8. about mine house] Rather, for my house. It is a kind of dativus commodi. I will pitch my camp for (the sake of, the protection of) my house, i.e. either of the Temple, or of the people. Comp. Zechariah 3:7, note.

because of] Lit. from, which may mean, so as to defend it from the army, from him that passeth by, &c. The R. V. renders, against the army, that none pass through or return.

that passeth by, and … that returneth] This is referred by Pusey to “Alexander, who passed by with his army on his way to Egypt, and returned having founded Alexandria.” But the use of the phrase in the more general sense of “going backward and forward,” both in this Book (Zechariah 7:14, note) and in the only other places where it occurs in the O. T. (Exodus 32:27; Ezekiel 35:7), shews that the reference is more general, to the overrunning of the land by an invading army. The fact that of the four places in which alone this phrase occurs two are in this Book and one in each division of the Book, is in favour, so far as it goes, of a single authorship.

now have I seen with mine eyes] God is said to “see,” when He so takes notice of the actions of men as to interpose, as He here promises to do, for the deliverance of His people and the destruction of their enemies. Exodus 2:25; Exodus 3:7; Exodus 3:9. Comp. Zechariah 9:1 supra. “Nihil aliud exprimere verba possunt, quam velle Jovam in populum suum ejusque hostes jamjam intentos habere oculos, ut illum servet, hos perdat.” Maurer.

The story of Alexander’s visit to Jerusalem, as it is gathered from Josephus (Ant. Bk. xi. c. 8) and from the Talmud is thus related by Dean Stanley. After the conquest of Tyre and Gaza, Alexander had approached Jerusalem, when “suddenly from the city emerged a long procession, the whole population streamed out, dressed in white. The priestly tribe, in their white robes; the High Priest, apparently the chief authority in the place, in his purple and gold attire, his turban on his head, bearing the golden plate on which was inscribed the ineffable name of Jehovah … It was at the sunrise of a winter morning, long afterwards observed as a joyous festival, when they stood before the king. To the astonishment of the surrounding chiefs Alexander descended from his chariot and bowed to the earth before the Jewish leader. None ventured to ask the meaning of this seeming frenzy, save Parmenio alone. ‘Why should he, whom all men worship, worship the High Priest of the Jews?’ ‘Not him,’ replied the king, ‘but the God whose High Priest he is I worship. Long ago, when at Dium in Macedonia, I saw in my dreams such an one in such an attire as this, who urged me to undertake the conquest of Persia and succeed’ … Hand in hand with the High Priest, and with the priestly tribe running by his side, he entered the sacred inclosure, and offered the usual sacrifice, saw with pleasure the indication of the rise of the Grecian power in the prophetic books, granted free use of their ancestral laws, and specially of the year of jubilee inaugurated so solemnly a hundred years before under Nehemiah, promised to befriend the Jewish settlements of Babylonia and Media, and invited any who were disposed to serve in his army with the preservation of their sacred customs.” Jewish Church, Vol. iii., Lect. xlvii. Without denying that the story is in a legendary dress, we may admit the “probability” of Alexander’s visit to Jerusalem, and the certainty that the city was spared, and the people favoured by him, in accordance with the terms of Zechariah’s prophecy.

