Reflections on Zechariah 14

 Zechariah 14  (Contemporary English Version)

1. The LORD will have his day. And when it comes, everything that was ever taken from Jerusalem will be returned and divided among its people.
2. But first, he will bring many nations to attack Jerusalem--homes will be robbed, women raped, and half of the population dragged off, though the others will be allowed to remain.
3. The LORD will attack those nations like a warrior fighting in battle.
4. He will take his stand on the Mount of Olives east of Jerusalem, and the mountain will split in half, forming a wide valley that runs from east to west.
5. Then you people will escape from the LORD's mountain, through this valley, which reaches to Azal. You will run in all directions, just as everyone did when the earthquake struck in the time of King Uzziah of Judah. Afterwards, the LORD my God will appear with his holy angels.
6. It will be a bright day that won't turn cloudy.
7. And the LORD has decided when it will happen--this time of unending day.
8. In both summer and winter, life-giving streams will flow from Jerusalem, half of them to the Dead Sea in the east and half to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.
9. Then there will be only one LORD who rules as King and whose name is worshiped everywhere on earth.
10. From Geba down to Rimmon south of Jerusalem, the entire country will be turned into flatlands, with Jerusalem still towering above. Then the city will be full of people, from Benjamin Gate, Old Gate Place, and Hananel Tower in the northeast part of the city over to Corner Gate in the northwest and down to King's Wine Press in the south. Jerusalem will always be secure and will never again be destroyed.
11. (SEE 14:10)
12. Here is what the LORD will do to those who attack Jerusalem: While they are standing there, he will make their flesh rot and their eyes fall from their sockets and their tongues drop out.
13. The LORD will make them go into a frenzy and start attacking each other,
14. until even the people of Judah turn against those in Jerusalem. This same terrible disaster will also strike every animal nearby, including horses, mules, camels, and donkeys. Finally, everything of value in the surrounding nations will be collected and brought to Jerusalem--gold, silver, and piles of clothing.
15. (SEE 14:14)
16. Afterwards, the survivors from those nations that attacked Jerusalem will go there each year to worship the King, the LORD All-Powerful, and to celebrate the Festival of Shelters.
17. No rain will fall on the land of anyone in any country who refuses to go to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD All-Powerful.
18. This horrible disaster will strike the Egyptians and everyone else who refuses to go there for the celebration.
19. (SEE 14:18)
20. At that time the words "Dedicated to the LORD" will be engraved on the bells worn by horses. In fact, every ordinary cooking pot in Jerusalem will be just as sacred to the LORD All-Powerful as the bowls used at the altar. Any one of them will be acceptable for boiling the meat of sacrificed animals, and there will no longer be a need to sell special pots and bowls.
21. (SEE 14:20)

---

Time frames can become confusing in these passages. We have already read, in this last oracle which began in chapter 12, how the nations gathered against Jerusalem and the Lord protected Jerusalem against them. But now, in chapter 14, we are reading that the city will be captured and looted and "half the city will go into exile." (V. 1) Then, after these events, "the Lord will go out to fight against those nations." (V. 3)

Rather than being a linear presentation of events, it is thought that Chapter 14 is returning to the earlier events in which the nations gathered against Jerusalem. But what was not mentioned earlier was that before the Lord intervened the city was captured and half the people taken into exile. Many explain this as occurring during a period known as the Great Tribulation when the Jews come under unprecedented persecution.  Then, toward the end of this tribulation, Jesus returns to earth to reign for 1,000 years. It is the returned Jesus who many think is the "Lord" who intervenes on behalf of Jerusalem in this passage. This thinking is encouraged by the cosmic events that are described in conjunction with His intervention. He splits the Mount of Olives forming a huge valley, there will be a great earthquake, and the heavenly lights (stars, sun, & moon) will lose their brilliance.

Beginning with verse 8 we are given a description of Jerusalem after the Messiah's intervention and defeat of the armies gathered against the city. Living water, evidently a perpetual flow of water, will flow out from Jerusalem in two directions, both east and west, each flowing to the sea. A possible result of the earthquake, Jerusalem will become a continental divide. Furthermore, the Messiah will become king, not only of Israel, but over the whole earth. Jerusalem will never again face the curse of destruction. The Lord will use a plague to defeat the armies that came up against Jerusalem. It will be a terrifying plague in which their flesh and eyes and tongues rot away as they stand on their feet. The armies will panic and begin killing each other.

With the Messiah established as king over all the earth, people from all nations will go to Jerusalem annually to worship the King and observe the Festival of Booths. Those who make the annual pilgrimage will flourish, but those who do not will not have rainfall. It would seem that the division between sacred and secular will be lost at this time as the words "Holy to the Lord" will be inscribed on everything.