The destruction of CHAPTER XIV. Jerusalem foretold. back, my hand upon the little ones: that is, upon were to be cut off, and die; a third only left, which that third part of the people, which was to be tried was to be brought through the fire, refined as silver, as gold in the furnace. This is that part which, it is and tried as gold. Then it follows, verse 9, They said, verse 9, shall call on the name of the Lord: shall call, &c. The like events happened under the whence it is justly inferred that the two other parts gospel: the shepherd was smitten, the sheep were of the Jewish nation, which were to perish, were scattered, they were to endure severe trials, and those Jews who received not the gospel, and who their faith was to be more precious than gold tried were slain by the Romans: for it is said of the third || with fire. To the Jews, our Saviour said, Behold, part, They shall call on my name, in opposition to your house is left unto you desolate; and verily I the two parts who should be cut off and die, verse 8. say unto you, ye shall not see me until the time But, even of that third, many Jews, who had be- come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh lieved the gospel, fell away, as when gold or silver is in the name of the Lord. Our Saviour here foretels tried, much dross is found among it. So that the the desolation and destruction of Jerusalem; and, number of Jews who should continue in the faith instead of comforting the Jews with the prospect of of the gospel is left very small; which the event a third temple, and the restoration of bloody sacrisufficiently proves, as we learn from the Acts of the fices, in some future age, or advent of the Messiah, Apostles: see Houbigant. Upon the whole we learn he expressly declares they shall see him no more, from these verses, as Dr. Sharpe observes, the follow- till they shall acknowledge him by saying, Blessed ing particulars: "That the shepherd, called the fel- is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."-Dr. low of God, was to be smitten; the sheep were to be || Sharpe's 2d Argument, p. 356. scattered; two parts of all that inhabited the land CHAPTER XIV. In this chapter we have a continuation of the prophecy begun in the last two verses of the preceding chapter. Here is (1,) The taking and spoiling of Jerusalem by many and cruel enemies, 1, 2. (2,) The Lord coming forth to fight again.st the nations who had been the instruments of his vengeance, 3, 4. (3,) The manifestation of the kingdom of God, and the great increase of spiritual light and grace, till the name and majesty of Jehovah are acknowledged through the whole earth, 5-9. (4) The rebuilding, replenishing, and final establishment of Jerusalem in security, 10, 11. (5,) Dreadful judgments inflicted upon all who fought against her, 12–19. (6,) The extraordinary holiness of the church in the latter days, 20, 21. 510. a B. C. 510. A. M. 3494. BEHOLD, the day of the LORD || taken, and the houses rifled, and A. M. 3494. cometh, and thy spoil shall be the women ravished; and half of divided in the midst of thee. the city shall go forth into captivity, and the 2 For I will gather all nations against residue of the people shall not be cut off from Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be the city. a Isa. xiii. 9; Joel ii. 31; Acts ii. 20. Joel iii. 2.- Isa. xiii. 16. NOTES ON CHAPTER XIV. Nebuchadnezzar is said to fight against Jerusalem Verses 1, 2. Behold, the day of the Lord cometh- with all the kingdoms of the earth."-Lowth. And A day of the Lord's great wrath and indignation will || the city shall be taken-For God is its enemy, and soon overtake you, O sinful, unthankful, bloody who can stand before him, or before nations gathered Jews! A day remarkable for the execution of by him? Where he gives commission, he will give divine vengeance upon you, and your city, Jerusa- success. And the houses rifled, and the women lem. This chapter ought to have been joined to the || ravished-The Roman soldiers shall exercise those preceding; for here the prophet continues to foretel acts of lust and violence which are too frequent the execution of the threatenings contained in the among conquerors. That all the outrages were latter part of the former chapter; namely, how the committed, and the miseries endured, which are unbelieving Jews should be destroyed by the Ro- here predicted, when the Romans took Jerusalem, mans. Thy spoils shall be divided in the midst of we have abundant proof from Josephus and other thee-All that thou hast, O Jerusalem, shall become historians: see notes on Deut. xxviii. And half of a prey to thine enemies, who shall be such absolute the city shall go into captivity-The Hebrew word masters of thee, that, in the greatest security, they rendered half, may be translated a portion. It must shall divide among themselves whatever spoil they be observed, that the city only is here spoken of; take from thee, in the very place where they take it. but chap. xiii. 8, where mention is made of two parts For I will gather all nations—“ The Romans, being being cut off and dying, refers to the whole land. lords of the known world, had the strength of all na- And the residue of the people shall not be cut off— tions united in their forces. Thus, (Jer. xxiv. 1,)"The Romans spared the young and useful part of || Display of God's power ZECHARIAH. in the latter days. B. C. 510. A. M. 3494. 