Introduction
In this part of Chapter 9, the prophet Zechariah turns his attention toward the people of Israel - toward the "daughter of Zion" and "daughter of Jerusalem" mentioned earlier, which serve as general designations for the nation - and heralds their emergence from the pit of exile. From here onward unfolds a dual prophecy: the wars of the Chashmonaim against the Greeks during the Second Temple era on the one hand, and the war of Gog and Magog in the future on the other. We will proceed verse by verse, explain according to the Malbim, and incorporate the teachings of Rashi, the Radak, and the Ramban.
By the Blood of Your Covenant - The Merit of Self-Sacrifice
גַּם־אַתְּ בְּדַם־בְּרִיתֵךְ שִׁלַּחְתִּי אֲסִירַיִךְ מִבּוֹר אֵין מַיִם בּוֹ׃ - As for you also, by the blood of your covenant I have sent forth your prisoners from a pit wherein is no water.
The Malbim offers a novel and wonderful explanation here: the verse can be read as, "As for you also, by the blood of your covenant in which there is no water - I have sent forth your prisoners from the pit." The question is, in what merit will the people of Israel emerge from the pit of exile? The answer is: in the merit of the blood of your covenant in which there is no water. The people of Israel gave their lives in sanctification of Hashem's Name throughout the long exile and preserved the blood of the covenant of circumcision (bris milah), which forms the bond between us and Hashem, Blessed be He - never exchanging that blood for water.
The Malbim lived among Christians and weighed his words carefully; thus, he does not state this explicitly, but he clearly hints at it: they would say to a Jew - leave behind blood, come and immerse, we will sprinkle a little water on you and that will be that. For this is how the Christians operate: baptizing into Christianity and sprinkling impure water. The prophet says to them: You clung to the blood of your covenant, and you were not willing to exchange this blood for water. You guarded your faith, you preserved your covenant - and in this merit, "I have sent forth your prisoners from the pit" in which you were confined throughout the exile, thereby going free.
Perhaps there is also an allusion here to what the visionary of the State proposed, who had a detailed plan to lead the Jewish masses, to the chiming of church bells, to mass baptism - this was his scheme to resolve the "Jewish problem." On a certain level, it was an "ingenious" idea: if there are no Jews, there is no Jewish problem. Indeed, all the nations leaned in that direction, except they called it the "Final Solution" and sought to execute it by the sword, whereas he sought to do so in an "honorable" fashion, to the ringing of bells - for all of us to convert to Christianity, the "religion of love," from which we experienced immense "love" in the form of the sword, blood, pogroms, massacres, and blood libels throughout the generations. To this the prophet declares: Through the blood of your covenant you gave your lives, you never surrendered the blood of the covenant, and you were not willing to assimilate easily into Christianity to escape persecution - and in that merit, you will emerge from exile.
Additional Interpretations of "A Pit Wherein Is No Water"
The Malbim brings another interpretation according to the simple meaning of the text: through the blood of the covenant, I have sent forth your prisoners from a pit wherein is no water. During the Babylonian exile, Israel was in a pit full of water, for Babylon is described as the "depths" (metzolah) - where all the subterranean waters of the Flood gathered, because it is a low-lying and flooded place that becomes submerged whenever rain falls. If so, "I have sent forth your prisoners from a pit wherein is no water" refers to the second pit, the Roman exile, which is not waterlogged like Babylon. That is: by the blood of your covenant I will dispatch your prisoners from the dry exile, which is the exile of Edom, rather than from the wet exile, which was Babylon.
Rashi interprets "by the blood of your covenant" - in the merit of the blood of the covenant sprinkled upon you at Sinai, which is the blood of the covenant that Hashem made between Himself and the Children of Israel, which Moshe sprinkled over them.
The Radak cites in the name of his father that "water" signifies prophecy, and this is stated allegorically - for prophecy ceased during the exile, with Chaggai, Zechariah, and Malachi being the final prophets, just as it is said, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye for water," referring to prophecy. According to this: "I have sent forth your prisoners from a pit" - from an exile in which there is no longer any prophecy, which corresponds to our era.
