TEXT [Commentary]

  IV.   Zechariah’s Oracles (9:1–14:21)

A.   First Oracle (9:1–11:17)

1.   Judgment against Israel’s enemies (9:1-8)

1 This is the message[*] from the LORD against the land of Aram[*] and the city of Damascus, for the eyes of humanity, including all the tribes of Israel, are on the LORD.

2 Doom is certain for Hamath,

near Damascus,

and for the cities of Tyre and Sidon,

though they are so clever.

3 Tyre has built a strong fortress

and has made silver and gold

as plentiful as dust in the streets!

4 But now the Lord will strip away Tyre’s possessions

and hurl its fortifications into the sea,

and it will be burned to the ground.

5 The city of Ashkelon will see Tyre fall

and will be filled with fear.

Gaza will shake with terror,

as will Ekron, for their hopes will be dashed.

Gaza’s king will be killed,

and Ashkelon will be deserted.

6 Foreigners will occupy the city of Ashdod.

I will destroy the pride of the Philistines.

7 I will grab the bloody meat from their mouths

and snatch the detestable sacrifices from their teeth.

Then the surviving Philistines will worship our God

and become like a clan in Judah.[*]

The Philistines of Ekron will join my people,

as the ancient Jebusites once did.

8 I will guard my Temple

and protect it from invading armies.

I am watching closely to ensure

that no more foreign oppressors overrun my people’s land.

NOTES

9:1 This is the message. The superscription or title (9:1) for the larger passage (chs 9–11) combines two formulaic prophetic expressions: the technical term “oracle” (massa’ [TH4853A, ZH5363]) and the prophetic word formula. The word “oracle” means “burden” in the sense of a pronouncement of prophetic judgment and invests the prophet’s message with divine authority. The combination of the two expressions is also found in 12:1 and Mal 1:1; it is a distinctive feature of late biblical prophecy (cf. Meyers and Meyers 1993:91). On the prophetic word formula, see note on 1:1, “the LORD gave this message.”

Aram. Lit., “the land of Hadrach,” a city-state on the northern boundary of modern Syria. It was probably the ancient city of Hatarikka cited in Assyrian texts and is associated with the site of Tell Afis southwest of Aleppo.

Damascus. This capital city of the Aramean state flourished in Syria during the tenth to eighth centuries BC. The Aramean kingdom was sometimes an ally and at other times an enemy to the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The city lay adjacent to the Abana River and was located on the caravan route connecting Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean coast. The border of Damascus was regarded as the northern boundary of the ideal Hebrew state (Ezek 47:16-18).

9:2 Hamath. A fortress city on the Orontes River (modern-day Hama in Syria) located on one of the southern trade routes from Asia Minor. Hamath was considered the northern boundary of Israel according to Num 13:21 and Josh 13:5.

Tyre and Sidon. The twin Phoenician port cities were independent kingdoms located on the Mediterranean coast north of Israel (modern-day Lebanon) and are often paired in biblical texts (e.g., Jer 25:22; Joel 3:4). The cities were legendary for their wealth as a result of maritime trade. The OT prophets, however, condemned the pride and oppressive policies of the two cities and predicted their ultimate destruction (cf. Isa 23; Ezek 26:3-14; Amos 1:9-10).

9:3 strong fortress. The word (matsor [TH4692A, ZH5190]) is a pun on the name for the city of Tyre (tsor [TH6865A, ZH7450]). The verse makes reference to the famed island fortress of ancient Tyre (Isa 23:4; Ezek 26:5), which was captured and destroyed by Alexander the Great in 332 BC.

9:5-6 Ashkelon . . . . Gaza . . . Ekron . . . . Ashdod. These Philistine cities were located on the coastal plain of Israel, south of the port city of Joppa. The city of Gath was also numbered among the five principal cities of the Philistines (cf. 1 Sam 6:17). The Philistines were defeated by David (2 Sam 5:17-25), but later regained some measure of autonomy. The prophets Amos and Zephaniah pronounce similar judgments against the same four Philistine cities (Amos 1:6-8; Zeph 2:4-7).

9:6 Foreigners. The word (mamzer [TH4464, ZH4927]) occurs elsewhere only in Deut 23:2 and refers to illegitimate children (cf. KJV, “bastard;” NEB, “half-breeds;” NRSV, “mongrel people”). The significance of the expression for Zechariah is the eventual loss of both political and social identity for the Philistines.

9:7 bloody meat. This is an allusion to the Philistine practice of eating animal meat that had not been drained of its blood—a violation of Hebrew purity laws (cf. Gen 9:4; Lev 3:17; Acts 15:20).

detestable sacrifices. The term shiqquts [TH8251, ZH9199] refers generally to the despicable practices associated with pagan idolatry. Here it suggests the eating of unclean foods as determined by the ritual requirements of the Mosaic food laws (cf. Lev 11:2-23).

the surviving Philistines will worship our God. The “conversion” of the nations to worshipers of Yahweh is a theme in both the visions and the oracles of Zechariah (2:11; 9:7, 10; 14:16). Baldwin (1972:161) has noted that Zechariah’s prediction of the Philistines worshiping the God of Israel anticipates the evangelistic ministry of Philip in the cities of the Philistine coastal plain (since Azotus was the Roman name for Ashdod, Acts 8:40).

Jebusites. The ethnic name of a Canaanite people group living in and around Jerusalem. According to the biblical genealogies, they descended from the third son of Canaan (Gen 10:16; 1 Chr 1:14). The city of Jebus (or Jerusalem) was sacked and burned by the tribe of Judah during the days of the judges (Judg 1:8) and later recaptured by David who made it the capital city of his kingdom (2 Sam 5:6-10). The Jebusites were absorbed by the Israelites through intermarriage during David’s reign (cf. 2 Sam 5:13) and presumably became worshipers of Yahweh.

