The oracle of the word of the Lord is against the land of Hadrach
and Damascus is its resting place.
For the Lord has an eye on mankind
and on all the tribes of Israel,
2 and on Hamath also, which borders on it,
Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise.
3 Tyre has built herself a rampart
and heaped up silver like dust,
and fine gold like the mud of the streets.
4 But behold, the Lord will strip her of her possessions
and strike down her power on the sea,
and she shall be devoured by fire.
5 Ashkelon shall see it, and be afraid;
Gaza too, and shall writhe in anguish;
Ekron also, because its hopes are confounded.
The king shall perish from Gaza;
Ashkelon shall be uninhabited;
6 a mixed people shall dwell in Ashdod,
and I will cut off the pride of Philistia.
7 I will take away its blood from its mouth,
and its abominations from between its teeth;
it too shall be a remnant for our God;
it shall be like a clan in Judah,
and Ekron shall be like the Jebusites.
8 Then I will encamp at my house as a guard,
so that none shall march to and fro;
no oppressor shall again march over them,
for now I see with my own eyes.
The Coming King of Zion
9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the war horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,
and he shall speak peace to the nations;
his rule shall be from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
11 As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.
12 Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;
today I declare that I will restore to you double.
13 For I have bent Judah as my bow;
I have made Ephraim its arrow.
I will stir up your sons, O Zion,
against your sons, O Greece,
and wield you like a warrior's sword.
The Lord Will Save His People
14 Then the Lord will appear over them,
and his arrow will go forth like lightning;
the Lord God will sound the trumpet
and will march forth in the whirlwinds of the south.
15 The Lord of hosts will protect them,
and they shall devour, and tread down the sling stones,
and they shall drink and roar as if drunk with wine,
and be full like a bowl,
drenched like the corners of the altar.
16 On that day the Lord their God will save them,
as the flock of his people;
for like the jewels of a crown
they shall shine on his land.
17 For how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty!
Grain shall make the young men flourish,
and new wine the young women. Zechariah 9 ESV
Zechariah 9 The Shadows and Beyond
This particular judgment is coming from the Word of the Lord to the land of Hadrach. Now this is a very obscure place. We don’t really know what this is. Archaeologically, we can’t really dogmatically identify Hadrach. Some think it is the ancient village of Hatarikka which is similar mentioned in the annals of the Assyrian kings which was around Damascus in the Syrian area to the east and north of Palestine. From the Sea of Galilee, you’d go east and north a little. But there’s another explanation that’s very interesting. If you take the two terms, “had” and “rach,” had means sharp and rach means soft. And so, it is the land “sharp soft.”
You say, “What does that have to do with anything?” Well, one of the finest Old Testament scholars, Leupold, says that this is no doubt a reference to the dual kingdom that existed in that day which was the kingdom of the Medes and what? The Persians. The Medo-Persian Kingdom. You see, the Medes were sharp. They were like swords. They were the conquerors that produced Cyrus and Darius. And the Persians were the effeminate softies that turned the whole thing into a debauchery. In fact, the Persians became a synonym for effeminacy, something like we talked about this morning. And so, it may well be that in a veiled way, you have the Medes and the Persians hidden in the Hebrew word Hadrach. And the reason it’s hidden here is so that they don’t start a war when Zechariah pronounces the prophecy. That’s a possibility. - J Mac
Damascus is it's resting place - Damascus is an ancient city of the Syrians. The Syrians were long time enemies of Israel. Damascus is to the north east of Jerusalem, and remember, everyone that came against Jerusalem came from the north.
Hamath also - This is one of the kingdoms of upper Syria, where archeologists discovered the Hittite monuments.
Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise - Tyre and Sidon were sort of sister Phoenician cities. Tyre had the greatest navy, and it's city was divided in two parts, some on the mainland and then an island fortress, about one half of a mile off the coast, with walls 150 feet high. She had a lot of allies because of her wealth and position, but it was a despicable place, the Las Vegas of the Mediterranean, and she thought herself impregnable. It was a city ruled by Lucifer, they followed his principles of autonomy, obstinate against the Creator, thinking her human wisdom, money, navy and power sufficient. Other prophets mentioned the burden against her, like Isaiah and Ezekiel.
