Zechariah 14:13

14:8-15 Some consider that the progress of the gospel, beginning from Jerusalem, is referred to by the living waters flowing from that city. Neither shall the gospel and means of grace, nor the graces of the Spirit wrought in the hearts of believers by those means, ever fail, by reason either of the heat of persecution, or storms of temptation, or the blasts of any other affliction. Tremendous judgments appear to be foretold, to be sent upon those who should oppose the settlement of the Jews in their own land. How far they are to be understood literally, events alone can determine. The furious rage and malice which stir up men against each other, are faint shadows of the enmity which reigns among those who have perished in their sins. Even the inferior creatures often suffer for the sin of man, and in his plagues. Thus God will show his displeasure against sin.

And it shall come to pass in that day,.... When the vials are pouring out: that a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them; the Targum renders it, a great tumult, or noise of killing; and the Septuagint, an ecstasy: it refers to the earthquake, and the slaughter of seven thousand men of name, and the fright upon that, Revelation 11:13 and they shall lay hold everyone on the hand of his neighbour, and shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour; there will be a revolution, upon this tumult, in several of the antichristian states; and the kings of them shall hate the whore, make her desolate, eat her flesh, and burn her with fire, Revelation 17:16 or, "his hand shall be cut off by the hand of his neighbour" (u); see Zechariah 11:17, the power of antichrist shall be destroyed by neighbouring Christian princes. (u) "et succidetur manus ejus super manum amici sui", Pagninus. So Aben Ezra, and R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 43. 1.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that {m} a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on {n} the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour. (m) God will not only raise up war outside, but sedition at home to test them. (n) To hurt and oppress him.

In that day; when God punisheth those that invaded and wasted Jerusalem, his church. A great tumult; confusion, vexation, and inclination to turn all upside down. From the Lord; from the just displeasure of God, and in revenge on them for troubling his people. Shall be among them, the bloody, cruel, and insatiable enemies of Jerusalem. His hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour ; from murmurs and grudgings one against another, they shall at last run into civil wars, and fight one with another, and so destroy themselves, and revenge Jerusalem. As they did, Judges 7:22 9:23 .

13. tumult—consternation (Zec 12:4; 1Sa 14:15, 20). lay hold … on … hand of … neighbour—instinctively grasping it, as if thereby to be safer, but in vain [Menochius]. Rather, in order to assail "his neighbor" [Calvin], (Eze 38:21). Sin is the cause of all quarrels on earth. It will cause endless quarrels in hell (Jas 3:15, 16).

Verse 13. - A great tumult from the Lord ( Zechariah 12:4 ). A general panic or confusion sent by the Lord, such as befell the Midianites ( Judges 7:22 ) and the Philistines (l 1 Samuel 14:20 ), which ends in mutual slaughter. They shall lay hold every one, etc. In this general panic each shall seize his neighbour's hand in fierce contention. The next clause gives the same meaning (comp. Zechariah 11:6 ). Zechariah 14:13

A great tumult - And panic fear, such as God said He would send upon the Canaanites before Israel Deuteronomy 7:23 , or on Israel itself, if disobedient Deuteronomy 28:20 ; or which fell on the Philistines after Jonathan's capture of the garrison at Michmash, when every man's "sword was against his fellow" . There is no real unity, except in God; elsewhere, since each seeks his own, all must be impregnated with mutual suspicion, ready at any moment to be fanned into a flame; as when, at the blowing of Gideon's trumpets, "the Lord set every man's sword against his fellow" Judges 7:22 ; or when, at Jehoshaphat's prayer, "the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy; and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another" 2 Chronicles 20:32 . And they shall lay hold, every one on the hand of his neighbor - Every one shall be every one's foe. Each shall, in this tumultuous throng, grasp the other's hand, mastering him powerfully. "And his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor," as was prophesied of Ishmael, "his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him" Genesis 16:12.

Punishment of the hostile nations. - Zechariah 14:12 . "And this will be the stroke wherewith Jehovah will smite all the nations which have made war upon Jerusalem: its flesh will rot while it stands upon its feet, and its eyes will rot in their sockets, and its tongue will rot in their mouth. Zechariah 14:13 . And it will come to pass in that day, the confusion from Jehovah will be great among them, and they will lay hold of one another's hand, and his hand will rise up against the hand of his neighbour. Zechariah 14:14 . And Judah will also fight at Jerusalem, and the riches of all nations will be gathered together round about, gold and silver and clothes in great abundance. Zechariah 14:15 . And so will be the stroke of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the cattle, that shall be in the same tents, like this stroke." To the description of the salvation there is appended here as the obverse side the execution of the punishment upon the foe, which was only indicated in Zechariah 14:3 . The nations which made war against Jerusalem shall be destroyed partly by the rotting away of their bodies even while they are alive ( Zechariah 14:12 ), partly by mutual destruction( Zechariah 14:13 ), and partly by Judah's fighting against them ( Zechariah 14:14 ). To express the idea of their utter destruction, all the different kinds of plagues and strokes by which nations can be destroyed are grouped together.

In the first rank we have two extraordinary strokes inflicted upon them by God. Maggēphâh always denotes a plague or punishment sent by God ( Exodus 9:14 ; Numbers 14:37 ; 1 Samuel 6:4 ). המק, the inf. abs. hiphil in the place of the finite verb: "He (Jehovah) makes its flesh rot while it stands upon its feet," i.e., He causes putrefaction to take place even while the body is alive. The singular suffixes are to be taken distributively: the flesh of every nation or every foe. To strengthen the threat there is added the rotting of the eyes which spied out the nakednesses of the city of God, and of the tongue which blasphemed God and His people (cf. Isaiah 37:6 ). The other kind of destruction is effected by a panic terror, through which the foes are thrown into confusion, so that they turn their weapons against one another and destroy one another, - an occurrence of which several examples are furnished by the Israelitish history (compare Judges 7:22 ; 1 Samuel 14:20 , and especially that in 2 Chronicles 20:23 , in the reign of Jehoshaphat, to which the description given by our prophet refers). The grasp of the other's hand is a hostile one in this case, the object being to seize him, and, having lifted his hand, to strike him dead.