Zechariah 9

God revealed His Law Covenants to explain moral justice in this Fallen Realm, but also to symbolize the truth of the Spirit Realm. Hebrew scholars tell us these last chapters of Zechariah are in a noticeably different tone than the previous. The prophet tends to ignore the dividing line between literal events and their spiritual meanings. Reading these final chapters requires a mind capable of thinking on multiple levels at once. Some of this came true quite literally, while other parts are clearly Messianic with no possible literal meaning. What matters most is how it reveals God and His ways.
In this chapter, the Lord emphasizes His image as warrior shepherd sheikh. Hadrach was the Hebrew version of the Hatarikka area described in Assyrian annals and roughly approximates modern Lebanon minus the coastline. There was an alliance across from Tyre and Sidon, Hamath to Syria during the war between Persia and Greece. Zechariah describes Alexander’s conquests some two centuries after his time. He destroyed the eastern portions first, then turned toward the coast. Using the ancient onshore rubble of the original City of Tyre, the Greek soldiers built a causeway out to the island fortress, which neither Assyria nor Babylon could take. Alexander destroyed it completely. He skipped all around Jerusalem and took out the four Philistine cities listed. That coastal nation was absorbed into Judah.
In the prophet’s mind, this was connected to the mission of the Messiah. Despite the Greek and then Roman domination and the eventual destruction of Jerusalem, what matters here is God will not allow His revelation to fall silent on the earth. So Jerusalem could rejoice in the literal protection for a time. However, the whole point is the Messiah and how He will bring peace through His victorious death and the power of His Holy Spirit working in the hearts of men.
Turning to those who had not yet made their way back to Judah, the Lord reminds those in Jerusalem other members of the nation would join them. This happened literally to some degree, but more importantly, the souls who belonged to Christ were released from their moral prison to seek the Savior of all mankind. So while the Maccabees did eventually defeat those who inherited Alexander’s empire, notably the Ptolemy and Seleucid rulers, it’s more important to see how God’s revelation would seek to roll back their Hellenizing influence. Each of the various rulers pressed on with Alexander’s evangelistic fervor of Greek philosophy and culture. Jesus and the Apostles made it a point to fight Hellenism, reasserting the ancient Hebrew mysticism in the early churches.
Those who return to these ancient ways will be full of joy and celebration at their citizenship in Heaven. Zechariah conjures the image of a grand feast with countless sacrifices in the Temple. God considers as His crowning glory the souls given to Christ for eternity.