Loading...
Ye shall flee to the valley - Some think this refers to the valley through which Zedekiah and others endeavored to escape when Nebuchadnezzar pressed the siege of Jerusalem: but it appears to speak only of the Jewish wars of the Romans.
Azal - This, as a place, is not known. If a place, it was most probably near to Jerusalem; and had its name from that circumstance.
And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains - Rather, along the valley of My mountains namely, of those mountains, which God had just formed by dividing the mount of Olives. “For the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal, that is, Azel,” the same word which enters into Beth-Azel of Micah, where the allusion probably is to its firm-rootedness. It is more probable that the name of a place should have been chosen with an allusive meaning, as in Micah, than that an unusual appellative should have been chosen to express a very common meaning. Cyril had heard of it as the name of a village at the extremity of the mountain. Elsewhere it might very probably have been destroyed in the destructive Roman wars: The Roman camp in the last siege must have been very near it. The destruction of villages, after the frantic revolt under Bar-Kochba, was enormous.
Yea, ye shall flee like as ye fled from before the earthquake - An earthquake in the time of Uzziah, whose memory survived the captivity to the time of Zechariah, nearly two centuries, must have been very terrible, but no historical account remains of it, Josephus having apparently described the past earthquake in the language which Zechariah uses of the future (see the introduction to Amos). Such an earthquake is the more remarkable a visitation in Jerusalem, because it was out of the line of earthquakes. These were to the north and east of Palestine: within it, they were almost unknown (see Amos 4:11, vol. i. p. 286). Interpositions of God even in man‘s favor, are full of awe and terror. They are tokens of the presence of the all-holy among the unholy. Fear was an accompaniment of special miracles in the Gospel, not only among the poor Gadarenes Mark 5:15; Luke 8:25, or the people, but even the Apostles; apart from the effect of the sight of angels on us who are in the flesh. It is then quite compatible, that the valley so formed should be the means of deliverance, and yet an occasion of terror to those delivered through it. The escape of the Christians in Jerusalem to Pella, during the break of the siege, after the withdrawal of Cestius Gallus was a slight image of this deliverance.
And the Lord thy God shall come, and all the saints with Thee, O God - The prophet, having spoken of God as “my God,” turns suddenly to speak to Him, as present. Jerome on Zechariah 14:6-7: “This is manifestly said of the second Coming of the Saviour, of which John too in his Apocalypse says, ‹Behold He shall come with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him‘ Revelation 1:7. And the Lord Himself in the Gospel declareth, that ‹the Son of Man shall come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory‘ Matthew 24:30. He shall ‹come with the clouds,‘ that is, with the angels, who are ‹ministering spirits‘ and are sent for different offices, and with the prophets and apostles.” Ribera: “Whenever Scripture says that the saints and angels come with Christ, it is always speaking of His second Coming, as in that, ‹When the Son of Man shall come in His glory and all His holy angels with Him‘ Matthew 25:31, and in the Epistle of Jude, ‹Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints, to execute judgment‘ Jude 1:14-15.”
At the close of the thousand years, Christ again returns to the earth. He is accompanied by the host of the redeemed and attended by a retinue of angels. As He descends in terrific majesty He bids the wicked dead arise to receive their doom. They come forth, a mighty host, numberless as the sands of the sea. What a contrast to those who were raised at the first resurrection! The righteous were clothed with immortal youth and beauty. The wicked bear the traces of disease and death. GC 662.1
Every eye in that vast multitude is turned to behold the glory of the Son of God. With one voice the wicked hosts exclaim: “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord!” It is not love to Jesus that inspires this utterance. The force of truth urges the words from unwilling lips. As the wicked went into their graves, so they come forth with the same enmity to Christ and the same spirit of rebellion. They are to have no new probation in which to remedy the defects of their past lives. Nothing would be gained by this. A lifetime of transgression has not softened their hearts. A second probation, were it given them, would be occupied as was the first in evading the requirements of God and exciting rebellion against Him. GC 662.2
Read in context »One of these fanatical persons labored with some success to turn my friends and even my relatives against me. Because I had faithfully related that which was shown me respecting his unchristian course, he circulated falsehoods to destroy my influence and to justify himself. My lot seemed hard. Discouragements pressed heavily upon me; and the condition of God's people so filled me with anguish that for two weeks I was prostrated with sickness. My friends thought I could not live; but brethren and sisters who sympathized with me in this affliction met to pray for me. I soon realized that earnest, effectual prayer was offered in my behalf. Prayer prevailed. The power of the strong foe was broken, and I was released, and immediately taken off in vision. In this view I saw that if I felt a human influence affecting my testimony, no matter where I might be, I had only to cry to God, and an angel would be sent to my rescue. I already had one guardian angel attending me continually, but when necessary, the Lord would send another to raise me above the power of every earthly influence. 1T 67.1
*****
Read in context »