Zechariah 4

4: 1 AND the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is 2 wakened out of his sleep. And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have seen, and behold, a candlestick all of gold, with its bowl upon the top of it, and its seven lamps 3 thereon; there are seven pipes to each of the lamps, which are upon the top thereof: and two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side 4 thereof. And I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are 5 these, my lord? Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest 6 thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, 7 but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerub- babel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the head stone with shoutings of 8, 9 Grace, grace, unto it. Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou 10 shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you. For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel, even these seven, which are the eyes of the LORD; they run to and fro through the whole 11 earth. Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right 12 side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof? And I answered the second time, and said unto him, What be these two olive branches, which are beside the two golden spouts, 13 that empty the golden oil out of themselves? And he answered me and said, Knowest thou 14 not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. Then said he, These are the two sons of oil, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.

Chap. 4. In this chapter the prophet is called upon to contemplate a fifth vision of the most sublime and mysterious import. He sees a candlestick of pure gold, with its seven lamps communicating by seven pipes with a bowl at the top, which serves for a reservoir, and is constantly supplied with oil from two olive trees, standing one on each side of the candlestick. Blayney.—The vision of the golden candlestick and of the two olive trees, related and explained to signify the completion of the temple by Zerubbabel, supported by the high-priest, and with the sanction and help of Jehovah. B. C.—This chapter is another complete vision, having one set of symbols, illustrating one leading truth—viz., that the only perpetual fountain of power for spiritual life and labor is in God, and reaches man through His Spirit. H. C.

The chapter divides itself into four parts. The first part (verses 1–6 a) is descriptive. The second part (verses 6 b, 7) is a message stating the great truth and the comforting promise principally set forth in the vision. The third part (verses 8–10) is a second message, repeating the promise, and connecting it with the emblem of the plummet stone already introduced in the previous vision. The fourth part (verses 11–14) resumes the description, which had been left incomplete in the first part. In thus dividing the description of what the prophet saw in his vision, and inserting the prophetic message between the two parts, this account differs from those of all the other visions. In the others, the prophetic message, if there is one, follows the description.

What the Prophet Saw in his Vision. In the centre was a golden lampstand, bearing a general resemblance to the one made for the tabernacle, or those made for Solomon’s Temple. At the top was a “bowl,” or oil reservoir. On each of the seven branches of the lampstand was a lamp, and each lamp was connected with the reservoir by seven pipes. An olive tree was standing on each side, with its branches extending over the lampstand. The proximity of the trees to the reservoir is especially noted in verse 3. So much the prophet noticed, and then asked for an explanation, and received one. The explanation given did not make him see that the two olive trees were as significant as they ought to be, and so he inquired specifically concerning them (verse 11). In the act of inquiring, apparently, his attention was directed to something that he had not noticed before; for without waiting for a reply, he asks a fresh question in regard to this new phenomenon. On each olive tree there is a remarkable formation, like an ear of grain (for that is the probable meaning of the word translated “olive branches” in verse 12), and by the side of each of these is a golden spout, and the two golden spouts are emptying out liquid gold; emptying it, apparently, into the reservoir of the lampstand. Notice the changes in verse 12 in the Revised Version. W. J. B.

2,3. In this vision the symbols and their meaning are plain. Christians are the lights of the world. Churches are candlesticks, and their members luminous bodies, candles or lamps, revealing light concerning God in this otherwise very dark world. H. C.

6, 7. The First Message. This is given in three couplets of verse, and is more graphic if presented in that form to the eye:

“Not by power, and not by strength,

Before Zerubbabel [thou becomest] table land.

“And he shall bring out the chief stone,

Here notice five things: First, this vision is especially for Zerubbabel the prince, as the previous one was especially for Joshua the high-priest. Second, the two are carefully kept together in thought; the promise of the Branch, fulfilled in Zerubbabel, being referred to in the vision concerning Joshua, and the golden candlestick, a strong priestly symbol, appearing in the vision concerning Zerubbabel. Third, the vision has reference to the temple building by Zerubbabel, and a promise is made that he shall be enabled to bring the work to completion. Fourth, it is a time of mountain-like discouragements. Fifth, the true source of encouragement is in Jehovah’s Spirit and not in anything finite. The Spirit can reduce mountains to plains. This last is the principal point in the message. W. J. B.

6. This verse contains the Divine explanation of the vision by the interpreting angel, proving that its direct purpose was to encourage Zerubbabel not to trust in the arm of flesh, but in the Spirit of Jehovah as manifested in the providential ordering of the world. The golden candlestick of the vision is the restored Church, once more offering holy worship in the restored temple, and drawing its supplies of grace through the two olive branches, which represent Zerubbabel and Joshua, the temporal and spiritual rulers of the Jews. Not by might—i.e., shall the temple be finished. The omission of the verb is characteristic of Zechariah’s style. (Cf. verse 7.) B. C.

Not by might. The Hebrew word is one very widely used. The English word “power” is much more flexible to its various uses than is the word “might.” A power may be an army, and this translation is given in the margin; but it hardly fits. The Hebrew word is often used to denote wealth, which is a notable form of power; and that meaning would here fit better. But it is better still to regard the word here as generic in its meaning, denoting every form of merely human power. And as with this word, so with the filling out of the ellipsis in the statement. We get a good sense if we fill it out specifically, making the meaning to be that the building of the temple will be accomplished by God’s Spirit, and not by mere human power. But probably the true meaning is generic. Then the first of the three couplets affirms that all achievements for God are accomplished, not by human power, but by His Spirit; the second couplet implies that this is true in the case of Zerubbabel, as in other cases; and the third implies that it is true of his temple-building work. My Spirit. The doctrine of the Holy Ghost as one of the three persons of the Divine Trinity is not completely taught in the Old Testament; but parts of this doctrine are there taught with great fulness and clearness. So far as it goes, the doctrine of the Spirit in His relations to the builders of the second temple (Hag. 2:5; Zech. 4:6; 6:8; 7:12) is essentially the same with the doctrine found in the New Testament. W. J. B.

These symbols, interpreted into literal lanlanguage, amount to this word which the Lord sends to Zerubbabel, then the governor of Judah, and in charge of the great work then present and pressing—the rebuilding of the temple: “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord.” The work upon which you labor seems to you very difficult—often, perhaps, too great for your resources; but know that success is not by any human power alone, but by the Spirit of God. This Spirit supplies the oil that feeds the lamps. Christian souls and religious institutions correspond to the lamps and to the machinery which supplies them; but the living fountain of oil is of the Lord alone by His Spirit. This is the precious doctrine of the New Testament as well as of the Old. Paul loved to say, man may labor, “God alone giveth the increase.” (See 1 Cor. 3:5-9.) H. C.

In the visions of Zech. 4 and Rev. 1 the candlestick is the symbol of a congregation enlightened by God; and when, in the vision of Zechariah, the candlestick is filled with oil without the act of man, the idea expressed is, as is said in verse 6, that all the success and all the splendor of the congregation is not effected by might or by power, but by the Spirit of God. O.

