Zechariah 9

Behold, your King is coming to you

He is righteous and having salvation

(Zechariah 9:9)

In Short

The transition from the second to the third empire (the victory of Greek Alexander the Great over the Persians) would shake the lands of the Levant: Syria, Lebanon and Israel. The Lord announced it a century before it actually happened. Jerusalem and the temple however would be under his protection. After another 3 centuries, the Lord Himself would come in the humble appearance of a King on a donkey. However in the Endtime this humble King would smash the last empire and in the process would use his humiliated people, that would be under severe persecution.

Introduction

The link to the previous chapter is important in order to grasp something of the meaning of Zechariah 9. Chapter 8 ended with the expectations of mighty nations that would rest upon the Lord. Therefore they would start clinging to the people of the Lord. This will absolutely not come about through natural causes. I will only be realized through the intervention by the Lord. The situation of God's people in the Endtime would seen totally lost. They would be severely persecuted by the empire which would be supported by nations surrounding Israel, from Lebanon to Syria to the Saudi kingdom. Instead of seeking the companionship of God's people these nations would be instrumental for the destruction of God's people, through their alienation with the last stage of the world empire. And that is where Chapter 9 starts. It starts with the year 333BC, the year of the conquest of Alexander the Great, which brought shocking changes in the map of Middle East.

Verse 1 - Zechariah 9 starts with 'the burden of the word of the Lord', which is often a sign of the announcement of judgment. This 'burden'-expression was first used by Isaiah in his prophecy on the judgment upon Babylon, which was announced as 'the burden of Babylon (Isaiah 13:1) and which indeed was followed by harsh words of total destruction that would fall upon the Babylonian kingdom. Likewise destruction would come for the countries and area's that surround the land of Israel, about 150 years after Zechariah uttered this prophecy. Its precise fulfillment is the guarantee that all the rest of the book will also go into exact fulfillment.

In the year 333 BC, the then upcoming empire of Greece was posing an enormous threat to a large area of the Middle East, with Israel at its center. Alexander the Great marched forward to conquer the mighty Persian empire. That is where 'the burden of the Word of the Lord' stars, at a city called Hadrach, which does not exist any longer today. Archaeologists aren't sure about its exact locations. They conjecture it to be somewhere near the Orontes river in the Northern part of Syria, between modern cities Aleppo and Homs. Based on archaeological findings, the land of Hadrach has been a much contested place, which has fought for its autonomy. We quote here from a historical website:

"The ancient city’s prominence is further underscored by its mention in Assyrian records. These documents reveal that Hadrach was not merely a passive participant in history but an active player in regional politics. Assyrian kings, such as Tiglath-Pileser III, documented their campaigns against Hadrach, indicating its resistance and resilience. This defiance against Assyrian dominance highlights the city’s determination to maintain its autonomy amidst the encroaching empires."

This city of Hadrach lay on the route of Alexander, the next city being Damascus, where the word would find a resting place, Alexander making great progress in defeating the Persians. Then a strange sentence follows: 'when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the Lord'. We may assume that the eyes and the ears of all men of those days were on the actual political and military circumstances, constantly in eager to receive information about the battle field. What the Lord shows here, is that even with enormous political and military upheavals in the world, He is the One that is in charge, not the players in palaces and on battle fields. Therefore it is stated that the eyes of men and of Israel's tribes are on the Lord. In the Endtime it is the same. However dark the situation on earth might become, it is the Lamb in heaven that opens the seals of the scroll and sets everything in motion. In 333BC Alexander was an instrument in the hands of the Lord, a craftsman to terrify the horn of the Persian empire. (Zech.1:18-20). The Greeks themselves would also oppress the people of Israel and would therefore be terrified by the upcoming Roman empire.

Verse 2 - Then Hamath (modern day Hama) is named, which is halfway between the old city Hadrach and Damascus. Then follow Tyrus and Sidon, ironically called very wise but with their trust in gold and silver and not in the Lord of heaven, in fact foolish.

Verse 3 - Being an independent port city, Tyre could profit greatly from the extensive Mediterranean sea trade. It had heaped up enormous wealth.  This is also the theme of Ezekiel 28, which concerns Tyrus, speaking of its 'wisdom and understanding' but also of its pride and its future destruction by 'the most ruthless of nations',  i.e. the Greeks of Alexander.

