And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
Ye shall flee to the valley - rather, х geey' (H1516)] 'through the valley,' as in 2 Samuel 2:29. The valley made by the cleaving asunder of the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:4) is designed to be their way of escape, not their place of refuge (Maurer). Jerome is on the side of the English version. If it be translated so, it will mean, Ye shall flee to the valley, not to hide there, but as the passage through which an escape may be effected. The same divinely-sent earthquake which swallows up the foe opens out a way of escape to God's people. The earthquake in Uzziah's day is mentioned (Amos 1:1) as a recognized epoch in Jewish history. Compare also Isaiah 6:1: perhaps the same year that Yahweh held His heavenly court, and gave commission to Isaiah for the Jews, an earthquake in the physical world, us often happens (Matthew 24:7), marked momentous movements in the unseen spiritual world х haaray (H2022)].
Of the mountains - rather, 'of my mountains'-namely, Zion and Moriah, peculiarly sacred to Yahweh (Moore). Or, the mountains formed by my cleaving Olivet into two (Maurer).
Azal - the name of a place near a gate east of the city. The Hebrew х `Aatsal (H682)] means adjoining - i:e., adjoining the city (Henderson). The valley reaches up to the city gates, so as to enable the fleeing citizens to betake themselves immediately to it on leaving the city. Piscator and Tarnovius take the Hebrew in a verb, 'The valley of the mountains shall reach to (the mountain which God hath chosen, namely) Mount Zion.' But this requires too great an ellipsis to be supplied. Ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah - (See note, Amos 1:1; also Isaiah 6:1). It must have been a notable earthquake, since it is here referred to as a fact fresh in the minds of the Jews after a lapse of more than two centuries from its occurrence. Palestine abounds in traces of volcanic action. Uzziah's sin in relation to the spiritual world seems to be connected with the convulsion in the physical world (cf. Matthew 24:7).
And the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. The mention of the "Lord my God" leads the prophet to pass suddenly to a direct address to Yahweh. It is as if, "lifting up his head" (Luke 21:28), he suddenly sees in vision the Lord coming, and joyfully exclaims (passing from speaking OF God to speaking TO God), "All the saints with thee!" So Isaiah 25:9.
Saints - holy angels, escorting the returning King (Mark 24:30-31; Jude 1:14, "Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints" - i:e., holy angels) and redeemed men (1 Corinthians 15:23; 1 Thessalonians 3:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:14). Compare the similar mention of the "saints" and "angels" at His coming on Sinai, Deuteronomy 33:2-3; Acts 7:53; Galatians 3:19; Hebrews 2:2. Phillips thinks Azal is Ascalon on the Mediterranean. An earthquake beneath Messiah's tread will divide Syria, making from Jerusalem to Azal a valley which will admit the ocean waters from the west to the Dead Sea. The waters will rush down the valley of Arabah, the old bed of the Jordan, clear away the sand drift of 4,000 years, and cause the commerce of Petra and Tyre to center in the holy city. The Dead Sea rising above its shores will overflow by the valley of Edom, completing the straits of Azal into the Red Sea. Thus will be formed the great pool of Jerusalem (cf. Zechariah 14:8; Ezekiel 47:1, etc.; Joel 3:18).
Euphrates will be the north boundary, and the Red Sea the south. Twenty-five miles north and twenty-five miles south of Jerusalem will form one side of the fifty miles square of the Lord's Holy Oblation (Ezekiel 48:1-35). There are seven spaces of fifty miles each from Jerusalem northward to the Euphrates, and five spaces of fifty miles each southwards to the Red Sea. Thus, there are thirteen equal distances on the breadth of the future promised land, one for the oblation and twelve for the tribes, according to Ezekiel 48:1-35. He thinks that the Euphrates north, Mediterranean west, the Nile and Red Sea south, are to be the future boundaries of the Holy Land, which will include Syria and Arabia. This is favoured by Genesis 15:18; Exodus 23:31; Deuteronomy 11:24; Joshua 1:4; 1 Kings 4:21; 2 Chronicles 9:26; Isaiah 27:12; all which was partially realized in Solomon's reign shall be antitypically so hereafter. The theory, if true, will clear away many difficulties in the way of the literal interpretation of this chapter and Ezekiel 48:1-35. But it is of course very conjectural, and seems to push literalism of interpretation rather far.