At this chapter begins another sermon, which is continued to the end of ch. 11. It is called, "The
burden of the word of the Lord," for every word of God has weight in it to those who regard it, and will be a heavy weight upon those who do not, a dead weight.
Verses one to six contain a prophecy against Israel’s unrighteous neighbors, the Syrians, Tyrians,
Philistines, and others. The Syrians had been bad neighbors to Israel, and God had a controversy with them. The word of the Lord shall be “a burden in the land of Hadrach,” that is, of Syria, but we are not told why it is called “Hadrach.” Syria is meant because Damascus is said to be the “resting place” of this burden, that is, the judgments here threatened. The burden of the word of the Lord is a weight that the unrighteous neighbors of Israel can neither shake off nor bear up under. Those whom the wrath of God makes its mark it will be sure to hit; those whom it makes its rest it will be sure to sink. And the reason of this burden’s resting on Damascus is because “the
eyes of men, especially of all the tribes of Israel, are toward the Lord” (v. 1). Because the people of God by faith and prayer look up to Him for help, relief and depend upon him to take their part against their enemies.
The Lord has His eyes upon all mankind and upon all the tribes of Israel. He is King of nations as well as King of His people. He governs the world as well as the church, and therefore He will punish the sins of other people as well as those of His own people. The Lord is Judge of all and all mankind must give account of themselves to Him. When Paul was converted at Damascus, and preached there, and disputed with the Jews, then it might be said, the word of the Lord rested there.
Tyre and Sidon are called next to give an accounting. Tyre thought she was very wise, and able to outwit the wisdom of God. It is granted that her king and her statesmen were great politicians (Ezekiel 28:3). But with all their wit and policy they shall not be able to evade the judgments of God. She is very strong, and well fortified. She built herself a fortress which she thought could never be brought down nor got over. She is very rich. But her wisdom, wealth, and strength shall not be able to secure her. The Lord will cast her out of the strong-hold wherein she has fortified herself. He will make her poor. She will fall from the height of plenty to the depth of poverty, and her great riches will come to nothing. God will smite her power in the sea. Surrounded by the water shall not secure her. She will be burnt down to the ground. Seated in the midst of the water, one would have thought she would be in danger of being overflowed or washed away. But the Lord has determined to destroy
her by a contrary element. Sometimes He brings ruin upon His enemies by those means which they least suspect. There was enough water available to quench the flames of Tyre, and yet by them she shall be devoured. Who can put out the fire which the breath of the Almighty ignites.
God next contends with the Philistines, with their great cities and great lords, that bordered southward upon Israel. They shall be alarmed and frightened by the word of the Lord lighting and resting upon Damascus (v. 5). The disgraces of Israel had many a time been discussed in the streets of Ashkelon and the citizens found great pleasure in the hardships endured by the Israelites. But now Ashkelon shall see the ruin of her friends and allies and be filled with fear.
Gaza will also see the judgments of God and will be sorrowful as well as Ekron.
What will become of their house when their neighbor’s is on fire? They had looked upon Tyre and Sidon as a
barrier to their country; but, when these strong cities are destroyed their government will be dissolved. The king of Gaza will be killed. There will be no successor. Foreigners shall take possession of their land and become masters of all its wealth (v. 6). All the strength and wealth which they prided themselves in, and which were the ground of their confidence in themselves and their contempt of the Israel of God will be taken from them.
This prophecy of the destruction of the Philistines, Damascus, and Tyre, was accomplished by Alexander the Great, who ravaged all these countries with his victorious army, took the cities, and planted colonies in them.
Some among those who will come under the judgment of the Lord will be converted, and brought home to God, by His gospel and grace. The Lord will take away the sins of these nations. That He will accept a remnant of them for His own. He will preserve a remnant even of these nations, that should be the monuments of His mercy and grace and be set apart for Him. The disadvantages of their birth shall be no bar to their acceptance with the Lord. A Philistine shall be as acceptable to God, upon gospel-terms, as one of Judah and a man of Ekron shall be as a Jebusite, or a man of
Jerusalem, as a proselyted Jebusite, as Araunah the Jebusite (2nd Samuel 24:16).
