Intro
In our last message we expounded Zechariah’s prophecy concerning the First Advent of Christ found in Zechariah 9:9: “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” i Both Matthew and John quote this verse and apply it to Christ’s Triumphant Entry on the Palm Sunday preceding his crucifixion.ii In his First Advent Christ would come as a servant offering salvation to Israel.iii Jesus articulated this in Matthew 20:27-28: “And whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Now in Zechariah 9:10 the prophet sees Messiah’s rule during the Millennium. At his Second Coming Christ will establish worldwide peace “from sea to sea.” Follow with me as we read the promise God gives in Zechariah 9:10: “I [God the Father] will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the warhorses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He [Messiah] will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.”
Often in prophetic scriptures the prophet sees the First and Second Coming like we would see two mountain peaks in the distance without seeing the valley between them. The prophet reports what he sees, and it does not include the valley of time that is between the two events. This sometimes referred to as telescoping.iv
The New Testament identifies this valley of time as the church age. Paul referred to this as a mystery that was not revealed to the Old Testament prophets. In Ephesians 3:2-6 he wrote, “Surely you have heard about the administration [RSV says stewardship; NKJV says dispensation] of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4 In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. 6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.”v As Baron says, “A pause of nearly two thousand years has already ensued between the 9th and 10th verses of this great prophecy. . . .”vi
Worldwide disarmament will be one result of the establishment of Christ’s rule during the Millennium.vii Zechariah 9:10 begins, “I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the warhorses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He [Messiah] will proclaim peace to the nations.” The United Nations and other organizations strive toward this goal, but it will only be accomplished by Christ at his Second Coming. His supernatural defeat of the nations will render all conventional weapons obsolete. The current misguided efforts toward globalization will fall into the hands of the satanically inspired Antichrist. The Antichrist’s
efforts toward world dominion will lead the nations into disaster and destruction.viii We are for globalization; we are for world peace. But we know by biblical revelation, it can only come through the righteous rule of Messiah Jesus.ix
Zechariah 9:10 concludes with an assurance that Messiah’s rule will be worldwide: “His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.” The “River” in the text is probably the Euphrates. H. C. Leupold writes, “Since the Euphrates was the northern boundary of the promised Kingdom of Israel, this expression begins at the utmost limits and goes thence ‘to the ends of the earth.’”x Both phrases, “from sea to sea” and “from the River to the ends of the earth” indicate worldwide dominion.xi The Kingdom of God is currently advancing, but this worldwide dominion and peace is not yet fully realized. A quick reading of the current news will attest to that. This is one way we know the eschatological nature of the verse.xii
However, for those who currently bow to King Jesus, there is a present-day experience of peace. There is an application of these truths in the now. The world may not be at peace, but there is a peace that passes understanding that is available to every believer.xiii And the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God (2 Cor. 10:4). For those of us who have been grafted into the olive tree (Israel),xiv God has taken away “the chariots from Ephraim and the warhorses from Jerusalem.” “The battle bow” has been “broken” for us because we do not use intimidation and control to advance the kingdom. We advance the kingdom through the message of the cross and an invitation to voluntarily submit to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
The Islamic Jihadist may use carnal weapons to enlarge the sphere of Mohammad. But we will not stoop to such worldly means. Our message is “Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”xv It is a gospel that can reconcile a soul to his Maker and enable him to love even his enemies.xvi We follow the example Christ gave us during his First Advent (Zech. 9:9).xvii So we can apply principles from Zechariah 9:10 to this current church age while we wait for Messiah to return and establish his rule of peace worldwide.xviii
Zechariah 9:11 directs the remainder of the chapter to Israel,xix the covenant people who were removed from their homeland and taken into captivity: “As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit.”
In Zechariah 9:11-17 we find:
(I) The Promise of Deliverance is in verses 11-12.
(II) The Process God will Use to Bring about this Deliverance is in verses 13-15.
(III) The Result of this Deliverance is in verses 16-17.
I. PROMISE of Deliverance is:
Stated directly in verse 11: “I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit.” “Prisoners in a waterless pit” was a good metaphor for what the Jewish people were experiencing in exile. A pit with water would be death by drowning.xx The pit was dry with a shortage of provisions and a lack of real freedom.
