A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] at sacred-texts.com
day of the Lord--in which He shall vindicate His justice by punishing the wicked and then saving His elect people (Joe 2:31; Joe 3:14; Mal 4:1, Mal 4:5).
thy spoil . . . divided in the midst of thee--by the foe; secure of victory, they shall not divide the spoil taken from thee in their camp outside, but "in the midst" of the city itself.
gather all nations, &c.--The prophecy seems literal (compare Joe 3:2). If Antichrist be the leader of the nations, it seems inconsistent with the statement that he will at this time be sitting in the temple as God at Jerusalem (Th2 2:4); thus Antichrist outside would be made to besiege Antichrist within the city. But difficulties do not set aside revelations: the event will clear up seeming difficulties. Compare the complicated movements, Dan. 11:1-45.
half . . . the residue--In Zac 13:8-9, it is "two-thirds" that perish, and "the third" escapes. There, however, it is "in all the land"; here it is "half of the city." Two-thirds of the "whole people" perish, one-third survives. One-half of the citizens are led captive, the residue are not cut off. Perhaps, too, we ought to translate, "a (not 'the') residue."
Then--In Jerusalem's extremity.
as . . . in . . . day of battle--as when Jehovah fought for Israel against the Egyptians at the Red Sea (Exo 14:14; Exo 15:3). As He then made a way through the divided sea, so will He now divide in two "the Mount of Olives" (Zac 14:4).
The object of the cleaving of the mount in two by a fissure or valley (a prolongation of the valley of Jehoshaphat, and extending from Jerusalem on the west towards Jordan, eastward) is to open a way of escape to the besieged (compare Joe 3:12, Joe 3:14). Half the divided mount is thereby forced northward, half southward; the valley running between. The place of His departure at His ascension shall be the place of His return: and the "manner" of His return also shall be similar (Act 1:11). He shall probably "come from the east" (Mat 24:27). He so made His triumphal entry into the city from the Mount of Olives from the east (Mat 21:1-10). This was the scene of His agony: so it shall be the scene of His glory. Compare Eze 11:23, with Eze 43:2, "from the way of the east.
ye shall flee to the valley--rather "through the valley," as in Sa2 2:29. The valley made by the cleaving asunder of the Mount of Olives (Zac 14:4) is designed to be their way of escape, not their place of refuge [MAURER]. JEROME is on the side of English Version. If it be translated so, it will mean, Ye shall flee "to" the valley, not to hide there, but as the passage through which an escape may be effected. The same divinely sent earthquake which swallows up the foe, opens out a way of escape to God's people. The earthquake in Uzziah's days is mentioned (Amo 1:1) as a recognized epoch in Jewish history. Compare also Isa 6:1 : perhaps the same year that Jehovah held His heavenly court and gave commission to Isaiah for the Jews, an earthquake in the physical world, as often happens (Mat 24:7), marked momentous movements in the unseen spiritual world.
of the mountains--rather, "of My mountains," namely, Zion and Moriah, peculiarly sacred to Jehovah [MOORE]. Or, the mountains formed by My cleaving Olivet into two [MAURER].
Azal--the name of a place near a gate east of the city. The Hebrew means "adjoining" [HENDERSON]. Others give the meaning, "departed," "ceased." The valley reaches up to the city gates, so as to enable the fleeing citizens to betake themselves immediately to it on leaving the city.
Lord my God . . . with thee--The mention of the "Lord my God" leads the prophet to pass suddenly to a direct address to Jehovah. It is as if "lifting up his head" (Luk 21:28), he suddenly sees in vision the Lord coming, and joyfully exclaims, "All the saints with Thee!" So Isa 25:9.
saints--holy angels escorting the returning King (Mat 24:30-31; Jde 1:14); and redeemed men (Co1 15:23; Th1 3:13; Th1 4:14). Compare the similar mention of the "saints" and "angels" at His coming on Sinai (Deu 32:2-3; Act 7:53; Gal 3:19; Heb 2:2). PHILLIPS thinks Azal is Ascalon on the Mediterranean. An earthquake beneath Messiah's tread will divide Syria, making from Jerusalem to Azal a valley which will admit the ocean waters from the west to the Dead Sea. The waters will rush down the valley of Arabah, the old bed of the Jordan, clear away the sand-drift of four thousand years, and cause the commerce of Petra and Tyre to center in the holy city. The Dead Sea rising above its shores will overflow by the valley of Edom, completing the straits of Azal into the Red Sea. Thus will be formed the great pool of Jerusalem (compare Zac 14:8; Eze 47:1, &c.; Joe 3:18). Euphrates will be the north boundary, and the Red Sea the south. Twenty-five miles north and twenty-five miles south of Jerusalem will form one side of the fifty miles square of the Lord's Holy Oblation (Eze. 48:1-35). There are seven spaces of fifty miles each from Jerusalem northward to the Euphrates, and five spaces of fifty miles each southward to the Red Sea. Thus there are thirteen equal distances on the breadth of the future promised land, one for the oblation and twelve for the tribes, according to Eze. 48:1-35. That the Euphrates north, Mediterranean west, the Nile and Red Sea south, are to be the future boundaries of the holy land, which will include Syria and Arabia, is favored by Gen 15:8; Exo 23:31; Deu 11:24; Jos 1:4; Kg1 4:21; Ch2 9:26; Isa 27:12; all which was partially realized in Solomon's reign, shall be antitypically so hereafter. The theory, if true, will clear away many difficulties in the way of the literal interpretation of this chapter and Eze. 48:1-35.
