CRITICAL NOTES.] Hadrach] Part of Syria, near Damascus. Rest] On which God’s wrath shall rest, and permanently abide. Eyes] of Israel, and of other people, would mark the providence of God; or, “Jehovah has an eye upon men, and upon all the tribes of Israel” (cf. Jeremiah 32:20).
Zechariah 9:2. Hamath] as adjoining Damascus partook in “the burden.” Tyre and Sidon lay directly in Alexander’s march along the Syrian coast towards Egypt (see Isaiah 23). Wise] in building strong holds, and heaping up silver (Ezekiel 28:3-17).
Zechariah 9:3.] A description of new Tyre, an island 700 paces from the shore.
Zechariah 9:4. Cast] Heb. dispossess, drive out her inhabitants. Alexander captured Tyre after seven months’ siege; some few escaped; others put to death, or enslaved, and the city was burned.
HOMILETICS
JUDGMENTS UPON SYRIA AND PHŒNICIA.—Zechariah 9:1-4
Judgments are now threatened upon the lands of Syria, Phœnicia, and Philistia. Nations from which Israel greatly suffered, typical of worldly powers exulting in their strength, and broken to pieces by the might of Jehovah.
I. Judgments upon the land of Syria. “In the land of Hadrach.”
1. Their nature. “The burden of the word.” The punishment of the land is burdensome; no light trifling matter. It is bitter and crushing.
2. Their centre. “Damascus,” the capital, “shall be the rest thereof.” On this city the burden was permanently to settle. Eminent places generally share in the guilt, and procure the punishment, of the land. After Alexander’s victory over Darius in the battle of Issus, one of his generals was sent to the city, who took its immense wealth, treasured up by the Persian monarch, and carried away its satraps and princely families (cf. Jeremiah 49:23; Amos 1:3-5).
3. Their extent. “Hamath also, which borders thereon,” did not escape. Near in situation, it shared in the burden of wrath resting upon Damascus. Contiguous in territory, they were alike in doom. The proverb of the Jews was realized, “Woe to the wicked man, and woe to his neighbour.”
II. Judgments upon the land of Phœnicia. Tyre and Sidon, the two capitals of Phœnicia, are next mentioned. Tyre was originally a colony of Sidon, but soon outgrew the mother city, and became the capital of all Phœnicia. Hence Tyre is only spoken of here. But the fate of both places is interwoven (cf. Isaiah 23:4-12; Ezekiel 28:21).
1. Tyre could not be saved by its worldly wisdom. “Though it be very wise.” Volney says, that it was “a nursery of arts and science.” Its wisdom consisted in building fortifications, multiplying riches, and trusting to them. It was worldly wisdom, the source of her pride and the means of her destruction.
2. Tyre could not be saved by its worldly wealth. “Though silver was heaped up as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets,” yet this availed not
3. Tyre could not be saved by its mighty strongholds. “Tyrus did build herself a stronghold.” She had “the greatest confidence” in herself, says a historian, “owing to her insular position and fortifications, and the abundant stores she had prepared.” She was “the crowning city,” rivalling the world in strength, beauty, and riches. Her fleet was sunk in the sea, her fortifications overturned, and she was “devoured with the fire.” The waves girt her round, buried her ruins, and now roll over her site. “I will make her like the top of a rock; it shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea; for I have spoken it.”
THREE ASPECTS OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE.—Zechariah 9:1
When the eyes of man. Taking these words as they stand, they may mean that the events of God’s providence would be such as to constrain men to acknowledge God’s hand in them, or that the dangers would be so great to Israel that other nations would watch whether Jehovah, in whom they trusted, would be their protector. They are generally taken as indicating God’s providence over all mankind, to punish the ungodly, and defend his people. In this sense—
I. Divine providence is universal. “The Lord hath an eye to man,” i.e. to all mankind, as well as to the tribes of Israel. He controls and disposes the conquests of armies, and the destinies of nations, for the advancement of his glory. The providence is the eye of God. His look is not careless and transient; but scrutinizing and constant. “His eyes behold,” without slumber or fatigue, the actions, words, and thoughts; “his eyelids try the children of men,” as one intently examining some objects to the exclusion of all others (Psalms 11:4). “All things are naked,” stripped of all covering and concealment, “and opened before him”—laid prostrate, and exposed before his eye (Hebrews 4:13).
II. Divine providence is protective. “As of all the tribes of Israel.” He may chastise, but he will ever protect, his own. The victorious progress of Alexander terrified Israel, but Jerusalem escaped unhurt amid the storm. “This ‘captain of the Lord’s host’ (Joshua 5:15) kept at bay the otherwise irresistible foe” [Lange].
III. Divine providence is retributive. It is a defence to Israel, and a punishment to others. Damascus was the rest; the region on which God’s anger settled. He who chastises his people will not fail to visit other men’s sins. Love seems hidden at times, and it may be difficult to see on which side favour lies; but the disproportion will not continue long. A distinction, an eternal separation, will be made at length. “Every eye shall see him” then, and all reap their reward. A difference will be made “between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Zechariah 9:1. The eyes of man, &c.
1. Times of trouble sent to direct men’s eyes to God.
2. As God’s providence is universal, those only can escape who trust him.
3. The punishment upon those who do not trust him will be heavy. Divine wrath is sure to hit its mark, and sink those on whom it rests.
Zechariah 9:2-4. Vain confidences.
1. Reputed wisdom, which is not “counsel against the Lord” (Proverbs 21:30).
2. Immense wealth, which “profits not in the day of wrath” (Proverbs 11:4). “Misery assails riches, as lightning does the highest towers” [Burton].
3. Outward fortifications. High walls and deep seas, instruments of power, may be elements of destruction. God can destroy the wisest, the wealthiest, and the strongest nation. Tyre said in her pride, “I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas” (Ezekiel 28:2); but she was devoured with fire. “How art thou destroyed, which wast strong in the sea” (Ezekiel 26:17).
Zechariah 9:4. Mark the language. Who was to “smite her power in the sea, burn her with fire, and cast her out?” Alexander the Great, says history; Jehovah, says Divine revelation. Both are true. Only revelation keeps us in mind that “men are God’s hand”—a truth which profane history is too prone to overlook and forget; as indeed we ourselves—all of us—naturally are [Wardlaw].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 9
Zechariah 9:1-6. The foreground of this prophecy is the course of the victories of Alexander, which circled round the Holy Land without hurting it, and ended in the overthrow of the Persian Empire. The surrender of Damascus followed first, immediately on his great victory at the Issus; then Sidon yielded itself and received its ruler from the conqueror. Tyre he utterly destroyed; Gaza, we know, perished; he passed harmless by Jerusalem. Samaria, on his return from Egypt, he chastised. History gives no other explanation of Zechariah’s prophecy than this conquest by Alexander: that conquest agrees minutely with the prophecy. No other event in history does [cf. Pusey’s Lectures on Daniel].