Zechariah 1:19

And I said unto the angel that talked with me ,.... Zechariah 1:9 ,

What be these ? that is, who do these horns signify? and what or whom do they represent?

and he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem ; which may design the distresses, vexations, and captivities of the people of Israel by their enemies, as by the Moabites, Ammonites, &c.; in the times of the judges; and the captivity of the ten tribes of Israel by Shalmaneser; and of the two tribes of Benjamin and Judah, and of the destruction of Jerusalem, by Nebuchadnezzar; when they were ventilated or fanned, as the word F24 אשר זרו "quae ventilaverunt", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Drusius, Cocceius. signifies, and so scattered abroad; see Jeremiah 6:11 and also their troubles in the times of the Medes and Persians, under Cambyses, until this second year of Darius; and may likewise have reference prophetically to their after troubles and captivity by the Romans; and to Rome Pagan, which persecuted and scattered the churches of Christ and people of God in the several parts of the world; and the antichristian states, the persecutors of the same.