Zechariah 1:4-6

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

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

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Zechariah 1:5

Your fathers, where are they? - Israel has been destroyed and ruined in the bloody wars with the Assyrians; and Judah, in those with the Chaldeans. The prophets, do they live for ever? - They also, who spoke unto your fathers, are dead; but their predictions remain; and the events, which have taken place according to those predictions, prove that God sent them. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Zechariah 1:6

Did they not take hold of your fathers? - Every thing happened according to the predictions, and they were obliged to acknowledge this; and yet they would not turn from their evil way. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Zechariah 1:4

Verse 4 In order to correct and to subdue the obstinacy of the people, he here upbraids them with having descended from wicked and perverse parents. The Jews, we know, too much flattered themselves; and we know that they were especially inflated with the vain boasting that they derived their origin from the holy fathers. But the Prophets had something else in view. We indeed know that when anything becomes customary, almost all become hardened and flatter themselves in their vice; for... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Zechariah 1:5

Verse 5 In what we considered yesterday Zechariah reminded the Jews of the conduct of their fathers, in order that they might not, by their continued sins, bring on themselves new punishments. Many interpreters think that the sentiment contained at the beginning of the fourth verse is now confirmed, your fathers, where are they? for it seems t them that God is here exulting over the Jews — “Think now what has happened to your fathers; are they not all gone and destroyed?” They suppose also that... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Zechariah 1:6

Verse 6 He then immediately adds, But my words and my statutes (15) which I have committed to my Prophets, have they not laid hold on your fathers? We have seen that he made a concession in the last verse; but here God expressly declares what I have stated — that though men vanish, or are hence removed after a short time, yet heavenly truth is ever firm, and retains its own power. But the Prophet uses another form of expression, My words, he says, which I have committed to my servants, the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Zechariah 1:1-6

A timely warning. "In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet," etc. Special attention seems invited in the opening verse of this opening prophecy to the question of time. Probably because the time of its utterance was a time of much hope, as shown by the cotemporaneous prophecies of Haggai 1:13-15 ("sixth month"); Haggai 2:1-9 ("seventh month"); and Haggai 2:18 , Haggai 2:19 ("ninth... read more

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