Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Zechariah 12:6
In that day will I make the governors of Judah like a hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, [even] in Jerusalem.
6. a hearth ] Rather, pan. The word is used in 1Sa 2:14 of a “pan,” or cooking vessel. Elsewhere it is a bason or laver, Exo 30:18; Exo 30:28; 1Ki 7:38; and once a pulpit or platform, 2Ch 6:13. Here the figure would seem to be of a chafing-pan full of fire set among wood or faggots.
in a sheaf ] among sheaves, R. V.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I will make the governors of Judah like a hearth – or cauldron of fire large, broad, deep, and full of fire, among the wood which is prepared for burning, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf The fire could not kindle the wood or the sheaf, of itself, unless applied to it. All is of the agency of God: I will make.
Ribera: He foretells the increase of the Church, which by such persecutions shall not be diminished, but shall be marvelously increased. The preachers of the Church shall raise up all the peoples round about, shall destroy all unbelief, and shall kindle the hearts of hearers with the fire of the divine word. On the right hand and on the left. Ribera: He indicates the strength and success of the preachers, whom no one can resist nor hinder, as our Lord says, I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist Luk 21:15.
And Jerusalem shall again – Rather, yet, be inhabited. Yet is a sort of burden in Zechariahs prophecies . Osorius: They at once burned up by the flame all the defilement of vices, and kindled the minds of people with the torch of divine love; at once consumed the enemy and cast a heavenly fire into the human heart: yet; in despite of all appearances, of all which is against her. She shall yet dwell in her own place in Jerusalem; for, however the waves of this world chafe and lash themselves into foam against her, they break themselves, not her; as soon as they have reached their utmost height, they fall back; if they toss themselves, and, for a moment, hide her light, they fall down at all sides, and the ray shines out, steady as before; for she is founded on a rock, against which the gates of hell should not prevail Mat 16:18.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 6. Jerusalem shall be inhabited again] This seems to refer to the future conversion of the Jews, and their “return to their own land.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The governors: see Zec 12:5.
Like a hearth of fire; a hearth on which fire is thoroughly kindled.
Among the wood; the more is laid on, the more is consumed and burnt up: so the enemies of Judah and Jerusalem shall be, their multitudes shall no more save themselves than much wood cast on a great fire in the hearth can preserve itself.
Like a torch of fire in a sheaf; which immediately sets the whole sheaf on fire, and it is consumed.
They shall devour, & c.; the governors of Judah with their handful of men shall thus surely and speedily consume their enemies which set upon them.
Jerusalem shall be inhabited again; as indeed it was, and continued so till Christs death, and forty years after; for of these times doth the prophet speak, and not of times still to come.
In her own place; not built as Nineveh, Tyre, Babylon, or Rome, in some place near to the old cities of that name, but in the very same place where old Jerusalem did, shall re-edified Jerusalem again stand.
Even in Jerusalem; so you shall find Jerusalem in Jerusalem; or thus, spiritual Jerusalem shall be that Jerusalem in which you ought to look, and where you shall find the old typical Jerusalem, which though it lie waste, and I fear must never be built, yet is in more ample manner built up in the church, spiritual Jerusalem.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. On “governors of Judah,”see on Zec 9:7.
hearthor pan.
torch . . . in a sheafThoughsmall, it shall consume the many foes around. One prophet supplementsthe other. Thus Isa 29:1-24;Joe 3:1-21; Zec 12:1-14,describe more Antichrist’s army than himself. Danielrepresents him as a horn growing out of the fourth beast or fourthkingdom; St. John, as a separate beast having an individualexistence. Daniel dwells on his worldly conquests as a king; St.John, more on his spiritual tyranny, whence he adds a second beast,the false prophet coming in a semblance of spirituality. What isbriefly described by one is more fully prophesied by the other[ROOS].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
In that day will I make the governors of Judah like a hearth of fire among the wood,…. As a large hearth of fire, with wood all about it, devours and consumes it; so shall the governors of Judah be to the nations that shall come up against Jerusalem. The Targum renders it,
“as a garment of fire among wood:”
and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; of wheat, which presently destroys it; see Ob 1:18:
and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left; on the south and on the north, as the Targum interprets it. The phrase denotes the utter destruction of the people on all sides:
and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, [even] in Jerusalem; upon that very spot of ground which was formerly called Jerusalem shall the city be built again, and inhabited; and shall continue, notwithstanding the attempts of all the nations of the earth to destroy it; see Jer 30:18.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He adds another metaphor for the sake of a further confirmation; for he says, that the chiefs of Judah would be like a melting pot: some render it a hearth, but improperly and without meaning. He afterwards compares them to a flaming torch, and heathen nations to wood and stubble or chaff. The Spirit speaks thus also in other places; and the reason is to be noticed; for when the ungodly assail the Church of God, all things seem to threaten its ruin; but God declares that they shall be like chaff or wood. “The house of Israel,” says Isaiah, “shall be a flaming fire, and shall consume all the wood of the forest:” so also in this place, “There shall be indeed a great host of enemies, assembled against Israel; but the Lord will consume them, for he will be like fire in the midst of his people, and his people also shall be through the secret power of the Spirit like a burning pot or a torch, which shall consume the chaff, in which there is nothing substantial.”
