Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Zechariah 14:18
And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that [have] no [rain]; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
18. that have no rain ] Rather, then not on them, &c. The words are an exact and obviously intended repetition of the first words of the clause at the end of Zec 14:17, then not on them shall there be rain. The writer, however, seems to have broken off his sentence suddenly, when he had written, then not on them, perhaps from the remembrance that Egypt was not directly dependent upon rain like other countries (Deu 11:10-11), and instead of finishing it with the words shall there be rain, to have changed its form, and written “(upon them) there shall be (in its equivalent form, and ultimately owing to the same cause for the rising of the Nile which fertilizes Egypt is due to the rainfall) the plague, &c. The LXX. escape the difficulty by omitting the negative, : “even upon them shall be the plague.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain – Rather, and there shall not be. It may be that the prophet chose this elliptical form, as well knowing that the symbol did not hold as to Egypt, which, however it ultimately depended on the equatorial rains which overfilled the lakes which supply the Nile, did not need that fine arrangement of the rains of Autumn and Spring which were essential to the fruitfulness of Palestine. The omission leaves room for the somewhat prosaic supply of Jonathan, The Nile shall not ascend to them. More probably the words are left undefined with a purposed abruptness, there shall not be upon them, namely, whatever they need: the omission of the symbol in these two verses might the more suggest, that it is a symbol only. Egypt, the ancient oppressor of Israel, is united with Judah as one, in the same worship of God, as Isaiah had said, In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria Isa 19:24; and since it is united in the duty, so also in the punishment for despising it.
Osorius: Let not Egypt be proud, that it is watered by the Nile, as if it needed no rain: that is, let no one be secure in this life. For though we stand by faith, yet may we fall. For although bedewed by the efflux of divine grace, and filled with its richness, yet if we give not thanks continually for such great gifts, God will count us as the rest, to whom such copious goodness never came. The safety of all then lies in this, that while we are in these tabernacles, we cherish the divine benefits, and unceasingly praise the Lord, who hath heaped such benefits upon us.
Cyril: Under the one nation of the Egyptians, he understands those who are greatly deceived, and chose idolatry most unreasonably, to whom it will be a grave inevitable judgment, the pledge of destruction, that they despise the acceptable grace of salvation through Christ. For they are murderers of their own souls, if, when they could lay hold of eternal life and the divine gentleness, open to all who will choose it and put off the burden of sin, they die in their errors; the stain and pollution from transgression and error uncleansed, although the Divine Light illumined all around and called those in darkness to receive sight. Of each of these I would say, Better is an untimely birth than he; for he cometh in with vanity, and departeth in darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness Ecc 6:3-4. Good had it been for them, if they had never been born Mat 26:24, is the Saviours word. That this is not said of the Egyptians only, but shall come true of all nations, who shall altogether be punished, if they are reckless of the salvation through Christ and honor not His festival, he will establish in these words;
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 18. If the family of Egypt] This may allude to those Jews who, flying from the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, settled in Egypt, and built a temple at Heliopolis, under the direction of Onias, son of the high priest. Joseph. Antiq. lib. xiii., c. 6, and WAR, lib. vii., c. 36. If these do not rejoin their brethren, they shall have no rain, no interest in the favour of God.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Egypt should think, though they had no rain, they should not be much losers by that, having the Nile to water their ground and make it fruitful. God by his prophet answers them, they shall fall under penury and famine, the very selfsame punishment which shall fall on other nations, if they neglected his worship. The Lord hath more ways than one to withhold the fruits of the earth, and send famine among people.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
18. if . . . Egypt go notupspecified as Israel’s ancient foe. If Egypt go not up, andso there be no rain on them (a judgment which Egypt would condemn, asdepending on the Nile’s overflow, not on rain), there shall be theplague . . . . Because the guilty are not affected by one judgment,let them not think to escape, for God has other judgments which shallplague them. MAURERtranslates, “If Egypt go not up, upon them also there shall benone” (no rain). Ps 105:32mentions “rain” in Egypt. But it is not their main sourceof fertility.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not,…. To Jerusalem, the church of God; do not go thither to worship the Lord, attend his ordinances, and keep them in their purity; nor walk as becomes the people of God: by “the family of Egypt” are meant the Papists, so called for their tyranny, cruelty, and idolatry, Re 11:8:
that [have] no [rain]; have not the pure word of God, and the ordinances thereof, only the traditions of men; yea, the doctrines of devils, and lies in hypocrisy: the allusion is to the land of Egypt, which was watered, not so much by rain as by the overflowing of the river Nile: or it may be rendered, “and upon them there shall be no rain” w; or that which is equivalent to it. So the Targum paraphrases it,
“the Nile shall not ascend unto them.”
The sense is, as they are without the pure Gospel of Christ, they shall continue so, and be punished with, that sore judgment of a famine of hearing the word of the Lord.
There shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles; they shall have the same plague of want of water, a famine; for it is a vulgar mistake that there is no rain in Egypt; it rains indeed but seldom, and only in some places, but it does rain. Monsieur Thevenot x says,
“it rains much at Alexandria, and Rosetta also; but at Cairo, which stands higher, it rains less; and yet (says he) I have seen it rain very hard every year, for two days together in the month of December.”
And Mr. Fuller y says that Sir William Paston, a patron of his, and a well accomplished traveller, was
“an eye witness of much and violent rain at Grand Cairo, but such as presaged a great mortality, which ensued, not long after.”
But it should be observed that this is only true of the lower part of Egypt, for in the upper parts it rains not, at least not very commonly: for Herodotus z reports that
“in the times of Psammenitus, the son of Amasis, king of Egypt, a very wonderful thing happened to the Egyptians; it rained at Thebes in Egypt, which it never had before, nor has ever since, as the Thebans say; for it never rains in the upper part of Egypt; but then it rained at Thebes in drops.”
Yet Mr. Norden a, a late traveller in those parts, says he
“experienced at Meschie (a city in his travels to upper Egypt) a very violent rain, accompanied with thunder, for the space of a whole hour;”
though in the same place he says, at Feschna, and beyond, in the upper Egypt, the sky is always serene and clear. And in his travels from Cairo to Girge, capital of the upper Egypt, he relates, that at a certain place, as he went thither, they had little wind, and a great deal of rain b. And in another place c he observes, at Menie (a place in upper Egypt) there was so thick a fog that we could perceive nothing at thirty paces distant: wherefore, since it does rain at times in some places, the same plague as before may be here meant; or want of provisions, as others, through a defect of rain; or the Nile not overflowing and watering the land, as Jarchi interprets it: but Kimchi gives another sense, and so Aben Ezra, which is, that instead of having no rain, which they need not and do not desire, they shall be smitten with the plague that the Lord will smite all the nations with that fight against Jerusalem, namely, their flesh shall consume away, c.
Zec 14:12.
w “super quos non [est imber]”, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius “et non super illos, scil. erit imber”, Burkius. x Travels, part 1. c. 72. p. 247. y Pisgah-Sight, B. 4. c. 5. p. 80. z Thalia, sive l. 3. c. 10. a Travels in Egypt and Nubia, vol. 1. p. 140. b Ib. vol. 2. p. 20. c Ib. p. 209.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
But Zechariah speaks expressly of the Egyptians: and we indeed know that they were most inveterate enemies to true religion; and he might have also mentioned the Assyrians and the Chaldeans; but as the Egyptians were nearer and more contiguous to the holy land, their hatred towards the Jews was more virulent. This is the reason why Zechariah speaks of them particularly. It may at the same time appear strange that he threatens them with want of rain; for we know that Egypt expects no rain from above, because of the peculiar condition of the country; for according as the Nile overflows, do the inhabitants look for a fruitful produce of corn and of all other things. The Prophet then ought not to have thus threatened the Egyptians, for they might have justly laughed at him for saying that there would be no rain for them, the want of which is not much felt there. But the Prophet’s intention was simply what I have already explained, — that God would be a Father to the Jews, and also to others who joined in his worship according to the law. Though then the Egyptians had no need of rain, yet by this metaphor Zechariah denounced on them sterility as the punishment of impiety.
And we may further observe, that though the overflowing of the Nile irrigated the whole land and made it fruitful, yet rain was by no means useless; and it is said in Psa 105:32, “He turned their rain into hail,” Egypt being the place spoken of; for the Lord destroyed all its fruit, because the rain was turned into hail. It appears also evident from history, that rain is desirable in Egypt in order to render the produce more abundant. But the Lord has favored that country with a peculiar benefit by supplying the want of rain by the Nile.
There is then nothing doubtful in the meaning of the Prophet, as his object was to show, that the Lord would constrain all people to become obedient to true religion, not only those Jews who were far removed from Judea, but even the Egyptians themselves, who had been always most alienated from true and pure worship.
He adds, There shall be upon them the plague. He now speaks more generally; and what he before specifically mentioned, he now declares in general terms, — that God would execute vengeance and destroy and reduce to nothing all those who took not on them the yoke, so as to worship him sincerely, together with the Jews, according to what the law prescribes. He again repeats the words, who ascended not into Jerusalem; not that he intended to confine the worship of God to ceremonies or rites under the law; but because it was necessary, until Christ abrogated all the ancient rites, that the worship of God should be thus described; nor could it then be separated from these external exercises.
