Zechariah 9

Zechariah 9:1-17

TO THE OF HOPE Zechariah 9:1-17. THE student of Zechariah finds a break at the end of the eighth chapter, which, in the judgment of critics marks the introduction of a new Prophet; but which, according to Conservatives, indicates a long period of time between the close of Zechariah’s early utterances in chapters one to eight, and his later prophecies in chapters nine to fourteen. From the day of Joseph Mede, the Cambridge theologian, in 1632, to Driver, Kirpatrick, and others of our own times, our critics have occupied some common ground in assigning Zechariah,— nine to fourteen,—to post-exilic times; and to another and an unknown author. One might be impressed with such an array of names as Mede, Hammond, Kidder, Whiston, Bertholdt, Hitzig, Ewald, Kuenen, Eichhorn, Stade, Cheyne, Zeydner, and others, but for two facts. First of all there is no agreement, in detail, as between any considerable number of them; and the utter absurdity of their opinions appears before they have finished these same chapters, for after having separated chapters nine to fourteen from one to eight, and assigned them to another author, they proceed to dissect the latter part of the Book and pick out chapters and, in some instances, even single verses, which probably were never written either by Zechariah or this unknown and unknowable individual.There may be a show of learning in the very pretention of ability to tell just what one man wrote and just where another introduced a sentence, a word, or a dot, but the appeal to the credulity of the people is sufficient to discredit all such speculators.The traveler in Ireland may be willing to have the Gaelic guardian of the sacred relics show him the skull of St. Patrick, but when once he has been convinced that he has handled the cranium,—the very cranium—which held the brain of the great and good man, it is a little dangerous to appear with a smaller skull and insist, “This, your Honor, is the skull of St. Patrick when he was a boy.”We may be pardoned, therefore, if we believe as the ancient Jews did, as did Ezra and those who aided him in gathering the Sacred Canon, and as do the more conservative students of modern times, that Zechariah—the Prophet—is the author of both the earlier and latter portions of the Book which wears his name.The break, then, is accounted for by believing that a period of time intervened between the eight chapters with which the Book opens, and the six with which it closes, since the strong external testimonies for the unity of the entire volume are all thereby conserved.“The burden of the Word of the Lord”, is a phrase new to the lips of His Prophet. And yet, when one remembers the changes which had come over Jerusalem and vicinity in the Prophet’s day, he can readily understand why he should no longer speak of “the Word of the Lord of Hosts” but rather of “the burden of the Word of the Lord”.In the early part of the Book the Temple was being re-erected, the city re-built, and the state reestablished. But, in the later life of the Prophet, Tyre, Ashkelon, Gaza and Ekron had hemmed in the Holy City, and revealed toward her a hostile spirit, and the prospects of her doom were such as to warrant the phrase, “the burden of the Word of the Lord”.When we turn to the fuller expression of “the Word of the Lord” we have set in order before us the very subjects with which this chapter is concerned:—The Judgment against Syria; Jerusalem’s Safety and Her Savior; and The Promises to the Prisoners of Hope.THE AGAINST SYRIA “The burden of the Word of the Lord in the land of Hadrach, and Damascus shall be the rest thereof: when the eyes of mm, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the Lord. “And Hamath also shall border thereby; Tyrus, and Zidon, though it be very wife. “And Tyrus did build herself a strong hold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets. “Behold, the Lord will cast her out, and He will smite her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire. “Ashkelon shall see it, and fear; Gaza also shall see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron; for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited. “And a bastard shalt dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. “And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth: but He that remaineth, even He, shall be for our God, and He shall be as a governor in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite” (Zechariah 9:1-7). It was to be an extensive judgment. Damascus and Zidon formed the far northern boundary, while the progress southward from Ashdod to Ashkelon, and from Ashkelon to Gaza came again near the utmost limits of the land. When God begins a work of judgment He knows just where to lay out His lines that He may inclose the last offender.It was to be an intensive judgment. Even the stronghold of Tyre the Lord will dispossess, and “He will smite her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire. Ashkelon shall see it, and fear; Gaza also shall see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron; for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited. And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines”.These are terrible words,—“disposses”; “smite”; “devour”; “sorrowful”; “shall be ashamed”; “perish”; “cut off”!

