Verse 4. - His feet shall stand. By this theophany he shall come to the aid of his people; nature shall do his bidding, owning the presence of its Maker. Upon the Mount of Olives... on the east. This mount lay on the east of Jerusalem, from which it was separated by the deep valley of the Kidron, rising to a height of some six hundred feet, and intercepting the view of the wilderness of Judaea and the Jordan ghor. The geographical detail is added in the text to indicate the line of escape which shall be opened for those who are to be de-livened. This is the only place in the Old Testament where the Mount of Olives is thus exactly named; but it is often alluded to; e.g.2 Samuel 15:30; 1 Kings 11:7; 2 Kings 23:13 (where it is called "the mount of corruption"), etc. Shall cleave in the midst thereof. As the enemy are supposed to beset Jerusalem, so as to make escape by any ordinary road impossible, the Lord will open a way through the very centre of the mountain (as he opened a path through the Red Sea), by cleaving the hill in sunder, the two parts moving north and south, and leaving a great valley running east and west, and leading to the Arabah.
14:1-7 The Lord Jesus often stood upon the Mount of Olives when on earth. He ascended from thence to heaven, and then desolations and distresses came upon the Jewish nation. Such is the view taken of this figuratively; but many consider it as a notice of events yet unfulfilled, and that it relates to troubles of which we cannot now form a full idea. Every believer, being related to God as his God, may triumph in the expectation of Christ's coming in power, and speak of it with pleasure. During a long season, the state of the church would be deformed by sin; there would be a mixture of truth and error, of happiness and misery. Such is the experience of God's people, a mingled state of grace and corruption. But, when the season is at the worst, and most unpromising, the Lord will turn darkness into light; deliverance comes when God's people have done looking for it.
And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives,.... Where he often was in the days of his flesh, and from whence he ascended to heaven, Luke 21:37 but here he did not appear at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem; wherefore this must refer to a time to come; and seeing it is certain that he will stand in the latter day on the earth, at the time of the resurrection, and will come down from heaven in like manner as he went up; it seems very probable that he will descend upon that very spot of ground from whence he ascended, Job 19:25. The Jews, (e) have a notion, that, at the general resurrection of the dead, the mount of Olives will cleave asunder, and those of their nation, who have been buried in other countries, will be rolled through the caverns of the earth, and come out from under that mountain. This is what they call "gilgul hammetim", the rolling of the dead; and "gilgul hammechiloth", the rolling through the caverns. So they say in the Targum of Sol 8:5.
"when the dead shall live, the mount of Olives shall be cleaved asunder, and all the dead of Israel shall come out from under it; yea, even the righteous, which die in captivity, shall pass through subterraneous caverns, and come from under the mount of Olives.''
This is sometimes (f) represented as very painful to the righteous; but another writer (g) removes this objection by observing, that at the time of the rolling through the caverns of the earth, we may say that this rolling will be of no other than of the bone "luz", out of which the whole body will spring; so that this business of rolling will be easy and without pain; but they are not all agreed about the thing itself: Kimchi says (h),
"there is a division in the words of our Rabbins, concerning the dead without the land (i.e. of Israel); some of them say that those without the land shall come up out of their graves; and others say they shall come out of their graves to the land of Israel by rolling, and by the way of the caverns; but this verse Ezekiel 37:12 proves that those without the land shall live, as the dead of the land of Israel; for it says, "I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves"; and after that, "and I will bring you into the land of Israel".''
Which is before Jerusalem on the east; a sabbath day's journey from it, about a mile, Acts 1:12,
and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west; and there shall be a very great valley, and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south; and this valley will be made by cleaving and removing the mountain in this manner, to hold the dead together when raised; and this is thought by some to be the same with the valley of Jehoshaphat, called the valley of decision, into which the Heathen, being awakened and raised, will be brought and judged, Joel 3:2.
(e) Targum in Cant. viii. 5. (f) T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 111. 1.((g) Judah Zabarah apud Pocock. Not. Miscell. p. 119. (h) Pirush in Ezekiel 37.12.
"when the dead shall live, the mount of Olives shall be cleaved asunder, and all the dead of Israel shall come out from under it; yea, even the righteous, which die in captivity, shall pass through subterraneous caverns, and come from under the mount of Olives.''
This is sometimes (f) represented as very painful to the righteous; but another writer (g) removes this objection by observing, that at the time of the rolling through the caverns of the earth, we may say that this rolling will be of no other than of the bone "luz", out of which the whole body will spring; so that this business of rolling will be easy and without pain; but they are not all agreed about the thing itself: Kimchi says (h),
"there is a division in the words of our Rabbins, concerning the dead without the land (i.e. of Israel); some of them say that those without the land shall come up out of their graves; and others say they shall come out of their graves to the land of Israel by rolling, and by the way of the caverns; but this verse Ezekiel 37:12 proves that those without the land shall live, as the dead of the land of Israel; for it says, "I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves"; and after that, "and I will bring you into the land of Israel".''
Which is before Jerusalem on the east; a sabbath day's journey from it, about a mile, Acts 1:12,
and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west; and there shall be a very great valley, and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south; and this valley will be made by cleaving and removing the mountain in this manner, to hold the dead together when raised; and this is thought by some to be the same with the valley of Jehoshaphat, called the valley of decision, into which the Heathen, being awakened and raised, will be brought and judged, Joel 3:2.
(e) Targum in Cant. viii. 5. (f) T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 111. 1.((g) Judah Zabarah apud Pocock. Not. Miscell. p. 119. (h) Pirush in Ezekiel 37.12.