2 Chronicles 26:5 - Exposition

In the days of Zechariah . Twice in the foregoing chapter we have read of "a man of God" and "a prophet" whose names are not given. The chariness of the narrative in this exact respect is not very explicable, for if the simple reason be assumed to be that they were not of much repute, now when the name of Zechariah is given, all that we can say is that nothing else is known of him. Had understanding ; Hebrew, הַמֵּבִין . There seems no reason to divest this hiph. conjugation form of its stricter signification, "gave understanding "(see Isaiah 40:14 ). In the visions of God; Hebrew , בִּרְאוֹת . Some slight discrepancy in the usual fuller writing of the word in some manuscripts lends a little ground of preference for the reading, which a few manuscripts evidently had, of בִּירְאַת ; i.e. "in the fear of God" ( Proverbs 1:7 ; Isaiah 11:3 ); either reading in either of these sub-clauses leaves an undisturbed good meaning to the description of Zechariah.