The Ramban's Teaching: A Generation Entirely Guilty and Only the Merit of Circumcision
The Ramban, in his commentary on Shir HaShirim, writes wondrous words here, truly words of prophecy: this alludes to the footsteps of the Mashiach (Ikvesa deMeshicha), when the entire generation will be guilty, Torah will be forgotten from Israel, and insolence and impudence will increase, as it is written, "out of the pit wherein is no water" - and water is nothing other than Torah, meaning there will be no Torah in Israel, and nothing will remain in their hands except the merit of circumcision (Milah). Ibn Ezra and Radak explain similarly.
There are several remarkable things here in their own right: how could these things have been known in the time of the Ramban? First, he states that the entire generation will be guilty - yet in the Ramban's era, the generation was righteous; there were no wicked people, there were no smartphones, everyone was pious. Nonetheless, he says: know that a generation will arrive that is entirely guilty, when most of the Jewish people, to our sorrow, will be wicked.
Second, he states that in this generation, Torah will be forgotten from Israel - ignorance beyond measure or description. An article was once published reporting on a questionnaire conducted at Seminar HaKibbutzim. These were not illiterate people; they were studying education. They were asked to name three mountains in the Land of Israel, and one began: "Mount... Mount Hermon," and that was it - "Wow, you stumped me." Three mountains, and for that one does not even need Torah at all! They also asked him what is on the Temple Mount, and he replied that there is a grave there. Whose grave? Rachel's Tomb. Which Rachel? Rachel the poetess! In black and white. And these are the ones who will teach the youth of Israel; these are your teachers, Israel. This is a "pit wherein is no water" - a pit devoid of Torah.
From this emerges the great paradox: if we are speaking of a generation that is entirely guilty, in which the Torah has been forgotten - which mitzvah would we least expect to be kept? If someone told us that only one single mitzvah would remain, we might have guessed Yom Kippur, perhaps Shabbat or lighting Shabbat candles. Yet here the prophet says that precisely the mitzvah that seems least "logical" in the eyes of the world - one that requires an invasive procedure and brings in a person with a beard and peyot to perform it - is the very mitzvah everyone will observe: Bris Milah.
Even when a self-proclaimed "humanist" woman was asked why she went and circumcised her son, what could she offer as an excuse? It is written here that Bris Milah will never be forgotten, and that even the wicked will observe Bris Milah - but she will not admit that. She apologized, claiming that if it were today, she thinks she would not have given him a Bris Milah. What a distortion. Yet consider: it defies all logic - people who consider themselves educated and cultured, who oppose anything with the slightest scent or symbol of Judaism, still go and circumcise their sons. Various organizations continually try to campaign against circumcision and spread propaganda - and it would be no surprise if they receive substantial funding from foreign sources - yet with very little success. Some may hire a doctor instead of a traditional mohel, but they still perform Bris Milah. Finding a Jewish person who does not circumcise his son is extraordinarily rare, even among the harshest detractors of Israel from within.
Maggid Mishneh - A Double Tidings
שׁוּבוּ לְבִצָּרוֹן אֲסִירֵי הַתִּקְוָה גַּם־הַיּוֹם מַגִּיד מִשְׁנֶה אָשִׁיב לָךְ׃ - Return to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope; even today I declare that I will restore double to you.
"Return" - return from the pit of exile to the stronghold (bitzaron), for Zion will be fortified. Rashi explains that this refers to your strength and honor: to power, fortress, and might. "Prisoners of hope" are those who were imprisoned for a long time, and throughout that entire period remained steadfast in hope and longing for redemption.
"Even today I declare that I will restore double to you" (maggid mishneh) - I have a declaration to convey to you that contains two statements, a double message regarding miracles that will occur at two different times. (This, incidentally, is the source for the title of the commentary Maggid Mishneh on the Rambam.) The first message concerns the wars of the Chashmonaim against the Greeks in the days of Antiochus, and the second concerns the wars of the children of Ephraim against Gog and Magog in the future to come. Both are future prophecies, and therefore it says "even today" - both regarding what will occur in the near future prior to the ultimate redemption, namely the war of the Maccabees against the Greeks, and regarding what will unfold later, in the redemption of Melech HaMashiach.
