Luke 21:24 to Zechariah 12:3

OT Source(s):

Zechariah 12:3 ("On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations")

Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Reference Type: Allusion

Connection Method(s): Promise-Fulfillment + Redemptive-Historical Progression

Significance: Jesus predicts that Jerusalem "will be trodden down (patoumenē) by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled" (Luke 21:24). The language of Jerusalem being "trampled" echoes Zechariah 12:3 (ʾeben maʿămāsāh, "a burdensome stone"), where nations gather against Jerusalem only to be ground to pieces. Zechariah 12 is an eschatological oracle about a final siege and a subsequent divine deliverance; Jesus uses the "trampling" vocabulary to describe the interim period of Gentile domination that follows the 70 CE destruction. The phrase "times of the Gentiles" (kairoi ethnōn) has a parallel in the Gentile-domination periods of Daniel (Daniel 2; 7) and suggests a divinely bounded season during which the nations hold Jerusalem. The ultimate reversal anticipated in Zechariah 12:9-10 and Romans 11:25-26 lies beyond the current period of trampling.