◄ Zechariah 14:5 ►
You will flee by My mountain valley, for it will extend to Azal. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with Him.
Study Bible
You will flee by My mountain valley,

This phrase suggests a divine intervention where God provides a way of escape for His people. The "mountain valley" could refer to a literal geographical feature, possibly the Mount of Olives, which is mentioned earlier in the chapter. This imagery evokes the idea of God creating a path of safety, reminiscent of the parting of the Red Sea in Exodus 14:21-22. The mountain valley signifies God's control over nature and His ability to protect His people in times of distress.

Isa 40:3-4 A voice of one calling: “Prepare the way for the LORD…
Isa 26:20-21 Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut your doors…

for it will extend to Azal.

Azal is a location that is not clearly identified in modern geography, but it is believed to be near Jerusalem. The extension of the valley to Azal indicates a significant geographical change, possibly a miraculous event. This could symbolize the far-reaching impact of God's deliverance. The mention of Azal emphasizes the completeness of the escape route provided by God, ensuring safety for His people.

Isa 49:11 I will turn all My mountains into roads,…
Isa 43:19 Behold, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming.…

You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah.

This reference to an earthquake during King Uzziah's reign (mentioned in Amos 1:1) serves as a historical anchor, reminding the audience of a past event that was well-known for its severity. The comparison suggests that the future event will be equally momentous, prompting a similar reaction of urgency and fear. It highlights the seriousness of the situation and the need for immediate action, while also pointing to God's past faithfulness in delivering His people.

Amo 1:1 These are the words of Amos, who was among the…
Isa 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord…
Isa 6:4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds…

Then the LORD my God will come,

This phrase is a prophetic declaration of God's intervention in human history. It anticipates a theophany, where God visibly manifests His presence. This coming of the LORD is often associated with the Day of the Lord, a time of judgment and salvation. It aligns with other prophetic scriptures such as Zechariah 12:10 and Malachi 3:1, which speak of God's coming to His people. This event is seen as a fulfillment of God's promises and a demonstration of His sovereignty.

Isa 35:4 Say to those with anxious hearts: “Be strong, do not fear!…
Psa 50:3 Our God approaches and will not be silent!…
Mic 1:3 For behold, the LORD comes forth from His dwelling place;…

and all the holy ones with Him.

The "holy ones" could refer to angels or the saints, indicating a heavenly entourage accompanying God. This imagery is consistent with other biblical passages like Deuteronomy 33:2 and Jude 1:14, which describe God coming with His holy ones. It underscores the majesty and authority of God's arrival, as well as the participation of the heavenly host in His divine plan. This phrase also points to the ultimate victory and establishment of God's kingdom, as seen in Revelation 19:14.

Deu 33:2 He said: “The LORD came from Sinai and dawned…
Jud 1:14-15 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, also prophesied about them:…
1Th 3:13 He may establish your hearts in blamelessness…

Persons / Places / Events
1. Zechariah
A prophet who conveyed God's messages to the people of Israel, particularly concerning the future and the coming of the Lord.

2. Azel
A location mentioned in this prophecy, though its exact historical or geographical identity is uncertain. It signifies a place of refuge.

3. Uzziah, King of Judah
A king during whose reign a significant earthquake occurred, serving as a historical reference point for the prophecy.

4. The LORD (Yahweh)
The central divine figure in this prophecy, who promises to come with His holy ones.

5. The Earthquake
A historical event during King Uzziah's reign, used as a metaphor for the urgency and necessity of fleeing.
Teaching Points
Urgency of Preparedness
Just as the people fled during the earthquake, we must be spiritually prepared for the Lord's return.

Divine Protection and Refuge
Azel symbolizes a place of safety provided by God. We should seek refuge in Him amidst life's uncertainties.

Historical Lessons for Future Hope
The reference to past events like the earthquake under Uzziah serves as a reminder that God's promises are trustworthy and His interventions are powerful.

The Certainty of the Lord's Coming
The prophecy assures us of the Lord's return with His holy ones, encouraging us to live in anticipation and readiness.

Community of Believers
The mention of "all the holy ones" highlights the collective nature of God's people, urging us to foster unity and support within the body of Christ.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the historical context of the earthquake during Uzziah's reign enhance our understanding of Zechariah 14:5?

2. In what ways can we seek refuge in God today, as symbolized by the valley extending to Azel?

3. How do the themes of divine intervention and protection in Zechariah 14:5 relate to other biblical accounts of God's deliverance?

