Chapter 9 (4)

Chapter 9 (4)

Zechariah 9:11

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. Etiam tu, in sanguine foederis, tui emisi vinctos tuos e puteo, in quo non erat aqua.

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, 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.

Note 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.

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?”

Note 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 Exodus 24:6-8. 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.

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 —

Zechariah 9:12

12. Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee;

12. Convertimini ad munitionem vincti spei; etiam hodie annuntio duplicia, rependam tibi (vel, duplicia rependam tibi; uterque sensus non male convenit.)

Zechariah proceeds with the same subject. He bids the Jews suddenly to retake themselves to their fortress. There is no doubt but that he means by that term the holy land; nor do I oppose the opinion of those who think the temple to be intended: for Jerusalem and the whole of Judea is called a fortress, and for this reason, because God had chosen his sanctuary there. It is then the same, as though one wishing to collect a dispersed and straggling band of soldiers were to say, “To the standard, to the standard;” or, “To the troop, to the troop.” For though Judea was not then fortified, nay, Jerusalem itself had no high wall or strong towers, yet they had God as their stronghold, and this was impregnable; for he had promised that the Jews would be safe under the shadow of his wings, though exposed to the caprices of all around them. Nor does he here address them only who had returned, or the exiles who still remained scattered in the East; but by this declaration he encourages the whole Church, that they might be fully persuaded that when assembled under the protection of God, they were as fortified as though they were on every side surrounded by the strongest citadels, and that there would be no access open to enemies.

Return ye then to the stronghold. This could not have appeared unreasonable; for we know that when they were building the city their work was often interrupted; and we know also that the temple was not then fortified by a wall. But Zechariah teaches them, that in that state of things there was sufficient defense in God alone. Though then the Jews were not made safe by moats, or by walls, or by mounds, he yet reminds them, that God would be sufficient to defend them, and that he would be to them, as it is said in another place, a wall and a rampart. (Isaiah 26:1.)

But it is not without reason that he calls them the captives of hope; for many had wholly alienated themselves from God and altogether fallen away, so as to be unworthy of any promise. By this mark then he distinguishes between the faithful captives and those who had wholly degenerated and separated themselves from the family of God, so as no more to be counted among his people. And this ought to be carefully noticed, which interpreters have coldly passed by. They have indeed said, that they are called captives of hope, because they hoped to be saved; but they have not observed the distinction, by which Zechariah intended to convey reproof to the unbelieving Jews. It was therefore not without meaning that he directed his word to the faithful only, who were not only captives, but also captives having hope. I cannot finish today.

Prayer

Grant, Almighty God, that as we do not at this day look for a Redeemer to deliver us from temporal miseries, but only carry on a warfare under the banner of the cross, until he appear to us from heaven to gather us into his blessed kingdom, — O grant, that we may patiently bear all evils and all troubles: and as Christ once for all poured forth the blood of the new and eternal covenant, and gave us a symbol of it in the Holy Supper, may we, confiding in so sacred a seal, never doubt but that he will be always propitious to us, and render manifest to us the fruit of his reconciliation, when after having supported us for a season under the burden of those miseries by which we are now oppressed, thou gatherest us into that blessed and perfect glory, which has been procured for us by the blood of Christ our Lord, and which is daily set before us in the gospel, and laid up for us in heaven, until we at length shall come to enjoy it through the same, our Lord Jesus Christ. — Amen.

Lecture One Hundred and Fifty-fourth

In yesterday’s lecture the Prophet exhorted the Jews to assemble into that stronghold of which God was to be the guardian. And we have said that Jerusalem was then to the godly an impregnable fortress, though for the most part without walls, because the place was as it were sacred to God, and as under his care and protection. He now adds a confirmation of this truth, that they would be doubly more blessed who had resorted to Jerusalem than their fathers before their exile: for a comparison is no doubt made between them and their fathers. From the reign of David until the exile, God had proved by many tokens that he had a care for that people; he afterwards raised up, as it were, a new Church, that is, when a liberty to return was granted to the Jews. The meaning then here is, that if the fathers before they were driven from their country had experienced God kind and bountiful, those who had now returned to their country would find God much more bountiful towards his new Church. We now then understand what he means by double, even double happiness; for God would increase his blessings to the Jews, though their condition was then by no means desirable; nay, very hard according to the estimation of the world. But he says, that he declared from that day, intimating, that though the effect of this prophecy was not immediately apparent, yet he spoke with confidence; for they would in course of time find that nothing had been said to them in vain or rashly. The Prophet then shows — here, that he spoke with perfect confidence, and this in order to gain credit to the promise, lest the Jews should doubt that what they heard from the mouth of Zechariah should at length be made evident to them. Let us now proceed —

