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,
1:2 The LORD hath been sore displeased with your fathers.
1:3 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.
1:4 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.
1:5 Your fathers, where [are] they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?
1:6 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.
1:7 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,
1:8 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.
[1] {I saw} The "man" (v.8) is the "my lord," "the angel that talked with me" (v. 9), and "the angel of the Lord" (vs. 10,11). The "man" "stood among the myrtle trees" (v. 8). The prophet addresses him as "my lord" (cf) # Ge 19:2 but when the "man" answers he perceives that he has addressed an angel--"the angel that talked with me" (v.9). in verse 10 the being of the vision is again "the man that stood among the myrtle trees." In verse 11 he is called "the angel of the Lord," and to him the (riders on the) "red horses, speckled with white" say: "We have walked to and fro," etc. Then (v.12) "the angel of the Lord" (i.e. the "man," "my lord," "the angel that talked with me") intercedes for the land against a world at ease. The date of the intercession was at the end of the 70 years' captivity of Judah. Taken as a whole # Zec 1:8-17 Zechariah's first vision reveals Judah in dispersion; Jerusalem under adverse possession; and the Gentile nations at rest about it. This condition still continues, and Jehovah's answer to the intercession of the angel sweeps on to the end-time of Gentile domination, when "the Lord shall yet comfort Zion," etc. (vs. 16,17;) # Isa 40:1-5 ¯ See "Kingdom (O.T.)" "Ge 1:26" ¯ See Note "Zec 12:8"
1:9 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].
1:10 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.
1:11 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.
1:12 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?
1:13 And the LORD answered the angel that talked with me [with] good words [and] comfortable words.
1:14 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.
1:15 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.
1:16 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.
1:17 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.
1:18 Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns.
[1] {horn} A "horn" is the symbol of a Gentile king # Da 7:24 Re 17:12 and the vision is of the four world empires # Da 2:36-44 7:3-7 which have "scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem" (v.19)
1:19 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.
1:20 And the LORD shewed me four carpenters.
[2] {And the Lord} The word charash, trans. "carpenter," is lit. carver, engraver. Verse 21 makes it plain that, whatever the four carvers may be, they are used to "fray," or carve away (Heb. charad) in the sense of diminishing, enfeebling, the great Gentile world-powers. They may stand for Jehovah's "four sore judgments," the sword, famine, evil beasts, and pestilence # Eze 14:21 the four horses of Rev. 6.
1:21 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.
