A verse by verse commentary on Zechariah 14 dealing with the day of the Lord when He comes to judge the nations, and people from all nations will come to worship the Lord.

1. ZECHARIAH 14 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
The Lord Comes and Reigns
1 A day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem, when
your possessions will be plundered and divided up
within your very walls.
BAR ES, "Behold the Day of the Lord cometh - Literally, “a day cometh, the
Lord’s,” in which He Himself shall be Judge, and no longer leave man to fulfill his own
will, and despise God’s; in which His glory and holiness and the righteousness of all His
ways shall be revealed.
And thy spoil shall be in the midst of thee - Jerome: “How great will the strait
be, that the spoils should be divided in the midst of her. It often happens that what, by a
sudden assault, is plundered in the city, is divided in the field or in solitude, lest the
enemy should come upon them. But now there will be such a heavy weight of ills, such
will be the security of conquest, that the spoils shall be divided in the midst of the city.”
CLARKE, "Behold, the day of the Lord cometh - This appears to be a
prediction of that war in which Jerusalem was finally destroyed, and the Jews scattered
all over the face of the earth; and of the effects produced by it.
GILL, "Behold, the day of the Lord cometh,.... Or the day when the Lord will
come, both in his spiritual and personal reign; for this is not to be understood of his first
coming in the flesh, at which time none of the things after mentioned happened; nor of
his coming to take vengeance on the Jews; but rather of his coming to convert them:
and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee; not the substance of the
nations, divided by the Israelites in the midst of Jerusalem, as the Targum and Jarchi
interpret it; but the spoil of Jerusalem, when taken by the enemy, as is after said, which
should be divided by them with great joy and triumph, in the midst of it: this refers not
to the spoil of Jerusalem by Antiochus or the Romans, but to the slaying of the
witnesses, and the triumph of their enemies over them, Rev_11:7 or else to the spoil and
prey the Turks will come to Jerusalem for, when it shall begin the possession of the

2. Jews; and who perhaps at first will have some success; see Eze_38:12.
HE RY 1-2, "God's providences concerning his church are here represented as
strangely changing and strangely mixed.
I. As strangely changing. Sometimes the tide runs high and strong against them, but
presently it turns, and comes to be in favour of them; and God has, for wise and holy
ends, set the one over against the other.
1. God here appears against Jerusalem; judgment begins at the house of God. When
the day of the Lord comes (Zec_14:1) Jerusalem must pass through the fire to be
refined. God himself gathers all nations against Jerusalem to battle (Zec_14:2); he
gives them a charge, as he did Sennacherib, to take the spoil and to take the prey (Isa_
10:6), for the people of Jerusalem have now become the people of his wrath. And who
can stand before him or before nations gathered by him? Where he gives commission he
will give success. The city shall be taken by the Romans, who have nations at command;
the houses shall be rifled, and all the riches of them taken away, by the enemy; and, to
gratify an insatiable lust of uncleanness as well as avarice, the women shall be ravished,
as if victory were a license to the worst of villanies, jusque datum sceleri - and crimes
were sanctioned by law. One-half of the city shall then be carried into captivity, to be
sold or enslaved, and shall not be able to help itself, such is the destruction that shall be
made in the great and terrible day of the Lord.
2. He presently changes his way, and appears for Jerusalem; for, though judgment
begin at the house of God, yet, as it shall not end there, so it shall not make a full end
there, Jer_4:27; Jer_30:11.
(1.) A remnant shall be spared, the same with that third part spoken of, Zec_13:8.
One-half shall go into captivity, whence they may hereafter be fetched back, and the
residue of the people shall not be cut off, as one would have feared, from the city. Many
of the Jews shall receive the gospel, and so shall prevent their being cut off from the city
of God, his church upon earth. In it shall be a tenth, Isa_6:13; See Eze_5:3.
JAMISO , "Zec_14:1-21. Last struggle with the hostile world-powers: Messiah-
Jehovah saves Jerusalem and destroys the foe, of whom the remnant turns to the Lord
reigning at Jerusalem.
day of the Lord — in which He shall vindicate His justice by punishing the wicked
and then saving His elect people (Joe_2:31; Joe_3:14; Mal_4:1, Mal_4:5).
thy spoil ... divided in the midst of thee — by the foe; secure of victory, they shall
not divide the spoil taken from thee in their camp outside, but “in the midst” of the city
itself.
K&D 1-2, "All nations will be gathered together by the Lord against Jerusalem, and will
take the city and plunder it, and lead away the half of its inhabitants into captivity (Zec_
14:1, Zec_14:2). The Lord will then take charge of His people; He will appear upon the
Mount of Olives, and by splitting this mountain, prepare a safe way for the rescue of
those that remain, and come with all His saints (Zec_14:3-5) to complete His kingdom.
From Jerusalem a stream of salvation and blessing will pour over the whole land (Zec_
14:6-11); the enemies who have come against Jerusalem will be miraculously smitten,
and destroy one another (Zec_14:12-15). The remnant of the nations, however, will turn
to the Lord, and come yearly to Jerusalem, to keep the feast of Tabernacles (Zec_14:16-

3. 19); and Jerusalem will become thoroughly holy (Zec_14:20, Zec_14:21). From this brief
description of the contents, it is perfectly obvious that our chapter contains simply a
further expansion of the summary announcement of the judgment upon Israel, and its
refinement (Zec_13:7-9). Zec_14:1, Zec_14:2 show how the flock is dispersed, and for
the most part perishes; Zec_14:2-5, how the Lord brings back His hand over the small
ones; vv. 6-21, how the rescued remnant of the nation is endowed with salvation, and the
kingdom of God completed by the reception of the believers out of the heathen nations.
There is no essential difference in the fact that the nation of Israel is the object of the
prophecy in Zec_13:7-9, and Jerusalem in ch. 14. Jerusalem, as the capital of the
kingdom, is the seat of Israel, the nation of God; what happens to it, happens to the
people and kingdom of God.
Zec_14:1-2
The judgment and the deliverance. - Zec_14:1. “Behold, a day cometh for Jehovah,
and thy spoil is divided in the midst of thee. Zec_14:2. And I will gather all nations
against Jerusalem to war, and the city will be taken, and the houses plundered, and the
women ravished, and half the city will go out into captivity; but the remnant of the
nation will not be cut off out of the city.” A day comes to the Lord, not inasmuch as He
brings it to pass, but rather because the day belongs to Him, since He will manifest His
glory upon it (cf. Isa_2:12). This day will at first bring calamity or destruction upon
Israel; but this calamity will furnish occasion to the Lord to display His divine might and
glory, by destroying the enemies of Israel and saving His people. In the second hemistich
of Zec_14:1, Jerusalem is addressed. “Thy spoil” is the booty taken by the enemy in
Jerusalem. The prophet commences directly with the main fact, in a most vivid
description, and only gives the explanation afterwards in Zec_14:2. The Vav consec.
attached to ‫י‬ ִ ְ‫פ‬ ַ‫ס‬ፎְ‫ו‬ is also a Vav explicativum. The Lord gathers all nations together to
war against Jerusalem, and gives up the city into their power, that they may conquer it,
and let loose all their barbarity upon it, plundering the houses and ravishing the women
(cf. Isa_13:16, where the same thing is affirmed of Babylon). Just as in the Chaldaean
conquest the people had been obliged to wander into captivity, so will it be now, though
not all the people, but only the half of the city. The remaining portion will not be cut off
out of the city, i.e., be transported thence, as was the case at that time, when even the
remnant of the nation was carried into exile (2Ki_25:22). It is obvious at once from this,
that the words do not refer to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, as
Theodoret, Jerome, and others have supposed.
CALVI , "Zechariah pursues the same subject as in the preceding chapter: for
having promised a joyful and happy state to the faithful, who despising their
indulgences in Chaldea had returned to their own country, he now reminds them
that their peaceful condition in Judea would not be without many trials and
troubles; and therefore he exhorts them to patience, lest they should faint in their
adversities, and repent of their return.
Some apply this chapter to the time of Antichrist, some refer it to the last day, others
explain it of the destruction of the city which happened in the reign of Vespasian;
but I doubt not but that the Prophet meant here to include the calamities which
were near at hand, for the city had not yet been built, (178) the Jews having been
much harassed by their neighbors; and we also know how atrocious was the tyranny
which Antiochus exercised: in short, there was a continued series of evils from the

4. time the city and the temple began to be built till the coming of Christ. As then the
Jews, who had preferred foreign countries to their own, might have boasted of their
lot and despised their brethren, as though they had foolishly and thoughtlessly
removed from foreign lands, and had been too precipitate in returning, God
designed to declare by the mouth of Zechariah what evils were at hand, that the
faithful might with a courageous mind be prepared to undergo their trials, and that
they might never succumb under any evils, for the Lord had promised more to them
than what they could have attained in Chaldea and other countries. Having now
explained the meaning of the Prophet, I shall come to the words. (179)
Behold, he says, the day shall come to Jehovah, and divided shall be thy spoils in the
midst of the city. By the demonstrative particle Behold, the certainty of the
prophecy, as it has been elsewhere said, is intimated; for the Prophet points out as
by the finger what could not yet be comprehended by human minds. And he says,
that the day would come to Jehovah, that they might know that they would suffer a
just punishment when the Lord treated them in this manner; for men, we know,
indulge themselves and seek pleasures, and when God seems not to deal kindly with
them, they raise a clamor as though he were too severe. Hence the Prophet reminds
them, that so great a calamity would not come without a cause, for God would then
execute his judgment. He does not expressly describe it, but he speaks as though he
summoned them before God’s tribunal. ow when we understand that we have to
do with God, it avails us nothing to murmur. It is then better to be silent when God
is set forth as being in the midst of us, for it is certain that he will not in chastising
us exceed what is just.
But here is described a hard affliction; for Zechariah intimates that the city would
be exposed to the will of enemies, so that they would divide at pleasure their spoils in
the very midst of it. What conquerors snatch away, they afterwards in private
divide among themselves; and we know that many cities have been plundered, when
yet the conquerors have not dared to expose to view their spoils. But the Prophet
means here that there would be no strength in the Jews to prevent their enemies
from dividing the spoils at their leisure in the midst of the city.
Marckius doubted not but that the beginning of this chapter is a prophecy
concerning the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and he quotes Jerome,
Cyril, and Theodoret as having expressed the same opinion. Lowth, Scott, Adam
Clarke, and Henderson take the same view. But the sequel of this chapter may be
better explained by the events which followed the attacks of the Greco-Syrian kings
on Jerusalem, (see 2 Maccabees 4:0,) than by the events which followed the ruin of
that city by the Romans. Blayney viewed the contents of this chapter, and much of
what is found in the preceding chapters, as yet unfulfilled: and so does ewcome in
part.
Henry is doubtful whether this chapter and the preceding are to be understood of
the whole period from the Prophet’s days to the days of the Messiah, or to some
events during that time, or to Christ’s coming and the setting up of his kingdom
upon the ruins of the Jewish polity. — Ed.