But here it may be rightly inquired, why the Prophet speaks specifically of the feast of tabernacles, since the passover was deemed first among the festivals. The reason seems to me to have been this, — because it was difficult to believe that the Jews would return to their own country, that God would become again their redeemer. Many interpreters say, that the Prophet speaks of the feast of tabernacles, because it behaved them to be sojourners in the world: but a similar reason might be given for other days. We must then inquire why he mentions the feast of tabernacles and not other feasts. Now we know that when the Prophets speak of the second restoration of the people, they often call attention to that wonderful deliverance from Egypt by which God had proved that he possessed sufficient power to redeem and save his own people. To this instance does Zechariah now allude, as I think, and says, that God would restore his people by his wonderful and inexpressibly great power, so that they might justly celebrate the feast of tabernacles as their fathers formerly did: for we know why God commanded the Jews to dwell every year under the branches of trees; it was, that they might be mindful of that deliverance which had been granted to their fathers; for they had continued forty years in the desert, where they had no buildings, but huts only, made of branches of trees. When therefore they went forth from their houses, and dwelt as it were in the open air in tents, they thus revived the memory of the wonderful manner by which their fathers were delivered. Hence God, in order to show that their return from the Babylonian exile was worthy of being remembered, says here that the feast of tabernacles would be celebrated (195)
In short, the Prophet means that God would be such a deliverer of his people, that all the nations, even from the remotest parts, would acknowledge it as a remarkable miracle: it is the sense then as though he had said, that the deliverance of the people would be an evidence of divine power so manifest and illustrious, that all nations would acknowledge that the God of Israel is the creator of heaven and earth, and is so endued with supreme power, that he governs the whole world; and, in a word, that he is the only true God who ought to be worshipped. (196) It afterwards follows —
(195) See Neh 8:13.
(196) The two verses, 17 and 18, I would render thus, —
17. And it shall be, that whosoever shall not ascend, Of the families of the land, to Jerusalem, To worship the King, Jehovah of hosts.
18. Not on them shall be rain; And if the family of Egypt Shall not ascend and shall not come,— On them shall be the plague, Which Jehovah will bring on all the people Who will not ascend to keep the feast of tabernacles.
The “land” of Judah, not earth or the world, is what is meant, as it is evident from the contrast in the next verse, “the family of Egypt.” The word [ ארף ] means commonly in the Prophets the land of Canaan. The words [ ולא ] before “on them” in verse 18, are left out of four MS., in the Septuagint and the Syriac; and they seem to be wholly misplaced here. I render [ גוים ] “people,” and supply [ כל ] before it, as in verses 14 and 16, supported by very many MS., and by the Septuagint. The word here and everywhere in this chapter, in verses 2,3,14,16, and 19, is in my view improperly rendered “nations,” viewed as heathen nations. It has no doubt this meaning in many places, but it means also people or peoples, i.e., the people of Israel. See Deu 4:6; Jos 5:6. It is a word of general import, signifying the body of a nation; and her and elsewhere in this chapter it means the whole community of the Jews, whether residing in the land of Canaan or in other parts of the world, especially in Egypt. Intestine broils, and not wars with heathens, are referred to in this chapter. Hence we clearly see the reason why “the feast of tabernacles” is mentioned, and why a curse is denounced on those who neglected it. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(18) That have no rain.This is an impossible rendering of the original. We must read these words in connection with those which follow, and either take the clause as interrogative, and render, then will not (nonne?) the plague fall upon them wherewith, &c., or we must, with LXX. and six Hebrew MSS., omit the negative, and render, then shall fall on them the plague wherewith, &c. Lange (quoted by Wright) has observed rightly that if the family of Egypt were to be punished by the deficiency of water, the Abyssinians, even though they attended the feast at Jerusalem, would have to suffer at the same time, as Egypt can only suffer from scarcity of water in connection with all the lands in the south of that country. The fact, then, that the withholding of rain is described as the particular punishment of the nations that will not go up to the feast is sufficient proof that the prophecy is not to be taken in its literal sense.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Zec 14:19 concludes the section with a reiteration of the threat.
Punishment Literally, sin; here equivalent to punishment for sin (Num 32:23).
Jerusalem and Judah holy unto Jehovah, 20, 21.
From the description of the destiny of the hostile nations the prophet returns to complete the description of the glory of the city and land of Jehovah; Zec 14:20-21, therefore, are in a sense the continuation of Zec 14:11. Jerusalem and Judah will be freed from everything that is unclean and, with all their contents, will be holy unto Jehovah.
Bells of the horses The reference may be to bells worn by the horses or to metal plates which would make a tinkling sound when the horses moved upon which was inscribed the name of the owner. Horses are frequently mentioned by the prophets as beasts of war and splendor (compare Zec 9:10; Zec 10:5); in the new age they will no longer be used for warlike enterprises, they will be devoted exclusively to the service of Jehovah, whose name will be inscribed upon the bells or plates as that of the owner.
