Zechariah Chapter 2

From The Open Bible Project

2:1 I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand.

• (a) This is the angel who was Christ: for in respect of his office he is often called an angel, but in respect of his eternal essence, is God, and so called.

2:2 Then I asked, "Where are you going?" He said to me, "To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its breadth and what is its length."

2:3 Behold, the angel who talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him,

2:4 and said to him, "Run, speak to this young man, saying, 'Jerusalem will be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of men and livestock in it.

• (b) Meaning himself, Zechariah.
• (c) Signifying the spiritual Jerusalem and Church under Christ, which would be extended by the Gospel through all the world, and would need no material walls, nor trust in any worldly strength, but would be safely preserved and dwell in peace among all their enemies.

2:5 For I,' says Yahweh, 'will be to her a wall of fire around it, and I will be the glory in the midst of her.

• (d) To defend my Church, to strike fear in the enemies, and to destroy them if they approach near.
• (e) In me they will have their full felicity and glory.

2:6 Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,' says Yahweh; 'for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the sky,' says Yahweh.

• (f) He calls to those who partly for fear, and partly for their own case, remained still in captivity, and so preferred their own personal benefits to the benefits of God promised in his Church.
• (g) As it was I that scattered you, so I have power to restore you.

2:7 'Come, Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.'

• (h) By fleeing from Babylon, and coming to the Church.

2:8 For thus says Yahweh of Armies: 'For honor he has sent me to the nations which plundered you; for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye.

• (i) Seeing that God had begun to show his grace among you by delivering you, he continues the same still toward you, and therefore sends me his angel and his Christ to defend you from your enemies, so that they will not hurt you, neither along the way nor at home.
• (k) You are so dear to God, that he can no more allow your enemies to hurt you, than a man can endure to be thrust in the eye; (Psalms 17:8).

2:9 For, behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they will be a spoil to those who served them; and you will know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me.

• (l) Upon the heathen your enemies.
• (m) They will be your servants, as you have been theirs.
• (n) This must necessarily be understood of Christ, who being God equal with his Father, was sent, as he was Mediator to dwell in his Church and to govern them.

2:10 Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion; for, behold, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of you,' says Yahweh.

2:11 Many nations shall join themselves to Yahweh in that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell in the midst of you, and you shall know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me to you.

2:12 Yahweh will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.

2:13 Be silent, all flesh, before Yahweh; for he has roused himself from his holy habitation!"