Zechariah 1
ZerrCBCClinton R. Gill Commentary On Zechariah 1 TO SECTION IZec_1:1-7 Zechariah 1:1 —As was indicated in the previous chapter, Zechariah’ s date is easily determined, The first decree permiting the Jews to return to Judah from Babylon was issued by Cyrus in 538 B.C. Cyrus died in 529 B.C. whereupon Campbsus became ruler in Persia. Following his death in 522 B.C. a period of anarchy was finally brought to an end by the ascension to the throne of Darius in 521 B.C. Zechariah 1:1 states that the word of Jehovah came to the prophet in the second year of Darius, which of course Isaiah 520 B.C. The eighth month would be our month of November.Zechariah identifies himself as the son of Barachiah, the son Iddo, the prophet. We know of one prophet of a former day named Iddo. (cf. 2 Chronicles 12:15) It is-possible Zechariah is identifying himself as a progeny of that Iddo. The terminology certainly allows this conclusion, though it by no means demands it. Some have thought that Zechariah, the son Barachiah, is the same individual to whom Jesus refers as having been slain between the sane-. tuary and the altar, (cf.’ Matthew 23:35) Possibly, since Jesus is’reckon-, ing up the innocent blood shed by the Jews, beginning with Abel, He ends with this last of the prophets to so die. This seems a rather, unlikely argument, however,- since no. Jewish history or tradition, including Josephus, makes any mention of Zechariah as having been martyred. It seems more probable that the Zechariah mentioned by Jesus is another person altogether.
Zechariah 1:2 —Here the prophet reminds his readers of , the pre-exilic sin of their ancestors and alludes to the punishment from which,.they have themselves only recently returned. Obviously, his intent is to warn them that such punishment is again possible unless those who have physically returned to the land shall also spiritually return to the Lord. (Modern Israel please take note!)
Zechariah 1:3 — This verse is the key-note of the entire book.; Its tone - is that of all the minor prophets, both before and after the captivity. “Return unto me … and. 1 will return to you” was the plea of Jehovah through all His Old Testament prophets, (eg. Malctchi 3:7) (Verse 4-6) Observe that Zechariah has now three times referred to God as “Jehovah of hosts,” The readers are thus reminded of His sovereign power and universal dominion; It is a subtle appeal to the elementary fear of punishment; certainly not the loftiest, but nevertheless a very real motive for turning to God. It is very desirable to have the Lord of hosts as friend. It is a fearful thing to place ourselves in the position of an enemy to Him. (cp. Hebrews 10:31)
Zechariah 1:4 —Be not as your fathers. Their fathers had been similarly warned and had not heeded. Consequently, the punishment of Jehovah had fallen. Zechariah’ s plea is “Be ye not as your fathers Zechariah 1:5 —“Where are your fathers?’’ asks the prophet. It is a rhetorical question. A whole generation had been swept away. The prophets who warned them were also gone. These, their children, knew very well that that the’ warnings of God were not hollow threats. The sentences of Jehovah are executed. Whoever runs is overtaken by them and there are none who escape.
Zechariah 1:6 —The justice of God is so well defined that even those against whom it comes must agree that He deals with them according to their ways. Zechariah 1:7 —Upon the fourth and twentiety day. Zechariah begins the first of the series of eight visions which are resigned to remove the obstacles to Messiah’ s coming. He first records the vision and then the angelic interpretation of it. WHAT THE PROPHET SAW Zechariah 1:8-11 Zechariah 1:8 —In the night, the prophet saw a man riding on a red horse. He was riding among a grove of myrtle trees in a bottom, ie. a shady place. With him were other horsemen, some on red, some on sorrel, and some on white horses.
Zechariah 1:9 —Seeing, this dark and solitary scene, the prophet asked of the angel through whom the visions were given, what these things were and was immediately granted an answer.
Zechariah 1:10 —These horsemen were they whom Jehovah had sent to walk to and fro in the earth. Zechariah 1:11 —The angel who stood among the myrtle trees, probably the first horseman, reported that the horsemen have ridden to-and fro through the earth, and that the entire earth was at rest.WHAT THE VISION MEANT Zechariah 1:12-17 Zechariah 1:12 —To clarify to the prophet the meaning of his vision, the angel of whom he had asked the meaning (v. 9) addresses Jehovah directly. His question is “how long mil you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah?” It has been seventy years since God’ s mercy was removed from them. ,,Jehovah’ s, answer was not harsh, so the angel addresses Zechariah with the answer to his question.
Zechariah 1:13 —The prophet is to pass along, to cry aloud, to the people the answer of. Jehovah. God is very much concerned for both Jerusalem, the city, and for Zion, the city as capital of the covenant people. Zechariah 1:14 —Not only so, but He is displeased with the nations of the earth who are at ease while: Israel suffers the humiliation of a vassal state. Even while these nations had helped with God’ s chastizing of His people, He had been “a little displeased” with them. Zechariah 1:16 —Therefore, Jehovah is returned to Jerusalem with mercies. The temple is to be rebuilt and the city itself will know the measuring line of the builder. Not only so, His cities shall flow with prosperity, and God will comfort His people. Jerusalem shall yet be His. Jehovah’ s message here might well have been made in answer to the objections raised in Haggai 1:2-4. There the people were complaining that it was not yet time to rebuild the temple.
They had not been home long enough, there was drought in the land and other concerns must take precedent over the construction of God’ s house. In fact, Haggai and Zechariah spoke to the same audience. The answer was directed to the objections. God recognizes the length of the punishment they have endured and reassures them that His mercies are now returned. It is indeed time to build. Both the temple and the city will prosper, as will the outlying cities of Judea. Seeing this entire passage as a unit, as well as verse by verse, will help us comprehend its meaning. Some have identified the rider of the red horse (v. 7) as the Messiah Himself. Others have said he is the angel of Jos 5:13-14 who in turn they see as the Messiah also. In each case, he is supposed to be standing ready to wreak swift bloodshed against the foes of Israel. Neither of these seem to me to answer the historic context of Zechariah. Rather, it would seem the horsemen are symbolic of Darius and his hosts under whose’ iron rule the world languished “at ease” in a sort of Pax Romana. The red color of the leader’ s horse does indeed represent bloodshed. The white implies death, as the pale horse of Revelation. The sorrel, (literally speckled) a combination of red and white, implies a condition in which some prosper and some do not. This is a picture of the Persian empire under Darius. The enforcement of peace through military power and the inequity in which some prosper and some are in want has aroused to sore - displeasure that which was formerly a “little displeasure.” (v. 15) Zechariah 1:11 —The myrtle grove, among whom the horsemen are stationed is symbolic of the returned remnant who, far from’ being” free are - a humbled vassal state paying tribute to Darius. It is the pointed reference to this historic situation which caused Zechariah’ s message to he couched in the hidden language of apocalypse. To have openly predicted the rising prosperity of the vassal state of Israel would have brought dire consequences indeed.
Zechariah 1:7-17 —The first vision means simply that God is aware of the harsh occupation of the world and especially of Israel by Persian forces. Despite the apparent peace, the world was actually languishing under the stern discipline of military might.
Zechariah 1:18-21 —Zechariah’s second vision is also a vision of restoration. What the four horns have scattered, the four smiths will re-unite. The horn is a frequently used symbol for the military might of a nation or a ruler. To a pastoral people, the horn of the lead ram lends itself quite naturally to such symbolism. In this case, the four horns refer to the four powers who had had a hand in the scattering of both the northern and southern kingdoms. Assyria, of course, as the destroyer of the northern kingdom, answers to the first of these horns. Babylon, who actually smote Judah, and Egypt, upon whom the Jews had depended for protection from Babylon, are easily seen as the second and third powers involved in their scattering.
