Introduction.

I. Author. ZECHARIAH,

whom "Jehovah remembers," called sometimes the son of Iddo, sometimes the son of Barachiah, the son of Iddo (Ezra v. 1, vi. 14; Zech. i. 1, 7, vii. 1, 8). II. Time. B.C. 520-518. Zech. began to prophesy two months after Haggai, and the two Prophets were contemporary, at least for a short time. III. Style. The diversity of style has led many to think that the last six chapters could not have been written by Zech. ; but Horne is of opinion that the difficulty is of easy solution. Upon the whole this conclusion may be drawn: that, setting aside the doubtful authority of St. Matthew's text (xxvii. 9), where it seems that Jeremiah should be Zech., there is nothing else to be found sufficient to invalidate the title of Zech. to the chaps. in question; and, consequently, that it was not written by Jeremiah. as Mede, Hammond, and others have supposed, nor before the time of that Prophet, as Abp. Newcome conjectured, whose opinion was adopted by Abp. Secker, and also by Doederlein. IV. Theme. The prophecies of Zech., containing as they do a portraiture of the destiny of God's people to the end of time, and comprehending so many mighty events which yet await their fulfilment, present to the interpreter many difficulties, some of which have hitherto been found insoluble, and will probably remain unsolved till the mystery of God contained in them shall have been fulfilled. One thing, however, they clearly reveal to us-that the future triumph of God's kingdom is certain, and that all the great movements in the history of the nations, however unpropitious they seem at the time, are parts of the mighty plan of Divine providence, which shall end in making the kingdoms of this world "the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ."-Dr. Barrows.

CHAPTER THE FIRST.

conveys that idea of breaking forth

1-3. (1) eighth month, two months after Haggai com-a "The Heb. root menced his prophesying. Zechariah, Ezr. v. 1; Ne. xii. 16. the prophet, this is the designation of Zechariah, not of Iddo. (2) sore displeased, Heb. "displeased with a displeasure," i.e. vehemently displeased." (3) them, the Jews of that day. turn, etc., Mat. iii. 7.

An exhortation to turn to God (vr. 3—6).—I. A friendly exhortation. 1. Turn to the Lord; 2. An encouragement. II. A salutary caution: walk not as your disobedient fathers have done. III. A convincing appeal. 1. Has not the Word of God taken hold of multitudes who have gone before us? 2. Have not many who have gone before us borne testimony to this truth? Timothy East.-Many years ago the excellent Mr. Jay, of Bath, preached a sermon in Surrey Chapel at one of his visits to the metropolis. It was blessed to the conversion of a young man who happened to be present, who subsequently became a useful minister of the Gospel. He was settled for some time in the town of Reading, and among his hearers on a certain Sabbath evening was a wild youth who had embraced sceptical views, and was much given to turning sacred things into ridicule. It was his intention on the following week to leave his native land, unknown to any one; but he said, with an oath, that he would turn Methodist before going, although nothing was further from his expectation, and in reality from his desire. He went, however, to hear the minister preach, and the thoughtless one was arrested, so that he who went to scoff remained to pray. He also became a servant of Christ, and was well known as Timothy East, of Birmingham. Like Mr. Jay he was in the habit of going once a year to London, being one of the supplies at the Tabernacle in Moorfields. A young man, under somewhat peculiar circumstances, was induced to attend there one evening when Mr. East was preaching from the words, "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" The arrows of conviction entered into his soul, and soon after he found joy and peace through believing. His name was John Williams, who turned out to be one of the most devoted and successful missionaries of modern times.

Captain Scott and Mr. Powys.-While the late Rev. J. Scott, of Matlock, was an officer in the army, he was called by Divine grace under the ministry of the Rev. W. Romaine. Some time afterwards, as he was about to visit his friends in Shropshire, Mr. Romaine gave him an introductory letter to Mr. Powys, an eminently pious gentleman, at Berwick, in that county. The Rev. Henry Venn, the author of The Complete Duty of Man, was then on a visit to Mr. Powys, and was standing with Mr. and Mrs. Powys at the parlour window in the front of the hall, when they saw the captain enter on the lawn, dressed in his uniform, and riding his military horse. Mr. Powys recognised him at a distance, and said, "There is Captain Scott; what can he want here? I am determined not to see him, if I can avoid it." Upon this they all withdrew. Captain Scott rode up and asked, "Is

into anger or displeasure wh. we have in the

word ebullition." -Spk. Com. Though God hath brought you

back from captivity, yet this

state will not long last unless ye are really converted. God has heavier scourges ready,

and has begun to give symptoms of displeasure."

Calvin.

c C. Simeon, M.A.

been

“I have now nearly twenty years in

the ministry of the Gospel, and I here publicly I do not believe I state to you that could enumerate three persons over fifty years have ever heard ask the solemn and infinitely motion, What shall I do to be saved?'"-Dr.

of age,

mentous

Bedell.

whom I

ques

"In a revival of religion in Jackson county, Ga., America, in the

summer of 1846, out of eighty hopeful conversions, sixty-three of whom united

with the church,

not more than

three

or four

were past the age of twentyIn the

five.

Athens,

great work in which followed, there was a similar

proportion

of

youth. In other

revivals in the same state, in

hundred addi

1845 and 1846, including in all not far from five tions to the churches, at least as large a from twelve to twenty-five years of age, and these facts are perhaps, a fair average throughout the country. Ponder it, ye who are putting far off the evil day, and trusting to advanced life to enter the gate of heaven!" Dr. Haven.

proportion were

a Comp. Is. xxxi. 6; Je. iii. 12, xviii. 11; Eze. xviii. 30 ; Ho. Σίν. 1.

