The Pulpit Commentary — Zechariah — Section 154

Kings xxiii. 13 ( whore it is calle<l " the ing, there shall no longer be the inter- mount of corruption"), etc. Shall oleave change of see.sons, but one lasting eunshine. in the midst thereof. AB tho enemy are It ie plain the.t e. time of distress and supposed to beset Jerusalem, so o.s to make cnlamity is intended, and that the passage escare by any ordinary road impossible, the ie threatening and not consolatory, at any Lore will open e. way through the very rate, at first. There is solid ground for the centre of the mounte.in (e.s he opened e. rendering of the Revised Version margin, path through the Red Bee.), by cleaving the adopted by Cheyne and others, which is hill in sunder, the two parts moving north e.ccoruing to the Khatib, "There shall not cmd south, e.nd leaving e. great valley be light, the bright ones shall contract running ee.at e.nd west, e.nd lee.ding to the themselves;" i.e. the heavenly bodies shall Are.bah contract their light, or be heaped con- Ver. 5.-Ye shall :flee to the valley of the fusedly together, and cease to shine. The mountains ; ye shall flee by the 'IJalley of my prediction in this case may be compared mountain</; i.e. by the re.vine me.de by the with that in Joel iii. 15; Isa. xiii. 10; and cleaving of Olivet into two, which God co.lie in Matt. x:xiv. 29; Rev. vi. 12, 13. The " my mountain," because effected by hie Authorized Version is explained in the specie.I interposition. Septuagint, <l>paxBfi- margin, i.e. "It shall not be clear in some ae.-a, 11 r/)apa-y~ TWII opeo,11 µ.ov," The valley of places, and dark in other places of the· my mounte.ins shall be blocked;" Vulge.te, world "-a gloss which is inadmissible. Fugietis ad t1aUem montium eorum. The Ver. 7.--0ne day. A unique day, un- last word is probably e.n error for meorum. pe.re.lleled (comp. Cant. vi. 9; Ezek. vii. 5). Into the chasm thus mire.culouely formed Which shall be (is) known to the Lord. Its the remnant shall :flee for refuge. trnto peculiar character, and the moment of its Aze.l; ,.,, 'i..a&B (Beptue.gint) ; usque ad e.rrival, a.re known to God, and God only pro:i:imum (Vulge.te); so Bymmaohus. If (Matt. xx:iv. 36). Not day, nor night. It Aze.I, or Azel, be e. proper no.me, it i~ with ce.nnot be called truly the one or the other, , some probability identified with Beth-ezel, because there is darkness in the day and mentioner! in Micah i. 11, e. ville.ge on the light e.t night, e.s the following clause east of Olivet. The meaning in this case says. Thie ie symbolically explained by ie that the valley should extend from the St. Ephraem, "It will not be altogether west unto the east side of the Mount of console.tion, nor altogether affliction." It ie Olives, and that in it the people ehe.11 find not full daylight, for calamity presses; it is an asylum, the.t they might not be involved not deep night, because there is hope amid I in the judgmenta which fall on the enemy. the distress. At evening-time it shall be Some take Azal to mean " union," e.nd stie light. In the midst of trouble and danger in it e. symbol of the union of the Le.w and deliverance she.II come. The whole section the gospel, or the Jew and Gentile, in one ie a figurative description of the fortunes Churoh-the valley of God's mounte.in ex- of the Church militant, even as Christ tending to "union ; " that ie, to enfolding announced to his disciples: "In the worlc a.II the faithful (eee Wordsworth, in loc.). ye shall have tribulation: but be of good The earthquake in the days of trzzie.h. '.rhis cheer, I he.ve overcome the world" (John ie mentioned in Amos i. 1, but not in the x:vi. 33); "If they have persecuted me, they. historical books (see note on Amoa, loc. cit.). will also perseoute you" (John x:v. 20); The intervention of the Lord ie here e.ccom- "Let not your bee.rt be troubled, neither pe.nied by e.n ee.rthq uake, which prod.noes let it be afraid" (John xiv. 27). the same panio e.s on the former occasion, and drives the inhe.bitants to flight. Shall Vere. 8-11.-§ 7. Then shall occur a come. To smite hie enemies and to defend season of joy. The land shall be transf01'Tned his people. All the aaints (holy ones) with and renewed, and the Lord shall be OlD'ned thee. The versions have, "with him;" and aa the sole King of all the earth. thus many Hebrew me.nuscripte. But suoh abrupt ohe.ngee of persons e.re not uncommon Ver. 8.-Living waters; i.e. water fresh, (eee note on oh. ii. 8). The "holy ones" • pure, e.nd perennial (Gen. xxvi. 19; Jar. are the angels (oomp. Dent. x:xxiii. 2; Job ii. 13), a figure of the spiritual bleesings v. 1 ; Dan. vii. 10; and the pe.re.Ilel pre- and gre.oes bestowed by God upon hia dictions in Matt. x:xiv. 30, 31; xx:v. 31). Churoh. l!'rom lerwialem, as the centre ·Val'. 6.-The light ehe.11 not be olea.r, nor e.nd representative of the kingdom of God, dark. The Greek, Byrie.c, n'ld Latin Ver- as in oh. xii. 2. The city itself was, as we sions have, "There ehe.11 uot be light, but know, abundantly supplied with water by (' e.nd,' Septue.giut) oold and ice." With many conduits e.nd subterranean channels; the absence of light and euu she.II come but standing, as it dots, surrounded by hills bitter frost, which impedes nil activity, nnd higher than itself, it i, physically impossible kills life; or, ta.king the Septuagint rti11der- that the waters could liter11lly flow as ~te.ted.  'l'HE BOOK OF ZECHARIAB. [err. xrv.1-21.