Zechariah 2:9

2:6-9 If God will build Jerusalem for the people and their comfort, they must inhabit it for him and his glory. The promises and privileges with which God's people are blessed, should engage us to join them, whatever it costs us. When Zion is enlarged to make room for all God's Israel, it is the greatest madness for any of them to stay in Babylon. The captivity of a sinful state is by no means to be continued in, though a man may be easy in worldly matters. Escape for thy life, look not behind thee. Christ has proclaimed that deliverance to the captives, which he has himself wrought out, and it concerns every one to resolve that sin shall not have dominion over him. Those who would be found among God's children, must save themselves from this world, see Ac 2:40. What Christ will do for his church, shall be an evident proof of God's care and affection. He that touches you, touches the apple of his eye. This is a strong expression of God's love to his church. He takes what is done against her as done against the tenderest part of the eye, to which the least touch is a great offence. Christ is sent to be the Protector of his church.

For, behold, I will shake mine hand upon them,.... The nations; either the Babylonian, or the antichristian states; meaning, that he would exert his power, and inflict punishment on them, and utterly destroy them; which would be done by the bare shaking of his hand: and they shall be a spoil to their servants; as the Babylonians were to the Persians; not through Cyrus, which had been done; but through Darius, who took Babylon, after a siege of twenty months, and put great numbers to death; and all became a spoil to the Persians, who had been their servants: or the ten kings, that gave their kingdoms to the beast, and were subject to him; but now shall hate the whore, and eat her flesh; and all her riches and revenues shall be a spoil unto them, and be divided among them, Revelation 17:12, and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me; either the Prophet Zechariah, that he was a true prophet, and had his mission from the Lord of hosts, as will appear by the accomplishment of these prophecies; or rather Christ, sent by God the Father; and who will be known and owned by the Jews, as well as by the Gentiles, to be the sent of God, when they shall be converted, and antichrist shall be destroyed. Kimchi refers this, and the following verse Zechariah 2:10, to the times of the Messiah.

For, behold, I will shake my hand {l} upon them, and {m} they shall be a spoil to their servants: and ye shall know that the LORD of hosts hath {n} sent me. (l) Upon the heathen your enemies. (m) They will be your servants, as you have been theirs. (n) This must necessarily be understood of Christ, who being God equal with his Father, was sent, as he was Mediator to dwell in his Church and to govern them.

I will shake, or lift up, mine hand, my power and strength, upon them; against the nation and kingdom that doth violence to the people who are my glory, and I am theirs, saith the Lord. They, those people who comply not with him whom God sendeth, shall be a spoil, shall be overthrown and spoiled, and become a prey, unto their servants; the Jews, who were first spoiled by and then made servants to the nations who conquered, captivated, and hardly used the Jews; and indeed this was fulfilled in Esther’s days, and in the Maccabees’ times. And ye, either Jews, or heathen, or both, shall know, be convinced and own it, that the Lord of hosts, the great and faithful God, hath sent me, hath commissioned Christ to inform them, who are to make their choice what to do herein. I will shake, or lift up, mine hand, my power and strength, upon them; against the nation and kingdom that doth violence to the people who are my glory, and I am theirs, saith the Lord. They, those people who comply not with him whom God sendeth, shall be a spoil, shall be overthrown and spoiled, and become a prey, unto their servants; the Jews, who were first spoiled by and then made servants to the nations who conquered, captivated, and hardly used the Jews; and indeed this was fulfilled in Esther’s days, and in the Maccabees’ times.

9 . shake mine hand ] Job 31:21 ; Isaiah 19:16 . a spoil to their servants ] They “which spoiled you,” Zechariah 2:8 , shall be themselves “a spoil,” and that to those whom they held in servitude, those that served them R. V. hath sent me ] The divine mission of the angel who foretells these things shall be attested by the event. Comp. Zechariah 2:11 , Zechariah 4:9 , Zechariah 6:15 .

9. shake … hand—A mere wave of God's hand can prostrate all foes (compare Ru 1:13; Job 31:21; Isa 11:15; 19:16; Ac 13:11). a spoil to their servants—to the Jews whom they had once as their slaves (compare Isa 14:2). As the Jews' state between the return from Babylon and Christ's coming was checkered with much adversity, this prophecy can only have its fulfilment under Christ. sent me—(Isa 48:16; 61:1; Joh 10:36).

