Zechariah 1

After nn exhortation to repentance, the prophet relates two visions shewed to him, implying the restoration of the Jewish state, and security from their enemies, while • they were rebuilding the temple. 2H comfortable words.’] The Lord of hosts, mentioned in the foregoing verse. The flourishing state of Jerusalem is foretold, and the Jews’ still remaining at Babylon are warned to leave it, that they may not be involved in the calamities which are coming upon it

Zechariah 1:1

1 N the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, &c. See the Preface. JlmEHOLD, a man with a measuring line in his hand, &c] An angel in human appearance; see ver. 3. This angel.appeared with a meastiring line in his hand, to take the proportions of the city, in order to the rebuilding it, as architects used to do. (See Ezek. xi. 3.)

Zechariah 1:2

The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers, &c. Though God hath been justly displeased with your fathers, and punished them and their children with seventy years* captivity, yet now he declares himself willing to be reconciled to you upon your repentance.

Zechariah 1:3

And, behold, the angel that talked with me, &c. See i. 9. And another angel went out to meet him.] Or, Tlie other angel; i. e. the angel with the measuring line in his hand. *

Zechariah 1:4

Be not as your fathers, to whom the former prophets have cried, saying, &c. Such exhortations the former prophets gave your forefathers, particularly Jeremiah, whose words are here referred to. (See Jer. xxv. 5. xxxv. 15.) Do not imitate them in their obstinacy. And said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, saying.] The second angel spoke to the former, to inform me farther concerning the flourishing state of Jerusalem. Zechariah might probably be a young man when he was first honoured with the gift of prophecy, as Jeremiah and Daniel were. (See Jer. i. Dan. i. 17.) Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein.] The inhabitants of Jerusalem will multiply so fast, that the houses within the walls will not be able to contain them, and their cattle will increase in proportion. (See Jer. xxxi. 27.) Under the captivity the land was made a desolation without man or beast; (Jer. xxxiii. 12.) now the contrary blessing is promised. « l

Zechariah 1:5

Your fathers, ivhere are they? and do the prophets live for ever? &c. Though the prophets, and those to whom they delivered their message, are dead, yet’ the commandments delivered by their ministry still continue in full force; which appears by the judgments which came upon your fathers for transgressing them, as they themselves could not but acknowledge. Andthesame punishments will overtake you, if ye continue disobedient. For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her.] Its inhabitants may safely live without the walls of the city, (ver. 4.) for I the Lord will defend it by my angels, as so many flames of fire surrounding it; (Psal. cvi. 4.) as I did Elisha against his enemies, (2 Kings vi. 17.) And my especial presence shall be its protection, of which the cloud of glory in the first temple was a figure. This promise will receive its utmost completion in that New Jerusalem described Rev. xxi. 10. where the glory of God and the Lamb are said to be the light thereof, ver. 11. 23. (Compare Isa. Ix. 19.)

Zechariah 1:6

And they returned and said, Like as the t Lord of’ hosts thought to do to us, &c. Your fathers were forced to acknowledge with sorrow, that God had exactly fulfilled all his thrcatenings denounced against them. (See Lam. ii. 17.) Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north.] Chaldea, and Babylon the principal city of it, are called by that name, because they lay northward of Judea. (See Jer. i. 14. iv. G. vi. 1.) The Jews who still remained in Babylon and the country thereabout, are exhorted to return with all speed from thence, for a reason assigned, ver. 9. For I have spread you abroad [or, scattered you] as the four ivinds of heaven.] Compare Ezek. xvii. 21. As I have scattered you and your brethren of the ten tribes all the world over, so in due time I will gather you from your several dispersions, of which your present restoration from Babylon shall be an earnest.

Zechariah 1:7

The eleventh month, which is the month Sebat. This is the Chaldee name of the eleventh month; as Nisan, EIul, Chisleu, Tebeth, and Adar, are the names of other months mentioned in the books written after the captivity. The Jews distinguish their months only by the order of their succession, as the first, second, &c. So that if the books of Kings were writ by Jeremiah, as some suppose, the Chaldee names of the months which occur 1 Kings vi. 2. 38. viii. 2. were added afterward by Ezra. That -dwellest with the daughter of Babylon.] Tlie daughter of Babylon is the same with Babylon. (See Psal. exxxvii. 8. and the note upon Jer. iv. 31.)

Zechariah 1:8

J saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse. A red horse is an emblem of war and bloodshed, (see Rev. vi.“4.) The man, or angel, (ver. 11.) riding upon him, denotes the Logos, or Son of God, appearing as the captain of God’s hosts, or armies. (See Josh. v. 13, 14. and the notes upon ver. 12, 13. 20.) And he stood among the myrtle-trees that were in the bottom.] As if he and. his companions were refreshing themselves in a shady valley, after the fatigues of war. The vision denotes the peace which ensued after Darius had executed God’s vengeance upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and made himself master of their city by the stratagem of Zopyrus. (Compare ver. 11. and sec Dr. Prideaux, under the fourth, fifth, and sixth years of Darius.) A7id behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white.] These may denote the various successes of Darius’s arms during his reign, which were sometimes fortunate, at other times not so.

Zechariah 1:9

The angel that talked with me. The angel that made known this night-vision to me: so an angel is said to speak with Jacob in a dream, Gen. xxxi. 11.

