Zechariah 11:2

Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Zechariah 11:2-3. Howl, fir-tree — By the several sorts of trees here mentioned, seem to be meant the several orders and degrees of men, who should be sharers in the common destruction: see Isaiah 2:13; Isaiah 10:33-34; and the notes. The fir-tree seems to denote the lower people, who are bid to howl because even their superiors, signified by the cedar, could not withstand the storm. Howl, O ye oaks of Bashan — O ye rich, great, and powerful people of the land; Bashan was famous for its stately oaks. For the forest of the vintage — Or rather, a forest, the fenced one, is come down — “As the inhabitants are represented under the image of the trees, the city is aptly denoted by a forest; to which is added by way of distinction הבצר, the fenced one, the article הbeing emphatic, and marking the extraordinary strength of its fortifications, or fence, which, however, proves insufficient for its security.” There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds — That is, of the princes and rulers of the people. For their glory is spoiled — Their magnificent houses are destroyed. A voice of the roaring of young lions — Those who are in the foregoing sentence called shepherds, are here called young lions, because they were devourers of the people by their extortions and oppressions. The pride of Jordan is spoiled — By the pride of Jordan, those woods and thickets are primarily intended that rose proudly above the banks of that river, and greatly decorated the scene. But as those were the receptacles of lions, they are here, in a secondary and metaphorical sense, put for the residences of those princes and grandees, who are denominated lions in the preceding clause for the reason now mentioned.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

11:1-3 In figurative expressions, that destruction of Jerusalem, and of the Jewish church and nation, is foretold, which our Lord Jesus, when the time was at hand, prophesied plainly and expressly. How can the fir trees stand, if the cedars fall? The falls of the wise and good into sin, and the falls of the rich and great into trouble, are loud alarms to those every way their inferiors. It is sad with a people, when those who should be as shepherds to them, are as young lions. The pride of Jordan was the thickets on the banks; and when the river overflowed the banks, the lions came up from them roaring. Thus the doom of Jerusalem may alarm other churches.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Howl, O cypress, for the cedar is fallen - Jerusalem or the temple having been likened to Lebanon and its cedars, the prophet carries on the image, speaking of the priests princes and people, under the title of firs, cypresses and oaks, trees inferior, but magnificent. He shows that it is imagery, by ascribing to them the feelings of people. The more glorious and stately, "the cedars," were destroyed. Woe then to the rest, "the cypress;" as our Lord says, "If they do these things in the green tree, what shall be done, in the dry?" Luke 23:31, and Peter, "If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" 1 Peter 4:18.

For the defensed forest is come down - That which was closed and inaccessible to the enemy. All which was high and lifted up was brought low, "came down," even to the ground .

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2. fir tree … cedar—if even the cedars (the highest in the state) are not spared, how much less the fir trees (the lowest)!

forest of … vintage—As the vines are stripped of their grapes in the vintage (compare Joe 3:13), so the forest of Lebanon "is come down," stripped of all its beauty. Rather, "the fortified" or "inaccessible forest" [Maurer]; that is, Jerusalem dense with houses as a thick forest is with trees, and "fortified" with a wall around. Compare Mic 3:12, where its desolate state is described as a forest.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Howl, fir tree; either mean men, or houses and towns built with firs.

For the cedar is fallen; the greater and better escape not, much less shall the meaner and worse.

Because the mighty is spoiled; howl because the mighty men, cities, fortresses, and munitions are taken, sacked, and ruined; or else held by enemies, which is worse, and of defences and safety to us, are become our greatest annoyances and dangers.

Oaks of Bashan; oaks either literally, as they were used in that country, for building palaces, cities, towns, and fortresses; or else figuratively, the great men of that country, a land very fruitful and pleasant, of which Nahum 1:4.

The forest of the vintage; either all strong places which were for guarding and defending the vineyards; or Jerusalem itself, compared to a forest in regard of the many and tall houses in it; this best pleaseth most interpreters. In short, all are called to weep, and cry, and howl for the miseries that will come upon all sorts, high and low, on-them and theirs.

Is come down; is laid desolate.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen,.... By which are designed the princes, nobles, and magistrates of the land: so the Targum interprets them of kings and princes; see Nahum 2:3,

because all the mighty are spoiled; which is an explanation of the figurative expressions in the former clause, and in the following; and designs rich men, as the Targum paraphrases it, who at this time would be spoiled of their wealth and substance.

Howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; which the Targum interprets of governors of provinces; and men of power and authority are doubtless intended; see Isaiah 2:13,

for the forest of the vintage is come down; or rather, "the fortified forest"; meaning the city of Jerusalem, which was a fortified place, and like a forest full of trees, for number of inhabitants, but now cut down and destroyed; see Isaiah 10:16.

Geneva Study Bible

Wail, {b} fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are laid waste: wail, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the {c} vintage is come down.

(b) Showing that if the strong men were destroyed, the weaker were not able to resist.

(c) Seeing that Lebanon was destroyed, which was the strongest fortress, the weaker places could not hope to hold out.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. fir tree] or cypress. It is uncertain what tree is meant. See Dict. of Bible, Art. “Cypress.”

for the cedar is fallen] Grand trees as were the firs, or cypresses, the cedars were grander still. The fall therefore of the latter might well make the former howl in despair at their own assured fate. “Nam si cedris haud parcitur, aliis arboribus, quæ minoris quam illæ pretii sunt, multo minus parcetur.” Rosenm.

the mighty] i.e. the mighty trees, “præstantes scil. arbores, cedri,” Rosenm., who compares, “a goodly cedar,” Ezekiel 17:23, where the Heb. word is the same. Possibly, however (especially as the clause is additional or parenthetical and mars the symmetry of the parallelism), it is thrown in to suggest the figurative or allegorical reference to the rulers and chiefs of Israel which lies behind and goes together with the literal reference. The goodly ones, R. V.

Bashan] Compare the association of “Gilead and Lebanon,” chap. Zechariah 10:10. “From the heights of Lebanon the destructive storm sweeps down on the land of Bashan, and the oaks, the pride of the land (with their kindly shade from the burning heat), are likewise felled by the enemy to meet the wants of the invading army, and to construct his means of offence and defence.” Wright.

forest of the vintage] Rather, inaccessible forest.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - Howl, fir tree. A species of cypress is intended, or, as some say, the Aleppo pine. It is the tree of which Solomon made floors, doom, and ceiling in his temple (1 Kings 6:15, 34), and David harps (2 Samuel 6:5). The prophet dramatically calls on this tree to wail for the fate of the cedar, as being about to suffer the same destruction. The mighty; μεγιστᾶνες, "the chieftains" (Septuagint). Trees are being spoken of, and so the primary sense is, "the goodly" (Ezekiel 17:23) or "glorious trees." Metaphorically, the chiefs of Israel may be intended. Bashan, famous for its oaks, is next visited by the invading force, and its trees are felled for the use of the enemy. The forest of the vintage. The Authorized Version here follows, very inappropriately, the correction of the Keri. The original reading should be retained and translated, "the inaccessible forest" - an expression appropriate to Lebanon. If Lebanon is not spared, much less shall Bashan escape. LXX., ὁ δρυμὸς ὁ σύμφυτος, "the close-planted wood;" Vulgate, saltus munitus, "defenced forest." Zechariah 11:2