5. COFFMA , "This chapter has been considered somewhat of an enigma by
commentators for centuries. Even Luther said, "In this chapter, I surrender, for I
am not certain of what the prophet treats."[1] Of Zechariah 14:3, Adam Clarke
stated that, "This is an obscure place."[2] After pointing out conflicting
interpretations, Pusey could not decide between them, "Leaving the truth of the
time (prophesied) to the judgment of the Lord."[3] The critical scholars admit all
kinds of difficulties and propose various emendations, excisions, rearrangements
and interpolations as solutions. We do not consider the chapter to be more than
ordinarily difficult.
Several keys to unlocking the mystery of prophetic writings are available to the
student of the scriptures. One of these is the device of answering multiple questions
with one answer, a device used by Jesus in that great 24th chapter of Matthew
where the subject under discussion is exactly the same as the theme of Zechariah
here, "the destruction of Jerusalem (and the temple)," and "the time of the end of
the world" (Matthew 24:3). Jesus' reply comprises the whole subsequent chapter, in
which he clearly indicated that Jerusalem the literal city would be destroyed,
making it at the same time a type of events of final world conflict and the Second
Coming of Christ. Many of the things Jesus said describe both events. For example,
"this generation shall not pass away till all these things be fulfilled" (Matthew
24:34) has a double application derived from the double meaning of "generation."
In the case of the destruction of Jerusalem, it referred to the life-span of an ordinary
generation (forty years); but in the case of the Second Coming, it meant that "the
generation" or "posterity" of Abraham would not perish until the end of time. A
dozen other examples of the same thing are seen in that single chapter.
There is such a resemblance between this chapter in Zechariah and that of Matthew
24, that it is safe to suppose that Jesus' words in the ew Testament may actually be
understood, partially, as an expansion and elaboration of this very prophecy.
Another key to understanding the prophecies regards such expressions as "last
days" and "the day of the Lord," as used by the inspired apostles and prophets of
both the Old Testament and the ew Testament. The scholarly distinction between
eschatology and the entire Christian dispensation cannot possibly be correct. Peter
identified the preaching of the gospel on Pentecost as pertaining to "the last day";
and the pedantic device of writing that off as Peter's mistake is nothing but a means
of concealing their own error. It is not Peter who was mistaken on Pentecost, but the
eschatologists who have failed to see that everything, absolutely everything, in the
whole Christian dispensation belongs to the "last days," or to "the day of the Lord."
Paul likewise referred to this period as "the ends of the ages" (1 Corinthians 10:11).
Thus, it is that men fail to see that the opening paragraph (Zechariah 14:14) is a
reference to the destruction of literal Jerusalem, and must be applied to the literal
city. It cannot be understood in any other way. How, for example, would the women
be "raped" spiritually? However, there is an application far beyond the destruction
of Jerusalem by the Romans in A.D. 70. The destruction of Jerusalem, the capital of

6. the apostate "chosen people," as a punishment of their rejection of the Son of God,
is a type of the ultimate judgment against the apostate church of God at the end of
the age and prior to the Second Coming. The first Israel was an eloquent type of the
second Israel.
Zechariah's marvelous prophecy of "the day of the Lord" is neither as specific nor
as complete as that of Jesus; but, with the help of Jesus' elaboration of it, it is quite
easily understood. The first paragraph details the destruction of Jerusalem; and we
turn now to the study of the text on that (Zechariah 14:1-5).
Zechariah 14:1-2
"Behold, a day of Jehovah cometh, when thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of
thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be
taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go
forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city."
We do not hesitate to apply this to the overthrow of Jerusalem by the Romans some
forty years after their cruel and inhumane crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ
(A.D. 70). For centuries, the great students of the Bible have discerned this. Luther,
Clarke, and many others understood it this way. Objections to this view are that:
This interpretation is made untenable by the assurance that, "the residue of the
people shall not be cut off from the city." Of Jerusalem's destruction by the
Romans, Josephus says, " ow as soon as the army had no more people to slay or to
plunder, because there remained none to be the objects of their fury ... Caesar gave
orders that they should now demolish the entire city and temple."[4]
ote the word "plunder" in Josephus' quotation. Enslavement of people was one of
the principal elements of "plundering" any city in ancient times; and we may be
certain that the Romans never overlooked this. "Half the city shall go forth into
captivity" means that a great part of the people became slaves. But how about their
"not being cut off from the city?" This applies to the Christians, none of whom lost
their lives in the siege of Jerusalem; because, forewarned by the Saviour, they were
miraculously enabled to escape prior to the fall of the city. See under Zechariah
14:4, below. The city from which they were not "cut off" was the holy church, not
the literal Jerusalem.
The weight of Hailey's objection lies in his supposition that the Romans took no
slaves; but Josephus stated flatly that, "The rest of the multitude that were above
seventeen years old, he put them into bonds, and sent them to the Egyptian
mines."[5] This did not include countless thousands of others reserved for the
triumph, and sent as gifts to the provinces, where the local magistrates had the
option either to destroy them in their theaters (with wild beasts, or gladiatorial
contests) or to employ them as slaves, all mentioned in the same passage. This
completely nullifies all objections based upon the allegation that a vast number were
not sold as slaves. They most certainly were, just as this prophecy declared.

7. "For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle ..." First, this applied to the
literal overthrow of the earthly Jerusalem in 70 A.D. "The Roman armies were
composed of all the nations of the world."[6] In the second place, this refers to the
gathering of all nations against Christianity in times leading up to the Second
Coming of Christ (See Revelation 16:13,14). "They are the spirits of demons
working signs; which go forth unto the kings of the whole world, to gather them
together unto the war of the great day of God, the Almighty" (Revelation 16:14).
This understanding of the double significance of the passage clears up the conflict
between those interpretations which stress one meaning, and those that emphasize
the other. Both meanings are present.
Gill, for example, saw that, "We are here dealing with events of the end time";[7]
and Martin Luther referred it to the destruction of Jerusalem and the events that
occurred at the close of Christ's ministry (by the Romans in 70 A.D.).[8] Just as the
fall of Jerusalem in Matthew 24 was indicated as typical of a greater crisis of events
at the Second Coming "and the end of the world" in Matthew 24, so it is in this
passage of Zechariah. Both meanings are definitely in the passage.
COKE, "CHAP. XIV.
The destroyers of Jerusalem destroyed. The coming of Christ, and the graces of his
kingdom. The plague of Jerusalem's enemies. A remnant will turn to the Lord, and
their spoils shall be holy.
Before Christ 517.
THIS chapter goes on to foretel a siege, in which Jerusalem will be taken and
sacked, and half of its inhabitants carried into captivity, while the rest will be
enabled to stand their ground. In this critical situation they will be relieved by the
arm of divine power, exerting itself wonderfully in their behalf, and attended with
the most beneficial consequences; such as living waters going forth out of
Jerusalem; the name and majesty of the true God acknowledged through the whole
earth; and the entire re-establishment of Jerusalem in security. In the mean time the
hostile invaders, debilitated by sickness, thrown into confusion, and falling foul on
each other, will yield themselves and their wealth an easy conquest to the assailing
Jews. After this, all things in Judah and Jerusalem, from the least to the greatest,
shall thenceforward be accounted holy. Such are the great outlines of this
extraordinary prophesy; to fill up which with any tolerable certainty, it will be
necessary, perhaps, to wait the times of its accomplishment.
BE SO , "Verse 1-2
Zechariah 14:1-2. Behold, the day of the Lord cometh — A day of the Lord’s great
wrath and indignation will soon overtake you, O sinful, unthankful, bloody Jews! A
day remarkable for the execution of divine vengeance upon you, and your city,
Jerusalem. This chapter ought to have been joined to the preceding; for here the
prophet continues to foretel the execution of the threatenings contained in the latter

8. part of the former chapter; namely, how the unbelieving Jews should be destroyed
by the Romans. Thy spoils shall be divided in the midst of thee — All that thou hast,
O Jerusalem, shall become a prey to thine enemies, who shall be such absolute
masters of thee, that, in the greatest security, they shall divide among themselves
whatever spoil they take from thee, in the very place where they take it. For I will
gather all nations — “The Romans, being lords of the known world, had the
strength of all nations united in their forces. Thus, (Jeremiah 24:1,)
ebuchadnezzar is said to fight against Jerusalem with all the kingdoms of the
earth.” — Lowth. And the city shall be taken — For God is its enemy, and who can
stand before him, or before nations gathered by him? Where he gives commission,
he will give success. And the houses rifled, and the women ravished — The Roman
soldiers shall exercise those acts of lust and violence which are too frequent among
conquerors. That all the outrages were committed, and the miseries endured, which
are here predicted, when the Romans took Jerusalem, we have abundant proof from
Josephus and other historians: see notes on Deuteronomy 28. And half of the city
shall go into captivity — The Hebrew word rendered half, may be translated a
portion. It must be observed, that the city only is here spoken of; but chap.
Zechariah 13:8, where mention is made of two parts being cut off and dying, refers
to the whole land. And the residue of the people shall not be cut off — “The Romans
spared the young and useful part of the Jews: Josephus, Bel. Jud., 6. 9:2. However,
these were either condemned to the mines in Egypt, or exposed to the sword and to
wild beasts in the provincial theatres, or sold for slaves. Ibid. It must be observed,
that the forty thousand who were permitted to go where they pleased, were
Idumeans: Bel. Jud., 6. 8:2.” — ewcome. “But it is probable that the remnant of
the Jews, who survived this almost exterminating destruction, and their
descendants, who have for so many centuries been preserved a distinct people, in
order to their future restoration, are intended.” — Scott.
ELLICOTT, "THE DAY OF THE LORD.
The eleventh book of the minor prophets is acknowledged on all sides to be the most
difficult of all the prophets. Jews (Talmudists, cabbalists, and literalists) and
Christians (fathers, orthodox divines, and rationalists) are all loud in their
complaints with regard to the difficulties of interpreting this book. But, difficult as
are all the preceding chapters, this chapter surpasses them all in obscurity. It is a
chapter which seems to defy all historical explanation. We show in our otes that
the mention of “the earthquake in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah,” gives no
secure trace of the date of the delivery of this prophecy; and before proceeding, we
may observe that Ewald’s idea, that Zechariah 14:14 indicates that Judah is to take
up arms against Jerusalem, is entirely erroneous. We may also dismiss as hardly
worthy of notice literal interpretations of Zechariah 14:4; Zechariah 14:8;
Zechariah 14:16, &c. But even when we have dismissed these preliminary
difficulties, which come upon us from without, we have done but little to clear the
way for a lucid interpretation of this chapter. (1) If we suppose the writer to have
prophesied before the captivity of Judah, we are met by the following difficulties.
Other prophets, who uttered their oracles before the taking of Jerusalem by
ebuchadnezzar, always—while, with our prophet, they foretold the salvation of a