They are God’s words! And when we remember that God never utters a threat but He executes every sentence they become more significant still.Go back into history and see whether God made good this prophecy.

Who does not know that Alexander the Great besieged and captured Damascus, swept on to Zidon, and took that, and even Tyre—standing at sea as she did, famed for her wise men, walled in with what seemed to be an impregnable stronghold—held out only seven months, and was then burned to the ground. And when, with his armies he marched into the south land, Gaza, Ashkelon and Ashdod met the same fate. The last letter of this prophecy was converted into history.Such an One is God! Why should not men learn to fear Him? It was He who sent His angel through Egypt when the hand of Pharaoh was heavy upon His people, and left the first-born dead in every Egyptian house. It was He who laid His finger upon the walls of Jericho and with a single touch leveled them with the earth, and threw that people into such consternation that Joshua and his hosts could smite the last man!

It was He who went with Jonathan and his armor-bearer to put an army of Philistines to flight,—and easily accomplished it! It was He who looked upon Belshazzar’s profane feast, and appointed that very night for the death of the king and the scattering of his forces.How can one read the Old Testament history, and yet doubt the power of Jehovah to perfect every word which He has indicted at the mouth of His Prophets?

The New Testament truth—“With God all things are possible” is illustrated ten thousand times by the Old Testament history.It was a judgment by the Lord. He does not hesitate to say, “Behold, the Lord will cast her out, and He will smite”, nor to affirm, “I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth”.It is a fact that Alexander the Great is the one who overran Hadrach, Damascus and Hamath, Tyre and Zidon, Ashkelon, Gaza and Ekron, and broke the might of the Philistines; but it is an equal truth that Alexander was only an instrument in the hand of God. Long before Alexander was born, God had His plans for him. Daniel, in his prophecy, described Alexander’s character, told the country from which he should come and the mighty work of conquest which he should accomplish, under the figure of the he-goat, coming from the West over the face of the whole earth.It is not to be supposed that the God who numbers the very hairs of our head, and without whom not a sparrow falls to the ground, is absent when we are formed, and the powers and purposes of our lives are appointed. It is not to be supposed that the God who proposes to assemble, eventually, all nations to judgment, leaves them to play their representative parts in the world without His supervision and administration.Joseph Parker has truly said, “The nations are in the hands of God.

From His throne He notes every relationship conceived by human wisdom and sealed by human covenant. We cannot build out God.

He can summon other nations, and put this war-cry into their mouth, ‘Arise ye, and let us go up against her in battle.’ In the shoutings of these Biblical battles, we often hear but the echoes of the Eternal voice. God sometimes argued with words of wisdom and persuasive entreaty, and sometimes with sword and spear and bow; but whether in this way or in that, the sublime truth written on the fronts of history is,—that underlying everything there is a Divine hand, and far above everything is an unslumbering eye. God is the only true defense of nations. If He has set His purpose on our ruin, He can put force enough into the spoiler’s muscle to crumple up our navy, and show the spoiler how to melt our piled iron that it may be poured out like water!”Kipling must have keenly appreciated these truths when he wrote:—“Far-called our navies melt away— On dune and headland sinks the fire— Lo, all our pomp of yesterday Is one with Nineveh and Tyre! Judge of the Nations, spare us yet, Lest we forget—lest we forget!” ’S SAFETY AND HER SAVIOR “And I will encamp about Mine House because of the army, because of him that passeth by, and because of him that returneth: and no oppressor shall pass through them any more: for now have I seen with Mine eyes. “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion: shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. “And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and He shall speak peace unto the heathen: and His dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth” (Zechariah 9:8-10). Jerusalem was to be kept by Jehovah! As “the Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him” so the Lord Himself proposes to encamp about His own House against the army that none pass through or return. One of the sweetest lessons to be learned by the Christian is this of the keeping power of God. To believe it because it is written into the Book is the highest faith; but to take note of special occasions when God has given proof of His prophecy is to love Him with increasing gratitude, and to esteem His power with rising inflection.There is a passage in the “Life of Adoniram Judson” that marvelously illustrates this truth. When his fellow-laborers,—the Boardman’s,—had been in their new home in Maulmain but four days, the robbers came one night and looted it of every valuable thing. When Mrs.

