Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 100:400 (Oct 1943)
Article: Exegetical Studies in Zechariah Part 13
Author: Charles Lee Feinberg

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BSac 100:400 (Oct 43) p. 513

Exegetical Studies in Zechariah
Part 13

Charles Lee Feinberg

(Continued from the July-September Number, 1943)

IV. The Future of the World Powers, Israel, and the Kingdom of Messiah, 9-14.

A. The First Burden, 9-11.

1. Judgment on the Land of Hadrach, 9:1-8.

The judgment of God, as Zechariah graphically pictures it, will fall not only upon Hadrach, Damascus, Hamath, Tyre, and Sidon, but also upon the chief cities of Philistia. Says the prophet, “Ashkelon shall see it, and fear; Gaza also, and she shall tremble exceedingly; and Ekron, for her expectation shall be put to shame; and a king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited. And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines” (vv. 5, 6). Zechariah portrays the march of Alexander along the Mediterranean Sea from Phoenicia to Philistia. The destruction of the great commercial city of Tyre instills terror into the lesser cities of Philistia. If this powerful city could not withstand the conquest of Alexander, their expectation could only be turned into disappointment. A similar fate assuredly awaited them. And so it was. All the principal Philistine cities experienced the rod of the invader. Just as in Amos 1:6–8, Zephaniah 2:4, and Jeremiah 25:20, Gath is omitted. Compare Joshua 13:3. It has been suggested (Chambers) that the prophet omitted Gath because of its political insignificance after the campaign of Uzziah (2 Chron 26:6). It was the custom of kings of the East to allow royalty to remain in conquered countries as tributary, assuming for themselves the title of “king of kings” (cf. Ezek 26:7). But conquered Gaza will not be

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granted this privilege she will be divested of her native dynasty. Hengstenberg suggests that “the disappearance of the king from the city denotes the utter ruin and extinction of the city itself.”1 A like chastisement was meted out to Ashkelon, for she was left without inhabitant. In Ashdod a bastard people was to dwell. The word ממזר has been variously rendered. It occurs but twice in the Old Testament-Deuteronomy 23:3 (Hebrew) and the passage before us. The LXX does not translate the passages uniformly. In Deuteronomy the translation is

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