In all this the Lord intends mercy for Israel, and it is in kindness to them that the Lord will deal
thus with the neighboring nations, to avenge their quarrel for what is past and to secure them for the future. God will take His people under His special protection, and will weaken their neighbors so that His people will not be in their power to do them a mischief: God’s house lies in the midst of an enemy’s country, and His church is as a lily among thorns and therefore God’s power and goodness are to be observed in the special preservation of it. Being a little flock in comparison with the numerous armies of the powers of darkness that are set against it, it would certainly be swallowed up if the angels of God did not encamp about it, as they did about Elisha (Revelation
20:9). When the times are unusually perilous, when armies are marching and counter-marching, and all bearing ill-will to Zion, then the Lord will as it were double His guards upon His church “because of him that passes by and because of him that returns,” whether he return a conqueror or conquered he may not do His people any harm. And, as none that pass by shall hurt them. His people shall have no enemy within themselves to rule them with a rod and make their lives bitter as it was in Egypt.
This was fulfilled when, for some time after the struggles of the Maccabees, Judea was a free and
flourishing state, or perhaps when Alexander the Great, struck with an awe of Jaddus the high
priest, favored the Jews, and took them under his protection, at the same time when he wasted the
neighboring countries. And the reason given for all this is? The Lord has carefully distinguished
between His people and other people. This agrees with Psalm 34:15, “The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and His ears are open to their cry.” Now his eyes which “run to and fro through the earth” shall be fixed upon them.
The Promised Messiah
Verse nine begins a prophecy of the Messiah and His kingdom. Notice is given of the approach of the Messiah promised. “He is just and endowed with salvation, humbled and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” He is a king, invested with regal powers and prerogatives, a sovereign prince, an absolute monarch, having all power both in heaven and on earth. He is Zion’s king. God “has set Him upon His holy hill of Zion” (Psalm 2:6). In Zion His glory as a king shines. In the Church His spiritual kingdom is administered by Him through the
ordinances of the Church He instituted and its officers commissioned and it is taken under His
protection. He fights the Church’s battles and secures its interests, as its King.
This King has been long in coming, but now He is at the door. There are but a few ages more to run out, and He that shall come will come. He, the Word will shortly be made flesh, and dwell among His people. He will come to His own. And therefore rejoice and shout for joy, look upon it as good news and be assured it is true He is on His way and be ready to go forth to meet Him with acclamations of joy, as one not able to conceal it and not ashamed to admit it. Cry “hosanna
to Him.”
Here is a description of Him that makes Him so amiable in the eyes of all His loving subjects, and His coming to them very acceptable. He is a righteous ruler and all His acts of government will be exactly according to the rules of equity for He is just. He is a powerful protector to all those that are faithful and show Him true allegiance for He has salvation. He has it in his power. He has it to bestow upon all His subjects. He is the God of salvation, treasures of salvation are in Him. He is a meek, humble, and a loving Father to all his subjects as his children. He is meek denotes the temper of His spirit. He humbled Himself from first to last, condescending to the lowly,
compassionate to the miserable.
When He makes His public entry into His own city it will not be upon a stately horse, or in a chariot, as great men used to ride, but upon a beast of service. A poor and contemptible one that is ridden only by the poor. Nor will it be a donkey that has been broken, but a colt that would more likely disgrace his rider than be any credit to him. He will have no saddle and no trappings but his disciples’ clothes thrown upon the colt. His kingdom will be set up and advanced by
external force, by an arm of flesh or carnal weapons of warfare for He shall have no need for them while He himself rides upon a colt of a donkey. He “will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem; and the bow of war will be cut off. And He will speak peace to the nations; and His dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.” He will, in kindness to his people, cut off their horses and chariots, that they may not cut themselves off from God by putting that confidence in them which they should put in the power of God only. He will himself undertake their protection. He will
build a wall of fire around Jerusalem and His angels, those chariots of fire and horses of fire, will
protect the city and the people. Then the chariots and horses they have will be discarded and destroyed. His kingdom will be propagated and established by the preaching of the gospel.
