Then the LORD will appear over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning. The Lord GOD will sound the ram's horn and advance in the whirlwinds of the south. Then the LORD will appear over themThis phrase signifies a divine intervention where God Himself becomes visibly present to His people. In the context of Zechariah, this appearance is often associated with deliverance and protection. The imagery of God appearing over His people can be linked to the pillar of cloud and fire that led the Israelites during the Exodus ( Exodus 13:21-22). It emphasizes God's sovereignty and His role as a divine warrior who fights on behalf of His people. This also foreshadows the coming of Christ, who is God incarnate, appearing among His people to bring salvation. and His arrow will go forth like lightning
The arrow symbolizes swift and decisive judgment. Lightning conveys the speed and power of God's actions. This imagery is reminiscent of Psalm 18:14, where God sends out arrows and scatters the enemies. It highlights the certainty and effectiveness of God's intervention against His adversaries. In a broader prophetic sense, it points to the ultimate victory of Christ over evil, as seen in Revelation 19:11-16, where Christ is depicted as a warrior king. The Lord GOD will sound the ram’s horn
The ram's horn, or shofar, is a significant instrument in Israel's history, used to signal important events such as the start of battle, religious festivals, and the Year of Jubilee (Leviticus 25:9). Its sound is a call to attention and action, often associated with God's presence and the announcement of His purposes. In the context of Zechariah, it signifies God's rallying of His people and His leadership in the coming battle. This can also be seen as a type of the final trumpet call in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, heralding the return of Christ. and advance in the whirlwinds of the south
The whirlwinds of the south refer to the powerful desert storms that come from the Negev, a region south of Israel. These storms are known for their intensity and destructive power. The imagery suggests God's unstoppable and overwhelming force as He moves to accomplish His purposes. This can be connected to Isaiah 66:15, where the Lord comes with fire and chariots like a whirlwind. It underscores the theme of divine judgment and deliverance, pointing to the ultimate triumph of God through Christ, who will come with power and glory. Persons / Places / Events 1. The LORD (Yahweh)The central figure in this verse, representing God's active presence and intervention on behalf of His people. 2. His ArrowSymbolic of God's swift and powerful judgment or deliverance, likened to lightning for its speed and impact. 3. The Ram’s Horn (Shofar)A traditional instrument used in Israel for signaling, often associated with battle or significant religious events. 4. Whirlwinds of the SouthA metaphorical expression indicating a powerful and unstoppable force, possibly referring to divine intervention from a specific direction, often associated with judgment or deliverance. Teaching Points God's Sovereign InterventionThis verse emphasizes God's active role in the affairs of His people. Believers can trust in God's timing and methods, knowing He will intervene powerfully when necessary. The Power of God's WordJust as an arrow swiftly reaches its target, God's word and actions are effective and purposeful. Christians are encouraged to rely on the power of Scripture in their lives. The Call to ReadinessThe sounding of the ram’s horn serves as a call to readiness and alertness. Believers should live in anticipation of God's movements and be prepared for His call to action. The Assurance of VictoryThe imagery of God advancing in whirlwinds assures believers of ultimate victory through divine power. This encourages Christians to remain steadfast in faith amidst challenges. Bible Study Questions 1. How does the imagery of God as a warrior in Zechariah 9:14 provide comfort and assurance in your current life situation? 2. In what ways can the symbolism of the ram’s horn (shofar) be applied to your spiritual life, particularly in terms of readiness and alertness? 3. How does the concept of God's intervention in Zechariah 9:14 relate to the New Testament teachings on the return of Christ? 4. Reflect on a time when you experienced God's "arrow" in your life—swift and decisive action. How did it impact your faith journey? 5. How can the assurance of God's ultimate victory, as depicted in this verse, influence your approach to challenges and uncertainties today? Connections to Other Scriptures Exodus 19The sound of the trumpet (shofar) is associated with God's presence at Mount Sinai, emphasizing divine revelation and covenant. Psalm 18Describes God as a warrior who comes with thunder and lightning, reinforcing the imagery of divine intervention and power. Isaiah 66Speaks of the LORD coming with fire and chariots like a whirlwind, highlighting themes of judgment and salvation. 1 Thessalonians 4The sound of the trumpet is linked to the return of Christ, drawing a parallel to divine intervention and the gathering of God's people. People Aram, Javan, Jebusites, Zechariah, ZidonPlaces Ashdod, Ashkelon, Damascus, Ekron, Euphrates River, Gaza, Greece, Hadrach, Hamath, Jerusalem, Philistia, Sidon, Tyre, ZionTopics Appear, Arrow, Blow, Bloweth, Flash, Forth, Horn, Lightning, March, Sounding, South, Sovereign, Storm, Storms, Storm-winds, Thunder-flame, Trumpet, War-horn, Whirlwinds, WindsDictionary of Bible Themes Zechariah 9:14 1454 theophany
4838 lightning
5210 arrows
5595 trumpet Library Messiah's Entrance into Jerusalem
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. -- And He shall speak peace unto the heathen. T he narrowness and littleness of the mind of fallen man are sufficiently conspicuous in the idea he forms of magnificence and grandeur. The pageantry and parade of a Roman triumph, or of an eastern monarch, as described in history, exhibit him to us …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1And the Manner of his Entry into Jerusalem, which was the Capital of Judæa...