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The Devastation of the Holy Land. - Zechariah 11:1. "Open thy gates, O Lebanon, and let fire devour thy cedars! Zechariah 11:2. Howl, cypress; for the cedar is fallen, for the glory is laid waste! Howl, ye oaks of Bashan; for the inaccessible forest is laid low! Zechariah 11:3. A loud howling of the shepherds; for their glory is laid waste! A loud roaring of the young lions; for the splendour of Jordan is laid waste!" That these verses do not form the commencement of a new prophecy, having no connection with the previous one, but that they are simply a new turn given to that prophecy, is evident not only from the omission of any heading or of any indication whatever which could point to the commencement of a fresh word of God, but still more so from the fact that the allusion to Lebanon and Bashan and the thickets of Judah points back unmistakeably to the land of Gilead and of Lebanon (Zechariah 10:10), and shows a connection between ch. 11 and Zechariah 10:1-12, although this retrospect is not decided enough to lay a foundation for the view that Zechariah 11:1-3 form a conclusion to the prophecy in Zechariah 10:1-12, to which their contents by no means apply. For let us interpret the figurative description in these verses in what manner we will, so much at any rate is clear, that they are of a threatening character, and as a threat not only form an antithesis to the announcement of salvation in Zechariah 10:1-12, but are substantially connected with the destruction which will overtake the "flock of the slaughter," and therefore serve as a prelude, as it were, to the judgment announced in Zechariah 11:4-7.; The undeniable relation in which Lebanon, Bashan, and the Jordan stand to the districts of Gilead and Lebanon, also gives us a clue to the explanation; since it shows that Lebanon, the northern frontier of the holy land, and Bashan, the northern part of the territory of the Israelites to the east of the Jordan, are synecdochical terms, denoting the holy land itself regarded in its two halves, and therefore that the cedars, cypresses, and oaks in these portions of the land cannot be figurative representations of heathen rulers (Targ., Eph. Syr., Kimchi, etc.); but if powerful men and tyrants are to be understood at all by these terms, the allusion can only be to the rulers and great men of the nation of Israel (Hitzig, Maurer, Hengst., Ewald, etc.). But this allegorical interpretation of the cedars, cypresses, and oaks, however old and widely spread it may be, is not so indisputable as that we could say with Kliefoth: "The words themselves do not allow of our finding an announcement of the devastation of the holy land therein." For even if the words themselves affirm nothing more than "that the very existence of the cedars, oaks, shepherds, lions, is in danger; and that if these should fall, Lebanon will give way to the fire, the forest of Bashan will fall, the thicket of Jordan be laid waste;" yet through the destruction of the cedars, oaks, etc., the soil on which these trees grow is also devastated and laid waste. The picture is a dramatic one. Instead of the devastation of Lebanon being announced, it is summoned to open its gates, that the fire may be able to enter in and devour its cedars. The cypresses, which hold the second place among the celebrated woods of Lebanon, are then called upon to howl over the fall of the cedars, not so much from sympathy as because the same fate is awaiting them.

The words אשׁר אדּירם שׁדּדוּ contain a second explanatory clause. אשׁר is a conjunction (for, because), as in Genesis 30:18; Genesis 31:49. 'Addı̄rı̄m are not the glorious or lofty ones among the people (Hengst., Kliefoth), but the glorious ones among the things spoken of in the context, - namely, the noble trees, the cedars and cypresses. The oaks of Bashan are also called upon to howl, because they too will fall like "the inaccessible forest," i.e., the cedar forest of Lebanon. The keri habbâtsı̄r is a needless correction, because the article does not compel us to take the word as a substantive. If the adjective is really a participle, the article is generally attached to it alone, and omitted from the noun (cf. Ges. 111, 2, a). קול יללת, voice of howling, equivalent to a loud howling. The shepherds howl, because 'addartâm, their glory, is laid waste. We are not to understand by this their flock, but their pasture, as the parallel member גּאון היּרדּן and the parallel passage Jeremiah 25:26 show, where the shepherds howl, because their pasture is destroyed. What the pasture, i.e., the good pasture ground of the land of Bashan, is to the shepherds, that is the pride of Jordan to the young lions, - namely, the thicket and reeds which grew so luxuriantly on the banks of the Jordan, and afforded so safe and convenient a lair for lions (cf. Jeremiah 12:5; Jeremiah 49:9; Jeremiah 50:44). Zechariah 11:3 announces in distinct terms a devastation of the soil or land. It follows from this that the cedars, cypresses, and oaks are not figures representing earthly rulers. No conclusive arguments can be adduced in support of such an allegory. It is true that in Isaiah 10:34 the powerful army of Assyria is compared to Lebanon; and in Jeremiah 22:6 the head of the cedar forest is a symbol of the royal house of Judah; and that in Jeremiah 22:23 it is used as a figurative term for Jerusalem (see at Habakkuk 2:17); but neither men generally, nor individual earthly rulers in particular, are represented as cedars or oaks. The cedars and cypresses of Lebanon and the oaks of Bashan are simply figures denoting what is lofty, glorious, and powerful in the world of nature and humanity, and are only to be referred to persons so far as their lofty position in the state is concerned. Consequently we get the following as the thought of these verses: The land of Israel, with all its powerful and glorious creatures, is to become desolate. Now, inasmuch as the desolation of a land also involves the desolation of the people living in the land, and of its institutions, the destruction of the cedars, cypresses, etc., does include the destruction of everything lofty and exalted in the nation and kingdom; so that in this sense the devastation of Lebanon is a figurative representation of the destruction of the Israelitish kingdom, or of the dissolution of the political existence of the ancient covenant nation. This judgment was executed upon the land and people of Israel by the imperial power of Rome. This historical reference is evident from the description which follows of the facts by which this catastrophe is brought to pass.