3¶ Then shall the LORD go forth, || a very great valley; and half of the A. M. 3494 B. C. 510. and fight against those nations, as mountain shall remove toward the when he fought in the day of battle. north, and half of it toward the south. 4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon e d Ezekiel xi. 23. Joel iii. 12, 14. Or, my mountains. B. C. 510. the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: Or, when he shall touch the valley of the mountains to the place he separated.- Amos i. 1. the Jews: Josephus, Bel. Jud., vi. ix. 2. However, and people, here, as frequently elsewhere, signified these were either condemned to the mines in Egypt, || by Jerusalem; and that he would be at hand to sucor exposed to the sword and to wild beasts in the cour and save them; and would give success to, and provincial theatres, or sold for slaves. Ibid. It must be manifested in, the gospel preached by his aposbe observed, that the forty thousand who were per- tles, who received their commission on that mount -11 mitted to go where they pleased, were Idumeans: before Christ's ascension. 2d, That by the clearing Bel. Jud., vi. viii. 2."-Newcome. "But it is probable of the mount of Olives in the midst, toward the east that the remnant of the Jews, who survived this and toward the west, so as to make a very great almost exterminating destruction, and their descend-valley, is meant the removing of the ceremonial law, ants, who have for so many centuries been preserved a distinct people, in order to their future restoration, are intended."-Scott. Verse 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. Verses 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 verses 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 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. Thus the way of the Lord would be prepared, every mountain and hill brought low, and a plain and pleasant valley, or open way of communication, be found in the place of them: see Isa. xl. 4. 3d, That by the valley of the mountains, is meant the gospel church, to which, as a place of refuge, many of the Jews should flee, as people fled formerly from before the earthquake here mentioned, and should hasten into it together with the Gentiles. 4th, That by this valley reaching to Azal, or, to the separate place, as the word signifies, is signified that the privileges of the church should not be limited, as formerly, to any particular nation, or people, but should be extended to all those who, in obedience to the call of God, should come out from the world, separate themselves from sinners, devote themselves to God, and become his peculiar people. And, 5th, That by the Lord's coming, and all his saints with him, is signified the spiritual coming and extension of his kingdom, whereby a multitude of converts, both of Jewish and Gentile extraction, should be made, who, through faith working by love, should become saints, or holy persons. This, in substance, seems to be Henry's view of the passage, as it is that of many others. Lowth, on the other hand, interprets it literally, as follows: His feet shall stand upon the mount of Olives-"The glory of the Lord, that is, the Shechinah, or symbol of God's presence, when it departed from the city and temple, settled itself upon the mount of Olives, Ezek. xi. 23; so when God shall return to Jerusalem, [that is, to Jerusalem rebuilt and inhabited by the converted Jews restored to their own land, at the beginning of the millen 6 And it shall come to pass in that day, 3 that || nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at the light shall not be clear, nor 5 dark: Matt. xvi. 27; xxiv. 30, 31; xxv. 31; Jude 14.-h Joel iii. 11.———3 That is, it shall not be clear in some places, and dark in other places of the world. evening time it shall be light. establish, and perfect his millennial reign, believed in and expected generally in the first Christian church. The reader will consider these different interpretations, and will of course adopt that which he thinks the most probable. nium,] and make it the seat of his presence again, it [the Shechinah] shall return by the same way it departed, Ezek. xliii. 2. We may add, that when our Lord ascended from the mount of Olives, the angels told his disciples, he should come again in like manner, that is, in a visible and glorious appearance, at Verses 6, 7. And it shall come to pass in that day the same place, Acts i. 11, 12. And the mount of -Namely, when the Lord shall come forth to fight Olives shall cleave, &c.