9. part of the nation (see Zechariah 14:2)—spoke clearly of a deportation of the people,
and a subsequent return, but of neither of these does our prophet say anything. He
says nothing of deportation, and Zechariah 14:10-11 are the only ones that could,
even by an immense stretch of imagination, be interpreted to refer to a return from
captivity. or, again, can Zechariah 14:8-9 be fairly interpreted of the state of
things at any period of Jewish history, either before the captivity or after the return.
Witness the whole of the prophecy of Malachi to the contrary. (2) If we, on the other
hand, suppose the prophet to be speaking of some catastrophes which were to take
place after the return from the captivity, to what historical events could he have
referred? An extract from Josephus, given in our ote on Zechariah 14:2, shows
that if the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus was the subject of his prophecy, he was
woefully deceived in his anticipations. But we cannot, from a priori considerations,
suppose that he did literally refer to so distant an event. For though we hold that a
prophet might foretell distant events, when there were already indications on the
political horizon of coming storms—so that Zechariah, in his latter days, might well
have foretold the victories of the Maccabees over the Greeks—and though a prophet
might, through being imbued with the traditions of his order, foretell, hundreds of
years before the event, circumstances in connection with the advent of the Messiah,
we cannot imagine that a prophet could, when the Greeks were only just becoming
of importance in the East, foresee, and in any way consciously foretell, the
destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. Compelled, then, by the lack of any
historical fulfilment, and guided by the highly figurative language of the whole
chapter, we decide to interpret it entirely in a figurative and Messianic sense. The
prophet, amid the corruptions of his age, perceives that it is only by passing through
the furnace of affliction that his nation can become sufficiently purified to be fit
recipients of the spiritual blessings which the whole prophetic school, in one stream
of unbroken continuity, had foretold should be the portion of Israel in the days of
the Messiah. He foresaw the glorious Messianic “day”—he rejoiced to see that day;
“he saw it, and was glad.” But what he sees, he sees from the Old Testament point of
view. The greatest affliction that had as yet visited the nation was the destruction of
Jerusalem by ebuchadnezzar (comp. Josephus. Bel. Jud. x.), and accordingly, after
the analogy of this catastrophe, the prophet draws the picture of the troubles which
should precede the advent of the Messiah. It is true that there is here no definite
reference to the Messiah, the spirit in which this chapter is conceived being that of
the Psalms of the Theophany (96-99). God is here, as there, to appear in person to
fight the battles of His people. But none the less, on that account, are those Psalms
and this prophecy Messianic. The two ideas, viz., that of the reign of God Himself,
and that of the reign of His anointed, run in parallel, and sometimes even in
converging lines, but they never actually meet in the Old Testament. It remained for
the Gospel revelation to show how the reign of Jehovah and that of the ideal David
were to be combined in one Person. The prophet, in this chapter, by faith and
inspiration, foresees, with no degree of uncertainty, that the day will come when
Jehovah shall be One, and His name One; but the manner was not revealed until
“these last days” to the Christian Church, while the complete fulfilment of this
prophecy, and the full consummation of that day, will not take place until (1
Corinthians 15:28) God shall be all in all, and (Revelation 11:15) the kingdoms of
this world shall have become the kingdom of the Lord and of His Christ.

10. Verse 1
(1) The day of the Lord cometh.—Better. A day cometh for the Lord—viz., on which
He will signally manifest His glory. (Comp. Psalms 2:12, &c.) The second half of the
verse gives with, as it were, one stroke of the pen the most vivid description of the
first feature of this “day,” viz., judgment upon Jerusalem.
EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMME TARY, "JUDGME T OF THE HEATHE
A DSA CTIFICATIO OF JERUSALEM
(Zechariah 14:1-21)
In another apocalyptic vision the prophet beholds Jerusalem again beset by the
heathen. But Jehovah Himself intervenes, appearing in person, and an earthquake
breaks out at His feet. The heathen are smitten, as they stand, into moldering
corpses. The remnant of them shall be converted to Jehovah and take part in the
annual Feast of Booths. If any refuse they shall be punished with drought. But
Jerusalem shall abide in security and holiness: every detail of her equipment shall
be consecrate. The passage has many resemblances to the preceding oracles. The
language is undoubtedly late, and the figures are borrowed from other prophets,
chiefly Ezekiel. It is a characteristic specimen of the Jewish Apocalypse. The
destruction of the heathen is described in verses of terrible grimness: there is no
tenderness nor hope exhibited for them. And even in the picture of Jerusalem’s
holiness we have no really ethical elements, but the details are purely ceremonial.
"Lo! a day is coming for Jehovah, when thy spoil will be divided in thy midst. And I
will gather all the nations to besiege Jerusalem, and the city will be taken and the
houses plundered and the women ravished, and the half of the city shall go into
captivity, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. And Jehovah
shall go forth and do battle with those nations, as in the day when He fought in the
day of contest. And His feet shall stand in that day on the Mount of Olives which is
over against Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split into halves
from east to west by a very great ravine, and half of the Mount will slide northwards
and half southwards for the ravine of mountains shall extend to ‘Asal, and ye shall
flee as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah,
[Amos 1:1] and Jehovah my God will come and all the holy ones with Him. And in
that day there shall not be light congeal. And it shall be one day-it is known to
Jehovah-neither day nor night; and it shall come to pass that at evening time there
shall be light. And it shall be in that day that living waters shall flow forth from
Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea: both
in summer and in winter shall it be. And Jehovah shall be King over all the earth: in
that day Jehovah will be One and His ame One. All the land shall be changed to
plain, from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem; but she shall be high and abide in
her place from the Gate of Benjamin up to the place of the First Gate, up to the
Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hanan’el as far as the King’s Winepresses.
And they shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more and Jerusalem shall abide in
security. And this shall be the stroke with which Jehovah will smite all the peoples

11. who have warred against Jerusalem: He will make their flesh molder while they still
stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall molder in their sockets, and their tongue
shall molder in their mouth."
"And it shall come to pass in that day, there shall be a great confusion from Jehovah
among them, and they shall grasp every man the hand of his neighbor, and his hand
shall be lifted against the hand of his neighbor. [Ezekiel 38:21] And even Judah
shall fight against Jerusalem, and the wealth of all the nations round about shall be
swept up, gold and silver and garments, in a very great mass." These two verses,
Zechariah 14:13 and Zechariah 14:14, obviously disturb the connection, which
Zechariah 14:15 as obviously resumes with Zechariah 14:12. They are, therefore,
generally regarded as an intrusion. But why they have been inserted is not clear.
Zechariah 14:14 is a curious echo of the strife between Judah and Jerusalem
described in chapter 12. They may be not a mere intrusion, but simply out of their
proper place; yet, if so, where this proper place lies in these oracles is impossible to
determine.
"And even so shall be the plague upon the horses, mules, camels, and asses, and all
the beasts which are in those camps-just like this plague. And it shall come to pass
that all that survive of all the nations who have come up against Jerusalem, shall
come up from year to year to do obeisance to King Jehovah of Hosts, and to keep
the Feast of Booths. And it shall come to pass that whosoever of all the races of the
earth will not come up to Jerusalem to do obeisance to King Jehovah of Hosts, upon
them there shall be no rain. And if the race of Egypt go not up nor come in, upon
them also shall come the plague, with which Jehovah shall strike the nations that go
not up to keep the Feast of Booths. Such shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the
punishment of all nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Booths."
The Feast of Booths was specially one of thanksgiving for the harvest; that is why
the neglect of it is punished by the withholding of the rain which brings the harvest.
But such a punishment for such a neglect shows how completely prophecy has
become subject to the Law. One is tempted to think what Amos or Jeremiah or even
"Malachi" would have thought of this. Verily all the writers of the prophetical
books do not stand upon the same level of religion. The writer remembers that the
curse of no rain cannot affect the Egyptians, the fertility of whose rainless land is
secured by the annual floods of her river. So he has to insert a special verse for
Egypt. She also will be plagued by Jehovah, yet he does not tell us in what fashion
her plague will come.
The book closes with a little oracle of the most ceremonial description, connected
not only in temper but even by subject with what has gone before. The very horses,
which hitherto have been regarded as too foreign, [Hosea 14:3] or-as even in this
group of oracles (Zechariah 9:10)-as too warlike, to exist in Jerusalem, shall be
consecrated to Jehovah. And so vast shall be the multitudes who throng from all the
earth to the annual feasts and sacrifices at the Temple, that the pots of the latter
shall be as large as the great altar-bowls, and every pot in Jerusalem and Judah
shall be consecrated for use in the ritual. This hallowing of the horses raises the

