Zechariah 1:20, Zechariah 1:21 ESV

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Zechariah 1:7-21

Encouragement to the builders (1:7-2:13)In the first vision some mounted patrol officers have just returned from a tour of duty and report to a rider on a red horse who is standing among some trees (7-10). The patrol officers report that throughout the empire all is calm and peaceful (11).This report may be good news for the Persians but it is not for the Jews, who have now been in bondage to foreign overlords for more than seventy years. They long for freedom and pray for God’s mercy (12-13).... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Zechariah 1:20

shewed me. This is part of the second vision, carpenters = (iron)smiths. read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Zechariah 1:20

"And Jehovah showed me four smiths. Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These are the horns that scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head; but these are come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations, which lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it."Four smiths ... these are the horns ..." What a dramatic depiction of the rise and fall of nations. Assyria was the "smith" that ruined Egypt, and Assyria was also the "horn" that... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Zechariah 1:20

Zechariah 1:20. Four carpenters— Or as many subverters of the kingdoms as the kingdoms were which had oppressed the Jews. The word חרשׁ choresh, signifies a mechanic, or artificer in brass, iron, wood, stone, &c. REFLECTIONS.—1st, The prophet Zechariah received his commission from God, and began to speak about two months after Haggai. He is called the son of Berechiah; and was the same, as some suppose, whom our Lord mentions, Mat 23:35 as slain between the porch and the altar, the son of... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Zechariah 1:20

20. four carpenters—or "artificers." The several instrumentalities employed, or to be employed, in crushing the "Gentile" powers which "scattered" Judah, are hereby referred to. For every one of the four horns there was a cleaving "artificer" to beat it down. For every enemy of God's people, God has provided a counteracting power adequate to destroy it. read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Zechariah 1:18-21

B. The four horns and the four smiths 1:18-21The second vision elaborates the concept of comfort promised in the first vision (Zechariah 1:13; Zechariah 1:17). Here we learn how God will execute His anger against the nations that excessively oppressed His people. The nations will meet with retribution, and Israel will triumph over her foes. read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Zechariah 1:20

Then the Lord showed Zechariah four smiths (Heb. harashim, lit. workers in metal, craftsmen). Either the Lord Himself pointed them out or the Lord did so through Zechariah’s guiding angel. read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Zechariah 1:1-21

Lessons from the Past. The First and Second Visions1-6. The Prophet’s message. He calls the people to repentance. 8-17. The First Vision: The Divine Messengers ever watching over the affairs of the nations. 18-21. The Second Vision: Hostile nations subdued by divinely-appointed agents.1. The eighth month] the month Bul (see 1 Kings 6:38), corresponding to part of October-November. The second year of Darius] i.e. 520 b.c. This was the first Darius, son of Hystaspes, who had just succeeded to the... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Zechariah 1:7-21

A SERIES OF SEVEN VISIONS.Zechariah 1:7 to Zechariah 6:15. Between the commencement of Zechariah’s prophetic labours and the incidents recorded in Zechariah 1:7 to Zechariah 6:15, the Prophet Haggai received the revelation contained in Haggai 2:10-23. On the four-and-twentieth day of the eleventh month, just five months after the re-building of the Temple was resumed, Zechariah sees a succession of seven visions in one night, followed by a symbolic action (Zechariah 6:9-15). read more