Zechariah 2 - Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Zechariah 2:1. Behold, a man with a measuring line. A young man, as in Zechariah 2:4; an angel in the form of a man, come to measure the streets, the wall, and temple of Jerusalem, as architects do before they build.

Zechariah 2:4. Jerusalem shall be inhabited, as towns or villages, without walls. The husbandman must live on his farm, but merchants and artisans prefer cities, for the comfort and conveniences of life. As the population encrease, they become too crowded to live within the walls, and are obliged to build suburbs. Thus Bethany, Bethpage, and other villages, surrounded the city of Jerusalem.

Zechariah 2:5. The Lord will be to her a wall of fire. Chaldaic, as a wall of fire. This means the defence of angels, hovering around the city. Elisha saw Samaria surrounded with horses of fire, and chariots of fire. 2 Kings 6:17; Isaiah 4:5. The gentiles had similar ideas of celestial guardians. Athens was placed under the supervision of the blue-eyed Pallas. While Alexander the great was besieging Tyre, the jews having failed to supply him with provisions, he marched to punish their perfidy. Jaddua, the highpriest, prudently went out to meet him in his robes. Alexander prostrated at his feet. Being admonished by his generals on the impropriety of his conduct, he replied that he had seen one like him in a dream before he left Greece, and that he had promised to give him the keys of Asia. Josephus. God was in this instance a wall of fire about Jerusalem, for his glory dwelt on the mercyseat.

Zechariah 2:6. Flee from the land of the north. Profit by the decree of Cyrus, for it would seem that the princes of the Medes began to repent for letting them go.

Zechariah 2:8. Thus saith the Lord, after the glory hath he sent me to the nations. See on Jeremiah 48:1.

Zechariah 2:11. Many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day. The Edomites were converted to judaism under John Hircanus, and the number of proselytes we find afterwards estimated at one fifth of the jewish nation.

REFLECTIONS. CHAP. 1, 2.

Observe the exhortation to repentance, which God addressed to the jews. “Return ye to me, and I will return to you.” These words show that God is ready to pardon, and restore peace and favour to those who have provoked him by their sins, as soon as they return sincerely to him.

Notice the visions God sent to Zechariah. The first, that of a man riding upon a red horse, signified that God would restore the jews, and watch over them for good. The second, that of the four horns, and four carpenters, signified that God would defeat the designs of the enemies of his people, and bring down the kingdoms and nations which had set themselves against them. The third, that of a man holding a measuring line in his hand, intimated that Jerusalem should be rebuilt and inhabited again, and that God would be as a wall of fire round about.