Zech 11:1

“(Chapter 11, Verse 1) Open your gates, Lebanon, and let the fire devour your cedars. Howl, fir tree, for the cedar has fallen; the majestic trees are ruined. Wail, you oaks of Bashan, for the thick forest has been cut down. LXX: Open your gates, Lebanon, and let the fire devour your cedars. Let the pine tree wail, for the cedar has fallen; the nobles have been crushed. Wail, you oaks of Bashan, for the dense forest has been laid waste. Clearly, Lebanon, to which the prophetic discourse is directed, saying: Open, Lebanon, your gates, the temple of the Jews is understood, which was restored, rebuilt by Zerubbabel, again sung to be destroyed by Vespasian and Titus. And because he had metaphorically called Lebanon a temple, and he maintains the same translation in the rest, so that through cedars and firs and oaks of Bashan and a wooded grove, he signifies the leaders, priests, and people of the Jews. But Lebanon opens its gates so that the Roman army can enter, and its cedars are consumed by fire, so that everything is either devastated by the conflagration or its leaders and princes are consumed by enemy attack. The firs wail, because the cedar has fallen, and the priests and leaders mourn their people in return. And what he previously said obscurely, he now presents more clearly, because the magnificent ones have been laid waste. I desire to know which are the cedars of Lebanon that have been burned, which firs wail, and which pines have fallen; for, he says, the magnificent ones have been laid waste. Howl, O oak tree of Bazan, that is, of confusion and ignominy, for the well-fortified forest, which is called Besor in Hebrew and is translated by the LXX as wooded and cut down; for the temple, which had grown in impregnable strength and was built by various kings and princes, and later by Herod, was destroyed by the Romans' attack. Some people, not understanding this place, attribute the strength of the Lebanon, the cedars, the pines, and the oak of Bazan, along with the wooded and fortified forest, to opposing powers, about which it is said in Ezekiel under the name of Assyria and Pharaoh: Behold, Assyria is a cypress tree in Lebanon, with fair branches and a dense shade, and tall in stature, and its top was among the clouds: it was nourished by water, and the abyss made it tall, and so on, which are said about both Assyria and Pharaoh, they are thought to be spoken of either opposing powers or proud rulers and princes, about whom we also read in the Psalm: The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; indeed, the Lord shatters the cedars of Lebanon. And in another place: Day of the Lord of hosts comes upon all the haughty and proud, and upon all that is exalted and lofty (Isaiah 22:12, 13). And a little later: And upon all the high cedars of Lebanon (or, the lofty ones), and upon all the trees of Bashan. And about this Lebanon it is prophesied: Lebanon with its lofty ones will fall. But let us follow the earlier interpretation, especially since what follows also agrees with this meaning.”

“Gates. Josephus (Jewish Wars vii. 12.) relates, that the heavy eastern gates flew open at midnight: and the priests officiating at Pentecost, heard a multitude crying, “Let us go hence.” See Tacitus, History v. Johanan then declared, “O temple, I know thou wilt so be destroyed,” as Zacharias foretold, Open, &c. (Kimchi; Lyranus; &c.) (Calmet) — Libanus. So Jerusalem, and more particularly the temple, is called by the prophets, from its height, and from its being built of the cedars of Libanus. (Challoner) (Isaias x. 34., and Ezechiel xvii.) (St. Jerome) — The destruction of both by Titus is predicted. (Worthington) — Cedars. Thy princes and chief men. (Challoner; Worthington)”

