6 "I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them back; for I have mercy on them; and they will be as though I had not cast them off: for I am Yahweh their God, and I will hear them.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Zechariah pursues the same subject, -- that the work of redemption, the beginning of which the Jews saw, would not be incomplete, for the Lord would at length fulfill what he had begun. The Jews themselves could not acquiesce in those beginnings, which were not a hundredth part of what God had promised; it was hence necessary for them to raise up their minds above, that they might hope for much more than what was evident before their eyes. And this truth is very useful to us, for we are wont to confine God's promises to a short duration of time, and when we thus include him within narrow limits, we prevent him as it were to do what we stand in need of. Let then the example of the return of the people of Israel ever come to our minds, for the Lord had promised by his Prophets that they would become very eminent, and in every way rich and happy; but when this did not take place after their return to their country, many of the Jews thought that they had been deceived, as they had expected God to fulfill his word immediately, but they ought to have suspended their hope and expectation until Christ came to the world. On this then the Prophet now insists -- that the Jews were to rest patiently, until the ripened time came, when the Lord would prove that he is not only in part but a complete redeemer of his people. Now he says, I will strengthen the house of Judah, and the house of Joseph will I save. The kingdom of Israel, we know, had by degrees wholly fallen; for at first four tribes were driven into exile, and afterwards the whole people perished, so that all thought that the name of the ten tribes had become extinct. The Lord afterwards visited the kingdom with dreadful ruin. But it must be observed, that while the two kingdoms existed, they entertained grievous enmities towards each other; for the defection which happened under Jeroboam, ever made the Jews violently to hate their brethren, the Israelites, as they indeed deserved; for they had in a manner rejected God by rejecting the son of David, and became in a manner alienated from the body of the Church. Now then Zechariah promises something uncommon, when he says that the two peoples shall be united, so as to be again one, as before the defection: for the house of Joseph means the same as the house of Ephraim; and we know that by taking a part for the whole, the house of Ephraim is taken for the whole kingdom of Israel. We now then understand the Prophet's meaning -- that the state of the people would be happier than it had been since the ten tribes separated from the kingdom of Judah, or from the house of David; for God would gather for himself a Church from all the children of Abraham. [1] He then adds, I will bring them back and cause them to dwell. The verb here, hvsvvtym, eushebutim, is supposed to be derived from sv, sheb, or from svv, shub; but they are mistaken who think these to be words of different meanings, because some refer to the one root, and others to the other; nor can this be maintained: but those who minutely consider the rules of grammar, say that the verb is a compound, and means that God would not only restore the ten tribes, but also make them to dwell, that is, give them a fixed habitation in their country. [2] He then adds, Because I have pitied them. Some read this in the future tense, but I retain the past, for the Lord assigns here a reason for their future gathering, even because he would deal mercifully with his people. He recalls then the attention of the Jews to the fountains of his mercy, as if he had said, "Though they have deserved perpetual ruin, He will yet hear their greenings, because he will be propitious to them." As their calamity was an hindrance, which prevented the Jews from expecting any such thing, he adds, They shall be as though I had not cast them away. By which words he reminds them that the punishment which had been inflicted on the people, would be only for a time. He then bids them to take courage, though they were like the lost or the dead, for he would put an end to their miseries. And when God says that he had cast away his people, it ought to be taken according to the perceptions of men, as we have observed elsewhere; for adoption was unchangeable, but external appearance could have led to no other conclusion, but that the people had been rejected by God. The meaning of the Prophet is, however, clearly this -- that though God had dealt severely with that people, and inflicted on them the heaviest punishment on account of their perfidy, yet his vengeance would not be for ever, for he would give place to mercy. He adds another reason, For I Jehovah am their God. He means by this sentence that adoption would not be void, though he had for a time rejected the Jews: for by calling himself their God, he reminds them of his covenant, as though he had said, that he had not in vain made a covenant with Abraham, and promised that his seed would be blessed. Since then God had pledged his faith to Abraham, he says here that he would be the God of his people; not that they deserved anything, but because he had gratuitously chosen both Abraham and his seed. He in the last place says, And I will hear them [3] He seems here to exhort them to prayer, that, relying on this promise, they might ask of God what had been promised. Though this verb is often taken in a sense not strictly correct, for God is said to hear those who do not flee to him; but what I have stated is more suitable to this place -- that the people are stimulated to prayer, as God freely invites us to himself for this end, that is, that our prayers may harmonise with his promises. This is the meaning. It now follows --
1 - The opinion of those who regard this prophecy as having been accomplished in the history of the Jews before the coming of Christ, is that "the house of Joseph" were those of the ten tribes who had joined themselves to the tribe of Judah. So Grotius says, and Henderson observes, "It is clear from the reference thus made, that part, if not most of all the tribes, returned and took possession of their patrimonial lands after the captivity. But Scott and Adam Clarke, though they allow that this prophecy was in part fulfilled when the Jews successfully resisted their SyroGrecian enemies, yet think that its full accomplishment is yet future; while Calvin evidently considers that a spiritual union in Christ is intended, conveyed in a language borrowed from the civil condition of the Jews. -- Ed.
2 - Kimchi says that [ysv], to dwell, and [svv], to return, are included in this verb; but of such amalgamation there are no examples. The true reading no doubt is either [vhsvtym], "and I will restore them," supported by six MSS. the Targum, the Syriac, and the Vulgate; or [vhvsvtym], "and I will settle them," supported by the Septuagint. -- Ed.
