{"commentary":{"id":"adam-clarke","name":"Adam Clarke Bible Commentary","website":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Clarke","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/","licenseNotes":null,"licenseNotice":null,"englishName":"Adam Clarke Bible Commentary","language":"eng","textDirection":"rtl","sha256":"92e28c9363c876d215e296f2fe04abb3ab7e34a2aacebdf06bd62ae79c6e3dba","availableFormats":["json"],"listOfBooksApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/books.json","listOfProfilesApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/profiles.json","numberOfBooks":57,"totalNumberOfChapters":854,"totalNumberOfVerses":13318,"totalNumberOfProfiles":0,"languageName":"English","languageEnglishName":"English"},"book":{"id":"ZEC","commentaryId":"adam-clarke","name":"Zechariah","commonName":"Zechariah","introduction":"Introduction to the Book of the Prophet Zechariah Zechariah, the eleventh of the twelve minor prophets, was son of Berechiah, and grandson of Iddo. He returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel: and began to prophesy in the second year of the reign of Darius, son of Hystaspes, in the year of the world 3484; before Christ, 516; before the vulgar era, 520; in the eighth month of the holy year; and two months after Haggai had begun to prophesy. These two prophets, with united zeal, encouraged at the same time the people to go on with the work of the temple, which had been discontinued for some years. The time and place of the birth of Zechariah are unknown. Some will have him to have been born at Babylon, during the captivity; others think he was born at Jerusalem, before the tribes of Judah and Benjamin were carried away. Some maintain that he was a priest; but others affirm that he was no priest. Many say he was the immediate son of Iddo; others believe, with much more reason, that he was son of Berechiah, and grandson of Iddo. He has been confounded with one Zechariah, the son of Barachiah, who lived in the time of Isaiah; and with Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist; which opinion is plainly incongruous. Lastly, he has been thought to be Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom our Savior mentions, and says he was killed between the temple and the altar; though no such thing is anywhere said of our prophet. A tomb is shown to this day at the foot of the Mount of Olives, which, it is pretended, belongs to the prophet Zechariah. Dorotheus maintains that he was buried in a place called Bethariah, one hundred and fifty furlongs from Jerusalem. Zechariah is the longest and the most obscure of all the twelve minor prophets. His style is interrupted, and without connection. His prophecies concerning the Messiah are more particular and express than those of the other prophets. Some modern critics, as Mede and Hammond, have been of opinion that the ninth, tenth, and eleventh chapters of this prophet were written by Jeremiah; because in Matthew, Mat 27:9, Mat 27:10, under the name of Jeremiah, we find quoted Zechariah; (Zac 11:12); and as the aforesaid chapters make but one continued discourse, they concluded from thence that all three belonged to Jeremiah. But it is much more natural to suppose that, by some unlucky mistake, the name of Jeremiah has slipped into the text of St. Matthew instead of that of Zechariah. The prophet Zechariah exactly foretold the siege of Babylon by Darius, son of Hystaspes. This prince laid siege to that rebellious city at the beginning of the fifth year of his reign, and reduced it at the end of twenty months. The prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah had foretold this calamity, and had admonished the Jews, that inhabited there to make their escape when they perceived the time draw nigh. Isaiah says to them, \"Go ye forth to Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans; with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, The Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob.\" And Jeremiah says, \"Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he-goats before the flocks.\" And elsewhere, \"Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul; be not cut off in her iniquity: for this is the time of the Lord's vengeance, He will render unto her a recompense.\" Lastly, Zechariah, a little before the time of her fall, writes thus to the Jews that were still in this city: \"Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north, saith the Lord; for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of heaven, saith the Lord. Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon. For thus saith the Lord of hosts, after the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you, for he that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of his eye. For, behold, I will shake mine hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants; and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me.