Zechariah 2:6 Ho, ho
This word expresses a call and proclamation; and is doubled, as Kimchi observes, to confirm it; and so the Targum paraphrases it,
``proclaim to the dispersed:''
[come forth], and flee from the land of the north, saith the Lord;
that is, from Babylon, which lay north of Judea; see (
Jeremiah 1:13 Jeremiah 1:14 ) (
Jeremiah 3:12 ) (
6:22 ) (
16:15 ) where many of the Jews continued, and did not return with the rest when they came up out of the captivity; and are therefore called to come forth from thence in haste; and figuratively designs, either the people of God that are among the men of the world, and are called to separate from them, and have no fellowship with there; or such as will be in mystical Babylon, a little before its destruction; and will be called out of it, lest they partake of her plagues; see (
Revelation 18:4 ) :
for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the Lord;
meaning either the dispersion of the Jews in Babylon, and other countries; or of the people of God, being scattered up and down in the jurisdiction of Rome Papal; or the sense is, that it was his will and purpose, when they were come out of Babylon, that they should be spread in the several parts of the world, to support the cause of Christ, and strengthen his interest.