This chapter deals with the last struggle of the nations against Jerusalem in the Birth-pains, the coming of the Messiah, and some signs that go with that event. Eschatologically, the city has become a stronghold for replacement theology Christianity through the False Messiah and False Prophet, claiming to be the “new Israel.” In this siege, the people are starving and disease is rampant because many nations have come after the False Messiah and his kingdom, and he will be losing the battles to the kings of the east. He retreats and is holding out in Jerusalem, much like Hitler did in Berlin at the end of World War II. The Lord saves Jerusalem and destroys the enemies that have come against her, and the Jewish and non-Jewish believers who have been protected in the Jordanian wilderness join Yeshua who is advancing on Jerusalem from the southeast and will stand on the Mount of Olives on Yom Kippur.
v 1…Behold, a day is coming for the Lord (when his glory will be revealed) when the spoil taken from you (by the enemy) will be divided among you.
v 2…For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured (which is in the hands of the False Messiah at this point in the birth-pains. The nations are coming or encamped around the city, and the walls may be breached on Tammuz 17 and the Temple Mount falls on the 9th of Av. It has happened twice before).
v 3…Then the Lord will go forth (Yeshua has arrived at Mount Sinai-Deut 33.2 and moves to Petra, or Sela, where believers have fled since the False Messiah declared himself God at the halfway point of the Birth-pains-Rev 12.14-17, and begins his march to the city-Isa 42.1-12; Hab 3.3; Isa 63; Matt 27.17-31; Jer 48.28; Isa 16.1-4) and fight against those nations, as when he fights on a day of battle (as he is accustomed to fight on a day of battle).
v 4…And in that day (idiom for “when Messiah comes”) his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives (in the Mishnah, the Mount of Olives is called “the mount of anointing” and the “mount of Messiah” with the garden of Gethsemane at the bottom. There is a prophecy in Jewish liturgy that says the Messiah will weep over Jerusalem from there, which he did in Luke 19.41-44, which may happen again. This weeping comes from the time when King David wept fleeing Absalom at the ascent of the Mount of Olives in 2 Sam 15.30. Yeshua will come back to the same mount), which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley (because of an earthquake), so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south (this will be a new valley to the Wadi Kelt).
v 5…And you (a remnant of the people, fugitives; but remember Jerusalem has been under siege and the unbelievers who have congregated around the city in the siege may flee also-Isa 52.13-15; 2 Kings 25.4-7. Zedekiah and his sons fled to the southeast from Nebuchadnezzar to the Arabah towards Jericho and the Dead Sea. It will be the same here. He was captured and his sons killed. The False Messiah and False Prophet may try to escape the city and will be captured and cast alive into the Lake of Fire, which is another name for the Dead Sea in the first century because it would catch fire at times according to the Greek geographer Strabo. Also, Josephus records that the Dead Sea throws up black lumps of asphalt which were recovered and sold. Tacitus gave a similar description) will flee by the valley of my mountains (that has been made by Yehovah in splitting of the Mount of Olives), for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azal (whereabouts are uncertain); yes, you (the fugitives) will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah (Amos 1.1, 3.14, 8.8, 9.1). Then the Lord, my God, will come, and all the holy ones (angels-Deut 33.2-3; Matt 25.31) with him (Jude 14-15; Rev 1.7-8).
v 6…And it will come about in that day (when Messiah comes) that there will be no light; the illuminaries (glorious ones) will dwindle (lose their brightness; melt away, shrink-Joel 3.15; Isa 13.10; Ezek 32.7-8, Matt 24.29).
v 7…For it will be a unique day (solitary in its kind; unparalleled) which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night; but it will come about that at evening time there will be light (that day will not resemble day or night; the lights that regulate day and night lose their brightness, but this does not mean day or night will cease).
v 8…And it will come about in that day (when the Messiah comes) that living waters (mayim chaim symbolic of blessing and salvation) will flow out of Jerusalem (from the Temple-Ezek 47.1-12, Joel 3.18, is also an idiom for “true religion” and blessing flowing out of Jerusalem), half of them toward the eastern sea (the Dead Sea) and the other half toward the western sea (Mediterranean); it will be in summer as well as winter (without interruption).
v 9…And the Lord will be king over all the land (Israel); in that day (when Messiah comes) the Lord will be one and his name one (meaning king and God “recognized by all” and this is considered the greatest verse in the Scriptures. It is the Gospel, or Basar, in one verse-Isa 2.1-4. It is the same phrase as in the Shema in Deut 6.4. The word “one” is “echad” and it means a composite “one” or plural unity-Gen 2.18-25 and is used in talking about Adam and Chava. The concept of a “plural unity” is seen in Zech 6.12-13; Eph 5.22-23; Jer 23.5-6; 33.15-16; Isa 4.1-6 where a “marriage” has taken place and the bride and groom are together. Events take place in two realms, outside of time and within time. We know from the Shema that the Lord is “one” outside of time. However, within time his name is not presently one due to the sin of Adam. It is in the future, which exists only in the realm of time, that God’s name will be one and in unity with man and creation when all things are restored).