One must explain that the prophet is referring here to both eras, because he immediately mentions Ephraim. One cannot speak of Ephraim during the Greek era, since Ephraim refers to the Ten Tribes, and the Greek era was during the middle of the Second Temple period. In the middle of the Second Temple period, the Ten Tribes had not returned - they had vanished without returning, and it is written that Melech HaMashiach will restore them according to one opinion, and so we believe it will be. On the other hand, one cannot claim that the prophecy deals solely with Ephraim and the distant future, for he immediately mentions Greece (Yavan). Therefore, it must refer to two separate eras - and this is the meaning of "I declare that I will restore double to you."
Judah as a Bow and Ephraim as a Sword - Parallel Hemistichs
כִּי־דָרַכְתִּי לִי יְהוּדָה קֶשֶׁת מִלֵּאתִי אֶפְרַיִם וְעוֹרַרְתִּי בָנַיִךְ צִיּוֹן עַל־בָּנַיִךְ יָוָן וְשַׂמְתִּיךְ כְּחֶרֶב גִּבּוֹר׃ - For I have bent Judah for Me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and stirred up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and made you as the sword of a mighty man.
The first tidings concern the days of the Second Temple: the children of Judah will defeat the Greeks through Hashem's supernatural salvation. And this is "For I have bent Judah for Me like a bow" - Judah himself will be like a strung bow in Hashem's hand, for Hashem will fight the Greeks on their behalf. The second tidings are "I have filled the bow with Ephraim" - in the future to come, at the time of Gog and Magog, the children of Ephraim, who are the Ten Tribes and were not present during the Second Temple, will be Hashem's bow to fight Gog and Magog.
The Malbim explains that the clauses of the verse are parallel, as we have explained countless times: when scripture presents four clauses, the continuation of the first is the third, and the continuation of the second is the fourth. "For I have bent Judah for Me like a bow" - and its continuation is "and stirred up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece," meaning that Judah, like a strung bow, will fight the Greeks in the days of the Second Temple. "I have filled the bow with Ephraim" - and its continuation is "and made you like the sword of a mighty warrior," for then the children of Ephraim will slay the advancing army of Gog and Magog with sword and bow. Thus we find two distinct prophecies here: one regarding the era of Judah and the Hasmoneans, and one regarding the era of King Messiah, when Mashiach ben Yosef from the children of Ephraim will arise against the generation of Gog and Magog.
"And Hashem Shall Appear Over Them" - The Sign Seen in the Heavens
וַיהֹוָה עֲלֵיהֶם יֵרָאֶה וְיָצָא כַבָּרָק חִצּוֹ וַאדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה בַּשּׁוֹפָר יִתְקָע וְהָלַךְ בְּסַעֲרוֹת תֵּימָן׃ - And Hashem shall appear over them, and His arrow shall go forth like lightning; and the Lord Hashem shall blow the shofar, and shall go with the whirlwinds of the south.
These verses are familiar to us from the Musaf prayer of Rosh Hashanah. "And Hashem shall appear over them" - Rashi comments that in Sefer Yosippon we find that at that time, a wonder appeared to the people of Jerusalem before the Hasmonean war, when Hashem brought victory over the Greeks. Rashi does not elaborate and refers us to Sefer Yosippon, and the book is in our hands. Yosef ben Matityahu (Josephus) was a historian whose words we do not always accept one hundred percent, as he was close to the Roman authorities and in some matters sought to embellish history to please the rulers under whom he lived - yet his writings offer a perspective that allows us to understand the era.
And so he writes: After Antiochus killed the king of Egypt and took control over it, his heart grew exceedingly haughty, and he made a great golden idol in his own image to be worshiped as a god. He issued a decree and dispatched it throughout all the domains of his kingdom to every people and nation to bow down to that idol, and all the nations consented and bowed down to it. Then lawless men from among our own people, like Alcimus and his cohort, came to him in the land of Egypt, bowed down to the idol, and incited the king to harm Israel. A fifth column has always existed - even back then, the renegades among our people bowed to the idol erected by Antiochus, for the gentiles' god always looked better to them than our own, and they stirred up the king's wrath against Israel. Informing and taking photographs of where building takes place and in which settlements, thereby provoking the anger of the authorities. The organization "B'Tselem" goes around photographing - they set up an idol (tzelem) in the sanctuary! What we have today are the spiritual descendants of that same mixed multitude.