But the Prophet shows again that the deliverance of the Church is ever wonderful: and hence foolishly do they act who rely on human and earthly instrumentality, and wilfully bind God to their own ways; for whenever God promises to be their deliverer, their inquiry is, “But how can this be? whence will come this aid to us? how will the hand of the Lord be stretched forth to us? whence will he gather his army?” Inasmuch then as we are wont thus anxiously to inquire, and thus drive away from us the aid of God, let this truth, taught by the Prophet, be borne in mind, — that though enemies in great numbers may come upon us, they shall yet be like a heap of wood, and we like fire; for though we have no strength, yet the Lord by his hidden favor will cause that our enemies shall even, by coming nigh us, be consumed.
To the same purpose is the next similitude, — that they would be a torch in handfuls of chaff; for here also the singular number is used for the plural. Then follows an explanation, Consume shall they on the right hand, and on the left, all nations around. Zechariah seems here to ascribe an insatiable cruelty, and a revengeful passion to the faithful, who yet are to be influenced by a meek spirit, so that they may imitate their heavenly Father. But here he speaks not of their disposition and feeling, but only shows, that all the ungodly shall be frustrated in their expectation of success, and not only so, but that they shall also be destroyed. The more furiously then they assail the Church, the more sudden shall be their destruction; for though the faithful may wish to spare them, yet God, the righteous judge, will not spare them. In short, the work of God himself, as in other places, is ascribed to the Church.
In the last place he declares, that Jerusalem shall stand in its own place, where it was. There is here a sort of repetition; and it was made, because enemies thought, as we have already stated, that they could destroy Jerusalem so as wholly to obliterate it: but the Prophet on the other hand says, that it would be established in its own place, because God had chosen it as the place where he purposed to be worshipped, and he had chosen it, as it is often said by Moses, to commemorate his own name. In a word, he intimates, that the Church would be perpetually established: though all mortals conspired for its ruin and assailed it on every side, yet the sanctuary of God, as he had promised, would continue there still, even to the advent of Christ; for then, we know, Jerusalem was to be wholly destroyed, together with the temple, as an end was to come on all these things, and the world was to be renewed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(6) Comp. Oba. 1:18.
People.Better, nations. (Comp. Zec. 11:10.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Jehovah will use the forces of Judah to complete the defeat of the nations.
Governors As in Zec 12:5.
Like an hearth Better, R.V., “like a pan.” Judah will utterly destroy the hostile nations as fire devours wood or dry sheaves.
Jerusalem shall be inhabited again R.V., more literally, “shall yet again dwell in their own place.” If the last clause, “even in Jerusalem,” is original, the name is used first of the inhabitants, then of the city. The inhabitants shall again dwell in the city. Since there is no reference to a deportation some have taken dwell as equivalent to dwell in peace. After the enemies are defeated the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall again dwell in peace. In several important manuscripts of LXX. “even in Jerusalem” is omitted; it may be an accidental repetition. If it is omitted the thought is that Jerusalem will remain unshaken by any of the events just described.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Zec 12:6. And Jerusalem shall be inhabited again, &c. And Jerusalem shall again be safely inhabited in peace. Houbigant.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Zec 12:6 In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, [even] in Jerusalem.
Ver. 6. In that day will I make the governors, &c. ] This is the third similitude, whereof the Scripture is full; according to that, I will open my mouth in parables. These are of excellent use to adorn and explain; and yet they are evermore inferior to the matter in hand. They are borrowed from things well known and easy to be conceived; as here from a hearth of fire among wood; now we can all tell how great a matter (or wood) a little fire kindleth, Jas 3:5 . When Nero, for his pleasure’s sake, set Rome on fire, among other stately buildings that were quickly burnt down, the circus or race yard was one, being about half a mile in length, of an oval form, with rows of seats one above another, capable of at least 150,000 spectators, without uncivil shoulderings. “As the fire burneth a wood; and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire; so persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm,” saith the Church, Psa 83:14-15 . Thus they prayed, and thus it is here promised; and was accordingly performed in those first wars of the Maccabees; as appeareth in the first book of their story, and in Josephus. Diodati and others understand this text to be the apostles and evangelists, who should fill the world with wars and dissensions by preaching the gospel, Luk 12:49 , whereby the enemies should be ruined and the Church re-established, Oba 1:18 , through the spirit of judgment and of burning, Isa 4:4 . To which purpose Chrysostem saith, that Peter was a man made of fire walking among stubble. Basil was compared to a pillar of fire. John Baptist is by our Saviour said to be a burning and a shining lamp. And Elijah (in whose spirit the Baptist came) was a man of that transcendent zeal, that to heighten the expression thereof some have legended of him, that when he drew his mother’s breasts he was seen to suck in fire.
And Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Zec 12:6-9
6In that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot among pieces of wood and a flaming torch among sheaves, so they will consume on the right hand and on the left all the surrounding peoples, while the inhabitants of Jerusalem again dwell on their own sites in Jerusalem. 7The LORD also will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not be magnified above Judah. 8In that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who is feeble among them in that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the LORD before them. 9And in that day I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
Zec 12:6 In that day See note at Zec 12:4.
