TEXT [Commentary]
4. The Lord will rule the earth (14:1-21)
1 Watch, for the day of the LORD is coming when your possessions will be plundered right in front of you! 2 I will gather all the nations to fight against Jerusalem. The city will be taken, the houses looted, and the women raped. Half the population will be taken into captivity, and the rest will be left among the ruins of the city.
3 Then the LORD will go out to fight against those nations, as he has fought in times past. 4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. And the Mount of Olives will split apart, making a wide valley running from east to west. Half the mountain will move toward the north and half toward the south. 5 You will flee through this valley, for it will reach across to Azal.[*] Yes, you will flee as you did from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all his holy ones with him.[*]
6 On that day the sources of light will no longer shine,[*] 7 yet there will be continuous day! Only the LORD knows how this could happen. There will be no normal day and night, for at evening time it will still be light.
8 On that day life-giving waters will flow out from Jerusalem, half toward the Dead Sea and half toward the Mediterranean,[*] flowing continuously in both summer and winter.
9 And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day there will be one LORD—his name alone will be worshiped.
10 All the land from Geba, north of Judah, to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, will become one vast plain. But Jerusalem will be raised up in its original place and will be inhabited all the way from the Benjamin Gate over to the site of the old gate, then to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses. 11 And Jerusalem will be filled, safe at last, never again to be cursed and destroyed.
12 And the LORD will send a plague on all the nations that fought against Jerusalem. Their people will become like walking corpses, their flesh rotting away. Their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. 13 On that day they will be terrified, stricken by the LORD with great panic. They will fight their neighbors hand to hand. 14 Judah, too, will be fighting at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the neighboring nations will be captured—great quantities of gold and silver and fine clothing. 15 This same plague will strike the horses, mules, camels, donkeys, and all the other animals in the enemy camps.
16 In the end, the enemies of Jerusalem who survive the plague will go up to Jerusalem each year to worship the King, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, and to celebrate the Festival of Shelters. 17 Any nation in the world that refuses to come to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, will have no rain. 18 If the people of Egypt refuse to attend the festival, the LORD will punish[*] them with the same plague that he sends on the other nations who refuse to go. 19 Egypt and the other nations will all be punished if they don’t go to celebrate the Festival of Shelters.
20 On that day even the harness bells of the horses will be inscribed with these words: HOLY TO THE LORD. And the cooking pots in the Temple of the LORD will be as sacred as the basins used beside the altar. 21 In fact, every cooking pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. All who come to worship will be free to use any of these pots to boil their sacrifices. And on that day there will no longer be traders[*] in the Temple of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.
NOTES
14:1 the day of the LORD. This eschatological day is one of both judgment and deliverance for Israel. It is also a day of “cosmic change” and “end-time reversal” (see Redditt 1995:141). Amos cursed those Hebrews who longed for the day of Yahweh because they assumed it was only a day of deliverance and blessing (cf. Amos 5:18; see note on Zech 3:10).
14:2 the rest. The remnant of Israel that survives the sack of Jerusalem are most likely the one-third of the people who are left in the land and brought through the refiner’s fire according to 13:8 (see note).
14:3 fought in times past. Lit., “on a day of battle” (beyom qerab [TH3117/7128, ZH3427/7930]), an equivalent expression for the Day of the Lord, when God will wage war on behalf of Israel and judge the nations in righteousness (cf. Exod 15:3; Isa 42:13).
14:4 Mount of Olives. This is a hill east of Jerusalem. David crossed the mount in his flight from Absalom (2 Sam 15:30, 32), and Solomon built a shrine to the Moabite god Chemosh there (1 Kgs 11:7). Jesus taught his disciples about the signs of the end times from the slopes of the Mount of Olives (his so-called “Olivet Discourse,” Matt 24). Jesus ascended into heaven from the Mount of Olives, and the message of the attending angels to the disciples implied he would return there in a similar fashion (Acts 1:11-12).
Although the term is not used, Zechariah envisions an earthquake that will crack open the Mount of Olives and create a valley running east and west through the fissure. This valley will become an escape route for the Hebrews fleeing Jerusalem in the face of the assault against the city by the nations (14:5). Earthquakes are also part of the eschatological imagery associated with the Day of the Lord in Amos (cf. Amos 6:11; 8:8; 9:1-5).
