Zechariah 1:1-16

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Zechariah 1:1-6

Here is, I. The foundation of Zechariah's ministry; it is laid in a divine authority: The word of the Lord came to him. He received a divine commission to be God's mouth to the people and with it instructions what to say. He received of the Lord that which also he delivered unto them. The word of the Lord was to him; it came in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit, as a real thing, and not a fancy. For the ascertaining of this, we have here, 1. The time when the word of the Lord came... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Zechariah 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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Zechariah 1:1

In the eighth month ,.... The month Marchesvan, called the month Bul, in 1 Kings 6:38 which answers to part of our October, and part of November: this was but two months from the first prophecy of Haggai, Haggai 1:1 and but a few days after his second, Haggai 2:1 so near were the prophecies of these two prophets together: in the second year of Darius : king of Persia; not Darius the Mede, but Darius the son of Hystaspes: came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah ; that is, "the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Zechariah 1:2

The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers. Who lived before and at the time of the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, and which was manifest by their captivity; all which were occasioned by their sins, with which they provoked the Lord to sore displeasure against them; and this is mentioned as a caution to their children, that they might not follow their example, and incur the like displeasure. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Zechariah 1:3

Therefore say thou unto them ,.... This is an order from the Lord to Zechariah, to say unto them, in the name of the Lord: thus saith the Lord of hosts ; of the hosts above and below, of angels and of men, of heaven and earth, and all that is therein: this is said, that the greater regard might be had to his words: turn ye unto me, saith the Lord of hosts ; by repentance, and acknowledgment of former sins; by reformation for the future; by attending to the worship and service of God,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Zechariah 1:4

Be ye not as your fathers ,.... Who lived before the captivity, and misused the prophets and messengers of the Lord, and despised his word, and fell into gross idolatry; the evil examples of parents and ancestors are not to be followed: unto whom the former prophets have cried : such as Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others: saying, thus saith the Lord of hosts, Turn now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings ; by their "evil ways" may be meant their idolatrous worship; and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Zechariah 1:5

Your fathers, where are they ?.... They are not in the land of the living; they perished by the sword of the Chaldeans, or died in captivity: and the prophets, do they live for ever ? meaning either the false prophets, as Hananiah and Shemaiah, Jeremiah 28:17 or the true prophets of the Lord; and the words may be considered as a prevention of an objection the people might make, taken from their prophets dying in common with their fathers; and so the Targum paraphrases them, "and if... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Zechariah 1:6

But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets ,.... That is, the predictions which he ordered his prophets to declare in his name, that their fathers should die by the sword, or famine, or pestilence, or be carried captive, which he purposed in himself, and threatened them with: did they not take hold of your fathers ? overtake them, seize upon them, and have their accomplishment in them? not one thing has failed, or come short of being fulfilled, of all that... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Zechariah 1:7

Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat ,.... Called Sabat in the Septuagint version, and in the Apocrypha: "Now Simon was visiting the cities that were in the country, and taking care for the good ordering of them; at which time he came down himself to Jericho with his sons, Mattathias and Judas, in the hundred threescore and seventeenth year, in the eleventh month, called Sabat:' (1 Maccabees 16:14) It is said by the Jews F7 Targum Sheni in... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Zechariah 1:8

I saw by night ,.... Or, "that night" F13 הלילה "hac nocte", Drusius. ; the night of the twenty fourth of Sebat; a proper and usual time for visions; and it may denote the obscurity of the vision, as it was in some respects to the prophet; and the state of the church at this time, it being a night season with it, and in a low estate; and the care that the Lord, who is Israel's Keeper, has of them in such seasons, being in the midst of them: and behold ! this is prefixed to the... read more

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