Here God promises that the power of His Spirit will alone avail, and more than avail, for the preservation of His Church, although it may be destitute of other aid. Perfection is denoted by the seven lamps according to the ordinary and acknowledged use of the figure; as if God thus declared that nothing would be wanting for the full enlightenment of believers, who should seek it from its one and only source. The prophet, desiring to teach that what had been shown forth in this visible symbol would be fulfilled in the restoration of the Church, adds to the lamps seven pipes and two olive trees, from whence oil would continually flow, so that there was no fear of want or failure. Thus he signifies that God is possessed of a manifold abundance of blessings for the enrichment of the Church. Calvin.

The prophet, in the fourth verse, asks for an explanation; and the first part of the text before us is that explanation. “This is the word of the Lord,” says the angel unto him: “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit.” “You see,” he says, “those lights. No help of man is needed to keep them burning. No one takes to them their oil, or gives them their brightness. The olive trees do all for them. As long as they stand near the lamp and drop their oil into the bowl of it, that lamp will shine on unaided. So with My Church, saith the Lord of Hosts. It needs not man’s arm to save it. I may make use of man in saving it, but look there—I do not need him. My Spirit alone can accomplish all My pleasure. I can build My temple in your desolate city just as I brought your forefathers out of Egypt—by My own right hand and by My holy arm; just as I have now brought you out of Babylon—by My secret influence on the minds of men. I will build My glorious temple in My own glorious kingdom, not as you anticipate, by a visible putting forth of power and might, but by pouring secretly out on that rebellious world My grace and Spirit.” C. B.

Their supreme lack was want of faith in a covenant-keeping God. How old the story is, and how familiar we are with it! God exposes and rebukes their unbelief. The prophet is reminded that the sure, ever adequate, and supreme source of the Church’s power is not in the human instrument but in the Holy Spirit, that Divine personal presence who works in men, overcoming in His varied way all hindrance, and so glorifying human weakness that it becomes the sublime mastery of power. The lesson for us in this instructive vision is not far to find. Might and power—the visible and the pretentious—these always have had large command in the world, and whether employed in the Church or out of it, they have always furnished the world’s protest to the spiritual in men and to the supreme in God. In the beginning the more perceptible agencies, those which could furnish the largest bulk and the greatest material display, were against the coming kingdom. It was so in the time of our Lord, so at Pentecost, so in the conflict of Christianity with paganism, so in the time of the Reformation, and in a manner so marked as to make the challenge formidable; it is so now. There is no disguising it—the whole body, not excepting the ministry, has become more or less infected with the dominant material spirit of the time. There is need that the thought and faith of the Church be lifted up from the material to the supreme source of power. If our vision be clear and true, the voice we shall hear to-day demanding the promptest, devoutest attention of the Church, will be the voice of God, and the message this: “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts.” M. Rhodes.

Ascribe nothing to instruments, either men or means. It is not of the will of man, nor another’s will. Without the efficacious working of the Spirit, the Gospel itself is but as a dead letter; the Spirit only quickens it. An instrument cannot act without the strength of an agent to manage it; the chisel forms the stone into a statue, but according to the skill and strength of the artificer moving it. It is not the breath of a man, and a few words out of his mouth, can produce so great a work as the new creation; this might be a reason why God chose so weak an instrument as man to preach the Gospel, to evidence that the great work was not from the weakness of man, but the power of God. Charnock.

Consciously, distinctly, resolutely, habitually, we need to give ourselves, our business, our interests, our families, our affections into the Spirit’s hands, to lead and fashion us as He will. When we work with the current of that Divine will, all is vital, efficient, fruitful; for leaning back against the Omnipotent arm, this human frame attracts strength into all its sinews. But when we strive against that current, some secret flaw vitiates even what we call our successes; and how do we know but our proudest successes then are only failures in disguise? You have seen the rower’s strength put vigorously against the tide; and, judging from his own narrow point on the water, the dash of his oars seemed to be dividing the waves, and sending him up the channel. But when the mist lifts, let him send his glance away to some stable landmark on the shore, and he finds the triumphant stream has all the time been drifting him backward and downward. So with the moral issue of our plans. By our conceited standards we seem to compass our ends; but transfer the scale of measurement to eternity, and behold! we have been losers of the soul while we gained the world, because the Spirit was not invited to befriend our toil! After the bolts are all driven and the shrouds are all set, we must still wait for the breath of heaven to fill the sail. Nothing, literally nothing, in the final reckoning, without our Lord! F. D. H.

It is getting to be a great hope of our time that society is going to slide into something better, by a course of natural progress; by the advance of education, by great public reforms, by courses of self-culture and philanthropic practice. We have a kind of new Gospel that corresponds; a Gospel which preaches not so much a faith in God’s salvation as a faith in human nature; an attenuated moralizing Gospel that proposes development, not regeneration; showing men how to grow better, how to cultivate their amiable instincts, how to be rational in their own light and govern themselves by their own power. Alas! that we are taken, or can be, with so great folly. How plain it is that no such gospel meets our want! What can it do for us but turn us away, more and more fatally, from that Gospel of the Son of God, which is our only hope. Man as a ruin, going after development, and progress, and philanthropy, and social culture, and, by this firefly glimmer, to make a day of glory! And this is the doctrine that proposes shortly to restore society, to settle the passion, regenerate the affection, re-glorify the thought, fill the aspiration of a desiring and disjointed world! As if any being but God had power to grapple with these human disorders; as if man, or society, erased and maddened by the demoniacal frenzy of sin, were going to rebuild the state of order, and reconstruct the shattered harmony of nature, by such kind of desultory counsel and unsteady application as it can manage to enforce in its own cause; going to do this miracle by its science, its compacts, and self-executed reforms! As soon will the desolations of Karnac gather up their fragments and reconstruct the proportions out of which they have fallen. No, it is not progress, not reforms that are wanted as any principal thing. Nothing meets our case but to come unto God and be medicated in Him; to be born of God, and so, by His regenerative power, to be set in heaven’s own order. He alone can rebuild the ruin, He alone set up the glorious temple of the mind; and those Divine affinities in us that raven with immortal hunger—He alone can satisfy them in the bestowment of Himself. H. Bushnell.

7. O great mountain?** A metaphor signifying the obstacles which had delayed the rebuilding of the temple. These were now to disappear before the face of Zerubbabel, until the top-stone of the building had been brought forth with great rejoicings. (Cf. Ezra 6:15-22.) B. C.

The expression is highly poetic. Reduced to a prose form, it would be: Though the difficulties in Zerubbabel’s way seem insurmountable as mountains, they shall be made like a plain. If the overcoming energy were human, the case might be different; but as opposed to the infinite power of the Divine Spirit, mountains count for no more than pebbles. Headstone. The stone that for some reason is regarded as the principal stone in the completed building, very likely the topmost stone, the laying of which completes the building. In any case, the completing of the building is the thing made prominent in the couplet. Grace unto

it. Words shouted in joy in celebration of the finishing of the structure; perhaps primarily a prayer for Divine favor upon it. W. J. B.

Obstacles, high and strong as great mountains, may seem to block the prosecution of this work; but say in the hearing of your governor, “Who art thou, great mountain,” that thou shouldst think to withstand this work of God? “Before Zerubbabel become thou a plain!"—a summons to the great mountain of difficulty and opposition to lie low before the Lord’s servant, and cease to retard his efforts. The crowning top-stone would be put on with praise to Divine grace for the effective power which had carried the work through to its final consummation. H. C.

