Charles Spurgeon Commentary Zechariah 11:2

"Wail, O fir-tree, for the cedar is fallen, because the goodly ones are destroyed: wail, O ye oaks of Bashan, for the strong forest is come down." — Zechariah 11:2 (ASV)

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.

This is a promise of God's abounding mercy to His chosen people Israel. When He comes to their aid, they will be a cup of trembling to their enemies. Those enemies will try to swallow them, but they will find that they are drinking a cup of poison, which will cause their own death.

Oh, that the day might soon come when God would remember His ancient people, the Jews, and bring them back to their own land, as He certainly will do in the fullness of time! And when He has done it, then it will come to pass that all who fight against them will find His people to be as a cup of trembling to them.

This promise, which is to be literally fulfilled to God's chosen people, the seed of Abraham, is also spiritually true to all believers.

Christian, your enemies cannot really hurt you. If they could drink you up, as people drink a cup of wine, you would be a cup of trembling to them; they would find that they had taken in more than they wanted.

All the persecutors of the Church of God, in striking this stone, have themselves been broken on it. They have found that they have undertaken a task which has ended in their own destruction.

Woe to the man who fights against the Church of the living God! Victory must always come to the Lord's people, for greater is He who is with them than all that can be against them.