He continues: Then a wonder from God was seen in Jerusalem, the holy city, for during forty days there appeared between heaven and earth the vision of fiery horses and their riders bearing weapons of war - some of gold, some of silver, some of iron, and some of copper, that is, every kind of weapon - fighting against one another for forty days. This is what was seen in the sky, fully visible to all, and everyone could behold it. The sages of Israel interpreted the meaning of the wonder, saying: This is the sign that the oppressors of Judah and Israel will be cut off, and from Heaven they will fight our enemies while we remain still; and the wicked Antiochus will soon fall by the sword, for men of our people will strike them down and avenge Israel upon him.
The account continues: The wicked of Israel, the renegades of our people, came to King Antiochus and told him what had been seen in the sky and how it was interpreted, adding that the Jewish people rejoiced over it because it portended that King Antiochus would soon die and fall from his glory, and that they were celebrating our lord the king's downfall. Hear, O heavens - these were people from our own midst! The king was filled with great wrath; he arrived in Jerusalem suddenly, captured it, put its people to the sword, carried out a massive slaughter in Jerusalem, led a vast multitude into exile, and scattered the entire assembly of the pious and the sages within it. They fled into the forest and dwelled there, eating grass like beasts and hiding like wild animals in the woods. "Your destroyers and those who laid you waste shall go forth from you." Nevertheless, the sages' interpretation was true, for afterward Judah the Maccabee arose and raised the banner of revolt, and in the end they overcame them and drove them out in disgrace - so the wonder was indeed a true wonder.
And this is "And Hashem shall appear over them" - through a sign and a wonder that illustrated to them that Hashem would perform miracles for them. The Malbim explains that here, too, the clauses are parallel: in the war of the Maccabees, Hashem appeared over them to save them, and they saw a sign and a wonder from Heaven; "and His arrow shall go forth like lightning" - they will draw the bow, bending it and drawing back the string, and from it Hashem's arrow will fly forth like lightning to destroy the Greeks. And in the final war of Gog and Magog - "and the Lord Hashem shall blow the shofar," for then the Holy One, blessed be He, will blow a great shofar to gather all the dispersed, as we pray, "Sound the great shofar for our freedom," and as it is written, "And it shall come to pass on that day that a great shofar will be blown, and those lost in the land of Assyria and those dispersed in the land of Egypt shall come." "And shall go with the whirlwinds of the south" - for against the host of Gog and Magog arriving from the north, Hashem will bring a storm wind from the south to confound and destroy them.
"They Shall Devour and Subdue Slingstones"
יְהֹוָה צְבָאוֹת יָגֵן עֲלֵיהֶם וְאָכְלוּ וְכָבְשׁוּ אַבְנֵי־קֶלַע וְשָׁתוּ הָמוּ כְּמוֹ־יָיִן וּמָלְאוּ כַּמִּזְרָק כְּזָוִיּוֹת מִזְבֵּחַ׃ - Hashem, Master of Legions, shall protect them; and they shall devour and subdue slingstones, and they shall drink and roar as through wine, and be filled like basins, like the corners of the altar.
The Malbim explains: "Hashem, Master of Legions, shall protect them" - they will not need to wage war at all. "And they shall devour and subdue slingstones" - simply by eating, they will overcome the battle and the slingstones hurled at them by the enemy. "And they shall drink and roar as through wine" - by drinking and becoming boisterous like wine-drinkers, they will be filled with the blood of the enemy like a basin (mizrak) filled with sacrificial blood. The mizrak is the vessel into which they would receive the blood of the sacrifice in order to dash (lizrok) it onto the altar, which is why it is called a mizrak. "Like the corners of the altar" - just as blood is dashed onto the corners of the altar, onto the altar horns, so will they be filled with the blood of the slain. In other words, as it were, they will not have to lift a finger; they will eat and drink wine, and Hashem Himself will fight for them.
The reason the blood of the slain is compared here to the blood of the basin is to teach that it is pleasing before Hashem like sacrificial blood. This is similar to what we find regarding King David, to whom Hashem said that the blood of the gentiles who oppressed Israel which he shed was pleasing before Him like the blood of sacrifices and burnt offerings - lest one think there was any claim against him for doing so. And if one asks: if so, why was he not permitted to build the Beis HaMikdash, as it was said to him, "You have shed much blood" - this was discussed at length in the study of Sefer Shmuel and Sefer Melachim, and whoever wishes may refer there. Here, let it simply be noted that the matter is not to be understood at face value.
