Section I Oracles During the Building of the Temple

Zechariah 1:1—8:23

The first eight chapters of Zechariah are prophecies dated according to the reign of Darius, the king, from his second year to his fourth.¹ Although these chapters contain some exhortations to rebuild the Temple, most of the prophecies presuppose the progress of this work and seek to encourage it by giving historical retrospect and inspiring hopes of the Messianic effects of the Temple's completion. In these chapters Zechariah demonstrates his true prophetic calling, for he begins his oracles by calling the people to repentance.

A. A CALL TO REPENTANCE, 1:1-6

Late in the year 520 B.C. the Lord led Zechariah to summon His people to return to Him, with the assurance that if they would do so He would return to them. They are not to be like their fathers, who rebelled against the warnings of the preexilic prophets and thereby brought God's judgment upon themselves. Their fathers and the prophets are no more. But the effective power of God's word remains, as the people whom he warns well know, for it has overtaken them.

The eighth month, in which the word of the Lord (1) came to the prophet, corresponds with our October-November. Before the Exile it was called Bui (I Kings 6:38), but after the return of the Jews it came to be known as Marchesvan. This name probably derived from a word which meant “wet” or “rainy” and suggests the constant dripping rain which characterized the month. The day of the month is not given.

Zechariah began his prophetic career exactly two months after Haggai (Hag. 1:1). His summons to repentance was appropriate even after the promises made by Haggai, because the promises were conditioned on repentance.²

In the second year of Darius indicates the Captivity practice of using the dates of the foreign kings to whom the Israelites were subject. They had formerly dated their history by the years of the reigns of their own kings. Concerning the identity of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, see Introduction, “The Prophet.” The title prophet is descriptive of Zechariah, but Cashdan points out that “according to the Massoretic accentuation it belongs to Iddo. … The Rabbis remove all doubt by the following comment: ‘Whenever a prophet's name is given as well as his father's, it is to indicate that he was a prophet the son of a prophet.’” ³

God's word to Zechariah is strong: The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers (2), literally, “has been displeased with displeasure.” Dods says the word meant originally “breaking out in long-controlled indignation.”⁴ Your fathers is a reference to the generation before the Captivity. The displeasure of God had fallen heavily upon their ancestors. “Now, for the first time in this new era of their history, God is sending them, as He did to their fathers of old, His servants the prophets, himself and Haggai, with a call to repentance and a promise of reconciliation.”⁵

Turn ye unto me … and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of hosts (3). This is better translated, “Return unto me … and I will return unto you.” The verb return indicates a change of conduct. God promises a change of attitude toward His people if they will mend their ways. “There had been a revival, and the people have returned to the land of God's choice. Yet evidently they had not fully returned in a spiritual way to the Lord Jehovah.”⁶ The threefold repetition of saith the Lord of hosts gives prominence to the authority of the message.

The prophet warns his hearers that they must not be like their fathers, who turned a deaf ear to the former prophets of the preexilic period (7:7, 12) and refused to amend their ways (4). Should they be like them in their sin, they should be like them in their punishment also. By this oracle God was countering the thought which naturally occurred to those who had been restored to their own country. They were not to assume that they were a new people without the ominous threats hanging over them such as their fathers had incurred. Their fathers' fate was actually a strong prophetic word to them. “Your fathers and the prophets are alike gone, but the testimony your fathers bore to the truth of the prophets' warning remains. You have not the same warnings ringing in your ears that your fathers had, you have not men like Jeremiah to move you to godliness, the prophets do not live forever; but you have what your fathers had not, you have the awful truthfulness of God's words of warning written in your fathers' fate.”⁷

But my words and my statutes … did they not take hold of your fathers? (6) An apparent contradiction of v. 4 is avoided by adopting The Berkeley Version: “But My words and My decrees … did they not overtake your fathers?” A rebellious people was forced to confess, Like as the Lord thought to do unto us … so hath he dealt with us.

B. THE VISIONS OF ZECHABIAH, 1:7—6:8

The visions of Zechariah are a characteristic feature of his prophecy. Some are quite brief, while others contain a wealth of imagery. By their means the prophet expresses the same lofty message found elsewhere in his book. Among these visions occurs the most spiritual of all his utterances: “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts” (4:6). They express the need of divine pardon, emphasize the reality of sin, and declare the power of God to banish it from His people. They contain the promise of Jerusalem as the City of Peace, her only rampart the Lord himself. They predict the overthrow of the heathen empires as the act of God; and from all the visions there are absent both the turmoil and the glory of war.⁸

The visions are not dreams but “a series of conscious and artistic allegories—the deliberate translation into a carefully constructed symbolism of the Divine truths with which the prophet was entrusted by his God.”⁹

For all the visions there is one date, upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius—i.e., January or February, 519 B.C. There is also one divine impulse, the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet (7).

1. The Four Horsemen (1:8-17)

The seventy years Jeremiah had set for the duration of the Babylonian Captivity (Jer. 25:12) were swiftly drawing to a close. It was now four months since Haggai had assured the people that in “a little while” God would shake the kingdoms and out of this shaking bring new glory to the Temple and the nation (Hag. 2:7). The people of Jerusalem were growing impatient with the delay. The world was not shaken; no political movement which promised to restore the glory to Jerusalem was apparent. A very natural disappointment had begun to set in and the people were beginning to question whether the promise of God was meant to have any practical fulfillment. In this state of affairs the word of the Lord came to Zechariah.

In the vision Zechariah sees a troop of horsemen in one of the myrtle-covered glens near Jerusalem. Their leader is in front. The prophet is told that these are God's scouts who have been patrolling the earth and who have brought back the report that the world is at peace. The purport of the vision is to indicate that the time is ripe for the Lord to fulfill His promise of mercy to Jerusalem and prosperity to the cities of Judah. The vision is followed by a proclamation of restoration and prosperity.

The prophet sees a man seated upon a red horse (8). His horse was standing in the bottom or valley-bottom among the myrtle trees. The scene of the vision was probably a well-known valley in the environs of Jerusalem. Possibly it was a spot to which Zechariah frequently retreated for prayer and reflection. At first the prophet thought he was witnessing a rendezvous of Persian cavalry scouts, the leader up front and the rest behind him, having just arrived on red … speckled, and white horses to give their reports. Some significance probably attaches to the colors of the horses, though what this significance is, is not clear. The view that the colors have a reference to different missions on which the scouts had been sent is not supported by the context; all bring back the same report (the case of Rev. 6:2, 4-5, and 8 is obviously different). Most probably the colors stand in some relation to the quarters of the earth where the horsemen have been patrolling.¹⁰ The problem is complicated by the fact that the word translated speckled is not found elsewhere in the Bible and no agreement has been reached as to what color is meant by the Hebrew word.

Zechariah is soon made aware, however, that these are not men but angels; and with a quick, dissolving change of function and figure which characterizes all angelic appearances, they explain to him their mission.¹¹ O my lord, what are these? the astonished prophet questions (9). These words are addressed to the interpreting angel at his side, called throughout these visions the angel that talked with me (9; cf. 13-14, 19; 2:3; 4:1, 4-5; 5:10; 6:4). The man on the front horse answers. The horsemen are scouts of God come in from their survey of the whole earth. They speak for themselves and report to the angel of the Lord that the whole earth sitteth still, and is at rest (11). The implication is that all the nations are enjoying security while Jerusalem and Judah alone are in a state of misery and oppression. At this point the angel of the Lord turns intercessor: 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? (12) The seventy years predicted by Jeremiah are drawing to a close (Jer. 25:11-12; cf. Hag. 1:2). It is time for God to act.

The Lord himself now intervenes and answers the interpreting angel with comforting assurances. Under what form He appeared we are not told (cf. 7:1-9; 8:1-3; 9:1). He is introduced abruptly, just as the interpreting angel in v. 9 and “the angel of the Lord” in v. 11. Zechariah apparently did not hear the Lord's answer, so the interpreting angel gave him the divine oracle: I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy (14). “I have been and still am jealous,” is the literal Hebrew. Jehovah's jealousy for His people (cf. 8:2) prompts Him now at last to interpose on their behalf (cf. Isa. 42:13; 59:17; Ezek. 36: 5-6; 38:19). His jealousy is His zeal for His people. Moffatt translates: “I am stirred, deeply stirred, on behalf of Jerusalem.” The Lord declares that He is very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease (15), for they have done more mischief to Jerusalem than they were commissioned to do. God had raised up the heathen to punish His people (Isa. 10:5-6; Hab. 1:5-6), but they had gone beyond the divine intention: “for while I was angry but a little they furthered the disaster” (15, RSV). They carried matters entirely too far, outrunning the divine purpose which had used them for judgment. Accordingly God's wrath against Judah has become compassion. The Temple and the city shall be rebuilt, and the people shall again enjoy prosperity: Thus saith the Lord of hosts (16-17).

