Zechariah 9

Protection and redemption of Israel
Text
Comments
 1 ¶ The burden of the word of the LORD in the land of Hadrach, and Damascus shall be the rest thereof: when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the LORD.
 2  And Hamath also shall border thereby; Tyrus, and Zidon, though it be very wise.
 3  And Tyrus did build herself a strong hold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets.		    1 - Hadrach Apparently a city-state NE of Syria.
   1 - Burden ... rest Damascus is the resting place for the burden.
   1 - When the eyes An alternate reading for the rest of the verse influenced by the Septuagint (translation of OT into Greek) is: "for the Lord has his eye on all men as on Israel."
 4  Behold, the Lord will cast her out, and he will smite her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire.
 5  Ashkelon shall see it, and fear; Gaza also shall see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron; for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.
 6  And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.
 7  And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth: but he that remaineth, even he, shall be for our God, and he shall be as a governor in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite.
.8  And I will encamp about mine house because of the army, because of him that passeth by, and because of him that returneth: and no oppressor shall pass through them any more: for now have I seen with mine eyes.		    4 - The Lord will cast her out "Lord" is Adonai here. Meaning of the text is unchanged. He would dispossess them.
   6 - Bastard Born out of wedlock or of alien birth.
   7 - Blood Reference to eating meat with blood in it, a practice God has forbidden.
   7 - Ramaieth God would have a faithful remnant.
   8 - Encamp The Lord, as an army, would protect His faithful ones ps03407.
 
 

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Redemption
    As we continue to read through the text, we understand how the Jewish people around the time of Christ assumed that the Messiah would come and save them from their enemies and make them the great proud ruler of the whole earth. They wanted to be the new Rome forgetting about the line up of kingdoms predicted by the prophecies of Daniel (Dan. 2:37-). Reading on, prayerfully, we discover that Christ has two purposes. Eventually He wants to save us physically form the curse of sin resting on our planet, but first He must save us spiritually for only those who are in harmony with His way of living love will be happy in heaven and fit into the life of peace in there (Rev. 21:6-8). His first coming was not with grand glory on a white horse. It was riding on a young donkey. He came to explain what the kingdom of heaven was really like. When His children are ready, He will come the second time in glory (Matt. 25:31; Rev. 14:7; 18:1) and will receive them to Himself. Only then will we "ever be with the Lord" (1 Thess. 4;16, 17).
    When the first of the seven seals is opened in Revelation re0601, Christ rides forth on the white horse. His glory at that time is seen through the work of His people. After His inauguration at the time of Pentecost, He sent the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:16). When His people are sanctified and sealed at the end of the preadvent day of atonement, He will be their king and will come in glory on the white horse of Revelation 19. Satan taught that he, not Christ, should be in charge.  Through many steps, Christ is revealed as our true Lord and Master. In the end, no questions will remain.
    As I understand it, Jewish people see the suffering servant as themselves, somehow overlooking the picture of the Messiah. They have seen only the kingdom of glory. Today, sadly, people are looking for the kingdom of grace with a long time to get ready leaving people unprepared for the kingdom of glory.
 
Bow, arrow, and crown – Salvation
Comments
.9 ¶ Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass [donkey], and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
.10 And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.		 The promise of the lowly Messiah who comes offering salvation. Compare ge4911, mt2105. In verse 10, He would stop the attacks on God's people. Ephraim represents the northern kingdom (10 of the 12 tribes). Jerusalem would be all of the southern kingdom of Judah (including Benjamin to make the other 2). The first coming of Christ is seen in verse 9 and the future, second coming, in verse verse 10 he0928.
"Just" or righteous. 1jo0201.
"Lowly" mt1128ff.
"Dominion" da0714.
.11 As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.
.12 ¶ Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee;		    Being taken out of  the dry pit recalls the story of Joseph who was sold into slavery ge3222. Compare ge4922f. We may hold this hope of freedom from oppression and be rewarded as Joseph was. We have hope to escape the pit of sin and eternal death just as the Israelites trusted in the lamb of the Passover to save them from slavery in Egypt. We also see the whole process of salvation outlined in text here. It's the greater picture of release from the prison.
   The firstborn often received a double portion of the inheritance de2117. The Lord told Pharaoh that Israel was His firstborn ex0422.
.13 When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man.
.14 And the LORD shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the Lord GOD shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south.		    Here Judah is the bow and Ephraim the arrows as the Lord fights for His people. The Greeks will know that the Lord is over them and is defending them.
   The blowing of trumpets and the overwhelming power may represent Christ's victory over the end-time wicked. In this view we see Him on the white horse in Revelation 19 re1911.
   Then again, we may see the passage describing the time after Christ ascended to heaven The Lord "over" His people represents the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit which was received at Pentecost. It enabled the new Christians to go as lightening to blow the trumpet calling people to repentance ac0201, ac0804. The Feast of Trumpets may be seen to have the same purpose in the process of our salvation.
.15 The LORD of hosts shall defend them; and they shall devour, and subdue with sling stones; and they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine; and they shall be filled like bowls, and as the corners of the altar. Bowls. Bronze or silver bowls were used in the temple service. In Revelation bowls are poured out for the seven last plagues re1601.
Corners (or horns) of the altar. Blood of the sacrificial animals (representing Christ) was sprinkled on the altar horns.
   God's justice (bowls) and mercy (corners) may be seen as communicated through His people.
.16 And the LORD their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land [or "gleaming" in his land]. Day. Day of Atonement. Cf. mal-0317.
Our passage began by describing political conquest for the Israelites. Now we see the spiritual meaning more clearly.
Crown.  Christ is recognized as king when His subjects are found to be loyal. This is the work of the preadvent judgment. See da0713. It is the process of the sealing re0702b. Also is6203.
 17 For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids. The final rejoicing of the redeemed in heaven. This is represented in the sanctuary system by the Feast of Tabernacles. (which follows the day of atonement in the sanctuary calendar). In Rev. 19, it is the marriage supper of the Lamb r19b.

The sanctuary feasts and fasts
    The tabernacle in the wilderness was constructed following God's instructions (Ex. 25:8, 9) so that His children before the coming of the Messiah could understand the plan of salvation. Special holy days were established to be observed during the course of the year. They began with the Passover which commemorated the children of Israel (Jacob) leaving Egypt. Salvation from the bondage of slavery in Egypt represents salvation from the slavery of sin. Both, in this case, were by the blood of the lamb representing Christ. The final special day was the feast of booths [feast of tabernacles] which was to recall their final establishment in the land of promise. See Lev. 23 for the list of these special days.
    Having noticed the day of atonement in the text of Zechariah, and then the feast of tabernacles, I decided to look for the other holy times are there, too. We may count these times as either seven or five. This is because the feast of unleavened bread and the wave sheaf (2nd and 3rd of the 7) are often considered part of the first one: Passover. The cycle is introduced with the statement about the blood of the covenant in verse 11. The whole system is a symbolic model of the ministry of this blood — the incomprehensible gift of life through the death of our Saviour, Jesus Christ! In the sanctuary system people could relate to their salvation before He actually came to this earth. Today we have the story in the New Testament. This beautiful plan may still be best seen in the system of the sanctuary. It is the way God leads us from sin to salvation in the glory of heaven.

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