Zechariah 2:6-9

Zechariah 2:6-9. Ho, Ho! Ye sleepy Jews, come forth Come out from your prisons; and flee Make all the haste you can, from the land of the north From Chaldea, and Babylon, the chief city of it, which lay northward of Judea. The Jews, who still remained in those parts, are here exhorted to return with all speed from them, for a reason assigned, Zechariah 2:9. For I have spread you abroad As I executed my threats in scattering you, and your brethren of the ten tribes, all over the world; so, in due time, I will gather you from your several dispersions, of which your present restoration from Babylon shall be an earnest. Deliver thyself, O Zion, &c. O ye citizens of Zion, that still dwell in Babylon, make haste to come out from thence. For after the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you After that he is become your glory, saith the angel, I am to avenge you of your enemies. Or, the words may be considered as spoken by the prophet, and then the sense is, (as the Chaldee explains it,) “After I have given you the promise of restoring Jerusalem to such a glorious state, I (the Prophet Zechariah) am sent to execute God’s judgments, that is, to foretel that they shall be executed, upon the Chaldeans, who spoiled you of your wealth and ornaments. For he that toucheth you, &c. God is very sensible of every injury offered to his people. See Psalms 105:15. It is like hurting the eye, which is the most tender and sensible part of the body: compare Psalms 17:8. And though he made the Babylonians instruments of his vengeance, yet now he will call them to an account for exceeding their commission.” Lowth. See note on Zechariah 1:15. For behold, I will shake my hand upon, or over them, &c. Namely, the nation that doth violence to my people, meaning chiefly the Babylonians. And they shall be a spoil to their servants They shall be spoiled by, or become subject to, those to whom they were superior, and who were their servants. This seems to be a prediction of some new calamity to be brought upon the Babylonians. And accordingly we find from history, that, very soon after this time, the Babylonians revolting from Darius, he marched against Babylon with a great army; and having, after a siege of twenty months, made himself master of it, beat down its walls, put 3,000 of its principal inhabitants to death, and made captives, or slaves, of a great number. Before Cyrus, the Persians were subject to the Babylonians, and therefore are here called their servants. And ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me These words are a continuation of the prophet’s speech: as if he had said, When this judgment is executed upon the Chaldeans, it will be an undoubted sign and proof of the truth of my mission. Compare Ezekiel 33:33.