ZECHARIAH 1 COMMETARYEDITED BY GLE PEASE

ITRODUCTIO

ZECHARIAH THE PROPHET

1 "ZECHARIAH is one of the prophets whose personality as distinguished from their message exerts some degree of fascination on the student. This is not due, however, as in the case of Hosea or Jeremiah, to the facts of his life, for of these we know extremely little; but to certain conflicting symptoms of character which appear through his prophecies.

His name was a very common one in Israel, Zekher-Yah, "Jehovah remembers." In his own book he is described as "the son of Berekh-Yah, the son of Iddo," and in the Aramaic document of the Book of Ezra as "the son of Iddo." Some have explained this difference by supposing that Berekhyah was the actual father of the prophet, but that either he died early, leaving Zechariah to the care of the grandfather, or else that he was a man of no note, and Iddo was more naturally mentioned as the head of the family. There are several instances in the Old Testament of men being called the sons of their grandfathers; (Gen_24:47, cf. 1Ki_19:16, cf. 2Ki_9:14; 2Ki_9:20) as in these cases the grandfather was the reputed founder of the house, so in that of Zechariah Iddo was the head of his family when it came out of Babylon and was anew planted in Jerusalem. Others, however, have contested the genuineness of the words "son of Berekh-Yah," and have traced their insertion to a confusion of the prophet with Zechariah son of Yebherekh-Yahu, the contemporary of Isaiah. This is precarious, while the other hypothesis is a very natural one. Whichever be correct, the prophet Zechariah was a member of the priestly family of Iddo, that came up to Jerusalem from Babylon under Cyrus. (Neh_12:4) The Book of Nehemiah adds that in the high-priesthood of Yoyakim, the son of Joshua, the head of the house of Iddo was a Zechariah. If this be our prophet, then he was probably a young man in 520, and had come up as a child in the caravans from Babylon. The Aramaic document of the Book of Ezra (Ezr_5:1; Ezr_6:14) assigns to Zechariah a share with Haggai in the work of instigating Zerubbabel and Jeshua to begin the Temple. None of his oracles is dated previous to the beginning of the work in August, 520, but we have seen that among those undated there are one or two which by referring to the building of the Temple as still future may contain some relics of that first stage of his ministry. From November, 520, we have the first of his dated oracles; his Visions followed in January, 519, and his last recorded prophesying in December, 518.

These are all the certain events of Zechariahs history. But in the well-attested prophecies he has left we discover, besides some obvious traits of character, certain problems of style and expression which suggest a personality of more than usual interest. Loyalty to the great voices of old,

the temper which appeals to the experience, rather than to the dogmas, of the past, the gift of plain speech to his own times, a wistful anxiety about his reception as a prophet, (Zec_2:13; Zec_4:9; Zec_6:15) combined with the absence of all ambition to be original or anything but the clear voice of the lessons of the past and of the conscience of today these are the qualities which characterize Zechariahs orations to the people. But how to reconcile them with the strained art and obscure truths of the Visions-it is this which invests with interest the study of his personality. We have proved that the obscurity and redundancy of the Visions cannot all have been due to himself. Later hands have exaggerated the repetitions and raveled the processes of the original. But these gradual blemishes have not grown from nothing: the original style must have been sufficiently involved to provoke the interpolations of the scribes, and it certainly contained all the weird and shifting apparitions which we find so hard to make clear to ourselves. The problem, therefore, remains-how one who had gift of speech, so straight and clear, came to torture and tangle his style; how one who presented with all plainness the main issues of his peoples history found it laid upon him to invent, for the further expression of these, symbols so labored and intricate." From a source called EBC

2. EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMMETARY

Introduction

ZECHARIAH

(Zechariah 1:1-21; Zechariah 2:1-13; Zechariah 3:1-10; Zechariah 4:1-14;

Zechariah 5:1-11; Zechariah 6:1-15; Zechariah 7:1-14; Zechariah 8:1-23)

"ot by might, and not by force, but by My Spirit, saith Jehovah of Hosts."

"Be not afraid, strengthen your hands! Speak truth every man to his neighbor;

truth and wholesome judgment judge ye in your gates, and in your hearts plan no

evil for each other, nor take pleasure in false swearing, for all these things do I hate-

oracle of Jehovah."

THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAH

(1-8)

THE Book of Zechariah, consisting of fourteen chapters, falls clearly into two

divisions: First, chapters 1-8, ascribed to Zechariah himself and full of evidence for

their authenticity; Second, chapters 9-14, which are not ascribed to Zechariah, and

deal with conditions different from those upon which he worked. The full discussion

of the date and character of this second section we shall reserve till we reach the

period at which we believe it to have been written. Here an introduction is necessary

only to chapters 1-8.

These chapters may be divided into five sections.

I. Zechariah 1:1-6 -A Word of Jehovah which came to Zechariah in the eighth

month of the second year of Darius, that is in ovember, 520 B.C., or between the

second and the third oracles of Haggai. In this the prophets place is affirmed in the

succession of the prophets of Israel. The ancient prophets are gone, but their

predictions have been fulfilled in the calamities of the Exile, and Gods Word abides

forever.

II. Zechariah 1:7 - Zechariah 6:9.-A Word of Jehovah which came to Zechariah on

the twenty-fourth of the eleventh month of the same year, that is January or

February, 519, and which he reproduces in the form of eight Visions by night.

(1) The Vision of the Four Horsemen: Gods new mercies to Jerusalem. [Zechariah

1:7-17]

(2) The Vision of the Four Horns, or Powers of the World, and the Four Smiths,

who smite them down [Zechariah 2:1-4], but in the Septuagint and in the English

Version. [Zechariah 1:18-21]

(3) The Vision of the Man with the Measuring Rope: Jerusalem shall be rebuilt, no

longer as a narrow fortress, but spread abroad for the multitude of her population.

{Zechariah 2:5-9;, Hebrews 2:1-5 LXX and English} To this Vision is appended a

lyric piece of probably older date calling upon the Jews in Babylon to return, and

celebrating the joining of many peoples to Jehovah, now that He takes up again His

habitation in Jerusalem. {Zechariah 2:10;, Hebrews 2:6-13 LXX and English}

(4) The Vision of Joshua, the High Priest, and the Satan or Accuser: the Satan is

rebuked, and Joshua is cleansed from his foul garments and clothed with a new

turban and festal apparel; the land is purged and secure (chapter 3).

(5) The Vision of the Seven-Branched Lamp and the Two Olive-Trees: [Zechariah

4:1-6; Zechariah 4:10-14] into the center of this has been inserted a Word of

Jehovah to Zerubbabel (Zechariah 4:6-10 a), which interrupts the Vision and ought

probably to come at the close of it.

(6) The Vision of the Flying Book: it is the curse of the land, which is being removed,

but after destroying the houses of the wicked. [Zechariah 5:1-4]

(7) The Vision of the Bushel and the Woman: that is the guilt of the land and its

wickedness; they are carried off and planted in the land of Shinar. [Zechariah 5:5-

11]

(8) The Vision of the Four Chariots: they go forth from the Lord of all the earth, to

traverse the earth and bring His Spirit, or anger, to bear on the orth country

(Zechariah 6:1-8).

III. Zechariah 6:9-15 -A Word of Jehovah, undated (unless it is to be taken as of the

same date as the Visions to which it is attached), giving directions as to the gifts sent

to the community at Jerusalem from the Babylonian Jews. A crown is to be made

from the silver and gold, and, according to the text, placed upon the head of Joshua.

But, as we shall the text gives evident signs of having been altered in the interest of

the High Priest; and probably the crown was meant for Zerubbabel, at whose right

hand the priest is to stand, and there shall be a counsel of peace between the two of

them. The far-away shall come and assist at the building of the Temple. This section

breaks off in the middle of a sentence.

IV. Chapter 7-The Word of Jehovah which came to Zechariah on the fourth of the

ninth month of the fourth year of Darius, that is nearly two years after the date of

the Visions. The Temple was approaching completion; and an inquiry was

addressed to the priests who were in it and to the prophets concerning the Fasts,

which had been maintained during the Exile while the Temple lay desolate.

[Zechariah 7:1-3] This inquiry drew from Zechariah a historical explanation of how

the Fasts arose. [Zechariah 7:4-14]

V. Chapter 8-Ten short undated oracles, each introduced by the same formula,

"Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts," and summarizing all Zechariahs teaching since

before the Temple began up to the question of the cessation of the Fasts upon its

completion-with promises for the future.

(1) A Word affirming Jehovahs new zeal for Jerusalem and His Return to her

(Zechariah 8:1-2).

(2) Another of the same (Zechariah 8:3).

(3) A Word promising fullness of old folk and children in her streets (Zechariah 8:4-

5).

(4) A Word affirming that nothing is too wonderful for Jehovah (Zechariah 8:6).