The Radak explains differently: "slingstones" are a metaphor for the Greeks. Not like the Malbim, who explains that the Jewish people will conquer the Greeks who hurl slingstones at them, but rather that the Jewish people will conquer the Greeks, who are themselves called slingstones. The reason is that in the following verse, the prophet refers to the Jewish people as "crown stones," which are precious gems and jewels, and in contrast, the Greeks are slingstones - gravel, stones scattered in the street. One stands in contrast to the other.
Like the Flock of His People - Glittering Crown Stones
וְהוֹשִׁיעָם יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵיהֶם בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא כְּצֹאן עַמּוֹ כִּי אַבְנֵי־נֵזֶר מִתְנוֹסְסוֹת עַל־אַדְמָתוֹ׃ - And Hashem their God shall save them on that day like the flock of His people, for crown stones glitter upon His land.
Hashem will save them without warfare, like a shepherd rescuing his sheep from wolves of the evening - and that is the meaning of "like the flock of His people." And what is the meaning of "for crown stones glitter"? Having compared them to a flock, it teaches that they are like sheep also in that they do not seek out gold and precious gems. What do sheep seek? Pasture, water, and grass. If one brings them precious stones and pearls, it does not interest them in the least; a little grass is far preferable in their eyes. So will it be with Israel: they will not seek crown stones, but only that the land bring forth for them grain and wine, to eat and drink. "Crown stones glitter upon His land" - meaning that jewels and gold will be regarded like dust, with no demand for them. And just as pasture and water are the flock's "crown stones," more precious than any diamond, such will be the condition of Israel.
Grain for the Young Men and New Wine Makes Maidens Flourish
כִּי מַה־טּוּבוֹ וּמַה־יׇּפְיוֹ דָּגָן בַּחוּרִים וְתִירוֹשׁ יְנוֹבֵב בְּתֻלוֹת׃ - For how great is its goodness, and how great is its beauty! Grain shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the maidens.
"*Yenovev*" is related to "*niv sefatayim*" (the speech of the lips). And they will say: What is the goodness and what is the beauty of a crown? What will a crown give us, what will gold and gems give us, what good and beauty can be found in them? "Grain shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the maidens" - as if it were written that grain will cause the young men to speak and new wine will cause the maidens to speak: the young men will give voice and ask for grain, and the maidens will speak and say, "Give us new wine, give us wine." They ask for grain and wine rather than crown stones, because the goodness and beauty of the crown and its gems are considered as nothing in their eyes.
The Malbim cites an additional interpretation along the same lines, though not formulated as a question: every young man will declare, "How great is its goodness and how great is its beauty!" - What is truly good, what is truly worthy of looking forward to? Grain and wine. This is true goodness, and this is true beauty.
Others explain - as Rashi brings - that "*yenovev betulot*" is related to "*yenuvun beseivah*" ("they shall flourish in old age"), meaning that the new wine will grow from virgin soil, producing choice, exquisite wine.
In Summary:
The conclusion of Chapter 9 is a twofold prophecy of consolation. First, the prophet heralds that in the merit of the blood of the covenant - the self-sacrifice of Israel, who did not exchange their blood for water - Hashem will send forth His prisoners from the pit of exile, a pit wherein is no water, referring to the generation in which Torah is forgotten and insolence abounds, when Israel retains only the merit of *milah*, as the Ramban writes. Then He announces "*maggid mishneh*" (proclaiming a double portion): a prophecy concerning two eras - Yehudah as a bent bow in Hashem's hand against the Greeks in the days of the Chashmonaim, and Ephraim as the sword of a warrior against Gog and Magog in the future to come. In both, Hashem Himself fights: through the sign seen in the skies of Yerushalayim for forty days, with an arrow flashing forth like lightning, with the great shofar, and in the whirlwinds of the south, until Israel need do nothing more than eat and drink, while Hashem wages their battle and saves them as a shepherd saves his flock. And in the end, Israel will be like sheep that seek no crown stones: gold and jewels will be regarded as dust, and their sole desire will be grain and wine in goodness and abundance upon their land.