Zechariah1chapter 1

Zechariah 1:7

“Though the visions are distinct, they form one grand whole, presented in one night to the prophet's mind, two or three months after the prophet's first commission (Zec 1:1). Sebat--the eleventh month of the Jewish year, from the new moon in February to the new moon in March. The term is Chaldee, meaning a "shoot," namely, the month when trees begin to shoot or bud.”

Zechariah 1:8

“I saw by night - The time was emblematical of the affliction under which the Jews groaned. A man - An angel in the form of a man: supposed to have been the Lord Jesus; who seems to have appeared often in this way, as a prelude to his incarnation; see Jos 5:13; Eze 1:26; Dan 7:13; Dan 10:6. The same, probably, that appeared to Joshua with a drawn sword, as the captain of the Lord’s host. Jos 5:13-15. A red horse - An emblem of war and bloodshed.”

Zechariah 1:9

I will hear what the Lord God speaks within me. The prophet prays on behalf of the people, and he who speaks within himself while God speaks, and he says, I will hear what the Lord God speaks within me. You see that God speaks not in the ears but in the heart; just as Zechariah too says: "And the angel who spoke within me said to me." There the angel is understood to be our Lord, who announces the will of the Father, who in Isaiah is called the "angel of great counsel."

Zechariah 1:10

“And the man answered - To the question addressed to the attendant-angel. He himself took the word. These are they whom the Lord sent to walk up and down - Satan says of himself that he came “from going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it” Job 2:2. As he for evil, so these for good. Their office was not a specific or passing duty, as when God sent His angels with some special commission, such as those recorded in Holy Scripture. It was a continuous conversation with the affairs of people, a minute course of visiting, inspecting our human deeds and ways, a part of the “wonderful order” , in which God has “ordained and constituted the services of angels and men.” Nor is it said that the angels were limited, each to his own special province, as we learn through Daniel, that certain great angels, princes among them, had the charge of empires or nations, even of the pagan . These angels had apparently only the office of inspecting and reporting to angels of a higher order, themselves a subordinate order in the heavenly Hierarchy. Nor are they spoken of, as executing any judgments of God, or as pacifying the earth; they may have been so employed; but they are only said to have reported the state in which they found it. These answered the unexpressed inquiry of the angel of the Lord, as he had answered the unuttered question of the angel, attendant on Zechariah.”

Zechariah 1:11

“Sitteth still and is at rest - At rest, as the word seems to express, from its accustomed state of tumult and war. Wars, although soon to break out again, were in the second year of Darius for the time suspended. The rest, in which the world was, suggests the contrast of the yet continuing unrest allotted to the people of God. Such rest had been promised to Israel, on its return from the captivity, but had not yet been fulfilled.”

Zechariah 1:12

“Then the angel of the Lord - He who was among the myrtles - the Lord Jesus. O Lord of hosts, how long - Jesus Christ was not only the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,” but was always the sole Mediator and intercessor between God and man. These threescore and ten years? - This cannot mean the duration of the captivity for that was nearly twenty years past. It must mean simply the time that had elapsed from the destruction of the temple to the time in which the angel spoke.”

Zechariah 1:13

“And the Lord answered the angel that talked with me,.... See Zec 1:9 what was the effect of Christ's intercession for the people of the Jews, was communicated to a ministering angel, and by him to the Prophet Zechariah: with good words, and comfortable words; such as would be for the good and comfort of God's people, as follows; see Isa 40:1.”

Zechariah 1:14

“So the angel that communed with me,.... Having an order from the other Angel, or the Lord of hosts: said unto me, Cry thou; proclaim, publish, declare in the hearing of the people, for their comfort and encouragement. The Targum renders it, "prophesy": saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I am jealous for Jerusalem, and for Zion, with a great jealousy; which is expressive of his conjugal affection for his church and people, his zeal for their good, and his indignation at their enemies, and of the vengeance he would execute on them.”

Zechariah 1:15

“I am sore displeased - literally “with great anger am I angered against the nations which are at ease.” The form of the words shows that the greatness of the displeasure of God against those who oppress His people, is proportionate to the great and tender love toward themselves. God had been angered indeed with His people; with their enemies He was “angered with a great anger;” and that the more, because they were at ease, in unfeeling self-enjoyment amid the miseries of others.”

Zechariah 1:16

“It was not completed till the sixth year of Darius (Ezr 6:15). line-- (Job 38:5). The measuring-line for building, not hastily, but with measured regularity. Not only the temple, but Jerusalem also was to be rebuilt (Ne 2:3, &c.; compare Zec 2:1, 2).”

Zechariah 1:17

“Abundance of fruits of the earth, corn and wine, and a large increase of citizens, are meant; also spiritual prosperity. comfort Zion-- (Isa 40:1, 2; 51:3). choose-- (Zec 2:12; Here meaning, "show by acts of loving-kindness that He has chosen." His immutable choice from everlasting is the fountain whence flow all such particular acts of love.”

Zechariah 1:18

“And behold four horns - Denoting four powers by which the Jews had been oppressed; the Assyrians, Persians, Chaldeans, and Egyptians. Or these enemies may be termed four, in reference to the four cardinal points of the heavens, whence they came: - 1. North. The Assyrians and Babylonians. 2. East. The Moabites and Ammonites. 3. South. The Egyptians. 4. West. The Philistines. See Martin.”

Zechariah 1:19

“These are the horns which have scattered - o “The four horns which scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem, are four nations, Babylonians, Medes and Persians, Macedonians and Romans; as the Lord, on the prophet’s enquiry, explains here, and Daniel unfolds most fully Dan. 2; who in the vision of the image with golden head, silver breast, belly and thighs of brass, feet of iron and clay, explained it of these four nations, and again in another vision of four beasts Dan. 7, lion, bear, leopard and another unnamed dreadful beast, he pointed out the same nations under another figure.”

Zechariah 1:20

“Four carpenters - Four other powers, who should defeat the powers intended by the horns. These are the same as the four chariots mentioned Zec 6:1-3, Zec 6:6, Zec 6:7. The first was Nabopolassar, father of Nebuchadnezzar, who overturned the empire of the Assyrians. The second was Cyrus, who destroyed the empire of the Chaldeans. The third was Alexander the Great, who destroyed the empire of the Persians. And the fourth was Ptolemy, who rendered himself master of Egypt. Some of these had already been cast down; the rest were to follow.”

Zechariah 1:21

“Then said I, What come these to do?.... That is, these four carpenters; for, being artificers or workmen, as the Targum renders the word, the prophet concluded there was some work for them to do: And he spake, saying; meaning the angel that talked with him, and interpreted the visions to him: These are the horns which have scattered Judah; not that the carpenters were the horns, for these two are distinct from, and opposite to, one another.”