Boardman was awakened by the stirring of her infant, she saw in the dim light that the house had been rifled. But a moment more, and her eyes rested upon a scene which made her utterly indifferent to the lost goods.

Two long gashes, one at the head and the other at the foot of the curtain partitioning off her husband’s room had been cut; and there the desperate villains had stood watching the unconscious man with the sharp knife or spear drawn for its deadly work in the instance of waking on the part of any one while they were about their looting. But, says the son, “Not one long-drawn breath startled the cowardice of guilt. The rounded limbs of the little infant lay motionless as their marble counterfeit, for if the rosy lips had moved but to the slightest murmur, or the tiny hand crept closer to the loved bosom, the chord in the mother’s breast must have answered, and the death-stroke followed. But the mother held her treasure to her heart and slept on. The husband and father slept. But there was one Eye open,—the Eye that never slumbers; a protecting wing over them, and a soft, invisible hand pressed down their sleeping lids.”What an interpretation of this text, “And I will encamp about Mine House because of the army, because of him that passeth by, and because of him that returneth: and no oppressor shall pass through them any more: for now have I seen with Mine eyes?” (Zechariah 9:8).But what God, by His guardian angel, did for them, God, by the right hand of His power, is accomplishing for homes, cities and states in which His saints dwell.

It would be a blessed thing if ancient history could be re-written in the light of prophecy. Men would find many historical incidents alive with new interest if they but saw how it became a part of that plan which was with God from the beginning.When at school giving ourselves to daily lessons, in Josephus we read these words, “After the destruction of Tyre, the conqueror marched against Gaza, which was razed to the ground.

While Alexander was at the siege of Tyre, he sent to demand the surrender of Jerusalem. The High Priest sent an answer in which he stated that Jerusalem had entered into an alliance with the Persian monarch. After taking Gaza, Alexander advanced suddenly against Jerusalem. Jaddua, the High Priest, and the entire city were much frightened. But in a vision God told the High Priest to be of good cheer, to decorate the city and open the gates wide, and to go forth in his priestly robes with all the priests in his train, and the people of the city clad in white garments. Jaddua obeyed and the doors were opened, and the astonished enemy beheld a startling spectacle.

No sooner had Alexander seen the High Priest in his gold embroidered robes, with the holy Name engraved on the turban, than he fell upon his face and worshiped. His attendants were greatly astonished.