Grace, grace; that is the burden of the triumphant songs which the Church sings. It may be taken: 1. As magnifying free grace, and giving to that all the glory of what is done; when the work is finished it must be thankfully acknowledged that it was not by any policy or power of our own that it was brought to perfection, but that it was grace that did it—God’s good will toward us, and His good work in us and for us. Grace, grace, must be cried, not only to the head-stone, but to the foundation stone, the corner stone, and indeed to every stone in God’s building; from first to last it is nothing of works, but all of grace, and all our crowns must be cast at the feet of free grace. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us. 2. As depending upon free grace, and desiring the continuance of it for what is yet to be done. Grace, grace, is the language of prayer as well as of praise; now that this building is finished, all happiness attend it! Peace be within its walls, and in order to that, grace. Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon it! What comes from the grace of God may, in faith, and upon good grounds, be committed to the grace of God, for God will not forsake the work of His own hands. H.

“The sons of God,” we are told, “shouted for joy” at the creation of our world. Ezra tells us that the people “shouted aloud for joy” when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem. “They shall rejoice,” says the prophet in this chapter, “as they see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel.” The progress of the building shall give them pleasure; what then its completion? If there were songs among the angels when the Lord first entered the world in a lowly disguise to save His Church in it, how will they sing when its salvation is accomplished? If there is joy now in heaven over a sinner that repenteth, over one poor child of the dust shedding the tear of bitterness in humiliation and pollution, oh, what will be the joy in heaven over ten thousand times ten thousand sinners, raised far above all pollution and humiliation, standing before the very throne of Jehovah, with not a sin left among them all, nor a stain nor a tear? And those sinners themselves—what must they feel and what must they say? There are moments when even on earth we do not know what to feel or say. Our sense of God’s mercy toward us is so great that it well-nigh overpowers us. All that comes from us is some abrupt exclamation of joy and praise, and that repeated again and again. The text says that something like this shall take place in heaven. Our songs there, it intimates, will be no cold, artificial praises. They will come gushing out from hearts that are overflowing. They will be “shoutings,” shoutings of “Grace, grace.” Now and then for a moment wisdom and power may be our song as they were on earth, but this will not last long; we shall feel that we owe more to grace than to anything else, and all the splendor, and happiness, and employments of heaven will not keep grace from our thoughts. It was of goodness and mercy that the Jews sang, when they shouted for joy at the foundation of their temple; it will be of the same mercy that we shall sing when we sing in heaven. C. B.

8,9. This message translates into literal language the symbols of the vision (verses 2, 3, 11-14), and the strong poetic imagery of verse 7. Through mercy and help from God, Zerubbabel shall finish the building of the temple, and the people shall know, when they experience this fulfilment, that the Lord has truly sent His prophet to them. H. C.

10. The question, who hath despised the day of small things? implies this answer: God will not despise the day of small things—viz., the still unfinished temple and feeble temporal power of the returned Jews. His providential care, typified by the seven eyes, shall overlook the work of restoration and rejoice in it. Run to and fro implies God’s perfect oversight of the whole earth. His eyes are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. B. C.

Here is an additional word to those who have been greatly discouraged in the rebuilding of the temple and painfully impressed by its insignificance, compared with the greatness and splendor of the former one. I translate, “For who have despised the day of small things? Let them rejoice when they see the plumb-lead in the hands of Zerubbabel: those seven

—the eyes of the Lord are they, ranging through all the earth.” The words “those seven” are somewhat abrupt, but manifestly refer to the passage (3:9), “Upon one stone are seven eyes;” and they are immediately explained to be the eyes of the Lord, which never fail to see any of the least possible things in all the earth. They traverse the universe, and take cognizance of everything. Let the disheartened dismiss their despondency when they see the plumb-line in the hands of Zerubbabel for laying out this temple work, and especially when they consider that the perfect eye of the All-seeing One is upon him, and that His universal, almighty agency guarantees the execution of this work. H. C.

Zerubbabel does his part, does as much as man can do to forward the work, but it is with those seven, those seven eyes of the Lord, which we read of chap. 3:9. He could do nothing if the watchful, powerful, gracious providence of God did not go before him and go along with him in it. Except the Lord had built this house, Zerubbabel and the rest had labored in vain. These eyes of the Lord are they that take cognizance of all the creatures and all their actions, and inspire and direct all, according to the Divine counsels. We must not think that God is so taken up with the affairs of His Church as to neglect the world; but it is a comfort to us that the same all-wise, almighty Providence that governs the nations of the earth is in a particular manner conversant about the Church. Those seven eyes that run through the earth are all upon the stone that Zerubbabel is laying straight with his plummet, to see that it be well laid. And those that have the plummet in their hand must look up to those eyes of the Lord, must have a constant regard to Divine Providence, and act in dependence upon its guidance, in submission to its disposals. In God’s work the day of small things is not to be despised. Though the instruments be weak and unlikely, God often chooses such, by them to bring about great things. As a great mountain becomes a plain before Him, when He pleases, so a little stone cut out of a mountain without hands comes to fill the earth (Dan. 2:35). Though the beginnings be small, God can make the latter end greatly to increase; a grain of mustard seed may become a great tree. Let not the dawning light be despised, for it will shine more and more to the perfect day. The day of small things is the day of precious things, and will be the day of great things. H.

There are people who would do great acts; but because they wait for great opportunities life passes, and the acts of love are not done at all. Observe, the considerateness of Christ was shown in little things. And such are the parts of human life. Opportunities for doing greatly seldom occur; life is made up of infinitesimals. If you compute the sum of happiness in any given day you will find that it was composed of small attentions, kind looks, which made the heart swell, and stirred into health that sour, rancid film of misanthropy which is apt to coagulate on the stream of our inward life, as surely as we live in heart apart from our fellow-creatures. F. W. Robertson.

The constant dropping of God’s little goodness seems designed not so much for their own sakes, but like the constant dropping of the rain, that they may be to us a kind of heavenly fertility, soaking in at the soul’s pores, and sinking down around the roots of our manly Christian purposes, nourishing those purposes, becoming absorbed into them, and so quickening them, and building them up, and pushing them on to fructification. The little tests that are given to our temper, to our faith, to our affection, to our consecration, are more efficacious than the larger and more imposing ones. They take us when we are off our guard, and so, with more accuracy than great afflictions, betray the real quality of the man. And it is exactly these petty stresses of character and the ignominious irritations—that are without power to rouse us to constrained heroism—that really we need to give most conscientious heed to and yield most punctilious respect to, for it is these exactly that can best tell us the thing about ourselves that we most need to know, and that touch us at the point of our most exceeding need.

There is a great deal that renders difficult the patient continuance in doing little Christian duties and rendering inconspicuous Christian services without fits and starts and with no recess or vacation. There is nothing specially exhilarating about doing a little thing with no prospect before us but to do another little thing similar to it when that first little one is finished. We are helped always by great occasions. But along our lowly lines of continuous small doing we do not encounter many great occasions. We do not get nerved and fired; circumstances do not work in us with strong inspiring. Perhaps we are teaching a class in the Sunday-school, perhaps we are helping a poor family, perhaps we are ministering to a sick friend, perhaps we are trying to preach the Gospel of Christ over and over in a commonplace way; but in it all we only go on adding little service to little service, forgetting, or perhaps even without the power to appreciate what continuance in well-doing really means, either in its cumulative results or in the thoughts and estimate of God. C. H. P.

