Zechariah 9:11. It is more than probable, that the remaining part of this prophesy, to the end of the next chapter, relates to matters of which the time is not yet come. It is but reasonable to presume, that as the prediction follows that of the Messiah's coming, the accomplishment was meant to take place in the same order of succession. But since the time of our Saviour's appearance on earth nothing has happened to the Jewish nation in any degree answerable to what is here predicted; no return from captivity, no victories, no successes, but an uninterrupted series of misfortunes and calamities. This has been thought to favour the notion of Jeremiah's being the author of these Chapter s, and of his foretelling the return of the Jews from Babylon, and their successes under the Maccabees, when they had to contend with the Macedonian kings of Syria, the successors of Alexander the Great, emphatically called king of Javan, or Greece, Daniel 8:21. But let it be noted, that the promise of restoration is here made not to Judah only, but also to Ephraim, that is, the ten tribes, who are still, we know, in their dispersions, and have never yet, in a national capacity at least, experienced any favourable change in their affairs since their first abduction. There is however good ground to expect from the writings of other prophets, as well as that before us, that the time will come, when "all Israel shall be saved," as well as Judah, and hereafter be brought back to dwell in their own land in the full enjoyment of the like national prosperity.
By the blood of thy covenant— When thou wast in the blood of thy covenant: that is, when thou wast yet wet with the blood that was sprinkled on thee in confirmation of the covenant which God made with thee. See Exodus 24:8. Hebrews 9:19-20.—The same form of speech occurs, Ezekiel 16:6. בדמיךֶ bedamaiik, "When thou wast yet in thy blood;" that is, stained with the blood of thy filthiness, like an infant not yet washed.
The pit wherein is no water— Anciently in great houses, and particularly in the east, deep dry pits, called dungeons, were appropriated for the confinement of prisoners. Into one of these Jeremiah was cast. Jeremiah 38:6. Here, I presume, the land of Egypt is metaphorically intended, in which the children of Israel were heretofore detained as in a prison, until God delivered them out of it, and at the same time entered into covenant with them. To this deliverance he compares that which was destined for them in future.