It is a bit more difficult to account for the fourth horn. Traditionally the commentators have divided into three schools of thought on the matter. Some have said that the four horns are Assyria, Egypt, Babylon, and the Medo-Persians. Assyria and Babylon are obvious. Egypt is understandable since their failure to provide the protection for which Judah had entered into an alliance with her contributed to the scattering of the people. The difficulty lies with the Medo-Persians.
It was this empire which overthrew the Babylonians and opened the way for the return from exile. It was first Cyrus and later Darius, rulers of the Medo-Persian kingdom, who issued the edicts permitting the return and allowing the rebuilding. It seems highly unlikely, therefore, that this power should be included among those who scattered Judah.
The second school of thought among the commentators indicates that the number four is figurative of the four points of the compass. The powers therefore would be: to the north the Assyrians, Chaldeans and Samaritans; to the south Egypt and Arabia;-to the east Ammon and Moab, and to the west Philistia. To see this interpretation of the. four horns requires the ignoring of the historic relationships among the powers indicated. The third hypothesis presented is that the first two horns were Babylon and the Medo-Persians. The third and fourth powers had at the time of Zechariah not yet risen. These would be the Graeco- Macedonians under Alexander and the Roman Empire. This interpretation results from an attempt to force Zechariah into the mold of Daniel, chapters two and seven, where four powers are predicted prior to the coming of the Messianic kingdom. This view presents many difficulties, not the least of which is the previously mentioned fact that the Medo-Persians are historically cast in the role of deliverer and protector of the remnant rather than among the scatterers of Judah and Jerusalem.
If we will examine the pre-exilic history of Judah’ s neighbors, we will discover a fourth, almost forgotten power. Prior to the rather confusing shift of alliances which finally produced the Medo-Persian empire, the Medes had themselves been a power to be reckoned with in the middle east. It was they who warred against Assyria, finally destroying the capital city of Nineveh and swept across western Asia to the gates of Sardis. Within a generation after having destroyed Nineveh, the Median empire came to an end. Its tenure was short, so short in fact that it contributed little to the rise of civilization as we know it. The exploits of Tiglath-Pileser and later of Sargon write a brief but bloody chapter in ancient history.
It, was Sargon who placed several Israelites in the cities of Media (cf. 2 Kings 17:6 2 Kings 17:24), thus contributing to the scattering of God’ s people. It was under Cyaxares that the Median confederation reached the zenith of its brief power. Nobopalassar, the satrap of Chaldea joined Cyaxares in an alliance against Assyria and’ his daughter was given as wife to Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king who “scattered Judah and Jerusalem.” The Medes later, under the corrupt influence of Cyaxares’ successor son, became weakened to the point that they were easy prey for the rising power of Cyrus the Persian who annexed Media to form the Medo-Persian empire.The horns of Zechariali are then, in my opinion, Assyria, Egypt, Media and Babylon, The four pre-exilic powers who contributed to the scattering of both Israel and Judah.
Zechariah 1:20-21 —The Septuagint has artificers where our text (the Revised Version) has smiths. The King James translators render the word “carpenters.” The idea in the word itself seems to be those who are “skilled in demolition,” In Zechari ah’ s second vision he is perplexed and asks “what come these to doP” The answer indicates that these four skillful workers are come to destroy the four powers who had scattered Judah and conquered the holy land.
In a figure the Lord promises the prophet that the world powers would be broken, indeed the Assyrians, Egyptians, Medes and Babylonians were already broken, The Medo-Persians, Greeks and Romans each fell in turn, God is ruler over human history. The nations He raises up He has also the power to pull down. One reason the returned Jews were so hesitant to begin rebuilding was that they feared their neighbors. Relium and Shimshai and other Samaritans opposed the building of the temple (Ezra 4:8), Sanballat and Tobiah and the Ammonites and Arabians opposed the building of the wall (Nehemiah 4:7). The prophet must reassure the people that God will pull down any power “which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.” The time lias come to build and Jehovah will brook no interferences. Zechariah Chapter CHAPTER I Messages of Encouragement Regarding the Completion of God’s Temple (1:1-8:23).The prophet opens his book with a call to repentance (Zechariah 1:1-6). He dates his first message in, “ the eighth month, in the second year of Darius,” i.e., in November 520 B.C. (1:1). Darius is Darius the son of Hytaspes. He was king of Persia and reigned thirty-six years. Zechariah began his public work some two months after Haggai had launched his ministry (Compare Haggai 1:1).The prophet identifies himself as “ the son of Berechiah the son of Iddo” (Zechariah 1:1 b). Iddo was the head of a priestly family who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel (Hebrews 12:1-16). Thus our writer was both prophet and priest. “ Jehovah was sore displeased with your fathers. Therefore say thou unto them, thus saith Jehovah of host: Return unto me saith Jehovah of hosts, and I will return unto you…” (Zechariah 1:2-3). He reminds them that God was “ sore displeased” with their fathers (Zechariah 1:2), i.e., “ angry with anger” (F.C. Cook). As a consequence of his displeasure with their sin, he had given their land over to the Babylonians and allowed them to be carried into captivity. To avoid the same penalties their fathers had suffered, he calls upon them to return to Jehovah. “ Return” in this context does not mean return to the homeland from Babylon. This the people addressed had done. It means to return to faithful obedience to Jehovah (Compare Isaiah 1:16-18).
If they would return to God, then he would return to them. James used similar words, “ Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you” (James 4:8). This shows us that man is not just a passive recipient in his salvation. God expects sinful men to move toward him through faith and repentance. One is impressed with how often Zechariah uses the phrase “ saith Jehovah” to substantiate and authenticate his message. Five times he does so in the six verses of his first oracle.
Modem preachers would do well to reflect the same reliance on divine authority when they speak. Of course, the only way we can do so is to cite the written word of God, the Scripture.Zechariah warns his neighbors “ Be ye not as your fathers unto whom the former prophets cried, saying…return ye now from your evil ways…. but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me…” (Zechariah 1:4).
The “ former prophets” were those faithful men of God whom God sent to his people prior to the Babylonian captivity; men like Isaiah, Jeremiah and Habakkuk. They too, had preached repentance (Compare Jeremiah 7:23-28). If Zechariah’ s contemporaries behaved toward God as did their wicked fathers, they could, except similar results. When men refused to hear God’ s appointed prophets. They refused God himself. The same is true today (John 13:20).He then poses three questions to the people: “ Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? But my words and my statues, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake you fathers?” (Zechariah 1:5-6).
Their fathers, to whom the former prophets spoke, were long since dead. Most of them had died in the Babylonian invasion or in captivity as the prophets had warned. The older prophets were also dead. This could refer to the true prophets like Jeremiah who spoke God’ s word of warning or to false prophets who denied that God would destroy his people (Compare). “ But my words” is set in antithesis to the fathers and prophets who were long since dead. God’ s word of prophecy
God is not jealous as are we with a selfish, petty jealousy. His jealousy is manifested in genuine care and concern for his people and an earnest zeal to deliver them from their oppression and afflictions. Note that his jealousy is “ present tense.” God’ s love has never varied towards Israel (Jeremiah 31:3). God was “ sore displeased with the nations” that had afflicted his people. Pusey renders this, “ with great anger, I am angered.” To the Hebrews, it seemed that their God had forgotten their sad situation. He wants to assure them this is not so. God’ s being “ but a little displeased” with Israel must be understood in contrast with the hostility of their Gentile oppressors. For Israel’ s sin, God chastised her by sending her into captivity for seventy years. He did so to purify and reform her that might then re-establish her in her native land (Is. 54:7-8). Her heathen neighbors would have utterly destroyed her. For their undue severity, God held the Assyrians, Babylonians, and others accountable (Compare Isaiah 47:5-7 Isaiah 47:11). These lines remind us of how the mighty God uses the sinful nations of the world to do his will.