And the manner of His entry into Jerusalem, which was the capital of Judæa, where also was His royal seat and the temple of God, the prophet Isaiah declares: Say ye to the daughter of Sion, Behold a king corneth unto thee meek and sitting upon an ass, a colt the foal of an ass. [233] (Isa. lxii. 11, Zech. ix. 9) For, sitting. on an ass's colt, so He entered into Jerusalem, the multitudes strewing and putting down for Him their garments. And by the daughter of Sion he means Jerusalem. …
Irenæus—The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching Caesarea. Strato's Tower.
The Arabian interpreter thinks the first name of this city was Hazor, Joshua 11:1. The Jews, Ekron, Zephaniah 2:4. "R. Abhu saith," (he was of Caesarea,) "Ekron shall be rooted out"; this is Caesarea, the daughter of Edom, which is situated among things profane. She was a goad, sticking in Israel, in the days of the Grecians. But when the kingdom of the Asmonean family prevailed, it overcame her, &c. R. Josi Bar Chaninah saith, What is that that is written, 'And Ekron shall be as a Jebusite?' (Zech …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica History of the Interpretation.
1. AMONG THE JEWS. This History, as to its essential features, might, a priori, be sketched with tolerable certainty. From the nature of the case, we could scarcely expect that the Jews should have adopted views altogether erroneous as to the subject of the prophecy in question; for the Messiah appears in it, not in His humiliation, but in His glory--rich in gifts and blessings, and Pelagian self-delusion will, a priori, return an affirmative answer to the question as to whether one is …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament Hosanna!
Assuredly, this honor paid to our Lord was passing strange; a gleam of sunlight in a day of clouds, a glimpse of summer-tide in a long and dreary winter. He that was, as a rule, "despised and rejected of men", was for the moment surrounded with the acclaim of the crowd. All men saluted him that day with their Hosannas, and the whole city was moved. It was a gala day for the disciples, and a sort of coronation day for their Lord. Why was the scene permitted? What was its meaning? The marvel is, that …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 37: 1891 And thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, too little to be among the thousands of Judah
"And thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, too little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall come forth unto Me (one) [Pg 480] to be Ruler in Israel; and His goings forth are the times of old, the days of eternity." The close connection of this verse with what immediately precedes (Caspari is wrong in considering iv. 9-14 as an episode) is evident, not only from the [Hebrew: v] copulative, and from the analogy of the near relation of the announcement of salvation to the prophecy of disaster …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament The Christian State
Scripture references: Matthew 22:17-22; 17:24-27; Acts 23:5; John 6:15; Matthew 4:8-10; John 18:36-38; Mark 14; 61,62; John 18:33; 19:19; Isaiah 9:6,7; 60:3; Zechariah 9:10; Daniel 7:14; Matthew 26:64; 26:53,54; 16:16,17; 25:31,32. CHRIST AND THE STATE The Relation of Christ to the State.--He was an intense patriot. He loved His country. The names of His great countrymen, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joshua and David, were ever on His lips. He offered Himself as the national Messiah (Matthew 21:1-17), …
Henry T. Sell—Studies in the Life of the Christian Jesus' Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.
