Zechariah 9:1-2

New Catholic Bible

Footnotes

1. Zechariah 9:1 In the second part of the Book, concrete situations and their difficulties are forgotten; the perspectives are vaguer and more distant, the visions more grandiose. The tiny populace of Judah remains the chosen people and becomes the agent of a universal conquest in which God exerts his power and makes his presence felt in the midst of people of every nation; after having conquered the last terrible assaults of evil, he dedicates all of these people to his worship. The only connection these chapters have with the first eight is that they proclaim a promise of salvation. They contain ideas that are at times difficult to understand. They are broken up into a number of short passages, composed of bits from other sources or from writings that date from two or three centuries after the initial restoration. Their basic concern is with the new era that the Messiah will inaugurate and that involves the entire people. This second part of the Book of Zechariah is like a repository of Messianic texts; two rather different portraits of the Messiah himself are sketched. The hope that is roused projects into a still inscrutable future a number of experiences that will, in fact, come together in the person and life of Jesus.
2. Zechariah 9:1 The following oracles depict essentially an ideal restoration of Israel and, therefore, a new image of the earth, the king, freedom, fidelity, and so on.
3. Zechariah 9:1 The references are to Syria, Phoenicia, and Philistia. Hadrach was the capital of a small Syrian state. Damascus: literally, “the pearl of Aram.” The cities in verses 5-6 are in Philistia.