“The Devastation of the Holy Land. - Zac 11:1. "Open thy gates, O Lebanon, and let fire devour thy cedars! Zac 11:2. Howl, cypress; for the cedar is fallen, for the glory is laid waste! Howl, ye oaks of Bashan; for the inaccessible forest is laid low! Zac 11:3. A loud howling of the shepherds; for their glory is laid waste! A loud roaring of the young lions; for the splendour of Jordan is laid waste!" That these verses do not form the commencement of a new prophecy, having no connection with the previous one, but that they are simply a new turn given to that prophecy, is evident not only from the omission of any heading or of any indication whatever which could point to the commencement of a fresh word of God, but still more so from the fact that the allusion to Lebanon and Bashan and the thickets of Judah points back unmistakeably to the land of Gilead and of Lebanon (Zac 10:10), and shows a connection between ch. 11 and Zac 10:1-12, although this retrospect is not decided enough to lay a foundation for the view that Zac 11:1-3 form a conclusion to the prophecy in Zac 10:1-12, to which their contents by no means apply. For let us interpret the figurative description in these verses in what manner we will, so much at any rate is clear, that they are of a threatening character, and as a threat not only form an antithesis to the announcement of salvation in Zac 10:1-12, but are substantially connected with the destruction which will overtake the "flock of the slaughter," and therefore serve as a prelude, as it were, to the judgment announced in Zac 11:4-7.; The undeniable relation in which Lebanon, Bashan, and the Jordan stand to the districts of Gilead and Lebanon, also gives us a clue to the explanation; since it shows that Lebanon, the northern frontier of the holy land, and Bashan, the northern part of the territory of the Israelites to the east of the Jordan, are synecdochical terms, denoting the holy land itself regarded in its two halves, and therefore that the cedars, cypresses, and oaks in these portions of the land cannot be figurative representations of heathen rulers (Targ., Eph. Syr., Kimchi, etc.); but if powerful men and tyrants are to be understood at all by these terms, the allusion can only be to the rulers and great men of the nation of Israel (Hitzig, Maurer, Hengst., Ewald, etc.). But this allegorical interpretation of the cedars, cypresses, and oaks, however old and widely spread it may be, is not so indisputable as that we could say with Kliefoth: "The words themselves do not allow of our finding an announcement of the devastation of the holy land therein." For even if the words themselves affirm nothing more than "that the very existence of the cedars, oaks, shepherds, lions, is in danger; and that if these should fall, Lebanon will give way to the fire, the forest of Bashan will fall, the thicket of Jordan be laid waste;" yet through the destruction of the cedars, oaks, etc., the soil on which these trees grow is also devastated and laid waste. The picture is a dramatic one. Instead of the devastation of Lebanon being announced, it is summoned to open its gates, that the fire may be able to enter in and devour its cedars. The cypresses, which hold the second place among the celebrated woods of Lebanon, are then called upon to howl over the fall of the cedars, not so much from sympathy as because the same fate is awaiting them. The words אשׁר אדּירם שׁדּדוּ contain a second explanatory clause. אשׁר is a conjunction (for, because), as in Gen 30:18; Gen 31:49. 'Addı̄rı̄m are not the glorious or lofty ones among the people (Hengst., Kliefoth), but the glorious ones among the things spoken of in the context, - namely, the noble trees, the cedars and cypresses. The oaks of Bashan are also called upon to howl, because they too will fall like "the inaccessible forest," i.e., the cedar forest of Lebanon. The keri habbâtsı̄r is a needless correction, because the article does not compel us to take the word as a substantive. If the adjective is really a participle, the article is generally attached to it alone, and omitted from the noun (cf. Ges. 111, 2, a). קול יללת, voice of howling, equivalent to a loud howling. The shepherds howl, because 'addartâm, their glory, is laid waste. We are not to understand by this their flock, but their pasture, as the parallel member גּאון היּרדּן and the parallel passage Jer 25:26 show, where the shepherds howl, because their pasture is destroyed. What the pasture, i.e., the good pasture ground of the land of Bashan, is to the shepherds, that is the pride of Jordan to the young lions, - namely, the thicket and reeds which grew so luxuriantly on the banks of the Jordan, and afforded so safe and convenient a lair for lions (cf. Jer 12:5; Jer 49:9; Jer 50:44). Zac 11:3 announces in distinct terms a devastation of the soil or land. It follows from this that the cedars, cypresses, and oaks are not figures representing earthly rulers. No conclusive arguments can be adduced in support of such an allegory. It is true that in Isa 10:34 the powerful army of Assyria is compared to Lebanon; and in Jer 22:6 the head of the cedar forest is a symbol of the royal house of Judah; and that in Jer 22:23 it is used as a figurative term for Jerusalem (see at Hab 2:17); but neither men generally, nor individual earthly rulers in particular, are represented as cedars or oaks. The cedars and cypresses of Lebanon and the oaks of Bashan are simply figures denoting what is lofty, glorious, and powerful in the world of nature and humanity, and are only to be referred to persons so far as their lofty position in the state is concerned. Consequently we get the following as the thought of these verses: The land of Israel, with all its powerful and glorious creatures, is to become desolate. Now, inasmuch as the desolation of a land also involves the desolation of the people living in the land, and of its institutions, the destruction of the cedars, cypresses, etc., does include the destruction of everything lofty and exalted in the nation and kingdom; so that in this sense the devastation of Lebanon is a figurative representation of the destruction of the Israelitish kingdom, or of the dissolution of the political existence of the ancient covenant nation. This judgment was executed upon the land and people of Israel by the imperial power of Rome. This historical reference is evident from the description which follows of the facts by which this catastrophe is brought to pass.”