14<\/strong>. with a whirlwind<\/em> ] Amo 1:14<\/span>; Job 27:21<\/span>.<\/p>\n whom they knew not<\/em> ] Deu 28:33<\/span>; Jer 16:13<\/span>.<\/p>\n after them<\/em> ] i.e. after they are removed from it.<\/p>\n passed through nor returned<\/em> ] as we say, went backward and forward<\/em>. Eze 35:7<\/span>. See note on Zec 9:8<\/span>.<\/p>\n they laid<\/em> ] Either to be taken impersonally, it was laid<\/em>; or they<\/em> ( the Jews<\/em>) by their sins<\/em>.<\/p>\n But I scattered them – <\/B>Rather, And I will scatter them. The saying continues what God had said that he had said, and which had come to pass. Among all nations whom they knew not. So God had repeatedly said by Jeremiah, I will cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, ye nor your fathers; where I will not show you favor (Jer 16:13<\/span>; add Jer 15:14<\/span>; Jer 17:4<\/span>). This was the aggravation of the original woe in the law: The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand, a nation of fierce countenance Deu 28:49-50<\/span>. There was no mitigation of suffering, when the common bond between man and man, mutual speech, was wanting.<\/P> That no man passed through nor returned – <\/B>Literally, from passer through and from returner; as in the prophecy of Alexanders march and return, because of him that passeth by and of him that returneth Zec 9:8<\/span>; and of Seir God saith, I will cut off from him, passer-through and returner . As we say, there shall be no traffic more through her.<\/P> And they made the pleasant land desolate – <\/B>They were the doers of what they by their sins caused, by bringing down the judgments of God. Heretofore the land which God had given them, had been in our language the envy of all who knew it now they had made it into a desolation, one wide waste Joe 1:7<\/span>; Isa 13:9<\/span>; Jer 2:15<\/span>; Jer 4:7<\/span>; Jer 18:16<\/span>; Jer 19:8<\/span>; Jer 25:9<\/span>; Jer 50:3<\/span>; Jer 51:29<\/span>.<\/P> Dionysius: What is said in the beginning of the chapter against Jews who abstained indiscreetly, applies mystically to all, not inward, but rude Christians, who not being diligent enough but rather negligent about acts of piety and inward prayer and reformation of the powers of the soul, account highly of bodily exercises and outward observances, and use no slight scrupulosity as to things of less moment, and do not attend to the chief things, charity, humility, patience meekness. On these it must be inculcated, that if they wish their fasts and other outward exercises to please God, they must judge true judgment, and be compassionate, kind, liberal to their neighbors, keep their mind ever steadfast in God, cast away wholly all hardness of heart, and be soft and open to receive within them the word of God. Otherwise their land will be desolate, that is, deprived of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and they scattered amid various vices. Jerome: That which was formerly a pleasant land, and the hospice of the Trinity, is turned into a desert and dwelling-place of dragons.<\/P> <\/p>\n Verse 14<\/span>. I scattered them with a whirlwind<\/B><\/I>] This refers to the swift victories and cruel conduct of the Chaldeans towards the Jews; they came upon them like a whirlwind<\/I>; they were tossed to and fro, and up and down, everywhere scattered and confounded.<\/P> <\/p>\n But I scattered them; <\/B>when they had so provoked me, I cast them out of their habitations, pursued them with the tempest of wrath that scattered them as I threatened. <\/P> With a whirlwind; <\/B>irresistibly, suddenly, and tearing all into pieces, as whirlwinds do. <\/P> Among all the nations; <\/B>all the heathen, that hated them and their ways. <\/P> Whom they know not; <\/B>where they could have no pity, nor any relief, nor common commerce; but as barbarous usage as fierce and unintelligible enemies can give them. <\/P> Thus the land, <\/B>once flowing with milk and honey, once full of cities, men, and cattle, now waste as a wilderness, <\/P> was desolate after them; <\/B>either the Jews cast out, or the Chaldeans who cast them out. <\/P> No man passed through nor returned:<\/B> it was not fit to make a road through a land so void of all necessaries, so full of wild and ravenous beasts, so unwholesome as to the air, &c. <\/P> For they, <\/B>sinful Jews by their sins, fierce Chaldeans by their sword, and God by his just displeasure, laid the pleasant land most desolate and waste. <\/P> <\/p>\n 14. whirlwind<\/B>of wrath (Na1:3<\/span>). <\/P> nations whom they knewnot<\/B>foreign and barbarous. <\/P> desolate after them<\/B>aftertheir expulsion and exile. It was ordered remarkably by God’sprovidence, that no occupants took possession of it, but that duringthe Jews’ absence it was reserved for them against their return afterseventy years. <\/P> they laid . . . desolate<\/B>TheJews did so by their sins. The blame of their destruction lay withthemselves, rather than with the Babylonians (2Ch36:21<\/span>). <\/P> pleasant land<\/B>Canaan.Literally, “the land of desire” (Jer3:19<\/span>).