4. What practical steps can we take to prepare for the Lord's return, as emphasized in this prophecy?

5. How can the imagery of the LORD coming with His holy ones inspire us to cultivate a sense of community and unity among believers?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Amos 1:1
References the same earthquake during Uzziah's reign, providing historical context and emphasizing the significance of the event.

Matthew 24:30-31
Describes the coming of the Son of Man with His angels, paralleling the imagery of the LORD coming with His holy ones.

Revelation 19:14
Depicts the armies of heaven following Christ, echoing the theme of divine accompaniment in Zechariah 14:5.

Isaiah 29:6
Speaks of the LORD visiting with thunder and earthquake, reinforcing the theme of divine intervention through natural phenomena.
Sermons
Lessons of the EarthquakeW. Forsyth Zechariah 14:5
God in Relation to a Suffering WorldHomilistZechariah 14:4-5
God in Relation to a Suffering WorldD. Thomas Zechariah 14:4, 5
People
Azel, Benjamin, Uzziah, Zechariah
Places
Azal, Corner Gate, Egypt, Gate of Benjamin, Geba, Jerusalem, Mount of Olives, Rimmon, Tower of Hananel
Topics
Azel, Earthquake, Extend, Fled, Flee, Holy, Judah, Mountain, Mountains, Ones, Reach, Uzziah, Valley, Yes
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Zechariah 14:5

     4820   earthquake
     5568   suffering, causes

Zechariah 14:2-5

     9220   day of the LORD

Zechariah 14:3-5

     4290   valleys

Library
Light at Evening Time
This, then, shall be the subject of my present discourse. There are different evening times that happen to the church and to God's people, and as a rule we may rest quite certain that at evening time there shall be light. God very frequently acts in grace in such a manner that we can find a parallel in nature. For instance, God says, "As the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, even so shall my word be, it shall not return unto me void, it shall accomplish that which …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 3: 1857

Light at Evening Time
AS WE read the Scriptures, we are continually startled by fresh discoveries of the magnificence of God. Our attention is fixed upon a passage, and presently sparklets of fire and glory dart forth. It strikes us; we are struck by it. Hence these bright coruscations. Our admiration is excited. We could not have thought that so much light could possibly lie concealed within a few words. Our text thus reveals to us in a remarkable manner the penetration, the discernment, the clear-sightedness of God. …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 62: 1916

A Peal of Bells
The text, as you perceive, deals with horses which were unclean under the Jewish law yet, in the day spoken of in the text, the horses themselves shall be purged from commonness or uncleanness, and their harness shall be dedicated to God as certainly as the vestments of the High Priest himself. It will be a happy day indeed when the men who deal with horses, too often a race anything but honest and upbeat shall exhibit in their common transactions a consecration to God, so that on the horses' furniture …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 7: 1861

24TH DAY. Eventide Light.
"He is Faithful that Promised." "At evening-time it shall be light."--ZECH. xiv. 7. Eventide Light. How inspiring the thought of coming glory! How would we rise above our sins, and sorrows, and sufferings, if we could live under the power of "a world to come!" Were faith to take at all times its giant leap beyond a soul-trammelling earth, and remember its brighter destiny. If it could stand on its Pisgah Mount, and look above and beyond the mists and vapours of this land of shadows, and rest on …
John Ross Macduff—The Faithful Promiser

That all Troubles are to be Endured for the Sake of Eternal Life
"My Son, let not the labours which thou hast undertaken for Me break thee down, nor let tribulations cast thee down in any wise, but let my promise strengthen and comfort thee in every event. I am sufficient to reward thee above all measure and extent. Not long shalt thou labour here, nor always be weighed down with sorrows. Wait yet a little while, and thou shalt see a speedy end of thine evils. An hour shall come when all labour and confusion shall cease. Little and short is all that passeth …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

Sanctified Commonplaces
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. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts.' (Zechariah xiv. 20, 21.) What I have to say may not strike some of you as setting forth any very high or exalted truth, but I am satisfied as to its being a very important matter. I want to talk to you about the sanctification of the commonplace things in life. …
T. H. Howard—Standards of Life and Service

The Girdle of the City. Nehemiah 3
The beginning of the circumference was from 'the sheep-gate.' That, we suppose, was seated on the south part, yet but little removed from that corner, which looks south-east. Within was the pool of Bethesda, famous for healings. Going forward, on the south part, was the tower Meah: and beyond that, "the tower of Hananeel": in the Chaldee paraphrast it is, 'The tower Piccus,' Zechariah 14:10; Piccus, Jeremiah 31:38.--I should suspect that to be, the Hippic tower, were not that placed on the north …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