-By an earthquake, such against the enemies of his church, the nations that as was in the time of King Uzziah: see Amos i. 1. fought against Jerusalem, as foretold verse 3; or, in The middle of mount Olivet shall cleave asunder, || that day when he shall come to convert and restore and sink into a deep valley, so as to leave the two the Jews, and spread his gospel through all the points, or tops of the hill, north and south, still stand-world; the light-Namely, of knowledge, holiness, ing. For mount Olivet, as we learn from Maundrel, and happiness in his church; shall not-Namely, at had three tops, or eminences; one on the north side, || first; be clear-Like that of the perfect day; nor dark another on the south, and a third in the middle, from As perfect night, but shall be a kind of twilight, a whence Christ ascended, and where the Christians mixture of light and darkness, of knowledge and in after times erected a cross, in memory of his as- ignorance, as to divine things, of holiness and sin, of cension there. And ye shall flee to the valley of the|| happiness and misery, or of prosperity and adversity. mountains-When ye see the mount of Olives cleave || But it shall be one day-One continued day; there asunder, ye shall flee toward the valley for fear. shall be no setting of the sun to make it quite night; The margin reads, The valley of my mountains, but God will invariably pursue the end he has in which may be understood of Zion and Moriah; but view, and always act in order to it, namely, the full the Chaldee and LXX. read, The valley of my salvation of his spiritual Jerusalem. Which shall be mountains shall be filled up; for the valley of the || known to the Lord-The Lord will always have his mountains shall join even to Azal, it shall even be eye upon this progressive day, and upon all the filled up, as it was by the earthquake in the days events of it. He will continually take notice of them, of Uzziah. Josephus writes, (Ant. Jud., lib. ix. cap. and order and dispose of all for the best, according 10,) 'That before the city, at a place called Eppwyn, to the counsel of his own will. But at evening time [or the cleft,] one half of the mountain, on the west- -When natural days end, and when, perhaps, the ern side, was broken off, and having rolled four fur- shades of the evening may appear to be coming on, longs toward the eastern mountain, stopped, so that and there may be an apprehension of returning darkthe roads were choked up, and the king's gardens.' ness; it shall be light-This spiritual day shall be And the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints || full of light and glory, Isa. xlviii. 8; and lx. 19-21. [or holy ones] with thee-Or with him, as the Chaldee || Mr. Scott considers these verses as containing a comand LXX. read." "The words," Lowth adds, "are pendious prophecy of the state of the church, from a description of Christ's coming to judgment, attend- its establishment in the apostles' days, to those gloed with all the holy angels, as the writers of the New rious times which are expected; a prophecy foreTestament express it, the word, translated|| telling that, "for a long season, the light would neisaints, often signifying angels: see Deut. xxxiii. 2; || ther be clear nor dark: it would be greatly obscured so the word saints seems to be used 1 Thes. iii. 13; and St. Jude, verse 14, quoting the prophecy of Enoch, says, The Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, or holy ones: a place exactly parallel with this of the text." by ignorance, heresy, superstition, and idolatry, yet not wholly extinguished: and the state of the church would be much deformed by sin and calamities; yet some holiness and consolation would be found. This period could neither be called a clear, bright day, cheered and illumined by the shining of a summer's sun, nor would it be dark, as if the sun were set or totally eclipsed; but it would contain a great mixture of truth and error, of holiness and sin, of happi One observation seems needful to be made here: if the visible and personal coming of Christ be intended in these verses, it certainly cannot be his coming to raise the dead and judge the world in righteousness, because that view of the passageness and misery. Yet it would form one day, and would not, by any means, be consistent with what is never be interrupted by a night of total darkness. It said in the two next verses concerning the continu- would also be known unto the Lord, as to the degree ally increasing light of knowledge, holiness, and of its light, and the term of its continuance; and he happiness in the gospel church, til, at length, at would watch over, and take care of, his cause and evening time it shall be quite light: but it must people all the time of it. But his people would rather be understood of his coming to introduce, || hardly know whether to call it day or night, or a Display of the divine power B. C. 510. m ZECHARIAH. B. C. 510. in the latter days. A. M. 3494. 