Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Zechariah 1:1
In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,
Chap. Zec 1:1-6 . Introductory call to Repentance
1. The Author and date of his first Prophecy
the eighth month, in the second year of Darius ] The Jews after the Captivity substituted for the years of the reigns of their own kings, by which they had been accustomed to date their history, those of the foreign kings to whom they were subject. But they retained their own months, though with altered names. The eighth month had before been called Bul (1Ki 6:38). No name is given to it in the Bible after the return, but we learn from the Talmud and from Josephus that it was called Marcheshvan. This name has been supposed to be “a purely Hebrew term,” and to signify “wet” or “rainy.” The month coincides with our November and with the rainy season in Palestine. See Dict. of the Bible, Art. Month.
Haggai’s first prophecy had been delivered in the sixth month, and his second prophecy in the seventh month of this same year. (Hag 1:1; Hag 2:1.)
the son of Berechiah ] called elsewhere, the son of Iddo. Ezr 5:1; Neh 12:16. See Introd. to Zech. Chap. 1. p. 47.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
1. The prophet;
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
In the eighth month – o. The date joins on Zechariahs prophecy to those of Haggai. Two months before, in the sixth month Hag 1:1, had Haggai, conjointly with Zechariah Ezr 5:1-2, exhorted Zerubbabel and the people to resume the intermitted building of the temple. These had used such diligence, notwithstanding the partial discouragement of the Persian Government, that God gave them in the seventh month Ezr 5:3-5, the magnificent promise of the later glory of the temple through the coming of Christ Hag 2:1-9. Still, as Haggai too warned them, the conversion was not complete. So Zechariah in the eighth, as Haggai in the ninth Hag 2:10-14 month, urges upon them the necessity of thorough and inward repentance, as the condition of partaking of those promises.
Osorius: Thrice in the course of one saying, he mentions the most holy name of God; partly to instruct in the knowledge of Three Persons in one Nature, partly to confirm their minds more strongly in the hope of the salvation to come.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ZECHARIAH
Chronological Notes relative to this Book
-Year from the Creation, according to Archbishop Usher, 3484.
-Year of the Julian Period, 4194.
-Year of the Jewish era of the world, 3241.
-Year from the Flood, 1828.
-Year from the vocation of Abram, 1401.
-Year since the first celebration of the Olympic games in Elis, by the Idaei Dactyli, 934.
-Year since the destruction of Troy, according to the general account, 664.
-Year since the foundation of the monarchy of the Israelites by the Divine appointment of Saul to the regal dignity, 576.
-Year from the foundation of Solomon’s temple, 492.
-Year from the division of Solomon’s monarchy into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, 456.
-Year since the re-establishment of the Olympic games in Elis by Lycurgus, Iphitus, and Cleosthenes, 365.
-Year since the conquest of Coroebus at Olympia, usually called the first Olympiad, 257.
-First year of the sixty-fifth Olympiad.
-Year from the building of Rome, according to the Varronian or generally received computation, 234.
-Year from the building of Rome, according to Cato and the Fasti Consulares, 233.
-Year from the building of Rome, according to Polybius the historian, 232.
-Year from the building of Rome, according to Fabius Pictor, 228.
-Year of the era of Nabonassar, 228.
-Year since the destruction of the kingdom of Israel by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, 202.
-Year since the destruction of the kingdom of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, 68.
-Year since the destruction of the Chaldean empire by the Persians, 18.
-Year before the birth of Christ, 516.
-Year before the vulgar era of Christ’s nativity, 520.
-Cycle of the Sun, 22.
-Cycle of the Moon, 14.
-Second year of Darius I., king of Persia.
-Twenty-eighth year of Amyntas, king of Macedon.
-Seventh year of Demaratus, king of Lacedaemon, of the family of the Proclidae.
-Eleventh year of Cleomenes, king of Lacedaemon, of the family of the Eurysthenidae.
-Fifteenth year of Tarquinius Superbus, the last king of the Romans.
-This was about twelve years before the commencement of the consular government. According to some chronologers this was the age of Confucius.
CHAPTER I
The prophet earnestly exhorts the people to repentance, that
they may escape such punishments as had been inflicted on
their fathers, 1-6.
The vision of the horses, with the signification, 7-11.
The angel of the Lord successfully intercedes in behalf of
Jerusalem, 12-17.
The vision of the four horns, and of the four carpenters,
18-21.
NOTES ON CHAP. I
Verse 1. In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius] This was Darius Hystaspes; and from this date we find that Zechariah began to prophecy just two months after Haggai.
Son of Iddo] There are a number of various readings on this name, Iddo, and Iddo, both in MSS. and in editions; but they are only different ways of writing the same name.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
In the eighth month; called both Marchesvan and Bul by the Hebrews, and answers to part of our October and November. Two months after Haggai began to encourage the Jews to build the temple.
Darius; son of Hystaspes, and the third Persian monarch: see Hag 1:1; and again Zec 1:15, at large.
Came the word of the Lord: here is his warrant and Divine call, the Lord communicated to him what he was to communicate to, others.
Zechariah: his name bespeaks him a remembrancer of God, or it may speak God remembering him, and the rest of this people.
The son; the Jew called the descendants in right line sons, though they were grandsons, or great-grandsons; and in this sense some say Zechariah is the son of Baruch, and the son of Iddo. This Zechariah is not he that is mentioned 2Ch 24:20, this is too early by many years; nor is this Zechariah the father of John Baptist, this is as much too late; but most likely it is that Zechariah whom the Jews slew between the temple and the altar, Mat 23:35.
Berechiah: this name is expressly mentioned Mt 23, and his time exactly suits the time pointed at by the evangelist.
Iddo: one of this name you have 2Ch 9:29, but this is too old to be this in the text, for there will be found (as Wolphius in Ezram notes) four hundred and fifty years’ distance between Iddo the seer and this Iddo mentioned in the text.
The prophet; whether Zechariah or Iddo I determine not.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. See Introduction.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
In the eighth month,…. The month Marchesvan, called the month Bul, in 1Ki 6:38 which answers to part of our October, and part of November: this was but two months from the first prophecy of Haggai, Hag 1:1 and but a few days after his second, Hag 2:1 so near were the prophecies of these two prophets together:
in the second year of Darius: king of Persia; not Darius the Mede, but Darius the son of Hystaspes:
came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah; that is, “the word of prophecy from before the Lord”, as the Targum paraphrases it; which came to him, either in a dream, or in a vision, or by an impulse on his mind; who is described by his descent, the son of Barachias; mention is made of this name in Mt 23:35. It signifies “the blessed of the Lord”, and is the same with Eulogius or Benedictus:
the son of Iddo the prophet: the word “prophet”, as Kimchi observes, belongs to Zechariah; not but that his grandfather Iddo might be a prophet too; and the same writer takes notice, that in the Midrash mention is made of Iddo the prophet; and so there is an Iddo that is called the seer and the prophet in 2Ch 9:29 but whether the same with this is not certain. The name is by some thought to be the same with Firmicus, Statius, Robertus:
saying; as follows:
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The first word of the Lord was addressed to the prophet Zechariah in the eighth month of the second year of the reign of Darius, and therefore about two months after Haggai’s first prophecy and the commencement of the rebuilding of the temple, which that prophecy was intended to promote (compare Zec 1:1 with Hag 1:1 and Hag 1:15), and a few weeks after Haggai’s prophecy of the great glory which the new temple would receive (Hag 2:1-9). Just as Haggai encouraged the chiefs and the people of Judah to continue vigorously the building that had been commenced by this announcement of salvation, so Zechariah opens his prophetic labours with the admonition to turn with sincerity to the Lord, and with the warning not to bring the same punishment upon themselves by falling back into the sins of the fathers. This exhortation to repentance, although it was communicated to the prophet in the form of a special revelation from God, is actually only the introduction to the prophecies which follow, requiring thorough repentance as the condition of obtaining the desired salvation, and at the same time setting before the impenitent and ungodly still further heavy judgments.
(Note: “The prophet is thus instructed by God, that, before exhibiting to the nation the rich blessings of God for them to look at under the form of symbolical images, he is to declare the duty of His people, or the condition upon which it will be becoming in God to grant them an abundant supply of these good things.” – Vitringa, Comm. in Sach. p. 76.)
Zec 1:1. Bachodesh hasshemn does not mean “on the eighth new moon” (Kimchi, Chr. B. Mich., Koehl.); for chodesh is never used in chronological notices for the new moon, or the first new moon’s day (see at Exo 19:1). The day of the eighth month is left indefinite, because this was of no importance whatever to the contents of this particular address. The word of the Lord was as follows: Zec 1:2. “Jehovah was angry with wrath concerning your fathers. Zec 1:3. And thou shalt say to them, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Return ye to me, is the saying of Jehovah of hosts, so will I return to you, saith Jehovah of hosts. Zec 1:4. Be not like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Turn now from your evil ways, and from your evil actions! But they hearkened not, and paid no attention to me, is the saying of Jehovah.” The statement in Zec 1:2 contains the ground for the summons to turn, which the prophet is to address to the people, and is therefore placed before in Zec 1:3, by which this summons is introduced. Because the Lord was very angry concerning the fathers, those who are living now are to repent with sincerity of heart. The noun qetseph is added as the object to the verb, to give it greater force. The nation had experienced the severe anger of God at the destruction of the kingdom of Judah, and of Jerusalem and the temple, and also in exile. The statement in Zec 1:15, that Jehovah was angry , is not at variance with this; for does not refer to the strength of the anger, but to its duration. is the perf. with Vav consec., and is used for the imperative, because the summons to repentance follows as a necessary consequence from the fact stated in Zec 1:2 (cf. Ewald, 342, b and c). does not refer to the fathers, which might appear to be grammatically the simplest interpretation, but to the contemporaries of the prophet, addressed in the pronoun your fathers, the existing generation of Judah. does not presuppose that the people had just fallen away from the Lord again, or had lost all their pleasure in the continuance of the work of building the temple, but simply that the return to the Lord was not a perfect one, not a thorough conversion of heart. So had Jehovah also turned to the people again, and had not only put an end to the sufferings of exile, but had also promised His aid to those who had returned (compare in Hag 1:13); but the more earnestly and the more thoroughly the people turned to Him, the more faithfully and the more gloriously would He bestow upon them His grace and the promised salvation. This admonition is shown to be extremely important by the threefold “saith the Lord of Zebaoth,” and strengthened still further in Zec 1:4 by the negative turn not to do like the fathers, who cast the admonitions of the prophets to the winds. The “earlier prophets” are those before the captivity (cf. Zec 7:7, Zec 7:12). The predicate points to the fact that there was a gap between Zechariah and his predecessors, namely the period of the exile, so that Daniel and Ezekiel, who lived in exile, are overlooked; the former because his prophecies are not admonitions addressed to the people, the latter because the greater part of his ministry fell in the very commencement of the exile. Moreover, when alluding to the admonitions of the earlier prophets, Zechariah has not only such utterances in his mind as those in which the prophets summoned the people to repentance with the words (e.g., Joe 2:13; Hos 14:2-3; Isa 31:6; Jer 3:12., Zec 7:13, etc.), but the admonitions, threatenings, and reproofs of the earlier prophets generally (compare 2Ki 17:13.). The chethib is to be read , a plural form from , and is to be retained, since the preposition min is wanting in the keri; and this reading has probably only arisen from the offence taken at the use of the plural form allm , which does not occur elsewhere, in the place of alloth , although there are many analogies to such a formation, and feminine forms frequently have plurals in , either instead of those in or in addition to them.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Repentance Urged. | B. C. 520. |
1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, 2 The LORD hath been sore displeased with your fathers. 3 Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. 4 Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the LORD. 5 Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever? 6 But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the LORD of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.
Here is, I. The foundation of Zechariah’s ministry; it is laid in a divine authority: The word of the Lord came to him. He received a divine commission to be God’s mouth to the people and with it instructions what to say. He received of the Lord that which also he delivered unto them. The word of the Lord was to him; it came in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit, as a real thing, and not a fancy. For the ascertaining of this, we have here, 1. The time when the word of the Lord came first to him, or when the word that next follows came to him: it was in the second year of Darius. Before the captivity the prophets dated their writings by the reigns of the kings of Judah and Israel; but now by the reigns of the kings of Persia, to whom they were subjects. Such a melancholy change had sin made of their circumstances. Zerubbabel took not so much state upon him as to have public acts dated by the years of his government, and in things of this nature the prophets, as is fit, complied with the usage of the time, and scrupled not to reckon by the years of the heathen kings, as Dan 7:1; Dan 8:1. Zechariah preached his first sermon in the eighth month of this second year of Darius; Haggai preached his in the sixth month of the same year, Hag. i. 1. The people being readily obedient to the word of the Lord in the mouth of Haggai, God blessed them with another prophet; for to him that has, and uses well what he has, more shall be given. 2. The name and family of the prophet to whom the word of the Lord came; He was Zechariah, the son of Barachiah, the son of Iddo, and he was the prophet, as Haggai is called the prophet, Hag. i. 1. For, though in former ages there was one Iddo a prophet (2 Chron. xii. 15), yet we have no reason to think that Zechariah was of his progeny, or should be denominated from him. The learned Mr. Pemble is decidedly of opinion that this Zechariah, the son of Barachiah, is the same that our Saviour says was slain between the temple and the altar, perhaps many years after the rebuilding of the temple (Matt. xxiii. 35), and that our Saviour does not mean (as is commonly thought) Zechariah the son of Jehoiada, for why should Jehoiada be called Barachiah? And he thinks the manner of Christ’s account persuades us to think so; for, reckoning up the innocent blood shed by the Jews, he begins at Abel, and ends even in the last of the holy prophets. Whereas, after Zechariah the son of Jehoiada, many prophets and righteous men were put to death by them. It is true there is no mention made in any history of their slaying this Zechariah, but Josephus might industriously conceal that shame of his nation. Perhaps what Zechariah spoke in his prophesying concerning Christ of his being sold, his being wounded in the house of his friends, and the shepherd being smitten, was verified in the prophet himself, and so he became a type of Christ. Probably, being assaulted by his persecutors, he took sanctuary in the court of the priests (and some think he was himself a priest), and so was slain between the porch and the altar.
II. The first-fruits of Zechariah’s ministry. Before he came to visions and revelations, and delivered his prophetic discourses, he preached that which was plain and practical; for it is best to begin with that. Before he published the promises of mercy, he published calls to repentance, for thus the way of the Lord must be prepared. Law must be first preached, and then gospel. Now,
1. The prophet here puts them in mind of the controversy God had had with their fathers (v. 2): “The Lord has been sorely displeased with your fathers, and has laid them under the tokens of his displeasure. You have heard with your ears, and your fathers have told you of it; you have seen with your eyes the woeful remains of it. God’s quarrel with you has been of long standing, and therefore it is time for you to think of taking it up.” Note, The judgments of God, which those that went before us were under, should be taken as warnings to us not to tread in their steps, and calls to repentance, that we may cut off the entail of the curse and get it turned into a blessing.
2. He calls them, in God’s name, to return to him, and make their peace with him, v. 3. God by him says that to this backsliding people which he had often said by his servants the prophets: “Turn you to me in a way of faith and repentance, duty and obedience, and I will turn to you in a way of favour and mercy, peace and reconciliation.” Let the rebels return to their allegiance, and they shall be taken under the protection of the government and enjoy all the privileges of good subjects. Let them change their way, and God will change his. See Mal. iii. 7. But that which is most observable here is that God is called here the Lord of hosts three times: “Thus saith the Lord of hosts. It is he that speaks, and therefore you are bound to regard what he says.” Turn you to me, saith the Lord of hosts (this intimates the authority and obligation of the command), and I will turn to you, saith the Lord of hosts–this intimates the validity and value of the promise; so that it is no vain repetition. Note, The consideration of God’s almighty power and sovereign dominion should both engage and encourage sinners to repent and turn to him. It is very desirable to have the Lord of hosts our friend and very dreadful to have him our enemy.
3. He warns them not to persist in their impenitence, as their fathers had done (v. 4): Be you not as your fathers. Instead of being hardened in their evil courses by the example of their fathers’ sins, let them rather be deterred from them by the example of their fathers’ punishment. We are apt to be governed very much by precedent, and we are well or ill governed according to the use we make of the precedents before us. The same examples to some are a savour of life unto life, to others a savour of death unto death. Some argued, “Shall we be wiser than our fathers? They never minded the prophets, and why then should we mind them? They made laws against them, and why should we tolerate them?” But they are here taught how they should argue: “Our fathers slighted the prophets, and God was sorely displeased with them for it; therefore let us the more carefully regard what God says to us by his prophets.” “Review what is past, and observe,”
(1.) “What was the message that God sent by his servants the prophets to your fathers: The former prophets cried to your fathers. cried aloud, and did not spare, not spare themselves, not spare your fathers; they cried as men in earnest, as men that would be heard; they spoke not as from themselves, but in the name of the Lord of hosts; and this was the substance of what they said, the burden of every song, the application of every sermon–Turn you now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings; the very same that we now preach to you. Be persuaded to leave your sins; resolve to have no more to do with them. A speedy reformation is the only way to prevent an approaching ruin: Turn you now from sin to God without delay.”
(2.) “How little this message was regarded by your fathers: But they did not hear, they did not heed. They turned a deaf ear to these calls: They would not hearken unto me, saith the Lord. They would not be reclaimed, would not be ruled, by the word I sent them; say not then that you will do as your fathers did, for they did amiss;” see Jer. xliv. 17. Note, We must not follow the examples of our dear fathers unless they were God’s dear children, nor any further than they were dutiful and obedient to him.
(3.) “What has become both of your fathers and of the prophets that preached to them? They are all dead and gone,” v. 5. [1.] Your fathers, where are they? The whole generation of them is swept away, and their place knows them no more. Note, When we think of our ancestors, that have gone through the world and gone out of it before us, we should think, Where are they? Here they were, in the towns and countries where we live, passing and repassing in the same streets, dwelling in the same houses, trading in the same shops and exchanges, worshipping God in the same churches. But where are they? They are somewhere still; when they died there was not an end of them. They are in eternity, in the world of spirits, the unchangeable world, to which we are hastening apace. Where are they? Those of them that lived and died in sin are in torment, and we are warned by Moses and the prophets, Christ and his apostles, to look to it that we come not to that place of torment,Luk 16:28; Luk 16:29. Those of them that lived and died in Christ are in paradise; and, if we live and die as they did, we shall be with them shortly, with them eternally. [2.] The prophets also, did they live for ever? No, they are gone too. The treasure is put into earthen vessels, the water of life into earthen pitchers, often cracked, and brought home broken at last. Christ is a prophet that lives for ever, but all other prophets have a period put to their office. Note, Ministers are dying men, and live not for ever in this world. They are to look upon themselves as such, and to preach accordingly, as those that must be silenced shortly, and know not which sermon may be the last. People are to look upon them as such, and to hear accordingly, as those that yet a little while have the light with them, that they may walk and work while they have the light. Oh that this weighty consideration had its due weight given it, that we are dying ministers dealing with dying people about the concerns of immortal souls and an awful eternity, which both they and we are standing upon the brink of! It concerns us to think of the prophets that are gone, that were before us of old, Jer. xxviii. 8. Those that were the glory of men withered and fell; but the word of the Lord endures for ever,1Pe 1:24; 1Pe 1:25. The prophets that are now, do we live for ever? (so some read it); no, Haggai and Zechariah will not be long with you, and prophecy itself shall shortly cease. In another world both we and our prophets shall live for ever; and to prepare for that world ought to be our great care and business in this.
(4.) “What were the effects of the word which God spoke to them by his prophets, v. 6. The preachers died, and the hearers died, but the word of God died not; that took effect, and not one iota or tittle of it fell to the ground.” As the rain and snow from heaven, it shall not return void, Isa. lv. 11. He appealed to themselves; they knew very well, [1.] That the judgments God had threatened were executed upon their fathers, and they were made to feel what they would not believe and fear: “My statutes which I commanded my servants the prophets, the precepts with the penalties annexed, which I charged them with the delivery of, did they not take hold of your fathers?” Though God’s prophets could not fasten convictions upon them, the calamities threatened overtook them, and they could not escape them, nor get out of the reach of them. God’s words took hold of them as the bailiff arrests the debtor, and takes him in execution for contempt. Note, The unbelief of man cannot make the threatenings of God’s word of no effect, but, sooner or later, they will take place, if the prescribed course be not taken to prevent the execution of them. God’s anger will certainly take hold of those that will not be taken hold of by his authority; for when he judges he will overcome. [2.] That they themselves could not but own the accomplishment of the word of God in the judgments of God that were upon them, and that therein he was righteous, and had done them no wrong: They returned, and said (they changed their mind, and when it was too late to prevent the ruin of their nation they acknowledged), Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us according to our ways and doings, to reckon with us for them, so has he dealt with us, and we must acknowledge both his truth and his justice, must blame ourselves only, and have no blame to lay to him. Sero sapiunt Phryges–It is late before the Phrygians become wise. This after-wit, as it is a proof of the truth of God, so it is a proof of the folly of men, who will look no further than they can see. They would never be persuaded to say in time, “God will be as good as his word, for he is faithful; he will deal with us according to our deserts, for he is righteous.” But now they see both plainly enough when the sentence is executed; now he that runs may read, and publish the exact agreement that appears between the present providences and the former predictions which then were slighted, between the present punishments and the former sins which then were persisted in. Now they cannot but say, The Lord is righteous, Dan. ix. 11-13.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
CHART I
ZECHARIAH
10 Night Visions:
1.Red Horse Rider Among the Myrtle Trees, Zec 1:7-17.
2.The Four Horns, As Scatterers, Zec 1:18-19.
3.The Four Carpenters or Smiths, Zec 1:20-21.
4.The Measuring or Surveying Line, Zec 2:1-13.
5.Joshua the High Priest, Standing Before the Angel of the Lord, Zec 3:1-7.
6.Jehovah’s Servant, the Branch, Zec 3:8-10.
7.The Golden Candlestick and Two Olive Trees, Zec 4:1-13.
8.The 30 ft. Flying Roll, Zechariah 5; Zechariah 1-4.
9.The Ephah, Bushel Basket, Zec 5:5-11.
10. The Four Chariots, Zec 6:1-8.
(Crowning of the High Priest. Zec 6:9-15.
ZECHARIAH
The Two Burdens
I.The Burden On Cities Surrounding Palestine, Zec 9:1 to Zec 11:17
a) Appearance of Israel’s Messiah, Zec 9:9.
b) Rejection of the Messiah, Zec 11:7-14.
II.The Burden Or (Seige of) Jerusalem, Zec 12:1-3.
a) Deliverance of Israel, Zec 12:4 to Zec 13:9.
b) Return of the Lord in Triumphant Glory, Zec 14:1-21.
CHART II
ZECHARIAH
Four Special Messages, (Zec 7:1 to Zec 8:23)
1)A Message of Rebuke, Zec 7:1-14.
2)A Message of Restoration, Zec 8:1-8.
3)A Message of Remembrance, Zec 8:9-19.
4)A Message of Promise, Zec 8:20-23.
ZECHARIAH —GENERAL ANALYSIS
WHO SPEAKS?
This book was written by the prophet Zechariah as “the Word of the Lord,” Zec 1:1. His parentage was of honorable lineage. He was the son of Berechiah, whose name means “Jehovah will bless:” His grandfather’s name was Iddo, which means “the appointed time:” While the name Zechariah means “Jehovah remembers.” He was of priestly descent, born in Babylon and returned as a young man to Jerusalem, Neh 12:14-16. While little more is known of him personally he is pre-eminent among the post exile prophets and this book he wrote is one of the most wonderful of all the Old Testament books.
Zechariah has more to say about the coming Person, Work, and Glory of Jesus Christ than all the other 11 minor prophets together. As a Messianic prophet, his rank is second only to Isaiah, the major prophet. His prophecy chronicles God’s plan and purpose for Israel, from the Babylonian captivity, to the final restoration glory of Israel, at the second coming of Jesus Christ.
TO WHOM?
Like Haggai, his contemporary prophet. Zechariah prophesied to the restored remnant of Israel, who had returned to Jerusalem, and their homeland, after 70 years in Babylonian captivity. They were a depressed and often languishing people, who needed a call to repentance and motivation to rebuild their temple of worship, around which they might then rebuild their lives and their nation.
ABOUT WHAT?
The theme of Zechariah’s message was that God: 1) loved Israel, 2) was still preserving and caring for her, and 3) He had a future purpose and plan for her glory, beyond any she had ever known. The remnant had returned from her captivities 16 years earlier, Neh 12:4; Neh 12:16.
Zechariah’s major plea was for Israel to repent immediately, seek to obey God’s will and call for her obedient worship of and service to Him, His basic will for every man, even today, Zec 1:4; 2Pe 3:2. Repentance and righteousness are necessary for men to be in fellowship with God in this age and the Millennial, yet to come. Zechariah’s prophecy of Jesus, as the Messiah, and of Israel, and his allusions to the church of this age, takes in a vast sweep of time and events that reveal God’s plan for Israel from the Assyrian captivities to the second advent of Jesus, and His reign as King of kings, and Lord of lords. At that time a remnant of Israel, and the church, shall be special objects and recipients of God’s covenant promises, to Israel and to the church, the Bride of Jesus Christ, the house that Jesus build, Heb 3:1-6.
WHEN?
Zechariah’s prophecy began in November, 520 B.C., during the second year of the reign of Darius, in or near Jerusalem; and covered a period of time to 487 B.C., about 33 years. For more detail check the chronology chart at the introduction of Haggai who began his ministry in Jerusalem only a short time before Zechariah. The actual prophetic ministry of Haggai, as recorded, covers a little less than four months, while Zechariah’s covers a period of two years, but it is believed both were on hand for most of the four year period the temple was in its resumed completion.
WHAT WAS THE OCCASION?
The occasion of Zechariah’s prophecy was to join Haggai who had motivated the backslidden remnant of Israel, including the people, Zerubbabel the governor of Judah, and Joshua the high priest, to repent of their sins, live righteously, and work faithfully in rebuilding the temple as a spiritual center of their worship and devotions; to worship as in the days of their forefathers, before the captivities.
He sought to dispel gloom, arouse hope, and given assurance to the restored remnant that God had not forgotten His chosen people, for whom He had unconditionally pledged a future state of glory. And even today “every man that has this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure,” 1Jn 3:2-3.
ZECHARIAH – CHAPTER 1
THE REMNANT OF ISRAEL WARNED, V. 1-6
Verses 1-6:
Setting Of The Times And Conditions
Zechariah, like Haggai, prophesied to a remnant of Israel that had some fifteen years earlier returned from the Babylonian captivity. This prophecy begins between the time of the 2nd and 3rd messages of Hag 2:9-10. The rebuilding of the temple was about a month under construction and its lack of beauty of the former temple was disheartening to the people in their labors. Zechariah warns them against becoming discouraged and the danger of turning back in disobedience to God, as their fathers had done. He then sought to cheer them with magnificent visions of the future which God had given to Him, Jos 1:1-8.
Verse 1 relates that in the eighth month (of November) and in the second year of the reign of Darius, as recounted, v. 7; 7:1; the word of the Lord came to this prophet Zechariah of the lineage of Berechiah and Iddo, the prophet, a certain claim to inspiration, Psa 119:160; 2Pe 1:21. See also Ezr 5:1; Neh 12:4. The meaning of the names of these three prophets signifies a Divine purpose to perpetuate and fulfill former covenants God had made with Israel; Zechariah means “Jehovah remembers,” or recalls; Berechiah means “Jehovah will bless,” while Iddo means “the appointed time.”
Verse 2 warns that God had been sorely displeased with the disobedience of their fathers, which had led to their many years of captivity and oppression. He calls upon them to beware lest they selfishly return to a similar state of disobedience and subsequent suffering. They are challenged to awake and arise and go forward with rebuilding the temple of their God with prompt obedience, Hag 1:4; Hag 1:8.
Verse 3 affirms that Zechariah was directed of the Lord to speak to the remnant, calling them to turn back to Him, with the assurances He would turn to bless them; On the other hand they were to recognize that He also had the power to stop production of the “much” they had sown, causing it to “bring in little”, if they walked in disobedient ways, Mal 3:7; Jas 4:8; Jer 3:12; Eze 18:30; Mic 7:19; Hag 1:6.
Verse 4 again warns of the suffering that would befall them should they return to the ways of their disobedient fathers, v. 2; 2Ch 36:15-16. To ignore the voice of the prophets from God (Haggai and Zechariah) they were warned, would bring certain judgment upon them, as their fathers had experienced in ignoring the warnings from prophets of God in their days, 2Ch 24:19; Zec 7:7.
Verse 5 asks them where their fathers and the former prophets are now. They had gone to their graves and their words had become silent. But the Lord’s words “endure forever,” 1Pe 1:25. This remnant of Israel was called to consider the judgment fate that had befallen their fathers, as foretold by prophets of their times. They were previously warned to arouse and build the temple, putting God first in their national life that they might please Him and receive His bounties, Mat 6:33.
Verse 6 assures that the laws and statutes of the Lord are to be obeyed, or men suffer in Divine punishment until they acknowledge the righteousness of His commands and ways. This new generation, back in their homeland, is called upon to obey God in worship and Divine Service or warned that if they neglect doing so they shall suffer a similar punishment that God had sent upon their forefathers so that they were “without excuse,” Rom 2:1; Pro 29:1; Lam 2:17; Jer 4:18; Jer 17:10; Jer 22:2.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
We here learn what we have already stated, — that Haggai and Zechariah were by God joined together, that they might confirm each other’s doctrine, for they had to do with a refractory people: besides, the people had to endure hard and arduous trials, so that they needed more than a common testimony to confirm them. Haggai commenced the work of his office in the sixth month; Zechariah shortly followed him, in the eighth month of the same year. It has already been shown who was the Darius mentioned here; though some interpreters dissent, we may yet learn from certain and indubitable proofs, that he was the son of Hystaspes. We shall again speak of this Darius, when a better occasion will offer itself: I wished only in passing to say thus much.
The word of Jehovah came to Zechariah. We have already said that the word of God comes in two ways to men. God addresses all from the least to the greatest; but in the first place he sends his word especially to his Prophets, to whom he commits the office of teaching. The word of God thus comes to private individuals, and it comes also to teachers, who sustain a public character, and become God’s interpreters or messengers. It was thus that God’s word came to Zechariah, not that he might keep to himself what God had said, but that he might be a faithful dispenser of his truth.
With regard to Zechariah, they are mistaken who regard him as the son of Jehoiadah, they are mistaken by Christ in Mat 23:35. Zechariah is indeed said there to have been killed between the temple and the altar, and he is called the son of Barachiah: (9) but the counting of years will easily prove their mistake, who would have him to be the same Zechariah. The former, who is called in sacred history the son of Jehoiadah the priest, was slain under Joash. Let us now see how many kings succeeded him, and also how many years he reigned. That Zechariah must have been almost two hundred years old at the Babylonian exile, if he was alive, had be been a boy when he was stoned. Now this Zechariah, of whom we now speak, performed the office of a Prophet after the return of the people from exile. He must then have been not only more than a hundred and fifty years of age, but must have exceeded two hundred years when he died. The idea respecting the renascence of men, being a reverie of the Jews, is not worthy of a record, much less of a refutation. He is however called the son of Barachiah; but the probable conjecture is that Jehoiadah the priest had two names, and it does not appear that he was a prophet. However this may be, the Zechariah who was stoned in the temple by the order of the king, was the son of the high priest, and died more than a hundred years before the Babylonian exile. For we have said that this Darius was not the Mede who reigned with Cyrus, but the son of Hystaspes, who reigned a long time after, that is, after Cambyses and the Magi. Their want of knowledge is easily proved, who think that these Prophets were sent by God before the completion of the time mentioned by Jeremiah. As then the seventy years had elapsed, this Prophet was no doubt born after the time when the city was destroyed, the temple pulled-down, and the people led captive into Babylon. I come now to the doctrine itself.
(9) He is called the son of Ezra, chapter 5:1; but the word son, in Hebrew, means often a grandson or a descendant: “ Omnes qui in gradibus descendentibus sunt Hebraei filios vocant.” — Grotius.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE RIDER OF THE RED HORSE IN THE MIDST OF THE MYRTLES
Zec 1:1-17
WE begin now this series of studies on the Book of Zechariah. By way of introduction to this discourse let me remind you that according to the Sacred Record, Zechariah was the son of Berechiah, and the grandson of Iddo, a descendant of a priestly tribe (Neh 12:4). He, with others, had suffered in the Babylonish captivity, but while yet a youth returned to Jerusalem to be associated with Zerubbabelthe king, Joshuathe priest, and Haggai, the Prophet.
It may be accepted as a fairly established fact that he began his prophecies in August, 520 B.C., and according to the text seems to have concluded them in December, 518 B.C. Evidently there were several objects to be accomplished by the prophecies of this man. First of all he joins forces with Haggai in a successful appeal for the reconstruction of the Temple and the restoration of Israels public worship.
Again, he sought to encourage the downcast among the people. God gave to him the strange visions here recorded, that Israel might be enheartened for her labor of rebuilding, and inflamed in her affection for Jehovah.
But there was a more remote meaning of these visions, and one far more important, in that they extend to the times of the Gentiles, declare the part Gods chosen people are to play in the last days, and plainly prophesy the Coming of the King of Glory to set up His throne in the midst of the people, and reign in person over the whole known world.
George Adam Smith cannot understand why a Prophet, evidently accustomed to the plainest and most straightforward speech, should become involved in a style which seems stilted, difficult, redundant. But John, the Apostle, solves for us that difficulty. His Gospel is an inspired narrative of events and declaration of great doctrines; and the style is simple, smooth-flowing, easily understood; while the apocalypse is the plan of the ages and requires for its bold outlines and spectacular features, speech-pictorial, graphic, grandiloquent.
Zechariah combines these opposite dictions in one volume, for he is both a Prophet and Seer a man sent of God to plead before his own age and people the practical duties of devoted living; and yet, by way of prediction, to lay bare the Divine purpose concerning the centuries to come.
In taking up this specific study of these seventeen verses, we will discuss them under three heads:The Revelation to Zechariah; The Rider of the Red Horse; and The Restoration of Israel.
