Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Zechariah 1:7 - 1:17

Online Resource Library

Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | Download

Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Zechariah 1:7 - 1:17


(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)

This Chapter Verse Commentaries:



The Vision of the Horses Among the Myrtle Trees

v. 7. Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which Is the month Sebat,
five months after the building of the Temple had been resumed, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying,

v. 8. I saw by night,
in a night vision, some time between six o'clock in the evening and six o'clock in the morning, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, the color of war and bloodshed, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom, most likely a valley in the neighborhood of Jerusalem; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, or bay, the color of fire and flames and burning, and white, in this connection the color of victory.

v. 9. Then said I,
anxious to know what the Lord intended to make known through this vision, O my Lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will show thee what these be, for the Lord wanted Zechariah to know the meaning of the vision in order that he might reveal it to others.

v. 10. And the man that stood among the myrtle trees,
the first angel, answered and said, These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth, to find out how matters stood everywhere.

v. 11. And they answered the Angel of the Lord,
that peculiar Uncreated Angel, the Son of God as He revealed Himself to the believers of the Old Testament, that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still and is at rest, the great commotion among the nations, of which the prophet Haggai had spoken, 2:7. 8, had not yet begun, that is, the time for the Messiah to appear in the flesh had not yet come, a statement which naturally had a most depressing effect upon the Jews. But the Lord has a word of comfort ready for them.

v. 12. Then the Angel of the Lord answered and said,
the second person of the Godhead Himself giving them a reassuring word of comfort, 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? so that the seventy years of the exile seemed extended, as though the affliction of the captivity would never end.

v. 13. And the Lord answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words,
words of salvation and blessing, which he, of course, was immediately to pass on to the congregation of the Lord.

v. 14. So the angel that communed with me,
he who had first given an interpretation of the Lord's intentions as expressed in the vision, said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, He whose exact message the prophet brought to Judah, I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion, He was agitated with the zeal of his love for His congregation, with a great jealousy.

v. 15. And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease,
believing that they had been permanently victorious over the Lord's people; for I was but a little displeased, as His punishment went out upon His people for seventy years, and they helped forward the affliction, they rioted in the sufferings of helpless Israel and were anxious to prolong them.

v. 16. Therefore, thus saith the Lord, I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies,
for He had withheld them from His people for a time in order to punish them, but now He was once more ready to accept His repentant children; My house shall be built in it, namely, the Temple as the seat of the Lord's merciful presence in the midst of His congregation, saith the Lord of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem, in this case the builder's line signifying the rebuilding of the city.

v. 17. Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad,
overflowing with the outward pressure of abundant growth as a stream overflows its banks; and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, the Church of His love, and shall yet choose Jerusalem, the communion of His saints. Thus the Lord, who occasionally has punished His Church with heavy stripes, ever again lies turned to His children with the wealth of His blessings in the Gospel.