<\/P><\/p>\n But I scattered them with a whirlwind<\/strong>,…. Denoting the fierceness of his wrath, and the strength of his fury, seen in their dispersion:<\/p>\n among all the nations whom they knew not<\/strong>; such as the Babylonians, Medes, and Persians, people before unknown to the Jews:<\/p>\n thus the land was desolate after them<\/strong>; that is, the land of Judea was destitute of inhabitants, or had but few remaining in it, after the Jews were carried captive into Babylon; for the rest, after the death of Gedaliah, fled into Egypt:<\/p>\n that no man passed through, nor returned<\/strong>; neither from Egypt, nor from Babylon, until the seventy years of captivity were ended; nor indeed did any from other nations pass through and fro, or settle in it, during this time, that we have any account of:<\/p>\n for they laid the pleasant land desolate<\/strong>; either the Israelites by their iniquities, which were the cause of it; or the Babylonians, as the instruments of God’s vengeance. This pleasant land is the land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey; the glory of all lands, for its great fruitfulness, and delightful situation; and especially for being the seat of the divine Majesty, and where his people dwelt, and where his temple was, and he was worshipped; see Eze 20:6<\/span> De 8:7<\/span>.<\/p>\n Here the Prophet concludes what he had been speaking of God’s vengeance, by which he had fully proved, that the sins of that nation had arrived to such a pitch, that there was no room for pardon. Hence he says, that they had been dispersed; for so I prefer to render the word, and the context seems to require this. Interpreters vary as to its meaning; and, indeed, the Hebrews themselves say, that this is a difficult passage, for, according to the rules of grammar, the word can hardly be made suitable to the context. But let us first see what the Prophet treats of; and secondly, what meaning, as the word signifies various things, is the most suitable. <\/p>\n The Prophet no doubt refers here to God’s vengeance, as evidenced by the dispersion of the Jews among many nations, not only when they were driven into exile, but also when scattered in various parts of the world. The verb, taken transitively, is by no means doubtful in its meaning, for סער, sor, means to move one from a place, or to expel, and that by force, inasmuch as it is derived from whirlwind. As it may therefore be here a transitive verb, I see no reason why we should seek other meanings at variance with the design and object of the Prophet. He then says, that the Jews had been dispersed — how? among all nations, that is, through all parts of the world; and then among unknown nations. Now we know, that the farther the exile, the more severe it is, for neighbors for the most part are the most humane; and when one is removed far to a barbarous nation, he would rather a hundred times to die on his journey than to live at a great distance from his country, and among a people of new and strange habits. The meaning is, that the Jews had been severely visited by God, not only because they had departed from his true worship and holy fear, but because they had been perverse, had rejected all sound doctrine, and had been deaf and indifferent to all admonitions. It was then for this reason that they had been dispersed among all nations <\/p>\n He afterwards adds, that the land after them became desolate that no one passed through it. This circumstance also, that God devoted the land to desolation, proved more fully his wrath: for when God imprints marks of his vengeance on the land, and on other harmless things, necessary for man’s support, it becomes evident that he is not lightly displeased with men. He then intimates, that God was not satisfied with the exile and dispersion of that people, but that he intended that there should be also visible marks of their wickedness in the sterility and desolation of the land itself: and that land, we know, was very fruitful, both by nature and by God’s blessing; for he had promised to give to the Israelites a land flowing with milk and honey. When this fruitfulness was turned to sterility, such a change ought to have