Глава 14

1–5. The last attack of the pagans on Jerusalem, the appearance of the Lord and the granting of a miraculous means of salvation to those remaining after the defeat of the city. 6–11. A change in the order of world life and the reign of the Lord over the whole earth; the significance of Jerusalem as a central point, elevating it above the entire surrounding area. 12–19. The final defeat of the nations who fought against Jerusalem; the conversion of the pagans and the punishment of those who remain stubborn in unbelief. 20–21. The time of universal sanctification has arrived. Zechariah 14:1 Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, and your spoils will be divided among you. Zechariah 14:2 And I will gather all the nations to war against Jerusalem, and the city will be taken, and the houses will be plundered, and the women will be dishonored, and half the city will go into captivity; but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. In ch. XIV, in the first verses, the thoughts of Zechariah 14:7–9 of the previous chapter are developed in more detail. The day will come for the discovery of the power and Justice of God and for the final test of the remaining third part of the Jews, when Jerusalem will become the prey of enemies in front of the defeated ones who dispose of their property. All nations will gather to fight against Jerusalem; the captured city will be plundered, the women will be dishonored, and the whole half of the population will be taken captive; however, the extermination will not be general and final: some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will survive. Zechariah 14:3 Then the Lord will come out and fight against these nations, as he fought in the day of battle. Zechariah 14:4 And His feet will stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will split in two from east to west into a very large valley, and half of the mountain will go to the north, and half of it to the south. Zechariah 14:5 And ye shall flee into the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall extend unto Asil; and ye shall flee, as ye fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah; and the Lord my God will come and all the saints with Him. Then the Lord, the defender of His people, will come out against their enemies and fight with them Himself, as He did repeatedly, miraculously defeating those who rebelled against Israel. In addition, the inhabitants of Jerusalem will be given the opportunity to escape through escape. The Lord will stand on the Mount of Olives, located east of Jerusalem; the mountain will bifurcate (according to Theodoret p. 122 the mountain will be divided into four parts) in the direction from east to west, so that those seeking salvation, along the valley formed between the two halves of the mountain, will easily escape from the enemies fighting against Jerusalem. Asiya (Synod.), or Atsal (Viennese) - a village in the east of the Mount of Olives; but some understand el' azal in the sense of “near”, “about” (Cir. 206, Jer. 170, Keil 649–650, Kohl. Sach. 9–14, Ss. 255–257). – The flight in its haste will resemble the well-known fact of flight from the earthquake that occurred during the reign of Uzziah (Am.1:1; Alliati II, 1094, 2). With this miraculous protection of the people of God from their enemies, the Lord will appear surrounded by angelic forces. Zechariah 14:6 And it will happen in that day: there will be no light, the luminaries will be removed. Zechariah 14:7 This day will be the only one known only to the Lord: neither day nor night; Only in the evening will light appear. Then there will be a change in the order of world life: the difference between day and night will disappear, the luminaries will cease to give their light; or - the order of the usual cycle of day and night will completely change; there will be no light during the day, but it will appear in the evening (Keil 651). Marti explains jom 'eshadh (lit. "one day") in the sense of a day without night, so that there will be light in the evening (S. 452). The end of Zechariah 14 is given a completely different meaning by translators and interpreters. Russian translation. Synod. and Viennese, made from Hebrew, allowing for different readings and production of the last two words of Zechariah 14:6, render them in Russian - the first: “the luminaries will depart” (jadar - dear, magnificent; pl. jedaroth; according to Rouzh. 