(5) A Word promising the return of the people from east and west (Zechariah 8:7-8).

(6 and 7) Two Words contrasting, in terms similar to Haggai 1:1-15, the poverty of

the people before the foundation of the Temple with their new prosperity: from a

curse Israel shall become a blessing. This is due to Gods anger having changed into

a purpose of grace to Jerusalem. But the people themselves must do truth and

justice, ceasing from perjury and thoughts of evil against each other (Zechariah 8:9-

17).

(8) A Word which recurs to the question of Fasting, and commands that the four

great Fasts, instituted to commemorate the siege and overthrow of Jerusalem, and

the murder of Gedaliah, be changed to joy and gladness (Zechariah 8:18-19).

(9) A Word predicting the coming of the Gentiles to the worship of Jehovah at

Jerusalem (Zechariah 8:20-22).

(10) Another of the same (Zechariah 8:23).

There can be little doubt that, apart from the few interpolations noted, these eight

chapters are genuine prophecies of Zechariah, who is mentioned in the Book of Ezra

as the colleague of Haggai, and contemporary of Zerubbabel and Joshua at the time

of the rebuilding of the Temple. [Ezra 5:1;, Ezra 6:14] Like the oracles of Haggai,

these prophecies are dated according to the years of Darius the king, from his

second year to his fourth. Although they may contain some of the exhortations to

build the Temple, which the Book of Ezra informs us that Zechariah made along

with Haggai, the most of them presuppose progress in the work, and seek to assist it

by historical retrospect and by glowing hopes of the Messianic effects of its

completion. Their allusions suit exactly the years to which they are assigned. Darius

is king. The Exile has lasted about seventy years. umbers of Jews remain in

Babylon, and are scattered over the rest of the world. [Zechariah 8:7, etc.} The

community at Jerusalem is small and weak: it is the mere colony of young men and

men in middle life who came to it from Babylon; there are few children and old folk.

{Zechariah 8:4-5] Joshua and Zerubbabel are the heads of the community and the

pledges for its future. [Zechariah 3:1-10;, Zechariah 4:6-10;, Zechariah 6:11 ff.} The

exact conditions are recalled as recent which Haggai spoke of a few years before.

{Zechariah 8:9-10] Moreover, there is a steady and orderly progress throughout the

prophecies, in harmony with the successive dates at which they were delivered. In

ovember, 520, they begin with a cry to repentance and lessons drawn from the past

of prophecy. [Zechariah 1:1-6] In January, 519, Temple and city are still to be built.

[Zechariah 1:7-17] Zerubbabel has laid the foundation; the completion is yet future.

[Zechariah 4:6-10] The prophets duty is to quiet the peoples apprehensions about

the state of the world, to provoke their zeal (Zechariah 4:6 ff.), give them confidence

in their great men (Zechariah 3:1-10; Zechariah 4:1-14), and, above all, assure them

that God is returned to them (Zechariah 1:16), and their sin pardoned (Zechariah

5:1-11). But in December, 518, the Temple is so far built that the priests are said to

belong to it; [Zechariah 7:3] there is no occasion for continuing the fasts of the Exile,

[Zechariah 7:1-7; Zechariah 8:18-19] the future has opened and the horizon is

bright with the Messianic hopes. [Zechariah 8:20-23] Most of all, it is felt that the

hard struggle with the forces of nature is over, and the people are exhorted to the

virtues of the civic life. [Zechariah 8:16-17] They have time to lift their eyes from

their work and see the nations coming from afar to Jerusalem. [Zechariah 8:20-23]

These features leave no room for doubt that the great bulk of the first eight chapters

of the Book of Zechariah are by the prophet himself, and from the years to which he

assigns them, ovember, 520, to December, 518. The point requires no argument.

There are, however, three passages which provoke further examination-two of them

because of the signs they bear of an earlier date, and one because of the alteration it

has suffered in the interests of a later day in Israels history.

The lyric passage which is appended to the Second Vision {Zechariah 2:10 Hebrew,

Zechariah 6:1-13 LXX and English} suggests questions by its singularity: there is no

other such among the Visions. But in addition to this it speaks not only of the

Return from Babylon as still future-this might still be said after the First Return of

the exiles in 536-but it differs from the language of all the Visions proper in

describing the return of Jehovah Himself to Zion as still future. The whole, too, has

the ring of the great odes in Isaiah 40:1-31; Isaiah 41:1-29; Isaiah 42:1-25; Isaiah

43:1-28; Isaiah 44:1-28; Isaiah 45:1-25; Isaiah 46:1-13; Isaiah 47:1-15; Isaiah 48:1-

22; Isaiah 49:1-26; Isaiah 50:1-11; Isaiah 51:1-23; Isaiah 52:1-15; Isaiah 53:1-12;

Isaiah 54:1-17; Isaiah 55:1-13, and seems to reflect the same situation, upon the eve

of Cyrus conquest of Babylon. There can be little doubt that we have here inserted

in Zechariahs Visions a song of twenty years earlier, but we must confess inability

to decide whether it was adopted by Zechariah himself or added by a later hand.

Again, there are the two passages called the Word of Jehovah to Zerubbabel,

Zechariah 4:6 b-10a; and the Word of Jehovah concerning the gifts which came to

Jerusalem from the Jews in Babylon, Zechariah 6:9-15. The first, as Wellhausen has

shown, is clearly out of place; it disturbs the narrative of the Vision, and is to be put

at the end of the latter. The second is undated, and separate from the Visions. The

second plainly affirms that the building of the Temple is still future The man whose

name is Branch or Shoot is designated: "and he shall build the Temple of Jehovah."

The first is in the same temper as the first two oracles of Haggai. It is possible then

that these two passages are not, like the Visions with which they are taken, to be

dated from 519, but represent that still earlier prophesying of Zechariah with which

we are told he assisted Haggai in instigating the people to begin to build the Temple.

The style of the prophet Zechariah betrays special features almost only in the

narrative of the Visions. Outside these his language is simple, direct, and pure, as it

could not but be, considering how much of it is drawn from, or modeled upon, the

older prophets, and chiefly Hosea and Jeremiah. Only one or two lapses into a

careless and degenerate dialect show us how the prophet might have written had he

not been sustained by the music of the classical periods of the language.

This directness and pith is not shared by the language in which the Visions are

narrated. Here the style is involved and redundant. The syntax is loose; there is a

frequent omission of the copula, and of other means by which, in better Hebrew,

connection and conciseness are sustained. The formulas, "thus saith" and "saying,"

are repeated to weariness. At the same time it is fair to ask how much of this

redundancy was due to Zechariah himself? Take the Septuagint version. The

Hebrew text which it followed, not only included a number of repetitions of the

formulas, and of the designations of the personages introduced into the Visions,

which do not occur in the Massoretic text, but omitted some which are found in the

Massoretic text. These two sets of phenomena prove that from an early date the

copiers of the original text of Zechariah must have been busy in increasing its

redundancies. Further, there are still earlier intrusions and expansions, for these are

shared by both the Hebrew and the Greek texts: some of them very natural efforts

to clear up the personages and conversations recorded in the dreams, some of them

stupid mistakes in understanding the drift of the argument. There must of course

have been a certain amount of redundancy in the original to provoke such

aggravations of it, and of obscurity or tortuousness of style to cause them to be

deemed necessary. But it would be very unjust to charge all the faults of our present

text to Zechariah himself, especially when we find such force and simplicity in the

passages outside the Visions. Of course the involved and misty subjects of the latter

naturally forced upon the description of them a laboriousness of art, to which there

was no provocation in directly exhorting the people to a pure life, or in

straightforward predictions of the Messianic era.

Beyond the corruptions due to these causes, the text of Zechariah 1:1-21; Zechariah

2:1-13; Zechariah 3:1-10; Zechariah 4:1-14; Zechariah 5:1-11; Zechariah 6:1-15;

Zechariah 7:1-14; Zechariah 8:1-23, has not suffered more than that of our other

prophets. There are one or two clerical errors; an occasional preposition or person

of a verb needs to be amended. Here and there the text has been disarranged; and as

already noticed, there has been one serious alteration of the original.

From the foregoing paragraphs it must be apparent what help and hindrance in the

reconstruction of the text is furnished by the Septuagint. A list of its variant

readings and of its mistranslations is appended.

