Zechariah 1

Zechariah 1:1-17 . INTRODUCTORY EXHORTATION TO REPENTANCE. THE VISION. The man among the myrtles: Comforting explanation by the angel, an encouragement to the Jews to build the city and temple: The four horns and four artificers.

2. God fulfilled His threats against your fathers; beware, then, lest by disregarding His voice by me, as they did in the case of former prophets, ye suffer like them. The special object Zechariah aims at is that they should awake from their selfish negligence to obey God's command to rebuild His temple ( Haggai 1:4-8 ).
sore displeased--Hebrew, "displeased with a displeasure," that is, vehemently, with no common displeasure, exhibited in the destruction of the Jews' city and in their captivity.

3. saith the Lord of hosts--a phrase frequent in Haggai and Zechariah, implying God's boundless resources and universal power, so as to inspire the Jews with confidence to work.
Turn ye unto me . . . and I will turn--that is, and then, as the sure consequence, "I will turn unto you" ( Malachi 3:7 , 4:8 ; compare also Jeremiah 3:12 , Ezekiel 18:30 , Micah 7:19 ). Though God hath brought you back from captivity, yet this state will not last long unless ye are really converted. God has heavier scourges ready, and has begun to give symptoms of displeasure [CALVIN]. ( Haggai 1:6 ).

4. Be ye not as your fathers--The Jews boasted of their fathers; but he shows that their fathers were refractory, and that ancient example and long usage will not justify disobedience ( 2 Chronicles 36:15 2 Chronicles 36:16 ).
the former prophets--those who lived before the captivity. It aggravated their guilt that, not only had they the law, but they had been often called to repent by God's prophets.

5. Your fathers . . . and the prophets, do they live for ever?--In contrast to "My words" ( Zechariah 1:6 ), which "endure for ever" ( 1 Peter 1:25 ). "Your fathers have perished, as was foretold; and their fate ought to warn you. But you may say, The prophets too are dead. I grant it, but still My words do not die: though dead, their prophetical words from Me, fulfilled against your fathers, are not dead with them. Beware, then, lest ye share their fate."

6. statutes--My determined purposes to punish for sin.
which I commanded my servants--namely, to announce to your fathers.
did they not take hold--that is, overtake, as a foe overtakes one fleeing.
they returned--Turning from their former self-satisfaction, they recognized their punishment as that which God's prophets had foretold.
thought to do--that is, decreed to do. Compare with this verse Lamentations 2:17 .
our ways--evil ways ( Jeremiah 4:18 , 17:10 , 23:2 ).

7. The general plan of the nine following visions (Zechariah 1:8-6:15') is first to present the symbol; then, on a question being put, to subjoin the interpretation. Though the visions are distinct, they form one grand whole, presented in one night to the prophet's mind, two or three months after the prophet's first commission ( Zechariah 1:1 ).
Sebat--the eleventh month of the Jewish year, from the new moon in February to the new moon in March. The term is Chaldee, meaning a "shoot," namely, the month when trees begin to shoot or bud.