They are his unconscious instruments for punishing other nations. God uses yet other nations to punish them for their crimes because they act from their own selfish, wicked motives (Compare Isaiah 10:5-16).“ Therefore thus saith Jehovah: “ I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies; my house shall be built in it and a line shall be stretched forth over Jerusalem” (Zechariah 1:16). “ Therefore” draws a conclusion from the proceeding verses (Zechariah 1:13-15). Because he was jealous for his people, God has returned to Jerusalem. “ I am returned” (perfect tense) “ denotes an accomplished fact whose blessings will continue indefinitely” (Theo Laetsch). God was returned “ with mercies.” Mercy is one of his glorious attributes. In wrath he remembers mercy (Habakkuk 3:2). The divine mercy would be seen in three ways: “ My house (temple) shall be built;” “ Jerusalem shall be rebuilt;” and “ My cities shall yet overflow with prosperity” (Zechariah 1:16-17). “ A line shall be stretched forth over Jerusalem” (Zechariah 1:16). This refers to the surveyor s line used to mark off the streets and boundaries in view of rebuilding it (2 Kings 21:13).The keynote of this first oracle is found in (Zechariah 1:17 b), “ Jehovah shall yet comfort Zion and shall yet choose Jerusalem.” These words are adapted from (Isaiah 14:1). The Second Vision (Zechariah 1:18-21)“ And I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold, four horns. And I said unto the angel that talked with me, what are these? And he answered me; these are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem” (1:18-19). The expression “ I…saw” indicates the beginning of a new revelation.The “ four horns” are said to be “ the horns which have scattered” God’s people. The sight of horns implies the presence of the animals that wield them. David’ s fourth beast had ten horns (Daniel 7:7-8). The angel explained to Daniel, “ the fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom upon earth” (Daniel 7:23). Homs of beasts are symbols of powerful kings (Daniel 7:24).
In another vision, Daniel saw “ a ram which had two horns” (Daniel 8:3). These symbolized the combined nation of the Medes and Persians. He then saw a he-goat (the Greek Empire) with a “ notable hom between his eyes” which symbolized Alexander the Great (Daniel 8:5 Daniel 8:20-21). Sometimes the word hom is used to symbolize the power wielded by a man or government. Thus the Psalmist writes, “ I said…. to the wicked, Lift not up the hom: Lift not up your hom on high; speak not with a stiff neck” (Psalms 75:4-5).Which nations are symbolized by the horns? Since he speaks of those “ which have (past tense, not shall or future action) scattered Judah (Southern Kingdom), Israel (Northern Kingdom) and Jerusalem, they most likely represent Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, and Medo-Persia.
Other scholars harmonize the kingdoms with Daniel’ s four beasts (Daniel 2:31-45) which are Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome, but none of these nations scattered the northern kingdom of Israel. Assyria did that.“ And Jehovah showed me four smiths.
Then said I, What come these to do? And he spoke saying, these are the horns which scattered Judah… but these are come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations, which lifted up their horn against the land of Judah…” (Zechariah 1:20-21). The word “ smiths” means blacksmiths, men who work with domesticated animals, shoeing, or dehorning them. The (KJV) renders the word “ carpenters” which is unfortunate. In his vision, the prophet sees the great homed beasts (powerful nations) that have buffeted and scattered God’ s people. He then sees agents sent by God to break the power of those nations. Historically we know that Babylon broke Assyria and Egypt’ s power, the Medes and the Persians in turn broke Babylon. Greece destroyed the Persians and Rome the Greeks, etc, etc.
From this the Hebrew were to take courage. With their God in control of the universe, no nation could prevail over them permanently.
Zechariah Chapter One
Verse 1
This chapter has one of the most impressive calls to righteousness in the whole Bible (Zechariah 1:1-6), and the first two of eight remarkable visions: (1) that of the horsemen in the myrtle grove (Zechariah 1:7-11), with the divine interpretation of the vision (Zechariah 1:11-17), and (2) the vision of the four horns and the four smiths, including its divine interpretation (Zechariah 1:18-21).
Despite the purpose of Zechariah’s prophecy being that of conveying comfort, consolation, and encouragement to the frustrated and depressed remnant of once-mighty Israel who had made their way back to Jerusalem following the seventy years of captivity, the prophet quite properly began with a stern call to repentance, reaffirming the eternal principle of God’s truth that the divine favor is absolutely inseparably linked to faithful, godly living. Every generation needs this truth reinforced in the popular mind. The loving grace of God, of course, is free; but a sensuous, irreligious life is the forfeiture of God’s grace and mercy. “Faith only” as a valid claim upon heavenly mercy is only a fool’s nightmare.
Zechariah 1:1“In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of Jehovah unto Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying.“Eighth month … second year of Darius …” The eighth month was called Bul before the captivity,[1] and also Marchesuan, according to Josephus.[2]It corresponds to our October-November and was a rainy season. Darius was Darius the Great, grandson of Cyrus the Great who issued the decree for the end of the captivity. His second year is identified as 520 B.C. This was only about two months after Haggai issued his prophecy.
Came the word of Jehovah …” A number of Old Testament books begin with this statement, including: Hosea, Joel, Jonah, Zephaniah, Micah, etc. This is an affirmation of Zechariah’s authority and commission as a deliverer of the Word of God himself to his people. It is not correct, therefore, to interpret Zechariah’s messages as if they were merely the words of the prophet. Many comments on the sacred Canon are worthless because they do not take this into consideration.
Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet …” In Jewish genealogies, they were’ sometimes abbreviated by skipping some names, as evidenced by the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1, and in the case of Jehu, the son of Nimshi (1 Kings 19:16), who is called Jehu, son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi (2 Kings 9:2 2 Kings 9:14). On account of this, there should be no question that “Zechariah, the son of Iddo” (Ezra 6:14) is also a true reference to the author of this book. Baldwin pointed out that this is the “simplest explanation and one that requires no alteration of the text."[3]The sudden resurgence of activity by the Jews in the rebuilding of their temple which appears both in Haggai and in Zechariah came about because of the neglect of the project by the central government founded by Cyrus the Great, a neglect which began with the death of Cyrus and extended throughout the reign of Cambyses his successor. This neglect came to a sudden end with the accession of Darius the Great who renewed the project with all diligence (Ezra 6:11-12). Thus, there were two good reasons why the prophet dated his epistle from a point in the reign of Darius. First, God’s people were politically subject to his authority, and second, he was an ally and benefactor of it.