\" It is probable that the Jews took advantage of these admonitions, and returned from Babylon into their country; or, at least, withdrew into a place of more security till the city was taken. We do not hear, either from the history or the prophecies, that they suffered any thing by this siege, or that Darius, son of Hystaspes, bore them any grudge for the revolt of Babylon; which seems to indicate that they had no part in it. The Mohammedans do not distinguish between the prophet Zechariah, and Zachariah the father of John the Baptist. Some of them make him to be descended from David; and others, from Levi. By an anachronism that is still more insupportable, these confound Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, with Mary or Miriam, the sister of Moses, which they derive even from the Koran itself. The author of Tarik Montekhib relates that, when Jesus Christ was born of the virgin the prophet Zechariah could not believe that a child could be born without a father; and that, declaring his sentiments upon this point, the Jews entertained a suspicion of him, and obliged him to betake himself to flight. He withdrew; and hid himself in a hollow oak, which the Jews sawed in two. Such is the ignorance of the Mussulmans as regards the history both of the Old and New Testaments.","order":38,"numberOfChapters":14,"sha256":"1c4c0bf9eb07d1a36c727d028a8bfa4dc44e5d656143dd4e94f0334c6555b372","firstChapterNumber":1,"firstChapterApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/ZEC/1.json","firstChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"adam-clarke","book":"ZEC","chapter":1},"lastChapterNumber":14,"lastChapterApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/ZEC/14.json","lastChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"adam-clarke","book":"ZEC","chapter":14},"totalNumberOfVerses":179},"chapter":{"number":11,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":1,"content":["Open thy doors, O Lebanon - I will give Mr. Joseph Mede's note upon this verse: - \n\"That which moveth me more than the rest, is in chap. 11, which contains a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, and a description of the wickedness of the inhabitants, for which God would give them to the sword, and have no more pity upon them. It is expounded of the destruction by Titus; but methinks such a prophecy was nothing seasonable for Zachary's time, (when the city yet for a great part lay in her ruins, and the temple had not yet recovered hers), nor agreeable to the scope. Zachary's commission, who, together with his colleague Haggai, was sent to encourage the people, lately returned from captivity, to build their temple, and to instaurate their commonwealth. Was this a fit time to foretell the destruction of both, while they were yet but a-building? And by Zachary too, who was to encourage them? Would not this better befit the desolation by Nebuchadnezzar?\" I really think so. See Mr. J. Mede's 61. Epistle.\nLebanon signifies the temple, because built of materials principally brought from that place. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":2,"content":["Howl, fir tree - This seems to point out the fall and destruction of all the mighty men. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":3,"content":["Young lions - Princes and rulers. By shepherds, kings or priests may be intended. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":4,"content":["Feed the flock of the slaughter - This people resemble a flock of sheep fattened for the shambles; feed, instruct, this people who are about to be slaughtered. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":5,"content":["Whose possessors - Governors and false prophets, slay them, by leading them to those things that will bring them to destruction.\nAnd they that sell them - Give them up to idolatry; and bless God, strange to tell, that they get secular advantage by the establishment of this false religion. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":6,"content":["For I will no more pity - I have determined to deliver them into the hands of the Chaldeans. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":7,"content":["And I wilt feed the flock of slaughter - I showed them what God had revealed to me relative to the evils coming upon the land; and I did this the more especially for the sake of the poor of the flock.\nTwo staves - Two shepherd's crooks. One I called Beauty - that probably by which they marked the sheep; dipping the end into vermillion, or some red liquid. And this was done when they were to mark every tenth sheep, as it came out of the field, when the tithe was to be set apart for the Lord.\nThe other I called Bands - Probably that with the hook or crook at the head of it, by which the shepherd was wont to catch the sheep by the horns or legs when he wished to bring any to hand.\nAnd I fed the flock - These two rods show the beauty and union of the people, while under God as their Shepherd. It was the delight of God to see them in a state of peace and harmony. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":8,"content":["Three shepherds also I cut off in one month - Taking this literally, some think the three shepherds mean the three Maccabees, Judas, Jonathan, and Simon; others, the three wicked high priests, Jason, Alcimus, and Menelaus; others, the three last princes of the Asmonean race, Alexander, Hyrcanus, and Antigonus.\nPerhaps three orders may be intended:\n1. The priesthood.\n2. The dictatorship, including the Scribes, Pharisees, etc.\n3. The magistracy, the great sanhedrin, and the smaller councils.\nThese were all annihilated by the Roman conquest. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":9,"content":["I will not feed you - I shall instruct you no longer: some of you are appointed to death by famine; others, to be cut off by the sword; and others of you, to such desperation that ye shall destroy one another. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":10,"content":["I took my staff - Beauty, and cut it asunder - And thus I showed that I determined no longer to preserve them in their free and glorious state. And thus I brake my covenant with them, which they had broken on their part already. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":11,"content":["So the poor of the flock - The pious, who attended to my teaching, saw that this was the word - the design, of God. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":12,"content":["If ye think good, give me my price - \"Give me my hire.