Zechariah 14
The Lord Will Be King over All The Earth
There are as many interpretations of this chapter as there are scholars who have written about it. What is completely clear, however, is that God will bring His kingdom to earth and will receive worship from all its inhabitants.
Figurative Interpretation
Martin Luther himself wanted to approach the fourteenth chapter of Zechariah in a figurative way. He wanted to approach it as symbol language. And taking a figurative approach, he confessed after writing this particular chapter in commentary fashion these words, “In this chapter,” said Luther, “I surrender. For I am not certain of what the prophet speaks.” In other words, approaching it from a figurative or symbolic angle, Luther could make really no convincing sense out of it. He went on in expounding the chapter but didn’t think it could have any reference to the end times and related it only to the period of the destruction of Jerusalem and all of the language was somehow symbolically fulfilled around 70 A.D. - John MacArthur on Martin Luther’s interpretation of Zechariah 14
Literal Interpretation
Near Fulfillment
Many problems arise for commentators because of their insistence of applying these images to future events that have not occurred yet. Most consider the images found here to be things that will happen at or just before the second coming of Christ.
Premillennialists suggest that these first two verses prove that there will be a Jewish nation centered around Jerusalem in the end times. But why look to the future when we can see that these words were fulfilled in 70 A.D.? - Brent Kercheville
Far Fulfillment
In the final section of his book, Zechariah outlines briefly the worldwide triumph of the Messiah. - Don Fleming
Zechariah seems to have the very end times in view, when Jerusalem will be surrounded and attacked by some type of international force. When the Romans came against Jerusalem in A.D. 70 they came with a multinational army and brought terrible destruction on the city and its people. Yet there was none of the deliverance that Zechariah will describe in the following verses, so it is difficult to say that this was fulfilled in the Roman attack upon Jerusalem in A.D. 70. - David Guzik
The Day of The Lord
Vs. 1 - Look, a day belonging to the Lord is coming
Zechariah used “On that day,” or a similar phrase, 8 more times in this final section. This “day” represented a future time of judgment and justice and was the primary focus of his body of prophecy. Though the “when” is not clear, the “what” will be the realization of God’s kingdom on earth.
The day of the Lord in prophetic literature designates any time when Yahweh steps into the arena of human events to affect his purposes. - McComiskey
I Will Gather All The Nations
Vs. 2 - I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem for battle.
This prophecy began with a description of Israel's devastation and God’s defense.
The City Will Be Taken
Vs. 2 - The city will be captured, the houses looted, and the women raped. Half the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be removed from the city.
Some commentators believe this section describes the siege of Jerusalem in AD 70 while others view it as a future battle just before the second advent of Christ.
The Lord Will Fight
Vs. 3 - Then the Lord will go out to fight against those nations, as he has fought in times past.
Plague And Panic
Vs. 12 - This will be the plague with which the Lord strikes all the people who have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.
Vs. 13 - On that day they will be terrified, stricken by the Lord with great panic.
Though God Himself gathered the nations to war (2), He will also “go out to fight against those nations” (3) to defend His people and to establish His kingdom.
The Mount of Olives Will Split
Vs. 4 - On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. The Mount of Olives will be split in half from east to west, forming a huge valley, so that half the mountain will move to the north and half to the south.
Interpretations of this division of the Mount of Olives are as varied as the scholars. Some view the language as entirely figurative, describing a great spiritual deliverance, while others look for a literal fulfillment similar to the parting of the Red Sea in Exodus.
Suddenly God acts in supernatural judgment. As he once divided the Red Sea to give his people a way of escape from the Egyptians, so he divides the mountains east of Jerusalem to give his people a way of escape from the enemy-occupied city. - Don Fleming
The Lord Will Be King
Twilight
Vs. 6-7 - On that day there will be no light; the sunlight and moonlight will diminish. It will be a unique day known only to the Lord, without day or night, but there will be light at evening.
Very few commentators write with certainty about this day of twilight.
Life-Giving Waters
Vs. 8 - On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem
Those with a figurative eschatology note other instances in scripture where the phrase “living water” is used to represent spiritual satisfaction or God’s Holy Spirit.
Jeremiah 2:13 - For my people have committed a double evil: They have abandoned me, the fountain of living water
Jeremiah 17:13 - They have abandoned the Lord, the fountain of living water.
John 4:10 - Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would ask him, and he would give you living water.”
John 7:38-39 - The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.” He said this about the Spirit.
Jerusalem Will Be Safe
Vs. 11 - People will live there, and never again will there be a curse of complete destruction. So Jerusalem will dwell in security.
This promise of safety for Israel is one reason that some commentators choose a far-fulfillment interpretation of this passage. This level of security only seems achievable under a theocracy.
Universal Worship
Vs. 16 - Then all the survivors from the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of Armies
On that day, all people in all places will acknowledge God’s authority and worship Him as King.
Festival of Booths
Vs. 16 - to celebrate the Festival of Shelters
The feast of Booths (or Tabernacles, Ingathering) commemorated the Lord’s provision of agricultural bounty and the Israelites’ redemption from Egyptian slavery. Strangers were welcome to participate in it in Israel’s past history. It also anticipated entrance into the Promised Land and kingdom blessings (Leviticus 23:34-43).
The Apostle Peter evidently concluded that the messianic kingdom had begun when he saw Jesus transfigured (Luke 9:33). He suggested that the disciples make three booths for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. This indicates that the Jews in Jesus’ day associated the feast of Booths with the beginning of Messiah’s kingdom, the same connection that Zechariah made here.
The feast of Booths was the last of the three most important feasts on Israel’s calendar, so it would be an appropriate one for these Gentiles to celebrate in Jerusalem yearly. - Thomas Constable
Bells and Pots
Vs. 21 - Every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to the Lord of Armies.
No longer is there a difference between sacred and non-sacred articles. Everything is holy and fit for the service of God, even household pots and pans and bells on the necks of horses. Since all things are holy, traders are no longer needed in the temple to exchange non-sacred for sacred goods. True holiness will at last be established in the world. - Don Fleming
Canaanites
Vs. 21 - there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord of Armies.
The Canaanites throughout Israel’s history represented people who were morally and spiritually unclean, reprehensible to Yahweh, and doomed to death (Genesis 9:25; Isaiah 35:8; Ezekiel 43:7; Ezekiel 44:9; Revelation 21:27). Probably that is the significance of the name here, not just the ethnic Canaanites alone. There would be no more people like the Canaanites in the land because all would acknowledge Him as God and King. - Thomas Constable