12. question, whether the passage can be from the same hand as wrote the prediction of
the disappearance of all horses from Jerusalem (Zechariah 9:10).
"In that day there shall be upon the bells of the horses, Holiness unto Jehovah. And
the very pots in the House of Jehovah shall be as the bowls before the altar. Yea,
every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holy to Jehovah of Hosts, and all who
sacrifice shall come and take of them and cook in them. And there shall be no more
any pedlar in the House of Jehovah of Hosts in that day."
PETT, "Verses 1-21
The Triumph of YHWH (Zechariah 14:1-21).
In this final chapter Zechariah visualises the final triumph of YHWH. The whole
world will be subject to Him, and will worship Him (Zechariah 14:16). He will be
King over all the earth (Zechariah 14:9). The idea is of the introduction of the
everlasting kingdom.
At this point we need to stop and consider what was in the mind of the prophet. He
was not, of course, aware of the first coming of Jesus, apart from in the general
terms of a coming Servant of YHWH, and a coming of David, and there was no way
in which he could have anticipated the ew Testament revolution which lifted
Jerusalem up into Heaven (Galatians 4:21-31; Hebrews 12:22; Revelation 14:1-6;
Revelation 21:1 ff.) and at the same time made his words meaningful to his own
generation. To them activities in the heavens meant the activities of the gods,
something anathema to the prophets. Thus when he prophesies activities in the
heavens he does so in earthly terms, and in terms of the ideas that the people would
understand. But we are not intended to take them literally. To him ‘Jerusalem’
(Zion) represented the people of God wherever they may be (Zechariah 2:7), whilst
the sacrifice of Christ on the cross banished for ever the notion of animal sacrifices.
The feasts of the Jews represented the realities to which they pointed. Thus the
Feast of Tabernacles is really portraying the pouring out of the Holy Spirit seen in
terms of life-giving rain (John 7:37-39). It is surely significant that when the glory of
YHWH stood on the mountain east of Jerusalem in Ezekiel 11:23, it was after His
promise that He would gather His people and pour out His Holy Spirit on them
(Ezekiel 11:17-20).
We may analyse chapter 14 as follows:
· God will gather all the nations against His people (represented as Jerusalem)
and only half its inhabitants will survive (Zechariah 14:1-2).
· God will then act and take His stance on the Mount of Olives which will
divide in two (Zechariah 14:3-5 a).
· God will come with His holy ones and begin to establish His Kingly Rule and
all His people will dwell in safety (Zechariah 14:5-11).
· The punishment is described that will fall on those who have fought against
His people/Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:12-15).
· All the nations will celebrate yearly the Feast of Tabernacles, the time of

13. outpouring, and those who do not come will be deprived of life-giving rain
(Zechariah 14:16-19).
· The numbers at the feast will be so large that the whole of Judah will be
sanctified to YHWH for the purpose (Zechariah 14:20-21 a).
· There will be no more a Canaanite in the house of YHWH of hosts
(Zechariah 14:21 b).
Thus here in Zechariah 14 we have a great final apocalyptic scene in which the
triumph of God is revealed and the fulfilling of His final purposes is depicted. It can
be paralleled with Revelation 12-22 where similar ideas are depicted.
What then are we to make of Jerusalem as mentioned in this chapter? To Zechariah
and the people of his day Jerusalem was representative of the people of God (see
especially Zechariah 2:7 where ‘Zion’ were in Babylon). They could not even have
visualised a worldwide gathering of God’s people. To them the words of Jesus ‘nor
in Jerusalem will you worship the Father’ (John 4:21) would have seemed like
blasphemy. To them Jerusalem was the centre of the worship of the people of God,
so much so that those who were true to YHWH in Babylon were spoken of as ‘Zion’
(Zechariah 2:7). But Jesus dismissed that idea of the centrality of Jerusalem, and
pointed out that in future those who truly worshipped God would do so in Spirit
and in truth wherever they may be (John 4:24). This is hugely important for it
demonstrates the ew Testament interpretation of Jerusalem. As Paul makes clear
in Galatians 4:21-31 Jerusalem is now above, and its inhabitants are the true people
of God, His church.
That Zechariah himself saw his words as somehow going beyond his own age comes
out in that his concentration is on ‘Jerusalem’ and not on the Temple, whilst the
‘YHWH’s house’ that he does mention in Zechariah 14:20-21 would appear to refer
to the whole of Judah, for the pots are holy throughout Judah. This would indicate
that the whole of God’s people are holy.
It is further confirmed by the indication in Zechariah 14:6-7 of the cessation of day
and night. There will be permanent day. The light of YHWH will have come
(compare Isaiah 9:2; Isaiah 60:1 ff.). Living waters will have gone out in all
directions (Zechariah 14:8), and YHWH will be King over all the earth (Zechariah
14:9).
But here we are faced with a dilemma. Are we to see the descent of YHWH Himself
on the Mount of Olives as occurring at the beginning of the last days, that is, at the
time when the Messiah Himself, standing on the Mount of Olives in Luke 22:39 and
parallels, faced up to the battle that lay ahead, thus referring to the great spiritual
battle that took place in the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. Or are we to see
it as His final coming in judgment to bring in the everlasting kingdom as depicted in
the end chapters of Revelation? Certainly the latter part of this chapter may have
the latter in mind, although we may also see it as indicating current worship, but
‘the last days’ began with the first coming of the Messiah. Thus this chapter may
well be seen as a foreshortened view of two thousand years and more. And as we
have seen Ezekiel 11:23 connects His standing on the mountain to the east of the city

14. with the coming of the Holy Spirit (Ezekiel 11:19).
We need, however, to recognise that Zechariah is not here speaking of events
literally. This is clear from the fact that night will cease, and there will be perpetual
day (Zechariah 14:6-7). Such a depiction is clearly symbolic. A world with perpetual
day would be an impossible place for humans to live in. They would lack proper
sleep. Indeed, Revelation 21:23-24; Revelation 22:5 see it as a depiction of the
eternal state. It rather here indicates that the permanent light of God has come. or
are we to see God as literally going forth to fight, except in the fact that He goes
forth in His people. As in the depiction in Revelation 19:11-16 the fire of His eyes,
and the sword of His words would be all that was required to accomplish victory.
‘His feet will stand in that day on the Mount of Olives’ (Zechariah 14:4) need only
be an indication of His divine activity in bringing about what occurs. Strictly
speaking YHWH has no feet, unless He takes on human form. His feet here are like
‘the arm of YHWH’, a depiction of YHWH’s power and sovereignty, and they
especially depict His taking possession of what He stands on (compare Joshua 1:3).
We may certainly see in it an interesting ‘coincidence’ in that when the king came at
Jesus’ first coming He did literally and regularly stand on the Mount of Olives, but
it certainly did not bring about major geographical disturbance. What it did
portend in was spiritual disturbance throughout the world.
In contrast Jesus at His second coming is never depicted as standing on earth. His
activity is seen as heavenly (Matthew 24:30-31; Mark 13:26-27; Luke 21:27;
Revelation 14:14-16; Revelation 19:11-16). or could all nations gather at Jerusalem
(Zechariah 14:17). There simply would not be enough room for billions of people in
the whole of Palestine. And as the idea lying behind it is the past gathering of the
people of Israel to the Sanctuary for the feasts, we cannot speak of it as simply
occurring through representatives, for the whole idea of the feasts was that all the
men of Israel would gather. Anything less would not be a literal fulfilment.
That the whole of Judah would become a holy sanctuary, with all its pots being holy
vessels (Zechariah 14:21) is theoretically feasible, but it does not tie in with other
descriptions of end time Jerusalem. Indeed it means that Jerusalem itself would
have become relatively undistinctive, with the distinction of being God’s sanctuary
applying to the whole of Judah. If taken literally this contradicts other prophecies.
Furthermore there cannot be literal sacrifices of a type that would be in Zechariah’s
mind, for he would have seen them as including an element of atonement. That was
the significance of the shedding of the blood which was of prime importance with
sacrifices. But that necessity has been done away in Christ. Indeed, the idea of
atonement was central to the feast of Tabernacles, which was preceded by the Day
of Atonement, for all the many sacrifices mentioned included an element of
atonement. So the atonement achieved by Jesus’ death on the cross, makes any such
sacrifices invalid. ote the specific sacrificial requirement in respect of it (Leviticus
23:36-37 with Leviticus 14:27; umbers 29:12-38). or can we legitimately speak of
‘memorial sacrifices’, for such sacrifices would not be what Zechariah was speaking
about. They would be a spiritualising of sacrifices, not a literal fulfilment. Once we
spiritualise them why have them at all? And that is especially so as in the future

15. ideal kingdom there was to be no death (Isaiah 11:6-9).
So whatever view we take of Zechariah 14 it cannot be taken literally. The portrayal
is based on the views of that day, in order to be intelligible to his hearers, but it
requires things which lie beyond the possibility of literal fulfilment in our present
world. If anything it requires the new heavens and the new earth in which dwells
righteousness (2 Peter 3:13).
PULPIT, "
The day of the Lord; a day of (or, to) Jehovah cometh. The Greek and Latin
Versions have the plural, "days of the Lord come." It is a time when he will
specially manifest his glory and power, and be recognized as allowing the trial of his
people for wise purposes. It is impossible to fix on any historical fulfilment of this
prophecy. The details suit neither Maccabean nor Roman times; the attempt to
define exactly the period and matter of its accomplishment has proved a failure, and
has led to a mingling of events of very different dates, and to a conglomeration of
senses literal, metaphorical, and anagogical, which creates confusion while assuming
to explain difficulties. The literal interpretation must be resigned, and the whole
prophecy must be taken to adumbrate the kingdom of God in its trial, development,
and triumph. Thy spoil shall be divided. Jerusalem is addressed; and the prophet
intimates that the enemy shall get possession of the capital, plunder it, and divide its
spoil among themselves in its very midst with the greatest security, the inhabitants
being wholly at the conquerors' mercy.
BI 1-3, "And thy spoil shall be divided
A sketch on bad men
Three facts concerning such.
I. They are capable of perpetrating the greatest enormities on their fellow men. In the
account given by Josephus of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans we have a
record of enormities at which we might stand aghast. The particulars, says Dr. Wardlaw,
here noted are such as usually, it might be said, invariably attend the besieging, the
capture, and the sacking of cities; especially when, as in this case, the assailing army has
been exasperated by a long, harassing, and wasting defence. The entrance of the
unpitying soldiery, the rifling of houses, the violation of women, the indiscriminate
massacre, and the division of the spoil, are just what all expect, and what require no
comment. And never were such scenes more frightfully realised than at the destruction
of Jerusalem when God in His providence in judicial retribution gathered all nations
against the devoted, city to battle. “All nations,” a correct description of the army of
Titus, the empire of Rome embracing a large proportion of the then known world, and
this army consisting of soldiers of all the different nations which composed it. And, while
such was to be the destruction brought upon “the city,” the desolation was to extend, and
that in different ways, at short intervals, throughout “the land.” The fact that men are
capable of perpetrating on their fellow men such enormities show—
1. Man’s apostasy from the laws of his spiritual nature.

