John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 1. Open thy doors, O Lebanon , etc.] By which may be meant, either the temple of Jerusalem, which was built of the cedars of Lebanon; “the gates of which are said to open of themselves forty years before the destruction of Jerusalem, when Jochanan ben Zaccai, who lived at the same time, rebuked them, saying, O temple, temple, wherefore dost thou frighten thyself? I know thine end is to be destroyed; for so prophesied Zechariah, the son of Iddo, concerning thee, “open thy doors, O Lebanon”.”
So Lebanon, in ( Zechariah 10:10), is interpreted of the sanctuary, both by the Targum and by Jarchi; or else it may be understood of Jerusalem, and of the whole land of Judea, because it was situated by it; it was the border of it on the north side. That the fire may devour thy cedars ; of which the temple was built, and the houses of Jerusalem, which were consumed by fire; unless the fortresses of the land are meant. So the Targum paraphrases it, “and the fire shall consume your fortresses.”
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-3 - In figurative expressions, that destruction of Jerusalem, and of the Jewish church and nation, is foretold, which our Lord Jesus, when the time was at hand, prophesied plainly and expressly. How can the fi trees stand, if the cedars fall? The falls of the wise and good int sin, and the falls of the rich and great into trouble, are loud alarm to those every way their inferiors. It is sad with a people, when thos who should be as shepherds to them, are as young lions. The pride of Jordan was the thickets on the banks; and when the river overflowed the banks, the lions came up from them roaring. Thus the doom of Jerusale may alarm other churches.
Original Hebrew פתח6605 לבנון3844 דלתיך1817 ותאכל398 אשׁ784 בארזיך׃730