14:5 Azal. The meaning of the term is uncertain. Meyers and Meyers (1993:426) identify Azal (or Azel, so also NIV) as a district of Jerusalem on the northeast side of the city inhabited by Benjaminites who were descendants of Azel. The place name Beth-ezel or Beth-Azel establishes the validity of Azel as a toponym (cf. Mic 1:11). Other English versions emend the Hebrew word ’atsel [TH682A, ZH728] to ’etsel, meaning“alongside” or “the side of (it)” (cf. NAB “reaches its edge”).
earthquake in the days of King Uzziah. King Uzziah ruled Judah from 792–740 BC. The date of the earthquake mentioned is unknown, although Amos dated the beginning of his prophetic ministry to two years before the devastating event (Amos 1:1). According to Denis Baly (1974:24-25), major earthquakes occur in Israel about every 50 years and lesser tremors more frequently.
holy ones. The identity of the “holy ones” is uncertain, but the phrase is probably a reference to the angelic host that worships God and serves as his “army” (cf. Job 5:1; Ps 89:5, 7).
14:6 On that day the sources of light will no longer shine. The final portion is obscure. According to Baldwin (1972:203), the last two words of the verse may mean “the splendid ones [stars] congeal” or lose their brightness. Many English versions follow the variant rendering of the ancient versions (e.g., LXX, Syriac Peshitta, Aramaic Targum, and Latin Vulgate) and read “cold or frost” (so NIV, NRSV). In any event, this depicts cosmic upheaval, another motif characteristic of apocalyptic literature in the Bible. The luminaries of the sky will cease to give light in the Day of the Lord.
14:7 continuous day! In Isaiah’s vision of the future glory of Jerusalem, the sun and moon will no longer be necessary for light because the presence of God will be the everlasting light of the new order (Isa 60:19-22). According to Isaiah the sun and moon will not rise or set (Isa 60:20), implying continual day. It may be that the light of the sun and moon is simply “washed out” by the brilliant light of the glory of God. The NT portrays the new Jerusalem in a similar fashion, with continual daylight and no need for the sun or moon because the glory of the Lamb illuminates the city (Rev 21:22-25). Elsewhere the NT describes Jesus as the spiritual light of the world (John 1:9); he proclaimed himself as that light as well (John 8:12).
14:8 life-giving waters. Zechariah’s oracle describing “life-giving waters” flowing out of Jerusalem recalls Ezekiel’s vision of a stream flowing from the Temple of Jerusalem eastward to the Dead Sea (Ezek 47:1). The prophet Joel has a similar vision of a fountain that bursts forth from the Lord’s Temple to water the arid environs of Jerusalem (Joel 3:18). The waters of this stream bring life and healing, and everything it touches becomes fresh and pure, even the Dead Sea (Ezek 47:8-9)! The waters are symbolic of the life-giving presence of God living once again in the midst of his people. Redditt (1995:141) has observed, however, that Zechariah’s vision pushes Ezekiel’s image of life-giving water further because the river flows both east and west suggesting that divine blessings would extend worldwide. Zechariah’s vision of the river of life-giving waters flowing from Jerusalem foreshadows the pure “river with the water of life” that flows from the throne of God and the Lamb in the new Jerusalem (Rev 22:1). No doubt this is the OT passage Jesus had in mind when he declared himself to be the “living water” (John 7:38).
flowing continuously. Unlike the wadis of Palestine that flowed with water only sporadically (as a result of the seasonal rains), the continual flow of the life-giving waters from Jerusalem will not be dependent upon the seasonal rainfall (see Baldwin 1972:203). Redditt (1995:141) has noted that a weak point in Jerusalem’s defense was the city’s dependence upon an external water supply for part of the year. This continually flowing river will provide the new Jerusalem with an abundant and permanent water resource. Meyers and Meyers (1993:442) remark that climate, continuous light, water supply, and terrain are all part of the eschatological transformation that will bring “wonderful harvests” to the land of Israel (cf. Isa 30:23-26).
14:9 the LORD will be king over all the earth. Zechariah envisions the fulfillment of the enthronement psalms, which testify that Yahweh is king (Pss 93:1; 97:1), he subdues the nations (Ps 47:3), Jerusalem will be elevated above the whole earth (Ps 48:1-2), the idols and the kings of the nations will bow before Yahweh in worship (Pss 97:7; 99:3), the mountains will be leveled (Ps 97:5), and his righteousness and holiness will permeate the world (Pss 93:5; 98:9). All of these elements are present in Zechariah’s message about the Lord who will rule the earth (ch 14; cf. the discussion in Mason 1977:128).
one LORD. The declaration that there will be “one LORD” in that day is both a reaffirmation of the Hebrew credo that “Yahweh is One” (Deut 6:4) and a renunciation of idolatry.
