IV.
The prophet uses the image of “prisoners” several times.

Notice what he tells us about these “prisoners.”

V.
Zechariah 9:9-13, 16-17 (NRSVue)

Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion!
     Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you;
     triumphant and victorious is he,
humble and riding on a donkey,
     on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
     and the war horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,
     and he shall command peace to the nations;
his dominion shall be from sea to sea
     and from the River to the ends of the earth.

As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
     I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.
Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;
     today I declare that I will restore to you double.
For I have bent Judah as my bow;
     I have made Ephraim its arrow.
I will arouse your sons, O Zion,
     against your sons, O Greece,
     and wield you like a warrior’s sword.

On that day the Lord their God will save them,
     for they are the flock of his people,
for like the jewels of a crown
     they shall shine on his land.
For what goodness and beauty are his!
     Grain shall make the young men flourish,
     and new wine the young women.

VI.
Does “prisoners of hope” seem an odd expression to you? Does hope free a person or does it imprison them as the prophet seems to suggest?

Can you think of other ways to speak of a “prisoner of hope”?

What would being trapped in a “waterless pit” look like and feel like to you?

Can these “prisoners” sense and believe they can be “the flock of [God’s] people”?

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}