Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible · 스가랴 1장

Zechariah 1:1. In the eighth month— Zechariah begins his prophesy with an exhortation to the people to be converted to the Lord, and not to imitate the stubbornness of their forefathers. Three months afterwards, Zec 1:7 the Lord caused to appear to him an angel on horseback in the midst of a myrtle grove, standing by the side of a river. Several other angels come to the first, and acquaint him, that the whole country was at peace and abounded with inhabitants. He thence takes occasion to intreat the Lord, that he would have compassion on the cities of Judah. The Lord gives him a gracious and comfortable answer, and complies with his request. Then the prophet saw four horns, Zec 1:18 and four men going to break them with hammers; and he was told that these four horns denoted so many powers which had oppressed his people; but that the time was come wherein they should be overthrown, and broken to pieces. See Calmet.

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Zechariah 1:5. Your fathers, where are they?— This question signifies that the sepulchre of their fathers was not in Judaea, because they died captives in a foreign land; which was a great disgrace to the children. The question therefore, Where are they? does not mean that they were dead; for it could not by any means be considered as a punishment that the fathers of those whom Zechariah addresses were dead, after the space of seventy years. Prophets had never been wanting in Israel, till the time of the return from the Babylonish captivity. After Zechariah and Malachi, they ceased till Christ was born. The prophet therefore, by the next question, And the prophets, &c. implies, that in a short time it should come to pass, that God would send no more prophets to his people. See Houbigant.

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Zechariah 1:6. But my words, &c.— Certainly, my words and my decrees, which I commanded, &c. happened to your fathers; who when they repented, said, &c. Houbigant.

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Zechariah 1:7. Upon the four-and-twentieth, &c.— The second revelation, made to Zechariah about three months after the first, contains eight distinct visions following each other in the same night. The first vision is of an angel in a human form, sitting on horseback in a low valley among myrtle-trees, attended by others upon horses of different colours. The prophet asks the meaning, and is informed that they were the ministers of Providence, sent to examine into the state of the whole earth, which they report to be quiet and tranquil. The angel hereupon intercedes for Judah and Jerusalem, which he represents as having suffered under the divine indignation seventy years. He receives a consolatory answer. The prophet is directed to proclaim, that God's wrath against Judah was at an end; that he would cause the temple and Jerusalem to be rebuilt, and would fill the country with good, as a token and consequence of his renewed favour, Zechariah 1:7-17.

Sebat— This month corresponded with the latter end of January and the beginning of February.

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Zechariah 1:8. I saw by night— I saw this night, &c. A red horse is an emblem of war and destruction. The man or angel riding upon him is thought by some to have been the archangel Michael, prince and protector of the people of God. Others suppose that the Logos, or Son of God, is meant, who appeared as the captain of the hosts or armies of God. See the note on chap. Zechariah 2:3. He appeared in obscurity, in a low place, amid myrtles planted by the waters; as it were to mark out the affliction, humiliation, and sorrow, to which his country was reduced. The Hebrew may be rendered, Among the myrtle-trees planted by the waters. The myrtle flourishes best in shady and watery places; Littora myrtetis laetissima, says Virgil. See Calmet. Instead of speckled, Houbigant reads grey.

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Zechariah 1:9. The angel that talked with me— This was another heavenly minister, sent probably to present the visions to the prophet's imagination, as well as to explain them. Vitringa styles him, Angelus comes et interpres, "the accompanying and interpreting angel:" and under his direction the prophet receives satisfactory information.

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Zechariah 1:11. We have walked, &c.— This passage answers to that opinion of the Hebrews, that every province had its guardian angel. The angels subordinate to the principal one, among the myrtle-trees, report to him, that all the parts of his government are inhabited, and at rest. Instead of, Through the earth, and all the earth, it should be rendered, Through the land, and all the land. After the return from the captivity this province was re-peopled, and enjoyed at the commencement of the reign of Darius a profound peace.

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Zechariah 1:15. I am very sore displeased, &c.— I am very sore displeased with the nations who despise her, and who, after I had moderated my anger, have added to her affliction. Houbigant. This may be understood of the Babylonians, Samaritans, and other neighbours of the Jews, who had not been made such terrible examples of God's vengeance as the Jews. See Job 42:7.

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Zechariah 1:17. My cities, &c.— My cities shall yet abound with good. Houbigant, and others.

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Zechariah 1:18. Behold, four horns— In this second vision, under the emblem of four horns, is represented, that God, by such agents as he would appoint, would quell and bring down all those powers which had risen, or should rise, to oppress his people. Horns are an usual emblem of strength and power; and because those fierce beasts that have them, push and gore with them, and, tossing them furiously about, scatter and drive all before them, they aptly denote conquering and oppressive princes and states. See Daniel 7:0; Daniel 8:0. But whether the number four is used indefinitely, or to denote that specific number, and, if the latter, what particular Powers are pointed out by it, is a question that has been much agitated, but not satisfactorily determined. Several quaternions have been named, but with no other effect than to make the matter more doubtful. The most ancient and prevailing opinion among the Jews themselves, and perhaps the most probable of any, is, that the four great empires, the Assyrian or Babylonian, the Persian, Grecian, and Roman, which most certainly were alluded to by the four beasts in the seventh chapter of Daniel, and I think are designed by the four chariots in the last of these eight visions, chap. 6: are here likewise intended; by each of which the Jewish nation has been in turns oppressed, and all of them have been successively brought down, and annihilated; although from the depression of the last the Jews have not as yet apparently derived any considerable advantage.

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