Verse 2
“Jehovah was sore displeased with your fathers. Therefore, say thou unto them, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Return unto me, saith Jehovah of hosts, and I will return unto you, saith Jehovah of hosts.“The appropriateness of this call to repentance was stressed by Matthew Henry thus:
“Before he published the promises of mercy, he published calls to repentance, for thus the way of the Lord must be prepared. Law must first be preached, then the gospel. He preached what was plain and practical, for it is best to begin with that."[4]Robinson called these verses “the keynote of the entire book, and one of the strongest and most intensely spiritual calls to repentance to be found anywhere in the Old Testament."[5]Some have professed surprise that Zechariah called for repentance from the same group of people that Haggai, only two months previously, had assured by the promise of the Lord that, “I am with you” (Haggai 1:13). But, as Leupold observed:
“Every repentance is imperfect at best. A godly life, in a sense, consists of perfecting repentance. Thus what Zechariah claimed was also true. Israel needed to return with more sincere devotion if God’s promises for the future were to become a reality."[6]Jehovah was sore displeased with your fathers …” This is an instance of the American Standard Version being no improvement upon the old version (Douay Version) which has, “The Lord hath been exceeding angry with your fathers.” Some theologians are very tender about ascribing anger to the God of heaven; but the scriptures of both testaments bluntly proclaim it. As Ellis pointed out, “The anger of the Almighty is not as inconsistent with the New Testament as some suppose."[7] See Romans 1:18-32 Romans 2:4; andEphesians 2:3. “The word employed here describes a consistent element in God’s nature as contrasted with a momentary or temporary indignation."[8]Saith Jehovah of hosts …” The solemn, holy name of Almighty God is joined to this admonition inZechariah 1:3, no less than three times, indicating the extremely sacred authority behind Zechariah’s message.
Verse 4
“Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets cried, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Return ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear nor hearken unto me, saith Jehovah.“This verse affords an excellent view of the honor and esteem in which the prophets prior to the times of Zechariah were held.
“The authenticity of earlier prophets is endorsed by the fulfillment of what they predicted and by the testimony of the Lord as he speaks through the contemporary prophet (Zechariah)."[9]Be not as your fathers …” “Absurd are they who follow the ignorance of their fathers, pleading inherited custom as an irrefragable defense."[10] Every kind of religious error ever known on earth is still being perpetuated by people who blindly follow the customs and religious prejudices of their ancestors.
Verse 5
“Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live forever?“In this, Zechariah is preparing to answer an objection which the prophet anticipated. Both the fathers and prophets of the former era were long dead and removed from current affairs; and some were probably prepared to raise the question of “What has all that got to do with us?”
Before leaving the passage, Matthew Henry’s pertinent comment or, the passage (out of context) is noted:
“Where are they? Those who lived and died in sin are in torment; and we are warned by Moses and the Prophets, and by Christ and his apostles to look to it that we come not to that place of torment (Luke 16:18 Luke 16:29). Those who live and die in Christ are in Paradise; and if we live and die as they did, we shall be with them shortly, with them eternally."[11]Verse 6
“But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers? and they turned and said, Like as Jehovah of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.“But my words and my statutes …” This thought contrasts with the ephemeral nature of the lives of the fathers and the prophets just mentioned. The argument is that, although the men who spurned the words of God uttered by the prophets were at that time long dead and gone, the word of the Lord was still living and active. Furthermore, the sinful generation who had rejected God’s Word, confessed at last the justice of God’s dealing with them and testified to the truth of all that God had said through his prophets.
And they turned and said …” The whole sinful generation did not “turn to God”; and Zechariah made no such claim here; but it is an unquestionable fact that many did turn. For countless thousands of them, there was never any opportunity for them to turn, as they were enslaved, murdered, carried away as captives, starved, mutilated, or beaten to death; but some of the people, called everywhere in the prophets “a righteous remnant,” did turn and seek the Lord with all their hearts. Those who at last returned to Jerusalem after the captivity ended are proof enough of that. Morgan listed the returnees as follows:
“Of the priests, 4 courses out of 24; Levites, only 74 individuals; singers, only 128 out of the family of ASAPH: gate-keepers, only 139; helpers, only 392; of the people, 200,000; slaves, 9337."[12]And they turned …” The obvious facts noted above did not prevent the radical challengers of God’s Word from alleging a contradiction here with Zechariah 1:4 which says the people did not turn. Sellin went so far as to claim this “contradiction” as “a piece of nonsense."[13] Such allegations are indeed “nonsense?” Especially distressing is the attitude of some of the writers in the Interpreter’s Bible. D. Winton Thomas, for example, stated that this verse “contradicts what is said in Zechariah 1:4, and is probably a later editorial edition."[14] If such a comment is sincere, it obviously springs out of a failure to understand what the sacred text plainly teaches.
“Did they not overtake your fathers …?” Men may deny God’s Word and try to run away from it, but it always overtakes them. The word here, according to Unger, “The Hebrew root of the word here rendered overtake' means to reach, or catch up with."[15] The true meaning appears in <a href="/bible/parallel/DEU/19/6" class="green-link">Deuteronomy 19:6</a>, "Lest the avenger of blood pursue the slayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and slay him." The nostalgic Psalms which came out of the Babylonian captivity are more than sufficient to show how genuine and sorrowful was the repentance of the more spiritually discerning among the captives. "Thus God was glorified even in their abasement and discomfiture."[16] Keil identified the scriptures that show the penitential attitude of the exiles as <a href="/bible/parallel/LAM/2/17" class="green-link">Lamentations 2:17</a>; <a href="/bible/parallel/DAN/9/4" class="green-link">Daniel 9:4</a> ff; and <a href="/bible/parallel/EZR/9/6" class="green-link">Ezra 9:6</a> ff.[17]This verse concludes the introductory call to repentance. Verse 7 "Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of Jehovah unto Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying."The time indicated here was exactly five months after the rebuilding of the temple had been resumed (<a href="/bible/parallel/HAG/1/15" class="green-link">Haggai 1:15</a>), and Keil thought that, "The choice of the day for the divine revelation to Zechariah was evidently connected with that."[18] This was also some two months after the last message of the prophet Haggai. See under <a href="/bible/parallel/ZEC/1/1" class="green-link">Zechariah 1:1</a>, which except for the date is the same as this verse. Perhaps the reason for such a formal beginning being used twice is that the first (<a href="/bible/parallel/ZEC/1/1" class="green-link">Zechariah 1:1</a>) pertains to Zechariah's call as a prophet, and this (<a href="/bible/parallel/ZEC/1/7" class="green-link">Zechariah 1:7</a>) pertains to the particular series of visions beginning here. All of these visions came within a single night, "two full months after Haggai's last message (<a href="/bible/parallel/HAG/2/10" class="green-link">Haggai 2:10</a>) it is February, 519 B.C."[19]Verse 8 "I saw in the night, and, behold, a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him there were horses, red, sorrel, and white."I saw in the night ..." Although it was night, the prophet made it clear throughout that he was not asleep. It was no dream that he "saw" but an objective vision that he observed, whether by literal eyesight or some inner power of observation we do not know. A man riding upon a red horse ..." From <a href="/bible/parallel/GEN/25/30" class="green-link">Genesis 25:30</a>, it is seen that this color is actually a reddish-brown. We are convinced that we should identify the rider here with the angel of the Lord introduced later. Those "behind him" were "those agencies that God employs for the correction and punishment of men: war, fire, and victory on his part."[20] The function of these agencies is not outlined in the vision, the "patrol" upon which they had been engaged being but a fraction, no doubt, of their total utility in the economy of God. The effect of such a view of the legions of supernatural beings engaged in doing the will of God would be one of amazement and encouragement. It is impossible not to find in Revelation 6 a more detailed and expanded vision of these same agencies, the very same figure being employed. Nor should it surprise us a little later in the vision to find that the Angel of the Covenant, Christ himself, controls and directs this vast resource of Divine power; for in Revelation, it is Christ himself who leads the van, riding upon a white horse! (See my commentary on Revelation, p. 135f.) That school of interpreters which has abandoned all objective standards and launched out into the "deep" of their own subjective imaginations in order to "discover" the meaning of Biblical passages (!) offer some bizarre opinions. For example, McFadyen, explained this horse-vision as having been suggested to the prophet's mind, "by the sight of Persian cavalry scouts!"