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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Zechariah 9:11 - 9:11
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Israel's Redemption from Captivity, and Victory over the Heathen. - Zec 9:11. “Thou also, for the sake of thy covenant blood, I release thy captives out of the pit wherein there is no water. Zec 9:12. Return to the fortress, ye prisoners of hope. Even to-day I proclaim: Double will I repay to thee.” This is addressed to the daughter Zion, i.e., to all Israel, consisting of Ephraim and Judah. We not only learn this from the context, since both of them are spoken of before (Zec 9:10) and afterwards (Zec 9:13); but it is also obvious from the expression bedam berı̄thēkh, since the covenant blood belonged to all Israel of the twelve tribes (Exo 24:8). גַּם־אַתְּ stands at the head absolutely, on account of the emphasis lying upon the אַתְּ. But as the following clause, instead of being directly attached to אַתְּ, is so constructed that the pronoun אַתְּ is continued with suffixes, the question arises, to what the גַּם is to be taken as referring, or which is the antithesis indicated by גַּם. The answer may easily be obtained if we only make it clear to ourselves which of the two words, with the second pers. suffix, forms the object of the assertion made in the entire clause. This is not בְּדַם־בְּרִיתֵךְ, but אֲסִירַיִךְ: thou also (= thee) - namely, thy prisoners - I release. But the emphasis intended by the position in which גַּם־אַתְּ is placed does not rest upon the prisoners of Israel in contrast with any other prisoners, but in contrast with the Israel in Jerusalem, the daughter Zion, to which the King is coming. Now, although גַּם actually belongs to אֲסִירַיִךְ, it refers primarily to the אַתְּ to which it is attached, and this only receives its more precise definition afterwards in אֲסִירַיִךְ. And the allusion intended by גַּם is simply somewhat obscured by the fact, that before the statement to which it gives emphasis בְּדַם־בְּרִיתֵךְ is inserted, in order from the very first to give a firm pledge of the promise to the people, by declaring the motive which induced God to make this fresh manifestation of grace to Israel. This motive also acted as a further reason for placing the pronoun אַתְּ at the head absolutely, and shows that אַתְּ is to be taken as an address, as for example in Gen 49:8. בְּדַם־בְּרִיתֵךְ: literally, being in thy covenant blood, because sprinkled therewith, the process by which Israel was expiated and received into covenant with God (Exo 24:8). “The covenant blood, which still separates the church and the world from one another, was therefore a certain pledge to the covenant nation of deliverance out of all trouble, so long, that is to say, as it did not render the promise nugatory by wickedly violating the conditions imposed by God” (Hengstenberg). The new matter introduced by גַּם־אַתְּ in Zec 9:11 is therefore the following: The pardon of Israel will not merely consist in the fact that Jehovah will send the promised King to the daughter Zion; but He will also redeem such members of His nation as shall be still in captivity out of their affliction. The perfect shillachtı̄ is prophetic. Delivering them out of a pit without water is a figure denoting their liberation out of the bondage of exile. This is represented with an evident allusion to the history of Joseph in Gen 37:22, as lying in a pit wherein there is no water, such as were used as prisons (cf. Jer 38:6). Out of such a pit the captive could not escape, and would inevitably perish if he were not drawn out. The opposite of the pit is בִּצָּרוֹן, a place cut off, i.e., fortified, not the steep height, although fortified towns were generally built upon heights. The prisoners are to return where they will be secured against their enemies; compare Psa 40:3, where the rock is opposed to the miry pit, as being a place upon which it is possible to stand firmly. “Prisoners of hope” is an epithet applied to the Israelites, because they possess in their covenant blood a hope of redemption. גַּם־הַיּוֹם, also to-day, i.e., even to-day or still to-day, “notwithstanding all threatening circumstances” (Ewald, Hengstenberg). I repay thee double, i.e., according to Isa 61:7, a double measure of glory in the place of the sufferings.