light . . . not . . . clear . . . dark--JEROME, Chaldee, Syriac, and Septuagint translate, "There shall not be light, but cold and ice"; that is, a day full of horror (Amo 5:18). But the Hebrew for "clear" does not mean "cold," but "precious," "splendid" (compare Job 31:26). CALVIN translates, "The light shall not be clear, but dark" (literally, "condensation," that is, thick mist); like a dark day in which you can hardly distinguish between day and night. English Version accords with Zac 14:7 : "There shall not be altogether light nor altogether darkness," but an intermediate condition in which sorrows shall be mingled with joys.
one day--a day altogether unique, different from all others [MAURER]. Compare "one," that is, unique (Sol 6:9; Jer 30:7). Not as HENDERSON explains, "One continuous day, without night" (Rev 22:5; Rev 21:25); the millennial period (Rev 20:3-7).
known to . . . Lord--This truth restrains man's curiosity and teaches us to wait the Lord's own time (Mat 24:36).
not day, nor night--answering to "not . . . clear nor . . . dark" (Zac 14:6); not altogether daylight, yet not the darkness of night.
at evening . . . shall be light--Towards the close of this twilight-like time of calamity, "light" shall spring up (Psa 97:11; Psa 112:4; Isa 30:26; Isa 60:19-20).
living waters-- (Eze 47:1; Joe 3:18).
former sea--that is, the front, or east, which Orientalists face in taking the points of the compass; the Dead Sea.
hinder sea--the west or Mediterranean.
summer . . . winter--neither dried up by heat, nor frozen by cold; ever flowing.
king over all . . . earth-- Isa 54:5 implies that this is to be the consequence of Israel being again recognized by God as His own people (Dan 2:44; Rev 11:15).
one Lord . . . name one--Not that He is not so already, but He shall then be recognized by all unanimously as "One." Now there are "gods many and lords many." Then Jehovah alone shall be worshipped. The manifestation of the unity of the Godhead shall be simultaneous with that of the unity of the Church. Believers are one in spirit already, even as God is one (Eph 4:3-6). But externally there are sad divisions. Not until these disappear, shall God reveal fully His unity to the world (Joh 17:21, Joh 17:23). Then shall there be "a pure language, that all may call upon the name of the Lord with one consent" (Zep 3:9). The Son too shall at last give up His mediatorial kingdom to the Father, when the purposes for which it was established shall have been accomplished, "that God may be all in all" (Co1 15:24).
turned--or, "changed round about": literally, "to make a circuit." The whole hilly land round Jerusalem, which would prevent the free passage of the living waters, shall be changed so as to be "as a (or the) plain" (Isa 40:4).
from Geba to Rimmon--Geba (Kg2 23:8) in Benjamin, the north border of Judah. Rimmon, in Simeon (Jos 15:32), the south border of Judah; not the Rimmon northeast of Michmash. "The plain from Geba to Rimmon" (that is, from one boundary to the other) is the Arabah or plain of the Jordan, extending from the Sea of Tiberias to the Elanitic Gulf of the Red Sea.
it shall be lifted up--namely, Jerusalem shall be exalted, the hills all round being lowered (Mic 4:1).
inhabited in her place-- (Zac 12:6).
from Benjamin's gate--leading to the territory of Benjamin. The same as Ephraim's gate, the north boundary of the city (Kg2 14:13).
the first gate--west of the city [GROTIUS]. "The place of," &c. implies that the gate itself was then not in existence. "The old gate" (Neh 3:6).
the corner gate--east of the city [GROTIUS]. Or the "corner" joining the north and west parts of the wall [VILLALPANDUS]. GROTIUS thinks "corners" refers to the towers there built (compare Zep 3:6, Margin).
tower of Hananeel--south of the city, near the sheep gate (Neh 3:1; Neh 12:39; Jer 31:38) [GROTIUS].
king's wine-presses-- (Sol 8:11). In the interior of the city, at Zion [GROTIUS].
no more utter destruction-- (Jer 31:40). Literally, "no more curse" (Rev 22:3; compare Mal 4:6), for there will be no more sin. Temporal blessings and spiritual prosperity shall go together in the millennium: long life (Isa 65:20-22), peace (Isa 2:4), honor (Isa 60:14-16), righteous government (Isa 54:14; Isa 60:18). Judgment, as usual, begins at the house of God, but then falls fatally on Antichrist, whereon the Church obtains perfect liberty. The last day will end everything evil (Rom 8:21) [AUBERLEN].