8 And it shall be in that day that || and it shall be lifted up, and inha- A. M. 3494 living waters shall go out from Je-bited in her place, from Benjamin's rusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. n 7 9 And the LORD shall be " King over all the earth in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one. 10 All the land shall be from Geba to Rimmon, turned as a plain, south of Jerusalem: gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner-gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king's wine-presses. boundary of the land; to Rimmon-The south boundary. And it—That is, Jerusalem; shall be lifted up-Raised out of the dust, to which its enemies had brought it, through God's permission. Jerusalem, taken mystically, is the church of Christ in gospel days; and by the repair of all parts of this Jerusalem, as here described, is shadowed out the complete building of the church on all sides, north, south, east, west. From Benjamin's gate—That is, this gate was probably to the north of Jerusalem; unto the place of the first gate-Or, as Newcome reads it, the former gate, supposed to be that called the old gate, Neh. iii. 6; xii. 39, placed by Lightfoot toward the south-west. Unto the corner-gate-See Placed by Cocceius eastward; who observes, that the tower and corner-gate seem mentioned as two extremities of the city. Unto the king's wine-presses Verses 8, 9. And it shall be in that day--Spoken of verse 6, when the light shall not be clear, nor dark, that is, during the whole of the forementioned period; living waters shall go out from Jerusalem--|| The enlightening, quickening, and saving truths of Christianity, accompanied by the power of the Holy Spirit, shall proceed from the church of Christ, the true spiritual Jerusalem; half of them toward the|| 2 Kings xiv. 13. And from the tower of Hananeel— former sea--The eastern sea; and half of them toward the hinder sea-The western sea. They shall spread themselves eastward and westward, and on all sides; and even the sea, whether on the east-Near the king's garden southward. So Cocceius. or west, shall not be able to obstruct their progress; "These points are given, no doubt, to signify that but, having watered and refreshed, enlightened, re- Jerusalem shall again occupy as much space as ever newed, and cheered the continent, they shall make it did in its most flourishing times. The same intheir way into the islands, and diffuse their renovat- tention appears Jer. xxxi. 38-40. Both these places ing and gladdening influence even over them. In may derive some illustration from comparing them summer and in winter shall it be--Perpetually, together, and at the same time inspecting the plan of without intermission; these waters shall never dry Jerusalem in the Ancient Universal History, vol. i. up, be obstructed in their course, or lose their heal- b. i., which seems to have been laid down pretty ing, fructifying, and refreshing virtue. In other accurately, according to the circuit of the walls, words, "the gospel, attended by the influences of made by the two companies, Neh. xxxi. 40, and the the Holy Spirit, having begun its progress from information collected from other parts of Scripture." Jerusalem, shall continue its course on every side, -Blayney. And men shall dweli in it—Many, for amidst all those changes of which summer and win-number; eminent, for worth. And there shall be ter are an emblem: so that nothing shall totally no more utter destruction-They that dwell in it impede its progress, till the Lord shall become King || shall dwell securely, and there shall be none to make over all the earth, not only in right but in fact; till them afraid. There may be afflictions, but there neither idols, false religion, nor antichristian power, shall be no more of that utter destruction that formshall remain as his rivals; till all princes shall sub-erly laid both town and country waste. There shall mit to and serve him; and all the earth shall agree be no more curse, as the latter part of the sentence in one object and way of worship, and unite in sub-may be translated. In the new state of things, here mission and obedience to one Lord."-Scott. foretold, the curse which sin brought into the world shall be, at least in a great measure, if not entirely, removed. Similar words, recorded Rev. xxii. 3, seem to be taken from this place. But Jerusalem shall safely be inhabited—A promise often repeated by the prophets. See Jer. xxiii. 6, and the note there. Verses 10, 11. All the land-The whole land of Judea, a type of the whole earth, the seat of the universal church, filled with the knowledge of God, and abounding with multitudes of converts: shall be turned as a plain-All high, uneven places, all rocky and barren grounds, shall be changed into fruitful vineyards. So the church of Christ shall be fruitful, humble, and lovely. From Geba--The north || of their brethren, shall be destroyed by famine, or Verses 12, 13. And this shall be the plague, &c.— Those that do not die in battle, nor fall by the hand Display of the divine power B. C. 510. CHAPTER XIV. B. C. 510. in the latter days. A. M. 3494. fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh || of the mule, of the camel, and of the A. M. 3494 shall consume away while they stand ass, and of all the beasts that shall be upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume in these tents, as this plague. away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. 