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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Zechariah 1:7

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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,

7. the month Sebat ] or Shebat, R.V. i.e. January, or February. The identification of the Jewish months with our own cannot be effected with precision, on account of the variations that must inevitably exist between the lunar and the solar months. See Gen. Introd., Chap. II. p. 18.

the word of the Lord ] The visions themselves might not improperly be called, “the word of the Lord,” inasmuch as they are the medium of communication between the Divine mind and the minds of the prophet and the people. But they are accompanied not only by the spoken explanation of the angel, but by frequent passages introduced by the expression, “thus saith the Lord” (Zec 1:14; Zec 1:16-17, Zec 2:5; Zec 2:8, &c.), so that the revelation as a whole may fitly be described as “the word of the Lord.”

The First Vision. The horsemen among the myrtle-trees. Zec 1:8-17. In the night time, in prophetic trance or vision, Zechariah sees, in a shady valley full of myrtle trees, a man (who is also called an angel of Jehovah and, as it would seem, Jehovah Himself) seated on a red horse, and behind him a number of other horsemen on horses of three different colours, Zec 1:8. Wishing to know the meaning of what he sees, the prophet turns for information to an angel beside him, whose office it is to interpret to him the visions, and who remains by him for that purpose throughout the entire series, Zec 1:9. In answer to a sign made, or an enquiry addressed to him, by this interpreting angel, the man or angel on horseback among the myrtles explains what the mission of the band of horsemen had been, and gathers from them by sign or interrogation the result of that mission, Zec 1:10-11. Sympathising with the prophet and his people, in the disappointment which the report of the horsemen would produce for it told that the promised tokens of returning favour to Zion were not yet apparent, the leading horseman, the Angel of Jehovah, intercedes with the Almighty on their behalf, Zec 1:12. And in the name of Jehovah he gives, as the fruit of his intercession, an answer of encouragement to the interpreting angel at the prophet’s side, Zec 1:13; who in turn puts into the mouth of Zechariah the message of Jehovah, which he bids him proclaim to the people, that despite the world-wide peace, which that stationary group in the still night amidst the secluded myrtle-grove at once symbolize and announce, He will speedily arise to take vengeance on their enemies, Zec 1:14; Zec 1:17, and that then the Temple shall be completed, Jerusalem rebuilt, and the land at large become inhabited and prosperous, Zec 1:16-17.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

On the twenty-fourth day – Exactly five months after the building of the temple was resumed Hag 2:15, and two months after Haggais last prophecy Hag 2:20. The series of visions, leading onward, from the first deliverance from the enemies who oppressed them, to the Coming of Christ, is given as a reward to their first whole-hearted endeavor to restore their worship of Him. The visions are called the word of the Lord, because they were prophecy, made visible to the eye, conveying the revelation to the soul, and in part explained by Him.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Zec 1:7-11

I saw by night

The night vision

The anointed One of God and His kingdom are the centre and axis about which the fiery wheel of all Zechariahs revelations and imagery turns.

The vision in our text is both beautiful and consoling. Consider–

I. The time when it was seen.

1. The time. By night. Primarily he meant natural night, while men slept. At that season the Lord came to him, opening the prophets spiritual eyes, and causing to pass before him, like a pictured scene in bright and glowing colours, a sublime and cheering vision. The words by night may remind us of the circumstances of the time at which the vision was given. Apply the words, by way of accommodation, to the spiritual night of Christendom. For night in a spiritual sense is only dreadful when we are deprived of spiritual vision, when the eyes of the understanding are darkened. It is night, when with sufferings upon us, we do not recognise the hand that inflicts them. There is another kind of spiritual night more fearful still. David feared it when he said, Hide not Thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. Yet even here there may be vision in the darkness, and this is a favour indeed.

II. What did the prophet behold? It was a precious vision. Afterwards he hears the explanation of it. The vision was fraught with consolation and promise. Zechariah beholds a man; that man is Christ, the Angel of the Covenant. The times of Zechariah needed a helper in the character of a man, and a man of war; for it was a season of war and tumults. Zechariah beholds Him upon a red horse. And Christ, like a man riding upon a horse, stands ready to fly with speed to the help and defence of His people. The prophet speaks of the myrtle trees. True believers are trees which Christ Himself has planted; trees of righteous ness, fast rooted in the ground of His merits, and thriving by the grace of His Holy Spirit. Such are all the children of God here on earth. The man among the myrtle trees stood; the Lord abides among His people. (F. W. Krumreacher, D. D.)

Behind Him were there red horses, speckled, and white–

Zechariahs vision of the horses

I. The name of this parabolic vision. The Word of the Lord. Thought is invisible, and must be clothed in some form of words. Gods greatest thought about men was revealed to us by His Son in human flesh.

II. The time when the prophet received this Word of the Lord. In the night. God has often chosen the night season to reveal His mind to His servants. At night men are more free from impressions from the outside world. The darkness and stillness of night throw the mind in upon itself.

III. The meaning of the symbolic Word.

1. The red horses symbolise coming war.

2. White horses symbolise victory.

3. Speckled horses set forth the variety of the Divine dealings, of that mingling of mercy and judgment which had been intended to lift them up to a high level among the nations of the world.

Lessons–

(1) The Church triumphant is intended to minister to the comfort of the Church militant.

(2) The child of light walking in darkness is under the guidance of the angels of light.

(3) Gods silence at sin is not Gods forgiveness of sin. (A London Minister.)

The vision of horses

I understand that all these horses had riders. There were, then, a troop of horsemen; but the prophet says that one appeared as the chief leader, who was accompanied by others. These horsemen had returned from an expedition; for they had been sent to review the whole world and its different parts. He therefore says that they had returned from their journey, and also that the whole earth was quiet, that men enjoyed peace and tranquillity everywhere. It seemed a very unbecoming and strange thing that the faithful alone should be oppressed with adversities, while others lived in peace and enjoyed their pleasures. There follows at length an answer from God. I regard this as the object–that horsemen were presented to the prophet that he might know that God does not remain shut up in heaven, and neglect the affairs of men, but that He has, as it were, swift horses, so that He knows what things are everywhere carried on. The prophet here ascribes to God the character of a chief sovereign, who inquires respecting all the affairs of men. It is, indeed, certain that all things were fully known to Him before He created angels, but God assumes the character of man in order that He may more familiarly instruct us As God did not intend to exhibit in full light what He afterwards in due time taught, the vision appeared in the night. And to the same purpose is what he says respecting the angels, that they were in a dark or deep place, and that they were among the myrtles. Some think that their being in a deep place and thick shade designates the state of the people, being that of sorrow and of joy; for though quietness in part was restored to the people, yet much darkness and much perplexity remained in their affairs. There was one angel more eminent than the rest, and in this there is nothing unusual, for when God sends forth a company of angels, He gives the lead to some one. If we regard this angel as Christ, the idea is consistent with the common usage of Scripture, for Christ, we know, is the head of the angels. With regard to the different colours, the prophet, no doubt, understood that they designated the offices allotted to angels, as some convey Gods benefits, and others come armed with scourges and swords. The design of the vision is not doubtful; it is, that the Jews might be assured that the distresses which they at present endured would not be perpetual, that there was a hope of the temple and the city being rebuilt, because God had returned into favour with the people. The prophet teaches at the same time that the building of the temple was not to be expected, but as an instance of Gods gratuitous favour, and this doctrine ought also to be extended to the state of the Church at all times, for whence comes it that the Church remains safe in the world except that God indulges us according to His infinite goodness? (John Calvin.)

The rider in the myrtle grove

By the myrtle grove is signified the covenant people, the nation of Israel, and by its being in a low place is indicated their then 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. The Jewish nation, though at that time in a state of depression and affliction, was fair in the sight of God, was destined to endure and flourish, and was ere long to be visited by Him in mercy and restored to prosperity. This is specially indicated here by the standing among the myrtle trees of the mounted rider. He is described as the Angel of Jehovah; no other than God manifest in human form; the same Being who, in the fulness of time, came to our world as the Angel of the Covenant. 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 ready to ride forth in their defence, and to send judgment on their adversaries. This was indicated in the vision by His being mounted on a red horse, the symbol of war and bloodshed. The Angel of the Lord is with them also 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, and grant them full restoration and establishment in their own land. And through Him also came the comforting answer to the people, In this vision the Angel of Jehovah speaks directly and immediately to the invisible God; but to the prophet He speaks through the angel interpreter. God declares His zeal for His people, His indignation against their enemies, and His determination to do good unto His people, and enrich them with His bounty. He is not an indifferent spectator of what happens to them. He watches over them with a constant jealousy, solicitous for their well being, and ready to resent all attempts to injure them. His own He will never forsake. When the deepest abyss of calamity seems to be reached by them, when the darkest hour of their sorrow throws its shadows over them, the Angel of the Lord, He who ever encamps round them that fear Him, will suddenly appear on their side, and will deliver them from all their enemies. (W. L. Alexander, D. D.)

The man among the myrtles

As the Jewish people are usually regarded by the prophet in their theocratic character, as the form in which the Church then existed, the general doctrines of these visions are applicable to the Church in every form in which she exists. Some of the doctrines as set forth in this vision are–

1. The Church is externally an humble and lowly thing, neglected, often despised by the gay and wicked world, a grove of myrtles, rather than the cedars of Lebanon (Zec 1:8).

2. She has, however, an unseen glory that the world knows not of; for Christ dwells in her midst, full of love, invested with all power, sending His angel messengers to do His work, and preparing everything for her final triumph (Zec 1:8-9).

3. The hour of darkest desolation to the Church, and of haughtiest triumph to her enemies, is often the very hour when God begins His work of judgment on the one and returning mercy on the other (Zec 1:11).

4. Christ intercedes for His people when they need it most, and His intercession is always prevalent (Zec 1:12-13).

5. God will have all our hearts, for He is jealous of sharing His glory with another (Zec 1:14).

6. God often uses instruments to chastise His people, which, when He has done with them, He breaks and casts into the fire (Zec 1:15).

7. The Church of God shall yet triumph over every obstacle and vanquish every foe (Zec 1:16).

8. The promises and threatenings of God, though slow, are sure. They have eternity for the range of their fulfilment (Zec 1:17).

9. The head of the Church is at once human and Divine. He is called here a man (Zec 1:8), and the Angel of Jehovah (Zec 1:12). But the Angel of Jehovah is a Divine Person–even Gesenius admits this, and the Babylonish Talmud declares that this man is no other than the Holy One. But if Divine and human, He must be God and man in one person. (T. V. Moore, D. D.)

The second vision

The next vision was full of comfort. As the little group of returned exiles looked nervously out on the mighty world, empires, which surrounded and threatened them, they were filled with alarm. How could they cope with them? There were Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their companions, of the nations whom Nebuchadnezzar had settled in Samaria; Rehum the chancellor, and Shimshai the scribe, so ready in their use of the pen to exert influence on the great kings beyond the river, to make the work of temple building cease; and the reactionary influences at work in the far distant court, always adverse to the resuscitation of a subdued nation, like the Jews, which had given such proofs of inveterate independence. Beneath the irresistible pressure of these hostile forces the work of temple building had already ceased for fifteen years, and there was every fear that the new resolve to arise and build would meet with similar opposition and a similar fate. There was singular appropriateness, therefore, in the prophets vision Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, four horns. In the language of a pastoral people like the Jews, the horn naturally represents the pride and power of the ravager and oppressor of the flock. The number four reminds us of the cardinal points of the compass, and indicates that, wherever the people turned, there were foes, which were sworn to resist their attempt to renew their national life. On the north, Chaldea, Assyria, and Samaria; on the south, Egypt and Arabia; on the west, Philistia; and on the east, Ammon and Moab. And it is probable that the Spirit of God looked beyond these to the four great Gentile monarchies, which have occupied, and still occupy, the Times of the Gentiles, and which were represented in the four metals of Daniels vision, or in the four great beasts, which one after another emerged from the sea. As yet Babylon and Medo-Persia alone had arisen; Greece and Rome, the latter including the kingdoms of modern Europe, were to come. We must not forget that God Himself gave these world-powers their authority. He says, in Isaiah, I was wroth with My people; I profaned Mine inheritance, and gave them into thine hand (Isa 47:6-7). And in Daniel He lifts the veil and shows that the world rulers represent not flesh and blood merely, but malign and mighty spirits that actuate and inspire them (Dan 10:13-20). As long as Gods people are perfect in their loyalty and obedience towards Him, they need fear the power of no adversary whatsoever; but when there is a break in the holy connection which binds Him and them in an inviolable safety, it seems as though all the forces of evil are set free to bear down on and ravage them, until their chastisement is completed, and they return to their first love. If we were asked to name the four horns which are ravaging the Church in the present day, we should not hesitate to say that they are priestcraft, worldliness, Christian science, and spiritualism. In every life there are similar experiences. Sometimes, when we lift up our eyes, we find ourselves begirt with opposition and threatened by hostile powers. Think of the martyr host who have witnessed for God in every age, and who could reiterate the words of the greatest Sufferer of all. Many bulls have compassed Me, strong bulls of Bashan have beset Me round about; they gape upon Me with their mouth as a ravening and a roaring lion. Ignatius, who complains that his custodians were like ten leopards, who only wax worse when they are kindly treated; Blandina, the girl slave; Germanicus, the noble youth; the Waldenses, whose wrongs roused Cromwells wrath and Miltons muse; the Netherlands, in their long conflict with Philip, when the leaders saw their homes covered again by the ocean from which their ancestors had redeemed them; Madame Guyon, beset by husband, mother-in-law, servants, and priests; Samuel Rutherford, and hundreds of his time, harried by the fiercest and most insatiable hate; William Tyndale, the celebrated translator of the English Bible; John G. Paton, beset with savages–these are specimens of a multitude, which no man can number, of every nation, and kindred, and people, who have seen the vision of the four horns. But there is something beyond; and surely it is not without significance that the prophet says, The Lord showed me four carpenters (or smiths, R.V.). We have no difficulty in descrying the sources of alarm for ourselves; but we need a Divine hand to reveal our assured deliverance. And 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; and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. For Babylon, the carpenter was Cyrus; for Persia, Alexander; for Greece, the Roman; for Rome, the Gaul. Very different from each other, very ruthless and unsparing; but very well adapted for their work. Commenting on this passage, the late C.H. Spurgeon said: He who wants to open an oyster must not use a razor; for some works there needs less of daintiness and more of force; providence does not find clerks, or architects, or gentlemen, to cut off horns, but carpenters. The work needs a man who, when he has work to do, puts his whole strength into it, and beats away with his hammer, or cuts through the wood that lies before him with might and main. Let us not fear for the cause of God; when the horns become too troublesome, the carpenters will be forthcoming to fray them. Remember how in every age He has found His appropriate messenger. Athanasius frayed Arianism, and Augustine Manichaeism; Luther frayed the power of the pope in Germany, and rough Hugh Latimer in England; Wesley and Whitefield frayed the religious indifference of the last century. When Haldane went to Geneva, he frayed the scepticism which was destroying the Helvetian and Gallio Churches. The Lord knows where to find His servants, and when the pre destined hour strikes, there will stand the workman ready. Oh, child of God! there have been many horns engaged in scattering thee. Year after year they have wrought sad havoc in thy plans, and cost thee bitter tears. But thine Almighty Friend is greatly displeased that they have hurt thee more than His purposes of chastisement required, and He has resolved that they shall be frayed. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)

Gods government of the world

Amongst the various manners in which God revealed Himself to men of old, visions were perhaps the most frequent and impressive. He appears to the prophet in six distinct visions. The visions were marked by these four characteristics. They were

(1) Mental. Unlike all other creatures on the earth, 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. They were

(2) Symbolic. Strange and grotesque objects were seen. These objects were all symbolic; they had a spiritual significance. They were

(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. They were

(4) Prophetic. They point here to the future of Gods 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 glance into Gods 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.

I. It is 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. Who are these? Unfallen angels and sainted men. These by millions stand near His throne, prompt to obey His behests. In relation to these agents two thoughts are suggested–

1. That they are under the command of a transcendent 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. This same man appeared to Abraham in the plains of Mature, to Jacob before his meeting with Esau, to Noses 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. Another thought suggested is–

(1) 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 Elishas 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 Christs army there are hosts, mighty in power and swift in motion. Are they not all ministering spirits? How infinitely varied are Gods ministers–varied in kind and measure of faculty, in experience, attainment, and aspect too–thrones, principalities, powers, and dominions. In relation to these agents it is suggested–

2. 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. Another fact suggested in relation to Gods government in the world is–

II. That it has not only difficulties, but an interpreter also. Then said I, O my lord, what are these?

1. The difficulties of Gods 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 justice? O my lord, what are these? We are all moving in mystery.