This imagery reflects on Joseph’s experience when his brothers threw him into a pit. Genesis 37:24 uses exactly the same phrase as in our text. Genesis 37:24 says, “The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.” Dry wells or empty cisterns were used in ancient times to confine prisoners.xxi
But Joseph was a “prisoner of hope” because he had the promises of God in his heart. Remember the dreams God gave him before this happened? The Jewish exiles are not hopeless either. It is a sad, discouraging set of circumstances to be an exile in a foreign land. But the promises of God are there to sustain them. Prior to the Babylonian captivity, God promised to rescue them and bring them back to their homeland after 70 years.xxii They had the hope that God would do that.
By the sovereign hand of God, Joseph was brought out of the pit and exalted in Potiphar’s house. And even later when he was unjustly thrown into prison, God sovereignly brought him out and exalted him as a ruler in Egypt. Your circumstances may be discouraging right now. You may feel like a prisoner of hope. But God can bring you out of that pit. He can set your feet on solid ground and exalt you in the process—just as he did for Joseph.
So, the promise in verses 11-12 is: “As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will freexxiii your prisoners from the waterless pit. 12 Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.”
The basis of this deliverance is “because of the blood of my covenant with you.” Israel did not deserve to be delivered from captivity. They had broken God’s laws and been unfaithful to God’s covenant with them. But God remained faithful to his covenant anyway. He corrected them through the 70 years of captivity. But at the end of the 70 years he fulfilled his promise to bring them back to their homeland. The promises that gave them hope came to pass.
The covenant referred to in this passage is the covenant God made with Israel at Mt. Sinai. It is recorded in Exodus 24. In that event the nation offered sacrifices to God. Moses sprinkled half the blood on the altar, and verse 8 says, “Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.’” There was an application of the blood on the people. This covenant flowed out of a covenant God had made with Abraham in Genesis 15. But more importantly, those covenants serve as a type of the everlasting covenant Christ established by his own blood on the cross.xxiv Even in Zechariah’s day, God did not deliver his people based on their good works. He did it “because of the blood of my covenant with you.”
The message in our text had an immediate application for the Babylonian captives of Zechariah’s day. It certainly has an application today. No one is delivered because of good works. The deliverance always comes because of God’s faithfulness to the covenant he has established. Our faith must rest fully on the everlasting covenant established by the blood of Christ at Calvary. Are you trusting in that for your salvation? Is your plea for any and every deliverance based on the covenant ratified by Christ’s blood at the cross? God will honor that! He will honor the sacrifice of his Son. Do you need a deliverance? Plead the blood of Calvary and watch God work in your behalf. This passage has a powerful application for you and me.
After 70 AD Israel experienced a broader dispersion than the Babylonian captivity. The Roman dispersion resulted in a worldwide scattering of the Jewish people. For 2,000 years they have been “prisoners of hope,” looking for the day Messiah would come and free them from their exile. The promise in our text looks beyond the Babylonian captivity all the way to the restoration Messiah will affect at his Second Coming. Eugene Merrill explains, “If, indeed, there is a reference here to an historical deliverance, the prophetic still has an eschatological one primarily in mind as the entire context attests. God’s people had been in the ‘pit’ of Babylonian exile, but they would find themselves in a worse predicament in the end of the age. From that pit God would again retrieve them according to His faithfulness to His covenant promises.”xxv
We know the promise was not fully realized when the exiles returned from the Babylonian captivity because the commitment God makes in the text: “I will restore twice as much to you.” That has not yet happened, but it will happen during the Millennium. Israel is designated as God’s firstborn among the nations in Exodus 4:22. The Torah provided the double portion for the firstborn (Deut. 21:15-17) unless he disqualifies himself through rebellion or immoral activity as Reuben did. In that case, Joseph received the double portion through his sons Ephraim and Manasseh.xxvi
Joseph’s double portion followed a season of suffering and shame. We see the same thing in Job (42:10). And God may have a double portion in store for you. If you are going through a Job experience or a Joseph experience, trust God to bring you out with double blessings. Here is what God promises Israel in Isaiah 61:7: “Instead of your shame you will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace you will rejoice in your inheritance. And so you will inherit a double portion in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours.” That will be fully realized by Israel during the Millennium.