THE REVELATION TO ZECHARIAH
In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the Word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the Prophet, saying,
The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers.
Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts; Turn ye unto Me, saith the Lord of Hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of Hosts.
Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former Prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto Me, saith the Lord.
Your fathers, where are they? and the Prophets, do they live for ever?
But My Words and My Statutes, which I commanded My servants the Prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the Lord of Hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath He dealt with us (Zec 1:1-6).
This Revelation had to do with the Prophets people. He, like the other Old Testament Prophets, is pleading the cause of his own. You will remember how dear these ancient people were to Moses. When that great man found that his people had sinned a great sin he said, Now I will go up unto the Lord; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin. And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if Thou wilt forgive their sin, and if not, blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy Book which Thou hast written (Exo 32:30-32).
That is the expression of ones love for his own; a love divinely inspired. God never condemned David for the tears he wept over Absalom, his wayward son, notwithstanding Absaloms unworthiness, since Absalom was Davids own. One of the pathetic declarations of the New Testament is that inspired sentence of Joh 1:11,
He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.
We cannot forget that the great Apostle expressed this same sentiment, I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh (Rom 9:1-3). If it be true that God requires of a man to provide for his own, or else have lodged against him the indictment of being worse than an infidel, surely we can understand that He moves along the line of natural affection when He raises up a Prophet to plead with his people to return to God; and with God, to pity them, to have compassion upon them; and that is the very first feature of Zechariahs revelation.
This revelation seems to have come in the consequence of prayer.
I saw by 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 were there red horses, speckled, and white,
Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the Angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be,
And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth,
And they answered the Angel of the Lord that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth stilt, and is at rest,
Then the Angel of the Lord answered and said, O Lord 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?
And the Lord answered the Angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words (Zec 1:8-13),
Some say this was a dreamI doubt it; I think it rather a vision. If the eyes of the Prophet were closed it was not in sleep; but in prayer. I agree with F. B. Meyer that in all likelihood not far from the Prophets home there was a great valley or bottom, filled with graceful myrtle trees amidst which a water-course had its way, and thither he was accustomed to resort for prayer, as our Lord retired among the olive trees outside of Jerusalem. It is probable that ever since the exiles return from Babylon he had paced this green plot pouring out his heart in cries like those afterward uttered by the Angel,O Lord 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?
The man who truly loves God will find Him in the open field, find Him in the shadows of the thick standing trees, and hear His voice in the sound of the passing stream.
I remember to have read some years ago the Life of Charles Spurgeon, by Ellis; and to have been profoundly impressed by a reminiscence which that peerless preacher expressed in these words,
When a little child, I lived some years in my grandfathers house. In his garden there was a fine old hedge of yew of considerable length, which was clipped and trimmed till it made quite a wall of verdure. Behind it was a wide grass walk which looked out upon the field, and afforded a quiet outlook. The grass was kept mown, so as to make pleasant walking. Here, ever since the old puritanic chapel was built, Godly divines had walked, and prayed, and meditated. My grandfather was wont to use it as his study. Up and down he would walk when preparing his sermons, and always on Sabbath Days, when it was fair, he had half an hour there before preaching. To me it seemed to be a perfect paradise, and being forbidden to stay there when grandfather was meditating, I viewed it with no small degree of awe. I love to think of the green and quiet walk at this moment, and could wish for just such a study.
It may be a fancy, but I wonder if it is not a fact, that Moses had a praying place on the back side of the desert, in the mountains of God, in the shadow of a bush, and it was that bush that burst into a flame of fire, And, behold, the bush burned * * and was not consumed. Out of the midst of it God spake unto him, Moses, Moses. * * Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
He must therefore have been near it, under its very boughs, and there, where he had been wont to pray, God revealed Himself, and told him how He had seen the affliction of His people in Egypt, and had heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, and knew their sorrow, and had decided to send him to Pharaoh that he might bring forth that people out of Egypt.
Ah, men, the reason why so many never hear the voice of God is found in the fact that they have no trysting place where they meet the gracious Father face to face and tell Him their love, speak their petitions, and receive His revelations.
Jesus Christ knew the secrets of resisting temptation; Jesus Christ knew how to find the Father; how to secure His favor; and Christ prescribed the meeting place where the soul should be shut in with God, and all the secrets of that holy communion could be spoken in confidence:
Enter into thy closet, awl when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is m secret; and thy Father which seeth in Secret shall reward thee openly (Mat 6:6).
Oh, men,tempted, tried, overturned, torn, would you not have won many a victory had you known such a meeting place with God as is beautifully symbolized by this cluster of myrtles?
That place of prayer was converted into a vision of power. When, on that evening in August, 520 B.C., Zechariah walked into this valley he saw nothing at first but the thick standing myrtles, and the clear flowing stream. It was a resort for his weakness. When he felt most incompetent, most discouraged, most downcast, he ran away there as to a refuge from troubles; as to a place of counsel with a trusted friend.
The Apostle said, When I am weak, then am I strong. On this night the Prophets sense of personal weakness was soon lost in the visions of Divine power revealed to him. Ah, friends, there is more help at hand than the most of us know. The very air about us is tremulous with the flutter of angels wings, the tramp of Gods war-chargers, the whirl of Gods chariots of help! Do you not remember that time in Elishas life when the king had sent thither horses and chariotsa great host to take him captive, and the Prophets servant, seeing them come against him, cried,
Alas, my master! how shall we do?
And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.
And Elisha prayed, and send, Lord, I pray Thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha (2Ki 6:15-17).
We are accustomed to think that the very air is surcharged with evil spirits; that they are everywhere. You cannot turn but you are tried; you cannot walk the streets or sit in your offices or find any corner in your own houses but Satans whisper will follow you there; and when you think of the whole company of agents at his command, one is tempted to cry with the servant, Alas * * how shall we do? But, beloved, our God is not without resources with which to meet the adversary. Christ said to Peter, when that servant was tempted to resist the devil with his own hand, Put up again thy sword into his place: * * Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray My Father, and He shall presently give Me more than twelve legions of angels? In other words, If I asked it, God would send against these enemies such an overwhelming force as to utterly defeat and destroy them, and give Me deliverance. I do not know what enemy may have come against you, whether it be a lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, the pride of life; I do not know what particular form your temptation may take, nor do I know how often it may have overcome you, cast you down; but, oh, I do know, I know out of personal experience, I know from a somewhat extended observation, I know by the promises of God, that the man who meets every temptation on bended knees, pleading with God for help will find the Rider of the red horse come to his aid! The reason so many men fail is that they have forgotten, or neglected the Divine Resources; and, like Peter, have attempted to resist in their own power instead of petitioning the Infinite power of God. When Augustine walked in the midst of the statuary of great men he remarked, I notice that most of your conquerors are presented as in standing posture. If ever I am pictured in statuary let it be upon my knees, for there only have I been able to see my enemies vanquished, and secured unto myself victory.
THE RIDER OF THE RED HORSE
Doubtless many an unaided student of the Word sees little or nothing in such language as this,
I saw by 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 were there red horses, speckled, and white.
Then said I, O my Lord, what are these? And the Angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be.
And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.
And they answered the Angel of the Lord that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We home walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.
Then the Angel of the Lord answered and said, O Lord 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?
And the Lord answered the Angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words (Zec 1:8-13).
What is the significance of such language? This can be answered by reminding you of three assertions.
FirstHe was the angel of carnage; Second He was the Captain of the Heavenly Hosts; and, ThirdHe was Israels successful Intercessor.
The Angel of carnage!
Behold a man riding upon a red horse.
This color denoted blood, and in that very circumstance describes the Person who now appeals to the Prophet. He was the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world. The very office of Christ calls for blood-stained garments. He was dyed in His own. The promise of conquest against His enemies suggests the same. Two or three centuries before this time Isaiah had written, Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in His apparel, travelling in the greatness of His strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Thou shalt call His Name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins. But the Prophet is not content, and he asks another question, Wherefore art Thou red in Thine apparel, and Thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine fat? The reply is, I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with Me:
Oh, how true to the experience of Christ! He said of His coming crucifixion, In that hour I will be alone. But He is not only to be dyed with that experience, for He adds, concerning His enemies, I will tread them in Mine anger, and trample them in My fury: and their blood shall be sprinkled upon My garments, and I will stain all My raiment.
Beloved, whether the coming of the Rider of the red horse shall prove to anyone of us a Savior, and hence of unspeakable consolation, or a condemning judge, and hence of unimaginable terror, depends entirely upon whether we surrender to Him, and let His Blood cleanse us from sin; or rebel against Him and feel the tread of His feet in judgment.
We might elaborate upon the awful end of rebels against the Rider of the red horse. But we prefer, rather, to speak concerning the efficacy of His atoning Blood. It is only because He has consented to have His own heart opened and to be clothed upon in scarlet, that He can now say to sinners: Come now, and let us reason together, * * though your sins he as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Having suffered the Just for the unjust, God can remain a God of justice and yet acquit the sinner who surrenders to His Son.
An Irishman once said to Charles Spurgeon, Your Riverence, I have come to ask you a question. Mr. Spurgeon replied, I am not a Reverend, nor do I claim the title, but what is your question?
Well, your honor, I cant see how God can be just and yet forgive sin. I have been so guilty that if God Almighty doesnt punish me, He ought. And Mr. Spurgeon explained to him, If a man violated the law and was condemned to be hanged and his elder brother appeared and suffered the penalty for him, then the condemned brother must, in strict righteousness, be set free. And the Irishman answered, Sure, and I see it! They could not hang two for one thing! The day they hanged the brother he could walk out free, and not a policeman that would touch him for it.
That is so, said Spurgeon, and Jesus has stood in our stead; He has died that we might not die. He has consented to have His garments dyed in His own Blood, that by its shedding you might be free. And the Irishman said, Oh, faith, and I see it! Clapping his hands he added, That is the Gospel! If it is not then I dont know anything, for no man could have made up that! It is too wonderful! Wonderful!
And as he started down the stairs he said, Sure and Pat is safe now, for He did die for me and God will not condemn two for the one thing!
Men and women, that is the meaning of the Rider on the red horse! He is the Angel of carnage; accept His Blood and you are saved; reject it and your own must be shed at the last day, for the soul that sinneth, it shall die. But the Rider of the red horse says, Him that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation.
There is a fountain filled with Blood,Drawn from Immanuels veins;And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,Lose all their guilty stains.
The dying thief rejoiced to seeThat fountain in his day;And there may I, though vile as he,Wash all my sins away.
The Captain of the Heavenly Host. This Rider of the red horse was evidently in command of those who were on the red horses, sorrel and white. They reported to him and he answered for them. That is the office of our Christ! He is Captain and Leader. The Word of the Lord is, Behold, I have given Him for a Witness to the people; a Leader and Commander to the people. Concerning this One it is written, Unto Him shall the gathering of the people be.
Oh, what a Captain; what a Leader! Of whom else could God say, I have laid help upon One that is mighty; I have exalted One chosen out of the people. Truly it is wisdom when men accept as their commander and leader, Him, whom God hath appointed to that office!
Blaine, in his Twenty Years of Congress says, concerning Henry Clay, In the rare combination of qualities which constitute at once the matchless leader of party, and the statesman of consummate ability, and inexhaustible resources, he has never been surpassed. While Ridpath, in his United States History declares that the choice of John Winthrop as leader of the Puritans who landed in this country in 1630, was a piece of special good fortune, and makes this comment on Winthrops character, Calm, prudent, and peaceable, he joined the zeal of an enthusiast with the sublime faith of a martyr, but, all such leaders are lost to the public view when brought into the presence of this Captain of the Heavenly host. Truly He is the Chiefest among ten thousand. And even the great captains of the past must join with the people in saying
All hail the powr of Jesus Name,Let angels prostrate fall!Bring forth the royal diadem,And crown Him Lord of all!
O young men, blush when you follow some one of your sinful fellows into his evil customs and habits; but never be ashamed to rise and call Christ the Captain of your salvation!
And, Israels successful Intercessor!
Then the Angel of the Lord answered and said, O Lord of Hosts how long wit Thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which Thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years?
And the Lord answered the Angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words (Zec 1:12-13).
One priest who always prevails with God is the Great High Priest, even Jesus. When Esther went into the presence of the king and pleaded for her own, her petition was granted. How blessed that soul for whom Christ intercedes with God! Oh, sinner, remember His Words to the unworthy Peter,Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, and start up in hope, for Christ prays also for you: and His prayers are not in vain!
Wilbur Chapman relates how in 1517, there was a great riot in London in which houses were sacked and a general insurrection reigned; three hundred were arrested, tried and hanged; five hundred more were cast into prison and were to be tried before the king, Henry VIII. As he sat in state on the throne the door opened and in they came, every man with a rope about his neck, but before he could pass sentence three queens appeared,Catherine of Aragon, his wife; Margaret of Scotland, his sister, and Mary of France. At the feet of his Majesty they fell, pleading the pardon of these five hundred men, and they never left off until the king spake the word which set the sinful, trembling, company free. Blessed be God, His great Son is now making intercession for us; and if we will only accept Him as the High Priest of our souls He will bring to us, from God, the sentence of pardon; and the sense of peace, for He is the successful Intercessorthe one Angel to whom God answers with good words and comfortable words for the penitent.
Briefly,
THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL
So the Angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy (Zec 1:14).
God is jealous for His own. Beloved, that spirit of jealousy, so awful when it exists without occasion, is the best evidence of loyalty and love when it only seeks to guard and save its own; hence God says: I the Lord thy God am a jealous God. How many times He complains of His people They have moved Me to jealousy with their idols; They provoke Me to jealousy with their gods. The Psalmist says concerning apostate Israel, They * * moved Him to jealousy with their graven images.
Our human experiences ought to teach us how God feels when we consort with sinners, and practice iniquity. Sometime since a man who committed suicide in Chicago wrote a poem in explanation of his awful act, and told the love-story of his life in these words:
A womans lips; a womans eyes,
A siren all in all;
A modern Circe fit to cause
The strongest man to fall;
A wedded life, some blissful years,
And poverty drops in,
With care and doubt and liquor
From whisky down to gin.
The story told by Tolstoi,
In comparison with mine,
Is moonlight unto sunlight
As water unto wine.
The jealous pangs I suffered,
The hideous nights of woe,
I pray no other mortal
May ever undergo.
But what can mortal jealousy be to that which the great God, whose love for us is infinite and always undefiled, feels when we consort with the world, indulge the lusts of the flesh, and keep confidences with Satan?
If there is any class of people who must give sorrow to God it is those who once named His Name but now play the harlot against Him. Oh, backsliderrebel son, prodigal daughterI wish that you might know the bitterness that you have brought to the heart of Him who loved you, and laid down His life for you, for I believe that the sight of such sorrow would break your heart and bring you back to Him again who has been jealous with a great jealousy.
God is displeased with their opponents.
I am very sore displeased with the heathen * * for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction (Zec 1:15).
Men and women, be careful how you oppose Gods people; be careful what sentence you pass upon them; what curses you speak against them. Inasmuch as you do these things unto the least of these His brethren ye do them unto Christ.
A good friend of mine, a minister of the Gospel, laid down his clergymans permit at a railroad office window and asked for a ticket. Hearing muttered profanity on the part of the agent he inquired of a bystander what it might mean. He answered, He is swearing at you. At me? Yes, at you! You are a minister of the Gospel and nothing makes him so mad!
Christ said to His own, Love one another * * If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you. * * He that hateth Me hateth My Father also. * * But this cometh to pass, that the Word might be fulfilled that is written in their Law, They hated Me without a cause.
Oh! man, woman, why do you reject Jesus Christ; why do you resist His Spirit; why do you refuse to have Him rule over you; why do you deny Him your hearts love? Have you not read, If we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the Truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses Law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God?
God pledges prosperity to His oppressed people. This is a true prophetic vision; it concludes with a blessed promise, I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: My House shall be built in it, saith the Lord of Hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth over Jerusalem. * * My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.
When is God going to comfort Zion? When He comes in the person of that Christ whose presence will be the believers joy! When is He going to choose Jerusalem? When He appears a second time in glory and power. No wonder the grand John Newton wrote:
Glorious things of thee are spoken,
Zion, city of our God;
He whose Word can neer be broken
Framed thee for His own abode.
Lord, Thy Church is still Thy dwelling,
Still is precious in Thy sight;
Judahs Temple far excelling,
Beaming with the Gospels light.
On the Rock of Ages founded,
What can shake her sure repose?
With salvations wall surrounded,
She can smile at all her foes.
Round her habitation hovering
See the cloud and fire appear,
For a glory and a covering,
Showing that the Lord is near.
So much for the first vision, or dream, of Zechariah. If it was a vision granted to a man walking in the midst of the myrtles with wide-open eyes, may God teach us its true meaning; and if it was a dream, sent to him in a deep sleep, God show us also that it was given for our sakes. God can teach us by dreams.
Recently I spent some days in a farmhouse in Kentucky, and the good deacon who dwelt there told me how he had been bereft in the loss of his wife, a woman beautiful to look upon, and whose Christian character made her more beautiful still. Sometime before she went they had suffered together the loss of a little girl, and in their deep sorrow wondered why God should have permitted death to snatch her away. But some months later their oldest son, whose irreligious life had given them deepest sorrow, dreamed that this dear baby sisterwho had been his idolcame back to his chamber in angel form and said, as she clung about his neck, Brother, why have you rejected Christ? Father loves Him, mother loves Him, sister loves Him, my younger brother loves Him, and oh, how I love Him; and remembering that you had rejected Him I asked the Lord to let me come back and plead with you to accept His love!
The experience was so vivid that it awakened him out of his sleep. After a restless remainder of the night he appeared at the breakfast table, told us what had happened, asked us to pray for him, and there and then he was redeemed.
Are not the angels our ministering spirits, sent forth to minister unto them who are to be the heirs of salvation?
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Zec. 1:2. Sore] Lit. displeased with displeasure, wrath not common, whose greatness is given as a ground for their return.
Zec. 1:3. Therefore] Lit. and thou sayest, or must say. Return] (cf. Mal. 3:7; Jas. 4:8) Amendment of life and return to work not enough; conversion must be thorough. The threefold thus saith the Lord, shows the importance of the admonition, and indicates the boundless power of God.
Zec. 1:4. Fathers] Warning to shun the example of their predecessors, who were disobedient. Former prophets] before captivity.
HOMILETICS
THE PROPHETS COMMISSION.Zec. 1:1-3
Zechariah was sent to console and encourage Gods people in distress. But the ground must be prepared Law before gospel, repentance before blessing. Hence in the first words we have the key-note to his message, and the introduction to his labours. In the prophets commission we have
I. Its Divine origin. The word of the Lord came to himhis call was Divine not human, real not fanciful; a token of Gods great work among his people, and a guarantee that it would be successfully carried on.
II. Its solemn nature. Therefore, say unto them, that God was angry with their fathers, and will be with them if they repent not. The first message is one of warning and judgment. He has to set forth the justice and assert the prerogative of God in the government of the world. Men consider Divine displeasure to be an unreasonable disturbance of their ease, and an impeachment upon the Divine character. But Gods anger is real and terrible. It is visible in providence and in nature. Wrath and threatening are invariably mingled with love; and in the utmost solitudes of nature, the existence of hell seems to me as legibly declared by a thousand spiritual utterances as of heaven [Ruskin]. Persistent attempts are made to deny and evade this fact. Sin blinds men, and makes them transfer their own views to God. Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee (Psa. 50:21).
III. Its inward pressure. The words in Zec. 1:2 were delivered to the prophet, and contain the reason for the summons to the people in Zec. 1:3. They disclose to us the internal pressure under which he entered upon his office. A due sense of the power of Gods wrath lies at the basis of all true earnestness on the part of his prophets. It is the burning fire shut up in the bones (Jer. 20:9), which imparts its own vehemence to the message, and produces corresponding conviction in them that hear. We observe it in the Prophet of all prophets, the Saviour himself. His groaning in spirit at the grave of Lazarus, his tears over Jerusalem, show how deeply he felt the terribleness of Gods anger [Lange]. There is a great demand now for honest, enlightened, and seasonable speech in the Christian ministry. We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard (Act. 4:20; Job. 32:18-20; Act. 18:5).
THE CALL TO REPENTANCE.Zec. 1:3-4
Like John the Baptist, Zechariah begins his preaching with a call to repentance, and warns the people, by the history of their fathers, that no spiritual privileges will profit them without holiness, but rather will aggravate their guilt and increase their condemnation if they disobey God. He declares to them that no outward profession of religion will avail; that all notions of self-righteousness are offensive to God; and that what he looks for is personal holiness, and a practical discharge of the duties of piety and mercy [Wordsworth].
I. They had need to repent. Therefore, say unto them, Turn ye.
1. Their return was defective. God had delivered them from captivity, and stirred them to work; but zeal without real conversion will soon die out. We must give our whole heart to God, leave self-interest behind, and seek nearer access. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.
2. Their delay would be dangerous.
(1) Disobedience would be imitation of their fathers. Be ye not as your fathers. Precedents have great influence. Men decry good, but follow evil customs. The sin of Jeroboam was held sacred by his successors. But we should be warned by the sins, and deterred by the punishment, of our fathers. They did not hear nor hearken unto me.
(2) Disobedience would bring Gods displeasure upon them. God was sore displeased with their fathers, and would be with them if they refused to turn. Heavier scourges were ready, and symptoms of displeasure already appeared in sowing much to bring in little (Hag. 1:6). Gods dealings with the past are designed to instruct the present generation. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples (types): and they are written for our admonition (instruction) (1Co. 10:11).
II. They had encouragement to repent. And I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of Hosts. This promise was a motive and a help to them. The duty would be difficult, if not impossible, but for this encouragement. God is always found of those who seek him. If we desire God to turn to us, we must return to him. The flower turned from the sun can never catch its genial rays.
1. The promise is necessary. We require something positive. We are saved by hope. The beginning of religious life and duty is often a kind of venture. Hence failure and turning back.
2. The promise is certain. We have not mere possibility or probability, but certainty; assurance which cannot deceive. I will.
3. The promise is confirmed. Israel returned to God, and he returned to them. Manasseh sought the Lord and found him. The prodigal went home and was received. Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you; for I am merciful, saith the Lord (Jer. 3:12; Mal. 3:7; Eze. 18:30).
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Zec. 1:4.
1. The advantages of their fathers. The former prophets enforced the law, and proclaimed the word of God; exhorted to repentance; and predicted Divine judgments.
2. The guilt of their fathers. But they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the Lord. Their guilt aggravated by their privileges. Unto me. God was in the voice of prophets, but was despised. He that receiveth you, receiveth me. We learn here that the examples set up as a a shield for wrong-doing are so far from becoming of any weight before God that they enhance our guilt. Yet this folly infatuates many, for the Papists claim their religion to be holy and irreprehensible because it has been handed down by their fathers [Calvin]. Ancient example and long usage will not justify disobedience (2Ch. 26:15-16) [Fausset].
No mercy without return, and no return without mercy. Haste that you may not be overtaken.
1. Haste, for your day of grace is short, and even the messengers of grace are passing away.
2. If once you are overtaken, your eyes will open too late, and only with trembling lips can you give honour to the Lord [Lange]. Evil ways. The ways and works of the earlier generations are called evil; in the first instance, because they were morally corrupt, and also because they were followed by sore consequences [Lange].
Zec. 1:3; Zec. 4:1. Sin creates distance from God. The sinner is alienated in heart, and turned back from God in his works and pursuits.
2. Repentance is a full return to God. Not partial amendment, but entire renunciation of sin, and coming close up to God in reconciliation and fellowship.
3. God calls men to this repentance. Say unto them. His voice is heard in the ministry. His judgments rightly studied declare his will, and are often suspended till we return. But some return, and others do not.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 1
Zec. 1:2-3. Turn. Let every man that would avoid a return to his former iniquity, be infinitely careful to avoid every new sin, for it is like a blow to a broken leg, or a burden to a crushed arm. Every little thing disorders the new health and unfinished recovery. [J. Taylor.]
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XXVI
INTRODUCTION TO SECTION I
Zec. 1:1-6
RV . . . 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, 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. 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 doing: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith Jehovah. Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever? 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.
LXX . . . In the eighth month, in the second year of the reign of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, the son of Barachias, the son of Addo, the prophet, saying, The Lord has been very angry with your fathers. And thou shalt say to them, Thus saith the Lord Almighty; Turn to me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn to you, saith the Lord of hosts. And be ye not as your fathers, whom the prophets before charged, saying, Thus saith the Lord Almighty; Turn ye from your evil ways, and from your evil practices: but they hearkened not, and attended not to hearken to me, saith the Lord. Where are your fathers, and the prophets? Will they live for ever? But do ye receive my words and mine ordinances, all that I command by my spirit to my servants the prophets, who lived in the days of your fathers; and they answered and said, As the Lord Almighty determined to do to us, according to our ways, and according to our practices, so has he done to us.
COMMENTS
(Zec. 1:1) As was indicated in the previous chapter, Zechariahs date is easily determined, The first decree permitting 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.
Zec. 1:1 states that the word of Jehovah came to the prophet in the second year of Darius, which of course is 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. 2Ch. 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 sanctuary and the altar. (cf. Mat. 23:35) Possibly, since Jesus is reckoning 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.
(Zec. 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!)
(Zec. 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 I will return to you. was the plea of Jehovah through all His Old Testament prophets. (e.g. Mal. 3:7)
(Zec. 1:4-6) 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. Heb. 10:31)
Their fathers had been similarly warned and had not heeded. Consequently, the punishment of Jehovah had fallen. Zechariahs plea is Be ye not as your fathers.
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.
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.
Chapter XXVIQuestions
Introduction to Section I
1.
Identify Zechariah the prophet.
2.
Why does Zechariah remind the returnees of the pre-exilic sin of their fathers?
3.
Which verse is the key note of the entire book of Zechariah?
4.
Discuss the term Jehovah of hosts.
5.
What does Zechariah mean by Be not as your fathers?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) The prophet is (in spite of the accents), no doubt, to be referred to Zechariah. (See further in my Hebrew Student Commentary.) LXX., , in which appears to be a corruption of , caused by the common Greek collocation . . . .
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
(1-6) On the four-and-twentieth day of the sixth mouth of the second year (B.C. 520) of Darius Hystaspis, the re-building of the Temple had been resumed (Hag. 1:15); and in the seventh month, on the twenty-first of that month, the prophet Haggai had foretold the latter glory of this house shall be greater than its former (Hag. 2:9); and now, but a few weeks later, Zechariah receives his mission. He is commanded to exhort the people to avoid such punishments as fell on their fathers, and to make themselves worthy of the glory which should be revealed, by turning unto the Lord with sincere repentance.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1. The title.
Eighth month Called before the exile Bul (1Ki 6:38); after the exile, by the Babylonian name Marcheshvan. It corresponds to the latter part of October and the early part of November.
Second year of Darius See on Hag 1:1. Zechariah delivered his first message about two months after Haggai’s first appearance. The day of the month is not given; some have thought that it has dropped out accidentally, which may be possible; but it is by no means certain that it was there originally.
Zechariah See Introduction, p. 571.
Son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo See Introduction, p. 571 (compare Ezr 5:1; Ezr 6:14).
The prophet Refers to Zechariah, not to Iddo. CALL TO REPENTANCE, 2-6.
In these verses Zechariah urges his contemporaries to return to Jehovah, in order that they may enjoy once more the divine favor. He reinforces this exhortation by an appeal to the experiences of their ancestors, who suffered severe punishments because they disregarded the teaching of the prophets. The disobedience of the present generation may be followed by a similar catastrophe.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
God’s Call to the People to Return to Him and Live in Obedience to His Demands – The Offer of a New Beginning ( Zec 1:1-6 ).
Zechariah is the prophet of the new beginning, but as is always so with God, if there is to be a new beginning there must be repentance, and so his work commences with a call to repentance.
Zec 1:1-3
‘In the eight month, in the second year of Darius, the word of YHWH came to Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying “YHWH has been sore displeased with your fathers. Therefore you say to them, ‘Return to me’, says YHWH of Hosts, ‘and I will return to you’, says YHWH of Hosts”.’
The dating of the section in terms of Darius, king of Persia, indicates Jerusalem’s subservient position. She has no king by which the dating can be indicated. She is merely a small dot in a much larger Persian province.
Zechariah’s first charge is to call the people to repentance from past sin. This is, as ever, the first requirement when God is about to act. In the same way John the Baptiser would come preparing the way for the coming of Jesus (Mat 3:1-2).
He is to remind the people of God’s displeasure with the sins of their ancestors which had resulted in the exile. And to warn them that they too are incurring God’s displeasure, because, in spite of a new beginning, they are neglecting the work of God and not listening to His voice. He warns them that they must return to God and His ways. If they do so they can be sure of one thing, that God will return to them and act on their behalf. Thus as ever the success of God’s people will depend from a human point of view on their response, and their attitude and obedience towards Him.
He wants them to recognise that God has begun His new work. That is why they are back in the land. But he warns them that He will not bring them success unless there is a true response of heart from them. His sovereign activity must be accompanied by obedience. The very fact that the Temple has not been properly built and established is a sign that all is not well with their devotion to God.
‘YHWH of Hosts’. It is the God of the covenant (YHWH) and Lord of all creation (of Hosts, the hosts of heaven and earth and of all within them) Who is speaking to them. He is keeping His part in the covenant by restoring them to the land. They must respond by obeying His laws and living to please Him in every way. Note the twofold stress on YHWH of Hosts. The twofold witness stresses the truth of what is said (Deu 19:15).
‘Of hosts’ is a reminder that, while they have no army, the hosts of Heaven and earth are at their disposal if they are true to Him. The term includes the angelic heavenly ‘hosts’ as well as the universe, the sun, moon and stars, and all that is in the earth (Gen 2:1). Thus those who truly respond will not lack for resources.
Zec 1:4
“Do not be like your fathers to whom the former prophets cried, saying, ‘Thus says YHWH of Hosts, return you now from your evil ways and from your evil doings.’ But they did not hear or listen to me, says YHWH.”
They are to learn a lesson from what happened to those who were before them. God had in the past called on their fathers to repent, to leave behind their evil ways and their evil activities. He had sent prophets to them to plead with them and warn them. But they had refused to listen to those prophets and in so doing had refused to listen to God. That indeed was why disaster had befallen them. Now the restored people are in danger of doing the same. They are letting the cares of the world interfere with their allegiance to God. His hearers must now make sure that they do listen to God’s messengers and respond. In the end sin, of whatever kind, is direct disobedience to God.
‘The former prophets.’ This is the first use of the term. Here it refers to the pre-exilic prophets. Compare Jer 35:17; and see Jer 25:4-5; Jer 18:11.
The lesson taught here is one that we must all learn, and that is not to be so wrapped up in earthly affairs that we neglect what is really important.
Zec 1:5-6
“Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live for ever? But my words and my statutes which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers?”
God reminds them that man’s life is temporary. Man is like the grass that quickly withers (Psa 103:15). In a short while it is gone. On the other hand God’s purposes are permanent, indeed the only real permanence in a changing world. For their fathers this had meant only judgment because of their disobedience. Now they too must consider their ways. They cannot therefore afford to keep putting things off. They must choose between their fleeting ways or God’s permanent activity.
The fathers died. The prophets also died. For even those men of God had only a temporary existence. So man is as grass that flourishes, and then wilts and dies. And the consequences of the sins of their fathers overtook their fathers. Their brief, fleeting lives were spoiled because of their disobedience. The question is, Do they want the same thing to happen to them?
Thus his hearers must remember that it is God and His ways which alone are permanent, and respond accordingly. Let them note that what He had warned through His prophets took place. Their fathers did suffer the consequences of their refusal to listen and respond, and, indeed, they themselves are still suffering the consequences to this very day. So they would be wise to consider their ways.
This is ever the choice that faces the people of God. Will they live for what is passing and temporary, or will they concentrate on what is eternal and everlasting? (see 2Co 4:18).
Zec 1:6
‘And they turned and said, ‘Just as YHWH of Hosts thought to do to us, according to our ways and according to our doings, so has he dealt with us’.”
The people acknowledge that what the prophet says is true. They and their fathers have reaped the consequences of sin, and those consequences are their own fault for they have resulted from their own failure to follow God’s ways, choosing rather to walk in their own ways. They have not obeyed God but have chosen to do what they wanted rather than what He wanted. God has thus done to them what He determined to do in such circumstances.
‘They turned.’ His words have woken them up to their state and they declare that they have now learned their lesson and have resolved to change. The verb could equally well be translated ‘returned’. The turning leads to returning. Either way it indicates that they have responded to God’s word to them.
Note the double stress all the way through on ‘their ways’ and ‘their doings’. If our hearts are set on the right way then what we do will also be right. But if our hearts are set on the selfish ways then our doings will be similar. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
God Reminds Israel of the Stubbornness of their Fathers – God’s words of destruction upon Judah came to pass around 589 B.C.
Zec 1:1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,
Zec 1:1
[6] Douglas Stuart, Hosea-Jonah, in Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 31 (Dallas, Texas: Word, Incorporated, 2002), in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004), comments on “General Introduction,” and “The Canonical Order of Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, and Jonah.”
Comments The Manner in which Divine Oracles were Delivered unto the Prophets – God spoke through the Old Testament prophets in various ways, as the author of the epistle of Hebrews says, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets” (Heb 1:1). The Lord spoke divine oracles ( ) through the Old Testament prophets in three general ways, as recorded in the book of Hosea, “I have also spoken by the prophets, and have multiplied visions; I have given symbols through the witness of the prophets.” (Hos 12:10) ( NKJV) In other words, the prophets spoke to Israel through the words they received, they described divine visions to the people, and they acted out as divine drama an oracle from the Lord.
(1) The Word of the Lord Came to the Prophets – God gave the prophets divine pronouncements to deliver to the people, as with Hos 1:1. The opening verses of a number of prophetic books say, “the word of the Lord came to the prophet” Thus, these prophets received a divine utterance from the Lord.
(2) The Prophets Received Divine Visions – God gave the prophets divine visions ( ), so they prophesied what they saw ( ) (to see). Thus, these two Hebrew words are found in Isa 1:1, Oba 1:1, Nah 1:1, and Hab 1:1. Ezekiel saw visions ( ) of God.
