Zechariah 9:1 - Meaning and Application

After the rich promises in the previous chapter, God now turns to the people who had hated and oppressed his people, especially the nations that lived right next to them. The Syrians had been harsh neighbors to Israel, so God announces judgment against them. “The word of the Lord” is called a burden in the land of Hadrach, meaning Syria, though we do not know why that name was used. Damascus, the chief city of Syria, is said to be the resting place of this burden, meaning the threatened judgment will settle there.

Those are truly miserable who feel the burden of God’s word in judgment, who live under his wrath (John 3:36). It is a weight no one can shake off or carry safely. God can make his fury rest on people, and when his wrath marks someone, it will surely strike him. When God’s people look to him in faith and prayer for help, and depend on him against their enemies, it is often a sign that he is about to act for them in a remarkable way.

The meaning may also be taken this way: the Lord has his eye on man and on all the tribes of Israel. He is King of the nations as well as King of his church, so he governs the whole world, not only his own people. That means he will punish the sins of other nations as well as the sins of Israel. God is Judge over all, so all must give account to him. When Paul was converted at Damascus, preached there, and disputed with the Jews, the word of the Lord may then be said to have rested there, and then the eyes of more people besides Israel began to be toward the Lord (Acts 9:22).

Hamath, a country north of Damascus, is joined with it in this judgment. It borders Syria and shares in the burden of the Lord’s word that falls on Damascus. The Jews have a proverb that says, “Woe to the wicked man, and woe to his neighbor,” because a neighbor may share in both sins and punishment. So it is here: woe to Hadrach, and woe to Hamath that borders it.

Next God calls Tyre and Sidon to account, as in other prophecies. Tyre is pictured as flourishing, feeling very secure, and ready to treat God’s judgments with contempt. She thinks herself very wise, as if she could outsmart even God’s wisdom. Her rulers were indeed skilled politicians (Ezekiel 28:3), but all their planning could not escape God’s judgment when it came with his authority. No wisdom or counsel can stand against the Lord, and it is his honor to trap the wise in their own cleverness.

Tyre is also pictured as very strong, protected by both nature and human skill. She had built herself a stronghold and imagined it could never be brought down or overcome. She was also very rich, and money often feels like a defense. It is called the strength of war (Ecclesiastes 7:12). By trade, Tyre had piled up silver like dust and fine gold like dirt in the streets, meaning she had it in great abundance, as common as sand (Job 27:16). It would be good if we all learned to think this way about money, compared with the greater wealth of wisdom, grace, and the gain that comes from them.

Yet Tyre will fall after all. Her wisdom, wealth, and strength will not save her (Zechariah 9:4). The Lord will throw her out of the stronghold where she trusted, and he will strip her of her wealth, as some read it. There have been cases where great riches have fallen into poverty, and large fortunes have come to nothing. God will break her power in the sea. Even though she was surrounded by water, that will not protect her. She will be devoured by fire and burned to the ground. Tyre sat among the waters, so one might have expected her to be destroyed by flooding, but God chooses the opposite means. He often brings ruin on his enemies in ways they least expect. There was plenty of water nearby to put out the flames, yet she will still be burned, because no one can put out the fire that the breath of the Almighty has kindled.

God then turns to the Philistines, with their chief cities and rulers, who lived south of Israel. They will be alarmed and frightened when the word of the Lord falls on Damascus (Zechariah 9:5). In earlier days, the disasters of Israel had often been spoken of with mockery in Ashkelon, and the Philistines had celebrated them. But now Ashkelon will see the ruin of her allies and be afraid. Gaza will see it too and be deeply troubled, and Ekron will conclude that its own turn is coming next, as the cup of trembling passes around. When a neighbor’s house is on fire, people wonder what will become of their own. They had looked to Tyre and Sidon as protection for their land, but when those strong cities fall, their hopes in them will be shown to be useless, as all our hopes in created things will be in the end.

