Zechariah 1:19

Zec 1:19 And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What [be] these? And he answered me, These [are] the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.

Ver. 19. And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What be these?] Though the vision be dark and mysterious, yet the prophet despaireth not of a right understanding, neither doth he waywardly reject it with a Quod non vult intelligi, vult negligi; but wanting wisdom, he asketh it of God, as St James also adviseth us to do, Jas 1:5, and as David practised: "Teach me good judgment and knowledge," saith he, "give me understanding and I shall observe thy law." Thus Daniel prayed, and had an angel sent to inform him not once, but often, in friendly and familiar manner, Dan 9:21; Dan 10:11; Dan 11:2-3. So had Joseph, Cornelius, Paul, &c. And although angels are not so ready now, or appear not, at least, so visibly to tell us the mind of God; yet he will not be wanting to his willing servants; but in the use of means they shall be all taught of God; as David was by repairing to the sanctuary, Psa 73:13, and as the eunuch was by Philip, Act 8:26-30.

These are the horns which have scattered] Heb. tossed them up in the air, as furious beasts do with their horns, and sorely bruised them. Nam non modo dispersionem significat quae sit per modum ventilationis, sed etiam quae sit per modum allisionis et contritionis (Lud. de Dieu in Mat 22:44). See Hos 10:14; Hos 13:16.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Judah, Israel--Though some of the ten tribes of Israel returned with Judah from Babylon, the full return of the former, as of the latter, is here foretold and must be yet future.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(19) Scattered.—This word need not necessarily refer to dispersing into captivity, but may simply mean “endeavoured to destroy the national unity,” or “disintegrated.” Compare the Roman motto, “Divide et impera.”

Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.—The expression “Israel and Jerusalem” is a closer definition of Judah, as in Mal_2:11. (For undoubted instances of the name Israel being used in reference to Judah after the separation of the Kingdoms, see 2Ch_12:1; 2Ch_15:17, seqq.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19. Judah, Israel and Jerusalem] The two tribes, the ten tribes, and the capital of the whole nation. So inclusive a description must be held to refer to the whole Jewish people, so that the vision predicts the overthrow of the oppressors of Israel as well as of Judah.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And I said unto the angel that talked with me,.... Zac 1:9,

What be these? that is, who do these horns signify? and what or whom do they represent?

and he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem; which may design the distresses, vexations, and captivities of the people of Israel by their enemies, as by the Moabites, Ammonites, &c. in the times of the judges; and the captivity of the ten tribes of Israel by Shalmaneser; and of the two tribes of Benjamin and Judah, and of the destruction of Jerusalem, by Nebuchadnezzar; when they were ventilated or fanned, as the word (x) signifies, and so scattered abroad; see Jer 6:11 and also their troubles in the times of the Medes and Persians, under Cambyses, until this second year of Darius; and may likewise have reference prophetically to their after troubles and captivity by the Romans; and to Rome Pagan, which persecuted and scattered the churches of Christ and people of God in the several parts of the world; and the antichristian states, the persecutors of the same.

(x) "quae ventilaverunt", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Drusius, Cocceius.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

These are the horns which have scattered - o “The four horns which scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem, are four nations, Babylonians, Medes and Persians, Macedonians and Romans; as the Lord, on the prophet’s enquiry, explains here, and Daniel unfolds most fully Dan. 2; who in the vision of the image with golden head, silver breast, belly and thighs of brass, feet of iron and clay, explained it of these four nations, and again in another vision of four beasts Dan. 7, lion, bear, leopard and another unnamed dreadful beast, he pointed out the same nations under another figure. But that the Medes and Persians, after the victory of Cyrus, were one kingdom, no one will doubt, who reads secular and sacred literature. When this vision was beheld, the kingdom of the Babylonians had now passed away, that of the Medes and Persians was instant; that of Greeks and Macedonians and of the Romans was yet to come.