roused the minds of all to consider the dreadful judgment of God. We now then see why the Prophet says, that the land after them, that is, after their departure, became desolate; for they had polluted the land so far as to constrain it, though innocent, to bear the judgment of God. <\/p>\n And he says further, that the desirable land became a waste, even through their fault. God was indeed the author of that waste, but Zechariah imputes this calamity to the people, because they had provoked God’s wrath, and procured this evil for themselves; yea, they had involved the land itself as it were in the same guilt, for it was cursed by God, though they had been driven hence to another country. Desirable land was a name often given to Judea, not only on account of its fruitfulness, and the abundance of its produce, but because God had chosen it for himself: for though that land excelled other lands in many respects, it is yet certain that its chief excellency consisted in this, — that God honored it with peculiar favor. <\/p>\n Zechariah then condemns the Jews, not only because they had by their own fault extinguished the favor as to the produce of the land, but because they had corrupted the land itself, which had been so singularly favored as to have become the habitation of God. And hence we more fully learn how great was the enormity of their sins, which caused God to devote to desolation a land chosen by himself; for, as we have said, it was no common honor for that land, in which God designed to be worshipped by his chosen and holy people, to have been destined by him to be made like Paradise. But when such an honor was turned to shame and perpetual reproach, it was clearly a remarkable sign of God’s wrath: and hence also becomes evident the impiety of that people who, as it had been said, turned aside God’s favor from the land, that not only it did not bring forth its usual produce, but that it also became, as it were, a disgraceful spectacle, and filled all with horror on seeing it so desolate, where was previously seen the temple and the worship of God. <\/p>\n Zec 7:14<\/span><\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong>I scattered them with a whirlwind<\/em><\/strong><\/strong> This sublime metaphor is expressed by a single word in the original, vaeisaarem. <\/em>See Archbishop Newcome. <\/p>\n REFLECTIONS.<\/strong>1st, Though we have nothing here recorded of the prophet for two years, we are assured that he was well employed, Ezr 6:14<\/span> but he had no commission to publish his discourses, till on the present occasion. We have, <\/p>\n 1. The question proposed concerning fasting. Sherezer and Regem-melech, <\/em>persons of some note, with their men, <\/em>are commissioned in the name of the people to go up to the house of God, <\/em>that is to say, by those who were situated in the country of Judaea, at a distance from Jerusalem; to whom, in Zec 7:5<\/span> the answer seems to be directed. Their business at the temple was, to pray before the Lord, <\/em>as the greatest of men should account it their honour to do, and to speak unto the<\/em> priests which were in the house of the Lord of Hosts, <\/em>whose office and business it is to explain the will of God; and the people, even the chief of them, should with reverence and attention hear the law at their mouth; for they who are sincere in their prayers, will be serious in their inquiries to know God’s mind, that they may do it; and to the prophets, <\/em>whom God had then in mercy raised up to them, saying, should I weep in the fifth month, <\/em>on the day when the temple was burnt by the Chaldeans, separating myself <\/em>for fasting and prayer, as I have done these so many years? <\/em>which now they doubted whether it were proper for them to continue, their temple being in great forwardness, and a prospect of its happy re-establishment before them. Note; <\/em>(1.) In cases of conscience, God’s ministers should be consulted. (2.) When God afflicts, he calls to weeping and fasting: to be stupid, or unconcerned, would be to despise the chastening of the Almighty, and provoke a heavier scourge. <\/p>\n 2. Zechariah has an answer given him for them, and it is a sharp reproof for their hypocrisy and disobedience. They had fasted, indeed, in the fifth and seventh month, <\/em>in memory of the burning of the temple, and the murder of Gedaliah; but their fasts were mere ceremonious duties, without any real humiliation of soul: did ye at all<\/em> fast unto me, even to me? <\/em>Their eye was not single, they did not propose God’s glory as their end, and therefore their services could not be acceptable, however