Zechariah 14:21 Komentár

Divers things were foretold, in the two foregoing chapters, which should come to pass "in that day;" this chapter speaks of a "day of the Lord that cometh," a day of his judgment, and ten times in the foregoing chapters, and seven times in this, it is repeated, "in that day;" but what that day is that is here meant is uncertain, and perhaps will be so (as the Jews speak) till Elias comes; whether it refer to the whole period of time from the prophet's days to the days of the Messiah, or to some particular events in that time, or to Christ's coming, and the setting up of his kingdom upon the ruins of the Jewish polity, we cannot determine, but divers passages here seem to look as far forward as gospel-times. Now the "day of the Lord" brings with it both judgment and mercy, mercy to his church, judgment to her enemies and persecutors. I. The gates of hell are here threatening the church (Zac 14:1, Zac 14:2) and yet not prevailing. II. The power of Heaven appears here for the church and against the enemies of it (Zac 14:3, Zac 14:5). III. The events concerning the church are here represented as mixed (Zac 14:6, Zac 14:7), but issuing well at last. IV. The spreading of the means of knowledge is here foretold, and the setting up of the gospel-kingdom in the world (Zac 14:8, Zac 14:9), which shall be the enlargement and establishment of another Jerusalem (Zac 14:10, Zac 14:11). V. Those shall be reckoned with that fought against Jerusalem (Zac 14:12-15) and those that neglect his worship there (Zac 14:17-19). VI. It is promised that there shall be great resort to the church, and great purity and piety in it (Zac 14:16, Zac 14:20, Zac 14:21).

INTRODUCTION TO ZECHARIAH 14 This chapter treats of the coming of Christ with all his saints, and his personal appearance among them; and of the signs of the times before that; and of what shall befall the enemies of the church, both open and secret; and of the happy state and condition of the church itself. First there will be a time of great affliction to the people of God, Zac 14:1, when the Lord will appear and fight for them, and will appear to them, and with them, Zac 14:3 but before this time it will be an uncommon season, neither day nor night; at the close of which, light will break forth, Zac 14:6 the Gospel will be spread far and near, attended with the Spirit and grace of God in great plenty, Zac 14:8 which will bring on the spiritual reign of Christ over all the earth, Zac 14:9 particularly the land of Judea, and the city of Jerusalem, shall be inhabited by men with safety, Zac 14:10 and all those that oppose and fight against the Lord's people shall be destroyed, partly by an immediate plague from the Lord upon them, and partly by the hands of one another, and also by the saints of the most High; and the plague shall not only be upon their persons, but upon their cattle likewise, Zac 14:12 and as for those that profess the Christian name, and yet neglect or refuse to worship the Lord in a spiritual and evangelical manner, there shall be no rain upon them, Zac 14:17 and as for the church and people of God, there shall be universal holiness among them, and not a single Canaanite to be found in the midst of them, Zac 14:20.

Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts,.... Such will be the number of sacrifices and sacrificers, that the pots in the Lord's house will not be sufficient; wherefore every pot, in city or country, shall be sanctified and devoted to holy uses: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein; this denotes, as before, the general holiness of the professors of religion in those times; and that there will be no difference in the vessels of the Lord's house, or any distinction of Jew and Gentile; but they will be all spiritual worshippers, and offer up the spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise to the Lord: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts; the Targum paraphrases it, "there shall be no more a merchant in the house of the sanctuary of the Lord;'' in the temple, where were buyers and sellers of sheep, oxen, and doves, for sacrifice, such as our Lord drove out; but now there shall be no more of them, all legal sacrifices being at an end. The word here used does signify a merchant, and is so rendered in Hos 12:7 and by some here (m); and the Jews (n) have a saying, that "there are no Canaanites but merchants;'' or the word always so signifies, referring to the above places, and having quoted Job 41:6 but it is to be applied to another sort of merchants; to false teachers, that make merchandise of the souls of men; to all merit mongers and Papists; and particularly to the great merchant of all, the pope of Rome, and to all inferior merchants under him, who sell pardons, indulgences, &c. and are called the merchants of the earth, Rev 18:3 these are the Heathen that shall perish out of the land, and the sinners that shall be no more; antichrist shall no longer sit in the temple of God, showing himself to be God; nor will there be any, in the spiritual reign of Christ, that will buy Rome's merchandise any more. Moreover, a Canaanite may design an impure person, a hypocrite; and though there have been many such in the church of God in all ages, yet at this time there will be few or none, comparatively speaking; and in the personal reign of Christ there will be no wicked men at all: in the new heavens and new earth will dwell righteousness, or only righteous persons; all the wicked of the earth will be destroyed before this state takes place; only raised ones, the saints that partake of the first resurrection, will be there; they will be all holy and righteous persons; nothing shall enter into it that defiles or makes an abomination or a lie, only those that do the commandments of God; nor will there be any manner of sin or wickedness there: sin, like the Canaanites of old, continues in the saints as long as they are in the present state; and though it has not the dominion over them, yet is as grievous pricks and thorns unto them, and is left in them to prove them; but in this happy state there will be no more sin, no more this pricking brier and grieving thorn. That the word Canaanite is here to be taken in a figurative sense is certain; for, literally understood, there is no such person in the world now, nor has been for many hundreds of years, even an inhabitant of Canaan, or one so called. (m) "mercator", V. L. Montanus, Vatablus, Grotius, Burkius. (n) T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 75. 1. Next: Malachi Introduction

