Zechariah 1

In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying,

The first exhortation to the people

2 “The LORD was very angry with your fathers. 3 Therefore say to them, Thus says the LORD of hosts: Turn to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will turn to you, says the LORD of hosts. 4 Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried out, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: Turn now from your evil ways, and from your evil deeds.’ But they would not hear, or listen to me, says the LORD. 5 Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? 6 But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers? “And they returned and said, ‘The LORD of hosts has dealt with us in accordance with our ways and our deeds, just as he determined to do to us.’ ”

1:5-6 Men pass away like grass in a field but God’s Word stands forever – Isa 40:6-8; 1 Pet 1:24-25. And the punishment that came on Israel and Judah was in fulfillment of that Word.⚜

Eight visions

7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, as follows:

A man and horses among the myrtle trees

8 I saw a vision at night, and a man appeared riding on a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees in a hollow, and behind him there were red, sorrel, and white horses.

9 Then I said, “My lord, what are these?” And the angel who talked with me said to me, “I will show you what these are”.

1:9 The angel who was talking with Zechariah is not the same as the angel of the LORD (v 11).⚜

10 And the man who stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, “These are those whom the LORD has sent to go throughout the earth”.

11 And they answered the angel of the LORD who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, “We have gone throughout the earth, and have seen that all the earth is quiet and peaceful”.

1:11 Verse 8. The angel of the LORD was in authority over all the other angels and so they brought their reports to Him.⚜

12 Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, “O LORD of hosts, how long will you have no mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which you have been angry these seventy years?”

1:12 The Son of God prays to God the Father about the condition of Judah. Compare John 17:1; Rom 8:34; 1 Tim 2:5; Heb 7:25; 1 John 2:1.⚜

13 And the LORD answered the angel who talked with me with good words, comforting words.

14 So the angel who talked with me said to me, “Cry out, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. 15 And I am very angry with the nations that are at ease. For I was only a little angry, and they helped forward the distress.

16 “Therefore thus says the LORD: I am returning to Jerusalem with mercy. My house will be built in it, says the LORD of hosts, and a measuring line will be stretched out on Jerusalem.’

17 “Cry out again, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: My cities will again spread out through prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion, and will again choose Jerusalem.’ ”

1:7-17 This is the first of eight visions God gave Zechariah – v 18; Zech 2:1; 3:1; 4:1; 5:1, 5; 6:1. It seems they all came in one night. Giving visions is one way God used to reveal His truth and His messages to the prophets. See Gen 15:1; Isa 1:1; Dan 2:19; Acts 9:10; 10:3.⚜

1:13-17 God the Father listened to His Son and sent a comforting message to the people of Judah through His angel and His prophet.⚜

Four horns

18 Then I lifted up my eyes, and looked and saw four horns. 19 And I said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these?” And he answered me, “Those are the horns which scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem”.

20 And the LORD showed me four craftsmen. 21 Then I said, “What have those come to do?” And he spoke, saying, “These are the horns which scattered Judah, so that no one could lift up his head; but these have come to terrify them, to throw down the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it”.

1:18-21 A vision about the destruction of the nations which destroyed Israel and Judah. “Horns” signify authority and power (1 Sam 2:10; Ps 18:2; Dan 7:7-8; Luke 1:69; Rev 17:12). Here they symbolize the strong nations which scattered God’s people, chief among which was Assyria and Babylonia. But “four” may indicate the “four corners” of the whole world.⚜