Verse 8. - While the heathen world suffers the judgment of God, he protects his own people. I will encamp about (for the protection of) my house. God's house, or family, is the kingdom and Church of Israel, as Hosea 8:1. Septuagint, Υποστήσομαι τῷ οἴκῳ μου ἀνάστημα, "I will erect a fortification for my house." Because of the army. It may also be translated "against," or "from;" i.e. to defend it from the hostile army. Others, pointing differently, render, "as a garrison," or "rampart." Because of (against) him that passeth by, etc. Against all hostile attacks. The phrase, "him that passeth by and him that returneth," is used of an enemy making incursions, or attacking at various points (see note on Zechariah 7:14). The Vulgate gives the whole clause thus: Circumdabo domum meam ex his, qui militant mihi euntes et revertentes, "I will defend my house with a guard chosen from those who serve me and do my will," i.e. angels. But this seems far from the signification of the Hebrew. Pusey restricts the meaning to the proceedings of Alexander, who passed by Judaea on his way to Egypt, and returned by the same route, without doing any injury to Jerusalem. Here comes in the Talmudic story related by Josephus ('Ant.,' 11:08). The Jews "repaid the protection of Persia with a devoted loyalty, which prompted them to refuse the demand of submission made by Alexander during the siege of Tyre. He marched to chastise them after the fall of Gaza, and the beautiful city had already risen before his view on the hill of Zion, when he found the high priest Jaddua waiting his approach at the watch station of Sapha, clad in his robes of gold and purple, and followed by a train of priests and citizens in pure white. The conqueror bowed in reverence to the Holy Name upon the high priest's frontlet; and, being asked by Parmenio the reason of his conduct, said that in a dream at Dium, he had seen the God of Jaddua, who encouraged him to pass over into Asia, and promised him success. Then entering Jerusalem, he offered sacrifice in the temple, heard the prophecy of Daniel about himself; and granted certain privileges to all the Jews throughout his empire. The desire to honour a shrine so celebrated as, the Jewish temple is quite in accordance with the conduct of Alexander at Ilium and Ephesus, Gordium and Tyre. The privileges he is said to have conferred upon the Jews were enjoyed under his successors, and some minor matters have been adduced in confirmation of the story. On the other hand, the classical writers are entirely silent on the subject, and the details of Josephus involve grave historical inconsistencies. It seems not an unreasonable conjecture that the story is an embellishment of some incident that occurred when the high priest came to Gaza to tender the submission of the Jews. But we must not dismiss it without a remark on the vast influence which the conquests of Alexander had in bringing the Jews into closer relations with the rest of Asia, and so preparing them to fulfil their ultimate destiny as Christians" (P. Smith, 'History of the World,' 1:60, etc). Oppressor. The word is used for "taskmaster" in Exodus 3:7. Septuagint, ἐξελαύνων, "one who drives away;" Vulgate, exactor. This latter rendering would imply that Israel would no longer have to pay tribute to foreign nations, but should henceforward be independent. For now have I seen with mine eyes. It is as though, during Israel's calamities, God had not looked upon her; but now he notices her condition, and interposes for her succour (comp. Exodus 2:25; Exodus 3:7, 9; Acts 7:34). This is done by sending the personage mentioned in the following section. Zechariah 9:8Whilst the heathen world falls under the judgment of destruction, and the remnant of the heathen are converted to the living God, the Lord will protect His house, and cause the King to appear in Jerusalem, who will spread out His kingdom of peace over all the earth. Zechariah 9:8. "I pitch a tent for my house against military power, against those who go to and fro, and no oppressor will pass over them any more; for now have I seen with my eyes. Zechariah 9:9. Exult greatly, O daughter Zion; shout, daughter Jerusalem: behold, thy King will come to thee: just and endowed with salvation is He; lowly and riding upon an ass, and that upon a foal, the she-ass's son. Zechariah 9:10. And I cut off the chariots out of Ephraim, and the horses out of Jerusalem, and the war-bow will be cut off: and peace will He speak to the nations; and His dominion goes from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth." Chânâh, to encamp, to pitch a tent. לביתי, dat. commod. "for my house," for the good of my house. The house of Jehovah is not the temple, but Israel as the kingdom of God or church of the Lord, as in Hosea 8:1; Hosea 9:15; Jeremiah 12:7, and even Numbers 12:7, from which we may see that this meaning is not founded upon the temple, but upon the national constitution given to Israel, i.e., upon the idea of the house as a family. In the verse before us we cannot think of the temple, for the simple reason that the temple was not a military road for armies on the march either while it was standing, or, as Koehler supposes, when it was in ruins. מצּבה stands, according to the Masora, for מצּבא equals מן־צבא, not however in the sense of without an army, but "on account of (against) a hostile troop," protecting His house from them. But Bttcher, Koehler, and others, propose to follow the lxx and read מצּבה, military post, after 1 Samuel 14:12, which is the rendering given by C. B. Michaelis and Gesenius to מצּבה. But this does not apply to חנה, for a post (מצּבה, that which is set up) stands up, and does not lie down. מצּבה is more precisely defined by מעבר וּמשּׁב, as going through and returning, i.e., as an army marching to and fro (cf. Zechariah 7:14). There will come upon them no more (עליהם, ad sensum, referring to בּיתי) nōgēs, lit., a bailiff or taskmaster (Exodus 3:7), then generally any oppressor of the nation. Such oppressors were Egypt, Asshur, Babel, and at the present time the imperial power of Persia. This promise is explained by the last clause: Now have I seen with mine eyes. The object is wanting, but it is implied in the context, viz., the oppression under which my nation sighs (cf. Exodus 2:25; Exodus 3:7). ‛Attâh (now) refers to the ideal present of the prophecy, really to the time when God interposes with His help; and the perfect ראיתי is prophetic.

God grants help to His people, by causing her King to come to the daughter Zion. To show the magnitude of this salvation, the Lord calls upon the daughter Zion, i.e., the personified population of Jerusalem as a representative of the nation of Israel, namely the believing members of the covenant nation, to rejoice. Through מלכּך, thy King, the coming one is described as the King appointed for Zion, and promised to the covenant nation. That the Messiah is intended, whose coming is predicted by Isaiah (Isaiah 9:5-6), Micah (Micah 5:1.), and other prophets, is admitted with very few exceptions by all the Jewish and Christian commentators.

(Note: See the history of the exposition in Hengstenberg's Christology.)

