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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
9:1-14:21 The Return of the King. Reference to the surrounding nations in 8:20-23 and 9:1-8 links the book's main parts (chs. 1-8 and chs. 9-14). In the second half of the book, visions recede as does interest in Joshua and Zerubbabel as the named leaders of the community. These latter chapters comprise two blocks of oracles, both introduced as the "burden of the word of the Lord" (9:1; 12:1; cf. also Mal. 1:1, identical in Hb.). The twin themes of the purity of God's people and the fidelity of their leaders--often termed "shepherds"--run throughout these oracles. The community and its leaders suffer turmoil: this turn to the Lord faces opposition, tearing at the fabric of society and the natural world. Ultimately, the jubilant "return of the king" (Zech. 9:9) issues in the triumph of God's purposes and the restoration of God's people now joined by all nations (14:9, 16; cf. 8:20-23), for salvation belongs to the Lord (12:7).
9:1-11:17 The First Burden: Leaders and Their People. Judgment on Jerusalem's neighbors contributes to its security (9:1-8), but the arrival of a saving king completes it (9:9-17). While this remains the community's only hope, it still must recover from destructive leaders (10:1-12) who themselves come under judgment (11:1-17).
9:1-17 The Return of the King. Zechariah tells restored Judah that its current circumstances are only temporary: God will bring judgment on those who oppress his people, and will bring forth the promised king, who will rule Israel and the nations.
9:1-8 The Divine Warrior Comes. Burden (v. 1) is a technical term for an oracle, or a series of oracles (see 12:1; Mal. 1:1). As in Zech. 1:12, the issue is the nations that are wrongfully at rest, and that will now be subject to the Lord's judgment. The oracle starts with Hadrach (9:1), an area in northern Syria that encompassed Damascus and neighboring Hamath (v. 2), after which it moves south along the coast through Tyre and Sidon (v. 2) to four of the five cities of the Philistines: Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron (v. 5), and Ashdod (v. 6). In spite of all its natural resources, this whole region will experience the fiery judgment of God that will leave it desolate. Yet even from the destruction of those nations, a remnant (v. 7) will emerge who will attach themselves to the Lord and become part of his people (see 8:22-23). In this way, the Lord will eliminate any future threats to the peace and safety of his house (9:8) and his people. They will no longer have to fear that an oppressor (v. 8) would invade from the north, as they had so often in the past.
9:8 for now I see with my own eyes. The Lord has now observed the severe affliction of his people, and he will act to deliver them. The mention of "eyes" ties the end of this oracle to the beginning, where the Lord's "eye" was mentioned (v. 1).
9:9-11 The King Enters Jerusalem. The coming king will bring peace for his people and for the nations.
9:9 This campaign over Israel's enemies would culminate in the triumphal entry of its king to Jerusalem. The people are summoned to acclaim their coming king. He is described as "righteous," like the ideal ruler of Psalm 72. He will ensure God's blessing on his people, thereby bringing about their "salvation." He is also humble (cf. Deut. 17:18-20), hinting that this king is still obedient to the King of kings, and he comes riding on a donkey, the mount of one who comes to bring peace, not on the standard military mount, a horse. This prophecy famously finds its counterpart in Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, when Jesus clearly signals his messianic identity. This verse is directly quoted at Matt. 21:5 and John 12:5, but both evangelists abbreviate the quotation. righteous and having salvation is he. As Jesus enters Jerusalem, this work is still to be accomplished. daughter of Zion. See note on 2 Kings 19:21.
9:10 The Lord will bring to an end Israel's need for the traditional instruments of war: chariot, war horse, and battle bow. The coming ruler will rule the whole earth, from sea to sea and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth, just as Ps. 72:8 anticipated. The result of his rule will be universal peace.
9:11 The prisoners, those of God's people remaining in exile, would be set free from the waterless pit (v. 11), a dry well that could be used as a temporary prison (see Gen. 37:24; Jer. 38:6). This salvation would come because of the blood of my covenant (Zech. 9:11), that is, the blood of the sacrifices offered to ratify the covenant (see Ex. 24:8). This blood testified to the seriousness of the covenant bond between God and his people. As a result of this hope, they should return to Jerusalem, their "stronghold" (Zech. 9:12; see 2:6-7), for the Lord had committed himself to "double" his people's former prosperity (9:12; cf. Isa. 40:2).
