Turn ye to the stronghold - that is, Almighty God; as the Psalmists so often say, “The Lord is the defense of my life” (Psalms 27:1, add Psalms 31:5; Psalms 37:39; Psalms 43:2; Psalms 52:9); and Joel, “The Lord shall be a stronghold of the children, of Israel” ; and Nahum, “The Lord is a stronghold in the day of trouble” Nahum 1:7; And, David said, “Thou hast been a shelter for me, a strong tower against the enemy” Psalms 61:3; “the Name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it and is safe” Proverbs 18:10; and again, “Be Thou to me a rock of strength, a house of defense to save me - Bring me forth out of the net that they have laid privily for me; for Thou art my stronghold” . The “stronghold,” “cut off” from all approach from an enemy, stands in contrast with the deep dungeon of calamity. The “return” must be a willing return, one in their own power; “return to the stronghold,” which is Almighty God, must be by conversion of heart and will. Even a Jewish commentator Kimchi paraphrases, “Turn ye to God; for He is a stronghold and tower of strength.”
Ye prisoners of - (the) hope Not, accordingly, any hope, or generally, “hope,” but the special hope of Israel, “the hope” which sustained them in all those years of patient expectations, as Paul speaks of “the hope of Israel,” for which he says, “I am bound with this chain” Acts 28:20. “I stand to be judged for the hope of the promise made by God unto our fathers, unto which promise our twelve tribes, serving God instantly day and night, hope to come; for which hope’s sake, King Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews” Acts 26:6-7. And in his Epistles, “the hope laid up for you in heaven” Colossians 1:5; “the hope of the Gospel” Colossians 1:23; and, “looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” Titus 2:13. He writes also of “keeping the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end” Hebrews 3:6; of “the full assurance of the hope unto the end” Hebrews 6:11; of “fleeing to lay hold on the hope set before us; which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast” Hebrews 6:18-19. He does not speak of hope as a grace or theological virtue, but, objectively, as the thing hoped for. So Zechariah calls to them as bound, held fast by “the hope,” bound, as it were, to it and by it, so as not to let it go, amid the persecution of the world, or weariness of expectation; as Paul also says, “before faith came, we were guarded, kept in ward, under the law, shut up unto the faith which was about to be revealed” Galatians 3:23.
Even to-day - Amid all contrary appearances, “do I declare, that I will render double unto thee;” as He had said by Isaiah, “For your shame ye shall have double” Isaiah 61:7.