Zechariah 4:6 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

This is the word, &c.— See the note on chap. Zechariah 3:8. It appears as if Zerubbabel had been misrepresented at the Persian court; and hoping that he or his Son might prove the deliverer, of whom the prophets wrote, the apprehension of being recalled before he had finished the temple, filled him with much uneasiness. At this time Zechariah saw in vision the golden candlestick of the temple, Zechariah 4:2 which noble piece of workmanship figured out the temple service, and the whole polity of the Jewish constitution, depending on the restoration of the temple: for so Titus, to express the perfect subjection of Judaea, carried this candlestick afterwards in triumph, as the proper emblem thereof. The vision is explained to the prophet by an angel, who, having shewn him the contrivance of this hieroglyphic, and how the lamps were fed by pipes from the bowl with a secret, gentle influence, thus applies it; "This is the word of the Lord, to or of Zerubbabel: these things are not done by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord:" that is to say, "As in this vision all things are so contrived, that oil should not fail in the lamps, though no one pour it in; so shall it come to pass, by the immediate providence and administration of God, that the religion and polity of the Jews shall still continue to shine in the earth." He goes on, Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain. The general meaning whereof is, that the strongest opposition shall be levelled before him whom God makes his instrument. Samaria, and the opposers of the building of the temple, are more immediately meant. He goes on, For, or so shall ye bring forth, &c. Here the angel mixes things common to Zerubbabel and the Messiah whom he represents; or, speaking of Zerubbabel's finishing the temple, he passes thence to another Zerubbabel, who should be indeed the head or top-stone, the last ornament, beauty, and perfection of this building; who should be grace, grace, or, the chief grace thereof, as the Hebrews express it by the reduplication of the word. The Jewish Targum, therefore, understands the last part of this verse of the Messiah, and paraphrases it thus: "This Messiah shall emerge, who was named before the world, and shall obtain the empire of all the kingdoms of the earth." St. Jerome tells us, that the old Jews explained it so; and the ancient book Tanchuma, and other of their writings still extant, bear them witness; and perhaps the Greek interpreters had the same person in view, when they rendered the top-stone by λιθον κληρονομιας, the stone of inheritance; pointing out him, to whom of right the kingdom of the Jews belonged, and the heritage of the earth, and who was signified by the former prophets, by the cornerstone,—the foundation-stone, elect and precious. See Chandler's Defence, p. 203.