Zechariah's Burden Upon Israel (7): Jehovah's Gracious Kingship
Universally Affirmed (Zechariah 14:1-15) by Rev. Angus Stewart
I. The Movements of Judah's Mountain
II. The Flowing of Living Waters
III. The Changes to Cosmic Light
C. F. Keil on Zechariah 14:6-7: “... the costly or splendid things are the stars, according to Job xxxi. 26, where the moon is spoken of as ... walking in splendour. These words therefore describe the passing away or vanishing of the brightness of the shining stars, answering to the prophetic announcement, that on the day of judgment, sun, moon, and stars will lose their brightness or be turned into darkness (Joel iv. 15; Isa. xiii. 10; Ezek. xxxii. 7, 8; Matt. xxiv. 29; Rev. vi. 12). In ver. 7 this day is still more clearly described: first, as solitary in its kind; and secondly, as a marvellous day, on which the light dawns at evening time. The four clauses of this verse contain only two thoughts; each so expressed in two clauses that the second explains the first. ..., unus dies, is not equivalent to tempus non longum (Cocceius, Hengst.), nor to ‘only one day, not two or more’ (Koehler), but solitary in its kind, unparalleled by any other, because no second of the kind ever occurs (for the use of ’echâd in this sense, compare ver. 9, Ezek. vii. 5, Song of Sol. vi. 9). It is necessary to take the words in this manner on account of the following clause, ‘it will be known to the Lord;’ i.e. not ‘it will be singled out by Jehovah in the series of days as the appropriate one’ (Hitzig and Koehler), nor ‘it stands under the supervision and guidance of the Lord, so that it does not come unexpectedly, or interfere with His plans’ (Hengstenberg), for neither of these is expressed ... but simply it is known to the Lord according to its true nature, and therefore is distinguished above all other days. The following definition, ‘not day and not night,’ does not mean that ‘it will form a turbid mixture of day and night, in which there will prevail a mongrel condition of mysterious, horrifying twilight and gloom’ (Koehler); but it will resemble neither day nor night, because the lights of heaven, which regulate day and night, lose their brightness, and at evening time there comes not darkness, but light. The order of nature is reversed: the day resembles the night, and the evening brings light. At the time when, according to the natural course of events, the dark night should set in, a bright light will dawn. The words do not actually affirm that the alternation of day and night will cease (Jerome, Neumann, Kliefoth); but this may be inferred from a comparison of Rev. xxi. 23 and 25.”