John Gill Commentary Zechariah 14

Behold, the day of the Lord comes. Or the day when the Lord will come, both in his spiritual and personal reign; for this is not to be understood of his first coming in the flesh, at which time none of the things after mentioned happened; nor of his coming to take vengeance on the Jews; but rather of his coming to convert them.

And your spoil shall be divided in the midst of you. Not the substance of the nations, divided by the Israelites in the midst of Jerusalem, as the Targum and Jarchi interpret it; but the spoil of Jerusalem, when taken by the enemy, as is after said, which should be divided by them with great joy and triumph, in the midst of it: this refers not to the spoil of Jerusalem by Antiochus or the Romans, but to the slaying of the witnesses, and the triumph of their enemies over them, (Revelation 11:7Revelation 11:10) or else to the spoil and prey the Turks will come to Jerusalem for, when it shall begin the possession of the Jews; and who perhaps at first will have some success; see (Ezekiel 38:12Ezekiel 38:13) .

For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle, etc.] Meaning not the Romans, in the time of Vespasian, for they were not all nations; nor did a part of the city only go into captivity then, but the whole; nor did any remain in it: it seems right to refer it to the gathering of the kings of the earth to the battle of the Lord God Almighty at Armageddon, (Revelation 16:14–16) unless it may be thought better to interpret it of the vast numbers, out of several nations, the Turk will bring against Jerusalem, to dispossess the Jews of it, by whom it will be again inhabited in the latter day; see (Ezekiel 38:4–8) and Kimchi interprets it of the Gog and Magog army. The Jews, in their ancient Midrashes^F4, apply it to the times of the Messiah; which is true, if understood not of the first times of the Messiah, whose coming they vainly expect, but of the last times of the Messiah.

And the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished, and half of the city shall go into captivity: this will be the time when the outward court shall be given, to the Gentiles, the Papists; the two witnesses shall be slain, and their enemies shall rejoice and send gifts to one another, (Revelation 11:2Revelation 11:7Revelation 11:10) this will be a trying season, and such a time of trouble as has not been known:

and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city; there will be a remnant according to the election of grace; the city, the church, shall not be wholly extinct; Christ will reserve a seed for himself in those very worst of times, as he has always done:

this cannot refer to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, for then all the inhabitants of the city were cut off, or carried captive, and none left; but, if literally to be understood, must refer to what will be, when the army of Gog shall come against it in the latter day; though these circumstances are not mentioned in Ezekiel.

FOOTNOTES:

• F4: Shirhashirim Rabba, fol. 22. 3. & Midrash Ruth, fol. 33. 2.

Then shall the Lord go forth Out of his place in heaven, either in person, or by the display of his power; that is, the Lord Jesus Christ; whose name is called the Word of God, and is the King of kings, and Lord of lords, described as a mighty warrior, (Revelation 19:11) : and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle :

the Targum adds, "at the Red Sea"; when the Lord fought for, Israel against the Egyptians, (Exodus 14:25) and afterwards against the Canaanites, when they entered the land of Canaan under Joshua:

thus Christ shall judge, and make war in righteousness, and overcome those that shall make war with him; and with the sharp sword that goeth out of his mouth shall smite nations, and with a rod of iron rule them, and break them to shivers, (Revelation 14:14) (Revelation 19:11Revelation 19:15) (2:27) see also (Ezekiel 38:21Ezekiel 38:22) (Ezekiel 39:1Ezekiel 39:8Ezekiel 39:4) .

And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of
Olives
Where he often was in the days of his flesh, and from where he ascended to heaven, (Luke 21:37) (23:29) (Acts 2:12) but here he did not appear at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem; therefore this must refer to a time to come; and since it is certain that he will stand in the latter day on the earth, at the time of the resurrection, and will come down from heaven in like manner as he went up; it seems very probable that he will descend upon that very spot of ground from where he ascended, (Job 19:25–27) (Acts 1:11Acts 1:12) .

The Jews, ^F5 have a notion, that, at the general resurrection of the dead, the mount of Olives will cleave asunder, and those of their nation, who have been buried in other countries, will be rolled through the caverns of the earth, and come out from under that mountain. This is what they call "gilgul hammetim", the rolling of the dead; and "gilgul hammechiloth", the rolling through the caverns. So they say in the Targum of (Song of Solomon 8:5) , ``when the dead shall live, the mount of Olives shall be cleaved asunder, and all the dead of Israel shall come out from under it; yes, even the righteous, who die in captivity, shall pass through subterraneous caverns, and come from under the mount of Olives.''

This is sometimes ^F6 represented as very painful to the righteous; but another writer ^F7 removes this objection by observing, that at the time of the rolling through the caverns of the earth, we may say that this rolling will be of no other than of the bone "luz", out of which the whole body will spring; so that this business of rolling will be easy and without pain; but they are not all agreed about the thing itself:

Kimchi says ^F8 , ``there is a division in the words of our Rabbins, concerning the dead outside the land (i.e. of Israel); some of them say that those outside the land shall come up out of their graves; and others say they shall come out of their graves to the land of Israel by rolling, and through the caverns; but this verse (Ezekiel 37:12) proves that those outside the land shall live, as the dead of the land of Israel; for it says, "I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves"; and afterward, "and I will bring you into the land of Israel".''

Which is before Jerusalem on the east ;
a sabbath day's journey from it, about a mile, (Acts 1:12) :

and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward
the east and toward the west; [and there shall be] a very great
valley, and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and
half of it toward the south;
and this valley will be made by cleaving and removing the mountain in this manner, to hold the dead together when raised; and this is thought by some to be the same with the valley of Jehoshaphat, called the valley of decision, into which the Heathen, being awakened and raised, will be brought and judged, (Joel 3:2Joel 3:12Joel 3:14) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F5: Targum in Cant. viii. 5.
• F6: T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 111. 1.
• F7: Judah Zabarah apud Pocock. Not. Miscell. p. 119.
• F8: Pirush in Ezek. xxxvii. 12.

And you shall flee [to] the valley of the mountains
To seek for shelter and safety in them, for fear of the Lord, and the glory of his majesty, whom every eye shall see, (Isaiah 2:19) (Revelation 1:7) : for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal ;
a name of a place not known; it may be thought to be at some considerable distance.

Yea, you shall flee, like as you fled from before the earthquake in
the days of Uzziah king of Judah ;
two years before which Amos prophesied, (Amos 1:1) and which, according to Josephus ^F9 , was at the time when King Uzziah was stricken with a leprosy for invading the priest's office; when, as he says, at a place before the city called Eroge, half part of the mountain towards the west was broken, and rolled half a mile towards the eastern part, and there stood; so that the ways were stopped up to the king's gardens.

and the Lord my God shall come ;
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is truly God, and the God of his people; and who will appear to be so at his second coming, which is here meant, by raising the dead, gathering all nations before him, and separating them; by bringing to light all secret and hidden things; judging the whole world, and executing the sentence on them; and particularly by taking his own people to himself.

[and] all the saints with thee :
the Targum, and the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, read, "with him"; meaning either the holy angels; so Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech; who will attend him partly for the glory of his majesty, and partly for terror to the wicked, and also for service; or rather glorified saints, the spirits of just men made perfect, whom Christ will bring with him to be united to their bodies, which will now be raised, and to be with him in the new heavens and new earth, which will now be formed, and to be presented to him, and dwell with him, during the thousand years.

FOOTNOTES:

• F9: Antiqu. l. 9. c. 10. sect. 4.