Remarks Upon the Book of Zechariah

THIS prophecy consists of two parts: 1. The entrance of Christ into Jerusalem as the king of Israel. Verses 9, 10. 2. The triumph of the Jews in their conflict with the Greeks. Verses 11-17. As the Grecian kingdom gave place to the Roman kingdom before the first advent of Christ, the prophecy concerning the conflict of the Jews with the Greeks must have had its accomplishment before the Saviour presented himself to the Jews as predicted in verses 9, 10.

The entrance of Christ into Jerusalem, as predicted in Zech. 9:9, took place near the close of his ministry and only a few days before his crucifixion. Matt. 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:29-46; John 12:12-16. The Jews had had the most ample proof that he was the Messiah, the heir to the throne of David. The prophecies he had fulfilled, the miracles which he had wrought, and the absolute purity of his life and of his doctrine, left no chance to doubt that he was the Son of God and the king of Israel. To crown all, he had just raised Lazarus from the grave, who had been dead four day's. John 11:1-45.

The entrance of Christ into Jerusalem seated upon the ass, marked the time when the fate of the Jews as a nation was to be decided. He presented himself as their king; if they received him as such they would be treated by the Romans as in rebellion against Caesar, and must suffer terrible chastisement from the Roman army, unless protected by the power of Christ, their king. But if they rejected Christ, and denied that he had the right to call himself their king, they must seize him as a rebel against Caesar, and deliver him to the Romans to be put to death. Luke 23:1-3. They decided to do this to save their city from being destroyed by the Romans. John 11:47-53. But God punished the terrible crime of the Jews by employing the Romans to destroy their city and their nation. Dan. 9:26; Matt. 22:6, 7; Luke 19:41-44.

When Christ presented himself to the Jews as their king it was in their power to decide the fate of their city and of their nation. If they received him as their king he would protect them from all their enemies, and make them the honored head of all the nations. If they rejected him, and delivered him up to die, God would send against them the Roman army; their city would be destroyed, and their nation would be made a reproach in all the earth. It was indeed necessary that Christ should die for the sins of men, but it was not necessary that the Jews should take his life. He said that he had power to lay down his life without the participation of any man. John 10:15, 17, 18.

In the book of Zechariah we have the prediction of a miraculous preservation of Jerusalem from the attack of all the people of the earth; Zech. 12:1-9. We have also the prediction of the destruction of the city by the united forces of the nations. Zech. 11:1, 6; 13:8, 9; 14:1, 2. It was for the Jews in receiving or rejecting their king to choose their own lot, whether the miraculous preservation of their city, their temple, and their nation, or the terrible destruction by the avenging hand of God of all that they held dear upon earth.

Before Jerusalem was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, God told the Jews that if they would hallow the Sabbath their city should stand forever; but that if they profaned the Sabbath their city should be utterly destroyed. Jer. 17:24-27. They chose to persist in disobedience, and they brought upon themselves a terrible destruction when they might have secured the perpetual protection of God, so that their city and their temple should neither have been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar nor by Titus. Jeremiah also said that when the prophets predicted good or evil concerning any nation, it was in the power of that nation to reverse that prediction by changing their conduct. Jer. 18:7-10. We have a remarkable example of this in the mission of Jonah to Nineveh. Jonah 3:1-10. Even Zechariah told the Jews that his prediction of their prosperity would be fulfilled only on condition of their obedience. Zech. 6:15.

We have an application of this principle by Zechariah to the case of Jerusalem, at the time when Christ should ride into that city as the king of Israel. In Zech. 11:4-14 the prophet, as a shepherd, personifies the ministry of Christ to the Jews. To do this he took two staves with which to feed the flock. But after sometime spent in this work without success, the prophet gives up the flock to destruction. Verse 9. To make this fact impressive to the eye he took the first of his staves, Beauty, and broke it to signify that his protection would be withdran. We know when it was that

Christ thus withdrew his protection from the Jews and gave them up to destruction. He did this when they refused to receive him as their king at his entrance into Jerusalem. Luke 19:41-44. The staff which the prophet broke in giving up his flock to destruction represented the promise of protection to Jerusalem in case the Jews received Christ their king, which promise was withdrawn when they rejected him.

This promise, which is given at length in Zech. 12:1-9, is briefly stated in Zech. 9:9, 10. God promises to cut off from Ephraim and from Jerusalem the chariots and horses and battle bows. But it must be remembered that when Christ presented himself as the king of the Jews, they were wholly in the power of the Romans and had no munitions of war belonging to themselves. The chariots and battle bows which were to be cut off from Israel in case they received Christ as their king, were those of the Romans against whom they were to be miraculously defended, as is more fully set forth in Zech. 12:1-9. Then Christ as the king of the Jews would by his judgments establish peace among the nations in all the earth, as is shown in Zech. 14:12-21. But though the disciples of Christ received him with shouts of joy when he came as king, the nation being unconverted did not love his character and scorned one so lowly. Luke 19:37-44. He came to his own [things], the city, the temple and the throne of David, and his own [people], the Jews, received him not. John 1:11. The staff Beauty, was broken to signify that Christ had annulled his promise of protection to the city and the nation.

The declaration of Zech. 9:11, concerning the deliverance of the captives of Zion from the pit, is in the original in the past tense, though some translators use the future, evidently supposing that the prophet used the past for the future, as is the case in many instances. The deliverance of Israel from captivity among the heathen must be intended, for in that captivity they were in danger of perishing for lack of instruction in investments in the word of God, as a prisoner would perish in a pit the

where there was no water. The first covenant under which the Israelites were delivered from captivity was dedicated with blood. Ex. 24:7, 8; Heb. 9:18-20.

In verse 12 these prisoners are exhorted to seek God. The prophet says: "Turn you to the stronghold [the word is singular], ye prisoners of hope." This signifies that they had need to seek God, and that they would find him if they sought him aright. They are also assured that they shall be doubly recompensed for all that they have suffered in their captivity. In verse 13 the prophet shows that his counsel is of the utmost importance, for a terrible conflict was coming between the people of Israel and the kingdom of the Greeks under Antiochus. In our study of the chariots and horses of Zech. 6:1-8, we have seen this set forth in the most impressive manner. The city of Jerusalem was protected by the angel of God from the army of Alexander the Great, as predicted in Zech. 9:8. But in the reign his successors in the Grecian kingdom, the Jews were to contend in battle with the Greeks, and were to overcome them by the miraculous interposition of the Almighty. This took place when Antiochus attempted the destruction of the Jews, and was vanquished by Judas Maccabeus and his brother. See the history in the books of first and second Maccabees, and in Josephus Antiquities of the Jews, book 12.

In verse 14 God is represented as going out with his people to the battle in a visible manner, and as sounding the trumpet before them, by which language the prophet sets forth the greatness of the miracle that enabled a few men poorly armed to vanquish many mighty hosts. Their signal triumph is still further set forth in verses 15-17. This prosperity continued while the people of God continued to walk humbly before him, and it ceased when they forgot God. Let us remember the lesson. Our strength is in God alone, and when we forget him he will leave us to ourselves to learn our own insignificance and our own weakness.