Teks -- Zechariah 9:13 (NET)

9:13 I will bend Judah as my bow; I will load the bow with Ephraim, my arrow! I will stir up your sons, Zion, against yours, Greece, and I will make you, Zion, like a warrior’s sword.

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Wesley: Zec 9:13 - When I have bent Judah

In the day's when Judah shall be in my hand as a strong bow, already bent.

Wesley: Zec 9:13 - Ephraim

Ephraim, the remainder of the ten tribes (which returned with Judah) shall be for a supply of warriors; as the quiver filled is a supply of arrows to the bow - man.

Wesley: Zec 9:13 - O Greece

Against the Grecians or Ionians, who had oppressed the Jews, and bought them for slaves, against whom the Jews took arms, under the conduct of the Maccabees, to whom Christ made good much of this promise.

JFB: Zec 9:13 - bent Judah

Made Judah as it were My bow, and "filled" it "with Ephraim," as My arrow, wherewith to overcome the successor of the Grecian Alexander, Antiochus Epiphanes (compare Notes, see on Dan 8:9; Dan 11:32; I Maccabees 1:62; 2:41-43), the oppressor of Judah. Having spoken (Zec 9:1-8) of Alexander's victories, after the parenthesis (Zec 9:9-10) as to Messiah the infinitely greater King coming, he passes to the victories which God would enable Judah to gain over Alexander's successor, after his temporary oppression of them.

JFB: Zec 9:13 - O Zion . . . O Greece

God on one hand addresses Zion, on the other Greece, showing that He rules all people.

Clarke: Zec 9:13 - When I have bent Judah

When I have bent Judah - Judah is the bow, and Ephraim is the arrows; and these are to be shot against the Greeks. I am inclined, with Bp. Newcome, to consider that the language of this prophecy is too strong to point out the only trifling advantage which the Maccabees gained over Antiochus, who was of Macedonian descent; and it is probable that these prophecies remain to be fulfilled against the present possessors of Javan or Greece, Macedonia, and a part of Asia Minor.

Calvin: Zec 9:13 - I have bent for me

God declares here that the Jews would be the conquerors of all nations, though they were then despised. That people, we know, were hated by all; and they were at the same time weak, and had hardly any strength, so as to be able to resist the wrongs done them on every side. As then this trial might have terrified weak minds, the Prophet says that the Jews would be as it were the bow and the quiver of God, so that they would be able to pierce all nations with their arrow; and that they would also be like a sword, which would wound and lay prostrate the strongest.

We now perceive the meaning of the words, and see also the reason why the Prophet made this addition, even because the Jews were filled with terror on seeing themselves surrounded on every side by violent and strong enemies, to whom they were very unequal in strength. Now, these similitudes we know occur elsewhere in Scripture, and their meaning seems to be this — that the Jews would be the conquerors of all nations, not by their own prowess, as they say, but because the Lord would guide and direct them by his own hand. For what is a bow except it be bent? and the bow itself is useless, except the arrow be discharged. The Prophet then teaches us, that though the Jews could do nothing of themselves, yet there was strength enough in God’s hand alone.

I have bent for me, he says, Judah as a bow. The Lord reminds the Jews of his own power, that they might not regard their own strength, but acknowledge that they were made strong from above, and that strength to overcome their enemies would be given them. Hence he compares Ephraim to a quiver. But we have seen yesterday, that Judah and Ephraim are to be taken as the same; for as it had been a divided body, God intimates here, that when the Jews became again united and joined together, and when the ten tribes showed brotherly kindness towards the kingdom of Judah, then the people would be to him like a bow well furnished, being fully supplied with arrows. ¹¹¹

He afterwards adds, I will rouse thy sons, O Sion, against thy sons, O Javan. This apostrophe is more emphatical than if the third person had been adopted; for by addressing first Sion, and then Greece, he shows that he possesses power over all nations, so that he raises up the one and casts down the other, as he pleases.

As to the word יון , Ivan, we have elsewhere seen that it is to be taken for Greece, and now for all the countries beyond sea. Yet many think that the word Jonah is derived from this Hebrew word, and, as it often happens, is corruptly pronounced. But we may gather from many instances that יון , Ivan, is put for Greece, or for distant countries, and specifically for Macedonia. It is then the same as though he had said — That the Jews would be superior to all heathen nations, even were they to unite together and bring vast forces from distant lands. For the Greeks could not have waged war in Judea with a small force; they must have brought with them large armies, to fight in a strange country and unknown to them. Nor could the Jews have attacked the Grecians or other remote nations, except they were favored with aid from heaven. For this reason also he adds, that they would be like a sword, by which a strong man can destroy others of less power. Let us now go on —