Punishment on the foe, the last Antichristian confederacy (Isa 59:18; Isa 66:24; Eze. 38:1-39:29; Rev 19:17-21). A living death: the corruption (Gal 6:8) of death combined in ghastly union with the conscious sensibility of life. Sin will be felt by the sinner in all its loathsomeness, inseparably clinging to him as a festering, putrid body.
tumult--consternation (Zac 12:4; Sa1 14:15, Sa1 14:20).
lay hold . . . on . . . hand of . . . neighbour--instinctively grasping it, as if thereby to be safer, but in vain [MENOCHIUS]. Rather, in order to assail "his neighbor" [CALVIN], (Eze 38:21). Sin is the cause of all quarrels on earth. It will cause endless quarrels in hell (Jam 3:15-16).
Judah . . . fight at Jerusalem--namely, against the foe: not against Jerusalem, as MAURER translates in variance with the context. As to the spoil gained from the foe, compare Eze 39:10, Eze 39:17.
The plague shall affect the very beasts belonging to the foe. A typical foretaste of all this befell Antiochus Epiphanes and his host at Jerusalem (I Maccabees 13:49; II Maccabees 9:5).
every one . . . left-- (Isa 66:19, Isa 66:23). God will conquer all the foes of the Church, Some He will destroy; others He will bring into willing subjection.
from year to year--literally, "from the sufficiency of a year in a year."
feast of tabernacles--The other two great yearly feasts, passover and pentecost, are not specified, because, their antitypes having come, the types are done away with. But the feast of tabernacles will be commemorative of the Jews' sojourn, not merely forty years in the wilderness, but for almost two thousand years of their dispersion. So it was kept on their return from the Babylonian dispersion (Neh 8:14-17). It was the feast on which Jesus made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Mat 21:8); a pledge of His return to His capital to reign (compare Lev 23:34, Lev 23:39-40, Lev 23:42; Rev 7:9; Rev 21:3). A feast of peculiar joy (Psa 118:15; Hos 12:9). The feast on which Jesus gave the invitation to the living waters of salvation ("Hosanna," save us now, was the cry, Mat 21:9; compare Psa 118:25-26) (Joh 7:2, Joh 7:37). To the Gentiles, too, it will be significant of perfected salvation after past wanderings in a moral wilderness, as it originally commemorated the ingathering of the harvest. The seedtime of tears shall then have issued in the harvest of joy [MOORE]. "All the nations" could not possibly in person go up to the feast, but they may do so by representatives.
no rain--including every calamity which usually follows in the East from want of rain, namely, scarcity of provisions, famine, pestilence, &c. Rain is the symbol also of God's favor (Hos 6:3). That there shall be unconverted men under the millennium appears from the outbreak of God and Magog at the end of it (Rev 20:7-9); but they, like Satan their master, shall be restrained during the thousand years. Note, too, from this verse that the Gentiles shall come up to Jerusalem, rather than the Jews go as missionaries to the Gentiles (Isa 2:2; Mic 5:7). However, Isa 66:19 may imply the converse.
if . . . Egypt go not up--specified as Israel's ancient foe. If Egypt go not up, and so there be no rain on them (a judgment which Egypt would condemn, as depending on the Nile's overflow, not on rain), there shall be the plague . . . . Because the guilty are not affected by one judgment, let them not think to escape, for God has other judgments which shall plague them. MAURER translates, "If Egypt go not up, upon them also there shall be none" (no rain). Psa 105:32 mentions "rain" in Egypt. But it is not their main source of fertility.
punishment--literally, "sin"; that is, "punishment for sin."
shall there be upon the bells--namely, this inscription, "Holiness to the Lord," the same as was on the miter of the high priest (Exo 28:36). This implies that all things, even the most common, shall be sacred to Jehovah, and not merely the things which under the law had peculiar sanctity attached to them. The "bells" were metal plates hanging from the necks of horses and camels as ornaments, which tinkled (as the Hebrew root means) by striking against each other. Bells attached to horses are found represented on the walls of Sennacherib's palace at Koyunjik.
pots . . . like . . . bowls--the vessels used for boiling, for receiving ashes, &c., shall be as holy as the bowls used for catching the blood of the sacrificial victims (see on Zac 9:15; Sa1 2:14). The priesthood of Christ will be explained more fully both by the Mosaic types and by the New Testament in that temple of which Ezekiel speaks. Then the Song of Solomon, now obscure, will be understood, for the marriage feast of the Lamb will be celebrated in heaven (Rev. 19:1-21), and on earth it will be a Solomonic period, peaceful, glorious, and nuptial. There will be no king but a prince; the sabbatic period of the judges will return, but not with the Old Testament, but New Testament glory (Isa 1:26; Eze. 45:1-25) [ROOS].
every pot--even in private houses, as in the temple, shall be deemed holy, so universal shall be the consecration of all things and persons to Jehovah.
take of them--as readily as they would take of the pots of the temple itself, whatever number they wanted for sacrifice.
no . . . Canaanite--no unclean or ungodly person (Isa 35:8; Isa 52:1; Joe 3:17). Compare as to the final state subsequent to the millennium, Rev 21:27; Rev 22:15. MAURER not so well translates "merchant" here, as in Pro 31:24. If a man would have the beginnings of heaven, it must be by absolute consecration of everything to God on earth. Let his life be a liturgy, a holy service of acted worship [MOORE].