Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; even today I declare that I will restore to you double. Return to your strongholdThe Hebrew word for "return" is "שׁוּב" (shuv), which implies a turning back or a repentance. This call to return is not just a physical movement but a spiritual one, urging the people to turn back to God, their ultimate refuge and fortress. The "stronghold" here can be understood as a place of safety and security, often associated with God's protection. Historically, this reflects the period after the Babylonian exile when the Israelites were called to return to Jerusalem, both physically and spiritually, to rebuild their lives and their faith. O prisoners of hope
The phrase "prisoners of hope" is unique and deeply evocative. The Hebrew word for "prisoners" is "אָסִיר" (asir), which typically denotes someone who is bound or captive. However, coupling this with "hope" (תִּקְוָה, tikvah) transforms the meaning. These are not prisoners of despair but of hope, suggesting that even in captivity or difficult circumstances, there is an expectation of deliverance and restoration. This reflects the enduring hope of the Jewish people for redemption and the coming of the Messiah, a hope that Christians believe is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. even today I declare
The phrase "even today" emphasizes the immediacy and certainty of God's promise. The Hebrew word "הַיּוֹם" (hayom) means "today," indicating that God's intervention is not a distant future event but something that begins in the present. "I declare" underscores the authority and sovereignty of God in making this promise. It is a divine proclamation that carries the weight of certainty and divine will. that I will restore to you double
The promise of "double" restoration is significant. The Hebrew word "מִשְׁנֶה" (mishneh) means "double" or "second portion." This is a promise of abundant restoration and blessing, going beyond mere compensation for past losses. In the historical context, this would have been a powerful assurance to the Israelites who had suffered greatly during the exile. Spiritually, it speaks to the abundant grace and mercy of God, who not only restores but blesses abundantly beyond what was lost. This concept is echoed in the New Testament, where believers are promised abundant life through Christ (John 10:10). Persons / Places / Events 1. ZechariahA prophet in the Old Testament who conveyed God's messages to the Israelites during the post-exilic period. His prophecies often contained visions of hope and restoration. 2. Prisoners of HopeA metaphorical term used to describe the Israelites who were in exile or under oppression but still held onto the hope of God's promises. 3. StrongholdSymbolically represents a place of safety and security, often associated with God's protection and presence. 4. RestorationThe act of God promising to restore His people, not just to their former state, but with a double portion of blessing. 5. Double BlessingA promise of abundant restoration and blessing, indicating God's generosity and faithfulness to His covenant. Teaching Points Hope in God's PromisesDespite current circumstances, believers are encouraged to hold onto hope, trusting in God's faithfulness to fulfill His promises. Return to God as a StrongholdGod is depicted as a stronghold, a place of refuge and safety. Believers are called to return to Him, especially in times of trouble. Restoration Beyond ExpectationGod's promise to restore double signifies His abundant grace and mercy. Believers can expect not just restoration, but an overflow of blessings. Living as Prisoners of HopeThe term "prisoners of hope" suggests a life anchored in the certainty of God's future deliverance and blessing, encouraging perseverance and faith. God's Faithfulness in RestorationThe assurance of restoration is rooted in God's unchanging nature and His covenant with His people, providing a foundation for trust and hope. Bible Study Questions 1. What does it mean to be a "prisoner of hope," and how can this perspective change the way we face challenges in our lives? 2. How can we practically "return to our stronghold" in times of distress or uncertainty? 3. In what ways have you experienced God's restoration in your life, and how does the promise of a "double portion" encourage you? 4. How does the concept of hope as an anchor for the soul (Hebrews 6:18-19) relate to the message in Zechariah 9:12? 5. Reflect on a time when you felt like a prisoner of circumstances. How did holding onto hope in God's promises impact your situation? Connections to Other Scriptures Isaiah 61:7This verse also speaks of receiving a double portion, highlighting God's promise of restoration and blessing to His people. Jeremiah 31:16-17These verses echo the theme of hope and future restoration for those who have suffered loss. Psalm 146:7This Psalm speaks of God setting prisoners free, aligning with the theme of liberation and hope in Zechariah 9:12. Hebrews 6:18-19The concept of hope as an anchor for the soul connects with the idea of being "prisoners of hope." | A Stronghold | G. Thompson, M. A. | Zechariah 9:12 | | Christ a Stronghold | S. Lavington. | Zechariah 9:12 | | Counsel to Prisoners | B. Bailey. | Zechariah 9:12 | | Good News for Prisoners of Hope | F. B. Meyer, B. A. | Zechariah 9:12 | | Hope in the Prison | J. J. West, M. A. | Zechariah 9:12 | | Imprisoned by Hope | Robert Tuck, B. A. | Zechariah 9:12 | | Inspiration of Hope | | Zechariah 9:12 | | Message of Grace to Sinners | C. Davy. | Zechariah 9:12 | | Prisoners of Hope | Sara. P. Jones. | Zechariah 9:12 | | Prisoners of Hope | | Zechariah 9:12 | | Prisoners of Hope | Stephen