3. Rev. John Schultz

We may divide the book as follows:

A. Introduction 1:1-6

B. Eight visions 1:7-6:8

1. The vision of the horsemen 1:7-17

2. The vision of the four horns and the four craftsmen 1:18-21

3. The vision of the man with the measuring line 2:1-5

4. Intermezzo Admonition to return to Jerusalem 2:6:13

5. The vision of Joshua standing before God 3:1-10

6. The vision of the gold lampstand and the olive trees 4:1-14

7. The vision flying scroll 5:1-4

8. The vision of the woman in the measuring basket 5:5-11

9. The vision of the chariots coming out from between two mountains of bronze 6:1-

8

C. Apocalyptic utterances and other exhortations 6:9-14:21

1. The announcement of the coming of The Branch 6:9-15

2. Questions from the people regarding fasting in connection with the fall of

Jerusalem 7:1-

14

3. Promises of redemption 8:1-23

4. Gods attitude toward other nations 9:1-8

5. The triumphal entry of the King 9:9,10

6. Gods victory by means of Israel 9:11-17

7. Return from captivity 10:1-12

8. The destruction of Lebanon and Bashan 11:1-3

9. The shepherds of Israel 11:4-17

10. Jerusalem besieged and delivered 12:1-9

11. Lament over the Messiah 12:10-14

12. False prophets 13:1-6

13. The striking of the Good Shepherd 13:7-9

14. Gods revelation and kingship 14:1-21

Zechariah 11

In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berekiah, the son of Iddo:

1. Barnes, In the eighth month - o. The date joins on Zechariahs prophecy to those of Haggai. Two months before, in the sixth month Hag_1:1, had Haggai, conjointly with Zechariah Ezr_5:1-2, exhorted Zerubbabel and the people to resume the intermitted building of the temple. These had used such diligence, notwithstanding the partial discouragement of the Persian Government, that God gave them in the seventh month Ezr_5:3-5, the magnificent promise of the later glory of the temple through the coming of Christ Hag_2:1-9. Still, as Haggai too warned them, the conversion was not complete. So Zechariah in the eighth, as Haggai in the ninth Hag_2:10-14month, urges upon them the necessity of thorough and inward repentance, as the condition of partaking of those promises.

Osorius: Thrice in the course of one saying, he mentions the most holy name of God; partly to instruct in the knowledge of Three Persons in one Nature, partly to confirm their minds more strongly in the hope of the salvation to come.

2. Clarke, In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius - This was Darius Hystaspes; and from this date we find that Zechariah began to prophecy just two months after Haggai.

Son of Iddo - There are a number of various readings on this name,

IddoIddoIddoIddo, and IddoIddoIddoIddo, both in MSS. and in editions; but they are only different ways of writing the same name.

3. Gill, In the eighth month,.... The month Marchesvan, called the month Bul, in 1Ki_6:38 which answers to part of our October, and part of November: this was but two months from the first prophecy of Haggai, Hag_1:1 and but a few days after his second, Hag_2:1 so near were the

prophecies of these two prophets together:

in the second year of Darius: king of Persia; not Darius the Mede, but Darius the son of Hystaspes:

came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah; that is, "the word of prophecy from before the Lord", as the Targum paraphrases it; which came to him, either in a dream, or in a vision, or by an impulse on his mind; who is described by his descent, the son of Barachias; mention is made of this name in Mat_23:35. It signifies "the blessed of the Lord", and is the same with Eulogius or Benedictus:

the son of Iddo the prophet: the word "prophet", as Kimchi observes, belongs to Zechariah; not but that his grandfather Iddo might be a prophet too; and the same writer takes notice, that in the Midrash mention is made of Iddo the prophet; and so there is an Iddo that is called the seer and the prophet in 2Ch_9:29 but whether the same with this is not certain. The name is by some thought to be the same with Firmicus, Statius, Robertus:

4. Henry, Here is, I. The foundation of Zechariah's ministry; it is laid in a divine authority: The word of the Lord came to him. He received a divine commission to be God's mouth to the people and with it instructions what to say. He received of the Lord that which also he delivered unto them. The word of the Lord was to him; it came in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit, as a real thing, and not a fancy. For the ascertaining of this, we have here, 1. The time when the word of the Lord came first to him, or when the word that next follows came to him: it was in the second year of Darius.Before the captivity the prophets dated their writings by the reigns of the kings of Judah and Israel; but now by the reigns of the kings of Persia, to whom they were subjects. Such a melancholy change had sin made of their circumstances. Zerubbabel took not so much state upon him as to have public acts dated by the years of his government, and in things of this nature the prophets, as is fit, complied with the usage of the time, and scrupled not to reckon by the years of the heathen kings, as Dan_7:1; Dan_8:1. Zechariah preached his first sermon in the eighth month of this second year of Darius; Haggai preached his in the sixth month of the same year, Hag_1:1. The people being readily obedient to the word of the Lord in the mouth of Haggai, God blessed them with another prophet; for to him that has, and uses well what he has, more shall be given. 2. The name and family of the prophet to whom the word of the Lord came; He was Zechariah, the son of Barachiah, the son of Iddo, and he was the prophet, as Haggai is called the prophet, Hag_1:1. For, though in former ages there was one Iddo a prophet (2Ch_12:15), yet we have no reason to think that Zechariah was of his progeny, or should be denominated from him. The learned Mr. Pemble is decidedly of opinion that this Zechariah, the son of Barachiah, is the same that our Saviour says was slain between the temple and the altar, perhaps many years after the rebuilding of the temple (Mat_23:35), and that our Saviour does not mean (as is commonly thought) Zechariah the son of Jehoiada, for why should Jehoiada be called Barachiah? And he thinks the manner of Christ's account persuades us to think so; for, reckoning up the innocent blood shed by the Jews, he begins at Abel, and ends even in the last

of the holy prophets. Whereas, after Zechariah the son of Jehoiada, many prophets and righteous men were put to death by them. It is true there is no mention made in any history of their slaying this Zechariah, but Josephus might industriously conceal that shame of his nation. Perhaps what Zechariah spoke in his prophesying concerning Christ of his being sold, his being wounded in the house of his friends, and the shepherd being smitten, was verified in the prophet himself, and so he became a type of Christ. Probably, being assaulted by his persecutors, he took sanctuary in the court of the priests (and some think he was himself a priest), and so was slain between the porch and the altar.

II. The first-fruits of Zechariah's ministry. Before he came to visions and revelations, and delivered his prophetic discourses, he preached that which was plain and practical; for it is best to begin with that. Before he published the promises of mercy, he published calls to repentance, for thus the way of the Lord must be prepared. Law must be first preached, and then gospel.

JAMISON, "Zec_1:1-17. Introductory exhortation to repentance. The visions. The man among the myrtles: Comforting explanation by the angel, an encouragement to the Jews to build the city and temple: The four horns and four artificers.

See on Introduction.

5. K&D, The first word of the Lord was addressed to the prophet Zechariah in the eighth month of the second year of the reign of Darius, and therefore about two months after Haggai's first prophecy and the commencement of the rebuilding of the temple, which that prophecy was intended to promote (compare Zec_1:1 with Hag_1:1 and Hag_1:15), and a few weeks after Haggai's prophecy of the great glory which the new temple would receive (Hag_2:1-9). Just as Haggai encouraged the chiefs and the people of Judah to continue vigorously the building that had been commenced by this announcement of salvation, so Zechariah opens his prophetic labours with the admonition to turn with sincerity to the Lord, and with the warning not to bring the same punishment upon themselves by falling back into the sins of the fathers. This exhortation to repentance, although it was communicated to the prophet in the form of a special revelation from God, is actually only the introduction to the prophecies which follow, requiring thorough repentance as the condition of obtaining the desired salvation, and at the same time setting before the impenitent and ungodly still further heavy judgments.

(Note: The prophet is thus instructed by God, that, before exhibiting to the nation the rich blessings of God for them to look at under the form of symbolical images, he is to declare the duty of His people, or the condition upon which it will be becoming in God to grant them an abundant supply of these good things. - Vitringa, Comm. in Sach. p. 76.)

6. L. M. Grant, "The prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah were written almost at the same time, when a remnant of Israel had returned from captivity to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem. Haggai, in common with Ezra, emphasizes the temple, while Zechariah is more occupied with the city of

Jerusalem, as was also Nehemiah, though both Ezra and Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem later than did Haggai and Zechariah. Both of these prophets speak solemnly of the failure of the returned remnant, just as their fathers had failed, and seek to stir up Israel to return in heart to the Lord.

Zechariah emphasizes that God had returned to Jerusalem with mercies (Zech. 1: 6) and paints a beautiful picture of blessing yet to come for Judah in particular, but in which all Israel will share. However, he also clearly shows that this cannot be fulfilled until many sorrows engulf the nation, culminating in the great distress of the future tribulation and the coming of the Messiah in power and glory.

The remnant that returned to Jerusalem by permission of Cyrus, King of Persia (Ezra 1: 1-4), had at first begun to build, but this was hindered until the reign of Darius. In the sixth month of the second year of his reign Haggai prophesied (Haggai 1: 1). Zechariah wrote in the eighth month of the same year.

