Zechariahchapter 2
13 verses · Zechariah · 520 to 518 BC · The Twelve
Key verse
For thus saith the Lord of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
It stands in Flee Babylon: whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye, verses 6 to 9.
The chapter
Chapter summary
A man goes out with a measuring line to size up Jerusalem, and is stopped: the city will be inhabited as villages without walls, for the multitude of men and cattle in it. The reason is better than masonry: 'I will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and I will be the glory in the midst of her' (2:5). Then the call to the exiles still in Babylon: 'flee from the land of the north… escape, thou that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon,' for 'he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.' The chapter ends singing: 'lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee,' with many nations joined to Jehovah in that day.
Context
Prophecy · Zechariah · Zechariah overview
The world behind this chapter
Zechariah 2The history
Post-exilic Jerusalem was small and thin. The walls were down, whole quarters were empty, and Nehemiah would later have to hold a lottery just to move enough families inside the city to make it viable.
So a young man going out with a measuring line to size up the city is a natural act, and he is stopped. Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls, for the multitude of people and cattle in it, and God Himself will be a wall of fire around her and the glory in her midst.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
A city without walls in that world was defenseless by definition. Walls were the difference between a city and a village. The promise deliberately trades the stone for the presence.
The chapter then turns and calls to the Jews still in Babylon: "Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north." Most of the exile community never came back. Babylon had become home, they had houses, businesses, and by this point grandchildren born there. The return under Cyrus was a minority movement, and the call here is for more to come.
The line "he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye" uses an image of the most protected and most sensitive part of the body.
What it meant to them
For people looking at rubble, this was a promise of overflow, a city too full for a wall, at a moment when they could not even fill the one wall they had.
And the last verses widen it past them: many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day and shall be my people. A tiny province was told its future included the nations that currently ran it.
Sources cited
- Edwin Yamauchi, Persia and the Bible
- Alfred Edersheim, Bible History: Old Testament
Where the chapter sits
Zechariah 2 falls in Eight night visions and the crown (chapters 1–6). The horses among the myrtle trees; the measuring line; Joshua the high priest and the Branch; the lampstand and the two olive trees; the flying scroll; the ephah; the four chariots; the royal-priestly crown.
After it: Fasts and future, chapters 7–8.
The whole shape of Zechariah→The structure of this chapter
The heads below are this chapter's scenes, each with the verses it covers.
A. A man with a measuring line, and a wall of fire around hervv. 1-5
with a measuring line in his hand: The third vision shows a man setting out to measure Jerusalem's breadth and length, the ordinary work of a city planner fixing its bounds, but the angel overrules the survey before it finishes: run, tell this young man, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls, for the multitude of men and cattle therein, a city too full of returning life to be walled in the old way. The Lord supplies what the missing wall would have supplied, I will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her, defense and presence in one promise. The bench reads the fire-wall as protection outward and the glory as the Shekinah inward, a city measured not by masonry but by whom it holds.
Zechariah 2:1
“Hence Zechariah says, that he saw in the hand of a man a measuring line. He calls him a man, who appeared in the form of man; and it is well known, and a common thing, that angels are called men. For though they put on a human form only for a time, yet as it was the Lord's will that they should be seen in that form, they are called men, though with no propriety.”
John Calvin· Commentaries (1554)reformed
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Zechariah 2:1
“IT is evident that this vision and prophecy graciously reveal the future history of Jerusalem. You may spiritualize, if you will, and say that Jerusalem signifies the Church—but I pray you not forget the literal meaning of such words as these in the twelfth verse—"The Lord shall take possession of Judah as His inheritance in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem." Jerusalem is spoken of and Jerusalem is meant. A man with a measuring line is about to measure the length and breadth of the city.”
Zechariah 2:2
To measure Jerusalem--(Compare Re 11:1; 21:15, 16). to see what is the breadth . . . what is the length--rather, "what is to be the due breadth and length."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Zechariah 2:3
“And, behold, the angel that talked with me went forth,.... See Zec 1:9 and he "went forth" from the place where the prophet was, with whom he had been conversing: and another angel went out to meet him: the same that was seen among the myrtle trees, Zec 1:8 and here, with a measuring line in his hand, Zec 2:1.”