v 10…All the land will be changed (leveled in a spiritual sense) into a plain from Geba (in Benjamin in the north-2 Kings 23.8) to Rimmon (is in Simeon in the south-Josh 15.32, 19.7) south of Jerusalem; but Jerusalem will rise (spiritually elevated as a result) and remain on its site from Benjamin’s Gate (also called Ephraim’s Gate in 2 Kings 14.13 and Neh 8.16) as far as the place of the First Gate (the upper gate-2 Kings 11.5; 2 Chr 23.5 or the gate of the old city at the NE corner-Neh 3.6 and Neh 12.39) to the Corner Gate (joining the north and west corners of the wall-2 Kings 14.13 and Jer 31.38), and from the Tower of Hananel (mentioned in Nehemiah and Jeremiah, the northeast side of the Temple compound-1 Chr 26.16) to the king’s wine presses (or the king’s gardens at the south side of the city-Neh 3.15).
v 11…And the people will live in it, and there will be no more curse (exposed to destruction; Rev 22.4-blessings will be abundant-Isa 65.20-22; Isa 2.4; Isa 60.14-16; Isa 54.14; 60.18) for Jerusalem will dwell in security (peace, safely).
v 12…Now this will be the plague (stroke) with which the Lord will strike (smite) the peoples who have gone to war against Jerusalem; their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet and their eyes (which saw Jerusalem as vulnerable) will rot in their sockets, and their tongue (which blasphemed God) will rot in their mouth (this is not nuclear but the strokes Yehovah brings against them in the form of a plague or judgment; this may be figurative language-Exo 15.15; Psa 46.6; Isa 66.15; Psa 75.3; 2 Pet 3.12; 1 John 2.17).
v 13…And it will come about in that day (when Messiah comes) that a great panic (another kind of judgment) from the Lord will fall on them, and they will seize one another’s hand, and the hand of one will be lifted against the hand of another (allies will become enemies and destroy one another in their confusion-Judges 7.22; 1 Sam 14.20; 2 Chr 20.23).
v 14…And Judah (representing the whole covenant nation) also will fight at Jerusalem, and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered, gold and silver and garments in great abundance.
v 15…So also like this plague, will the plague on the horse, the mule, the camel, the donkey, and all the cattle that will be in those camps (like in the case of a ban, the men and their animals were destroyed-Josh 7.24).
v 16…Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem (conversion of those that survived by the Lord’s decree-Zech 12.9; Isa 66.19-23) will go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths (or “Sukkot” or “Tabernacles” which is called the “festival of the nations” and the “festival of lights” as an example; in the Messianic Kingdom, the Torah will be how the world is ruled-Isa 2.2-4; Micah 4.1-5; Isa 66.23-24; Ezek chapters 40 through 48. This proves that the Torah has not been “done away with”-Matt 5.17).
v 17…And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth (the nations) does not come up (in obedience to the Torah) to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them (which will lead to other problems like lack of food and disease).
v 18…And if the family of Egypt (for example) does not go up or enter (the Temple), then no rain will fall on them; it will be the plague with which the Lord smites the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths (Sukkot, or Tabernacles).
v 19…This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths (Sukkot, Tabernacles-during the festival seventy bulls were offered during the week symbolizing the nations – Num 29.13-32).
v 20…In that day (when Messiah comes) there will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “Holy to the Lord” (“Kodesh Yehovah” and will resemble the head plate of the high priest that had the same thing written on it; this means that even the most common of things will have a kedusha, set apart, to the Lord). And the cooking pots in the Lord’s house (the Temple-there will be a Temple in the Messianic Kingdom-Ezek 40 through 48. The attitude of the people will be favorable to the Torah and there will be a desire to participate in Temple services) will be like the bowls before the altar (the cooking pots had a lesser kedusha than the bowls that held blood, but now everything will have a kedusha to the Lord).
v 21…And every cooking pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy (have a kedusha) to the Lord of hosts, and all who give offerings will come and take of them and boil in them. And there will no longer be a Canaanite (in heart; also an idiom for “merchants” and “traffickers”-Matt 21.12; Mark 11.12-19; John 2.14-15; Gen 38.2; Prov 31.24; Isa 23.8; Hos 12.7; Zeph 1.11; Job 40.30. This is one reason Yeshua cleansed the Temple of merchants in the Bazaars of Annas; no ungodly person will be there) in the house of the Lord of hosts in that day (when Messiah comes).
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