7. CALVI, "With regard to Zechariah, they are mistaken who regard him as the

son of Jehoiadah, they are mistaken by Christ in Matthew 23:35. Zechariah is

indeed said there to have been killed between the temple and the altar, and he is

called the son of Barachiah: 3 but the counting of years will easily prove their

mistake, who would have him to be the same Zechariah. The former, who is called

in sacred history the son of Jehoiadah the priest, was slain under Joash. Let us now

see how many kings succeeded him, and also how many years he reigned. That

Zechariah must have been almost two hundred years old at the Babylonian exile, if

he was alive, had be been a boy when he was stoned. ow this Zechariah, of whom

we now speak, performed the office of a Prophet after the return of the people from

exile. He must then have been not only more than a hundred and fifty years of age,

but must have exceeded two hundred years when he died. The idea respecting the

renascence of men, being a reverie of the Jews, is not worthy of a record, much less

of a refutation. He is however called the son of Barachiah; but the probable

conjecture is that Jehoiadah the priest had two names, and it does not appear that

he was a prophet. However this may be, the Zechariah who was stoned in the temple

by the order of the king, was the son of the high priest, and died more than a

hundred years before the Babylonian exile. For we have said that this Darius was

not the Mede who reigned with Cyrus, but the son of Hystaspes, who reigned a long

time after, that is, after Cambyses and the Magi. Their want of knowledge is easily

proved, who think that these Prophets were sent by God before the completion of

the time mentioned by Jeremiah. As then the seventy years had elapsed, this

Prophet was no doubt born after the time when the city was destroyed, the temple

pulled-down, and the people led captive into Babylon."

8. STEVE COLE, "The people responded to

Haggais message and began to work again on the temple.

Two months into the project, in the eighth month of the

second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the

prophet (Zech. 1:1). That date is significant! Two months into any

volunteer project of this magnitude, people need a word from the

Lord! They need hope and encouragement. They need the motivation

that comes from knowing that this project is worthwhile. That

is especially so when the people are a bunch of refugees returning

to a devastated country, still surrounded by hostile neighbors.

Zechariahs prophecy was directed to such people. He has

been called the prophet of hope. His message is filled with the encouragement

that God will keep His promises to His people, especially

His promises regarding the Messiah. Zechariah has more

Messianic prophecy than all of the other Minor Prophets combined

and he is second only to Isaiah in the number of references to

Christ. The ew Testament cites or alludes to Zechariah at least 41

times (Bible Knowledge Commentary [Victor Books], 1:1545). His message

is that even though Gods chosen people had been scattered

among the nations because of their disobedience, God still loved

them and His purpose for them would still be accomplished."

"You can remember the theme of the book if you will jot down

the Hebrew meanings of the three names in verse 1. Zechariah

means, whom the Lord remembers. Berechiah means, the Lord

blesses. Iddo means, at the appointed time (Charles Feinberg,

God Remembers [American Board of Missions to the Jews], p. 17).

God raised up Zechariah to proclaim that God remembers His

chosen people and that He will bless them in His appointed time.

That message applies to us, especially if you are discouraged.

When you look around at the evil in the world and the apathy or

hostility toward the gospel, you may feel as if God has forgotten

you. But He remembers! He will bless in His appointed time! Our

job is to be obedient and faithful to Him."

9. Darius was called Darius the Great because he was a powerful leader and ruler of

the Persian Empire. He lived from 549 to 485 B. C. and reigned from 522 to 485. He

is named 26 times in the Old Testament.

Wikipedia, "It was through the organization of the empire he became the true

successor of Cyrus the Great. His organizing of provinces and fixing of tributes is

described by Herodotus (iii. 90 if.), evidently from good official sources. He divided

the Persian Empire into twenty provinces, each under the supervision of a governor

or satrap. The satrap position was usually hereditary and largely autonomous,

allowing each province its own distinct laws, traditions, and elite class. Every

province, however, was responsible for paying a gold or silver tribute to the

emperor; many areas, such as Babylonia, underwent severe economic decline

resulting from these quotas.

Each province also had an independent financial controller and an independent

military coordinator as well as the satrap, who controlled administration and the

law. All three probably reported directly to the king. This distributed power within

the province more evenly and lowered the chance of revolt. Darius also increased

the bureaucracy of the empire, with many scribes employed to provide records of

the administration."

Darius is often renowned above all as being a great financier. He fixed the coinage

and introduced the golden Daric. He developed commerce within the empire and

trade without. For example, he sent an expedition down the Kabul and Indus

Rivers, led by the Carian captain Scylax of Caryanda, who explored the Indian

Ocean from the mouth of the Indus to Suez. During his reign, the population

increased and industries flourished in towns. Persia under Darius probably had

connections with Carthage (cf. the Karka of the akshi Rustam inscription) of Sicily

and Italy. At the same time he attempted to gain the good-will of the subject nations,

and for this purpose promoted the aims of their priests. He allowed the Jews to

rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem and it was finished in 516 BC, his sixth year. In

Egypt his name appears on the temples which he built in Memphis, Edfu and the

Great Oasis. He called the high-priest of Sais, Tzahor, to Susa (as we learn from his

inscription in the Vatican Museum), and gave him full powers to reorganize the

"house of life," the great medical school of the temple of Sais. In the Egyptian

traditions he is considered one of the great benefactors and lawgivers of the

country."

Darius also continued the process of religious tolerance to his subjects, which had

been important parts of the reigns of Cyrus and Cambyses. Darius himself was

likely monotheistic - in royal inscriptions Ahuramazda is the only god mentioned by

name. However, there is considerable evidence that Darius worshiped, funded, and

honored various pantheons of gods. This was important as the majority of the

empire's inhabitants were polytheists. Also, like many other Persian Kings, he was

strictly against slavery: for example, all the workers at Persepolis and other

construction projects he commissioned were paid, which was revolutionary at the

time. His human rights policies were also common to his ancestors and future

Persian kings, continuing the legacy of the first human rights document ever made.

BESO, "Verse 1-2

Zechariah 1:1-2. In the eighth month This month, according to that reckoning

which begins the year with the month Abib, or isan, Exodus 12:2, falls in with the

latter part of our October, and the beginning of ovember. Haggai had begun to

exhort the Jews to resume the work of building the temple two months before this,

and they had actually resumed it on the 24th day of the sixth month, that is, in the

beginning of September. In the second year of Darius That is, Darius the son of

Hystaspes, as Dr. Blayney and many other learned men have proved to a

demonstration. Came the word of the Lord to Zechariah Here we see the prophet

did not run before he was sent, or undertake a work to which he was not called: as

also, that what he communicated to the people, was first communicated to him by

the Lord. Saying, The Lord, &c. Blayney here supplies, Speak unto all the people

of the land, saying, &c. He supposes that some words, expressive of that or a similar

sense, have been omitted by the carelessness of some transcriber. The Lord hath

been sore displeased with your fathers He was so long and so much provoked,

that his displeasure at last broke out into that flame which consumed your city and

temple, and even desolated your country, nay, and punished the inhabitants thereof,

and their children, with the captivity of seventy years; yet now he declares himself

willing to be reconciled to you upon your repentance.

COFFMA, "This chapter has one of the most impressive calls to righteousness in

the whole Bible (Zechariah 1:1-6), and the first two of eight remarkable visions: (1)

that of the horsemen in the myrtle grove (Zechariah 1:7-11), with the divine

interpretation of the vision (Zechariah 1:11-17), and (2) the vision of the four horns

and the four smiths, including its divine interpretation (Zechariah 1:18-21).

Despite the purpose of Zechariah's prophecy being that of conveying comfort,

consolation, and encouragement to the frustrated and depressed remnant of once-

mighty Israel who had made their way back to Jerusalem following the seventy

years of captivity, the prophet quite properly began with a stern call to repentance,

reaffirming the eternal principle of God's truth that the divine favor is absolutely

inseparably linked to faithful, godly living. Every generation needs this truth

reinforced in the popular mind. The loving grace of God, of course, is free; but a

sensuous, irreligious life is the forfeiture of God's grace and mercy. "Faith only" as

a valid claim upon heavenly mercy is only a fool's nightmare.

Zechariah 1:1

"In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of Jehovah unto

Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying."

Eighth month ... second year of Darius ..." The eighth month was called Bul before

the captivity,[1] and also Marchesuan, according to Josephus.[2] It corresponds to

our October-ovember and was a rainy season. Darius was Darius the Great,

grandson of Cyrus the Great who issued the decree for the end of the captivity. His

second year is identified as 520 B.C. This was only about two months after Haggai

issued his prophecy.

Came the word of Jehovah ..." A number of Old Testament books begin with this

statement, including: Hosea, Joel, Jonah, Zephaniah, Micah, etc. This is an

affirmation of Zechariah's authority and commission as a deliverer of the Word of

God himself to his people. It is not correct, therefore, to interpret Zechariah's

messages as if they were merely the words of the prophet. Many comments on the

sacred Canon are worthless because they do not take this into consideration.

Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet ..." In Jewish

genealogies, they were' sometimes abbreviated by skipping some names, as

evidenced by the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1, and in the case of Jehu, the son of

imshi (1 Kings 19:16), who is called Jehu, son of Jehoshaphat, the son of imshi (2

Kings 9:2,14). On account of this, there should be no question that "Zechariah, the

son of Iddo" (Ezra 6:14) is also a true reference to the author of this book. Baldwin

pointed out that this is the "simplest explanation and one that requires no alteration

of the text."[3]

The sudden resurgence of activity by the Jews in the rebuilding of their temple

which appears both in Haggai and in Zechariah came about because of the neglect

of the project by the central government founded by Cyrus the Great, a neglect

which began with the death of Cyrus and extended throughout the reign of

Cambyses his successor. This neglect came to a sudden end with the accession of

Darius the Great who renewed the project with all diligence (Ezra 6:11-12). Thus,

there were two good reasons why the prophet dated his epistle from a point in the

reign of Darius. First, God's people were politically subject to his authority, and

second, he was an ally and benefactor of it.

TRAPP, "Zechariah 1:1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the

word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the

prophet, saying,

Ver. 1. In the eight month, in the second year of Darius] Two months after Haggai

began to prophesy. {See Trapp on "Haggai 1:1"} These two prophets did jointly

together reprove the Jews for their sloth in rebuilding the temple, and incite them to

set forward the work, Ezra 5:1, contributing their utmost help thereunto, Zechariah

1:2. They were also a singular help the one to the other, in the execution of their

office. For "two are better than one"; and why, see Ecclesiastes 4:9. {See Trapp on

"Ecclesiastes 4:9"} For which cause also Christ sent out first the twelve, and then

the seventy, by two and two, Mark 6:7, Luke 10:1. So Paul and Barnabas were sent

abroad; the two faithful witnesses, Revelation 11:8. S , as the poet

speaks of Ulysses, and Diomedes sent to fetch in the palladium. (a) One good man

may be an angel to another (as Bradford was to his fellow martyr, Dr Taylor), nay,

a god to another, as Moses was to Aaron, Exodus 4:16. And for others; in the mouth

of two or three witnesses a truth is better believed by them; and a twisted cord not

easily broken. Haggai lays down the mind of God to the people more plainly in

direct and downright terms; Zechariah flies a higher pitch, abounding with types

and visions; and is therefore worthily reckoned among the abstrusest and

profoundest penmen of Holy Scripture, Prae caeteris obscurus est, profundas,

varius, prolixus, et aenigmaticus (Cor. a Lapide). For it must be understood (and let

it here be prefaced) that albeit all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is

profitable to instruct, 2 Timothy 3:16, pure, precious, and profitable, every leaf,

line, and letter of it, Psalms 12:6, Proverbs 30:5; yet, between Scripture and

Scripture there is no small difference; some pieces of Gods Book for their antiquity,

and some other for their obscurity, do justly challenge our greater attention and

industry. Of the former sort, famous for their antiquity, are the five Books of Moses,

whom Theodoret fitly calleth the great Ocean of divinity ( Y

), the fountain of the following Scriptures. Of the second sort, noted for

their difficulty, and that will not be acquainted with us but upon further suit, some

are hard through their fulness of matter in fewness of words, as the poetical books,

wherein (no doubt) the verse also hath caused some cloud: and others again, by the

sublimity of the subject they handle; such as are the Books of Ezekiel, and Daniel,

and this of Zechariah, who is totus fere symbolicus, the whole is to take symbolically

and is much followed by St John in his Revelation. Hence Jerome in his prologue to

this prophet saith, Ab obscuris ad obscuriora transimus, et cum Mose ingredimur

ad nubem et caliginem. Abyssus abyssum invocat. We pass from dark prophecies to

that which is much more dark; and with Moses we are entering into the cloud and

thick darkness. Here one deep calleth upon another. And, being in a labyrinth, we

hope to get out by Christs golden clue; concerning whose passion, resurrection, and

glory, he speaketh more like an evangelist than a prophet, and may therefore be

rightly styled, The evangelical prophet.

Came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah] Therefore the

same that our Saviour speaketh of Matthew 23:35, Luke 11:51, though I once

thought otherwise, after Jerome, Luther, Calvin, Beza, Glassius, Grotius. But, 1. the

name of his father, Berechiah; 2. the manner of Christs account (reckoning from

Abel, the first martyr, to this, penultimus prophetarum, last, save one, of the

prophets, and last of all that was slain by the Jews, after the rebuilding of the

temple, whither, being assaulted, he ran for sanctuary), easily persuades me to alter

mine opinion. As for those that hold that our Saviour there speaketh of Zacharias,

the father of John Baptist, Luke 1:59, slain by the Jews, because he preached

Virginis partum et Christi ortum, Christ born of a virgin, Baronius, Tolet, and

others, as they affirm it without reason, so they may be dismissed without

refutation. Hoc, quia de scripturis non habet authoritatem, eadem facilitate

contemnitur, qua probatur, saith Jerome.

The son of Iddo the prophet] Whether the word prophet be to be referred to

Zechariah or to Iddo is uncertain. That there was a prophet Iddo we read, and

Zechariah might well be of his line, after many descents, 2 Chronicles 12:15. He is

here mentioned (as also Ezra 5:1) ut nepoti suo Zachariae nomen et decus conciliet,

for an honour to his ab-nephew, Zechariah; according to that of Solomon, "The

glory of children are their fathers," to wit, if they be godly and religious, Proverbs

17:6. What an honour was it to Jacob that he could swear by the fear of his father

Isaac! to David, that he could say, "Truly, Lord, I am thy servant, I am thy servant,

the son of thine handmaid!" Psalms 116:16; to Timothy, that he had such a mother

as Lois, such a grandmother as Eunice! 2 Timothy 1:5; to the children of the elect

lady, to the posterity of Latimer, Bradford, Ridley, and other of those men of God,

who suffered for the truth! If the degenerate Jews so boasted of Abraham, their

father, John 8:33, Matthew 3:9, how much more might Zechariah (no degenerate

plant, no bastardly brood, as they were, Matthew 12:39, ) boast and

bear himself bold on his lather, Berechiah (the blessing of God), and his

grandfather, Iddo (Gods witness, confessor, or ornament), since he trod in their

holy steps, and was adorned with their gifts and virtues! The Papists brag much of

Peter, and other apostles, their founders and predecessors; but this is but an empty

title, to talk of personal succession (which yet cannot be proven), unless they could

also show us their gifts and graces, as all the world may see they cannot. We read of

a painter who, being blamed by a cardinal for colouring the visages of Peter and

Paul too red, tartly replied that he painted them so, as blushing at the lives of their

successors.

COKE, "Introduction

CHAP. I.

Zechariah exhorteth to repentance. The vision of the horses. At the prayer of the

angel, comfortable promises are made to Jerusalem. The vision of the four horns,

and the four carpenters.

Before Christ 520.

THE first six verses of this chapter contain a separate and distinct revelation, but at

the same time connected with the general purport and design of the visions that

follow, to which it forms a suitable introduction. The people of the Jews were

dispirited with the recollection of their past sufferings, and a sense of their present

weak and dependent state. The divine wisdom thought meet to rally their courage,

and animate them to the undertaking of what was necessary for the restoration of

their affairs, and particularly to a vigorous prosecution of the building of the temple

already in hand, by holding forth to them a prospect of better times. Accordingly,

they are assured that God was now ready to restore them to favour, and accumulate

his blessings upon them, provided they would turn to him, and not provoke his

judgments, as their fathers had done, by wilful disobedience.

Verse 1

Zechariah 1:1. In the eighth month Zechariah begins his prophesy with an

exhortation to the people to be converted to the Lord, and not to imitate the

stubbornness of their forefathers. Three months afterwards, Zechariah 1:7 the Lord

caused to appear to him an angel on horseback in the midst of a myrtle grove,

standing by the side of a river. Several other angels come to the first, and acquaint

him, that the whole country was at peace and abounded with inhabitants. He thence

takes occasion to intreat the Lord, that he would have compassion on the cities of

Judah. The Lord gives him a gracious and comfortable answer, and complies with

his request. Then the prophet saw four horns, Zechariah 1:18 and four men going to

break them with hammers; and he was told that these four horns denoted so many

powers which had oppressed his people; but that the time was come wherein they

should be overthrown, and broken to pieces. See Calmet.

EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMMETARY, "Verses 1-6

ZECHARIAH THE PROPHET

Zechariah 1:1-6; Ezra 5:1;, Ezra 6:14

ZECHARIAH is one of the prophets whose personality as distinguished from their

message exerts some degree of fascination on the student. This is not due, however,

as in the case of Hosea or Jeremiah, to the facts of his life, for of these we know

extremely little; but to certain conflicting symptoms of character which appear

through his prophecies.