3 - Literally it is, "and I will answer them," [v'nm];--[kai epakousomai autois]--"and I will hear them," is the Septuagint; but the proper meaning of the verb is to answer; and so Henderson renders it. -- Ed.
I will bring them again to place them - Zechariah seems to have condensed into one word two of Jeremiah, "I will bring them again" unto this place, and "I will cause them to dwell" safely Jeremiah 32:37. Kimchi. It is not a confusion of forms, but the blending of two words into one. So also Ibn Ezra): "The two ideas are here both implied, he will cause them to return to their land, and will cause them to dwell there in peace and security."
For I will have mercy upon them - Dionysius: "For the goodness and lovingkindness of God, not any merits of our's, is the first and principal cause of our whole salvation and grace. Therefore the Psalmist says, 'neither did their own arm save them; but Thy right hand and Thine arm, and the light of Thy countenance, because Thou hadst a favor unto them' Psalm 44:3."
And they shall be, as though I had not cast them off - (Etymologically, "loathed," "cast off as a thing abhorrent" .) God is ever "the God of the present." He does not half-forgive. "Their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more" Hebrews 8:12. God casts off the sinner, as being what he is, a thing abhorrent, as penitence confesses of itself that it is "a dead dog, a loathsome worm, a putrid corpse." God will not clothe with a righteousness, which He does not impart. He restores to the penitent all his lost graces, as though he had never forfeited them, and cumulates them with the fresh grace whereby He converts him (see vol. i. on Joel 2:25, pp. 192, 193). It is an entire re-creation. "They shall be, as though I had not cast them off." "I will settle you as in your old estates, and will do good, more than at your beginnings, and ye shall know that I am the Lord" Ezekiel 36:11.
For I am the Lord their God, and will hear them - As He says by Malchi, "I am the Lord; I change not" Malachi 3:6. His unchangeableness belongs to His Being; "I Am; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed;" and by Hosea, "The Lord of hosts, The Lord is His memorial, therefore turn thou to thy God" (Hosea 12:5-6, (6, 7 Hebrews.) See vol. i. pp. 119, 120). Because God was "their God," and as surely as He was "their God," He would hear them. His Being was the pledge of His hearing. "I, the Lord, will hear them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them" Isaiah 41:17.
I will strengthen the house of Judah - I doubt whether the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth verses are not to be understood of the future ingathering of the Jews in the times of the Gospel. See Jeremiah 3:14; Jeremiah 23:6; Hosea 1:2; Hosea 6:11.
And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the (h) house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I [am] the LORD their God, and will hear them.
(h) That is, the ten tribes, which would be united under Christ to the rest of the Church.
And I wilt strengthen the house of Judah,.... Both with internal and external strength, so that they shall be able to stand their ground against enemies of every sort:
and I will save the house of Joseph: the ten tribes, such of them that shall be found, for all Israel shall be saved, Romans 11:26 not only temporally, but spiritually, with an everlasting salvation:
and I will bring them again to place them; there is but one word in the original text; it is composed of two words, as Kimchi observes, of "to return", and "to sit" or "dwell" (o), quietly, constantly, and at ease; and our version takes in both senses: the meaning is, that these people should be returned from the state and condition and from each of the places they are in, and be settled either in their own land, or in Gospel churches, under a Gospel ministry, enjoying Gospel ordinances, or in both:
for I have mercy upon them; which is the spring and source of all the above benefits promised, or that are after mentioned; even of the covenant and its blessings; the mission of Christ, and salvation by him; regeneration, pardon, and eternal life; hence they that had a "loammi" upon them, and were not the people of God, now will be his people; and those who had not obtained mercy shall obtain it, even those that were concluded in unbelief:
and they shall be as though I had not cast them off; or rejected them from being his people; which was done when the natural branches, the Jews, were broken off, and the Gentiles of the wild olive tree were grafted in; when their civil and church state were dissolved, and their city and temple destroyed:
for I am the Lord their God; covenant interest always remains, and is the source of all the blessings of grace, and will be of the conversion of the Jews, Romans 11:26,
and will hear them; when, the Spirit of grace and supplication being poured upon them, they shall cry unto the Lord, and look to him for salvation. The Targum is,
"and I will receive their prayer.''
(o) "et reverti et habitare faciam", Burkius.
Here are precious promises to the people of God, which look to the state of the Jews, and even to the latter days of the church. Preaching the gospel is God's call for souls to come to Jesus Christ. Those whom Christ redeemed by his blood, God will gather by his grace. Difficulties shall be got over easily, and effectually, as those in the way of the deliverance out of Egypt. God himself will be their strength, and their song. When we resist, and so overcome our spiritual enemies, then our hearts shall rejoice. If God strengthen us, we must bestir ourselves in all the duties of the Christian life, must be active in the work of God; and we must do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Judah . . . Joseph--that is, the ten tribes. The distinct mention of both Judah and Israel shows that there is yet a more complete restoration than that from Babylon, when Judah alone and a few Israelites from the other tribes returned. The Maccabean deliverance is here connected with it, just as the painter groups on the same canvas objects in the foreground and hills far distant; or as the comparatively near planet and the remote fixed star are seen together in the same firmament. Prophecy ever hastens to the glorious final consummation under Messiah.
bring them again to place them--namely, securely in their own land. The Hebrew verb is compounded of two, "I will bring again," and "I will place them" (Jeremiah 32:37) MAURER, from a different form, translates, "I will make them to dwell."
Of Joseph - The remnant of the kingdom of Israel, the residue of the ten tribes. To place them - To settle them in their own land, and in their own cities.
*More commentary available at chapter level.