Commentary on Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah and Malachi John Calvin (continued)
Zechariah 1
Zechariah 1:1-3
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,
1. Mense octavo, 160 anno secundo Darii, fuit sermo Iehovae ad Zachariam, filium
Barachiae, filii Addo (Iddo, ad verbum) prophetae, (vel, prophetam,) 161 dicendo,
2. The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers.
2. Iratus est Iehova erga patres vestros ira.
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.
3. Dices igitur ad eos, Sic dicit Iehova exercituum, Revertimini ad me, dicit Iehova exercituum; et revertar ad vos, dicit Iehova exercituum.
We here learn what we have already stated, --- that Haggai and Zechariah were by God joined together, that they might confirm each other's doctrine, for they had to do with a refractory people: besides, the people had to endure hard and arduous trials, so that they needed more than a common testimony to confirm them. Haggai commenced the work of his office in the sixth month; Zechariah shortly followed him, in the eighth month of the same year. It has already been shown who was the Darius mentioned here; though some interpreters dissent, we may yet learn from certain and indubitable proofs, that he was the son of Hystaspes. We shall again speak of this Darius, when a better occasion will offer itself: I wished only in passing to say thus much.
160"This month, according to the sacred reckoning, which begins the year with the month Abib or Nizan, (Exodus 12:2,) falls in with the latter part of October and the beginning of November." — Blayney.
161This refers no doubt to Zechariah, and not to Ido, according to the usual order adopted in Hebrew, and also because the object is to show that Zechariah, and not Ido, was a prophet. It is a name give, as Cocceius observes, not only to him who announces future things, but to every one who as God's minister proclaims his words, explains spiritual things, and applies them to the conscience. — Ed.