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Zechariah 9 Commentary Verses 1-8
Let’s turn our attention to the ninth chapter of the book of
Zechariah.
This book started out with the Lord offering to turn once
again to the exile who had returned from Babylon. If they would turn to him, he
promised that he would also turn to them. And it turns out that they did turn
to him and so the Lord would keep his end of the deal and turn to them.
And to show his turning to these people once more he sent
several visions to the prophet Zechariah. Visions declaring that God was going
to deal with the nations that oppressed Israel, that God would cleanse and
accept once more their civil leadership and religious leadership, and that best
of all one day the Lord himself would literally dwell among his people.
Then after that we had the two chapters dealing with whether
the Jews ought to have continued to fast and mourn because of their temple
being destroyed 70 years ago. And there too the message – while dealing with
past sins of the Jews – looked forward to God’s rich blessings on these people
in the future.
And that brings us to the last major section in this book –
chapters 9-14.
We’ll begin in chapter 9 today which begins with a burden or
an oracle in verse 1.
KJV Zechariah 9:1 ¶ 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.
So, this burden or oracle – really, a prophetic message of
warning – is “in” or more likely “against” or “concerning” this land called
Hadrach. This apparently was an ancient area that covered much of modern-day
Syria.
And when the Lord says here that Damascus is the “rest” of
something – it means “resting place.”
Well, what is going to be “resting” in Damascus? It’s this
oracle – this prophetic message of warning. This message is against Hadrach –
modern-day Syria – and the resting place or even the “focus” of this oracle is
this city of Damascus – the ancient and modern-day capital of this particular
region.
And this prophetic message is either for a time when the
eyes of everyone will be on the Lord. That is, perhaps in the future when these
things in this prophetic message will come to pass – that everyone’s attention
will be turned to the Lord. Not just will Israel’s eyes be turned to the Lord
but so will all mankind.
And we certainly recognize that this is not really the case
at this point, right? Would you say that if you went out into the streets and
started talking with people that it would be obvious from casual conversations that
everyone these days is paying attention to the Lord?
No, of course not. So, it could be that most or even all of
this in this prophetic message of warning is for the future.
And as with all of the prophetic warning messages that the
Lord gives in the Bible, it’s interesting that the people to whom this was
written probably never received it. The ancient people who lived in the area we
know as Syria probably never heard this. And I suppose it wouldn’t matter if
they did or not especially if what is to be revealed in this passage deals with
things still to come from our vantage point.
At any rate, the Lord has one more group of geographical
regions to add in verse 2 to this prophetic message of warning.
2 And Hamath also shall border thereby; Tyrus, and Zidon, though it be very wise.
Ok, so what about Hamath? It borders by what?
This is saying that Hamath was near to Hadrach. So, we’re
still talking about people in t
View all episodes
By PaulLet’s turn our attention to the ninth chapter of the book of
Zechariah.
This book started out with the Lord offering to turn once
again to the exile who had returned from Babylon. If they would turn to him, he
promised that he would also turn to them. And it turns out that they did turn
to him and so the Lord would keep his end of the deal and turn to them.
And to show his turning to these people once more he sent
several visions to the prophet Zechariah. Visions declaring that God was going
to deal with the nations that oppressed Israel, that God would cleanse and
accept once more their civil leadership and religious leadership, and that best
of all one day the Lord himself would literally dwell among his people.
Then after that we had the two chapters dealing with whether
the Jews ought to have continued to fast and mourn because of their temple
being destroyed 70 years ago. And there too the message – while dealing with
past sins of the Jews – looked forward to God’s rich blessings on these people
in the future.
And that brings us to the last major section in this book –
chapters 9-14.
We’ll begin in chapter 9 today which begins with a burden or
an oracle in verse 1.
KJV Zechariah 9:1 ¶ 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.
So, this burden or oracle – really, a prophetic message of
warning – is “in” or more likely “against” or “concerning” this land called
Hadrach. This apparently was an ancient area that covered much of modern-day
Syria.
And when the Lord says here that Damascus is the “rest” of
something – it means “resting place.”
Well, what is going to be “resting” in Damascus? It’s this
oracle – this prophetic message of warning. This message is against Hadrach –
modern-day Syria – and the resting place or even the “focus” of this oracle is
this city of Damascus – the ancient and modern-day capital of this particular
region.
And this prophetic message is either for a time when the
eyes of everyone will be on the Lord. That is, perhaps in the future when these
things in this prophetic message will come to pass – that everyone’s attention
will be turned to the Lord. Not just will Israel’s eyes be turned to the Lord
but so will all mankind.
And we certainly recognize that this is not really the case
at this point, right? Would you say that if you went out into the streets and
started talking with people that it would be obvious from casual conversations that
everyone these days is paying attention to the Lord?
No, of course not. So, it could be that most or even all of
this in this prophetic message of warning is for the future.
And as with all of the prophetic warning messages that the
Lord gives in the Bible, it’s interesting that the people to whom this was
written probably never received it. The ancient people who lived in the area we
know as Syria probably never heard this. And I suppose it wouldn’t matter if
they did or not especially if what is to be revealed in this passage deals with
things still to come from our vantage point.
At any rate, the Lord has one more group of geographical
regions to add in verse 2 to this prophetic message of warning.
2 And Hamath also shall border thereby; Tyrus, and Zidon, though it be very wise.
Ok, so what about Hamath? It borders by what?
This is saying that Hamath was near to Hadrach. So, we’re
still talking about people in t