Verse 9. - I will shake mine hand upon ( over ) them . The angel reports Jehovah's message now in the first person, or speaks as the representative of Jehovah. The action of shaking the hand over a nation is one of menace ( Job 31:21 ; Isaiah 11:15 ; Isaiah 19:16 ). Shall be a spoil to their servants; to their slaves, those who once served them. This was true only in a spiritual sense, when the nations were won over to the true faith (see ver. 11; and comp. Isaiah 14:2 ; Isaiah 49:22 , etc.; Ezekiel 16:61 ). Septuagint, τοῖς δουλεύουσιν αὐτοῖς , "to them that serve them." Ye shall know, etc. ( Zechariah 4:9 ; Zechariah 6:15 ). When this comes to pass, the Israelites shall recognize and own the Divine mission of God's messenger. Zechariah 2:9

For behold I will shake My hand against them - As God promised of old against the enemies of His people , and they shall be a spoil to those who served them habitually. And ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent Me - Theodoret: "He was sent, not as God, but as Man. For as God He is equal to the Father. For He saith, "I am in the Father and the Father in Me, and, The Father who dwelleth in Me He doeth the works" John 14:10, and, "I and My Father are one" John 10:30, and "He who hath seen Me hath seen the Father" John 14:9. But He is sent, as man, fulfilling the dispensation for us, not lessening the divine nature. The prophet then intimated not the duality only, but the equality of the persons."

The prophecy commences thus in Zechariah 2:6-9 : Zechariah 2:6 . "Ho, ho, flee out of the land of the north, is the saying of Jehovah; for I spread you out as the four winds of heaven, is the saying of Jehovah. Zechariah 2:7 . Ho, Zion, save thyself, thou that dwellest with the daughter Babel. Zechariah 2:8 . For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, After glory hath he sent me to the nations that have plundered you; for whoever toucheth you, toucheth the apple of His eye. Zechariah 2:9 . For, behold, I swing my hand over them, and they become a spoil to those who served them; and ye will see that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me." The summons to flee out of Babylon, in Zechariah 2:6 and Zechariah 2:7 , is addressed to the Israelites, who are all included in the one name Zion in Zechariah 2:7 ; and shows that the address which follows is not a simple continuation of the promise in Zechariah 2:4 and Zechariah 2:5 , but is intended both to explain it, and to assign the reason for it. The summons contains so far a reason for it, that the Israelites are directed to flee out of Babylon, because the judgment is about to burst upon this oppressor of the people of God. The words nūsū, flee, and himmâletı̄, save thyself or escape, both point to the judgment, and in Zechariah 2:9 the judgment itself is clearly spoken of. the land of the north is Babylon (cf. Jeremiah 1:14 ; Jeremiah 6:22 ; Jeremiah 10:22 ; and for the fact itself, Isaiah 48:20 ).

The reason for the exclamation "Flee" is first of all given in the clause, "for like the four winds have I spread you out," not "dispersed you" (Vulg., C. B. Mich., Koehler). For apart from the fact that pērēs almost always means to spread out, and has the meaning to disperse at the most in Psalm 68:15 and Ezekiel 17:21 , this meaning is altogether unsuitable here. For if Israel had been scattered like the four winds, it would of necessity have been summoned to return, not only from the north, but from all quarters of the globe (Hitzig, Kliefoth). Moreover, we should then have לארבּע, into the four winds; and the method suggested by Koehler for reconciling כּארבּע with his view, viz., by assuming that "like the four winds" is equivalent to "as chaff is pounded and driven away from its place by the four winds," according to which the winds would be mentioned in the place of the chaff, will hardly meet with approval. The explanation is rather that the perfect pērastı̄ is used prophetically to denote the purpose of God, which had already been formed, even if its realization was still in the future. To spread out like the four winds is the same as to spread out just as the four winds spread out to all quarters of the globe. Because God has resolved upon spreading out His people in this manner, they are to flee out of Babel, that they may not suffer the fate of Babel.