The grand maxim of Christ’s mission was that the humblest spheres give the greatest weight and dignity to principles. Rightly viewed, there are no small occasions in this world, as in our haste we too often think. Great principles, principles sacred even to God, are at stake in every moment of life. H. B.

Do little things as if they were great, because of the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ who dwells in thee; and do great things as if they were little and easy, because of His omnipotence. Pascal.—The man who does his duty acts nobly, honestly, uprightly, in a great position, has all that is best in him developed—he is ennobled. And so it is with the man who acts in the same way in a lesser position. The two men live in altogether different spheres. And yet the results, the spiritual and moral effects, are the same. Ogle.

If there be one thing on earth which is truly admirable, it is to see God’s wisdom blessing an inferiority of natural powers, where they have been honestly, truly and zealously cultivated. Arnold.—We cannot tell what immense issues may depend on our public and our private duties. Each of us is bound to make the small circle in which he lives better and happier; each of us is bound to see that out of that small circle the widest good may flow; each of us may have fixed to his mind the thought that out of a single household may flow influences which shall stimulate the whole commonwealth and the whole civilized world. The long life of a venerable pastor or a good layman, spent chiefly in preaching the Gospel and doing good, though it seems to be nothing at the time, yet, in the fragrance which it leaves behind, is a memory as lasting as the Pyramids. Stanley.

With the exception of some few striking passages, or great and critical occasions—perhaps not more than five or six in all—your life is made up of common, and as men are wont to judge, unimportant things. But yet, at the end, you have done up an amazing work, and fixed an amazing result. You stand at the bar of God, and look back on a life made up of small things, but yet a life how momentous, for good or evil! H. Bushnell.

If you will study the history of Christ’s ministry from baptism to ascension, you will discover that it is mostly made up of little words,

little deeds, little prayers, little sympathies, adding themselves together in unwearied succession. The Gospel is full of Divine attempts to help and heal, in body, mind and heart, individual men. The completed beauty of Christ’s life is only the added beauty of little inconspicuous acts of beauty—talking with the woman at the well; going far up into the north country to talk with the Syrophenician woman; showing the young ruler the stealthy ambition laid away in his heart, that kept him out of the kingdom of heaven; shedding a tear at the grave of Lazarus; teaching a little knot of followers how to pray; preaching the Gospel one Sunday afternoon to two disciples going out to Emmaus; kindling a fire and broiling fish that His disciples might have a breakfast waiting for them when they came ashore from a night of fishing, cold, tired and discouraged. All of these things, you see, let us in so easily into the real quality and tone of God’s interests, so specific, so narrowed down, so enlisted in what is small, so engrossed with what is minute.

I know not how better we can do than bring to our encouragement and re-enforcement the incentives of Christ’s example and words, who ever recommended to His followers to speak the little word that came next to be spoken, to render the little service that came nearest their hand, and carry the little burden that lay immediately at their feet; the alabaster cruse of ointment poured upon the Lord’s head, the cup of cold water offered to the thirsty disciple, the tear shed in sympathy, the mite dropped into the treasury. Each little moment comes freighted with its little Christian obligation and little Christian opportunity. A life grandly holy is only the adding together of minutes scrupulously holy. “He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much;” and then when the suitable time comes, it will be said to us: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things; I will make thee ruler over many things.” C. H. P.

The Vision as Illustrating the Messages. The first message is introduced by the statement, “This is the word of Jehovah with regard to Zerubbabel” (verse 6). In other words, the word as given in the messages is simply a repeating of the word as seen in the objects. Zerubbabel and his fellows had a work to do for God, and they were painfully conscious of the meagreness of their resources, and the greatness of the obstacles, and their own discouraged feelings. To give them heart, the prophet is authorized to promise them, in jubilant words, that they shall be enabled to complete their enterprise—to promise this in the name of the omnipresent Jehovah, who has sent them His angel, and whose Spirit is among them. He makes the promise in such terms as to remind them that the Divine resources are measureless. How is all this illustrated in what the prophet saw? The answer seems obvious. Central in the vision is the golden lampstand, with its lamps, which may well represent the Jewish Church of the period and its sacred work. Into the reservoir is pouring a steady and sufficient stream of that which is requisite to the performance of its functions. Where does the stream come from? Not from processes of human industry, but from the “sons of oil” rooted in earth on either hand. Etymologically, it is impossible that “sons of oil” shall mean “anointed ones.” The idea is rather that of sources of oil supply. All the forces that are in attendance upon the Lord of the whole earth are available for helping those whom He chooses to help. His resources are various and abundant. They exist on the left hand as well as on the right. One tree would be enough, but there are two trees. One pipe to a lamp would be sufficient, but there are seven pipes. If He chooses, He can transcend nature, and accomplish without human hands the things that He ordinarily accomplishes through men. This is centrally the symbolism of the lesson. If you have a strong grasp of this you may add details consistent with it as your judgment or your fancy may dictate. If you have not this strong grasp of the central idea, symbolical details will only confuse you. W. J. B.

This, then, was the message for Zerubbabel and his people, that God would give such gifts as they needed in order that the light which He Himself had kindled should not be quenched. If the lamp was fed with oil it would burn, and there would be a temple for it to stand in. If we try to imagine the feebleness of the handful of discouraged men, and the ring of enemies round them, we may feel the sweetness of the promise which bade them not despond because they had little of what the world calls might. We all need the lesson; for the blustering world is apt to make us forget the true source of all real strength for holy service or for noble living. The world’s power at its mightiest is weak, and the Church’s true power, at her feeblest, is omnipotent, if only she grasps the strength which is hers, and takes the Spirit which is given. The eternal antithesis of man’s weakness at his haughtiest, and God’s strength even in its feeblest possessors, is taught by that lamp flaming, whatever envious hands or howling storms may seek to quench it, because fed by oil from on high. Let us keep to God’s strength, and not corrupt His oil with mixtures of foul-smelling stuff of our own invention. Next, in the strength of that revelation of the source of might a defiant challenge is blown to the foe. The “great mountain” is primarily the frowning difficulties which lifted themselves against Zerubbabel’s enterprise, and more widely the whole mass of worldly opposition encountered by God’s servants in every age. It seems to bar all advance; but an unseen hand crushes it down, and flattens it out into a level, on which progress is easy. The Hebrew gives the suddenness and completeness of the transformation with great force; for the whole clause, “Thou shalt become a plain,” is one word in the original. Such triumphant rising above difficulties is not presumption when it has been preceded by believing gaze on the source of strength. If we have taken to heart the former words of the prophet, we shall not be in danger of rash overconfidence, if we calmly front obstacles in the path of duty, assured that every mountain shall be made low. A. M.

5:1, 2 THEN again I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold, a flying roll. And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty 3 cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits. Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole land: for every one that stealeth shall be purged out on the one side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be purged out on the other 4 side according to it. I will cause it to go forth, saith the LORD of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall abide in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof. 5 Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now thine eyes, 6 and see what is this that goeth forth. And I said, What is it? And he said, This is the 7 ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their resemblance in all the land: (and behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead:) and this is a woman sitting in the midst of the 8 ephah. And he said, This is Wickedness; and he cast her down into the midst of the ephah: 9 and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof. Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold, there came forth two women, and the wind was in their wings; now they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the 10 heaven. Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah? 11 And he said unto me, To build her an house in the land of Shinar: and when it is prepared, she shall be set there in her own place.