לך, not only to thee, but also for thy good. He is tsaddı̄q, righteous, i.e., not one who has right, or the good cause (Hitzig), nor merely one righteous in character, answering in all respects to the will of Jehovah (Koehler), but animated with righteousness, and maintaining in His government this first virtue of a ruler (cf. Isaiah 11:1-4; Jeremiah 23:5-6; Jeremiah 33:15-16, etc.). For He is also נושׁע, i.e., not σώζων, salvator, helper (lxx, Vulg., Luth.), since the niphal has not the active or transitive sense of the hiphil (מושׁיע), nor merely the passive σωζόμενος, salvatus, delivered from suffering; but the word is used in a more general sense, endowed with ישׁע, salvation, help from God, as in Deuteronomy 33:29; Psalm 33:16, or furnished with the assistance of God requisite for carrying on His government. The next two predicates describe the character of His rule. עני does not mean gentle, πραΰ́ς (lxx and others) equals ענו, but lowly, miserable, bowed down, full of suffering. The word denotes "the whole of the lowly, miserable, suffering condition, as it is elaborately depicted in Isaiah 53:1-12" (Hengstenberg). The next clause answers to this, "riding upon an ass, and indeed upon the foal of an ass." The ו before על עיר is epexegetical (1 Samuel 17:40), describing the ass as a young animal, not yet ridden, but still running behind the she-asses. The youthfulness of the animal is brought out still more strongly by the expression added to עיר, viz., בּן־אתנות, i.e., a foal, such as asses are accustomed to bear (עתנות is the plural of the species, as in כּפיר אריות, Judges 14:5; שׂעיר העזּים, Genesis 37:31; Leviticus 4:23). "Riding upon an ass" is supposed by most of the more modern commentators to be a figurative emblem of the peacefulness of the king, that He will establish a government of peace, the ass being regarded as an animal of peace in contrast with the horse, because on account of its smaller strength, agility, and speed, it is less adapted for riding in the midst of fighting and slaughter than a horse. But, in the first place, this leaves the heightening of the idea of the ass by the expression "the young ass's foal" quite unexplained. Is the unridden ass's foal an emblem of peace in a higher degree than the full-grown ass, that has already been ridden?

(Note: We may see how difficult it is to reconcile the emphasis laid upon the ass's foal with this explanation of the significance of the ass, from the attempts made by the supporters of it to bring them into harmony. The assertion made by Ebrard, that עיר denotes an ass of noble breed, and בּן־אתנות signifies that it is one of the noblest breed, has been already proved by Koehler to be a fancy without foundation; but his own attempt to deduce the following meaning of this riding upon a young ass from the precepts concerning the sacrifices, viz., that the future king is riding in the service of Israel, and therefore comes in consequence of a mission from Jehovah, can be proved to fail, from the fact that he is obliged to collect together the most heterogeneous precepts, of which those in Numbers 19:2; Deuteronomy 21:3, and 1 Samuel 6:7, that for certain expiatory purposes animals were to be selected that had never borne a yoke, have a much more specific meaning than that of simple use in the service of Jehovah.)

And secondly, it is indeed correct that the ass was only used in war as the exception, not the rule, and when there were no horses to be had (cf. Bochart, Hieroz. i. p. 158, ed. Ros.); and also correct that in the East it is of a nobler breed, and not so despised as it is with us; but it is also a fact that in the East, and more especially among the Israelites, it was only in the earlier times, when they possessed no horses as yet, that distinguished persons rode upon asses (Judges 5:10; Judges 10:4; Judges 12:14; 2 Samuel 17:23; 2 Samuel 19:27), whereas in the time of David the royal princes and kings kept mules for riding instead of asses (2 Samuel 13:29; 2 Samuel 18:9; 1 Kings 1:33; 1 Kings 38:44); and from the time of Solomon downwards, when the breeding of horses was introduced, not another instance occurs of a royal person riding upon an ass, although asses and mules are still constantly used in the East for riding and as beasts of burden; and lastly, that in both the ancient and modern East the ass stands much lower than the horse, whilst in Egypt and other places (Damascus for example), Christians and Jews were, and to some extent still are, only allowed to ride upon asses, and not upon horses, for the purpose of putting them below the Mohammedans (for the proofs, see Hengstenberg's Christology, iii. pp. 404-5). Consequently we must rest satisfied with this explanation, that in accordance with the predicate עני the riding of the King of Zion upon the foal of an ass is an emblem, not of peace, but of lowliness, as the Talmudists themselves interpreted it. "For the ass is not a more peaceful animal than the horse, but a more vicious one" (Kliefoth).

Zechariah 9:8 Interlinear
Zechariah 9:8 Parallel Texts


Zechariah 9:8 NIV
Zechariah 9:8 NLT
Zechariah 9:8 ESV
Zechariah 9:8 NASB
Zechariah 9:8 KJV

Zechariah 9:8 Bible Apps
Zechariah 9:8 Parallel
Zechariah 9:8 Biblia Paralela
Zechariah 9:8 Chinese Bible
Zechariah 9:8 French Bible
Zechariah 9:8 German Bible

Bible Hub