(3) God Told the Prophets to Deliver Visual Aids as Symbols of Divine Oracles – God asked the prophets to demonstrate divine oracles to the people through symbolic language. For example, Isaiah walked naked for three years as a symbol of Assyria’s dominion over Egypt and Ethiopia (Isa 20:1-6). Ezekiel demonstrated the siege of Jerusalem using clay tiles (Eze 4:1-3), then he laid on his left side for many days, then on his right side, to demonstrate that God will require Israel to bear its iniquities.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
A Call to Repentance
v. 1. In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius v. 2. The Lord hath been sore displeased v. 3. Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts v. 4. Be ye not as your fathers, v. 5. Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? v. 6. But My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants, the prophets,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Verse 1-6:15
Part I. A SERIES OF EIGHT VISIONS, AND A SYMBOLICAL ACTION.
Zec 1:1
1. Title of the book, and author. The eighth month. This was called Bul before the Captivity (1Ki 6:38), and afterwards Marchesvan (Josephus, ‘Ant.,’ 1.3 3); it answered to parts of October and November, and was a time of rain. Haggai had first prophesied two months earlier. The second year of Darius. Being now under foreign rule, the prophet uses the regnal years of the king to whom his people were subject (see note on Hag 1:1). Son of Berechiah (see Introduction, II.). The prophet. This appellation belongs to “Zechariah,” as the LXX. and Vulgate take it. A comma should be inserted after “Iddo” here and in verse 7. Saying. The visions virtually spoke to him, communicated to him the Lord’s will; but first he has to deliver the following warning.
Zec 1:2-6
2. The prophet admonishes the people not to follow their forefathers’ evil example, but to turn to the Lord with all their heart.
Zec 1:2
Hath been sore displeased; literally, displeased with displeasure, which the versions render, : iratus iracundia (cf. Zec 1:15). Not only events connected with their earlier history proved that God had been incensed with their forefathers, but the ruin of their kingdom, and the late Captivity, and the desolation around them, were evidence of the same sad truth.
Zec 1:3
Say thou unto them. The prophet shows why he has reminded them of their forefathers’ sins and punishment. Saith the Lord of hosts. The expression recurs three times in this verse; it denotes the almightiness and infinite resources of God (see note A in the appendix to Archdeacon Perowne’s edition of this prophet). Its constant repetition, as in Haggai, gives a certain heaviness to the prophet’s style. Turn (return) ye unto me. He calls the people to repentance, partly, doubtless, with a view to their taking an active part in rebuilding the temple, thus carrying on the exhortations of Haggai, but also with reference to their general indevotion and laxity which Ezra afterwards had to reprove (see Ezr 9:2). Saith the Lord of hosts; literally, (it is) the utterance of Jehovah of hosts. This is a more threatening form than the mere “saith” in the other two places in this verse. And I will turn (return) unto you (Mal 3:7). God promises his favour on their repentance and better conduct; as Haggai had been commissioned to proclaim a return of fruitful seasons as soon as the people obeyed his word and attended diligently to the work before them (Hag 2:19). They were called now to attend to the pure worship of the Lord, as the sole condition of prosperity. It has been well observed that when it is said, “Turn ye unto me,” etc; we are reminded of our free will; and when we cry, “Turn us, good Lord, and we shall be turned,” we acknowledge the need of God’s preventing grace.
Zec 1:4
The former prophets have cried. Omit “have.” The prophets referred to are those before the Captivity, both those whoso writings are extant, as Hosea, Joel, Amos, etc; and those whose names are mentioned in the historical books, e.g. Nathan, Gad, Shemaiah, Azariah, Hanaui, Elijah, Elisha, Micaiah (Pusey). (See similar complaints in 2Ki 17:13; 2Ch 36:15, etc.; Jer 25:3-8, which last passage seems to have been in Zechariah’s mind.)
Zec 1:5
To compel them to listen to the warning, he asks them, Your fathers, where are they! What became of those who paid no heed to the admonitions of the prophets? Have they not suffered dire calamities and perished miserably? And the prophets, do they live forever? They can teach and threaten no longer. It is true that the seers who warned your fathers are no more, but did not their words come true (see Zec 1:6)? Jerome referred these words to the false prophets, resting, doubtless, on Jer 37:19. But it is more natural to refer them to the “former prophets” mentioned above and in the following verse.
Zec 1:6
My words. The words that God put into the mouths of the prophets (Jer 39:16; Lam 2:17). Statutes, usually applied to the Law, which the prophets had to announce and enforce; but it may mean “decrees” which God appointed (Zep 2:2). The LXX. inserts “receive ye” to govern these nouns. I commanded. The LXX. adds, , “by my inspiration.” Did they not take hold of your fathers? Did they not overtake, etc.? Did not their threatened chastisements, however long delayed, reach your fathers in the end? And they returned; turned, as Zec 1:3, Zec 1:4. They turned so far as to acknowledge that the threats had been fully accomplished (see Dan 9:5; Ezr 9:6, etc.). Thought to do; , “designed, purposed to do” (comp. Lam 2:17).
Zec 1:7-17
3. The first vision: the horsemen in the myrtle grove.
Zec 1:7
In a series of visions it is now shown what is the nature of the restored theocracy, and what shall befall it. Thus were the people comforted by bearing God’s purposes of mercy and the great future that awaited Israel. In this first vision it is revealed to Zechariah that the Gentile nations should be overthrown, and that whatever might be the present condition of the Jewish people, God’s purpose of mercy toward them was unshaken and would be fulfilled. The four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat. This month (called here by its Chaldean name) answered to parts of January and February. It was three months since Zechariah had been called to the prophetical office, and five since the building of the temple had been resumed at Haggai’s remonstrance. Meantime Haggai had concluded his mission by uttering his final prophecies two months ago, and now Zechariah carries on the revelation. A comparison of the months in the cuneiform inscriptions with the Hebrew will be found in Schrader, ‘Keilinschriften,’ 379, and in Dr. Wright’s note on this verse. The word of the Lord. Thee visions with their explanations are in effect the oracle (see note on verse 1).
Zec 1:8
I saw by night; in the night; i.e. the night of the twenty-fourth day (Zec 1:7). The visions were seen in this one night at short intervals. There is nothing to make one suppose that they came in dreams (Isa 29:7). The prophet is awake, but whether he sees these scenes with his bodily eyes, or was rapt in ecstasy, cannot be decided. A man riding upon a red horse. This is the Angel of Jehovah, mentioned again in Zec 1:10 and in Zec 1:11, in both of which places the description, “that stood among the myrtle trees,” serves to identify him. He is different from the interpreting angel, and is the leader of the company of horsemen that follow him. Keil and Wright consider that the rider on the red horse cannot be identified with the Angel of Jehovah, because otherwise he would have been represented as standing opposite to the other horsemen to receive the information which they brought him, and they would not have been spoken of as “behind” hint. But the expression in Zec 1:8 may mean merely that the prophet sets his eyes first on the leader and then on the attendants. Or in Zec 1:10 he is the spokesman who begins the account of the riders’ doings, which these themselves complete in Zec 1:11. Thus there are in the scene only
(1) the prophet;
(2) the angel rider and his attendants; and
(3) the interpreting angel.
The red colour of the horse is supposed to represent war and bloodshed, as in Rev 6:4; but this seems unsuitable in this piece, where nothing of the kind is intimated, but rather the contrary (Rev 6:11). It is, indeed, impossible to affix any satisfactory explanation to the colour. If, as we may well suppose, this personage is the Angel of the covenant, who was the leader and guide of the Israelites (comp. Jos 5:13), his standing in the valley among the myrtles may represent the depressed and humbled condition of the chosen people, which yet was well pleasing unto God, like the sweet scent of odoriferous myrtles is agreeable to men. The myrtle trees. The myrtle is indigenous in the hilly regions of Northern Palestine, and is still seen in the glens near Jerusalem, though no longer on the Mount of Olives, where the returned captives found it when celebrating their first Feast of Tabernacles (Neh 8:15). In the bottom; the valley. Myrtles love such places. “Amantes littora myrtos” (Virgil, ‘Georg.,’ 4:124). The term would suit the valley of the Kidron. Others render, “the shady place,” or “the tabernacle,” but not so appropriately. LXX; [Alex; 860] , “between the shady mountains.” The Greek translators seem to have borrowed their reading from Rev 6:1-17; where the chariots issue from between two mountains of brass. Behind him were them red horses; i.e. horses mounted by riders (Rev 6:11). Speckled. It is not clear what colour is meant by this word. The Revised Version gives sorrel; Wright, “bay or chestnut;” LXX; : “dapple-grey and spotted;” Vulgate, varii. The Septuagint Version is probably a double rendering. The word occurs elsewhere only in Isa 16:8, where it is applied to the tendrils of the vitae. What is intended by the different colours of the horses is a matter of great dispute, and cannot be known. There is some reason for considering that they represent the world powers at this particular periodthe Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, the Greek; three of those concerning which Daniel prophesied; the fourth, the Roman, not having yet come in view. The notion of tutelary angels, presiding over countries, was familiar to the Hebrew mind (see Dan 10:12, Dan 10:13, Dan 10:20, Dan 10:21). These horsemen are evidently not post couriers, but warriors on military service.
Zec 1:9
O my lord. The prophet speaks to the angel of the Lord, who answers briefly, and is succeeded by the interpreting angel. What are these? Not “who,” but “what;” i.e. what do they signify? (comp. Amo 7:8). That talked with me; literally, as the LXX. and Vulgate, that spake in me. So Zec 1:13, Zec 1:14, and in the following visions. Hence some regard the expression as intimating a communication berne inwardly to the soul without the aid of external organs, or that the angel overpowered and influenced the prophet as the evil spirit possessed the demoniac. But the same term is used, as Dr. Wright points out, in the sense of to commune with a person (Num 12:6, Num 12:8; 1Sa 25:39), and to speak to a person (Hos 1:2; and perhaps Hab 2:1). It may, however, be that the angel of the Lord presented matters objectively, and the prophet’s own angel interpreted subjectively. But the Authorized Version is probably correct. I will show thee. This he does through the chief angel (Zec 1:10).
Zec 1:10
The man that stood, etc. The rider upon the red horse of Zec 1:8, the leader of the company of horsemen. Answered the question which the prophet had proposed, or answered in response to a sign from the interpreting angel. They whom the Lord hath sent, etc. These angelic ministers had been sent to traverse the earth and to report its condition (comp. Job 1:7; Job 2:2; Heb 1:14), and to guide it to the carrying out of God’s purposes.
Zec 1:11
They answered. Having said who they were, the angel directs them to tell of their doings. The angel of the Lord. The “man riding upon the red horse” (Zec 1:8) is now called “the Angel of Jehovah.” This term is usually held to denote a manifestation of the Logos, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, assuming an angelic form or imparting his immediate presence to the revealer of his will. Sitteth still, and is at rest. The world was lying in proud security. There was no sign of that shaking of nations which Haggai (Hag 2:7, Hag 2:21, Hag 2:22) had foretold should precede the coming of Messiah and the restoration of Israel. In this second year of Darius, the empire, though suffering from internal disturbances, was outwardly at peace, and was threatened by no enemy at a distance. But the condition of the Jews was sad and disheartening; the temple still unbuilt, the walls of Jerusalem lying in ruins, themselves only a small remnant, exposed to the insults and attacks of jealous neighbours, living on sufferance as subjects of a heathen power, and no sign of the predicted salvation appearing,this was their state. And the angel sees their despondency, recognizes their disappointment, and intercedes for them.
Zec 1:12
Answered. He answered the feeling in the prophet’s mind, the unexpressed longing of his heart. O Lord of hosts. The angel is the intercessor for the people. So Christ prays to the Father (Joh 17:1-26.). How long wilt thou not have mercy, etc.? He prays that the weary waiting for deliverance may speedily come to an end, and Jerusalem be restored, and Judaea be again inhabited by a happy population. These three score and ten years. The predicted seventy years of captivity (Jer 25:11; Jer 29:10) were past; it was time that the punishment should cease. There are two computations of this period. The first dates from the first capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, B.C. 606, when Judaea was made tributary to Babylon (2Ki 24:1 : 2Ch 36:6; Dan 1:1, etc.), unto the return of the company of exiles under Zerubbabel, B.C. 536; the second dates from the final destruction of Jerusalem, B.C. 588, unto the second year of Darius, B.C. 519, when Zechariah saw these visions. However reckoned, the dark period was now over; might they not now expect the commotion among the nations which was to precede their own restitution?
Zec 1:13
The Lord answered. The Angel of Jehovah is thus ca]led as the representative of God, whether we regard him as the Logos or a created angel empowered by God (see note on Zec 1:11). This personage is often seemingly identified with Jehovah (comp. Zec 3:2; Gen 18:1, Gen 18:2, Gen 18:13, Gen 18:17, Gen 18:22; Jos 5:14, Jos 5:15; Jos 6:2). He gives the answer to the interpreting angel, which the latter is to convey to the prophet, which he, in turn, was to announce to the people. Good words, promising blessing and salvation (1Ki 12:7); and these are comfortable words (Isa 57:18), a message calculated to bring comfort to the people’s desponding hearts. What the message is is given in the following verses (14-17).
Zec 1:14
Cry thou (Isa 40:6). The prophet has to publish two things:
(1) God’s love for his people, however humiliated and miserable their present position might be; and
(2) the promise of coming prosperity.
I am jealous. The term implies ardent love, which cannot bear itself to be slighted, or the object of its affection to be injured (comp. Zec 8:2, and note there; Num 25:11, Num 25:13; Joe 2:18). For Jerusalem, as the capital of the kingdom; and for Zion, as the seat of worship.
Zec 1:15
The heathen; the nations, who were God’s instruments in punishing Israel. That are at ease. Living in proud security and self-enjoyment (Isa 32:9, Isa 32:11; Amo 6:1; comp. Amo 6:11). Septuagint, , “which join in attacking her;” Vulgate, opulentas, “wealthy,” their riches giving them self-confidence. I was but a little displeased. God had been angry with his people, it is true, but only in measure, chastising them, like a parent, for their good. Others take “a little” (parum, ) to mean “for a little time,” in allusion to the seventy years’ captivity. And they helped forward the affliction; or, in the LXX; , “helped for evil; “Vulgate, adjuverunt in malum. They exceeded their part as mere instruments in God’s hands, and wished to destroy Israel altogether, or to oppress them beyond the purposed period of their chastisement. A similar complaint is made against the Assyrians (Isa 10:5, etc.) and the Babylonians (Isa 47:6).
Zec 1:16
Therefore. Because God loved his people and was incensed with the heathen. I am returned; I return. According to the promise in Zec 1:3 (see note on Zec 8:3). A line shall be stretched forth. A measuring line shall now be used to mark out the city for rebuilding (Job 38:5). The first proof of God’s renewed mercy would be seen in the restoration of the temple, the symbol of the theocracy, and in the revival of the city, the type of national life. The “line” had been used for purposes of destruction (2Ki 21:13; Isa 34:11; Lam 2:8).
Zec 1:17
Cry yet, saying. This introduces the second part of the prophet’s message. The LXX. begins the verse with the words, “And the angel that spake in me said unto me.” My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad. “Yet,” in this verse, is better rendered again. God calls the cities his, to show his love for Judah; and he promises that they shall not only be reoccupied by returning immigrants, but increased in extent and number by reason of the enlarged population. So Josephus tells us that in later times Jerusalem had outgrown its walls, and that the fourth quarter, Bezetha, was added (‘Bell. Jud.,’ 5.4. 2). But it seems’ best to translate the clause thus: “My cities shall yet overflow with prosperity.” Vulgate, Adhuc affluent civitates meae bonis; LXX; . Shall yet comfort Zion, for all her afflictions. Shall yet choose Jerusalem (Zec 2:12 [16, Hebrew]; Zec 3:2). God will show that the election of Israel remains unimpaired and secure. The partial fulfilment of the items of this prophecy are to be found in the rebuilding of the temple, the restoration of Jerusalem by Nehemiah, and the prosperity of Judah under the Asmonean princes. A hint of further blessings is given in the final clause, but their nature is not expressly mentioned.
Zec 1:18-21
4. The second vision. the four horns and the four craftsmen.
Zec 1:18
I lifted up mine eyes, and saw. This vision is closely connected with the former. The prophet had been told that the hostile nations should be punished and scattered; he now is shown this threat being executed. Four horns, belching to four beasts but dimly seen or wholly invisible. Horns are symbols of strength and power (comp. Psa 75:4, Psa 75:5; Dan 8:3; Amo 6:13). Here they mean powers hostile to Israel, and the number “four” (the symbol of completeness) points to the four winds from which they come, i.e. from every side. In the Hebrew Zec 2:1-13. begins at this verse.
Zec 1:19
Which have scattered, etc. Some see here an allusion to the prophecy of Daniel concerning the Babylonians, Medo-Persians, Macedonians, and Romans. Against this view it is urged that the prophet is speaking of past events, not of a far distant future. Others Lake the four horns to represent Assyria, Egypt, Babylon, and Medo-Persia, all of which had scattered Israel. But it is well to lay no special stress on such explanations of symbolical language, which are at best mere conjectures, liable to be overthrown by a new theory. The word “scattered,” which Jerome renders ventilaverunt, means properly, as Wright observes, “to winnow,” to separate and scatter by means of the wind. The perfect tense of this verb must not be pressed so as to exclude all notion of coming events. The prophets see at one glance past and future, and combine in one expression far distant occurrences. Doubtless Zechariah’s vision has some relation to Daniel’s, and his description of the powers hostile to the Church of God runs on parallel lines with that of his predecessor. Whether be refers to the same four empires must be left in uncertainty. Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. All the tribes and the capital. According to Ewald, Judah is named first as occupying the place of honour, even as Benjamin is named before Judah in Psa 68:27, because the capital city lay in its territory. Jerusalem was the centre of worship and government for all the people, the northern tribes being represented by Israel. the southern by Judah. Some critics cancel the word “Israel” here, and there is no doubt that it is often written for “Jerusalem” by mistake (comp. Jer 23:6 [where see Professor Cheyne’s note]; Jer 32:30, Jer 32:32; Jer 51:49; Zep 3:14; Mal 2:11). Gratz supposes that in the present passage the scribe discovered his mistake, and wrote the right word “Jerusalem” after the wrong one “Israel,” but leaving the latter still in the manuscript. Of course, there is no proof of this supposition. Some manuscripts of the Septuagint omit “Jerusalem” here.
Zec 1:20
Four carpenters; craftsmen; Revised Version, smiths, in which case “the horns” would be made of iron. The word is applied to workers in wood, stone, and metal; therefore an ambiguous rendering seems most suitable here. LXX; ; Vulgate, fabros. They represent the human agencies employed by God to overthrow the powers hostile to the Church. Their number is the same as that of the “horns,” thus showing their adequacy for the work which they have to execute. It is quite unnecessary to attempt to identify the four “craftsmen.” Some take them to be Zerubbabel, Joshua, Ezra, and Nehemiah; or Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Cambyses, and Alexander the Great; or the four evangelists; or generally, angels. We shall be safer if we look upon them merely as God’s instruments and servants without further identification.
Zec 1:21
And he spake. The interpreting angel spake. Which have scattered Judah. The LXX. adds, “and broke Israel in pieces.” Did lift up his head. These powers laid Judah prostrate. To fray them. To terrify the powers symbolized by the four horns, and disturb their self-complacent Security (Zec 1:15). The LXX; mistaking the sense, gives, , “To sharpen them, even the four horns, in their hands.” To cast out; to cast down, to overthrow these proud powers. Over (against) the land. The nations had treated Judah as a wild bull treats things that oppose him, tossing and scattering them to the wind.
HOMILETICS
Zec 1:1-6
A timely warning.
“In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet,” etc. Special attention seems invited in the opening verse of this opening prophecy to the question of time. Probably because the time of its utterance was a time of much hope, as shown by the cotemporaneous prophecies of Hag 1:13-15 (“sixth month”); Hag 2:1-9 (“seventh month”); and Hag 2:18, Hag 2:19 (“ninth month”). Probably also because a time of much hope is a time of much fear; the season of bloom is the season of blight. Accordingly, the whole of this opening messagea kind of prologue to the visions that followis one of admonition and warning, a warning which turns
(1) on the present position, and
(2) on the past experience, of the Jewish people and Church.
I. PRESENT POSITION.
1. The fact. How did they stand before God? As the children of sinners (Hag 2:2). This is the first thing to be remembered by them, as also by us all (Eph 2:3, end).
2. The significance of the fact; and that in two opposite directions.
(1) As to God’s attitude towards them. His favour was turned away from them. As he had been “displeased” with their “fathers,” so also, though not irretrievably, with themselves. This implied in the very promise of Hag 2:3, “I will turn to you.” This same truth, again, both in the second commandment, and also in the gracious declaration of Exo 34:5-7, is set forth as part of God’s uniform rule.
(2) As to their (natural) attitude towards God. Their hearts were turned away from him. Hence the exhortation of verse
3. Their attitude was one even of malignant aversion, if so we may speak, always tending of itself, like certain malignant bodily diseases, to become aggravated and worse. The longer we postpone our repentance the more difficult it becomes. This is the most serious consideration of all.
II. PAST EXPERIENCE. (See Exo 34:5, Exo 34:6.) In these they are reminded:
1. That some things belonging to the past had indeed passed away, as it were. “Their fathers,” e.g. who had received so many warnings, and despised them. Even “the prophets” also, who had delivered these warnings, and believed them, had fulfilled their days, and departed. Like a scene in a play, like a picture in a magic lantern, there was something else in their place.
2. Some things belonging to the past were still remaining. The truth of God’s Word, for example (see Psa 6:6-8). This manifest to their senses. Did not “my words and my statutes take hold of your fathers”? All their recent history, their complete and long enduring captivity, their partial return, their present condition, an affirmative answer to this question. This same truth acknowledged, too, by those gone. They acknowledged the fact: “As God thought to do, so he did.” They acknowledged Its justice. According to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he” done (comp. Lam 2:17, Lam 2:18; and as to the general principle, Jdg 1:7). This the special triumph of God’s Word, that it is vindicated and preached at times by its bitterest foes.
In conclusion, we may note and admire in this passage:
1. The discrimination of Scripture. How exactly suited the whole tenor of this passage to the case of those here addressed! Reminding us of the “wise steward,” who gives to “every one a portion of meat in due season.” Also of the declaration of the apostle, that all inspired Scripture is so variously profitable as to make “the man of God” complete, or perfect, as to all that he needs (2Ti 3:16, 2Ti 3:17).
2. The faithfulness of Scripture. How different all this from the flattery with which most nations are addressed by their teachers; and which most nations also demand! Contrast “When France is content, Europe is tranquil;” also, as to our own country, the words of the poet
“Thou shalt flourish, great and free,
The dread and envy of them all.”
3. The mercy of Scripture. Notwithstanding all provocationsall personal, all patrimonial, iniquitythe language of God here is, with outstretched hand (Rom 10:21), “Be ye reconciled unto me” (2Co 5:20; comp. also Hos 3:1-5; and the emphatic “only” in Jer 3:12-14). Note also how greatly this mercy is set forth by the greatness of the faithfulness before named. In the words of our English laureate
“He showed me all the mercy,
For he showed me all the sin.”
Zec 1:7-11
A vision of rest.
“Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet,” etc. Several points in this vision, as in many others, cannot certainly be explained. The nature and significance of the colours of the horses is one of these points. Another is as to the identity or otherwise of the “angel” of verse 9 with that of the “rider” of verse 8, who seems undeniably to be the “man” of verse 10 and the “angel of the Lord” of verses 11, 12. The idea of identity is favoured by Pusey’s rendering, “talked in me,” compared with Num 12:6-9; Hab 2:1; 1Pe 1:11; also by the high probability of the person promising in 1Pe 1:9 being the same as the person performing in 1Pe 1:10; and by the similar probability that the person asking in 1Pe 1:12, and the person answered in 1Pe 1:13, should be one and the same. From these very uncertainties, however, we may, perhaps, learn an incidental truth of importance. We may learn, e.g; that the agents of God are not less manifold, nod not less mysterious to us, than his works. Also that whether the “angel of the Lord” speaks to us directly, or only by the instrumentality of one of his accredited servants, it comes to much the same in the end. In the rest of the vision we may notice
(1) the King himself;
(2) the King’s servants; and
(3) the King’s work.
I. THE KING HIMSELF. Under this head we learn:
1. His condition. He appears as a Rider, i.e. as one who has left his home and is on a journey for a season.
2. His rank. He has many and various attendants, but all “behind him” (comp. Rev 19:14, where the rider probably appears on a white horse, because riding in triumph).
3. His place; amongst the myrtle trees in the hollow; representing, it is thought, the people of God, humble yet pleasing to him, in their then low estate (see Isa 41:19; Isa 55:13).
4. His apparent purpose; viz. to “visit” and save his people (Gen 1:24; Exo 3:16; Exo 4:31; Luk 1:68).
II. THE KING‘S SERVANTS. Of these we find that they are the objects:
1. Of special inquiry. Who the Leader is the prophet understands. Who these are that attend upon him he cannot tell, yet much wishes to know, probably because of something very special in their numbers and variety and general appearance of readiness and expectation. “What is it the King means to do with all these?”
2. Of special explanation. Explanation very readily given. Your difficulty is natural. Your inquiry is legitimate. “I will show thee what these be.” Explanation also very sufficiently given. Who are they? They are persons “sent;” they have a mission indeed to accomplish. Who sent them? The Lord himself. For what purpose? For that of special investigation. To investigate where? In all parts of the earth. This is why God has visited his people, viz. to learn, by means of these his servants, how things are with them in the world.
III. THE KING‘S WORK. The nature and completeness of this are shown to us by his servants’ report. For example, we see:
1. Its great promptitude. The next thing we hear of this report is of its completion (1Pe 1:11). No time, apparently, has been lost. While the prophet’s question has been put and acknowledged, their mission has been accomplished (comp. Dan 9:21; Eze 1:14).
2. Its perfection. They have examined the whole earth. They have examined it all so thoroughly that they challenge any one (“behold”) to do more.
3. Its purport and unanimity. This is how they all found the world, viz. “sitting still and at rest”like a weary traveller who has finished his long journey, and taken his seat, and only asks to sit still.
See, therefore, in conclusion, respecting this vision:
1. How specially encouraging it was at theft time. By the Jews, just then exhorted to recommence the restoration of their temple, two things only were specially required. The one was to know, as to God, that his eye was upon them for good (see Ezr 5:5). The other was to know, as to men, that they would be let alone in their work (Ezr 4:3). And these, we see, were just the two things of which this vision assures them. With everything to help them in heaven, and nothing to hinder them on earth, what more could they ask?
2. How instructive for all times. When any direct work for God, such as that of building his house or enlarging his Church, has to be done, this is how it often pleases him to order the world. So Solomon was raised up as a “man of rest” to build the original temple. So Christ was born, and the foundations of the Christian Church were laid, when all the world was at peace. So we read also in Act 9:31. Compare also the language of the Collect for the Fifth Sunday after Trinity; and the connection between Act 9:2 and Act 9:4 in 1Ti 2:1-15.
Zec 1:12-16
A vision of mercy.
“Then the angel of the Lord answered and said,” etc. In the last portion (Zec 1:7-11) we saw Christ, or the Angel-Jehovah, presented to us as a King, exercising visitatorial powers. In the present we seem to read of him under those two other principal aspects in which he is revealed to his people, viz.
(1) as their great High Priest interceding for them with God; and
(2) as their great Teacher or Prophet instructing and comforting them in God’s name.
I. INTERCESSION. We find this to be:
1. Exceedingly apposite. Much had already been done for the remnant of the Captivity; but much also remained. A mere handful (some fifty thousand all told, Ezr 2:64, Ezr 2:65), compared with the many thousands of Israel, had been brought back; a few scattered centres of population only were to be found in the land, and Jerusalem itself was more like a city of the dead than of the living (compare the description of it in Neh 7:4, many years afterwards). This state of things is exactly recognized in the Angel-Jehovah’s petition, “How long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah?” (For similar and, probably, nearly contemporaneous request for further mercy after much mercy received, comp. Psa 126:4 and Psa 126:1.)
2. Very judicious. See what this intercession allows, viz. the justice of God. “Thou hast had indignation;” and rightly, so it implies. (For similar confessions of God’s justice in pleading for mercy, comp. Gen 18:25; Jer 12:1.) See also what this intercession relies on, viz. on the one hand, God’s character, as delighting to exercise mercy (so to speak) as soon as he can; and, on the other hand, on God’s faithfulness, as being Sure to confine his indignation strictly to the duration specified by him. “These three score and ten years” (see Jer 26:11, Jer 26:12).
3. Very effectual. This shown by the answer obtained, which consisted, on the one hand, of “good words” i.e. words promising good; and on the other hand, of “comfortable words,” literally, words “sighing with,” or full of sympathy, in the spirit of Rom 12:15; Isa 63:9; and so being all that could be wished for, both in matter and manner.
II. INSTRUCTION. The Angel-Jehovah, having received this reply, then proceedseither personally or, as some think, through the instrumentality of some subordinate angelto instruct the prophet accordingly. In this we may notice:
1. His commission. The satisfactory answer just received by the Angel-Jehovah the prophet was now to make known in his turn: “Cry thou.“ He was also to tell it aloud, to proclaim it: “Cry” (bis); comp. Gen 41:43; 2Ch 32:18, where the same word is employed. And he was to do so being thus commissioned (this also is mentioned twice, 2Ch 32:14, 2Ch 32:17) in God’s name.
2. His message. This corresponds, as might be expected, with the “words” of 2Ch 32:13. For example, it is a message
(1) of great sympathy; being one, we find, in which God identifies himself with the interests of his people (observe “my,” in 2Ch 32:16, 2Ch 32:17), and even speaks of himself as sharing to some extent in their anxieties and purely national jealousies and rivalries. It was no pleasure to him to see other nations at ease, and them in trouble, however deserved. No doubt he had been “displeased” with them (Zec 1:1, Zec 1:2); but he was still more so with their foes (2Ch 32:15). A message
(2) of great hope. Much good, in fact, had begun. Not only had the remnant returned to Jerusalem; God himself also had done so (2Ch 32:16), and that “with mercies;” to stay amongst his people, and not merely to “visit” them. More good was to follow. The “house” now building was to be finished; the rest of the now desolate city to be marked out and finished; and the scattered cities of Judah to be so filled as to overflow (“spread abroad;” comp. Zec 2:2) on all sides. All this, however apparently unlikely, was, nevertheless (observe “yet” three times), being God’s settled purpose, to be accomplished; and the prophet also was to go on saying so until this was the case (“Cry yet,” 2Ch 32:16).
Do we not see illustrated in all this, finally?
1. The perfection of the gospel. “Good words and comfortable words””glad tidings of great joy”so we see it to be. How full of sympathy! How full of hope! Its excellency culminating in this, perhaps, above all, that we have not only such a “Propitiation” (1Jn 2:2). but such a perpetual “Advocate” (1Jn 2:1) and Intercessor to plead it (see also Heb 7:25; Luk 22:31, Luk 22:32; Luk 13:8, Luk 13:9; Act 7:55).
2. The certainty of the gospel. As to its essence and source, on the one hand. As in 2Ch 32:13, it is, in effect, the promise of God to his Son (comp. Psa 2:7-9; Psa 110:1-7; passim). As to its conveyance to us, on the other; being, in effect, as in 2Ch 32:14, the message of Christ himself to us through those appointed by him. Compare the visions of Christ to Isaiah (6.; Joh 12:1-50.) and Daniel (Dan 10:5, Dan 10:6, and references); also Joh 14:26; Joh 16:13, Joh 16:14; Col 3:16, etc.
Zec 1:18-21
A vision of help.
“Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw,” etc. In these verses, and some that follow, certain detached portions of the previous general prophecy seem to be set before us again in greater amplitude and detaillike maps of England, France, and so on, in an atlas, following the general but smaller-scaled map of the whole “quarter” of Europe. In the verses now especially before us, it is the previous message concerning the enemies of God’s people (Zec 1:14, Zec 1:15) which seems to be thus followed up and enlarged. And the twofold purpose in view seems to be that of reminding his people in this connection
(1) of their special danger; and
(2) of their special defence.
I. THEIR SPECIAL DANGER. On this point they are shown:
1. Its reality,. Though God was sorely displeased with the heathen, though he had done much already to restrain them, so that the earth now was “at rest” (supra, Zec 1:11), and the returned people were able to rebuild his house, he had by no means destroyed them as yet. The four “horns” seen in the visionthe well known symbols of authority and strength and hostility (Psa 75:4-7, Psa 75:10; Jer 48:25; Deu 33:17; 1Ki 22:11)suffice to prove this. However restrained at that moment, the ability and the disposition to injure were still in existence.
2. Its peculiar greatness. This
(1) as to power. How much evil those same Gentile horns had already done in the past (see end of Zec 1:19 and Zec 1:21)! Also perhaps
(2) as to direction; the “four” horns representing that they had such enemies on all sides (comp. Psa 83:5-8, where every side of Palestine seems to be represented). Or possibly
(3) as to duration; first one enemy, then another, as in the very similar description of Jer 1:17; or else with some reference to the four successive world empires of Daniel’s visions, and as meaning to intimate, in that case, that, whichever of such “horns” should be specially exalted for the time, it would be a horn against them. So much was their condition, of itself, like that described in Luk 10:3.
II. THEIR SPECIAL DEFENCE.
1. The fact itself. This manifesthaving such enemies as they hadfrom their still continued existence. Though “scattered,” it was not beyond recovery; though so prostrate that no man could “lift up the head,” they were not destroyed (comp. Psa 129:1, Psa 129:2). Who could have caused this but Jehovah himself?
2. The peculiar nature of this defence. Jehovah restrains the many enemies of his people by “fraying” or frightening them from going too far (comp. Psa 76:9, Psa 76:10; also Gen 35:5; Exo 15:16; 2Ki 19:6; 2Ch 17:10; and to some extent the cases of Abimelech, Gen 20:1-18 :0, 7; and Balsam, Deu 23:5).
3. The peculiar instrument of this defence. Not other “horns” to push against these; not other men of war to overcome these; but artificers only, men of peace. Possibly also artificers of the class engaged in building, as though to intimate that the work of building God’s temple was the best defence at that time to God’s people.
