“And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.”
In the previous verse, we left off with a description of the coming Messiah. He would be righteous, bringing salvation, afflicted, and riding on a colt. We now continue on with a description of the Messiah. There is a brief interjection to describe the state of Israel in this time:
“And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off:“
We have previously seen Jerusalem and Zion mentioned, now we have Ephraim mentioned as well. We will have a look at why Ephraim is mentioned in a moment, but first, let’s look at what action is taking place.
The chariot, horse, and battle bow will be cut off. All three of these symbolized war. Chariots in those days were a bit like the tanks of the ancient world. They were a status of power. Same with the horse (see Isa 31:1 for an example of this). Read simply, there would be a cessation of conflict in the region of Ephraim and Jerusalem.
That is precisely what happened under the Roman rule. Jesus’ was born under the rule of Caesar Augustus, also known as Octavian, the first Emperor of the Imperial period of Rome. He would be born into a period of peace in the ‘known’ world that would be known as Pax Romana, roughly 200 years of relative peace.
For the decades preceding Jesus’ birth and the Roman rule, Israel had seen constant war on its land as armies marched back and forth in a long power struggle, but when the time was come, there would be a period of peace. It was in this place in time that Messiah would come.
Let’s quickly discuss the two locations/names. Jerusalem is self-explanatory. The previous verse used it in a literal sense referring to the city and its people.
What about Ephraim? Ephraim is fascinating. Did you know that Ephraim can refer to the entire nation of the Israelites just as Israel or Joseph can? That is because for a long time, Ephraim was actually the leading tribe of the 12 tribes. (Psalms 78 gives a nice overview of this, with primary attention to verses 9 & 67) This preeminence is because Ephraim carried the birthright of the first born. So if we were to list the patriarchs (firstborn inheritance) it looks like this:
Abraham – Isaac – Jacob – Joseph – Ephraim
What is fascinating about this list is that two of them aren’t firstborns and a third is not the actual firstborn. (I’m not going to get into it further here, but it seems from the historical record that the firstborn was counted from the primary wife, not concubines)
Here is what the list of patriarchs should look like if it followed normal succession:
Abraham-Isaac-Esau-Reuben-Manasseh
Why doesn’t it look like that? Here’s the outline again with the reasons why they aren’t there:
Abraham-Isaac-Esau (sold his birthright to Jacob)-Reuben (slept with his father’s concubine, Joseph was the next firstborn, that is, to Jacob’s wives, not concubines)-Manasseh (God chose Ephraim over Manasseh)
What I believe is significant about Ephraim being mentioned is that Ephraim represents God overturning the natural order (Nathaniel Urshan preached a wonderful message on this, but sadly I haven’t been able to find it). In Genesis 48:13-19, you’ll find where Jacob blesses Ephraim and Manasseh, and in doing so, he acts in faith by giving the firstborn blessing to Ephraim though he is the younger one (Heb 11:21). There is no specific reason ever given as to why Ephraim is chosen. He just is.
The people of God are chosen. In fact, they are chosen despite not being worthy! Jesus declares in John 15:16, You haven’t chosen me, I have chosen you.
Time and again in Scripture, we find that ultimately, it’s not people choosing God but God choosing people that really matters. You can try and choose God all you want, it won’t do anything until God chooses you. Thus, Ephraim is a loud reminder of the power of God’s choice. To understand the reference to Ephraim in Zechariah as being a reference to God’s chosen people makes sense contextually as we will encounter Ephraim again very soon and to keep in line with sound exegesis, we will use the exact same reasoning when we get there to find that it fits perfectly.
In summary then, the Lord is speaking to His people, when Messiah comes, there will be a cessation of war in the land of the chosen people and their capital. That is exactly what we see happen in the historical record in precise fulfillment of the prophecy. In fact, the war that finally came was a result of the Israelites rebelling against Rome, but I digress.
After the description of the state of the land when the Messiah comes, now we go back to a description of the Messiah:
“and he shall speak peace unto the heathen:”
Jesus didn’t come bearing the sword physically. He came to bring good news to all men, both Jews and Gentiles. It was prophesied over 400 years before He came!
Indeed, He not only spoke peace, but He brought salvation for all. This sentence outlines:
1. the ministry of the Messiah was not one of physical war (something the Jews grossly misunderstood)
2. The ministry of the Messiah was not for Israel only, but for all, both believers and unbelievers
As a side note: the weapon that Jesus will use to defeat the antichrist and his armies will be His Word. He has no need for chariots, horse, and war bows. His voice alone will make all our weapons of mass destruction seem like specks dust before the great mountain.
“And his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.”
Some commentaries take this to be an outline of the future nation of Israel’s boundaries (using sea to sea and then the river to the end of the peninsula). I object. The previous sentences have all been in regards to the Messiah, in particular, His first advent.
What I believe is being referred to here is the dominion of the Messiah. The boundaries can also be read as being all-encompassing. You start at the sea and go around till you come back to the sea. You start at the river and you go to the very end of the earth (which incidentally, comes back around).
Why do I think that? I’ll give two texts as evidence for my position.
1. Daniel 2:35, 44 – the coming Messiah is the stone, which would grow (the kingdom is slowly expanding) until it filled the whole earth. Tie this in with all the other passages speaking of the Lord/Jesus being king over all the earth, it’s clear that the Messiah’s kingdom is a worldwide kingdom, not a small locality.
2. Acts 1:8 – Jesus tells his disciples they will be witnesses in Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. It seems they understood this to be to the Jews in the uttermost parts of the earth, however, as we see play out in Acts, Jesus meant the uttermost parts of the earth quite literally.
I believe the more digging you do in this direction, it only becomes stronger.
For a quick recap, in 9:10, we see the Lord foretell the coming period of peace in Israel, the Messiah would speak peace to the Gentiles, and His kingdom will extend across the entire earth.
Zechariah 9 is a powerful example of the accuracy of God’s Word and its prophecy. There’s a second advent of Christ that is spoken of with similar clarity, and we would be fools to miss it. May we pray every day that God would open our ears, eyes, and hearts. May we read and study the Scripture to show ourselves approved before God.
Talking Bible 