Zechariah 2:4
Run, speak to this young man - Nehemiah must have been a young man when he was sakee, or cup-bearer, to Artaxerxes. As towns without walls - It shall be so numerously inhabited as not to be contained within its ancient limits. Josephus, speaking of this time, says, Wars 5:4:2, “The city, overflowing with inhabitants, by degrees extended itself beyond its walls.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Zechariah 2:4
“The walls of a city, as they defend it, so they straiten and confine it, and keep its inhabitants from multiplying beyond such a pitch; but Jerusalem, even when it is walled, to keep off the enemy, shall be inhabited as towns without walls. The city shall be in a manner lost in the suburbs, as London is, where the out-parishes are more populous than those within the walls.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Zechariah 2:4
“And he said - Christ to that angel who came to meet him. Run - Hasten and tell Zechariah. As towns - The suburbs of it shall be as towns unwalled, for extent and for safety.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Zechariah 2:5
“The same combination of "glory and defense" is found in Isa 4:5, alluding to the pillar of cloud and fire which defended and enlightened Israel in the desert. Compare Elisha in Dothan (2Ki 6:17). As God is to be her "glory," so she shall be His "glory" (Isa 62:3).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
B. Flee Babylon: whoever touches you touches the apple of his eyevv. 6-9
flee from the land of the north: The vision breaks into a direct summons: come forth, and flee from the land of the north, Babylon named the north because her armies came that way though the city itself lay east, a call to exiles still lingering there after the first return had already gone up. The tenderness of the appeal turns on one clause, he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye, covenant affection stated in the most physical figure available, and it is followed by judgment on the nations that plundered Zion, they shall be a spoil to their servants. The refrain ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me repeats at verse 9 and again at verse 11, authenticating the messenger's own commission, and the older writers note the phrase after the glory hath he sent me as language in which the sent one speaks as one with the Lord who sends him, a reading named rather than pressed to a verdict.
Zechariah 2:6
“Flee from the land of the north - From Chaldee, Persia, and Babylon, where several of the Jews still remained. See Zec 2:7.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Zechariah 2:7
“Dwellest with the daughter of Babylon - The unusual idiom is perhaps chosen as expressive of God’s tenderness, even to the people who were to be destroyed, from which Israel was to escape.”
Zechariah 2:8
“After the glory - After your glorious deliverance from the different places of your dispersion; He hath sent me unto the nations which spoiled you, that they may fall under grievous calamities, and be punished in their turn. On Babylon a great calamity fell, when besieged and taken by the Persians. The following note I received from a sensible and pious correspondent: - Zec 2:5. “For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Zechariah 2:9
“For behold I will shake My hand against them - As God promised of old against the enemies of His people , and they shall be a spoil to those who served them habitually. And ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent Me - Theodoret: “He was sent, not as God, but as Man. For as God He is equal to the Father.”
C. Many nations joined to the LORD in that dayvv. 10-13
Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: The chapter turns from summons to song: sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, an indwelling the bench applies at more than one horizon, the second temple's rebuilding, the incarnation, and a fuller future dwelling, the readings named without a house verdict fixing the promise to one alone. Many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people joins the Gentiles to the covenant without displacing Judah, whom the same verses still call the Lord's portion in the holy land, chosen again rather than set aside. The chapter closes on hushed awe, be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord, for he is raised up out of his holy habitation, all creation quieted before an act of God too large for comment.
Zechariah 2:10
“I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord - This must chiefly refer to the Christian church, in which God ever dwells by the power of his Spirit, as he had done by the symbol of his presence in the first Jewish temple.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Zechariah 2:11
“And many nations shall join themselves - cleaving to Him by a close union. Isaiah had so spoken of single proselytes Isa 56:3-6; Jeremiah had used the word of Israel’s self-exhortation after the return from Babylon; “going and weeping,” they shall go and seek the Lord their God, saying, “Come and let us join ourselves unto the Lord, in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten” Jer 50:4-5. This Zechariah now predicts of “many nations.” The Jews were scarcely half-restored themselves, a mere handful.”
2 more voices on this verse
Zechariah 2:11
“Shall be joined - Shall worship the God of Israel. In that day - When Christ shall come in the flesh, and take down the partition wall.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Zechariah 2:11
“This was the great honour reserved for that nation in its last days; the promise of it effectually secured their continuance till it was accomplished. They could not be destroyed while that blessing was in them; and the prospect of it, according to the promise, was the great support and comfort of those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Zechariah 2:12
“The Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land - This is a promise of the final restoration of the Jews, and that they should be God’s portion in their own land.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Zechariah 2:13
“Be silent - Literally, “hush all flesh, before the Lord” (see at Hab 2:20, p. 207); man in his weakness Gen 6:3; 2Ch 32:8; Job 10:4; Psa 56:4; Psa 78:39; Isa 31:3; Jer 17:5, “flesh and blood” in the language of the New Testament Mat 16:17; 1Co 15:50; Gal 1:16, before God his Maker. “All flesh,” the whole human race Gen 6:12; Psa 65:3; Psa 145:21; Isa 40:5-6; Isa 49:26; Isa 66:23; Joe 3:1; Eze 21:4, Eze 21:9-10, is to be hushed before God, because His judgments, as His mercies, are over all.”
1 more voice on this verse
Zechariah 2:13
“This prophet was ordered, in God's name, to assure the people ( ch. i. 16 ) that a line should be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. Now here we have that promise illustrated and confirmed, that the prophet might deliver that part of his message to the people with the more clearness and assurance.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
This page carries no textual note on Zechariah 2. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.