Chap. 5. This chapter comprises two visions—a flying roll and a woman sitting in an ephah—both denoting the judgments of God on His chosen people, considered as having filled up the measure of their iniquities. H. C.

The visions represented in this chapter are of a very different kind from the preceding ones. Hitherto all has been consoling, and meant to cheer the hearts of the Jewish people by holding forth to them prospects of approaching prosperity. But lest they should grow presumptuous and careless of their conduct, it was thought proper to warn them of the conditions on which their happiness would depend; and to let them see that however God was at present disposed to show them favor,

His judgments would assuredly fall upon them with still greater weight than before, if they should again provoke Him by repeated wickedness. Accordingly in the first of these visions, which was the sixth in succession, the prophet is shown an immense roll of a book, like that which Ezekiel describes, chap. 2:9, 10, filled with curses, and in the act of flying, to denote the celerity and speed, as well as the certainty, with which the thief and false swearer, who might otherwise flatter themselves with hopes of impunity, would be visited to their utter destruction. The next vision presents the appearance of an ephah, or measure, in which sat a woman representing a nation, whose wickedness was arrived at such a height as required an immediate check. Accordingly a heavy cover is cast upon her, and she is carried into exile in a distant land, there to abide the full time allotted for her punishment. Blayney.

1,2. What it was that the prophet saw; he looked up into the air, and behold, a flying roll; a vast, large scroll of parchment which had been rolled up, and is therefore called a roll, was now unrolled and expanded; this roll was flying upon the wings of the wind, carried swiftly through the air in open view, as an eagle that shoots down upon her prey; it is a roll like Ezekiel’s, that was written within and without, with lamentations, and mourning and woe (Ezek. 2: 9, 10). H.

This roll is to be thought of as being the ancient form of book or volume, made of parchment or prepared skins; but immensely large, the dimensions being those of the porch in front of Solomon’s Temple. (See 1 K. 6: 3.) This correspondence cannot be supposed to be accidental. Hence we must conclude it was intended to intimate that this “fiery law” and its judgments come forth from their God, who dwelt in the Temple. That it was seen “flying,” showed that it hastened to its work. H. C.

3,4. How it was expounded to him. This flying roll is a curse; it contains a declaration of the righteous wrath of God against those sinners especially who by swearing affront God’s majesty, or by stealing invade their neighbor’s property. Let every Israelite rejoice in the blessings of his country with trembling; for if he swear, if he steal, if he live in any course of sin, he shall see them with his eyes, but shall not have the comfort of them, for against him the curse is gone forth. The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked (Prov. 3: 33). It shall not only beset his house, or lie at the door, but it shall remain in the midst of his house, and diffuse its malignant influences to all the parts of it. It shall be his constant companion at bed and board, to make both miserable to him. Unless he repent and reform there is no way to throw it out or cut off the entail of it. Nay, it shall so remain in it as to consume it with the timber thereof, and the stones thereof. H.

This further explanation shows that this flying roll symbolizes the curse of the Almighty going forth over the earth for execution upon the guilty. The roll, like Ezekiel’s, was written on both sides, and it would seem that the first table of the law was written on one side—the second on the other. The case of the false swearer represents all sins against the precepts of the first table; the case of the thief, all sins against the second. According to the high behest of this law of God, now going forth to punish violations against itself, the thief is cut off according to the law written on one side; the swearer, according to the law written on the other. The Lord brings forth this flying roll, and causes it to enter the house of every sinner against the law of God. It abides there, and utterly consumes every vestige of his habitation—a terribly vivid representation of God’s judgments upon all unpardoned sin! To think of the law itself as written out, and its written record then armed with power to search out every sinner, enter into his house and there consume everything—all his ill gotten wealth, the last crumb of his accumulated comforts, and finally himself—this surely must imply a ruin for the guilty from which there can be no escape, and in which there can be no alleviation.

Seventh Vision.

5-8. A new scene opens. The first apparent object is an ephah, the largest Hebrew dry measure, corresponding to the common corn-basket of our country, containing by one computation one and one ninth bushels, and by another one and one half. This is seen “going forth,” as if this also, like the flying roll, was hastening to execute its mission. We shall probably best reach the sense of this symbol if we remember that the Scripture speaks of sinners as “filling up the measure” of their iniquities (Matt. 23: 32; 1 Thess. 2: 16). Here is the largest-sized measure. A woman sits in it, who is explained to represent or symbolize “wickedness”—the sins, or, yet more precisely, the sinners of the covenant people. The female person is a common symbol in the Scriptures for a city with its masses of people—e.g., Babylon (Jer. 50; 51; Rev. 16: 19; 18: 2-11). Jerusalem (Lam. 1: 1 ff.). This woman, therefore, represents strictly the Jewish people apostate from God, having filled the measure of their iniquities, and now about to receive due retribution. She is first seen (verse 7) sitting in the midst of this large measure. Then he throws her down (“he” is God’s minister of vengeance) into the midst or bottom of the vessel, and casts a weight of lead upon the mouth of the vessel, manifestly to hold her down and prevent her escape. The word rendered “talent”—i.e., of lead, means a large round lump, probably large enough for its purpose—i.e., to fill the mouth of the vessel. H. C.

He sees the woman thrust down into the ephah, and a talent, or large weight of lead, cast upon the mouth of it, by which she is secured and made a close prisoner in the ephah, and utterly disabled to get out of it. This is designed to show that the wrath of God against impenitent sinners is: 1. Unavoidable, and what they cannot escape; they are bound over to it, concluded under sin, and shut up under the curse, as this woman in the ephah. 2. It is insupportable, and what they cannot bear up under. Guilt is upon the sinner as a talent of lead, to sink him to the lowest hell. When Christ said of the things of Jerusalem’s peace, Now they are hid from thine eyes, that threw a talent of lead upon them. H.

9-11. Two women (are they not angelic forms?)—two, because so large a burden required one on each side—come forth, the wind in their wings to indicate the most rapid motion; and they bear the ephah containing this woman far away into the land of Shinar (Babylon), to fix for it there a permanent abode. The main question here is, whether this is retrospective, looking back to the recent captivity in Babylon; or prospective, predicting some future judgment on the covenant people. The latter view I accept: Because the other visions throughout this series are prophetic, not historic. Because the late captivity in Babylon was transient; this is at least very long. Because that always contemplated a restoration: this gives no hint of any restoration, but the contrary. Because in verse 4 the “curse that goeth forth” inflicts judgments more severe and exterminating than those in the captivity to Babylon. This vision of the ephah should correspond to that of the roll. There is no particular difficulty in applying this entire chapter to the judgments that fell on the Jewish nation for their rejection of their Messiah, according to their own imprecation—“His blood be on us and on our children!” The first instalment of this doom came from the Roman arms; the rest in the almost universal persecution, dispersion, and reproach under which they have suffered for ages. In this view of its prophetic significance, “Shinar” is used by way of historic allusion, another captivity, only more terrible and protracted. H. C.

