The final prophecies of Deutero-Zechariah, collected in the 14th chapter, like his previous words, in essence, contain only a description of what the prophet sees in the future. Most of the previous prophets, including the first Zechariah, whose prophecies make up the first eight chapters of the book, are addressed directly to...
The final prophecies of Deutero-Zechariah, collected in the 14th chapter, like his previous words, in essence, contain only a description of what the prophet sees in the future. Most of the previous prophets, including the first Zechariah, whose prophecies make up the first eight chapters of the book, are addressed directly to the people listening to them. Penetrating the mysteries of God's design, the prophets on behalf of the Lord direct a call to repentance to the people and bring a word of consolation and hope. None of this is present in the prophecies of Deutero-Zechariah — they are as if addressed to future generations. Deutero-Zechariah seems to call for nothing, he reports on future events as inevitable, as what has already been accomplished by the will of the Almighty. In this is the striking difference of Deutero-Zechariah from all other prophets.
And yet a connection between the words of the prophet and the historical context of his life does exist. Perhaps unknown editors and scribes did not consider it necessary to include indications of this connection in the text of the book, but it can still be seen. The fact is that indifference, apathy toward faith had become the main feature of the spiritual life of the era during the time of the prophet. Indications of this can be found in all the late prophets, and also in extra-biblical sources. And therefore the prophet does not count on a visible response from his listeners, he prophesies only because the Spirit, speaking in his heart, calls him to it. “Whether they hear or whether they refuse” — so the Lord commanded the prophet Ezekiel. The same can be applied to the prophecy of Deutero-Zechariah; he addresses those who still want to and can hear him.
Moreover, of exceptional significance for understanding the prophecies of Deutero-Zechariah is his understanding of salvation. Most prophets of the first and second generations saw and emphasized in the history contemporary to them that which anticipated the future. God's intervention in the history of the chosen people was for them the beginning, the first and incomplete manifestation of the coming Day of Visitation. In the events contemporary to them, the prophets saw only gleams of God's design and sought to comprehend this design. For Deutero-Zechariah, however, the coming advent of Christ has no parallel; the centuries preceding the Incarnation find their fullness and meaningfulness only in the events of the Kingdom of the Messiah. The coming, rejection, and enthronement of the Messiah become for him the only center toward which history is directed and without which it is aimless. He does not prophesy in order to change the course of history, which the prophets preceding him were called to do. The goal of Deutero-Zechariah is to point to future events so that people might have time to prepare for them, so that people might orient themselves by them in their lives.
That is why Deutero-Zechariah is truly the last prophet, after whom it will remain only for John the Baptist to proclaim that the foretold Kingdom has come. And from the times of Deutero-Zechariah begins that intense expectation which lies at the foundation of the spiritual life of many contemporaries of the Lord Jesus, from Simeon the God-Receiver and Zechariah (the father of John the Baptist) to Nicodemus and the apostles.
Contrary to popular notions of the earthly greatness of Israel under the rule of the Messiah, the first prophecy of the 14th chapter says that at this time the country will be laid waste by foreign invaders. It is not given to the prophet to know that these will be the Romans (the inhabitants of a distant city in the west, which at that time was barely three centuries old), therefore he uses the images of captivity and the earthquake under Uzziah familiar to everyone in Israel. It is important for him to inform his listeners and readers that in the coming era of disasters and enslavement the Lord Himself will come to His people. Four centuries before the day when Simon Peter will say to Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God,” Deutero-Zechariah proclaims the coming of the Messiah: “His feet shall stand in that day on the Mount of Olives.” But, like Joel, he sees in the Day of Visitation something incomprehensible and frightening, from which the foundations of the world will be shaken. “There shall be no light, the luminaries shall withdraw” — these words can only partially be understood as a continuation of the testimony of Abraham, Moses, and Amos about the darkness enveloping the presence of the Invisible One. Deutero-Zechariah himself does not explain them, he only sparsely describes what was revealed to his inner gaze: “It shall be a day... neither day, nor night; only at evening time shall there be light.” This is the very same mysterious eclipse to which the evangelist Luke testifies: “It was now about the sixth hour of the day, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour” (Lk 23:44). But the prophet also sees that this darkness, in which the sun will dim, will become for the world a source of living water — that very stream exuding life from under the threshold of the House of God, about which Ezekiel spoke.
Deutero-Zechariah concludes his word by indicating that on that day the enthronement of God Himself over all the earth will take place, and His name will become the only one in the universe. Distorted and false human notions about the Creator of the world will disappear, and humanity will come to know the true God. And therefore throughout the whole world, starting from Jerusalem, the victory of God's righteousness will be accomplished, and every evil will be struck down. The last prophecy, concluding the whole book, speaks of the triumph of the worship of God throughout the whole world. All nations, the prophet asserts, will worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, because without this they will have no source of life (which here is symbolized by rain, ensuring the fertility of the earth). All, even nations so hostile to the faith as the Egyptians, will participate in this worship, and Jerusalem itself and everything that happened in it will become a great shrine. And this triumph, this feast of faith, will be conditioned only by the coming of the Messiah and nothing else. The main thought of these last lines of the book is briefly expressed by the apostle Paul: “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:9-11).
