Zechariah 9:13

When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man. WHEN I HAVE BENT JUDAH FOR ME - i:e., when I shall have made Judah as it were my bow. FILLED THE BOW WITH EPHRAIM - and "filled" it "with Ephraim," as my arrow wherewith, under the Maccabees as the leaders of the Jews, to overcome the successor of the Grecian Alexander, Antiochus Epiphanes (cf. notes, Daniel 8:1; ; 1Ma 1:62 ; 1Ma 2:41-43 ), the oppressor of Judah. Having spoken (Zechariah 9:1) of Alexander's victories, after the parenthesis ...

God declares here that the Jews would be the conquerors of all nations, though they were then despised. That people, we know, were hated by all; and they were at the same time weak, and had hardly any strength, so as to be able to resist the wrongs done them on every side. As then this trial might have terrified weak minds, the Prophet says that the Jews would be as it were the _bow _and _the quiver _of God, so that they would be able to pierce all nations with their arrow; and that they would also be like a _sword_, which would wound and lay prostrate the strongest. We now perceive the meaning of the words, and see also the reason why the Prophet made this addition, even because the Jews were filled with terror on seeing themselves surrounded on every side by violent and strong enemies, to whom they were very unequal in strength. Now, these similitudes we know occur elsewhere in Scriptu...

9-17 The prophet breaks forth into a joyful representation of the coming of the Messiah, of whom the ancient Jews explained this prophecy. He took the character of their King, when he entered Jerusalem amidst the hosannas of the multitude. But his kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. It shall not be advanced by outward force or carnal weapons. His gospel shall be preached to the world, and be received among the heathen. A sinful state is a state of bondage; it is a pit, or dungeon, in which there is no water, no comfort; and we are all by nature prisoners in this pit. Through the precious blood of Christ, many prisoners of Satan have been set at liberty from the horrible pit in which they must otherwise have perished, without hope or comfort. While we admire Him, let us seek that his holiness and truth may be shown in our own spirits and conduct. These promises have accomplishment in the spi...

Verse Zechariah 9:13. _WHEN I HAVE BENT JUDAH_] Judah is the _bow_, and Ephraim is the _arrows_; and these are to be shot against the _Greeks_. I am inclined, with Bp. _Newcome_, to consider that the language of this prophecy is too strong to point out the only trifling advantage which the _Maccabees_ gained over _Antiochus_, who was of _Macedonian_ _descent_; and it is probable that these prophecies remain to be fulfilled against the present possessors of _Javan_ or _Greece,_ _Macedonia_, and a part of _Asia Minor_....

WHEN - or For I have bent Judah for me As a mighty bow which is only drawn at full human strength, the foot being placed to steady it. It becomes a strong instrument, but only at God’s Will. God Himself bends it. It cannot bend itself. “And filled the bow with Ephraim.” The bow is filled, when the arrow is laid upon it. God would employ both in their different offices, as one. “And raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece.” Let people place this prophecy where they will, nothing in the history of the world was more contradictory to what was in human sight possible. “Greece was, until Alexander, a colonizing, not a conquering, nation. The Hebrews had no human knowledge of the site or circumstances of Greece. There was not a little cloud, like a man’s hand, when Zechariah thus absolutely foretold the conflict and its issue. Yet here we have a definite prophecy later than Dani...

EXPOSITION VERSE 1-14:21 Part III. THE FUTURE OF THE POWERS OF THE WORLD AND OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD. VERSE 1-11:17 A. THE FIRST BURDEN. ZECHARIAH 9:1 § 1. _To prepare the land for Israel, and to prove God's care for his people, the neighbouring heathen shall be chastised, while Israel shall dwell in safety and independence._ ZECHARIAH 9:1 THE BURDEN (see not

WHEN I HAVE BENT JUDAH FOR ME,.... By whom are meant the apostles, who were Jews, and whose ministrations were made use of as a bow with arrows, to strike the hearts of men, and bring them into subjection to Christ: they were a bow of the Lord's bending and preparing, and which abode in strength, being made strong and effectual through the hands of the mighty God of Jacob: FILLED THE BOW WITH EPHRAIM: or rather, "filled Ephraim with the bow" p; filled his hand with it; meaning, that some out of the ten tribes, as were the apostles, should be employed in drawing the bow of the Gospel, and shooting its arrows, the doctrines of it; which are comparable to them for swiftness, suddenness, and secrecy, and for their piercing and penetrating nature: AND RAISED UP THY SONS, O ZION, AGAINST THY SONS, O GREECE; that is, persons of the land of Judea, as such the apostles were, and who belonged to...

As we read these ancient prophecies, we will not only notice how exactly they have been fulfilled, but we will also try to learn the lesson that they are intended to teach us. Zechariah 9:1. _The burden of the word of the LORD in the land of Hadrach, and Damascus shall be the rest thereof: when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the LORD. And Hamath also shall border thereby, Tyrus, and Zidon, though it be very wise. And Tyrus did build herself a stronghold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets. Behold, the Lord will cast her out, and he will smite her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire._ Alexander the Great besieged Tyre, and utterly overthrew it. The citizens thought that their «strong hold» was impregnable, but they had at last to surrender to the mighty monarch whose attacks t

II. THE TWO PROPHETIC BURDENS--THE GREAT PROPHECIES OF THE FUTURE I. The First Burden (9-11) CHAPTER 9 _ 1. The burden of the land of Hadrach (Zechariah 9:1) _ 2. Zion's King of Peace (Zechariah 9:9) 3. The near-event of the invasion by Antiochus Ephiphanes (Zechariah 9:13; Zechariah 10:1) Zechariah 9:1. The final section of Zechariah is of still greater interest. The Deliverer, King Messiah, is revealed in this section as suffering, rejected, pierced, slain. The great finale leads us up to the

A fragment, mutilated at the beginning, apparently slightly earlier than Zechariah 9:9 f., from which it differs in its bellicose tone. The Jewish nation is told that the Lord is now releasing its members confined in the waterless dungeon, _i.e._ in heathen districts where they are cut off from worship at Jerusalem (_cf._ Psalms 63:1; Psalms 68:6); these must return to the stronghold of Judah, where they will be safe. For once again the declaration is made to them, as it was to their fathers (Isaiah 40:2 *), that they shall receive double compensation for all that they have suffered....