19 And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these? And he said to me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.
And I said, What come these to do? And he spoke, saying, Those are the horns which scattered Judah, so that no man lifted up his head; but these are come to affright them, to cast out the horns of the nations, which lifted up the horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.
And I said, My lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these are.
And the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building;
And in the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of his companions, wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia; and the writing of the letter was written in Aramaic, and interpreted in Aramaic.
Israel is a hunted sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria devoured him, and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones. Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will visit the king of Babylon and his land, like as I have visited the king of Assyria.
And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river; and he held up his right hand and his left hand unto the heavens, and swore by him that liveth for ever that it is for a time, times, and a half; and when the scattering of the power of the holy people shall be accomplished, all these things shall be finished.
Thou didst strike through with his own spears the head of his leaders: They came out as a whirlwind to scatter me, Whose exulting was as to devour the afflicted secretly.
And I said, Whither goest thou? And he said unto me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof.
And I answered and said unto him, What are these two olive-trees on the right of the lamp-stand and on its left? And I answered the second time and said unto him, What are the two olive-branches which are beside the two golden tubes that empty the gold out of themselves? And he spoke to me, saying, Knowest thou not what these are? And I said, No, my lord. And he said, These are the two sons of oil, that stand before the Lord of the whole earth.
For thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Like as I thought to do you evil when your fathers provoked me to wrath, saith Jehovah of hosts, and I repented not;
And one of the elders answered, saying to me, These who are clothed with white robes, who are they, and whence came they? And I said to him, My lord, *thou* knowest. And he said to me, These are they who come out of the great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Zechariah 1
Commentary on Zechariah 1 Matthew Henry Commentary
An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of
The Prophecy of Zechariah
Chapter 1
In this chapter, after the introduction (v. 1), we have,
Zec 1:1-6
Here is,
Zec 1:7-17
We not come to visions and revelations of the Lord; for in that way God chose to speak by Zechariah, to awaken the people's attention, and to engage their humble reverence of the word and their humble enquiries into it, and to fix it the more in their minds and memories. Most of the following visions seem designed for the comfort of the Jews, now newly returned out of captivity, and their encouragement to go on with the building of the temple. The scope of this vision (which is as an introduction to the rest) is to assure the Jews of the care God took of them, and the eye of his providence that was upon them for good, now in their present state, when they seem to be deserted, and their case deplorable. The vision is dated (v. 7) the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, three months after he preached that sermon (v. 1), in which he calls them to repentance from the consideration of God's judgments. Finding that that sermon had a good effect, and that they returned to God in a way of duty, the assurances he had given them are confirmed, that God would return to them in a way of mercy. Now observe here,
Zec 1:18-21
It is the comfort and triumph of the church (Isa. 59:19) that when the enemy shall come in like a flood, with mighty force and fury, then the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. Now, in this vision (the second which this prophet had), we have an illustration of that, God's Spirit making a stand, and making head, against the formidable power of the church's adversaries.