In this chapter, after the introduction (
1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, 2 The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers. 3 Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. 4 Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the Lord. 5 Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever? 6 But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.
Here is, I. The foundation of Zechariah's
ministry; it is laid in a divine authority: The word of the Lord
came to him. He received a divine commission to be God's mouth
to the people and with it instructions what to say. He received of
the Lord that which also he delivered unto them. The word of the
Lord was to him; it came in the evidence and demonstration of
the Spirit, as a real thing, and not a fancy. For the ascertaining
of this, we have here, 1. The time when the word of the Lord came
first to him, or when the word that next follows came to him: it
was in the second year of Darius. Before the captivity the
prophets dated their writings by the reigns of the kings of Judah
and Israel; but now by the reigns of the kings of Persia, to whom
they were subjects. Such a melancholy change had sin made of their
circumstances. Zerubbabel took not so much state upon him as to
have public acts dated by the years of his government, and in
things of this nature the prophets, as is fit, complied with the
usage of the time, and scrupled not to reckon by the years of the
heathen kings, as
II. The first-fruits of Zechariah's ministry. Before he came to visions and revelations, and delivered his prophetic discourses, he preached that which was plain and practical; for it is best to begin with that. Before he published the promises of mercy, he published calls to repentance, for thus the way of the Lord must be prepared. Law must be first preached, and then gospel. Now,
1. The prophet here puts them in mind of
the controversy God had had with their fathers (
2. He calls them, in God's name, to return
to him, and make their peace with him,
3. He warns them not to persist in their
impenitence, as their fathers had done (
(1.) "What was the message that God sent by his servants the prophets to your fathers: The former prophets cried to your fathers. cried aloud, and did not spare, not spare themselves, not spare your fathers; they cried as men in earnest, as men that would be heard; they spoke not as from themselves, but in the name of the Lord of hosts; and this was the substance of what they said, the burden of every song, the application of every sermon—Turn you now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings; the very same that we now preach to you. Be persuaded to leave your sins; resolve to have no more to do with them. A speedy reformation is the only way to prevent an approaching ruin: Turn you now from sin to God without delay."
(2.) "How little this message was regarded
by your fathers: But they did not hear, they did not heed.
They turned a deaf ear to these calls: They would not hearken
unto me, saith the Lord. They would not be reclaimed, would not
be ruled, by the word I sent them; say not then that you will do as
your fathers did, for they did amiss;" see
(3.) "What has become both of your fathers
and of the prophets that preached to them? They are all dead and
gone,"
(4.) "What were the effects of the word
which God spoke to them by his prophets,
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 (
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,
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,
2. He heard Christ's intercession with the
Father for his afflicted church,
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 (
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,
18 Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns. 19 And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What be these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. 20 And the Lord shewed me four carpenters. 21 Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.
It is the comfort and triumph of the church
(
I. We have here the enemies of the church
bold and daring, and threatening to be its death, to cut off the
name of Israel; such the people of God had lately been insulted
by: I looked and behold four horns (
II. We have here the friends of the church
active and prevailing. The prophet did himself lift up his eyes and
see the four horns, and saw them so formidable that he began to
despair of the safety of every good man, and the success of every
good work; but the Lord then showed him four
carpenters, or smiths, who were empowered to cut off
these horns,