Before we move away from verse 12 notice the response God expects: “Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope.” The “fortress” for the Jewish people is their homeland, especially Jerusalem. Zechariah’s generation would have understood the command in that way. God made promises to them, but they are to exercise the faith to step out of their comfort zone in Babylon and venture the trip to Judah. The same command goes out to the scattered Jews in the last days. At one level this verse calls for a physical change in logistics.
But there is a spiritual dynamic here as well. The only reason Jerusalem is a fortress is the fact that God is there.xxvii We observed that when we studied Zechariah 2. The ultimate fortress for God’s people is God himself. Zechariah was well aware of passages like Psalm 18:3 that declared God as their stronghold. There David proclaimed, “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” In Psalm 91:2 he said, “I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’” While there may be a physical response expected in Zechariah 9:12, there is a spiritual response of going to God as the refuge and fortress of his people. This is a timeless truth that always applies.
So, in Zechariah 9:11-12 God promises deliverance to his people. This will be fully accomplished in the last days.
II. PROCESS God will Use to Bring about this Deliverance is Vividly Described in verses 13-15.
Keep in mind that this whole passage forecasts events that will take place at the end of the age in preparation for the Millennium. However, there are lesser events that portend the end-time
events. There are principles about the way God works that are timeless. Without that perspective we can get lost in the interpretation process.
In verse 13 God talks about the way he will use Israel. “I will bend Judah as I bend my bow and fill it with Ephraim. I will rouse your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece, and make you like a warrior’s sword.” Like a mighty warrior, God will take Israel in hand and use the nation against his enemies which are also Israel’s enemies. In the last days God will reunite the northern ten tribes, represented here by Ephraim, and the southern tribes, represented by the word Zion. We do not have time to fully explore this in today’s message. But often in Scripture, we find this promise to reunite the twelve tribes. In 10:6 it is expressed using Judah and Joseph as representative of the two kingdoms. There God says, “I will strengthen Judah and save the tribes of Joseph.”
This will be an amazing miracle because history lost track of the northern tribes. However, God has not lost track of them. Cults have developed trying to guess who they are. But, at this point, only God knows, and it is a waste of time to make guesses. I do wonder if advances in DNA technology may enlighten the subject and inspire the lost tribes to reunite with Israel. But we do not know exactly how God will bring this reunification about. Clearly in Scripture, it will happen. One way we know verse 13 has not been fully realized is that this joining of the twelve tribes has not yet happened.xxviii
In verse 13 God promises to rouse the sons of Zion against the sons of Greece. Here Greece probably stands for the gentile nations.xxix In the last days God will stir up Israel to stand up against the ungodly nations led by Antichrist. This is foreshadowed by the Maccabean revolt against Greece that occurred in 175-164 BC.xxx The events of this war are recorded in 1 & 2 Maccabees. The oppression of the Jews by the Greeks during that time took the form of extreme pressures on the Jews to abandon their faith and conform to Greek Hellenization (1 Macc 1:41-43). The prediction in Zechariah 9:13 is that God would “rouse” or stir up “your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece.” The zeal God instilled in his people at that time produced heroic action that resulted in the defeat of the Greeks and the liberation of Israel. xxxi The Jewish holiday, Hanukkah (Dedication) celebrates these victories.xxxii During that war Antiochus IV (Epiphanes) foreshadowed the end-time blasphemy of Antichrist when he dedicated the Temple to Jupiter Olympus and “offered swine’s flesh” on the altar.xxxiii Knowing this history helps us understand end-time prophecy concerning the conflict between Antichrist and Israel.
A key concept in this verse is the idea of God stirring up his people, exciting them to action.xxxiv David declared in Psalm 110:3: “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power” (KJV). God can stir the heart to rise up and do exploits. It will happen in the last days. Daniel 11:31 prophecies the end-time Abomination of Desolation by Antichrist. Then in the next verse Daniel writes, “. . . but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits” NKJV). That happened in the days of the Maccabees. It will happen in the last days.