Zechariah 1:10

And the man that stood among the myrtle-trees answered and said. This was an angel of an order superior to him that was mentioned ver. 9. who prevents that angel, and takes npon him to return an answer to the prophet’s question; or else sends his answer to Zechariah by that angel mentioned ver. 9. as Christ sent his Revelation to St. John by an angel, Rev. i. 1. TJiese are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.] To these angels he hath entrusted the administration of the affairs of the Persian empire. (Sec vi. 10.)

Zechariah 1:11

And they ansivered the angel of the Lord that stood among the myrtle-trees. They answer this man, (ver. 8.) or angel, as if he were their superior and commander: (see ver. 10.) he is distinguished from the other angel of the Lord, ver. 12. by the circumstance of his standing among the myrtle-trees. Behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.] Now all the enemies of the Persian empire in general, and of all the Jews in particular, (see ver.“9.) are quiet: so this seems a proper time for setting forward the building of the temple, which hath been so long interrupted.

Zechariah 1:12

Then the angel of the Lord ansivered and said, O Lord of hosts. The angel mentioned ver. 9. makes his supplication to the superior angel, ver. 8. 10. who was indeed the Logos, or Son of God, being called by the name Of Jehovah, here and ver. 13. 20. (Compare iii. 1, 2. xii. How long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem, and on the cities of Judah.] Cyrus only gave orders for the rebuilding the temple, (Ezra i. 3. vi. 3.) so a great part of the city lay in ruins till Nehemiah procured an order from Artaxerxes for rebuilding it. (See Nehem. i. 3. ii. 3. 8. 17. vii. 4.) The Jews, after the captivity, repaired to the several cities where their inheritance lay, (Ezra ii. 70.) but had not ability to rebuild or fortify them in a regular manner.. Against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years?~\ There are three ways of computing the seventy years’ captivity taken notice of in Scripture. The first is, beginning from the fourth year of Jehoiakim to the first of Cyrus; this is Jeremiah’s account, Jer. xxv. 1. 11. which Daniel follows, Dan. ix. 2. Another may be computed from the besieging of Jerusalem, in the ninth year of Zedekiah, and in the tenth month, for which a solemn fast was kept by the Jews: (compare 2 Kings xxv. 1. with Zech. viii. 19.) this computation ends in the second year of Darius, which is the reckoning Zechariah here follows. Or, lastly, if we compute the beginning of the seventy years from the destruction of Jerusalem, and the first temple, which came to pass in the eleventh year of the same reign, (ibid. ver. 2.) they will be accomplished in the fourth year of Darius; and this computation agrees with what is said below, vii. 1. 5. Tho two last ways of reckoning the seventy years may be reduced to one, only by supposing, that the prophet in this verse sets down a complete number for an incomplete, and calls that space of time seventy years, which wanted very little of it: a way of speaking* of which several instances may be produced.

Zechariah 1:13

And the Jjord answered the angel with good and

Zechariah 1:14

I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion ivith great jealousy. Or, I am zealous for Jerusalem with great zeal; for so the word kinnah often signifies. See Isa. ix. 7. xxvi. 11. lxiii. 15. where the translators read, Their envy at the people; but the words might be better rendered, Tliy zeal for the people. God here tells.the prophet by his angel, that he has a great concern for the welfare of his people, of which he will give evident proofs.

Zechariah 1:15

I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease. Who have not yet felt the severity of my judgments, but they shall not escape unpunished. This may be understood of the Babylonians, Samaritans, and other neighbours of the Jews, who had not been made such examples of God’s severity, as the Jews were. (Compare Jer. xxv. 29.) For I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward [or, increased] the affliction.] I made the Babylonians instruments of my vengeance upon the Jews, but they exceeded their commission, and acted as they were prompted by their own ambition and cruelty. (Compare Isa. xlvii. G. and see the note there.) The former part of the verse may be thus translated; For I was but for a little time displeased; I, punished them with a seventy years’ captivity: a short punishment in comparison of the many years that they had offended me; but these their many enemies have brought new troubles upon them after their return home, and hindered them from rebuilding their temple. (See Ezraiv. 1. 4, &c.) Ver. 1G. I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies, &c] I am returned to dwell in Jerusalem, and will remove all former marks of my displeasure, and mil cause the temple to be rebuilt in it for the place of my residence, (see ii. 10.) which I had for some time forsaken. And a line shall be stretched upon Jerusalem.] In order to rebuild the streets and walls of it. (See ii. 2.)

Zechariah 1:17

My cities through prosperity shall yet spread abroad. The lesser cities shall likewise be multiplied, and increase in inhabitants. For the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.] The Lord shall comfort Zion by shewing his wonted kindness to her after her affliction, (compare Isa. Ii. 3.) and making Jerusalem the place of his residence. (See ver. 16.)

Zechariah 1:18

Tlien I liftedup mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns. Horns often signify the power and strength of princes or people; the metaphor being taken from those cattle whose strength lies in their horns. The four horns may denote the Samaritans, the Arabians, the Ammonites, and the Philistines, who were the great hinderers of the Jews rebuilding the temple; (see Nehem. iv. 7.) or else they may signify in general those their enemies, among whom they were dispersed to the four winds of heaven, (ii. G.)

Zechariah 1:19

Those be the horns ivhich have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. Israel being mentioned distinctly from Judah, means those of the ten tribes, which, were carried away into Babylon with the tribe of Judah, and returned with them. (See the note upon viii. 13.)

Zechariah 1:20

And the Lord [see ver. 13. shewed me four carpenters.] Or smitlis, according to the number of the horns. These were to repair the destructions which the horns had made.,,, CHAP. II..