His name was a very common one in Israel, Zekher-Yah, "Jehovah remembers." In

his own book he is described as "the son of Berekh-Yah, the son of Iddo," and in the

Aramaic document of the Book of Ezra as "the son of Iddo." Some have explained

this difference by supposing that Berekhyah was the actual father of the prophet,

but that either he died early, leaving Zechariah to the care of the grandfather, or

else that he was a man of no note, and Iddo was more naturally mentioned as the

head of the family. There are several instances in the Old Testament of men being

called the sons of their grandfathers; [Genesis 24:47, cf. 1 Kings 19:16, cf. 2 Kings

9:14; 2 Kings 9:20] as in these cases the grandfather was the reputed founder of the

house, so in that of Zechariah Iddo was the head of his family when it came out of

Babylon and was anew planted in Jerusalem. Others, however, have contested the

genuineness of the words "son of Berekh-Yah," and have traced their insertion to a

confusion of the prophet with Zechariah son of Yebherekh-Yahu, the contemporary

of Isaiah. This is precarious, while the other hypothesis is a very natural one.

Whichever be correct, the prophet Zechariah was a member of the priestly family of

Iddo, that came up to Jerusalem from Babylon under Cyrus. [ehemiah 12:4] The

Book of ehemiah adds that in the high-priesthood of Yoyakim, the son of Joshua,

the head of the house of Iddo was a Zechariah. If this be our prophet, then he was

probably a young man in 520, and had come up as a child in the caravans from

Babylon. The Aramaic document of the Book of Ezra [Ezra 5:1;, Ezra 6:14] assigns

to Zechariah a share with Haggai in the work of instigating Zerubbabel and Jeshua

to begin the Temple. one of his oracles is dated previous to the beginning of the

work in August, 520, but we have seen that among those undated there are one or

two which by referring to the building of the Temple as still future may contain

some relics of that first stage of his ministry. From ovember, 520, we have the first

of his dated oracles; his Visions followed in January, 519, and his last recorded

prophesying in December, 518.

These are all the certain events of Zechariahs history. But in the well-attested

prophecies he has left we discover, besides some obvious traits of character, certain

problems of style and expression which suggest a personality of more than usual

interest. Loyalty to the great voices of old, the temper which appeals to the

experience, rather than to the dogmas, of the past, the gift of plain speech to his own

times, a wistful anxiety about his reception as a prophet, [Zechariah 2:13;,

Zechariah 4:9;, Zechariah 6:15] combined with the absence of all ambition to be

original or anything but the clear voice of the lessons of the past and of the

conscience of today these are the qualities which characterize Zechariahs orations

to the people. But how to reconcile them with the strained art and obscure truths of

the Visions-it is this which invests with interest the study of his personality. We have

proved that the obscurity and redundancy of the Visions cannot all have been due to

himself. Later hands have exaggerated the repetitions and raveled the processes of

the original. But these gradual blemishes have not grown from nothing: the original

style must have been sufficiently involved to provoke the interpolations of the

scribes, and it certainly contained all the weird and shifting apparitions which we

find so hard to make clear to ourselves. The problem, therefore, remains-how one

who had gift of speech, so straight and clear, came to torture and tangle his style;

how one who presented with all plainness the main issues of his peoples history

found it laid upon him to invent, for the further expression of these, symbols so

labored and intricate.

We begin with the oracle which opens his book and illustrates those simple

characteristics of the man that contrast so sharply with the temper of his Visions.

"In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of Jehovah came to the

prophet Zechariah, son of Berekhyah, son of Iddo, saying: Jehovah was very wroth

with your fathers."

"And thou shalt say unto them: Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts: Turn ye to Me-oracle

of Jehovah of Hosts-that I may turn to you, saith Jehovah of Hosts! Be not like your

fathers, to whom the former prophets preached, saying: Thus saith Jehovah of

Hosts, Turn now from your evil ways and from your evil deeds, but they hearkened

not, and paid no attention to Me-oracle of Jehovah. Your fathers, where are they?

And the prophets, do they live for ever? But, My words and My statutes, with which

I charged My servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers? till these

turned and said, As Jehovah of Hosts did purpose to do unto us, according to our

deeds and according to our ways, so hath He dealt with us."

It is a sign of the new age which we have reached, that its prophet should appeal to

the older prophets with as much solemnity as they did to Moses himself. The history

which led to the Exile has become to Israel as classic and sacred as her great days of

deliverance from Egypt and of conquest in Canaan. But still more significant is

what Zechariah seeks from that past; this we must carefully discover, if we would

appreciate with exactness his rank as a prophet.

The development of religion may be said to consist of a struggle between two

tempers, both of which indeed appeal to the past, but from very opposite motives.

The one proves its devotion to the older prophets by adopting the exact formulas of

their doctrine, counts these sacred to the letter, and would enforce them in detail

upon the minds and circumstances of the new generation. It conceives that truth has

been promulgated once for all in forms as enduring, as the principles they contain.

It fences ancient rites, cherishes old customs and institutions, and when these are

questioned it becomes alarmed and even savage. The other temper is no whit behind

this one in its devotion to the past, but it seeks the ancient prophets not so much for

what they have said as for what they have been, not for what they enforced but for

what they encountered, suffered, and confessed. It asks not for dogmas, but for

experience and testimony. He who can thus read the past and interpret it to his own

day-he is the prophet. In his reading he finds nothing so clear, nothing so tragic,

nothing so convincing as the working of the Word of God. He beholds how this came

to men, haunted them and was entreated by them. He sees that it was their great

opportunity, which being rejected became their judgment. He finds abused justice

vindicated, proud wrong punished, and all Gods neglected commonplaces achieving

in time their triumph. He reads how men came to see this, and to confess their guilt.

He is haunted by the remorse of generations who know how they might have obeyed

the Divine call, but willfully did not. And though they have perished, and the

prophets have died and their formulas are no more applicable, the victorious Word

itself still lives and cries to men with the terrible emphasis of their fathers

experience. All this is the vision of the true prophet, and it was the vision of

Zechariah.

His generation was one whose chief temptation was to adopt towards the past the

other attitude we have described. In their feebleness what could the poor remnant of

Israel do but cling servilely to the former greatness? The vindication of the Exile

had stamped the Divine authority of the earlier prophets. The habits, which the life

in Babylon had perfected, of arranging and codifying the literature of the past, and

of employing it, in place of altar and ritual, in the stated service of God, had

canonized Scripture and provoked men to the worship of its very letter. Had the

real prophet not again been raised, these habits might have too early produced the

belief that the Word of God was exhausted, and must have fastened upon the feeble

life of Israel that mass of stiff and stark dogmas, the literal application of which

Christ afterwards found crushing the liberty and the force of religion. Zechariah

prevented this-for a time. He himself was mighty in the Scriptures of the past: no

man in Israel makes larger use of them. But he employs them as witnesses, not as

dogmas; he finds in them not authority, but experience. He reads their testimony to

the ever-living presence of Gods Word with men. And seeing that, though the old

forms and figures have perished with the hearts which shaped them, the Word itself

in its bare truth has vindicated its life by fulfillment in history, he knows that it lives

still, and hurls it upon his people, not in the forms published by this or that prophet

of long ago, but in its essence and direct from God Himself, as His Word for today

and now. "The fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? But

My words and My statutes, with which I charged My servants the prophets, have

they not overtaken your fathers? Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, Be ye not like your

fathers, but turn ye to Me that I may turn to you."

The argument of this oracle might very naturally have been narrowed into a

credential for the prophet himself as sent from God. About his reception as

Jehovahs messenger Zechariah shows a repeated anxiety. Four times he concludes a

prediction with the words. "And ye shall know that Jehovah hath sent me," as if

after his first utterances he had encountered that suspicion and unbelief which a

prophet never failed to suffer from his contemporaries. But in this oracle there is no

trace of such personal anxiety. The oracle is pervaded only with the desire to prove

the ancient Word of God as still alive, and to drive it home in its own sheer force.

Like the greatest of his order Zechariah appears with the call to repent: "Turn ye to

Me-oracle of Jehovah of Hosts-that I may turn to you." This is the pivot on which

history has turned, the one condition on which God has been able to help men.

Wherever it is read as the conclusion of all the past, wherever it is proclaimed as the

conscience of the present, there the true prophet is found and the Word of God has

been spoken.

This same possession by the ethical spirit reappears, as we shall see, in Zechariahs

orations to the people after the anxieties of building are over and the completion of

the Temple is in sight. In these he affirms again that the whole essence of Gods

Word by the older prophets has been moral-to judge true judgment, to practice

mercy, to defend the widow and orphan, the stranger and poor, and to think no evil

of one another. For the sad fasts of the Exile Zechariah enjoins gladness, with the

duty of truth and the hope of peace. Again and again he enforces sincerity and the

love without dissimulation. His ideals for Jerusalem are very high, including the

conversion of the nations to her God. But warlike ambitions have vanished from

them, and his pictures of her future condition are homely and practical. Jerusalem

shall be no more a fortress, but spread village-wise without walls. Full families,

unlike the present colony with its few children and its men worn out in middle life

by harassing warfare with enemies and a sullen nature; streets rife with children

playing and old folk sitting in the sun; the return of the exiles; happy harvests and

spring-times of peace; solid gain of labor for every man, with no raiding neighbors

to harass, nor the mutual envies of peasants in their selfish struggle with famine.

