Zechariah 9:13

9:9-17 The prophet breaks forth into a joyful representation of the coming of the Messiah, of whom the ancient Jews explained this prophecy. He took the character of their King, when he entered Jerusalem amidst the hosannas of the multitude. But his kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. It shall not be advanced by outward force or carnal weapons. His gospel shall be preached to the world, and be received among the heathen. A sinful state is a state of bondage; it is a pit, or dungeon, in which there is no water, no comfort; and we are all by nature prisoners in this pit. Through the precious blood of Christ, many prisoners of Satan have been set at liberty from the horrible pit in which they must otherwise have perished, without hope or comfort. While we admire Him, let us seek that his holiness and truth may be shown in our own spirits and conduct. These promises have accomplishment in the spiritual blessings of the gospel which we enjoy by Jesus Christ. As the deliverance of the Jews was typical of redemption by Christ, so this invitation speaks to all the language of the gospel call. Sinners are prisoners, but prisoners of hope; their case is sad, but not desperate; for there is hope in Israel concerning them. Christ is a Strong-hold, a strong Tower, in whom believers are safe from the fear of the wrath of God, the curse of the law, and the assaults of spiritual enemies.

To him we must turn with lively faith; to him we must flee, and trust in his name under all trials and sufferings. It is here promised that the Lord would deliver his people. This passage also refers to the apostles, and the preachers of the gospel in the early ages. God was evidently with them; his words from their lips pierced the hearts and consciences of the hearers. They were wondrously defended in persecution, and were filled with the influences of the Holy Spirit. They were saved by the Good Shepherd as his flock, and honoured as jewels of his crown. The gifts, graces, and consolations of the Spirit, poured forth on the day of Pentecost, Ac 2 and in succeeding times, are represented. Sharp have been, and still will be, the conflicts of Zion's sons, but their God will give them success. The more we are employed, and satisfied with his goodness, the more we shall admire the beauty revealed in the Redeemer. Whatever gifts God bestows on us, we must serve him cheerfully with them; and, when refreshed with blessings, we must say, How great is his goodness!

When I have bent Judah for me, filled the {y} 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. (y) I will make Judah and Ephraim, that is, my whole Church, victorious against all enemies, which he here means by the Greeks.

Zechariah 9:13-16 . When I have bent Judah for me — “A strong and sublime manner of expressing that God would use Judah and Ephraim as his instruments of destruction.” — Newcome. As if he had said, When I have made Judah my bow, and Ephraim my arrow, have used them as my instruments of war. Judah and Ephraim are equivalent to Judah and Israel. The men of Ephraim being expert archers, the expression of filling the bow with Ephraim, seems to allude to that circumstance. And raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece — Enabled the Jews, under the conduct of the Maccabees, to destroy the forces of the Syrian kings, Antiochus Epiphanes, and others, who were the successors of Alexander, the founder of the Grecian monarchy: see note on Daniel 8:22 . And made thee as the sword of a mighty man — Given success to thy arms, that none shall withstand thee. And the Lord shall be seen over them — Shall give conspicuous tokens of his presence with them, and his presiding over them and directing them in all their enterprises, leading them on and protecting them, as when they came out of Egypt. And his arrow shall go forth as the lightning — He shall fight for them with a force that shall be irresistible: the lightning is often called God’s arrow. And the Lord shall blow the trumpet — Shall give the signal of war, shall animate them to, and assist them in battle.

And shall go with whirlwinds of the south — Shall discomfit his enemies as a whirlwind tears in pieces every thing that stands in its way; or shall scatter them as the dust is scattered by the whirlwind. The most vehement storms to which Judea was subject came from the great desert country to the south of it: see note on Isaiah 21:1 . The Lord of hosts shall defend them — The hand of God shall visibly appear in protecting the Maccabees. And they shall devour and subdue with sling- stones — They shall conquer their enemies with as unequal a force as that of David, in respect of Goliath, when he subdued him with a sling-stone. And they shall drink and rejoice — In their festivals, when they shall offer sacrifices of thanksgivings for their victories; and make a noise as through wine — Raise shouts of triumph, as men are wont to do whose hearts are glad with success, and cheered with wine. And they shall be filled like bowls, &c. — They shall be filled, or shall fill themselves, with the spoil of their enemies; and as the corners of the altar. — As the horns of the altar are with the blood of the victims. And the Lord shall save them as the flock of his people — Or, shall save them, his people, as a flock. He shall take care of them and preserve them, as a shepherd does his flock.