244. - jewels of the sky - luminaries. Passive f. dapha - to shrink, thicken, contract, see Keil 650–651, Reinke 294–297, Ges. WB.), second: there will be cold and thickening of the air (jegaroth is read as vegaroth or vegaruth - “and cold”; vm. Kethibh jegippáon – Oerë (ve) gippáon - (“and ice, frost”). LXX read: ψύχη (sing. ψῦχος - cold, cold) και παγος (ice, - in the classical language this meaning πάγος has in (plural) Slav.: “winter and scum". The Fathers read the end of Zech. 14 according to the text of LXX, but interpret Zech. 14:6–7 differently. Blazh. Theodoret understands them in the sense of a prophecy about the circumstances of the Savior's death on the cross (p. 123). In Jerome, cold and cold are interpreted in a literal sense (in relation to the time when “light and darkness, night and day will no longer replace each other”) and in a figurative sense – in relation to the loss of fiery faith and the cooling of love before the second coming of the Savior (p. 173). According to St. Kirill, the prophet “winter and frost means night... at the time when He (Christ the Judge), coming from heaven, will transform everything and change for the better, like the Creator, then there will be no night, no daylight” (p. 210). St. Ephraim the Syrian interprets this as follows: “all this depicts the fragile and changeable position of the Jews during the time of the Maccabees, which we mentioned above. But an attentive and intelligent researcher will see in this prophecy that it precisely and clearly refers to the day of the Lord’s suffering...” (p. 262). Zechariah 14:8 And it shall come to pass in that day, that living waters shall flow out of Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea, and half of them to the western sea: in summer and in winter so shall it be. From Jerusalem a wonderful source of life-giving water will flow to the east (to the Dead Sea) and to the west (to the Mediterranean Sea); this source will provide water for a whole year (usually the springs of hot Palestine dry up in the summer). Zechariah 14:9 And the Lord will be King over all the earth; On that day the Lord will be one, and His name will be one. Then the Lord will reign over the whole earth, everyone will honor the one Lord. Zechariah 14:10 All this land will be like a plain, from Gibeon to Remmon, to the south of Jerusalem, which will stand high in its place and be peopled from the gate of Benjamin to the place of the first gate, to the corner gate, and from the tower of Hanameel to the king's winepresses. Zechariah 14:11 And they will dwell in it, and there will be no more curse, but Jerusalem will stand secure. Jerusalem, as the dwelling place of God, will receive special significance and become the central elevated point for the entire country, which will turn into a plain; the holy city will rise above the entire surrounding area, remaining in its place, within certain boundaries; then the time will come for complete safety and there will be no more extermination. Zechariah 14:14 But Judah himself will fight against Jerusalem, and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected: gold, silver and clothing in great abundance. Zechariah 14:15 There will be the same destruction of the horses, and the mules, and the camels, and the donkeys, and all the livestock that is in their camps. St. Cyril, explaining Zech. 14:13–14 as applied to the times of the Messiah, meaning here those who believed in Christ and the enemies of the Church of Christ, notes: “having taken up arms in Jerusalem, that is, they will defeat their enemies and overpower their opponents” (p. 220). Blazh. Jerome, translating from Hebrew: “and Judas will fight against Jerusalem,” also reads LXX: “and Judas will prepare in Jerusalem” - και Ιούδας παρατάξεται ἐν Ιερουσαλήμ; παρατάσσω (in the middle z. - to stand, line up, esp. - in a battle line, prepare for battle, fight), which proposes to be understood in two ways: either in the sense that Judas once confessed the name of the Lord, but, prompted during persecution, persecuted the people of Christ...; or in the sense that Judah, that is, everyone who believes and hopes, will not fight against Jerusalem, but will prepare in Jerusalem to fight against enemies (pp. 183–184). Interpretation in this latter sense is more appropriate to the context. The sequence of thoughts in Zechariah 14:12–14 is as follows: the pagans will be miraculously punished by God even before death with the beginning of decomposition of the body, the final weakening of physical strength; such confusion will occur in the camp of the attackers that they will hit each other; Judas, therefore, can only complete the defeat and capture rich booty. – If previously the pagans divided the spoils taken from the inhabitants of Jerusalem, now, on the contrary, enormous wealth will be taken from all the surrounding nations as war booty. The defeat of the pagans will be complete, their well-being will be dealt a final blow; In enemy camps, all animals will be exterminated - fighting, pack and troops necessary for food. Zechariah 14:16 Then all the rest of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will come year after year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. But just as after the destruction of the sheep that