Zechariah 12:5

12:1-8 Here is a Divine prediction, which will be a heavy burden to all the enemies of the church. But it is for Israel; for their comfort and benefit. It is promised that God will make foolish the counsels, and weaken the courage of the enemies of the church. The exact meaning is not clear; but God often begins by calling the poor and despised; and in that day even the feeblest will resemble David, and be as eminent in courage and every thing good. Desirable indeed is it that the examples and labours of Christians should render them as fire among wood, as a torch in a sheaf, to kindle the flame of Divine love, to spread religion on the right hand and on the left.

And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart,.... The governors of the rest of the cities in Judea, besides Jerusalem, when they shall observe the armies of the people, their horses and their riders, smitten by the Lord, as above, shall take heart, and be of good courage: and secretly say within themselves, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the Lord of hosts their God; that is, they, in the strength of the Lord, shall overcome their enemies, and so be the means of preserving and securing the other cities of Judah from destruction: the governors do not place their strength and confidence in the inhabitants of Jerusalem, but as they are strengthened in and by the Lord their God, from whom all strength, safety, and salvation come. In this and the following verse Zechariah 12:6, by "the governors of Judah" are not meant Judas Maccabeus, and his brethren, as some think; for though there are some things in the context that seem to agree with them, and they may be an emblem of the governors in the times referred to, for their courage, bravery, and success; yet the thread of history, and series of prophecy, will not admit such a sense.

And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The {c} inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God. (c) Every captain, that had many under him before, will now think that the small power of Jerusalem will be sufficient to defend them against all enemies, because the Lord is among them.

The governors of Judah, the counsellors and rulers at home, and the leaders and captains abroad, the Maccabees and others, every one for himself, shall say in their heart; shall think, believe, and reckon upon it, and be hearty in it. The inhabitants of Jerusalem, though but few and poor, yet they shall be my strength: and these shall be ready and forward to go forth against their enemies, with a handful of men to encounter mighty and numerous armies, because their strength and help lieth in the name of the Lord of hosts; not in their own power, but in the power of the almighty sovereign Lord of all, who can save by few as by many. And because their God he will give them victory. The governors of Judah, the counsellors and rulers at home, and the leaders and captains abroad, the Maccabees and others, every one for himself, shall say in their heart; shall think, believe, and reckon upon it, and be hearty in it. The inhabitants of Jerusalem, though but few and poor, yet they shall be my strength: and these shall be ready and forward to go forth against their enemies, with a handful of men to encounter mighty and numerous armies, because their strength and help lieth in the name of the Lord of hosts; not in their own power, but in the power of the almighty sovereign Lord of all, who can save by few as by many. And because their God he will give them victory.

5 . the governors ] chieftains , R. V., and so in Zechariah 12:6 . shall be ] Rather, are. When they see the rout and discomfiture of her enemies around the walls of Jerusalem ( Zechariah 12:2-4 ), the rulers of the land, speaking as the mouthpiece of the people at large, shall joyfully acknowledge her to be the strength of the country by the help of Jehovah, her God.

5. shall say—when they see the foe divinely smitten with "madness." Judah … Jerusalem—here distinguished as the country and the metropolis. Judah recognizes her "strength" to be "Jerusalem and its inhabitants" as the instrument, and "Jehovah of hosts their God" (dwelling especially there) as the author of all power (Joe 3:16). My strength is the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who have the Lord their God as their help. The repulse of the foe by the metropolis shall assure the Jews of the country that the same divine aid shall save them.

Verse 5. - The governors ( chieftains ) of Judah shall say in their heart . The leaders of Judah have a profound, settled conviction that Jehovah is on his people's side. The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be ( are ) my strength. When they see the enemy discomfited (vers. 2-4) each of them shall have confidence in the Divine election of Jerusalem, foregoing their former jealousy, and see in her success a token of God's protection and their own final victory. Zechariah 12:5

And the princes of Judah - He pictures the onemindedness of the Church. No one shall assume anything to himself; each shall exalt the strength which the other was to him; but all, "in the Lord. The princes of Judah" shall say "in their heart," not outwardly or politically, but in inward conviction, "strength to me" (all speak as one) "are the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the Lord of hosts their God." The highest in human estimation acknowledge that their strength is in those who are of no account in this world; as, in fact the hearts of the poor are evermore the strength of the Church; but that, "in the Lord of hosts;" in Him, in whose hands are the powers of heaven and earth, over against the petty turmoil on earth. God had chosen Jerusalem Zechariah 1:17 ; Zechariah 2:12 ; Zechariah 3:2 ; therefore she was invincible. "That most glorious prince of Judah, Paul, said, 'I can do all things in Christ who instrengtheneth me. '"

Zechariah 12:5 . "And the princes of Judah will say in their hearts, The inhabitants of Jerusalem are strength to me, in Jehovah of hosts their God. Zechariah 12:6 . On that day will I make the princes of Judah as a basin of fire under logs of wood, and like a torch of fire under sheaves; and they will devour all nations round about, on the right and on the left; and Jerusalem will dwell still further in its place, at Jerusalem. Zechariah 12:7 . And Jehovah will save the tents of Judah first, that the splendour of the house of David and the splendour of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not lift itself up over Judah." The princes of Judah are mentioned as the leaders of the people in war. What they say is the conviction of the whole nation ('allūph, as in Zechariah 9:7 ). אמצה (in this form ἁπ. λεγ.) is a substantive equals אמץ, strength ( Job 17:9 ). The singular lı̄ (to me) expresses the fact that every individual says or thinks this, as with the expression "should I weep" in Zechariah 7:3 .

The princes of Judah recognise in the inhabitants of Jerusalem their strength or might, not in this sense, that Judah, being crowded together before Jerusalem, expects help against the foe from the strength of the city and the assistance of its inhabitants, as Hofmann and Koehler maintain, for "their whole account of the inhabitants of the land being shut up in the city (or crowded together before the walls of Jerusalem, and covered by them) is a pure invention" (Koehler), and has no foundation in the text; but in this sense, that the inhabitants of Jerusalem are strong through Jehovah their God, i.e., through the fact that Jehovah has chosen Jerusalem, and by virtue of this election will save the city of His sanctuary (compare Zechariah 10:12 with Zechariah 3:2 ; Zechariah 1:17 ; Zechariah 2:12 ). Because the princes of Judah put their trust in the divine election of Jerusalem, the Lord makes them into a basin of fire under logs of wood, and a burning torch under sheaves, so that they destroy all nations round about like flames of fire, and Jerusalem therefore remains unconquered and undestroyed in its place at Jerusalem. In this last sentence Jerusalem is first of all the population personified as a woman, and in the second instance the city as such.