The burden of the word of the LORD in the land of Hadrach, and Damascus shall be the rest thereof: when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the LORD.
The burden of the word of the Lord in the land of Hadrach - rather, concerning or against Hadrach (cf. Isaiah 21:13). "Burden" [maasaa'] means a prophecy BURDENED with wrath against the guilty. Maurer, not so well, explains it, What is taken up [from naasaa' (H5375) to, bear] and uttered, the utterance, a solemn declaration.
Hadrach - a part of Syria, near Damascus. Since the name is not mentioned in ancient histories, it probably was the less used name of a region having two names (Hadrach and Bikath-aven, margin, Amos 1:5); hence, it passed into oblivion. An ancient Rabbi, Jose, is, however, stated to have expressly mentioned it. An Arab, Jos. Abassi, also in 1768 declared to Michaelis that there was then a town of the name, and that it was capital of the region Hadrach. The name means enclosed in Syrian - i:e., the western interior part of Syria, enclosed by hills-the Coele-Syria of Strabo (Maurer). Jerome considers Hadrach to be the metropolis of Coele-Syria, as Damascus was of the region about that city. Hengstenberg regards Hadrach as a symbolical name of Persia, which Zechariah avoids designating by its proper name, not to offend the government under which he lived. But the context seems to refer to the Syrian region. Gesenius thinks that the name is that of a Syrian king, which might more easily pass into oblivion than that of a region. Compare the similar phrase, "land of Sihon," etc., Nehemiah 9:22. It may be derived from "Hadar," son of Ishmael (Genesis 25:15).
And Damascus shall be the rest thereof - i:e., the place on which the "burden" of the Lord's wrath shall rest. It shall permanently settle on it until Syria is utterly prostrate. Fulfilled under Alexander the Great, who overcame Syria (Curtius, B. 3 and 4).
When the eyes of man as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the Lord - the eyes of men in general, and of all Israel in particular, through consternation at the victorious progress of Alexander, shall be directed to Yahweh. The Jews, when threatened by him, because of Jaddua the high priest's refusal to swear fealty to him prayed earnestly to the Lord, and so were delivered (2 Chronicles 20:12; Psalms 123:2). Typical of the effect of God's judgments hereafter on all men, and especially on the Jews, in turning them to Him. Maurer, Pembellus etc., less probably, translate, 'The eyes of the Lord are upon man, as they are upon all Israel'-namely, to punish the ungodly, and protect His people. He who has chastised His people will not fail to punish other men for their sins severely. The "all," I think, implies that whereas men's attention generally (whence, "man" is the expression) was directed to Yahweh's judgments, all Israel especially looks to Him.