Dividing the content of Zechariah 14 into fragments

by koot van wyk (DLitt et Phil; ThD)

Kyungpook National University

Sangju Campus

South Korea

conjoint lecturer of Avondale College

Australia

When one reads the material of Zechariah 14, one is inclined to think in a cursory manner that all the lines and phrases are chronological. This is maybe the very first mistake we all make reading Zechariah 14.  We do not know the age of Zechariah when he wrote this, but judging the way some geronti speak, there are self-interruptions, footnotes to the self-interruptions, a going back to give context and then return to continue or to conclude. Many times, samples are taken from past events in order to clear up a present description of a future event.

1. Zechariah wrote between two Jerusalem destructions, the one in the past 586 BCE and the one in his distant future, 70-73 CE.

2. Despite the two events of destruction in Jerusalem there is a final one in the eschaton when the New Jerusalem will play a role (from the book of Revelation 20).

3. Below we have looked at the context and have separated the paragraphs with lines that belong together. It is now easier to read chapter 14 and make more sense out of it.

4. Allocating times to the various paragraphs my result in a better understanding of the chapter and correspond to descriptions elsewhere in the rest of the Bible.

5. In the eschaton we have a tribulation coming followed by the coming of Michael (Daniel 12:1-3) and we have a millennium after the second coming with Satan bound.

There is a final battle of the Lord when the Hell will be executed or executive judgement fo the Lord after the Millennium. The new earth or heaven will be created then (Revelation 20-22).

6. Knowing the events and their order in number 5 supra, thus permits us now to allocate the paragraphs to the various events the scheme of Biblical eschatology.

9. That Zechariah is not describing chronological is self-evident from a literal reading of verses 3 saying that the Lord will come to fight and verse 4 saying that His feet will be on the mount of Olives and then people ran through the valley that was created by Him standing there and only then in verse 5 Zechariah said that the Lord is coming with His holy ones. If you are going to be literally chronological here, you will be in logical trouble. Sensibility demands that we realize that Zechariah is not writing everything in exact chronological order. There are reasons for that, namely, that he wants to focus on other aspects coming back to point in time he already treated. Here we can see that he firstly said nothing of the angels coming with the Lord when He stands on the mountain (verse 3) but then when he says that the Lord is coming, He is coming with the holy ones (verse 5). This aspect of Zechariah's description is very important since it means that Ellen White's extraction of verses (in Great Controversy 662-663), even in non-chronological order, is absolutely in line with the literal sense and logic of Zechariah's description. There are two battles and two comings (Second and Third Coming in history). Some clusters refer to the one and others refer to the other.

10. The words of Seventh Day Adventist historian Kenneth Strand is still valid for Zechariah: "The Old Testament apocalyptic book of Zechariah has long baffled interpreters by its apparent jumbled structure" (K. Strand, Interpreting the Book of Revelation: Hermeneutical Guidelines, with brief introduction to Literary Analysis [Naples, Florida: Ann Arbor Publishers, INC, 1979],  81). Take note of his words: jumbled structure. He then set himself the task of showing an inherent cohesiveness in the book of Zechariah as a whole due to the use of chiastic structures. Other scholars also did the same. The chiastic structure as given by Strand does not explain the intricacies of chapter 14.  

Zechariah 14 (New International Version will be used but where a more literal translation is wanted, it will be adapted)

Zechariah 14

The LORD Comes and Reigns

Cluster A

1 A day of the LORD is coming when your plunder will be divided among you.

2 I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the  houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of  the people will not be taken from the city.

van wyk notes:

1. This event is shortly before the door of mercy closes.

2. Spoil will be divided all over the earth, since the socialistic nations and communistic nations and dictatorships of the Third World and Developing World Order came in to power, as Habakkuk 2 also predicts. It means the USA as world power made a paradigm shift to China as World Power.

3. Daniel 11:45 is described here and more detail is given here of that future event that will take part with nations focussing on the problems in Jerusalem.

4. It appears that to live in Jerusalem in future is not a good idea. The current politics of the world is gearing up towards that event in Jerusalem.

