Zec 9:1
9:1 The burden of the word of the LORD in the land of {a}
    Hadrach, and Damascus [shall be] the {b} rest of it: when
    the {c} eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, [shall
    be] toward the LORD.

    (a) By which he means Syria.
    (b) God's anger will remain upon their chief city, and not
        spare even as much as that.
    (c) When the Jews will convert and repent, then God will
        destroy their enemies.

Zec 9:2
9:2 And Hamath also shall border {d} by it; Tyre, and Zidon,
    though it be {e} very wise.

    (d) That is, by Damascus: meaning, that Harnath or Antiochia
        would be under the same rod and plague.
    (e) He secretly shows the cause of their destruction,
        because they deceived all others by their craft and
        subtilty, which they cloaked with this name of wisdom.

Zec 9:4
9:4 Behold, the LORD will cast her out, and he will smite her
    {f} power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire.

    (f) Though those of Tyre think themselves invincible by
        reason of the sea that surrounds them, yet they will not
        escape God's judgments.

Zec 9:6
9:6 And a {g} bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off
    the pride of the Philistines.

    (g) Meaning, that all would be destroyed, save a very few,
        that would remain as strangers.

Zec 9:7
9:7 And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his
    abominations from between his {h} teeth: but he that
    remaineth, even he, [shall be] for our God, and he shall be
    as a governor in Judah, and {i} Ekron as a Jebusite.

    (h) He promises to deliver the Jews when he will take
        vengeance on their enemies for their cruelty, and
        the wrongs they did to them.
    (i) As the Jebusites had been destroyed, so would Ekron and
        all the Philistines.

Zec 9:8
9:8 And I will encamp about {k} my house because of the army,
    because of him that passeth by, and because of him that
    returneth: and no oppressor shall pass through them any
    more: for now {l} have I seen with my eyes.

    (k) He shows that God's power alone will be sufficient to
        defend his Church against all adversaries, be they ever
        so cruel, or assert their power ever so often.
    (l) That is, God has now seen the great injuries and
        afflictions with which they have been afflicted by their
        enemies.

Zec 9:9
9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of
    Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh to thee: {m} he [is]
    just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon a {n}
    donkey, and upon a colt the foal of a donkey.

    (m) That is, he has righteousness and salvation in himself
        for the use and benefit of his Church.
    (n) Which declares that they should not look for such a king
        as would be glorious in the eyes of man, but should be
        poor, and yet in himself have all power to deliver his
        own: and this is meant of Christ, as in Mt 21:5.

Zec 9:10
9:10 And I will cut off the {o} chariot from Ephraim, and the
     horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off:
     and he shall speak peace to the nations: and his dominion
     [shall be] from {p} sea to sea, and from the {q} river to
     the ends of the earth.

     (o) No power of man or creature will be able to stop this
         kingdom of Christ, and he will peaceably govern them by
         his word.
     (p) That is, from the Red Sea, to the Sea called Syriacum:
         and by these places which the Jews knew, he meant an
         infinite space and area over the whole world.
     (q) That is, from the Euphrates.

Zec 9:11
9:11 {r} As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have
     sent forth thy {s} prisoners out of the pit in which [is]
     no water.

     (r) Meaning Jerusalem, or the Church which is saved by the
         blood of Christ, of which the blood of the sacrifices
         was a figure.  And it is here called the covenant of
         the Church, because God made it with his Church: and
         left it with them because of the love that he had for
         them.
     (s) God shows that he will deliver his Church out of all
         dangers, no matter how great they may seem.

Zec 9:12
9:12 Turn ye to the {t} strong hold, ye {u} prisoners of hope:
     even to day do I declare [that] I will render {x} double to
     thee;

     (t) That is, into the holy land where the city and the
         temple are, where God will defend you.
     (u) Meaning the faithful, who seemed to be in danger of
         their enemies on every side, and yet lived in hope that
         God would restore them to liberty.
     (x) That is, double benefits and prosperity, in respect of
         that which your fathers enjoyed from David's time to
         the captivity.

Zec 9:13
9:13 When I have bent Judah for me, filled the {y} bow with
     Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons,
     O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man.

     (y) I will make Judah and Ephraim, that is, my whole
         Church, victorious against all enemies, which he here
         means by the Greeks.

Zec 9:15
9:15 The LORD of hosts shall defend them; and they shall devour,
     {z} and subdue the sling stones; and they shall drink,
     [and] make a noise as through wine; and they shall be
     filled like bowls, [and] as the corners of the altar.

     (z) He promises that the Jews will destroy their enemies,
         and have abundance and excess of all things, as there
         is abundance on the altar when the sacrifice is
         offered.  And these things are not to move them to
         excess, but to sobriety, and a thankful remembrance of
         God's great liberality.

Zec 9:16
9:16 And the LORD their God shall save them in that day as the
     flock of his people: for they [shall be as] the {a} stones
     of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land.

     (a) The faithful will be preserved, and reverenced by all,
         that their very enemies will be compelled to esteem
         them: for God's glory will shine in them, as Josephus
         declares of Alexander the great when he met Jadi the
         high priest.