When I have bent Judah for me; in the days when Judah shall have recovered strength and courage, and be in my hand as a strong bow, ready bent. Filled the bow with Ephraim; Ephraim, the remainder of the ten tribes, (which returned with Judah,) shall be for supply of warriors; as the quiver filled is supply of arrows to the bow-man. And raised up thy sons, O Zion; explicatory to the former. Against thy sons, O Greece; against the Grecians, or Ionians, the sons of Javan, who had formerly oppressed the Jews, and bought them for slaves, and did again oppress them in the reigns of the Selucidae and the Lagidae, against whom the Jews took arms and courage under the conduct of the Maccabees, to whom Christ made good much of this promise. And made thee, O Zion, or Jerusalem, you, O Jews, as the sword of a mighty man; a sharp sword of a mighty man or giant, who cuts down all that stands in his way, as the Maccabees did.

13 . bent ] Lit. trodden, because the foot was placed on the bow in bending it. The warriors of Israel are weapons in the hand of God. Judah is the bow, Ephraim the arrow, the sons of Zion are now raised or lifted up by Him as a spear (comp. 2 Samuel 23:18 , where the Heb. word is the same), now wielded as a sword. The R. V. gives the tenses in this verse more accurately: For I have bent, I have filled , &c., and I will stir up, and will make , &c. 13–17 . The prophecy now moves forward, and takes for its groundwork a later epoch in the future history of the Jews. As their deliverance from their enemies without fighting, in the times of Alexander ( Zechariah 9:1-8 ), was foretold as the pledge and type of Messiah’s kingdom of peace ( Zechariah 9:9-12 ), so their victories over the Seleucidæ, in the times of the Maccabees, are in these verses foretold as the pledge and type of Messiah’s victories over all His enemies.

13. bent Judah—made Judah as it were My bow, and "filled" it "with Ephraim," as My arrow, wherewith to overcome the successor of the Grecian Alexander, Antiochus Epiphanes (compare Notes, see on [1185]Da 8:9; [1186]Da 11:32; 1 Maccabees 1:62; 2:41-43), the oppressor of Judah. Having spoken (Zec 9:1-8) of Alexander's victories, after the parenthesis (Zec 9:9, 10) as to Messiah the infinitely greater King coming, he passes to the victories which God would enable Judah to gain over Alexander's successor, after his temporary oppression of them. O Zion … O Greece—God on one hand addresses Zion, on the other Greece, showing that He rules all people.

Verse 13. - The Lord proceeds to explain the promised blessings in detail. First is signified the victorious resistance of the Maccabees against the Seleucidae - a figure of Messiah's victory over all the enemies of God. When ( for ) I have bent Judah for me. The verbs are in the prophetical perfect, and may be rendered future By a grand figure God is represented as a warrior armed for battle, who uses his people for the weapons of his warfare. The Hebrews speak of "treading" the bow, where we say "bend," because they used the foot in bending it. In the present case Judah is God's bow. Filled the bow with Ephraim. Ephraim is the arrow (comp. Psalm 127:4, 5 ). Judah and Ephraim, the united people, are God's instruments, and fight against the world power in his strength. And raised up ; better, and I will stir up ; Septuagint, ἐξεγερῶ : Vulgate, suscitabo. Greece ; Javan. Not a vague term for the tar west, whither some prisoners had been carried, but to be taken strictly as the appellation of Greece. Nothing but inspiration could have enabled Zechariah and Daniel to foresee the rise of the Macedonian dynasty, and the struggle between the Jews and the Syro-Grecian power in Maccabean times, which is here plainly announced. The earlier the date assigned to this part of Zechariah's prophecy, the more incredible is it that any mere human sagacity or prescience should have enabled a man to fore. tell these events, or to see in Greece a power arrayed in conflict with the people of God

When - or For I have bent Judah for me As a mighty bow which is only drawn at full human strength, the foot being placed to steady it. It becomes a strong instrument, but only at God's Will. God Himself bends it. It cannot bend itself. "And filled the bow with Ephraim." The bow is filled, when the arrow is laid upon it. God would employ both in their different offices, as one. "And raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece." Let people place this prophecy where they will, nothing in the history of the world was more contradictory to what was in human sight possible. "Greece was, until Alexander, a colonizing, not a conquering, nation. The Hebrews had no human knowledge of the site or circumstances of Greece. There was not a little cloud, like a man's hand, when Zechariah thus absolutely foretold the conflict and its issue. Yet here we have a definite prophecy later than Daniel, fitting in with his temporal prophecy, expanding part of it, reaching on beyond the time of Antiochus, and fore-announcing the help of God in two definite ways of protection; (1) "without war," against the army of Alexander Zechariah 9:1-8; (2) "in the war" of the Maccabees; and these, two of the most critical periods in their history after the captivity Zechariah 9-16. Yet, being expansions of part of the prophecy of Daniel, the period, to which they belong, becomes clearer in the event by aid of the more comprehensive prophecies.