The scope of this first vision is clear. It conveys a distinct promise of three future events: (1) My house shall be built (16). The rebuilding of the Temple, in which the Lord might again, as of old, take up His abode (cf. 2:10), would be final proof that His anger was at an end. The Temple was completed four years later, in the sixth year of Darius (Ezra 4:15). (2) A line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem (16)—i.e., the measuring line. This is a figure of speech for “The city shall be rebuilt.” Some seventy years later Nehemiah accomplished this task (Neh. 6:15). (3) My cities through prosperity shall yet he spread abroad (17). The fulfillment of this came later under the Hasmonean princes. Beyond this the prophecy does not expressly go. The concluding words, The Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem, point, however, toward the Messianic kingdom.¹²

In this first vision we encounter the angel of the Lord (vv. 11-12). Throughout the Old Testament He appears, speaking and acting everywhere as Jehovah himself. In Exod. 3:2, for example, we read that “the angel of the Lord appeared” to Moses. With reference to the same person the account says a few sentences later, “When the Lord saw” (Exod. 3:4). Whether the Angel of the Lord has a distinct existence or is a mode of the Lord's self-manifestation is difficult to determine. He appears to be the Word of God personified. Acting as God's mouthpiece, He is so merged with Jehovah that He speaks of himself by the divine I. Robertson Smith declares “that he represents God to man so directly and fully that when he speaks or acts God Himself is felt to speak or act.”¹³ On the other hand, in the above passage (v. 12) He represents man to God. Here He is the Interceding Angel, presenting the cause of men to the Father. “What we see in these theophanies,” G. A. F. Knight writes, “is a groping effort to describe in pictorial terms an experience of God who could not be fully known till He revealed Himself in Christ. But when He did do so, the NT revelation was found to be astonishingly akin to that dimly discovered in and through the OT.” The reality that is being expressed in this passage, Knight continues, “is that God is indeed a communion with Himself, an organism, the Trinity.”¹⁴

F. B. Meyer accordingly is right in his insistence that the Angel of the Lord here in Zechariah is “none other than the Angel of the Covenant, our blessed Lord Himself.”¹⁵ His comment on vv. 12-14 is fully justified: “It was as though the Father had heard and answered the pleadings of the Son, and returned Him an answer, which is passed on to Zechariah's angel-guide.” Then he asks:

Are you, my reader, desolate through the pressure of long-continued sorrow? God's chastenings have been greatly exaggerated by those who have helped forward the affliction. Yet, be of good cheer! There is One that ever liveth to intercede. Jesus has graven you upon the palms of His hands. Your sad lot is ever before Him. He will yet talk with you with good words arid comfortable ones. “Turn”—they are His own words—“O backsliding children; for I am married unto you, saith the Lord.” “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for mine anger is turned away.” “He is able to save them to the uttenhost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”¹⁶

In 7-17 we see “God's Message to the Discouraged.” (1) Even those who have failed God have a divine Intercessor, 12; (2) God is deeply concerned for His people, 13-14; (3) Man is accountable for his sin, but God recognizes the power of circumstances that helped forward the affliction, 15; (4) God is ready to strengthen and restore—I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies, 16b (A. F. Harper).

2. The Four Horns and the Four Smiths (1:18-21)

This vision follows closely upon the first and complements it in a striking way. The prophet sees four horns towering up, with threatening mien. He is told that these are the gentile powers which have scattered Judah. Thereupon four carpenters (20), or smiths, appear. These, he learns, are to terrify and strike down the horns of the nations. The vision symbolizes the destruction of the heathen nations which have oppressed Judah and Jerusalem and now threaten the fulfillment of the promises given in the previous vision (w. 16-17).

Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns (18). In the language of a pastoral people like the Jews, horns represented the cruel threat of a ravener of the flock. “The wild fury of man against the people of God is aptly described by the irruption of a herd of tusked boars, by the charge of a rhinoceros, or the rush of a wild ox on a harmless, defenceless flock, which has no power of resistance, but only of flight.”¹⁷

Some interpreters identify the four horns with the kingdoms of Daniel's vision: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome (Dan. 2:31-45).¹⁸ Yet only two of these powers had arisen by 519 B.C., the time of this vision, whereas v. 19 says: These are the horns which have (already) scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. Orelli comments: “In distinction from Daniel, Zechariah is fond of simultaneous survey, not the presenting of a succession.”¹⁹ The four horns point to the four quarters of the heavens (cf. 2:6). Marcus Dods's view is generally accepted: “Four horns were seen as representing the totality of Israel's enemies—her enemies from all quarters.”²⁰ Wherever the people looked—north, south, east, or west—there were foes sworn to resist their efforts to rebuild the Temple and renew their national life.

To destroy the four horns four carpenters (20) appear. The original word used here means “workers in wood, stone, or metal.” It is generally translated “smiths” in the modern versions. Driver suggests “iron -smiths, the horns being, no doubt, pictured as made of iron (Mic. iv. 13).”²¹ These are come to fray them, the Lord answers Zechariah (21). To fray is an archaic expression for “to terrify,” and it is so translated by the RSV. In using the word, Zechariah is thinking, as in the case of scattered (19), not of the horns (which could not be terrified), but of the peoples the horns represent. The enemies of Judah are to be thrown into panic by the divinely appointed smiths. Here the figure is resumed. They shall cast out the horns of the Gei. tiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it (21).

It is not clear just who the smiths are. The purport of the vision, however, is unmistakable: the Lord will deliver Judah so that His promise in vv. 16-17 may be fulfilled.

For the modern reader the four horns represent the evil forces that are arrayed against the Church or against us in our efforts to live for Christ and serve Him. But there is something more: “The Lord showed me four smiths” (RSV). We have no problem in locating our enemies, but we need a Divine Hand to reveal our promised deliverance. “And Elisha prayed, and said: Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha” (II Kings 6:17). Here is God's word to us in the second vision: “If God be for us, who can be again us?” (Rom. 8:31-39)

3. The Man with the Measuring Line (2: 1-13)

Like the second vision, the third follows from the first and becomes another, and still more significant, supplement to it. The first promises the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and now the prophet beholds a young man (cf. 4) going forth with a measuring line to define the limits of the city. In light of what follows, there can be no doubt that the prophet meant to symbolize by the young man's act the intention to make Jerusalem again the fortress she had previously been. The man had restricted ideas as to what the city should be, for he seemed intent on defining it on its old lines. The interpreting angel who was conversing with Zechariah was dispatched by another angel to run and give the man a message. In the future Zion shall be an unwalled city, not only because of the multitude of her population, but also because God himself shall be her ramparts.

To this vision is added a lyric epilogue in which the prophet summons the people who are yet in Babylon to return to their own land. He calls upon Zion to exult because the Lord is about to take up His abode once more in Zion, and many nations shall join themselves to Him as He returns to Jerusalem.

a. Jerusalem of the future (2:1-5). I lifted up mine eyes again, and looked (1), is a repetition of the formula with which the second vision opened (1:18). This third vision, And behold a man with a measuring line in his hand, is based on the promise in the first: “A line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem” (1:16). The city was about to be restored. Zechariah put a question to the man: Whither goest thou? (2) Whereupon the man responded: To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof. From what follows it is evident that this young man represents the narrow thinking of the returned exiles whose view of the future was limited to a restoration of the city of Jerusalem to its former condition as a mountain fortress. The past was to be the measure of the future. This, however, is never God's method of operation. We are not surprised, therefore, when another angel comes forward to interrupt the one who is talking with Zechariah and send him running to speak to this young man. He is directed to tell him two things.