The Evening Light
This chapter is an article written by the author many years after she had received light on the unity of the church. It will acquaint the reader with what is meant by the expression "evening light." "At evening time it shall be light." "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light" (Zechariah 14:6,7). The expression …
Mary Cole—Trials and Triumphs of Faith

Three Inscriptions with one Meaning
'Thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it ... HOLINESS TO THE LORD.'--EXODUS xxviii. 36. 'In that day there shall be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD.'--ZECH. xiv. 20. 'His name shall be in their foreheads.'--REV. xxii. 4. You will have perceived my purpose in putting these three widely separated texts together. They all speak of inscriptions, and they are all obviously connected with each other. The first of them comes from the ancient times of the institution …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The River of Egypt, Rhinocorura. The Lake of Sirbon.
Pliny writes, "From Pelusium are the intrenchments of Chabrias: mount Casius: the temple of Jupiter Casius: the tomb of Pompey the Great: Ostracine: Arabia is bounded sixty-five miles from Pelusium: soon after begins Idumea and Palestine from the rising up of the Sirbon lake." Either my eyes deceive me, while I read these things,--or mount Casius lies nearer Pelusium, than the lake of Sirbon. The maps have ill placed the Sirbon between mount Casius and Pelusium. Sirbon implies burning; the name of …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

The Prophet Amos.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS. It will not be necessary to extend our preliminary remarks on the prophet Amos, since on the main point--viz., the circumstances under which he appeared as a prophet--the introduction to the prophecies of Hosea may be regarded as having been written for those of Amos also. For, according to the inscription, they belong to the same period at which Hosea's prophetic ministry began, viz., the latter part of the reign of Jeroboam II., and after Uzziah had ascended the …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

In the Temple at the Feast of Tabernacles.
(October, a.d. 29.) ^D John VII. 11-52. ^d 11 The Jews therefore sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he? [It was now eighteen months since Jesus had visited Jerusalem, at which time he had healed the impotent man at Bethesda. His fame and prolonged obscurity made his enemies anxious for him to again expose himself in their midst. John here used the word "Jews" as a designation for the Jerusalemites, who, as enemies of Christ, were to be distinguished from the multitudes who were in doubt …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Evening of the Third Day in Passion-Week - on the Mount of Olives: Discoures to the Disciples Concerning the Last Things.
THE last and most solemn denunciation of Jerusalem had been uttered, the last and most terrible prediction of judgment upon the Temple spoken, and Jesus was suiting the action to the word. It was as if He had cast the dust of His Shoes against the House' that was to be left desolate.' And so He quitted for ever the Temple and them that held office in it. They had left the Sanctuary and the City, had crossed black Kidron, and were slowly climbing the Mount of Olives. A sudden turn in the road, and …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

A vision of the King.
ONE of the most blessed occupations for the believer is the prayerful searching of God's holy Word to discover there new glories and fresh beauties of Him, who is altogether lovely. Shall we ever find out all which the written Word reveals of Himself and His worthiness? This wonderful theme can never be exhausted. The heart which is devoted to Him and longs through the presence and indwelling of the Holy Spirit to be closer to the Lord, to hear and know more of Himself, will always find something …
Arno Gaebelein—The Lord of Glory

The Promise to the Patriarchs.
A great epoch is, in Genesis, ushered in with the history of the time of the Patriarchs. Luther says: "This is the third period in which Holy Scripture begins the history of the Church with a new family." In a befitting manner, the representation is opened in Gen. xii. 1-3 by an account of the first revelation of God, given to Abraham at Haran, in which the way is opened up for all that follows, and in which the dispensations of God are brought before us in a rapid survey. Abraham is to forsake …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

The Prophet Joel.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. The position which has been assigned to Joel in the collection of the Minor Prophets, furnishes an external argument for the determination of the time at which Joel wrote. There cannot be any doubt that the Collectors were guided by a consideration of the chronology. The circumstance, that they placed the prophecies of Joel just between the two prophets who, according to the inscriptions and contents of their prophecies, belonged to the time of Jeroboam and Uzziah, is …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Zechariah
CHAPTERS I-VIII Two months after Haggai had delivered his first address to the people in 520 B.C., and a little over a month after the building of the temple had begun (Hag. i. 15), Zechariah appeared with another message of encouragement. How much it was needed we see from the popular despondency reflected in Hag. ii. 3, Jerusalem is still disconsolate (Zech. i. 17), there has been fasting and mourning, vii. 5, the city is without walls, ii. 5, the population scanty, ii. 4, and most of the people …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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