2. The interpreter of Gods 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 them, 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 Gods government, inquiring who was able to loose the seals; but no one was found in heaven, in earth, or under the earth worthy 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 threescore 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, he hath 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) Gods zeal on behalf of Jerusalem. Cry thou saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts.

(2) His displeasure for the enemies of Jerusalem. I am sore displeased with the heathen. His merciful purpose was to bestow blessings on Jerusalem. Therefore thus saith the Lord, etc. (Homilist.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 7. Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month] This revelation was given about three months after the former, and two months after they had recommenced the building of the temple.

Sebat] Answers to a part of our February. See Hag 2:18.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Sebat, which answers to part of our January.

Darius. see Hag 1:1,15.

Came the word of the Lord, & c. see Zec 1:1. The first sermon Zechariah preached was three months before this, and that sermon was reproof, which probably had good effect, as Zec 1:6.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

7. The general plan of the ninefollowing visions (Zec1:8-6:15) is first to present the symbol; then, on a questionbeing put, to subjoin the interpretation. Though the visions aredistinct, they form one grand whole, presented in one night to theprophet’s mind, two or three months after the prophet’s firstcommission (Zec 1:1).

Sebatthe eleventhmonth of the Jewish year, from the new moon in February to the newmoon in March. The term is Chaldee, meaning a “shoot,”namely, the month when trees begin to shoot or bud.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat,…. Called Sabat in the Septuagint version, and in the Apocrypha:

“Now Simon was visiting the cities that were in the country, and taking care for the good ordering of them; at which time he came down himself to Jericho with his sons, Mattathias and Judas, in the hundred threescore and seventeenth year, in the eleventh month, called Sabat:” (1 Maccabees 16:14)

It is said by the Jews g to be the beginning of the months of the year for trees, of which they bring the first fruits. It answers to part of our January, and part of February. This is the first time that the name of a month is mentioned by any of the prophets; this prophet prophesying after the captivity in Babylon; from whence the Jews h say the names of months came along with the returning captives, as well as the names of angels; and we nowhere meet with them but in the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, all wrote after that time; for before they used only to say, the first, second, or third month, c. for, as for Abib, Zif, Bul, and Ethanira, mentioned in Ex 13:4, they are thought to be appellatives, and not proper names; though it may be observed that the books of Kings are said by the Jews i to be written by Jeremiah; more likely by several prophets, and at last brought into the order in which they now stand by Ezra, according to Huetius k; and which may be thought probable enough; and, if so, the above names may be reckoned proper names of months; and the original of them may be accounted for as before. There were two fasts appointed by the Jews in this month; one on the tenth day of it, for the death of the elders which succeeded Joshua, Jud 2:7 and another on the twenty third, on account of the Israelites making war with the Benjaminites, in revenge of what was done to the wife of the Levite, Jud 19:1 l. This prophecy, and the visions following to the end of the sixth chapter, were three months after the former prophecy, or more, if that was on the first day of the eighth month; and just two months after the foundation of the temple was laid, Hag 2:18: “in the second year of Darius”, &c.

[See comments on Zec 1:1].

g Targum Sheni in Esth. iii. 7. h T. Hieros. Roshhashanah, fol. 56. 4. Bereshit Rabba, sect. 48. fol. 48. 4. i T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 15. 1. k Demonstr. Evangel. prop. 4. p. 203. l Vid. Reland. Jud. Antiqu. par. 4. c. 13. p. 261.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Three months after his call to be a prophet through the first word of God that was addressed to him, Zechariah received a comprehensive revelation concerning the future fate of the people and kingdom of God, in a series of visions, which were given him to behold in a single night, and were interpreted by an angel. This took place, according to Zec 1:7, “on the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, i.e., the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius,” that is to say, exactly five months after the building of the temple had been resumed (Hag 1:15), with which fact the choice of the day for the divine revelation was evidently connected, and two months after the last promise issued through Haggai to the people, that the Lord would from henceforth bless His nation, and would glorify it in the future (Hag 2:10-23). To set forth in imagery this blessing and glorification, and to exhibit the leading features of the future conformation of the kingdom of God, was the object of these visions, which are designated in the introduction as “word of Jehovah,” because the pictures seen in the spirit, together with their interpretation, had the significance of verbal revelations, and are to some extent still further explained by the addition of words of God (cf. Zec 1:14., Zec 2:10-13). As they were shown to the prophet one after another in a single night, so that in all probability only short pauses intervened between the different views; so did they present a substantially connected picture of the future of Israel, which was linked on to the then existing time, and closed with the prospect of the ultimate completion of the kingdom of God.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

The Vision of the Horse and Myrtles; Intercession for Jerusalem.

B. C. 520.

7 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, 8 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. 9 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. 10 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. 11 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. 12 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? 13 And the LORD answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words. 14 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. 15 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. 16 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. 17 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.

We not come to visions and revelations of the Lord; for in that way God chose to speak by Zechariah, to awaken the people’s attention, and to engage their humble reverence of the word and their humble enquiries into it, and to fix it the more in their minds and memories. Most of the following visions seem designed for the comfort of the Jews, now newly returned out of captivity, and their encouragement to go on with the building of the temple. The scope of this vision (which is as an introduction to the rest) is to assure the Jews of the care God took of them, and the eye of his providence that was upon them for good, now in their present state, when they seem to be deserted, and their case deplorable. The vision is dated (v. 7) the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, three months after he preached that sermon (v. 1), in which he calls them to repentance from the consideration of God’s judgments. Finding that that sermon had a good effect, and that they returned to God in a way of duty, the assurances he had given them are confirmed, that God would return to them in a way of mercy. Now observe here,

I. What the prophet saw, and the explication of that. 1. He saw a grove of myrtle-trees, a dark shady grove, down in a bottom, hidden by the adjacent hills, so that you were not aware of it till you were just upon it. This represented the low, dark, solitary, melancholy condition of the Jewish church at this time. They were over-topped by all their neighbours, buried in obscurity; what friends they had were hidden, and there appeared no way of relief and succour for them. Note, The church has not been always visible, but sometimes hidden, as the woman in the wilderness, Rev. xii. 6. 2. He saw a man mounted upon a red horse, standing in the midst of this shady myrtle-grove. This man is no other than the man Christ Jesus, the same that appeared to Joshua with his sword drawn in his hand as captain of the host of the Lord (Jos 5:13; Jos 5:14) and to John with his bow and his crown, Rev. vi. 2. Though the church was in a low condition, yet Christ was present in the midst of it. Was it hidden by the hills? He was much more hidden in the myrtle-grove, yet hidden as in an ambush, ready to appear for the seasonable relief of his people, to their happy surprise. Compare Isa. xlv. 15, Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, and yet Israel’s God and Saviour at the same time, their Holy One in the midst of them. He was riding, as a man of war, as a man in haste, riding on the heavens for the help of his people, Deut. xxxiii. 26. He rode on a red horse, either naturally so or dyed red with the blood of war, as this same victorious prince appeared red in his apparel,Isa 63:1; Isa 63:2. Red is a fiery colour, denoting that he is jealous for Jerusalem (v. 14) and very angry at her enemies. Christ, under the law, appeared on a red horse, denoting the terror of that dispensation, and that he had yet his conflict before him, when he was to resist unto blood. But, under the gospel, he appears on a white horse (Rev 6:2; Rev 19:11), denoting that he has now gained the victory, and rides in triumph, and hangs out the white, not the bloody flag. 3. He saw a troop of horse attending him, ready to receive and obey his orders: Behind him there were some red horses, and some speckled, and some white, angels attending the Lord Jesus, ready to be employed by him for the service of his church, some in acts of judgment, others of mercy, others in mixed events. Note, The King of the church has angels at command, not only to do him honour, but to minister for the good of those that are his. 4. He enquired into the signification of this vision. He had an angel talking with him, as his instructor, besides those he saw in the vision; so had Ezekiel (ch. xl. 3), and Daniel, ch. viii. 16. Zechariah asked him (v. 9), O my Lord! what are these? And, it should seem this angel that talked with him was Christ himself, the man on the red horse, whom the rest were attendants on; to him immediately Zechariah addresses himself. Would we be acquainted with the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, we must make our application, not to angels (they are themselves learners), but to Christ himself, who is alone able to take the book, and open the seals, Rev. v. 7. The prophet’s question implies a humble acknowledgment of his own ignorance and an earnest desire to be informed. O let me know what these are! This he desired, not for the satisfying of his curiosity, but that he might be furnished with something proper for the comfort and encouragement of the people of God, in their present distress. 5. He received from the angel that talked with him (v. 9), and from the man that stood among the myrtle-trees (v. 10), the interpretation of this vision. Note, Jesus Christ is ready to instruct those that are humbly desirous to be taught the things of God. He immediately said, I will show thee what these are. What knowledge we have, or may have, concerning the world of spirits, we are indebted to Christ for. The account given him was, These are those whom the Lord has sent: they are his messengers, his envoys, appointed (as his eyes are said to do, 2 Chron. xvi. 9) to walk, to run, to fly swiftly through the earth, to observe what is done in it and to execute the divine commands. God needs them not, but he is pleased to employ them, and we need the comfort arising from the doctrine of their administration.

II. What the prophet heard, and what instructions were thereby given him. Faith comes by hearing, and, generally, in visions there was something said.

1. He heard the report or representation which the angels made to Christ of the present state of the world, v. 11. They had been out abroad, as flying posts (being hastened by the King of kings’ commandment, Esth. iii. 15), and, having returned, they give this account to the Angel that stood among the myrtle-trees (for to the Lord Jesus angels themselves are accountable): We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold all the earth sits still and is at rest. We are taught to pray that the will of God may be done by men on earth as it is done by the angels in heaven; and here we see what need we have to pray so, for it is far from being so. For, (1.) We find the world of angels here very busy. Those that are employed in the court above rest not day nor night from praising God, which is their business there; and those that are employed in the camp below are never idle, nor lose time; they are still ascending and descending upon the Son of man (John i. 51, as on Jacob’s ladder, Gen. xxviii. 12); they are still walking to and fro through the earth. Thus active, thus industrious, Satan owns himself to be in doing mischief, Job i. 7. It is well for us that good angels bestir themselves as much to do good, and that here in this earth we have guardians going about continually seeking to do us a kindness, as we have adversaries which, as roaring lions, go about continually, seeking to devour us. Though holy angels in this earth meet with a great deal that is disagreeable, yet, while they are going on God’s errands, they hesitate not to walk to and fro through it. Their own habitation, which those that fell liked not, they will like the better when they return. (2.) We find the world of mankind here very careless: All the earth sits still, and is at rest, while all the church is made uneasy, tossed with tempests and not comforted. Those that are strangers to the church are secure; those that are enemies to it are successful. The Chaldeans and Persians dwell at ease, while the poor Jews are continually alarmed; as when the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city Shushan was perplexed. The children of men are merry and jovial, but none grieve for the affliction of God’s children. Note, It is sad to think what a deep sleep the world is cast into, what a spirit of slumber has seized the generality of mankind, that are under God’s wrath and Satan’s power, and yet secure and unconcerned! They sit still and are at rest, Luke xvii. 26, c.

2. He heard Christ’s intercession with the Father for his afflicted church, &lti>v. 12. The angels related the posture of affairs in this lower world, but we read not of any prayers they made for the redress of the grievances they had made a remonstrance of. No; it is the Angel among the myrtle-trees that is the great intercessor. Upon the report of the angels he immediately turned heavenward, and said, Lord, wilt thou not have mercy on thy church? (1.) The thing he intercedes for is mercy; as Ps. lxxxv. 7, Show us thy mercy, O Lord! Note, God’s mercy is all in all to the church’s comfort; and all his mercy must be hoped for through Christ’s mediation. (2.) The thing he complains of is the delay of this mercy: How long wilt thou not have mercy! He knows that mercies through him shall be built up for ever (Ps. lxxxix. 2), but thinks it long that the building is deferred. (3.) The objects of compassion recommended to the divine mercies are, Jerusalem, the holy city, and the other cities of Judah that were now in ruins; for God had had indignation against them now threescore and ten years. He mentions seventy years because that was the time fixed in the divine councils for the continuance of the captivity; so long the indignation lasted, and though now for a little space grace had been shown them from the Lord their God, to give them some reviving (Ezra ix. 8), yet the scars of those seventy years’ captivity still remained so deep, so painful, that this is the melancholy string they still harp upon–the divine indignation during those seventy years. Dr. Lightfoot thinks that whereas the seventy years of the captivity were reckoned from Jehoiakim’s fourth year, and ended in the first of Cyrus, these seventy years are to be computed from the eleventh of Zedekiah, when Jerusalem and the temple were burnt, about nineteen years after the first captivity, and which ended in this second year of Darius Hystaspes, about seventeen years after Cyrus’s proclamation, as that seventy years mentioned ch. vii. 5 was about nineteen years after; the captivity went off, as it came on, gradually. “Lord, we are still under the burden of the seventy years’ wrath, and wilt thou be angry with us for ever?“

3. He heard a gracious reply given to this intercession of Christ’s for his church; for it is a prevailing intercession, always acceptable, and him the Father heareth always (v. 13): The Lord answered the angel, this angel of the covenant, with good words and comfortable words, with promises of mercy and deliverance, and the perfecting of what he had begun in favour to them. These were comfortable words to Christ, who is grieved in the grievances of his church, and comfortable to all that mourn with Zion. God often answers prayer with good words, when he does not immediately appear in great works; and those good words are real answers to prayer. Men’s good words will not feed the body (Jam. ii. 16), but God’s good words will feed the faith, for saying and doing with him are not two things, though they are with us.

4. He heard that reply which was given to the angel repeated to himself, with a commission to publish it to the children of his people, for their comfort. The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to him he signified to his servant John, and by him to the churches,Rev 1:1; Rev 1:4. Thus all the good words and comfortable words of the gospel we receive from Jesus Christ, as he received them from the Father, in answer to the prayer of his blood, and his ministers are appointed to preach them to all the world. Now that God would speak comfortably to Jerusalem, Zechariah is the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare you the way of the Lord. The voice said, Cry. Cry then. The prophets must now cry as loudly to show God’s people their comforts as ever they did formerly to show them their transgressions,Isa 40:2; Isa 40:3; Isa 40:6. And if he ask, What shall I cry? he is here instructed. (1.) He must proclaim the wrath God has in store for the enemies of Jerusalem. He is jealous for Zion with great jealousy, v. 14. He takes himself to be highly affronted by the injuries and indignities that are done to his church, as he had been formerly by the iniquities found in his church. The earth sat still and was at rest (v. 11), not relenting at all, nor showing the least remorse, for all the mischief they had done to Jerusalem, as Joseph’s brethren, who, when they had sold him, sat down to eat bread; and this God took very ill (v. 15): I am very sorely displeased with the heathen, that are at ease, and have no concern for the afflicted church. Much more will he be displeased with those that are at ease in Zion (Amos vi. 1), with Zion’s own sons, that sympathize not with her in her sorrows. But this was not all; they were not only not concerned for her, but they were concerned against her: I was but a little displeased with my people, and designed to correct them moderately, but those that were employed as instruments of the correction cast off all pity, and with the greatest rage and malice helped forward the affliction and added to it, persecuting those whom God had smitten (Ps. lxix. 26) and insulting over those whom he had troubled. See Isa 47:6; Isa 10:5; Eze 25:12; Eze 25:15. Note, God is displeased with those who help forward the affliction even of such as suffer justly; for true humanity, in such a case, is good divinity. (2.) He must proclaim the mercy God has in store for Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, v. 16. He must cry, “Thus saith the Lord, I have returned to Jerusalem with mercies. I was going away in wrath, but I am now returning in love. Cry yet to the same purport,” v. 17. There must now be line upon line for consolation, as formerly there had been for conviction. The Lord, even the Lord of hosts, assures them, [1.] That the temple shall be built that is now but in the building. This good work which they are now about, though it meet with much discouragement, shall be perfected, and they shall have the tokens of God’s presence, and opportunities of conversing with him, and worshipping him, as formerly. Note, It is good news indeed to any place to hear that God will build his house in it. [2.] That Jerusalem shall again be built as a city compact together, which had formerly been its glory, Ps. cxxii. 3. A line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem, in order to the rebuilding of it with great exactness and uniformity. [3.] That the nation shall again become populous and rich, though now diminished and impoverished. Not only Jerusalem, but other cities that are reduced and lie in a little compass, shall yet spread abroad, or be diffused; their suburbs shall extend far, and colonies shall be transplanted from them; and this through prosperity: they shall be so numerous, and so wealthy, that there shall not be room for them; they shall complain that the place is too strait, Isa. xlix. 20. As they had been scattered and spread abroad, through their calamities, so they should now be through their prosperity. Let thy fountains be dispersed, Prov. v. 16. The cities that should thus increase God calls his cities; they are blessed by him, and they are fruitful and multiply, and replenish the land. [4.] That all their present sorrows should not only be balanced, but for ever silenced, by divine consolations: The Lord shall yet comfort Zion. Yet at length, though her griefs and grievances may continue long, God has comforts in reserve for Zion and all her mourners. [5.] That all this will be the fruit of God’s preventing distinguishing favour: He shall yet choose Jerusalem, shall renew his choice, renew his covenant, shall make it appear that he has chosen Jerusalem. As he first built them up into a people when he brought them out of Egypt, so he will now rebuild them, when he brings them out of Babylon, not for any worthiness of theirs, but in pursuance of his own choice, Deu 7:7; Deu 7:8. Jerusalem is the city he has chosen, and he will not cast it off.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

The Ten Visions

Verses 7-17:

Vision 1:

The Red Horse Rider Among The Myrtle Trees

Verse 7 recounts that on the 24th day of Sebat (February) in the second year of the reign of Darius, about two months after Zechariah’s first commission from the Lord, v. 1, there came to him some ten visions in one night, given in sequence, or order, followed by interpretations of their meaning to and for the remnant of Israel. It was the eleventh month of the Hebrew calendar; And the month Sebat means “the time of shoots,” or the season of the year when trees begin to bud or shoot forth their leaves. The ten visions cover ch. 1:8 through ch. 6.