Bridge, M. A. | Zechariah 9:12 | | Prisoners of Hope | D. Wilson, M. A. | Zechariah 9:12 | | Prisoners of Hope | Homiletic Magazine | Zechariah 9:12 | | Refuge in God | Homiletic Review | Zechariah 9:12 | | Saved by Our Hope | Archbishop Thomson. | Zechariah 9:12 | | The Condition of Sinners | Homilist | Zechariah 9:12 | | The Double Blessing | S. Barnard. | Zechariah 9:12 | | The Ground of Christian Confidence | M. Gait, M. A. | Zechariah 9:12 | | The Hope of Gain in Dying | W. H. Murray. | Zechariah 9:12 | | The Messiah in the Character of a Redeemer | R. Walker. | Zechariah 9:12 | | The Place of Hope in the Gospel | C. J. Vaughan, D. D. | Zechariah 9:12 | | The Prisoner of Hope | J. W. Cunningham. | Zechariah 9:12 | | The Prisoners of Hope | M. M. Preston, M. A. | Zechariah 9:12 | | The Sinner's Refuge | B. Beddome, M. A. | Zechariah 9:12 | | Historical Facts Illustrations of Spiritual Realities | D. Thomas | Zechariah 9:11, 12 | | The Sinner in Three Aspects | W. Forsyth | Zechariah 9:11, 12 |
People Aram, Javan, Jebusites, Zechariah, ZidonPlaces Ashdod, Ashkelon, Damascus, Ekron, Euphrates River, Gaza, Greece, Hadrach, Hamath, Jerusalem, Philistia, Sidon, Tyre, ZionTopics Announce, Announcer, Daughter, Declare, Declaring, Double, Fenced, Fortress, Hold, Hope, O, Prisoners, Render, Restore, Return, Strong, Stronghold, To-day, Turn, Twice, ZionDictionary of Bible Themes Zechariah 9:12 9612 hope, in God
9615 hope, results of Zechariah 9:9-13 1443 revelation, OT Zechariah 9:11-12 5461 prisoners Library Messiah's Entrance into Jerusalem
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. -- And He shall speak peace unto the heathen. T he narrowness and littleness of the mind of fallen man are sufficiently conspicuous in the idea he forms of magnificence and grandeur. The pageantry and parade of a Roman triumph, or of an eastern monarch, as described in history, exhibit him to us …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1And the Manner of his Entry into Jerusalem, which was the Capital of Judæa...
And the manner of His entry into Jerusalem, which was the capital of Judæa, where also was His royal seat and the temple of God, the prophet Isaiah declares: Say ye to the daughter of Sion, Behold a king corneth unto thee meek and sitting upon an ass, a colt the foal of an ass. [233] (Isa. lxii. 11, Zech. ix. 9) For, sitting. on an ass's colt, so He entered into Jerusalem, the multitudes strewing and putting down for Him their garments. And by the daughter of Sion he means Jerusalem. …
Irenæus—The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching Caesarea. Strato's Tower.
The Arabian interpreter thinks the first name of this city was Hazor, Joshua 11:1. The Jews, Ekron, Zephaniah 2:4. "R. Abhu saith," (he was of Caesarea,) "Ekron shall be rooted out"; this is Caesarea, the daughter of Edom, which is situated among things profane. She was a goad, sticking in Israel, in the days of the Grecians. But when the kingdom of the Asmonean family prevailed, it overcame her, &c. R. Josi Bar Chaninah saith, What is that that is written, 'And Ekron shall be as a Jebusite?' (Zech …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica History of the Interpretation.
1. AMONG THE JEWS. This History, as to its essential features, might, a priori, be sketched with tolerable certainty. From the nature of the case, we could scarcely expect that the Jews should have adopted views altogether erroneous as to the subject of the prophecy in question; for the Messiah appears in it, not in His humiliation, but in His glory--rich in gifts and blessings, and Pelagian self-delusion will, a priori, return an affirmative answer to the question as to whether one is …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament Hosanna!
Assuredly, this honor paid to our Lord was passing strange; a gleam of sunlight in a day of clouds, a glimpse of summer-tide in a long and dreary winter. He that was, as a rule, "despised and rejected of men", was for the moment surrounded with the acclaim of the crowd. All men saluted him that day with their Hosannas, and the whole city was moved. It was a gala day for the disciples, and a sort of coronation day for their Lord. Why was the scene permitted? What was its meaning? The marvel is, that …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 37: 1891 And thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, too little to be among the thousands of Judah
"And thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, too little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall come forth unto Me (one) [Pg 480] to be Ruler in Israel; and His goings forth are the times of old, the days of eternity." The close connection of this verse with what immediately precedes (Caspari is wrong in considering iv. 9-14 as an episode) is evident, not only from the [Hebrew: v] copulative, and from the analogy of the near relation of the announcement of salvation to the prophecy of disaster …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament The Christian State
Scripture references: Matthew 22:17-22; 17:24-27; Acts 23:5; John 6:15; Matthew 4:8-10; John 18:36-38; Mark 14; 61,62; John 18:33; 19:19; Isaiah 9:6,7; 60:3; Zechariah 9:10; Daniel 7:14; Matthew 26:64; 26:53,54; 16:16,17; 25:31,32. CHRIST AND THE STATE The Relation of Christ to the State.--He was an intense patriot. He loved His country. The names of His great countrymen, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joshua and David, were ever on His lips. He offered Himself as the national Messiah (Matthew 21:1-17), …
Henry T. Sell—Studies in the Life of the Christian Jesus' Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.
