Zechariah 1:1. Zechariah; that is, the memory of God; a name which might seem prophetic, for the Lord remembered his people while yet in Babylon. He was contemporary with Haggai, and acted in concert with him. The Lord inspired him to speak of events which would befal the jews, till the advent of Christ; and to lose his views in the effulgence of the latter day. He foresaw, as Daniel did, the succession of the four monarchies to the coming of Christ, and the full establishment of the gospel kingdom.
Zechariah 1:8. I saw by night a man riding upon a red horse. Michael, the archangel, prince of the jews; which by a figure is another name for the Messiah, red in his apparel, as described by others of the sacred writers. Isaiah 63:3; Revelation 6:4. This vision represents his coming to fight for the emancipation of his people. The red colour is the dress of war. The Lord spake with, or literally in the prophet, as in the apostle. 2 Corinthians 13:3.
The myrtle trees that were in the bottom. Those trees are natives of Chaldea; but for bottom the Chaldaic paraphrase reads Babylon, situate in the lower grounds.
Zechariah 1:11. All the earth sitteth still, and is at rest. After the career of conquests by Nebuchadnezzar, the nations enjoyed a period of repose from war; so that no hope appeared of deliverance to the jews.
Zechariah 1:12. Then the angel said, oh Lord, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem. If this personage was Michael, all his pleadings are subordinate to the intercession of Christ.
Threescore and ten years. See on Jeremiah 25:11.
Zechariah 1:18. Behold four horns. The horn is the emblem of power. The Chaldaic therefore reads, kingdoms. The jewish state had been broken by different powers, by the Edomites, the Philistines, the Syrians in Damascus, and finally by the Chaldeans. Those were the horns which had scattered the jewish people.
Zechariah 1:20. The Lord shewed me four carpenters. Some read four plowmen, meaning the four kings of Persia, who in succession repaired the breach, and healed the jewish nation, so that no power dared to molest them in their work of rebuilding the city and temple of Jerusalem. Heaven in a most unexpected manner turned the hearts of those kings to favour the return of the jews, and afford them subsequent protection. What other people were emancipated, with all their vessels of gold and silver, like this favoured but ungrateful people? Well did they sing their hallelujahs, as in the five last psalms. Dr. Lightfoot names Zerubbabel, Joshua, Ezra, and Nehemiah, as the four carpenters that repaired the breaches, but these were under the Persian princes.