Verse 4 - For a long time, Tyre seemed immune to foreign invasions because it was built on an island, which could shut itself off from the mainland. But Alexander built an enormous landbridge to it and conquered it. Here we use a citation from another website:

"He had his soldiers use the rubble of the old city of Tyre on the coast land to build a man-made land bridge from the coast to the island fortification. It only took him seven months to conquer Tyre—doing what no one else was able to do, because he was the instrument of God’s judgment. (Today, Tyre is no longer an island. The land bridge that Alexander built has been covered over with over two-thousand years of the sands of the Mediterranean coast; so that it truly is a part of the continent even today.)"

Verse 5 - 7 - Ashkelon, Ekron, Gaza and Ashdod were four of the five cities of the Philistines, which would also come under influence of the Greek empire and thus rightfully were very anxious at the approaching of Alexander. The conquering of Gaza took some time and it led to a shoulder wound for Alexander. After taking it, its governor, Batis, was killed by dragging him from his ankles behind a chariot around the city walls: 'the king shall perish from Gaza'. With the enormous influence of the Greek culture, large parts of the Middle East were hellenized and this also happened with the Philistines. They lost much of their original background and culture. That might be meant with 'And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth'. Nothing would remain of Philistine nationalism - their pride would be taken away. They would mix with other peoples, becoming a bastard nation and they would never again pose any threat to the Jewish people, as they had done so often in the ages before, under the rule of the Israel's judges and kings. Ekron would become like the Jebusites, the Canaanite tribe that has lived among the tribes of Israel since they conquered the land (Joshua 15:63). This shows us that present day 'Palestinians' have nothing to do with the Philistines of old, as is sometimes stated. The name Palestine, however derived from the already vanished Philistines, since 135 AD became the name for the whole of modern day Israel, through an imperial decree as punishment for the Jewish revolt.

Verse 8 - Beautiful is the fulfillment of verse 8, the Lord protecting his house. This was precisely fulfilled in the exchange between the high priest and Alexander the Great, of which the previous website teaches the following: 

"What’s most fascinating about this prophetic chronicle of Alexander’s conquests—a century and a half before they even happen—is how it is promised that he would act toward Israel. Even though Alexander conquered all the nations around Jerusalem, God promises, “I will camp around My house because of the army, because of him who passes by and him who returns” (v. 8a). The details of this amazing story are given to us through the ancient Jewish historian Josephus. It’s worth reading in detail:

So Alexander came into Syria, and took Damascus, and when he had obtained Sidon, he besieged Tyre, when he sent an epistle to the Jewish high priest, to send him some auxiliaries, and to supply his army with provisions; and that what presents he formerly sent to Darius he would now send to him, and choose the friendship of the Macedonians, and that he should never repent of so doing; but the high priest answered the messengers, that he had given his oath to Darius not to bear arms against him and he said that he would not transgress this while Darius was in the land of the living. Upon hearing this answer, Alexander was very angry; and though he determined not to leave Tyre, which was just ready to be taken, yet, as soon as he had taken it, he threatened that he would make an expedition against the Jewish high priest, and through him teach all men to whom they must keep their oaths.

. . . Now Alexander, when he had taken Gaza, made haste to go up to Jerusalem; and Jaddua the high priest, when he heard that, was in an agony, and under terror, as not knowing how he should meet the Macedonians, since the king was displeased at his foregoing disobedience. He therefore ordained that the people should make supplications, and should join with him in offering sacrifices to God, whom he besought to protect that nation, and to deliver them from the perils that were coming upon them; whereupon God warned him in a dream, which came upon him after he had offered sacrifice, that he should take courage, and adorn the city, and open the gates; that the rest appear in white garments, but that he and the priests should meet the king in the habits proper to their order, without the dread of any ill consequences, which the providence of God would prevent. Upon which, when he rose from his sleep, he greatly rejoiced; and declared to all the warning he had received from God according to which dream he acted entirely, and so waited for the coming of the king.