First, the angelic messenger informs him that Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein (4). The young man must know that his purpose in marking out the boundaries and walls of Jerusalem is Useless. The city is destined to exceed the dimensions of the past and become so great that no walls will be capable of containing it. “Thus far,” the young man keeps saying to himself. “The city will never grow beyond this boundary line. Grow as it may, it will never exceed those limits.” But God says: “It will overflow into suburbs, adjoining villages, and even annex the neighbouring towns, so as to present the appearance not of a walled city but of a densely populated district.”²² The prediction that she shall be inhabited as towns without walls is more than a promise of magnitude and populousness; it is a divine assurance of security against her enemies.

This is certainly a word from God to us. We are all given to forecasting the future and placing limits on the growth of the City of God. But this, God has never designed. It is not for us to impose boundaries, or insist on our narrow conceptions. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:8-9).

For the love of God is broader

   Than the measure of man's mind;

And the heart of the Eternal

   Is most wonderfully kind.

—F. W. FABER

It is essential to observe further that the prophetic vision involved a Jerusalem beyond the historical Zion which was to be rebuilt. This prophecy envisions “the Jerusalem which is above … which is the mother of us all” (Gal. 4:26). To insist on a wooden literalism in interpreting this vision is to make the very mistake it is intended to correct. Zechariah here sees the City of God glimpsed by John on Patmos. In this city there is a “multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues” (Rev. 7:9).

In the second place, the angel is instructed to give the young man with the measuring line a gracious and comforting word concerning the presence of God. 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 (5). This image was probably borrowed from the campfires with which hunters surround themselves to frighten off wild beasts. Just as no maurauder could break through a cordon of flame, “so the unseen but almighty presence of God would be a bulwark on which the powers of earth and hell would break to their undoing.”²³ To rest on this promise is to exclaim with the Psalmist: “But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head” (Ps. 3:3). F. B. Meyer observes: “Some put circumstances between them and God; it is far wiser to put God between oneself and the circumstances.”²⁴

The true protection of the Church is God's presence in her midst. The Shekinah of God is our only safeguard against the foes which would destroy His work. The Holy Spirit is the only Conserver of true doctrine, the sole Protector of spirituality, and Guardian of the moral law. The safety of Zion today, as in the days of Zechariah, is the glory in the midst.

b. Zechariah's appeals (2:6-13). Appended to the third vision is a lyrical epilogue. This consists of two appeals: (1) to the exiles yet in Babylon, vv. 6-9; (2) to the inhabitants of Zion, w. 10-13.

There were still vast numbers of Jews in Babylon, and to these an earnest invitation is addressed: Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north, saith the Lord (6). “The north country, although its capital and centre was Babylon, was the whole Babylonian empire, called “the north” because its invasions always came upon Israel from the north.”²⁵ God's word continued: For I have spread you abroad as the four winds of heaven. The Book of Esther is witness to the fact that sixty years later Jews were dispersed over the 127 provinces of the Persian Empire, from India to Ethiopia (Esther 1:1; 3:8, 12-14; 8:5, 9). The Lord called to the Jews of the dispersion: Deliver thyself, O Zion (i.e., Escape to Zion), thou that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon (7).

The Lord promised protection to those who return. “For thus says the Lord of hosts: Afterwards glory! He sent me to the Gentiles who plundered you, for he who touches you touches the pupil of His eye. See, I am shaking my hand at them; they shall be plunder for their servants, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts sent me” (8-9, Berk.). Thomas comments: “The pupil of the eye is sensitive and vulnerable, and therefore highly prized by its owner. Who touches Judah, so highly prized by Yahweh, touches him at a sensitive point.”²⁶ God promises to be as quick to protect Judah as a man to raise his arm when injury is threatening his eye. On the other hand, the Jews are warned of certain danger they incur by lingering. The Lord is already shaking His hand over Babylon as a signal to the nations she has oppressed to gather to her overthrow and to share her spoils.

A second appeal is made: Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord (10).

When the tabernacle of God is with men, and he dwells with them, wiping away all tears, there is no mourning or crying or pain; but the mouth is filled with laughter, and the tongue with singing. Sometimes the Christian gets a vision of this. He realizes that since God has come into the midst of his work, it is no longer his, but God's; he is only the agent. … God comforts and teaches the people; God restores the ruins; God builds the walls of Jerusalem; God does good in his good pleasure to Zion; God attracts the people, who join themselves not to a congregation, a church, or a minister, but to the Lord, and become his. He is not only a wall of fire round about, but the glory in the midst.²⁷

There is yet another reason for exultation. And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people (11). The apostles of Christ understood such prophecies as these to be predictions of the gathering of the gentiles into the Israel of faith, the Christian Church (Rom. 9:22-26; I Pet. 2:9-10; cf.Eph.2: 11-22).

The prophecy, however, moves out into an even wider promise: And the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again (12). While insisting on a spiritual application of this vision we must not lose sight of certain literal aspects of the prophecy. The prophet was envisioning historical events connected with the actual city of Jerusalem. And from an absolute perspective these prophecies are the promise of God that in some way beyond our imagining “all Israel shall be saved” (Rom. 11:26; cf. 11:25-32). God has an ultimate plan for His people Israel, and when this purpose shall be fulfilled these visions will be translated into a reality we can now only guess. No wonder Zechariah closes with a passage which approaches in mood the doxology of Paul in Rom. 11:33-36—Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord: for he is raised up out of his holy habitation (13).

Glorious things of thee are spoken,

   Zion, city of our God;

He whose word cannot be broken

   Formed thee for His own abode.

On the Rock of Ages founded,

   What can shake thy sure repose?

With salvation's walls surrounded,

   Thou mayst smile at all thy foes.

—JOHN NEWTON, 1725-1807

4. Joshua and Satan (3:1-10)

At this point the visions begin to deal with the moral condition of the people of Judah and their standing before God. The former visions have predicted that God is about to disturb the “rest” of the nations and at long last to act in Jerusalem's behalf (1:8-17). The enemies of Judah are to be “cast out” (1:18-21), and Zion shall become once again the habitation of the Lord (2:1-13). But in order that these prophecies be fulfilled there must be a moral and spiritual transformation of the people. “Israel is rescued, but not sanctified. The nation's troubles are over: their uncleanness has still to be removed.”²⁸

a. The vision (3:1-5). In the preceding vision God had promised: “I will dwell in the midst of thee.” The people realized that both they and their priests had sinned. They felt the justice of Ezekiel's charge, “Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things” (22:26), and they were troubled that God might not be disposed to receive their services. The vision takes as its starting point this feeling of guilt and unworthiness felt keenly by the Jews.

Zechariah sees Joshua the high priest standing as a representative of Israel before the angel of the Lord. The guilty fears of the people find a mouthpiece in Satan, who appears to accuse Joshua. Before a charge can be preferred, however, God himself intervenes and rebukes the accuser. Should He, who has rescued His people as a brand plucked from the burning, cast them back into the fire? Not that they are without guilt. Joshua's very garb betrays their sin and pollution. But by an act of sheer grace this obstacle shall be removed. He commands the angel attendants to reclothe Joshua. This typifies the forgiveness and cleansing of Joshua and Israel.

Moreover at Zechariah's suggestion a fair mitre is placed on the high priest's head. The angel of the Lord stands by in approval. He does not leave until he has disclosed to Joshua the full dignity of the priesthood to which he has been restored. If he remains loyal to the Lord, he shall have right of access into the presence of God in behalf of Israel. But more, he and his colleagues foreshadow and prepare the way for “Him who, himself the chief cornerstone, shall rear the true Temple on which the eyes of Jehovah are fixed, who by one act shall remove iniquity forever, and restore prosperity and festal joy to man.”²⁹

Joshua the high priest (1) is called elsewhere Jeshua (Ezra 2:2; 3:2; et al.). His grandfather, Seraiah, was taken captive after the destruction of the Temple and slain by Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah (II Kings 25:18-21). His father—Josedech, Jehozadak, or Jozadak—was captured at the same time and taken captive to Babylon (I Chron. 6:15), where Joshua was probably born. During the time the Temple lay in ruins the office of high priest ceased. Now, after an interval of fifty-two years, Josedech having meanwhile died, the office is restored in the person of his son.

