Zechariah 9:2

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹An Oracle: The word of the LORD is against the land of Hadrach and will rest upon Damascus-for the eyes of men and of all the tribes of Israel are upon the LORD- ²and also upon Hamath, which borders it, as well as Tyre and Sidon, though they are very shrewd.³Tyre has built herself a fortress; she has heaped up silver like dust, and gold like the dirt of the streets. ⁴Behold, the Lord will impoverish her and cast her power into the sea, and she will be consumed by fire. ⁵Ashkelon will see and fear; Gaza will writhe in agony, as will Ekron, for her hope will wither. There will cease to be a king in Gaza, and Ashkelon will be uninhabited. ⁶A mixed race will occupy Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. ⁷I will remove the blood from their mouths and the abominations from between their teeth. Then they too will become a remnant for our God; they will become like a clan in Judah, and Ekron will be like the Jebusites. ⁸But I will camp around My house because of an army, because of those who march to and fro, and never again will an oppressor overrun My people, for now I keep watch with My own eyes.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Hamath: Numbers 13:21, 2 Kings 23:33, 2 Kings 25:21, Jeremiah 49:23, Amos 6:14

Tyrus: Isaiah 23:1-18, Ezekiel 26:1 - Ezekiel 28:26, Joel 3:4-8, Amos 1:9, Amos 1:10

Zidon: 1 Kings 17:9, Ezekiel 28:21-26, Obadiah 1:20

it be: Ezekiel 28:3-5, Ezekiel 28:12

Reciprocal: Genesis 10:18 - Hamathite Joshua 11:8 - great Zidon 2 Kings 19:13 - the king Isaiah 11:11 - Hamath Jeremiah 25:22 - Tyrus Jeremiah 47:4 - Tyrus Ezekiel 26:2 - Tyrus Ezekiel 28:4 - General Ezekiel 47:16 - Hamath Matthew 11:22 - Tyre Acts 27:3 - Sidon

Cross-References

Genesis 1:28
God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth."

Genesis 2:19
And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and He brought them to the man to see what he would name each one. And whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.

Genesis 9:4
But you must not eat meat with its lifeblood still in it.

Genesis 9:8
Then God said to Noah and his sons with him,

Genesis 9:20
Now Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard.

Genesis 9:22
And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside.

Genesis 9:23
Then Shem and Japheth took a garment and placed it across their shoulders, and walking backward, they covered their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned away so that they did not see their father's nakedness.

Genesis 35:5
As they set out, a terror from God fell over the surrounding cities, so that they did not pursue Jacob's sons.

Leviticus 26:6
And I will give peace to the land, and you will lie down with nothing to fear. I will rid the land of dangerous animals, and no sword will pass through your land.

Leviticus 26:22
I will send wild animals against you to rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and reduce your numbers, until your roads lie desolate.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Hamath also shall border thereby,.... By the land of Hadrach, or by Damascus; and that it was near Damascus is clear from

Isaiah 10:9 it is called Hamath the great in Amos 6:2 and according to Jerom d, is the same with Antioch, which he says was so called by some; and the Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel on Numbers 13:21, renders Hamath by Antioch: and, if so, here was the Lord's rest likewise; here the Gospel was preached, and many converted, and a church, consisting of Jews and Gentiles, was formed; and here the disciples were first called Christians, Acts 11:26.

Tyrus and Zidon; these were famous cities of Phoenicia; upon the borders of these our Lord himself was, Matthew 15:21 of the conversion of the inhabitants of these places the psalmist prophecies,

Psalms 45:12 here likewise the Lord had his resting place; we read of the disciples here, Acts 21:3:

though it be very wise; particularly Tyre, which was famous for wisdom, Ezekiel 28:3 which the Lord confounded by the preaching of the Gospel, and by the foolishness of that saved them that believe. Kimchi refers this to the times of the Messiah; his note is, she shall not trust in her wisdom in the time of the Messiah: so Ben Melech.

d Comment. in Amos, fol. 44. C. & Quaest. Hebr. in Genesim, fol. 67. B. So Cyril. in Amos, p. 312.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And Hamath also shall border thereby - ^o. Near to it in place and character, it shall share its subdual. After the betrayal of Damascus, Parmenio was set over all Syria. “The Syrians, not as yet tamed by the losses of war, despised the new empire, but, swiftly subdued, they did obediently what they were commanded.”

And Zidon - Zidon, although probably older than Tyre , is here spoken of parenthetically, as subordinate. Perhaps, owing to its situation, it was a wealthy , rather than a strong place. Its name is “Fishing-town;” in Joshua, it is called “the great” Joshua 11:8; Joshua 19:28, perhaps the metropolis; while Tyre is named from its strength Joshua 19:29. It infected Israel with its idolatry Judges 10:6, and is mentioned among the nations who oppressed them and from whom God delivered them on their prayers Judges 10:12, probably under Jabin. In the time of the Judges, it, not Tyre, was looked to for protection Judges 18:7, Judges 18:28. In the times of Ezekiel it had become subordinate, furnishing “rowers” Ezekiel 27:8 to Tyre; but Esarhaddon, about 80 years before, boasts that he had taken it, destroyed its inhabitants, and re-populated it with people from the East, building a new city which he called by his own name . Tyre too had been taken by Nebuchadnezzar . At the restoration from the captivity, Sidon had the first place, Ezra 3:7, which it retained in the time of Xerxes . But Artaxerxes Ochus gained possession of it by treachery, when all Phoenicia revolted from Persia, and, besides those crucified, 40,000 of its inhabitants perished by their own hands , twenty years before the invasion of Alexander, to whom it submitted willingly .

The prophet having named Tyre and Zidon together, yet continues as to Tyre alone, as being alone of account in the days of which he is speaking, those of Alexander.

Although - Rather, “because she is very wise.” Man’s own wisdom is his foolishness and destruction, “as the foolishness of God” is his wisdom and salvation. God “taketh the wise in their own craftiness” Job 5:13. “For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe” 1 Corinthians 1:21. Of the Hagarenes it is said, they “seek wisdom upon earth; none of these know the way of wisdom, or remember her paths” (Baruch 3:23). The wisdom of Tyre was the source of her pride, and so of her destruction also. “Because thy heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man and not God, though thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God; behold thou art wiser them Daniel, there is no secret that they can hide from thee. Therefore I will bring strangers upon thee - they shall bring thee down to the pit” Ezekiel 28:2, Ezekiel 28:8. So of Edom Obadiah says, “The pride of thy heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock. Shall I not destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau?” Obadiah 1:3, Obadiah 1:8.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Zechariah 9:2. And Hamath also shall border thereby — Hamath on the river Orontes; and Tyre and Sidon, notwithstanding their political wisdom, address, and cunning, shall have a part in the punishment.

These prophecies are more suitable to the days of Jeremiah than to those of Zechariah; for there is no evidence - although Alexander did take Damascus, but without bloodshed - that it was destroyed from the times of Zechariah to the advent of our Lord. And as Tyre and Sidon were lately destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, it is not likely that they could soon undergo another devastation.