The Syrian kings who stood around feared that Alexander had lost his reason. One, at length, asked why he, whom all the world worshiped, should do homage to the High Priest of the Jews. Alexander replied that he did not worship the High Priest, but his God. ‘In a vision in Macedonia that figure in that very dress appeared to me. He exhorted me to conquer Persia.”“Alexander entered with the priest into the city to offer sacrifices. The High Priest then acquainted him with the prophecies of Daniel, showing that a Greek was to overthrow the Persian Empire.”How few of us understood that that was a literal fulfillment of Zec 9:8. And yet no man could make himself familiar with Daniel’s prophecy and with the words of this prophecy without appreciating such to be true. So clearly here was “prophecy become the mold of history” that Conservative and Critic alike have agreed in saying that God shielded Jerusalem from any onslaught on the part of Alexander, and so fulfilled to the letter the language of Zechariah.Who of us dwells in a city, or takes pride in his country, can afford to forget that the safety of both exists only in the encamping Jehovah?God’s Son was to become Jerusalem’s KING“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion: shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. “And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and He shalt speak peace unto the heathen: and His dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth” (Zechariah 9:9-10). The student of prophecy counts himself upon sure ground when he finds the writer of the New Testament quoting and interpreting passages from the Old. That this reference was to the Messiah is not only argued from the language of Zechariah, but confirmed by each of the four Gospels. In the very nature of the case it would seem impossible to apply this description to any one else than to Jesus of Nazareth. He was the King to come; the Just One; the One having salvation. But when Zechariah goes so far as to speak of him as “lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass” all men marvel that a prophecy spoken some hundreds of years in advance of the event should descend to such minutia, and yet see all fulfilled!We know from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John that when He was ready to make His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Jesus sent two disciples, saying unto them,—“Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto Me” (Matthew 21:2). “All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet, saying, “Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. “And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, “And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set Him thereon. “And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. “And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest” (Matthew 21:4-9). This was truly the beginning of the fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy. The utter completion that day will witness when He comes again “without sin unto salvation”, to sit upon the throne in that city and sway the scepter of universal power.Paul speaks of that larger hour, preceding which“That blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: “For this is My covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sin.” (Romans 11:25-27). The glory of Jerusalem is yet to come. The throne of God’s Son is yet to be set up there. His “dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth” is yet to be seen.In 1904 ship-loads of Christian men and women journeyed to Jerusalem, and bitter disappointment was the common experience when they looked upon the far-famed city, for its former glory had passed away and its coming glory had not yet begun. The World’s Sunday School Convention sat in a sorry city, save for hallowed associations.Yesterday travelers to Jerusalem found it a place of little commerce, few manufacturers, poor buildings, and poorer people. Its inhabitants were a mixture of Jew, Moslem and Christian, at eternal enmity one with another; while its narrow streets were filthy and insufficiently lighted; gloomy by day and dangerous by night. Such was the Jerusalem of yesterday.But who shall sing of the Jerusalem tomorrow, when her King sits there to speak peace unto the nations. We sing of “Jerusalem the Golden” referring to the Eternal City, “not made with hands” but our words will not over-match Judah’s capitol when her King shall come. “Jerusalem, the golden, With milk and honey blest! Beneath thy contemplation Sing heart and voice oppressed; I know not, O, I know not What joys await me there; What radiancy of glory, What bliss beyond compare.

“They stand, those halls of Zion All jubilant with song, And bright with many an angel, And all the martyr throng; The Prince is ever in them, The daylight is serene; The pastures of the blessed Are decked in glorious sheen.

“O sweet and blessed country, Shall I e’er see thy face? O sweet and blessed country, Shall I e’er win thy grace? Exult, O dust and ashes! The Lord shall be thy part His only, His forever Thou shalt be, and thou art!” TO THE OF HOPE “As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. “Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee; “When I have bent Judah for Me, filled the 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. “And the Lord shall be seen over them, and His arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the Lord God shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south. “The Lord of Hosts shall defend them; and they shall devour, and subdue with sling stones; and they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine; and they shall be filled like bowls, and as the corners of the altar. “And the Lord their God shall save them in that day as the flock of His people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon His land. “For how great is His goodness, and how great is His beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids” (Zechariah 9:11-17). Their release was promised. The Jerusalem of Zechariah’s day was shut in by the line of enemies thrown about her. At the hour when she could see no way of escape, God boldly announced by His Prophet that escape was as sure as the Covenant of Blood was binding. Notwithstanding the state of her subjects, like to prisoners in a pit, whither they had run for safety, or been cast by the oppressor’s hand, they were not to sorrow as others who had no hope, but to endure in the full confidence of deliverance. They were not to be prisoners of despair, but prisoners with a prospect.Do you remember in William Beckford’s “Vathek” how the Giaour, after having conducted Vathek into that awful dungeon where the condemned souls of kings and prophets suffered their torment, makes the Prophet Soliman to speak of his torment there, but adds, “However, I do not remain like other inhabitants, totally destitute of hope, for an angel of light hath revealed that, in consideration of the piety of my early youth, my woes shall come to an end when this cataract shall forever cease to flow.” He was a prisoner of hope, long-deferred. And yet, hope deferred is better than despair: and hope nigh at hand, who can tell what is its inspiration?Maud Ballington Booth, in her volume, “After Prison What?” speaking of the men who have been incarcerated for crimes, says, “There is a weird cry that breaks out sometimes amid the midnight stillness of the prison cell house; the venting of a heart’s repressed longing, ‘Roll around 1912’ and from other cells other voices echo, each putting in the year of his liberty.”“Prisoners of Hope!” The Judge hath appointed the time when they shall be free again, and they wait for it.