The heathen historian, DIODORUS SICULUS [17.40], confirms this. "Tyre had the greatest confidence owing to her insular position and fortifications, and the abundant stores she had prepared." New Tyre was on an island seven hundred paces from the shore. As Isaiah's and Ezekiel's ( Ezekiel 27:1-36 ) prophecies were directed against Old Tyre on the mainland and were fulfilled by Nebuchadnezzar, so Zechariah's are against New Tyre, which was made seemingly impregnable by a double wall one hundred fifty feet high, as well as the sea on all sides. BibleStudyTools.com
1This is the burden against Tyre: Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for Tyre is laid waste, without house or harbor. Word has reached them from the land of Cyprus. 2Be silent, O dwellers of the coastland, you merchants of Sidon, whose traders have crossed the sea.… Isaiah 23: 1-2
…2“Son of man, tell the ruler of Tyre that this is what the Lord GOD says: Your heart is proud, and you have said, ‘I am a god; I sit in the seat of gods in the heart of the sea.’ Yet you are a man and not a god, though you have regarded your heart as that of a god. 3Behold, you are wiser than Daniel; no secret is hidden from you! 4By your wisdom and understanding you have gained your wealth and amassed gold and silver for your treasuries.… Ezekiel 28: 2-4
She shall be devoured by fire - This was done by Alexander, who at the time of this prophecy had not yet been born. He would come from Greece and go through Assyria to the north, and then take out these coastal countries, neighbors of Israel. Like Joshua the High Priest and Zerubbabel of the lineage of King David, Alexander the Great becomes a sign, a shadow of a coming conqueror. God is sending him to judge the nations.
cast her out--Hebrew, "dispossess her," that is, will cast her inhabitants into exile [GROTIUS]. Alexander, though without a navy, by incredible labor constructed a mole of the ruins of Old Tyre (fulfilling Ezekiel 26:4-12 , &c., by "scraping her dust from her," and "laying her stones, timber, and dust in the midst of the water"), from the shore to the island, and, after a seven months' siege, took the city by storm, slew with the sword about eight thousand, enslaved thirteen thousand, crucified two thousand, and set the city on "fire," as here foretold [CURTIUS, Book 4].
smite her power in the sea--situated though she be in the sea, and so seeming impregnable (compare Ezekiel 28:2 , "I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the sea"). "Her power" includes not only her fortifications, but her fleet, all of which Alexander sank in the sea before her very walls [CURTIUS, Book 4]. Ezekiel 26:17 corresponds, "How art thou destroyed which wast strong in the sea!" - Biblestudytools.com
Ashkelon shall see it and be afraid - Again, we are in the shadows here of what is yet to come. It is a prophecy, chapter 9, that will be fulfilled in part by Alexander the Great, who is but a shadow, a tool in the hand of the Lord, Yahweh's arrow pointing to a final conqueror, the Messiah. When you see this all happen, when this comes to past, as history bears out it did with the Greek empire, then know that those later days will also come to past. If God can do this with a heathen ruler, imagine what God the Son will do when He returns.
Now you’ll notice at the end of verse 1, it says, “When the eyes of man as of all the tribes of Israel shall be toward the Lord.” Now he says, this judgment is going to come and when it comes, the eyes of mankind – in Hebrew. In other words, human kind, people, the eyes of people, the eyes of mankind – this is a collective thing – as well as the eyes of the “tribes of Israel shall be toward the Lord.”
Now you say, “Well, what does that mean?” Just this. That when Alexander began to sweep to the east, the whole world in fear began to fix their gaze on him. The Gentile countries, Syria, Phoenicia, the great sailors of the world, the merchants of the world, Philistia, the great army, those nations began to look at Alexander with fear and trembling, and even Egypt and Pharaoh was shaking in his boots. And the tribes of Israel were looking.
You say, “But, John, it says here they were looking toward the Lord.” And that’s the whole point here. The point is that in looking at Alexander, they were seeing the instrument of God, you see. They were seeing the Lord coming in judgment through this man. God throughout history has used ungodly men to act in judgment. Read the book of Habakkuk. God uses the Chaldeans, the ungodly Chaldeans as His instruments. And you remember how Cyrus, Cyrus who was an ungodly pagan, was used by God to open the door to lead Israel back to its land. God again and again has used the ungodly. - J Mac
Ekron also - All of Israel's Philistine neighbors will notice this coming conqueror, and be cut off by him.
