Judgment on Israel's enemies
An oracle
The word of the LORD is against the land of Hadrach and will rest upon Damascus—
for the eyes of men and all the tribes of Israel are on the LORD—
2 and upon Hamath too, which borders on it,
and upon Tyre and Sidon, though they are very skillful.
3 Tyre has built herself a stronghold;
she has heaped up silver like dust,
and gold like the dirt of the streets.
4 But the Lord will take away her possessions
and destroy her power on the sea,
and she will be consumed by fire.
5 Ashkelon will see it and fear;
Gaza will writhe in agony,
and Ekron too, for her hope will wither.
Gaza will lose her king and Ashkelon will be deserted.
6 Foreigners will occupy Ashdod,
and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.
7 I will take the blood from their mouths,
the forbidden food from between their teeth.
Those who are left will belong to our God
and become leaders in Judah, and Ekron will be like the Jebusites.
8 But I will defend my house against marauding forces.
Never again will an oppressor overrun my people, for now I am keeping watch.
The first oracle of this section deals with the Mediterranean seacoast and its inhabitants. These were often scourges of God’s people. From the southern seacoast came the Philistines, and from the northern coast came the rich traders of Tyre and Sidon.
The prophecy of this encouraging word to God’s people is threefold. It speaks against the inhabitants of Syria (Damascus, Hadrach, and Hamath), Phoenicia (Tyre and Sidon), and Philistia (Ashkelon, Gaza, and Ekron). These countries bordered God’s people to the northwest, the north, and the south. Hadrach, mentioned only this one time in the Bible, has been lost to known history. It was someplace in Syria. Hamath is on the Orontes River. The cities of Tyre and Sidon were separated by about 20 miles. In Solomon’s time there were agreements and treaties in existence between these cities and God’s people. In fact, materials from these cities found their way into the temple at Jerusalem.
Tyre and Sidon were rich cities, but their riches had separated them from the true God. As Jesus in the New Testament would maintain about the rich entering heaven, it was also hard in the Old Testament for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Silver was in heaps, and gold was like dirt. That is how Zechariah saw it. The Lord said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). The heart of Tyre and Sidon was metallic. It would melt in the fire of God’s judgment. In 332 B.C. Alexander the Great came and Tyre, the rock, fell quickly. Its name in Hebrew is Tzor, which means “rock.” But as God’s people already sang, “Who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God?” (Psalm 18:31).
Philistia too would feel God’s judgment. The picture is graphic. There would be writhing in fear and empty, echoing cities where there were once strong people. There would be “foreigners” in Ashdod (verse 6). The word actually means “illegitimate children.” There would be no kingly line or pure race anymore. There would only be ragtag settlers prowling among the ruins.
Verse 7 promises that false religion and its practices would be gone. Baal worship was the awful sin of Philistia, and it polluted God’s people too. Samson not only flirted with the Philistine women; he flirted with the Philistine gods as well.
But the day was coming when the true faith would win out. The impostor gods would all be shown to be just that. The God of heaven would summon all of his people, and they would reign with him unmolested and undisturbed forever. “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10,11).
The Jebusites, original inhabitants of Jerusalem, of verse 7 were Canaanites. Genesis chapter 10 says that they were from Canaan’s strain. Actually, Jebus was another name for Jerusalem. Joshua 15:63 tells us, “Judah could not dislodge the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the people of Judah.” In 2 Samuel 5:6,7 we learn that David did take final control of Jebus (Jerusalem). The taunt of the Jebusites from their supposedly strong walls was, “You will not get in here; even the blind and the lame can ward you off” (verse 6). But their sarcasm was to no avail. The enemies of God’s people toppled from their strong walls. Ekron is pictured as doing this too in verse 7 of Zechariah.
Verse 8 is the close of this frame of the prophecy. It is a beautiful picture of the Lord as watchman. He camps around his people with his armed hosts. “O little flock, fear not the Foe,” a hymnist wrote (TLH 263:1). We think of Elisha’s servant who cried out in fear at the sight of the enemy surrounding him and his master in the little town of Dothan. Elisha prayed to God, “‘O LORD, open his eyes so he may see.’ Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (2 Kings 6:17).
“For now I am keeping watch,” is the closing word of the Lord. It was true for Zechariah’s people, and today we continue to sleep in peace.