And when he understood that he was not far from the city, he went out in procession, with the priests and the multitude of the citizens. The procession was venerable, and the manner of it different from that of other nations. It reached to a place called Sapha; which name, translated into Greek, signifies a prospect, for you have thence a prospect both of Jerusalem and of the temple; and when the Phoenicians and the Chaldeans that followed him, thought they should have liberty to plunder the city, and torment the high priest to death, which the king’s displeasure fairly promised them, the very reverse of it happened; for Alexander, when he saw the multitude at a distance, in white garments, while the priests stood clothed with fine linen, and the high priest in purple and scarlet clothing, with his mitre on his head having the golden plate on which the name of God was engraved, he approached by himself, and adored that name, and first saluted the high priest. The Jews also did all together, with one voice, salute Alexander, and encompass him about: whereupon the kings of Syria and the rest were surprised at what Alexander had done, and supposed him disordered in his mind.

However, Parmenio alone went up to him, and asked him how it came to pass, that when all others adored him, he should adore the high priest of the Jews? To whom he replied, “I did not adore him, but that God who hath honored him with that high priesthood; for I saw this very person in a dream, in this very habit, when I was at Dios, in Macedonia, who, when I was considering with myself how I might obtain the dominion of Asia, exhorted me to make no delay, but boldly to pass over the sea thither, for that he would conduct my army, and would give me the dominion over the Persians; whence it is, that having seen no other in that habit, and now seeing this person in it, and remembering that vision and the exhortation which I had in my dream, I believe that I bring this army under the divine conduct, and shall therewith conquer Darius, and destroy the power of the Persians, and that all things will succeed according to what is in my own mind.”

And when he had said this to Parmenio, and had given the high priest his right hand, the priests ran along by him, and he came into the city; and when he went up into the temple, he offered sacrifice to God, according to the high priest’s direction, and magnificently treated both the high priest and the priests. And when the book of Daniel was showed him, wherein Daniel declared that one of the Greeks should destroy the empire of the Persians², he supposed that himself was the person intended; and as he was then glad, he dismissed the multitude for the present, but the next day he called them to him, and bade them ask what favors they pleased of him: whereupon the high priest desired that they might enjoy the laws of their forefathers, and might pay no tribute on the seventh year. He granted all they desired: and when they entreated him that he would permit the Jews in Babylon and Media to enjoy their own laws also, he willingly promised to do hereafter what they desired: and when he said to the multitude, that if any of them would enlist themselves in his army on this condition, that they should continue under the law of their forefathers, and live according to them, he was willing to take them with him, many were ready to accompany him in his wars.³

The point of all of this seems to be given to us in the latter half of verse 8. It looks ahead to the time when the Messiah would come and reign over His people: “No more shall an oppressor pass through them, for now I have seen with My eyes” (v. 8b). The guarantee that God will secure such a promising hope for His people then is the way that He defended them in history. What a great God we serve! He truly is sovereign over the nations!"

Verse 9 - The last part of verse 8 can be seen as a transition to the prophecy on the Lord Jesus, entering Jerusalem on a donkey. In Jesus, the Lord God Himself walked among his people, be it in an appearance of humiliation. Indeed, with his own eyes, God saw the state of mind his people were in. It was a state of utter rejection of their own Messiah-God and a state of willing service to their mammon god. Of Him 'seeing with his own eyes', we read once Jesus entered the temple, after having fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9, the king that entered the city on a donkey. 'Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.' It was there that Jesus, just like 3 years before, saw the heart of his people. The next day He had to curse the fig tree (symbol of Israel, that bore no fruit). He had to cleanse the temple again. And a few days later He had to prophecy that no stone of the magnificent temple would remain left on another. The 'no more shall an oppressor pass through them' of verse 8 had to be postponed to a very far future. Within 40 years of Christ entrance of Jerusalem, the city and the temple would be trodden down as they were never before. Anno 2025 AD, the state of the people is still utterly deplorable and Jerusalem will once again face total destruction - soon.

Verse 10 - With verse 10 we are at the transition from the Endtime to the Millennial Kingdom. The Lord will then destroy all means of warfare within the holy land. How this is done, we read in Revelation 19, where we see most of the world's armies gathered around Jerusalem for the great day of the Lord's battle and victory. The Lord putting an end to all wars is a recurrent theme in Bible prophecy. Zechariah 9 is linked to Isaiah 9: 'Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.' (Isaiah 9:6,7). And in Psalm 46 we read: 'He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire. He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:9,10).