14 The gates of hell threaten the church; but all issues well at last, Zec 14:1-7.
The spreading of the church, Zec 14:8-16.
The punishment of those that fought against Jerusalem, and that neglect to worship there, Zec 14:17-19.
The increase and purity of the church, Zec 14:20-21.
14:1 The day - Of vengeance, Joe 2:1-2, cometh, or will soon overtake you, O sinful, unthankful! bloody! Jews. Thy spoil - All thou hast, O, Jerusalem, shall become a prey to thine enemy.
14:2 All nations - The Romans who at that time had the rule over all the nations of that part of the world. The residue - That small number of the Jews who were spared by Titus.Shall not be cut off - Were not forbidden to dwell about the city.
14:3 Then - After he hath sufficiently punished the Jews.As when he fought - As in those days when he fought for his people.
14:4 Shall cleave - Sinai melted, at the presence of the God of the whole earth. Great valley - So rich shall be a plain access from the place of the feet of the Lord unto Jerusalem.
14:5 The valley of the mountains - A place provided of God for their safety. O Lord my God - As if it were said, though it will, O Lord, put us into fear; yet without such wonderful works we shall not see thy salvation; therefore, O Lord my God come, and bring thy holy ones with thee.
14:6 In that day - While God is fighting with the enemies of his church, the nations that fought against Jerusalem. Nor dark - There shall be some mercy to allay the bitterness of judgment, and some judgment with our mercy.
14:7 One day - One continued day, no setting of the sun to make it quite night: God will always act in order to the full salvation of his spiritual Jerusalem. Known unto the Lord - The Lord knows when it shall begin, and how, and when it shall end.
14:8 In that day - When the days of ignorance, and idolatry shall end.Living waters - The quickening, saving truths of the gospel, with all its ordinances in purity. From Jerusalem - The church of Christ, the true Jerusalem. The former sea - Or eastern sea. The hinder sea - Or western sea. In summer and in winter - Perpetually, without intermission, these waters shall never dry away, or lose their healing virtue.
14:9 In that day - All men shall agree in worshipping one God, in one way of spiritual worship, and hearty obedience.
14:10 All the land - The whole land of Judea, a type of the whole earth, shall be filled with the knowledge of God. 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. Geba - The north boundary of the land.Rimmon - The south boundary of Judea. Jerusalem - Which taken mystically, is the church of Christ, and by the repair of all to this Jerusalem, is shadowed out of the compleat building of the church on all sides, north, south, west and east. Lifted up - Raised out of the dust. Benjamin's gate - Benjamin's gate north - east, corner - gate north - west; Hananiel's tower south, wine - presses north; that is in brief, compleatly around the city.
14:11 And men - Many for number, eminent for worth.Utter destruction - There may be afflictions but no utter wasting of Jerusalem; the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
14:13 A great tumult - Confusion. Shall rise up - From murmurs one against another they shall at last run into civil wars, and so destroy themselves, and revenge Jerusalem.
14:14 Judah - The Jews, and possibly Judas Maccabeus might be intended.
14:15 The horse - Those creatures which the enemy in the wars made use of, shall by the hand of God be suddenly and strangely destroyed.
14:16 That is left - That escapes the stroke. To worship - By a ceremonial usage which shadowed out a better worship, the prophet foretells the constant zeal of the converted Gentiles to worship the Lord. The feast of tabernacles - One solemn festival is by a figure, put for all the days consecrated to God for holy worship.
14:20 Shall there be - Written as it were on every common thing.Holiness unto the Lord - Their persons shall bear the dedicating inscription of holiness to the Lord, and by their study of holiness they shall make good their motto. The pots - Which were used in the kitchens of the temple, and were not accounted so sacred as the utensils near the sacrifices, and altar. The bowls - Which received the blood of the sacrifices, were esteemed more holy; so shall thy holiness in these days exceed the holiness of those former days.
14:21 Every pot - The utensils of private houses shall be all dedicated to God's service. That sacrifice - So the prophet expresses all religious affections, practice, and worship, which shall be as pleasing to God, as were the sacrifices of his people offered up with divine warrant and approbation. Seethe therein - That part of the sacrifice which pertaineth to the priests, and to the offerer to feast on. The Canaanite - Any of the accursed nation, or one who makes merchandise of religion. But all shall know that the Lord hath the greatest pleasure in upright, and sincere love and holiness.