Zechariah 14:14

And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem,.... These are the professing people of Christ, the armies in heaven, the chosen, called, and faithful, who will follow the Lamb, and attend him when he goes

And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance.

Judah; the Jews, and particularly those of the tribe of Judah, and possibly Judas Maccabeus might be intended too, as those who in that day were valiant warriors, and successful: against the church’ s enemies. And many such have been among the Christians too since those days. Shall fight, with courage, good conduct, and success. At Jerusalem; both in the land of Judea, and also at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the heathen; the nations round about them, who having by foreign war peeled and robbed many nations, had brought it herod, and now God gave it to the Jews; and in like manner have many Christians spoiled those that spoiled them. Judah; the Jews, and particularly those of the tribe of Judah, and possibly Judas Maccabeus might be intended too, as those who in that day were valiant warriors, and successful: against the church’ s enemies. And many such have been among the Christians too since those days. The wealth of all the heathen; the nations round about them, who having by foreign war peeled and robbed many nations, had brought it herod, and now God gave it to the Jews; and in like manner have many Christians spoiled those that spoiled them.

Zechariah 14:14 And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance.Ver. 14. And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem] Shall fight like a lion, and do great exploits for his country; as Judas Maccabeus did; as Hunniades, that club of the Turks, and Scanderbeg, who killed 800 Turks with his own hand, and fought so earnestly sometimes, that the very blood burst out at his lips. So did Zisca, and the rest of Christ’ s worthy warriors, who, by faith (and yet by force of arms too), waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens, subdued kingdoms, fought the Lord’ s battles, Hebrews 11:32; Hebrews 11:34. They saw, by faith, what is on the other side of the shore of this mortality; and that put mettle into them. The valour of the Gauls was admired by the Romans; it proceeded from that instruction they had from their Druids, of the immortality of the soul. The Swedes upon the same ground showed incredible courage in the late German wars; running into apparent danger, like flies into the candle (saith one), as if they had not seen it (The Life of the King of Sweden, by Mr Clark). Faith fears no colours. What brave spirits hath God raised up among us of late, fighting, as it were, in blood to the knees for religion and liberty, resolved either to vanquish or die, as the Black Prince, ητανητπιταν, with that Lacedemonian, either to live with the gospel or die for it! And how valiant the restored Jews shall once be upon their enemies, the Turks, who now hold their country till their iniquities be full, who can tell? Sure it is that Israel, after their victory over Gog, shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord God, Ezekiel 39:10. And then perhaps it is, that the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together,] as a prize or booty, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance] Look how Abraham stripped the four kings of their plunder, Genesis 14:16, Gideon the Midianites, Judg. viii., David the Amalekites, 1 Samuel 30:18, Jehoshaphat the Ammonites (they were three days in gathering the spoil, it was so much, 2 Chronicles 20:25), so it may happen one day with their posterity. The Jewish doctors, have a saying, that whatsoever befell unto the fathers is a sign unto the children; so of Abraham’ s victory over the four kings, they write, that it befell unto him to teach that four kingdoms, those kingdoms spoken of in Daniel, should stand up to rule over the world; and that in the end his children should rule over them, and they should all fall by their hand, and they should bring again all their captives, and all their substance (R. Menachem on Genesis 14:1-24).

(14) Judah.—Then, taking courage from the panic which had struck their adversaries, the whole people of Judah—not merely those who had escaped out of the city, but also those outside the walls—fight once more “at Jerusalem,” or in its very streets,” against the terror-driven, plague-stricken, God-confounded foe” (Wright). And the wealth. . . .—Oriental armies always march with quantities of gold, silver, and other valuables. (Comp. 2 Chronicles 20:25; and for an instance in India, year of the Hejra 964, see Al Badaoni’s Reign of Akbar, Transl. pp. 9, 10.)

Verse 14. And Judah also shall fight] They shall have little else to do than take the spoil, the wealth of all the heathen round about; gold, silver, and apparel.

14. at Jerusalem] This, or in Jerusalem, and not against Jerusalem (R. V. and margin, A. V.), which would be a wholly meaningless and irrelevant statement here (comp. Zechariah 12:2, note), is the rendering that must be adopted. There is no question here of the strength or allies of the opposing force, but only of the threefold cause of their destruction, viz. (1) the plague sent by God, Zechariah 14:12; (2) mutual slaughter, Zechariah 14:13; (3) the onslaught of Judah, rallying to defend the capital, Zechariah 14:14. “A still further element of ‘confusion’ would be added to the adversaries. When Jonathan gained his wonderful victory over the Philistines’ garrison at Michmash, there was a confusion caused by God in the ranks of the Philistines (1 Samuel 14:20), which resulted, as here, in a terrible conflict taking place in their own ranks. Those Hebrews who on that occasion were with the Philistines, as well as Israelites who had fled into the holes or fastnesses of the mountains, plucked up courage when they saw the confusion of their adversaries, and stood up boldly against them. Thus in the picture here given, when the ranks of the enemies are thinned by pestilence and mutual slaughter, the prophet represents the whole of the people of Judah, not merely those who had escaped out of the city, but also those who were outside its walls, as once more fighting at Jerusalem, or in its very streets, against the terror-driven, plague-stricken, God-confounded foe.” (Rev. C. H. H. Wright.) the heathen] the nations, R.V., as in Zechariah 14:16, where the same Heb. word is translated “nation” in A.V.

And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem - This seems more probable than the alternative rendering of the English margin, “against.” For Judah is united with Jerusalem as one, in the same context

14. The defeat of the nations is made complete by the Jews who, when they behold the ranks of the enemies thinned by pestilence and mutual slaughter, will rush upon the helpless remnant.