Christ came and preached peace to those who were afar off and to those who were near. He established His kingdom by proclaiming peace on earth and good will towards all men. His kingdom will bring to an end war between the nations. It shall extend to all parts of the world, in defiance of the opposition given to it. "The chariot and horse that come against Ephraim and Jerusalem, to oppose the progress of Zion’s King, shall be cut off; His gospel shall be preached to
the world, and be received among the heathen, so that His dominion will be as was foretold by David (Psalm 72:8). The preachers of the gospel shall carry it from one country, one island, to the remotest corners of the world.
Israel is told, “As for you also, because of the blood of My covenant with you I have set your
prisoners free from the waterless pit.” Here is an account of the great benefit procured for mankind by the Messiah, which is redemption from extreme misery, typified by the deliverance of the Jews out of their captivity in Babylon. By force and virtue of the covenant made with Abraham, sealed with the blood of circumcision, and the covenant made with Israel at Mount Sinai, sealed with the blood of sacrifices, in pursuance and performance of that covenant the Lord
brought the captives out of Babylon, which was to them a most uncomfortable place, as a pit which has no water in it. It was the blood of that covenant, typifying the blood of Christ, in whom all God’s covenants with man are made that they were released out of captivity.
The sinful state mankind is in is a state of bondage. It is a spiritual prison, a pit, or a dungeon, in
which there is no true comfort to be enjoyed. We are all by nature prisoners in this pit. But God is
pleased to enter into another covenant with the prisoners in this pit. It is the covenant written in
the blood of Christ that has purchased our deliverence from the pit. By that blood the covenant has made effectual provision for the sending forth all who have been held captives in this waterless pit. However, we must come and take the benefit of the covenant. It will not be forced upon us.
Zechariah, having taught those that had returned out of captivity to attribute their deliverance to the blood of the covenant and the promise of the coming Messiah now comes to encourage them with the prospect of a joyful and happy settlement, and of glorious times before them; and such a happiness they did enjoy, in a great measure, for some time; but these promises have their full accomplishment in the spiritual blessings of the gospel which we enjoy by Jesus Christ. They are invited to look to Christ, and flee to him as their city of refuge.
The Israelites that had returned out of captivity into their own land were yet, in effect prisoners
(Nehemiah 9:36). But prisoners of hope. Those that remained in Babylon, detained by their affairs there, yet lived in hope some time or other to see their own land again. Now these are directed to turn their eyes upon the Messiah and turn to Him for the perfecting of the mercy which by His grace, and for His sake, was so gloriously begun. The promise of the Messiah was the strong-hold of the faithful long before His coming. The captives saw His day at a distance and were glad.
As their deliverance was typical of our redemption by Christ (v. 11), so this invitation to the strong-hold speaks the language of the gospel-call. Sinners are prisoners, but they are prisoners of hope. Their case is sad, but it is not desperate. Christ is a strong-hold for them, a strong tower, in whom they may be safe and quiet from the fear of the wrath of God, the curse of the law, and the assaults of their spiritual enemies. To Him they must turn by a lively faith. To Him they must flee, and trust in His name.
When things are at the worst, and there seems to be no relief in sight the Lord solemnly promises that He will give the captives omforts double to the sorrows they have experienced, or blessings double to what the Lord ever bestowed upon their fathers. When their condition was at the best; the glory of their latter state, as well as their latter house, shall be greater, shall be twice as great as that of the former. And so it was by the coming of the Messiah, the preaching of His gospel, and the setting up of His kingdom. These spiritual blessings in heavenly things were double to what they had ever enjoyed in their most prosperous state. As a pledge of this, in the fulness of time God here promises to the Israelites victory, plenty, and joy, in their own land, which yet
should be but a type and shadow of more glorious victories, riches, and joys, in the kingdom of
Christ.
