Zechariah 1:11 - Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Sitteth still and is at rest - At rest, as the word seems to express, from its accustomed state of tumult and war. Wars, although soon to break out again, were in the second year of Darius for the time suspended. The rest, in which the world was, suggests the contrast of the yet continuing unrest allotted to the people of God. Such rest had been promised to Israel, on its return from the captivity, but had not yet been fulfilled. Through the hostility of the Samaritans the building of the temple had been hindered and was just recommenced; the wall of Jerusalem was yet broken down Nehemiah 1:3; its fire-burned gates not restored; itself was a waste Nehemiah 2:3; its houses unbuilt Nehemiah 7:4. This gives occasion to the intercession “of the Angel of the Lord.”