Verse 9
The Israelites should rejoice greatly because their King was coming to them (cf. Zephaniah 3:15). The first part of this verse contains three figures of speech. Zechariah personified Zion and Jerusalem as rejoicing and shouting, he named the city in place of its inhabitants (metonymy), and he used the city to represent the whole nation (synecdoche). Israel’s King would be a just ruler who would bring salvation with Him.
"He is victorious, not in himself or anything that he personally commands, but by the grace, and in the might, of the God of Israel. . . . His triumph, therefore, is the triumph of the faith of the Servant of Yahweh." [Note: H. G. Mitchell, "Haggai and Zechariah," in A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi and Jonah, p. 273.]
"The world’s peace depends upon a Savior and His salvation." [Note: Feinberg, God Remembers, p. 165.]
The king would, therefore, be humble, not proud and boastful. Zechariah pictured this humble king riding on a gentle donkey colt (cf. Genesis 49:11; Matthew 21:1-9; Mark 11:1-10; Luke 19:28-38; John 12:12-15). A donkey’s colt was a purebred donkey, one born of a female donkey rather than of a mule.
"It thus qualified to be a royal mount." [Note: Baldwin, p. 166.]
In the ancient Near East rulers commonly rode donkeys if they came in peace (Judges 5:10; Judges 10:4; Judges 12:14; 2 Samuel 16:2; 1 Kings 1:33), but they rode horses into war. This verse gives one reason the Israelites should rejoice: the coming of the King. Alexander the Great’s coming inspired fear, but Messiah’s coming would inspire joy.
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