9:12-17 The King's Enemies Destroyed and His People Redeemed. The prisoners of war are not the only ones who need to hear the news of the coming king. The day of those who are oppressing God's people will soon be over. Instead of the breaking of threatening bows and removal of chariots, God will make his people themselves into a bow against their oppressors (v. 13). He will make Zion's sons into a "warrior's sword" (v. 13). The Lord will appear as the Divine Warrior, sounding the trumpet to advance, shooting his deadly arrow (v. 14), destroying and pouring out blood, just as it is poured out in the sacrificial ritual in which it drenches the altar. By destroying their enemies, he will rescue his people and shepherd his flock (v. 16). They will be "like the jewels of a crown" (v. 16), his treasured possession. They will never again go hungry and thirsty, but will receive the covenantal blessings of grain and new wine (v. 17).
9:13 The oppressors of the sons of Zion (or Israel) are identified as the sons of Greece (v. 13). God promises to make Zion like a warrior's sword, defeating the Greeks. This is best understood as a predictive prophecy regarding future events, much like the mention of "the king of Greece" in Dan. 8:21. Zechariah was writing between , but the Greek ruler Alexander the Great did not conquer Palestine until . Then the Jewish people did not successfully rebel against domination by the Seleucids (the Greek-speaking successors to Alexander's rule) until the Maccabean period (the revolt was ; they gained full independence in ). Some interpreters, not allowing the possibility of such predictive prophecy, see this as a later insertion added into the text, but there is no manuscript support for this idea, and it is not necessary. The name "Greece" (Hb. Yawan) was known at the time of Zechariah, for the Greeks had defeated the invading Persian armies of King Darius at the battle of Marathon in , but Greece was never an enemy of Israel or a conquering world power until Alexander the Great.
9:15-16 tread down the sling stones. The reference is to stones hurled by slings in battle, but these stones are also a poetic representation of the enemies themselves. The army of Israel will simply trample on them and continue moving forward to conquer. By contrast, God's people are immensely valuable, like the jewels of a crown.
10:1-11:17 The Shepherds and the Flock. In this section Zechariah uses the image of Judah's leaders as "shepherds"; the current leaders are unfaithful and greedy, and God must rescue his people from them.
10:1-5 Judgment on Judah's Shepherds. Those who currently lead Judah lead them astray, and must be replaced.
10:1 In view of the Lord's promise to provide the grain and new wine for his people (9:17), they should look to him in faith for "rain." The Israelite agricultural economy was dependent on rain for its success, especially the spring rain. Since pagan gods such as Baal also claimed to make the storm clouds that controlled the rainfall, a crucial test of Israel's faithfulness to the Lord was, from whom would they seek the rain?
10:2 In the past, the leaders sought help from the household gods, like those that Rachel stole from Laban (Gen. 31:34), or from pagan diviners. Yet these sources had yielded only empty consolation, and the people had been left leaderless, like sheep without a shepherd.
10:3 The Lord's anger was kindled against the leaders of his people, described as the shepherds and "male goats" (ESV footnote; cf. Jer. 50:8), an image of abusive power (see Ezekiel 34). As a result, he would remove them and provide a new shepherd for his flock.
10:4 The flock would be transformed from wandering sheep into a majestic warhorse, while the new leadership that the Lord would provide for them is described metaphorically as a cornerstone (the foundation around which a building was constructed; see Isa. 28:16), a tent peg (an image of solid stability; see Isa. 22:20-23), and a battle bow (representing military power; see Zech. 9:10). These images have royal associations, but the renovation of leadership extends down to the lower level of overseer (ruler; cf. 9:8, where these were Israel's oppressors). These new leaders would be triumphant against all foes because of the Lord's presence with them.
10:6-12 The Restoration of the Flock. God will care for the remnant of both Judah and Ephraim, restoring them as his people after the exile.
10:6 The Lord's intervention for his people will result in their strengthening and deliverance. Whereas they were once like sheep without a shepherd, rejected by the Lord, he will now have compassion on them, completing the process of restoration begun when he brought Judah back from exile. This restoration will extend beyond Judah to include the house of Joseph, the northern kingdom, which was scattered by the Assyrians in When these people cry out to him in exile, he will answer them and bring them home, resulting in strength and joy for all of God's people.
10:7 Ephraim, as one of the most prominent and centrally located tribes, is named here as standing for the entire northern kingdom (cf. note on Hos. 4:17).
10:8-12 As a shepherd whistles for his flock, the Lord will whistle for his people (v. 8), bringing them back from the nations where he scattered them. Earlier, he used the same signal to summon Egypt and Assyria (v. 10) to judge Israel (see Isa. 5:26; 7:18). Now it will be the signal for their restoration. This involves a second exodus, in which the Lord will pass through the sea of troubles (Zech. 10:11) and strike down the waves of the sea, representing all the forces of chaos arrayed against God's people. The Lord will also gather his people from their more recent adversary, Assyria, bringing their bondage to an end. Egypt and Assyria are geographical opposites, with Egypt as the major military threat to the south of Israel and Assyria to the north. Both of these historical adversaries will be laid low by the Lord, when he restores his people to himself and brings them to the historical centers of fertility, Gilead and Lebanon (v. 10).