16. 2. The great work which the Gospel has to do in our world.
II. That whatever enormities they perpetrate, they are evermore instruments in the
hands of the world’s great Ruler. The period in which these abominations were enacted
is in the text called the “day of the Lord,” and He is represented as calling the Roman
armies to the work. “I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city
shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished.” God in His retributive
procedure punishes the bad by the bad. In this case—
1. No injustice is done. The men of Jerusalem deserved their fate. They “filled up the
measure of their iniquity.”
2. There is no infringement of free agency. Good men might revolt from inflicting
such enormities upon their fellow creatures, but it is according to the wish of bad
men. This is God’s retributive method, to punish the bad by the bad.
III. Though instruments in His hands, God will punish them for all their deeds of
enormity. But where is the justice of punishing men whom He employs to execute His
own will? Two facts will answer this question.
1. What they did was essentially bad.
2. What they did was in accord with their own wills.
He never inspired them or constrained them. He did but use them. (Homilist.)
2 I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight
against it; the city will be captured, the houses
ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city
will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not
be taken from the city.
BAR ES, "I Will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle - This is a
feature which belongs to the end. It had been dwelt upon by Joel; Joe_3:2-9, Joe_3:11;
Ezekiel spoke of the “many nations” Eze_38:6, Eze_38:15, Eze_38:22 which should
come under Gog. John foretells of an universal strife at the end, when “The spirits of
devils, working miracles, go forth unto the king; of the earth and of the whole world, to
gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty” Rev_16:14; and “Satan shall
be loosed out of his prison and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four
quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, the number of

17. whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and
compassed the camp of the saints round about, and the beloved city” Rev_20:7-9. Since
no creature can do aught but what God wills, and, in his phrensy against God’s people, is
but His instrument, “to try them and to purge and to make white to the time of the end”
Dan_11:35; Dan_12:10; and the strength of body or intellect, which is abused against
His law, He continuously in the order of nature supplies, God may be said to do what
Satan does against Him. Satan, in his blind fury, crowns martyrs, fills the thrones of
heaven, works, against his will, the All-wise Will of God.
And the houses rifled, and the women ... - The horrors of pagan war repeat
themselves through people’s ever-recurring passions. What was foretold as to Babylon is
repeated in the same words as to the Church of God. Seemingly “all things” come “alike
to all Ecc_9:2 : there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good and to
the clean and to the unclean: to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not: as is
the good, so is the sinner.” The outward event is the same, the hidden part is known to
God alone. “And the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city,” unlike the
lot of the earthly Jerusalem, in the destruction both by Nebuchadnezzar (which was
past) and the Romans (see at Mic_3:12, pp. 46-50). At the first, “Nebuzaradan, the
captain of the guard, carried away the rest of the people left in the city, and the fugitives
that fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude” 2Ki_25:11, so
that Jeremiah mourned over it, “Because of the mountain of Zion which is desolate,
foxes walk” (habitually) “upon it” Lam_5:18. The Romans (see at pp. 46, 47) “effaced the
city.” Now “a remnant is not cut off,” because “for the elect’s sake those days shall be
shortened” Mat_24:32; for our Lord had said, that “the gates of hell should not prevail
against” His Church Mat_16:18.
CLARKE, "I will gather all nations - The Romans, whose armies were composed
of all the nations of the world. In this verse there is a pitiful account given of the horrible
outrages which should be committed during the siege of Jerusalem, and at its capture.
The residue of the people shad not be cut off - Many were preserved for slaves,
and for exhibition in the provincial theatres.
GILL, "For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle,.... Meaning
not the Romans, in the time of Vespasian, for they were not all nations; nor did a part of
the city only go into captivity then, but the whole; nor did any remain in it: it seems right
to refer it to the gathering of the kings of the earth to the battle of the Lord God Almighty
at Armageddon, Rev_16:14 unless it may be thought better to interpret it of the vast
numbers, out of several nations, the Turk will bring against Jerusalem, to dispossess the
Jews of it, by whom it will be again inhabited in the latter day; see Eze_38:4 and Kimchi
interprets it of the Gog and Magog army. The Jews, in their ancient Midrashes (d), apply
it to the times of the Messiah; which is true, if understood not of the first times of the
Messiah, whose coming they vainly expect, but of the last times of the Messiah.
And the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished,
and half of the city shall go into captivity: this will be the time when the outward
court shall be given, to the Gentiles, the Papists; the two witnesses shall be slain, and
their enemies shall rejoice and send gifts to one another, Rev_11:2 this will be a trying
season, and such a time of trouble as has not been known:

18. and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city; there will be a
remnant according to the election of grace; the city, the church, shall not be wholly
extinct; Christ will reserve a seed for himself in those very worst of times, as he has
always done: this cannot refer to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, for then
all the inhabitants of the city were cut off, or carried captive, and none left; but, if
literally to be understood, must refer to what will be, when the army of Gog shall come
against it in the latter day; though these circumstances are not mentioned in Ezekiel.
JAMISO , "gather all nations, etc. — The prophecy seems literal (compare Joe_
3:2). If Antichrist be the leader of the nations, it seems inconsistent with the statement
that he will at this time be sitting in the temple as God at Jerusalem (2Th_2:4); thus
Antichrist outside would be made to besiege Antichrist within the city. But difficulties do
not set aside revelations: the event will clear up seeming difficulties. Compare the
complicated movements, Dan_11:1-45.
half ... the residue — In Zec_13:8, Zec_13:9, it is “two-thirds” that perish, and “the
third” escapes. There, however, it is “in all the land”; here it is “half of the city.” Two-
thirds of the “whole people” perish, one-third survives. One-half of the citizens are led
captive, the residue are not cut off. Perhaps, too, we ought to translate, “a (not ‘the’)
residue.”
CALVI , "He afterwards adds, I will gather all nations against Jerusalem. He
confirms what I have already said, that God would be the author of those calamities,
and thus he puts a restraint on the Jews, that they might not expostulate with him
respecting the severity of their punishment. He then shortly intimates, that the
nations would not come by chance to attack Jerusalem; and that whatever
commotions would arise, they could not be ascribed to chance or to fortune, or to
the purposes of men, but to the decree of heaven. He then bids them to look to God,
that they might humble themselves umber his mighty hand, according to what Peter
also does. (1 Peter 5:6.) He might have said in a briefer manner, “All the nations
shall conspire;” but he ascribes this to God, and says, that he will bring them, like a
prince, who collects an army, which he commands to fight under his banner. And by
naming all nations, he reminds them that their trials would not be light; for such
would be the union of enemies, and so large would be their number, that Jerusalem
would be brought nigh to utter ruin. But afterwards he subjoins a consolation to
moderate the grievousness of that calamity: yet he says first -
Taken shall be the city, plundered shall be the houses, and the women shall be
ravished. What usually happens to a city taken by storm, the citizens of Jerusalem,
the Prophet says, would have to endure. It is indeed an extreme outrage, when
women are ravished by enemies; and then, poverty is often more grievous than
death; and yet he says, that when deprived of their substance they would have to
witness an outrage more hard to be borne than death itself, because their women
would be subjected to such a disgrace.
He adds, that half part of the city would depart. He had said before that a third part
only would be saved; but he now seems to be inconsistent with himself. But as to
number we need not anxiously enquire, as I have elsewhere reminded you; for the
Prophets often mention half part and then the third, when yet they mean the same

19. thing. It is the same as though he had said, that the destruction would be so great,
that hardly half of them would remain alive.
ow follows the consolation which I have mentioned, — that the residue of the
people would not be exterminated from the city. By these words the Prophet teaches
them, that though hard would be the condition of the city, as it would be reduced
nearly to a waste, yet they who having returned to their country sincerely
worshipped God, would be blessed; for the Church would ever remain safe, and
that how much soever God might lessen the number, yet a part of the Church,
however small, would be kept safe. The object then of the Prophet is to comfort the
faithful, that they might sustain whatever evils might be at hand, and look for what
God promises, even that a Church would again emerge, and that God would really
prove that Jerusalem was not in vain his sanctuary, where he would bless the
remnant which escaped, and escaped through his wonderful favor. He afterwards
adds —
COKE, "Zechariah 14:2. The residue of the people shall not be cut off from the
city— It is impossible to reconcile these words with the state of facts at the time
when Jerusalem was taken by the Romans; for at that time, we are well assured by
Josephus, who was an eye-witness, not only all that were in the city were either slain
or made captives, but also the city itself was razed to the ground, so as to leave no
vestige of a habitation. BBell. Jud. lib. vi. c. 9. and lib. vii. c. 1. Ed. Havercamp. How
then could there be a residue not cut off from the city? And if there has been no
capture since to which these words can be applied, we must look forward to futurity
for the completion of the prophesy. From its being said, that a residue shall not be
cut off from the city, together with what follows, the course of proceeding, it should
seem, will be this: upon the city being taken, the most warlike part of the
inhabitants will retire in a body to some strong post near at hand, and stand upon
their defence; till, being encouraged by manifest tokens of God's declaring himself
in their favour, and perhaps reinforced by their brethren of Judah at large, they
shall sally forth, and with the divine assistance completely defeat their enemies, and
effect their own deliverance; so that, as is said, Jerusalem shall again sit in her own
place at Jerusalem. Compare chap. Zechariah 12:5-7. See Blaney. Houbigant is of
the same opinion—that this whole chapter refers not to the destruction of Jerusalem
by Titus, but to some future and unknown events of the great and final restoration
of the Jews.
ELLICOTT, "(2) This verse is but a further description of the event depicted in the
second half of the preceding verse.
And the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.—This was the case
(with regard to Judah) in the Chaldæan conquest (2 Kings 25:22). Whether or no
this can be interpreted of the taking of Jerusalem by Titus, we leave our readers to
decide, after placing before them the following words of Josephus (Bel. Jud. vi. 9, §
2):—“And now, since his soldiers were already quite tired of killing men, yet there
appeared to be a vast multitude still remaining alive, Caesar gave orders that they

