Zechariah 9:7 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

And I will take away his blood, &c.— The Hebrews had a horror of all those who ate their food with the blood: this was expressly forbidden in the law. The meaning is, that when the cities here spoken of shall belong to the Hebrews, the Philistines shall observe the law of the Lord, and there shall no more be seen among them idolatry, superstition, or cruelty. Many of the Philistines became proselytes to the Jewish religion after Alexander Jannaeus had subdued their principal cities, and made them part of his own dominions. Houbigant understands the passage very differently; he renders the last clause thus: "And ye shall be left for our God, and shall be in Judaea as an ox, and Ekron as his manger. The Philistine (says he) is spoken of, in the first part of the verse, as of a wild beast from whose mouth the prey is taken: it is therefore added, that this beast shall be in servitude as an ox; and Ekron, being taken, should be as a manger, whence Judea might have oxen to do its business; all which happened in the time of the Maccabees; but it never happened that the Philistine was a governor in Judah." However, that expression may well be justified, the prophet meaning that the two people should be so united, that the Philistine should be reckoned as one under the immediate government of Judah, partaking of the same religion, and ruled by the same laws.