Zechariah 1:3

Therefore say thou unto them,.... This is an order from the Lord to Zechariah, to say unto them, in the name of the Lord: thus saith the Lord of hosts; of the hosts above and below, of angels and of

Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts.

Therefore, Heb. And. Say; command and require. Unto them of the captivity who are returned to their own land. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; in my name, by the authority I have over them as Lord of hosts, require they hear and obey. Turn ye unto me; repent ye of all your sins, leave them, set your hearts on my law to obey it, on my worship to give me it, on my temple to re-edify it. Saith the Lord of hosts; who can punish your refusal, who can protect you in your return, and reward your obedience. I will turn unto you, with blessings, with all blessings, which my presence brings to a repenting people. It was woe with you, and your fathers, when I departed from them, but it shall be as well with them when I return unto them. Saith the Lord of hosts; that you may be assured hereof, I promise it to you, and will be engaged to perform, as Lord of hosts, as having all things at my disposal.

Zechariah 1:3 Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts.Ver. 3. Therefore say thou unto them] These Jews, saith Cyrill, had neither seen their fathers’ wickedness, nor heeded their calamities. Mittitur ergo ad cos Zacharias quasi paedagogus, Zechariah therefore is sent unto them as a schoolmaster or monitor; that by considering what had been, they might prevent what otherwise would be, and redeem their own sorrows. Thus saith the Lord of hosts] A far greater Lord and potentate than that great King of Persia, who was now their sovereign. True it is that they had been commanded by a former king to desist from building the city, Ezra 4:12; Ezra 4:21. But there was no one word in that letter to forbid the building of the temple. There was also now another king set up, and of another family. They are therefore by this prophet and by Haggai called upon again and again to turn to the Lord, and to return afresh to their work, Ezra 5:1. Wherein, because they were sure to meet with many enemies, therefore here and elsewhere (eighteen several times in that eighth chapter) there is frequent mention made of the Lord of hosts, for their better encouragement. Turn ye unto me, saith the Lord of hosts] This is the great doctrine of the Old Testament; as "Repent ye" is of the New. And this he purposely prefixeth as a preface and preparative to the other prophecies both of mercies and judgments, whereof the whole is fitly made up. Sour and sweet make the best sauce. Promises and menaces mixed make the most fruitful discourse; and serve to keep the heart in the best temper. Hence David’ s ditty was composed of discords, Psalms 101:1 "I will sing of mercy and judgment," and so be both merry and wise. But, to the words of the text: Turn ye unto me, &c.] By sin men run away from God (whereby it appeareth that sin is the greatest evil, because it sets us furthest off from the greatest good), and by repentance they return unto him, Deuteronomy 30:2; Deuteronomy 30:8-10 Malachi 3:7 Jeremiah 4:1 Hosea 14:1 Acts 26:18. Hence, Acts 3:19 "Repent, and be converted." Contrition is repentance for sin, 2 Corinthians 12:21 Revelation 9:20. Conversion is repentance for sin, Acts 8:22 Hebrews 6:1. Hereunto is required first a serious search of our ways (for it is a metaphor taken from a traveller), "Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord," Lamentations 3:40. I considered my ways, and then (seeing myself far wide) I turned my feet to thy testimonies, Psalms 119:59. Satius est recurrere, quam male currere, said that emperor in his symbol; It is better to stop or step back, than run on when out of the way; for here he that hasteth with his feet sinneth, Proverbs 19:2, the faster he runs the farther he is out.

(3) Unto them—i.e., to the prophet’s contemporaries, whose fathers are spoken of in the preceding verse. Turn ye . . . and I will turn.—These words need not imply any special backsliding on the part of the people since the commencement of the re-building of the Temple, when the Lord had declared that He was “with them” (Haggai 1:13; Haggai 2:4); but, rather, that the more sincerely they turned unto Him, the more gloriously would His merciful intentions be revealed to them, and fulfilled in them. Still, it may be seen from Haggai 2:14-17, how great need they had of repentance. “Zechariah comes forth like John the Baptist, and begins his preaching with a call to repentance, and warns the people by the history of their fathers that no spiritual privileges will profit them without holiness, but rather will aggravate their guilt, and increase their condemnation if they disobey God” (Wordsworth). Observe in this and the next verse the emphatic threefold “saith the Lord of hosts.”

Verse 3. Turn ye unto me] This shows that they had power to return, if they would but use it. And I will turn unto you] I will show you mercy and grant you salvation, if you will use the grace I have already given you. Men are lost, because they turn not unto God; but no man is lost because he had not power to return. God gives this, and he will require it.

3. The interpreting angel; a clear and satisfactory idea of the vision is obtained. The man riding upon a red horse, the Leader of the company of horsemen, appears again in Zechariah 1:10, where the circumstance of his “standing among the myrtle-trees” is repeated, in order to identify him with the horseman of Zec 1:8. In Zechariah 1:11 he is called “the Angel of the Lord;” but to make it clear that he is the same person who was previously described as “a man,” his “standing among the myrtle trees” is again mentioned. Having thus been defined as the angel of the Lord (and he is the only person throughout the vision to whom that name is given) he is referred to in the next verse, Zechariah 1:12, by that title only, there being no further need to mention the circumstance of his standing among the myrtle trees, which was only introduced for the purpose of identifying him with the “man” of Zechariah 1:8; Zechariah 1:10. In Zechariah 1:13 he who is “a man” in Zechariah 1:8, and “the Angel of Jehovah” in Zechariah 1:11-12, becomes perhaps (see note on that verse) “Jehovah” Himself. If this view be adopted, then only one other angel appears upon the scene, “the angel that talked or communed with me” (Zechariah 1:9; Zechariah 1:13-14), who on this supposition stands, as it were, outside in this as he does in all the subsequent visions, and is only employed to interpret them to the prophet. the myrtles] The myrtle is said to be indigenous to Palestine. That it abounded in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem at this period of Jewish history we learn incidentally, from the description of the Feast of Tabernacles, which was held under Ezra and Nehemiah. “Go forth,” so the proclamation ran, “unto the mount, and fetch olive-branches, and pine-branches, and myrtle-branches, and palm-branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written.” Nehemiah 8:15. in the bottom] i.e. the low, deep valley, which appears to have been the favourite habitat of the myrtle. Comp. “litora myrtetis lætissima,” “amantes litora myrtos.” Virgil, Georg. ii. 112, iv. 124. Here it may well have been the valley of the Kedron. Others render, but with less probability, “the shady (place).” The idea that the “tabernacle” or dwelling-place of God is intended has nothing to recommend it. red horses, speckled, and white] With respect to the first and last of the colours, “red,” i.e. bay or chestnut, and “white,” there is no doubt. What exactly the intermediate colour is, “speckled,” or “bay” (margin), “sorrel,” R.V., must remain uncertain. Much ingenuity has been expended in endeavouring to give a meaning to the various colours of the horses. But inasmuch as the horsemen have been on the same mission, Zechariah 1:10, and all bring back the same report, Zechariah 1:11, and no reference is made to the colour of their horses by the angel who interprets the vision, it may fairly be regarded as a detail, to which no special importance is to be attached.

Therefore say thou - Literally, “And thou sayest,” that is, this having been so, it follows that thou sayest or must say, “Turn ye unto Me.” In some degree they had turned to God, for whose sake they

3. Instead of proceeding directly to his message, he introduces Jehovah as commissioning him to issue the call to repentance.