Holiness R.V., “Holy.” The noun is used in the Hebrew in the place of the adjective for the sake of emphasis (G.-K., 141c).
Unto Jehovah The same inscription was found upon a gold plate in the mitre of the high priest (Exo 28:36; Exo 28:38), to designate him as a person consecrated to the service of Jehovah. This is the meaning here as in Zec 14:21. “When it [the word holy ] is applied to things it expresses the idea that they belong to Jehovah, are used in his service or dedicated to him, or are in some special way his property” (A.B. Davidson, The Theology of the Old Testament, p. 253; see on Joe 2:1).
The pots in Jehovah’s house The earthen vessels in which the flesh of the sacrifice was cooked for priests and laymen (1Sa 2:14; 2Ch 35:13), whose use was therefore semi-secular.
Shall be like the bowls before the altar The vessels serving semi-secular and unimportant purposes will in the new era be as sacred and holy as the bowls in which is caught the blood of the sacrificial animals (Num 4:14; compare Zec 9:15). These bowls possessed a special degree of sanctity, because the blood was considered peculiarly sacred by the Hebrews. Some see the point of comparison not in the sanctity but in the size; but this is less probable.
In Zec 14:21 the prophet goes even further. The whole land will be Jehovah’s (Zec 14:9-11); by that very fact it will be made holy unto him (see on Zec 14:20; Joe 2:1), and this holiness will attach to everything found in the land.
Every pot Not only the vessels in the temple, but also those used in private homes for secular purposes; they will possess in the new age the same sanctity as the former.
They that sacrifice Strangers from the distance, who cannot carry with them sacrificial implements, but have to secure them after their arrival in the city.
Take of them As many as they need, without fear that they will secure an unclean vessel.
Canaanite Some take this word in a commercial sense, merchant, trafficker (see on Hos 12:7), and they interpret the passage as meaning that, since any vessel the worshiper may lay his hand on will serve his purpose, there will be no further need of merchants selling these wares in the temple (compare Mat 21:12; Joh 2:14). Others take the word literally of the inhabitants of Canaan, and they think that it refers to the Canaanites employed to perform the lowest duties in the temple. Still others expand the application of the term so as to include all unclean persons, whether Jews or foreigners. All such will disappear, for both men and things throughout Judah and Jerusalem will be holy unto Jehovah. Between these interpretations it is difficult to choose. With the second may be compared Eze 44:9; but the context favors the first.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Zec 14:18. That have no rain; there, &c. Upon them shall be the plague wherewith the Lord, &c. Houbigant. The reader will observe, that the prophet, foretelling the blessings arising from the restoration of the Jews, and the conversion of the Gentiles to the Christian faith, draws his images from the old dispensation; and, as is usual throughout the prophetic writings, expresses the rewards and punishments of the new dispensation, under figures borrowed from the old.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Zec 14:18 And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that [have] no [rain]; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
Ver. 18. And if the family of Egypt ] So called from one Aiguptos, a king there. In the Hebrew it is called mostly Mizraim, from one of that name, Gen 10:6 ; sometimes, for its power and pride, it is called Rahab, Psa 87:4 ; Psa 89:11 Isa 51:9 . The family of Egypt is here put for the whole nation (see the like Amo 3:1 ), because, after the confusion of tongues especially, nations took their origin and denomination from the head of some family; as did the Egyptians from Mizraim, Shem’s second son.
Go not up, and come not
That have no rain
There shall be the plague
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
that have no rain. This react with Zec 14:17 makes no sense. Modern critics (with Revised Version margin) at once say “the text is probably corrupt”. The Ellipsis must be supplied by repeating the words from the end of Zec 14:17 thus “if . . . come not, [not upon them shall be no rain, but] upon them there shall be the plague” as aforesaid in Zec 14:12). Egypt has no rain; hence this elliptical expression, Reference to Pant. (Deu 11:10). App-92.
the. Some codices, with five early printed editions (one Rabbinic, in margin), Sept Syriac, and Vulgate, read “all the”.
heathen = nations. Some codices read “peoples”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
that have no: Heb. upon whom there is not, Deu 11:10, Deu 11:11
Reciprocal: Psa 9:19 – let the Isa 19:1 – Egypt Isa 19:5 – General Isa 66:24 – and look Eze 29:2 – against all Joe 3:19 – Egypt Amo 3:2 – all Zec 14:16 – and to
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Zec 14:18. This is the same in meaning as the preceding verse. The heathen (or Gentiles) will all be given a chance to enjoy the blessings issued from Jerusalem, but if they refuse it they will be rejected by the Lord.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
14:18 And if the family of {q} Egypt shall not go up, and shall not come, that [have] no [rain]; there shall be the plague, with which the LORD will smite the nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
(q) By the Egyptians, who were the greatest enemies to true religion, he means all the Gentiles.