For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
For thus saith the Lord of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you - after restoring the "glory" (Zechariah 2:5; Isaiah 4:5; Romans 9:4) of Yahweh's presence to Jerusalem, He (God the Father) hath commissioned ME (God the Son, Isaiah 48:16, the divine Angel-God thus being at once the Sender and the Sent) to visit in wrath "the nations which spoiled you." Messiah's two-fold office from the Father is
(1) To glorify His Church;
(2) To punish its foes (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10).
Both offices manifest His glory (Proverbs 16:4).
For he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye - namely, of Yahweh's eye (Deuteronomy 32:10; Psalms 17:8; Proverbs 7:2). The pupil, or aperture, through which rays pass to the retina, is the tenderest part of the eye; the member which we most sedulously guard from hurt, as being the dearest of our members; the one which feels most acutely the slightest injury, and the loss of which is irreparable.