20. should kill none but those that were in arms and opposed them, but should take the
rest alive. But, together with those whom they had orders to slay, they slew the aged
and the infirm; but for those that were in their flourishing age, and who might be
useful to them, they drove them together into the Temple, and shut them up within
the walls of the court of the women, over which Caesar set one of his freedmen, as
also Fronto, one of his friends, which last was to determine every one’s fate
according to his merits. So this Fronto slew all those that had been seditious and
robbers, who were impeached one by another; but of the young men he chose out
the tallest and most beautiful, and reserved them for the triumph; and as for the
rest of the multitude that were above seventeen years old, he put them in bonds, and
sent them to the Egyptian mines. Titus also sent a great number into the provinces,
as a present to them, that they might be destroyed upon their theatres by the sword
and by wild beasts; but those that were under seventeen years of age were sold for
slaves.” We simply ask, what room is there for a remnant?
PULPIT, "How this shall come to pass is now shown. For I will gather all nations.
God uses the Gentile nations as his instruments in this trial of his people; they are
the fires by which he refines and purifies his elect (Joel 3:2, Joel 3:9-11). The city
shall be taken. The outrages offered to the captive city are such as are indicated in
the case of Babylon (Isaiah 13:16; comp. Lamentations 5:11, etc.). Half of the city.
The term "half" must not be pressed, as if it contradicted the mention of the two-
thirds that were to perish, according to the prediction in Zechariah 13:8. It is a mere
rhetorical expression. Or it may apply to the city alone, while the other referred to
the whole land. Shall not be out off. In the former captivity all the people were
carried away; in this capture of the city a remnant shall be left therein. It is plain
from this statement that the prophecy cannot apply to the destruction of the city by
the Romans; for, according to the account of Josephus ('Bell. Jud.,' Romans 6:9),
the city itself was razed to the ground, and all the inhabitants were either put to the
sword or sold for slaves.
3 Then the Lord will go out and fight against
those nations, as he fights on a day of battle.
BAR ES, "The Lord shall go forth and shall fight - Jerome: “Is to be taken like

21. that in Habakkuk, ‘Thou wentest forth for the salvation of Thy people, for salvation with
Thine Anointed” Hab_3:13, and in Micah, ‘For behold, the Lord cometh forth out of His
place, and will come down and will tread upon the high places of the earth, and the
mountains shall be molten under Him, and the valleys shall be cleft” Mic_1:3-4; and
Isaiah also, “The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man; He shall stir up jealousy like a
man of war; He shall cry; He shall prevail over His enemies” Isa_42:13. “God is said to
‘go forth,’ when by some wondrous deed He declares His Presence - His Deity is, as it
were, laid up, so long as He holds Himself in, and does not by any token show His
power. But He ‘goes forth,’ and bursts forth, when He exercises some judgment, and
worketh some new work, which striketh terror.” God then will “go forth out of His
place,” when He is constrained to break through His quietness and gentleness and
clemency, for the amendment of sinners. He who elsewhere speaketh through the
prophet, ‘I, the Lord, change not’ Mal_3:6, and to whom it is said, ‘Thou art the same’
Psa_102:28, and in the Epistle of James, ‘With whom is no change’ Jam_1:17, now
‘goeth forth’ and fighteth ‘as in the day of battle,’ when He overwhelmed Pharaoh in the
Red sea; and ‘fought for Israel.’” “The Lord shall fight for you,” became the watchword of
Moses Exo_14:14; Deu_1:30; 13:22; Deu_20:4 and the warrior Joshua in his old age
(Jos_23:10; compare Jos_10:14, Jos_10:42; Jos_23:3), after his life’s experience Jos_
10:14, Jos_10:42; Jos_23:3, and Nehemiah. “Be not afraid by reason of this great
multitude” Neh_4:20, said Jahaziel, son of Zachariah, when the “Spirit of the Lord came
upon” him; “for the battle is not your’s, but God’s” 2Ch_20:15.
As He fought in the day of battle - Osorius: “All wars are so disposed by the
power of God, that every victory is to be referred to His counsel and will. But this is not
seen so clearly, when people, elate and confident, try to transfer to themselves all or the
greater part of the glory of war. Then may the war be eminently said to be the Lord’s,
when no one drew sword, as it is written, “The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold
your peace” Exo_14:14. Of all God’s wars, in which human insolence could claim no part
of the glory, none was more wondrous than that, in which Pharaoh and his army were
sunk in the deep. “The Lord,” said Moses Exo_15:3, “is a man of war: the Lord is His
Name.” “That day of battle” was the image of one much greater. In that, Pharaoh’s army
was sunk in the deep; in this, the power of evil, in Hell: in that, what could in some
measure be conquered by human strength, was subdued; in this, a tyranny
unconquerable; in that, a short-lived liberty was set up; the liberty brought by Christ
through subdual of the enemy, is eternal. As then the image yields to the truth, earthly
goods to heavenly, things perishable to eternal, so the glory of that ancient victory sinks
to nothing under the greatness of the latter.”
CLARKE, "Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations -
Against the Romans, by means of the northern nations; who shall destroy the whole
empire of this once mistress of the world. But this is an obscure place.
Then shall the Lord go forth,.... Out of his place in heaven, either in person,
or by the display of his power; that is, the Lord Jesus Christ; whose name is called the
Word of God, and is the King of kings, and Lord of lords, described as a mighty warrior,
Rev_19:11, &c.:
and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle: the
Targum adds, "at the Red Sea"; when the Lord fought for, Israel against the Egyptians,
Exo_14:25 and afterwards against the Canaanites, when they entered the land of Canaan

22. under Joshua: thus Christ shall judge, and make war in righteousness, and overcome
those that shall make war with him; and with the sharp sword that goeth out of his
mouth shall smite nations, and with a rod of iron rule them, and break them to shivers,
Rev_14:14 see also Eze_38:21.
GILL, "Then shall the Lord go forth,.... Out of his place in heaven, either in person,
or by the display of his power; that is, the Lord Jesus Christ; whose name is called the
Word of God, and is the King of kings, and Lord of lords, described as a mighty warrior,
Rev_19:11, &c.:
and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle: the
Targum adds, "at the Red Sea"; when the Lord fought for, Israel against the Egyptians,
Exo_14:25 and afterwards against the Canaanites, when they entered the land of Canaan
under Joshua: thus Christ shall judge, and make war in righteousness, and overcome
those that shall make war with him; and with the sharp sword that goeth out of his
mouth shall smite nations, and with a rod of iron rule them, and break them to shivers,
Rev_14:14 see also Eze_38:21.
HE RY, "Their cause shall be pleaded against their enemies (Zec_14:3): Then, when
God has made use of these nations as a scourge to his people, he shall go forth and fight
against them by his judgments, as when he fought against the enemies of his church
formerly in the day of battle, with the Egyptians, Canaanites, and others. Note, The
instruments of God's wrath will themselves be made the objects of it; for it will come to
their turn to drink of the cup of trembling; and whom God fights against he will be sure
to overcome and be too hard for. And every former day of battle, which God has made to
his people a day of triumph, as it is an engagement to God to appear for his people,
because he is the same, so it is an encouragement to them to trust in him. It is
observable that the Roman empire never flourished, after the destruction of Jerusalem
as it had done before, but in many instances God fought against it.
JAMISO , "Then — In Jerusalem’s extremity.
as ... in ... day of battle — as when Jehovah fought for Israel against the Egyptians
at the Red Sea (Exo_14:14; Exo_15:3). As He then made a way through the divided sea,
so will He now divide in two “the Mount of Olives” (Zec_14:4).
K&D 3-5, "Zec_14:3-5
This time the Lord will come to the help of His people. Zec_14:3. “And Jehovah will
go forth and fight against those nations, as in His day of battle, on the day of slaughter.
Zec_14:4. And His feet will stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which lies to the
east before Jerusalem; and the Mount of Olives will split in the centre from east to west
into a very great valley, and half of the mountain will remove to the north, and its
(other) half to the south. Zec_14:5. And ye will flee into the valley of my mountains, and
the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel, and ye will flee as ye fled before the
earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. And Jehovah my God will come, all the
saints with Thee.” Against those nations which have conquered Jerusalem the Lord will
fight ‫וגו‬ ‫יוֹם‬ ְⅴ, as the day, i.e., as on the day, of His fighting, to which there is added, for the
purpose of strengthening the expression, “on the day of the slaughter.” The meaning is
not “according to the day when He fought in the day of the war,” as Jerome and many

23. others suppose, who refer the words to the conflict between Jehovah and the Egyptians
at the Red Sea (Exo_14:14); for there is nothing to support this special allusion.
According to the historical accounts in the Old Testament, Jehovah went out more than
once to fight for His people (cf. Jos_10:14, Jos_10:42; Jos_23:3; Jdg_4:15; 1Sa_7:10;
2Ch_20:15). The simile is therefore to be taken in a more general sense, as signifying “as
He is accustomed to fight in the day of battle and slaughter,” and to be understood as
referring to all the wars of the Lord on behalf of His people. In Zec_14:4 and Zec_14:5
we have first of all a description of what the Lord will do to save the remnant of His
people. He appears upon the Mount of Olives, and as His feet touch the mountain it
splits in half, so that a large valley is formed. The splitting of the mountain is the effect of
the earthquake under the footsteps of Jehovah, before whom the earth trembles when
He touches it (cf. Exo_19:18; Jdg_5:5; Psa_68:8; Nah_1:5, etc.). The more precise
definition of the situation of the Mount of Olives, viz., “before Jerusalem eastwards,” is
not introduced with a geographical purpose - namely, to distinguish it from other
mountains upon which olives trees grow - but is connected with the means employed by
the Lord for the salvation of His people, for whom He opens a way of escape by splitting
the mountain in two. The mountain is split‫ה‬ ָ ָ‫י‬ָ‫ו‬ ‫ה‬ ָ‫ח‬ ָ‫ר‬ְ‫ז‬ ִ‫מ‬ ‫יוֹ‬ ְ‫צ‬ ֶ‫ח‬ ֵ‫,מ‬ from the half (i.e., the midst)
of it to the east and to the west, i.e., so that a chasm ensues, which runs from the centre
of the mountain both eastwards and westwards; so that the mountain is split
latitudinally, one half (as is added to make it still more clear) removing to the south, the
other to the north, and a great valley opening between them.
Into this valley the half of the nation that is still in Jerusalem will flee. ‫י‬ ַ‫ר‬ ָ‫ה‬ ‫יא‬ֵ is the
accusative of direction (Luther and others render it incorrectly, “before the valley of my
mountains”). This valley is not the valley of the Tyropaeon, or the valley between Moriah
and Zion (Jerome, Drus., Hofm.), but the valley which has been formed by the splitting
of the Mount of Olives; and Jehovah calls the two mountains which have been formed
through His power out of the Mount of Olives hârai, “my mountains.” Nor is it connected
with the valley of Jehoshaphat; for the opinion that the newly-formed valley is merely an
extension of the valley of Jehoshaphat has no foundation in the text, and is not in
harmony with the direction taken by the new valley - namely, from east to west. The
explanatory clause which follows, “for the (newly-formed) valley of the mountains will
reach ‫ל‬ ַ‫צ‬ፎ ‫ל‬ ֶ‫”,א‬ shows that the flight of the people into the valley is not to be understood
as signifying that the valley will merely furnish the fugitives with a level road for escape,
but that they will find a secure place of shelter in the valley. 'El 'Atsal has been taken by
different commentators, after Symm. and Jerome, in an appellative sense, “to very near,”
which Koehler interprets as signifying that the valley will reach to the place where the
fugitives are. This would be to Jerusalem, for that was where the fugitives were then. But
if Zechariah had meant to say this, he could not have spoken more obscurely. 'Atsal, the
form in pause for 'âtsēl, as we may see by comparing 1Ch_8:38 and 1Ch_9:44 with 1Ch_
8:39 and 1Ch_9:43 (cf. Olsh. Gramm. §91, d), is only met with elsewhere in the form ‫ל‬ ֶ‫צ‬ ֵ‫א‬
, not merely as a preposition, but also in the name ‫ל‬ ֶ‫צ‬ ֵ‫א‬ ָ‫ית־ה‬ ֵ , and is here a proper name,
as most of the ancient translators perceived, - namely, a contracted form of ‫ל‬ ֶ‫צ‬ ֵ‫א‬ ָ‫ית־ה‬ ֵ ,
since ‫ית‬ ֵ is frequently omitted from names of places constructed with it (see Ges. Thes.
p. 193). This place is to be sought for, according to Mic_1:11, in the neighbourhood of
Jerusalem, and according to the passage before us to the east of the Mount of Olives, as