disobeyed the Shepherd, a remnant remains in Israel, tested later and purified in order to truly become the people of God; Thus, the pagans from all nations who remained from the described disasters and, obviously, changed their way of thinking, will become worshipers of the true God, Whom they recognize as King and Lord. Every year they will come to Jerusalem to worship Him and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles; this holiday was of particular significance for Israel, as a grateful memory of how the Lord miraculously nourished and protected His people during their wanderings in the desert, after which he brought them into a land abounding in all good things; the same holiday also had the meaning of an annual thanksgiving service to God at the end of the harvest, which is fully consistent with the context of the speech in this place. Zechariah 14:20 At that time, even on the horse harnesses will be inscribed: “Holiness to the Lord,” and the cauldrons in the house of the Lord will be like sacrificial bowls before the altar. Zechariah 14:21 And all the pots in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the LORD of hosts, and all who sacrifice will come and take them and boil them in them, and there will be no more Canaanites in the house of the LORD of hosts in that day. In conclusion, the prophet briefly depicts the time when the distinction between the sacred and the unholy will disappear, when the time of universal sanctification and the complete destruction of all unclean things will come. Then on objects such as horse harnesses, it will be possible to inscribe the same as on the high priest's bandage: holiness to the Lord (Ex. 28:36). The cauldrons at the house of the Lord, in which the sacrificial meat was boiled, will be no less sacred than the sacrificial bowls before the altar; and not only the church vessels, which had different purposes and varying degrees of holiness, will no longer be distinguished, but in general all household utensils in Jerusalem and throughout Judea will become sacred, and it will be permissible to use them in the performance of sacred rites. Thus Zechariah 14:20-21 depicts the abolition of the Levitical ministry, which is all based on the distinction between the sacred and the unholy. The Prophet Zechariah depicts here the time when the exact prescriptions of the Law of Moses about the sacred and the unholy and about the various degrees of holiness assigned to objects of church utensils will lose their meaning; when the time comes for general sanctification (Rouge., Keil. 656–657). At the same time, access to the house of the Lord will be blocked for those who persist in paganism or believe only in words, but in essence do not differ from the Canaanites. According to St. Cyril, “there will be no Canaanite, that is, a foreigner and an idolater” (p. 232); according to Theodoret, “the one who thinks in the Canaanite way will not live in wickedness or act lawlessly” (p. 127). – The first half of Zechariah 14:20 St. Ephraim the Syrian briefly explains this: “there will be not war and irritation, but holiness and peace” and compares this prophecy with Is. 2:4 (p. 264, cf. Cyrus 227). The newest Western commentators also adhere to this understanding. As Wellhausen put it, “horses are a source of annoyance to the prophets” (op. cit. p. 203), but the time will come when they will no longer serve military purposes, but will be dedicated to the service of God (Marti 455). – Some of the fathers attribute the fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah 14:20 to a certain historical fact from the life of Constantine the Great. Gregory of Tours, reporting the fate of the nails found by St. Helena at the cross of the Savior, speaks regarding those two that were used to make the bridle of the imperial horse: “it is not unknown that the prophet Zechariah predicted about them, saying: that which is put into the mouth of a horse will be holy to the Lord (Erit, quod in os equi ponitur. Sanctum Domini, - S. Georgii Florentii Gregorii Turoneusis episcopi opera omnia, ed. Migne, Patrol. 1. LXXI. Paris, lib. I, col. 710; see reference to other fathers). And according to the interpretation of St. Cyril, “there is nothing... there is nothing incongruous if... the prophet Zechariah mentions a memorable event, and about a God-loving, true and pious king, and about times dedicated to love for Christ; for the decoration of the royal horses with a nail taken from the venerable Cross, what else can point us to if not the greatest and truly most glorious piety of the rulers?” (from 228). Blazh. Jerome, on the contrary, although he attributes such an interpretation of the prophecy to the influence of a pious feeling, calls it ridiculous, leaving “the reader’s prudence to accept or not accept” it (p. 193, cf. Luth. 360). You might be interested in: