Zechariah 12:7

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹An oracle of the word of the LORD concerning Israel. Thus declares the LORD, who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth, who forms the spirit of man within him: ²"Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples. Judah will be besieged, as well as Jerusalem. ³On that day, when all the nations of the earth gather against her, I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who would heave it away will be severely injured. ⁴On that day," declares the LORD, "I will strike every horse with panic, and every rider with madness. I will keep a watchful eye on the house of Judah, but I will strike all the horses of the nations with blindness. ⁵Then the leaders of Judah will say in their hearts: 'The people of Jerusalem are my strength, for the LORD of Hosts is their God.' ⁶On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among the sheaves; they will consume all the peoples around them on the right and on the left, while the residents of Jerusalem remain secure in Jerusalem. ⁷The LORD will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and of the residents of Jerusalem may not be greater than that of Judah.⁸On that day the LORD will defend the residents of Jerusalem, so that the weakest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the Angel of the LORD going before them.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

save: Zechariah 4:6, Zechariah 11:11, Isaiah 2:11-17, Isaiah 23:9, Jeremiah 9:23, Jeremiah 9:24, Matthew 11:25, Matthew 11:26, Luke 1:51-53, Luke 10:21, John 7:47-49, Romans 3:27, 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, 2 Corinthians 4:7-12, James 2:5, James 4:6

do: Job 19:5, Psalms 35:26, Psalms 38:16, Psalms 55:12

Reciprocal: Judges 7:2 - too many Job 32:13 - Lest Zechariah 12:10 - the house Zechariah 13:1 - the house Malachi 2:12 - out 1 Corinthians 1:25 - the foolishness

Cross-References

Genesis 8:20
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD. Taking from every kind of clean animal and clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar.

Genesis 12:8
From there Abram moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built an altar to the LORD, and he called on the name of the LORD.

Genesis 12:9
And Abram journeyed on toward the Negev.

Genesis 12:12
and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me but will allow you to live.

Genesis 13:4
to the site where he had built the altar. And there Abram called on the name of the LORD.

Genesis 13:15
For all the land that you see, I will give to you and your offspring forever.

Genesis 13:18
So Abram moved his tent and went to live near the oaks of Mamre in Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.

Genesis 15:18
On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I have given this land-from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates-

Genesis 17:1
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless.

Genesis 17:3
Then Abram fell facedown, and God said to him,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first,.... That is, the Jews, who will be in other parts of the land encamped in tents, to defend themselves against their enemies; these will be saved out of the hands of them, before the inhabitants of Jerusalem will be saved; and in such a manner, that it will evidently appear that their salvation is of the Lord: and his end in so doing will be,

that the glory of the house of David, and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, do not magnify [themselves] against Judah; lest the chief of the family of David, and the principal inhabitants of Jerusalem, should glory over their brethren in other parts of Judea; and say it was owing to them that they were saved and delivered out of the hands of their enemies.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first - Still it is, ‘the Lord shall save.’ We have, on the one side, the ‘siege,’ the gathering of all the peoples of the earth ‘against Jerusalem, the horse and his rider.’ On the other, no human strength; not, as before, in the prophecy of the Maccabees, the bow, the arrow, and the sword, though in the hand of God Zechariah 9:13. It is thrice, ‘I will make’ Zechariah 9:2-3,; ‘I will smite’ (Zechariah 9:4 bis); and now, ‘The Lord shall save.’ By ‘the tents,’ he probably indicates their defenselessness. God would ‘save’ them first; that ‘the glory of the house of David - ‘be not great against’ or ‘over Judah,’ may not overshadow it; but all may be as one; for all is the free gift of God, the mere grace of God, that ‘he that glorieth may glory in the Lord’ Jeremiah 9:24; 1 Corinthians 1:31; 2 Corinthians 10:17, and both “may own that, in both, the victory is the Lord’s” (Jerome).

Lap.: “In Christ Jesus is neither Jew nor Greek; neither bond nor free, neither rich nor poor” Galatians 3:28; “but all are one,” namely a new creation; yea in Christendom the poor are the highest, both because Christ “preached to the poor” Luke 4:18, and pronounced the “poor blessed” Luke 6:20, and He made the Apostles, being poor, nobles in His kingdom, through whom He converted kings and princes, as is written, “ye see your calling, brethren, that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and the weak things of the would to confound the things which fire mighty ...” 1 Corinthians 1:26; and, “Hath not God called the poor in this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom, which God has promised to them that love Him?” James 2:5. The rich and noble have greater hindrances to humility and Christian virtues, than the poor. For honors puff up, wealth and delights weaken the mind; wherefore they need greater grace of Christ to burst their bonds than the poor. Wherefore, for the greater grace shown them, they are bound to give greater thanks unto Christ.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Zechariah 12:7. The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first — This, I suppose, refers to the same thing. The Gospel of Christ shall go from the least to the greatest. Eminent men are not the first that are called; the poor have the Gospel preached to them. And this is done in the wise providence of God, that the "glory of the house of David," c., that secular influence may appear to have no hand in the matter and that God does not send his Gospel to a great man, because he is such.