When Antichrist breaks his covenant and defiles the sanctuary (Matt. 24:15), God will rouse (stir up) his people with holy zeal to stand up to the Antichrist. At the Battle of Armageddon, we see world nations descending on Jerusalem to attack this small country, Israel. One reason for Antichrist’s intense fury against them is that they have fought with supernatural zeal and effectiveness. They have refused to submit to his overwhelming numbers, just as the Maccabees did. They have waxed strong in battle (Heb. 11:34). We got a glimpse of this in the 1967 War. In six short days Israel defeated the combined forces of Egypt, Jordon, and Syria. The feat was virtually unexplainable except that God took Israel, like a sword in his hand, and defeated those gentile nations.
Zechariah 9:14 depicts God as the divine warrior defending his people. “Then the Lord will appear over them; his arrow will flash like lightning. The Sovereign Lord will sound the trumpet; he will march in the storms of the south.”
The “the storms of the south” were the harshest ones.xxxv The imagery is intense and violent. God will “sound the trumpet,” calling his people to war. The metaphors of lightning and thunder communicate the extent of his power against the nations that oppress Israel.
The verse begins with the key to their victory: “Then the Lord will appear over them.” The NKJV says, “Then the Lord will be seen over them” because the Hebrew word yera’eh means to “be seen or show Himself.”xxxvi Remember Israel’s victory over Pharaoh? There God was seen as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.xxxvii God’s presence was manifested and seen. There may be a similar manifestation over Israel in the last days. But the important thing is that God is with them and positions himself “over them” as commander and protector. Zechariah 9:15 declares God’s protection over them: “and the Lord Almighty will shield them.”
In verse 15 the text changes from what God is doing to what Israel is doing. Of course, they can only do this in his strength. “They will destroy and overcome with slingstones. They will drink and roar as with wine; they will be full like a bowl used for sprinkling the corners of the altar.” That first line is difficult to translate. The RSV says, “they shall devour and tread down the slinger.” The Jerusalem Bible seems to get it right: “They will trample sling stones underfoot.” Hebrew scholar Merrill Unger says, “they will trample them under their feet like sling stones (’avne qela‘), that is, stones that have missed their mark and have fallen into the mire to be trodden down contemptuously by the marching victorious armies of the Lord” (emphasis Unger’s).xxxviii That compares to the precious stones representing God’s people in the next verse.
There is also debate about the imagery in the last part of verse 15. Following Keil, Feinberg thinks the empowered Israelites “are viewed as rapacious lions tearing the foe to pieces, eating their flesh, and drinking their blood.”xxxix In Numbers 23:24 Balaam prophesied over Israel: “The people rise like a lioness; they rouse themselves like a lion that does not rest till it devours its prey and drinks the blood of its victims.” Just as the lion celebrates his victory over the prey, Israel will celebrate their victory with the exuberance of those full of wine. Every Jew knew the massive amount of blood that accompanied the slaughter of sacrificial animals. Bowls caught the flow of blood which was sprinkled all over the horns of the altar situated on the four corners. The Jerusalem Bible captures the general idea of the verse: “Yahweh (Sabaoth) will protect them! They will trample sling stones underfoot, they will drink blood like wine, they will be soaked in it like the horns of the altar.” To the delicate soul, this imagery may be repulsive, but it is the imagery of violent war. It is a depiction of what will happen in the last days.
III. RESULT of this Deliverance is described in verses 16-17.
Verse 16 begins with a summary of the deliverance: “The Lord their God will save his people on that day as a shepherd saves his flock.” He not only saves them from physical destruction but endows them with salvation.xl There is a spiritual deliverance as well as a physical victory. The hearts are transformed as they embrace Jesus as Messiah and Savior. This will be described in more detail later in Zechariah. God will watch over them like a shepherd cares for his flock. The victory will never be reversed. For 1,000 years they will flourish under Christ’s leadership. Then they will enter the eternal kingdom with him.
The description of their condition during the Millennium follows: “They will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown. 17 How attractive and beautiful they will be! Grain will make the young men thrive, and new wine the young women.”xli
The youthful scene speaks of vigor and vitality. The grain and new wine indicate abundance and prosperity. Jewels in a cherished crown are in contrast to the sling stones that are trampled under foot in the previous verse. Malachi 3:16-17 makes a similar statement: “Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, And the Lord listened and heard them; So a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the Lord And who meditate on His name. 17’"They shall be Mine,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘On the day that I make them My jewels. And I will spare them As a man spares his own son who serves him’” (NKJV).