4. The peculiar completeness of this defence. As shown, perhaps, by there being as many in number thus to defend as there were to attack. From whichever side, at whatever time, the attack, there also would be prepared against it this kind of defence (comp. Psa 32:7, Psa 32:10).
We see all this abundantly illustrated:
1. In the subsequent history of the literal Israel. How often since assaulted! how apparently close, at times, to extermination! how utterly powerless, frequently, in themselves! yet how wonderfully preserved in existence, by similar restraints of their enemies, from that day until this!
2. In the history of nations and Churches. It is at least worthy of consideration, in this connection, that since the day when the Reformation found its most congenial home in this island, every projected hostile invader has been restrained from reaching our shores. Also, perhaps, the remarkable (true) prosperity and preservation of the Moravian and Waldensian Churches, are eases in point.
3. In the history of the spiritual Israel at large. How many its enemies from the first (Act 28:22; Luk 21:17; Eph 6:12)! How incapable of defending itself (Mat 10:16, as before)! Yet how wonderfully preserved until now; and also, to be preserved to the end (Mat 16:18)!
4. In the experience of individual believers. See lives of such men as Luther, Wesley, Whitefield, Simeon, and others. We may almost say of each of such, as just now of the Church at large, “Each man immortal till his work be done.” So in truth of every one who truly believes in Christ Jesus. The righteous scarcely is saved, but he is saved, after all.
HOMILIES BY W. FORSYTH
Zec 1:1-6
God’s call to repentance.
Repentance is turning from sin unto God.
I. THE CALL IS FOUNDED ON GOD‘S ABSOLUTE RIGHT TO OBEDIENCE. “Lord of hosts.” Sublime title. Thrice used, to give the greater impressiveness. Implies that God’s rule is wide as creation. Mark the “host” of stars (Isa 40:26). Higher, behold the “angels and principalities and powers” (Psa 103:20, Psa 103:21). God is Lord of all, and it is this God that claims our homage. To turn from him is folly and ruin; to turn to him is the highest wisdom and blessedness.
II. URGED BY GOD‘S JUDGMENTS ON TRANSGRESSORS. Israel is our “ensample” (1Co 10:11). The sun dues not ripen the corn more surely than God’s favour attended the Jews when they were steadfast to walk in his ways; nor are thorns and briars more certain to spring up in a neglected field than God’s judgments to fall on Israel when their hearts were set in them to do evil. God is not changed. The world is governed now on the same principles as in the past.
III. ENCOURAGED BY GOD‘S PROMISES. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” So of God’s Word. It reveals his heart. There is no bar on God’s part to the sinner’s return. He himself has opened the way, and his promise is to those who turn to him. “I will turn unto you.” Here is hope held out, help graciously offered, joyful welcome assured. We have not only doctrines, but facts. Great cloud of witnesses, who can say each for himself, like Paul, “I obtained mercy.”
IV. ENFORCED BY THE EXPERIENCES OF LIFE. Every man’s life is separate. But much common. The brevity of life. Delay is dangerous. The confessions of life. God’s Word is truth. Faithful are his promises and his threatenings. The monitions of life. Voices of the past, of the good, and of the evil, of earth and heaven, all combine and cry with awful and convincing force, “Repent!”F.
Zec 1:5
Are we better than our fathers?
I. “FATHERS” IMPLIES SUCCESSIVENESS. Changes are constant. Not a whole generation together, but men go, as they come, one by one. Seems common to all existences. Necessary also. If all lived on, there would not be room for the ever-increasing multitudes. Part of God’s great plan for the education of the race.
II. “FATHERS” IMPLIES INTERDEPENDENCE. There is a close relationship between fathers and children. Physically, mentally, and even morally, we are to a large degree what others have made us. “How shall a man escape from his ancestors, or draw off from his veins the black drop which he drew from his father’s or his mother’s life?” (Emerson).
“Tis law as steadfast as the throne of Zeus,
Our days are heritors of days gone by.”
(Aeschylus.)
And as we have been influenced by the past, so we shall influence the future. Our children not only receive a certain impress from their birth, but ate moulded for good or evil by the teaching and example of their parents, and by the environment of their daily life.
III. “FATHERS” IMPLIES RESPONSIBILITY. “Be not as your fathers.” There should be reflection and choice of the good, Whether we are better or worse is a difficult question. The term “fathers” is indefinite. We should fix some point for comparison. But where? Our immediate fathers, or those of earlier times? Besides, difficult to get evidence for a fair comparison. History defective. Tradition unreliable. The “fathers” stand out like hills enshrouded in mist, or as stars that take a glory from being far. Besides, who are to judge? Ourselves. Then risk of partiality. We naturally lean to the party to which we belong. Suppose you take the old. They are apt to side with the past. Their day is over. Their vigor is gone. They dwell on what has been done. Rarely will you find an old man who does not say, “The former days were better” (Ecc 7:10). Suppose you take the young. They side with the present. The world is all before them. They are eager for the strife. “Yearning for the large excitement that the coming years would yield.” But in any case, our judgment is liable to be affected by circumstances. Our own state, the love of society, the spirit of the age, influence us largely (cf. Elijah, 1Ki 19:4). Are we better than our fathers? There is no question but we ought to be. Progress is the law. We have the higher advantages. The great thoughts and the great deeds of others should inspire us. We are the “heirs of all the ages,” In some respects we are certainly better. As to food, clothing, habitations, means of education, political and social rights, intercourse with other nations, and so forth, there has been an immense advance. But what availeth this, if morally and spiritually we stand, not higher, but lower than our fathers? “Christ is our Hope.” Individually we are bound to strive after a better life, and thus we can best influence society. There may be much in our past that is bad; but it is past; and let us take hope. If there are sins, they are forgiven. If there are bad habits, they have been broken off. It there are failures, they have been retrieved. We can look on. Stirred with a holy ambition, sustained by precious promises, animated by noble examples, we can press on to the brighter and better days to come. Our standard should be, not the conventional standard of the Church or the day, but the perfect law of Christ (Mat 5:20-48).F.
Zec 1:5
The transitoriness of life.
I. COMPARED WITH THE PERMANENCE OF THE EARTH. Objects of nature remain. There are changes, but they are not so great within the limit of our brief lives as to attract much notice. “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth forever” (Ecc 1:4).
II. COMPARED WITH THE CONTINUITY OF THE RACE. The individual withers; families disappear; kingdoms decay and fall; but the race of man remains. Our life is as a tale that is told, but the story of the generations of the past reaches back beyond our ken.
III. COMPARED WITH THE IMMENSE LABOUR BESTOWED ON MEN. What a preparation going before! What long and arduous toils there have been to fit us for our place and our work! and then how short the time we have for accomplishing anything! How often early promise fails, and the dear hopes cherished are disappointed!
IV. COMPARED WITH THE EXPECTATIONS FORMED. What plans, schemings, enterprises! What high ambitions! And yet how little is achieved! Man’s promise is always better than his performance. Once, perhaps, we took a forward place; our names were on the lips of manylooked to win great fame. But the end is “vanity.”
V. COMPARED WITH THE IMMORTALITY OF GOD‘S WORD. Fathers and prophets alike pass away. They cannot continue by reason of death. “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: but the Word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (1Pe 1:24, 1Pe 1:25).F.
Zec 1:6
God’s Word taking hold.
I. THE FLIGHT. Men strive to get away from God. Some try one device, some another (cf. Adam, Gen 3:10; Jon 1:3; Paul, Act 26:9). Such conduct is unnatural, wicked, and vain (Psa 139:7).
II. THE PURSUIT. The sinner followed. He feels that God knows all, and that the day of reckoning will come. Memory, conscience, Law, Scripture, prophecy of judgment. The officer of justice is on the sinner’s track. Any moment he may feel his hand on his shoulder, and hear the awful words, “You are my prisoner.”
III. THE OVERTAKING. Certain, for good or for evil. In the day of conviction, of true penitence, or of righteous retributionamidst the songs of rejoicing angels or the weeping and wailing of lost souls. What has been our experience? God’s Word “takes hold,” as truth of the intellect, as righteousness of the conscience, as love of the heart. Mark Augustine in the garden at Milan (Rom 13:13, Rom 13:14); Luther painfully climbing the church steps at Rome (Rom 1:17). Study Bunyan’s ‘Grace Abounding.’ So of all the redeemed. Happy are we when we recognize that God’s Word comes, not as a foe, but as a friend; not to compel by force, but to constrain by love; not to drag us with fear and trembling before the Judge, hut to draw us gently to the cross and the Saviour.F.
Zec 1:8-13
The Church and Christ.
The vision may suggest
I. THE BIDDEN RICHES OF THE CHURCH. “Myrtle in the bottom” symbolizes the Church in a low condition. Obscure, despised by the world; but fresh, fragrant, and beautiful in the sight of God. The object of increasing care. Grand future.
II. THE GLORY OF THE CHURCH‘S HEAD. Christ supreme. All forces are under his control. The resources of heaven and earth are at his disposal. He is ever on the watch. He scans the horizon with clear, far seeing eye. He is always quick to do what he deems best for the defence and good of his people. Here is comfort for times of depression and fear. We have our personal troubles. We are distressed because of the state of the Church, and the slow progress of religion in the world. But let us take courage. Christ is Head over all things for the Church. In the darkest hour, when we pray, the heavens are opened. We behold Christ on the throne, and cry with the holy angels, “Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth” (cf. Eph 1:16-23).F.
Zec 1:11
The wonder of indifference.
“‘At rest;’ i.e. secure, proud, and licentious, as if there were no God in heaven” (Wordsworth). May be taken to illustrate a common state of mind as to religion. Indifference seems wonderful when we consider
I. THE VAST INTERESTS AT STAKE. What questions so deep and urgent as those that concern God and truth and immortality?
II. THE BRIEF TIME FOR DECISION. Life is short. Delay, and youth is gone; delay, and manhood is past; delay, and all is lost. Besides, what uncertainty and what constant interruptions and claims of other things! “The world is too much with us.”
III. THE GREAT IMPORTANCE OF EARNESTNESS. See how men act in other matters. Firm and decided. “The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light.”
IV. THE CEASELESS ACTIVITY OF THE POWERS OF EVIL. (1Pe 5:8.)
V. THE URGENT APPEALS OF GOD. How much of Holy Scripture is taken up with calls, and pleadings, and remonstrances, and beseechings! Then, how often does the voice of God in providence give the deeper force and significance to the warnings of his Word! Surely what lies so near the heart of God should be the chief thing for us. Surely what moved the eternal Son to come to earth should be the supreme interest with us. His mind should be our mind, and our highest blessedness should be to consecrate ourselves, like him, to the service of God and of humanity.F.
Zec 1:15
The wrath of God and the wrath of man.
I. GOD‘S WRATH IS THE HIGHEST IN CASES. It is not a mood or passion; not the outburst of arbitrary power; but the calm expression of the Eternal Mind. He who does wrong identifies himself with the wrong, and so far must be an object of indignation. God feels towards things as they are. How different the wrath of man (cf. Jas 4:1)!
II. GOD‘S WRATH IS THE PUREST JUSTICE. Law must stand. Government and order must be maintained. Else anarchy. But nothing will be done beyond what is necessary for the ends of justice. God’s wrath is just, in measure and duration. How different with the wrath of man! Often carried beyond the bounds of right, and becomes oppression. Often continued beyond the limits of justice, and becomes revenge (Isa 47:6).
III. GOD‘S WRATH IS THE HOLIEST LOVE. There is much in the ways of God that we cannot understand, but we should never forget what he himself has taught us as to his Spirit and purpose (cf. Eze 33:11). God’s wrath is consistent with pity for the sufferer, mercy for the penitent, and deliverance for the oppressed. In his hand pains are disciplinary, trials are remedial, chastisements are benedictions in disguise. “The end of the Lord is merciful.” But with men how often is wrath pitiless and cruel, working evil instead of good, rejoicing in destruction instead of deliverance!
“Father and Lover of our souls
Though darkly round thine anger rolls,
Thy sunshine smiles beneath the gloom,
Thou seek’st to warn us, not confound,
Thy showers would pierce the hardened ground
And win it to give out its brightness and perfume.”
(Keble.)
F.
Zec 1:18-21
The dark and the bright side of things.
Prophet depressed. Heart failing for fear. Roused. Vision twofold. Like the mystic pillar of the wilderness, it is dark and lowering towards God’s enemies, but bright and cheering towards his friends.
I. THE POWERS OF EVIL. Beasts dimly seen. “Horses” indicate the strength and malice of the world powers. The results are terrible. The unity of Israel is broken. Strength dissipated in party conflicts. Gored and tossed and sore oppressed by their enemies. Dispirited, “so that no man did lift up his head.” But man’s extremity is God’s opportunity. Let us feel and confess in true humility our sin, and the justice of our sufferings, and cry mightily to God; then deliverance will surely come.
II. THE POWERS OF GOOD. (Zec 1:20, Zec 1:21.) Cf. Elisha and his servant (2Ki 6:17). So here. “Carpenters; workmen.”
1. Equal in number. Four indicates completeness. There will be sufficiency for God’s purpose, and yet the number will not be in excess of that on the other side, as if the victory were to be obtained by might and not by right.
2. Greater in authority. Law at their back. Ministers of justice. Power not usurped or wrongly used, but employed under the authority of God.
3. Completer in equipment. (Eze 21:1-32 :36.) Men of free souls, sympathetic hearts, and invincible courage. Men of trained intelligence and executive ability. The right men in the right time.F.
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS
Zec 1:1-6
The importance of repentance.
“In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechish, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers,” etc. Zechariah and Haggai were contemporariesprophets of the restoration. The former began to prophesy about two months after Haggai. Like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, he was of priestly descent; a son of Berechiah and grandson of Iddo, the chief of one of the priestly families that returned from exile along with Zerubbabel and Joshua (Neh 12:4). He commenced his prophetic labours in the second year of Darius Hystaspes, B.C. 520. The most remarkable portion of the book consists of the first six chapters, where we have a record of a series of extraordinary visions, all of which seem to have been vouchsafed to the prophet during one night. The two succeeding chapters (7 and 8.) contain an answer to a question which the inhabitants of Bethel proposed, reelecting the observance of a certain fast. The remaining six chapters contain a variety of predictions. The authenticity of these chapters is denied by some scholars, and doubted by many more. His style is varied, sometimes almost colloquial; at other times sublimely poetic, abounding with gorgeous symbols. The subject suggested by these words isthe importance of repentance. There are three grounds in this passage on which this subject is urged.
I. FROM THE DIVINE DISPLEASURE TOWARDS THE IMPENITENT MEN OF THE PAST. “The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers.” This “may be interpreted as bearing reference to the whole of their previous history. They had all along shown a mournfully strong and inveterate propensity to depart from God and from his ways. They had needed incessant repetitions of Divine admonitions, entreaties, promises, and threatenings; and many a time all had proved unavailing. Jehovah bound them to himself with ‘cords of love.’ But ‘they brake the bands asunder, and cast away the cords from them.’ They chose their own ways; they followed the wicked devices of their own hearts. They thus provoked him to anger; they drew down upon themselves his judicial visitations. From one of these visitations the people whom the prophet now addressed had but recently, in the faithfulness and mercy of a covenant keeping and compassionate God, been delivered. And I cannot doubt that to that most recent manifestation of the Divine displeasure Zechariah specially referred. Their fathers had by their sins brought that heavy seventy years’ judgment upon themselves. And he who in justice had executed the judgment, had returned in mercy, and rescued them from their second bondage” (Dr. Wardlaw). Now, the displeasure of God to sinners of the past is here referred to in order to induce the Jews to repent of the selfish negligence which they had evinced concerning the building of the temple (Hag 1:2-7). The argument here is the kind called enthymeme, in which one premiss only is expressed, and the consequent proposition is left to be supplied by the reader. It means this: the great God has been displeased with your fathers on account of their sins, and he will be displeased with you except you repent. This is an argument that preachers may well urge at all times. They may call up to their hearers the judgments that have fallen on the wicked of the past ages, in order to urge reformed life on the existing generation.
II. FROM GOD‘S ASSURANCE OF A WELCOME TO ALL THAT TRULY REPENT, “Say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.” Blessed truth this! Proved:
1. By his invitation to the impenitent. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord,” etc.; “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord,” etc.; “Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.” The infinite Father is infinitely more ready to welcome true penitence than the father of the prodigal to welcome the return of his long lost son.
2. By the experience of mankind. Manasseh, David, Saul, Bunyan, and millions more returned to him, and he not only received them, but rejoiced over them. This being the case, how powerful is the exhortation here, “Be not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying,” etc.! Your fathers, who rejected the call of my prophets of the past, bad as they were, would not have met with their terrible fates had they returned to me. Be not like them; Take warning from the past.
III. FROM THE TRANSITORINESS OF HUMAN LIFE, WHETHER WICKED OR GOOD, “Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live forever?” By “the fathers” here undoubtedly reference is to those spoken of in the former verses with whom the Almighty is displeased. These have disappeared; they have vanished from the earth. The prophets, too, the good men who spoke to them and whose call they rejected, useful men as they were, they did not live forever. The impenitent hearers and their faithful preachers are both gone. How solemnly true this is! All pass away from the stage of life, whether good or had, useful or mischievous. The life of a generation is but a vapour that will endure for a little and then vanish away. What an argument this:
1. For the wicked to repent! Impenitent hearers of the gospel, you will soon be gone. Ere another century passes over this globe, your bodies will be in the dust and your spirits in the awful Hades of retribution; therefore listen and repent. Ye preachers of the gospel, what an argument this:
2. For faithfulness and for persevering zeal! You will soon have finished your mission. A few more sermons, and all will be over. “The prophets, do they live forever?” etc. “Fathers,” the ungodly men of the past, where are they? Ah! where are they? Echo answers, “Where?”D.T.
Zec 1:7-17
The first vision: God’s government of the world.
“Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse,” etc. About three months after the call of Zechariah to the prophetic office, he had no less than seven, or, as some count, eight visions in one night. And this night, we are told, was in the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, i.e. “the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius.” Exactly five months before this night the rebuilding of the temple would be resumed. Amongst the various manners in which God revealed himself to men of old, visions were perhaps the most frequent and impressive. He sometimes employed articulate sounds, sometimes the Urim and Thummim, sometimes the apparitions of the dead, sometimes internal suggestion. In some direct way he touched the springs of thought. But here in one night he appears to the prophet in many distinct visions. The visions were marked by these four characteristics. They were:
1. Mental. Unlike all other creatures on the earth, so far as we know at present, man has an inner visual organ; he can see with his mind. This is seen in poets, such as Milton, Spenser, etc.; allegorists, such as Bunyan, etc.
2. Symbolic. Strange and grotesque objects were seen. These objects were all symbolic; they had a spiritual significance.
3. Divine. All men, unless they are utterly destitute of the poetic sentiment, have visions sometimes, not only sleeping but waking visions. But seldom, perhaps, are these visions Divine.
4. Prophetic. They point here to the future of God’s moral kingdom upon the earth. Men of lofty, sanctified genius often in their visions have a glance of “things that are to come.” This vision seems to give us a look into God’s moral government of the world. It takes us behind the veil of phenomena, and shows us principles and agencies that move, fashion, and control all. Three facts are suggested in relation to God’s government in the world.
I. IT CARRIED ON IN CONNECTION WITH MYSTERIOUS AGENCIES. What did the prophet see? “I saw by 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 were there red horses, speckled, and white.” It is idle to attach special ideas to each of these objects; the grand idea is that God has ministers in his empire fully equipped for his work, and prompt to obey his behests. Who are these? Unfallen angels. These by millions stand near his throne, ready to do his bidding. In relation to these agents two thoughts are suggested.
1. That they are under the command of a transscendent mind. Most expositors regard the man on the red horse, and who stood among the myrtle trees, as no less a personage than the Angel of the covenant, the great Messiah. The subsequent verses sustain this idea. This same man appeared to Abraham in the plains of Mamre, to Jacob before his meeting with Esau, to Moses at the burning bush, to Joshua at Jericho, with the sword drawn in his hand. Here he is on the “red horse,” emblem of war. He is a great moral Chieftain.
2. That there are varied orders. “Behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white.” This is the troop that followed the man. When the eyes of Elisha’s servant were opened, he beheld a “mountain full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.” Horses are emblems of force and fleetness. In Christ’s army there are hosts, mighty in power and swift in motion. “Are they not all ministering spirits?” How infinitely varied are God’s ministersvaried in kind and measure of faculty, in experience, attainment, and aspect toothrones, principalities, powers, and dominions!
3. That the whole world is their sphere of action. “These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.”
(1) They “go to and fro” through the earth. They are ever journeying; some are swift as lightning in their speed; some of them are “full of eyes,” and see all things.
(2) They know the state of the world. “We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.” “At rest,” not in the rest of righteousness, not in the repose of goodness, but in carnal security and sin.
II. THAT IT HAS NOT ONLY DIFFICULTIES, BUT AN INTERPRETER ALSO. “Then said I, O my lord, what are these?” Observe:
1. The difficulties of God‘s government. “What are these?“ The prophet understood not these strange appearances; and in amazement he exclaims, “What are these?” What thoughtful man has not asked such a question as this concerning the Divine government over and over again? “What are these? What are these elements, forces, laws, existences, events? What are they? Are they messengers of mercy or of justice? O my lord, what are these?” We are all moving in mystery.
2. The interpreter of God‘s government. Who answered the question? “The man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they.” Some other creature, the angel that talked with him, was asked first; but the answer came not from him, but from the Man Christ Jesus. In Rev 5:2 “a strong angel” is represented as crying with a loud voice concerning the mysteries of God’s government, inquiring who was worthy to “loose the seals;” but no one was found in heaven, in earth, or under the earth, able to “open and read the book.” There was only one found: “It was the Lamb in the midst of the throne.” Christ is the only Interpreter of God. He is the Logos.
III. THAT IT IS ESPECIALLY CONCERNED IN THE INTERESTS OF HIS PEOPLE. His people are supposed to be here represented by the “myrtle trees.” The Jewish Church at this time was not like a forest of stately cedars, but a grove of myrtles, fragile and obscure.
1. These seem to be the centre of Divine operations on the earth. Now, in the myrtle trees is the man “riding upon a red horse.” And in the myrtle trees were the “red horses, speckled, and white”the whole troop was there. The “myrtle trees” seemed to be the centre of all the agents. From it they started on their mission, and to it they returned. The true Church is the temple, the residence of God himself.
2. The object of special intercession. “Then the angel of the Lord answered and said, O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem, and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these three score and ten years?” The duration of their captivity in Babylon. Who is the angel that makes this appeal? It was he that “ever liveth to make intercession for us.” “If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.”
3. The subjects of the Divine communication. “The Lord answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words.” The prophet is here commissioned to proclaim:
(1) God’s zeal on behalf of Jerusalem. “Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts.”
(2) His displeasure for the enemies of Jerusalem. “I am very sore displeased with the heathen.” His merciful purpose was to bestow blessings on Jerusalem. “Therefore thus earth the Lord,” etc.
CONCLUSION. Though we are far enough from presuming to have given a correct interpretation of the passage, or of maintaining that the thoughts we have suggested are contained in it, we conscientiously believe that the ideas are scriptural, and adapted for spiritual usefulness. The subject of God’s government in the world is one of the sublimest that can engage the human mind, and is beset with difficulties that often baffle the profoundest thinkers. It is our happiness to know that, small as is our planet in comparison with millions of other orbs that people immensity, and insignificant as are its human tenants, the infinite Father superintends it in wisdom and. in love.D.T.
Zec 1:18-21
Second vision: four horns and four carpenters.
“Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns. And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What be these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem,” etc. This is the second vision that the prophet had that night. The “horn” in the Bible is a symbol of power (Amo 6:13). The horns here represent possibly those worldly kingdoms which had been, or were to be, opposed to the Jewish people, namely, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. These four were symbolized in the colossal figure which filled the imagination of Nebuchadnezzar in his dream. Whom do the “four carpenters” symbolize, or, as some translate it, the “four smiths”? Undoubtedly, those instruments by which the moral Governor of the world overcomes all the enemies of truth and right. The interpreting angel says, in relation to these four smiths, or workmen, that they had “come to fray,” or terrify and cast down, the hostile powers represented by the horns. This vision presents to us the cause of right on the earth, and suggests two thoughts in relation to it.
I. THAT THE CAUSE OF RIGHT ON THE EARTH HAS STRONG ANTAGONISTS. Here are four horns, four mighty powers, all of which are in dead hostility to the covenant people. They are represented as those who have “scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head.” The enemies of the true scatter and crush. Though Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome have long since passed away, the horns, or the mighty powers of evil, are still here, and are at work. What are they? Reigning materialism is a horn; practical atheism is a horn; intolerant superstition is a horn; and dominant selfishness is a horn. All these mighty forces are ever at work in order to destroy the cause of right and truth upon the earth. They are the “principalities and powers of darkness,” against which all that is righteous, true, and pure upon the earth have to wrestle for existence.
II. THAT THE CAUSE OF TRUTH UPON THE EARTH HAS DIVINE DEFENDERS. Here are four carpenters, or smiths, who appear to “fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles.” Mark, the defenders were:
1. Men, not angels. God saves man by man. Who were the first apostles?
2. Working men. Toilers, labourers. It is man as man, not philosopher, poet, king, millionaire, that has to battle for the right. The greatest moral victories have been won by men in the lower walks of life.
3. They were skilled men. These men had a trade; they were craftsmen; they had been trained to the work they undertook. There is a skill required in order to strike effectively at the errors and wrongs of life. Stupid men, however good their intentions, accomplish but little, if anything, in the noble cause. They must be men of good natural sagacity, and that sagacity trained by the Spirit of God. A man to convert souls must have as much aptitude for the work as the carpenter has in order to shape the wood to his purpose, or the smith to mould and shape the metals.
CONCLUSION. Thank God that if the “horns” are here, there are carpenters here also to bring them to ruin, and to build up the blessed kingdom of truth and righteousness.D.T.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Zec 1:1. In the eighth month Zechariah begins his prophesy with an exhortation to the people to be converted to the Lord, and not to imitate the stubbornness of their forefathers. Three months afterwards, Zec 1:7 the Lord caused to appear to him an angel on horseback in the midst of a myrtle grove, standing by the side of a river. Several other angels come to the first, and acquaint him, that the whole country was at peace and abounded with inhabitants. He thence takes occasion to intreat the Lord, that he would have compassion on the cities of Judah. The Lord gives him a gracious and comfortable answer, and complies with his request. Then the prophet saw four horns, Zec 1:18 and four men going to break them with hammers; and he was told that these four horns denoted so many powers which had oppressed his people; but that the time was come wherein they should be overthrown, and broken to pieces. See Calmet.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
PART FIRST
UTTERANCES FOR THE PRESENT TIME
Zechariah 1-8
I. THE INTRODUCTION
Zec 1:1-6
A. A Call to Repentance (Zec 1:1-3). B. Enforced by an Appeal to the Experience of their Fathers (Zec 1:4-6).
1In 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,
2 Jehovah hath been sore displeased with your fathers.1
3 Therefore say thou2 unto them, Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts,
Return ye unto me, saith Jehovah of Hosts,
And I will return unto you, saith Jehovah of Hosts.
4 Be not as your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried, saying,
Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts,
Turn, I beseech you, from your evil ways and from your evil doings;3
But they hearkened not, and paid no attention to me,
Saith Jehovah.
5 Your fathers, where are they?
And the prophets, can they live forever?
6 Nevertheless,4 my words and my statutes,5
Which I commanded my servants the prophets,
Did they not overtake6 your fathers, so that they turned and said,
Like as Jehovah of Hosts purposed to do unto us,
According to our ways and according to our doings,
So hath He dealt with us.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
The main design of Zechariahs prophetic activity was to administer consolation and encouragement to the people of God still in a condition of weakness and suffering. This plainly appears from the general tenor of the night-visions, form the promised change of fasts into festivals, and from the glowing pictures of future blessedness and honor which occur in the latter portion of his book. Yet it was necessary to prevent these consolations from being usurped by any to whom they did not belong, and to show that repentance and holy living were indispensable conditions of the attainment of any of these blessings. This thought is again and again expressed in the course of the prophetic revelations (Zec 3:7, Zec 6:15. Zec 7:7-10, Zec 8:16-17, Zec 10:1-2, Zec 11:10, Zec 14:20), but it is made especially prominent in these opening verses, which seem to be a kind of introduction both to the prophets labors in general, and also to the present collection of his utterances. In them Zechariah sounds the key note of all spiritual religion, a return to God, and urges its importance by the mention of their fathers sins and their fathers punishments.
Zec 1:1. In the eighth month, etc. The first note of time does not mean, In the eighth new moon (C. B. Michaelis, Khler), because chdesh is never used in this sense in chronological notices. The general, introductory nature of this particular address did not require that the precise day of the month should be indicated. On other points in this verse, see the Introduction.
Zec 1:2. Jehovah hath been sore displeased, etc. The mention of Gods wrath is the ground of the summons in the following verse. Because God had been so angry with the fathers, the children should now repent in all sincerity. The severity of this wrath had been painfully shown in the overthrow of Jerusalem, the destruction of the Temple, and the bitter exile in Babylon (Psalms 137). The contradiction between this verse and the statement in Zec 1:17, that Jehovah was but a little displeased, is only apparent, for the latter refers to the duration of the wrath, while the former expresses its intensity.
Zec 1:3. Return ye I will return. The exhortation and promise contained in this verse, often repeated elsewhere (Mal 3:7, Jam 4:8), are remarkably strengthened by the trine repetition of Saith Jehovah of Hosts. The occasion of the summons is not to be sought in a temporary abandonment of the work of rebuilding the Temple, for which there is no historical ground, but in the spiritual condition of the people. It reminded them that the mere outward work was not enough, but there was need of a thorough conversion, a genuine heartfelt return from their former works and ways to the service and enjoyment of God.
Zec 1:4. Be not as your fathers. Since naturally parents are apt to transmit their own character and course to their children, the prophet here repeats his injunction in a negative form, bidding his countrymen carefully to shun the example of their predecessors, who had utterly scorned the Lords remonstrances. The former prophets are those before the exile, and Zechariah intentionally overlooks Daniel, because he officiated at a heathen court and not in the midst of his people, and his prophecies treated not so much of the inward duties of Israel as of its outward fortunes amid the mighty revolutions of the heathen world. For a full summation of the course of the former prophets as here set forth, see 2Ki 17:13-23. The ways and works of the earlier generation are called evil, in the first instance, because they were morally corrupt, but also because they were followed by sore consequences (Khler).
Zec 1:5. Your fathers, where are they? The concluding verses of the section sustain the warning not to imitate the fathers, by pointing out the fate which overtook them in consequence of their disobedience. The general sense is plain, and acknowledged by all interpreters, but the precise force of the questions in Zec 1:5 is variously stated. Both, of course, imply a negative answer, but in what sense is the decease of the prophets mentioned? Some (Jerome, Cyril), referring to Jer 37:10, suppose that false prophets are intended; but the persons spoken of here must be the same as those mentioned in the preceding verse, who are manifestly true servants of God. Others make the second question a rejoinder of the people to the first (Raschi, Burger, etc.), which seems forced. Others say that a contrast is presented between the fleeting, dying prophets, and the ever-living word of Jehovah (Calvin, Grotius, Hitzig, etc.), as if the meaning were, I allow that both your fathers and my prophets are dead; but my words, are they dead? but the. latter part of this contrast is not found in the text, but supplied by the interpreters. Another, class conceive that the point of the second question is to remind Zechariahs contemporaries that the voice of prophecy would soon cease, and therefore they should heed it while they had the opportunity (Abarb., Ewald), which is a very natural sense of the words if they stood alone; but it is contradicted by Zec 1:6, which shows that the reference is not to the existing, but to the former prophets. The true view is the one given by Khler and others, that the former of the two verses contains a concession which is limited and corrected by the latter. Thus: Your fathers are long since dead, and it may seem as though they had thus escaped the threatenings pronounced against them; the prophets, too, have gone the way of all flesh, and apparently their words died with them; nevertheless your fathers did not die until the threatenings of the shortlived prophets had overtaken them, nor until they themselves had acknowledged that fact. This view is sustained by the strong disjunctive conjunction at the commencement of Zec 1:6. The phrase, take hold, in E. V., fails to give the force of the Hebrew verb. The prophet conceives of Gods purposes of wrath as commissioned messengers which followed the Israelites and overtook them (cf. Deu 28:15; Deu 28:45). Mournful acknowledgments of this fact are to be found in Lam 2:17, in Daniels penitential prayer (Zec 9:4 ff.), and in Ezras humbling confession (Zec 9:6-7). There may be long delay, and consequently a growing hope of escape, but sooner or later every transgressor makes the affecting acknowledgment of the Psalmist (Psa 40:13), mine iniquities have overtaken me.
THEOLOGICAL AND MORAL
1. The opening words of Zechariah state a truth of great importance,and none the less so because in every age a persistent attempt has been made to deny or to evade itthat God has wrath. The blinding influence of their own depravity renders men insensible to the evil of sin, and they easily come to transfer their own views to their Makerthou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself (Psa 50:21). Hence they attribute to Him an easy good nature which readily condones moral offenses and is quite too gentle to give effect to the forebodings of a guilty conscience. To set forth his justice, and assert his prerogative as governor of the world, is regarded as an unwarrantable disturbance of mens peace and an impeachment of the amiableness of the divine character. This device is as old as the Apostles, and Paul exposes it with his usual vehemence, Let no man deceive you with vain words, for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience (Eph 5:6). God has wrath. Nature bears witness to the fact. The earth does not everywhere smile with verdure and beauty, but all over its surface shows blots and scars which suggest the moral disorder of the race. This fact has been set forth with equal eloquence and truth by Mr. Ruskin. Speaking of the revelations of God made on the face of creation, he says, Wrath and threatening are invariably mingled with love; and in the utmost solitudes of nature, the existence of hell seems to me as legibly declared by a thousand spiritual utterances as of heaven. It is well for us to dwell with thankfulness on the unfolding of the flower and the falling of the dew, and the sleep of the green fields in the sunshine; but the blasted trunk, the barren rock, the moaning of the bleak winds, the roar of the black, perilous whirlpools of the mountain streams, the solemn solitudes of moors and seas, the continual fading of all beauty into darkness and of all strength into dust, have these no language for us? We may seek to escape their teachings by reasonings touching the good which is wrought out of all evil; but it is vain sophistry. The good succeeds to the evil as day succeeds the night, but so also the evil to the good. Gerizim and Ebal, birth and death, light and darkness, heaven and hell, divide the existence of man and his futurity.