[21]"Nothing in the text or the fact portrayed is in the least at variance with the claim that the thought as well as the form in which it was cast was given by God."[22]This prophecy is important, millenniums after it was given, solely because Almighty God is believed to be the author of it. A revealing glimpse of eternal realities is afforded by what God showed to Zechariah. Myrtle trees that were in the bottom ..." This tree, famed for its fragrance, was once abundant in Palestine. Pusey thought that the lowly character of the tree and its sweet odor suggested such qualities later revealed in God's Church and characteristic of his true people in all ages. Verse 9 "Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will show thee what these are."This verse frees us of the burden of trying to puzzle out what is meant by various features of the vision. A supernatural being promised to reveal the meaning, and we would do well indeed to confine our speculations within the boundaries of his explanation. Verse 10 "And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom Jehovah hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth."And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said ..." There is a sharp difference of opinion as to whether this person is the same as "the angel of Jehovah" (<a href="/bible/parallel/ZEC/1/11" class="green-link">Zechariah 1:11</a>), but we cannot resist the conclusion that he is indeed the "angel of Jehovah," as indicated by the identifying clause "stood among the myrtle trees" here and in <a href="/bible/parallel/ZEC/1/11" class="green-link">Zechariah 1:11</a>. Keil has stated the reasons for the two identities thus: "The angel that talked with me’ appears in company with other angels and receives instructions from them (Zechariah 2:5-8). His whole activity is restricted to the duty of conveying higher instructions to the prophet, and giving him an insight into the higher meaning of the visions; whereas the angel of Jehovah stands on an equality with God, being sometimes identified with Jehovah, and sometimes distinguished from him."[23]Nor should it trouble us that, whereas the “angel that talked with me” promised to show the vision’s meaning, it was the angel of Jehovah who spoke and explained the meaning. As Jamieson said: “The angel of the Covenant here gave the reply instead of the interpreting angel to imply that all communications through the interpreting angel came from Him (the angel of Jehovah) as their source.[24]Verse 11
“And they answered the angel of Jehovah that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.“The entire horse-company, apparently ridden by angels, are here represented as reporting to the “angel of Jehovah,” indicating that everything represented by them was under his control. He is the one who appeared in Zechariah 1:8 “riding a red horse.” Some have supposed it is inappropriate for Christ (with whom we identify the angel of the Covenant) to be represented as riding a red horse; but, on the other hand it perfectly fits him who traveled in the greatness of his strength with the garments dyed red, who came from treading the wine-press alone, and whose lifeblood was sprinkled upon his garments (Isaiah 63:1-3). We do not hesitate to identify him as “none other than the Angel of the Presence (Exodus 23:23), Jehovah himself, the Messiah in his pre-incarnate glory."[25]We have walked to and fro through the earth …” This is the only function of the great company of horsemen which is mentioned; but, in all probability there were many others that are kept out of view. The four horsemen of the apocalypse in their missions of judgment against rebellious humanity (Revelation 6) could very well be a part of the vast reality glimpsed in this passage.
All the earth sitteth still, and is at rest …” This should not be interpreted to mean that all was well in the earth, for it was not. What this worldwide patrol signified to Zechariah was that the kind of universal upheaval the Jews at that time were confidently expecting to take place was not happening in any sense. Only a few weeks previously, Haggai had prophesied that, “God would shake … the heavens and the earth … and all … the nations” (Haggai 2:6); and the tiny nation of returnees, discouraged, enfeebled, and depressed were expecting some mighty, cataclysmic revolution that would destroy the Gentile nations and enthrone Israel as rulers of the world. The widespread disorders, rebellions, and defections that threatened the beginning of the reign of Darius the Great, only a few months prior to this prophecy, were viewed by the Jews as the actual beginning of what they expected. Instead, Darius quickly put down all opposition to his authority; and, as events concerned him and his throne, the earth was indeed at rest.
But there is more than this. That very uneasy peace in which Darius the Great controlled the known world of that era was exactly the reason that there were at that time no further impediments to the Jews going ahead and rebuilding their temple. God’s people, the old Israel, as they so frequently did, were still thinking of God’s kingdom in terms of their wicked state, a thing that God hated, that had never been in God’s plan from the first, and the desire for which had led them in their initial, fatal rejection of God from ruling over them. See 1 Samuel 8.
It is apparent that this vision was exactly what Israel needed. First, and preeminently, it corrected a false notion that they had acquired through misunderstanding the prophecy of Haggai. Yet it showed God’s innumerable resources to them, and in connection with the accompanying visions, demonstrated that God would still richly bless his people, provided only, that they continually and faithfully served God.
The angel of Jehovah …” The very fact of this magnificent Person’s appearance to one of Israel’s prophets must have been a source of the greatest encouragement to God’s people. “The Angel of the Lord had not been appearing to men for a long time … now, after 200 years, he appeared again."[26] He was associated with all of the great victories in Israel’s glorious past, including the occasion when he appeared as “The Captain of the hosts of Jehovah” to Joshua at their entering into Canaan. His is the BIG appearance in this vision.
Verse 12
“Then the angel of Jehovah answered and said, O Jehovah of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years.“Our Lord Jesus Christ appeared in his true character in this Christophany, as an intercessor of the people of God, a function now being fulfilled by him for Christians before the throne of God (Hebrews 7:25). It was like a stroke of lightning at midnight. Israel is not deserted, small and weak as they undoubtedly were; for their mighty champion, the Angel of God’s Presence, is pleading their case before the God of all creation!
These threescore and ten …” The basis of this intercession is that the appointed years of their captivity, the enforcement of sabbaths long neglected, had reached the foreordained termination; it was time for God to hear his people’s cry. Furthermore, their punishment had been far more than enough, much beyond what God intended, due to the sadistic cruelty of God’s enforcement agencies who had far-exceeded their commission, actually trying to exterminate them, which God had never purposed to do.
Hailey pointed out that there were two periods of seventy years associated with the subjugation of Israel: (1) from the year 606-605 when Nebuchadnezzar annexed Judea to the fall of Babylon to Cyrus the Great who at once ordered the return of the Jews to their land in 536 B.C.; and (2), from the destruction of the Temple in 586 B.C. to the completion of the rebuilt Temple in 516 B.C.[27] It was this latter period which lacked but a little of having expired when this intercession came.
This cry for mercy from the angel of the Lord also provides the key to understanding just how the world sat still and was at rest, as just reported by the heavenly patrol.
“From this cry, it is clear that the peaceful and untroubled state of the world is bad news to some: to captives who await rescue, to slaves who await freedom, to the downtrodden who look for a helping hand."[28]Verse 13
“And Jehovah answered the angel that talked with me with good words, even comfortable words.“The exact message of comfort and encouragement is not repeated here, only the nature and character of the communication; but that is all that mattered. “The angel that talked with me,” as distinguished from the angel of Jehovah relayed to Zechariah the thrilling, comfortable words in the next verse; and they were comforting indeed.
Verse 14
“So the angel that talked with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion, with a great jealousy.“This was a total reaffirmation of God’s love for His people. God would never restore Israel’s wicked state, which was never in any sense, God’s kingdom, but theirs. However, the ancient promises to Abraham and David still remained, and the word of the Lord would yet “go forth from Jerusalem” on the Day of Pentecost when the Gospel Age began.