13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that "a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour. 14 And Judah also shall fight 12 at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance. 15 And so shall be the plague of the horse, u 1 Samuel xiv. 15, 20.- -x Judges vii. 22; 2 Chron. xx. 23; Ezek. xxxviii. 21. Or, thou also, O Judah, shalt.-12 Or, against. Ezek. xxxix. 10, 17, &c.-2 Verse 12. 16 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. 17 And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. 18 And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, 13 that have no rain, there shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will a Isa. lx. 6, 7, 9; lxvi. 23.b Lev. xxiii. 34, 43; Neh. viii. 14; Hos. xii. 9; John vii. 2.—————© Isa. lx. 12.—————13 Heb. upon whom there is not. d Deut. xi. 10. consumption. Their flesh shall consume away of all the nations which came against Jerusalem— while they stand upon their feet-They shall be That is, many among all these nations shall consider miserably emaciated, even while they stand in arms God's hand, repent, and submit to his law. Such a ready to fight; or so suddenly, that they shall hardly || change shall the grace of God, sanctifying his judghave time to lie or sit down. And their eyes shall|| ments, make upon them. Of Christ's foes, as some consume away in their holes-A dreadful and exem- shall be made his footstool, so others shall be made plary blindness shall seize them. A great tumult- his friends; and when the principle of enmity is That is, confusion; from the Lord-Hebrew, of the slain in them, their former acts of hostility are parLord, that is, one caused or permitted by him; shall doned to them, and their services are accepted as be among them-Shall take place and prevail, as a || though they had never fought against Jerusalem. punishment of their hostility to God's church. Those Shall even go up to worship, and keep the feast of that are confederated and combined against God and|| tabernacles—That is, they shall join in the solemn his people, will be justly separated, and set against one another; and their tumults raised against God will be avenged in tumult among themselves. And they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour-That is, they shall seek help from one another, but instead of helping they shall turn their arms against one another. And his hand shall rise up, &c.—The sum of the verse is, that intestine divisions and hostilities shall be added to the foregoing divine judgments. || Verses 14, 15. And Judah also shall fight at [or|| rather, for] Jerusalem-The meaning seems to be, that while the enemies of Jerusalem are engaged in fighting with each other, Judah also (Hebrew, 7) will come up and join their forces with those of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, will fall upon the weakened nations, and take from them great spoil. || And the wealth of all the heathen, &c., shall be gathered together-And shall fall into the hands of God's people. Thus the wealth of the sinner is often laid up for the just; and the Israel of God are enriched with the spoil of the Egyptians. And so shall be the plague of the horse, &c.—The very cattle shall share in the plagues with which the enemies of God's church shall be cut off, as they did in divers || of the plagues of Egypt. Verse 16. And every one that is left of all the nations-Such as escape the fore-mentioned strokes of divine judgment, and are by mercy preserved; || acts of Christian worship. The prophets, as we have repeatedly had occasion to observe in the course of these notes, often describe the state of the gospel by the usages of their own times. The feast of tabernacles, being kept in remembrance of God's conducting and preserving the Israelites forty years in the wilderness, and afterward bringing them into the promised land, was observed with extraordinary expressions of rejoicing. Here this one solemn festival is, by a figure, put for all the days consecrated to God for holy worship; and that very properly, because of those two great graces which were, in a special manner, signified and required in that feast, namely, contempt of the world and joy in God, Neh. viii. 17. The life of a true Christian is a constant feast of tabernacles, and in all our acts of devotion we must retire from the world and rejoice in the Lord, or worship as the truly pious did in that feast. Verses 17, 18. Whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth-If there be any remiss herein, and neglect to worship the Lord; even upon them shall be no rain-They shall be punished with want of rain, and of the blessings which plentiful and seasonable rains produce; their land shall be barren, and they shall suffer a famine. "There is a restriction, verse 16," says Newcome, "to such nations as warred against Jerusalem." "But if, according to the opinion of many commentators, by going up to |