Zechariah 9:4

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

the Lord: Proverbs 10:2, Proverbs 11:4, Isaiah 23:1-7, Ezekiel 28:16, Joel 3:8

he will: Ezekiel 26:17, Ezekiel 27:26-36, Ezekiel 28:2, Ezekiel 28:8

shall: Ezekiel 28:18, Amos 1:10

Reciprocal: Isaiah 23:11 - strong holds Ezekiel 26:12 - thy merchandise Ezekiel 27:34 - General

Cross-References

Genesis 9:10
and with every living creature that was with you-the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth-every living thing that came out of the ark.

Genesis 9:14
Whenever I form clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds,

Leviticus 3:17
This is a perpetual statute for the generations to come, wherever you live: You must not eat any fat or any blood.'"

Leviticus 7:26
You must not eat the blood of any bird or animal in any of your dwellings.

Leviticus 19:26
You must not eat anything with blood still in it. You must not practice divination or sorcery.

Deuteronomy 12:16
but you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.

Deuteronomy 12:23
Only be sure not to eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.

Deuteronomy 14:21
You are not to eat any carcass; you may give it to a temporary resident within your gates, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a holy people belonging to the LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother's milk.

Deuteronomy 15:23
But you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.

Acts 15:20
Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Behold, the Lord will cast her out,.... Or "inherit her" f, or "them", as the Septuagint render the words; when, being converted, she would become the Lord's inheritance and possession, and her riches should be devoted to his service:

and he will smite her power in the sea; for Tyre was situated in the sea, at the entry of it, and was strong in it, Ezekiel 26:17. Kimchi interprets this of her humiliation and subjection in the days of the Messiah; and in a spiritual sense it has been verified in such who have been spoiled of their carnal strength, in which they trusted, and have laid down their weapons, and have submitted to the sceptre of Christ:

and she shall be devoured with fire; with the spirit of judgment, and of burning, which purges and removes the filth of sin; and with the fire of the word, which burns up and consumes its lusts; and with the flames of divine love, which make souls as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. This was literally accomplished in the burning of Tyre by Alexander g, which injected fear and dread in cities near it, as follow:

f יורשנה κληρονομησει αυτους, Setp.; "possidebit eam", V. L. Munster, Castalio. So some in Vatablus. g Curtius, l. 4. c. 4.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Behold - Such were the preparations of Tyre. Over against them, as it were, the prophet sets before our eyes the counsels of God. Theodoret: “Since they had severed themselves from the providence of God, they were now to experience His power.” “The Lord will cast her out” , literally, deprive her of her possessions, give her an heir of what she had amassed, namely: the enemy; “and he will smite her power or wealth” , of which Ezekiel says, “With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures: by the greediness of thy wisdom and by thy traffic thou hast increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches” Ezekiel 28:4-5. All wherein she relied, and so too the stronghold itself, God would smite in the sea. The sea was her confidence and boast. She said “I am a God; I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas” Ezekiel 28:2.

The scene of her pride was to be that of her overthrow; the waves, which girt her round, should bury her ruins and wash over her site. Even in the sea the hand of God should find her, and smite her in it, and into it, and so that she should abide in it. “They mocked at the king, as though be thought to prevail against Neptune (the sea).” “Ye despise this land-army, through confidence in the place, that ye dwell in an island,” was the message of Alexander, “but soon will I show you that ye dwell on a continent.”

Every device had been put in force in its defense: the versatility by which the inhabitants of an island, some 2 12 miles in circumference, held at bay the conqueror of the battle of Issus with unlimited resources, , “engineers from Cyprus and all Phoenicia,” and , “a fleet of 180 ships from Cyprus,” attests the wisdom in which the prophet says, she would trust. “She had already a profusion of catapults and other machines useful in a siege, and easily prepared manifold others by the makers of war-engines and all sorts of artificers whom she had, and these invented new engines of all sorts; so that the whole circuit of the city was filled with engines.” Divers who should loosen the mole; grappling hooks and nets to entangle near-assailants; melted metal or heated sand to penetrate between the joints of their armor; bags of sea-weed to deaden the blows of the battering machines; a fireship navigated so as to destroy the works of the enemy, while its sailors escaped; fiery arrows; wheels set in continual motion, to turn aside the missiles against them, , bear witness to an unwearied inventiveness of defense. The temporary failures might have shaken any mind but Alexander’s (who is even said to have hesitated but that he dared not, by abandoning the enterprise, lose the prestige of victory. Yet all ended in the massacre of 6,000, 7,000, or 8,000 of her men, the crucifixion of 2,000, the sale of the rest, whether 13,000 or 30,000, into slavery . None escaped save those whom the Sidonians secreted in the vessels, , with which they had been compelled to serve against her.

And she herself - When her strength is overthrown, “shall be devoured with fire.” : “Alexander, having slain all, save those who fled to the temples, ordered the houses to be set on fire.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Zechariah 9:4. Will smite her power in the sea — See Ezekiel 26:17. Though Alexander did take Tyre, Sidon, Gaza, c. yet it seems that the prediction relative to their destruction was fulfilled by Nebuchadnezzar. See Amos 1:6-8; Zephaniah 2:4; Zephaniah 2:7.