Defender: Zec 9:13 - Greece

When Zechariah wrote this prophecy, the Greek nation had not yet risen to military prominence, but he knew from Daniel's prophecies (Dan 2:39; Dan 8:3-7, Dan 8:20-21) that Greece would eventually displace Medo-Persia as the dominant world power. Sooner or later, little Israel must confront mighty Greece. According to Josephus, the Jewish historian, when Alexander had defeated the Philistines and headed toward Jerusalem, Alexander was led to spare and even honor the Jews when Jaddua, the high priest, met him and showed him these prophecies of Daniel that he was fulfilling. Later, after the break-up of Alexander's empire, the Maccabean Jews did have to battle continually with his successors in Syria, but the Lord preserved them and enabled them to endure."

TSK: Zec 9:13 - bent // and raised // against // made

bent : Zec 1:21, Zec 10:3-7, Zec 12:2-8; Mic 5:4-9; Rev 17:14

and raised : Psa 49:2-9; Lam 4:2; Amo 2:11; Oba 1:21

against : Dan 8:21-25, Dan 11:32-34; Joe 3:6-8; Mic 4:2, Mic 4:3; Mar 16:15-20; Rom 15:16-20; 1Co 1:21-28; 2Co 10:3-5; 2Ti 4:7

made : Zec 12:8; Psa 18:32-35, Psa 45:3, Psa 144:1, Psa 149:6; Isa 41:15, Isa 41:16, Isa 49:2; Eph 6:17; Heb 4:12; Rev 1:16, Rev 2:12, Rev 19:15, Rev 19:21

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Zec 9:13 - When I have bent Judah for me // Filled the bow with Ephraim // And raised up thy sons, O Zion // Against thy sons, O Greece // And made thee // as the sword of a mighty man

When I have bent Judah for me in the days when Judah shall have recovered strength and courage, and be in my hand as a strong bow, ready bent.

Filled the bow with Ephraim Ephraim, the remainder of the ten tribes, (which returned with Judah,) shall be for supply of warriors; as the quiver filled is supply of arrows to the bow-man.

And raised up thy sons, O Zion explicatory to the former.

Against thy sons, O Greece against the Grecians, or Ionians, the sons of Javan, who had formerly oppressed the Jews, and bought them for slaves, and did again oppress them in the reigns of the Selucidae and the Lagidae, against whom the Jews took arms and courage under the conduct of the Maccabees, to whom Christ made good much of this promise.

And made thee O Zion, or Jerusalem, you, O Jews,

as the sword of a mighty man a sharp sword of a mighty man or giant, who cuts down all that stands in his way, as the Maccabees did.

Haydock: Zec 9:13 - Juda // Filled // Sons

Juda: the Machabees. (St. Jerome) ---

Filled, or stretched the bow of Ephraim. (Calmet) ---

The people shall act with vigour and union. (Haydock) ---

Sons; viz., the apostles, who, in the spiritual way, conquered the Greeks, and subdued them to Christ. (Challoner) ---

The Machabees repressed the insolence of the Seleucides, who were of Greek extraction.

Gill: Zec 9:13 - When I have bent Judah for me // filled the bow with Ephraim // and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece // and made thee as the sword of a mighty man

When I have bent Judah for me,.... By whom are meant the apostles, who were Jews, and whose ministrations were made use of as a bow with arrows, to strike the hearts of men, and bring them into subjection to Christ: they were a bow of the Lord's bending and preparing, and which abode in strength, being made strong and effectual through the hands of the mighty God of Jacob:

filled the bow with Ephraim: or rather, "filled Ephraim with the bow" ^p; filled his hand with it; meaning, that some out of the ten tribes, as were the apostles, should be employed in drawing the bow of the Gospel, and shooting its arrows, the doctrines of it; which are comparable to them for swiftness, suddenness, and secrecy, and for their piercing and penetrating nature:

and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece; that is, persons of the land of Judea, as such the apostles were, and who belonged to Zion the church of Christ; who were raised up, qualified, and sent forth by him into the Gentile world, with weapons of warfare, not carnal, but spiritual; against the Gentiles in general, and the wise men of Greece, as at Athens, in particular, to confound some, and to conquer others, and bring them to the obedience of Christ. Some understand this of the Maccabees raised up against Antiochus, and the Greeks that possessed the kingdom of Syria:

and made thee as the sword of a mighty man; that is, made the Gospel in the hands of the church, and of her sons, as a sword in the hand of a mighty man, by whom execution is done with it; this is the sword of the Spirit, even the word of God; and is sharp and cutting, and is the power of God unto salvation; as it is girt upon the thigh, and is in the hands of Christ the most Mighty; and as it is accompanied with the Spirit of God, and of power.