The Pulpit Commentary — Zechariah — Section 164

sufferings, in this world of sorrow, trial, and dangers I "Thou compaesest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways." II. HE MAKES A WAY FOR THEIR DELIVERANCE. "And the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst t-hereof toward the east and toward the west, and there 8hall be a very great valley." "These verses," says Dr. Henderson, "convey in language of the most. beautiful poetical imagery, the Msurance of the effectual means of escape that should be provided for the truly pious. We accordingly learn from Ensebius that on the breaking out of the Jewish war, the Christian Church at Jerusalem, in obedience to the wnrning of our Saviour (Matt. xxiv. 16), fled to Pella, a city beyond Jordan, where they lived in safety. As the Mount of Olives lay in their way, it is represented as cleaving into two halves, in order to make a passage for them." It is not necessary to suppose t-hat the Mount of Olives was thus riven asunder. The idea is that the obstruction to their escape, though formidable as a mountain, should be removed. Christ had said," Let them which be in Judma flee unto the mountuins," etc. It was their duty, therefore, to do so. And here is promised the removal of every obstruction. The Almighty would give them every facility to escape to the refuge. This he does for our suffering race. He makes a way for their escape. He makes the crooked places straight, and the rough places smooth. The way for their escape from guilt, ignorance, and misery, which has been blocked up by mountains of difficulties, he has made straight. The mountains have been cleft asunder, nay, removed. Christ ie the Way. III. HE PROVIDES A REFUGE FOR THEIR SAFETY. "And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal : yea, ye shall flee, like as ye tied from before the earthquake in the days of U zziah King of ,Judah." Mark here three things. 1. The scene of ref1.l,!}e, " Azal." Where is this ".Azal" 1 No one knows. Its position is a matter of pure conjecture. Nor does it matter. It was some asylum to secure them from danger. God has provided a refuge for sinners. We are exhorted to flee to the Refuge set before us in the gospel. 2. The impulse of flight. "Like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah King of Judah." 3. The ne,cessity of the flight. " The Lord my God shall come." Provi- -dential dispensations e.re often spoken of in the Scripture as the coming of the Lord. 'l'he destruction of Jerusalem is spoken of as his coming, and here it is assured as a certainty, the ruin was inevitable. "There is not a word," -says a modern expositor, "concerning this earthquake as spoken of in Scripture history." The only other allusion to it occurs in the Book of Amos, who was amongst the herdmen of Tekoa, "which he saw concerning Israel in the days of U zziah King of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam. the son of Joash King of Israel, two years before the earthquake." It must have been something extraordinary, unusually extensive e.nd awful, when it is thus used to date a Jl8riod, and, at the same time, as having occasioned such a flight from the destruction wrought by it as to render it a suitable comparison for the prophet here. Fear was to be their inspirati~n in flight. As t~e people fled panic- stricken from the presence of the earthquake m the days of Uzz1ah, they were to flee from the dangers at Jerusalem. "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" CoNCLUSION. How thankful should we be to know that God has not deserted. humanity in its sins and sorrows! His eye is on it. He has provided a Way for its escape, and a safe Refuge to which it should flee. Our world, bad as it is, is not a God- deserted world.-D. T. Vers. 6, 7.-Dark and bright periods in human life. "And it shall come to pass in that day that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: but it shall be one day which 1:hall be 'kuown to the Lord, not de.y, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening-time it she.II be light." 'l'he word rendered "clear " is in the margin "precious," and is in the pluraL The word "dark" here i~ in the. margin rend~red "thicknesl!." The following translation by Dr. Henderson gives, I thmk, the meanmg: "And it shall be in that day, that there shall not be the light of the precious orbs, but condensed darkn0811. But there shall be one day, it is known to Jehovah, when it shall not be day and night; for at the time of the evening there shall be light." We have here two distinct periods----{)ne of unmitigated di6tress, the other of wninterrupted prosperity. OIi, XlV. 1-21.] THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAH. 169