Note that no exception is made for the so called 'state of Israel', which is by far the most belligerent of all countries in the world, inventing the most evil and brutal of weapons, weaponizing everything possible, from AI-systems to food-distribution, using the 7 million Palestinians as their testing grounds. The evil methods and means of this 'nation under god' will be the first to be completely erased from the earth. How God will deal with the most godless and satanic of peoples - living in the land called Israel - presuming to be his people -  misleading many - is stated clearly in other parts of the book of Zechariah.

After having destroyed all armies 'He will speak peace'. What starts actively with 'I will cut off' goes over to a passive 'shall be cut off' and toward 'He'. It is all the Lord's doing. The peace will be declared by the Lord's Messiah, Jesus, Who Himself is the Lord God. War is not the end. It is the means to the end, which is peace. It is the opposite with the empire, which needs endless wars to remain in power. Its argument of 'peace through strength' can never apply to the empire because it is in lack of enough power to realize this. Using the 'peace through strength' slogan is preposterous and showing the spirit of antichrist. Only Christ has enough power to realize eternal peace through strength, as will be seen at the end of the Endtime, which will be the start of his millennial reign, not just 'from the river to the sea' but 'from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth'.

Verse 11 - Who are the prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water, which would be delivered by the Lord? Looking at the 'sons of Greece' of verse 13, it has been suggested that this is about the  Maccabean Revolt of 167 BC, in which the faithful Jews succeeded in retaking the control of Jerusalem and removing the abomination of desolation from the temple. There are 3 arguments to believe otherwise.

(1) No prisoners were made in those days. When Antiochus Epiphanes took the city and the temple in 167 BC, he slayed many Jews (40.000) and many others were sold as slaves (also 40.000). No prisoners. So what exactly is meant here?

(2) Zechariah 9:10 jumped toward the end of the Endtime, God destroying all arms, in the land (and worldwide, as seen in parallel verses). Why would the next verse  11 suddenly place the reader back in time, more than a century and a half before the coming of Christ? That makes no sense.

(3) Verse 8 already looked forward to an epoch in which the city and the temple would no longer be oppressed; "No more shall an oppressor pass through them, for now I have seen with My eyes”. That epoch won't be reached before the second coming of Christ, as Christ Himself prophesied: 'Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see Me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. (Mathew 23:37, 38) - and: 'Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled'. The times of the Gentiles will be fulfilled at the total destruction of the last appearance of the empire, which we take to be the USA, with its evil extension in the Middle East - zionist Israel. Therefore both verses 8 and 9, with the eyes of the King, the Lord God, Jesus, upon his city, point forward to the days that are subsequently described in the rest of Zechariah 9.

So, if Zechariah 9:11 is about the Endtime and if we are close to the Endtime, who are the prisoners of Ephraim and of Jerusalem (to which this verse refers)? Which people are held prisoners in great numbers in the holy land? Not the so called Jews that are running the country, which are mostly coming out of Europe.  The prisoners of the holy land are the holy people, the Palestinians. Ten thousand Palestinians are being held in Israeli prisons and subjected to very brutal treatment, even torture and murder. The Palestinian people are the true people of Israel and they have been oppressed for about a century in every way thinkable by these so called European Jews, which are given a carte blanche because of their so called 'holocaust history' - to do as the thief that the Lord spoke of in John 10: 'The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy' (John 10:10). Happily the Good Shepherd will have the last word: 'I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.' (John 10:10). Therefore: 'As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee' (Zech.9:11,12). 'The pit wherein is no water refers to the total hopelessness of the situation of the Palestinian prisoners. Even if they would after many years be released, their bodies are broken and their houses destroyed.

Verse 12 - The Lord however calls them 'prisoners of hope', because of the work that He will do for them. He is the only hope for the Palestinian people. Therefore the first thing that must take place is their realization that Jesus is the Savior of the world, the Son of God, the King of kings. This realization will come once Jesus will reveal Himself to them as the Lord God, Who became Man on order to work salvation. This is spoken of in other parts of Zechariah. They are summoned to turn to the strong hold. This might mean two things: the fortress of the enemy that oppressed them (the empire through its proxy's, the European 'Jews') or the future holy place, where they will once serve the Lord according to the covenant - the covenant that has long been forgotten by them.They will be recompensed by the Lord 'double' for all the suffering they have gone through in the past century. Indeed they will once reign together with the King of kings.

