Zechariah 12:2

2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling[a] unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.

Zechariah 12:2 Meaning and Commentary

Zechariah 12:2

Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all
the people round about
The Targum renders it,

``a vessel full of inebriating liquor;''

which intoxicates and makes giddy, and causes to tremble, stagger, and fall like a drunken man. The phrase denotes the punishment inflicted by the Lord upon the enemies of his church and people; see ( Isaiah 51:22 Isaiah 51:23 ) :

when they shall be in the siege both against Judah [and] against
Jerusalem;
not by Antiochus Epiphanes; nor by Titus Vespasian; nor by Gog and Magog, as Kimchi; but by the antichristian powers, especially the Mahometan nations, the Turks, which shall come against Jerusalem, when the Jews are returned thither, and resettled in their own land; see ( Ezekiel 38:5 Ezekiel 38:6 ) . The words should be rendered, "and upon Judah shall it be" F25, i.e. the cup of trembling, "in the siege against Jerusalem"; according to the Targum, and the Jewish commentators, the nations of the earth shall bring the men of Judah by force to join with them in the siege of Jerusalem; as, in the times of Antiochus, many of the Jews were drawn in to fight against their brethren; but the meaning is, that not only the wrath of God will come upon the Mahometan nations that shall besiege Jerusalem; but also on those who bear the Christian name, who are Jews outwardly, but not inwardly; and shall join with the Turks in distressing the people of the Jews upon their return to their own land: to besiege Judah, or a country, is not proper and pertinent: Jerusalem, when again in the hands of the Jews, according to this prophecy, only is to be besieged, as it will, by the Turks; and it should be observed, that it never was besieged by Antiochus, and therefore the prophecy can not be applied to his times, as it is by many.


FOOTNOTES:

F25 (hyhy hdwhy le Mgw) "et etiam super Jehudah erit", Pagninus, Montanus, Burkius.

Zechariah 12:2 In-Context

1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. trembling: or, slumber, or, poison
The King James Version is in the public domain.