(from Bethany to Jerusalem and Back, Sunday, April 2, a.d. 30.) ^A Matt. XXI. 1-12, 14-17; ^B Mark XI. 1-11; ^C Luke XIX. 29-44; ^D John XII. 12-19. ^c 29 And ^d 12 On the morrow [after the feast in the house of Simon the leper] ^c it came to pass, when he he drew nigh unto Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, ^a 1 And when they came nigh unto Jerusalem, and came unto Bethphage unto { ^b at} ^a the mount of Olives [The name, Bethphage, is said to mean house of figs, but the …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel The First Day in Passion-Week - Palm-Sunday - the Royal Entry into Jerusalem
At length the time of the end had come. Jesus was about to make Entry into Jerusalem as King: King of the Jews, as Heir of David's royal line, with all of symbolic, typic, and prophetic import attaching to it. Yet not as Israel after the flesh expected its Messiah was the Son of David to make triumphal entrance, but as deeply and significantly expressive of His Mission and Work, and as of old the rapt seer had beheld afar off the outlined picture of the Messiah-King: not in the proud triumph of war-conquests, …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah The Formation of the Old Testament Canon
[Sidenote: Israel's literature at the beginning of the fourth century before Christ] Could we have studied the scriptures of the Israelitish race about 400 B.C., we should have classified them under four great divisions: (1) The prophetic writings, represented by the combined early Judean, Ephraimite, and late prophetic or Deuteronomic narratives, and their continuation in Samuel and Kings, together with the earlier and exilic prophecies; (2) the legal, represented by the majority of the Old Testament …
Charles Foster Kent—The Origin & Permanent Value of the Old Testament The Blessings of Noah Upon Shem and Japheth. (Gen. Ix. 18-27. )
Ver. 20. "And Noah began and became an husbandman, and planted vineyards."--This does not imply that Noah was the first who began to till the ground, and, more especially, to cultivate the vine; for Cain, too, was a tiller of the ground, Gen. iv. 2. The sense rather is, that Noah, after the flood, again took up this calling. Moreover, the remark has not an independent import; it serves only to prepare the way for the communication of the subsequent account of Noah's drunkenness. By this remark, …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament The Quotation in Matt. Ii. 6.
Several interpreters, Paulus especially, have asserted that the interpretation of Micah which is here given, was that of the Sanhedrim only, and not of the Evangelist, who merely recorded what happened and was said. But this assertion is at once refuted when we consider the object which Matthew has in view in his entire representation of the early life of Jesus. His object in recording the early life of Jesus is not like that of Luke, viz., to communicate historical information to his readers. …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament Fifthly, as this Revelation, to the Judgment of Right and Sober Reason,
appears of itself highly credible and probable, and abundantly recommends itself in its native simplicity, merely by its own intrinsic goodness and excellency, to the practice of the most rational and considering men, who are desirous in all their actions to have satisfaction and comfort and good hope within themselves, from the conscience of what they do: So it is moreover positively and directly proved to be actually and immediately sent to us from God, by the many infallible signs and miracles …
Samuel Clarke—A Discourse Concerning the Being and Attributes of God The Gospel Feast
"When Jesus then lifted up His eyes, and saw a great company come unto Him, He saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?"--John vi. 5. After these words the Evangelist adds, "And this He said to prove him, for He Himself knew what He would do." Thus, you see, our Lord had secret meanings when He spoke, and did not bring forth openly all His divine sense at once. He knew what He was about to do from the first, but He wished to lead forward His disciples, and to arrest and …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII The Gospel of the Kingdom.
"This is He whom Seers in old time Chanted of with one accord; Whom the voices of the Prophets Promised in their faithful word." We have seen that, in the providence of God, John the Baptist was sent to proclaim to the world that "The Kingdom of Heaven" was at hand, and to point out the King. And as soon as the Herald had raised the expectation of men by the proclamation of the coming Kingdom, our Lord began His public ministry, the great object of which was the founding of His Kingdom for the salvation …
Edward Burbidge—The Kingdom of Heaven; What is it? Zechariah
CHAPTERS I-VIII Two months after Haggai had delivered his first address to the people in 520 B.C., and a little over a month after the building of the temple had begun (Hag. i. 15), Zechariah appeared with another message of encouragement. How much it was needed we see from the popular despondency reflected in Hag. ii. 3, Jerusalem is still disconsolate (Zech. i. 17), there has been fasting and mourning, vii. 5, the city is without walls, ii. 5, the population scanty, ii. 4, and most of the people …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Zechariah 9:12 NIVZechariah 9:12 NLTZechariah 9:12 ESVZechariah 9:12 NASBZechariah 9:12 KJV
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