Zechariah 14:11

And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

14:8-15 Some consider that the progress of the gospel, beginning from Jerusalem, is referred to by the living waters flowing from that city. Neither shall the gospel and means of grace, nor the graces of the Spirit wrought in the hearts of believers by those means, ever fail, by reason either of the heat of persecution, or storms of temptation, or the blasts of any other affliction. Tremendous judgments appear to be foretold, to be sent upon those who should oppose the settlement of the Jews in their own land. How far they are to be understood literally, events alone can determine. The furious rage and malice which stir up men against each other, are faint shadows of the enmity which reigns among those who have perished in their sins. Even the inferior creatures often suffer for the sin of man, and in his plagues. Thus God will show his displeasure against sin.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And they shall dwell in it - In peace, going forth from it, neither into "captivity," nor in flight Zechariah 14:2, Zechariah 14:5; for God should exempt from curse the city which He had chosen, against which the gates of hell shall not prevail, and He says of the heavenly Jerusalem, "there shall be no more curse" Revelation 22:3.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

11. no more utter destruction—(Jer 31:40). Literally, "no more curse" (Re 22:3; compare Mal 4:6), for there will be no more sin. Temporal blessings and spiritual prosperity shall go together in the millennium: long life (Isa 65:20-22), peace (Isa 2:4), honor (Isa 60:14-16), righteous government (Isa 54:14; 60:18). Judgment, as usual, begins at the house of God, but then falls fatally on Antichrist, whereon the Church obtains perfect liberty. The last day will end everything evil (Ro 8:21) [Auberlen].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Men, i.e. many for number, or eminent for worth,

shall dwell in it: as it was type, this was verified, say some, when in league with Bacchides and succeeding kings. But in the antitype, to which Zechariah looks, it is now, as it hath been, fulfilled, and more fully shall be, when the fulness of the Gentiles cometh in.

There shall be no more utter destruction; there may be afflictions and troubles, but no utter wasting of Jerusalem; the gates of hell shall not prevail.

But Jerusalem, the antitype, the gospel church,

shall be safely inhabited; not secure from troubles, but secure enough from total destruction.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And men shall dwell in it,.... In great numbers, in much peace and safety, and from generation to generation: Aben Ezra says, Messiah the son of David will now come:

and there shall be no more utter destruction; no wars, nor desolations by them, in a civil sense; there shall be no more killing, as the Targum, Isaiah 2:4 no "cherem", no anathema, in a religious sense; in the old translation it is, "and there shall be no more cursing"; there will be no curse in the Jerusalem state, Revelation 22:3 which words seem to be taken from hence; no cursed thing, nor cursed person, or any curse or anathema denounced against any; no Popish bulls and anathemas, nor any other:

but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited; the inhabitants of it shall dwell securely, without any apprehension of danger, and having no enemies to fear; though, before this safe and happy state, there will be many enemies; and what will become of them is shown in the following verses.

Geneva Study Bible

And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

11. utter destruction] Lit. curse. ἀνάθεμα οὐκ ἔσται ἔτι. LXX. Comp. Revelation 22:3.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 11. - Men shall dwell in it. There shall be no tear of exile and captivity, and no necessity to fly from a victorious enemy (vers. 2, 5). Utter destruction; literally, curse, ban; LXX. and Vulgate, "There shall be no more anathema." The inhabitants shall not incur the curse which is inflicted on transgressors, idolaters, and their cities by the old Law (see Exodus 22:20; Deuteronomy 7:2; Deuteronomy 13:12-15; Deuteronomy 20:17; comp. Ezra 10:8; Isaiah 43:28; Revelation 22:3). Shall be safely inhabited; or, shall dwell safely. Sin being removed, there will be no more occasion for chastisement; and the spiritual Jerusalem shall never be destroyed. Zechariah 14:11

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Zechariah 14:8. "And it will come to pass in that day, that living waters will go out from Jerusalem; by half into the eastern sea, and by half into the western sea: in summer and in winter will it be. Zechariah 14:9. And Jehovah will be King over all the land; in that day will Jehovah be one, and His name one. Zechariah 14:10. The whole land will turn as the plain from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem; and this will be high, and dwell in its place, from the gate of Benjamin to the place of the first gate, to the corner gate, and from the tower of Chananeel to the king's wine-presses. Zechariah 14:11. And men will dwell therein, and there will be no more curse (ban); and Jerusalem will dwell securely." The living water which issues from Jerusalem, and pours over the land on both sides, flowing both into the eastern or Dead Sea, and into the hinder (i.e., western) or Mediterranean Sea (see at Joel 2:20), is, according to Joel 3:18 and Ezekiel 47:1-12, a figurative representation of the salvation and blessing which will flow out of Jerusalem, the centre of the kingdom of God, over the holy land, and produce vigorous life on every hand. According to Joel and Ezekiel, the water issues from the temple (see at Joel 3:18). Zechariah adds, that this will take place in summer and winter, i.e., will proceed without interruption throughout the whole year, whereas natural streams dry up in summer time in Palestine. To this blessing there is added the higher spiritual blessing, that Jehovah will be King over all the land, and His name alone will be mentioned and revered. כּל־הארץ does not mean the whole earth, but, as in Zechariah 14:8 and Zechariah 14:10, the whole of the land of Canaan or of Israel, which is bounded by the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean. It by no means follows from this, however, that Zechariah is simply speaking of a glorification of Palestine. For Canaan, or the land of Israel, is a type of the kingdom of God in the full extent which it will have on the earth in the last days depicted here. Jehovah's kingship does not refer to the kingdom of nature, but to the kingdom of grace, - namely, to the perfect realization of the sovereignty of God, for which the old covenant prepared the way; whereas the old Israel continually rebelled against Jehovah's being King, both by its sin and its idolatry. This rebellion, i.e., the apostasy of the nation from its God, is to cease, and the Lord alone will be King and God of the redeemed nation, and be acknowledged by it; His name alone will be mentioned, and not the names of idols as well.