The king shall perish from Gaza
But Gaza tried to resist and it took him five months to get to Gaza. And by the end of the five months, he was very angry. And so, to show his anger, he gave them no semi-independence which he did for nations that knuckled under. And he took their king, took great spikes and drilled holes through the feet of the king, wrapped thongs through the holes and dragged him through the streets of the city till he was dead. The annals of Alexander even give his name, his name is Betis, BETIS or BATIS, either one. We see it in both ways. Exactly what verse 5 said, hundreds of years before Alexander was ever born. You understand the meaning of that? - J Mac
It's blood from it's mouth...it's abominations from between it's teeth - Fascinating, I think Macarthur sums this up very well:
Now I want you to get the idea here. The Philistine nation in verse 7 is pictured like a man. Okay? Like a man. Now this man has blood in his mouth and abominations between his teeth. You say, “What’s that?” Philistines in their pagan worship used to make blasphemous sacrifices. And they would drink the blood and eat the sacrificial meat. You know, like in 1 Corinthians 8, mean offered to idols and drinking blood. Acts 15 talks about the pagans that did that. And so, they were doing that. Literally drinking blood and eating abominating sacrifices.
And he says here that this purging by God, this use of Alexander to wipe out their country will cause them to spit out their idolatry, to take the blood out of their mouths and the abominations from between their teeth, and he that remains, those who remain after this shall be for our God. You know what it had? It had an actually – a redeeming effect on a remnant of the Philistines, so that at the time of Alexander some of the Philistines turned to God. You know, in any time of God’s judgment, there’s always a place for the repentant remnant, isn’t there? Yes. Remember in Malachi when God said I’m going to come in judgment and some gathered together and began to pray. And He said, “Oh, I haven’t forgotten you, I have a book of remembrance for you and you shall be Mine in the day that I make up My jewel.”
Then I will encamp at My house as a guard - Check this out, this is so cool from J Mac and the historian Josephus:
Here’s what happened. Alexander sent word to the Jewish high priest at that time, whose name was Jaddua, JADDUA. And he said, “You must pay tribute to me.” Well, Jaddua was caught between a rock and a hard place because he had his allegiance to Persia because Persia was ruling the world at that time and it was just in the middle of the conquering there. And so, he refused to do that. Well, Alexander went in a rage and he said, “I’m coming and I’m going to destroy Jerusalem to its foundations as soon as I’m finished with the rest of these cities on the way.” So, after taking Gaza and dragging King Betis clear through town, wiping out that, he planned to go to Jerusalem.
And the high priest called all the people of Israel together, according to Josephus, and he demanded that they all sacrifice to God and fall on their knees and pray for deliverance. And one night God gave the high priest a dream and He told him in the dream to go out and meet Alexander on the road and welcome him to the city, which would have been a little strange. So he did. So Alexander and his army were marching along to the city and the high priest went out to meet him. And he led a procession.
The high priest put on his purple robes and his scarlet robes and his miter with its gold and the inscription, the name of God engraved. He had all the attendant priests. And you know there were priests and priests and priests and priests and priests all over the place in Israel. So many priests, and you could only serve – if you were lucky – once a year because you had to wait your turn, so many of them. They were all there, marching in white. And when he saw this, he was literally bowled over by it and he saluted with respect to God and he bent down and bowed and he said that he had recently had a dream while he was in Macedonia and in that dream, he had seen this very priest and this procession. And as a result, he said, “I’ll treat Jerusalem with kindness.” He passed by to Egypt. He returned right back by again and never touched the hair of a head of anybody in Jerusalem.
Isn’t that what it says in verse 8 would happen? “I will encamp about My house because of the army, because of him that passeth by and because of him that returneth. And no oppressor shall pass through them anymore. For Now, I have seen with Mine eyes.” Isn’t it interesting? Alexander – watch this one – judged the nations but he also was used to save the city of Jerusalem. And what God is saying in this text is, if God can use a pagan king in such a miraculous way to judge the ungodly and to save God’s people, imagine what He can do with a divine King yet to come in the future. The judgment will be all the greater, as much greater as Christ is than Alexander. And the salvation will be all the greater, as much greater as Christ is than Alexander. It was really the Lord. The “I will” here refers to the Lord. - J Mac
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