Зехарья 12:7 Комментарий: Rashi & Abarbanel

And the Lord shall first save the tents of Judah Before the inhabitants of Jerusalem come out of the city, they shall have a salvation - to return to their tents and to their homes - and afterwards the salvation shall come to the inhabitants of the city. That is the salvation concerning which it is stated (14:3): “And the Lord shall go forth and wage war.”

And the Lord tells the prophet that on that day the Lord will save the tents of Judah first, and they are the people of Judah who live in the cities before the salvation of Jerusalem, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not be greater than that of the people of Judah. Because the house of David is inside Jerusalem, if they were saved first, they would boast over the people of Judah who are outside, saying that it was through their strength and valour that the salvation came. However, when the first salvation is for the people of Judah, who are outside, the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not be greater than theirs. And the matter is that the beginning of the war will be outside, before the people of Jerusalem go out. Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, and the people of Judah, who are in the cities, and half the people who have already gone into exile from the city, as will be remembered, will strive to avenge themselves on their enemies. Then the inhabitants of Jerusalem will also come, and in this way, the first salvation will be for the inhabitants of the cities, and after that, the salvation will come to the people of the city. And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained that 'the Lord will save the tents of Judah' refers to those coming with the enemies, for it is the way of the camps to dwell in tents. For when they see the defeat of the nations, they will begin to fight them, and that is what was said earlier, 'they will consume on the right hand and on the left.' Afterwards, the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go out and also strike them, and in this way, the salvation will first be for the thousands of Judah, and after that, the salvation of Jerusalem. And according to the content of the matter, it seems to me that when the people of the East and the North come to fight the watchers, their first battle will be at the end of the land of Judah, as they enter the land with the watchers who are spreading throughout the land. Since there will be vengeance from the Lord against them, the Jews in the villages who live in the open cities will go out to this war and strike their enemies as they wish. Afterwards, the war will spread further to Jerusalem, and therefore it was said that the Lord will save the tents of Judah first. And this name that appears in the words of Zechariah, namely, the leaders of Judah, is not commonly used by the other prophets, and I think He called them this to hint at their small number, as they were few after their many were exiled, and therefore He called them 'leaders of Judah,' as if He said 'the heads of the leaders of Judah.' And the house of David mentioned here, the commentators explained it to mean the descendants of the house of David and his family. And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra wrote that the house of David until today is in the city of Baghdad, the capital of Ishmael, and they are the heads of the exile, a large family, and they have the book of lineage from ancient times. And it is true that there were thrones for judgement there, the thrones of the house of David, as Rabbi Benjamin wrote in his travels that he saw them there, but he did not write that they were a large family, only distinguished individuals. And also in Spain, after the destruction of the First Temple, Rabbi Isaac ibn Ghayyat wrote that two families from the house of David came: one from the family of the sons of Daud, who settled in Alusna, and the other from the family of the sons of Abarbanel, who settled in Shibiliya, from which came the poor thousands. But it is not appropriate to interpret the phrase 'so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not be greater than that of the people of Judah' to mean that the descendants of David will be so many that they will be the main force in the war, and perhaps not all of them will be in Jerusalem. Therefore, I think that when He says 'the house of David,' He means only the inhabitants of Jerusalem who were from the tribe of Judah and his kingdom, because David captured Zion, and Jerusalem is called the city of David. Therefore, He said again 'and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem,' which refers to the other tribes who live there. For this reason, it was said afterwards, 'the family of the house of David,' which refers to his descendants and family specifically, but the house of David alone should be understood here as referring to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the tribe of Judah, and the same as 'on that day, a fountain will be opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem,' for always the inhabitants of Jerusalem will be remembered as part of the house of David, as though He said to the tribe of Judah and the other tribes. And now, all this was mentioned concerning Judah, and not Israel, even though the beginning of the prophecy was 'the burden of the word of the Lord upon Israel,' because the Lord chose Judah to be the leader, and through the division of the kingdoms, the kingdom called Israel was not from the descendants of the tribe of Judah. But when the kingdom is restored to unity, it will be called all the house of Judah and the leaders of Judah, and because Jerusalem is the head of the whole kingdom, only the inhabitants of Jerusalem are mentioned, and there all the kingdom and tribes are included. And this resolves the second question.

so that the boasting of, etc., shall not increase to boast over them and to say, “You were saved only because of us.”