Note 110. The words may with more propriety be regarded as spoken by God. The construction of the last clause has been differently given. M‘Caul in his observation on Kimchi has rendered it thus — “The announcer of double will I cause to return to thee.” The “announcer of double” in his view is the Messiah: but to cause the Messiah to “return,” is a language that cannot be admitted; and his remark on [נגד] in Hiphil is not correct: that is, that it has ever an accusative or a dative, or both, after it. See 1 Samuel 24:18; 2 Samuel 19:6. It is better to connect “double,” or a double blessing, with the verb “restore,” — Even this day I declare,
A double blessing will I restore to thee. This is essentially the rendering of Drusius, Grotius, Newcome, and Henderson. There is a correspondence between the verb “restore,” or cause to return, and the verb “return” at the beginning of the verse. “Return, etc., and I will cause to return to thee a double blessing.” — Ed.

Zechariah 9:13

13. When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man.

13. Quia tetendi mihi Iehudah arcum, implevi Ephraim, et excitavi filios tuos, Sion, contra filios tuos, Graecia; et posui te quasi gladium gigantis (vel, robusti.)

God declares here that the Jews would be the conquerors of all nations, though they were then despised. That people, we know, were hated by all; and they were at the same time weak, and had hardly any strength, so as to be able to resist the wrongs done them on every side. As then this trial might have terrified weak minds, the Prophet says that the Jews would be as it were the bow and the quiver of God, so that they would be able to pierce all nations with their arrow; and that they would also be like a sword, which would wound and lay prostrate the strongest.

We now perceive the meaning of the words, and see also the reason why the Prophet made this addition, even because the Jews were filled with terror on seeing themselves surrounded on every side by violent and strong enemies, to whom they were very unequal in strength. Now, these similitudes we know occur elsewhere in Scripture, and their meaning seems to be this — that the Jews would be the conquerors of all nations, not by their own prowess, as they say, but because the Lord would guide and direct them by his own hand. For what is a bow except it be bent? and the bow itself is useless, except the arrow be discharged. The Prophet then teaches us, that though the Jews could do nothing of themselves, yet there was strength enough in God’s hand alone.

I have bent for me, he says, Judah as a bow. The Lord reminds the Jews of his own power, that they might not regard their own strength, but acknowledge that they were made strong from above, and that strength to overcome their enemies would be given them. Hence he compares Ephraim to a quiver. But we have seen yesterday, that Judah and Ephraim are to be taken as the same; for as it had been a divided body, God intimates here, that when the Jews became again united and joined together, and when the ten tribes showed brotherly kindness towards the kingdom of Judah, then the people would be to him like a bow well furnished, being fully supplied with arrows.

Note 111. Kimchi says that a remnant of the ten tribes were among the Jews who returned from Babylon, being those who had been left in the land by Shalmanezer, as it appears from 2 Chronicles 34:6,9,33; 35:17. “These went,” he says, “into captivity with the tribe of Judah and of Benjamin to Babylon, and returned with them when they returned.” Abarbanel gives the same opinion, and also Cyril and Bochart. The latter informs their return from Ezra 6:17; 8:35. This prophecy is viewed by Henderson as having been fulfilled in the wars of the Maccabees. See 1 Maccabees 1:62; 2:41-43; 3:33. This was also the view of Theodoret, Jerome, Grotius, and Marckius. Newcome thought that “the language of this prophecy is too strong for these events, and may remain to be fulfilled against the present possessors of the countries called Javan, which were Greec, Macedonia and part of Asia Minor.” With this view Adam Clarke concurs, though Scott demurs. But there seems to be nothing here, and especially in the following verses, that does not well comport with the wars of the Maccabees. — Ed.

He afterwards adds, I will rouse thy sons, O Sion, against thy sons, O Javan. This apostrophe is more emphatical than if the third person had been adopted; for by addressing first Sion, and then Greece, he shows that he possesses power over all nations, so that he raises up the one and casts down the other, as he pleases.

As to the word יון, Ivan, we have elsewhere seen that it is to be taken for Greece, and now for all the countries beyond sea. Yet many think that the word Jonah is derived from this Hebrew word, and, as it often happens, is corruptly pronounced. But we may gather from many instances that יון, Ivan, is put for Greece, or for distant countries, and specifically for Macedonia. It is then the same as though he had said — That the Jews would be superior to all heathen nations, even were they to unite together and bring vast forces from distant lands. For the Greeks could not have waged war in Judea with a small force; they must have brought with them large armies, to fight in a strange country and unknown to them. Nor could the Jews have attacked the Grecians or other remote nations, except they were favored with aid from heaven. For this reason also he adds, that they would be like a sword, by which a strong man can destroy others of less power. Let us now go on —