(from Bethany to Jerusalem and Back, Sunday, April 2, a.d. 30.) ^A Matt. XXI. 1-12, 14-17; ^B Mark XI. 1-11; ^C Luke XIX. 29-44; ^D John XII. 12-19. ^c 29 And ^d 12 On the morrow [after the feast in the house of Simon the leper] ^c it came to pass, when he he drew nigh unto Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, ^a 1 And when they came nigh unto Jerusalem, and came unto Bethphage unto { ^b at} ^a the mount of Olives [The name, Bethphage, is said to mean house of figs, but the …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel The First Day in Passion-Week - Palm-Sunday - the Royal Entry into Jerusalem
At length the time of the end had come. Jesus was about to make Entry into Jerusalem as King: King of the Jews, as Heir of David's royal line, with all of symbolic, typic, and prophetic import attaching to it. Yet not as Israel after the flesh expected its Messiah was the Son of David to make triumphal entrance, but as deeply and significantly expressive of His Mission and Work, and as of old the rapt seer had beheld afar off the outlined picture of the Messiah-King: not in the proud triumph of war-conquests, …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah The Formation of the Old Testament Canon
[Sidenote: Israel's literature at the beginning of the fourth century before Christ] Could we have studied the scriptures of the Israelitish race about 400 B.C., we should have classified them under four great divisions: (1) The prophetic writings, represented by the combined early Judean, Ephraimite, and late prophetic or Deuteronomic narratives, and their continuation in Samuel and Kings, together with the earlier and exilic prophecies; (2) the legal, represented by the majority of the Old Testament …
Charles Foster Kent—The Origin & Permanent Value of the Old Testament The Blessings of Noah Upon Shem and Japheth. (Gen. Ix. 18-27. )
Ver. 20. "And Noah began and became an husbandman, and planted vineyards."--This does not imply that Noah was the first who began to till the ground, and, more especially, to cultivate the vine; for Cain, too, was a tiller of the ground, Gen. iv. 2. The sense rather is, that Noah, after the flood, again took up this calling. Moreover, the remark has not an independent import; it serves only to prepare the way for the communication of the subsequent account of Noah's drunkenness. By this remark, …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament The Quotation in Matt. Ii. 6.
Several interpreters, Paulus especially, have asserted that the interpretation of Micah which is here given, was that of the Sanhedrim only, and not of the Evangelist, who merely recorded what happened and was said. But this assertion is at once refuted when we consider the object which Matthew has in view in his entire representation of the early life of Jesus. His object in recording the early life of Jesus is not like that of Luke, viz., to communicate historical information to his readers. …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament Fifthly, as this Revelation, to the Judgment of Right and Sober Reason,
appears of itself highly credible and probable, and abundantly recommends itself in its native simplicity, merely by its own intrinsic goodness and excellency, to the practice of the most rational and considering men, who are desirous in all their actions to have satisfaction and comfort and good hope within themselves, from the conscience of what they do: So it is moreover positively and directly proved to be actually and immediately sent to us from God, by the many infallible signs and miracles …
Samuel Clarke—A Discourse Concerning the Being and Attributes of God The Gospel Feast
"When Jesus then lifted up His eyes, and saw a great company come unto Him, He saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?"--John vi. 5. After these words the Evangelist adds, "And this He said to prove him, for He Himself knew what He would do." Thus, you see, our Lord had secret meanings when He spoke, and did not bring forth openly all His divine sense at once. He knew what He was about to do from the first, but He wished to lead forward His disciples, and to arrest and …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII The Gospel of the Kingdom.
"This is He whom Seers in old time Chanted of with one accord; Whom the voices of the Prophets Promised in their faithful word." We have seen that, in the providence of God, John the Baptist was sent to proclaim to the world that "The Kingdom of Heaven" was at hand, and to point out the King. And as soon as the Herald had raised the expectation of men by the proclamation of the coming Kingdom, our Lord began His public ministry, the great object of which was the founding of His Kingdom for the salvation …
Edward Burbidge—The Kingdom of Heaven; What is it? Zechariah
CHAPTERS I-VIII Two months after Haggai had delivered his first address to the people in 520 B.C., and a little over a month after the building of the temple had begun (Hag. i. 15), Zechariah appeared with another message of encouragement. How much it was needed we see from the popular despondency reflected in Hag. ii. 3, Jerusalem is still disconsolate (Zech. i. 17), there has been fasting and mourning, vii. 5, the city is without walls, ii. 5, the population scanty, ii. 4, and most of the people …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Zechariah 9:14 NIVZechariah 9:14 NLTZechariah 9:14 ESVZechariah 9:14 NASBZechariah 9:14 KJV
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