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Judgment on Israel’s Enemies

An Oracle.

The word of the L ord is against the land of Hadrach

and will rest upon Damascus.

For to the L ord belongs the capital of Aram,

as do all the tribes of Israel;

Hamath also, which borders on it,

Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise.

Tyre has built itself a rampart,

and heaped up silver like dust,

and gold like the dirt of the streets.

But now, the Lord will strip it of its possessions

and hurl its wealth into the sea,

and it shall be devoured by fire.

Ashkelon shall see it and be afraid;

Gaza too, and shall writhe in anguish;

Ekron also, because its hopes are withered.

The king shall perish from Gaza;

Ashkelon shall be uninhabited;

a mongrel people shall settle in Ashdod,

and I will make an end of the pride of Philistia.

I will take away its blood from its mouth,

and its abominations from between its teeth;

it too shall be a remnant for our God;

it shall be like a clan in Judah,

and Ekron shall be like the Jebusites.

Then I will encamp at my house as a guard,

so that no one shall march to and fro;

no oppressor shall again overrun them,

for now I have seen with my own eyes.

The Coming Ruler of God’s People

Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion!

Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!

Lo, your king comes to you;

triumphant and victorious is he,

humble and riding on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim

and the war-horse from Jerusalem;

and the battle bow shall be cut off,

and he shall command peace to the nations;

his dominion shall be from sea to sea,

and from the River to the ends of the earth.

As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,

I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.

Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;

today I declare that I will restore to you double.

For I have bent Judah as my bow;

I have made Ephraim its arrow.

I will arouse your sons, O Zion,

against your sons, O Greece,

and wield you like a warrior’s sword.

Then the L ord will appear over them,

and his arrow go forth like lightning;

the Lord G od will sound the trumpet

and march forth in the whirlwinds of the south.

The L ord of hosts will protect them,

and they shall devour and tread down the slingers;

they shall drink their blood like wine,

and be full like a bowl,

drenched like the corners of the altar.

On that day the L ord their God will save them

for they are the flock of his people;

for like the jewels of a crown

they shall shine on his land.

For what goodness and beauty are his!

Grain shall make the young men flourish,

and new wine the young women.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

God declares here that the Jews would be the conquerors of all nations, though they were then despised. That people, we know, were hated by all; and they were at the same time weak, and had hardly any strength, so as to be able to resist the wrongs done them on every side. As then this trial might have terrified weak minds, the Prophet says that the Jews would be as it were the bow and the quiver of God, so that they would be able to pierce all nations with their arrow; and that they would also be like a sword, which would wound and lay prostrate the strongest.

We now perceive the meaning of the words, and see also the reason why the Prophet made this addition, even because the Jews were filled with terror on seeing themselves surrounded on every side by violent and strong enemies, to whom they were very unequal in strength. Now, these similitudes we know occur elsewhere in Scripture, and their meaning seems to be this — that the Jews would be the conquerors of all nations, not by their own prowess, as they say, but because the Lord would guide and direct them by his own hand. For what is a bow except it be bent? and the bow itself is useless, except the arrow be discharged. The Prophet then teaches us, that though the Jews could do nothing of themselves, yet there was strength enough in God’s hand alone.

I have bent for me, he says, Judah as a bow. The Lord reminds the Jews of his own power, that they might not regard their own strength, but acknowledge that they were made strong from above, and that strength to overcome their enemies would be given them. Hence he compares Ephraim to a quiver. But we have seen yesterday, that Judah and Ephraim are to be taken as the same; for as it had been a divided body, God intimates here, that when the Jews became again united and joined together, and when the ten tribes showed brotherly kindness towards the kingdom of Judah, then the people would be to him like a bow well furnished, being fully supplied with arrows. ¹¹¹¹¹¹ Kimchi says that a remnant of the ten tribes were among the Jews who returned from Babylon, being those who had been left in the land by Shalmanezer, as it appears from 2 Chronicles 34:6,9,33; 35:17. “These went,” he says, “into captivity with the tribe of Judah and of Benjamin to Babylon, and returned with them when they returned.” Abarbanel gives the same opinion, and also Cyril and Bochart. The latter informs their return from Ezra 6:17; 8:35.
This prophecy is viewed by Henderson as having been fulfilled in the wars of the Maccabees. See 1 Maccabees 1:62; 2:41-43; 3:33. This was also the view of Theodoret, Jerome, Grotius, and Marckius. Newcome thought that “the language of this prophecy is too strong for these events, and may remain to be fulfilled against the present possessors of the countries called Javan, which were Greec, Macedonia and part of Asia Minor.” With this view Adam Clarke concurs, though Scott demurs. But there seems to be nothing here, and especially in the following verses, that does not well comport with the wars of the Maccabees. — Ed.

He afterwards adds, I will rouse thy sons, O Sion, against thy sons, O Javan. This apostrophe is more emphatical than if the third person had been adopted; for by addressing first Sion, and then Greece, he shows that he possesses power over all nations, so that he raises up the one and casts down the other, as he pleases.

As to the word יון, Ivan, we have elsewhere seen that it is to be taken for Greece, and now for all the countries beyond sea. Yet many think that the word Jonah is derived from this Hebrew word, and, as it often happens, is corruptly pronounced. But we may gather from many instances that יון, Ivan, is put for Greece, or for distant countries, and specifically for Macedonia. It is then the same as though he had said — That the Jews would be superior to all heathen nations, even were they to unite together and bring vast forces from distant lands. For the Greeks could not have waged war in Judea with a small force; they must have brought with them large armies, to fight in a strange country and unknown to them. Nor could the Jews have attacked the Grecians or other remote nations, except they were favored with aid from heaven. For this reason also he adds, that they would be like a sword, by which a strong man can destroy others of less power. Let us now go on —

¹¹¹ Kimchi says that a remnant of the ten tribes were among the Jews who returned from Babylon, being those who had been left in the land by Shalmanezer, as it appears from 2 Chronicles 34:6,9,33; 35:17. “These went,” he says, “into captivity with the tribe of Judah and of Benjamin to Babylon, and returned with them when they returned.” Abarbanel gives the same opinion, and also Cyril and Bochart. The latter informs their return from Ezra 6:17; 8:35. This prophecy is viewed by Henderson as having been fulfilled in the wars of the Maccabees. See 1 Maccabees 1:62; 2:41-43; 3:33. This was also the view of Theodoret, Jerome, Grotius, and Marckius. Newcome thought that “the language of this prophecy is too strong for these events, and may remain to be fulfilled against the present possessors of the countries called Javan, which were Greec, Macedonia and part of Asia Minor.” With this view Adam Clarke concurs, though Scott demurs. But there seems to be nothing here, and especially in the following verses, that does not well comport with the wars of the Maccabees. — Ed.