Clarke's Bible Commentary - Zechariah 14:4
Verse 4. And his feet shall stand] He shall appear in full possession of the place, as a mighty conqueror. And the mount of Olives shall cleave] God shall display his miraculous power as fully in the final restoration of the Jews, as he did when he divided the Red Sea that their forefathers might pass through dry-shod.
Some refer this to the destruction of the city by the Romans. It was on the mount of Olives that Titus posted his army to batter Jerusalem. Here the tenth legion that came to him from Jericho was placed. JOSEph. De Bello, lib. vi. c. 3. It was from this mountain that our Lord beheld Jerusalem, and predicted its future destruction, Luke xix. 41, with Matt. xxiv. 23; and it was from this mountain that he ascended to heaven, (Acts i. 12,) utterly leaving an ungrateful and condemned city.
And half of the mountain shall remove] I really think that these words refer to the lines of circumvallation, to intrenchments, redoubts, &c., which the Romans made while carrying on the siege of this city; and particularly the lines or trenches which the army made on Mount Olivet itself.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 4. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives , etc.] Where he often was in the days of his flesh, and from whence 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; wherefore this must refer to a time to come; and seeing 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 whence he ascended, ( Job 19:25-27 Acts 1:11,12). The Jews, 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; yea, even the righteous, which die in captivity, shall pass through subterraneous caverns, and come from under the mount of Olives.”
This is sometimes represented as very painful to the righteous; but another writer 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 f297 , “there is a division in the words of our Rabbins, concerning the dead without the land (i.e. of Israel); some of them say that those without 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 by the way of the caverns; but this verse (( Ezekiel 37:12)) proves that those without 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 after that, “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 3:2,12,14).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-7 - The Lord Jesus often stood upon the Mount of Olives when on earth. He ascended from thence to heaven, and then desolations and distresse came upon the Jewish nation. Such is the view taken of thi figuratively; but many consider it as a notice of events ye unfulfilled, and that it relates to troubles of which we cannot no form a full idea. Every believer, being related to God as his God, ma triumph in the expectation of Christ's coming in power, and speak of i with pleasure. During a long season, the state of the church would be deformed by sin; there would be a mixture of truth and error, or happiness and misery. Such is the experience of God's people, a mingle state of grace and corruption. But, when the season is at the worst and most unpromising, the Lord will turn darkness into light deliverance comes when God's people have done looking for it.
Original Hebrew
ועמדו 5975 רגליו 7272 ביום 3117 ההוא 1931 על 5921 הר 2022 הזתים 2132 אשׁר 834 על 5921 פני 6440 ירושׁלם 3389 מקדם 6924 ונבקע 1234 הר 2022 הזיתים 2132 מחציו 2677 מזרחה 4217 וימה 3220 גיא 1516 גדולה 1419 מאד 3966 ומשׁ 4185 חצי 2677 ההר 2022 צפונה 6828 וחציו 2677 נגבה׃ 5045