5. Dr. Hans K. La Rondelle opened the possibility that some sections of Zechariah 14 may be apocalyptic, meaning that they may get fulfilled in the history of the church before the Second Coming of Christ. He said: "Yet particular sections in the prophetic  books may also be counted apocalyptic, such as . . . Zechariah 12 and 14" (Hans K. La Rondelle, "Interpretation of Prophetic and Apocalyptic Eschatology" in A Symposium on Biblical Hermeneutics [Washington: RH 1974]: 230).

Cluster B

3 Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of  battle. 4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the  Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of  the mountain moving north and half moving south.

van wyk notes:

1. This is the Third coming of the Lord.

2. At that time the Lord will fight against those nations that were resurrected at the end of the 1000 years.

3. When the Second Advent takes place the Lord will battle (in general with evil), since He will actually fight with them (the nations specifically and Satan and his angels) at His third coming after the Millennium (Revelation 20 = hell event).

4. Notice that it speaks here of Two battles of the Lord. One at his Second coming (battle), described here, and one at His Third Coming (fight).

5. From the New Testament Seventh Day Adventist scholar Jon Paulien in his dissertation (p. 260) comes this valuable observation of Werner Foerster, "oros," TDNT 5:475 saying "The leveling of mountains, then, came to be understood as a preparation for God's kingdom". The reference mentioned is Zechariah 14:4. The house of the King of Kings is finally in order when Satan is eradicated in the Final Battle at the Third Coming, the mountains are leveled and the new world is created. Perfect eternity then really starts.

Cluster C

5 You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah.

van wyk notes:

1. The big valley that will be created for escape will be between these two halves that were moved to the north and to the south.

2. One must remember the words of the wicked screaming on that day: "Mountains fall on us and cover us against His glory." This will be an attempt of the nations to escape from His glory. The interpretation of the nations as the ones addressed here is also the way Redak (Rabbi David Kimchi 1157-1236, a Jewish commentator in the Middle Ages) read the phrase.

3. The earth will shake and those mountains as half of the Mount of Olives goes to the north and half goes to the south.

4. In the days of Amos there was an earthquake. 

Cluster D

And the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.

6 On that day there will be no light, no cold or frost. 7 It will be a unique day, without  daytime or nighttime?a day known to the LORD. When evening comes, there will be light.

8 On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea and  half to the western sea, in summer and in winter.

9 The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and  his name the only name.

10 The whole land, from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, will become like the  Arabah. But Jerusalem will be raised up and remain in its place, from the Benjamin Gate to  the site of the First Gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal  winepresses. 11 It will be inhabited; never again will it be destroyed. Jerusalem will be secure.

van wyk notes:

1. This is not a continuation of the Second Coming description but a gap over the millennium to His Third Coming. This is also the way Ellen White saw it in Great Controversy 663. She cited part of verse 5 (662-663) followed by verse 3 and then by verse 9.  The Seventh Day Adventist Systematic Theologian dr. Hans K. La Rondelle in his classnotes of 1988-1989 (La Rondelle, Syllabus for Biblical Eschatology Course GSEM 544 in Systematic Theology of the Theological Seminary of Andrews University 1988-1989, page 11). La Rondelle indicated that Zechariah 14:7 was applied in Revelation 21:25, 26. Zechariah 14:8 was applied in Revelation 22:1 and Zechariah 14:11 was applied in Revelation 22:3 and Revelation 21:27. Supporting the connection between Zechariah 14:8 and Revelation 22:1-2, Jon Paulien indicated that "the great eschatological blessing was symbolized by rivers bringing both physical and spiritual fullness" (Paulien,  Decoding Revelation's Trumpets AUSDDS page 280).

2. At that time says Revelation 20-22, the hell event will take place and everything that is described here take place at that time.

3. We know it is the Third Coming because the Lord will be King over the Earth subsequently (verse 9).

4. The earth must be created new since the King of Kings can only come to a pure earth free from evil.

5. Since Jerusalem will never be destroyed again, this is the final eschaton. It is the final event in history. Eternity has arrived and that is after the 1000 years (Revelation 20-22).

