Bibelkommentare

"The Jews," Jerome says, "say that these things are to be fulfilled under Gog; others that they were accomplished in part, in the times of the Macedonians, Egyptians, and other nations. We, leaving the truth of the time to the judgment of the Lord, would explain what is written." Eusebius points out that it cannot be said to have been fulfilled under Antiochus Epiphanes; "If any think that these things are, then let him consider again and again, whether he can refer the rest of the prophecy also to the times of Antiochus; as, that 'the feet of the Lord stood on the mount of Olives' Zechariah 14:4, that 'the Lord in that day' Zechariah 14:9, became 'king over the whole earth;' and so, as to the rest of the prophecy." And although more was fulfilled in the last siege by the Romans, still those who would explain it solely of this, are obliged to mingle explanations partly literal, as that Jerusalem should be the earthly Jerusalem, which was destroyed, partly metaphorical, as to the mount of Olives, its division into two parts etc. It seems then probable that, like the kindred prophecy of Joel Joe 2:30; Joel 3:18, it relates chiefly to the time of the end, and that as our Lord unites the destruction of Jerusalem with His Coming in the Day of Judgment, so here are united that first destruction with the last rebellion of man, in the times of antichrist. Since then much or most may be yet future, it seems safer, as Jerome suggests, to explain the prophet's symbolic language, leaving the times of the fulfillment to Him, in whose hands they are.

Behold the Day of the Lord cometh - Literally, "a day cometh, the Lord's," in which He Himself shall be Judge, and no longer leave man to fulfill his own will, and despise God's; in which His glory and holiness and the righteousness of all His ways shall be revealed.

And thy spoil shall be in the midst of thee - Jerome: "How great will the strait be, that the spoils should be divided in the midst of her. It often happens that what, by a sudden assault, is plundered in the city, is divided in the field or in solitude, lest the enemy should come upon them. But now there will be such a heavy weight of ills, such will be the security of conquest, that the spoils shall be divided in the midst of the city."

I Will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle - This is a feature which belongs to the end. It had been dwelt upon by Joel; Joel 3:2-9, Joel 3:11; Ezekiel spoke of the "many nations" Ezekiel 38:6, Ezekiel 38:15, Ezekiel 38:22 which should come under Gog. John foretells of an universal strife at the end, when "The spirits of devils, working miracles, go forth unto the king; of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty" Revelation 16:14; and "Satan shall be loosed out of his prison and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints round about, and the beloved city" Revelation 20:7-9. Since no creature can do aught but what God wills, and, in his phrensy against God's people, is but His instrument, "to try them and to purge and to make white to the time of the end" Daniel 11:35; Daniel 12:10; and the strength of body or intellect, which is abused against His law, He continuously in the order of nature supplies, God may be said to do what Satan does against Him. Satan, in his blind fury, crowns martyrs, fills the thrones of heaven, works, against his will, the All-wise Will of God.

And the houses rifled, and the women ... - The horrors of pagan war repeat themselves through people's ever-recurring passions. What was foretold as to Babylon is repeated in the same words as to the Church of God. Seemingly "all things" come "alike to all Ecclesiastes 9:2 : there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean and to the unclean: to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner." The outward event is the same, the hidden part is known to God alone. "And the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city," unlike the lot of the earthly Jerusalem, in the destruction both by Nebuchadnezzar (which was past) and the Romans (see at Micah 3:12, pp. 46-50). At the first, "Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, carried away the rest of the people left in the city, and the fugitives that fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude" 2 Kings 25:11, so that Jeremiah mourned over it, "Because of the mountain of Zion which is desolate, foxes walk" (habitually) "upon it" Lamentations 5:18. The Romans (see at pp. 46, 47) "effaced the city." Now "a remnant is not cut off," because "for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened" Matthew 24:32; for our Lord had said, that "the gates of hell should not prevail against" His Church Matthew 16:18.

