[b-hebrew] "daughter of Zion" [was: (bless? curse?) in the Book of Job]

Harold Holmyard hholmyard3 at earthlink.net
Thu Jan 29 19:48:43 EST 2009


Doug,

Thanks for the kind word.
> Could you allow me to present something which as seems the case with 
> "daughter of Edom" that it is referring to the future generations , 
> also Math 21:5  "Tell the daughter of Zion behold  Your king is 
> coming" , and how could that be anyone other than Israel , for who 
> esle did the King come for.

HH: One issue is that Zion is a name for Jerusalem by synecdoche, a part 
taken for the whole (the hill for the whole city). And Matthew 21:5 
describes Jesus entering Jerusalem:

CSB Matthew 21:1  When they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage 
at the Mount of Olives, Jesus then sent two disciples, 2 telling them, 
"Go into the village ahead of you. At once you will find a donkey tied 
there, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to Me. 3 If anyone 
says anything to you, you should say that the Lord needs them, and 
immediately he will send them." 4 This took place so that what was 
spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled: 5 Tell Daughter Zion, 
"See, your King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey, even 
on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden." 6 The disciples went and did 
just as Jesus directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt; 
then they laid their robes on them, and He sat on them. 8 A very large 
crowd spread their robes on the road; others were cutting branches from 
the trees and spreading them on the road. 9 Then the crowds who went 
ahead of Him and those who followed kept shouting: Hosanna to the Son of 
David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the 
highest heaven! 10 When He entered Jerusalem, the whole city was shaken, 
saying, "Who is this?"
>
> Also in Is 66:67 we see how   "before  she traivailed she gave birth" 
> , regarding the male child and offspring , then we read , "for as soon 
> as Zion travailed" , this makes me think that Zion is the mother here .

HH: Zion in Isa 66:7 is the mother, but again, Zion represents 
Jerusalem. The immediately preceding verse represents a city with a 
temple in it. Israel, when faithful to the Lord, had only one temple, 
and it was in Jerusalem:

 6 A sound of uproar from the city! A voice from the temple-- the voice 
of the LORD, paying back His enemies what they deserve! 7 Before Zion 
was in labor, she gave birth; before she was in pain, she delivered a boy.
>
>
> Is 49:14 "But Zion said the Lord has forsaken me" , this also suggests 
> that , here Zion is claiming to be forsaken, we know it was Israel , 
> Zion here as in Is 66:8 seems to be representing Israel .

HH: In Isa 49:14 Zion again seems to be associated with a city that has 
walls (v. 16):

For the LORD has comforted His people, And will have compassion on His 
afflicted. 14 But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me, And the Lord has 
forgotten me." 15 "Can a woman forget her nursing child, And have no 
compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not 
forget you. 16 "Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; 
Your walls are continually before Me. 17 "Your builders hurry;

HH: But you are right.  Jerusalem can symbolize the nation of Israel and 
seems to do so in Isa 66:7-8, although the following verses (vv. 10-11)  
make it clear that Isaiah is talking about Jerusalem as the mother:

 Isa 66:7: Before Zion was in labor, she gave birth; before she was in 
pain, she delivered a boy. 8 Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen 
such things? Can a land be born in one day, or a nation be delivered in 
an instant? Yet as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her 
sons. 9 "Will I bring a baby to the point of birth and not deliver it?" 
says the LORD; "or will I who deliver, close the womb?" says your God. 
10 Be glad for Jerusalem and rejoice over her, all who love her. Rejoice 
greatly with her, all who mourn over her-- 11 so that you may nurse and 
be satisfied from her comforting breast and drink deeply and delight

> Then on Jesus rerurning for Israel it sems to be that he comes for the 
> "daughter of Zion" , meaning a future generation of Zion which would 
> be the Israel that accepted Jesus .
HH: You are right about this in my view, because the entrance of Jesus 
into Jerusalem in the first century was only part of the fulfillment of 
the prophecy in Zechariah 9:

NAS Matthew 21:5 "Say to the daughter of Zion, 'Behold your King is 
coming to you, Gentle, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal 
of a beast of burden.'"

HH: If you read the original context in Zechariah from which Matthew 
quotes, it is not the non-militaristic setting of the first century, but 
a time when Israel has defeated her military enemies:

Zech 9:6 A mongrel people will live in Ashdod, and I will destroy the 
pride of the Philistines. 7 I will remove the blood from their mouths 
and the detestable things from between their teeth. Then they too will 
become a remnant for our God; they will become like a clan in Judah and 
Ekron like the Jebusites. 8 I will set up camp at My house against an 
army, against those who march back and forth, and no oppressor will 
march against them again, for now I have seen with My own eyes. 9 
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem! 
See, your King is coming to you; He is righteous and victorious, humble 
and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 10 I will cut 
off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem. The bow of 
war will be removed, and He will proclaim peace to the nations. His 
dominion will extend from sea to sea, from the Euphrates River to the 
ends of the earth.

HH: This is a battle context, where the king has defeated the army foes 
and takes power over all the earth. This matches many prophecies about 
the second coming of the Lord Jesus to establish his kingdom over the 
earth. But the equation of Zion with Israel is easy to understand in our 
own context. Below is an article I took off the web about the U.S. 
relations with Kyrgyzstan. In the article, the U.S. is three times named 
as "Washington," because decisions for our nation come out of 
Washington. Jerusalem was the capital city of Israel, so one could speak 
of Zion or Jerusalem doing this or that, and potentially be referring to 
the whole nation.

http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/world/10796846.asp

*Kyrgyzstan to close US airbase, Washington says no plans made

**The United States has no plans to close its military airbase in 
Kyrgyzstan, an official said despite the earlier reports that Kyrgyz 
administration is set to order the closure of a US base. (UPDATED)*

U.S. Central Command chief General David Petraeus, visiting Tajikistan 
as part of a regional tour that also takes him to Kyrgyzstan this 
weekend, said the United States had no plans to stop using the airbase.

 

"We look forward to discussing the future of the base there and we 
certainly have no plans to change anything frankly," he was quoted as 
telling reporters by Reuters.

 

Washington <http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/index/washington/> set up the 
base, now home to more than 1,000 military personnel, in ex-Soviet 
Kyrgyzstan in 2001 after the start of the U.S.-led military campaign in 
Afghanistan.

 

Earlier on Saturday, a senior Kyrgyz official told AFP that Kyrgyzstan 
will order the closure of a US military airbase used to support 
operations in Afghanistan "in a matter of days" in exchange for a loan 
from Russia.

Russia, which also operates a military airbase in Kyrgyzstan, saw the 
arrival of U.S. forces as a Washington 
<http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/index/washington/> attempt to squeeze 
Russian influence in the ex-Soviet region.


Yours,
Harold Holmyard


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