The holy land, Palestine, is depicted here as belonging to the Lord. There is heated debate among the nations as to whom that land belongs. The debate usually revolves around who was there first. But we must begin with the fact that it belongs to God, and we must proceed with the fact that as the Creator, God has the right to give it to whomsoever he chooses. Biblical revelation indicates that he gives it to Jacob and his offspring.xlii
There is a significant prophetic term in Zechariah 9:16 that often points to the last days. It is the phrase “on that day.” We encountered it in Zechariah 2:11 and 3:10, and we will encounter it six times in Zechariah 12, three times in chapter 13, and seven times in chapter 14.xliii The phrase often signals an eschatological timeframe at the end of the age. Watch for it as we proceed in our study.
So, in Zechariah 9:10-17 we have revelation concerning the end of the age and the restoration of Israel to their homeland. The Second Coming of Christ is marked by the destruction of Israel’s enemies at the Battle of Armageddon and the inauguration of the Millennial age. The passage is full of timeless principles we can apply to our own lives. God is always faithful to his promises. God is always the deliverer and protector of his people. Do you need a deliverance today? Do you need a deliverance from sickness? Do you need a deliverance from some other form of oppression, perhaps a financial hardship or a sinful habit? Because of the blood of his covenant with you, he will intervene in your behalf. Ask and you shall receive.xliv
ENDNOTES:
i All Scripture quotes are from the New International Version (2020) unless indicated otherwise.
ii Matt. 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:28-40; John 12:12-19.
iii See also Isaiah 42:1-3; 52:13-53:12.
iv Rydelnik understands this passage as “a classic example of a telescoped prophecy, with the previous verse finding its fulfillment in the First Coming of the Messiah, and this verse, after a large gap in time, awaiting future fulfillment with the return of Messiah Jesus and the establishment of His earthly kingdom.” “Zechariah” by Michael Rydelnik in The Moody Bible Commentary, M. Rydelnik and M. Vanlaningham, gen. eds. (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2014), 1428. Cf. Pentecost, Things To Come, 137-138.
v For more information see Richard W. Tow, Rapture or Tribulation: Will Christians Go Through the Coming Tribulation? (Bloomington, IN: WestBow Press, 2022), 24-25; W. A. Criswell (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1974), 102-103; Romans 9-11.
vi Baron, Zechariah, 316.
vii Cf. Isa. 2:1-4; Micah 4:3.
viii See Rev. 6; 13; 19:19-21; Matt. 15:8, 21; 1 Thess. 5:3.
ix Pentecost writes, “The cessation of war through the unification of the kingdoms of the world under the reign of Christ, together with the resultant economic prosperity, since nations need not devote bast portions of their expenditure on munitions, is a major theme of the prophets.” J. Dwight Pentecost, Things To Come: A Study in Biblical Eschatology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1973), 487-488. By his authoritative word, Christ will command peace to the world. Feinberg writes, “Note that peace is not the result of peace conferences, nor of the preaching of social gospelizers, but the direct, immediate activity of the glorified Son of God, the Prince of Peace.” Feinberg, God Remembers, 129.
x Leupold, Exposition of Zechariah, 178.
xi Cf. Meyers and Meyers, Zechariah 9-14, 136-138. Zechariah is quoting from Ps. 72:8.
xii Eschatological means: “of or relating to the end of the world or the events associated with it in eschatology.” Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 10th ed., 395.
xiii Cf. Phil. 4:7.
xiv Rom.11:17-24.
xv 1 Cor. 2:2 NKJV
xvi Cf. Matt. 5:44; Rom. 5:10; Col. 1:20-21.
xvii “The church does not effectively spread the gospel by sword or by arrogance, but by mirroring the humble spirit of its king and savior.”
xviii Cf. Mark 16:15-16; Rom. 10:15; 2 Cor. 5:17-21; Titus 2:11-13; 1 Thess. 1:9-10.