The Lord shall go forth and shall fight - Jerome: "Is to be taken like that in Habakkuk, 'Thou wentest forth for the salvation of Thy people, for salvation with Thine Anointed" Habakkuk 3:13, and in Micah, 'For behold, the Lord cometh forth out of His place, and will come down and will tread upon the high places of the earth, and the mountains shall be molten under Him, and the valleys shall be cleft" Micah 1:3-4; and Isaiah also, "The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man; He shall stir up jealousy like a man of war; He shall cry; He shall prevail over His enemies" Isaiah 42:13. "God is said to 'go forth,' when by some wondrous deed He declares His Presence - His Deity is, as it were, laid up, so long as He holds Himself in, and does not by any token show His power. But He 'goes forth,' and bursts forth, when He exercises some judgment, and worketh some new work, which striketh terror." God then will "go forth out of His place," when He is constrained to break through His quietness and gentleness and clemency, for the amendment of sinners. He who elsewhere speaketh through the prophet, 'I, the Lord, change not' Malachi 3:6, and to whom it is said, 'Thou art the same' Psalm 102:28, and in the Epistle of James, 'With whom is no change' James 1:17, now 'goeth forth' and fighteth 'as in the day of battle,' when He overwhelmed Pharaoh in the Red sea; and 'fought for Israel.'" "The Lord shall fight for you," became the watchword of Moses Exodus 14:14; Deuteronomy 1:30; Deuteronomy 13:22; Deuteronomy 20:4 and the warrior Joshua in his old age (Joshua 23:10; compare Joshua 10:14, Joshua 10:42; Joshua 23:3), after his life's experience Joshua 10:14, Joshua 10:42; Joshua 23:3, and Nehemiah. "Be not afraid by reason of this great multitude" Nehemiah 4:20, said Jahaziel, son of Zachariah, when the "Spirit of the Lord came upon" him; "for the battle is not your's, but God's" 2 Chronicles 20:15.

As He fought in the day of battle - Osorius: "All wars are so disposed by the power of God, that every victory is to be referred to His counsel and will. But this is not seen so clearly, when people, elate and confident, try to transfer to themselves all or the greater part of the glory of war. Then may the war be eminently said to be the Lord's, when no one drew sword, as it is written, "The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace" Exodus 14:14. Of all God's wars, in which human insolence could claim no part of the glory, none was more wondrous than that, in which Pharaoh and his army were sunk in the deep. "The Lord," said Moses Exodus 15:3, "is a man of war: the Lord is His Name." "That day of battle" was the image of one much greater. In that, Pharaoh's army was sunk in the deep; in this, the power of evil, in Hell: in that, what could in some measure be conquered by human strength, was subdued; in this, a tyranny unconquerable; in that, a short-lived liberty was set up; the liberty brought by Christ through subdual of the enemy, is eternal. As then the image yields to the truth, earthly goods to heavenly, things perishable to eternal, so the glory of that ancient victory sinks to nothing under the greatness of the latter."

And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives - "Over against Jerusalem to the east, wherein riseth the Sun of Righteousness." The Mount of Olives is the central eminence of a line of hills, of rather more than a mile in length, overhanging the city, from which it is separated only by the narrow bed of the valley of the brook Cedron. It rises 187 feet above Mount Zion, 295 feet above Mount Moriah, 443 feet above Gethsemane, and lies between the city and the wilderness toward the dead sea: around its northern side, wound the road to Bethany and the Jordan . There, probably, David worshiped 2 Samuel 15:32; his son, in his decay, profaned it 1 Kings 11:7; Josiah desecrated his desecrations 2 Kings 23:13; there "upon the mountain, which is on the east side of the city, the glory of the Lord stood," when it had "gone up from the midst of the city" Ezekiel 11:23; it united the greatest glory of the Lord on earth, His Ascension, with its deepest sorrow, in Gethsemane. Since the Angel said, "This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven" Acts 1:11, the old traditional opinion is not improbable, that our Lord shall come again to judge the earth, where He left the earth, near the place of His Agony and Crucifixion for us. So shall "the Feet" of God literally, "stand upon the Mount of Olives." Elsewhere it may be that "the Feet of the uncircumscribed and simple God are to be understood not materially, but that the loving and fixed assistance of His power is expressed by that name" (Dionysius).

Which is true, or whether, according to an old opinion, the last act of antichrist shall be an attempt to imitate the Ascension of Christ (as the first antichrist Simon Magus was said to have met his death in some attempt to fly) and be destroyed by His Coming there, the event must show.

And the Mount of Olives shall cleave - (be cleft) in (from) the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west that is, the cleft shall be east and west, so as to form a "very great valley" through it - from Jerusalem toward the Jordan eastward; and this shall be, in that "half of the mountain shall remove northward, and half thereof southward." If this be literal, it is to form an actual way of escape from Jerusalem; if figurative, it symbolizes how that which would be the greatest hindrance to escape, the mountain which was higher than the city, blocking, as it were, the way, should itself afford the way of escape; as Zechariah speaks, "O great mountain, before Zerubbabel" thou shalt become a "plain" Zechariah 4:7; and Isaiah, "Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain" Is. Isa 40:4; that is, every obstacle should be removed.