24. Cyril states, though from mere hearsay, κώµη δᆯ αᆖτη πρᆵς ᅚσχατιαሏς, ᆞς λόγος τοሞ ᆊρους
κειµένη. The fact that Jerome does not mention the place is no proof that it did not exist.
A small place not far from Jerusalem, on the other side of the Mount of Olives, might
have vanished from the earth long before this father lived. The comparison of the flight
to the flight from the earthquake in the time of king Uzziah, to which reference is made
in Amo_1:1, is intended to express not merely the swiftness and universality of the flight,
but also the cause of the flight, - namely, that they do not merely fly from the enemy, but
also for fear of the earthquake which will attend the coming of the Lord. In the last
clause of Zec_14:5 the object of the coming of the Lord is indicated. He has not only
gone forth to fight against the enemy in Jerusalem, and deliver His people; but He
comes with His holy angels, to perfect His kingdom by means of the judgment, and to
glorify Jerusalem. This coming is not materially different from His going out to war
(Zec_14:3); it is not another or a second coming, but simply a visible manifestation. For
this coming believers wait, because it brings them redemption (Luk_21:28). This joyful
waiting is expressed in the address “my God.” The holy ones are the angels (cf. Deu_
33:2-3; Dan_7:9-10; Mat_25:31), not believers, or believers as well as the angels. In
what follows, Zechariah depicts first of all the completion secured by the coming of the
Lord (Zec_14:6-11), and then the judgment upon the enemy (Zec_14:12-15), with its
fruits and consequences (Zec_14:16-21).
CALVI , "Zechariah here amplifies the favor of God, — that he will go forth
openly, and avowedly carry on war against all the enemies of Jerusalem. It was not
indeed a small mitigation of their evils, that a part of the Church would be saved.
But the Prophet declares here what is still far better, — that when God afflicted his
Church, and suffered it to be violently assailed by enemies, he would become at
length the avenger of all the wrongs they might have done. We know how we are
wounded and tried, when God gives loose reins to the ungodly, and when they grow
wanton in their wickedness and triumph, insult God, and almost spit as it were at
the very clouds. When therefore the ungodly thus petulantly exult, and God in the
meantime hides himself and is still, it is difficult to wait patiently for the issue.
Hence the Prophet promises that God will become the avenger, after having allowed
his Church to be for a time chastised by ungodly and wicked enemies.
Go forth, he says, shall Jehovah. We know the meaning of this metaphorical
expression. The Prophets sometimes extend the phrase, “Go forth shall God from
his holy place,” as though they said — that the Jews would find by experience that
God’s name is not invoked in vain in his temple, and that it has not been said in
vain, that God is seated between the cherubim. But the Prophet seems here to speak
of God generally, as going forth armed from his recesses to resist the enemies of his
Church. Go forth then shall God; for he had for a time concealed his power. In a
like manner, we know that God hides his face from us when he brings us no help,
and when we also think that we are neglected by him. As then God, as long as he
hides his power, seems to be without power, hence the Prophet says here, Go forth
shall Jehovah, and he will fight against these nations
By these words he intimates, that there is no reason for the faithful to envy their

25. enemies, even when all things go on prosperously with them; for they will at length
find that they cannot injure the Church without God undertaking its cause,
according to what he has promised,
“I will be an enemy to thine enemies.” (Exodus 23:22.)
But as this is a thing difficult to be believed, he calls to mind ancient history, —
As in the day, he says, in which he fought in the day of battle. Some confine this part
to the passage through the Red Sea; but I think that Zechariah includes all the
instances which God had given to the Jews to prove that they were the objects of his
care. God then, not only once, not at one time, nor in one manner, had put forth his
power, that the Jews might plainly see that they became conquerors through his aid.
This is what Zechariah means. He in effect says, “Both you and your fathers have
long ago found that God is wont to fight for his Church; for he has honored you
with innumerable victories; you have been often overwhelmed with despair, and his
favor unexpectedly shone upon you, and delivered you beyond all that you hoped
for: you had often to contend with the strongest enemies; they were put to flight,
even when ye were wholly unequal to them in number, and yet God bestowed upon
you easy victories. Since then God has so often and in such divers ways cast down
your enemies, why should you not hope for the same aid still from him?”
We hence see why the Prophet now refers to the ancient battles of God, even that he
might by facts confirm the Jews in their hope, and that they might not doubt but
that God was endued with power sufficiently strong to subdue all the ungodly, for
he loses none.
And he adds, in the day of battle, even when there is need of help from heaven. He
indeed calls it the day of engagement or contest, for so the word ‫,קרב‬ koreb, properly
means. When therefore it was necessary for God to engage with enemies, then his
power appeared: “There is hence no reason for you hereafter to doubt, but that he
will still prevail against your enemies.” We know that this mode of speaking is
frequently and commonly used by the Prophets, that is, when they adduce examples
of God’s favor and power, by which he has proved that there is in him alone
sufficient help for the deliverance of his Church.
It behaves us now to apply to ourselves what is here said, for Zechariah did not only
speak for the men of his age, or for those of the next generation, but he intended to
furnish the Church with confidence till the end of the world, so that the faithful
might not faint under any trials. Whenever then the ungodly prevail, and no hope
shines on us, let us remember how often and by what various means God has
wonderfully delivered his Church as it were from death; for it was not his purpose
only once to help and aid his own people, but also to animate us, that we at this day
may not despond, when we endure evils with which the fathers formerly struggled.
He then adds —

26. COFFMA , ""Then shall Jehovah go forth, and fight against those nations, as
when he fought in the day of battle."
"Then shall Jehovah go forth ..." There is a change from the first person to the third
in this verse; but this is par for the course in the prophetic writings:
"But this, as has been shown, is not a sufficient reason for denying the genuineness
of the passage, since such changes occur in cases in which the hand of the original
author is generally recognized."[9]
Young students, especially, need the warning of Leupold who observed that: "The
critical school, however, devotes itself almost entirely to finding fault with the text
and the message and consequently arrives at no certain conclusion."[10] We are also
thankful for Leupold's perception that, here "We have a passage that applies to the
entire Messianic time from beginning to end."[11]
God's fighting against those nations that oppose his will and oppress his people shall
never cease throughout the dispensation. Although using one wicked nation to
destroy another; God nevertheless eventually judges and destroys all wickedness,
being restrained only by his benevolent purpose of the work of redemption
proceeding throughout the temporal era till the second coming, at which time the
work shall have been concluded, and the judgment of all the earth will occur.
BE SO , "Zechariah 14:3. Then shall the Lord — After he hath sufficiently
punished Jerusalem and the rest of the Jewish nations; go forth — Out of his holy
place, as a warrior prepared for battle. This is spoken after the manner of men; and
fight against those nations — Which had taken and destroyed Jerusalem, and
oppressed his people. As when he fought in the day of battle — As in those days
when he evidently fought for his people. The meaning is, that in after times God
would discomfit and destroy the posterity of these nations, namely, the Roman
idolaters and those under their empire; that when he had made use of them as a
scourge to his people, he would execute his judgments upon them, as when he fought
against the enemies of his church formerly, the Egyptians, Canaanites, and others.
Observe here, reader, the instruments of God’s wrath will themselves be made the
objects of it; for it will come to their turn to drink of the cup of trembling; and
whom God fights against, he will be sure to overcome. It is observable that the
Roman empire never flourished after the destruction of Jerusalem as it had done
before; but God evidently fought against it, and against all the nations under its
dominion, or in alliance with it, till at last it was subverted and destroyed, its richest
cities taken and plundered, and its various provinces ravaged by the Goths and
Vandals, and other barbarous invaders.
Zechariah 14:4-5, And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, &c.
— It is very difficult to say to what time this prediction refers, or what is its precise
meaning. Commentators are not at all agreed on the subject. Some think the passage
refers to the time immediately subsequent to the destruction of Jerusalem, foretold
in Zechariah 14:1-2, and that it is to be understood figuratively, namely, 1st, That
by the Lord’s standing before Jerusalem on the east, is meant, his drawing

