Zechariah 9:1–17

9:1 “The oracle of the word of the LORD” can also be translated “An oracle. The word of the LORD.” In that case, “an oracle” would serve as a heading to remind the reader and hearer that what follows is God’s word.¹ As a description, it indicates a prophecy renewing earlier prophecy, claiming it is still in effect and awaits fulfillment.²

“The word of the LORD is against” may indicate that the prophecies of the earlier prophets against the cities and regions mentioned in verses 1–7 still stand. However, the “land of Hadrach” is not otherwise mentioned in the OT. It is probably land of the city of Hatarikka, known from Assyrian sources, where it is mentioned along with “Hamath” (cf. v. 2). This would locate it on the border of Damascus, the capital of Syria (Aram), to the north of Israel. Earlier prophecies against Damascus include Isaiah 17:1–9; Jeremiah 49:23–27; and Amos 1:3–5. Historically, King David subdued Damascus, which paid him tribute. He also set up garrisons in Damascus and established it as an administrative center for several northern districts (2 Sam. 8:6–8).

The phrase “For the LORD has an eye on mankind and on all the tribes of Israel” is difficult to translate on account of the poetic nature of the Hebrew. An alternative translation is, “For to the LORD belongs the eye of man and all the tribes of Israel.” In that case it would seem to echo Isaiah 17:7 (also a prophecy against Damascus), which says, “In that day man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will look on the Holy One of Israel.” In the context of Isaiah, “man” refers to the people of the nations who will turn from their idols and acknowledge the Lord as their cities come under his judgment. This fits the context of Zechariah well, where the judgment of the nations results in their turning their eyes to Israel’s God, along with “all the tribes of Israel.” Referring to Israel in this way seems to envision a reunification of the tribes as in the time of David and Solomon (cf. 9:10–13; 10:6).

9:2–4 “Hamath” is either a city or a district located between Hadrach and Damascus. It was hostile to Israel until David subdued it (2 Sam. 8:9–10); Solomon later controlled it (2 Chron. 8:4).

Moving westward to the coast, “Tyre and Sidon” were trade ports of great wealth and security. The description of them as “wise” refers to their skill or shrewdness, probably in trade, rather than to fear of the Lord (cf. Ezek. 28:3–5). Tyre’s “rampart” refers to a breakwater built as fortification against invasion. Tyre’s wealth is captured in the description “heaped up silver like dust, and fine gold like the mud of the streets.” While Tyre and Sidon were never incorporated into Israel, the king of Tyre helped build palaces for David and Solomon (2 Sam. 5:11; 1 Kings 9:11). In Ezekiel’s vision of the idealized land, Tyre falls into Manasseh’s territory and Sidon into Naphtali’s (Ezek. 48:3–4).

There are also several earlier prophetic oracles against these cities (Isaiah 23; Jer. 25:22; Ezekiel 26–28; Joel 3:4–8). Zechariah reaffirms that God will judge these cities in the northern regions (9:4; cf. 6:1–8). The word “power” (9:4) can also be translated as “army,” perhaps alluding to the striking down of Pharaoh’s army in the exodus (Ex. 14:28; 15:21). Destruction by fire was also common in divine warfare (cf. Amos 1:9–10).

9:5–7 Moving south, God mentions four of the five cities associated with the Philistines (Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, Ashdod).³ These cities defined part of the borders of the territory of Judah (Josh. 15:11, 45–46), but Israel did not subdue them until David’s time (2 Sam. 5:17–25; 21:15–22). Jeremiah 47:4 shows that Tyre and Sidon supported the Philistines, hence the judgment of Tyre causes these cities great fear and anguish (Zech. 9:5). God’s judgment will fall on these cities, too, with Gaza’s king perishing and Ashkelon losing its inhabitants. The “mixed people” (v. 6) seems to refer to people born from parents of different nations—a people who has lost any distinct national identity. God will “cut off the pride of Philistia” (v. 6), a summary of his judgment on these cities’ being self-reliant (“pride”) and opposed to God.