And the cooking pots in the house of the Lord shall be as holy as the bowls in front of the altar; and every cooking pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be sacred to the Lord of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and use them to boil the flesh of the sacrifice. In that veneration the holy service of the house of the Lord will come, so that the common cooking pots may be revered by any foreigner, notwithstanding the fact that you Jews used to revere the bowls in front of the altar inside the closure of the house of the Lord. And not only will there be this honor for the cooking pots of the house of the Lord and of Jerusalem, but any cooking pot in the sanctuary as well as in the holy city and in the whole Jerusalem will be sanctified to the Lord, so that both the Jews and Gentiles will revere it as a thing consecrated to the Lord. The mystical meaning of this prophecy predicts two things: the honor to be given to the law of salvation proceeding from Judea and the conversion of the Jews and the Gentiles, whom the baptism of Christ received as cooking pots of flesh and turned into bowls full of perfumes.

(Verse 21.) And all the sacrificers shall come, and they shall take from them, and they shall cook in them: and there shall be no more a merchant in the house of the Lord of hosts in that day. LXX: And all who sacrifice shall come and take from them, and they shall cook in them, and there shall be no more a Canaanite in the house of the Lord Almighty in that day. For the Canaanite, Aquila interpreted it as a merchant, whom we also have followed in this place. When the pots have been turned into bowls, all the nations shall come around, whether those who have been left of all the nations sacrificing, and they shall take the bowls and cook in them the flesh of the victims, so that they do not eat the raw flesh of the lamb, but with all the moisture of the flesh cooked away by fire, what has been prepared by the fire remains to be consumed. Which are the vessels before the altar of the Lord, in which the Israelite dishes are converted, as we have said above, and now we will say in part. The bride praises her bridegroom in the Song of Songs: His cheeks are like containers of spices (Song of Songs 5). In the cheeks, the word is received, which, coming forth from the Lord, produces various ointments, and the fragrance of such a good odor will be so great that the Lord will make for himself a whip out of testimonies from the texts of the Scriptures, and he will drive out those who are buying and selling from the temple, and he will say to them: It is written, My Father's house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations, but you have made it a den of thieves (Matthew 21:13). Someone says that which is written in Daniel, although it is not read in Hebrew: 'The seed of Canaan, and not of Judah' (Dan. XIII, 56); and what is said by the prophet Hosea about Ephraim: 'Ephraim has become a partner with idols; he has set up stumbling blocks for himself, and has provoked the Canaanites to fornicate; they have committed fornication' (Hosea IV, 17-18). They apply this passage to the current situation and want every fornicator to be called a Canaanite and a foreigner, who they claim should be removed from the house of God.

The commencement of this chapter relates to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and to the calamities consequent on that event. From this great Jewish tragedy the prophet immediately passes to the utter extermination of the enemies of Christianity in the latter days. God will display his power in behalf of his people in a manner so astonishing and miraculous, that even they themselves, and much more their enemies, shall be struck with terror, Zac 14:4, Zac 14:5. The national prosperity of the Jews shall then be permanent and unmixed, Zac 14:6, Zac 14:7; and these people shall be made the instruments of converting many to the faith of the Messiah, Zac 14:8, Zac 14:9. The great increase and prosperity of the Christian Church, the New Jerusalem, is then described in terms accommodated to Jewish ideas; and the most signal vengeance denounced against all her enemies, Zac 14:10-19. From that happy period God's name will be honored in every thing, and his worship every where most reverently observe, Zac 14:20, Zac 14:21.

Yea, every pot in Jerusalem - "The utensils of the Jews shall be treated as holy, and the worshippers shall use them reverently. The idea of preparing food in them (they that - seethe therein) is taken from the custom of feasting after sacrifice. And no trafficker (see Eze 18:4) shall pollute the house of God, as was the custom when our blessed Lord cleansed the temple." - See Newcome. This is what is called the Canaanite in the house of God. The Canaanite is the merchant; and where such are tolerated in a place dedicated to Divine worship, that is not the house of the Lord of hosts. In churches and chapels, collections may be made for the simple purpose of supporting and extending the worship of Jehovah; but for no other purpose, especially on the Lord's day. Amen.

LAST STRUGGLE WITH THE HOSTILE WORLD POWERS: MESSIAH-JEHOVAH SAVES JERUSALEM AND DESTROYS THE FOE, OF WHOM THE REMNANT TURNS TO THE LORD REIGNING AT JERUSALEM. (Zec. 14:1-21) day of the Lord--in which He shall vindicate His justice by punishing the wicked and then saving His elect people (Joe 2:31; Joe 3:14; Mal 4:1, Mal 4:5). thy spoil . . . divided in the midst of thee--by the foe; secure of victory, they shall not divide the spoil taken from thee in their camp outside, but "in the midst" of the city itself.

every pot--even in private houses, as in the temple, shall be deemed holy, so universal shall be the consecration of all things and persons to Jehovah. take of them--as readily as they would take of the pots of the temple itself, whatever number they wanted for sacrifice. no . . . Canaanite--no unclean or ungodly person (Isa 35:8; Isa 52:1; Joe 3:17). Compare as to the final state subsequent to the millennium, Rev 21:27; Rev 22:15. MAURER not so well translates "merchant" here, as in Pro 31:24. If a man would have the beginnings of heaven, it must be by absolute consecration of everything to God on earth. Let his life be a liturgy, a holy service of acted worship [MOORE]. Next: Malachi Introduction