And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains - Rather, along the valley of My mountains namely, of those mountains, which God had just formed by dividing the mount of Olives. "For the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal, that is, Azel," the same word which enters into Beth-Azel of Micah, where the allusion probably is to its firm-rootedness. It is more probable that the name of a place should have been chosen with an allusive meaning, as in Micah, than that an unusual appellative should have been chosen to express a very common meaning. Cyril had heard of it as the name of a village at the extremity of the mountain. Elsewhere it might very probably have been destroyed in the destructive Roman wars: The Roman camp in the last siege must have been very near it . The destruction of villages, after the frantic revolt under Bar-Kochba, was enormous.

Yea, ye shall flee like as ye fled from before the earthquake - An earthquake in the time of Uzziah, whose memory survived the captivity to the time of Zechariah, nearly two centuries, must have been very terrible, but no historical account remains of it, Josephus having apparently described the past earthquake in the language which Zechariah uses of the future (see the introduction to Amos). Such an earthquake is the more remarkable a visitation in Jerusalem, because it was out of the line of earthquakes. These were to the north and east of Palestine: within it, they were almost unknown (see Amos 4:11, vol. i. p. 286). Interpositions of God even in man's favor, are full of awe and terror. They are tokens of the presence of the all-holy among the unholy. Fear was an accompaniment of special miracles in the Gospel, not only among the poor Gadarenes Mark 5:15; Luke 8:25, or the people , but even the Apostles ; apart from the effect of the sight of angels on us who are in the flesh . It is then quite compatible, that the valley so formed should be the means of deliverance, and yet an occasion of terror to those delivered through it. The escape of the Christians in Jerusalem to Pella, during the break of the siege, after the withdrawal of Cestius Gallus was a slight image of this deliverance.

And the Lord thy God shall come, and all the saints with Thee, O God - The prophet, having spoken of God as "my God," turns suddenly to speak to Him, as present. Jerome on Zechariah 14:6-7 : "This is manifestly said of the second Coming of the Saviour, of which John too in his Apocalypse says, 'Behold He shall come with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him' Revelation 1:7. And the Lord Himself in the Gospel declareth, that 'the Son of Man shall come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory' Matthew 24:30. He shall 'come with the clouds,' that is, with the angels, who are 'ministering spirits' and are sent for different offices, and with the prophets and apostles." Ribera: "Whenever Scripture says that the saints and angels come with Christ, it is always speaking of His second Coming, as in that, 'When the Son of Man shall come in His glory and all His holy angels with Him' Matthew 25:31, and in the Epistle of Jude, 'Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints, to execute judgment' Jde 1:14-15."

The light shall not be clear nor dark - Or, more probably, according to the original reading , "In that day there will be no light; the bright ones will contract themselves," as it is said, "The stars shall withdraw their shining."

This is evermore the description of the Day of Judgment, that, in the presence of God who is Light, all earthly light shall grow pale. So Joel had said, "The sun and moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining" Joel 3:15. And Isaiah, "The moon shall be confounded and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion and in Jersalem and before His ancients gloriously" Isaiah 24:23; and, "Behold the day of the Lord cometh, The stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine" Isaiah 13:9-10. All know well our Lord's words Matthew 24:29. John, like Zechariah, unites the failure of the heavenly light "with a great earthquake, and the sun became as sackcloth of hair: and the moon become as blood; and the stars of heaven fell upon the earth" Revelation 6:12-13.

And it shall be one day: it shall be known unto the Lord: not day, and not night; and at the eventide it shall be light - "One" special "day; one," unlike all beside; known unto God, and to Him alone. For God alone knows the day of the consummation of all things, as He saith, "Of that day and that hour knoweth no one, neither the angels in Heaven, nor the Son, (so as to reveal it) but the Father only" Mark 13:32. Neither wholly "day," because overclouded with darkness; nor wholly "night," for the streaks of light burst through the darkness chequered of both; but in "eventide," when all seems ready to sink into the thickest night, "there shall be light." Divine light always breaks in, when all seems darkness; but then the chequered condition of our mortality comes to an end, then comes the morning, which has no evening; the light which has no setting; "perpetual light, brightness infinite;" when "the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold" Isaiah 30:26; and "the glory of God doth lighten" Revelation 21:23 the eternal city, "and the Lamb is the light" thereof; and "in Thy light we shall see light" Psalm 36:9. "Christ shall be to us eternal light, a long perpetual day."