2. The words in Zec 1:2 do not belong to the message to the people, but were delivered only to the Prophet; and they disclose to us the internal pressure under which he entered upon his office (Pressel). A due sense of the power of Gods wrath lies at the basis of all true earnestness on the part of his Prophets. It is the burning fire shut up in the bones (Jer 20:9) which imparts its own vehemence to the message, and produces corresponding conviction in them that hear. We observe it in the Prophet of all Prophets, the Saviour Himself. His groaning in spirit at the grave of Lazarus, his tears at the sight of Jerusalem, show how deeply he felt the terribleness of Gods anger. Bunyans Grace Abounding affords a remarkable testimony from his own experience. Now this part of my work I fulfilled with great earnestness, for the terrors of the law and guilt for my transgressions lay heavy on my conscience; I preached what I felt, what I smartingly did feel, even that under which my poor soul did groan and tremble to astonishment. Indeed, I have been as one sent to them from the dead; I went myself in chains, to preach to them in chains; and carried that fire in my own conscience that! persuaded them to be aware of.
3. The Lords first message to the people by the mouth of Zechariah contains the fundamental principle of all his communications to fallen men, alike in the Old Testament and in the New. There is a command and a promise, each comprehending in itself all others of the same class. Men are summoned to turn back to God, and then He engages to return to them. Alienation from God is the primary sin. Men turn away from their Maker, hide from Him like Adam, or wander off like the prodigal, and of course are dissatisfied and wretched. Having left the fountain of living waters, they find the cisterns they hew out for themselves to be broken cisterns which can hold no water. No matter how often the experiment is repeated, it always fails. The only escape, the first duty, is to turn to the Lord. This duty would be difficult, nay, it would be impossible, but for the gracious promise which accompanies it. God is found of those who seek Him. This is a truth of the older dispensation as well as of the later. The father in our Saviours parable who, while yet the wayward son was a great way off, discerned, and welcomed, and ran to meet his returning steps, is only a vivid picture of him who waited to be gracious all through the history of his ancient people. Even in the early days of Job, Eliphaz announced (Job 22:21) the cheering assurance, Acquaint now thyself with Him and be at peace; thereby good shall come unto thee.
4. Gods providence not only insures the fulfillment of his threatenings, but compels the acknowledgment of that fulfillment from those who suffer it. In the case of the Jews this recognition was frequently uttered, as mentioned before. (See Exeget. and Crit., ad finem.)
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
T. V. Moore: It is a sign of a sickly piety when men are willing to hear nothing of the wrath of God against sin. If men expect God to return to them in prosperity, they must return to Him in penitence. The flower averted from the sun must turn toward it, to catch its genial smile.
Pressel: No mercy without return, and no return without mercy. He who will not hear, shall feel. Haste (eile) that you may not be overtaken (ereilt). 1. Haste, for your day of grace is short, and even the messengers of grace are passing away. 2. If once you are overtaken, your eyes will open too late, and only with trembling lips can you give honor to the Lord.
Wordsworth: Zechariah comes forth like John the Baptist, and begins his preaching with a call to repentance, and warns the people by the history of their fathers, that no spiritual privileges will profit them without holiness, but rather will aggravate their guilt and increase their condemnation if they disobey God.
Calvin: We learn here that the examples set up as a shield for wrong-doing are so far from being of any weight before God that they enhance our guilt. Yet this folly infatuates many, for the Papists claim their religion to be holy and irreprehensible, because it has been handed down by their fathers.
Footnotes:
[1]Zec 1:2.The collection of the verb and its cognate noun renders this verse very emphatic. Literally, Angry was Jehovah at your fathers with anger.
[2]Zec 1:3.The vav conv. with the Perfect, indicating a necessary consequence from what precedes, is rendered in the imperative. does not refer to the nearest antecedent fathers, but to the prophet’s contemporaries, implied in the pronoun your.
[3]Zec 1:4.The Kethib is to be retained both because the preposition is wanting in the Keri, and also because the latter seems to have originated in the offense taken at the masculine ending in the plural of a noun feminine in the singular, although similar cases are not rare (Green, Heb. Gram., 200 b).
[4]Zec 1:6.. This word is very inadequately rendered in the E. V., by the simple adversative but
[5]Zec 1:6.. For a precisely similar use of this word, see Zephaniah 2 :and Job 23:14.
[6]Zec 1:6.. The marginal rendering of E. V., overtake, is to be preferred to the text, take hold.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
The Prophet soon enters upon the account of his vision, after giving his name, and descent, and the date of his prophecy. The close of this Chapter is with gracious promises to Jerusalem.
Zec 1:1
“In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, “
If the Reader be interested to discover the exact date of Zechariah’s entrance upon his prophetical office, by comparing it with what Haggai saith of his time of ministering, he will find there were but two months between them. Hag 1:1 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
“Handfuls of Purpose”
For All Gleaners
Zec 1
“Be not as your fathers” ( Zec 1:4 )
This is an inversion of a common exhortation. We are often counselled to keep in our fathers’ way, and attend to our fathers’ word, and reflect our fathers’ example; but in this case we are to turn away from our fathers as from our enemies. The fact that such a command is given shows that obedience to it is possible: if that is the case, here is a most remarkable instance of men separating themselves from their antecedents. Science teaches us that no man can get away from his antecedents; but Scripture insists that such a detachment is possible, and indeed is requisite for entrance into the kingdom of heaven. Nature allowed to go on in its uninterrupted course would possibly prove the scientific position; but we are not only in an economy of nature, we are also in an economy of grace or of distinct spiritual action; the God who created nature has also committed himself to certain spiritual ministries, the end of which is new creatureship. Let some who have had bad fathers be encouraged by this exhortation; let those who have had good fathers follow in good ways; but let no man’s heart be cast down simply because he started from a bad human origin. History is full of instances in which the children of bad parents have become conspicuous Christians. Do not quote the authority of bad men simply because they happen to be your fathers. It is possible for a youth to say that by following an evil course he is only doing what his father did; that is no excuse; certainly it is no reason, and he knows in his own heart that it is a vain and hollow plea.
“We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest” ( Zec 1:11 )
Yet there was no image visible to the eye of the body. We cannot tell under what inspection we live; but it is a solemn fact that we do live under spiritual scrutiny. The condition of the earth is reported in heaven day by day. Not that God, who is omniscient, needs any such report, but that his whole universe is constructed upon the principle of supervision, criticism, and final judgment. By sending out spirits or human intelligences to make moral surveys, he educated the very messengers whom he thus commissions. The earth was meant to be still, to be at rest, to feel upon it the benediction of Sabbath day. How different from this is the real state of the world as we know it! How is rest to be restored? How can the Sabbath be made to dawn upon this battlefield? The angels could but report the condition of the world, they could not mend it. Ministers of Christ can not only report the condition of the world, but by exercising their function they can instrumentally not only amend, but educate and redeem the world. We should accustom ourselves to an exact survey of things as they are. Never shut our eyes to facts. Let us face the reality of the case, however bad it may be, for only by doing so can we get at the root of things, and apply vital remedies. Wonderful is the picture of the recording angel; the Book is spread before him; swiftly his hand writes down all the incidents of time; then the Book is handed to the Lord, who is the Judge of all the earth. It is under such an economy we live. Let every man say of himself, “Thou God seest me.” This criticism is not meant to alarm us, but to encourage us, if so be we walk in the ways of truth and righteousness. Only the bad man has any reason to fear the scheme of creation. That scheme is made so as to burn all bad men and bad thoughts; but it is made so as to encourage everything that is true, lovely, and of good report.
“I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies” ( Zec 1:16 )
What should we expect from an announcement of this kind? We should probably expect that the Lord would lull the people into peace and a sense of security; would indeed cover them with the feeling of a certain degree of sleep, in which they would see everything as in the haze of dreams, and see nothing in its ruggedness and baldness. What the Lord means by coming to a city with mercies is explained by the following sentence “My house shall be built in it.” The mercy is not a mere sentiment. We do not live upon the foam of words or the bubbles of speculation. No mind is right, or at rest, or in the true line of progress, that has not the sanctuary for its very centre and for its chief ornament and glory. The men who undervalue the sanctuary do not know the injury they are inflicting upon society. Prayer has always been undervalued or misunderstood probably by the bulk of mankind. Wherever the sanctuary is assailed, its friends should the more generously and strenuously support it. That is always the best way of answering the enemy or the assailant
Prayer
Almighty God, we bless thee for all we have heard of thy kingdom; for we rejoice that we have hear that it is a kingdom of God, a kingdom of heaven, a kingdom of truth and light and peace. It is an eternal kingdom, yet every phase of it is new; thou dost surprise us with beauty, thou dost quicken our amazement by startling revelations, thou dost cause all history to shape itself into parable, and all providence to become a question and an enigma, that through these our attention may be excited and may be riveted and may be satisfied with answers divine. Pity us in our littlenesses: thou knowest what we would be if we could; thou knowest our supreme desire; our uppermost thought is known to thee, whether it be a thought debased by selfishness, or ennobled by some yet unspoken prayer that will one day ask at the Cross great things of God. We thank thee for all hints that this is not our resting-place; we bless thee for all suggestions of a great Beyond, where trial shall be at an end, where weeping shall be unknown, where fellowship shall be unbroken. May we be drawn on as by the power of an endless life, a glorious, holy, ennobling constraint, captivity to which is truest liberty. Be with us in all our life, in our houses, and in our businesses, in the chamber of festival, in the chamber of sickness; be with us when all life is one buoyant gladness; be with us still nearer and more tenderly when life is one great gloom. When all these transient phases have passed away may we see the meaning of them all in the face of Jesus Christ, no more a Lamb slain, but for ever a reigning King. Amen.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Spiritual Times and Seasons
Zec 1:1-9
We dislike men who know the day upon which they were converted. We have lived, by the temptation of the devil, down to that low point. Our reason for disliking such men is that we do not know the day of our own conversion; and if we do not know when we were converted, how is it possible for any one else to know when he was converted? All the prophets must go down before this narrow and shallow criticism of ours, because they give the day and the date, and almost the very hour. The difficulty is for a man to forget the day when he first saw the Lord. Why, there is no other day. All the so-called other days are so many nights, or at best twilights. We never saw the true day until we saw the light that is above the brightness of the sun; this day puts out all other light, this incident of conversion puts out all other history, or throws it into its right perspective and relationship. Zechariah was a youth. That is a term which ought to be explained, because it conveyed a meaning in the Hebrew which it does not convey in English. A “youth” does not necessarily mean a child or a boy. Jeremiah said he was a child, “a little child.” So are we all in the presence of a century: what must we be in the presence of eternity? Joseph was called a child, or a youth, when he was twenty-eight years of age; the men who mocked Elisha were called little children: they may have been forty years old. All these terms are relative, and are not to be understood except by a clear conception of the circumstances under which they were used. The Lord chooseth both old men and young; his message will fit any age: sometimes he has a word to us that a boy could not utter; sometimes he has a message to deliver that only a young heart can properly announce, because it alone has the requisite freshness of sympathy and music. The Lord has a word which only men of business can speak; and they will not speak it. There are some sermons that ought never to be preached in the pulpit; they ought to be preached in the market-place, or over the counter, or on high ‘Change; and men of business only can speak them with clearness and precision, and moral, because personal, authority. There are some texts that preachers have no business with; they cannot pronounce the words aright; they can utter the individual syllables, but they cannot run them into that persuasive music which belongs only to the tongue of honest commerce.
“The prophet” ( Zec 1:1 ). Zechariah is not ashamed of his function. We are not to read “the son of Iddo the prophet,” according to English punctuation; the comma ought to be after the word “Iddo”; and, omitting the intermediate genealogy, the word will then stand “The word of the Lord unto Zechariah the prophet.” How can the Lord send his word to anybody but prophets? Other people could not understand it. Here is a mystery, but it is a mystery of fact rather than of speculation or dream. Some men laugh at the Gospel. Do not mock them; they cannot do aught else. Why I cannot tell, I did not make the universe; the human heart is no construction of ours. There are men to whom there is no Church. Do not reason with them; you cannot put liquid into a vessel that is open at both ends; do not waste your words: the kingdom of heaven is sent to them who can understand it, feel it, catch its music, and answer it with kindred melody. All this involves much questioning; all this indeed supplies the basis upon which angry cross-examination might take place; and we know it. The explanation may come by-and-by, and that explanation will be adequate; meanwhile, there are men to whom sermons cannot be preached because they cannot be heard. There are souls on whom hymns are wasted. How this is we know not.
When the Lord sends his word to his chosen one he will make it easy for that chosen one to deliver it, will he not? No: he sends his servant upon hard work. When did the Lord ever give any servant of his an easy function? When did he say to his Jeremiah, or Ezekiel, or Daniel, or other prophets, Come now; this is easy, this will cost you nothing; you could do this at odd times? Never. There are men who can apparently do the Lord’s work without suffering through it; but it is not the Lord’s work they are doing, or if it be the Lord’s work in any superficial sense it is not done with the Lord’s spirit, which is the spirit of the Cross, the spirit of shed blood, the spirit that keeps nothing back. There be those who say that the Lord deceived us by going into a swoon. A poor Lord to follow and unworthy of being followed! If he only swooned in love he is a deceiver. All who teach that dead Christ who lived again must be prepared to carry heavy weights, and run long distances, and say words that scorch their tongues.
Zechariah was commissioned to say to the people, “The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers.” “Sore displeased” is somewhat feeble. Yet it is significant. The word which Zechariah really used was, “The Lord hath been wrath with a wrath.” Real Hebrew, word upon word, with cumulativeness of emphasis until repetition becomes argument, and reduplication becomes eloquence. The details are left to the imagination. Who will set down the Lord’s judgment in numbered particulars? He who would do so would trifle with all the higher aspects and meanings of providence. When all heaven is draped with one cloud of anger, where is the man who would take paper and pen and write thereon the detail of the wrath of God? Take it in its summariness; take it in its unbroken unity.
But being “displeased with your fathers,” what is that to do with us? Let Darwin himself be commentator. Darwin says, “No being can ever get rid of its antecedents.” If the Bible had said that, we might have smiled at the fanaticism, and charged the book with a species of immorality, because it follows men from age to age, and says, You! the man who was not in Eden when the fruit was stolen. Darwin says he was, and Darwin was a prophet. That is to say, if ever there was a man who did anything wrong, all men belonging to that man can never shake him off. Have we sufficiently considered the solidarity of history? Do we really know that there is only one Man in the world? Not one individual, or not one man, spelling man with a small m: but only one Man. So we recur to our question, Where are those who separate themselves from humanity, and shelter themselves under the canvas of their ancestral respectability? It is well for the theologians that they can quote Charles Darwin, because Zechariah is of no account. Only a man who has collected ten thousand insects and pinned five thousand butterflies, and studied night and day the minutest processes of nature accessible to the microscope or the telescope, only he may now be believed. Zechariah had no telescope poor Zechariah! “Your fathers”: what have we to do with our fathers? Everything. Did you object to being made rich by your father? When do you want to cast your fathers off? When you can get no more out of them: but Darwin says a man, a creature, cannot get rid of his antecedents and Darwin had a microscope! We are thankful for such testimony; it is the testimony of patience, intelligence, and fearlessness, and ought to be valued by every student of human nature.
But there is another factor in the universe that does not come within the ken of the microscope: “Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts.” That is religious. If there is a Lord of hosts, that makes all the difference in the universe. Of course, I had thought before I came to this that the universe got into existence in some kind of surreptitious manner; I did not know how it stole in upon me, or where I was when it came into existence, but I have been given to understand that it made itself in some kind of way, or came out of something so minute that nobody ever saw it, and nobody ever remembers its exact name; it came out of particle, or atom, or mist, or fire-vapour, or cloud. Perhaps: but where did the thing it came out of come from? That is what we want to know. If you start with an atom, we only ask where the atom came from. It is going to be a greater mystery than we at first supposed; a grander display of power, a more august, tremendous wisdom. Hear the new name “The Lord of hosts”: is there a power outside of us that rules us, directs us, on the ground of having made us? If so, that makes all the difference in the argument. If we are not alone in creation, who is it that divides and spoils our solitude? The Lord of hosts is unthinkable. So is everything under the sun and above it, in its higher, deeper, grander meanings. Zechariah does not deliver any message of malediction or of benediction as the result of his own inspiration, or any movement on his own part. Whatever he says he sanctifies by a name; that name is “the Lord of hosts,” and Zechariah believed that the universe was made all the more possible and beautiful and useful, because it was created by the Lord of hosts. We accept his doctrine; it looks to us more rational than any other.
What will the Lord of hosts have done? He will have a gospel proclaimed, and that gospel shall be the great doctrine of the possibility of human conversion “Turn ye unto him.” That is the word that makes highest history. Here you have an action proceeding in one direction, and a voice says, Reverse, halt, turn, come back! That is a new possibility in life, we never thought of that before. We understood that if a motion was created, it must go on through eternity; but here is a power that says, Whatever is going on one way can go back the other way. There is a voice, rational or irrational, that says, Whatever we do can be undone, if we associate ourselves with an economy larger than the world which we call the world of nature. “Be not as your fathers.” What, is it possible to shake off your antecedents? Is it possible to be grafted into another tree? Is it possible to start a new history? What? Listen “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.” Here, then, we have conversion, reconstruction, regeneration, sanctification.
In the fifth verse we have an extraordinary colloquy: “Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?” How many pensive sermons we have heard preached on these inquiries that have no relation whatever to the question, except a relation of accommodation! The colloquy is between the prophet and the people: Your fathers, where are they? saith the prophet, dead, gone, perished, crushed beneath the wheel of righteous retribution: your fathers, where are they? And the people answered Well, what of it? the prophets, do they live for ever? If our fathers were bad men and are dead, the prophets you say were good men, and are they alive? The prophets, do they live for ever? And so the colloquy proceeds a colloquy of angry exhortation on the one side, and angry and scornful recrimination on the other. Zechariah says, Your fathers are dead, and the people say, So are your prophets. The hearers are dead, so are the preachers. This power of reproach, this genius of recrimination, must be carefully watched. There is a law of dissolution, as well as a law of penalty. The prophet was not speaking about the mere dissolution of the fathers, as who should say, Even the wisest men are mortal. He was pointing to their removal as a proof of the righteous retribution which governs human affairs. As for the prophets, when they die, they die by a natural process, and pass on to a higher development; in so far as they were good men they never die. Zechariah is not dead; David the sweet singer is not dead; Mary the mother of Jesus is not a dead woman; the Saviour lives for ever.
Zechariah is not only empowered to deliver a message, he is authorised to found all his messages and expostulations upon his own personal experience. Unless a theologian is a converted man, and has a testimony of his own about Christ, he is an invader of the sanctuary, he is a trespasser, though a preacher.
Now Zechariah speaks in his own person, saying, “I saw by night.” What an extraordinary combination of terms! It is all some men can do to see by day; they can only see dim outlines; they do not see realities, they see images, types, and symbols; the prophet says, “I saw by night,” which is in reality the only true time for seeing. If you want to see your dead friends, look for them at midnight: all the lights out, all the curtains drawn, the room all darkness; then, hush! they come. Another man may say, I never saw. Very good; what of it? Who ever charged you with having seen anything? Because you do not see, was Zechariah blind? Because you have never seen anything under your feet but the paving-stones, have other men not seen flowers? Who made thee a ruler or a judge of other men’s power of insight and penetration? Zechariah says he saw, and he saw by night, and he saw “a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white.” It is easy to sneer at these visions; the sneer is a tribute. Men by sneering show the limit of their own capacity, and the limit of their own influence. Zechariah saw. Some living men are always seeing, and are always being mocked. That must be so. Have no fear of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do: cultivate the spiritual faculty, encourage, so to say, your spiritual vision to look for more and more light and beauty. Some of us do live more in the spiritual than in the so-called material. When men ask me if I believe in the supernatural, I say, No: there is no supernatural. Why? Because what you call nature is not nature in any limited, sensuous, and superficial sense: there is nothing but supernatural. We deny the etymology and the exactness of the term; “Super” that is the part of the word we cast away, and we say, All creation, all matter, all souls, live on the appointed level, and God is in all, and above all, and round about all. We do not admit the distinction between nature and supernature; we find the standard of judgment in God’s personality. Men see different things in the world, and they must interpret their own symbols or get them interpreted. We never saw a man riding upon a red horse, and standing among the myrtle trees; but he is always there; it is the eye that is wanted, not the man. “Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw.” That is the sublime mystery of development.
“And the angel that talked with me.” That is poor, but the literal rendering is grand “And the angel that talked in me.” That is it. The interpreter must always be in a man, “The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” Listen to your soul, listen to yourself, listen to yourself when you are in your best moods, when the keys of heaven are given to you, and the Lord says, Ask what thou wilt, and it shall be done unto thee. Then seize the crown, and hold it with a faithful hand.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
The Spiritual Jerusalem
Zec 2
The prophet Zechariah is so apocalyptic in his way of seeing everything, and stating what he does see, that it is next to impossible to give a final literal interpretation of his prophecy. His book in the Old Testament takes some such place as the revelation of John the Divine in the New Testament It should always be remembered that apocalyptic writing cannot be literally interpreted, and therefore readers should be very careful how they build large and judicial doctrines on texts of very doubtful purport. With this understanding we may look at the weird and pictorial words of Zechariah in the hope of being able here and there to see something that may help our better life. It is worse than folly to attempt to literalise such writing as Zechariah’s. There is, of course, a strong temptation to some minds to do this; but experience has shown that such labour is generally, if not universally, fruitless not fruitless only indeed, but leading to angry and clamorous controversy which never can be settled to the satisfaction of the disputants.
Zechariah lifted up his eyes again, and looked ( Zec 2:1 ): that is about all that is possible to any man. Zechariah puts himself into an attentive and receptive relation, and there our duty begins and ends, so far as receiving messages from heaven is concerned; afterwards we have to go out and carry these messages into effect; at the first, all we can do is to lift up our eyes in expectancy, and look as if inspired by an assured hope. This must be our way of treating the Bible. We do not see everything in one look; we have to look again and again. Jesus Christ did not quote the Scriptures once for all when he contended with his enemy in the wilderness; he told that enemy that it was “written again.” Every new day has some new vision of God for the soul that longs to see divinest beauty. All the old things will bear looking at again. The sunset is never old in any sense of exhaustion, of suggestion, beauty, and glory. The tiniest flower that blooms in spring or summer will bear looking at again and again, and will always have some new aspect of loveliness to show to us, if our eyes be directed to it with expectancy. How true this is of the whole scheme of divine providence! Read the days as they pass, and see how swiftly God is writing the story of human life and the revelation of his ineffable purpose! All this writing is done in daily business, in general strife, in the clash of arms, in the emulation of empires, and in all the affairs and elements that constitute human progress. We should see more if we looked with more eagerness. Only to the open eye will God show himself. Nor is that the eye of the body, it is the eye of the heart. Yea, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Zechariah saw “a man with a measuring line in his hand” ( Zec 2:1 ). Surely this may be taken as a sign of judgment! When God brings men to the standard, he means either to approve or condemn them. So when God lays the measuring line upon a city and upon a life, surely his purpose is to find out its defects, and to judge accordingly. Ezekiel saw this same angel. Various prophets have referred to the same mystic messenger as operating energetically in vision and in action. We may see him to-day if we look for him. The angels are not dead; we have concealed them within the clouds of our unbelief, or fear, or selfishness, but the clouds are purely of our own creation, and they do not affect the reality of spiritual existences. In this verse the angel declared his purpose, which was “To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof.” Whilst this conversation was proceeding between Zechariah and the angel, “another angel went out to meet him,” and would appear to have delivered the precise message which Zechariah was intended to hear, namely, “Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein.” It is important to notice the architectural outline of this Jerusalem, because it suggests that it cannot be the earthly Jerusalem that is meant. To be without walls, was in ancient times and places to be without defence; to have no wall, was to be a continual temptation to surrounding peoples. So long as Jerusalem was without a wall, her life was one of constant and humiliating fear. The period of her restoration and security was indicated by the building. It had been promised to Daniel that her “street shall be built again, and the wall, even in strait times.” Nearly five hundred years before the coming of Christ Nehemiah mourned, saying, “The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province, are in great affliction and reproach, the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.” It would appear, therefore, that the prophecy looks forward to the times of Christ. He was to have a Jerusalem not limited and bounded by walls and fences and landmarks; his city was to be without any such boundaries, and was to gradually expand on the right hand and on the left, until the whole world should become the city of God. “Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.” This would seem to refer to limitation, but the prophet proceeds, “Spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left.”
Is the spiritual Jerusalem to be a city without a wall of defence? Is it to be the prey of the enemy? Is it to live a life of continual exposure? The answer is given in Zec 2:5 :
“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.”
These firewalls escape the attention of our poor vision. We think the Church is not safe unless we build up walls of creed, and dogma, and ceremony, and all manner of mechanical arrangements; we seem to be determined not to leave any room for divine providence in the economy and progress of the Church. Be it known unto us, one and all, to meddlers of every class and kind, that the Lord himself is a wall of fire round about his Church. Elisha prayed that the young man’s eyes might be opened, and no sooner were they opened than he beheld this same wall of fire. We are also inclined to create minor glories and grandeurs in the Church; we have our hierarchies, our gradations from the highest to the lowest, our appointments of a ceremonial and ritual kind; our great men, our fertile writers, our keen debaters, our brilliant assailants of error, and our magnificent defenders of positive truth; all these in their right places may be of much use, but we must remember what God says in this same verse that he “will be the glory in the midst of her.” Similar words are found in the prophecy of Isaiah, “The Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.” Of Christ we read prophetically: “In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious” to the “escaped of Israel.”
“Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north, saith the Lord; for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the Lord” ( Zec 2:6 ).
The Lord having founded a city of defence, calls all his people to it. They have not to build one Babylon to oppose another; with their own hands they have to create no defence; they have simply to come to the city of God: “Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, The Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob.” The music of Jeremiah is in the same lofty and thrilling key: “Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance; he will render unto her a recompense.” At all times the command of the Lord is to flee and deliver ourselves from opposing forces. We are never told merely to flee, as if to outrun the enemy; we are always invited to some particular goal, some divinely-built and divinely-protected Jerusalem. The sinner is not commanded to flee away from his sin; he is commanded to flee to his Saviour. The same doctrine is laid down in divers directions, but it always indicates the specialty of God’s provision for those who flee from evil. “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing” this is negative, this is simply to call up the soul to some perilous adventure, the soul not knowing the issue of its endeavours, but the promise follows the command “and I will receive you.” So commands and promises roll together in these marvellous communications from heaven.
“For he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye” ( Zec 2:8 ).
The Old Testament is full of the most endearing expressions regarding the relation of God to his Church. It would be easy to show that there is more real tenderness in the Old Testament than in the New so far as the expression of sentiment is concerned. The one thing that invests the New Testament with supreme tenderness is the Cross of Christ: in presence of that spectacle all other tenderness becomes but a variety of cruelty. No man can touch the saint without first touching the Saviour. The glory of the Lord is round about the humblest of his people; so that he who would smite the obscurest worshipper must force his way as through a circle of guardian fire. What can be closer in the way of relation than that which is expressed by the image before us? Precious in the sight of the Lord is the life of the saints, the whole course of their conduct, and precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. It would seem as if the Lord saw nothing but the saints, because all his arrangements are made with a view to their culture, their edification, and their final and eternal fellowship with himself. Does not the image teach us that God’s people seem to be part of God himself? Can any man remove the pupil of his eye without losing his sight, and thus inflicting injury upon his whole constitution? We are partakers of the divine nature, if so be our life is hidden with Christ in God. Know ye not that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost, and the Holy Ghost dwelleth in you? Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: not something outside God, but something partaking of his very nature, something identified with his very deity. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the Church.
“Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people: and I “will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee” ( Zec 2:10-11 ).
It is impossible that the Church should keep a silent tongue amid the shower of blessings poured out from heaven upon the inheritance of the Lord. We are called upon to sing and rejoice, and shout and clap our hands, and enter into all possible manifestations of exultant delight We cannot arrange for such experiences, saying that to-day or tomorrow we will hold high festival in the Church of God. There are times when the soul is filled with such a sense of the divine presence and glory that it must break forth into singing, and betake itself to demonstrations which, to the carnal mind, must seem not only eccentric, but wild and irrational. The soul must know the secret of its own gladness, and fully respond to all the indications of the divine pleasure. A silent church is an ungrateful church. A silent family is a family that represents unthankfulness and impiety. A silent life gives no testimony to the indwelling and all-ruling presence and energy of the Holy Spirit.
The promise that many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall become the people of the Lord, is a grand evangelical prophecy. Isaiah had looked forward to the time when proselytes in considerable numbers should join the true Israel. Jeremiah also had predicted something of the same consummation. They, however, seem to have limited their vision in some directions, but Zechariah now takes up the prophecy, and says that many nations shall join themselves. The Jews had made no converts among the heathen; the Jews had been scattered everywhere, and yet the nations had not allied themselves with the great Jewish current of history and development; but now comes the prophecy that many nations shall join themselves unto the Lord. From eternity this has been the thought of God. We are nowhere taught that God had fixed his love upon one particular nation to the exclusion of all other peoples. Even God must begin at some historical point, and he began with a people of his own special creation, but he only began with that people, that he might add to it all the other peoples of the earth until the whole world should be filled with his glory. The title of Israel was “the people of God,” or, in other words, “A people unto himself.” The heathen were represented as “not a people,” and God purposed to provoke Israel to jealousy by these outlying nations. Israel was very dear unto the Lord, not because of good behaviour, but because of his own purpose and grace. The figure which Jeremiah employs indicates the utmost closeness: “As a girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel, and the whole house of Judah, saith the Lord; that they might be unto me for a people and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory.” This was not to be the exclusive and final privilege of Israel; but to these enjoyments many nations were to be admitted. Thus Christ is to see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied. The Church of God is to consist of Israel and the Gentiles. The unity of humanity is realised and acknowledged in the Son of man.
In the twelfth verse we come upon an expression which has often been unduly limited, namely, “the holy land.” The verse reads, “And the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again.” The land was made holy by the presence of God. It is not land separate from all the other portion of the earth, and technically described as “holy.” Wherever God is there is holiness. The whole earth is to be filled with the knowledge of God, then the whole earth will be the holy land. Let us understand, therefore, that we are not dealing in this verse with a merely technical expression. We are looking forward to a time when the whole earth shall be God’s Palestine. Happily we are not to think of the conversion of the heathen as something independent of the purpose of God in the general administration of earthly affairs. Even when the whole world is converted, it would appear as if Jerusalem should be the centre of the new empire. It is true that repentance and remission of sins are to be preached among all nations: the beginning was to be made in Jerusalem.
When, in the thirteenth verse, we find the exclamation, “Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord,” the literal word is “Hush!” The whole human race is to have nothing to say to God, is not to argue with God, has no part or lot in any equal controversy with God: the duty and the privilege of the earth is to be silent when the Lord raises himself out of his holy habitation and speaks to the creatures of his hand. According to the thirteenth verse there is a time when God seems to be perfectly indifferent to the affairs of life. It would appear, indeed, as if the Divine Being were in slumber, for we read of his being “raised up.” These, however, are but accommodations of language to human weakness and usage. For ever and ever the eyes of the Lord are open, and the heart of the Lord is filled with solicitude towards his creation.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
XXVII
THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAH PART I
Zechariah 1-3
We take up now the book of Zechariah. The date is 520 B.C., the same year in which Haggai uttered his prophecies to the leaders and people of Judah and Jerusalem urging them to go on with the work of rebuilding the Temple. Zechanah was a contemporary of Haggai, the two preaching at the same time, with a similar message, and with the same purpose. They make no reference to each other, but it is the usual thing for prophets to apparently ignore the existence of any other prophet. That is only apparent, however, for the prophecies that we have recorded are supposed to record the messages of God, and not to be taken up with references to any personal matters.
It was in the reign of Darius which began 521 B.C. Zechariah tells us in the first verse of his prophecy that it was in the eighth month of the second year of Darius. He says that he was the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, and styles himself “the prophet” as if he were well known as such. He was the grandson of Iddo. In Neh 12:16 , Zechariah is referred to as the son of Iddo, who was one of the heads of the priestly families that returned from Babylon with the first great company. So Zechariah was the grandson of a priest and was, no doubt, a priest himself. In the records of Ezra and Nehemiah, no mention is made of Berechiah. Probably he was an insignificant man, or perhaps died early, and thus no mention is made of him in those larger genealogies. Zechariah himself remembered his father, and also his grandfather and thus connected himself with one of the priestly families of Israel.
Now, let us consider the problem of the authorship of Zechariah. The first eight chapters of Zechariah are a unit. No one has ever denied that unity. The last six chapters of the book of Zechariah are very different. In these there is no allusion to the Temple, no reference to their feasts, to their ritual, to their sacrifices, or ceremonials; no references to the governor, or to the Persian Empire. The political situation seems to be entirely changed. Other nations are mentioned which had not been mentioned by Zechariah, which had not been mentioned in fact, since the eighth century prophets prophesied against them. These nations are Damascus, Hadrach, a large city tributary to Damascus; Hamath, another important city in that region; Assyria, which had long since been dead as a nation; Egypt, still in existence and somewhat prominent; Greece, which had been mentioned only once and that in Joel, and which now comes to the front as the great conquering nation of the world. There is no peace in these chapters as in the first eight, but war, turmoil, strife, revolution, bloodshed, invasion, conquest, and struggle. Interspersed with that, there are beautiful portions on the messianic peace, the messianic glory that is to come, and there is also the picture of a fearful judgment upon Jerusalem, when that city shall be assaulted by the nations and shall be saved by Jehovah. All this is entirely different from the first part of Zechariah, and so different that there has been a great deal of controversy as to the authorship.
I give now a brief history of the various theories in regard to the authorship of these last six chapters.