Yet judgment is not the final word. God will also remove what is unclean: “. . . its blood from its mouth and its abominations from between its teeth.” These images presumably refer to the Philistine practices of eating meat with its lifeblood still in it and eating food associated with idolatry. These are elsewhere forbidden both directly and indirectly by God (e.g., Gen. 9:4; Lev. 17:10–14; Deut. 12:23, 31). God will incorporate “a remnant” of the Philistines (Zech. 9:7) into his people, as he did with the Jebusites, inhabitants of Jerusalem before David captured it. Rather than being destroyed, the Jebusites were absorbed into Judah (2 Sam. 5:6–9; 24:18–24). Zechariah envisages God judging and saving the nations (cf. Zech. 8:22–23).

9:8 After judging the nations on the borders of the land, God will return to “encamp” at his “house” (or “temple”) and protect his people from invaders and oppressors (cf. 7:14). This also brings King David to mind, as it was only in his time that God “camped” in the tabernacle tent in Jerusalem. “Now I see with my own eyes” could simply mean God is watching over his people, or that he sees the plight of his people and is about to act in their favor (as in Ex. 2:25). Reference to “eyes” also links back to the “eye” in verse 1.

9:9–10 With the return of the Lord to Jerusalem, the inhabitants of Jerusalem are exhorted to “rejoice greatly” and “shout aloud” to welcome their king (cf. 2:10; Zeph. 3:14). The expressions “daughter of Zion” and “daughter of Jerusalem” refer poetically to the inhabitants of Jerusalem (cf. comment on Zech. 2:7). The expression “your king” suggests it is the Davidic king, expected by earlier prophets, who will come (cf. 3:8; 6:12). Unlike many previous kings, this king will be “righteous” (cf. Jer. 23:5). Second, this king is said to have “salvation.” The Hebrew can also be translated with the sense that the king has been “saved” (cf. Deut. 33:29; Ps. 33:16–17). In this case, the future king has been saved by God in the context of God’s defeat of the nations (Zech. 9:1–8) and he now comes to the royal city of Jerusalem. Third, the king is “humble” (alternatively, the Hebrew can be translated “afflicted”; cf. Isa. 53:4, 7, where Isaiah’s suffering servant is “afflicted” not for his own sins, like David, but for the sins of others). The background to Zechariah’s picture seems to be the suffering David of 2 Samuel and the Psalms, along with the suffering servant of Isaiah. These have been woven together in Zechariah’s portrait of the future king here and throughout chapters 9–14.⁴ This explains the fourth description of the king as “mounted on a donkey.” During David’s exile from Jerusalem, when he was nearly defeated by his enemies, he rode a donkey (cf. 2 Sam. 16:2).⁵ God saved David in battle and delivered him back to Jerusalem as king. In combining these images, Zechariah speaks of the future righteous Davidic king of prophetic expectation who, having been saved by God from the affliction of exile, will return to Jerusalem on a donkey and will “speak peace to the nations” (Zech. 9:10; cf. the “peace” of 6:13). The forgiveness of sin associated with Isaiah’s servant is the focus of the king’s work in Zechariah 12:10–13:1 (cf. 3:9).

The “chariot” and “war horse” were key weapons of warfare for Israel and Judah in the ninth and eighth centuries. God says he will “cut off” or destroy these weapons, along with the “battle bow” (cf. Isa. 2:4). Mentioning Ephraim (the northern kingdom of Israel) and Jerusalem (cf. Zech. 9:13) hints at a reunified kingdom, as under David (cf. 2 Sam. 2:10–11; 5:1–5). The coming king “shall speak peace to the nations”—not just the absence of war, but the peace of salvation (pictured in Zech. 9:16–17). The king’s rule will extend “from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth” (v. 10), an expression capturing his universal reign over all nations (cf. Gen. 49:10–11; Ps. 72:8).

9:11–12 The Lord continues to address his people (“you” refers to “daughter of Zion” and “daughter of Jerusalem” in v. 9), outlining further elements of his salvation. These will come on account of the “blood of my covenant with you.” The covenant with Israel at Sinai was ratified with blood, indicating God’s commitment to his people (cf. Ex. 24:8). This covenant commitment means the “prisoners” will be set “free from the waterless pit,” like Joseph (Gen. 37:24) and Jeremiah (Jer. 38:6). This image may refer specifically to those still living in foreign lands, or it may be a more general reference to the end of exile. To “set your prisoners free” also echoes the exodus (Ex. 5:1)—the end of exile is a new exodus.

