Zechariah 14:4

4 On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives, which lies before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley; so that one half of the Mount shall withdraw northward, and the other half southward.

Zechariah 14:4 Meaning and Commentary

Zechariah 14:4

And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of
Olives
Where he often was in the days of his flesh, and from whence he ascended to heaven, ( Luke 21:37 ) ( 23:29 ) ( Acts 2:12 ) but here he did not appear at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem; wherefore this must refer to a time to come; and seeing it is certain that he will stand in the latter day on the earth, at the time of the resurrection, and will come down from heaven in like manner as he went up; it seems very probable that he will descend upon that very spot of ground from whence he ascended, ( Job 19:25-27 ) ( Acts 1:11 Acts 1:12 ) . The Jews, F5 have a notion, that, at the general resurrection of the dead, the mount of Olives will cleave asunder, and those of their nation, who have been buried in other countries, will be rolled through the caverns of the earth, and come out from under that mountain. This is what they call "gilgul hammetim", the rolling of the dead; and "gilgul hammechiloth", the rolling through the caverns. So they say in the Targum of ( Song of Solomon 8:5 ) .

``when the dead shall live, the mount of Olives shall be cleaved asunder, and all the dead of Israel shall come out from under it; yea, even the righteous, which die in captivity, shall pass through subterraneous caverns, and come from under the mount of Olives.''
This is sometimes F6 represented as very painful to the righteous; but another writer F7 removes this objection by observing, that at the time of the rolling through the caverns of the earth, we may say that this rolling will be of no other than of the bone "luz", out of which the whole body will spring; so that this business of rolling will be easy and without pain; but they are not all agreed about the thing itself: Kimchi says F8,
``there is a division in the words of our Rabbins, concerning the dead without the land (i.e. of Israel); some of them say that those without the land shall come up out of their graves; and others say they shall come out of their graves to the land of Israel by rolling, and by the way of the caverns; but this verse ( Ezekiel 37:12 ) proves that those without the land shall live, as the dead of the land of Israel; for it says, "I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves"; and after that, "and I will bring you into the land of Israel".''
Which is before Jerusalem on the east;
a sabbath day's journey from it, about a mile, ( Acts 1:12 ) : and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward
the east and toward the west; [and there shall be] a very great
valley, and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and
half of it toward the south;
and this valley will be made by cleaving and removing the mountain in this manner, to hold the dead together when raised; and this is thought by some to be the same with the valley of Jehoshaphat, called the valley of decision, into which the Heathen, being awakened and raised, will be brought and judged, ( Joel 3:2 Joel 3:12 Joel 3:14 ) .
FOOTNOTES:

F5 Targum in Cant. viii. 5.
F6 T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 111. 1.
F7 Judah Zabarah apud Pocock. Not. Miscell. p. 119.
F8 Pirush in Ezek. xxxvii. 12.

Zechariah 14:4 In-Context

2 For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses looted and the women raped; half the city shall go into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle.
4 On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives, which lies before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley; so that one half of the Mount shall withdraw northward, and the other half southward.
5 And you shall flee by the valley of the Lord's mountain, for the valley between the mountains shall reach to Azal; and you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.
6 On that day there shall not be either cold or frost.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.