14 And he said, These are the two sons of oil, whose place is by the Lord of all the earth.
These are the two olive-trees and the two lights, which are before the Lord of the earth.
Seventy weeks have been fixed for your people and your holy town, to let wrongdoing be complete and sin come to its full limit, and for the clearing away of evil-doing and the coming in of eternal righteousness: so that the vision and the word of the prophet may be stamped as true, and to put the holy oil on a most holy place. Have then the certain knowledge that from the going out of the word for the building again of Jerusalem till the coming of a prince, on whom the holy oil has been put, will be seven weeks: in sixty-two weeks its building will be complete, with square and earthwork. And at the end of the times, even after the sixty-two weeks, one on whom the holy oil has been put will be cut off and have no ...; and the town and the holy place will be made waste together with a prince; and the end will come with an overflowing of waters, and even to the end there will be war; the making waste which has been fixed.
And he let me see Joshua, the high priest, in his place before the angel of the Lord, and the Satan at his right hand ready to take up a cause against him. And the Lord said to the Satan, May the Lord's word be sharp against you, O Satan, the word of the Lord who has taken Jerusalem for himself: is this not a burning branch pulled out of the fire? Now Joshua was clothed in unclean robes, and he was in his place before the angel. And he made answer and said to those who were there before him, Take the unclean robes off him, and let him be clothed in clean robes; And let them put a clean head-dress on his head. So they put a clean head-dress on his head, clothing him with clean robes: and to him he said, See, I have taken your sin away from you. And the angel of the Lord made a statement to Joshua, and said, These are the words of the Lord of armies: If you will go in my ways and keep what I have put in your care, then you will be judge over my Temple and have the care of my house, and I will give you the right to come in among those who are there.
Up! and let the grain be crushed, O daughter of Zion, for I will make your horn iron and your feet brass, and a number of peoples will be broken by you, and you will give up their increase to the Lord and their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.
The spirit of the Lord is on me, because I am marked out by him to give good news to the poor; he has sent me to make the broken-hearted well, to say that the prisoners will be made free, and that those in chains will see the light again; To give knowledge that the year of the Lord's good pleasure has come, and the day of punishment from our God; to give comfort to all who are sad; To give them a fair head-dress in place of dust, the oil of joy in place of the clothing of grief, praise in place of sorrow; so that they may be named trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, and so that he may have glory.
So he sent and made him come in. Now he had red hair and beautiful eyes and pleasing looks. And the Lord said, Come, put the oil on him, for this is he. Then Samuel took the bottle of oil, and put the oil on him there among his brothers: and from that day the spirit of the Lord came on David with power. So Samuel went back to Ramah.
And the Lord said to Samuel, How long will you go on sorrowing for Saul, seeing that I have put him from his place as king over Israel? Take oil in your vessel and go; I will send you to Jesse, the Beth-lehemite: for I have got a king for myself among his sons.
Then Samuel took the bottle of oil, and put the oil on his head and gave him a kiss and said, Is not the Lord with the holy oil making you ruler over Israel, his people? and you will have authority over the people of the Lord, and you will make them safe from the hands of their attackers round about them, and this will be the sign for you:
And he will be the builder of the Temple of the Lord; and the glory will be his, and he will take his place as ruler on the seat of power; and Joshua will be a priest at his right hand, and between them there will be a design of peace.
For this Melchizedek, the king of Salem, a priest of the Most High God, who gave Abraham his blessing, meeting him when he came back after putting the kings to death, And to whom Abraham gave a tenth part of everything which he had, being first named King of righteousness, and then in addition, King of Salem, that is to say, King of peace;
But of the Son he says, Your seat of power, O God, is for ever and ever; and the rod of your kingdom is a rod of righteousness. You have been a lover of righteousness and a hater of evil; and so God, your God, has put the oil of joy on your head more than on the heads of those who are with you.
And the angel, answering, said, I am Gabriel, whose place is before God; I have been sent to say these words to you and to give you this good news.
And the angel, answering, said to me, These go out to the four winds of heaven from their place before the Lord of all the earth.
In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, ruler of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, These are the words of the Lord of armies: These people say, The time has not come for building the Lord's house. Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it a time for you to be living in roofed houses while this house is a waste? For this cause the Lord of armies has said, Give thought to your ways. Much has been planted, but little got in; you take food, but have not enough; you take drink, but are not full; you are clothed, but no one is warm; and he who gets payment for his work, gets it to put it into a bag full of holes. This is what the Lord of armies has said: Give thought to your ways. Go up to the hills and get wood and put up the house; and I will take pleasure in it and be honoured, says the Lord. You were looking for much, and it came to little; and when you got it into your house, I took it away with a breath. Why? says the Lord of armies. Because of my house which is a waste, while every man takes care of the house which is his. For this cause the heaven over you is kept from giving dew, and the earth from giving her fruit. And by my order no rain came on the land or on the mountains or the grain or the wine or the oil or the produce of the earth or on men or cattle or on any work of man's hands. Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and all the rest of the people, gave ear to the voice of the Lord their God and to the words of Haggai the prophet, because the Lord their God had sent him, and the people were in fear before the Lord.
See, he will come up like a lion from the thick growth of Jordan against the resting-place of Teman: but I will suddenly make him go in flight from her; and I will put over her the man of my selection: for who is like me? and who will put forward his cause against me? and what keeper of sheep will be able to keep his place before me?
For your Maker is your husband; the Lord of armies is his name: and the Holy One of Israel is he who takes up your cause; he will be named the God of all the earth.
Let me make a song about my loved one, a song of love for his vine-garden. My loved one had a vine-garden on a fertile hill:
I have made discovery of David my servant; I have put my holy oil on his head.
And when the feet of the priests who take up the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, come to rest in the waters of Jordan, the waters of Jordan will be cut off, all the waters flowing down from higher up, and will come together in a mass.
See, the ark of the agreement of the Lord of all the earth is going over before you into Jordan.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Zechariah 4
Commentary on Zechariah 4 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 4
In this chapter we have another comfortable vision, which, as it was explained to the prophet, had much in it for the encouragement of the people of God in their present straits, which were so great that they thought their case helpless, that their temple could never be rebuilt nor their city replenished; and therefore the scope of the vision is to show that God would, by his own power, perfect the work, though the assistance given to it by its friends were ever so weak, and the resistance given to it by its enemies were ever so strong. Here is,
Zec 4:1-10
Here is,
Zec 4:11-14
Enough is said to Zechariah to encourage him, and to enable him to encourage others, with reference to the good work of building the temple which they were now about, and that was the principal intention of the vision he saw; but still he is inquisitive about the particulars, which we will ascribe, not to any vain curiosity, but to the value he had for divine discoveries and the pleasure he took in acquainting himself with them. Those that know much of the things of God cannot but have a humble desire to know more. Now observe,