Zechariah 14:3

14:1-7 The Lord Jesus often stood upon the Mount of Olives when on earth. He ascended from thence to heaven, and then desolations and distresses came upon the Jewish nation. Such is the view taken of this figuratively; but many consider it as a notice of events yet unfulfilled, and that it relates to troubles of which we cannot now form a full idea. Every believer, being related to God as his God, may triumph in the expectation of Christ's coming in power, and speak of it with pleasure. During a long season, the state of the church would be deformed by sin; there would be a mixture of truth and error, of happiness and misery. Such is the experience of God's people, a mingled state of grace and corruption. But, when the season is at the worst, and most unpromising, the Lord will turn darkness into light; deliverance comes when God's people have done looking for it.

Zechariah 14:3 . Then shall the Lord — After he hath sufficiently punished Jerusalem and the rest of the Jewish nations; go forth — Out of his holy place, as a warrior prepared for battle. This is spoken after the manner of men; and fight against those nations — Which had taken and destroyed Jerusalem, and oppressed his people. As when he fought in the day of battle — As in those days when he evidently fought for his people. The meaning is, that in after times God would discomfit and destroy the posterity of these nations, namely, the Roman idolaters and those under their empire; that when he had made use of them as a scourge to his people, he would execute his judgments upon them, as when he fought against the enemies of his church formerly, the Egyptians, Canaanites, and others. Observe here, reader, the instruments of God’s wrath will themselves be made the objects of it; for it will come to their turn to drink of the cup of trembling; and whom God fights against, he will be sure to overcome. It is observable that the Roman empire never flourished after the destruction of Jerusalem as it had done before; but God evidently fought against it, and against all the nations under its dominion, or in alliance with it, till at last it was subverted and destroyed, its richest cities taken and plundered, and its various provinces ravaged by the Goths and Vandals, and other barbarous invaders.

Zechariah 14:4-5, And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, &c. — It is very difficult to say to what time this prediction refers, or what is its precise meaning. Commentators are not at all agreed on the subject. Some think the passage refers to the time immediately subsequent to the destruction of Jerusalem, foretold in Zechariah 14:1-2 , and that it is to be understood figuratively, namely, 1st, That by the Lord’s standing before Jerusalem on the east, is meant, his drawing peculiarly near to his church and people, here, as frequently elsewhere, signified by Jerusalem; and that he would be at hand to succour and save them; and would give success to, and be manifested in, the gospel preached by his apostles, who received their commission on that mount before Christ’s ascension. 2d, That by the cleaving of the mount of Olives in the midst, toward the east and toward the west, so as to make a very great valley, is meant the removing of the ceremonial law, which was like an aspiring mountain, or partition wall, between the Jews and Gentiles, and a great obstruction to the conversion of the latter, and their entrance into the church of God: but that, by the destruction of Jerusalem, this mountain should be made to cleave, as it were, in the midst, this partition wall be broken down, and God’s church, the spiritual Jerusalem, made of easy access to the Gentiles.

Then, after that he hath sufficiently punished Jerusalem and the rest of the Jews, shall the Lord go forth, out of his holy place, (spoken after the manner of men,) as a warrior prepared for battle. Fight against those nations, which had sacked Jerusalem, and oppressed his people. As when he fought in the day of battle; as in any of those days past, when God fought for his people and gave them great victories.

3 . in the day of battle ] Some, as Calvin, refer this generally to God’s manifold interpositions on behalf of His people, throughout the course of their history; but it is better to confine it to the first great typical interposition, when the word of command was, “Jehovah shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace”; and even the enemy was fain to confess, “Jehovah fighteth for them against the Egyptians,” Exodus 14:14 ; Exodus 14:25 ; comp. Habakkuk 3:15 . A comparison may perhaps be suggested between the dividing of the Red Sea ( Psalm 136:13 ), and of the Mount of Olives as here predicted.

Verses 3-7. - § 6. Then the Lord himself comes to her help, great convulsions of nature accompanying his presence. Verse 3. - Shall go forth. God is said to "go forth" when he manifests his power by delivering his people and punishing their enemies (comp. Isaiah 26:21 ; Isaiah 42:13 ; Micah 1:3 ). As when he fought in the day of battle. The Hebrew is in general terms, "as when he fighteth in a day of battle," or, "slaughter;" Septuagint, καθὼς ἡμέρα παρατάξεως αὐτοῦ ἐν ἡμέρα πολέμου , "as a day of his battle in a day of war;" Vulgate, sicut praeliatus est in die certaminis. There is nothing in the text to confine the reference to any one special interposition; it refers rather to the general course of God's providence in defending his people, though, doubtless, the prophet has in his mind the crowning act of mercy at the Red Sea ( Exodus 14:13, 14, 25 ), which is so often referred to as a typical deliverance (comp. Isaiah 11:11 ; Jeremiah 16:14 ; Jeremiah 23:8 ; Habakkuk 3:15 ; and above, Zechariah 10:11 ). Zechariah 14:3