Verse 8 relates what Zechariah saw in his first vision. There was a “man” called “my Lord,” v. 9, and the “angel (messenger) of the Lord,” that stood among myrtle trees and talked with him, v. 10, 11. This man (Jehovah) was riding a red horse of vengeance, that seems to characterize the bloody Gentile powers, Dan 9:26; Mat 24:6-7; Rev 19:9. The myrtle trees signified Israel’s program of Divine worship, that, properly carried out, was a fragrance to the Lord, but neglected, brought bloody woes, inflicted through Gentile powers, first in the area of Babylon, in the low places about the Euphrates and Tigris rivers where the fragrant myrtles grow. Yet, the angel stood in the midst, with mixed colored horses in the back, guarding His own people, as Jesus walked in the midst of the seven churches of Asia, guarding them; Rev 1:1; Rev 1:3-20.

Verse 9 begins an explanation of the first vision. Verses 8-17, this, first vision reveals Judah in dispersion, with Jerusalem under adverse possession, while Gentile nations are at rest or little concerned about the matter. It is a continuing condition as Gentile domination over them shall continue until “The Lord shall yet comfort Zion,” v. 16, 17; Isa 40:1-6; Luk 21:24.

Zechariah inquired of the angel, (perhaps Gabriel, the informing angel), just what the meaning of this first vision was and the angel replied that he would explain it to him, Heb 1:4; Heb 1:14.

Verse 10 relates that the man (angel or messenger of Jehovah) that stood among the myrtle trees, guarding Israel, v. 8 told Zechariah that these, represented by the speckled horses, were a myriad of protecting or guardian angels that walked through the earth to defend God’s chosen people from Satan’s powers, as he walked about, seeking whom he might devour, Job 1:7; 1Pe 5:8; Rev 12:9-10; Psa 34:7; Psa 91:11; Psa 103:20-21.

Verse 11 tells of the response of these horse riders over the earth and their observation that peace and rest covered the earth. The Persian wars had ceased, and Judah and Israel lingered, delayed in rebuilding the house of God; Though a remnant had returned to Jerusalem and their homeland, v. 1; Jdg 5:26. While Judah and the temple were desolate, the Gentile powers were in prosperity. At such a time God had purposed to “shake and overthrow the throne of the kingdoms,” to defend His people, Hag 2:7; Hag 2:21-22.

Verse 12 relates the intercession of Jehovah on behalf of the languishing remnant of Judah, as He stood among the myrtles, His chosen people, even as He now intercedes for His people, v. Zec 8:13; Heb 7:25. It had been vain for them to pray during the 70 years of captivity, but their years of punishment were now past, Jer 25:11-12; Ezr 5:1. Yet the people were in a sad state and their capital and temple still lay in ruins, Neh 1:3. It is now time for them to pray and rise up and build, Rev 6:10; Hag 1:2; Jas 1:22.

Verse 13 explains that the Lord (Jehovah), called “the Angel of the Lord,” v. 12, spoke to Zechariah “good words” and, or even “comfortable words,” literally, words of comfort for disheartened Judah and Israel, regarding full restoration and reestablishment in her land. Such is recounted Jer 20:10-11; Isa 57:18; Hos 11:8. See also Isa 40:1-2; Jer 29:10; Jer 30:10; Jer 31:3; Jos 23:14.

Verse 14 further explains that the angelic messenger that communed with Zechariah gave him a Divine message to cry to the people of Judah, Jerusalem, and Zion, to be heard by all. The message was that the Lord was extremely jealous over Jerusalem and Zion, Zec 8:2. This jealousy was like that of a husband for his wife, who had been wronged or insulted by others. In dishonoring the people of Judah, men that dishonored God, Isa 40:6; Isa 58:1; Num 25:11; Num 25:13; 1 Kings 19; 1 Kings 10; Joe 2:18.

Verse 15 declares that as God was jealous for His people of Judah so was He severely displeased with the heathen who had enslaved them and grown fat and at ease from their slave-service and properties that they had seized as booty. God’s displeasure with His people is expressed in temporary chastening. But with the heathen it is final and fatal, Isa 47:6; Jer 30:11; Heb 12:10-11. They had sought the extinction of Judah, to gratify their own ambition and desire for revenge, Eze 25:3; Eze 25:6; Oba 1:10-17.

Verse 16 pledges the Lord’s returned mercies to Jerusalem, the city of peace; Whereas He had for a period of seventy years withdrawn His mercies, to permit her chastening, until she sought His face and acknowledged her sins, Hos 5:15; Isa 12:1; Isa 51:8. God affirms and assures them that His house, temple, and restored worship should be built in Jerusalem, by them, though only the foundation had been laid and the work interrupted, Hag 2:18; It was finished some four years later, Zec 1:1; Ezr 6:15. The measuring line was used for building accurately, not hastily, but with progressive regularity, Neh 2:3; Eze 41:3, etc.

Verse 17 calls upon Zechariah to proclaim that the Lord’s cities of Judah shall yet experience prosperity, throughout the land, and He will comfort Zion and the whole land and show that He has chosen Jerusalem as His own city, Isa 40:1; Isa 40:3; Isa 51:3. See also Zec 2:12; Zec 3:2; Isa 14:1.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

Here is related a second prophecy, connected with a vision. At the beginning God alone spoke and gave commission to his Prophet to reprove the Jews: he now confirms the prediction as to the reduction of the city; for to the word is added a vision, which is, as we have seen elsewhere, a sort of seal. As the vision is obscure it may be variously explained, but I shall endeavor to accommodate it, without any refinements, to our use; and so no ambiguity will remain, provided we seek to be soberly and moderately wise, that is, provided we aim at no more than what edification requires.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CHAPTER XXVII

A VISION OF HORSES

Zec. 1:7-17

RV . . . Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of Jehovah unto Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying, I saw in the night, and behold, a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle-trees that were in the bottom; and behind him there were horses, red, sorrel, and white. Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will show thee what these are. And the man that stood among the myrtle-trees answered and said. These are they whom Jehovah hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest. Then the angel of Jehovah answered and said, O Jehovah of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years? And Jehovah answered the angel that talked with me with good words, even comfortable words. So the angel that talked with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealously. 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. Therefore thus saith Jehovah: I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies; my house shall be built in it, saith Jehovah of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth over Jerusalem. Cry yet again, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: My cities shall yet overflow with prosperity; and Jehovah shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.

LXX . . . On the twenty-fourth day in the eleventh month, this is the month Sabat, 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, I saw by night, and behold a man mounted on a red horse, and he stood between the shady mountains; and behind him were red horses, and grey, and piebald, and white. And I said, What are these, my lord? And the angel that spoke with me said to me, I will shew thee what these things are. And the man that stood between the mountains answered, and said to me, These are they whom the Lord has sent forth to go round the earth. And they answered the angel of the Lord that stood between the mountains, and said, We have gone round all the earth, and, behold, all the earth is inhabited, and is at rest. Then the angel of the Lord answered and said, O Lord Almighty, how long wilt thou have no mercy on Jerusalem, and the cities of Juda, which thou hast disregarded these seventy years? And the Lord Almighty answered the angel that spoke with me good words and consolatory sayings. And the angel that spoke with me said to me, Cry out and say, Thus saith the Lord Almighty; I have been jealous for Jerusalem and Sion with great jealousy. And I am very angry with the heathen that combine to attack her: forasmuch as I indeed was a little angry, but they combined to attack her for evil. Therefore thus saith the Lord: I will return to Jerusalem with compassion; and my house shall be rebuilt in her, saith the Lord Almighty, and a measuring line shall yet be stretched out over Jerusalem. And the angel that spoke with me said to me, Cry yet, and say, Thus saith the Lord Almighty; Yet shall cities be spread abroad through prosperity; and the Lord shall yet have mercy upon Sion, and shall choose Jerusalem.

COMMENTS

In Zec. 1:7, Zechariah begins the first of the series of eight visions which are resigned to remove the obstacles to Messiahs coming. He first records the vision and then the angelic interpretation of it.

WHAT THE PROPHET SAW . . . Zec. 1:8-11

Seeing this dark and solitary scene, the prophet asked of the angel through whom the visions were given, what these things were and was immediately granted an answer.
These horsemen were they whom Jehovah had sent to walk to and fro in the earth. The angel who stood among the myrtle trees, probably the first horseman, reported that the horsemen have ridden to and fro through the earth, and that the entire earth was at rest.

WHAT THE VISION MEANT . . . Zec. 1:12-17

To clarify to the prophet the meaning of his vision, the angel of whom he had asked the meaning (Zec. 1:9) addresses Jehovah directly. His question is how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah? It has been seventy years since Gods mercy was removed from them.

Jehovahs answer was not harsh, so the angel addresses Zechariah with the answer to his question.
The prophet is to pass along, to cry aloud, to the people the answer of Jehovah. God is very much concerned for both Jerusalem, the city, and for Zion, the city as capital of the covenant people.
Not only so, but He is displeased with the nations of the earth who are at ease while Israel suffers the humiliation of a vassal state. Even while these nations had helped with Gods chastizing of His people, He had been a little displeased with them.
Therefore, Jehovah is returned to Jerusalem with mercies. The temple is to be rebuilt and the city itself will know the measuring line of the builder.
Not only so, His cities shall flow with prosperity, and God will comfort His people. Jerusalem shall yet be His.

Jehovahs message here might well have been made in answer to the objections raised in Hag. 1:2-4. There the people were complaining that it was not yet time to rebuild the temple. They had not been home long enough, there was drought in the land and other concerns must take precedent over the construction of Gods house.

In fact, Haggai and Zechariah spoke to the same audience. The answer was directed to the objections. God recognizes the length of the punishment they have endured and re-assures them that His mercies are now returned. It is indeed time to build. Both the temple and the city will prosper, as will the outlying cities of Judea.

Seeing this entire passage as a unit, as well as verse by verse, will help us comprehend its meaning. Some have identified the rider of the red horse (Zec. 1:7) as the Messiah Himself. Others have said he is the angel of Jos. 5:13-14 who in turn they see as the Messiah also. In each case, he is supposed to be standing ready to wreak swift bloodshed against the foes of Israel.

Neither of these seem to me to answer the historic context of Zechariah. Rather, it would seem the horsemen are symbolic of Darius and his hosts under whose iron rule the world languished at ease in a sort of Pax Romana.

This is a picture of the Persian empire under Darius. The enforcement of peace through military power and the inequity in which some prosper and some are in want has aroused to sore displeasure that which was formerly a little displeasure. (Zec. 1:15)

The myrtle grove, among whom the horsemen are stationed is symbolic of the returned remnant who, far from being free are a humbled vassal state paying tribute to Darius.
It is the pointed reference to this historic situation which caused Zechariahs message to be couched in the hidden language of apocalypse. To have openly predicted the rising prosperity of the vassal state of Israel would have brought dire consequences indeed.
The first vision means simply that God is aware of the harsh occupation of the world and especially of Israel by Persian forces. Despite the apparent peace, the world was actually languishing under the stern discipline of military might.
In the midst of these circumstances, God wants His people to know that, if they will return with their hearts to Him, Jerusalem will once again be the city of His choice and the neighboring cities of Judea will also prosper. The enforced peace of Persia assures the opportunity to build without molestation. Just as God had raised up the Chaldeans to punish His people, so He has raised up Persia to protect them during the period of reconstruction. Thus the time is ripe for the rebuilding of the temple and the city.

Chapter XXVIIQuestions

A Vision of Horses

The eight visions which begin with Zec. 1:7 are designed to ______________________.

Describe the first vision.

What was Zechariahs immediate response to this vision?

Who were the horsemen of the first vision?

What was the question of the angel to Jehovah?

Was Jehovahs answer harsh?

What was Zechariah instructed to do?

Why was Jehovah displeased with the nations?

God had returned to Jerusalem with _____________________.

10.

How does Jehovahs answer here relate to Hag. 1:2-4?

11.

The horsemen are symbolic of ___________________________.

12.

What do the various colors of the horses represent?

13.

What, in this first vision, is directly related to Zechariahs reason for writing in apocalyptic style?

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(7) Sebat.The eleventh month. The names of the months, which occur in Zechariah, Esther, and Nehemiah, are of Assyrio-Babylonian origin; they are in use among the Jews to this day.

Came the word of the Lord . . . saying.This expression is fitly used here of the nocturnal visions, because the substance of them was a Divine revelation, and because the means by which the signification of them was conveyed to the prophet was that of the angels speaking to him the word of the Lord.

FIRST VISION.THE HORSEMAN AMONG THE MYRTLES.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

A SERIES OF SEVEN VISIONS.

Zec. 1:7 to Zec. 6:15. Between the commencement of Zechariahs prophetic labours and the incidents recorded in Zec. 1:7 to Zec. 6:15, the Prophet Haggai received the revelation contained in Hag. 2:10-23. On the four-and-twentieth day of the eleventh month, just five months after the re-building of the Temple was resumed, Zechariah sees a succession of seven visions in one night, followed by a symbolic action (Zec. 6:9-15).

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

The first vision the angelic horsemen, 7-17.

Zechariah beholds “a man riding upon a red horse” standing among myrtle trees (7, 8); he is accompanied by other horsemen who report that they have “walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest” (9-11). Since a “shaking” of the nations must precede the establishment of the kingdom of God (Hag 2:6-7; Hag 2:21-22), the report meant that there was no sign of the approach of the Messianic era. This is a disappointment to the angel who receives the report, and he inquires of Jehovah, “how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah?” (12). To which Jehovah replies that, though the shaking may be delayed, his cities “shall yet overflow with prosperity; and Jehovah shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem” (13-17).

The vision, therefore, is a message of encouragement to the despondent people to retain faith in Jehovah, for he will surely fulfill the Messianic promises of the past.

Zec 1:7 gives the date of the vision.

Eleventh month Called Shebat (see R.V.); it corresponds to the latter part of January and the first part of February. The rest of Zec 1:7 is identical with Zec 1:1 (see there).

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

THE EIGHT NIGHT VISIONS, Zec 1:7 to Zec 6:8.

About three months after Zechariah’s first utterance and five months after building operations on the temple were resumed (Hag 1:15) there came to Zechariah in one single night a series of symbolical visions. Their significance was made plain to him by a heavenly interpreter. The visions have one common purpose, “the encouragement of the Jews to continue the work of restoring the temple and rebuilding the city and the re-establishing of the theocratic government.”

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The First Vision. The Vision of the Horsemen Scouts – God Will Now Restore His People and the Temple Will Be Built ( Zec 1:7-17 ).

Zec 1:7-10

‘On the twenty fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of YHWH came to Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying, “I saw in the night and behold a man riding on a red horse and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom (the hollow), and behind him there were horses red, sorrel and white. Then I said, ‘Oh my Lord, what are these?’ And the angel who talked with me said to me, ‘I will show you what these are.’ And the man who stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, ‘These are they whom YHWH has sent to walk to and fro through the earth.’

The month Shebat is the Babylonian name for the eleventh month and only occurs here in the Old Testament. Previously books have used numbers for months, however the Chronicler also uses Babylonian names for months. This is three months after the first ‘word of YHWH’. Having called His people to return to Him, and having seen their response, God has now surveyed the world so that He can show Zechariah what is happening.

Note that God’s horsemen scouts are gathered outside Jerusalem, for to God Jerusalem is the centre from which all His activity proceeds. Persia may think that it rules its empire, but in the end it is YHWH Who is in charge.