14:10 Geba . . . to Rimmon. Geba was a village belonging to the tribe of Benjamin just northeast of Jerusalem (Josh 18:24). It was resettled by the Hebrews after the Babylonian exile (Ezra 2:26). The location of Rimmon is uncertain. The accompanying expression, “south of Jerusalem,” provides the general direction of the site and suggests the place may not have been well known in Zechariah’s day. Taken together, the two toponyms describe the north–south extent of Jerusalem’s outlying regions.
Jerusalem. The eschatological Jerusalem will sit atop a vast plain as Yahweh’s “cosmic mountain.” The city and the Temple will be the central focus and conduit of “Yahweh’s involvement with humanity” (see Meyers and Meyers 1993:441, 444). The references to the city gates and other features that follow appear to reflect the preexilic configuration of Jerusalem.
Benjamin Gate. The exact location of the Benjamin Gate is unknown. It has been identified with the Sheep Gate (cf. Neh 3:1, 32) and the Upper Gate (see Bahat 1990:30). According to Meyers and Meyers (1993:445), the general location on the east wall just north of the Temple Mount seems certain (perhaps near the modern-day St. Stephen’s Gate, also known as the Lion Gate).
old gate. This gate has been situated by some scholars on the western wall of Jerusalem, and it has been identified with the Old City Gate (Neh 3:6), also called the Mishneh Gate (cf. Bahat 1990:30). Meyers and Meyers (1993:446) prefer to situate the gate on the eastern wall of the city.
Corner Gate. The Corner Gate was located on the western wall of Jerusalem (cf. 2 Kgs 14:13; Jer 31:38), probably in the vicinity of the Jaffa Gate in today’s Old City Jerusalem (cf. Bahat 1990:30).
Tower of Hananel. This tower is mentioned several times in the OT, but its location on the city wall of Jerusalem is unknown (cf. Neh 3:1; Jer 31:38). Meyers and Meyers (1993:446-447) place the tower near the Benjamin Gate.
king’s winepresses. These presses are not mentioned elsewhere in the OT, and their location is unknown. It is assumed they were located just south of the City of David, near the King’s Pool (Neh 2:14) and the king’s garden (Neh 3:15; cf. Meyers and Meyers 1993:447).
14:12 plague. The same word (maggepah [TH4046, ZH4487]) is used to describe the divine judgments against the Egyptians at the Exodus (cf. Exod 9:14). The term refers to torment or plague generally, whether in the form of pestilence, disease, war, or natural calamity (cf. Jer 14:11-12). As divine judge, God strikes those who rebel against him with sudden and deadly plagues—whether the nations or his own people Israel (cf. Num 14:37; 2 Sam 24:21).
walking corpses . . . flesh rotting. The plague that Zechariah portends is a lethal disease of an unspecified nature. The term for “rotting away” (maqaq [TH4743, ZH5245]) signifies decay, putrefaction, or wasting away. Here the word describes an unnatural and accelerated festering of wounds or perhaps rampant cancerous growth of some sort. Meyers and Meyers (1993:452-453) rightly point out that the prophet’s horrific language portrays “an agonizing death.” Biblical interpreters given to a more sensational approach to biblical prophecy equate the plague of the “rotting flesh” with the effects of massive amounts of radiation on human flesh in the aftermath of nuclear war.
14:13 great panic. The word mehumah [TH4103, ZH4539] signifies “confusion” generally. In this context it refers to a “deadly panic” induced by Yahweh himself among the enemies of Israel. The prophet Isaiah used the same word in describing the Day of the Lord as a day of “confusion and terror” (Isa 22:5). See the discussion on “panic” (timmahon [TH8541, ZH9451]) in the note on 12:4.
14:14 wealth. The day of the Lord is characterized by reversal, as God will turn the tables and do to the nations as they have done to his people Israel. The capture of the wealth of the nations overturns the looting of Jerusalem by the nations announced by the prophet earlier (14:1). Zechariah’s reference to the “great quantities of gold and silver” (14:14) recalls Haggai’s prediction that one day the “treasures of all the nations” would come to Yahweh’s Temple (Hag 2:7-8).