Zechariah sees Joshua … standing before the angel of the Lord as before his judge. It is a judicial scene. The high priest stands indicted for the sins of Israel. “The sins that stain him are the people's sins; and the case to be tried is, whether he, as the people's representative and priest, is to be accepted or rejected.”³⁰ Standing at his right hand, the place occupied by the plaintiff in a Jewish court of law (cf. Ps. 109:6), is Satan, the accuser (cf. Job 1:6-12; 2:1-6; Rev. 12:10). Satan, once the great archangel of God, fell through pride, to become the adversary of man and God. He is prepared to argue that God cannot receive Joshua and his people, for He is a holy God. “This is precisely what the thoughtful and conscience-stricken minds among the Jews conceived to be going on in the presence-chamber of Jehovah.”³¹

Before Satan can make his charge, however, the divine Advocate speaks: The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan (2). Luck comments: “These words are incomprehensible unless there is more than one Person in the Godhead.”³² This is another clear foreshadowing of the priestly intercession of our “advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (I John 2:1). Satan is rebuked by the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem. It is because God delights in Jerusalem and has not cast her off that He silences Satan. “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect?” (Rom. 8:33) This is the truth conveyed by the question, Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? (Cf. Amos. 4:11.) Would the same hand which plucked from the fire the brand, charred and half-consumed already, cast it back into the flames? And should He who has delivered His people from the fiery furnace of Babylonian Captivity now listen to the charges of Satan and yield them again to utter destruction?

Not that the people are guiltless. The very raiment of their high priest testifies against them. Instead of the pure linen in which he should have been arrayed, he is clothed in filthy garments (3), symbolic of the sinfulness and pollution of Israel (cf. Isa. 4:4; 64:6). But the God who is holy is also merciful and gracious. In an act which prefigures the propitiatory offering of Christ, the angel of the Lord orders the removal of Joshua's foul raiment: Take away the filthy garments from him (4). He then turns directly to the high priest and explains this action: Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment (cf. Lev. 16:4). “The word here literally refers to festal (or rich.) apparel. Thus not only is sin to be removed, but a gift of righteousness is to be given, represented by this fine clothing.”³³

Zechariah now makes a suggestion to the angel: Let them set a fair mitre upon his head (5). The mitre is described in Exod. 28:36-38. A gold plate across the front bore the inscription, “Holiness to the Lord.” The priest wore it that the services of the people “may be accepted before the Lord.” So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. Joshua was now fully authorized to offer sacrifices in behalf of his people. The angel of the Lord looked on with satisfaction and approval.

b. Admonition of the angel (3:6-10). God's messenger then protested unto (enjoined) Joshua: Thus saith the Lord of hosts; If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts (6-7). In effect the angel defined the high priest's duties. He must observe God's commandments—i.e., keep the moral law (Deut. 8:6; 10:12; Ps. 128:1). He must also be zealous in the maintenance of the Temple service and in the ruling of God's house (Lev. 8:35; Ezek. 44:15-16). To this solemn enjoinder God added a promise: And I will give thee places to walk among those that stand by (7). This is better rendered, “I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here” (RSV). Joshua could now be sure his prayers would reach heaven. “Like the angels who stand in attendance upon God, the High Priest is promised the privilege of direct communion with God. He will have the right to approach God at any time as the intercessor of His people.”³⁴

The angel next made a Messianic promise to Joshua and the assistant priests who sat before him to receive his instructions (8). He declares that they are men to be wondered at (8), or that “men are a sign” (ASV). The Berkeley Version translates it “significant men.” The Jewish scholar, Cashdan, notes: “The restored priesthood is an omen of the advent of the Messiah.”³⁵ This is clearly the meaning of the promise; it continues: For, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH (8). Perowne paraphrases the promise: “To Joshua and his fellows I foretell the coming of ‘my servant, Branch,’ because they, the priesthood, in all their office and ministry, as well as in what has just happened to them in the vision in the person of their chief, are types of Him.”³⁶

My servant is a frequent name of Messiah in Isaiah (42:1; 49:6; 52:13; 53:11) and is perhaps the most characteristic Messianic motif in the New Testament (Acts 8:30-35; I Pet. 2:21-25; in Acts 3:13, 26; 4:27, 30 the Greek word translated “Son” or “child” in the KJV is properly translated “servant” in all the revised and modern versions. The BRANCH, without the article, is literally “shoot” or “sprout.” Cashdan declares: “Modern as well as ancient interpreters agree in explaining the Shoot as the expected Messiah. Shoot means that which sprouts or shoots from the ground. … 'the old tree of the Jewish State was dead, but the prophet foreshadows a new life through the springing up of a new shoot of David's house’ (Barnes).”³⁷

In the next verse the figure changes to that of the stone that I have laid before Joshua (9). The primary and immediate reference is to the Temple, in the rebuilding of which Joshua was at that time involved. The stone is difficult to identify. It is thought by some to have been the foundation stone of the Temple, which had already been employed as a symbol of Messiah (cf. Isa. 28: 16). Others prefer the topstone or coping stone of the Temple (cf. 4:7, 9), which would complete the building. Thomas sees in it the stone or precious gem which was to be worn by Joshua on the breast or forehead (cf. Exod. 28:11-12, 36-38), ³⁸ After considering various interpretations George Adam Smith concludes, “We must rather suppose that the stone is symbolic of the finished Temple.”³⁹ T. T. Perowne's view seems to have merit:

The ultimate reference is to Him, who as “the Branch” should hereafter “build the temple of the Lord” (vi. 12), of which He is not only the Foundation-stone (Isaiah xxviii. 16; I Peter ii. 4, 5), but also the chief Corner-stone (Ps. cxviii. 22; Matt. xxi. 42; Ephes. ii. 20). The two fulfillments of the prophecy are intimately connected. The first is, in the purpose of God, the necessary preparation for the second.⁴⁰

Upon one stone shall be seven eyes (9). These are “the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth” (4:10), and symbolize the full expression of His providence and care. God never takes His eyes off this stone, in either type or antitype, until His purpose relating to it is fulfilled.

An additional promise is added: Behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts. Perowne paraphrases: “My eyes, I have said, are fixed upon the stone. My hand shall engrave upon it whatever is needed to beautify it and fit it for the place of honour it is to hold.”⁴¹ But that is not all; he adds, And I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. The immediate reference is probably to the expiation of the nation's sin in one day, the annual Day of Atonement (cf. Lev. 16:21, 30, 34), which would be reinstituted upon the completion of the Temple. But the goal of the prophecy looks beyond this type to the day that Christ died. On that great Day of Atonement, He “once for all in the end of the age … put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Heb. 9:26, lit.).

One final touch is given this prophecy: In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree (10). In the Messianic age which is coming men will again, as in the glorious days of Solomon (I Kings 4:25), entertain their friends in peace and security under the vine and under the fig tree (cf. Mic. 4:4).⁴² This final victory of the Messianic kingdom is yet future.

5. The Golden Lampstand and the Two Olive Trees (4:1-14)

As the fourth vision unfolded the dignity and significance of the high priest, the fifth promised the joint glory of Joshua and Zerubbabel, the civil head of the Jewish community. To this was added an oracle for Zerubbabel himself.

The prophet sees a seven-branched, golden lampstand with an inexhaustible supply of oil. Above the stand is a bowl, and to the right and left of it are two olive trees. These trees feed the bowl through two spouts, and the bowl supplies the olive oil to the lampstand through seven golden pipes. The lampstand is a symbol of the restored Jewish community in which God is himself present. The two olive trees which supply the lamps with oil represent Zerubbabel and Joshua as the channels of divine grace.

Many interpreters think that vv. 6b-10a, beginning with This is the word of the Lord and ending with in the hand of Zerubbabel, are out of place as they now stand. In our present text they seem to be inserted in the middle of the vision, for they interrupt the connection between verses 6a and 10b. This message of encouragement to Zerubbabel fits well after 4: l-6a, 10b-14, and the comment upon it will be given at that point.

a. The vision and its meaning (4: 1-6a, 10c -14). After the last vision Zechariah seems to have fallen into a reverie, meditating on what had been shown him. And the angel of the Lord that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep (1). The prophet was aroused by the interpreting angel in order that he might apprehend the significance of a fresh vision. Giving attention, he saw a candlestick all of gold (2), a seven-branched lampstand like the one in the Tabernacle (cf. Exod. 37:17-24). This lamp, however, was replenished with oil by no human hands. A bowl above the lamp-stand supplied the oil to it through seven pipes. There were two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side (3). The supply of oil was not from any vessel but from two living trees; it was thus perennial and unfailing.