long they had continued them; in mentioning which, they seem tacitly to upbraid God with not taking notice of them, and to value themselves on their performances: but their fasts were no more pleasing than their common meals, or their festivals, in which they<\/em> ate, and drank for themselves, <\/em>not giving him thanks, or doing him honour, or designing, in the use of his creatures, to glorify him, but to indulge themselves. Should ye not hear the words which the Lord hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited, and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain? <\/em>This was what they should have done, which would have prevented the desolations; and, in their fasts, these Scriptures should have been attended to, both as a matter of humiliation, and as a warning against the iniquities which had provoked God to destroy the land. But this they had neglected; and it is then to no purpose to fast, whilst our hearts continue unhumbled for the sins which are the cause of our calamities. <\/p>\n 2nd, The examples which they had seen, and the words of the preceding prophets, should have been warnings to them. 2. He reminds them of the disobedience of their fathers. They refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, <\/em>disobedient and refractory against all the warnings given them, and stopped their ears that they should not hear, <\/em>not deigning so much as to hearken to God’s messages. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, <\/em>impenetrable to conviction, neither regarding the law of Moses, nor the words of his divinely-commissioned messengers the prophets. <\/p>\n 3. For these things came a great wrath <\/em>upon them, from the Lord of Hosts; <\/em>and since they would not hear his calls, God refused to hear their cries in the day of their calamity; scattered them among the nations, laid their pleasant land desolate; a righteous judgment upon them for their obstinacy, impenitence, and hardness of heart. Note: <\/em>(1.) They who in prosperity set at nought God’s threatenings, will cry too late for mercy when it is the time of judgment. (2.) Sinners have only themselves to blame for their eternal ruin. <\/p>\n REFLECTIONS.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Reader! it is among the most important of all subjects to have a right apprehension of the method, whereby poor fallen man in every age of the Church, can rightly approach to God. Mankind have been always fond of commuting with God for sin, and when the Lord in grace saith return to me, and I will return to you, with the same boldness as those of old, we are apt to cry out, wherein shall we return? And then fastings, and almsgivings, and a few forms of prayer are set up, by way of atonement for the sin of the soul. Alas, alas! here is more spiritual pride in all this, than any real repentance, or true fasting, or sorrow. Amidst a thousand plans of false reform, and a thousand substitutions, instead of the real return of the heart to God, there is but one the Holy Ghost teacheth, and that is indeed infallible, namely, with an eye to Christ. Without faith (saith the Lord the Spirit by his servant the Apostle) it is impossible to please God. There will be no real sense of sin, no true compunction of the heart towards God, but where the Holy Ghost hath given a spirit of grace and supplication, to look unto Him whom we have pierced, and mourn. In every heart, where God the Holy Ghost hath arraigned that heart with an indictment for sin, there sin is felt, and known, and acknowledged to be exceeding sinful. And in every case of this kind, repentance and fasting will be the effect, and not sought to as a cause, to come before God with. Hence the Apostle strongly and satisfactorily reasons; if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin. Reader! do you feel prompted to ask, with the Sherezers and Regemmelechs of the present hour, should I weep, should I first in the fifth month as I have done these many years? hear the Lord’s answer, and mark it well. Oh! for grace to eye Jesus in all, to go to Jesus for all, and to make him what God the Father hath made him, the all in all of the covenant. He, and He alone, in his glorious person, blood, and righteousness, is the only propitiatory, the only mercy seat, sacrifice, and sacrificer, for poor sinners to look to in all their approaches to God!<\/p>\n Zec 7:14 But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.