6:1 AND again I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold, there came four chariots out 2 from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass. In the first 3 chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black horses; and in the third chariot 4 white horses; and in the fourth chariot grised bay horses. Then I answered and said unto 5 the angel that talked with me, What are these, my lord? And the angel answered and said unto me, These are the four winds of heaven, which go forth from standing before the LORD 6 of all the earth. The chariot wherein are the black horses goeth forth toward the north country; and the white went forth after them; and the grised went forth toward the south 7 country. And the bay went forth, and sought to go that they might walk to and fro through the earth: and he said, Get you hence, walk to and fro through the earth. So they 8 walked to and fro through the earth. Then cried he upon me, and spake unto me, saying, Behold, they that go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country. 9, 10 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah; and come thou the same day, and go into the house 11 of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, whither they are come from Babylon; yea, take of them silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, 12 the high priest; and speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold, the man whose name is the Branch; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall 13 build the temple of the LORD: even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: 14 and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. And the crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the 15 temple of the LORD. And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the LORD, and ye shall know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you. And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God.

Chap. 6. This chapter is in two quite distinct parts; the first a vision, and the second a symbolic transaction. The vision (verses 1-8) presents four chariots, and shows their mission. The symbolic transaction (verses 9-15) is the making of crowns and setting them on the head of Joshua, the high-priest, who becomes the type of the Messiah. H. C.

The main design and purport of the eighth and last vision, contained in the former part of this chapter, was to confirm the Jews in their faith and dependence upon God by showing them that, weak and defenceless as they seemed to be, they had nothing to fear from the greatest earthly powers while they remained under the Divine protection; since all those powers originally proceeded from the counsels of the Almighty, were the instruments of His providence, and could not subsist nor act but under His permission. Blayney.

1-8. As the fifth chapter predicted judgments on the covenant people for their sins, this last vision predicts corresponding judgments on the enemies of God’s people. The leading objects of vision here are four chariots drawn by diverse-colored horses, red, black, white and gray. They “come forth from between two mountains of brass” to denote the amazing strength of that power of which they were the representative agents. Like the horses seen in the first vision (1:8-13), these chariots must be understood to represent, in pertinent symbols, those varied agencies of God’s providential rule over nations by which He puts down one and sets up another, and in general administers the retributions of an actual government. The principal shade of difference between the horses and their riders of the first vision, and the chariots with their horses in this last, is that the horses with their riders serve rather as scouts; the chariots as executioners; the riders on horses explore the state of the nations; the chariots put in execution the mandates of Jehovah; or (nearer to the expressive language of the text) they convey the very animus of Jehovah—His spirit of indignation and retributive justice—and cause it to fall on those guilty nations. As the use of post horses in those vast Oriental kingdoms (Esth. 3:13; 8:10) suggested their use in the first vision, so here we may find a good reason for this symbolic use of the chariot in the prominent place held by chariots of war in the armies of that day. The explanation of the chariots (verse 5), “These are the four spirits or winds of the heavens,” should not suggest to us the literal winds, nor any literal sense of the word spirit, but, as already hinted, those invisible agencies of the Divine hand in providence which act upon the nations of the earth, in judgments especially, but in blessings also, as the case may be, constituting the working forces of an actual administration of the government of God over nations as such in the present world. These chariots “go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth,” the usual attitude of servants awaiting their orders, and going forth, when bidden, to their execution. It will be noted that two of these chariots, that with black and that with white horses, go forth toward the north country, Babylon, where the enemies specially contemplated here were located. One chariot (verse 7) seems to have had a very general commission “to traverse the whole earth,” implying that these agencies of God’s reign over the nations are not restricted to any special district or to any one human kingdom, but embrace them all. In verse 8 we read, “Behold, these that go toward the north country have quieted My spirit in the north country,” which translation can be understood rightly in no other sense than that of quieting the spirit of God by executing His righteous indignation and giving scope to the retributions of justice. A less ambiguous rendering would be, “have brought My anger down upon the north country.” This is doubtless the sense of the passage. The judgments of God fell on Babylon for her too cruel oppression of the covenant people. Darius, heading the Persian armies, was the first executioner of this wrath; the time, not long after this prophecy was revealed. The various color of the horses may have been slightly significant, yet some interpreters incline to make too much of it. It is manifestly one of the very subordinate and less important things in the vision. Plainly the revealing angel, or it may perhaps be said, the recording mind, made little account of this feature, else we should find more accuracy in the references to the different chariots. Thus we have at first four, designated by their horses, but the last span has a twofold description; they are gray, and also active, fleet, this being the only sense of the Hebrew word rendered “bay” (verses 3, 7). When they are named again, the red-colored disappear, and the chariot commissioned to traverse the whole earth is indicated (very appropriately) as that drawn by the active, fleet span. (The span that had the wide world for their range should be pre-eminently fleet.) Thus the red are dropped from view, and what was the fourth in the first description now becomes two. The twofold description given of its horses is divided, and we have two spans and two chariots out of the one. This criticism is chiefly valuable as showing that the color of the horses and the distinction of chariots is really in the eye of the revealing Spirit a small and not important matter. The vital points are more cared for, and are put with more accuracy. Of the two mountains, the material—“brass” or copper—denotes the strength, not of any heathen nation whose power God might use by overruling it, but of God Himself, in reference specially to the deep, immovable foundations of His throne. The location should be the supposed and indeed actual dwelling-place of God—i.e., among His people, in His temple at Jerusalem. As the chariots represent His providential agencies, going forth on their mission, so their headquarters and starting point should be the place of His abode. That they come forth from between two mountains is due simply to the necessities of chariot-driving in a mountainous country. They cannot run on the tops or sides of rugged mountains, but only in the valley, which will be between two mountains. H. C.

“The land of the north,” to which the chariot with the black horses was seen going, is undoubtedly Babylonia. (Cf. 2:10, 11.) By this was indicated that on Babylon, the bitter and cruel enemy of Israel, heavy judgments were about to come. Following this chariot came that with white horses hastening to the same destination; to indicate the complete triumph which was to be obtained over the enemy that had ravaged the land and led captive the people of Israel. The chariot with the grisled or piebald horses was seen rushing to the land of the south—that is, toward Egypt (Dan. 2: 5 ff.), also the enemy of Israel. Inasmuch, however, as Egypt had not oppressed and injured Israel as Babylon had, only one of the judgment chariots was seen going thither.

On the whole, the interpretation of Kimchi is to be preferred. By the judgments executed on the enemies and oppressors of His people satisfaction was rendered to God, His just anger was appeased, and His Spirit roused against them was quieted. The statement is in harmony with what He elsewhere says, “Ah, I will ease Me of Mine adversaries; I will avenge Me of Mine enemies” (Isa. 1:24).

This vision had reference primarily to the judgments with which God would visit those nations that had oppressed and wronged Israel. But there are here involved general truths which are for all times and for all places. One thing plainly taught here is, that all agencies are under the Divine control, and operate only as God directs or permits. The forces and powers of nature, and the influences that affect the condition or determine the conduct of individuals and communities, are alike under His control. Nothing can happen except as He permits or appoints; and “if He cut off, and shut up or gather together, who can hinder Him?” (Job 11:10.)

