John Calvin Commentary Zechariah 14:9

"And Jehovah shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall Jehovah be one, and his name one." — Zechariah 14:9 (ASV)

Here the prophet shows more clearly, and without using figurative language, what might otherwise be more obscure: he says that Jehovah would be king. Here Zechariah compares the kingdom of Christ with those periods of misery and calamities which had preceded and which had continued until the coming of Christ.

We indeed know that there had been the most dreadful scattering throughout the whole land since the time the ten tribes separated from the family of David; for since the body of the people ceased to be one, they willfully contrived ruin for themselves. When, therefore, the Israelites fought against Judah, the wrath of God appeared, the fruit of their defection.

We indeed know that David was not made king by the consent of men but was chosen by the decree of God. Therefore, when the kingdom of Israel departed from the son of David, it was as if they had refused to bear the authority of God Himself, according to what He said to Samuel,

Thee have they not despised, but me,
that I should not reign over them (1 Samuel 8:7).

And yet Samuel was only a governor for a time over the people. But when the people, through foolish zeal, then wished for a king to be given to them, God complains that He was despised in not being allowed to reign over them alone.

This was more fully completed when the ten tribes separated themselves from the lawful kingdom which God Himself had established and had commanded to be inviolable. Therefore, from that time God was not their king. This is one thing.

Afterwards, we know that the kings of Israel joined with the kings of Syria to overthrow the kingdom of Judah, and that the Jews also sent for aid to the Assyrians and afterward resorted to the Egyptians. Eventually, the kingdom of Israel was cut off; then the kingdom of Judah, and the city was destroyed and the temple was burned, so that the worship of God ceased for a time.

They returned afterward, but we know they were always oppressed by harsh and cruel tyranny, as they perceived they were unprotected because they had refused to take shelter under the wings of God. Though He had so often told them that they would be safe and secure under His protection, they still refused that favor. Therefore, the Jews then learned to their great loss that God was not their king.

Therefore, when Zechariah now speaks of the restoration of the Church, he rightly says that Jehovah would be king. This means that although the Jews had been torn apart and pillaged by tyrants, and though they had suffered many reproaches and wrongs, yet God would again become their king, so that He might defend them against all unjust violence and keep them under His protection. Nothing indeed can be more blessed than to live under the reign of God, and this highest happiness is always promised to the faithful.

We now understand the Prophet’s meaning regarding this part. But he shows immediately afterward that this cannot be hoped for unless the Jews really attended to true religion, worshipped God rightly, and cast away their superstitions. Therefore, he joins together these two things: first, that the condition of the people would be a happy one, because God would undertake their care and perform the office of a king; and second, that God would be their king so that He might be rightly and sincerely worshipped by them. There shall be, he says, one Jehovah.

Here the Prophet briefly shows that the legitimate worship of God cannot be established unless superstition is abolished. We indeed know that God is jealous, as He calls Himself, so that He cannot bear rivals; for when we devise for ourselves any sort of deity, we instantly take from God what is His own.

The Prophet then teaches us that God cannot be truly worshipped unless He shines alone as the supreme, so that our religion may be pure and sound. In short, he here indirectly condemns those superstitions by which the earth had been corrupted and polluted, and also the superstitions by which true religion had been adulterated and the worship under the law had been violated. For this reason he says that Jehovah would be one.

He expresses this still more clearly by saying that His name would be one. This second clause may indeed appear useless, for whatever can be said of God is comprehended in His oneness.

But as we are accustomed to cover superstitions by various artifices and always devise new excuses and new disguises by which our impiety may seem specious and plausible, the Prophet expressly adds here that God’s name is one;

It is as if he had said, “It is not enough for men to declare that they acknowledge one true God or one supreme deity, unless they also agree in some true and simple faith, so that the name of this one true God may be celebrated on the earth.” But the Prophet’s idea will become clearer if we notice the difference between the one true God and the name of the only true God, or the one name of God.

All the philosophers unanimously teach that there are not many gods, but some supreme deity who is the source of divinity; and this is what has been believed by all heathen nations. But over time they began to imagine that from this source many gods have emanated. From this has come a multitude of false gods, so that some worshipped Jupiter, others Mercury, others Apollo; not because they thought that there are many gods partaking of original divinity, but because they imagined that gods have proceeded from the supreme fountain.

Since, then, the Jews might have sought subterfuges and excused themselves by saying that in their hearts they did not worship many gods, the Prophet adds the second clause—that the name of God is one. This phrase means that there is a certain way in which God is to be worshipped and a certain fixed rule, so that no one is to follow what he himself may imagine to be right; and that the majesty of God ought not to be profaned by various errors, nor should men be lost, each in his own notion, but rather all ought to attend to the voice of God and to hear what He testifies of Himself.

We now, therefore, understand what the Prophet means: he says, first, that things would be in a happy state in Judea when God would be regarded as one—that is, when the whole land had been cleansed from its defilements and when true religion again prevailed.

But as this purity would not easily gain a foothold in the world, and as men easily turn away from it, he adds that the name of God would be one, so that the Jews might understand that God cannot be rightly worshipped unless He is worshipped alone.

And His name cannot be one unless there is one faith—prescribed and certain, and not wavering between diverse opinions like that of the heathens, whose religion is nothing other than following what they themselves imagine or what they have derived from their ancestors.

Now this is a remarkable passage: God distinguishes Himself from all idols and His worship from all superstitions. Therefore, we ought to consider more attentively what the Prophet teaches us, because our inclination to vanity, as I have said, is so great (as experience itself sufficiently shows), and we also see how easily superstition, like a whirlwind, carries us away—and not only one superstition, but innumerable kinds of superstition.

It is therefore all the more important for us to notice this truth, so that the one name of God may prevail among us, and that no one may allow himself the liberty of imagining anything he pleases, but that we may know the God whom we ought to worship. And Christ also, for this reason, condemns all the forms of worship which prevailed in the world, by saying to the woman of Samaria,

Ye know not what ye worship; we Jews alone, He says,
know this (John 4:22).

Therefore, we see that this one thing is sufficient to condemn all superstitions: that is, when men follow their own fancies and do not observe a fixed and unchangeable rule, which cannot deceive.