here may be meant the lowest part of the prison, called the dungeon, (see Isa 51:14,) as the Hebrew word is translated; Jer 37:16; Jer 38:6; Lam 3:53-55, where see the notes. Into one of these prisons Jeremiah was cast. But something further, and more interesting to the human race than the deliverance of Gods ancient people either from Egypt or Babylon, is evidently here intended to be signified, even the deliverance of mankind in general from the bondage of sin and guilt, and of depravity, weakness, and wretchedness, that miserable prison in which all are naturally detained, into the glorious liberty of the children of God, by virtue of the covenant sealed with the blood of Christ the Mediator: see Isa 61:1-3; Heb 13:20. Observe well, reader, a state of sin and guilt is a state of bondage; it is a spiritual prison; it is a pit, or a dungeon, in which there is no water, no comfort to be had: we are all by nature prisoners in this pit; the Scripture has concluded us all under sin, and bound us over to the justice of God. God has been pleased to deal with these prisoners upon new terms, to enter into another covenant with them; the blood of Christ is the blood of that covenant, having purchased it and all its benefits for us; and by that blood effectual provision is made for the sending forth of these prisoners upon easy and honourable terms: and a proclamation of liberty to the captives is issued from the court of heaven, followed by the opening of the prison to them that were bound, (like Cyruss proclamation to the Jews in Babylon,) which all those, whose spirits God stirreth up, ought to come and take the benefit of.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Zec 9:11-13. A fragment, mutilated at the beginning, apparently slightly earlier than Zec 9:9 f., from which it differs in its bellicose tone. The Jewish nation is told that the Lord is now releasing its members confined in the waterless dungeon, i.e. in heathen districts where they are cut off from worship at Jerusalem (cf. Psa 63:1; Psa 68:6); these must return to the stronghold of Judah, where they will be safe. For once again the declaration is made to them, as it was to their fathers (Isa 40:2*), that they shall receive double compensation for all that they have suffered. Zec 9:13 describes the revival of Jewish power under Jonathan and Simon. The Lord has made Judah His bow, the rest of the land His arrow; He will brandish as a javelin the sons of Zion against the Greeks, and will make them as it were His sword (cf. Psa 60:7; Psa 108:8).

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

9:11 {r} As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy {s} prisoners out of the pit in which [is] no water.

(r) Meaning Jerusalem, or the Church which is saved by the blood of Christ, of which the blood of the sacrifices was a figure. And it is here called the covenant of the Church, because God made it with his Church: and left it with them because of the love that he had for them.

(s) God shows that he will deliver his Church out of all dangers, no matter how great they may seem.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The deliverance and blessing of Zion’s people 9:11-17

Before Messiah can reign in peace, He must destroy all enemies and deliver and restore His people (cf. Psalms 110).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

As for the Israelites (Zion), the Lord promised to set free those of them whom their enemies would hold prisoner. He pictured this as taking them out of a dry cistern where they were captives, like Joseph and Jeremiah (Gen 37:24; Jer 38:6-9).

"God’s people had been in the ’pit’ of Babylonian exile, but they would find themselves in a worse predicament in the end of the age. From that pit God would again retrieve them according to His faithfulness to His covenant promises." [Note: Merrill, p. 258.]

Blood sacrifices ratified the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen 15:9-11) and the Mosaic Covenant (Exo 24:3-8; Exo 29:38-46; cf. Mar 14:24).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)