Zechariah 14:20 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Zechariah 14:20
In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the LORD’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar.
a day (as the warm hours) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
bells
מְצִלּ֣וֹתme.tzi.Lot
H4698
a tinkler · noun, common feminine plural construct
horses
הַסּ֔וּסha.Sus
H5483
a horse (as leaping) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
HOLINESS
קֹ֖דֶשׁKo.desh
H6944
a sacred place or thing · noun, common masculine singular absolute
LORD
לַֽיהוָ֑הla.Yah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · preposition + proper noun, a title
pots
הַסִּירוֹת֙ha.si.rOt
H5518
a pot · definite article + noun, common feminine plural absolute
LORD’s
יְהוָ֔הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
house
בְּבֵ֣יתbe.Veit
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
bowls
כַּמִּזְרָקִ֖יםka.miz.ra.Kim
H4219
a bowl (as if for sprinkling) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
before
לִפְנֵ֥יlif.Nei
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
altar
הַמִּזְבֵּֽחַha.miz.Be.ach
H4196
an altar · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
Exodus 39:30 And they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote upon it a writing, like to the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LOR…
Isaiah 23:18 And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the LORD: it shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them…
1 Peter 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus…
Leviticus 8:9 And he put the mitre upon his head; also upon the mitre, even upon his forefront, did he put the golden plate, the holy crown; as the LORD c…
Exodus 28:33-36 And beneath upon the hem of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof; and bells o…
Exodus 37:16 And he made the vessels which were upon the table, his dishes, and his spoons, and his bowls, and his covers to cover withal, of pure gold.
Leviticus 6:28 But the earthen vessel wherein it is sodden shall be broken: and if it be sodden in a brasen pot, it shall be both scoured, and rinsed in wa…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Zechariah 14:16–end
Three things are here foretold: -
I. That a gospel-way of worship being set up in the church there shall be a great resort to it and a general attendance upon it. Those that were left of the enemies of religion shall be so sensible of the mercy of God to them in their narrow escape that they shall apply themselves to the worship of the God of Israel, and pay their homage to him, Zac 14:16. Those that were not consumed shall be converted, and this makes their deliverance a mercy indeed, a double mercy. It is a great change that the grace of God makes upon them; those that had come against Jerusalem, finding their attempts vain and fruitless, shall become as much her admirers as ever they had…
shall there be upon the bells--namely, this inscription, "Holiness to the Lord," the same as was on the miter of the high priest (Exo 28:36). This implies that all things, even the most common, shall be sacred to Jehovah, and not merely the things which under the law had peculiar sanctity attached to them. The "bells" were metal plates hanging from the necks of horses and camels as ornaments, which tinkled (as the Hebrew root means) by striking against each other. Bells attached to horses are found represented on the walls of Sennacherib's palace at Koyunjik.
pots . . . like . . . bowls--the vessels used for boiling, for receiving ashes, &c., shall be as holy as the bowls used for catching…
Upon the bells of the horses - They appear, formerly, to have had bells on horses, camels, etc., as we have now, to amuse the animals, and encourage them in their work. In some very fine Asiatic paintings now before me, I see bells both on horses, mules, and camels; little bells tied to their legs, and larger ones about their necks, particularly in the representation of a caravan passing through the valley of serpents, in the island of Serendib, now Ceylon. The margin reads bridles.
Holiness Unto The Lord - As the Gospel is a holy system, preaching holiness and producing holiness in those who believe, so all without, as well as within, shall bear this impress; and even a man's labor shall be…
The Church Fathers
On that day there shall be inscribed on the bit of the horse, "Holy to the Lord." Not war or wrath but holiness and peace. Isaiah certainly prophesied this when he said, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." Both prophets expected the advent of Christ. In a mystical sense, by the horse the prophet signifies any servant of Christ and understands the bit as the divine law, by which the hearts of the faithful are directed, so that they may not rush down into vice. The bit holds the horse in check and obliges it to obey the horseman, that is, mystically, the Lord.