Mystified by the vision, the prophet asked the interpreting angel, What are these, my Lord? (4) The angel was surprised that Zechariah did not know, but he did not hesitate to supply the answer: They are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth (10b). While the lampstand represented the community of Israel, in a yet deeper sense it was a symbol of the divine presence in the midst of the community. “The Temple so near completion will not of itself reveal God: let not the Jews put their trust in it, but in the life behind it.”⁴³ The seven lights are symbolic of the eyes of Jehovah.

But what are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof? Zechariah asks (11). In 12 he put the question a second time, enlarging on it. “What are the two branches of the olive trees, which are beside the two golden pipes from which the oil is poured out?” (RSV) Again the angel was puzzled at the prophet's ignorance: Knowest thou not what these be?; Zechariah answered: No, my lord (13). He then told the prophet plainly: These are the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth (14). Although he does not name them, these can only be Joshua and Zerubbabel, the religious and the civil leader, respectively, of the Jewish community. The two olive trees which provide an unfailing supply of oil to the lamps are the two anointed heads of Israel. “Theirs [is] the equal and co-ordinate duty of sustaining the Temple, figured by the whole candelabrum, and ensuring the brightness of the sevenfold revelation. … The Temple, that is to say, is nothing without the monarchy and the priesthood behind it; and these stand in the immediate presence of God.”⁴⁴ Joshua and Zerubbabel are simply the channels of divine grace; the Fountain is God himself.

b. The word to Zerubbabel (4: 6b -10b). This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts (6b). Here is one of the great texts of the Bible. It is more than a word to Zerubbabel; it is a message to everyone who engages in the work of God. Spiritual success is possible only when we are Spirit-filled and Spirit-cleansed. Marcus Dods has given a beautiful commentary on this verse:

You have taken your own measure, you feel your weakness to cope with your circumstances, you are painfully conscious of your inability to shine and scatter the surrounding darkness; but you are to understand that it is God's Spirit who is the source of every brilliant and enlightening action that reflects glory upon God. You have not to create a holy spirit in yourself. Holiness sufficient for the need of all creatures exists in God. And there is in God life enough to uphold all creatures in life, so there is in Him holiness sufficient for every good thing that needs to be done. You can never find yourself face to face with any duty for which there is not grace enough. In yourself there may be far too little, but in God is a living fountain.⁴⁵

Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it (7). All the obstacles which had arisen before Zerubbabel, and which by his fears had been magnified into a great mountain, would be overcome in the power of the Spirit resting upon him. The headstone of the Temple would at last be brought out of the hewer's shed with shouts of triumph and with the earnest supplication that God would add His grace to the finished work and long keep that stone in its place. Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it (8-9). The final clause of 9 means, “By the fulfilment of these promises Zerubbabel and the whole nation will realize that it was the Divine word speaking through the prophet.”⁴⁶

For who hath despised the day of small things? (10) All who scoffed at the small beginnings of the Temple and expressed doubts as to its completion will now rejoice when they shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel as he sets the capstone in its place. God never begins a work He does not intend to complete. When we are fully committed to Him and filled with His Spirit, we may say with Paul: “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in … [us] will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6).

6. The Flying Roll (5:1-4)

The two visions of this chapter are given to encourage God's people to expect that their land would be purged of evildoers and wickedness. The vision of the flying roll pictures the judgment of God upon individual sinners; the vision of the woman in a barrel symbolizes God's determination to banish the very principle of sin from Israel.

The first of these is a vision of the removal of the curse brought upon the land by its criminals, especially thieves and perjurers—the two forms which crime takes in a rude community like that of the returned exiles in Judah.⁴⁷ The prophet sees a giant scroll, inscribed with curses against sins of all kinds, flying through the air. It enters the house of every thief and perjurer in the land, and destroys it like a plague.

Zechariah was fully alert when this vision began. He turned his head, lifted his eyes, and saw a flying roll (1). He uses the common word for skin or parchment upon which writing was done. The scroll was unfurled like a giant sheet and was flying in swift pursuit of its object, like a bird of prey. It apparently came from heaven (4), which indicated that it was a judgment proceeding from the throne of God.

The dimensions of the scroll—twenty cubits in length and ten cubits in breadth (thirty by fifteen feet; 2)—are “an indication of the number of curses inscribed on it.”⁴⁸ Some interpreters, however, point out that the measurements correspond to the size of the holy place in the Tabernacle, and they see this as more than a coincidence. C. H. H. Wright observes: “Men are not to be judged as to sin by their own measure, or weighed in their own false balances—the measure of the sanctuary is that by which man's actions are to be weighed (I Sam. 2:3),” ⁴⁹

The interpreting angel explained the roll to Zechariah: This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth (3). Earth is not quite correct; the word should be translated “land,” since this is a judgment upon Israel. Only those who have the law shall be judged by the law; those without law shall be judged by the law of nature (Rom. 2:12-15). The angel continued: Every thief and every perjurer shall be cut off (3), literally “cleared” or “emptied out.” The Hebrew word, however, is frequently given a figurative meaning, “to clear from guilt, hold guiltless, leave unpunished.” Smith-Goodspeed accordingly translates the passage: “How long now have all thieves remained unpunished? And how long have those foresworn remained unpunished?” Crime has been hitherto practiced with impunity; this will no longer be the case.⁵⁰

The two sins specified are inscribed on this side and on that side (3) of the scroll (i.e., on opposite sides). Stealing and perjury correspond to the eighth and the third commandments. These are the middle commandments of the second and first tables of the Decalogue respectively, and thus probably represent the entire law. The two sides of the scroll then would represent the two tables of the law, the first having to do with man's relationship to God, the second with his relationship to his neighbor.⁵¹ We are reminded of the words of James in the New Testament: “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (Jas. 2:10).

The Lord then speaks: I will bring it forth … and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name, and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof (4). Smend gives this possible explanation: “It appears that in ancient times curses were written on pieces of paper and sent down the wind into the houses” of those to whom they were directed.⁵² The divine threat is that the scroll will remain in the midst of the house until it has effected its deadly judgment upon the entire household. It is a solemn warning.

How terribly those words have been fulfilled in the case of people and families we have known! It has seemed as though there were a plague in the house. The fortune which had been accumulated with such toil has crumbled; the children turned out sources of heartrending grief; the reputation of the father has become irretrievably tarnished. “There is a plague spread in the house; it is a fretting leprosy, it is unclean.” No man can stand against that curse. It confronts him everywhere. It touches his most substantial effects, and they pulverize, as furniture eaten through by white ants.⁵³

Such is the terrible truth of this vision. God has two ways of dealing with sin. The first is that of grace and mercy. “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (Isa. 55:7). But if sinners persist in their wickedness and refuse to receive God's grace, then His method of dealing with sin is that of judgment. “Sin must be purged away, iniquity must be stamped out in the city of God; and when the sinner is so wedded to his sin that he is no longer separable from it, he becomes the object of God's curse, and must be cleansed away from the earth.”⁵⁴

7. The Woman in the Barrel (5:5-11)

This vision is even more searching than the preceding, “for it is not so much the sinner as the very principle of sin that has to be eradicated.”⁵⁵

The prophet saw an ephah, a small barrel with a circular, lead lid. The lid was lifted and Zechariah gimpsed the form of a woman inside. The woman, so the interpreting angel explained, was the personification of wickedness. She apparently attempted to escape, but was thrust back into the barrel. The lid was quickly secured and the ephah was carried by two female figures, with wings like those of a stork, to Babylon, where a shrine might be erected for the worship of the ephah.

During the interval between this vision and the previous one while Zechariah was lost in contemplation, the interpreting angel falls into the background. He now reappears and invites the prophet to consider what is coming into view: an ephah emerging from the surrounding darkness (5-6). The ephah was the largest vessel of measurement used by the Jews. It had a capacity of more than seven gallons and was shaped somewhat like a barrel.

