Zechariah 14
DOYLYZechariah 14:13
- — and they shall lay hold every one &c.] That is, they shall seek help from one another; but, instead of helping, they shall turn their arms against one another. See Judges vii. 22; 1 Sam. xiv. 20; 2 Chron. xx. 23. Dr. Blayney.
Zechariah 14:15
- And so shall be the plague of the horse, &c.] This is to be joined to the twelfth verse, the thirteenth and fourteenth being in a parenthesis. Both man and beast in that army shall be consumed in one common destruction. W. Lowth. It is very much in the style of this writer to digress, and after a while to return again to his subject, as if nothing had intervened. Dr. Blayney.
Zechariah 14:16
- — to keep the feast of tabernacles.] See Isa. lxxi. 23; and the note there.
Zechariah 14:17
- — of all the families of the earth] According to the opinion of many learned commentators, by going up to Jerusalem to worship, and to keep the feast of tabernacles, is only meant a conformity to the established worship of the one true God, or, which is the same thing, to the Christian religion. It is repeatedly foretold, that a time will come, when “all the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him,” Ps. xxii. 27. Compare Ps. lxxii. 11; lxxxvi. 9; Rev. xi. 15. Dr. Blayney.
Zechariah 14:18
- And if the family of Egypt go not up, &c.] Though the fruitfulness of Egypt, especially the upper part of it, depends not upon rain, see Deut. xi. 10, 11, yet if the Jews that dwell there, or the rest of the inhabitants, do not join in the solemn acts of Christian worship, they shall suffer the same plague and famine, with which others are threatened; that is, the Nile shall not over-
flow, as the Targum explains it; whence a famine will ensue. W. Lowth.
— that have no rain;] This must be understood in a qualified sense. Madlet, Pitts, and Bp. Pococke affirm, that they have been witnesses to rain in Egypt; but it does not rain there frequently as in other countries. Harmer.
Zechariah 14:20
- — upon the bells of the horses.] Horses are spoken of in Scripture as almost exclusively used for war. And that bells made part of their trapping, there is reason to believe from a passage cited by Mr. Harmer from Major Rooke’s Travels to the coast of Arabia Felix; where that traveller, describing a field-day of the cavalry, says, The horses were sumptuously caparisoned, being adorned with gold and silver trappings, bells hung round their necks, and rich housings. Dr. Blayney. War horses not being wanted, their ornaments shall be converted to sacred uses. Abp. Secker.
— and the pots in the Lord’s house shall be like the bowls] The meanest utensil in the house of God (see Nehem. x. 39) shall be as the vessels of silver and gold used in solemn sacrifices. Abp. Newcome.
Zechariah 14:21
- Yea, every pot in Jerusalem &c.] Every thing shall be equally holy, and therefore the ceremonial law abolished. Abp. Secker.
— the Cananite] A trafficker; see Ezek. xvii. 4. Dr. Blayney, Abp. Newcome. The Chaldee and Latin Vulgate translate the words, “There shall be no more any merchant in the house of the Lord of hosts.” W. Lowth. See the note on Hos. xii. 7. There shall be no more profane persons, unbelievers, enemies to the true religion, to interrupt the worship of the true God. Poole.
The following Chapter from Zechariah is appointed as a Proper Lesson: CHAP. IX. …Easter-Even …Morning. VOL. II.