Albert Barnes Commentary Zechariah 9:8

"And I will encamp about my house against the army, that none pass through or return; and no oppressor shall pass through them any more: for now have I seen with mine eyes." — Zechariah 9:8 (ASV)

And I will encamp about my house - (for my house’s sake) because of the army. “Because,” it is added in explanation, “of him that passeth by and of him that returneth;” Alexander, who passed by with his army, on his way to Egypt, and “returned,” having founded Alexandria.

It was a most eventful march, one of the most eventful in the history of mankind. The destruction of the Persian empire, for which it prepared, was in itself of little moment; Alexander’s own empire was very brief. As Daniel had foretold, he came, cast down Persia “to the ground,” waxed very great, and when he was strong, the great horn was broken (Daniel 8:7–8). But with the marvelous perception that characterized him, he saw and impressed upon his successors the reliability of the Jewish people. When he came into Judea, he sent to the high priest for aid against Tyre and for the same tribute he used to pay to Darius, promising that he would not repent of choosing the friendship of the Macedonians. The high priest refused on the ground of the oath by which his people were bound in allegiance to the earthly king of kings, whom Alexander came to subdue.

Alexander threatened to teach all, through its fate, to whom allegiance was due. This, after the conquest of Gaza, he prepared to fulfill. He came, he saw, he was conquered. Jaddua and his people prayed to God. Taught by God in a dream not to fear, he went to meet the conqueror. The gates of the city were thrown open. There marched out, not an army such as encountered the Romans, but as he had been taught, a multitude in white garments, and the priests going before in their robes of fine linen.

The high priest, in his attire of purple and gold, having on his head the mitre, and on it the golden plate on which was written the name of God, advanced alone. The Conqueror, who was expected to give the city to be plundered and the high priest to be insulted and slain, then kissed the name of God. He recognized in the priest one whom he had seen in the same dress in a dream. This figure had instructed him, when hesitating, to cross to Asia, saying that he (the dream figure) would go before his army and deliver the Persian empire to him.

The result is said to have been that Alexander promised to allow the Jews in Judea to live according to their own laws, remitted the tribute of every seventh year, agreed in advance to the terms to be proposed by those in Babylonia and Media, and that many Jews joined his army, on the condition that they might live under their own laws.

Rationalism, while it remains such, cannot acknowledge Daniel’s prophecies which the high priest showed him, declaring that a Greek should destroy the Persian empire, which Alexander rightly interpreted as referring to himself. But the facts remain: that the conqueror, who, more than most, gave way to his anger, bestowed almost incredible privileges on a nation that, under the Medes and Persians, had been “the most despised part of the enslaved.” He made them equal in privileges to his own Macedonians, who could hardly tolerate the absorption of the Persians (although in an inferior condition) among themselves.

The most despised of the enslaved became the most trusted of the trusted. They became a large portion of the population in the second and third largest cities of the then-known world. They became Alexandrians, Antiochenes, and Ephesians, without ceasing to be Jews. The law commanded faithfulness to oaths, and those who despised their religion respected its fruits.

The immediate successors of Alexander, Ptolemy Lagi and Antiochus Nicator, followed his policy. Ptolemy did so especially on the ground of the allegiance shown to Darius; Nicator, because he had observed their faithfulness as soldiers who had served with him. These Jews, however, had first been recognized and enrolled in this capacity during Alexander's visit to Jerusalem. The pagan kings, for their own purposes, multiplied faithful subjects for themselves; in God’s design, they prepared in Asia and Egypt a seedbed for the Gospel. The settlement of the Jews at Alexandria shaped the language of the Gospel—that wonderful blending of the depth of the Hebrew with the clearness and precision of the Greek. Everywhere the seed of the preparatory dispensation was sown, to be fostered, to grow, and to ripen with the harvest of the Gospel.

For now have I seen with My eyes - This is the counterpart of what the Psalmists and pious people so often pray: “Awake to help me and behold” (Psalms 59:4); “Look down from heaven, behold and visit this vine” (Psalms 80:14); (Psalms 9:13); “Look upon my trouble from them that hate me”; “Look upon my affliction and my trouble; look upon my enemies, for they are many” (Psalms 25:18–19); “Look upon my adversity and deliver me” (Psalms 119:153); “O Lord, behold my affliction” (Lamentations 1:9, 11; Lamentations 2:20); “Behold, O Lord, for I am in distress” (Lamentations 1:20); “Look and behold my reproach” (Lamentations 5:1); “Open Thine eyes, O Lord, and see” (Isaiah 37:17; Daniel 9:18); “Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of Thy holiness and glory” (Isaiah 63:15). With God, compassion is so intrinsic an attribute that He is pictured as looking away when He does not manifest it.

With God, to behold is to help.