27. peculiarly near to his church and people, here, as frequently elsewhere, signified by
Jerusalem; and that he would be at hand to succour and save them; and would give
success to, and be manifested in, the gospel preached by his apostles, who received
their commission on that mount before Christ’s ascension. 2d, That by the cleaving
of the mount of Olives in the midst, toward the east and toward the west, so as to
make a very great valley, is meant the removing of the ceremonial law, which was
like an aspiring mountain, or partition wall, between the Jews and Gentiles, and a
great obstruction to the conversion of the latter, and their entrance into the church
of God: but that, by the destruction of Jerusalem, this mountain should be made to
cleave, as it were, in the midst, this partition wall be broken down, and God’s
church, the spiritual Jerusalem, made of easy access to the Gentiles. Thus the way of
the Lord would be prepared, every mountain and hill brought low, and a plain and
pleasant valley, or open way of communication, be found in the place of them: see
Isaiah 40:4. 3d, That by the valley of the mountains, is meant the gospel church, to
which, as a place of refuge, many of the Jews should flee, as people fled formerly
from before the earthquake here mentioned, and should hasten into it together with
the Gentiles. 4th, That by this valley reaching to Azal, or, to the separate place, as
the word signifies, is signified that the privileges of the church should not be limited,
as formerly, to any particular nation, or people, but should be extended to all those
who, in obedience to the call of God, should come out from the world, separate
themselves from sinners, devote themselves to God, and become his peculiar people.
And, 5th, That by the Lord’s coming, and all his saints with him, is signified the
spiritual coming and extension of his kingdom, whereby a multitude of converts,
both of Jewish and Gentile extraction, should be made, who, through faith working
by love, should become saints, or holy persons. This, in substance, seems to be
Henry’s view of the passage, as it is that of many others.
Lowth, on the other hand, interprets it literally, as follows: His feet shall stand upon
the mount of Olives — “The glory of the Lord, that is, the Shechinah, or symbol of
God’s presence, when it departed from the city and temple, settled itself upon the
mount of Olives, Ezekiel 11:23; so when God shall return to Jerusalem, [that is, to
Jerusalem rebuilt and inhabited by the converted Jews restored to their own land,
at the beginning of the millennium,] and make it the seat of his presence again, it
[the Shechinah] shall return by the same way it departed, Ezekiel 43:2. We may
add, that when our Lord ascended from the mourn of Olives, the angels told his
disciples, he should come again in like manner, that is, in a visible and glorious
appearance, at the same place, Acts 1:11-12. And the mount of Olives shall cleave,
&c. — By an earthquake, such as was in the time of King Uzziah: see Amos 1:1. The
middle of mount Olivet shall cleave asunder, and sink into a deep valley, so as to
leave the two points, or tops of the hill, north and south, still standing. For mount
Olivet, as we learn from Maundrell, had three tops, or eminences; one on the north
side, another on the south, and a third in the middle, from whence Christ ascended,
and where the Christians in after times erected a cross, in memory of his ascension
there. And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains — When ye see the mount of
Olives cleave asunder, ye shall flee toward the valley for fear. The margin reads,
The valley of my mountains, which may be understood of Zion and Moriah; but the
Chaldee and LXX. read, The valley of my mountains shall be filled up; for the valley

28. of the mountains shall join even to Azal, it shall even be filled up, as it was by the
earthquake in the days of Uzziah. Josephus writes, (Ant. Jud., lib. 9. cap. 10,) ‘That
before the city, at a place called ερρωγη, [or the cleft,] one half of the mountain, on
the western side, was broken off, and having rolled four furlongs toward the eastern
mountain, stopped, so that the roads were choked up, and the king’s gardens.’ And
the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints [or holy ones] with thee — Or with
him, as the Chaldee and LXX. read.” “The words,” Lowth adds, “are a description
of Christ’s coming to judgment, attended with all the holy angels, as the writers of
the ew Testament express it, the word ‫,קדשׁים‬ translated saints, often signifying
angels: see Deuteronomy 33:2 ; so the word saints seems to be used 1 Thessalonians
3:13; and St. 1:14, quoting the prophecy of Enoch, says, The Lord cometh with ten
thousand of his saints, or holy ones: a place exactly parallel with this of the text.”
One observation seems needful to be made here: if the visible and personal coming
of Christ be intended in these verses, it certainly cannot be his coming to raise the
dead and judge the world in righteousness, because that view of the passage would
not, by any means, be consistent with what is said in the two next verses concerning
the continually increasing light of knowledge, holiness, and happiness in the gospel
church, till, at length, at evening time it shall be quite light: but it must rather be
understood of his coming to introduce, establish, and perfect his millennial reign,
believed in and expected generally in the first Christian church. The reader will
consider these different interpretations, and will of course adopt that which he
thinks the most probable.
PETT, "Verses 3-5
The Going Forth of YHWH (Zechariah 14:3-5 a).
The description of the fall of ‘Jerusalem’ is then followed by a scene which is
portrayed in vivid and unforgettable colours. YHWH Himself will go forth to do
battle with the nations, as He had in other days of battle, and He will stand astride
the Mount of Olives on the East of Jerusalem, and that mountain will as a
consequence divide in half, leaving a gulf between which will go from east to west,
providing a way for men to flee from Jerusalem at the time of the coming of YHWH
with all His holy ones with Him. Such apocalyptic descriptions occurred earlier in
the prophets. In prophesying the destruction of ineveh in 612 BC ahum said,
‘YHWH has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust
of His feet --- the mountains quake at Him, and the hills melt, and the earth is
upheaved at His presence, yes, the world and all who dwell in it --- the rocks are
broken asunder by Him’ ( ahum 1:3-6). But it did not happen literally, although it
must have felt like it in ineveh as the invading hordes broke in. It was depicting
the tumult of the nations. Or again when prophesying the enveloping of the nations
by Babylon Habakkuk could say of YHWH, ‘He stood and measured the earth, He
beheld and drove asunder the nations, and the eternal mountains were scattered, the
everlasting hills did bow --- you cleft the earth with rivers, the mountains saw you
and were afraid --- the sun and moon stood still in their habitation --- you marched
through the land in indignation -- you went forth for the salvation of your people’
(Habakkuk 3:6; Habakkuk 3:9-13). It was not intended to be taken literally except

29. in an invisible way.
Zechariah 14:3-4
‘And YHWH will go forth and fight against those nations as when he fought in the
day of battle. And his feet will stand in that day on the mountain of olive trees,
which is before Jerusalem on the East. And the mountain of olive trees will cleave in
the midst of it towards the east and towards the west, and there will be a very great
valley. And half of the mountain will remove towards the north, and half of it
towards the south.’
This scene does not necessarily follow the previous one time wise, and the Hebrew
does not require it. It is simply seen as another event in the day of YHWH. And
indeed the suggestion that the resultant valley will be a way to flee along (Zechariah
14:5) may be seen as occurring prior to the destruction of ‘Jerusalem’ to enable men
to flee from the disaster that is coming.
We see here a powerful contrast. On the one hand defeat for ‘Jerusalem’, and its
rifling and humiliation, and on the other the picture of YHWH going forth
triumphantly against the nations. When His people are most hard-pressed YHWH
triumphs. It would appear that what happens to ‘Jerusalem’ has not prevented
YHWH’s triumph, and indeed may be seen as a part of it. This was to be very true
of subsequent history. The church would constantly face persecution and travail,
and yet through it all God would march triumphantly forward accomplishing His
purposes and providing for His people a way of escape.
In fact the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD as a consequence of the cutting off of
the Anointed One was not a catastrophe for the church (although certainly the
Jewish Christians saw it in that way at the time) it was rather the continuing of the
new assault, the assault that had already gone out from Jerusalem to the world with
the good news of the Messiah. For YHWH had come and taken His stand on the
Mount of Olives in the person of the Son of God (Luke 22:39 and parallels), and
from it He had made a way for His people to ‘flee’. And flee they had done with
great success, proceeding against the nations with the sword of the word, and
conquering them in the name of the Messiah (Acts 8:1-4). Thus when the nations
proceeded against Jerusalem proper they found there only a disobedient people. The
true people of God, the real Jerusalem, had fled.
It is significant that YHWH ‘appears’ on the Mount of Olives and not on the
Temple Mount. The Mount of Olives was also where He had appeared when
Jerusalem had previously been rejected (Ezekiel 11:23). As there, it was an
indication that Jerusalem itself had been rejected and was doomed. YHWH was no
longer ‘in His Temple’ He had forsaken the city. But it was also accompanied by the
promise of the coming work of the Spirit.
To a world without understanding the standing of Jesus on the Mount of Olives as a
man may not have appeared a very significant thing. But from an eternal point of
view it signalled both the coming destruction of Jerusalem, and the beginning of the

30. momentous events which were to shake the world. From there He would go to the
cross, defeating all the powers of darkness, and then to the throne of Heaven. And
from that moment the invasion of the world by His forces driven on by the Holy
Spirit would begin, even while the people of God were regularly facing devastation.
We may also see another significance in what happens to the Mount of Olives. It
divides in two, one half to the north and the other to the south. Thus the olive trees
are propelled some in the one direction (towards the north - Syrian Antioch and
beyond) and some in the other (towards the south - towards Egypt). Both Antioch
and Egypt would become bastions of the people of God.
If we are to see the olive trees as His anointed ones in terms of chapter 4, then it
would indicate that His servants (His anointed ones, the olive trees, compare
Zechariah 4:3; Zechariah 4:12; Zechariah 4:14) were despatched with His word
both north and south, while those who flee through the valley go eastwards and
westward, driven on by the divine earthquake which sent them forth, fleeing from a
doomed Jerusalem with the good news of Christ (Zechariah 14:4-6). And the way is
made level before them to facilitate their task.
The subsequent verses confirm this interpretation. These servants of God took with
them into the darkness of the nations the light of the world, a continuing light that
would never cease (Zechariah 14:6-7; Isaiah 42:6; Isaiah 49:6), and living waters
went out from Jerusalem to a thirsty and needy world (Zechariah 14:8; Ezekiel 47;
John 7:37-39). And the result would be that YHWH would become King over all the
earth, over His invisible kingdom.
Here then has begun the final great confrontation between man and God. Two sides
drawn up for battle (as in Revelation 19) and ‘Jerusalem’ in the midst, a
confrontation which has taken place throughout history and will intensify in the last
days. It began with the Messiah standing on the Mount of Olives, it will end with
Him coming with His angels (Revelation 19).
‘Jerusalem’. We are faced here again with the meaning and significance of
‘Jerusalem’. As we have already observed, to the prophets the future apocalyptic
Jerusalem was an idea. To interpret it as simply meaning Jerusalem as inhabited at
some period in history is to miss the grand idea here, and to ignore the definitely
apocalyptic nature of this passage. Consider for example the cessation of day and
night (Zechariah 14:7) and the cessation of the curse (Zechariah 14:11). In
Revelation no night and no curse indicates the eternal kingdom (Revelation 22:3;
Revelation 22:5). Here it has in mind God’s permanent light shining on His people
and their deliverance from the curse put on Adam. So half of ‘Jerusalem’ is to suffer
the indignities of captivity. The other half is to continue unharmed. It pictures both
the Jerusalem judged by God as in 70 AD, and the Jerusalem that would take God’s
message out to the world as in Acts 1-12, suffering yet triumphant (just as it
portrayed the exiles in Babylon - Zechariah 2:7).
The prophet thus here has in mind ‘the end battle’, commencing in the time of the