We are reminded here also of the deep interest, the quick and living interest, which God takes in His people, His care for them, and His intense displeasure with all who injure and oppress them. Babylon and Egypt stand in the prophetical Scriptures, both of the Old Testament and the New, as the types and emblems of the enemies of God’s Church; and both in the Old Testament and the New, the Divine displeasure is emphatically expressed against those who are thus hostile to that cause which is dear to Him. Because of this trouble and calamity, desolation and ruin come upon peoples and upon dynasties. If the inner history of nations could be deciphered—if we could see all the minute relations of events as God sees them—we should in many cases discover that calamities which have come upon countries and kingdoms, and which the ordinary historian traces to this or that secondary cause, were in reality the outcome of Divine judgments on the oppressors or persecutors of God’s people. W. L. A.

9-15. The series of visions is now closed, and we have here an actual transaction of a symbolical character. That this is not a vision, but is a real transaction, appears on the face of the record. It does not open with “I saw by night” (as 1:8); nor “I lifted up mine eyes and saw” (as 1:18); nor “I lifted up mine eyes again” (as 2:1); nor “he showed me” (as 3:1); nor as 4:1; 4:5; nor as 6:1—all which statements testify that the scenes that follow respectively were witnessed in prophetic vision. On the contrary, this is simply “The word of the Lord came unto me,” as in 1:1; 7:1; 8:1, etc., where verbal communications are made. Moreover, here is not a presentation of things to be seen by the prophet, but a command respecting things to be done. And finally, these crowns, after being made and solemnly placed on the head of the high-priest, were to be “laid up for a memorial in the temple of the Lord,” all indicating things done in real life. The leading points are the preparation of crowns; the solemn coronation of the high-priest; the accompanying announcement and explanations, showing that the purport of the transaction was to make Joshua a special type of the Messiah, and to reveal vastly important truths respecting His person and relations to men; and finally, to indicate that Gentile nations were to participate in the services and the glories of His coming kingdom. This seems to have been a double crown, the word for crown being plural, the verb (verse 14) being in the singular; and manifestly but one head, that of Joshua, is crowned in the transaction. To obtain the silver and the gold for its construction, the prophet is directed to go to certain men here named, who are recently from Babylon, captive Jews, who remained behind when the first company of their brethren left, and who seem to have come to Jerusalem now with a contribution from their brethren still behind, to aid in building the temple. Josiah, son of Zephaniah, may have been the treasurer of this fund; hence the direction to go with the other three without delay to his house to draw the money. The original brings in the phrase, “who are come from Babylon,” at the end of the verse, showing that Josiah, as well as the other three, was in the delegation from the captive Jews there. Having made the crowns, he sets them upon the head of Joshua, the high-priest, and then solemnly announces from the Lord, “Behold the man—Branch is his name; he shall branch” (shoot) “up from underneath himself” (from his own humble root), “and he shall build the temple of the Lord.” As already indicated, the sense of the word rendered “Branch” is shoot, the single stock that springs from the root and becomes the one trunk of the tree. In the original the verb rendered “shall grow,” is the same—shall shoot up. The specially emphatic declaration here is that this man—the Branch—“shall build the temple of the Lord.” Hence this is solemnly repeated (verse 13): “Even He” (He alone, and He in distinction from all others) “shall build the temple of the Lord.” This cannot refer to the temple then being built by Zerubbabel, for of this the Lord had explicitly declared (4:9), “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundations of this house, and his hands shall also finish it.” We must therefore look to another temple, which can be none other than that so often referred to in the New Testament, built by Jesus, the Messiah, of which it is said, “ye” (Christians) “are the temple of the living God” (2 Cor. 6:16). “For the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are” (1 Cor. 3:16, 17). “Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house,” etc. (1 Pet. 2:5). The comprehensive idea embraces the spiritual kingdom of the Messiah, of which the Jewish temple was an apposite symbol. In that ancient temple Jehovah dwelt, revealing His presence. So in this, the presence of the Holy Ghost reclaims men’s hearts to God, and makes them pure before Him. Yet further: “He shall bear the glory”—i.e., pre-eminent glory, becoming the “head of all things to His Church,” “King of kings,” moreover, and “Lord of lords.” “He shall sit and rule upon His throne,” truly a king, not in Zion alone, but over all the earth, or rather all the earth shall ultimately become His Zion, since His kingdom shall in the latter days embosom and absorb into itself all other kingdoms and all other love, obedience, and homage, so that it can be said truly, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He (alone) shall reign forever and ever.” He shall also “be a priest upon His throne,” uniting these two functions in His own person, and never ceasing to mediate for His people, and be their great atoning sacrifice because of His exaltation to so great power and glory on His throne. The phrase “the counsel of peace shall be between them both,” does not refer to some second person other than the Messiah, co-operating with Him; nor does it mean merely that Messiah as King and Messiah as Priest shall be harmonious and not conflicting, but rather that both as King and as Priest, Messiah shall consult for and shall secure the peace, the highest spiritual good of His people. The full energy of both relations shall be made subservient to the spiritual life and consequent peace and blessedness of His children. After these crowns had served their temporary purpose in this typical inauguration of Joshua the high-priest, they were to be laid up in the temple of the Lord as a memorial for those four delegates who came up from afar, to indicate that people from afar shall come into the Christian Church. H. C.

II. By God’s command, in the presence of witnesses, and for a memorial to them, He places a crown, or crowns, upon the head of Joshua the high-priest, thereby constituting him a type of Christ, “the Branch,” whom He proclaims as about to come to build the spiritual temple of Jehovah and to preside over it both as King and Priest for the great purpose of peace. The accession of strangers to assist in building the temple is foretold, and given as a proof of the prophet’s Divine mission. Blayney.

Of the tribute money brought by some of the returned exiles the prophet is bidden to make golden and silver crowns—the sign of kingship

—to set them on the high-priest’s head, thus uniting the sacerdotal and regal offices, which had always been jealously separated in Israel. This singular action is explained by the words which he is commanded to speak, as being a symbolic prophecy of Him who is “the Branch”—the well-known name that older prophets had used for the Messiah—indicating that in Him was the reality which the priesthood shadowed, and the rule which was partly delegated to Israel’s king as well as the power which should rear the true temple of God among men. A. M.

In Zechariah the Messiah distinctly appears as the future Redeemer of the people, and indeed as their atoning High-Priest. This is the case first in chap. 3, where the people are comforted by the statement that God will graciously accept the priesthood over which He presides, while in verse 8 sq. it is further declared that the true time of grace is still future; He, through whom the complete absolution of the people (and that on one day) is to be effected, must first appear. This future Atoner, to whom the present priesthood typically refers, is the Branch, the Son of David, the Messiah. Hence allusion is now made, verse 6:9-15, by the symbolical action of crowning the high-priest Joshua with the double crown, to the union of the priestly and royal dignities in the person of the Messiah. O.

12. Behold the man whose name is the Branch. See in the person of Joshua the high-priest the type or representation of the Man whose “name is the Christ that shall be revealed,” as the Targum paraphrases the text. W. Lowth.—There cannot be a doubt that the same person is meant by “the Branch” here, who is so called (chap. 3:8)—viz., the Messiah; of whom Joshua is made the type or representative by the crown placed on his head. The passage will not answer to any other but to Him who was at once both King and Priest, and, by uniting both characters in Himself, was completely qualified to bring about “the counsel of peace,” or reconciliation between God and man. He shall build the temple of the Lord. The Church of Christ is expressly called “the temple of God” (1 Cor. 3:16; 2 Cor. 6:16); “a spiritual house” (1 Pet. 2:5), etc.