There is no indication that the colours of the horses are significant. They simply indicate a variety, although the redness may be a symbol that God is aware of men’s warfare and its shedding of blood and keeps a constant eye on it. ‘Myrtle trees’ were evergreen flowering shrubs. Compare Isa 41:19; Isa 55:13 where with other shrubs they are symbols of the Messianic age. They are thus here a sign of God’s working.

‘The angel (messenger)’ The word for ‘angel’ also means messenger. This messenger has brought ‘the word of YHWH’ – the prophetic word of YHWH. And it was ‘in the night’. Possibly we are to see it as a dream-vision. Or it may indicate the darkness of the times, or that Zechariah is to be seen as the Lord’s night watchman (compare Isa 21:6-9; Isa 21:11-12; Eze 3:17; Hab 2:1-3).

We are not told whether there are only four horses (two red, one sorrel and one white) or whether there are a number of horses, reds, sorrels and whites. Probably the latter is intended. But we are almost certainly to see them as all mounted by horsemen messengers. These are scouts ready to go to find out what is happening. The colours are descriptive rather than obviously symbolic, although may indicate different missions of the horsemen. In Revelation 6 the white horse indicates false religion, the red horse indicates war, the black horse indicates famine and pestilence, and the pale horse widespread death, but that does not really fit here, unless we see it as simply indicating that all these things are under God’s observation. The man on the red (reddish-brown?) horse is clearly the leader, and would seem to be the Angel of YHWH (Zec 1:11). Horsemen were, of course, the means by which earthly generals scouted out the land. They were the fastest known means of transport. These are scouts sent out by YHWH.

‘Oh my Lord, what are these?’ This question is asked of the interpreting angel about the man on the leading red horse, who turns out to be the Angel of YHWH, and his companions. As we go through the first part of his book we will find that Zechariah questions the interpreting angel again and again. It is clear that he wishes it to be apparent that what he writes has a heavenly source, and is given a heavenly explanation.

‘I will show you what these are.’ The angel is directing the vision and deals directly with Zechariah’s question.

‘These are they whom YHWH has sent to walk to and fro through the earth.’ The task of these scouts of YHWH is to travel round the surrounding nations to report on what they find. God is surveying the situation prior to acting. We can compare how the sons of God in Job also walked to and fro on the earth (Job 1:7)

Zec 1:11

‘And they answered the angel of YHWH who stood among the myrtle trees and said, “We have walked to and fro through the earth and behold, all the earth sits still and is at rest.”

‘The Angel of YHWH’. We discover that the leader on the red horse is ‘the Angel of YHWH’. This mysterious figure appears now and again throughout the Old Testament. Sometimes He is distinguished from YHWH and at others He appears to be synonymous with YHWH.

The scouts are reporting back to Him after they have scouted the lands round about (the known earth). Their report is that the earth ‘sits still and is at rest’. The current world leaders appear satisfied and content with things as they are even while God’s people languish. This is an affront to God. Some action is needed to change matters.

A further point being made may be that the fact that nothing is changing is not a good thing for it does not portend well for the return and establishment of the people of God back in their own land.

So Zechariah is being informed that God has already been at work in preparation for what He is about to do. The survey has already taken place. God had not forgotten His people. (Note on the Angel of YHWH.

In Gen 16:7-13 the Angel of YHWH appeared to Hagar when she ran away from Abraham. It is clear that this Angel is God Himself, for in Zec 1:10 He promises ‘ I will greatly increase your seed so that it will not be numbered for multitude’, which compares with a similar promise given by God to Abraham (compare Gen 13:16).

Yet in Zec 1:11 there is some distinction between the Angel and the Lord, for the Angel says ‘ YHWH has heard your affliction’, where we might have expected ‘ I have heard your affliction’, which suggests a distinction. But in Zec 1:13 we are told it was the YHWH Who ‘spoke with her’, and she calls Him ‘the God who sees’ (el roi).

Again at Hagar’s second expulsion we are told ‘God heard the voice of the lad’. Then the Angel of God calls to her from Heaven, saying, ‘God has heard the voice of the lad’ as though God were separate from the Angel. Yet from then on it is God Who opens her eyes and is with the lad (Gen 21:17-20). So there is unity yet distinction.

In Gen 22:11-12 ‘the Angel of YHWH’ calls to Abraham from Heaven saying ‘now I know that you fear God’, as though God was separate. But then He adds ‘you have not withheld your son, your only son from Me ’, which can only mean the Angel is referring to Himself as God.

Again in Gen 31:11 it is ‘the Angel of God’ who is said to have spoken to Jacob in a dream, while in Zec 1:13 He says, ‘I am the God of Bethel’. In Exo 3:2 it is the Angel of YHWH Who appears to Moses in the burning bush, but we soon learn it is YHWH Himself (Zec 1:4). But in 2Sa 24:16 ‘the Angel YHWH’ is clearly separate from ‘YHWH’, although closely connected in activity. So there are clear suggestions of dual activity.

In Jdg 2:1-5 it is the Angel of YHWH Who rebukes Israel because they have been disobedient and have made covenants with the people of the land and have not driven them out and destroyed their pagan altars, but comparison of Jdg 2:3 with Jdg 2:21 indicates that reveals that He is YHWH Himself.

In Judges 13 the Angel of YHWH (also referred to in the passage as ‘the angel of God’) appears first to the wife of Manoah, and then to Manoah and his wife, and speaks of God (Jdg 13:5) as though separate from Himself. He then adds ‘I will not eat of your bread and if you would make ready a burnt offering, you must offer it to YHWH’, giving the same impression (Jdg 13:16). (The writer recognises the distinction and explains that Manoah was not yet aware that this was the Angel of YHWH, for he is puzzled by the distinction revealed). When the burnt offering is offered ‘the angel of YHWH ascended in the flame of the altar’ (Jdg 13:20). He then refuses to divulge His name saying, ‘Why do you ask My name seeing it is wonderful (or secret)?’ (Jdg 13:18). Basically the idea here is that the name is too holy to be revealed. Manoah later realises that he has been speaking to God (Jdg 13:22). Again we receive the impression, as the writer did, that God is one and yet compound.

More significantly, here in Zec 1:12 the Angel of YHWH speaks with YHWH, and YHWH answers Him. This stresses a separate and inter-personal relationship. But when in Zechariah 3 Joshua the High Priest is standing before the Angel of YHWH (Zec 3:1), we are told in Zec 1:2 it is ‘YHWH’ Who speaks to him, and this looks back to Zec 1:1 in such a way as to suggest that the Angel of YHWH is identifiable with YHWH. Yet in Zec 1:6-7 the Angel of YHWH speaks as though He is speaking on YHWH’s behalf.

Then in Zec 12:8 ‘the house of David will be as God, as the Angel of YHWH’, suggesting that God and the Angel of YHWH are one. So in Zechariah the Angel of YHWH is both identified with the Lord, and separated from Him in such a way as to converse with Him.

In a similar way Malachi can say, ‘behold I send My messenger (angel), and he shall prepare the way before Me, and the Lord Whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple, and the Angel of the covenant whom you delight in’. Here ‘the Lord’ and ‘the angel of the covenant’ are in parallel as one.

So God is seen as One in thought and action and yet in that unity there is a suggestion of plurality.

Furthermore, while there is no mention of the Angel of YHWH in it, there is an interesting passage where the One Who is ‘the first and the last’ (Isa 48:12 compare Rev 1:17) is speaking through Isaiah and says, ‘From the beginning I have not spoken in secret, from the time that it was, there am I. And now the Lord God has sent me, and His Spirit’ (Isa 48:16). The way that this is usually explained is to say that we have here words interjected by Isaiah himself, but the remainder of the passage is certainly from the mouth of God and the wording is suggestive of God’s revelation of Himself.

Compare with this Isa 63:9-10 where Isaiah says, ‘in all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them. In His love and in His pity He redeemed them, and He bore them and carried them all the days of old, but they rebelled and grieved His holy Spirit’, where again we have the YHWH, the Angel and the Holy Spirit.

Finally, in the case of Gideon (Judges 6) the ‘Angel of YHWH’ speaks with Gideon as though He was separate from ‘YHWH’, speaking of Him in the third person (v. 12) and Gideon speaks with Him as though He were different from ‘YHWH’ (v. 13), yet immediately we have ‘YHWH’ there, and speaking in the first person (v. 14-16). Then ‘the Spirit of YHWH’ comes on Gideon (Jdg 6:34). So Gideon experiences YHWH, the Angel of YHWH and the Spirit of YHWH.

(End of note).

Zec 1:12

‘And the angel of YHWH answered and said, “Oh YHWH of Hosts, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah against which you have had indignation these seventy years?”

The Angel of YHWH recognises that history seems to have come to a standstill and that this means that God’s mercy is not yet being shown to Jerusalem and Judah. He cries to God to act on Jerusalem and Judah’s behalf, interceding on their behalf. Note the distinction between YHWH and the Angel of YHWH. The Angel of YHWH is YHWH, but YHWH as revealed in distinct inter-personal activity. The idea prepares the way for the coming of Jesus.

Note also the distinction here between Jerusalem and Judah. Throughout its history Jerusalem is always seen as separate from Judah. It was the city of David, who captured it and to whom it therefore separately belonged, and it was ever proud of its uniqueness.

‘These seventy years.’ The time of their exile as prophesied by Jer 25:11-12; Jer 29:10, was ‘until seventy years should be accomplished’. This has now all but passed since the fall of Jerusalem. By this point in time God had promised to punish the king of Babylon and that whole nation and to cause His people to return to their land. Well, Babylon had indeed fallen, and its co-ruler ‘Belshazzar the king’ had been slain in 539 BC (Dan 5:30) while its king Nabonidus, not in the city at the time, had been taken captive by the Medo-Persians. Some of God’s people had also returned to Judah, but Jerusalem still languished.

It is interesting to note that on the black stone of Esarhaddon of Assyria we find the statement that the god Marduk would be angry ‘until seventy years should be accomplished’. In the event he was restored after eleven years. ‘Seventy years’ would therefore appear to be recognised period for divine anger, not to be taken too literally (compare Isa 23:15-17; 2Ch 36:21).

On the other hand if we date the restoration from exile in terms of the first departure of exiles (including Daniel) into Babylonia in 605 BC, then the initial return of the exiles in 537 BC is 68 years afterwards. It may, however, be that in this context Zecghariah is thinking in terms of the period between the destruction of the Temple in 586/5 BC and its restoration and completion in 515 BC.

Zec 1:13

‘And YHWH answered the angel who talked with me with good words, even comfortable words.’

These words are not spoken to ‘the Angel of YHWH’ but to the angel who is speaking with Zechariah. They are meant for Zechariah. The reply of YHWH is positive, satisfactory and comforting. He is ready to act if His people will respond. (Here in fact YHWH may be indicating ‘the Angel of YHWH’).

Zec 1:14-15

‘So the angel who talked with me said to me, “Cry, you, saying, ‘Thus says YHWH of Hosts. I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. And I am very sore displeased with the nations who are at ease. For I was but a little displeased and they helped forward the affliction’.” ’

God has not forgotten His people although it must have seemed like it. Although they are downtrodden He has watched over them with great jealousy (strong desire for their good) and concern. And He has noted with anger that the nations have taken advantage of the fact that He has used them as instruments of chastisement against His people and have taken things too far. They have done more than they should. Thus His anger is now aroused against them.

Note the distinction between Jerusalem and Zion. In Zec 2:7 ‘Zion’ is the description of the exiles in Babylon. Yet elsewhere Zion is Jerusalem. The terms are both used sometimes to speak of the city and sometimes to speak of the people of God.

These descriptions of God’s emotions as He surveys the situation are, of course, to be seen as anthropomorphic. They are intended to show His deep concern without being taken too literally. They are not irrational responses as so often with men.

‘I was but a little displeased but they helped forward the affliction.’ God describes His displeasure at the past behaviour of His people as ‘little’. He had intended to chastise them but He had not intended to destroy them. However, the nations are now taking advantage of it and treating them very badly. They are multiplying the disaster.

Considering the total destruction of Jerusalem and the carrying into distant exile of the people the ‘little displeasure’ of God has had great consequences. This reminds us that we are dealing with One Who is all-powerful and holy, whose chastisement cannot be treated lightly, and that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. This is something we always need to remember. But we are also reminded that His faithfulness does not fail. He will yet do great things on His people’s behalf. When things are at their worst God is at His best.

Zec 1:16

“Therefore thus says YHWH, ‘I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies. My house will be built in it,’ says YHWH of Hosts, ‘and a line will be stretched forth over Jerusalem’.”

God promises that His time has now come. He will now have mercy on Jerusalem and will step in on their behalf. He will first ensure the building of a new Temple, so that they may be joined in worship, and then He will bring about the rebuilding of Jerusalem.

For YHWH’s house compare Zec 4:9, ‘the hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundations of this house’; Zec 7:3, where the men of Bethel entreat the favour of the Lord and speak to the priests of the house of YHWH of hosts; Zec 8:9 which refers back to the days when the foundation of the house of YHWH of hosts was laid; Zec 11:13 where Zechariah casts his thirty pieces of silver to the potter in the house YHWH.

‘A line will be stretched forth.’ A measuring line preparatory to rebuilding (see Zec 2:2).

Zec 1:17

“Cry yet again saying, ‘Thus says YHWH of Hosts, “My cities through prosperity will yet be spread abroad”, and YHWH will yet comfort Zion and will yet choose Jerusalem.’ ”

His promises continue. His people may look around at the poverty of circumstances surrounding them, but if they are obedient they will again become prosperous and make their impact in the world. Their cities, which are languishing, will grow and spread. And all this will be due to the activity of YHWH as He restores His people and confirms that they are the ‘chosen’ of YHWH to be His ministers to the world.

Note again how Zechariah distinguishes Zion from Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the city but Zion is the people of God (Zec 2:7). Thus the people of God will be strengthened and encouraged and Jerusalem is chosen to be the source of God’s deliverance to man. But the distinction must not be over-pressed. In the end the city is its people. It is man who exalts places, God exalts people. The choosing of Jerusalem will culminate in the glorious vision of chapter 14.

So the plea of the angel of YHWH has been heard. God will now act on behalf of His people. Notice how God’s sovereignty comes out in all this. It is He Who arranges for a successful intercessor because His people are not themselves worthy, and then it is He Who responds to His cry.

(We must not overlook, however, that elsewhere there are those who are interceding effectively on earth, including Daniel – Dan 9:3 onwards. God always has His intercessors. But without the heavenly intercession their prayers would be in vain).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Eight Night Visions And Accompanying Oracles ( Zec 1:7 to Zec 6:8 ).

Zechariah now goes on to describe eight night visions, which he appears to have had in one night, which are in the main accompanied by oracles. These portray the commencement of the new beginning and are as follows:

The Horsemen Scouts go through the whole earth and find it at rest – Jerusalem will be restored (Zec 1:7-17).

The Four Horns and the Four Smiths – the opposing nations will be pared back (Zec 1:18-21).

The Man With The Measuring Line to Measure Jerusalem – Jerusalem will be reoccupied and God will dwell among His people (Zec 2:1-13).

The Accusation and Cleansing Of Joshua the High Priest – the High Priesthood is restored and the promise is made of the coming Branch (Zec 3:1-10).

The Golden Lampstand and the Two Olive Trees – Zerubbabel, with Joshua, (the two anointed ones), will rebuild the Temple (Zec 4:1-14).

The Flying Scroll – a curse will go out that will rid the land of sin (Zec 5:1-4).

The Woman in the Ephah – wickedness is to be despatched to Shinar/Babylon (Zec 5:5-11).

The Chariots, which are the Four Winds from the Lord, will travel through the whole earth and especially bring quietness in the north (Zec 6:1-8), the source of past invasion. Jerusalem will dwell securely.

Thus the process of restoring and ensuring the security of Jerusalem, is to be accompanied by the restoration of the High Priesthood, the rebuilding of the Temple against all odds, the purification of the whole land, the removal of wickedness, and the ensuring of peace in the north (Mesopotamia).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

he Vision of the Horses Zechariah is told that all other nations are at peace (Zec 1:11).

Zec 1:7 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,

Zec 1:7 Comments – It is generally agreed that the second year of Darius is 520 B.C.

