And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem toward the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, -- a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
Zechariah is describing a day of terrible danger for Jerusalem. Everything in this verse turns on whose feet stand on the hill east of the city, whether that hill is a real hill, and what the splitting is for.
The prophet does not say a messenger or an army arrives. He says Jehovah's own feet touch the ground — and the New Testament tells us who that is.
Acts 1 says that Jesus "will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven," that is, on the Mount of Olives. Compare Ezekiel 11:23. "On that day His feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives," says the Holy Spirit in Zechariah 14:4; "His feet," the feet of Jehovah. Though indeed He was the man of sorrows, Jesus is Jehovah, and has been so from eternity.
The place named is not chosen at random. It is the last piece of earth His feet touched before He left.
It was from the Mount of Olives that our Lord went up to heaven (Acts 1:12). A cloud took Him out of the disciples' sight. While they were still gazing after Him, two angels said to them, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven." No words could be more exact. They say as plainly as possible that Jesus Himself will return to the earth, and that people will see Him come. And now Zechariah tells us that He will return to the very spot He left. The very same feet that once walked Olivet with His disciples will stand there again.
He left by the east. That same ridge has already seen Him arrive once as King.
He was entering the city from the east, from the very quarter from which some day He will return to it, to leave it no more. For His feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:4), and from the way of the east the glory of the Lord will return to the house of God (Ezek. 43:2). But these prophetic announcements await their accomplishment.
Some read the whole chapter as a picture of spiritual blessing. One writer answers that the mountain itself settles the argument. Anyone can go and look.
God will leave on the Mount of Olives an everlasting sign. It will show that the Maker of heaven and earth is that glorious One whose feet stand there in that day. Is Olivet split now? Clearly not. What can you make of it by the so-called spiritual interpretation? Absolutely nothing. No matter who or what you are, I am sure that this mystical reading fails. Here, if anywhere, it should admit its error with shame. The mountain still stands undivided. It rises up to condemn those false readings, and it is a silent, standing witness that the prophecy has not yet been fulfilled.
The tearing is not an accident of geology. It is the ground's answer to the One standing on it, and it takes a precise shape.
But when Jehovah comes in this way, in the person of the Messiah, He comes with power and great glory. The earth will acknowledge the presence of her rightful Lord, and so the mountain He stands on splits down the middle… The result is a great valley. Half of the mountain moves north and half moves south, so the valley runs east and west. Its western end lies right opposite the eastern side of Jerusalem, and its eastern end stops, it seems, at Azal.
Scripture records the ground shaking once before under the same feet. The pairing is deliberate.
When He comes, a great shock will break the surface of the earth. There was an earthquake at the moment Jesus died, as Matthew 27:51 records, and there is going to be another, as predicted here. An earthquake, when He died the death of the cross, in the most extreme humiliation! An earthquake, when He returns in splendour and majesty! How wonderfully suitable are the ways of our God!
The split does more than display power. It opens ground where there was none, for people with nowhere left to run.
In that great day God's power will open a complete passage through the Mount of Olives for the alarmed Jews, and it will open in a moment. It will stand as a witness to whether or not this prophecy is fulfilled… Their distress would be immense, and the danger would look about to strike. Then safety opens through the terrifying door of a valley, formed for them all at once through the solid mountain.
- Person — the feet on the mountain are Jehovah's. Those same feet once walked Olivet with the disciples.
- Place — He returns to the exact spot He left, entering from the east, just as the angels promised when He went up.
- Proof — Olivet stands whole today. That unbroken hill shows the prophecy is still future, and no symbolic reading can explain it away.
- Power — the earth shook when He died in humiliation and will shake again when He stands there in glory.
- Purpose — the split is not spectacle but rescue: a road opened through solid rock for people with no way out.
And ye shall flee [by] the valley of my mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal ye shall even flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. And Jehovah my God shall come, [and] all the holy ones with thee.
Zechariah has just described the Mount of Olives splitting in two as the Lord's feet touch it. Verse 5 tells us what happens next. People run for their lives through the new gap, and Someone arrives with a whole company behind Him. Two questions sit at the centre of the verse: who is doing the fleeing, and who are the "holy ones" who come with the Lord.
The valley is not scenery. It is an escape route, opened at the very last moment.
I have no doubt that real, physical changes are meant. On that great day God's power will open a complete passage through the Mount of Olives for the frightened Jews. It will stand as a witness to whether or not this prophecy is fulfilled... Their distress would be huge, and the danger would look ready to fall on them. Then safety opens through a door that looks terrible — a valley formed all at once for them through the solid mountain. No wonder it is called here the "valley of my mountains."
Commentators differ over who the "you" is. Many take them as the alarmed Jews escaping to safety. One writer reads the word another way, and draws the opposite conclusion.
The appearing of the LORD of hosts will come with a great earthquake (Isaiah 29:6). As in the days of Uzziah (Amos 1:1), the people will flee through the valley this event opens. I do not believe this refers to the remnant of Jerusalem. I see in it the flight of the rest of the people, who have turned away from God. I think the word "you" points to this... This part of the people will flee, only to rush into a greater judgment from the Lord. The poor of the flock will stay in Jerusalem, sorrowing and humbled.
The prophet dates the panic by an event his hearers remembered: the quake under King Uzziah. One writer notes where else the ground shook in Scripture.
There was one in the days of Uzziah, which our passage refers to. There was another at the moment Jesus died, as Matthew 27:51 records... At any rate, there is going to be another, as predicted here. An earthquake, when He died the death of the cross, in the most extreme humiliation! An earthquake, when He returns in splendour and majesty! How wonderfully suitable are the ways of our God!
The last line of the verse feels like a jump. Kelly says it is one. The chapter turns here, and the verse numbering hides the break.
The last clause of the verse should be the start of a new section. These divisions are not inspired. They are only an editor's attempt to give the sense, and they are sometimes wrong, as I believe they are here... It would be harsh to suppose that He comes again after He has already gone out and fought against the gathered nations, as verse 3 describes. So I think the context proves that this line begins another paragraph. It presents His coming from another point of view and for other purposes.
The last line switches from talking about the Lord to talking to Him. Some manuscripts read "with him" here, and the ESV follows that reading.
Some manuscripts and versions read "with him" instead of "with you." The difficulty clears up once we see that it is the prophet who speaks to the LORD, whose feet will stand on the Mount of Olives. Zechariah suddenly turns and speaks to Him: "And the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with you."
Writers divide over the company. Some take them as angels, since the Old Testament had not yet revealed anything else:
Our common version says "saints," but we must not press that word to mean people. "The holy ones" may be angels, and that is the more natural reading. Only the New Testament reveals that "when Christ, who is our life, appears, then we will appear with Him in glory" (Col. 3:4). But the verse plainly announces a personal coming, with angels at the least.
Others take them as God's people, and press the timing that follows from it:
Here it is His return to Israel, so it is His public appearing — when every eye will see Him. That is why, as Zechariah says, the saints will come with Him. But if the glorified saints return with Christ, they must have been caught up to be with Him before that. This is what the New Testament teaches.
- Terror — the panic is compared to the earthquake in Uzziah's day. Writers differ on who runs: the rescued remnant, or the part of the nation that has turned from God.
- Escape — God splits the mountain in a moment. The gap becomes a door of safety, and a lasting witness to this prophecy.
- Turn — the last line opens a new section. It shows His coming from a fresh angle, not a second arrival.
- Address — the prophet stops describing and speaks straight to the One who comes. That is why the line reads "with you."
- Company — He does not come alone. Some read the "holy ones" as angels. Others read them as God's own people, who must then have been caught up to Him first.