(1-6) On the four-and-twentieth day of the sixth mouth of the second year (B.C. 520) of Darius Hystaspis, the re-building of the Temple had been resumed (Haggai 1:15); and in the seventh month, on the twenty-first of that month, the prophet Haggai had foretold “the latter glory of this house shall b... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PROPHET is (in spite of the accents), no doubt, to be referred to Zechariah. (See further in my _Hebrew Student Commentary._) LXX., πρὸς Ζαχαριαν τὸν τοῦ Βαραχιου υἱὸν Αδδω τὸν προφήτην, in which υἱὸν appears to be a corruption of υἱοῦ_,_ caused by the common Greek collocation τὸν τὸῦ... υἱὸν_.... [ Continue Reading ]
YOUR FATHERS. — This verse contains the word of the Lord addressed directly to and through the prophet, who is included among those addressed in the pronoun “_your_ fathers.” It gives the ground on which the exhortation to repentance is founded.... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO THEM — _i.e.,_ to the prophet’s contemporaries, whose fathers are spoken of in the preceding verse. TURN YE... AND I WILL TURN. — These words need not imply any special backsliding on the part of the people since the commencement of the re-building of the Temple, when the Lord had declared that... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FORMER PROPHETS — viz., those who prophesied when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity (Zechariah 7:7), before the captivity. LXX., οἱ πατέρες ἔμπροσθεν [to whom] the prophets before [enjoined], which is inaccurate. Οἱ προϕῆται οἱ ἔμπροσθεν_,_ “the prophets of former times,” would have been... [ Continue Reading ]
FATHERS... PROPHETS. — To show the evil result of the obstinate disobedience of their fathers, the prophet asks, “Your fathers, where are they?” — _i.e.,_ they are perished through their iniquity. To this the people answer, “But the prophets, do they live [_or_ did they go on living] for ever?” — _i... [ Continue Reading ]
MY WORDS. — True, says the prophet, both your fathers and the former prophets are dead; “but” for all that, the words of the prophets were actually fulfilled in your fathers, as they themselves confessed. This is the interpretation of these verses given by Râv (second to third century A.D.) in Talmu... [ Continue Reading ]
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 substan... [ Continue Reading ]
A SERIES OF SEVEN VISIONS. Zechariah 1:7 to Zechariah 6:15. Between the commencement of Zechariah’s prophetic labours and the incidents recorded in Zechariah 1:7 to Zechariah 6:15, the Prophet Haggai received the revelation contained in Haggai 2:10. On the four-and-twentieth day of the eleventh mont... [ Continue Reading ]
I SAW. — Not in a dream, but apparently, from Zechariah 4:1, awake, in an ecstatic vision. BY NIGHT. — Better, _on this night._ LXX., τὴν νύκτα. It was during the night of the twenty-fourth of Sebat that the prophet saw this series of visions. The expression does not mean that in his vision it appe... [ Continue Reading ]
O MY LORD. — This is addressed to “the angel that talked with me,” or, perhaps, _in me,_ according as we regard him as discharging the office of the Virgil of Dante, or the Daimon of Socrates (but, see Lawes’ _History of Philosophy_). LXX., ὁ λαλῶν ἐν ἐμοί. This is the angel-interpreter, whose offic... [ Continue Reading ]
ANSWERED. — The question which Zechariah had put to the angel-interpreter. THE EARTH — _i.e.,_ the world, “all the earth” (Zechariah 1:11), not merely “the land of Israel,” as is often the meaning of the word (_e.g.,_ Zechariah 13:8).... [ Continue Reading ]
And they answered need not necessarily imply that any question had been asked. Like the New Testament ἀπεκρίθησαν, it often implies merely “began to speak.” THE ANGEL OF THE LORD. — That is, _the man riding upon a bay horse._ (See Note on Zechariah 1:8.) Just two months before this, Haggai had proph... [ Continue Reading ]
Consequently, the angel of the Lord intercedes for Jerusalem and the cities of Judah. THESE THREESCORE AND TEN YEARS. — This is an old English expression. The Hebrew has one word — _seventy_ — which is often used as a round number. From the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar (B.C. 605-6) to the d... [ Continue Reading ]
ANGEL. — The Lord does not reply directly to the intercessor, but addresses the angel-interpreter, who at once, in the words of Zechariah 1:14, delivers the message of comfort to the prophet.... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT COMMUNED WITH ME. — The Hebrew words are the same as those rendered elsewhere, “that spake with me.” I AM JEALOUS. — The verb is in the perfect, like “I am returned” (Zechariah 1:16), and denotes that the Lord _had already_ shown His jealous love for Israel in bringing them out of captivity, a... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT A LITTLE. — (Comp. 2 Kings 20:18.) Or, _for a little while._ (Comp. Job 24:24.) HELPED FORWARD THE AFFLICTION. — Better, _helped for evil_ — _i.e.,_ they not only acted as God’s instruments to chastise Israel, but even wished to annihilate them. (Comp. Isaiah 47:6 : “I was wroth with my people.... [ Continue Reading ]
A LINE. — To measure, and mark out its confines. (Comp. Zechariah 2:1.)... [ Continue Reading ]
BE SPREAD ABROAD — _i.e._, be filled to overflowing; LXX. inserts “And the angel that spake in me said to me.” (Comp. Zechariah 2:4.) _The_ same verb and conjugation is used in Zechariah 13:7 of “being scattered,” in a bad sense, and such is the ordinary use of the verb. But in another conjugation t... [ Continue Reading ]
SECOND VISION. — THE FOUR HORNS AND THE FOUR SMITHS (ZECHARIAH 1:18). (18) HORNS. — The horn is a symbol of power and hostility. The “four horns” denote the heathen nations which had oppressed them.... [ Continue Reading ]
SCATTERED. — This word need not necessarily refer to dispersing into captivity, but may simply mean “endeavoured to destroy the national unity,” or “disintegrated.” Compare the Roman motto, “_Divide et impera._” JUDAH, ISRAEL, AND JERUSALEM. — The expression “Israel and Jerusalem” is a closer defin... [ Continue Reading ]
CARPENTERS. — Better, _workmen,_ for the Hebrew word does not mean “carpenters,” unless followed by the word meaning “wood.... [ Continue Reading ]
Many commentators suppose that this vision refers to the future as well as the past, and that in it the objects are combined together so as to form one complete picture, without any regard to the time of their appearing in historical reality. And so they take the “four horns” to symbolise the four e... [ Continue Reading ]