Zec 1:18-21 Comments Judgment Upon Judah’s Adversaries – Those who scattered Judah will be thrown down.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Vision of the Horses Among the Myrtle Trees

v. 7. Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which Is the month Sebat, five months after the building of the Temple had been resumed, 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,

v. 8. I saw by night, in a night vision, some time between six o’clock in the evening and six o’clock in the morning, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, the color of war and bloodshed, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom, most likely a valley in the neighborhood of Jerusalem; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, or bay, the color of fire and flames and burning, and white, in this connection the color of victory.

v. 9. Then said I, anxious to know what the Lord intended to make known through this vision, O my Lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will show thee what these be, for the Lord wanted Zechariah to know the meaning of the vision in order that he might reveal it to others.

v. 10. And the man that stood among the myrtle trees, the first angel, answered and said, These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth, to find out how matters stood everywhere.

v. 11. And they answered the Angel of the Lord, that peculiar Uncreated Angel, the Son of God as He revealed Himself to the believers of the Old Testament, that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still and is at rest, the great commotion among the nations, of which the prophet Haggai had spoken, 2:7. 8, had not yet begun, that is, the time for the Messiah to appear in the flesh had not yet come, a statement which naturally had a most depressing effect upon the Jews. But the Lord has a word of comfort ready for them.

v. 12. Then the Angel of the Lord answered and said, the second person of the Godhead Himself giving them a reassuring word of comfort, 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? so that the seventy years of the exile seemed extended, as though the affliction of the captivity would never end.

v. 13. And the Lord answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words, words of salvation and blessing, which he, of course, was immediately to pass on to the congregation of the Lord.

v. 14. So the angel that communed with me, he who had first given an interpretation of the Lord’s intentions as expressed in the vision, said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, He whose exact message the prophet brought to Judah, I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion, He was agitated with the zeal of his love for His congregation, with a great jealousy.

v. 15. And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease, believing that they had been permanently victorious over the Lord’s people; for I was but a little displeased, as His punishment went out upon His people for seventy years, and they helped forward the affliction, they rioted in the sufferings of helpless Israel and were anxious to prolong them.

v. 16. Therefore, thus saith the Lord, I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies, for He had withheld them from His people for a time in order to punish them, but now He was once more ready to accept His repentant children; My house shall be built in it, namely, the Temple as the seat of the Lord’s merciful presence in the midst of His congregation, saith the Lord of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem, in this case the builder’s line signifying the rebuilding of the city.

v. 17. Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad, overflowing with the outward pressure of abundant growth as a stream overflows its banks; and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, the Church of His love, and shall yet choose Jerusalem, the communion of His saints. Thus the Lord, who occasionally has punished His Church with heavy stripes, ever again lies turned to His children with the wealth of His blessings in the Gospel.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Zec 1:7. Upon the four-and-twentieth, &c. The second revelation, made to Zechariah about three months after the first, contains eight distinct visions following each other in the same night. The first vision is of an angel in a human form, sitting on horseback in a low valley among myrtle-trees, attended by others upon horses of different colours. The prophet asks the meaning, and is informed that they were the ministers of Providence, sent to examine into the state of the whole earth, which they report to be quiet and tranquil. The angel hereupon intercedes for Judah and Jerusalem, which he represents as having suffered under the divine indignation seventy years. He receives a consolatory answer. The prophet is directed to proclaim, that God’s wrath against Judah was at an end; that he would cause the temple and Jerusalem to be rebuilt, and would fill the country with good, as a token and consequence of his renewed favour, Zec 1:7-17.

Sebat This month corresponded with the latter end of January and the beginning of February.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

II. THE NIGHT VISIONS

Zec 1:7 to Zec 6:15

This division contains a series of visions all given at one time and therefore naturally supposed to be closely connected with each other and to exhibit an orderly progress of thought. The first vision sets forth the evident need of a divine interference in behalf of the people, with a strong assurance that it shall be vouchsafed. The second indicates one form of this interference in the fact that the foes are driven away. The third promises great enlargement and absolute security. The fourth exhibits the forgiveness of sin which had been the cause of all the previous troubles and endangered the recurrence of them. The fifth is a counterpart to the fourth by promising the positive communication of Gods Spirit and grace which secure sanctification as well as justification. The sixth gnards against a perversion of the two preceding visions as if they warranted security on the part of the impenitent, by exhibiting the fearful curse of God upon all sinners of whatever class. The seventh enforces the same point still further by representing that a longer and yet more dreadful deportation than that to Babylon awaited the unfaithful members of the theocracy. Finally, the eighth completes the entire series of visions in an artistic manner by returning to the point whence they set out, and repeating much the same imagery. It shows the accomplishment of all which the first image promised. From the purified and divinely protected theocracy, symbolized by mountains of brass, there go forth executioners of judgment who do not stay their hands until Gods Spirit is completely satisfied. But there is another future in reserve for the distant heathen, besides that of judgment. They are to be converted from enemies into friends, and in the days of the Branch shall come from far, and freely contribute to build up and glorify the Lords holy kingdom. This cheering thought is exhibited in the shape of a symbolical action, appended to the visions and appropriately closing and crowning their hallowed disclosures.

_____________
VISION I. THE MAN AMONG THE MYRTLES

Zec 1:7-17

A. A symbolical Representation of the tranquil Condition of the Heathen World and consequent Need of Divine Interference (Zec 1:7-11). B. Intercession for Suffering and Desolate Juda (Zec 1:12-13). C. Assurances of Relief and Restoration (Zec 1:14-17).

7On the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month which is the month Sebat,7 in the second year of Darius, came the word of Jehovah to Zechariah, the son of 8 Iddo the prophet, saying: I saw that8 night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtles9 that were in the valley, and behind him were red, bay and white horses. 9 And I said, what are these, my lord? And the angel that talked with10 me said to me, I will show thee what they are. 10And the man who stood among the myrtles answered,11 and said, These are they whom Jehovah has sent to walk through the earth. 11And they answered the angel of Jehovah who stood among the myrtles, and said, We have gone through the earth, and behold, all the earth sits still12 and is at rest. 12Then the angel of the Lord answered and said, Jehovah of Hosts! how long wilt thou not pity Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against which thou hast been angry these13 seventy years? 13 And Jehovah answered the angel that talked with me, good words, comforting14 words. 14 And the angel that talked15 with me, said to me, Cry, saying:

Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts,
I am jealous16 for Jerusalem and for Zion with great jealousy,

15 And I burn with great anger against the nations at ease.

For I was angry for a little, but they helped forward the affliction.

16 Therefore thus saith Jehovah,17

I have returned to Jerusalem in mercy,18

My house shall be built in her, saith Jehovah of Hosts,
And a measuring line19 shall be stretched over Jerusalem.

17 Cry also,20 saying, Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts,

My cities shall yet overflow21 with prosperity,

And Jehovah shall yet comfort Zion,
And shall yet choose Jerusalem.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Zec 1:7. The dale of this revelation is from three to four months after Zechariahs first prophecy and exactly two months after Haggais last, namely, on the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, Shebat, our February, of the year 519. The precise day of the month, here and in Hag 2:10-20, seems to have been suggested by the fact that on just this day of the sixth month the building of the Temple had been resumed (Hag 1:14-15). The Lord thus indicated his pleasure in the resumption of the work. The visions are called the word of Jehovah, because they had the significance and answered the purpose of oral revelations.

Zec 1:8. I saw that night. The disclosure was made to the Prophet, not in a dream (Ewald, Hitzig), but in a vision. His senses were not locked in sleep, but like Peter at Joppa (Act 10:10; Act 11:4) he was . This trance-like condition, according to Zec 4:1, bears the same relation to ordinary human consciousness which that docs to the condition of sleep. A mans usual state when under the control of the senses and able to see only what his own faculties discover, is one of spiritual sleep; but an ecstatic condition, in which the senses and the entire lower life are quiescent, and only pictures of divine objects are reflected in the soul as in a pure and bright mirror, is one of spiritual waking. The Prophet received his visions at night, because then his susceptibility for divine communications was most lively, in consequence of the stillness, the suspension of worldly cares and the freedom from outward impressions. In the space of one night the whole series of stately symbolic scenes passed before his spiritual eye, for the title in Zec 1:7 extends to the end of chap. 6 after which a new title first occurs, and besides, the narrative itself shows (Zec 2:1; Zec 4:1, etc.) that as soon as one vision ended another began. Behold, a man riding upon a red horse, etc. A man, i. e., one in the shape or appearance of a man, for manifestly an angel and not a human being is intended. He is seated upon a red horse, the meaning of which is seen in the fact that red is the color of blood. In Rev 6:4, it is a rider on a red horse who receives a great sword and has power to take peace from the earth and cause men to kill one another. The color of the horse then is a symbol of the purpose of its rider, namely, wrath and bloodshed. He stood among the myrtles that were in . The meaning of this word is much contested. The Vulgate gives it in profundo, which supposes that the text is only another form of , which ordinarily means the depths of the sea. Hengstenberg and Baumgarten adopt this, and explain it as a symbolical designation of the abyss-like power of the world, in which the Church stands like a feeble, lowly shrub. Others (Gesenius, Henderson), following the LXX., derive the word from , in the sense of shade (so Dr. Van Dyck in the New Arabic Version), but in this case we should expect a different middle vowel, and besides, as Pressel says, it would be a pleonasm to speak of trees in a shady place. Others (Hitzig, Frst, Bunsen), following an Arabic analogy, render it tent, by which they suppose heaven is intended, but this is extremely artificial. There seems no reason to depart from the Vulgate and Targum, or to make it other than=deep place, i. e., a low valley or bottom. It will then stand in vivid contrast with the corresponding point in the eighth vision, which is the complement of the first. There, the chariots start from between two mountains of brass=the theocracy under the mighty protection of Jehovah; here, the horsemen issue from amid myrtles in an open bottom=the Church in a condition of feebleness and exposure. Behind the first rider are other horses of different colors. They have riders (see Zec 1:11), but this fact is allowed to be understood, because the emphasis is laid upon the color of the horses. They are like their leader red (explained above), or bay, or white. The last like the first is easily understood from Scripture usagewhite being the reflection of heavenly glory (Mat 17:2), and therefore the symbol of victory (Rev 6:2), But the second epithet is difficult is rendered by the LXX.: , Vulg., varii, Peshito versicolores, after whom Maurer, Umbreit, Keil, etc., render it as in text of A. V., speckled. But Gesenius and Frst derive it from an Arabic root, signifying dark red, and Hengstenberg renders this brown, but Khler bay or flame-colored. The latter gives the better sense. The colors do not signify the three kingdoms against whom the riders were sent (Cyril, Jerome, et al.), for all appear to go in company, nor the quarters of the heavens (Maurer, Hitzig, et al.), for the fourth quarter is wanting; but the nature of the mission which they had to perform, namely, to take an active part in the agitation of the nations, those upon red horses by war and bloodshed, those upon bay horses by burning and destroying, and those upon white horses by victory over the world.

Zec 1:9. The Prophet asks. What are these, i. e., what do they signify? The question is addressed to one whom he calls my lord, but who is this? Manifestly, the one who gives the answer, the angelus interpres. It is no objection to this that he has not been mentioned before, for in prophecies, and especially in visions, from their dramatic character, persons are frequently introduced in such a way that only from what they say or do, can we learn who they are. This angelus interpres, or collocutor, had for his sole function to open the spiritual eyes and ears of the Prophet and cause him to understand the meaning of the visions. The preposition in the phrase is not to be understood, with Ewald, Keil, etc., as denoting the internal, character of the communications made, for this would not distinguish him from the other angels of the vision, but the phrase is simply an official designation of the angels character.

Zec 1:10. And the man who stood among, etc. The rider on the red horse states the object of the horsemens mission. He is said to have answered, because, although not referring to any definite question, his words were a reply to the Prophets desire for an explanation.

Zec 1:11. The riders themselves state the result of their mission. This is called an answer to the Angel of the Lord, because it replies to a question implied in the circumstances. It is given to the Angel of the Lord. But is this a created or an uncreated angel? The latter view is maintained by McCaul, Lange, Hengstenberg, Philippi, and Kahnis, the former by Hoffman, Delitzsch, Kurtz, Khler, Pressel. That the angel of Jehovah is distinguished from the other angels, and in many places identified with Jehovah, is undeniable (Gen 16:7-10; Gen 31:11-13; Gen 32:25-31 comp. with Hos 12:4; Exo 3:2-4; Jdg 6:11-22; Zec 3:1-2). On the other hand, there are passages, where he seems to be discriminated from Jehovah (Exo 23:20-22; Exo 32:34). The simplest way of reconciling these two classes is to adopt the old view that this angel is the Second person of the Godhead, even at that early period appearing as the revealer of the Father. The mingled clearness and obscurity of the representation is quite analogous to the same features in the delineation of the Messiah in Psalms 2, 45, 72, 110, and in various prophecies before and after Davids time. In this vision he appears first as a man upon a red horse, then as the leader of the troop standing behind him, and when these have made their report, as the angel of Jehovah who presents the prayer of the pious before God. The answer which he receives from the troop is that all the earth sits still and is at rest,a phrase upon which Wordsworth comments as denoting proud and licentious ease, because, as he says, the word for at rest is shaann. This is a strange mistake, for it is another word, , which rarely, if ever, has any moral significance, and means merely quiet, peaceful security, without reference to the way in which that state has been attained or is employed. Here the sense is that the nations at large were dwelling in a calm, serene repose, undisturbed by any foe. The reference seems to be to Haggai 2, where the Lord promised that in a little while He would shake the heavens and the earth and all nations, and in consequence his house would be filled with glory. The riders now report that having gone through the earth they find it not at all shaken but quiet and serene. This statement, furnishing such a vivid contrast to the prostrate and suffering condition of the people of God, gave occasion to the intercession recounted in the next verse.

Zec 1:12. How long wilt thou not pity Jerusalem, etc.? The language is that of intercessory expostulation. The reference to these seventy years does not imply that that period predicted by Jeremiah (Jer 25:12) was just drawing to a close, for it had already expired in the first year of Cyrus (Ezr 1:1). But although the people had been restored, they were still in a sad state,the capital for the most part in ruins, its walls broken down, its gates burnt (Neh 1:3), the population small, the greater part of the land still a waste, and the rebuilding of the Temple embarrassed with difficulties. It might well seem as if the troubles of the exile would never end, and the more so, since there was no sign of that violent agitation of the heathen world which was to be the precursor of Israels exaltation. The intercession was effectual.

Zec 1:13. And Jehovah answered, etc. Here the answer is given to another person than the questioner. The best explanation is that of Hengstenberg, that the angel of the Lord had asked the question not for his own sake, but simply in order that consolation and hope might be communicated through the angelus interpres to the Prophet, and through him to the nation at large. Good words are words that promise good. Cf Jos 23:14 (Heb.); Jer 29:10. The contents of these good and comforting words follow in Zec 1:14-17, the first two of which assert Jehovahs active affection for his people, and the latter two, his purpose to manifest that love in the restoration and enlargement of Jerusalem.

Zec 1:14. I am jealous, etc. , lit., to burn, to glow, indicates a vehement emotion which may have its motive in jealousy (Num 5:14), or in envy (Gen 26:14), or in hatred (Gen 37:11), or in love (Num 25:11). The last expresses its force here, which is greatly strengthened by the addition of the cognate noun. Jehovah is inspired with a burning zeal for Jerusalem and for Zion, the holy hill which He has chosen for his habitation. He had already displayed this in part, and would soon develop it to the full.

Zec 1:15. Toward the heathen, on the contrary, Jehovah burned with great anger. This was partly because they were at ease, i. e., not merely tranquil, but in a state of carnal security, proudly confident in their power and prosperity, but mainly because, while He had been angry for a little, i. e., time (cf. Job 10:20), they, on the contrary, had helped forward the affliction, lit., had helped for evil, i. e., so that evil was the result. The Lord contemplated a moderate, limited chastisement in love, with a view to the purification and restoration of his people. The heathen, on the contrary, rioted in the sufferings of helpless Israel, and would willingly prolong them.

Zec 1:16. I have returned Jerusalem. The emphatic therefore indicates the consequence of Gods love for Jerusalem. He has actually returned with purposes of mercy, and these shall be fully executed. All hindrances shall be removed, the Temple completed, and instead of scattered houses here and there, the whole city shall pass under the surveyors measuring line. But the blessing is not to be confined to the capital, as appears from what follows.

Zec 1:17. Cry also, i. e., in addition to the foregoing. The other cities of Judah shall overflow with prosperity, lit., be scattered, yet not by an invading foe, but by the inward pressure of abundant growth requiring them to diffuse themselves over a larger surface (cf. Zec 2:4, Zec 8:4, Zec 9:17, Zec 10:7). This overflow of blessing will assure the covenant people that Jehovah is still comforting Zion, and has by no means renounced the purpose in pursuance of which he had originally choseh Jerusalem. The same cheering reference to Gods electing love is found in Zec 2:12; Zec 3:2.

