All the land shall be turned as a plain. To indicate the exaltation and stability of the centre of the new theocracy, the prophet announces that all the country round Jerusalem shall be turned into a plain, dominated by the metropolis, which stands sublime on a lofty mountain.
The Revised Version renders, "shall be turned as the Arabah," i.e. as the Jordan ghor, a valley of abnormal fertility. From Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; i.e. from the north of Judah to its southern boundary.
Geba was a town and district on the edge of the great Wady Suweinit, five miles north of Jerusalem. It is identified with Jeba (1 Samuel 13:3), and it formed the northern boundary of the kingdom of Judah (Joshua 18:24).
Rimmon is described as "south of Jerusalem," to distinguish it from a town of the same name in Galilee (Joshua 19:13), and from the famous rock Rimmon, to which the Benjamites fled ( 20:45, 20:47). It was situated in the territory of Simeon (Joshua 15:32; Joshua 19:7), and has been identified with Umm-er-Rummamin, a town ten miles north of Beersheba.
It shall be lifted up. Jerusalem shall remain exalted on its hill, while all the country around sinks into a plain—a figure representing the spiritual exaltation of the new theocracy. Inhabited in her place; or, shall dwell in her place.
Shall occupy her ancient limits, and abide there safely without fear (comp. Jeremiah 31:38-40; Ezekiel 48:15, etc.). From Benjamin's gate, etc. (Jeremiah 37:13). It is difficult to define the given boundaries with certainty in every particular.
Benjamin's gate is the same as the gate of Ephraim (2 Kings 14:13; Nehemiah 8:16), so called as leading to the territory of Benjamin, and beyond again to that of Ephraim. It was situated in the north or second wall.
From this point the course of the wall is followed, first to the west, and then to the east. The first gate. This was in the eastern part at this wall, and is the same as "the old gate," or "gate of the old town," of Nehemiah 12:39.
The corner gate (2 Kings 14:13; Jeremiah 31:38) was at the northwest corner, west of the gate of Benjamin, at the angle where the first and second walls approached each other. These dimensions would give the breadth of the city from east to west.
The tower of Hananeel (Nehemiah 3:1-32:l) was at the northeast corner of the north wall, where the citadel Basis or Antonia afterwards stood. The king's wine presses were probably near "the king's garden" (Nehemiah 3:15), at the southeast extremity of the city.
They may have been cut out of the rock, as was often the case. This description gives the extent of the city from north to south. Thus Zechariah illustrates the growth and stability of the Church of God by the figure of the earthly city Jerusalem, firmly and orderly built, and inhabited by a teeming population, as the following verse shows.
There is no ground for expecting the literal fulfilment of this prediction.