I was but a little displeased - I was justly displeased with my people, and I gave their enemies a commission against them; but they carried this far beyond my design by oppression and cruelty; and now they shall suffer in their turn. I am sore displeased ..." This in itself was the best of good news to the Israelites. God's displeasure with His people is temporary, and for their chastening; with the pagan oppressors it is final and fatal (Jeremiah 30:11). God puts his people sometimes into the hands of his enemies for correction sake. “Whosoever shall escape the famine, shall fall by the sword; John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible, George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged, Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers. מעט refers to the duration, not to the greatness of the anger (cf. From anything they had been able to see, the hostile powers oppressing them were getting away with it; but here is the assurance that they shall receive merited punishment. As the first of the total 14 chapters in the book, this chapter is a part of a section (so-called "First Zechariah") consisting of Zechariah 1-8. There is no doubt that, in this vision, both the locality in which the rider upon the red horse, with his troop, and the angel of the Lord had taken up their position, and also the colour of the horses, are significant. 1:1. The verb ‛ânâh, to answer, refers not to any definite question, but to the request for an explanation contained in the conversation between the prophet and the interpreting angel. And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease] Heb. He was angry because they had compounded the punishment of Israel that God had inflicted on the Chosen People by prolonging it (cf. Jesus used the same image when He said that He was the vine and we are the branches ( John 15:5 ). Observe, too, the use of the perfect קנּאתי, as distinguished from the participle קצף. They are “at ease,” but as I am “sore displeased” with them, their ease is accursed. Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament. Cast it unto the potter — proverbial: Throw it to the temple potter, the most suitable person to whom to cast the despicable sum, plying his trade as he did in the polluted valley (2 Kings 23:10) of Hinnom, because it furnished him with the most suitable clay.This same valley, and the potter‘s shop, were made the scene … And this is the reason why Isaiah says, “Thou hast not seen her end.” He therefore upbraids the unbelieving, that they did not calculate rightly as to the end of the Church; for the unbelieving furiously attempted to destroy it, as though that promise could be made void, “My mercy I will not take away.” Since the unbelieving did not see her end, because it was the Lord’s will ever to preserve some remnant among his chosen people, the Prophet says, that they helped forward the evil. עזרוּ לרעה, they helped, so that evil was the result (לרעה as in Jeremiah 44:11), i.e., they assisted not only as the instruments of God for the chastisement of Judah, but so that harm arose from it, inasmuch as they endeavoured to destroy Israel altogether (cf. It must further be noticed, that God speaks only here, and is not going forth prepared to execute his vengeance: and it is a real and just trial of faith, when God bids us to depend on his word. 1. Zechariah - Chapter 1. This David complains of as an unsufferable grievance, Psalms 69:26. I was but a little displeased - I was justly displeased with my people, and I gave their enemies a commission against them; but they carried this far beyond my design by oppression and cruelty; and now they shall suffer in their turn. This very circumstance rather favours the diversity of the two, inasmuch as it is evident from this that the rider upon the red horse was simply the front one, or leader of the whole company, who is brought prominently forward as the spokesman and reporter. (Aug.). 118ff.) This chapter has one of the most impressive calls to righteousness in the whole Bible (Zechariah 1:1-6), and the first two of eight remarkable visions: (1) that of the horsemen in the myrtle grove (Zechariah 1:7-11), with the divine interpretation of the vision (Zechariah 1:11-17), and (2) the vision of the four horns and the four smiths, including its divine interpretation (Zechariah … 4. at ease = indifferent (Isaiah 32:9, Isaiah 32:11. The answer, that the whole earth sits still and at rest (ישׁבת ושׁקטת denotes the peaceful and secure condition of a land and its inhabitants, undisturbed by any foe; cf. Crowns are to be made, and put upon the head of Joshua. Zechariah 1:15. ... (Zechariah 1:15 Zechariah 1:15 And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction. Their mission was rather to take an active part in the agitation of the nations, if any such existed, and guide it to the divinely appointed end, and that in the manner indicated by the colour of their horses; viz., according to Revelation 6, those upon the red horses by war and bloodshed; those upon the starling-grey, or speckled horses, by famine, pestilence, and other plagues; and lastly, those upon the white horses, by victory and the conquest of the world. For — This introduces the reason for the sore displeasure of Jehovah. חארץ, in Zechariah 1:10 and Zechariah 1:11, is not the land of Judah, or any other land, but the earth. And they helped forward the affliction ..." The inhumanity of the punishing nations God brought against Israel was marked by their efforts utterly to exterminate them. thou [Babylon] didst shew them no mercy.”) LXX., for “that are at ease,” τὰ συνεπιτιθέμενα, “which combine to set upon [Israel],” and for “helped,” συνεπέθεντο “combined to set upon.”. To understand עזרוּ לרעה as only referring to the prolonged oppression and captivity, does not sufficiently answer to the words. For although the Assyrians and Chaldaeans wasted the Jewish people, God so ordaining in as far as He willed through them to punish in the present the sins of His people, yet they did it, not in view of God and out of zeal for righteousness, but out of pride covetousness and with the worst ends. They are horns, emblems of power, strength, and violence. Zechariah's prophecies of the approaching day of deliverance to the church would soon appear, by the accomplishment of them, to be of God. I am in such a heat as causeth fuming and foaming. Compare Isaiah 47:11. But another difficulty meets us — In what sense did the nations help on the evil? A reason also follows, Because God was a little angry, and they helped forward the evil; that is, they exceeded moderation. This is the reason why God says, that he was but little angry with his people; for he speaks not of the reprobate and of that impure mass from which he purposed