(Verse 20) On that day, what is on the bridle of the horse will be holy to the Lord, and the pots in the house of the Lord will be like the bowls before the altar. And every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be consecrated to the Lord of hosts. (Verse 21) On that day, what is on the bridle of the horse will be holy to the Lord God Almighty. And the pots in the house of the Lord will be like the bowls before the altar. And every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the Lord God Almighty. The Hebrew word Mesuloth was translated by Aquila and Theodotion as 'profundum', that is, 'depth'. Symmachus translated it as 'incessum umbrosum', that is, 'shady walk'. The Septuagint alone translated it as 'frenum', that is, 'bridle'; and we have followed them in this place so as not to appear to introduce anything new in a well-known question. When I asked the Hebrew what it meant, he told me that we should not read Mesuloth, but Mesaloth, which means the trappings of horses and military ornamentation, and he said that apart from this place, the word is not found at all in any volume of the holy Scriptures. But the Hebrew word for bridle is Resen, not Mesuloth, as translated by the Septuagint. And its meaning is: During the perpetual solemnity and reign of Jerusalem, when everything is peaceful and tranquil, there is no need for cavalry, which is the strongest type of warriors; but all the adornment and splendor of trappings should be dedicated to the worship of the Lord. This is what they said. As for us, let us interpret the deep and rhythmic movement of horses, σύσκιον, as representing the mystical knowledge, which even David boasted of having, saying: You have revealed to me the uncertain and hidden aspects of your wisdom (Ps. 50, 8). And the Apostle says: O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out (Rom. XI, 33) ! In this deep, the prophet cried out to the Lord, and he heard him. In these depths and darkness, God placed his hiding place (Ps. XVII): Moses entered into these darknesses and divine mysteries on Mount Sinai, in order to see God (Exod. XIX): of which David also spoke in another Psalm: The judgments of the Lord are a great abyss (Ps. XXXV, 9). These secrets and sacred mysteries are known to the Lord, which the evangelist John knew and dared to say, even though the angels…
Dictionary and topics
Bells — In (Exodus 28:33) the bells alluded to were the golden ones 72 in number, round the hem of the his priest’s ephod. The object of them was so that his sound might be heard.” (Exodus 28:34) Ecclus.…
Holiness · Promised to the Church — Promised to the Church
Horse, The · Adorned with bells on the neck — Adorned with bells on the neck
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
In that day,.... After the destruction of antichrist and all the antichristian party, and a new state of things will take place, either the spiritual or personal reign of Christ:
shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS TO THE LORD; as was upon the mitre of the high priest, Exodus 28:36 to which there seems to be an allusion here: or, "upon the trappings of the horses" (e), as the Targum renders it; and this intends either the horses slain in war, whose bells or trappings should be devoted and applied to holy uses; or the horses that carried the people up to Jerusalem to worship there, or horses in common. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions render it, "on the bridle of t…
Zechariah 14:20
20. In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, Holiness Unto The Lord; and the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar.
20. Die illo erit super fraena (aut, phaleras; alii vertunt, frontalia; alii, collaria; dicemus postea de hac voce; vel, stabula, hoc meum est, et postea dicam rationem; super stabula ignitur) equi (hoc est, equorum, est mutatio numeri) sanctitas Iehovae; et erit (hoc est, erunt; iterum est mutatio numeri) lebetes in domo Iehovae sicuti phialae (sic vertit Hieronymus, alii vertunt, pelves) coram altari.
Zechariah teaches us in this verse, that God would become the king of the world, so that all things would be appli…
Zac 14:20. "In that day there will stand upon the bells of the horses, Holy to Jehovah; and the pots in the house of Jehovah will be like the sacrificial bowls before the altar. Zac 14:21. And every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to Jehovah of hosts, and all who sacrifice will come and take of them, and boil therein; and there will be no Canaanite any more in the house of Jehovah of hosts in that day." The meaning of Zac 14:20 is not exhausted by the explanation given by Michaelis, Ewald, and others, that even the horses will then be consecrated to the Lord. The words קדשׁ ליהוה were engraven upon the gold plate on the tiara of the high priest, in the characters used in engravings u…
Holy to the Lord: See study note on 3:5. The priesthood was set apart for the Lord, as was the nation of Israel (Exod 19:6; Lev 11:44-45). That identity will be fulfilled in the messianic kingdom (Rom 11:16-17; Eph 1:4; 5:27; 1 Pet 1:15-16). The inscription on the harness bells and the cooking pots shows how pervasive holiness will be in that day.
Rashi on Zechariah 14:20
there will be upon the bells of the horses On the bells that are hung on the horse for beauty between its eyes (Pesachim 50a). Those, too, will be consecrated to make service vessels: sprinkling basins for the blood and pots to cook the flesh of the many sacrifices.
Yea, every pot...will be All those that are used to remove the ashes, they too will be of gold and of silver, like the sprinkling basins that are before the altar.
the bells of the horses tentinonc in Old French.