13. Even He shall build the temple of the Lord. This clause is highly emphatical; implying that “even He,” the selfsame person, who should build the temple of Jehovah, even He should have the honor of governing and presiding in it, as both King and Priest, in both capacities advancing the peace and prosperity of His people. And He shall bear the glory.

That is, the honor and authority belonging to a sovereign or chief ruler. So when Moses was directed to give up his command and authority to Joshua, it is said, “And thou shalt put some of thine honor upon him” (Num. 27:20). And in this sense Christ was to “receive glory.” (See Ps. 21:5; Dan. 7:14; Acts 3:13; 5:31; Phil. 2:9-11; Heb. 2:9.) He was to be exalted to the right hand of God, there to sit upon His throne as a King, governing His Church, and as a Priest making intercession continually for it. It is impossible not to see that this prophecy was completed in Christ, so as it never could be in any other person. Blayney.

And the counsel of peace shall be between them both. The kingdom and priesthood being united in the same person, there shall be no clashing of jurisdiction between the two offices. W. Lowth.

Priest on the throne. The Old Testament ceremonial—temple, priesthood, sacrifice—was established for this along with other purposes, of being a shadow of things to come. Christ’s office is not metaphorically illustrated by reference to the Jewish ritual; but the Jewish ritual is the metaphor, and Christ’s office the reality. He is the priest. A. M.

The Mediator between God and man, the High-Priest in the spiritual temple, the King on the unseen throne, is this same Jesus who went in and out among us, whom we have seen sitting in the house at Bethany, or by the well at Sychem, receiving sinners, preaching to the poor, comforting His friends, and suffering little children to come to Him. With an acquaintance already formed, a confidence already secured, and a love already awakened, we can pass with a prepared heart to more abstruse revelations of the same Lord, when He is presented as the Righteousness of the sinful in the Epistle to the Romans, as the predestined Source of Life in the Epistle to the Ephesians, as the Sacrifice and Priest of the new covenant in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Having first known Himself, we are ready for the Spirit to take of the things which are His and show them to us. T. D. B.

Prophecy points to the prophetic, kingly and high-priestly office, and Jesus appears in the flesh that He may undertake this threefold office. Prophecy brings forward the manger, and Jesus suffers Himself to be laid therein by the Virgin Mary. Prophecy brings forward the cross, and Jesus permits Himself to be nailed thereon. Prophecy points to the kingly throne, and Jesus ascends it. Prophecy confesses the divinity of Jesus, and He makes Himself known as God. Prophecy acknowledges

His humanity, and He becomes man for us. Yea, Lord Jesu, Thou art none other than Thou wast! Thou wilt be none other than Thou art! The same yesterday, and to-day, and forever! Caspars.

The Gospel, the burden of which is “Christ and Him crucified,” is God’s grand plan of spiritual and providential government. Christ sits as “priest upon the throne,” “the government is on His shoulders,” everything is in His hands. Nature, in all her departments, belongs to the Messiah. The world has an interest in His redemption. He planted His cross upon our soil, and adapted the provisions of His Gospel to the ways of the world. But for the intervention of grace through Christ Jesus, we do not see but that upon the entrance of transgression, these heavens must have been wrapped together as a scroll, and have passed away with a terrible noise, and these elements must have melted with fervent heat. Upon no other principle can we understand how a kind Providence could shed down its favors upon individuals or nations. E. M.

15. They that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the Lord. Some understand it of the Jews that were now afar off in Babylon, that stayed behind in captivity, to the great discouragement of their brethren that were returned, who wanted their help in building the temple. Now God promises that many of them, and some of other nations too, proselytized to the Jewish religion, should come in, and lend a helping hand to the building of the temple, and many hands would make light work. The kings of Persia contributed to the building of the temple (Ezra 6 : 8) and the furnishing of it (Ezra 7 : 19, 20).

The accomplishment of this would be a strong confirmation of the truth of God’s word, Ye shall know that the Lord of Hosts has sent Me unto you. That promise, that those that were afar off should come and assist them in building the temple of the Lord, was, as it were, the giving of them a sign; by this they might be assured that the other promises should be fulfilled in due time; this should be fulfilled now very speedily; it was so; for those that had been their enemies and accusers, in obedience to the king’s edict, became their helpers, and did speedily what they were ordered to do for the furtherance of the work, and by that means the work went on, and was finished. (See Ezra 6 : 13, 14.) Now by this surprising assistance which they had from afar off in building the temple, they might know that Zechariah, who told them of it before, was sent of God, and that therefore his word concerning the Man, the Branch, should be fulfilled.

These promises were strong obligations to obedience, “For this shall come to pass—you shall have help in building the temple, if you will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God. You shall have the help of foreigners in building the temple, if you will but set about it in good earnest yourselves.” The assistance of others, instead of being an excuse for our slothfulness, should be a spur to our industry. “You shall have the benefit and comfort of all those promises, if you make conscience of your duty.” H.

Christ builds the temple (verse 13), and uses us as His servants in the work. Our prophecy was given to encourage faint-hearted toilers, not to supply an excuse for indolence. Beneath all our poor labors, and blessing them all, is the power of Christ. We may well work diligently who work in the line of His purposes, after the pattern of His labors, in the strength of His power, under the watchfulness of His eye. The little band may be few and feeble; let them not be fearful, for He, the throned priest, even He, and not they with their inadequate resources, shall build the temple. Christ builds on through all the ages, and the prophecy of our text is yet unfulfilled. Its fulfilment is the meaning and end of all history. See to it that you lend a hand and help to rear the true temple at which successive generations toil, and from whose unfinished glories they dying depart, but which shall be completed, because the true Builder “ever liveth” and is “a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” Above all, take heed that you are yourselves builded in that temple. Trust your souls to Christ, and He will set you in the spiritual house, which the King greater than Solomon is building still.

In one of the mosques of Damascus, which has been a Christian church, and before that was a heathen temple, the portal bears, deep cut in Greek characters, the inscription, “Thy kingdom, O Christ, is an everlasting kingdom, and Thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.” The confident words seem contradicted by the twelve centuries of Mohammedanism on which they have looked down. But, though their silent prophecy is unheeded and unheard by the worshippers below, it shall be proved true one day, and the crescent shall wane before the steady light of the Sun of Righteousness. The words are carven deep over the portals of the temple which Christ rears; and though men may not be able to read

them, and may not believe them if they do, though for centuries traffickers have defiled its courts, and base-born usurpers have set up their petty thrones, yet the writing stands sure, a dumb witness against the transient lies, a patient prophet of the eternal truth. And when all false faiths, and their priests who have oppressed men and traduced God, have vanished; and when kings that have prostituted their

great and god-like office to personal advancement and dynastic ambition are forgotten; and when every shrine reared for obscene and bloody rites, or for superficial and formal worship, has been cast to the ground, then from out of the confusion and desolation shall gleam the temple of God, which is the refuge of men, and on the one throne of the universe shall sit the Eternal Priest—our brother, Jesus the Christ. A. M.