The object of this first vision was to satisfy the dispirited colony that although there was no present appearance of an approaching fulfillment of promised blessings, yet these blessings were sure. Jehovah had appointed the instruments of his righteous judgments, and by these would accomplish his purposes upon the ungodly nations, and thus secure the salvation of Zion. The fulfillment then is easily pointed out. The completion of the Temple, the restoration of the city under Ezra and Nehemiah, the increase of the population, all declared Jehovahs fidelity to his engagements. But this was only the beginning. Zechariah, like his predecessors in office, looks down the whole vista of the future, and utters germinant predictions, as Bacon calls them, which do not exhaust themselves in any one period, but wrap up in pregnant sentences long cycles of historical development. The first vision presents the general theme of the whole series, each of which stands closely related to the others, so that there is an evident advance from the beginning to the end, as will appear in the course of the exposition.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. How near are the seen and unseen worlds! Nor are they without sympathy with each other. We have a craving for the knowledge of creatures higher than ourselves, and yet fellow servants with us of the same Creator. All the various forms of Polytheism show this natural longing of the race, but the Scripture satisfies it by revealing to us the existence, character, and function of the holy angels. This revelation is not made merely to gratify a curiosity, however intelligent and reasonable, but to furnish important aid in the conduct of life. It pleases God to employ the agency of these supernatural beings in establishing his kingdom in the world. Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? (Heb 1:14.) In the book of Genesis, after the call of Abraham, we observe frequent instances of this blessed ministry, guiding, protecting, and upholding the patriarchs (18, 19, 24, 27, 32). Again, in the time of the Judges similar manifestations were made to Gideon and to Manoah. But at and after the Captivity, their interposition not only resumes its former frequency, but is manifested on a wider scale. To Daniel and Zechariah the angels are revealed, not only as watching over the covenant people, but as executing the counsels of Jehovah toward the heathen world. There does not seem to be the least necessity for attributing this circumstance to the influence of Chaldan or Persian modes of thought upon the minds of these prophets. They follow in the line of the earlier traditions of the chosen people, with only that degree of variation and expansion which is natural under the altered circumstances of the case. It was a comforting thought to a feeble colony overshadowed by a colossal empire to be reminded of superhuman helpers whose mighty interposition was ever at hand. Of course even these celestial beings could prove efficient only by the power of God, but their intermediate agency rendered that power more directly conceivable. In the New Testament there is not the same prominence given to these sons of God (Job 38:7), but enough is stated of their ministrations at the Incarnation, in the wilderness, the garden, and the sepulchre, and of their sympathy with the joys and sorrows of Gods people, to make us feel that the shining stairway which rose over Jacobs head to the clouds (Gen 28:12) still exists, and is traversed by the same holy beings. It is still true, as Spenser said,

They for us fight, they watch and duly ward,
And their bright squadrons round about us plant,
And all for love and nothing for reward;
Oh! why should heavenly God to man have such regard?
2. The extraordinary position assigned to the angel of Jehovah in this vision and also in the one recorded in the third chapter, continues and completes the long chain of ancient testimonies beginning in Genesis, to the existence of self-distinctions in the Godhead. (See the summary of the argument in Langes Genesis, p. 386, or Keil On Pant., i. 184, and Hengstenbergs Christology, i. 107 ff., iv. 285.) The view that this exalted personage was only a created angel through whom God issues and executes his commands, and who speaks and acts in Gods name, was favored by Origen, defended by Augustine, adopted by Jerome and, Gregory the Great, and has been maintained in our own day by some eminent critics; but it cannot displace what has been the almost universal doctrine of the early Church and of the great body of believers in all ages, namely, that this angel was the Old Testament form of the Logos of John, a being connected with the supreme God by unity of nature, but personally distinct from Him. The most frequent and plausible objection to the old view affirms that it unreasonably transfers the revelations of the later dispensation to the older, and introduces notions entirely foreign to Hebrew habits of thought. But the contrary is the case. The Old Testament records one stage in the progressive development of religious truth, and the New Testament another, and both correspond in the most striking manner to each other. Indeed, they present what is not found, is not claimed in any other book in the world,a complete system of typical and antitypical institutions, events, and persons. This feature has been sometimes pressed to an extravagant extent, and applied where it has no real bearing. But its general correctness is admitted by all sober interpreters. This being so, if the triunity of the divine nature is plainly set forth in the New Testament, especially if the great revealer of the Father (Joh 1:18) is emphasized by evangelists and apostles, is it not to be expected that a foreshadowing of so important a truth will be found in the elder Scriptures? Guided by such an analogy, it was neither uncritical nor rash for the Church to conclude that the being called the Angel of Jehovah, the Angel of his Presence, the Angel of the Covenant, in whom Jehovah puts his name, who is identified with Jehovah, who performs the peculiar works of Jehovah, and yet is in some sense distinct from Him, is the same divine person who is represented in the New Testament as the brightness of the Fathers glory and the express type of his essence, the image of the invisible God; in whose face the glory of God shines, and in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

3. The intercession ascribed to our Lord in the Christian Scriptures was not only typified by a remarkable function of the high-priest on the great day of atonement, but was actually performed by the second person of the Godhead long before his incarnation. He was the lamb slain before the foundation of the world, and the merits of his priceless explation could as well be availed of antecedently as subsequently, and they were. In all the affliction of his people, he was afflicted, and his potential voice was habitually uttered for their relief. The returned exiles, who were laying again the groundwork of Judahs prosperity, were discouraged, not only by their scanty numbers and impoverished resources, but by the consciousness of their own and their fathers sins. What claim had such as they upon the Holy One of Israel? The prophet draws aside the veil and discloses an Intercessor who had nothing to hinder Him from immediate access to the Most High, and the surest prospect of success. How long, O Lord, was the anxious refrain of many a distressed believer in former years; and ages afterward John heard the same importunate cry from the souls under the altar (Rev 6:10). Many a time since, solitary sufferers, unable to penetrate the dark mysteries of Providence, waiting and watching for relief from sore burdens, have had the same exclamation wrung from their lips. What with them is a burst of impatience or the utterance of exhausted nature, on the lips of the uncreated angel is the calm reminder of Jahovahs gracious promise and eternal purpose. And his intercession being always according to the will of God, is therefore always successful. Good words, comforting words, soothe and cheer the tried believer, until those words are translated into deeds, and the weary length of the night is forgotten in the brightness of the dawn.

4. Forbearance is not forgiveness. To the outward observer in Zechariahs day it looked as if prosperity was all on the side of the heathen world. Quiet reigned in all quarters, and divine justice seemed asleep. But it was only the calm before the storm. God is eternal, and therefore never in haste, and never slack as men count slackness. He can afford to wait. Kings and rulers take counsel together against Him and his Anointed; with malice and rage they help forward the affliction of Zion; but He that sitteth in the heavens laughs (Psa 2:4). Who thought, said Luther, when Christ suffered and the Jews triumphed, that God was laughing all the time? Since He knows that his enemies cannot escape He suffers them to proceed long with impunity. Often He uses them as instruments to chastise his own people, but when the chastisement has been inflicted, He breaks the rod and casts it into the fire. The quiet of the old Persian world was soon broken by a succession of strokes which scattered and destroyed all the persecutors of the Church. But Zion lived and grew and extended, until she became the most potent factor in all human society; and to-day is lengthening her cords and strengthening her stakes to fill the whole earth.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Pressel: The Church militant does not stand alone; there is always at its side the Church triumphant. (1.) It often appears to us as if it stood alone, and then we are misled either to despondency, as if our labor and hope were vain, or to self-confidence, as if the result depended upon our running or willing. (2.) But no, the Church triumphant stands at its side and watches while we sleep; and He who is its Head and ours, brings our prayers before the Father.

Moore: The hour of darkest desolation to the Church, and of haughtiest triumph to her enemies, is often the very hour when God begins his work of judgment on the one, and returning mercy on the other.

Calvin: When the servant of Elisha saw not the chariots in the air, he became almost lost in despair; but his despair was instantly removed when he saw so many angels ready at hand for help (2Ki 6:17); so whenever God declares that angels are ministers for our safety, He means to animate our faith. At the same time He does not send us to angels, but this one thing is enough, that when God is propitious all the angels have a care for our salvation.

Footnotes:

[7]Zec 1:7., the month which extended from the new moon of February to the next new moon. The name is Chaldee, but of uncertain etymology.

[8]Zec 1:8. is not accusative of duration=by night, for which there is no other example, but the or that night, namely, that of the day mentioned in the preceding verse.

[9]Zec 1:8.The myrtles. Ewald, following the LXX., supposes the true reading of to be , as in Zec 6:1, and renders mountains; but there is no reason for departing from the Masoretic text, and the relation of the last vision to the first is one not of resemblance but contrast.

[10]Zec 1:9. has been translated in me, to me, through me, and with me. The last is more accordant with usage (Num 12:8) and the connection.

[11]Zec 1:10.Henderson says that signifies to commence or proceed to speak, as well as to answer, and cites in the New Testament as used in the same way. But his remark is true neither of the one nor the other. The reference always is to a question preceding, either expressed or implied, or to the resumption of discourse by the same speaker after an interval, as Isa 21:9. Of. Vitringas remark quoted under Zec 3:4, infra.

[12] Zec 1:11.Sits still is a far better rendering of than the bald and prosaic derived sense adopted by the LXX. and the Vulgate, , habitatur.

[13]Zec 1:12. might be rendered now seventy years (cf. Zec 7:3). A similar combination of noun and pronoun in the singular with numeral adjective in the plural, is not rare. See Deu 8:2-4; Jos 14:10; Est 4:11. Nordheimer ( 890) explains it as referring to the abstract idea of time; but it seems to me to be due rather to the conception of the various years as a single period or cycle, which like a collective noun would of course admit of a singular pronoun.

[14]Zec 1:13.. The Keri omits the dagesh in , but some codd. in Kennicott have the form , which grammatically is the more correct. It is not an adjective, but a noun in apposition.

[15]Zec 1:14.This verse and the one before it exemplify one of the infelicities of the E. V., which renders the same original word, in Zec 1:13 talked, and in Zec 1:14 communed.

[16]Zec 1:14.. The pret. means not merely, I have become jealous, but I have been and am. Gods jealousy had already begun to manifest itself.

[17]Zec 1:15.Frst, sub voce, with great plausibility, renders intransitively, they exerted their power with a view to destruction.

[18]Zec 1:16. occurs only in the plural. To translate it so, therefore, as in A. V., while apparently more literal, is in reality less so.

[19]Zec 1:16.The Kethib , to be read , is an old form, found elsewhere only in 1Ki 7:23 and Jer 31:39, for which was substituted the contracted form .

[20]Zec 1:17., also here seems to express the sense better than the customary yet. The Prophet was to cry something more besides what he was told in Zec 1:14.

[21]Zec 1:17. is simply a variant orthography of (Green H. G., 158, 3).

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

“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, (8) 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. (9) Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will show thee what these be. (10) 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. (11) 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. (12) 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? (13) And the LORD answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words. (14) 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. (15) 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. (16) 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. (17) 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.”

The Prophet is very particular as to the date of this Sermon, for he mentions the name of the very month in which he delivered it, which we do not find in any Prophet before. Perhaps it is on account of the greatness of the vision, for in every point of view it is great and interesting. Zechariah tells the Church, that he saw by night, that is in visions of the night, a man riding upon a red horse. It will be highly proper to enquire who this was. And if we look diligently to what is said, it will not, I apprehend, be difficult, under divine teaching, to discover.

First then, let the Reader observe, that this man, who is called a man in the eighth verse, is called an angel in the eleventh verse. And then let the Reader next observe, that the Prophet addressed himself to him, and called him Lord, that is, Adonai, a well known name of Christ. See Psa 110:1 . The Lord said unto my Lord, my Adonai. A plain proof whom Zechariah instantly considered this Almighty Rider to be.

Let the Reader go on, and hear what this august person promised Zechariah to instruct him in; concerning those that ministered unto him. And lastly, and above all, let him not fail to behold and remark the intercession of this glorious person, speaking to Jehovah in behalf of Jerusalem.

When the Reader hath brought all these considerations into one mass of particulars, let him determine for himself, whether this person could be any other than the God-man Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. Reader! recollect in how many instances we meet with such gracious manifestations as these, in the Old Testament. Call to mind that instance to Joshua. See Jos 5:13-15 . Look at another shown to Gideon at Ophrah. Jdg 6:11-22 . Manoah and his wife. Jdg 13:3-20 . And were not all these so many plain and incontestable evidences of the earnest longings Jesus had to appear to his people, and to tabernacle openly with them, when the time appointed should come for the accomplishing of redemption. See Rev 6:2 . and Rev 19:11 .

And Reader, do not overlook in this most beautiful and interesting vision, the gracious part in which God the Father is represented. The Lord answered the angel that talked with the Prophet with comfortable words; that is, confirming the covenant engagements we may suppose. And do not also overlook the commission, which this angel of the covenant gave to Zechariah, in consequence of all this. He was to inform the Church of it, and to do as another Prophet had been commanded to do, both to show his people their transgressions, and to set forth the Lord’s comforts in pardoning. Compare Isa 58:1 , etc. with Isa 40:1 , etc. Now, Reader, from the whole, if you have any doubts upon your mind concerning this vision referring to the God-man Christ Jesus, do as Zechariah did, ask the Lord himself, and he will be still the same Jesus in grace to you as to him!

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Zec 1:7 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,

Ver. 7. Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month ] The third month after the former prophecy, when the Jews probably had practised the doctrine of repentance, so earnestly pressed upon them; and had humbled themselves under the mighty hand of God, who was now ready to lift them up by this and the seven following most comfortable visions touching the restoration and reformation of the Church and State. The devil and his imps love to bring men into the briars, and there to leave them, as familiars forsake their witches when they have brought them once into fetters; as the priests left Judas the traitor, to look to himself, Mat 27:4 ; and as the Papists cast off Cranmer, after that, by subscribing their articles, he had cast himself into such a wretched condition, that there was neither hope of a better nor place for a worse; ut iam nec honeste mori nec vivere inhoneste liceret (Melch. Ad. in Vita). But such is not God’s manner of dealing with those that tremble at his word, and humble at his feet. Deiecit ut relevet, premit ut solatia praestet. He comforteth those that are cast down, 2Co 7:6 , commandeth others to comfort the feebleminded, 1Th 5:14 , and noteth those that do not with a black-coal, Job 6:14 , Nigro carbone notari. See the workings of his bowels, the rollings of his compassions, kindled into repentance toward his penitentiaries, Jer 31:20 Hos 11:8 Isa 40:1-2 . See how he comforts them with cordials according to the time wherein he had afflicted them, Psa 90:15 , and in the very thing wherein he had abased them; as he once dealt with their head, Phi 2:7-8 .

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Zec 1:7-11

7On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, as follows: 8I saw at night, and behold, a man was riding on a red horse, and he was standing among the myrtle trees which were in the ravine, with red, sorrel and white horses behind him. 9Then I said, My lord, what are these? And the angel who was speaking with me said to me, I will show you what these are. 10And the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are those whom the LORD has sent to patrol the earth. 11So they answered the angel of the LORD who was standing among the myrtle trees and said, We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth is peaceful and quiet.

Zec 1:7 On the twenty-fourth day It is uncertain why the twenty-fourth day was so significant, but it is referred to extensively by the prophet Haggai (cf. Hag 1:15; Hag 2:10; Hag 2:18; Hag 2:20). This exact date seems to be February 15, 519 B.C.

the eleventh month This would be February-March, three months from the date in Zec 1:1. Zec 1:7 begins a series of eight visions which continue through Zec 6:15. See Special Topic: Ancient Near Eastern Calendars .

Shebat The name of this month is a post-exilic Babylonian loan word (BDB 987) which means to kill, to strike, or to destroy. BDB suggests it refers to the rainy season which included floods and storms. It occurs only here in the OT. Other Babylonian dates (cf. Zec 7:1) appear in Ezra-Nehemiah, which is the same historical period (i.e., early post-exilic or the Persian period).

For a good discussion of the calendars in use in the ancient Near East, see Jack Finegan, Light From the Ancient Past: the Archeological Background of the Hebrew-Christian Religion, vol. 2, pp. 552-598 or Roland deVaux, Ancient Israel, vol. 1, pp. 178-194.

Zec 1:8 I saw In Zechariah the Hebrew word see (BDB 906, KB 1157) is often used to introduce a new vision.

1. I saw, Zec 1:8

2. I will show you, Zec 1:9

3. I lifted my eyes and looked, Zec 1:18

4. the LORD showed me, Zec 1:20

5. I lifted up my eyes and looked, Zec 2:1

6. he showed me, Zec 3:1

7. what do you see? I see, Zec 4:2

8. I lifted up my eyes and looked, Zec 5:1

9. lift up your eyes and see, Zec 5:5

10. I lifted up my eyes and looked, Zec 5:9

11. I lifted up my eyes again and looked, Zec 6:1

at night Does this imply revelation by dreams or that a vision came in the night-time? God often used dreams to reveal Himself, especially in Genesis (cf. Gen 20:3; Gen 20:6; Gen 31:10-11; Gen 31:24; Gen 37:5-20; Genesis 40-41). Dreaming even becomes a way of identifying a true prophet (cf. Deu 13:1; Deu 13:3; Deu 13:5; Jer 23:25-32).