Once set free, the prisoners are to “return to your stronghold,” best understood as Jerusalem (cf. Zech. 2:7). They are “prisoners of hope” because of the promises of restoration after exile built into the national covenant (cf. Deut. 30:1–6). There is wordplay in the Hebrew: when the people “return” (shub), God “will restore” (ʼashib) “double” (as in Zech. 1:3—“Return to me . . . and I will return to you.”). The double restoration echoes Isaiah 61:1–7 (cf. Isa. 40:2), where prisoners are set free and given a double portion in the land. Also behind this idea may be the double restoration after “exile” in the cases of Joseph (Gen. 48:22) and Job (Job 42:10).

9:13 The means to the “peace” in verse 10 is God’s using his people as weapons to overthrow opposition. God will use Judah as his “bow” and Ephraim (the northern kingdom of Israel) as his “arrow”; at the end of the verse they are likened to a “warrior’s sword.” Reference to Judah and Ephraim points to a reunited kingdom of Israel (cf. v. 1; 10:6–7).

While some take the reference to “Greece” to indicate that chapters 9–14 come from a much later time, this is unnecessary. At the beginning of the fifth century BC, the Greeks had proved to be quite troublesome to the Persians. To assert God’s defeat of the Greeks is a bold claim of his power. In addition, the Philistines had sold the people of Jerusalem and Judah to the Greeks (cf. Joel 3:4–6), and this prophecy envisages their being freed and returned.

9:14–15 Like God’s salvation in the exodus (Ex. 15:1–21), the Lord will appear as a warrior to save his people. He will come as an army on the “march,” shooting “his arrow” and sounding “the trumpet” as part of the battle (Zech. 9:14; cf. 6:1–8; 9:1–8). The “whirlwinds of the south” may also echo exodus themes, along with the “lightning” and “trumpet,” associated with God’s appearance at Sinai (Ex. 19:16).

In the battle, the Lord will “protect,” or shield, his people, who “shall devour, and tread down the sling stones” (Zech. 9:15). This is a poetic way of picturing the enemies of God’s people being obliterated in battle. The sound of the battle will be like the “roar” of those “drunk with wine,” and the sight of it like blood at a sacrifice: “full like a bowl, drenched like the corners of the altar” (cf. Ex. 29:13; Lev. 4:7, 17, 25). Just as the foreign nations consumed blood as part of their idolatrous worship (Zech. 9:7), so their blood will be consumed by the Israelites (metaphorically speaking) in battle. Other prophets also compare God’s victory over his enemies to a sacrifice (e.g., Isa. 34:6; Jer. 46:10; Ezek. 39:17–20; Zeph. 1:7).

9:16–17 God will not only fight for and protect his people (vv. 14–15), he will also save and greatly bless them. The phrase “on that day” refers to the future day of salvation (cf. “those days” in 8:23). The Lord is called “their God,” language associated with the covenant relationship (cf. 9:11; 10:6; 13:9). The people are called “the flock,” introducing the shepherd imagery prominent in chapters 10–13 portraying God’s relationship with Israel, and Israel’s leadership. The people are also likened to “jewels of a crown” that “shall shine on his land”—precious stones in the ephod and breastplate of the high priest represented the people of Israel (Ex. 28:12, 21). Here God’s people will adorn the land as jewels. It is a fitting image for God’s “treasured possession” (cf. Ex. 19:5; Mal. 3:17).

The glorious nature of this day results in the exclamation, “How great is his goodness, and how great his beauty!”⁶ This day of God’s salvation will also bring the covenant blessings of “grain” and “new wine” (cf. Deut. 33:28; Joel 2:19; Amos 9:13). This produce will cause young men and women to “flourish” (or “bear fruit”; e.g., Ps. 92:14), perhaps implying offspring. Just as God had saved his people in the exodus, defeating their enemies and in time establishing them in the land under King David, so he will do it again, saving and establishing his people in the land under the one who will inherit David’s throne.