Zechariah 9

Zechariah 9 is the ninth chapter of the Book of Zechariah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.^[1][2] This book contains the prophecies spoken by the prophet Zechariah, and is a part of the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets.^[3][4]

Text

• The original text is written in Hebrew language.
• This chapter is divided into 17 verses.
• Continuation of the subject in the seventh chapter.^[5]

Textual versions

Some most ancient manuscripts containing this chapter in Hebrew language:

• Masoretic Text (10th century)

Ancient translations in Koine Greek:

• Septuagint (3rd century BC)
• Dead Sea Scrolls: (2nd century BC)^[6]
  • Naḥal Ḥever (8ḤevXII^gr): extant: verses 1‑5^[6]
• Theodotion version (~AD 180)

Structure

NKJV groups this chapter into:

• Zechariah 9:1-8 = Israel Defended Against Enemies
• Zechariah 9:9-10 = The Coming King
• Zechariah 9:11-17 = God Will Save His People

Verse 9

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion;

shout, O daughter of Jerusalem:

behold, thy King cometh unto thee:

he is just, and having salvation;

lowly, and riding upon an ass,

and upon a colt the foal of an ass.^[7]

• "Thy King cometh unto thee": St. Matthew (Matthew 21:5) and St. John (John 12:15) see a fulfilment of this prophecy in Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem on the first day of the week in which he was crucified. All attempts to disprove the Messianic import of this passage have been unavailing. Even critics who refer this part of Zechariah (chapters 9-11) to an unknown author writing in the time of Hezekiah, allow that it is replete with Messianic ideas, and can be applied to no hero of Jewish story or event of Jewish history. There is no other "King" of Israel to whom it can refer. Our blessed Lord Jesus Christ himself, by his abnormal actions on Palm Sunday, plainly assumed the part of the predicted King, and meant the people to recognize in him the promised Messiah (see the full discussion of the subject in Dr. Pusey's notes, pp. 556, etc.).^[8]
• "Thy King". A king of thine own race, no stranger, but one predestined for thee. He who was foretold by all the prophets, who was to occupy the throne of David, and reign forever (Psalm 2:6; Psalm 45:1, 6, 7; Isaiah 32:1).^[8]
• "Unto thee": For thy good, to bless thee (Isaiah 9:6). Just. Righteous in character and in practice, ruling in equity (Psalm 72:1-4, 7; Isaiah 11:2-4).^[8]
• "He is just and having salvation": Just or righteous, and the Fountain of justice or righteousness. For what He is, "that" He diffuseth. Righteousness which God "Is," and righteousness which God, made Man, imparts, are often blended in Holy Scripture. Isaiah 45:21; Isaiah 53:11; Jeremiah 23:5-6; Jeremiah 33:15-16; Malachi 4:2. This is also the source of the exceeding joy. For the coming of their king in righteousness would be, to sinful man, a cause, not of joy but of fear. This was the source of the Angel's message of joy; "I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people; for unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour" Luke 2:10-11.^[9]
• "And riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass": which was fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, Matthew 21:4 not that he rode upon them both, but on the foal only; for so it should be rendered, "upon an ass, that is, upon a colt, the foal of an ass".^[10]
• "Colt": untamed, "whereon yet never man sat" (Luke 19:30). The symbol of a triumphant conqueror and judge (Judges 5:10; 10:4; 12:14).^[5]

Verse 10

And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim,

and the horse from Jerusalem,

and the battle bow shall be cut off:

and he shall speak peace unto the heathen:

and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea,

and from the river even to the ends of the earth.^[11]

• "I will cut off the chariot": All the apparatus of war will be removed, Messiah's rule being not established by physical force, or maintained by military defences. The Jews seem to have used war chariots from the time of Solomon, who, we are told, had fourteen hundred of them (1 Kings 10:26).^[8]
• "He shall speak peace unto the heathen": He will extend this peace to all the world, teaching the heathen to receive his spiritual rule, to compose their differences, to lay aside their arms, and live as one united family (compare Ephesians 2:17):^[8] "He came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh," as Apostle Paul says.^[9]
• "And his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth:" according to Aben Ezra, from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the river Euphrates to the ends of the earth: or, as Kimchi cites him, from the south sea, called the sea of Edom, to the north sea, which is the sea of the ocean; from the river that goes out from Eden, which is at the beginning of the east, unto the ends of the earth, which is the end of the west: or, as the Targum paraphrases it, "from the sea to the west, and from Euphrates to the ends of the earth." The phrases are expressive of the extensiveness of Christ's dominion, through the preaching of the Gospel, both in Judea and in the Gentile world, before the destruction of Jerusalem; and especially in the latter day; see Psalm 72:8. This and the preceding clause are allowed to belong to the Messiah, by a modern Jewish writer.^[12][10]

See also

• Related Bible parts: Isaiah 62, Matthew 21, Mark 11, Luke 19, John 12

Notes and references

Bibliography

External links

Jewish

• Zechariah 9 Hebrew with Parallel English
• Zechariah 9 Hebrew with Rashi's Commentary

Christian

• Zechariah 9 English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate