Ye children of Zion — i.e., they were called upon to manifest their rejoicings in the place where the trumpet had been sounded for the proclamation of the fast.
The former rain moderately. — St. Paul adduces the gift of the rain as a witness to the people of Lystra of the existence and beneficence of God, who “gave us rain from heaven, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” The possibility of the interpretation of “the former rain moderately” out of the Hebrew words by a “teacher of righteousness,” as in the Vulg. and in our margin, has led to the connection of this passage with a prophetic intimation of the advent of the Messiah.
In the first month. — Better, as at first, as before.