What is it? Zechariah asks the angel (6). The reply is difficult: This is their resemblance through all the earth (6). Apparently it means, “This is the resemblance [of the wicked] in all the earth.” By a slight change in the Hebrew, resemblance becomes “iniquity. “So the RSV translates the sentence,” This is the iniquity in all the land. ““Land” is also better than “earth,” since this vision encompasses only the Holy Land. The talent of lead (7) is better translated “disc of lead” (Moffatt) or “leaden cover” (Berk.). The Heb., kdkkar, means “circle” as well as “talent.” This lid is lifted up and the prophet sees a woman sitting in the … ephah. This is wickedness, the angel explains (8). The word should be capitalized (as it is in modern versions), since the woman is the personification of sin. In the Hebrew wickedness is feminine, indicative of the seductive power of temptation. Sin is personified here for the further purpose of distinguishing the principle of sin from the acts in which it expresses itself; it is therefore eradicable.⁵⁶

Apparently the woman attempted to escape, for the angel thrust her (not it, as KJV) back into the ephah and closed the heavy lead top securely upon its mouth (8). Thereupon two women come forth from the surrounding darkness with wind in their powerful, stork-like wings; they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven and swiftly bore it away (9). Whither do these bear the ephah? Zechariah queries (10), and the answer was given by the angel: To build it an house in the land of Shinar (11), or Babylon (Gen. 11:2; Isa. 11:11). Babylon has the general significance of the counterpart of the Holy Land. It is the epitome of wickedness and an appropriate place for the dumping of Judah's concentrated sin. But more than this, a temple is to be built there for the ephah, which shall be set there upon her own base as an image (11). “Sin thus not only finds its natural home in Babylon, but worship is to be paid to it!” ⁵⁷

We must not let the curious imagery of this vision blind us to its deep spiritual teaching. Zechariah is not satisfied with the mere ritual atonement for sin (3:1-10), or even with its divine punishment (5:1-4). George Adam Smith observes: “The living power of sin must be banished from Israel; and this cannot be done by any efforts of men themselves, but by God's action only, which is thorough and effectual.” He then shows the meaning of this vision for the Christian gospel: “Let us lay to heart [the] eternally valid doctrine, that sin is not a formal curse, not only expressed in certain social crimes, nor exhausted by the punishment of these, but, as a power of attraction and temptation to all men, it must be banished from the heart, and can be banished only by God.” ⁵⁸

Here in Oriental imagery is the grand New Testament promise of the destruction of sin by the sanctifying activity of the Holy Spirit. This vision reminds us that the suppression of sin is necessary but only as a prelude to its banishment from the heart by the power of God! What is promise in the Old Testament becomes experience in the New Testament. “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death,” Paul joyfully witnesses. “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Rom. 8:2-4).

8. The Four Chariots (6:1-8)

In this eighth and last vision the prophet sees four chariots drawn by horses of various colors coming forth from between two mountains of brass. They are commissioned by God to execute judgment upon different quarters of the earth. The chariots which go to the north country—to Babylon—have the special task of executing divine wrath upon Jerusalem's enemy par excellence.

As the series of visions opened with a depiction of the universal providence of God, so they close with another of the same nature. The first vision had postponed God's overthrow of the nations until His own time. With the religious and moral needs of Israel having been met in the intervening visions, and every obstacle to God's action of deliverance having been removed, this final vision promises divine judgment upon the nations of earth, Babylon in particular.

The prophet beholds four chariots coming forth from between two mountains … of brass (1). These are war chariots, the most formidable of ancient military machines (I Kings 10: 28-29). They were also used on great state occasions and came to be symbolic of authority and resistless might (cf. Ps. 68:17; Isa. 66:15; Hab. 3:8; Hag. 2:22). The two mountains of brass are possibly Mount Zion and the Mount of Olives viewed as the source of divine judgments upon the world. Brass is symbolic of might.

The chariots were drawn by horses of various colors: the first by red horses, the second by black horses (2), the third by white horses, and the fourth by grisled and bay horses (3; “dappled gray horses,” RSV; and does not appear in the Heb.). As in the first vision, the colors are debatable and of uncertain significance. The word rendered white also means “strong,” and in v. 7 where the KJV reads the bay the Hebrew has the same meaning ( “the steeds,” RSV). It is unlikely that the colors are intended to be symbolic.

The interpreting angel informs the prophet that these are the four spirits (or winds) of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth (5). The RSV translates, “These are going to the four winds of heaven” (cf. 2:6). The preposition to, however, is not in the Hebrew text. The four spirits are the servants of Him “who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire” (Ps. 104:4; Heb. 1:7). They are dispatched to different quarters of the world. “The prophet,” George Adam Smith rightly observes, “has not been admitted to the Presence, and does not know exactly what they have been commissioned to do; that is to say, Zechariah is ignorant of the actual political processes by which the nations are to be overthrown and Israel glorified before them.”⁵⁹ The deliverance is to be by divine action.

The destination of the four chariots has not been uniformly understood. It is clear that the black horses are dispatched to the north country (6), i.e., Babylon. The KJV follows the Hebrew closely in translating the next clause, and the white go forth after them. This seems to mean that two chariots are sent to execute judgment on Babylon. In order to make four, the KJV divides the grisled (6) from the bay (7), the former being dispatched toward the south country (6), or Egypt, the latter to the length and breadth of the earth (7). No reference is made to dispatching the red horses. However, there is no Hebrew conjunction and in 3b and hence there is no justification for dividing the grisled and bay into two separate teams. Some scholars “suspect there is a clerical error, and that we should read ‘red’ in place of ‘bay’” ⁶⁰ in v. 7.

Other interpreters⁶¹ support the RSV translation of 6b, “The white ones go toward the west country.” A slight modification of the Hebrew text makes this translation possible. Wellhausen suggests another variant reading of v. 6, which would cause the white horses to be sent “to the land of the east”;⁶² he thinks that “the west” has probably fallen out after “they go forth” in v. 7. According to this construction the chariots are sent north, east, south, and west. George Adam Smith takes note of Wellhausen's theory, but argues for the view suggested by the RSV translation. No chariot is sent eastward, for there was no power oppressing or threatening Jerusalem from that direction; but in the north there was Babylon, to the south Egypt, still a possible master of the world, and to the west new forces of Europe that in less than a generation were to prove themselves a threat to the countries of the Near East. We should probably follow the RSV in rendering the first part of v. 7, “When the steeds came out, they were impatient to get off and patrol the earth.” This may mean the horses of the fourth chariot, or the red horses. Or it may be a general statement concerning all four teams and chariots.

The center of the world's power in that day was in the north country (8), so called because Babylon's invasions always came from the north (cf. 2:6). The horses were dispatched in that direction with the explicit charge to quiet ( “set at rest,” RSV) God's spirit (8). “Spirit” here means “anger” (cf. Prov. 16:32). God's “anger” or “wrath” is His strong displeasure at sin (cf. Rom. 1:18-32). His “anger” will be “set at rest” when His judgment is executed on Babylon. This is admittedly a human way of speaking of God, but what other way is there to speak? What God is in himself, finite man can never fathom, so we attribute to Him human ways of feeling and acting. In the unfolding of divine revelation, however, it is made absolutely certain that God's wrath is not a petulant emotion. It is rather the recoil of God's holy love, the antipathy of the divine nature at man's sin.

Since God is holy, His wrath at sin is inevitable. In Christ, said Luther, “God is love”; outside Christ, “Our God is a consuming fire.” Both Scripture and experience confirm the justice of this claim. Nor is this a denial of God's love; the opposite of love is not anger but hate. Elsewhere Martin Luther spoke of God's wrath as “the underside of His love.” To soften the paradox between love and judgment in the nature of God is to destroy the biblical revelation of Deity. So the chariots of the Lord go forth to execute God's judgment upon Babylon for the injury she has done His people.

The close connection between this last vision and the first given to Zechariah (1:7-17) should once again be noted. At the beginning of this unforgettable night the prophet saw angel riders, led by the angel of Jehovah, coming to give their reports to the Lord after riding “to and fro through the earth.” Their report that the wicked nations were at rest while God's people suffered in distress greatly displeased Jehovah. “Now, in the present vision, shown to Zechariah just before the break of dawn, the angels are seen going forth, not to reconnoiter as before, but to execute God's judgment upon the nations.”⁶³ This vision discloses God's control over all destructive forces used by Him in the punishment of peoples deserving His wrath. It is therefore similar to the detailed picture of God's judgments recounted in Revelation 6—18. Zechariah's visions may quite fittingly be called “the Old Testament Apocalypse.”