It is a simple, hearty, practical man whom such prophesying reveals, the spirit of

him bent on justice and love, and yearning for the un-harassed labor of the field and

for happy homes. o prophet has more beautiful sympathies, a more direct word of

righteousness, or a braver heart.

"Fast not, but love truth and peace. Truth and wholesome justice set ye up in your

gates. Be not afraid; strengthen your hands! Old men and women-shall yet sit in the

streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand for the fullness of their years; the citys

streets shall be rife with boys and girls at play."

PARKER, "Spiritual Times and Seasons

Zechariah 1:1-9

We dislike men who know the day upon which they were converted. We have lived,

by the temptation of the devil, down to that low point. Our reason for disliking such

men is that we do not know the day of our own conversion; and if we do not know

when we were converted, how is it possible for any one else to know when he was

converted? All the prophets must go down before this narrow and shallow criticism

of ours, because they give the day and the date, and almost the very hour. The

difficulty is for a man to forget the day when he first saw the Lord. Why, there is no

other day. All the Song of Solomon -called other days are so many nights, or at best

twilights. We never saw the true day until we saw the light that is above the

brightness of the sun; this day puts out all other light, this incident of conversion

puts out all other history, or throws it into its right perspective and relationship.

Zechariah was a youth. That is a term which ought to be explained, because it

conveyed a meaning in the Hebrew which it does not convey in English. A "youth"

does not necessarily mean a child or a boy. Jeremiah said he was a child, "a little

child." So are we all in the presence of a century: what must we be in the presence

of eternity? Joseph was called a child, or a youth, when he was twenty-eight years of

age; the men who mocked Elisha were called little children: they may have been

forty years old. All these terms are relative, and are not to be understood except by a

clear conception of the circumstances under which they were used. The Lord

chooseth both old men and young; his message will fit any age: sometimes he has a

word to us that a boy could not utter; sometimes he has a message to deliver that

only a young heart can properly announce, because it alone has the requisite

freshness of sympathy and music. The Lord has a word which only men of business

can speak; and they will not speak it. There are some sermons that ought never to be

preached in the pulpit; they ought to be preached in the market-place, or over the

counter, or on high "Change; and men of business only can speak them with

clearness and precision, and moral, because personal, authority. There are some

texts that preachers have no business with; they cannot pronounce the words aright;

they can utter the individual syllables, but they cannot run them into that

persuasive music which belongs only to the tongue of honest commerce.

"The prophet" ( Zechariah 1:1). Zechariah is not ashamed of his function. We are

not to read "the son of Iddo the prophet," according to English punctuation; the

comma ought to be after the word "Iddo"; and, omitting the intermediate

genealogy, the word will then stand"The word of the Lord unto Zechariah the

prophet." How can the Lord send his word to anybody but prophets? Other people

could not understand it. Here is a mystery, but it is a mystery of fact rather than of

speculation or dream. Some men laugh at the Gospel. Do not mock them; they

cannot do aught else. Why I cannot tell, I did not make the universe; the human

heart is no construction of ours. There are men to whom there is no Church. Do not

reason with them; you cannot put liquid into a vessel that is open at both ends; do

not waste your words: the kingdom of heaven is sent to them who can understand it,

feel it, catch its music, and answer it with kindred melody. All this involves much

questioning; all this indeed supplies the basis upon which angry cross-examination

might take place; and we know it. The explanation may come by-and-by, and that

explanation will be adequate; meanwhile, there are men to whom sermons cannot be

preached because they cannot be heard. There are souls on whom hymns are

wasted. How this is we know not.

When the Lord sends his word to his chosen one he will make it easy for that chosen

one to deliver it, will he not? o: he sends his servant upon hard work. When did

the Lord ever give any servant of his an easy function? When did he say to his

Jeremiah , or Ezekiel , or Daniel , or other prophets, Come now; this is easy, this

will cost you nothing; you could do this at odd times? ever. There are men who can

apparently do the Lord"s work without suffering through it; but it is not the

Lord"s work they are doing, or if it be the Lord"s work in any superficial sense it is

not done with the Lord"s spirit, which is the spirit of the Cross, the spirit of shed

blood, the spirit that keeps nothing back. There be those who say that the Lord

deceived us by going into a swoon. A poor Lord to follow and unworthy of being

followed! If he only swooned in love he is a deceiver. All who teach that dead Christ

who lived again must be prepared to carry heavy weights, and run long distances,

and say words that scorch their tongues.

Zechariah was commissioned to say to the people, "The Lord hath been sore

displeased with your fathers." "Sore displeased" is somewhat feeble. Yet it is

significant. The word which Zechariah really used was, "The Lord hath been wrath

with a wrath." Real Hebrew, word upon word, with cumulativeness of emphasis

until repetition becomes argument, and reduplication becomes eloquence. The

details are left to the imagination. Who will set down the Lord"s judgment in

numbered particulars? He who would do so would trifle with all the higher aspects

and meanings of providence. When all heaven is draped with one cloud of anger,

where is the man who would take paper and pen and write thereon the detail of the

wrath of God? Take it in its summariness; take it in its unbroken unity.

But being "displeased with your fathers," what is that to do with us? Let Darwin

himself be commentator. Darwin says, "o being can ever get rid of its

antecedents." If the Bible had said that, we might have smiled at the fanaticism, and

charged the book with a species of immorality, because it follows men from age to

age, and says, You!the man who was not in Eden when the fruit was stolen.

Darwin says he was, and Darwin was a prophet. That is to say, if ever there was a

man who did anything wrong, all men belonging to that man can never shake him

off. Have we sufficiently considered the solidarity of history? Do we really know

that there is only one Man in the world? ot one individual, or not one Prayer of

Manasseh , spelling man with a small m: but only one Man. So we recur to our

question, Where are those who separate themselves from humanity, and shelter

themselves under the canvas of their ancestral respectability? It is well for the

theologians that they can quote Charles Darwin, because Zechariah is of no account.

Only a man who has collected ten thousand insects and pinned five thousand

butterflies, and studied night and day the minutest processes of nature accessible to

the microscope or the telescope,only he may now be believed. Zechariah had no

telescopepoor Zechariah! "Your fathers": what have we to do with our fathers?

Everything. Did you object to being made rich by your father? When do you want

to cast your fathers off? When you can get no more out of them: but Darwin says a

Prayer of Manasseh , a creature, cannot get rid of his antecedentsand Darwin had

a microscope! We are thankful for such testimony; it is the testimony of patience,

intelligence, and fearlessness, and ought to be valued by every student of human

nature.

But there is another factor in the universe that does not come within the ken of the

microscope:"Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts." That is

religious. If there is a Lord of hosts, that makes all the difference in the universe. Of

course, I had thought before I came to this that the universe got into existence in

some kind of surreptitious manner; I did not know how it stole in upon me, or

where I was when it came into existence, but I have been given to understand that it

made itself in some kind of way, or came out of something so minute that nobody

ever saw it, and nobody ever remembers its exact name; it came out of particle, or

atom, or mist, or fire-vapour, or cloud. Perhaps: but where did the thing it came out

of come from? That is what we want to know. If you start with an atom, we only ask

where the atom came from. It is going to be a greater mystery than we at first

supposed; a grander display of power, a more august, tremendous wisdom. Hear the

new name"The Lord of hosts": is there a power outside of us that rules us, directs

us, on the ground of having made us? If Song of Solomon , that makes all the

difference in the argument. If we are not alone in creation, who is it that divides and

spoils our solitude? The Lord of hosts is unthinkable. So is everything under the sun

and above it, in its higher, deeper, grander meanings. Zechariah does not deliver

any message of malediction or of benediction as the result of his own inspiration, or

any movement on his own part. Whatever he says he sanctifies by a name; that

name is "the Lord of hosts," and Zechariah believed that the universe was made all

the more possible and beautiful and useful, because it was created by the Lord of

hosts. We accept his doctrine; it looks to us more rational than any other.

What will the Lord of hosts have done? He will have a gospel proclaimed, and that

gospel shall be the great doctrine of the possibility of human conversion"Turn ye

unto him." That is the word that makes highest history. Here you have an action

proceeding in one direction, and a voice says, Reverse, halt, turn, come back! That is

a new possibility in life, we never thought of that before. We understood that if a

motion was created, it must go on through eternity; but here is a power that says,

Whatever is going on one way can go back the other way. There is a voice, rational

or irrational, that says, Whatever we do can be undone, if we associate ourselves

with an economy larger than the world which we call the world of nature. "Be not

as your fathers." What, is it possible to shake off your antecedents? Is it possible to

be grafted into another tree? Is it possible to start a new history? What? Listen"If

any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." Here, then, we have conversion,

reconstruction, regeneration, sanctification.