Zion …” The use of this term appears to be significant. This was the ancient name (pre-Israelite) of the hill captured by David (2 Samuel 5:7); and, as Baldwin said, “It sometimes stands for the people of Jerusalem in their religious privilege and responsibility."[29] We believe that to be the reason why the term is used here. The true covenant with God on Israel’s part ante-dated all the worldly glory of the secular kingdom, having been begun on the basis of promises to Abraham and formalized when God brought them up out of Egypt by the hand of Moses. The entire history of their secular state had been nothing but a tragic detour from the right pathway; and the use of “Zion” in this passage signals God’s desire that the people should more perfectly understand the true nature of their sacred covenant.
Verse 15
“And I am very sore displeased with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.“This is the second basis of the Covenant Angel’s intercession, here being relayed to Zechariah by the interpreting angel. God always used pagan nations to punish his people, but in the wretched destruction of Israel, the Assyrians and Babylonians had gone much too far.
I am sore displeased …” This in itself was the best of good news to the Israelites. From anything they had been able to see, the hostile powers oppressing them were getting away with it; but here is the assurance that they shall receive merited punishment. (See further comment on this clause under Zechariah 1:3, above.)
The nations that are at ease …” Here is heavenly comment on those nations “at rest” (Zechariah 1:11). Their condition was one of carnal security, confidently asserting itself over the groanings of the enslaved and oppressed. God was displeased with it, to the point of a burning and continual anger, which before long would erupt in the punishment of wicked states.
For I was but a little displeased …” This is one of the most astounding statements in God’s Word. The punishment which God inflicted upon Israel for their rebellion against him was as tragic as anything that can be imagined. Their kings and princes were ruthlessly murdered; tens of thousands of the population were uprooted, deported, enslaved and destroyed; their temple was razed; their possessions parceled out to the conquerors, their women ravished, their little ones dashed to pieces, and their every treasure looted. Why? God was a “little displeased!”
Is not this the same thing that God meant when he compared the utmost agony of the crucifixion of Christ to be but the “bruising of the heel” of the seed of woman? (Genesis 3:15). Contrasted with such a heel-bruise will be the “bruising of the head” of Satan when he and his followers are overwhelmed in the lake of fire; and the same analogy holds here. Severely as God’s children were punished, it is but a “little thing” compared to the destruction of the wicked yet to take place. Something far more terrible was laid up in store for those godless states which had ravished God’s people. Not only would their peoples and cities be utterly destroyed, but the final rendezvous in hell yet awaits them.
And they helped forward the affliction …” The inhumanity of the punishing nations God brought against Israel was marked by their efforts utterly to exterminate them. An example of this horrible attitude is to be observed in the Biblical account of Jehu’s excessive ruthlessness in the destruction he visited (at God’s commandment) upon the house of Ahab and Jezebel. As a result of his greedy and insatiable blood-lust, God destroyed his dynasty.
Verse 16
“Therefore, thus saith Jehovah: I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies; my house shall be built in it, saith Jehovah of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth over Jerusalem.“My house shall be built in it …” They are wrong who see in this promise nothing more than the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple. Despite the obvious fact that the Jews understood this to mean exactly that, it is actually open to question whether or not their Temple was even included in this. In all of these visions, God was speaking of that distant day when the righteous BRANCH should appear and build God’s true Temple, which is the Church of Jesus Christ (Zechariah 3:8).
My house shall be built …” actually means that God’s purpose of bringing in the Redeemer for all mankind will surely be achieved. All of the sins and apostasies of Israel would not be permitted to nullify that eternal purpose. Perhaps as a concession to people so naturally born to secularism, God also allowed the rebuilding of a Temple which he had not wanted from the first, and which, in the fullness of time, like its predecessor, would be summarily condemned and destroyed by the same God who destroyed the first. In any case, the physical Temple was rebuilt and finished in 516 B.C.
As Unger said:
“This promise had an incipient application to the prophet’s times, and supplied the means of encouragement in the construction of the second temple. That application, however, was only partial."[30]And a line shall be stretched forth over Jerusalem …” This expression was used in two ways, either for destruction, or for building; but it is in the latter sense that we find it here. It meant that Jerusalem would be rebuilt. A line would be stretched out to measure and identify the streets and begin the process of rejuvenation for the destroyed metropolis.
Verse 17
“Cry yet again, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: My cities shall yet overflow with prosperity: and Jehovah shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.“My cities shall yet overflow with prosperity …” This is not a flat promise that the walled city of Jerusalem shall be rebuilt. Note that “cities” are in view, not merely Jerusalem. The same corresponds with “Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls” (Zechariah 2:4), making it obvious that there are significant overtones in these visions suggesting the kingdom of Messiah in the age of the gospel.
Higginson split the meaning of the verse, applying half of it (Zechariah 1:17 a) to the successful era of the Maccabees,[31] and referring the latter part of it (Zechariah 1:17 b) to the times of Christ and the gospel. It appears to this writer that the whole passage, indeed this whole series of eight visions, is principally Messianic, with the lesser fulfillments in the history of secular Israel only tokens of the ultimate reality.
Before leaving this first vision, we would like to point out that it is the Covenant Angel which stands out. We do not therefore call this a horse-vision, nor the company in the myrtle trees, but the dramatic appearance of Israel’s ancient champion, the angel of Jehovah.
One other thing. We have scarcely noted the many emendations, rearrangements, omissions, additions, and alterations of the text which have been advocated by the liberal scholars. It is our deep and unwavering conviction that an examination of such operations against the sacred text is a waste of time.
In no case, does the result they arrive at recommend itself as more feasible than does a sober Scriptural exposition of the very text as we find it.[32]We do not reject legitimate corrections of the text based upon acceptable manuscript authority, but the subjective, imaginative guesses of men who know far less about the word of God than is generally supposed, we feel privileged to reject with impunity.
Verse 18
“And I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns.“We do not hesitate to identify these horns as “the powers of the world, which rise up in hostility against Judah and hurt it."[33] “Horns” when used figuratively, typify power and strength; and in Daniel 8:3, they specifically stand for mighty world powers. Leupold appeared to back away from this interpretation, saying, “The difficulty would be to pick out the four powers that have scattered Judah.[34] We do not consider that a difficulty. These four horns correspond to the great scarlet beast that the apostle John saw rising out of the sea (Revelation 13). The horns here correspond exactly to the first four heads of that beast, despite the fact of different metaphors being used. We identified the seven heads of the sea beast as: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and the religious tyranny that succeeded Rome. In each case, the great monolithic “head” of the beast was a persecuting power against God’s people and enjoyed worldwide authority.
At the time Zechariah wrote, the Jews were living in the times of the fourth of these seven monolithic enemies of God’s peoples; and indeed they (in a collective sense) were the powers that had devastated, scattered, and destroyed Israel. How appropriately therefore were these four great world powers identified as “horns” enemical to the people of God. No other understanding of these horns fills the bill exactly as does this interpretation.
Higginson affirmed that they might mean “danger on every side”[35] just as we might speak of the four points of the compass; but as Keil noted, “The number four here does not point to the four quarters of heaven."[36]There was no danger to Israel front any quarter except from the capital of the Medo-Persian government. The error of some interpreters here is that of trying to make the horns represent dangers to Israel in Zeehariah’s time; but there is a much wider sweep to his prophecy than that.
The great 19th century scholar, Adam Clarke, identified these horns perfectly, as, “The Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Chaldaeans, and Persians."[37] Gill and other writers hesitate to accept this explanation, because it was the Medo-Persians who overthrew the Babylonians and sponsored the return of the exiles to Jerusalem.[38] Although that is true, such an attitude was characteristic of the fourth horn only at the outset. It was precisely this power that eventually plotted the murder of every Jew in the empire and the confiscation of all their wealth through the wicked devices of Haman, a threat so serious that it required the intervention of God Himself to prevent it. That one event entitles them to be classified with the others as the powers that “scattered Judah.”
Ironside identified the four horns as Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome;[39] and, although those four powers were of the same character as all the other “heads” of the scarlet colored beast, two of them had not appeared upon the stage of history when Zechariah was written. It seems more logical to see the first four of the “seven heads” here instead of the “third, fourth, fifth, and sixth.”
The horns of this vision represented powers that had scattered Judah; but, as Pusey pointed out, Judah was never threatened by four great powers moving simultaneously; and, from this, he properly concluded that the horns represent successive world-powers that were hostile to the people of God.[40] This appears to us to be absolutely correct.
Verse 19
“And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these? And he answered me, These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.“Despite the fact of “Israel” being omitted in the LXX, it is best to read the text as it stands in the American Standard Version. The New English Bible and others follow the Septuagint (LXX) in omitting it, based upon the supposition that Zechariah would not have been much concerned over the scattering of Israel (the northern kingdom) which had taken place such a long while previously to the scattering and deportation of Judah; but this is another error deriving from the failure to read the prophecy as God’s Word, not Zechariah’s. The thing in view here is the scattering of the whole Israel (both Judah and the northern kingdom). Joyce Baldwin discerned this accurately:
“The Hebrew, which is supported by the Qumran Greek text, should be allowed to stand (leaving both “Israel” and “Judah” intact in the passage). Zechariah has in mind the whole people scattered in exile, just as he considers the whole pagan world responsible for the scattering."[41]This passage properly understood thus strongly supports the interpretation of the “horns” advocated underZechariah 1:18, above. The whole Israel of God throughout its entire history had been viciously opposed by the great world powers: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, and shortly after Zechariah’s times, by Medo-Persia; therefore, Medo-Persia must be understood as the fourth horn.
Watts also discerned another good reason why both the names of Judah and Israel are used here. Judah, at this point in history, was the only Israel.[42] Ephraim (the northern kingdom) never had any lawful right to the title “Israel”; and after their total destruction as a kingdom, the title naturally reverted to the lawful holder of it.
“Jerusalem' picks up the claim to the mercies of David and the election of Zion.’ When Judah is defined in terms of Israel and Jerusalem, it is understood that she is the heir to the promises to Abraham, Moses, and David."[43]Before leaving Zechariah 1:19, it should be observed that “the angel that talked with me” is here said to explain the meaning of the horns; but this is due only to the brevity of the account. It was established inZechariah 1:13, that the Covenant Angel himself is actually the source of communications relayed to Zechariah by the interpreting angel.
Verse 20
“And Jehovah showed me four smiths. Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These are the horns that scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head; but these are come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations, which lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.“Four smiths … these are the horns …” What a dramatic depiction of the rise and fall of nations. Assyria was the “smith” that ruined Egypt, and Assyria was also the “horn” that scattered Israel; and Babylon was the “smith” that ruined Assyria, but Babylon was also the “horn” that destroyed and scattered Judah; and Medo-Persia was the “smith” that destroyed the horn of Babylon; but in time Medo-Persia also, itself now become a persecuting horn, was destroyed by yet another “smith” not visible in this prophecy, but certain, in time, to come, nevertheless.
Great, monolithic world governments carry within themselves the seeds of their own destruction, a fact discernible here in the “horns” that were also described as “smiths.”
In line with a great many current interpreters, Hailey described efforts to identify the four horns and smiths with the world powers of, “Assyria, Egypt, Babylon, and Medo-Persia, as futile. The four stand for all the world powers who have scattered God’s people."[44] However, when properly understood merely as different “heads” or manifestations of the great scarlet beast of Revelation 13 th chapter, it is dramatically clear that these actually are “all of the world powers” that ever lifted themselves up against God’s people.
The purpose of this brief, but powerful, vision of four horns and four smiths was “To show to the people of God, that every hostile power of the world which has risen up against it, or shall rise up, is to be judged and destroyed by the Lord."[45] Such a revelation was no doubt a source of inexhaustible comfort and encouragement to the people of God.
Bible Study Questions From Zechariah Chapter One
- Read Zechariah 1:1-6. How had God felt towards Israel’ s fathers (Zechariah 1:1-2 Zechariah 1:4 Zechariah 1:6), and how had they responded (Zechariah 1:4 Zechariah 1:6)? What was the current generation to do (Zechariah 1:3-5)? The Lord had been angry with Israel’ s forefathers had been warned by the prophets to turn from their evil ways. However, they didn’ t listen to Him or do what He said, and as a result they didn’ t continue on. Even though these prophets had also died, the word of God that they had prophesied did overtake the forefathers (it happened just as He said it would). When this occurred that generation did repent, admitting that God had dealt with them according to their evil (seventy years captivity) and His purpose had indeed been fulfilled. Based on this God was telling the current generation through Zechariah that they needed to return to Him so that He could return to them.
- Using Zechariah 1:7-17 describe Zechariah’ s first vision (Zechariah 1:7-8) and what it meant (Zechariah 1:9-11). What was Zechariah’ s concern (Zechariah 1:12) and what were God’ s promises (Zechariah 1:13-17)? Zechariah’ s first night vision was of a man on a red horse standing among myrtle trees in the ravine with red, white and sorrel horses behind him. This man is identified in v11 as “ the angel of the Lord” , and these horses (with riders presumably) were sent out by the Lord to patrol the earth. The colors of these horses are usually symbolic, with red standing for blood and war and white standing for victory; sorrel is not a typical symbol in the Bible. The real point is that these horses, in patrolling the earth, had found it peaceful and quiet. This is significant because it was under the rule of Gentile nations, and not God’ s people. This shows that not all peace is God’ s peace (such as the peace of Rome known as the Pax Romana), but is an imposed peace that results from the threat of violence.
This may be the meaning of the various colors of the horses. When Zechariah saw that the world was living in peace but that the people of God were at the end of their seventy years captivity, and thus in some turmoil, he asked God how long it would be before He showed compassion for Jerusalem and the cities of Judah. God replied with gracious and comforting words through the angel, letting Zechariah know that He was indeed jealous for Jerusalem and angry with the nations who are at ease because they had exacted more punishment on Israel that God desired. He promised to return to Jerusalem with compassion and to rebuild His house there. He also promised that the cities would again overflow with prosperity, Zion would be comforted, and He would again choose Jerusalem (as the place for His name and presence to dwell). 3. Looking at Zechariah 1:18-21 what were the two elements of the 2nd vision (Zechariah 1:18 Zechariah 1:20) and what did each mean (Zechariah 1:19 Zechariah 1:21)? Why would this bring comfort? The next vision had four horns and four craftsmen in it. Horns always symbolize power in the Bible, and here the four horns probably represent the four world kingdoms that would arise (Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome). They scattered Israel and Judah as they came to power. The four craftsmen would be the ones who would dismantle each of these kingdoms – Medo-Persia would dismantle Babylon, Greece would dismantle Medo-Persia, Rome would dismantle Greece, and the Messianic kingdom would dismantle Rome with the advent and spread of Christianity and the kingdom of Christ. This would have comforted Zechariah because it meant that not only would these evil kingdoms not endure, but the Messianic kingdom would endure forever. More Questions For Zechariah Chapter One 1) Zechariah 1:1 tells us that Zechariah was the “ son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo” . Compare this to what is said in Ezra 5:1. How do we explain this discrepancy? 2) With whom was the Lord angry? (Zechariah 1:2) 3) What is Zechariah commanded to say to the people? (Zechariah 1:3) 4) Compare Zechariah 1:3 with Haggai 2:4-5. Zechariah tells the children of Israel to return to the Lord shortly after Haggai had told them the Lord was with them. How do we explain these seemingly opposing statements? 5) Who is set forth as a negative example in this passage? What did they not do? (Zechariah 1:4) 6) What question does the Lord ask concerning His words and His statutes? What do you think this means? (Zechariah 1:6) 7) How did the people respond to Zechariah’ s call to return to the Lord? (Zechariah 1:6) 8) In Zechariah’ s first vision, who is standing among the myrtle trees? (Zechariah 1:8) 9) What do “ those whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth” have to report? (Zechariah 1:11) 10) Who is the “ man” of Zechariah 1:8 possibly identified as being? (Zechariah 1:11) 11) What question does he ask of the Lord? (Zechariah 1:12) 12) For what is the Lord jealous? With whom is He angry, and why is He angry with them? (Zechariah 1:14-15) 13) With what attitude will the Lord return to Jerusalem? (Zechariah 1:16) 14) What will the Lord again do? (Zechariah 1:17) 15) What had the four horns of Zechariah’ s second vision done? (Zechariah 1:19) 16) What were the four craftsmen coming to do? (Zechariah 1:21)
Zechariah 1:1
Zechariah 1:1. This book begins two months later than the beginning of the preceding one. It takes up the same subject, however, that of the n egltgence of the Jews in the work of the temple, The reader should consult my comments on the first few verses of that book to avoid taking up space at this time. Zechariah, like Haggai, was a true prophet of God and was inspired to write this book we are studying.