\" And we find they rated it contemptuously; thirty pieces of silver being the price of a slave, Exo 21:32. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":13,"content":["And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter - Jehovah calls the price of his prophet his own price; and commands that it should not be accepted, but given to a potter, to foreshadow the transaction related Mat 27:7.\n\"Earthen vessels were used in the temple; and we may suppose that some Levites were employed within the sacred precincts to furnish them. To these, the humblest of his ministers in the temple, God commands that the degrading price should be cast.\" This is the substance of the notes on these two verses, given by Abp. Newcome.\nWe may look at it in another light, Give me my price! הבו שכרי habu sichri, bring my price, or give him any price; that is, Give the money to Judas which you have agreed to give him; for he can neither betray me nor you crucify me, but my own permission. But if not, forbear; take time to consider this bloody business, and in time forbear. For though I permit you to do it, yet remember that the permission does not necessitate you to do it; and the salvation of the world may be effected without this treachery and murder.\nSee my notes on this place, Mat 27:9, where I have examined the evidence for the reading of \"Zechariah the prophet,\" instead of \"Jeremiah.\" \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":14,"content":["That I might break the brotherhood - I cannot, says Newcome, explain this passage, without supposing that the kingdom of Israel subsisted when the prophet wrote it; and that either the wars between Judah and Israel are referred to, (see Kg2 16:5), or the captivity of the ten tribes, when the brotherly connection between these kingdoms ceased. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":15,"content":["The instruments of a foolish shepherd - Such as a bag without bread, a scrip without measure, and a staff without a hook, etc., things that were needless or of no use; to point out to the Jewish pastors, who took no care of the flock, but devoured them, or ruled them with force and with cruelty. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":16,"content":["I will raise up a shepherd in the land - Some wicked king; and Newcome supposes Hoshea may be meant. See Kg2 17:1, Kg2 17:2, and to such an abominable sovereign the prophecy may well apply. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":17,"content":["Wo to the idol shepherd - רעי האליל roi haelil, \"the worthless,\" or \"good for nothing shepherd.\" The shepherd in name and office, but not performing the work of one. See Joh 10:11.\nThe sword shall be upon his arm - Punishment shall be executed upon the wicked Jews, and especially their wicked kings and priests. See Zac 11:16.\nArm - the secular power; right eye - the ecclesiastical state.\nHis arm shall be clean dried up - The secular power shall be broken, and become utterly inefficient.\nHis right eye shall be utterly darkened - Prophecy shall be restrained; and the whole state, ecclesiastical and civil, shall be so completely eclipsed, that none of their functions shall be performed. This may refer to the worthless and wicked governor mentioned in the preceding verse.\nThere are several things in this chapter that are very obscure, and we can hardly say what opinion is right; nor is it at all clear whether they refer to a very early or late period of the Jewish history.\n\n"]}],"introduction":"The commencement of this chapter relates to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish polity, probably by the Babylonians; at least in the first instance, as the fourth verse speaks of the people thus threatened as the prophet's charge, Zac 11:1-6. The prophet then gives an account of the manner in which he discharged his office, and the little value that was put on his labors. And this he does by symbolical actions, a common mode of instruction with the ancient prophets, Zac 11:7-14. After the prophet, on account of the unsuccessfulness of his labors, had broken the two crooks which were the true badges of his pastoral office, (to denote the annulling of God's covenant with them, and their consequent divisions and dispersions), he is directed to take instruments calculated to hurt and destroy, perhaps an iron crook, scrip, and stones, to express by these symbols the judgments which God was about to inflict on them by wicked rulers and guides, who should first destroy the flock, and in the end be destroyed themselves, Zac 11:15-17. Let us now view this prophecy in another light, as we are authorized to do by Scripture, Mat 27:7. In this view the prophet, in the person of the Messiah, sets forth the ungrateful returns made to him by the Jews, when he undertook the office of shepherd in guiding and governing them; how they rejected him, and valued him and his labors at the mean and contemptible price of thirty pieces of silver, the paltry sum for which Judas betrayed him. Upon which he threatens to destroy their city and temple; and to give them up to the hands of such guides and governors as should have no regard to their welfare. \n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/ZEC/11.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"adam-clarke","book":"ZEC","chapter":11},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/ZEC/12.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"adam-clarke","book":"ZEC","chapter":12},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/ZEC/10.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"adam-clarke","book":"ZEC","chapter":10},"numberOfVerses":17}