In the fifth verse we have an extraordinary colloquy: "Your fathers, where are

they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?" How many pensive sermons we have

heard preached on these inquiries that have no relation whatever to the question,

except a relation of accommodation! The colloquy is between the prophet and the

people:Your fathers, where are they? saith the prophet,dead, gone, perished,

crushed beneath the wheel of righteous retribution: your fathers, where are they?

And the people answeredWell, what of it? the prophets, do they live for ever? If

our fathers were bad men and are dead, the prophets you say were good men, and

are they alive? The prophets, do they live for ever? And so the colloquy proceedsa

colloquy of angry exhortation on the one side, and angry and scornful recrimination

on the other. Zechariah says, Your fathers are dead,and the people say, So are

your prophets. The hearers are dead, so are the preachers. This power of reproach,

this genius of recrimination, must be carefully watched. There is a law of

dissolution, as well as a law of penalty. The prophet was not speaking about the

mere dissolution of the fathers, as who should say, Even the wisest men are mortal.

He was pointing to their removal as a proof of the righteous retribution which

governs human affairs. As for the prophets, when they die, they die by a natural

process, and pass on to a higher development; in so far as they were good men they

never die. Zechariah is not dead; David the sweet singer is not dead; Mary the

mother of Jesus is not a dead woman; the Saviour lives for ever.

Zechariah is not only empowered to deliver a message, he is authorised to found all

his messages and expostulations upon his own personal experience. Unless a

theologian is a converted Prayer of Manasseh , and has a testimony of his own about

Christ, he is an invader of the sanctuary, he is a trespasser, though a preacher.

ow Zechariah speaks in his own person, saying, "I saw by night." What an

extraordinary combination of terms! It is all some men can do to see by day; they

can only see dim outlines; they do not see realities, they see images, types, and

symbols; the prophet says, "I saw by night," which is in reality the only true time

for seeing. If you want to see your dead friends, look for them at midnight: all the

lights out, all the curtains drawn, the room all darkness; then, hush! they come.

Another man may say, I never saw. Very good; what of it? Who ever charged you

with having seen anything? Because you do not see, was Zechariah blind? Because

you have never seen anything under your feet but the paving-stones, have other men

not seen flowers? Who made thee a ruler or a judge of other men"s power of insight

and penetration? Zechariah says he saw, and he saw by night, and he saw "a man

riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the

bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white." It is easy to

sneer at these visions; the sneer is a tribute. Men by sneering show the limit of their

own capacity, and the limit of their own influence. Zechariah saw. Some living men

are always seeing, and are always being mocked. That must be so. Have no fear of

them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do: cultivate the

spiritual faculty, encourage, so to say, your spiritual vision to look for more and

more light and beauty. Some of us do live more in the spiritual than in the Song of

Solomon -called material. When men ask me if I believe in the supernatural, I say,

o: there is no supernatural. Why? Because what you call nature is not nature in

any limited, sensuous, and superficial sense: there is nothing but supernatural. We

deny the etymology and the exactness of the term; "Super"that is the part of the

word we cast away, and we say, All creation, all matter, all souls, live on the

appointed level, and God is in all, and above all, and round about all. We do not

admit the distinction between nature and supernature; we find the standard of

judgment in God"s personality. Men see different things in the world, and they

must interpret their own symbols or get them interpreted. We never saw a man

riding upon a red horse, and standing among the myrtle trees; but he is always

there; it is the eye that is wanted, not the man. "Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I

pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young

man; and he saw." That is the sublime mystery of development.

"And the angel that talked with me." That is poor, but the literal rendering is

grand"And the angel that talked in me." That is it. The interpreter must always

be in a Prayer of Manasseh ,"The water that I shall give him shall be in him a

well of water springing up into everlasting life." Listen to your soul, listen to

yourself, listen to yourself when you are in your best moods, when the keys of

heaven are given to you, and the Lord says, Ask what thou wilt, and it shall be done

unto thee. Then seize the crown, and hold it with a faithful hand.

PETT, "Verses 1-6

Gods Call to the People to Return to Him and Live in Obedience to His Demands -

The Offer of a ew Beginning (Zechariah 1:1-6).

Zechariah is the prophet of the new beginning, but as is always so with God, if there

is to be a new beginning there must be repentance, and so his work commences with

a call to repentance.

Zechariah 1:1-3

In the eight month, in the second year of Darius, the word of YHWH came to

Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying YHWH has

been sore displeased with your fathers. Therefore you say to them, Return to me,

says YHWH of Hosts, and I will return to you, says YHWH of Hosts.

The dating of the section in terms of Darius, king of Persia, indicates Jerusalems

subservient position. She has no king by which the dating can be indicated. She is

merely a small dot in a much larger Persian province.

Zechariahs first charge is to call the people to repentance from past sin. This is, as

ever, the first requirement when God is about to act. In the same way John the

Baptiser would come preparing the way for the coming of Jesus (Matthew 3:1-2).

He is to remind the people of Gods displeasure with the sins of their ancestors

which had resulted in the exile. And to warn them that they too are incurring Gods

displeasure, because, in spite of a new beginning, they are neglecting the work of

God and not listening to His voice. He warns them that they must return to God and

His ways. If they do so they can be sure of one thing, that God will return to them

and act on their behalf. Thus as ever the success of Gods people will depend from a

human point of view on their response, and their attitude and obedience towards

Him.

He wants them to recognise that God has begun His new work. That is why they are

back in the land. But he warns them that He will not bring them success unless there

is a true response of heart from them. His sovereign activity must be accompanied

by obedience. The very fact that the Temple has not been properly built and

established is a sign that all is not well with their devotion to God.

YHWH of Hosts. It is the God of the covenant (YHWH) and Lord of all creation

(of Hosts, the hosts of heaven and earth and of all within them) Who is speaking to

them. He is keeping His part in the covenant by restoring them to the land. They

must respond by obeying His laws and living to please Him in every way. ote the

twofold stress on YHWH of Hosts. The twofold witness stresses the truth of what is

said (Deuteronomy 19:15).

Of hosts is a reminder that, while they have no army, the hosts of Heaven and

earth are at their disposal if they are true to Him. The term includes the angelic

heavenly hosts as well as the universe, the sun, moon and stars, and all that is in

the earth (Genesis 2:1). Thus those who truly respond will not lack for resources.

2 "The LORD was very angry with your forefathers.

1. ot just angry, but very angry. There are degrees of anger, and God has them all

the way from being just disappointed to being furious.

1. Barnes, Wroth was the Lord against your fathers with wrath - o, that is, a wrath which was indeed such, whose greatness he does not further express, but leaves to their memories to supply. Cyril: Seest thou how he scares them, and, setting before the young what befell those before them, drives them to amend, threatening them with the like or more grievous ills, unless they would wisely reject their fathers ways, esteeming the pleasing of God worthy of all thought and care. He speaks of great wrath. For it indicates no slight displeasure that He allowed the Babylonians to waste all Judah and Samaria, burn the holy places and destroy Jerusalem, remove the elect Israel to a piteous slavery in a foreign land, severed from sacrifices, entering the holy court no more nor offering the thank-offering, or tithes, or first-fruits of the law, but precluded by necessity and, fear even from the duty of celebrating his prescribed and dearest festivals. The like we might address to the Jewish people, if we would apply it to the mystery of Christ. For after they had killed the prophets and had crucified the Lord of glory Himself, they were captured and destroyed; their famed temple was levelled, and Hoseas words were fulfilled in them; The children of Israel shall abide many days without a king and without a prince, without a sacrifice and without an image, without an ephod and without teraphim .

2. Clarke, The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers - For their ingratitude idolatry, iniquity, and general rebellion.

3. Gill, The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers. Who lived before and at the time of the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, and which was manifest by their captivity; all which were occasioned by their sins,

with which they provoked the Lord to sore displeasure against them; and this is mentioned as a caution to their children, that they might not follow their example, and incur the like displeasure.

4. Henry, The prophet here puts them in mind of the controversy God had had with their fathers (Zec_1:2): The Lord has been sorely displeased with your fathers, and has laid them under the tokens of his displeasure. You have heard with your ears, and your fathers have told you of it; you have seen with your eyes the woeful remains of it. God's quarrel with you has been of long standing, and therefore it is time for you to think of taking it up. Note, The judgments of God, which those that went before us were under, should be taken as warnings to us not to tread in their steps, and calls to repentance, that we may cut off the entail of the curse and get it turned into a blessing.

5. Jamison, God fulfilled His threats against your fathers; beware, then, lest by disregarding His voi