The terms dream and vision can be synonymous (cf. Num 12:6; Isa 29:7; Dan 1:12). However, they are distinct in 1Sa 28:6; 1Sa 28:15.

The most famous OT book which uses dreams and visions as a way of communicating truth is Daniel. Daniel’s relation to Nebuchadnezzar is very similar to Joseph’s relation to Pharaoh. Dreams predominate in Daniel 1-7, while visions predominate in Daniel 8-11. Both are used by God to communicate truth.

Daniel and Zechariah share the apocalyptic element of dreams and angelic mediation.

a man This is the Hebrew term ish (BDB 35), which usually denotes a male from a female (ishshah). The etymology of this word is uncertain because it is not found in the cognate languages.

In Zechariah it is used several times in the eight visions (cf. Zec 1:8; Zec 1:10; Zec 1:21; Zec 2:1; Zec 4:1; Zec 6:12), where it refers to:

1. angels (compare Zec 1:8; Zec 1:10 with Zec 1:11)

2. the prophet himself (cf. Zec 4:1)

3. the Messiah (i.e., Branch, cf. Zec 6:12)

This same person is called the angel of the LORD in Zec 1:11-12. For a good discussion of the different names for humans in the OT see Robert B. Girdlestone, Synonyms of the Old Testament, pp. 45-54. Ish is discussed on pp. 48-50.

a red horse The term red is the Hebrew term adam (BDB 10), which means reddish brown. Colored horses are also mentioned again in the eighth vision of Zechariah in Zec 6:1-8. They become the source of the Apostle John’s Four Horses of the Apocalypse (cf. Revelation 6). Notice that there are two red horses in Zec 1:8 and no black horses.

NASBand he was standing among the myrtle trees which were in the ravine

NKJVand it stood among the myrtle trees in the hollow

NRSVHe was standing among the myrtle trees in a valley

TEVhe had stopped among some myrtle trees in a valley

NJBstanding among the deep-rooted myrtles

From Zec 1:11 it is possible that this is the angel of the Lord appearing as a man. He was also riding a red horse and standing among myrtle trees. There is debate as to how many angels appear in this vision. I think the man/angel on the red horse among the myrtle trees is different from the interpreting angel of Zec 1:9; Zec 1:13-14.

Myrtle (BDB 213) seems to be a metaphor for joy and happiness. This was Esther’s Jewish name, Hadassa. However, it may simply refer to a type of shrub growing near Jerusalem.

ravine This Hebrew term (BDB 847) is possibly used as a metaphor for deep distress (BDB 846, same consonants, cf. Exo 15:5; Zec 10:11). Because of the apocalyptic nature of these visions it is possible that Zec 1:8 speaks of God’s people in peace (myrtle) and yet stress (ravine).

BDB 847 calls the term ravine a rare, dubious word. It is possible that it refers to a physical location near Jerusalem. If so, it is a way of showing God’s care and presence with His people. Zec 1:11 seems to support this interpretation. These angels patrolled the earth, but returned and stopped outside the holy city of Jerusalem, the place where YHWH’s name dwells.

red, sorrel and white horses There seem to be four horses. Four is the number of the world (cf. Zec 6:5-6; Rev 7:1). This then would be a symbol of God’s universal knowledge and presence.

There is an obvious parallel with Zec 6:1-8 (also note Rev 6:1-8). It has been noted that the names for the colors are PLURAL. Some commentators assume there were several of each color, not just three horses (or with the Septuagint, four adding a black one to match Zec 6:1-8).

Zec 1:9 My lord This is not the covenant name for God, but simply the term adoni (BDB 10) for my owner, master, or lord (cf. Zec 4:4-5; Zec 4:13). Zechariah is addressing his angel guide (cf. Zec 1:19; Zec 2:3; Zec 4:1; Zec 4:4-5; Zec 5:5; Zec 5:10; Zec 6:4; also note a similar angel in Eze 8:2-3; Eze 40:3-4; Dan 7:16; Dan 8:16-17; Dan 9:22; Dan 10:18-21). See Special Topic: NAMES FOR DEITY .

I will show you This angel does not tell Zechariah, but allows him to hear the angel on the red horse among the myrtles (cf. Zec 1:11-12).

Zec 1:10 the man From Zec 1:11 we believe that this was the angel of the Lord. We learn from Zec 1:10 that these men on horses were angels who were patrolling the known world (cf. Zec 6:5-7, i.e. the Ancient Near East).

Zec 1:11 they answered the angel of the LORD The phrase the angel of the Lord is often used in the OT for a powerful angel (cf. Gen 24:7; Gen 24:40; Exo 32:34; Num 22:22; Jdg 5:23; 2Sa 24:16; 1Ch 21:15-16; Zec 1:12-13). However, in other contexts it seems to refer to God Himself (cf. Gen 16:7-13; Gen 18:2; Gen 18:22; Gen 22:11-15; Gen 31:11; Gen 31:13; Gen 48:15-16; Exo 3:2-6; Exo 13:21; Exo 14:9; Exo 20:20-23; Jdg 2:1; Jdg 6:14; Jdg 6:22; Jdg 13:9-18; Jdg 13:22; Zec 3:1-2). Many have asserted that these passages refer to the pre-Incarnate Jesus. It is obvious from Zec 1:12 that the angel of the Lord is separate from the Lord of hosts. In Zec 1:12 the angel prays an intercessory prayer to the Lord of hosts on behalf of the Jewish people (also note Zec 1:10).

It seems to me that the angel of the Lord in Zec 1:11 must be the same one speaking in Zec 1:12.

See Special Topic: The Angel of the Lord .

all the earth is peaceful and quiet This may refer to the decreed peace of the Persian Empire. We know from history that Dairus I Hystapes had to put down nineteen rebellions to his reign. Apparently these were over and peace had been restored by force.

The TEV interprets peaceful(BDB 442, KB 444, QAL ACTIVE PARTICIPLE) and quiet (BDB 1053, KB 1641, QAL ACTIVE PARTICIPLE) as helpless and subdued. It is translating the Hebrew words in a unique way based on context. The interpretive question is what does the patrolling angel’s answer mean: (1) all is quiet and well or (2) all is not well, but quiet? Is the Persian Empire a liberating force or an occupying force? It seems to me that it is a liberating force, so different from Assyria and Babylon. It had allowed the Jews to return home and even offered materials to rebuild their temple. In time it would allow the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem even amidst the objections of the surrounding nations (cf. Nehemiah).

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

Upon, &c. See note on p. 1280.

eleventh month. Three months after Zec 1:1.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Zec 1:7-17

A VISION OF HORSES

Zec 1:7-17

In Zec 1:7, Zechariah begins the first of the series of eight visions which are resigned to remove the obstacles to Messiahs coming. He first records the vision and then the angelic interpretation of it.

Zerr: Zec 1:7. Zechariah received another message and it was in the form of a vision. It came in the same year as the first one but in the eleventh month of that year.

WHAT THE PROPHET SAW . . . Zec 1:8-11

In the night, the prophet saw a man riding on a red horse. He was riding among a grove of myrtle trees in a bottom, i.e. a shady place. With him were other horsemen, some on red, some on sorrel, and some on white horses. Seeing this dark and solitary scene, the prophet asked of the angel through whom the visions were given, what these things were and was immediately granted an answer. These horsemen were they whom Jehovah had sent to walk to and fro in the earth. The angel who stood among the myrtle trees, probably the first horseman, reported that the horsemen have ridden to and fro through the earth, and that the entire earth was at rest.

Zerr: Zec 1:8-11. This vision (which will take up several verses) had to do chiefly with conditions In general in the political world following the Babylonian captivity, For a time the nations were undisturbed and even unconcerned about the dejected morale of the people of Israel. God wished to inform his people of what was in store and concluded to do so in con- nection with the vision. It starts with a group of red horses and a man riding on one of them who will finally be a spokesman for the Lord. Zec 1:9 reveals one form in which God sometimes appeared to the men who were to be inspired, namely, that of an angel. There Is a number or cases recorded in the Bible where He appeared in that way. Zechariah asked the angel the mean- ing or the vision and was promised an answer. Concerning Zec 1:10, the “man” spoken of in Zec 1:8 gave the prophet the information that was promised by the angel. These horses were used as messengers of the Lord to go to and fro through the earth. Having previously made one at their journeys over the earth, they now report in the hearing of Zechariah what they found out in their tour of inspection (Zec 1:11). The chief fact they learned was that all the earth was at rost. This is explained in verse 15 to mean that the people of the earth were at ease, meanIng that they were unconcerned about the interests of God’s People who had been through so much trouble and still were in a state of anxiety as to what they might expect next.

WHAT THE VISION MEANT . . . Zec 1:12-17

To clarify to the prophet the meaning of his vision, the angel of whom he had asked the meaning (Zec 1:9) addresses Jehovah directly. His question is how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah? It has been seventy years since Gods mercy was removed from them. Jehovahs answer was not harsh, so the angel addresses Zechariah with the answer to his question. The prophet is to pass along, to cry aloud, to the people the answer of Jehovah. God is very much concerned for both Jerusalem, the city, and for Zion, the city as capital of the covenant people.

Not only so, but He is displeased with the nations of the earth who are at ease while Israel suffers the humiliation of a vassal state. Even while these nations had helped with Gods chastizing of His people, He had been a little displeased with them. Therefore, Jehovah is returned to Jerusalem with mercies. The temple is to be rebuilt and the city itself will know the measuring line of the builder. Not only so, His cities shall flow with prosperity, and God will comfort His people. Jerusalem shall yet be His.

Jehovahs message here might well have been made in answer to the objections raised in Hag 1:2-4. There the people were complaining that it was not yet time to rebuild the temple. They had not been home long enough, there was drought in the land and other concerns must take precedent over the construction of Gods house. In fact, Haggai and Zechariah spoke to the same audience. The answer was directed to the objections. God recognizes the length of the punishment they have endured and reassures them that His mercies are now returned. It is indeed time to build. Both the temple and the city will prosper, as will the outlying cities of Judea.

Seeing this entire passage as a unit, as well as verse by verse, will help us comprehend its meaning. Some have identified the rider of the red horse (Zec 1:7) as the Messiah Himself. Others have said he is the angel of Jos 5:13-14 who in turn they see as the Messiah also. In each case, he is supposed to be standing ready to wreak swift bloodshed against the foes of Israel. Neither of these seem to me to answer the historic context of Zechariah. Rather, it would seem the horsemen are symbolic of Darius and his hosts under whose iron rule the world languished at ease in a sort of Pax Romana.

The red color of the leaders horse does indeed represent bloodshed. The white implies death, as the pale horse of Revelation. The sorrel, (literally speckled) a combination of red and white, implies a condition in which some prosper and some do not. This is a picture of the Persian empire under Darius. The enforcement of peace through military power and the inequity in which some prosper and some are in want has aroused to sore displeasure that which was formerly a little displeasure. (Zec 1:15)

In the midst of these circumstances, God wants His people to know that, if they will return with their hearts to Him, Jerusalem will once again be the city of His choice and the neighboring cities of Judea will also prosper. The enforced peace of Persia assures the opportunity to build without molestation. Just as God had raised up the Chaldeans to punish His people, so He has raised up Persia to protect them during the period of reconstruction. Thus the time is ripe for the rebuilding of the temple and the city.

Zerr: Zec 1:12, These threescore and ten years identifies the whole passage as a complaint or plea addressed to God because of conditions after the Babylonian captivity. Not that the enemy was still trying to hold them In bondage, for the Persians had control of the country previously held by the Babylonians and they had given the Jews their freedom, But there were some of the heathen in Palestine and that was makIng some trouble locally. The people of Israel were anxious about conditions and longed tor the tormer settlement of their own services. The Lord was sympathetic toward the nation and gave the angel a comfortable message of assurance(Zec 1:13), which he was to give over to the prophet who was in turn to deliver it to his people for their benefit and encouragement of mind. God never lost his love for the nation notwithstanding its waywardness but was jealous over them(Zec 1:14). He had used the heathen nations as a means of chastisement in the same way that a loving father would administer severe but necessary punishment upon a child for whom he had the sincere parental love. God’s feeling against his people is contrasted with that of the heathen by the words little displeased (Zec 1:15). But He was sore displeased. with the heathen because of their unconcern over the afflictions of Judah. The chastisements that the Lord imposed upon Israel were for their own good, but now the heathen were adding to these afflictions by being “at ease” or indifferent about it. For the encouragement of the dejected people, the Lord gave the assurance that the holy house would be built in Jerusalem. Line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. The first word is from QAV which Strong defines. “Accord (as connecting), especially for measuring: figuratively a rule.” The passage (Zec 1:16) shows not only that the city would be rebuilt, but that it would be done accurately and scientifically. Zec 1:17 adds the promise that other cities throughout the country would prosper and grow in number. Also that the original capital city ot Jerusalem with its particular spot of Zion would be comforted.

Questions

A Vision of Horses

1. The eight visions which begin with Zec 1:7 are designed to ______________________.

2. Describe the first vision.

3. What was Zechariahs immediate response to this vision?

4. Who were the horsemen of the first vision?

5. What was the question of the angel to Jehovah?

6. Was Jehovahs answer harsh?

7. What was Zechariah instructed to do?

8. Why was Jehovah displeased with the nations?

9. God had returned to Jerusalem with _____________________.

10. How does Jehovahs answer here relate to Hag 1:2-4?

11. The horsemen are symbolic of ___________________________.

12. What do the various colors of the horses represent?

13. What, in this first vision, is directly related to Zechariahs reason for writing in apocalyptic style?

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

Sebat

Eleventh month i.e. February.

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

am 3845, bc 519

the eleventh: Zec 1:1

Sebat: Sebat is the Chaldee name of the eleventh month of the ecclesiastical year, but the fifth of the civil year, answering to part of January and February.

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Zec 1:7. Zechariah received another message and it was in the form of a vision. It came in the same year as the first one but in the eleventh month of that year.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Zec 1:7-8. Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month That is, about three months after he had received the former vision; which is the month Sebat This was the Chaldee or Syriac name of the eleventh month, not the Hebrew name. This month corresponded with the latter end of January and the beginning of February. Came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah This second revelation contains eight distinct visions, following each other in the same night. The first vision is of an angel in a human form, sitting on horseback, in a low valley among myrtle-trees, attended by others upon horses, of different colours. The prophet asks the meaning, and is informed that they were the ministers of Providence, sent to examine into the state of the whole earth, which they report to be quiet and tranquil. The angel hereupon intercedes for Judah and Jerusalem, which he represents to have suffered under the divine indignation seventy years. He receives a consolatory answer. The prophet is directed to proclaim, that Gods wrath against Judah was at an end; that he would cause the temple and Jerusalem to be rebuilt; and would fill the country with good, as a token and consequence of his renewed favour, Zec 1:7-17. Blayney. Saying, I saw, &c. That is, the word came to the prophet, who said, I saw, &c., or, thus recited the divine vision which had been sent him. What now follows (which extends to the end of the sixth chapter) was uttered when the people had made a great progress in the work of the temple, and were now to be excited to the new labour of fortifying Jerusalem. And behold a man The prophet terms him so, according to his appearance; till, perceiving by his answer, Zec 1:10, that he had a divine commission, he afterward gives him the respectable title of the angel, or messenger of Jehovah; riding upon a red horse A horse of a red or bloody colour was an emblem of the slaughters of war, as appears from Rev 6:4. But the myrtle being a tree of pleasure, and an emblem of peace, therefore the red horse appearing among the myrtle- trees, signified that the slaughters of war were, or soon would be, repressed or restrained by a profound peace, namely, in the Persian empire, for that is here referred to: and accordingly there was a profound peace in it in the fourth, fifth, and sixth years of Darius. It is doubtful what angel or other being was represented by the figure of a man on this red horse. Some suppose Michael, whom the Prophet Daniel seems to mention as the guardian angel of the Jews, or the angel presiding, under God, over the affairs of their nation, and taking care of them. Others suppose the , or Son of God, is meant; which opinion seems probable. The reason of his appearing in a bottom, or low place, amidst myrtles planted by the waters, is thought to have been to mark out the affliction, humiliation, and sorrow to which Judea was reduced. The myrtle flourishes best in shady and watery places. Littora myrtetis ltissima, says Virgil. See Calmet. Behind him were red horses With riders on them, as appears from Zec 1:10, who were angels, Zec 1:11. They had horses to show their power of celerity; and horses of different colours, to intimate the difference of their ministries. Newcome. Or, as others explain it, to signify the various events of the wars waged by Darius, which were sometimes fortunate, at other times unsuccessful.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Zec 1:7-17. This section, to which Zec 1:7 is an editorial introduction, either is not the beginning of Zechariahs allegories, or has not come down to us in its original form, for the interpreting angel is mentioned in Zec 1:9 as already known to the reader. A verse introducing him may, however, have been omitted between Zec 1:8 and Zec 1:9, since the opening words of Zec 1:8 imply that we have here the beginning of the allegorical prophecies. There are many corruptions in the text, several of which can, however, be easily corrected from the context. In Zec 1:8 read, I saw in the (Anglice a) night dream (cf. Zec 4:1): omit riding upon a red horse, as a mutilated fragment of the last clause of the verse which should read, and behind him were riders on horses red, white, sorrel, and black. (According to MT the horses carry on a conversation.) In Zec 1:11, for the angel of the Lord read the man (i.e. of Zec 1:8; the correction was perhaps due to reverence, since Zec 1:12 f. shows that the man is the Lord Himself). In Zec 1:12 read the angel that talked with me answered. For myrtle trees the LXX has, perhaps correctly, mountains, as in Zec 6:1. The significance of myrtle trees is not known, nor of the word rendered the bottom (Zec 1:8 mg. shady place). With a corrected text the meaning of the allegory is clear. Zechariah sees someone, who is later perceived to be the Lord Himself, behind whom are four riders on horses of various colours. These bring reports from the four quarters of the earth that the whole earth is quiet; i.e. the revolts which Haggai expected to end in the downfall of Persia have been quelled. Thereupon the interpreting angel expresses the prophets disappointment, but the Lord answers with words of encouragement. The heathen nations have indeed been His instrument to chastise His people (cf. Isa 10:5 ff.), but they are about to be punished for their malice. The outcome will be the restoration of Judah and Jerusalem.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