Zechariah 1:2
Zechariah 1:2. Fathers is used as referring to the ancestors or other near relatives. The relationship first mentioned is that between the prophet and his older brethren with whom he was then associated.
Zechariah 1:3
Zechariah 1:3, When a man departs rrom serving the Lord, he is the one who must make the first move in belng reunited, hence God here promises to return to his people it they wlll return to Him which means they are to become faithful in their lives.
Zechariah 1:4
Zechariah 1:4. The present fathers are exhorted not to repeat the mistakes that their ancestors had made, The prophets had warned them to turn from their evil ways but the warning was unheeded and even spurned in many instances.
Zechariah 1:5
Zechariah 1:5. These fathers are reminded that the former ones had passed away, and the implication is they had gone down in disfavor in the eyes of the Lord.
Zechariah 1:6
Zechariah 1:6, Take hold of your fathers means that the warnings that God made to them came to pass; that their experiences were according to the threalenings that God had made to them, Indeed. so exactly did they come to be fulfilled that the peopIe realized it and acknowledged it to be as a punishment for their evil ways. Such is the meaning ot the latter part of this verse.
Zechariah 1:7
Zechariah 1:7. Zechariah received another message and it was in the form of a vision. It came in the same year as the first one but in the eleventh month of that year.
Zechariah 1:8
Zechariah 1:8. This vision (which will take up several verses) had to do chiefly with conditions In general in the political world following the Babylonian captivity, For a time the nations were undisturbed and even unconcerned about the dejected morale of the people of Israel. God wished to inform his people of what was in store and concluded to do so in con- nection with the vision. It starts with a group of red horses and a man riding on one of them who will finally be a spokesman for the Lord.
Zechariah 1:9
Zechariah 1:9, This verse reveals one form in which God sometimes appeared to the men who were to be inspired, namely, that of an angel. There Is a number or cases recorded in the Bible where He appeared in that way. Zechariah asked the angel the mean- ing or the vision and was promised an answer.
Zechariah 1:10
Zechariah 1:10. The “man” spoken of in verse 8 gave the prophet the information that was promised by the angel. These horses were used as messengers of the Lord to go to and fro through the earth,
Zechariah 1:11
Zechariah 1:11. Having previously made one at their journeys over the earth, they now report in the hearing of Zechariah what they found out in their tour of inspection. The chief fact they learned was that all the earth was at rost. This is explained in verse 15 to mean tbat the people of the earth were at ease, meanIng that they were unconcerned about the interests of God’s People who had been through so much trouble and still were in a state of anxiety as to what they might expect next.
Zechariah 1:12
Zechariah 1:12, These threescore and ten years identifies the whole passage as a complaint or plea addressed to God because of conditions after the Babylonian captivity. Not that the enemy was still trying to hold them In bondage, for the Persians had control of the country previously held by the Babylonians and they had given the Jews their freedom, But there were some of the heathen in Palestine and that was makIng some trouble locally. The people of Israel were anxious about conditions and longed tor the tormer settlement of their own services.
Zechariah 1:13
Zechariah 1:13, The Lord was sympathetic toward the nation and gave the angel a comfortable message of assurance, which he was to give over to the prophet who was in turn to deliver it to his people for their benefit and encouragement of mind.
Zechariah 1:14
Zechariah 1:14. God never lost his love for the nation notwithstanding its waywardness but was jealous over them. He had used the heathen nations as a means of chastisement in the same way that a loving father would administer severe but necessary punishment upon a clliid tor whom he had the sincere parental love.
Zechariah 1:15
Zechariah 1:15. God’s feeling against his people is contrasted with that of the heathen by the words little displeased. But He was sore displeased. with the heathen because of their unconcern over the afflictions of Judah. The chastisements that the Lord imposed upon Israel were for their own good, but now the heathen were adding to these afflictions by being “at ease” or indifferent about it.
Zechariah 1:16
Zechariah 1:16. For the enconragement of the dejected people, the Lord gave the assurance that the holy house would be built in Jerusalem. Line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. The first word is from QAV which Strong defines. “Accord (as connecting), especially for measuring: figuratively a rule.” The passage shows not only that the city would be rebuilt, but that it would be done accurately and scientifically.
Zechariah 1:17
Zechariah 1:17. This verse adds the promise that other cities throughout the country would prosper and grow in number. Also that the original capital city ot Jerusalem with its particular spot of Zion would be comforted.
Zechariah 1:18
Zechariah 1:18. Horns in symbolic language means governments or other powers. The four that are mentioned here are the same as the four living creatures of Eze 1:5-6, meaning the four world empires beginning with the Babylonian.
Zechariah 1:19
Zechariah 1:19. The angel explained that the four governments were the ones that had scattered the Lord’s people. That does not mean that all four of them had a hand in the affair, for two of them were yet in the future when Zechariah was writing. But the four were considered as a unit because they represented the powers that were to be permanently removed from among mankind. And all of them had one characteristic in common, that of absolute domination over people who had a right to be free. It was this phase of them that prompted Babylon to oppress Israel. but the entire regime was destined to be overthrown by the means to be described shortly,
Zechariah 1:20
Zechariah 1:20. Carpenters is from CHARAS n which Strong defines, “A fabricator of any material.” The word has a wide range at meanIng and this place is used in reference to some forces that were to erect something in the place of these four horns that had scattered Judah. for they were to be destroyed and replaced by the carpenters’ work.
Zechariah 1:21
Zechariah 1:21. The pronoun these is used three times but for different nouns. The first and third refer to the carpenters of the preceding verse, while the second means the four horns that had scattered Judah. The carpenters had come to fray (subdue and destroy) the four horns, In other words, the four world empires were to come to an end , and within their territory and upon their ruins these new builders were to erect another kind of structure. The whole passage including verse 18 through 21 is a prediction with the same meaning as Daniel 2:44. That prophecy assures the world that the four world empires were to come to an end and at the same time the God of Heaven would set up a kingdom that was to stand forever. The work of settling in that kingdom was to be accomplished through the agency of these carpenters which would be fulfilled by the labors of the apostles of Christ.