- Context note: this begins a part of Zechariah that is probably written four or five decades after the previous sections. Israel has completed the Temple, but is still vulnerable to foreign powers.
TWO AMAZING PROPHECIES IN CHAPTER NINE:
1. Alexander the Great destroys everyone except Israel.
- Zechariah 9:1-8a.
- Now, I am not saying that the name Alexander the Great appears in Scripture, because it doesn’t. But what we do have here is some very specific details of a prophecy that were fulfilled about 150 years after Zechariah wrote it by the conquest of Alexander the Great. I want to spend a minute on the details that are shared because it speaks to the amazing prophetic power of the Spirit.
- In 334 B.C., Alexander the Great, in his early 20s at that point, set out with about 35,000 men from Turkey toward Palestine.
a. Damascus.
- Hadrach (v. 1) and Hamath (v. 2) were near Damascus. We do not know where the first city was exactly, but the latter was a capital city.
- Damascus itself is mentioned in v. 1.
- A side note here on v. 1. It says, “. . . for the eyes of men and all the tribes of Israel are on the Lord . . . .” This points to something happening where everyone – pagan and Jewish – are looking to God.
b. Pheonicia.
- This was south of Damascus, so Alexander is moving south.
- Tyre (vv. 2-3) was an incredibly strong, wealthy city. It had withstood a five-year siege by the Assyrians and a thirteen-year siege by Nebuchadnezzar. It moved to an island 700 yards off the coast from the original city (v. 3a). It had a 150-foot wall around it. It had a powerful navy.
- Alexander took the city in only seven months. His army took the rubble from the original, abandoned city and built a causeway to the island city. Look up Ezekiel 26:12, 14.
- See also Ezekiel 28:1 on Tyre’s arrogance about their strength.
- See vv. 2-4.
c. Philistia.
- Continuing to move south, Alexander comes to the Philistines.
- This is the area of Gaza.
- Their resistance so angered Alexander that he drove holes into their king’s feet and dragged him through the streets until he was dead. Verse 5 speaks of them losing their king.
- Verse 6 speaks to a foreigner ruling them (i.e. Alexander).
- See vv. 5-8.
d. Israel.
- According to ancient historian Josephus, the high priest in Jerusalem heard that Alexander was coming and he called on the Jewish people to pray and offer sacrifices. (There is some disagreement on whether Alexander went to Egypt before or after this.) God gave a dream to the priest to open the gates, dress in their priestly garments, and march out to meet Alexander. Alexander saw this entourage, bowed to the priest, and went into Jerusalem to offer sacrifices. Alexander’s astonished men asked why he bowed to the high priest. He told them that he had a dream while he was in Macedonia. He had seen the high priest in his garments and the high priest had told Alexander he would conquer the Persians.
- This is a fulfillment of v. 8a. (Only the first half. This is similar to Christ not quoting the whole scroll when He was in the synagogue at Nazareth when he announced His mission.)
- It is also worth spending a moment to note that Alexander the Great was a pagan, godless, unrighteous man. But God used him within His divine plans.
2. The Jews defeat the Greeks.
- Zechariah 9:11-17.
- This was fulfilled in the Maccabean revolt against the wicked Antiochus Epiphanes around 170-150 B.C. Judas Maccabaeus led the revolt.
- This was the only time the Jews fought the Greeks (v. 13).
- The Maccabean stories are detailed in the Apocrypha.
PLUS THE OTHER AMAZING PROPHECY IN CHAPTER NINE: A king has a most unusual, humble entrance.
- Zechariah 9:9.
- Matthew 21:1-11; John 12:12-15.
- Unpack the humility aspect as well as the conquering king aspect (for a kingdom of the heart).
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR US TODAY? His ways are unusual and humble, but He has a history of winning.
- It’s telling that this prophecy in v. 9 is found right between these other two prophecies. The middle one speaks to humility. It speaks to doing things in a way that’s unusual. The other two, though, speak to power and God’s command of world events. Why the juxtaposition?
- Perhaps it’s a reminder to us that even when God calls us to ways that strike us as unusual, we should pursue them because He knows about being victorious.
- Examples of struggling to obey because His ways are unusual:
a. Forgiving.
b. Dying to self.
c. Your prayer matters more than your work.
