Zechariah 12:2

Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. BEHOLD, I WILL MAKE JERUSALEM A CUP OF TREMBLING - a cup, causing those who drink it to reel; from a Hebrew root to reel [ raa`al (H7477)]. Jerusalem, who drank the "cup of trembling" herself, shall be so to her foes (Isaiah 51:17; Isaiah 51:22; Jeremiah 13:13). Calvin, with the Septuagint, translates [ cap (H5592)], 'a threshold of destruction,' on which they shall stumb...

Zechariah begins here to teach us what I have briefly explained, that Jerusalem would be under the protection of God, who would render it safe and secure against all enemies. But he uses here figurative terms, which make the point more evident. He says, that Jerusalem would be a _threshold of bruising_, or breaking. The word סף, _saph_, means a threshold almost everywhere in Scripture. But some think that it means here a cup, and then they translate רעל, _rol_, drunkenness, or fury. But as this word also means breaking, it is not unsuitable to say that Jerusalem is here called a threshold at which people stumble, so that he who comes against this threshold either breaks a bone or receives some other injury. At the same time the Prophet seems to express something more, that whosoever ascended to attack Jerusalem would meet with a stumbling block, by which he might have his legs broken or...

1-8 Here is a Divine prediction, which will be a heavy burden to all the enemies of the church. But it is for Israel; for their comfort and benefit. It is promised that God will make foolish the counsels, and weaken the courage of the enemies of the church. The exact meaning is not clear; but God often begins by calling the poor and despised; and in that day even the feeblest will resemble David, and be as eminent in courage and every thing good. Desirable indeed is it that the examples and labours of Christians should render them as fire among wood, as a torch in a sheaf, to kindle the flame of Divine love, to spread religion on the right hand and on the left....

Verse Zechariah 12:2. _JERUSALEM A CUP OF TREMBLING_] The Babylonians, who captivated and ruined the Jews, shall in their turn be ruined. I incline to think that what is spoken in this chapter about the _Jews_ and _Jerusalem_, belongs to the "glory of the latter times." _SHALL BE IN THE SIEGE_] This may refer to some war against the Church of Christ, such as that mentioned Revelation 20:9....

I WILL MAKE JERUSALEM A CUP OF TREMBLING - For encouragement, He promises the victory, and at first mentions the attack incidentally. Jerusalem is as a cup or basin, which its enemies take into their hands; a stone, which they put forth their strength to lift; but they themselves reel with the draught of God’s judgments which they would give to others, they are torn by the stone which they would lift to fling. The image of the “cup” is mostly of God’s displeasure, which is given to His own people, and then, His judgment of chastisement being exceeded, given in turn to those who had been the instruments of giving it . Thus, Isaiah speaks of “the cup of trembling.” Thou, “Jerusalem, hast drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling, hast wrung them out. Therefore hear thou this, thou afflicted and drunken but not with wine. Thus saith thy Lord, the Lord, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of H...

EXPOSITION VERSE 1-14:21 B. THE SECOND BURDEN. ZECHARIAH 12:1 § 1. The prophet proceeds to announce Israel's conflict with heathen powers. _Hostile nations gather together against Jerusalem, but shall themselves be overthrown; for the people and their leaders, trusting in the Lord, overcome all opposition._ ZECHARIAH 12:1 THE BURDEN OF THE WORD OF THE LORD FOR (_concerning_) ISRAEL. This is the title of the second oracle, corresponding to that at the head of Zechariah 9:1. Though the literal Israel has been rejected, a

BEHOLD, I WILL MAKE JERUSALEM A CUP OF TREMBLING UNTO ALL THE PEOPLE ROUND ABOUT,.... The Targum renders it, "a vessel full of inebriating liquor;'' which intoxicates and makes giddy, and causes to tremble, stagger, and fall like a drunken man. The phrase denotes the punishment inflicted by the Lord upon the enemies of his church and people; see Isaiah 51:22: WHEN THEY SHALL BE IN THE SIEGE BOTH AGAINST JUDAH [AND] AGAINST JERUSALEM; not by Antiochus Epiphanes; nor by Titus Vespasian; nor by Gog and Magog, as Kimchi; but by the antichristian powers, especially the Mahometan nations, the Turks, which shall come against Jerusalem, when the Jews are returned thither, and resettled in their own land; see Ezekiel 38:5. The words should be rendered, "and u

Zechariah 12:1. _The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. In that day saith the LORD; I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness; and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness._ When God comes to defend his own, then, however despised the people may be, however despised Israel may be, God will make it

II. THE SECOND BURDEN OF ZECHARIAH (12-14) CHAPTER 12 _ 1. Jerusalem's conflict and victory (Zechariah 12:1) _ 2. The vision of the pierced One and its results (Zechariah 12:10) Zechariah 12:1. The second burden begins with this chapter. It is wholly unfulfilled with the exception of the prophecy at the end of chapter 13 concerning the Shepherd who was smitten. The great future events recorded in these closing Chapter s of Zechariah are the following: The victory of Jerusalem, the overthrow of the hostile nations from the west (the nations which constitute the revived Roman Empire), the outpouring of the Spirit upon the remnant, the appearing and the vision of the Pierced O

BEHOLD. Figure of speech _Asterismos_. App-6. PEOPLE. peoples....