In 1632, nearly three hundred years ago, an English Bishop noticed in Zec 11:13 , this statement: “And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter, the goodly price that I was prized at by them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them unto the potter in the house of the Lord.” Then he noticed in Mat 27:9 these words ascribed to Jeremiah: “Then was fulfilled that which was spoken of by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was priced, whom certain of the children of Israel did price; and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord appointed me.” On the supposition that this was a quotation from the book of Jeremiah several English scholars at the date ascribed these last six chapters to Jeremiah, the prophet. That theory held sway for some time, and we readily see that it would revolutionize many of our ideas and conceptions regarding the book of Zechariah if it were put back into the time of Jeremiah, and it would create a thousand problems that would be difficult to solve.
Then again, some put it earlier than Jeremiah, before 720 B.C., while northern Israel was still in existence and Assyria was on the horizon and Egypt yet powerful and Damascus a strong state. Up to the year 1784 Jeremiah was regarded as the probable author by a great many. Then it was noted there was a man named Zechariah who lived in the time of Isaiah, and many scholars following that date, ascribed it to this Zechariah, a contemporary of Isaiah. Up to about twenty-five years ago almost all scholars ascribed it to a pre-exilic date, appearing at any period from the time of Isaiah to the time of Jeremiah.
Since about 1880 radical critics have been at work, and it has been ascribed almost unanimously by them to a postexilic date. Scholars have seen that the reference to Damascus and Hadrach and Hamath and their destruction might be ascribed to the conquest of Alexander the Great. For those nations, once powerful, had become weak, but revived again, and it is a historical fact that Alexander the Great really did sweep through that part of western Asia and destroy those cities and people. It was seen that Assyria and Egypt as referred to here, were general terms for the enemies of Israel north and south of Palestine. Assyria being her northern enemy, and Egypt her southern enemy. Judah and Ephraim which are referred to in this prophecy were used to represent all Israel, the two tribes and the ten tribes as grouped. They contend that the language is very late, but an argument from language is rather precarious, as we cannot be sure that words used in the sixth century B.C. were not used in the seventh and eighth centuries B.C.
Many scholars put it about 516 B.C., at the time of the dedication of the second temple. Pusey, one of the greatest English scholars and writers on the minor prophets, says that it was written about 516 B.C. or shortly afterward and that it gives us a vision of the conquests of Alexander the Great, the wars and turmoils under his generals and the Ptolemies of Egypt, the Maccabees, the Roman Empire, down to the time of the crucifixion of Christ, and reaching on into the future to the conversion of the Jews. Radical critics, however, make it much later. They say it was written sometime during the period of Alexander the Great; that some of it was written probably in the Maccabean age, and many of them say that these six chapters have two different authors, living at different times. Cheyne, one of the great English critics, refers it to the Maccabean period. George Adam Smith puts it later than the time of Zechariah and the other prophets, but does not ascribe any date.
A great many conservative and very able scholars have held and do still hold that it was written by Zechariah himself after 516 B.C., when the Temple was dedicated. It is a picture of the Greeks upon the horizon of history, and that history arises because of their advance upon and their relation to Judah and Israel. There are foresight and prediction, and the reason why the radical critics put it in the Maccabean or Alexandrian period is because of their theory which practically denies prediction. Granting inspiration which gives predictive power, there is no reason in the world why Zechariah should not have written it subsequent to the dedication of the Temple.
This book is one of the longest of the minor prophets and may be divided into two parts, Zechariah 1-8 having a distinct reference to the work of the rebuilding of the Temple and the establishment of the ritual and the ceremonial. The message is one of encouragement to the people to proceed with the building of their Temple. Zechariah 9-14 are very different. The political situation seems to be different, the historical circumstances seem to be changed, the horizon seems to have been largely modified, the occasion seems to be entirely dissimilar, the style and language are different, and so marked is the variation that this part of the book needs careful consideration. This latter part, Zechariah 9-14, may be subdivided into Zechariah 9-11 and Zechariah 12-14.
The following is a carefully wrought and exegetical analysis of the book:
PART I Zechariah 1-8
Introduction Zec 1:1-6
I. The Visions (Zec 1:7-6:8 )
1. The horses under the myrtle trees (Zec 1:7-17 )
2. The four horns and four artificers (Zec 1:18-21 )
3. The man with the measuring line (Zec 2:1-13 )
4. Joshua and Satan (Zec 3:1-10 )
5. The candlestick and the olive trees (Zec 4:1-14 )
6. The flying book (Zec 5:1-4 )
7. The woman and the epha (Zec 5:5-11 )
8. The four chariots (Zec 6:1-8 )
II. The Memorial Crowns (Zec 6:9-15 )
III. The True Fast (7-8)
PART II CHAPTERS 9-14
I. The First Burden of Prophecy (9-11)
1. The coming king (Zec 9 )
2. The great regathering (Zec 10:1-11:3 )
3. The good shepherd rejected (Zec 11:4-14 )
4. The foolish shepherd (Zec 11:15-17 )
II. The Second Burden of Prophecy (12-14)
1. Jehovah’s protection of his people (Zec 12:1-9 )
2. Repentance and conversion of many Jews (Zec 12:10-13:6 )
3. Scattering the sheep by smiting the shepherd (Zec 13:7-8 )
4. Purification of the remnant (Zec 13:9 )
5. Gathering of nations against Jerusalem (Zec 14:1-2 )
6. Conversion of the Jews as a nation (Zec 14:3-15 )
7. The Millennium (Zec 14:16-21 )
The occasion for the utterance of Zechariah 1-8, as we have already seen, was the rebuilding of the Temple at Jerusalem, and the apparent occasion for the utterance of Zechariah 9-14 was the future history and vicissitudes of the nation.
Taking up the prophecy more in detail, we have, first, the introductory oracle, Zec 1:1-6 , which contains the title of the book, the name of the author and his admonition against the evil example of their fathers. It contains also the date of the prophecy which occurs between the last two prophecies of Haggai. Zechariah’s first prophecy was in the eighth month of the second year of Darius.
Zechariah reviews their past history and uses that as a warning and as a means of admonition. He says, in Zec 1:2 : “Jehovah was sore displeased with your fathers.” Those who had just returned from the exile knew well the meaning of this statement, for many of them had suffered the terrors of that yoke of bondage, a greater part of their own lives. Zechariah’s message was, “Therefore say unto them, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Return unto me, saith Jehovah of hosts, and I will return unto you.” A further admonition in the fourth verse, “Be ye not as your fathers.” Take warning by their history. “Unto whom the former prophets,” the earlier prophets whose names were familiar to them and whose writings probably were in their hands, “cried, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Return ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings.” “But,” says Zechariah, “they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith Jehovah.” He now raises a very serious question: “Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?” Zechariah reminds them that their fathers are gone, and the prophets are gone.
There are two ways of looking back into the past. There is that which looks back and longs for the same conditions, and thinks if only they could live in “the good old times,” all would be well. There is such a thing as an excessive reverence for the past. Now Zechariah says, “Your fathers, where are they?” He says, “But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers?” Yes, and in spite of all the prophets said, and all they did, and all that God warned, “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.” Now, do better than your fathers.
Now, we come to the visions which Zechariah saw for the encouragement of the people. The first vision of encouragement is the angel horsemen (Zechariah 7-17). Angels play a very important part in Zechariah’s visions. In almost every one of his visions angels are the speakers, the actors and the interpreters. They are the messengers from Jehovah. In the book of Daniel angels play a very important part also. That occurred some time previous to these prophecies of Zechariah. All down through the centuries they had been familiar with the idea of angels. Every kingdom had its angel and every individual had hig guardian angel. The Apocalyptic literature that followed the close of the canon is filled with a great many teachings and speculations, wise and otherwise, regarding angels. Zechariah’s messages in visions all came by means of angels. The New Testament is full of the teaching of angels and their mission as ministers of the heirs of salvation.
The date of the prophecy is the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, Shebat, corresponding very nearly to our February, in the same year, 520 B.C., the second year of the reign of Darius. It came in a vision: “I saw in the night, and, behold, a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle-trees.” There are many myrtle trees in Palestine, and many groves around Jerusalem. These myrtle trees are in “the bottom,” that is, a shady place in some quiet valley. The angel riders symbolized God’s messengers looking after conditions in the whole earth; the myrtle grove symbolized the shadowy condition of Israel, but there was encouragement in view of national life promised here; the nations were all quiet. This is a vision in the night, and behind the man on the red horse, were other horses, red, sorrel, and white. This is the analogue of those visions which John saw (see Revelation of the “Interpretation”) . John saw a white horse, and a black horse, and a red horse and a pale horse, though the black horse is not mentioned here. The other three mentioned by John are very much like the three here described.
Naturally the prophet raises the question, “O, my Lord, what are these?” The first angel says, “I will show thee what these are.” And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, “These are they whom Jehovah hath sent to walk to and fro throughout the earth.” In other words, these are Jehovah’s scouts who go to and fro throughout the world, to ascertain the condition of things and report. Now, what is the report of these scouts of the Almighty? “They answered the angel of Jehovah that stood among the myrtle-trees, and said, We have walked to and fro throughout the earth, and behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.” Now, what does this mean but that they have searched throughout the world to discover the political conditions, in order that they may ascertain whether the situation is conducive to Israel’s going on with the work of building the Temple. Is there danger of immediate invasions, or of political upheavals? But they have found all is at rest and quiet.
How could this possibly be, because the first few years of the reign of Darius were occupied in quelling insurrections in almost every part of his empire, and how could the affairs become settled and at peace during that period? There are two possible explanations. One is, though there may have been insurrections and revolts throughout the empire, there was no danger of their affecting Judah and Jerusalem. Or it may be that Darius had just succeeded in bringing some of the insurrections and revolts to an end, therefore there was rest and peace on the political horizon.
In Zec 1:12-17 we have a dialogue between the prophet and the angel, and this angel of Jehovah gives Zechariah a very encouraging and comforting message to the people. The political situation was all quiet. Now there comes the question: “How long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these three score and ten years? And Jehovah answered the angel that talked with me with good words, even comfortable words.” Then the angel that was answering, said to Zechariah, “Cry thou, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with great jealousy. 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. . . . I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies; my house shall be built in it.” That is the message they wanted to hear. “Cry ye again, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, My cities shall yet be spread abroad.” Jerusalem is going to grow, the land is going to be rich and prosperous, the Lord shall comfort Zion, and shall yet save Jerusalem. This is the first message, and it is a message of great encouragement, dealing with the political condition which, of course, must be quiet and favorable or no work could be done on the Temple.
The second vision is a vision of the destruction of Israel’s adversaries (Zec 1:18-21 ). On the same night, apparently, he sees in a vision, four horns. Here they evidently represented powers; four, representing powers on all sides, power complete, one at each point of the compass. “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.” These are the nations, not four necessarily, as some think, but the nations that have been sufficient to scatter Jerusalem from all sides. “And the Lord showed me four smiths, then said, 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 cast them down.” That vision gave hope, the four horns representing all the power of these oppressive nations, sawed off by these smiths, thus destroyed and crushed.
The third is a vision of the measuring line (Zec 2:1-5 ). This refers to the geographical limits of Jerusalem, as the other two referred to the political conditions: “I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand.” The angel now does not anticipate the question of the prophet, but he speaks himself, “Whither goest thou? And he said unto me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof. And, behold, the angel that talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him, and said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls.” Put down your measuring line: Jerusalem is going to spread out, and multitudes of men will be gathered into it. “I will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and I will be the glory in the midst of her.” The prophets before the exile had prophesied that Jerusalem should be built again, should occupy the same place, but the prophecy of Zechariah is a broader vision, the greater Jerusalem that was to be, could not be walled in. This, of course, does not have a literal fulfilment. It finds fulfilment in all the history of Christianity and means that Christianity will not be limited by measurement.
In Zec 2:6-12 inclusive, we have a lyric poem appealing to the people to return from their exile in Babylon and come back to Judah, and Jerusalem. “Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughters of Babylon. For thus saith the Lord of hosts: After glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you; for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye,” showing his regard for his people. He was going to bring a calamity upon these nations that had been spoiling them: “For, behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they shall be a spoil to those that served them; and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me.” Then he calls on them to sing and rejoice: “O daughter of Zion; for, lo, I come, and will dwell in the midst of thee.”
We have here something like the second part of Isaiah, and the phraseology is very much like that great prophecy: “Many nations shall join themselves to Jehovah in that day, and shall be my people,” which has fulfilment in the final conquests of Christianity through the Jews. Just as the great prophets have prophesied, so does Zechariah. “I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me unto thee. And Jehovah shall inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and shall yet choose Jerusalem. Be silent, all flesh, before Jehovah; for he is waked up out of his holy habitation.” He woke up when Babylon was destroyed, when he sent back some fifty thousand of his people; he is awake now, and he calls on Zechariah to give the message to the people to arouse them to rebuilding the Temple. This call of Jehovah reminds us of God’s call to his people to come out of the apostate church in Revelation.
The fourth is a vision of the high priest and Satan, Zec 3 . Visions one and two dealt with the political situation, vision three dealt with the geographical situation, and the fourth vision deals with the moral and religious situation. The Lord showed Zechariah, Joshua, the high priest, who returned with Zerubbabel as one of the leaders, standing before the angel of Jehovah. The angel of Jehovah is God’s representative of himself in the person and presence of his angelic being. Satan is standing at Joshua’s right hand to be his adversary, a supernatural being whose business it was to accuse the people of God. Thus we have Jehovah, Joshua, and Satan, a trio: Jehovah on behalf of his people, Joshua the representative of his people from a religious standpoint, representing them in their moral and religious relationship, and Satan, the accuser, the adversary, the angelic being whose business it was to accuse God’s people whenever he had an opportunity.
The accuser had sought to prove that Israel was forsaken, and had incurred the displeasure of Almighty God. Now the Lord speaks: “Jehovah rebuke thee) O Satan, yea, Jehovah that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?” My people were in Babylon under oppression, but by my providences I brought them forth out of that oppression, and is not that sufficient proof that I am with them and that they are my people? I plucked them as a brand from the burning. Satan disappears and we hear nothing more about him in the vision. But how about Joshua, the priest? He is clothed in filthy garments, representing the religious condition of those people with their Temple unbuilt and ceremonial unkept. The angel of the vision answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, “Take the filthy garments from off him,” and when they had done that he said, “I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with rich apparel. And I said, Let them set a clean mitre upon his head.” What did it mean? It meant that Jehovah was going to be so gracious to Israel that she was going to have her Temple again and enjoy the blessings of Jehovah.
We conclude the study of the fourth vision, describing the purified religious conditions (Zec 3:6-10 ). We have seen the importance and place of Joshua in the new era that was about to dawn; how that Joshua, as the representative of the people was cleansed and made ready for the divine service and worship. In keeping with that new era upon which Joshua and the people entered, we have the word of Jehovah unto Joshua giving him an earnest warning: “Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou also shalt judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee a place of access among these that stand by.” This is what had been enjoined upon the priestly families long before this, even from the days of Moses. They were to be the teachers and judges and administrators of the law, and if they kept that law and walked in his ways, they maintained their high and honorable position in the nation. They had forfeited that to a large extent, for, as we see, in the prophets previous to the exile, they had almost failed.
It says further, “I will give thee a place of access among these that stand by.” This passage presents some difficulties. Who are “these”? Does it refer to the people, his brother priests, the leaders and representatives of the nation? That is one interpretation, but another one is, he shall have a place of access, or a place in which to walk among God’s representatives, such as have been appearing in the prophet hitherto. This seems to be more in keeping with the dignity of the office here ascribed to Joshua.
Zechariah goes on with his admonition: “Hear now, O Joshua, thou and thy fellows that sit before thee,” i.e. his brother priests, subordinate, but officiating with him in the services and the sacrifices being offered. What about these men with thee? These men that sit before thee, they are men “which are a sign,” a wonder. This refers to the typical significance of their office. “For, behold,” he goes on, “I will bring forth my servant the Branch.” This refers to the descendant of David, the royal family, and the dynasty that was to sit upon the throne of Israel forever, now represented by Zerubbabel, forecasting the Messiah, or Jesus ‘Christ. “For, behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua; upon one stone are seven eyes; behold, I will engrave the graving thereof.” What is the stone?
There have been a great many beautiful interpretations. Some say that it was the headstone which completed the Temple building, and upon that stone were engraved seven eyes, as well as other engraving, beautifying and adorning it. Others say it was the stone upon the breastplate of the high priest and upon that stone were engraved the seven eyes. Others have said that the stone which is set before Joshua represents the Temple completed, and upon that Temple Jehovah was to set his seven eyes, not to engrave the picture of the eyes on the stone of the Temple, but Jehovah, with his perfect vision, seven eyes, representing the perfection of sight and knowledge, should set that perfect sight upon the Temple to watch over it, that is, God should set upon it the perfection of his knowledge and his care, and thus it would be protected.
But the stone here referred to is the hierarchy, or theocracy, and is parallel to Daniel’s “little stone,” and the seven eyes represent God’s perfect, watchful care for spiritual Israel. As a result of it, he says, “I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.” This is a very gracious promise, referring to the Atonement Day as typical of the sacrifice of Christ by which sins were expiated.
Zec 3:10 gives a picture of the blessings and prosperity the people shall enjoy in the period which is to follow, including the messianic age. “In that day, saith Jehovah of hosts, shall ye invite every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree.” There is promised peace and prosperity in the world, especially when the messianic age terminates in the millennium as here foreshadowed.
QUESTIONS
1. What was the date and occasion of the prophecy of Zechariah?
2. Who was contemporary, how do you account for the fact that they make no reference to each other & who was Zechariah?
3. What objections have been urged against the unity of the book and what was the reply?
4. What was the general character of the book?
5. What was the occasion of each of the two great sections of the book, respectively, what was Zechariah’s first prophecy, and what was its relation to the whole book?
6. Give an exegetical analysis of Zechariah.
7. What was the date of this prophecy and how does it correlate with Haggai’s prophecy?
8. What history does he recite in the prophecy and what are the lessons which he draws from it?
9. What was the date of the first vision, what was the vision itself, what means of communication here and what can you say of the teaching in both the Old Testament and the New Testament respecting angels?
10. What was the purpose of this vision, what was the meaning of its symbolism and what was the bearing on the work of building the Temple?
11. This is the analogue of what New Testament vision and what parallels in the two visions?
12. What was the dialogue between the angel and the prophet and what revelations here made to the prophet?
13. What was the second vision, what was the meaning of the symbolism and what encouragement to Jerusalem?
14. What was the third vision, what was its purpose, who was the young man and what prophecy contained in this vision?
15. What was the character of the passage, Zec 2:6-13 , what appeal here and what similar one in Revelation?
16. What expression here indicates Jehovah’s regard for his people, what prophecy of this section, and what was its encouragement to the people of Jerusalem at this time?
17. What was the fourth vision, who were the representative characters, what does each represent, what symbolic action here described and what interpretation of it?
18. What charge did the angel here give Joshua, what promise did he give him, and who were the “fellows that sit before thee,” how are they “a sign”?
19. What messianic prophecy here, what the stone mentioned, what was the meaning of seven eyes, what was the meaning of removing “the iniquity of the land in one day” and to what period of ‘time does Zec 2:10 refer?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Zec 1:1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,
Ver. 1. In the eight month, in the second year of Darius ] Two months after Haggai began to prophesy. See Trapp on “ Hag 1:1 “ These two prophets did jointly together reprove the Jews for their sloth in rebuilding the temple, and incite them to set forward the work, Ezr 5:1 , contributing their utmost help thereunto, Zec 1:2 . They were also a singular help the one to the other, in the execution of their office. For “two are better than one”; and why, see Ecc 4:9 . See Trapp on “ Ecc 4:9 “ For which cause also Christ sent out first the twelve, and then the seventy, by two and two, Mar 6:7 Luk 10:1 . So Paul and Barnabas were sent abroad; the two faithful witnesses, Rev 11:8 . S , as the poet speaks of Ulysses, and Diomedes sent to fetch in the palladium. a One good man may be an angel to another (as Bradford was to his fellow martyr, Dr Taylor), nay, a god to another, as Moses was to Aaron, Exo 4:16 . And for others; in the mouth of two or three witnesses a truth is better believed by them; and a twisted cord not easily broken. Haggai lays down the mind of God to the people more plainly in direct and downright terms; Zechariah flies a higher pitch, abounding with types and visions; and is therefore worthily reckoned among the abstrusest and profoundest penmen of Holy Scripture, Prae caeteris obscurus est, profundas, varius, prolixus, et aenigmaticus (Cor. a Lapide). For it must be understood (and let it here be prefaced) that albeit all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable to instruct, 2Ti 3:16 , pure, precious, and profitable, every leaf, line, and letter of it, Psa 12:6 Pro 30:5 ; yet, between Scripture and Scripture there is no small difference; some pieces of God’s Book for their antiquity, and some other for their obscurity, do justly challenge our greater attention and industry. Of the former sort, famous for their antiquity, are the five Books of Moses, whom Theodoret fitly calleth the great Ocean of divinity ( Y ), the fountain of the following Scriptures. Of the second sort, noted for their difficulty, and that will not be acquainted with us but upon further suit, some are hard through their fulness of matter in fewness of words, as the poetical books, wherein (no doubt) the verse also hath caused some cloud: and others again, by the sublimity of the subject they handle; such as are the Books of Ezekiel, and Daniel, and this of Zechariah, who is totus fere symbolicus, the whole is to take symbolically and is much followed by St John in his Revelation. Hence Jerome in his prologue to this prophet saith, Ab obscuris ad obscuriora transimus, et cum Mose ingredimur ad nubem et caliginem. Abyssus abyssum invocat. We pass from dark prophecies to that which is much more dark; and with Moses we are entering into the cloud and thick darkness. Here one deep calleth upon another. And, being in a labyrinth, we hope to get out by Christ’s golden clue; concerning whose passion, resurrection, and glory, he speaketh more like an evangelist than a prophet, and may therefore be rightly styled, The evangelical prophet.
Came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah
The son of Iddo the prophet
a Gr. and Lat. Myth. The image of the goddess Pallas, in the citadel of Troy, on which the safety of the city was supposed to depend, reputed to have been thence brought to Rome. D
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Zec 1:1-6
1In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo saying, 2The LORD was very angry with your fathers. 3Therefore say to them, Thus says the LORD of hosts, Return to Me, declares the LORD of hosts, that I may return to you, says the LORD of hosts. 4Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying, Thus says the LORD of hosts, Return now from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ But they did not listen or give heed to Me, declares the LORD. 5Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? 6But did not My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers? Then they repented and said, As the LORD of hosts purposed to do to us in accordance with our ways and our deeds, so He has dealt with us.’
Zec 1:1 In the eighth month of the second year This refers to October or November of either 520 or 519 B.C., depending on whether one uses the Syrian or Babylonian calendar. The Jews had been back in Palestine for eighteen years at this point. The temple rebuilding, which had begun under Sheshbazzar (Ezr 5:16), had not been finished under Zerubbabel.
Darius This refers to Darius I, son of Hystapes, also called the great. He reigned from 522 to 486 B.C. over the Persian Empire; therefore, his second year would be 520 B.C. He was the successor of Cyrus II’s son, Cambyses II (530-522 B.C.), who committed suicide because of Egyptian military victories. Darius was not part of the royal line, but he married a royal daughter in order to legitimize his reign. He searched the Persian records and when he discovered the Edict of Cyrus (cf. Ezra 5-6) he overthrew the legal case of the Samaritans and even helped provide money for the rebuilding of the temple.
the word of the LORD came God’s mercy and patience is demonstrated by the fact that as He sent His word in the past, and it was originally rejected (cf. Zec 1:6), He now sends it again. God wants a personal, ethical, obedient relationship with people of faith!
This introductory prophetic phrase is characteristic of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, but not in this exact form in Isaiah.
These visions (Zec 1:7 to Zec 6:15) were not exclusively from the imagination of Zechariah, but were from YHWH. The genre questions have always been:
1. Did YHWH communicate His message in apocalyptic visions? or
2. Did Zechariah structure YHWH’s message in a series of visions?
These same questions relate to poetry, fables, parables, and textual design. Is the Bible dictated by the Spirit or does the human author participate? The variety of Scriptural genres and structures implies a creative element on the part of the human author. Joyce G. Baldwin, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, p. 74, says, One of the important contributions of modern scholarship to our understanding of the Bible is the realization that its truth is expressed in literary forms and structures as well as in words. R. K. Harrison, Introduction to the Old Testament, p. 950, says, probably the only legitimate question that can be raised in this regard, however, is whether the visions were real experiences or merely a literary form, as in later apocalyptic writings. These forms and structures were contemporary with the inspired authors, not radically new or different (see Hinckley G. Mitchell, ICC, p. 117).
This does not affect the complete inspiration of the Bible, but does reveal how God cooperates with His human creatures. Our in His image is an awesome, mysterious, and pervasive concept!
Zechariah The name means YHWH remembers. This is a very common Hebrew name, which is used twenty-nine times in the OT. Its meaning seems especially significant in light of the returning exiles’ view that God had reestablished His covenant with them. He was a contemporary of Haggai. When one compares the dates (i.e., Hag 1:1 with Zec 1:1) Zechariah began preaching about two months later than Haggai.
the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo saying When one compares Ezr 5:1; Ezr 6:14 with Zec 1:1; Zec 1:7, he sees that the father of Zechariah is omitted. There have been several theories about the omission: (1) Hebrew genealogies often skip generations; (2) the early church fathers said that this refers, not to physical lineage, but to spiritual lineage (i.e., Jerome), Iddo being a tribal family group of Levites who returned to Jerusalem (cf. Neh 12:4; Neh 12:16); (3) others say that for some reason Berechiah did not live up to his priestly lineage; (4) Zechariah’s father had died and he was raised by his grandfather, Iddo; or (5) it refers to the faithful witness mentioned in Isa 8:2 whose father was Je-berechiah (YHWH blesses). It is obvious that Zechariah was a prophet and a priest (cf. Jer 1:1; Eze 1:1).
Zec 1:2 The LORD was very angry with your fathers The word anger (BDB 893) appears twice in Zec 1:2 and has an intensified connotation, was very angry (cf. Zec 1:14-15). This is an anthropomorphic phrase putting human emotions on God, and yet, human vocabulary is the only means we have to understand and communicate thoughts about God. For the term Lord see Special Topic: Names for Deity .
The expression very angry (BDB 893) is used several times in Zechariah (cf. Zec 1:2 [twice]; Zec 1:15 [twice]; Zec 7:12; and Zec 8:14). YHWH was angry with His people because of their sin (cf. Zec 7:12; Zec 8:14) and also at the nations He used to judge His people (cf. Zec 1:15).
The phrase your fathers refers primarily to the previous history of Jewish rebellion (cf. Zec 1:4) and, by implication, to Haggai and Zechariah’s generation, who had been neglectful in rebuilding the temple.
This opening paragraph has several levels of direct quotes. It is hard to identify the antecedents of the pronouns. The term them of Zec 1:3 refers to the current generation of Jews living in Jerusalem and the surrounding area (cf. Zec 1:3-6).
Zec 1:3 says the LORD of hosts This is a direct quote from God (cf. Isa 31:6; Mal 3:7). This phrase is found in the Hebrew text three times in Zec 1:3, once in Zec 1:4, and again in Zec 1:6 (also note Zec 1:12; Zec 1:16). The title Lord of hosts occurs at least fifty times in Zechariah.
‘Return’ This is the Hebrew word shub (BDB 996, KB 1427, see Special Topic: Repentance in the Old Testament ) in a Qal IMPERATIVE FORM (as in Zec 1:4). Zec 1:3; Zec 1:6 are the key to this opening paragraph. It signified a turning from idols and returning to YHWH (cf. Isa 31:6-7). It is used extensively by Jeremiah for spiritual conversion (e.g., Jer 15:19; Jer 18:8; Jer 18:11). God always takes the initiative in human repentance (cf. Jer 31:18; Lam 5:21; Pro 8:3; Pro 8:7; Pro 8:19; Joh 6:44; Joh 6:65; Act 5:31; Act 8:22; 2Ti 2:25). However, God has structured His Covenant in such a way that humans must respond in repentance and faith to Him (cf. Mar 1:15; Act 2:38; Act 2:41; Act 3:16; Act 3:19; Act 20:21). Because these were already covenant people it is uncertain whether this text is referring to initial personal salvation (cf. Isa 55:6-7) or what we would call today a rededication experience (cf. Zec 1:4; Zec 1:6; Rev 2:5; Rev 2:16; Rev 2:21-22; Rev 3:3; Rev 3:19-20). In the OT descendants of Abraham were part of the people of God, but it is obvious from the OT itself that all of them did not have a personal faith relationship with God that impacted their daily lives. Religion, ritual, and self-righteous legalism are always barriers and blinders.
It is theologically significant that Zechariah calls for a repentant response on the part of the people of God. The visions of Zec 1:8 to Zec 6:15 then proclaim God’s sovereign acts on behalf of His people. Notice the balanceGod’s sovereign initiative demands a human response.
SPECIAL TOPIC: Predestination (Calvinism) Versus Human Free Will (Arminianism)
SPECIAL TOPIC: REPENTANCE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
to Me Notice the personal element (cf. Isa 44:22, very similar to John’s Gospel). It is God who we need more than any of His gifts. Covenant faith is personal! Truth is personal (cf. Joh 8:32; Joh 14:6).
I have enjoyed and benefitted from Joyce D. Baldwin’s Tyndale Commentaries on both Daniel and the post-exilic prophets (Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi). Here is an example of her insight.
The new generation was free to make a new start (Eze 18:14 ff); the Lord would return to them, despite the covenant-breaking of past generations if they would return to Him Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi (p. 87).
The invitation of Ezekiel 18 (both individual and corporate) is still open! This chapter is a new OT metaphor for the seventh day of rest (cf. Psalms 95; Hebrews 3-4).
that I may return to you Repentance restores fellowship with God (cf. Mal 3:7; Jas 4:8; the negative form in 2Ch 15:2). The term shub (BDB 996, KB 1427, see Special Topic: Repentance in the OT) is used twice in Zec 1:3; once in Zec 1:4; and once in Zec 1:6.
Zec 1:4 the former prophets This phrase becomes a technical term in later rabbinical writings for the historical books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. Here it refers to the pre-exilic writing prophets of the eighth and seventh centuries (cf. Zec 7:7; 2Ch 24:19; 2Ch 36:15).
Return now from your evil ways and from your evil deeds This is an allusion from previous prophets (e.g., Isa 1:16-19; Jer 18:11; Jer 25:5; Jer 35:15; Eze 33:11). God’s people rejected both God and His covenant requirements and went after other gods (i.e., fertility worship). This was the spiritual cause of the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles. These post-exilic inhabitants of Jerusalem must be different!
The phrases your evil ways and your evil deeds function as a hendiadys. The term ways is used metaphorically for lifestyle. Biblical faith is (1) personal, (2) creedal, and (3) lifestyle. This lifestyle obedience is expressed early in Gen 18:19 (cf. Jdg 2:22; Psa 119:1). The related metaphor is walk (e.g., Pro 6:20-22; Jer 7:24; Jer 10:9; Eph 1:1; Eph 1:17; Eph 5:2; Eph 5:15).
But they did not listen or give heed to Me The two negated VERBS listen(BDB 1033, KB 1570) and give heed (BDB 904, KB 1151) reflect Deu 6:4, which denotes hearing and obeying (cf. Deu 5:32-33; Deu 6:1-3). It is not enough to know God’s words, they must be lived out (cf. Jas 1:22-25)!
The phrase give heed is from the Hebrew root which means pay close attention to (cf. Jer 6:17; Jer 11:7-8). This phrase is an allusion to Jer 7:24; Jer 7:26; Jer 17:23; Jer 19:15; Jer 29:19.
Zec 1:5 Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever This verse emphasizes the frailty of humanity (both evil and good) versus the eternality of God (cf. Mal 3:6) and His word (cf. Isa 40:8; Isa 45:23; Isa 55:11; Isa 59:21; Mat 5:17-18; Mat 24:35).
Zec 1:6 My words and My statutes God’s revealed truths and covenant requirements are called by many terms, as Psa 19:7-9 clearly shows.
1. the law of the LORD, Zec 1:7
2. the testimony of the LORD, Zec 1:7
3. the precepts of the LORD, Zec 1:8
4. the commandment of the LORD, Zec 1:8
5. the fear of the LORD, Zec 1:9
6. the judgments of the LORD, Zec 1:9
See Special Topic: Terms for God’s Revelation
My servants the prophets Initially the Patriarchs are designated servants (e.g., Gen 18:5). However, it came to refer to the family of Abraham collectively (i.e., Jacob, Israel, cf. Isa 41:8-9; Isa 42:1; Isa 42:19; Isa 43:10; Isa 44:1-2); then specifically to David the king of united Israel (e.g., 2Sa 7:5; 2Sa 7:8; 2Sa 7:19-20; Isa 37:35). The phrase is used often in 2 Kings (cf. 2Ki 9:7; 2Ki 17:13; 2Ki 17:23; 2Ki 21:10; 2Ki 24:2) for God’s speakers, the prophets. The phrase is also used extensively of the prophets in Jeremiah (cf. Jer 7:25; Jer 25:4; Jer 26:5; Jer 29:19; Jer 35:15). It is obvious from the number of allusions in this context that Zechariah knew Jeremiah’s writings well.
overtake your fathers This is a hunting metaphor (BDB 673, KB 727, Hiphil PERFECT, cf. Exo 14:9; Exo 15:9; Deu 19:6) and it seems to refer to the cursings of Deuteronomy 28 if the covenant was violated.
they repented See Special Topic: Repentance in the Old Testament .
to do to us in accordance with our ways and our deeds’ This may be an allusion to Lam 2:17. Each generation must respond to the covenant. The danger of religion is that it can become a family tradition instead of a personal faith. The fathers repented, but only after God’s judgment!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
In the eighth month, &c. Zechariah’s first prophecy is dated (Zec 1:1) “in the eighth month in the second year of Darius” (Hystaspis) (410 b. c.) ; sixteen years after the Decree of Cyrus. It thus comes midway between Haggai’s second and third messages. See notes on Hag 1:1-1:10.
Modern critics first assume that the day ought to be named, and then further assume that it has “fallen out accidentally”!