COMMENTARY [Text]

Part two of the book of Zechariah is composed of two distinct literary units, chapters 9–11 and 12–14. The second half of Zechariah differs from the first in several ways. There is a gradual shift in the literary genre of Zechariah 9–14 to one that is more distinctively apocalyptic in character, combining cryptic historical allusions with futuristic visions. The tone of the prophet’s message shifts from one of exhortation and encouragement to one of admonition and warning. The section contains no explicit references to the prophet, and the messages are presumed to date from a later period of Zechariah’s ministry.

Like the book of Malachi, each of the two speeches is prefaced by the compound title: “this message . . . this message is from the LORD” (lit., “an oracle, the word of Yahweh”; cf. 9:1; 12:1; Mal 1:1). The word “oracle” (massa’ [TH4853A, ZH5363]) is a technical term for a prophetic pronouncement often understood as a “burden” due to the emphasis on divine judgment in this type of oracular speech. The prophetic word formula (debar-yhwh [TH1697/3068, ZH1821/3378], “the word of Yahweh”) typically introduces a report of prophetic revelation and invests that report with divine authority. The two closing oracles are composite in nature in that they represent an anthology of the prophet’s later sermons. They serve as fitting conclusions to the book of Zechariah because as Craigie (1984:199) has noted, the prophet’s “intimations of a future world are here taken up and elaborated in greater detail, and there is a similar concern which incorporates the Gentiles, along with the Jews.”

The visions of Zechariah have generated a wide range of interpretive understandings among Jewish and Christian scholars alike. The summary statements below are in keeping with the major interpretive approaches to visionary literature commonly employed in Christian scholarship (see “Literary Style” in the Introduction). The preterist and historicist approaches generally regard Zechariah’s “visions” largely as reflections upon the earlier Babylonian exile (with the possibility that the visions may represent a vague projection of the future as a message of warning to the prophet’s audience). The amillennial futurist interpretation locates the fulfillment of Zechariah’s visions entirely in the New Testament accounts of the First Advent of Jesus the Messiah. The premillennial futurist interpretation finds a partial fulfillment of Zechariah’s visions in the First Advent of Jesus the Messiah, but locates ultimate fulfillment of many of the prophecies in the future Second Advent of Christ. Time does not permit, nor is it within the scope of this analysis, to deal with the various interpretive schemes of biblical eschatology. Suffice it to say that a face-value reading of the New Testament and subsequent church history indicates that the First Advent of Jesus the Messiah does not exhaust the meaning of Zechariah’s visions in terms of either literal or spiritualized fulfillment of the prophet’s oracles.

The opening portion of the first oracle (9:1-8) is similar to earlier prophetic oracles against foreign nations (e.g., Isa 13–23; Jer 46–50; Amos 1–2) and provides an appropriate thematic introduction to the second half of the book. The message of judgment against Israel’s enemies combines the dual emphases of (third-person) threats (9:1-6a) and (first-person) promises (9:6b-8). The abrupt shifts from the prophet’s report of Yahweh’s words to direct speech by God himself is a shared literary feature of the two concluding oracles (chs 9–11, 12–14). Likewise, the emphasis of Zechariah’s message alternates between the threat of judgment against the nations and the promise of deliverance for Israel throughout the second part of the book.

The catalog of cities (9:1-6) represents people groups that historically were enemies of Israel, including the Arameans to the northeast (Damascus and Hamath, 9:1-2a), the Phoenicians to the northwest (9:2b-5a), and the Philistines to the southwest (Gaza, Ekron, Ashkelon, Ashdod, 9:5b-6). Three themes emerge in the first message (9:1-8) of the first oracle (chs 9–11) that are repeated in the subsequent messages of the two closing oracles. These themes include divine judgment against the nations (9:1-6), the “conversion” of the nations to worshipers of Yahweh (9:7), and divine protection for the nation of Israel (9:8). Specifically, the first message is a sober reminder that human cleverness (9:2), military prowess (9:3a), and opulent wealth (9:3b) provide no advantage in the day of God’s visitation for judgment (9:6). Zechariah stands in theological agreement with the psalmist who warned against trusting in military power (Ps 20:7), or wealth (Ps 49:6), or clever leaders (Ps 146:3) instead of trusting in the God of Jacob for help (Pss 20:7b; 49:15; 146:5). The prophet’s rebuke of the nations’ self-reliance served as an indirect reminder to Judah that God would accomplish his purposes among his people “not by force nor by strength” but by his Spirit (4:6).

The numerous historical allusions in this section of the oracle prove difficult to locate chronologically with any precision. For example, the destruction of Damascus and Hamath (9:1-2) may be a reference to a military campaign of the Assyrian king Sargon II (722–705 BC) who captured both cities. The threat levied against the Philistine cities of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and Ashdod (9:5-6) may have been realized when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia conquered the Philistines in the late 600s BC. And later still, the Phoenician ports of Tyre and Sidon (9:3-4) were captured by the Persians, but they were not sacked and made desolate until Alexander the Great destroyed the cities on his campaign into Egypt (332 BC). Baldwin’s (1972:158) understanding that the writer took no particular historical viewpoint has merit; the author utilized past events in the manner characteristic of apocalyptic literature to typify the ultimate victory of Yahweh. It is even possible that Zechariah’s ambiguous recital of earlier history was a veiled allusion to Daniel’s vision of the successive beasts (or nations) that would rule the Mediterranean world prior to the intervention of God’s Kingdom in the world (cf. Dan 2). As such, the message of the prophet becomes one of encouragement and hope for his audience—because God’s plan for establishing his righteous Kingdom was still intact and on course.