xix The Hebrew word for “you” is feminine. Meyers connects this back to “the last-mentioned female character in these oracles, specified as both the Daughter of Zion and the Daughter of Jerusalem in 9:9.” Therefore, remained of this chapter is directed at all Israel. Meyers and Meyers, Zechariah 9-14, 138. Thomas E. McComiskey, The Minor Prophets: An Exegetical and Expository Commentary, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1997), 1166. Before applying Zech. 9:11-12 to his audience, Spurgeon says, “This text primarily relates to Israel.” He often does this when preaching from Zechariah. C. H. Spurgeon, “Prisoners Delivered” (no. 2883) in Collection on CD-ROM (AGES Software, Inc., 1998).
xx Cf. Meyers and Meyers, Zechariah 9-14, 142; Leupold, 180. But Merrill (p. 237) (following Baldwin, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, 168) see a waterless pit as a place where the prisoner would die of thirst unless someone supplied drinking water.
xxi James M. Freeman, Manners and Customs of the Bible (Plainfield, NJ: Logos International, 1972) 43. Jeremiah (38:6) was also thrown in a pit as a prisoner. Cf. Ps. 40:2.
xxii Cf. Jer. 25:12; 29:10. Daniel is an example of one living in that hope (Dan. 9:2).
xxiii Most translators correctly understand the perfect tense of shillachti as a prophetic perfect indicating something God will do in the future. See Baron, 319.
xxiv Cf. Heb. 9:18-10:22.
xxv Merrill, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, 238.
xxvi Cf. 1 Chron. 5:1-2.
xxvii The fortress protection of God’s presence at the Temple was lost in Ezek. 10. After the 70 years expired, God is restoring his presence there as their protector (Zech. 2:5).
xxviii See Ezek. 37:15-24.
xxix Daniel’s visions (Dan. 2:36-40; 7:1-8; 8:1-12) predicted the rise and fall of the dominant gentile powers. At the time Zechariah prophesied our text, the Medo-Persian Empire was dominant, but the next power (Greece) would
defeat Persia and later oppress Israel under the Seleucid dynasty Because of the mention of Greece in this passage, some scholars want to date Zechariah 9-14 at a later period. But this is largely due to a presupposition that predictive prophecy is not possible. Conservative scholars recognize the supernatural dynamic of Zechariah’s prediction. Cf. Merrill, 240; Baron, 326; Boda, Haggai, Zechariah, The NIV Application Commentary, 421.
xxx MACCABEES (from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Copyright © 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers).
xxxi “Although Judea was nominally still a province of Syria, practical independence was maintained until 63 B.C., when Pompey invaded the country and brought it under Roman domination.” MACCABEES (from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Copyright © 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers).
xxxii MACCABEES (from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Copyright © 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers).
xxxiii ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION (from Fausset's Bible Dictionary, Electronic Database Copyright © 1998, 2003, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.) Cf. Larry W. Cockerham, Antiochus IV Epiphanes: The Antichrist of the Old Testament. Accessed at Antiochus IV Epiphanes: The Antichrist of the Old Testament (prophecyforum.com).
xxxiv The application of this in the church today is obvious. When God stirs up his people the way he did in Acts 2, they can turn the whole world upside down even with small numbers (Acts 17:6).
xxxv Cf. Job 37:9.
xxxvi Unger, Zechariah, 167-168.
xxxvii Ex. 13:21-22; 14:19-31.
xxxviii Unger, Zechariah, 168-169. Following Keil’s lead, Baron also rejects the interpretation of overcoming the enemies with slingstones. They understand the passage as conveying the idea of the enemy being “trampled under foot like stones.” Baron, 329.
xxxix Feinberg, 136.
xl Baron, 330.
xlixli Instead of “How attractive and beautiful they will be!” Unger translates it: “For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty!” He understands the pronoun to be in reference to the Lord rather than the people. Unger, 171. Although the general thrust of the passage is not significantly changed, Unger is probably right.
xlii Gen. 12:7; 13:15; 17:8; 35:11-12.
xliii Cf. Merrill, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, 242; Unger, 169.
xliv Heb. 7:25; Luke 11:9-13.