They will also be ruined and emptied. The government will collapse, for the king will perish from Gaza, meaning not only the current king will die, but there will be no line of succession. The cities will be left without people, for Ashkelon will not be inhabited, as the rightful owners are driven out, either killed or taken captive. Foreigners will take over their land and own its wealth (Zechariah 9:6). A bastard will live in Ashdod, meaning a foreign and unlawful people will take possession of the inheritance that belonged to the native people, with no more right to it than a child born outside the family has to a lawful inheritance. In this way God will cut off the pride of the Philistines, everything they trusted in, both their strength and their wealth, which had fed their self-confidence and their contempt for the people of God.

This prophecy about the destruction of the Philistines, Damascus, and Tyre was fulfilled not long afterward by Alexander the Great, who overran those lands with his victorious army, captured the cities, and settled colonies there.

Some think this refers to the illegitimate person who would dwell in Ashdod, because his mother, Olympia, admitted that she was pregnant through adultery, though she claimed Jupiter was the father. Later, the Jews gained the upper hand over the Philistines, Syrians, and other neighboring peoples, took some of their cities, and possessed their lands. This is shown in the histories of Josephus and the Maccabees, and it was foretold earlier too (Zephaniah 2:4 and following; Obadiah 1:20).

Some also take Zechariah 9:7 as a promise that some among these nations would be converted and brought home to God by his gospel and grace. This would mean, first, that God would take away their sins, their bloodshed and detestable practices, their cruelty and their idols. He would separate them from these sins, which they hold tightly and are reluctant to give up, like food a person keeps in the mouth. Nothing is too hard for God’s grace to do.

It would also mean that he would accept a remnant of them as his own: “He who remains will be for our God.” God would preserve some from even these nations as signs of his mercy and grace, set apart for himself. Their birth would not keep them from being accepted by God, but a Philistine would be as acceptable to God, on gospel terms, as one of Judah. Even more, he would be like a ruler in Judah. A man of Ekron would be like a Jebusite, that is, like a converted Jebusite such as Araunah the Jebusite (2 Samuel 24:16). In Christ Jesus there is no difference between nations, but all are one in him and equally welcome to him.

All of this also shows mercy toward Israel. God would deal with the neighboring nations in kindness to Israel, to avenge past wrongs and to protect his people in the future. Some understand verse 7 this way: God would rescue his people from violent enemies who hated them and treated them as something vile, just when they were about to swallow them up and take them as prey. “I will take away his blood,” that is, the blood of Israel, “from his mouth,” as in Amos 3:12, when the enemies were greedily devouring them in hatred.

It also means that God would give his people victory and rule over them. “He who remains,” that is, the remnant of Israel, “will be for our God.” They would be brought back into his favor, own him, and be owned by him. He would be as a governor in Judah. Though the Jews had long been in slavery, they would recover their old honor and win victories, as David and the other rulers in Judah once did. Ekron, meaning the Philistines, would be like the Jebusites and the other nations once brought under Israel’s power.

Still, the plain sense of Zechariah 9:8 is that God will take his people under his special protection and therefore weaken their neighbors, so they cannot harm them. “I will encamp around my house because of the army.” God’s house lies in the middle of enemy territory, and his church is like a lily among thorns. That is why God’s power and goodness are shown so clearly in keeping it safe. The camp of the saints is only a little flock compared with the many armies of darkness around it, and it would surely be destroyed if God’s angels did not camp around it, as they did around Elisha to protect him (Revelation 20:9; Psalm 34:7).

When times are especially dangerous, when armies are moving back and forth and all seem set against Zion, God’s providence seems to double the guards around his church. He does this because of the one who goes by and because of the one who returns, so that whether he comes back as a conqueror or as one defeated, he will do no harm. And as no passerby will hurt them, so no oppressor will pass through them again. They will not have an enemy ruling over them harshly, making life bitter with hard slavery, as in old Egypt. This was fulfilled for a time after the struggles of the Maccabees, when Judea was a free and flourishing state. It may also have been seen when Alexander the Great, moved by awe for the high priest Jaddus, favored the Jews and protected them, even while he laid waste to nearby lands.

The reason given is this: “For now I have seen with my eyes.” That is, God has carefully made the distinction between his people and others, among whom they had seemed to share the same outward lot before. He has made it clear that he knows who belongs to him. This matches Psalm 34:15: “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous.” Now his eyes, which go to and fro through the whole earth, will rest on them in a special way, so that he may show tenderness toward them and strong support for them (2 Chronicles 16:9).