What the Babylonians, what the Medes and Persians, what the Greeks that is, the Macedonians, did to Judah, Israel and Jerusalem, a learned man acknowledgeth, especially under Antiochus, surnamed Epiphanes, to which the history of the Maccabees belongs. After the Coming of our Lord and Saviour, when Jerusalem was encompassed, Josephus, a native writer, tells most fully, what the Israelites endured, and the Gospel fore-announced. These horns dispersed Judah almost individually, so that, bowed down by the heavy weight of evils, no one of them raised his head.” Though these were successive in time, they are exhibited to Zechariah as one. One whole are the efforts against God’s Church; one whole are the instruments of God, whether angelic or human, in doing or suffering, to repel them. Zechariah then exhibits these hostile powers as past and gone, as each would be at the end, having put forth his passing might, and perishing. They scattered, each in its day, and disappeared; for the next displaced it.

The long schism being ended, Judah and Israel are again one; and Jerusalem, the place of God’s worship, belongs to Israel as well as to Judah.

The explanation of the number four, as symbolizing contemporaneous attacks from the four quarters of the heavens, fails in matter of fact, that, in these later times, the Jews suffered always from one power at a time. There was no such fourfold attack. In Zechariah’s time all around was Persian.

Osorius: “Those horns, broken by the angels’ ministry, portended that no guilt against the church of Christ should be unpunished. Never will there be wanting fierce enemies from east, west, north, or south, whom God will strengthen, in order by them to teach His own. But when He shall see His work finished, that is, when He shall have cleansed the stains of His own and brought back His Church to her former purity, He will punish those who so fiercely afflicted her.”

Spiritually, (Jerome), “those who destroy vices, build up virtues, and all the saints who, possessing these remedies, ever build up the Church, may be called ‘builders.’ Whence the Apostle says, “I, as a wise builder, laid the foundation” 1Co 3:10; and the Lord, when wroth, said that He would “take away from Jerusalem artificer and wise man” Isa 3:3. And the Lord Himself, Son of the Almighty God and of the Creator of all, is called “the son of the carpenter” Mat 13:55.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The prophet prays for information from the Angel, from Christ, who is the best Teacher.

What be these? what may be the meaning of these horns, which I see, and know to be horns, and four in number?

These are the horns, powers, states, and kingdoms, which have from all sides pushed at, broken, and tossed my people, sorely bruised some and destroyed others: these horns are probably, on the north, the Syrians, Assyrians, and Babylonians; on the east, the Moabites and Ammonites; on the south, Edomites and Egyptians; on the west, the Philistines; all which had many a time spoiled the Jews.

Judah; the two tribes, which were the kingdom of Judah.

Israel; the ten tribes, carried away by Shalmaneser; or the relics of Israel, which adhered to the house of David.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Which have scattered, etc. Some see here an allusion to the prophecy of Daniel concerning the Babylonians, Medo-Persians, Macedonians, and Romans. Against this view it is urged that the prophet is speaking of past events, not of a far distant future. Others Lake the four horns to represent Assyria, Egypt, Babylon, and Medo-Persia, all of which had scattered Israel. But it is well to lay no special stress on such explanations of symbolical language, which are at best mere conjectures, liable to be overthrown by a new theory. The word "scattered," which Jerome renders ventilaverunt, means properly, as Wright observes, "to winnow," to separate and scatter by means of the wind. The perfect tense of this verb must not be pressed so as to exclude all notion of coming events. The prophets see at one glance past and future, and combine in one expression far distant occurrences. Doubtless Zechariah"s vision has some relation to Daniel"s, and his description of the powers hostile to the Church of God runs on parallel lines with that of his predecessor. Whether be refers to the same four empires must be left in uncertainty. Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. All the tribes and the capital. According to Ewald, Judah is named first as occupying the place of honour, even as Benjamin is named before Judah in Psa_68:27, because the capital city lay in its territory. Jerusalem was the centre of worship and government for all the people, the northern tribes being represented by Israel. the southern by Judah. Some critics cancel the word "Israel" here, and there is no doubt that it is often written for "Jerusalem" by mistake. (comp. Jer_23:6 where see Professor Cheyne"s note Jer_32:30, 32 51:49 Zep_3:14 Mal_2:11) Gratz supposes that in the present passage the scribe discovered his mistake, and wrote the right word "Jerusalem" after the wrong one "Israel," but leaving the latter still in the manuscript. Of course, there is no proof of this supposition. Some manuscripts of the Septuagint omit "Jerusalem" here.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The horns - Powers, states, and kingdoms, which have from all sides pushed at, broken and tossed my people. Judah - The two tribes. Israel - The ten tribes.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

angel

(See Scofield "Heb 1:4")

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.