Verse 13 - The Lord compares his people, that will be saved by Him, with a battle bow and an arrow - Judah the bow, which will be bent by the Lord, and Ephraim the arrow, that will be shot at enemies. This typology makes us think of the white horse of the first seal, which also has 'a bow' and goes out 'conquering and to conquer' (Rev.6:1,2). Further they are compared with a strong sword in the hand of the Lord. This is the way the Lord fought in days of old, through his people - as He also states in Zechariah 14: 'Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle'. 'Those nations' are those that oppress the true people of the Lord, that came from all over the world pretending to be of Jewish origin, forming and upholding the godless Zionist state, stealing their land, demolishing their homes, destroying their livestock, imprisoning them and murdering them.

They are to fight 'the Greeks', the European 'Jews'. How little these European 'Jews' are attached to the holy land is proven during the past two years, when many of them fled the country because of the violence. This while the Palestinians have vowed to remain in the land even when all their homes are flattened and even if it would cost them their lives - tens of thousands of them are already killed. 

Verse 14 - But the Lord won't just fight 'through his people'. He will show his presence and his power. 'And the Lord shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the Lord God shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south.' It is in atmospheric events that the Lord expresses Himself, the thunder and lightning - the sound of a 'trumpet' - whirlwinds. The trumpet sound was once heard at Sinai at the giving of the ten commandments (Exodus 19:16) and will be heard around the Endtime on different occasions (rapture, the gathering of the elect - 1 Thess.4:16, Math.24:31). As we will show in later chapters, we believe the trumpet will also sound at the deliverance of the holy people. But it won't be through majestic sights in the sky only that the Lord shall be seen. Later chapters of Zechariah teach us that the Lord will be seen in the Person of the crucified One - first by his own people and then by others, when they will fight for the deliverance of their land from evil oppressors.

Verse 15 - The renewed relationship with the Lord, He being their Protector, gives the holy people enormous power and energy. They are invincible. This is stated in figurative language. They are like the white horse of Revelation 6 - going forth conquering, and to conquer'. They subdue, they devour. Between the battles they drink. Like their Lord - 'He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth. He will drink from a brook along the way, and so he will lift his head high.' (Psalm 110:6,7). They will be very loud - not because of whine but 'as through wine' - because of their enthusiasm over the victory over their enemies that is given to them. The corners of the altar relate to temple service that will be instituted again once the victory of God's people will be complete. In the millennial kingdom God will be served again as He has instituted long ago and the Palestinians, knowing Who is helping them, will be in the forefront of this service.

Verse 16 - The term 'flock' points ahead to chapters 10 and 11, in which the people are seen as herds of sheep that are looked after by shepherds, many of which are detrimental to the well being of the sheep. Here the picture of a flock of animals, spread across the meadow, goes over into a picture of precious stones that will be set unshakably in the panorama of the holy land. The picture of a crown also reminds us of Revelation 12:1, the woman, crowned with twelve stars, which also represent the twelve tribes of Israel, one of the many ties between Zechariah and the book of Revelation. A third of 'the stars' would be swept to the earth by the great dragon - the destruction of God's people through the force of the devil's empires. In the end all twelve stars however will shine in the crown of God's people.

Verse 17 - His land - his goodness - his beauty. Verse 16 ended with the land of the Lord, in which his people would be placed as stones of a crown. That won't be the work of any church, which is taking credits for the Eretz Israel of the twentieth century, which has prove to be nothing but a total desaster, an infamy of infamies, the delusion of delusions, causing havoc in the whole Middle East by falsely accusing, cheating, stealing, bombing, starving and downright murdering the indigenous peoples of the countries round about them. That is not the work of the Lord but the work of satan, who, through his synagogue of fake Jews has taken over the complete Laocidean church of the Endtime.

The goodness and beauty of the Lord will be seen in the abundance of his land, in which He will have his people dwell forever, abundance of corn and wine, being enjoyed by his people, the people that have been terrorized for so long in such a brutal way. Mind, that this is the goodness and the beauty of the Lord. Only in the millennial kingdom of Christ will this goodness and beauty be seen in all its splendor and the people central in all if this will be God's people of old, that were viciously attacked by the dragon (Rev.12:13) through his seventh and last head of his empire, the USA (Daniel 7:21, Rev.13:7).