As Zec 12:5 affirms God’s help to Jerusalem, Zec 12:6 affirms God’s help to the clans of Judah (BDB 49 II, lit. thousands, but used of leaders, cf. Zec 9:7).
God will make the clans rebel and become a destroying flame against the invading army of the nations. They became God’s destroyers amidst the enemy’s army.
There is a constant tension between the nations as enemies (cf. Zec 12:9) and welcomed converts (cf. Zec 2:11; Zec 8:20-23) throughout the book of Zechariah.
SPECIAL TOPIC: ELEPH (THOUSAND)
Zec 12:7 The LORD also will save the tents of Judah first The VERB (BDB 446) is a Hiphil PERFECT. There are two ways to understand this phrase.
1. God allows the Judean forces to defeat the invaders so that Jerusalem will not be overly exalted.
2. God saves the tents of Judah first because they are more vulnerable to attack. In this way He shows that He has no favoritism between those who live in Jerusalem and those who live in the countryside.
The word tents (BDB 13) is being interpreted in two senses: (1) a military camp or (2) a metaphor for homes.
Zec 12:8 the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem This means cover as with a shield (BDB 170, KB 199, Hiphil IMPERFECT, cf. Zec 4:14-14; Zec 9:15).
and the one who is feeble among them The literal meaning is stumble (BDB 505, KB 502, Niphal PARTICIPLE). This refers to the oldest and weakest of the community who will be made as strong as King David, who was noted as a formidable warrior.
the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the LORD before them This is a striking metaphor used in the sense of God’s empowering of His people. The term for God is the term Elohim, which is used in the sense of supernatural beings (cf. Exo 4:16; Exo 7:1; 1Sa 28:13; Psa 8:5; Psa 82:1; Psa 82:6).
The angel of the LORD is often seen as God’s representative among the people (cf. Exo 13:21; Exo 14:19; Exo 23:20-21; Exo 32:34; Exo 33:2; Exo 33:14-15; Exo 33:22). See Special Topic: The Angel of the Lord . In two passages David is likened to the angel of the Lord (cf. 1Sa 29:9; 2Sa 14:17; 2Sa 14:20; 2Sa 19:27). Remember there are three phrases (no VERBS) here which build on each other for literary, not theological, effect.
Zec 12:9 This shows the continuing metaphor of God’s sovereign protection of His people. These invading nations were defeated by Judean forces, but through YHWH’s empowerment!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
hearth = chafing dish. Compare 2Sa 2:14.
even in = as.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
like an hearth: Isa 10:16, Isa 10:17, Oba 1:18, Rev 20:9
they: Zec 9:15, Psa 149:6-9, Isa 41:15, Isa 41:16, Dan 2:34, Dan 2:35, Dan 2:44, Dan 2:45, Mic 4:13, Mic 5:5-8, Rev 19:19, Rev 19:20
on the right: Isa 9:20, Isa 54:3, 2Co 6:7
Jerusalem shall: Zec 1:16, Zec 2:4, Zec 2:12, Zec 8:3-5, Zec 14:10, Zec 14:11, Neh 11:1-36, Jer 30:18, Jer 31:38-40, Eze 48:30-35
Reciprocal: Num 23:24 – he shall Psa 129:5 – be confounded Isa 44:26 – that saith Jer 51:5 – nor Zec 10:4 – of him came forth Zec 12:3 – in that Zec 12:4 – that day Zec 12:5 – the governors
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Zec 12:6. That day all through these verses refers to the time when the promised favors should be accomplished for Judah and Jerusalem. All of the things predicted throughout this chapter and onward have a twofold bearing. The first applies to ancient Jerusalem and her triumph over her heathen foes. Then, following a practice so often observed in the prophetic writings, the verses look far beyond and after the ancient experiences of fleshly Israel to the time of Christ and the New Testament age.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Zec 12:6. In that day will I make the governors of Judah like a hearth of fire, &c. The word may be rendered, a pot. The Arabs, according to Harmer, (vol. 1. p. 233,) make a fire in a great stone pitcher, and when it is heated, spread paste upon it, which is baked almost in an instant. By a hearth of fire, however, here may be meant, a firebrand taken from the hearth, which, though small, will set other things on fire, and even whole cities. This is thought by some to be a very apt resemblance of the mischief done by the small forces of the Jews, under Judas Maccabus, to the armies of Antiochus. It may, however, be a resemblance equally, and even more apt, of the destruction made of Gog and Magog, in the latter days, by the Jews restored to their own land. And they shall devour all the people round about They shall destroy all the enemies that annoy them; on the right hand and on the left That is, on the south and on the north: see note on Eze 16:46. The Targum explains the right hand, and the left, of the south and the north. And Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place Shall be situated and inhabited on the very spot where she formerly stood: see note on Zec 14:10.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
In that day the Lord would not only preserve His people from the attacks of their enemies, but He would also make them effective as they aggressively attacked them (cf. Jdg 15:3-5; Est 9:1-28).