Darius. Darius (Hystaspis). See App-57.
the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4,
Zechariah = Remembered of Jehovah.
Berechiah = Blessed of Jehovah. Compare Mat 23:35. This prophet would be the one referred to by the Lord, unless the father of the Zechariah of 2Ch 24:20, 2Ch 24:21 had more than one name, which was sometimes the ease. See Esau’s wives (Gen 26:34; Gen 28:9; Gen 36:2, Gen 36:3). The latter would be the last (and Abel the first in the O.T.), according to the place of Chronicles in the Hebrew Canon (see App-1).
son. Put by Figure of speech Synecdoche (of Species), App-6, for descendant.
Iddo. See Ezr 5:1; Ezr 6:14. Neh 12:4. Neh 12:16.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Shall we tonight now get into our study in the book of Zechariah beginning with chapter 1.
Now if you remember when we studied the book of Haggai last week, Haggai was dating his prophesies in the second year of Darius the king. His first prophecy was in, I think, the sixth month of the second year. He had another prophecy in the seventh month, and his last prophecy was in the ninth month.
Now Zechariah also dates his prophesies in the reign of Darius, the Medo-Persian king. So between… and at the same time that Haggai was prophesying, you remember he prophesied in the seventh month, in the ninth month.
In the eighth month, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, the eighth month, and the second year of Darius ( Zec 1:1 ).
So Zechariah and Haggai were contemporaries. They were both prophets of the post-exilic period. The children of Israel had returned, that is a portion of them, 50,000 of them from their exile in Babylon. Seventy years of Babylonian captivity had more or less weaned them from their idolatry. For it was because of their idolatry that they went into captivity. But the Jews learned something in Babylon of commercialism. It seems that the Jewish people are very adaptable, and whatever they do, they learn to do it well. Babylon was the commercial center of the world. When the Jews were taken captive to Babylon, they began to go from the agrarian culture to a more commercial, and they began to excel in the commercial field. So much so, that by the time the seventy years of captivity was over, many of them had no desire to return to the land at all. They were now wealthy merchants. They controlled the commerce of Babylon. They had learned well the lessons of commerce, and they have not forgotten them and still are very successful many times in the commercial field.
It is interesting that when the nation Israel was reborn and the people went back to the land, that these people who had excelled so much in the commercial field, wherever they went in the world, they were always involved in commerce. But when they returned back to the land, many of them returned to the soil, and some of the most advanced agricultural techniques in the world are now being practiced in Israel, and they teach the world the art of agriculture.
Now here were a bunch of bankers, and businessmen, and store owners, and all, they go back to Israel, and they go back to the farm, and it isn’t long before they’ve developed the drip system of irrigation. They’ve developed the sprinkling system of irrigation, and they’ve begun to farm the desert, and they have become extremely profitable now in their farming interests. And they actually fill Europe with fresh fruit and vegetables all year round. So they’re a fascinating people. They were so successful, as I said, in their commercial ventures that many of them did not return. This will be brought out in some of the prophecies here in Zechariah.
But those that did return were not really prepared for what they found. You know, it is interesting when you leave a place, so often in your mind you have memories of that place, and usually it was when you were a child. You grew up in a particular locality. There always seems to be within the heart of a person a yearning to return to the place of your childhood. “Oh, it was this, and it was that,” and you build it up in your mind over the years of absence. But sometimes one of the most disillusioning and disappointing thing can be to go back to the place of your childhood. Especially in these days, and especially if your childhood was in Orange County. You find the whole place has changed; it’s not at all as you remember it. Where you used to go hunting for cottontail and all, now there are busy shopping centers, and the whole thing has changed.
Those who returned came back to a desolation like they never dreamed. The destruction of Jerusalem was so thorough by Nebuchadnezzar that there wasn’t any rebuilding, really, of the city. All they could do was cover the rubble and the waste of the past and start building anew on top of it. They started the rebuilding of the temple, but they soon became discouraged.
When Solomon built the temple, he had hired 150,000 men with 3,000 superintendents and an unlimited supply of money. He was able to build a beautiful, glorious temple unto the Lord, which was one of the sites of the ancient world. The queen of Sheba, when she came and saw it, she said, “Oh, I heard of the glory, but the half was not told to me!” He used great stones, cedars from Lebanon, covered everything with gold. But, of course, the gold was taken by Nebuchadnezzar. The huge brass pillars were broken up and taken to Babylon. All that was left were the huge stones that they could hardly move around.
After a time of attempting to build the temple, there were a lot of people that were there in the land that were harassing them. They finally just gave up. They thought, “Oh, it can’t be done. We’re just not strong enough. There’s not enough of us.” They just gave up the attempts to build the temple.
That’s when Haggai started them. “Hey, you people look around, check things out. Your crops have been bad; you’re planting a lot of seeds, harvesting a little. Does it seem like your purses have holes in the bottom? Your money is just disappearing? The reason why is that you are dwelling comfortably now in your ceiled houses, while the house of God lies desolate.” Haggai was encouraging them to get back to the building of the temple. Promising them that when they would, that God would begin to bless them. “Mark this date, put it on your calendar, and see if from this time God doesn’t begin to bless you as you return to the work of building His house.”
At that same time, Zechariah came on the scene. Zechariah was probably a young man at the time that he prophesied. Zechariah of the minor prophets has the clearest insight concerning the coming of Jesus Christ than any of the other minor prophets, and writes more concerning Jesus Christ than all of the rest of the minor prophets combined. As we get into Zechariah, you’ll be amazed at his prophecies concerning Jesus Christ, both the first and the second coming. Zechariah makes amazing predictions that we will be getting in our third study and final study of the book. Predictions that are coming to pass right now. Predictions that have come to pass in the last few years. And as we read them, you’ll see how clearly God gave him an insight into the history of the nation of Israel at the present time.
So let’s get into Zechariah. “The eighth month, the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah,”
the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, The LORD hath been sore displeased with your fathers. Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts ( Zec 1:1-3 ).
This basically is God’s message to the people through the ages. “If you’ll turn to Me, I will turn to you.” When the king Asa had come back from great victory over the Ethiopians and the Nubians, the prophet of God came out to meet him and he said, “The Lord is with you while you are with Him, and if you seek Him, He will be found of you. But if you forsake Him, He will forsake you” ( 2Ch 15:2 ). Through the ages this is always the case. God is always waiting for man to come. And if you will come to God, you can have fellowship with God, and the Lord will be with you. But the Lord does not force Himself on people. God does not force you to love Him. God does not force you to come to Him. He does not force you to serve Him. He just tells you of His love for you. And because of His love for you, this is what He will do for you if you’re walking in fellowship with Him. But when it comes right down to it, you are the one that has to make the decision. God has done all that He will do to save you. He has provided all that you need. But you must initiate now. God has already done all the initiating He will in providing the way. Now He waits for you to come, and He invites you to come, but you have to do it.
So, “Turn to Me, saith the Lord, and I will turn to you. Your fathers, they forsook Me. I was displeased with your fathers. But now if you’ll just turn to Me, I’ll turn to you.”
Don’t be as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets cried, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings ( Zec 1:4 ):
That’s what they were crying to their fathers, but their fathers did not turn.
they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the LORD. And your fathers, where are they? ( Zec 1:4-5 )
Learn the lesson. Your fathers perished because they did not turn to Me; your fathers were carried away to Babylon because they would not turn to Me.
But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, they did not take hold of your fathers? [Your fathers wouldn’t listen.] and they returned and said, Like as the LORD of hosts thought to do to us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us ( Zec 1:6 ).
So that which the prophets had warned them would happen, did happen. They were defeated; they were carried away captive.
Now the first of the ten visions that Zechariah received. A vision is similar to a dream with the exception that you are awake and conscious, that you are awake when you have a vision. But it is much like a dream in that you have a picture in your mind of things like you do in a dream. But as a dream is so often disjointed, and seemingly unrelated, so with visions. In God communicating to men through dreams, there needed to be the interpretation of the dream, because the dream was in symbols, and thus, needed interpretation. So with visions, so often they are in symbolic form, and a vision must be interpreted.
Now with Zechariah, the Lord gave him the visions, and in many places gave him also the interpretation. The Lord said, “You understand that Zechariah?” He said, “No, I don’t. What’s it mean?” “You don’t know what it means?” “Nope, tell me.” So the Lord would have to interpret for Zechariah the visions that he saw. Wherever God interpreted, then we understand the visions. Where God did not interpret, we can only guess. However, with parables, allegories, dreams, and visions, there is what is known as expositional constancy. Now that is a word of hermeneutics that I don’t expect you to remember. But what it means is that in an allegory in a parable in a vision, in a dream, where you have symbolic language, if for instance in parables where the Lord is explaining the parable of the field and the types of seed that were planted in it. He said, “Now the seed is the Word of God, and the field is the world. The bird is the enemy who comes and plucks up the seed.” So in parables, allegories, visions, and dreams, wherever you find the field, the field represents the world. Wherever you find birds, they are always in a bad sense. Wherever you find the seed being planted, that is the Word of God. Thus, oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, as the dove is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. There are those what are called expositional constancies. That is, wherever they’re used in an allegorical form, it remains through the whole Bible, so that if you are trying to understand a parable, or an allegory, or a vision, and you are dealing with a oil, you are dealing with the subject of the Holy Spirit. If you’re dealing with birds, you are dealing with the enemy to the true child of God. Where you are dealing with the field, you’re dealing with the world. So expositional constancy.
Now on the twenty fourth day of the eleventh month, the second year of Darius, there came the word of the Lord to Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, I saw at night, and behold there was a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him there were there red horses, speckled, and white horses ( Zec 1:7-8 ).
So different horses behind him. So here is a man riding a red horse and horses behind him, and he’s standing there under the myrtle tree.
Then said I, [And I would’ve said the same thing] O my lord, what is this? ( Zec 1:9 )
Just from the outset you see a vision of a guy sitting on a horse, and these other horses behind him under the myrtle trees, and what can you make of that? Now there is a type of sermonizing which I do not follow, nor do I advocate, and that is the spiritualizing of a text in order to interpret it. Where a person will take a parable, for instance, and he will make every part of that parable symbolic. “And this is like,” and he preaches this sermon using the parable as the basis for the sermon. Just, “This represents, and this represents, and this represents,” and you’re spiritualizing the whole thing. The Bible doesn’t say that it represents those things, but you can actually get good sermons out of the parables if you’ll spiritualize them, because you can make them say anything you want them to say. But you really don’t have real solid teaching of the Word of God. But there are many who do follow that practice of just spiritualizing things. But really, if you do that you can also, if you run out of parables, use The Three Little Pigs, and preach a tremendous sermon from The Three Little Pigs, and the importance of building a strong house, one that will stand because the devil will huff and puff and blow your house down if you haven’t really built a strong house. So you need to build a house of faith, mingled with the Word of God, the bricks, and the mortar. I mean you can go on and on with these things, and you can spiritualize almost anything, and read into it whatever you want.
As I say, I do not practice that kind of preaching. Because if I did not have the interpretation of this rider on a red horse with a speckled and white and red horses behind him, I’m sure that I never would’ve come to what it is. So Zechariah, when he saw the thing, very wisely said, “What in the world is this?” The angel that talked with me, said unto me, “I will show you what this is.”
And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the LORD hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth. And they answered the angel of the LORD 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 ( Zec 1:10-11 ).
Now the children of Israel at this time had been dispersed through the whole earth. So these who were sent more or less to oversee, and to see the conditions of the earth, and they came back and reported, “Everything is at rest, and peaceful throughout the earth.”
Now, here were God’s people scattered, dispersed, and the world was resting and happy with that fact, and so God was displeased with the treatment of His people that they were receiving through the world.
Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, O LORD of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which you have had indignation these seventy years? And the LORD answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words ( Zec 1:12-13 ).
So the angel said to Him, “Lord, how long until You have mercy on Jerusalem and on Judah? How long, O Lord, are the people gonna be dispersed and scattered?” The Lord talked with him, and I love this, with good words, and with comfortable words. It seems whenever we’re distressed and we come to the Lord, He is so patient with us. I’ve always found that He talks with me with good words, and with comfortable words. Oh, what comfort!
So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. And I am very displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was just a little displeased, and they helped to forward the affliction ( Zec 1:14-15 ).
In other words, God was using the nations as an instrument of judgment against Israel. But they, in their destruction, went beyond.
And therefore thus saith the LORD; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the LORD of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem ( Zec 1:16 ).
So the Lord promises that the house will be built. Now, they who had been working on it were convinced at this time that it wouldn’t be built, “Too much, can’t do it. The job is too big; it’s too great.” But the Lord is here declaring, “The house will be built.”
Now, there is yet another temple to be built, and this prophecy not only dealt with the times then, but has a double fulfillment. Because, again, the Lord has declared that His house will be built in Jerusalem, and there will be definitely a temple built again in Jerusalem. In the eleventh chapter of the book of Revelation, John has given a ruler, and he is told to measure the temple and the courts. Now this is during the period of the Great Tribulation. So I expect work to start most any time on the new temple in Jerusalem.
“The house of the Lord will be built in Jerusalem,” He promised. He said,
Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem ( Zec 1:17 ).
Though at this time Jerusalem was such a rubble, such a wasted ruin, yet the Lord promises the rebuilding.
Now the second of his visions:
Then I lifted up my eyes, and I saw, and behold there were 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 ( Zec 1:18-19 ).
Now the four horns represent four kingdoms, for the horns symbolically are representing kings, or powers. They are equivalent to the four metals in the great image of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, or the four beasts of Daniel’s dream. The four kingdoms by which Israel was dispersed into the world beginning with the Babylonian Kingdom, and then the Medo-Persian Empire, and then the Grecian Empire, and finally the Roman Empire. These nations under which God’s people suffered.
And then the LORD showed me four carpenters ( Zec 1:20 ).
Now his visions are flipping from one to another. First the red horse with the rider on it, and the other horses under the myrtle tree. Then the next thing all he saw were these four horns. Now what can you make out of four horns? So the Lord told him, or the angel told him what it was. Now the third vision, “The Lord showed me four carpenters,” or literally, hewers, or carvers.
Then I said, What come these to do? ( Zec 1:21 )
What are these guys coming to do, Lord?
and he spake unto me saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man could lift up his head: but these are coming to fray them [to carve them up], to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it ( Zec 1:21 ).
So those carvers that are coming to fray the kingdoms that scattered God’s people. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Zec 1:1-6
Zec 1:1-6
(Zec 1:1) As was indicated in the previous chapter, Zechariahs date is easily determined, The first decree permitting 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.
Zec 1:1 states that the word of Jehovah came to the prophet in the second year of Darius, which of course is 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. 2Ch 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 sanctuary and the altar. (cf. Mat 23:35) Possibly, since Jesus is reckoning 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.
Zerr: Zec 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 negligence 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.
(Zec 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!)
Zerr: Zec 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.
(Zec 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 I will return to you. was the plea of Jehovah through all His Old Testament prophets. (e.g. Mal 3:7)
Zerr: Zec 1:3, When a man departs from serving the Lord, he is the one who must make the first move in being reunited, hence God here promises to return to his people it they will return to Him which means they are to become faithful in their lives.
(Zec 1:4-6) 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. Heb 10:31)
Their fathers had been similarly warned and had not heeded. Consequently, the punishment of Jehovah had fallen. Zechariahs plea is Be ye not as your fathers.
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.
Zerr: Zec 1:4-6. 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. 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. Zec 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 threatenings 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.
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.
Questions
1. Identify Zechariah the prophet.
2. Why does Zechariah remind the returnees of the pre-exilic sin of their fathers?
3. Which verse is the key note of the entire book of Zechariah?
4. Discuss the term Jehovah of hosts.
5. What does Zechariah mean by Be not as your fathers?
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
About a month after Haggai’s second message, in which he had encouraged the people who were in danger of being disheartened by the memory of the past, Zechariah uttered his first prophetic word. He gave them another view of the past, intended to warn them. He reminded them that Jehovah was sore displeased with their fathers, and warned them not to walk in the same sins. Thus Haggai encouraged them by looking on to the new spiritual glory, while Zechariah exhorted them by looking back to the past of disobedience.
Two months after Haggai had delivered his last message, Zechariah delivered his great message consisting of eight symbolic visions.
Under the figure of the myrtle trees Israel is described as “in the bottom,” or, far better, as the margin reads, “in the shady place.” It is the day of her overshadowing, but she is still watched. The whole earth is sitting still and at rest. The angel watcher appeals to Jehovah on behalf of Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, and is answered with “comfortable words.”
These words declare Jehovah’s determination to deliver and re-establish His people. This vision, therefore, is a picture of Israel as she long has been, and still is, outcast from privilege and position, yet never forgotten by Jehovah, who declares His determination ultimately to return to her with mercies, and to restore her to favor.
The second vision of horns and smiths, while indefinite as to detail, yet carries its own explanation. The horn is a symbol of power, and the four stand for the powers which have scattered the chosen people. The smiths are the symbol of that which destroys power, and stand for those who are to break the power of the horns.
The vision thus foretells the ultimate overthrow of the enemies of the purpose of God, and therefore stands in immediate and striking contrast to the one preceding it. As we have seen, there the chosen people are in the shady place, cast out, without influence or power among the nations. The second, while not entering into any detailed account of the instrument to be used, does, nevertheless, symbolize that ultimately those who have oppressed the people of God will be broken in power, and thus the oppressed people be delivered.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
a Vision of Pardon and Restoration
Zec 1:1-17
Zechariah does not slur over the sins of the past, but lays stress on the divine forgiveness. His only fear is lest God should call in vain, and the people refuse as their fathers did. Notice the repetition of Gods title, Lord of Hosts, five times in the first six verses. The enemys armies were vast, but the protecting hosts, vaster. A glimpse of these hosts is given in the following vision. A green valley, filled with myrtles, the emblem of humility, where the prophet may have been wont to meditate, seemed alive with mysterious figures, who had been patrolling the earth, and announced that it was peace, for these were the days of Cyrus illustrious reign. Notice the frequent reference to his celestial friend, Zec 1:9; Zec 1:14; Zec 1:19; Zec 4:1; Zec 4:4-5; Zec 5:5; Zec 5:10; Zec 6:4. The future was bright with promise, Zec 1:16-17.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Notes on the Prophecy of Zechariah
Introduction
Zechariah, like Haggai and Malachi, was a post-captivity prophet. He was one of those who came up from Babylon with Zerubbabel (having been born in the land of the stranger) and gave the word of the Lord to the returned remnant. It was Haggais mission to arouse to action when they had been overcome by sloth and self-seeking. Zechariah followed with messages of cheer and encouragement designed to bring the souls of the people into the power of the coming glory. He is therefore largely occupied with the appearing of Messiah and His reign of righteousness. There is blessing in thus having heart and mind transported to the days of heaven upon earth. It is then that one is able to estimate aright the transitory glories of this present evil age. The hope of the Lords coming has a purifying effect upon the lives of those held by it. Every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure (1Jn 3:3).
The Church has lost much, therefore, by neglecting the study of prophecy. It should be borne in mind that while the prophets of the Old Testament do not speak of the assembly of the present dispensation, nevertheless those who compose the Body of Christ and the Bride of the Lamb may learn much that is for edification and blessing through Jehovahs word to Israel. Then too it should be enough for the devoted soul to know that Christ is to be the center of all that glory which is soon to be revealed. If He is concerned in it, all who love Him will find spiritual delight in tracing the steps leading up to His exaltation and the establishment of His kingdom.
This is what is characteristic in Zechariah. He marks out the various stages leading to the appearing of Messiah, thus opening up, in large measure, the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.
His book falls readily into two main parts. The first six chapters relate the visions of the prophet. The last eight are devoted to instruction based upon these visions. There are numerous subdivisions which we shall notice as we go on.
It would seem as though Zechariah, like many of his predecessors, died a violent death, and that at the hands of the Jews returned from Babylon, when decline had again set in. At least our Lord Jesus speaks of the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar, and which was to be required of the men of that generation, who had filled up the iniquity of their fathers (Mat 23:35).
It is barely possible, though not probable, that our Lord was referring to the martyrdom of Zechariah the son of Jehoiada, who was stoned to death in the court of the temple (2Ch 24:20,21); but in that case we have to suppose a Berechiah in the genealogy of Jehoiada, or else a copyists error in transcribing the Greek text. In the absence of proof to the contrary, it seems safer to assume that Zacharias the son of Barachias is none other than the prophet to whose writings we are about to turn for instruction and warning.
The Jews have a tradition that he perished in the manner described. J. N. Darby, in his Irrationalism of Infidelity, says that the Jewish Targum states that Zechariah the son of Iddo, a prophet and priest, was slain in the sanctuary.30
As the rabbis could have no possible reason for seeking to confirm the words of the Lord Jesus, it would seem as though their testimony were conclusive.
Chapter 1
Israel And The Divine Government
By comparing verse 1 with the opening words of Haggais prophecy, it will be observed that an interval of two months, approximately, occurred between the beginning of the recorded ministry of the two prophets. Conscience was aroused, and the work of building the house of the Lord begun, as a result of Haggais stirring message. In the seventh month he sought to encourage the now awakened people by directing their attention to the future day of Messiahs glory. Then in the month following, the eighth of Darius second year, Zechariah was bidden to speak to them, first in a rousing call to self-judgment, followed later on by a remarkable unfolding of what Haggai had so briefly outlined in chapter 2:6-9.
Others have long since noticed the striking significance of the names in this first verse: Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo. Zechariah means Jehovah remembers; Berechiah is Jehovah blesses; and Iddo, The appointed time. So read, we would have: Jehovah remembers, Jehovah blesses at the appointed time. Thus, when the set time to favor Zion has come, all the promises of the Lord will be fulfilled, and carried out in blessing. If any think such an interpretation fanciful, let them remember how the apostle, by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, dwells on the meaning of names, and their order, in the case of Melchizedek, King of Salem, in Heb 7:2. There is surely more than a hint in that remarkable passage that there are vast stores of instruction in the names of men and places used throughout the Scriptures that many of us have little dreamed of.
Verses 2 to 6 comprise Zechariahs first message, and are a suited introduction to the book. In view of the return from captivity and the rebuilding of the temple, the people are warned not to repeat the errors of their fathers-a warning, alas, soon forgotten and quite unheeded.
With their ancestors the Lord had been grievously displeased, and because of their sins had given them into the hand of the Gentile foe. Now let the children of those who had failed so repeatedly turn to Him with all their hearts, and He would turn unto them, openly acting for them as Jehovah of hosts. Let them not refuse to hearken as their fathers refused to obey the messages of the prophets that had given them the word of the Lord prior to the long-predicted captivities of Assyria and Babylon. To them He had cried, Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings! but His words had been despised. Where were they now who had thus dared to refuse obedience to the Word of the living God? They had been made to know the power of His displeasure, and had at last been obliged to own that His word was infallible. In the land of the enemy they sadly confessed, Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath He dealt with us (ver. 6). Thus had He been glorified even in their abasement and discomfiture. In all this how serious and important the lesson for us!
In verse 7 Zechariah begins to relate a series of eight visions, all intimately connected; all of which seem to have been given him on the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, in the same year as that of verse 1. The first vision and its partial explanation occupies verses 7 to 17. For convenience we shall call it, The Man among the Myrtle Trees.
The prophet beheld a man riding upon a red horse, in a deep valley, among a grove of myrtle trees, and behind him red horses, speckled, and white. In reply to his surprised inquiry, O my lord, what are these? an angel replied, I will show thee what these be.
Upon this the rider on the red horse, twice called a man, but in verse 11 identified as the angel of Jehovah, said, These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.
Then, as though summoned to give account, the hitherto unmentioned riders31 on the attending horses answered the angel of the Lord, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.
The rider on the first horse would seem to be the Covenant-Angel, standing for the people of Jehovahs choice. The other horses speak of the providential agencies, possibly angelically-directed, working among the Gentile nations. Observe, the Lord had sent them. The powers that be are ordained of God. They had lately been used for the chastisement of offending Israel. Now all the world was at peace, and the nations utterly indifferent to the low estate of the seed of Abraham.
Hence the cry of the Angel of Jehovah, O Lord 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? (ver. 12). The Babylonian captivity had come to a end. Cyrus had given permission for the Jews to return to Jerusalem; but though a remnant had gone back, there was utter indifference on the part of the great powers as to any recognition nationally of the people who were destined to be the chief of the nations. Hence the angels question, which Jehovah answered with good words and comfortable words.
It is a little difficult here to distinguish between the Angel of Jehovah riding on the horse among the myrtles (who really speaks of Messiah Himself as the Angel-intercessor on behalf of Israel, as in Rev 8:1-4), and the interpreting-angel who explained the visions to Zeehariah. The latter it is, in verse 14, who gives the seer a prophetic message telling him to, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.
Proud and self-sufficient, the Gentile powers seek only their own, and regard His chosen with indifference and scorn; but He is looking on, and they are thereby but adding to the cup of their iniquity.
In His own set time, as intimated already in connection with the prophetic character of the three names in verse 1, Jehovah will arise on behalf of His people, and return to Jerusalem, so long trodden under foot of the nations, with great mercies, bringing in all the blessings of the new covenant for the long-despised nation. His house shall be built in the land once more, on a more magnificent scale than ever, as set forth in the last eight chapters of Ezekiel. Jerusalem itself shall arise from its ruins, a glorious city, unequaled in splendor by any of the cities of the nations, in the day when the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem (vers. 16, 17).
It is of importance throughout to distinguish between vision and interpretation. Verses 8 to 13 give the vision. Verses 14 to 17 are the divine explanation. Judah and Jerusalem form the subject. There is no reference to the Church of the present dispensation whatever. Spiritualizers have always been fond of so applying it, but to do so is to violently wrest the passage.
The second vision, of the four horns and the four carpenters, or four smiths, is given in verses 18 to 21. The four Gentile world-empires, made familiar to us in Daniels prophecy, are exemplified by the horns (symbols of power), viz., Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome.
But for every horn there is a carpenter; and like as they have agreed together to oppress and destroy Israel and Judah, so shall God use these carpenters to destroy them. Israels enemies are Gods enemies, and must be frayed and broken when their appointed course is run, with a view to the full deliverance of the remnant of the people of His choice.
In the Hebrew text this vision belongs to the next chapter, as chapter 1 ends with verse 17. It requires no further comment. For the saint of any dispensation it ministers blessed truth, reminding him that God worketh all things after the counsel of His own will; and evil is only permitted in so far as it will serve in the carrying out of His wondrous purposes of blessing.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Zec 1:5-6
I. Consider, first, the solemn and yet familiar thought here of the passing away of the hearers and the speakers alike.
II. Notice, next, the contrast between the fleeting hearers and speakers and the abiding word. There is nothing so transient as the words that are spoken by Christian teachers. Of all the seed that is sown, our Master taught us that three-fourths, at least, was likely to perish. And even where the word takes root in men’s hearts, how swiftly the speaker of it passes and is forgotten! And yet, in all these fleeting and mingled human utterances, does there not lie an immortal and imperishable centre, even the word of the living God? The word of the Lord endureth for ever, and this enduring word is that story of Christ’s incarnation, death for our sins, resurrection, and ascension, which by the Gospel is preached unto you.
III. Consider the witness of the past generations to the immortal word.
Our prophet is speaking to the men who returned from exile, and he appeals to them concerning the history of the preceding generations which had been carried away into captivity, according to the threatenings of the pre-exilian prophets. And, says Zechariah in effect, though the prophets’ words no more sound, and the men that heard them are stiff in death, that past generation is a witness that even through human lips and to careless ears a word is preached that will be fulfilled.
A. Maclaren, Christian Commonwealth, December 9th, 1886.
Zec 1:7-17
The rider in the myrtle grove.
I. The prophet saw a grove of myrtle trees in a hollow or low place. By the myrtle grove all are agreed is signified the covenant people, the nation of Israel, and by its being in a low place is indicated their depressed and sad condition. In the Hebrew mind the idea of modest beauty and freshness was associated with the myrtle, and hence we find this introduced as symbolical of the Church under the reign of the Messiah, when, “instead of the briar,” the symbol of the world under the curse, “shall come up the myrtle tree” (Isa 55:13).
II. The mounted rider, though in appearance as a man, is described as the angel of Jehovah. By this appellation is designated in Scripture a being who on various occasions appeared to men, and who, though coming forth as the angel or messenger of Jehovah, is at the same time represented as a Divine being, having the power of God, receiving the honours due only to God, and exercising the proper functions of the Almighty (cf. Gen 16:7-14, Gen 22:11-19, Gen 21:11, etc., Gen 48:15-16; Exo 13:2, Exo 23:20-21; Jos 5:13-15). A comparison of these passages leads to the conclusion that the angel of Jehovah is none other than God manifest in human form, the Being who, as the Captain of the Lord’s host, led up Israel to Canaan, the Being who came forth to execute vengeance on the enemies of the covenant people, and who was known to Israel as their Protector and Advocate. That this Being is the same who in the fulness of time came to our world as the Angel of the Covenant the teachings of the New Testament lead us confidently to believe.
III. For the consolation and encouragement of the people, the prophet had to tell them that, depressed as was their condition, the Angel of the Lord, the Leader, the Protector, the Redeemer of Israel, was still in the midst of them. He was there, standing and still, but ready to ride forth in their defence, and to send judgments on their adversaries, which was indicated by the vision of His being mounted on a red horse, the symbol of war and bloodshed. He is also with them as their Intercessor with God. Hence He appears in this vision as making intercession for them, beseeching God to have pity on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah; and, now that the time of chastisement was at an end, that He would be gracious to them, grant them full restoration and establishment in their own land.
W. Lindsay Alexander, Zechariah’s Visions and Warnings, p. 1; see also Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., p. 61.
References: Zec 1:8.-Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 270. Zec 1:8-21.-Ibid., Sermons, vol. x., No. 598. Zec 1:12, Zec 1:13.-Ibid., Evening by Evening, p. 55.
Zec 1:18-21
I. As physical emblems of force, horns are in the prophetic visions representative of earthly powers or kingdoms. The number four, in its prophetic acceptation, is the signature of the world, and is used here to indicate powers coming on every side or from all quarters. As in the former vision the riders were represented as having gone over the whole earth and found all quiet, so here all the earthly powers hostile to the people of God are, in general, indicated by the four horns.
II. As the prophet continued to look, Jehovah showed him-rather caused him to see-four workmen or artificers, and informed him that the workmen had come to frighten away, or discomfit and cast down, these oppressors. “These are come to fray them.” In modern usage the verb “fray” signifies to rub or file down, but in old English it is used in the sense of terrify or frighten. The four workmen do not symbolise four special powers by which the enemies of Judah were to be discomfited and cast down; as the horns were four, so an equal number of workmen came to indicate the completeness of the overthrow of the enemies of Judah. Each horn has its destined destroyer.
III. What was thus showed for the comfort of the people of God in the old time is no less for the comfort and encouragement of the Church in all ages and places. The Angel of the Lord, the Divine Redeemer, abides for ever with that Church which He hath purchased with His blood. And exalted as He is to the throne of His glory, having all power in heaven and on earth, He can send forth at any time agencies by which the power of the Church’s enemies shall be broken and all their forces routed. It behoves the Church, then, to have faith in her exalted Head, and patiently to wait for Him.
W. Lindsay Alexander, Zechariah’s Visions and Warnings, p. 17; see also Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., p. 220.
References: Zec 1:20.-Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 342. Zec 2:1-5.-Ibid., Sermons, vol. x., No. 604.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
Analysis and Annotations
1. THE NIGHT VISIONS
CHAPTER 1
1. The introduction (Zec 1:1-6)
2. The first night vision (Zec 1:7-17)
3. The second night vision (Zec 1:18-21)
Zec 1:1-6. The first utterance of Zechariah concerns the past. The LORD hath been sore displeased with your fathers. They were a disobedient, stiff-necked people. The pre-exilic prophets had called them to repentance, but they did not hearken. Then he gives the message to turn to the Lord, with the promise that He will turn to them; they should not be like their fathers. And their fathers, where were they? They had passed away like the disobedient ones in the wilderness; Gods judgment and displeasure had overtaken them and they perished.
Zec 1:7-17. After this opening message with its call to return, delivered probably before the assembled congregation, the prophet received his great night-visions. These were not mere dreams, but the things he describes passed before him in divine vision. He beheld them in one night. They were not only given in one night, but just as one followed the other with out interval, so are they closely connected, giving progressively coming events. There is, of course, to a certain extent in some of these visions the message of hope for the Jewish remnant of that day, but the visions concern the future, and can only be understood in the light of other prophecies concerning the end of the age and the glorious future of Israel and Jerusalem. To apply them to the Church produces the greatest possible confusion. We shall see how these visions concern the Gentiles first and the overthrow of the world-powers, followed by the blessings and glory promised to Israel, which all will be given to the nation in the day when Gentile dominion ceases forever. When the visions end, the morning comes after that memorable night of revelation, the command to crown the high-priest is given.
Without quoting the text in full we give the interpretation of each vision. He beheld an army of riders upon different colored horses, led by a man riding a red horse, who is the center of the vision. There is an interpreting heavenly messenger, to whom the prophet turns to find out who the riders are. They do not represent the Persians, as some expositors have stated; they are angels. It is the man upon the red horse who speaks. These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth. The riders upon the horses give their report to the man in the middle. Behold, all the earth sitteth still and is at rest.
Who is the rider upon the red horse? He is called the Angel of the LORD. There is no question but that the rider and the Angel of the LORD are the same person. And the Angel of the LORD in the Old Testament is an uncreated Being; He is the Son of God in His pre-incarnation glory. There are three very good reasons for this interpretation. 1. The color red identifies him with our Lord. He is the Lamb of God who shed His blood in redemption; He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah Rev 5:1-14) who will arise in judgment upon the nation in the coming days of vengeance and trample His enemies under foot Isa 63:1-19). 2. He is the Leader as well as the Center of the heavenly hosts; they are subject unto Him; all things are in His hands. 3. He makes intercession, which marks Him as the one who is the intercessor before God in behalf of His people. Our larger exposition of Zechariah quotes the Jewish interpretation (Studies in Zechariah, pp. 11-12).