They shall triumph over their enemies. The Israelites after their return to their homeland were surrounded with enemies on all sides. Their land lay between the two potent kingdoms of Syria and Egypt, branches of the Grecian monarchy, and what frequent dangers they should be in between them was foretold by Daniel (Daniel 11). But it is here promised that out of them all the Lord would deliver them; and this promise had its primary accomplishment in the times of the
Maccabees, when the Israelites made head way against their enemies, kept their head above water, and, after many struggles and difficulties, came to be head over them.
The Israelites will be instruments in God’s hand for the defeating and baffling of their persecutors.
But they must not think that their successes are by their strength, for they are no more than God’s bow and His arrows, tools in His hands, which He makes use of and manages as He pleases, which He holds as His bow and directs to the mark as His arrows. The best and bravest of men are but what God makes them, and do no more service than He enables them to do. Wicked men
are said to be God’s sword (Psalm 17:13), and sometimes good men are said to be God’s sword, for He employs both as He pleases. God will be the Israelites’ captain, and commander-in-chief, over them, in every expedition and engagement.
The Lord shall blow the trumpet to gather the forces together, to proclaim the war, to sound the alarm, and to give directions which way to march, which way to move, for if God blow the trumpet, it shall not give an uncertain sound, nor a feeble ineffectual one. Whatever the campaign God shall go forth at the head of their forces like the whirlwinds of the south which were incredible swift and fierce and before these whirlwinds the sons of Greece shall be as chaff.
God’s arrows going refers to what the Lord did for Israel of old when He brought them out of Egypt, and into Canaan, and had its accomplishment partly in the wonderful successes which the Israelites had against their neighbors that attacked them in the time of the Maccabees, by the special appearances of the divine Providence for them, and perfectly in the glorious victories gained by the cross of Christ and the preaching of the cross over Satan and all the powers of
darkness, whereby we are made more than conquerors.
“The Lord of hosts shall defend them”(v. 15) and “The Lord their God shall save them” (v. 16), so that their enemies shall not prevail over them, nor prey upon them. God shall be to them the shield of their help and the sword of their excellency. As the Lord of hosts He will defend them and as their God He shall save them in that critical dangerous day with the same care and tenderness that the shepherd protects his sheep. Those who God saves are safe. They shall
devour their enemies, and subdue those that come forth against them. They shall triumph in their God and give God the glory. Their joy shall terminate in God as their God, the God of their salvation. They shall triumph, in the love He has for them, and the relation wherein they stand to Him. They are the flock of His people and He is their Shepherd and they are to Him as the stones of a crown, which are very precious and of great value, and which are kept under a strong guard.
Never was any king so pleased with the jewels of his crown as God is, and will be, with His people, who are near and dear to him, and in whom He glories. They are a crown of glory and a royal diadem in His hand (Isaiah 62:2-3). And the Lord said, “they shall be mine...in that day when I make up My jewels (Malachi 3:17). They shall be lifted up as an ensign upon the Lord’s land as the royal standard is displayed in token of triumph and joy. God’s people are his glory; so He sets them up as a banner upon His own land, waging war against those who hate Him, to whom it is a flag of defiance, while it is a center of unity to all that love Him, to all the children of God, that are scattered abroad, who are invited to come under this banner (Isaiah 11:10, 12).
We are here taught we are to admire and praise the amiableness of God’s being. All the perfections of God’s nature conspire to make Him infinitely lovely in the eyes of all that know Him. We are to Him as the “stones of a crown.” How rich in mercy He is. How deep, how full, are its springs! How various, how plenteous, how precious, are its streams! What a great deal of good God does. He will bless His people with an abundance of the fruits of the earth. Whereas
they had been afflicted with scarcity to such a degree that the “young men and the maidens” were ready were ready to swoon and faint away for hunger and thirst now they shall have bread enough and to spare which shall make the young people grow and be cheerful, and the poor will be encouraged to marry, and re-people the land. What good gifts God bestows upon us we must
serve him cheerfully with, and must race the streams up to the fountain, and, when we are refreshed we must say, “How great is His goodness!”