11:1-17 The Shepherds and One Shepherd. Zechariah's focus turns from the flock back to the shepherds. The fable of vv. 1-3 conveys impending destruction, but of what or whom? Interpreters differ on this question and on several details in the rest of this difficult section. The regions described may be the primary referent--just as Egypt and Assyria were in the preceding verses (cf. Ezek. 31:3)--in which case the metaphors anticipate the destruction following the fall of the shepherds of Judah (Zech. 11:3). The alternative view--that the metaphors portray the devastation of the shepherds themselves--is covered in the notes on ch. 11. From a plurality of shepherds, attention turns in vv. 4-17 to a single shepherd who, once appointed (vv. 4-7), acts briefly on behalf of the flock before abandoning them (vv. 8-14). He is equipped with two staffs, one symbolizing an international covenant (v. 10) and the other a national covenant between Judah and Israel (v. 14), both broken in succession. Verses 15-17 see the reappointment (once more, Hb. ‘od) of a foolish shepherd, whose carelessness results in the devastation of the flock and who thus stands condemned. The allusive and symbolic language poses problems for interpretation. Were the actions assigned to the shepherd carried out as sign-acts, or are the instructions more parable-like, themselves communicating the divine message? Who is the single shepherd who receives these instructions: simply Zechariah, or is a different figure envisaged in vv. 15-16? Is it possible, or desirable, to identify the three destroyed shepherds of v. 8? While one coherent line of interpretation is followed below, such questions occasion caution at the level of detail. They also have the effect of promoting the fundamental truths enshrined in the text: that the fate of the community for good or ill lies in God's sovereign hands; that God reveals his will to his people; and that God's agents remain responsible for their own actions in response to the divine word.
11:1-3 Judgment on Judah's Shepherds. The glory of Israel's shepherds, the subjects of the Lord's judgment in 10:3, will be brought low. They are pictured in three horticultural images as
11:4-17 A Sign-act: The Shepherd Rescues His Flock but Is Rejected. Zechariah himself acts out the role of a shepherd whom the sheep come to detest, and who then leaves the flock to a worthless shepherd.
11:4 These verses record a prophetic sign-act that Zechariah was instructed to perform. He was to become the shepherd to a flock symbolically described as doomed to slaughter, for neither their owners nor their shepherds cared about them as anything other than a means of acquiring wealth. This represented the Lord's attitude toward his people in the past, abandoning them without pity to suffer abuse from their Persian overlords (their "king") and their fellow citizens (their "neighbor," v. 6).
11:7 The reason for the Lord's lack of compassion becomes clear as the sign-act unfolds. Zechariah tended his flock with the staffs, Favor and Union, symbolizing his positive intentions for them.
11:8 In a very short period Zechariah removed three other shepherds and became the shepherd to this flock, symbolizing a complete purging of the defective leadership. Yet instead of developing a positive relationship between himself and his flock, he became impatient with them and they detested him. Interpreters have suggested many specific identifications of these three shepherds, but there is no consensus, and they probably represent either leaders well known to readers at that time ("the three shepherds"), or else leaders in general whom God has rejected.
11:9 Zechariah resigned from his position, leaving the flock to devour itself.
11:10 Zechariah broke his staff, Favor, breaking his covenant with the nations around Israel, leaving the flock exposed to their predation.
11:12-13 Zechariah received as his pitifully inadequate wages thirty pieces of silver (v. 12), the price of a slave, which he rejected, throwing it to the potter (v. 13). This potter worked at the house of the Lord (v. 13), suggesting the Lord's rejection of the temple activities as well.
11:14 At this point, Zechariah broke the second staff, Union, destroying the unity between the northern and southern kingdoms of Judah and Israel.
11:17 Zechariah then left the flock to the mercies of a worthless shepherd who would not care for the flock but would exploit it for his own benefit. This sign-act reverses the pictures of Ezekiel 34 and 37, in which the Lord promised to be Israel's shepherd, judging their present bad shepherds and providing a good shepherd, a new David, to reunite his people. Instead, because of their failure to respond to the shepherd he provided, the Lord declares that they will be given over to false shepherds, returning to the situation that led up to the exile. The NT sees in the rejection of the shepherd by the flock and the pitifully inadequate wages a connection to the rejection and betrayal of Jesus (Matt. 27:3-10; John 10:25-27). Yet the handing over of the Lord's people to a worthless shepherd cannot be the end of the story. The Lord will ultimately act to bring judgment on the worthless shepherd, striking his right eye and his arm, parts of the body essential to carrying out warfare and exerting control over the flock.