6. Notice how mobile Jerusalem is that it is lifted up and remain there. Only the New Jerusalem described in Revelation can be so mobile (see verse 10). Thus, Ellen White explaining that the New Jerusalem will be mobile and coming out of heaven and will rest upon that place now purified,  which will be entered by Christ, his angels and the people, is very fitting (Great Controversy 663). The concept of two Jerusalems, one in Heaven and one on earth was also well grounded in Judaism. Redak (Rabbi David Kimchi 1157-1236), a Jewish commentator in the Middle Ages commented on Hosea 11:9 "In your midst is the Holy One and I will not come into a city" saying that God will not enter the heavenly city of Jerusalem until He enters the earthly city of Jerusalem. This is a fascinating concept coming from Judaism of the 12th to 13th centuries. We know that Christ first came to the earthly Jerusalem before He mentioned about the New Jerusalem in Heaven to John in 96 CE.

7. Some translations like the NIV reads the last line of verse 5 as "then" as if there is a chronological continuation, but this is not correct. The waw-consecutive "and" continues the description without advocating a continuation by time of the event. It is not the next event but a rehearsal, going back to the start of the description of this event, an addition of information left out earlier. The and used here functions almost the same as someone telling a story in haste and then say: "Oh I forgot to say . .  ."

Cluster E

12 This is the plague with which the LORD will strike all the nations that fought against  Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot  in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. 13 On that day men will be  stricken by the LORD with great panic. Each man will seize the hand of another, and they  will attack each other. 14 Judah too will fight at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the  surrounding nations will be collected?great quantities of gold and silver and clothing. 15 A  similar plague will strike the horses and mules, the camels and donkeys, and all the animals  in those camps.

van wyk notes:

1. The plaques will fall starting or inaugurating the Time of Trouble.

2. The theme of plaques falling is elaborated in other prophets and in Revelation in particular.

Cluster F

16 Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year  after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of  Tabernacles.

van wyk notes:

1. During the time the nations attack Jerusalem (before the Second Coming shortly before or during the Time of Trouble) there will be survivors and those survivors are the remnant of God who is protected.

2. The remnant is composite of many nations that attacked Jerusalem. The are from all nations over the earth.

3. During the crisis time they will worship the Lord Almighty and celebrate the feast of the Tabernacles.

Cluster G

17 If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the  King, the LORD Almighty, they will have no rain.

18 If the Egyptian people do not go up  and take part, they will have no rain. The LORD will bring on them the plague he  inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.

19 This will  be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.

van wyk notes:

1. Nations that had the appeal to respond properly to the Latter Rain of the Holy Spirit or the final call, and resisted, will experience hardship with no rain.

2. Also plaques will fall on those nations that ignore worshipping the Lord King.

3. This event is during the Time of Trouble before the Second coming of the Lord.

Cluster H

20 On that day HOLY TO THE LORD will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the  cooking pots in the LORD's house will be like the sacred bowls in front of the altar. 21  Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the LORD Almighty, and all who come to  sacrifice will take some of the pots and cook in them. And on that day there will no longer  be a Canaanite in the house of the LORD Almighty.

van wyk notes:

1. These verses are chronologically before the Second Advent and describes the sealing (inscribed) that will take place not only on our hearts but also on items listed here.

2. The sealing will separate Canaanitism from the remnant, a disease that will be also part of the remnant during the great delusion subsequent to the sealing and closing of the door of Mercy.

3. Modern Canaanitism and Baalism manifest itself in ecumenical and pluralistic as well as secular and humanistic trends and inroads in Adventism. This will be rooted out says the verse from the remnant as we enter the final phases.

Source for the Bible

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Zechariah+14&version=NIV

Some observations:

1. There is no coming to stay of the Lord during the millennium in this chapter.

2. The Lord comes before and after the millennium and not only before (pre-millennialism) or only after (post-millennialism).

3. Zechariah 14 is a composite text of concepts that can be collected in paragraphs that separate each other but that are placed adjacent to each other, giving the impression, by cursory reading, that they are one continuing description.

4. This oversight led to misconcepts by interpreters who expect a 1000 year of rule of the King on earth before Heaven will be created.  This is not what Zechariah is saying.