The earthly soil of the kingdom of God will then experience a change. The whole land will be levelled into a plain, and Jerusalem will be elevated in consequence; and Jerusalem, when thus exalted, will be restored in its fullest extent. יסּב (imperf. kal, not niphal; see Ges. 67, 5), to change like the plain, i.e., to change so as to become like the plain. הערבה is not a plain generally, in which case the article would be used generically, but the plain, so called κατ ̓ ἐξοχήν, the plain of the Jordan, or the Ghor (see at Deuteronomy 1:1). The definition "from Geba to Rimmon" does not belong to כּערבה (Umbreit, Neum., Klief.), but to כּל־הארץ; for there was no plain between Geba and Rimmon, but only an elevated, hilly country. Geba is the present Jeba, about three hours to the north of Jerusalem (see at Joshua 18:24), and was the northern frontier city of the kingdom of Judah (2 Kings 23:8). Rimmon, which is distinguished by the clause "to the south of Jerusalem" from the Rimmon in Galilee, the present Rummaneh to the north of Nazareth (see at Joshua 19:13), and from the rock of Rimmon, the present village of Rummon, about fifteen Roman miles to the north of Jerusalem (see Judges 20:45), is the Rimmon situated on the border of Edom, which was given up by the tribe of Judah to the Simeonites (Joshua 15:32; Joshua 19:7), probably on the site of the present ruins of Um er Rummanim, four hours to the north of Beersheba (see at Joshua 15:32). To וראמה וגו we must supply as the subject Jerusalem, which has been mentioned just before. ראמה is probably only an outwardly expanded form of רמה from רוּם, like קאם in Hosea 10:14. The whole land will be lowered, that Jerusalem alone may be high. This is, of course, not to be understood as signifying a physical elevation caused by the depression of the rest of the land; but the description is a figurative one, like the exaltation of the temple mountain above all the mountains in Micah 4:1. Jerusalem, as the residence of the God-King, is the centre of the kingdom of God; and in the future this is to tower high above all the earth. The figurative description is attached to the natural situation of Jerusalem, which stood upon a broad mountain ridge, and was surrounded by mountains, which were loftier than the city (see Robinson, Palestine). The exaltation is a figurative representation of the spiritual elevation and glory which it is to receive. Moreover, Jerusalem is to dwell on its ancient site (ישׁב תּחתּיה, as in Zechariah 12:6). The meaning of this is not that the exaltation above the surrounding land will be the only alteration that will take place in its situation (Koehler); but, as a comparison with Jeremiah 31:38 clearly shows, that the city will be restored or rebuilt in its former extent, and therefore is to be completely recovered from the ruin brought upon it by conquest and plunder (Zechariah 14:1). The boundaries of the city that are mentioned here cannot be determined with perfect certainty. The first definitions relate to the extent of the city from east to west. The starting-point (for the use of למן, see Haggai 2:18) is Benjamin's gate, in the north wall, through which the road to Benjamin and thence to Ephraim ran, so that it was no doubt the same as Ephraim's gate mentioned in 2 Kings 14:13 and Nehemiah 8:16. The terminus ad quem, on the other hand, is doubtful, viz., "to the place of the first gate, to the corner gate." According to the grammatical construction, עד־שׁער הפּנּים is apparently in apposition to עד־מקום שׁער הר, or a more precise description of the position of the first gate; and Hitzig and Kliefoth have taken the words in this sense. Only we cannot see any reason why the statement "to the place of the first gate" should be introduced at all, if the other statement "to the corner gate" describes the very same terminal point, and that in a clearer manner. We must therefore assume, as the majority of commentators have done, that the two definitions refer to two different terminal points; in other words, that they define the extent both eastwards and westwards from the Benjamin's gate, which stood near the centre of the north wall. The corner gate (sha‛ar happinnı̄m is no doubt the same as sha‛ar happinnâh in 2 Kings 14:13 and Jeremiah 31:38) was at the western corner of the north wall. "The first gate" is supposed to be identical with שׁער היּשׁנה, the gate of the old (city), in Nehemiah 3:6 and Nehemiah 12:39, and its place at the north-eastern corner of the city. The definitions which follow give the extent of the city from north to south. We must supply מן before מגדּל. The tower of Hananeel (Jeremiah 31:38; Nehemiah 3:1; Nehemiah 12:39) stood at the north-east corner of the city (see at Nehemiah 3:1). The king's wine-presses were unquestionably in the king's gardens at the south side of the city (Nehemiah 3:15). In the city so glorified the inhabitants dwell (ישׁבוּ in contrast to going out as captives or as fugitives, Zechariah 14:2, Zechariah 14:5), and that as a holy nation, for there will be no more any ban in the city. The ban presupposes sin, and is followed by extermination as a judgment (cf. Joshua 6:18). The city and its inhabitants will therefore be no more exposed to destruction, but will dwell safely, and have no more hostile attacks to fear (cf. Isaiah 65:18. and Revelation 22:3).