C. THE CROWNING OF THE KING, 6:9-15

The heathen nations overthrown, Zion is now free to have her own king again. Zechariah is therefore ordered—the visions of the night now past—to visit a deputation of Jews lately come from the captivity in Babylon, Heldai (called Helem in v. 14), Tobijah, and Jedaiah, at the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah (10), and to select from the gifts they had brought for the Temple enough silver and gold to make circlets for a crown to be used in a coronation ceremony for the high priest (11). None of the men named is otherwise identified in the Old Testament.

A problem in interpretation here arises. The Hebrew text of this passage has the Lord instructing Zechariah to crown Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest (11), rather than Zerubbabel. This would in effect make the high priest the king of Israel. This is an interesting possibility, especially in the light of the New Testament picture of Christ as our great Priest-King. There are, however, some textual problems we cannot ignore. The student is advised to read the passage thoughtfully in several versions. The evidence from close study points toward an early corruption of the text upon which our translations are based.

First, Zechariah is ordered to make crowns (11) but in v. 14 the Hebrew verb is in the singular, while in the Septua-gint Version both subject and verb are in the singular. This is not an insurmountable problem, for v. 11 may mean “circlets for a crown.” Was Zechariah instructed to make one or two crowns? Some have suggested that the names of both Joshua and Zerub-babel were originally in v. 11, but if this is so why is the singular unto him found in v. 12 and the singular usage in v. 14?

Secondly, v. 13 should be translated, “There shall be a priest by his throne,” rather than, He shall be a priest upon his throne. Otherwise, what is the meaning of the next clause, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both? Obviously there is a promise of concord between the king who shall be crowned and the priest beside his throne—i.e., between Zerubbabel and Joshua.

We can hardly escape the conclusion that an early copiest made an error and substituted the name of Joshua for that of Zerubbabel in v. 11. If we replace Joshua with the name of Zerubbabel, all difficulty of interpretation vanishes and we are given a significant prophetic word. This seems to be the best solution to the problem.⁶⁴

God's word to Zechariah is a Messianic prophecy. Zerubbabel is The BRANCH (12), or better, “the Shoot,” to whom reference has already been made (3:8). From Zerubbabel shall spring Him who shall be “King of kings and Lord of lords,” who shall build the true temple of the Lord, “himself being the chief corner stone; in whom [believers in His name] … are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (Eph. 2:20-22; cf. I Pet. 2:4-5).

Admittedly, this prophecy has a double reference. It is primarily a promise that the Temple then being erected should be completed by the hands of Zerubbabel and an assurance to Zechariah that in the rehabilitated Jerusalem both Zerubbabel, the prince, and Joshua, the high priest, should work together in concord and peace. Yet it is a word which points beyond the then present to the days of the Messiah, in whose kingdom and temple the roles of both King and Priest should be glorious fulfilled in Him who should make them one in His own majestic person and ministry. In those days we now live; “and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (I John 3:2).

The crown which Zechariah is instructed to place in the temple of the Lord (14) is to be a memorial and a token of the fulfillment of this prophecy. Build in the temple (15) means “help to build the temple” (RSV). “The arrival of the deputation with gifts foreshadows the arrival of further reinforcements of Jews from afar—and perhaps Gentiles too (cf. viii. 22 and Hag. ii. 7)—and the work of the temple will progress rapidly.”⁶⁵ Ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you means that the completion of the Temple will testify to the divine authority of the prophet's word. Note, however, the conditional nature of the promise: And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God.

D. AN INQUIRY AND REPLY REGARDING FAST DAYS, 7:1—8:23

After a lapse of about two years Zechariah was again called upon to prophesy. The occasion was the arrival in Jerusalem of a deputation, probably from Bethel, which had been sent to inquire whether they should continue to observe the national fast that had been instituted at the time of the Captivity (7:1-3). God's answer by the prophet falls into four sections, each introduced by the same formula (7:4, 8; 8:1, 18). The return in the last section to the question out of which the answers arose (8:19) shows that the prophecy is really one whole.

First, the people are reminded that their fasting, like their feasting, had not been by divine commandment and was therefore devoid of spiritual meaning, in accordance with the teaching of the preexilic prophets (7:4-7).

In the second section Zechariah recalls what the commandments of the Lord had been when the land was inhabited and enjoying prosperity. They were not ceremonial, they were ethical; they required justice, mercy, and compassion on the poor. To the neglect of these ethical obligations the prophet traces the calamities of the Captivity and Exile (7:8-14).

The mood changes in the third section. The prophet gives a word of promise concerning the bright days of holiness and prosperity which are in store for Zion, in contrast with her earlier condition of distress. On the strength of these promises Zechariah urges the people to holy obedience (8: 1-17).

Finally comes a prediction that the fasting of the people shall give way to joyous feasting, to which great multitudes shall throng from all over the land. Even heathen nations will join in the celebration, counting it a privilege to be associated with a Jew (8:18-23).

1. The Inquiry (7:1-3)

In the fourth year of king Darius (1; i.e., in 518 B.C.) would have been about two years after Zechariah saw his visions (1:7) and about the same length of time before the completion of the Temple (cf. Ezra 6:15). Chisleu was the Babylonian name of the month corresponding to our November-December. The word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, the occasion being the arrival of a deputation in Jerusalem. They had come, first, “to seek favor from the Lord” (2, Berk.), and, second, to inquire whether to continue to observe the fast in the fifth month (3), as they had done during the time of the Exile. Their coming to the Temple would imply that at least some of its services were probably resumed.⁶⁶

The phrase unto the house of God (2) is better rendered “of Bethel.” The sentence thus would properly read, “Now they of Bethel had sent.” The burden of the deputation's mission was to consult with the Temple priests and prophets (3), the latter being Haggai and Zechariah, regarding the continuation of the fast of the fifth month, which commemorated the burning of Jerusalem and the Temple (II Kings 25:8-9). Should I weep? the spokesman asked. “The I represents the whole community of the exile. ‘Weeping’ stands here for all the practices which made up the day of fasting and humiliation: shedding tears of contrition, fasting, rending the garments, putting on sackcloth and scattering earth on the head.”⁶⁷ The question was natural. Now that the Temple was in the course of construction and national life was being restored in the Holy Land, it seemed inconsistent to continue the fasts which commemorated the destruction of the city and sanctuary.

2. Zechariah's Reply (7:4—8:23)

The deputation inquired only regarding the fast of the fifth month; “but with a breadth of view which reveals the prophet rather than the priest, Zechariah replies in the following chapter upon the fasts by which Israel for seventy years had bewailed her ruin and exile.”⁶⁸ His answer, intended to reach the ears of all the people (5), is of special significance when we remember his profound love for the Temple. It shows Zechariah to be a true prophet infinitely more concerned with righteousness than with ritual.

a. The emptiness of fasting (7:4-7). With a boldness and vocabulary reminiscent of the prophet Amos, Zechariah asks the people whether in their fasts they fasted at all to God. He refers to two fasts, that of the fifth month and that of the seventh month (5), which commemorated the assassination of the Jewish governor Gedaliah, appointed over the people left in the land by Nebuchadnezzar (cf. II Kings 25:25; Jer. 41:1-10). The Lord had not commanded these fasts, and in their fasting the people had fasted to themselves, just as in eating and drinking they had feasted to themselves (5-6). They should rather heed the words of the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity (7). Fasts or feasts are of no concern to God unless they have a positive effect upon daily life. The preexilic prophets had spoken the word to which the people should have listened. They had preached that God is indifferent to ritual, that what He demands is a moral life which manifests itself in brotherly love and social justice. To that old teaching the people must pay heed and return. It was uttered in the time of their national prosperity. By neglecting it, that prosperity was lost. Only by returning to it can prosperity be gained. The south and the plain, i.e., “the Negeb [the desert at the south of the land, still so named] and the Shephelah [the foothills southwest of Jerusalem, now part of the Gaza section]” (Berk.). When fully populated, these otherwise wilderness portions of Palestine would be inhabited.

b. A lesson from the past (7:8-14). Zechariah proceeds to give a summary of the teachings of the preexilic prophets (9-10). He follows this epitome of the prophetic message with a graphic account of Israel's disobedience and consequent punishment (11:14).