14:16 Festival of Shelters. This is an annual festival that marks the beginning of the fall harvest season; it was one of the three Israelite pilgrimage festivals (cf. Exod 23:14-19). Also known as the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths, the seven-day celebration commemorated the Hebrew wilderness experience after the Exodus from Egypt. The festival falls in the biblical month of Tishri (September/October of the Julian calendar). Mosaic legislation calls for the Israelites to construct some type of temporary shelter (a booth, tent, or lean-to), and presumably live in it for all or some portion of the week-long feast (cf. Lev 23:33-43; Num 29:12-40; Deut 16:13-17). The feast recalls the temporary homes of Israel’s wilderness wanderings and afforded the worshiping community the opportunity to offer thanksgiving for God’s provision—both then and now—for their pilgrimage. This pilgrimage festival was an appropriate one to retain in the restored order of the Kingdom of God because thanksgiving will characterize the worship of the messianic era (cf. Isa 51:3; Jer 33:11).
14:16 enemies . . . will . . . worship the King. Zechariah anticipated the realization of the covenant promise that Israel would be a blessing to the nations and a light to the Gentiles (Gen 12:1-3; cf. Isa 49:6). The worship of Yahweh in Jerusalem by nations that were once enemies to Israel and hostile to the Lord is another example of the reversal that will occur in that eschatological day. In the NT, Paul associates this universal worship of God with the exaltation of Jesus Christ, at whose name “every knee should bow” (Phil 2:10).
14:17 come to Jerusalem to worship. Jerusalem and the Temple of Yahweh as the cosmic center of God’s universal kingdom is a repeated motif in the eschatological visions of the OT prophets (Isa 56:6-7; Mic 4:1; Hag 2:7). Zechariah’s vision echoes his earlier predictions that the nations will travel to Jerusalem to seek the Lord (8:20-22), and it anticipates the new Jerusalem of John’s Apocalypse (Rev 21:10-27). Cf. the note on 12:2 (“Jerusalem”) and the commentary on 1:7-17.
no rain. The lack of rainfall was one of the curses God pronounced against Israel for covenant disobedience (cf. Deut 28:22-24). Here that curse is extended to the nations by virtue of God’s rule over all peoples (see note on 10:1).
14:20 HOLY TO THE LORD. This was the logo inscribed on the gold medallion attached to the turban of the high priest of Israel (Exod 28:36). Even as the Levitical priesthood was set apart as “HOLY TO THE LORD,” so the nation of Israel was set apart at Mount Sinai to serve Yahweh as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exod 19:6). According to Zechariah, that destiny will be fulfilled in the messianic kingdom. The anthem “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty” forms the foundation of the angelic worship in heaven (Rev 4:8). It also explains the mandate to Israel to be holy even as God is holy (Lev 11:44). The reference to the “harness bells of the horses” (14:20) is an illustration emphasizing the pervasive nature of the holiness that will mark the messianic kingdom (cf. Meyers and Meyers 1993:487).
14:21 cooking pot. The bronze pots of the Temple were used to carry away ashes from the burnt offerings, as well as the remnants of the sacrificial animal; in some cases they served as cooking utensils for the meals prepared for the priestly families from those portions of the sacrifices designated as edible (cf. Exod 27:3; Lev 7:6, 15). The holiness of Yahweh’s kingdom will transform even the mundane cooking utensils into “sacred vessels” like those used in the sacrificial ritual of the Temple. That is, “the distinction between the sacred and profane would be eliminated” (Redditt 1995:144).
traders. The NLT (and NAB, NJB, NRSV, ESV) interprets the MT “Canaanite” as “merchant” or “trader” on the basis of the commercial activity associated with the Canaanites in Hos 12:7-8 and Zeph 1:11. Boda (2004:529) comments that the verse indicates that “there will be no room for such merchants, who may have abused worshipers through exorbitant prices” for proper sacrificial utensils and/or sacrificial animals and offerings—calling to mind the NT report of Jesus’ cleansing of the temple (Matt 21:12-17). According to Meyers and Meyers (1993:489-491), the expression may be a euphemism for the idolater (taken as “Canaanite” proper) or simply another way of saying that under the rule of God the traditional boundaries (e.g., ethnicity) will be dissolved.
COMMENTARY [Text]
The final message (ch 14) of the second oracle (chs 12–14) mixes visions of both judgment and salvation for Israel and the nations. Israel will be besieged by the nations, teetering on the verge of utter destruction when the Lord himself will intervene and deliver his people (14:3-4). As a result, the nations will be punished by a terrible plague, an awesome demonstration of divine judgment (14:12). The nation of Israel will be restored as the people of God, and Jerusalem will be exalted as the political and religious center of the world (14:16-17). God’s rule will be established over all the earth (14:9), and a divinely ordained transformation of the created order will take place (14:6-8, 10). Fittingly, God’s holiness will be the pervasive characteristic of his rule over all the earth (14:20-21).