The report of the angelic hosts was that the earth sitteth still and is at rest. The nations were at rest, in the state of prosperity; but His people is in trouble, the land of promise under Gentile rule and dominion. While the cities of the nations were increased and had plenty, the city of the King was under the hoof of the Gentiles; His people suffered. Such is the condition of things throughout the time of the Gentiles. In our comment, written in 1899 we made the following remarks:
Prosperity, universal prosperity, and with it universal peace, is the cry at the close of another century, and will be more so as we advance towards the end of this age. Civilization, world conquest, commercial extension, and a universal peace, seem to be the leading thoughts among the nations of our times. Truly it is realized by some that our boasted civilization, liberty and prosperity, is nothing but a smoldering volcano which may burst open at any moment and make an end of all boasting; but the majority of the people even in Christendom are sadly deluding themselves with idle dreams. And what of Gods thoughts and His eternal purposes? What of His oath-bound covenant promises? They are being misinterpreted, set aside and forgotten. Thus it will continue till the climax is reached, so clearly foretold in the Second Psalm.
This forecast has come true; the great war has come and gone and now the age is rapidly approaching its predicted end.
Then follows in the vision the intercessory cry of the Angel of the LORD. It concerns in the first place the indignation of the seventy years. But that dispersion is the prophetic type of their greater dispersion. What was true then concerning the nations and the state of Jerusalem, is true of the present and future. The nations helped forward their affliction by hating the Jew. The great sin of the nations is Anti-semitism, which is the result of not believing the Word of God. The hatred of the Gentiles will culminate in the end of the age in coming against the partially restored nation, as we shall learn at the close of our prophecy. Then the assurance is given that the Lord in His jealousy will remember His people and Jerusalem will be chosen and Zion comforted.
Zec 1:18-21. He saw next four powerful horns, the emblems of the powerful Gentile nations who have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. The four horns are the same four world-powers announced in Nebuchadnezzars dream and in Daniels vision Dan 2:1-49; Dan 7:1-28. They are symbolized by the locusts in their four stages Joe 1:1-20. Four smiths appear in the vision to fray them and to cast them out. The vision teaches two facts: first, the horns will be broken and cast down; and in the second place, God has for every power which has sinned against His people a corresponding instrument, to overcome and to break into pieces.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
eighth month
i.e. November.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
the eighth: Zec 1:7, Zec 7:1, Ezr 4:24, Ezr 6:15, Hag 1:1, Hag 1:15, Hag 2:1, Hag 2:10, Hag 2:20
Zechariah: Ezr 5:1, Mat 23:35, Luk 11:51
Iddo: Neh 12:4, Neh 12:16
Reciprocal: Hos 1:1 – word Hag 1:3 – by Haggai Zec 6:9 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
AS WE COMMENCE to read Zechariah we note that, just as with Haggai, definite dates are given for the messages that God gave through him; and the first verse reveals that his first message – Zec 1:2-6 – was uttered between Haggai’s word of encouragement, in the early part of his second chapter, and the word of warning, recorded later in that chapter. We think we may term Zechariah’s first message, a word of exhortation.
We may wonder perhaps, why such a word at that juncture was needed? Had the people not responded to the word of rebuke, and so diligently resumed work on the temple that they were encouraged by a prophetic view of its future glory? Yet before Haggai’s word of warning, uttered on the ninth month there came this call to them to remember the directness and certainty of God’s governmental dealings with their fathers, and the certainty of similar dealings if like their fathers, they turned away from Him. The exhortation therefore is, ‘Turn ye unto Me, saith the Lord of hosts’. Had they not done this? Yes, indeed, outwardly and in action. But had there been that inward and vital turning of heart, which is what counts in the sight of God? Their subsequent history, as revealed by the prophet Malachi, shows how little they were marked by this inward turning of heart to God.
So, as we open this fresh prophecy, we meet with something calculated to make us ‘wise unto salvation’, from a similar danger today. How easy for us to be satisfied with correctness of outward behaviour, without that inward heart-turning, of great value in the sight of God. Very possibly the ‘uncleanness’, which in his third message Haggai pointed out as marring the work of their hands, was connected with this matter.
In verse Zec 1:7 we travel on to the eleventh month of the second year of Darius, so important in the history of the Jews, and we commence a whole series of visions which were granted to the prophet – visions which had a bearing upon their position at that time, but which carried in them allusions to the far future, and the ultimate deliverance to come through Christ.
Before starting on them we may pause to notice the great difference of style that marked the two prophets. Of all the Minor prophets, none is more plain and direct, and free from figurative language and visions, than Haggai: and none more full of figurative language and the record of visions than Zechariah; yet both were equally used, and at the same time. We see foreshadowed that which comes plainly to light in God’s administration for the Church, as recorded in 1Co 12:1-31 – What God establishes is marked by diversity in unity. Each servant of God is marked by difference and variety as to detail – like the many differing members of the human body – but all bound together in a God-created unity. Let us never forget this fact in our dealings with, or our judgments of, God’s many servants today.
From verse Zec 1:7 of our first chapter, till the later part of Zec 6:1-15, we get a series of visions that were granted to the prophet, and recorded by him. The words, ‘Then lifted I up mine eyes’, (Zec 1:18), occur a number of times, as he puts on record what he saw. As we ponder these visions we may discern a certain sequence in them.
The first is that of the rider on a red horse among the myrtle trees, and behind him other horses, red, speckled and white. They represented those whom the Lord had sent forth to walk to and fro through the earth. As a symbol, a horse is generally used to indicate strength and power, but in this first vision nothing is said to show just what form of strength is meant, though we gather not earthly kingdoms, such as Persia or Greece, since the horses walk on tours of inspection through the earth. When, however, we read Zec 6:1-15, we again find horses mentioned, and they are described as, ‘the four spirits of the heavens’; that is, they are angelic in character. This, we believe, they are here; and their report is that though God’s city and people were still in distress at the end of the seventy years, the nations under the Persian empire were having a very quiet and restful time.
This being so, the angel of the Lord gave Zechariah a clear message to the effect that He was sore displeased with the apparently prosperous nations, and was going indeed to return to Jerusalem in blessing. Reading verses Zec 1:16-17, we cannot but feel that though the help and blessing that visited the people during the next few years was a fulfilment of these words, the complete fulfilment awaits the time when the glorious appearing of Jehovah, predicted in Zechariah’s last chapter, takes place.
Then a fresh vision met the eyes of the prophet: the four horns representing the four earthly powers that were permitted to scatter so completely the people and their city. Then there came into his view the four carpenters, who would come, as sent of God, to disturb and destroy the four powers that had done it. The prophecy views the whole matter in a comprehensive way, as from God’s side. In Zechariah’s days, the first of these ‘horns’, the Babylonian empire, had been ‘cast out’, and the second was in power, the third and fourth yet to come; but God was making known the fact that their rule was only temporary, and that each would be ‘cast out’ in turn.
There can be no doubt, we think, as to the identity of the four horns, though we may not be able to identify in the same way the four carpenters. We believe, however, again that the prophecy is not yet completely fulfilled, for the ‘horns of the Gentiles’, which lift up their power for the scattering of Israel, are not completely disposed of while ‘the times of the Gentiles’ (Luk 21:24), still run their course. But the remnant, now back in Jerusalem, were given the encouragement of knowing that the day of their oppressors would come to an end in God’s own time. It is an encouragement to us to know it also.
Fuente: F. B. Hole’s Old and New Testaments Commentary
Zec 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.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Zec 1:1-2. In the eighth month This month, according to that reckoning which begins the year with the month Abib, or Nisan, Exo 12:2, falls in with the latter part of our October, and the beginning of November. Haggai had begun to exhort the Jews to resume the work of building the temple two months before this, and they had actually resumed it on the 24th day of the sixth month, that is, in the beginning of September. In the second year of Darius That is, Darius the son of Hystaspes, as Dr. Blayney and many other learned men have proved to a demonstration. Came the word of the Lord to Zechariah Here we see the prophet did not run before he was sent, or undertake a work to which he was not called: as also, that what he communicated to the people, was first communicated to him by the Lord. Saying, The Lord, &c. Blayney here supplies, Speak unto all the people of the land, saying, &c. He supposes that some words, expressive of that or a similar sense, have been omitted by the carelessness of some transcriber. The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers He was so long and so much provoked, that his displeasure at last broke out into that flame which consumed your city and temple, and even desolated your country, nay, and punished the inhabitants thereof, and their children, with the captivity of seventy years; yet now he declares himself willing to be reconciled to you upon your repentance.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Zec 1:1. Zechariah; that is, the memory of God; a name which might seem prophetic, for the Lord remembered his people while yet in Babylon. He was contemporary with Haggai, and acted in concert with him. The Lord inspired him to speak of events which would befal the jews, till the advent of Christ; and to lose his views in the effulgence of the latter day. He foresaw, as Daniel did, the succession of the four monarchies to the coming of Christ, and the full establishment of the gospel kingdom.
Zec 1:8. I saw by nighta man riding upon a red horse. Michael, the archangel, prince of the jews; which by a figure is another name for the Messiah, red in his apparel, as described by others of the sacred writers. Isa 63:3. Rev 6:4. This vision represents his coming to fight for the emancipation of his people. The red colour is the dress of war. The Lord spake with, or literally in the prophet, as in the apostle. 2Co 13:3.
The myrtle trees that were in the bottom. Those trees are natives of Chaldea; but for bottom the Chaldaic paraphrase reads Babylon, situate in the lower grounds.
Zec 1:11. All the earth sitteth still, and is at rest. After the career of conquests by Nebuchadnezzar, the nations enjoyed a period of repose from war; so that no hope appeared of deliverance to the jews.
Zec 1:12. Then the angel said, oh Lord, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem. If this personage was Michael, all his pleadings are subordinate to the intercession of Christ.
Threescore and ten years. See on Jer 25:11.
Zec 1:18. Behold four horns. The horn is the emblem of power. The Chaldaic therefore reads, kingdoms. The jewish state had been broken by different powers, by the Edomites, the Philistines, the Syrians in Damascus, and finally by the Chaldeans. Those were the horns which had scattered the jewish people.
Zec 1:20. The Lord shewed me four carpenters. Some read four plowmen, meaning the four kings of Persia, who in succession repaired the breach, and healed the jewish nation, so that no power dared to molest them in their work of rebuilding the city and temple of Jerusalem. Heaven in a most unexpected manner turned the hearts of those kings to favour the return of the jews, and afford them subsequent protection. What other people were emancipated, with all their vessels of gold and silver, like this favoured but ungrateful people? Well did they sing their hallelujahs, as in the five last psalms. Dr. Lightfoot names Zerubbabel, Joshua, Ezra, and Nehemiah, as the four carpenters that repaired the breaches, but these were under the Persian princes.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Zec 1:2-6. This rebuke (see above, p. 575) seems inconsistent with a date five weeks or more after work had been begun at the Temple and at least ten days after the prophecy in Hag 2:1-9. The clumsy handiwork of one or more editors is also evident in the section. The thought appears to be as follows: The Lord had great cause to be wroth with your fathers, and their punishment has largely fallen upon you. But now if you will change your attitude towards Him in showing loyal obedience, He will change His attitude towards you in showing you mercy. Your fathers were stubborn, and they are gone; but the prophets words came to pass, and your fathers were constrained to acknowledge the justice of their punishment. Zec 1:5, as it stands, is difficult. The required sense is best given by the restoration of a negative omitted by accident; thus, Your fathers where are they? but the prophets, do not they live for ever? Yea, indeed, my words and my statutes, etc. The reference is not to individual prophets but to the prophetic order which always endures.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
God’s Call to Return to Him
(vv. 1-6)
Zechariah’s name means “Jehovah remembers.” He was the son of Berechiah (“Jehovah blesses”) who was the son of Iddo (“the appointed time”). Israel had long been in a depressed state. It seemed as though God had forgotten them, but He remembers, and in His own appointed time He returns to them in blessing. But the measure of revival and blessing in Zechariah’s day was very limited, and Israel lapsed again into a depressed condition that was still seen when the Lord Jesus came, in whom we see another striking evidence of “Jehovah remembering.” By rejecting Christ, Israel has lapsed into a worse state than ever, now for many centuries, and by the time of the great tribulation they will be brought to feel deeply that God has forgotten them. Only then will the prophecy of Zechariah be fully accomplished. It will be God’s appointed time of remembering and blessing Israel with blessings that will never end.
Zechariah’s message to Israel begins abruptly: the Lord has been greatly displeased with their fathers. How could Israel boast in their lineage when this was true? They had become accustomed to the sins their fathers had allowed, and lacked the exercise that Josiah had (2Ki 22:10-13) when he heard Scripture read to him and realized how far his fathers had departed from its precepts. Well might the Lord tell Israel to return to Him, with the promise that, if so, He would return to them.
Despite the Lord’s sending prophets to urge the people to return to Him from their evil ways and doings, they simply would not listen. Where are their fathers now? Do the prophets live forever? Men cannot long continue living in rebellion. Death overtakes them and then they realize their rebellion to be folly, but too late! The prophets too were only sent by God at specific times to give an urgent message: they did not continue indefinitely as merely servants to be treated as the people pleased. Israel could not depend either on their fathers or on the prophets: they must have their confidence in the living God.
Therefore verse 6 insists on “My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets.” Though men die, “the Word of the Lord endures forever” (1Pe 1:25). This is the only remedy in any day of decline and failure, whether for Israel or for the Church. But God’s words had overtaken (NASB) their fathers in spite of their unbelief, and only then did they return and acknowledge that the Lord had done to them just as He warned, because of their disobedience. Would Israel not learn by the history of their fathers?
A NIGHT VISION: THE FIRST OF EIGHT
(vv. 7-11)
Three months later the Word of the Lord came again to Zechariah. This is a prophecy, though in the form of a vision which Zechariah sees at night. The man riding on a red horse is spoken of in verse 11 as “the angel of the Lord,” – the Lord Jesus Himself – who often appeared in the Old Testament as the angel or messenger of the Lord. Horses are spoken of in Zec 6:5 as “the spirits of the heavens”-the energizing power that sustains their riders. Here the horse is red, reminding us of judgment and bloodshed (Isa 63:2-4). He stood among “the myrtle trees in the hollow.” The myrtle, growing in low-lying areas, is symbolic of Israel reduced to a state of lowly humiliation. He is standing, not fighting. This reminds us of Hab 3:6, “He stood and measured the earth.” The Lord does not judge precipitately, but calmly takes account of every matter before judgment.
Behind the red horse and its rider were other red horses, also speaking of judgment and bloodshed. There also were “sorrel” horses, a mixed color between red and orange. This speaks of judgment tempered with mercy. White horses – the symbol of victory – also were present. These other horses were waiting for the time when their proper ends would be accomplished. In some cases severe judgment would fall, in other cases judgment mingled with mercy, then the ultimate victory of God over evil.
Zechariah asks who these are. Then we are told of “the angel who talked with me,” who answers that he would show him. “The angel who talked with me” (spoken of in this way 11 times) is distinguished from “the angel of the Lord.” The answer is actually given by the Man who stood among the myrtle trees, and verse 11 shows this to be “the angel of the Lord” who answers that these horses had been sent by the Lord to walk back and forth through the earth. Then “they”- the red, sorrel and white horses – responded to the angel of the Lord that they had walked back and forth, and all the earth was resting quietly. This seems to be again the patience of God before judging, just as there is often a time of calm before a violent storm. Their walking through the earth indicates their work is not yet finished.
THE LORD’S PROMISE TO COMFORT ZION
(vv. 12-17)
Then the angel of the Lord (Christ), the true Intercessor for His people, addresses God, the Lord of hosts, asking, “How long will You not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which You were angry these seventy years?” (v. 12). He is speaking of the 70 years captivity, for though some of Judah had returned to Jerusalem, many of the people were still not really liberated from the oppression of their enemies, as Ezra and Nehemiah bear witness. How much more may the same expression be used today, “O Lord, How long?” – since now it is almost 2000 years since Israel rejected their Messiah, and has continued under the judgment of God.
The Lord’s answer to the angel who talked with Zechariah was with good and comfortable words, for God is the God of all comfort and does not desire His people to be discouraged by their circumstances, but to be encouraged in the Lord. Therefore the angel who talked with him gave instructions to Zechariah to cry, saying, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I am zealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with great zeal.” Jerusalem was God’s center, and He would not give her up in spite of the many failures of His people. The King James Version uses the word, “jealous,” for this is used in the sense of its dictionary meaning of “protective and solicitous.” This is jealousy of an admirable kind. He also calls Jerusalem “Zion” which is the special name given her in view of the great blessing she will receive in the Millennium – the thousand year reign of the Lord Jesus following the tribulation. Zion means “sunny,” for it anticipates “the Sun of Righteousness” who will arise to Israel with healing in His wings (Mal 4:2), speaking of the coming of the Lord Jesus in majestic glory.
Also, God announces His extreme displeasure with the nations who were at ease and taking advantage of their prosperous circumstances to oppress the Jews because they were downtrodden and afflicted. It was true that God had been displeased with His own people and had allowed them to suffer for their disobedience, even using the Gentile nations to punish them in many ways. So the nations had helped God punish Israel, “but with evil intent” (v. 15), being willing even to cut off Israel from being a nation. Many of the nations since that time have had the same cruel intention, and at the time of the end, with bitter enmity mounting against Israel, the King of the North and his armies will seek to accomplish Israel’s destruction. This is not God’s purpose when He chastens His people: He has in view their eventual restoration and blessing.
Therefore it was to be proclaimed to all the people that He had returned to Jerusalem with mercies. If they were in a humble state to receive mercy, they would be greatly blessed. God’s house would be built in the city, and a line would be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. Zec 2:1 refers to this measuring line, which indicates God’s vital interest in discerning the precise condition of Jerusalem and blessing it according to His own wise estimate in due time.
Again Zechariah is told to “proclaim,” raising his voice to draw the attention of all the people, “Thus says the Lord of hosts.” This name of God is emphasized in Zechariah, Haggai and Malachi at a time when Judah was far from a “host” (many people), but had been reduced to a very small number. What a mercy that God was not reduced: He was still “the Lord of hosts,” and He promises “My cities shall again spread out through prosperity: the Lord will again comfort Zion, and will again choose Jerusalem” (v. 17). The complete fulfillment of this will only be when Zion becomes in truth the “sunny” metropolis of the world. This will be when Jerusalem is chosen a second time as the true “foundation of peace,” with which name she will then prove consistent during the age to come, the Millennium.
THE FOUR HORNS AND FOUR CARPENTERS
(vv. 18-21)
A vision of four horns now draws the attention of Zechariah. He asks the angel who talked with him the significance of these horns, and is told they are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem. Verse 21 shows they are Gentiles. Dan 7:4-7 identifies these four kingdoms. The first, a lion with eagles’ wings (v. 4), is Babylon. The second, a bear (v. 5), is the kingdom of the Medes and Persians. the third, like a leopard with four wings and four heads (v. 6), is the Grecian empire. The fourth, a strong, terrible beast with iron teeth (v. 7), is the Roman empire. Dan 2:37-40 confirms this from a different viewpoint.
These four enemies have distinct characters, each being responsible for harming and scattering Judah, Israel and Jerusalem. Babylon speaks of dignified, despotic rule as emphasized in Nebuchadnezzar who executed people as he pleased and kept alive whomever he desired (Dan 5:19). The Medes and Persians prided themselves on making laws that could not be changed (Dan 6:8). This is stern, proud legality. Greece stands for self-righteous indignation, as seen in Dan 8:5-8. Alexander, the he-goat, was moved with bitter anger against the ram (Medes and Persians). The Roman empire illustrates the brute strength by which that empire ruled, taking control by the force of superior strength.
These very evils have repeated themselves in the history of the Church on earth, and she too has suffered greatly for this. First, people have exalted themselves, assuming a dignity of being spiritually above the common level of the saints of God, and others have willingly given them this place. When this system of things breaks down, as it will, then the people resort to the principle of imposing binding laws, as did the Medes and Persians. They may begin with relatively good rules and regulations, then degenerate to bad rules. But whether good or bad, they set aside the pure grace of God, which is the only principle on which the Church can receive blessing from God. This legality must break down too. The laws become so intolerable that people revolt against them with self-righteous indignation, reacting in bitter anger that throws off the restraints of law. Still, when not turning in faith to the pure grace of God, their new liberty is only freedom to pursue their own willful ways. This brings confusion, for every individual’s will is contrary to those of others, and unity is hopeless. Out of such a situation the natural result is that the strongest will becomes predominant: might becomes right, just as the Roman empire (the strong one) became the oppressor of God’s people.
What is the answer? The Lord also showed Zechariah four carpenters, and Zechariah asked for what purpose these came. The answer is that, while the four horns have scattered Judah, the carpenters had come to terrify and cast out the horns of the nations. Their work is constructive, effective and decisive, but the actual fulfillment of this could not be in Zechariah’s time, for the Grecian and Roman empires had not even arisen.
Ezr 5:1-2 furnishes us with the names of four men who strikingly resemble these four carpenters, all of whom were present at that time: Haggai, Zechariah, Zerubbabel and Joshua. The first two were prophets, Zerubbabel the governor and Joshua the high priest. All of these are pictures of the Lord Jesus, the one predominant Carpenter, but as seen in the four distinct characters in which the four Gospels present Him.
Zerubbabel, the governor, is typical of Christ as seen in Matthew, God’s anointed King. As such He is in contrast to Babylon whose dignified pride and authority He reduces to nothing, while He takes the place of absolute authority.
Haggai, the servant-prophet, is a type of Christ as seen in Mark, the lowly Servant of God, a contrast to the haughty legality of the Medes and Persians. In this willing, humble, lowly service of the Lord Jesus is the destruction of the spirit of legality, for as such He attracts the willing-hearted devotion of those who are born of God.
Joshua, the high priest, typifies Christ as seen in Luke, the sinless Son of Man, who, because He has in grace become partaker of flesh and blood (Heb 2:14-17), is “the one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.” Thus He is contrasted to Grecian self-righteous anger as the Intercessor on behalf of those who fall. He triumphs wonderfully over the wrath of the people.
Zechariah is a prophet who emphasizes the deity of the Lord Jesus (Zec 9:14-16; Zec 12:10; Zec 13:7; Zec 14:5-17.) This corresponds to John’s Gospel, and indicates the eternal majesty and power by which the Lord Jesus will overcome the brute strength of Rome and the strong wills of those who have sought to dominate the Church of God in this present age. How marvelous is every character in which we see this blessed Christ of God in His casting out of evil and building that which glorifies God for eternity! In all four of these wondrous aspects of His glory, He is indeed “the Carpenter.”
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
1:1 In the eighth month, in the second year of {a} Darius, came the word of the LORD unto {b} Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,
(a) Who was the son of Histaspis.
(b) This was not the Zechariah, of which mention is made in 2Ch 24:20 , but he had the same name, and is called the son of Berechiah, as he was, because he came of those progenitors, as of Joiada or Berechiah, and Iddo.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
I. INTRODUCTION 1:1-6
That this pericope introduces the whole book seems clear since Zec 1:7 introduces the eight night visions that follow it (Zec 1:7 to Zec 6:8). Its content is also foundational to all that follows.
"It strikes the keynote of the entire book, and is one of the strongest and most intensely spiritual calls to repentance to be found anywhere in the Old Testament." [Note: George L. Robinson, The Twelve Minor Prophets, p. 150. Cf. Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Toward an Old Testament Theology, p. 253.]
"The initial six verses of the first chapter of Zechariah constitute a synopsis of a sermon of the prophet. Its theme strikes the keynote of the entire book and forms an indispensable introduction to it. The truth it enunciates is one which runs throughout the revealed ways of God with man; namely, the appropriation and enjoyment of God’s promises of blessing must be prefaced by genuine repentance." [Note: Unger, p. 20.]
". . . these introductory verses take the place of a call narrative [cf. Isaiah 6; Jeremiah 1; Ezekiel 1-2]." [Note: Longman and Dillard, p. 491.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The writer identified the time when this first word from the Lord came to Zechariah and who he was. "The word of the Lord" is a technical term meaning the prophetic word of revelation. The eighth month of the second year of Darius was October-November of 520 B.C. Evidently Haggai began ministering two months earlier to the same audience and ended his prophetic ministry one month later (Hag 1:1; Hag 2:10; Hag 2:20; cf. Ezr 5:1; Ezr 6:14). Since there was no human king of Israel then, the writer dated the prophecy in reference to Darius, a reminder that Israel was in "the times of the Gentiles" (Luk 21:24). "The times of the Gentiles" is the time when Gentiles control the destiny of Israel, namely, from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar to the future millennial reign of Christ. Zechariah’s father was Berechiah, and his more prominent grandfather (or ancestor) was Iddo. Iddo was among the priests who returned from the Captivity with Zerubbabel and Joshua (Neh 12:4; Neh 12:16).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
ZECHARIAH THE PROPHET
Zec 1:1-6; Ezr 5:1; Ezr 6:14
ZECHARIAH is one of the prophets whose personality as distinguished from their message exerts some degree of fascination on the student. This is not due, however, as in the case of Hosea or Jeremiah, to the facts of his life, for of these we know extremely little; but to certain conflicting symptoms of character which appear through his prophecies.
His name was a very common one in Israel, Zekher-Yah, “Jehovah remembers.” In his own book he is described as “the son of Berekh-Yah, the son of Iddo,” and in the Aramaic document of the Book of Ezra as “the son of Iddo.” Some have explained this difference by supposing that Berekhyah was the actual father of the prophet, but that either he died early, leaving Zechariah to the care of the grandfather, or else that he was a man of no note, and Iddo was more naturally mentioned as the head of the family. There are several instances in the Old Testament of men being called the sons of their grandfathers; {Gen 24:47, cf. 1Ki 19:16, cf. 2Ki 9:14; 2Ki 9:20} as in these cases the grandfather was the reputed founder of the house, so in that of Zechariah Iddo was the head of his family when it came out of Babylon and was anew planted in Jerusalem. Others, however, have contested the genuineness of the words “son of Berekh-Yah,” and have traced their insertion to a confusion of the prophet with Zechariah son of Yebherekh-Yahu, the contemporary of Isaiah. This is precarious, while the other hypothesis is a very natural one. Whichever be correct, the prophet Zechariah was a member of the priestly family of Iddo, that came up to Jerusalem from Babylon under Cyrus. {Neh 12:4} The Book of Nehemiah adds that in the high-priesthood of Yoyakim, the son of Joshua, the head of the house of Iddo was a Zechariah. If this be our prophet, then he was probably a young man in 520, and had come up as a child in the caravans from Babylon. The Aramaic document of the Book of Ezra {Ezr 5:1; Ezr 6:14} assigns to Zechariah a share with Haggai in the work of instigating Zerubbabel and Jeshua to begin the Temple. None of his oracles is dated previous to the beginning of the work in August, 520, but we have seen that among those undated there are one or two which by referring to the building of the Temple as still future may contain some relics of that first stage of his ministry. From November, 520, we have the first of his dated oracles; his Visions followed in January, 519, and his last recorded prophesying in December, 518.
These are all the certain events of Zechariahs history. But in the well-attested prophecies he has left we discover, besides some obvious traits of character, certain problems of style and expression which suggest a personality of more than usual interest. Loyalty to the great voices of old, the temper which appeals to the experience, rather than to the dogmas, of the past, the gift of plain speech to his own times, a wistful anxiety about his reception as a prophet, {Zec 2:13; Zec 4:9; Zec 6:15} combined with the absence of all ambition to be original or anything but the clear voice of the lessons of the past and of the conscience of today these are the qualities which characterize Zechariahs orations to the people. But how to reconcile them with the strained art and obscure truths of the Visions-it is this which invests with interest the study of his personality. We have proved that the obscurity and redundancy of the Visions cannot all have been due to himself. Later hands have exaggerated the repetitions and raveled the processes of the original. But these gradual blemishes have not grown from nothing: the original style must have been sufficiently involved to provoke the interpolations of the scribes, and it certainly contained all the weird and shifting apparitions which we find so hard to make clear to ourselves. The problem, therefore, remains-how one who had gift of speech, so straight and clear, came to torture and tangle his style; how one who presented with all plainness the main issues of his peoples history found it laid upon him to invent, for the further expression of these, symbols so labored and intricate.
We begin with the oracle which opens his book and illustrates those simple characteristics of the man that contrast so sharply with the temper of his Visions.
“In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of Jehovah came to the prophet Zechariah, son of Berekhyah, son of Iddo, saying: Jehovah was very wroth with your fathers.”
“And thou shalt say unto them: Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts: Turn ye to Me-oracle of Jehovah of Hosts-that I may turn to you, saith Jehovah of Hosts! Be not like your fathers, to whom the former prophets preached, saying: Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, Turn now from your evil ways and from your evil deeds, but they hearkened not, and paid no attention to Me-oracle of Jehovah. Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live for ever? But, My words and My statutes, with which I charged My servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers? till these turned and said, As Jehovah of Hosts did purpose to do unto us, according to our deeds and according to our ways, so hath He dealt with us.”
It is a sign of the new age which we have reached, that its prophet should appeal to the older prophets with as much solemnity as they did to Moses himself. The history which led to the Exile has become to Israel as classic and sacred as her great days of deliverance from Egypt and of conquest in Canaan. But still more significant is what Zechariah seeks from that past; this we must carefully discover, if we would appreciate with exactness his rank as a prophet.
The development of religion may be said to consist of a struggle between two tempers, both of which indeed appeal to the past, but from very opposite motives. The one proves its devotion to the older prophets by adopting the exact formulas of their doctrine, counts these sacred to the letter, and would enforce them in detail upon the minds and circumstances of the new generation. It conceives that truth has been promulgated once for all in forms as enduring, as the principles they contain. It fences ancient rites, cherishes old customs and institutions, and when these are questioned it becomes alarmed and even savage. The other temper is no whit behind this one in its devotion to the past, but it seeks the ancient prophets not so much for what they have said as for what they have been, not for what they enforced but for what they encountered, suffered, and confessed. It asks not for dogmas, but for experience and testimony. He who can thus read the past and interpret it to his own day-he is the prophet. In his reading he finds nothing so clear, nothing so tragic, nothing so convincing as the working of the Word of God. He beholds how this came to men, haunted them and was entreated by them. He sees that it was their great opportunity, which being rejected became their judgment. He finds abused justice vindicated, proud wrong punished, and all Gods neglected commonplaces achieving in time their triumph. He reads how men came to see this, and to confess their guilt. He is haunted by the remorse of generations who know how they might have obeyed the Divine call, but willfully did not. And though they have perished, and the prophets have died and their formulas are no more applicable, the victorious Word itself still lives and cries to men with the terrible emphasis of their fathers experience. All this is the vision of the true prophet, and it was the vision of Zechariah.
His generation was one whose chief temptation was to adopt towards the past the other attitude we have described. In their feebleness what could the poor remnant of Israel do but cling servilely to the former greatness? The vindication of the Exile had stamped the Divine authority of the earlier prophets. The habits, which the life in Babylon had perfected, of arranging and codifying the literature of the past, and of employing it, in place of altar and ritual, in the stated service of God, had canonized Scripture and provoked men to the worship of its very letter. Had the real prophet not again been raised, these habits might have too early produced the belief that the Word of God was exhausted, and must have fastened upon the feeble life of Israel that mass of stiff and stark dogmas, the literal application of which Christ afterwards found crushing the liberty and the force of religion. Zechariah prevented this-for a time. He himself was mighty in the Scriptures of the past: no man in Israel makes larger use of them. But he employs them as witnesses, not as dogmas; he finds in them not authority, but experience. He reads their testimony to the ever-living presence of Gods Word with men. And seeing that, though the old forms and figures have perished with the hearts which shaped them, the Word itself in its bare truth has vindicated its life by fulfillment in history, he knows that it lives still, and hurls it upon his people, not in the forms published by this or that prophet of long ago, but in its essence and direct from God Himself, as His Word for today and now. “The fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? But My words and My statutes, with which I charged My servants the prophets, have they not overtaken your fathers? Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, Be ye not like your fathers, but turn ye to Me that I may turn to you.”
The argument of this oracle might very naturally have been narrowed into a credential for the prophet himself as sent from God. About his reception as Jehovahs messenger Zechariah shows a repeated anxiety. Four times he concludes a prediction with the words. “And ye shall know that Jehovah hath sent me,” as if after his first utterances he had encountered that suspicion and unbelief which a prophet never failed to suffer from his contemporaries. But in this oracle there is no trace of such personal anxiety. The oracle is pervaded only with the desire to prove the ancient Word of God as still alive, and to drive it home in its own sheer force. Like the greatest of his order Zechariah appears with the call to repent: “Turn ye to Me-oracle of Jehovah of Hosts-that I may turn to you.” This is the pivot on which history has turned, the one condition on which God has been able to help men. Wherever it is read as the conclusion of all the past, wherever it is proclaimed as the conscience of the present, there the true prophet is found and the Word of God has been spoken.
This same possession by the ethical spirit reappears, as we shall see, in Zechariahs orations to the people after the anxieties of building are over and the completion of the Temple is in sight. In these he affirms again that the whole essence of Gods Word by the older prophets has been moral-to judge true judgment, to practice mercy, to defend the widow and orphan, the stranger and poor, and to think no evil of one another. For the sad fasts of the Exile Zechariah enjoins gladness, with the duty of truth and the hope of peace. Again and again he enforces sincerity and the love without dissimulation. His ideals for Jerusalem are very high, including the conversion of the nations to her God. But warlike ambitions have vanished from them, and his pictures of her future condition are homely and practical. Jerusalem shall be no more a fortress, but spread village-wise without walls. Full families, unlike the present colony with its few children and its men worn out in middle life by harassing warfare with enemies and a sullen nature; streets rife with children playing and old folk sitting in the sun; the return of the exiles; happy harvests and spring-times of peace; solid gain of labor for every man, with no raiding neighbors to harass, nor the mutual envies of peasants in their selfish struggle with famine.
It is a simple, hearty, practical man whom such prophesying reveals, the spirit of him bent on justice and love, and yearning for the un-harassed labor of the field and for happy homes. No prophet has more beautiful sympathies, a more direct word of righteousness, or a braver heart.
“Fast not, but love truth and peace. Truth and wholesome justice set ye up in your gates. Be not afraid; strengthen your hands! Old men and women-shall yet sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand for the fullness of their years; the citys streets shall be rife with boys and girls at play.”