The demand of God, voiced by the prophets of old, was for true judgment (9) or social justice (the message of Amos; cf. Amos 5:24), mercy or covenant love and loyalty (the message of Hosea; cf. Hos. 6:6), and pity toward the poor and defenseless (10; the message of Micah, cf. Mic. 3:1-3). Imagine evil would be to “plot evil” (Moffatt). In Isaiah and Jeremiah all these emphases blended and came to full flower.

Zechariah's description of the people's rebellion against the prophetic message is picturesque and striking. First they refused to hearken (11); they took an entirely negative attitude. Next they pulled away the shoulder, showing childish and spiteful disrespect to the messengers of God. Then they stopped their ears, that they should not hear, making futile every effort of God to instruct them. Finally they made their hearts as an adamant (flint or diamond) stone, lest they should hear the law (12). God could make absolutely no impression on their hard hearts. Since the Lord had sent this message “by his Spirit through the former prophets” (12, RSV), Israel's rejection of it was in effect a resisting of the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 7:51).

Because of their deliberate apostasy a great wrath from the Lord of hosts came upon Israel. Their selfish cries were ignored by the Almighty and with a whirlwind He scattered them … among all the nations whom they knew not (14). Moreover, a great desolation came to the pleasant land of Judah.

In 8-14 there is a powerful lesson on “The Wickedness and Tragedy of Apostasy.” (1) Disobedience, ll-12c; (2) Destruction, 12d-13; (3) Desolation, 14 (cf. Matt. 23:34-38).

c. Precious promises for Zicm (8:1-17). Again the word of the Lord of hosts came to me (1): Zechariah continues his answer to the delegation (cf. comments on 7:1-3). The mood, however, now changes to one of hope for the future. But as the promises unfold we get a vivid glimpse of the forlorn conditions of the people and the land. Few old people and few children were seen in Jerusalem (4-5). Many of their fellow Jews were still in exile (7), and they themselves were slack and disheartened (9, 13). Unemployment was widespread, neighboring peoples were hostile, and the city was torn with dissension (10). A drought had ruined their crops (12; cf. Hag. 1:11), and their name was a byword among the heathen (13). The situation was so desperate that only a miracle could remedy it (6).

Seven shining promises, however, are given by the Lord. “At each word and sentence, in which good things, for their greatness almost incredible, are promised, the prophet promises, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, as if he would say, Think not that what I would pledge you are my own, and refuse me not credence as man. What I unfold are the promises of God” (Jerome).⁶⁹

(1) God is jealous (zealous) in His determination to restore Zion (2). He expresses on the one hand His love for Zion and on the other His indignation against her foes.

(2) The Lord is about to return to Zion after seventy years, and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy mountain (3).

(3) Jerusalem shall become a scene of serene old age and joyful childhood (4-5). Old folk will sit watching happy boys and girls play in the streets. A partial fulfillment of this promise has been recorded from the days of Simon the Macca-bee: “And the land had rest all the days of Simon … the ancient men sat in the streets, communing together of good things, and the young men put on glorious and warlike apparel. … He made peace in the land, and Israel rejoiced with great joy; for every man sat under his vine and his fig-tree, and there was none to fray them” (I Maccabees 14:4, 9, 11 f.),⁷⁰

(4) Nothing is too hard for the Lord (6). Will it take a miracle to transform Zion? “Very well,” says Zechariah, “God is equal to the miracle, it is no miracle for Him.”⁷¹ Living Prophecies renders the verse, “This seems unbelievable to you—a remnant, small, discouraged as you are—but it is no great thing for Me.”

(5) God shall regather His people in the Holy Land (7-8). He shall bring them from the east and from the west (7) and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem (8); He shall be their God and they His people in truth and in righteousness.

(6) Anxious times shall pass with the restoration of the Temple (9-13). Let your hands be strong (9), the Lord exhorts the people of Zion. “Take courage and persevere in the rebuilding of the Temple,” Rashi paraphrases, “and fear not the people of the land who ‘weakened the hands of the people of Judah and harried them while they were building’ (Ezra 4:4).”⁷² Times have been desperate (10), but now (11) a new state of things has come about. For the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew (12). The curse that rested upon the land shall be removed, for with the building of the Temple a new era has dawned (13).

(7) God shall do well unto Jerusalem if she will practice justice and mercy (14-17). As God punished the nation for its sin when they provoked Him to wrath, He will now show mercy and favor upon the land (14-15). In view of His beneficent purposes God enjoins once again the moral demands He had made through the old prophets (cf. 7:9-10). Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates: and let none of you imagine (plot) evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the Lord (16-17). These are the words of an authentic prophet of righteousness, and they are timeless in their demands upon the conscience of man. “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets,” said Jesus; “I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil” (Matt. 5:17). The Christian ethic is based solidly upon the prophetic ethic of the Old Testament.

d. Fasts turned to feasts of rejoicing (8:18-23). Zechariah now comes to the climax of his answer to the delegation (see comments on 7:2-3). Let the people drop their fasts—the two already mentioned and two other fasts of the Exile—and turn them into cheerful feasts. So attractive Would the happy days of Jerusalem be that returning Jews would be joined by men of many nations, anatogether they would make their way to Zion, where they would join in worshiping Jehovah God. Lord of hosts (18, passim) is a common title for God among the prophets. It stands for the power and sovereignty of the Lord.

The fast of neither the fourth month nor the tenth (19) is mentioned in 7:3 or 5. In the fourth month (the month of Tam-muz) the Babylonians had made a breach in the walls of Jerusalem and begun to enter the city (II Kings 25:3-4; Jer. 39:2). This fast is still observed by Jews today on the seventeenth day of this month.⁷³ In the tenth (the month of Tebeth) the Babylonians had begun the siege of Jerusalem (II Kings 25:1). The four Exile fasts, says Zechariah, henceforth shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts. Then he adds the conditions for all these promises: Therefore love the truth and peace. In substance the prophet is saying: Drop your fasts and practice the moral virtues the neglect of which made your fasts necessary.

Finally Zechariah adds the crowning promise: The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts … Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and … In those days … ten men … shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you (21-23). Take hold of the skirt of, or “coat of,” is an expression meaning to seek identification with and protection from.

Have these prophecies been fulfilled? In part, yes. The inhabitants of the earth have gone up to Jerusalem to worship God. The Jews are the recognized religious teachers of mankind. Their Sacred Writings have become the very Word of God to multitudes of races, tongues, and nations. To them we owe the New Testament, as well as the Old. Their lawgivers, prophets, psalmists, apostles, and saints have given us our conception of God and the life He requires and imparts. Long before the Christian era, the synagogues of the Jews were lights shining in a world of pagan darkness. These assemblies later became the bridges over which the knowledge of God and Christ passed to the Gentiles. From the Jewish nation came the Saviour of mankind and the earliest apostles of the Christian faith. In Jerusalem, Jesus of Nazareth presented himself as the promised Messiah. In Jerusalem this same Jesus offered himself as the one perfect Sacrifice for the sins of mankind. In Jerusalem, He arose from the dead, ascended to the Father, and inaugurated the kingdom of God on earth. In Jerusalem the Holy Spirit descended, on a Jewish festival day, and began His mighty work of convicting the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Surely “Jerusalem which is above … is the mother of us all” (Gal. 4:26).

There is also a time, yet future, but possibly not far away, when “all Israel shall be saved” (Rom. 11:26) and these prophecies shall have a still more literal fulfillment. Some see in the modern Zionist movement and the restoration of the State of Israel signs that the ultimate fulfillment of Zechariah's prophecy may be at our very doors.

And we must never forget that it was the Captivity which purified Israel from idolatry and set her faith free to become a universal religion.

They entered [the Captivity] imbued with polytheism and left it the strictest monotheists the world has ever seen. Their sorrows gave birth to some of their noblest Scriptures, and made their hold on the sacred Canon more tenacious than ever. Cast out by man, they fled to the bosom of God. Divorced from the outward rites of the Temple, they were driven to cling to spiritual realities, of which the Levitical institutions were only transient types. Israel owes all the influence she has wielded in the world to the anguish which culminated in the conflagration of the Temple; and, if she were wise, she would evermore keep those ancient anniversaries of despair as birthdays of her power.⁷⁴