<\/p>\n Ver. 14. But I scattered them with a whirlwind<\/strong> ] This is the second part of their punishment. The first was no audience or help from heaven at their greatest need, Zec 7:13<\/span> . This was the curse of Saul, 1Sa 28:15<\/span> ; of Moab, Isa 16:12<\/span> ; of David’s enemies, Psa 18:41<\/span> . The next now is, they were dejected and dissipated, as the dust of the mountains before a whirlwind; cast out of their native soil, and carried, they knew not whither, with a great and fearful dispersion and discerption of the same body and nation. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Thus the land was desolate after them<\/strong> ] This is the third degree of their grievous punishment, their land laid utterly waste and desolate; according to that, “God turneth a fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein,” Psa 107:34<\/span> . Here a learned expositor observeth a wonderful providence, that this pleasant country, left thus destitute of inhabitants, and compassed about with warlike nations, was not invaded and replanted by foreigners for seventy years’ time; but enjoyed her sabbaths, resting from tillage and all other employments. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n For they laid the pleasant land desolate<\/strong> ] They, by their sins, rather than the Babylonians by their armies, did all this spoil, as Daniel also confesseth, Dan 9:16<\/span> , and Nehemiah, Neh 1:8<\/span> . Sin is the great mischief-maker, hell-hag, a<\/em> trouble maker, that hurled confusion over the world at first, and brings desolation still to pleasant countries. Palestine was very pleasant, not more by the nature of the soil than by God’s special blessing; a land that he had espied out for them, flowing with milk and honey, which was the glory of all lands, Eze 20:6<\/span> . This land they had laid desolate, or for an astonishment, as some render it; or for an In qua quid?<\/em> as Montanus reads it, What is here? Nothing of its old pleasantness. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n a<\/em> A diabolical or vile woman. D<\/p>\n I scattered them with a whirlwind. Not the usual verb, to scatter; but sa’ar = to drive with a tempest. Occurs only seven times (2Ki 6:11 (“sore troubled”). Isa 54:11. Hos 13:3. Jon 1:11, Jon 1:13. Hab 3:14). <\/p>\n the land was desolate. Reference to Pentateuch (Lev 26:22). <\/p>\n after them: i.e. when they had left it. <\/p>\n pleasant = desirable. Dan 8:9. <\/p>\n scattered: Zec 2:6, Zec 9:14, Lev 26:33, Deu 4:27, Deu 28:33, Deu 28:64, Psa 58:9, Isa 17:13, Isa 21:1, Isa 66:15, Jer 4:11, Jer 4:12, Jer 23:19, Jer 25:32, Jer 25:33, Jer 30:23, Jer 36:19, Amo 1:14, Nah 1:3, Hab 3:14 <\/p>\n whom: Deu 28:33, Deu 28:49, Jer 5:15 <\/p>\n the land: Lev 26:22, 2Ch 36:21, Jer 52:30, Dan 9:16-18, Zep 3:6 <\/p>\n the pleasant land: Heb. the land of desire, Dan 8:9 <\/p>\n Reciprocal: Est 3:8 – scattered abroad Isa 28:12 – yet Isa 40:24 – and the Jer 9:16 – scatter Jer 29:18 – will deliver Jer 34:22 – and I will Eze 5:10 – the whole Eze 5:12 – and I will scatter Eze 12:19 – that her Eze 20:6 – which is Eze 22:15 – scatter Eze 26:12 – thy pleasant houses Eze 33:28 – I will lay Joe 2:3 – and behind<\/p>\n Zec 7:14. A whirlwind not only overthrows what Is in Its path, but picks up and carries it away. The fact is used to illustrate the work of God’s wrath in gathering up the unfaithful nation and carrying it into a strange land,<\/p>\n 7:14 But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate {n} after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land {o} desolate.<\/p>\n (n) That is, after they were taken captive.<\/p>\n (o) By their sins by which they provoked God’s anger.<\/p>\n But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate. 14. with a whirlwind ] Amo 1:14; Job 27:21. whom they knew not ] Deu 28:33; Jer 16:13. after … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Zechariah 7:14”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22987\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
1. The prophet puts them in mind what had been the subject of the former prophets’ discourses. Thus speaketh the Lord of Hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, <\/em>impartially administering justice without respect of persons, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother, <\/em>under all his wants of body or soul, assisting him with our advice, our money, our person, and our prayers; forgiving every provocation, and bearing his infirmities. And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor, <\/em>whose helpless state should plead for them; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart; <\/em>neither harbour a design of mischief, nor entertain an evil surmise concerning him. <\/p>\nFuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"