Ah, my auditors, the greater Judge has done the same for us every one. And the day is at hand when, if we will, we may walk at liberty. The deliverance of these Jews from their enemy is a type of God’s will for us. And,“We then as workers together with Him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. “(For He saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:1-2). Their compensations were at hand.“Even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee”! They knew the meaning of that word “double”. They had endured “double” judgment; they were now to enjoy “double” blessing. Isaiah had said,“Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins” (Isaiah 40:2). And later, the same Prophet had added,“For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them” (Isaiah 61:7). Perhaps no man is so well prepared to appreciate his double blessing as the man who has endured a double curse. Dreyfus, the Jew, who on Devil’s Island endured the double curse, knew the sweets of liberty, and drank a double portion of the same when once he was recalled, as perhaps no other man of all France could.Miss Stone and Madam Tsilka, for one hundred and seventy-one days prisoners in the hands of brigands, enduring all manner of hardships, dying daily, appreciated the grace of God and freedom from enemies when once they were back in the company of friends, as none of those who received them could.It is only the Christian who suffers with Christ that can also reign with Him: only the individual who has endured hardships can sound the recesses and soar to the heights of human happiness.Beloved, if today we know anything of the meaning of “double blessing” and “double compensation” it is because we have at some time experienced double hardships and double sorrow.Their victory was divinely voiced.“When I hade bent Judah for Me, fitted the 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. “And the Lord shall be seen over them, and His arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the Lord God shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south. “The Lord of Hosts shall defend them; and they shall devour, and subdue with sling stones; and they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine; and they shall be filled like bowls, and as the corners of the altar. “And the Lord their God shall save them in that day as the flock of His people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon His land” (Zechariah 9:13-16). The troubles of Jerusalem were not over when Alexander, impressed by his dream, passed them unharmed. Greece had other sons who under Antiochus Epiphanes were to come. This bloody successor of Alexander entered Jerusalem, slew forty thousand of her inhabitants, and sold as many more into slavery. He entered their Temple, carried away their sacred treasures, offered an unclean swine upon their holy altar of burnt offerings, and with its blood defiled the sacred place. And for a time it looked as though Zechariah’s prophecy was to fail, and God had forgotten His own. But “man’s extremity is God’s opportunity” and when all was apparently lost, Jehovah raised up Judas Maccabaeus and his brethren, who for twenty-five long years waged a resistless warfare against the Grecian enemy, until, by victories, clearly miraculous, Jerusalem was freed again, and the land dispossessed of the adversary.How wonderful it was when the stripling David struck down the giant Goliath! But not so wonderful as when this feeble company, timid as the shepherd’s flock, were stirred up against Greece until they smote it as the “sword of a mighty man”; until they devoured and trod down the sling stones, and Jehovah, their God, saved them in that day as the flock of His people!Why should not every saint sing with David,“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me. “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over” (Psalms 23:4-5). The God who can not only put our enemies to flight, but provide for us a feast in their very presence, is a God of such marvelous might that David’s words were again justified when he said,“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? “When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. “Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident” (Psalms 27:1-3). Their coming glory was assured.“For they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon His land” (Zechariah 9:16). In other words, they were to be lifted up as anEnsign that all might flock to the Jewish church.“And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the People; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and His rest shall be glorious” (Isaiah 11:10). “For how great is His goodness, and how great is His beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids” (Zechariah 9:17). What a picture this is of the strength and beauty which God proposes for His own in that day when He shall make up His jewels! Who, contemplating the promise, might not break forth in the language of Wesley:—“Jesus, Thy robe of righteousness My beauty is, my glorious dress; ‘Mid flaming worlds, in this arrayed, With joy shall I lift up my head. “When from the dust of earth I rise To claim my mansion in the skies, E’en then shall this be all my plea— ‘Jesus hath lived and died for me.’ “This spotless robe the same appears When ruined nature sinks in years; No age can change its glorious hue; The robe of Christ is ever new. “O let the dead now hear Thy voice; Now bid Thy banished ones rejoice; Their beauty this, their glorious dress, Jesus, the Lord, our Righteousness.”