1:7 Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which [is] the month {h} 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,

(h) Which includes part of January and part of February.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

A. The horseman among the myrtle trees 1:7-17

This first vision emphasizes that God was lovingly jealous of His chosen people and would restore them even though they were troubled at present and the nations that oppressed them were at ease (cf. Habakkuk). In the vision an angelic patrol reported on the state of the whole earth. This vision presents hope for dispersed and downtrodden Israel. [Note: Unger, p. 25.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

1. The vision proper 1:7-15

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

II. THE EIGHT NIGHT VISIONS AND FOUR MESSAGES 1:7-6:8

Zechariah received eight apocalyptic visions in one night (Zec 1:7). As the text shows, they concerned God’s purpose for the future of Israel, particularly Jerusalem, the seat of the Davidic dynasty and the site of the temple, and Judah. They deal with issues of more immediate concern to the restoration community, though none of them was fulfilled in Zechariah’s day. The broad theme of this section is the coming of the King. The purpose of these visions was to encourage the returnees to persevere in their work of rebuilding the temple.

Certain features mark each of these eight visions: an introduction, an explanation of what the prophet saw, his request for clarification of its meaning, and the elucidation. Oracles accompany three of the visions making their messages clearer (Zec 1:16-17; Zec 2:6-13; Zec 4:6-10). Some interpreters also connect the oracle in Zec 6:9-15 to the vision in Zec 6:1-8, but it seems to me, and others, that that oracle was separate from the preceding vision.

". . . The arrangement of the visions follows a chiastic pattern [abbccbba]. The first and last bear a strong resemblance to one another, the second and third, sixth and seventh are pairs, and the fourth and fifth, with their assurance of God-given authoritative leaders, form the climax. All eight visions are meant to be interpreted as one whole, for each contributes to the total picture of the role of Israel in the new era about to dawn." [Note: Baldwin, p. 93.]

A The horseman among the myrtle trees (Zec 1:7-17)

B The four horns and the four smiths (Zec 1:18-21)

C The surveyor (ch. 2)

D The cleansing and restoration of Joshua (ch. 3)

D’ The gold lampstand and the two olive trees (ch. 4)

C’ The flying scroll (Zec 5:1-4)

B’ The woman in the basket (Zec 5:5-11)

A’ The four chariots (Zec 6:1-8)

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Zechariah received another revelation from the Lord three months after his previous one in Darius’ second year, 520 B.C. The second year of Darius was 520 B.C., but the eleventh month would have been January-February. In our modern calendar this would have been 519 B.C.

"On the same day (24 Shebat), five months earlier, the rebuilding of the temple had been resumed (cf. Hag 1:14-15; see also Hag 2:10; Hag 2:18; Hag 2:20). It was evidently a day in which God had special delight because of the obedience of his people." [Note: Barker, p. 610.]

"Also on that day two months previously Haggai had delivered a stern rebuke to the priests for their impurity and to the people for their delay in building the temple (Hag 2:10-17). On that day, moreover, Haggai had received the far-reaching revelation (Hag 2:20) of the destruction of Gentile world power previous to the establishment of millennial rule of the greater Zerubbabel-Messiah (Hag 2:21-23)." [Note: Unger, p. 26.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

– Zec 6:8

THE ANGELS OF THE VISIONS

Zec 1:7 – Zec 6:8

AMONG the influences of the Exile which contributed the material of Zechariahs Visions we included a considerable development of Israels belief in Angels. The general subject is in itself so large, and the Angels play so many parts in the Visions, that it is necessary to devote to them a separate chapter.

From the earliest times the Hebrews had conceived their Divine King to be surrounded by a court of ministers, who besides celebrating His glory went forth from His presence to execute His will upon earth. In this latter capacity they were called Messengers, Maleakim, which the Greeks translated Angeloi, and so gave us our Angels. The origin of this conception is wrapped in obscurity. It may have been partly due to a belief, shared by all early peoples, in the existence of superhuman beings inferior to the gods, but even without this it must have sprung up in the natural tendency to provide the royal deity of a people with a court, an army and servants. In the pious minds of early Israel there must have been a kind of necessity to believe and develop this-a necessity imposed firstly by the belief in Jehovahs residence as confined to one spot, Sinai or Jerusalem, from which He Himself went forth only upon great occasions to the deliverance of His people as a whole; and secondly by the unwillingness to conceive of His personal appearance in missions of a menial nature, or to represent Him in the human form in which, according to primitive ideas, He could alone hold converse with men.

It can easily be understood how a religion, which was above all a religion of revelation, should accept such popular conceptions in its constant record of the appearance of God and His Word in human life. Accordingly, in the earliest documents of the Hebrews, we find angels who bring to Israel the blessings, curses, and commands of Jehovah. Apart from this duty and their human appearance, these beings are not conceived to be endowed either with character or, if we may judge by their namelessness with individuality. They are the Word of God personified. Acting as Gods mouthpiece, they are merged in Him, and so completely that they often speak of themselves by the Divine I. {Jdg 6:12 ff.}

“The function of an Angel so overshadows his personality that the Old Testament does not ask who or what this Angel is, but what he does. And the answer to the last question is that he represents God to man so directly and fully that when he speaks or acts God Himself is felt to speak or act.” Besides the carriage of the Divine Word, angels bring back to their Lord report of all that happens: kings are said, in popular language, to be “as wise as the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all the things that are in the earth.” {2Sa 14:20} They are also employed in the deliverance and discipline of His people. {Exo 14:19-20; Exo 12:23, etc.; Jos 5:13} By them come the pestilence, and the restraint of those who set themselves against Gods will.

Now the prophets before the Exile had so spiritual a conception of God, worked so immediately from His presence, and above all were so convinced of His personal and practical interest in the affairs of His people, that they felt no room for Angels between Him and their hearts, and they do not employ Angels, except when Isaiah in his inaugural vision penetrates to the heavenly palace and court of the Most High. {Zec 6:2-6} Even when Amos sees a plummet laid to the walls of Jerusalem, it is by the hands of Jehovah himself, and we have not encountered an Angel in the mediation of the Word to any of the prophets whom we have already studied. But Angels reappear, though not under the name, in the visions of Ezekiel, the first prophet of the Exile. They are in human form, and he calls them “Men.” Some execute Gods wrath upon Jerusalem (Eze 9:1-11), and one, whose appearance is as the appearance of brass, acts as the interpreter of Gods will to the prophet, and instructs him in the details of the building of City and Temple. {Eze 40:3 ff.} When the glory of Jehovah appears and Jehovah Himself speaks to the prophet out of the Temple, this “Man” stands by the prophet, {Eze 43:6} distinct from the Deity, and afterwards continues his work of explanation. “Therefore,” as Dr. Davidson remarks, “it is not the sense of distance to which God is removed that causes Ezekiel to create these intermediaries.” The necessity for them rather arises from the same natural feeling which we have suggested as giving rise to the earliest conceptions of Angels: the unwillingness, namely, to engage the Person of God Himself in the subordinate task of explaining the details of the Temple. Note, too, how the Divine Voice, which speaks to Ezekiel out of the Temple, blends and becomes one with the “Man” standing at his side. Ezekiels Angel-interpreter is simply one function of the Word of God.

Many of the features of Ezekiels Angels appear in those of Zechariah. “The four smiths” or smiters of the four horns recall the six executioners of the wicked in Jerusalem. {Zec 1:18 Eze 9:1 ff.} Like Ezekiels Interpreter, they are called “Men,” and like him one appears as Zechariahs instructor and guide: “he who talked with me.” But while Zechariah calls these beings “Men,” he also gives them the ancient name, which Ezekiel had not used, of Maleakim, “messengers, angels.” The Instructor is “the Angel who talked with me.” In the First Vision, “the Man riding the brown horse, the Man that stood among the myrtles, is the Angel of Jehovah that stood among the myrtles.” {Zec 1:8; Zec 1:10-11} The Interpreter is also called “the Angel of Jehovah,” and if our text of the First Vision be correct, the two of them are curiously mingled, as if both were functions of the same Word of God, and in personality not to be distinguished from each other. The Reporting Angel among the myrtles takes up the duty of the Interpreting Angel and explains the Vision to the prophet. In the Fourth Vision this dissolving view is carried further, and the Angel of Jehovah is interchangeable with Jehovah Himself; just as in the Vision of Ezekiel the Divine Voice from the Glory and the Man standing beside the prophet are curiously mingled. Again in the Fourth Vision we hear of those “who stand in the presence of Jehovah,” {Zec 3:6-7} and in the Eighth of executant angels coming out from His presence with commissions upon the whole earth. {Zec 6:5}

In the Visions of Zechariah, then, as in the earlier books, we see the Lord of all the earth, surrounded by a court of angels, whom He sends forth in human form to interpret His Word and execute His will, and in their doing of this there is the same indistinctness of individuality, the same predominance of function over personality. As with Ezekiel, one stands out more clearly than the rest, to be the prophets interpreter, whom, as in the earlier visions of angels, Zechariah calls “my lord,” {Zec 1:9, etc.} but even he melts into the figures of the rest. These are the old and borrowed elements in Zechariahs doctrine of Angels. But he has added to them in several important particulars, which make his Visions an intermediate stage between the Book of Ezekiel and the very intricate angelology of later Judaism.

In the first place Zechariah is the earliest prophet who introduces orders and ranks among the angels. In his Fourth Vision the Angel of Jehovah is the Divine Judge “before whom” Joshua appears with the Adversary. He also has others standing “before him” to execute his sentences. In the Third Vision, again, the Interpreting Angel does dot communicate directly with Jehovah, but receives his words from another Angel who has come forth. {Zec 2:3-4} All these are symptoms, that even with a prophet, who so keenly felt as Zechariah did the ethical directness of Gods word and its pervasiveness through public life, there had yet begun to increase those feelings of Gods sublimity and awfulness, which in the later thought of Israel lifted Him to so far a distance from men, and created so complex a host of intermediaries, human and superhuman, between the worshipping heart and the Throne of Grace. We can best estimate the difference in this respect between Zechariah and the earlier prophets whom we have studied by remarking that his characteristic phrase “talked with me,” literally “spake in” or “by me,” which he uses of the Interpreting Angel, is used by Habakkuk of God Himself. {Hab 2:1; cf. also Num 12:6-9} To the same awful impressions of the Godhead is perhaps due the first appearance of the Angel as intercessor. Amos, Isaiah, and Jeremiah themselves directly interceded with God for the people; but with Zechariah it is the Interpreting Angel who intercedes, and who in return receives the Divine comfort. In this angelic function, the first of its kind in Scripture, we see the small and explicable beginnings of a belief destined to assume enormous dimensions in the development of the Churchs worship. The supplication of Angels, the faith in their intercession and in the prevailing prayers of the righteous dead, which has been so egregiously multiplied in certain sections of Christendom, may be traced to the same increasing sense of the distance and awfulness of God, but is to be corrected by the faith Christ has taught us of the nearness of our Father in Heaven, and of His immediate care of His every human child.

The intercession of the Angel in the First Vision is also a step towards that identification of special Angels with different peoples which we find in the Book of Daniel. This tells us of heavenly princes not only for Israel-“Michael, your prince, the great prince which standeth up for the children of thy people” {Dan 10:21; Dan 12:1} -but for the heathen nations, a conception the first beginnings of which we see in a prophecy that was perhaps not far from being contemporaneous with Zechariah. {Isa 24:21} Zechariahs Vision of a hierarchy among the angels was also destined to further development. The head of the patrol among the myrtles, and the Judge-Angel before whom Joshua appears, are the first Archangels. We know how these were further specialized, and had even personalities and names given them by both Jewish and Christian writers.

Among the Angels described in the Old Testament, we have seen some charged with powers of hindrance and destruction-“a troop of angels of evil.” They too are the servants of God, who is the author of all evil as well as good, {Amo 3:6} and the instruments of His wrath. But the temptation of men is also part of His Providence. Where willful souls have to be misled, the spirit who does so, as in Ahabs case, comes from Jehovahs presence. {1Ki 22:20 ff.} All these spirits are just as devoid of character and personality as the rest of the angelic host. They work evil as mere instruments: neither malice nor falseness is attributed to themselves. They are not rebel nor fallen angels, but obedient to Jehovah. Nay, like Ezekiels and Zechariahs Angels of the Word, the Angel who tempts David to number the people is interchangeable with God Himself. Kindred to the duty of tempting men is that of discipline, in its forms both of restraining or accusing the guilty, and of vexing the righteous in order to test them. For both of these the same verb is used, “to satan,” in the general sense of “withstanding,” or antagonizing. The Angel of Jehovah stood in Balaams way “to satan him.” {Num 22:22; Num 22:32} The noun, “the Satan,” is used repeatedly of a human foe (1Sa 29:4; 2Sa 19:23 1Ki 5:18; 1Ki 11:14, etc.). But in two passages, of which Zechariahs Fourth Vision is one, and the other the Prologue to Job (Zec 3:1 ff., Job 1:6 ff.), the name is given to an Angel, one of “the sons of Elohim,” or Divine powers who receive their commission from Jehovah. The noun is not yet, what it afterwards became, {1Ch 21:1} a proper name; but has the definite article, “the Adversary” or “Accuser”-that is, the Angel to whom that function was assigned. With Zechariah his business is the official one of prosecutor in the supreme court of Jehovah, and when his work is done he disappears. Yet, before he does so, we see for the first time in connection with any angel a gleam of character. This is revealed by the Lords rebuke of him. There is something blameworthy in the accusation of Joshua: not indeed false witness, for Israels guilt is patent in the foul garments of their High Priest, but hardness or malice, that would seek to prevent the Divine grace. In the Book of Job “the Satan” is also a function, even here not a fallen or rebel angel, but one of Gods court, {Job 1:6} the instrument of discipline or chastisement. Yet, in that he himself suggests his cruelties and is represented as forward and officious in their infliction, a character is imputed to him even more clearly than in Zechariahs Vision. But the Satan still shares that identification with his function which we have seen to characterize all the angels of the Old Testament, and therefore he disappears from the drama so, soon as his place in its high argument is over.

In this description of the development of Israels doctrine of Angels, and of Zechariahs contributions to it, we have not touched upon the question whether the development was assisted by Israels contact with the Persian religion and with the system of Angels which the latter contains. For several reasons the question is a difficult one. But so far as present evidence goes, it makes for a negative answer. Scholars, who are in no way prejudiced against the theory of a large Persian influence upon Israel declare that the religion of Persia affected the Jewish doctrine of Angels “only in secondary points,” such as their “number and personality, and the existence of demons and evil spirits.” Our own discussion has shown us that Zechariahs Angels, in spite of the new features they introduce, are in substance one with the Angels of pre-exilic Israel. Even the Satan is primarily a function, and one of the servants of God. If he has developed an immoral character, this cannot be attributed to the influence of Persian belief in a Spirit of evil opposed to the Spirit of good in the universe, but may be explained by the native, or selfish, resentment of Israel against their prosecutor before the bar of Jehovah. Nor can we fail to remark that this character of evil appears in the Satan, not, as in the Persian religion, in general opposition to goodness, but as thwarting that saving grace which was so peculiarly Jehovahs own. And Jehovah said to the Satan, “Jehovah rebuke thee, O Satan, yea, Jehovah who hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee! Is not this a brand plucked from the burning?”

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary

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