to cleanse his own house; but he has respect to his covenant. עזר "Jazar, cum ע punctato, exuberavit, abundavit, multus fuit", Schindler. If the man upon the red horse had been the angel of Jehovah Himself, and the troop of horsemen had merely come to bring information to the man upon the red horse, the troop of horsemen could not have stood behind him, but would have stood either opposite to him or in front of him. Such a state of things as this necessarily tended to produce great conflicts in the minds of the more godly men, and to confirm the frivolous in their indifference towards the Lord. Zechariah 1:16 Therefore thus saith the LORD; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the LORD of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. (o) In destroying the reprobate, I showed myself but a little angry toward my Church, but the enemy would have destroyed them also, and did not consider the goal of my chastisements. u. Erfll. --- Evil, through malice, and thus deserved themselves to be punished, Osee i. (See further comment on this clause under Zechariah 1:3, above.). Howbeit he thinketh not so, but his heart is to destroy and cut off nations not a few” Isaiah 10:5, Isaiah 10:7. Daniel 8:9; Daniel 11:16), for the myrtle is a lovely ornamental plant. (Comp. 14 So the angel that communed with me … For although the Assyrians and Chaldaeans wasted the Jewish people, God so ordaining in as far as He willed through them to punish in the present the sins of His people, yet they did it, not in view of God and out of zeal for righteousness, but out of pride covetousness and with the worst ends. “They assisted not only as the instruments of God for the chastisement of Judah, but so that harm arose from it, inasmuch as they tried to destroy Israel altogether.”. ... 1. affliction = calamity. But the compassion of God will not be restricted to this. ii. (Genesis 3:15). Zechariah 1:15 Parallel Verses [⇓ See commentary ⇓] Zechariah 1:15, NIV: "and I am very angry with the nations that feel secure.I was only a little angry, but they went too far with the punishment.'" They carried the affliction beyond the divine purpose, so that evil was the result. Think the same of God. Castel. whosoever shall escape the sword, shall fall among wild beasts.” With great fury. Zion, namely the mountain of Zion, is mentioned along with Jerusalem as being the site on which the temple stood, so that Jerusalem only comes into consideration as the capital of the kingdom. The angel, who gives or conveys to the prophet the interpretation of the vision, is constantly called "the angel that talked with me," not only in Zechariah 1:9, where it is preceded by an address on the part of the prophet to this same angel, but also in Zechariah 1:13 and Zechariah 1:14, and in the visions which follow (Zechariah 2:2, Zechariah 2:7; Zechariah 4:1, Zechariah 4:4; Zechariah 5:5, Zechariah 5:10; Zechariah 6:4), from which it is perfectly obvious that הדּבר בּי denotes the function which this angel performs in these visions (dibber be, signifying the speaking of God or of an angel within a man, as in Hosea 1:2; Habakkuk 2:1; Numbers 12:6, Numbers 12:8). A little displeased — With mine own people, that is, in comparison of the anger I bear against the Heathen. Contrasted with such a heel-bruise will be the "bruising of the head" of Satan when he and his followers are overwhelmed in the lake of fire; and the same analogy holds here. KJV Zechariah 6:1 ¶ [And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked,/Now I lifted up my eyes again and looked,/Once more I looked,/I looked up again--] and, [behold,/this time I saw/there before me were] The perfect is not merely used in the sense of "I have become jealous," expressing the fact that Jehovah was inspired with burning jealousy, to take Jerusalem to Himself (Koehler), but includes the thought that God has already manifested this zeal, or begun to put it in action, namely by liberating His people from exile. 13 And the Lord answered the Angel that talked with me, with good words, and comfortable words. As a result of his greedy and insatiable blood-lust, God destroyed his dynasty. Again, the circumstance that in Zechariah 1:12 the angel of the Lord presents a petition to the Supreme God on behalf of the covenant nation, and that according to Zechariah 1:13 Jehovah answers the angelus interpres in good, comforting words, does not prove that he who receives the answer must be the same person as the intercessor: for it might be stated in reply to this, as it has been by Vitringa, that Zechariah has simply omitted to mention that the answer was first of all addressed to the angel of the Lord, and that it was through him that it reached the mediating angel; or we might assume, as Hengstenberg has done, that "Jehovah addressed the answer directly to the mediating angel, because the angel of the Lord had asked the question, not for his own sake, but simply for the purpose of conveying consolation and hope through the mediator to the prophet, and through him to the nation generally.". Hence God says by Isaiah, "Woe to Asshur, the rod of Mine anger, and the staff in his hand is Mine indignation. He sets his horseleeches to his people (when he finds them sick of a plethory of pride, when fulness hath bred forgetfulness, saturity security), and suffereth them to suck till they burst; and then treads them under his feet, and puts them away as dross, Psalms 119:118-119. The participle qōtsēph designates the wrath as lasting. Zechariah 1:15 "And I am very sore displeased with the heathen [that are] at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction." Sha'ănân, quiet and careless in their confidence in their own power and prosperity, which they regard as secured for ever. The circumstance that the angel of Jehovah addresses an intercessory prayer to Jehovah on behalf of Judah, is no more a disproof of his essential unity with Jehovah, than the intercessory prayer of Christ in John 17 is a disproof of His divinity. The promise embraces the whole of the future of the kingdom of God; so that whilst the commencement of the fulfilment is to be seen in the fact that the building of the temple was finished in the sixth year of Darius, and Jerusalem itself was also restored by Nehemiah in the reign of Artaxerxes, these commencements of the fulfilment sim, And I am very sore displeased with the heathen. Or, for a little while. The riders sent out by God now return and report that the earth is by no means shaken and in motion, but the whole world sits quiet and at rest. His occupation, therefore, was to interpret the visions to the prophet, and convey the divine revelations, so that he was only an angelus interpres or collocutor.

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