This last installment of Zechariah’s apocalyptic vision for Israel has parallels to the beginning of his second oracle to postexilic Judah (cf. 12:1-9). Specifically, the two prophetic sermons share the themes of the nations waging war against Israel and God defending his people and punishing the nations for their insurrection. The two passages exhibit differences, as well—notably God himself gathers the nations against Jerusalem (14:2), and great cosmic upheaval will accompany the events of that eschatological day (14:3-6, 10-11).
According to Redditt (1995:144), the overall message of Zechariah’s two oracles (chs 9–14) transmits three basic hopes of the Hebrew community in postexilic Jerusalem: the reunification of the Davidic kingdom, the reestablishment of the Davidic monarchy, and the restoration of Jerusalem as the Davidic royal city. The New Testament understands these hopes as fulfilled (at least partially) in the First Advent and (eventually completely) in the Second Advent of Jesus the Messiah, who, as the Son of David (Matt 21:9, 15), came preaching the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt 4:23), refused earthly kingship to establish a greater kingdom (one “not of this world”; John 18:36), and promised to return to Jerusalem to “sit upon his glorious throne” (Matt 25:31; cf. Matt 24:30; Acts 1:11).
In my discussion of the literary style (see Introduction), I pointed out that Zechariah may be classified as a type of “proto-apocalyptic” literature. By “proto-apocalyptic” I mean that Zechariah possesses some, but not all, of the literary features characteristic of later Jewish apocalyptic literature. I also stated that apocalyptic literature is “crisis” literature, in that it typically conveys specific messages to particular groups of people caught up in a dire situation. Generally, three types of messages are associated with apocalyptic literature. The first is a word of encouragement to the oppressed; the second, a warning to the oppressor; and the third, a call to faith for those wavering between God’s truth and human wisdom.
Peter Craigie (1984:222) aptly reminds us that “although the language of apocalypse addresses the future, it reveals also the present, and the present from which such language emerges is usually a dark and bleak one.” For this reason, apocalyptic literature gives expression to hope for reversal in the future. But this hope is not placed in the ingenuity or perfectibility of humanity—but rather in the transforming power of God in individual lives, the nations, and the course of human history. Craigie calls attention to two important theological applications for the contemporary Christian church that may be drawn from Zechariah’s visions.
First, it is easy to neglect God as the Almighty sovereign of the universe when “the world is in a shambles and the chosen people are a tattered remnant” (Craigie 1984:222). Yet, true apocalyptic thought “retains its faith in the full knowledge of God” (ibid.) and affirms with the prophet Zechariah that indeed “the LORD will be king over all the earth” (14:9). Second, there is a danger in becoming so obsessed with the apocalyptic passages of the Bible that we find ourselves in the role of spectator rather than participant in God’s unfolding drama of redemption—the story of “salvation history” being written by the Lord of history. As Craigie (1984:223) has noted, “history is also in large part the outworking of our own actions, and we are responsible for them. Faith in the vision of the future must be balanced by commitment to action in the present.” The apostle Peter put it this way after reflecting upon the coming Day of the Lord: “Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. . . . And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight” (2 Pet 3:11-12, 14).
Naturally, Zechariah’s visions prompt numerous other theological lessons for contemporary application. Perhaps chief among them, given the “hour” of growing persecution in which the global church now finds itself, is a reality that Paul understood very clearly: “We are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world” (Eph 6:12). Zechariah’s visions of Jerusalem besieged by the nations in the “day of the LORD” (12:1-3; 14:1-2), and the intervention of the Lord himself who wages war for Israel (14:3-4) call to mind the apocalyptic visions of John. There we learn that the eschatological warfare is truly cosmic in nature—the “winner-take-all” conflict between God’s Messiah and Satan (Rev 12:9; 13:5-8; 19:19-20; 20:7-10).
Implicit in the Good News of Jesus Christ and the building of his church in the world is spiritual warfare. Our “call to arms” in response to this spiritual warfare is the call to “pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere” (Eph 6:18). We must not forget God’s purpose in all of this: He will prepare a “bride” for the Bridegroom (Rev 19:7-10; 21:2). The biblical message of endurance in the face of persecution still holds currency, as John’s vision exhorts: We are “partner[s] in suffering and in God’s Kingdom and in the patient endurance to which Jesus calls us” (Rev 1:9). Thus, Zechariah’s closing word to his audience in postexilic Jerusalem remains salient for this generation, as we must also “watch, for the day of the LORD is coming” (14:1).