"The thought

appears to be this: Your fathers have pe..

as

rished, was foretold, and their fate ought

to warn you. But you may say, The

Mr. Powys at home?" The servant, uninstructed by his master to adopt the fashionable expedient of stating an untruth to avoid an inconvenience, informed him that he was. Mr. Powys was called, and received his visitor with an air of distant civility, thinking that his presence would be an interruption to the spiritual enjoyments of himself and his friends. But after he had read Mr. Romaine's letter, which he received with considerable agitation, giving an account of the captain's conversion, he caught him in his arms, and embraced and rejoiced over him as over one raised from the dead. In this position, with an elevated voice, he cried out, "Mr. Venn! Mr. Venn! Mrs. Powys! Mrs. Powys! come here quickly! here is Captain Scott a convert to Christ! a new creature in Christ Jesus!" They both came, and being informed of the contents of Mr. Romaine's letter, in imitation of the angels in heaven, rejoiced over him who had been dead, and was alive again; who had been lost, but was found.

4-6. (4) former prophets, more esp. Hosea, Joel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. Those who listened to these Prophets, but neither heeded nor obeyed, had set a bad example. (5) where are they? i.e. recall the Divine judgments under wh. they have fallen. live for ever, or abide from generation to generation. (6) words, etc.. i.e. denunciations and judgments. take hold, were they not fulfilled in the experience of your rebellious fathers? and said, comp. La. i. 18, ii. 17.

Your fathers (v. 5).—I. Where are they if they have died impenitent and unbelieving? 1. They are in a state in which they are deprived of all the objects in which they sought their happiness; 2. They are in a state in which they do not enjoy any of the means of grace; 3. They are in a state in which God is known only as a God of vengeance. II. Where are they if they prophets too are died penitent believers? They are in a state in which-1. They dead. I grant are free from all suffering; 2. In which they are exempt from it, but still, Myall temptation; 3. They are relieved from all doubt and desponthough dead, dency; 4. They are unstained with sin. Apply :-(1) Where their prophetical are they now? (2) Where shall we be soon? words from Me, fulfilled against your fathers, are not dead with them. Beware, then, lest ye share

words do not die;

their fate!'"-
Fausset.
c G. Brooks,
"When a man
has washed his

body in the bath
he does not need
to wash again,

Conversion a radical change.-I passed by a piece of common which some lord of the manor or other had been enclosing, as those rascals always will if they can, to rob the poor of their rights, and filch every morsel of green grass upon which we may freely plant our feet; but I noticed that the enclosers had only railed it round, but had not dug it up, nor ploughed it, nor planted it; and though they had cut down the gorse, it was coming up again; of course it would, for it was a common still, and a bit of fence or rail could not alter it; the furze would come peeping up, and ere long the enclosure would be as wild as the heath outside. But this is not God's way of working. When feet, God encloseth a heart that hath laid common with sin, does He which may be soiled even in cut down the thorns and the briers and then plant fir trees! passing from the (Isa. lv. 13.) No, no; but He so changeth the soil, that from the bath to the dreschamber. ground itself, from its own vitality, there spontaneously starts sing This most aptly up the fir tree and the myrtle. This is a most wonderful result. represents the You take a man and leave him at heart the same godless man. general purifica- You mend his habits; you make him go to church. or to the tion which, in their great prin-meeting-house: you clothe him; you break his wine bottle; you ciples, the heart rinse his mouth out, so that he does not talk so filthily; and

save his

altogether you say, "He's now a respectable man." Ah! but if these outward respectabilities and rightnesses are only skin deep, you have done nothing. At least, what you have done is no great wonder; there is nothing in it to be proud of. But suppose this man can be so changed, that just as freely as he was wont to curse he now delights to pray, and just as heartily as he hated religion he now finds pleasure in it, and just as earnestly as he sinned he now delights to be obedient to the Lord; ah! then, this is a wonder, a miracle which man cannot accomplish, a marvel which only the grace of God can work, and which gives to God His highest glory.

he is ever quiring to be

Wardlaw.

a Re. vi. 4.

7, 8. (7) Sebat, the name for the cleventh month in use sub-cleansed."— Dr. sequent to the captivity. (8) by night, prob. in the evening. The expression may intimate that it was a mental vision. red horse, the colour that represents bloodshed. The rider is the Son of God, as captain of the Lord's hosts. myrtle trees, here a symbol of the Jewish Church, as then in a lowly condition. in the bottom, "as if he and his companions were refreshing themselves in a shady valley, after the fatigues of war.' speckled, or bay.

dwarf

b"By myrtles I do not mean the myrtles which grow in in greenhouses England, but such as Zechariah spoke of, eight or ten feet high. They grow nearest to perfection in shaded valleys, and therefore at themselves with everything

once associate

se

rene and peaceful." Gadsby.

c Burder.

a Jerome.

b Lowth.
Job i. 6, 7, ii, 1,
2; 1 Pe. v. 8.

Red horses (v. 8).-The word here translated red signifies blood-red, not any kind of bright bay, or other colour usual among horses. But the custom of painting or dyeing animals for riding, whether asses or horses, explains the nature of this description. Tavernier, speaking of a city which he visited, says, Five hundred paces from the gate of the city we met a young man of a good family, for he was attended by two servants, and rode upon an ass, the hinder part of which was painted red." And Mungo Park informs us that the Moorish sovereign Ali always rode upon a milk-white horse, with its tail dyed red." 9-11. (9) with me, better, in me. The phrase implies internal, intimate communication." (10) walk.. earth, ch. vi. 7. The colours of the horses may denote the different kinds of judgment executed by their riders. Some think the idea is that to these angels He hath entrusted the affairs of the Persian" Rest unto our empire." (11) at rest, from commotions or wars. This then was a convenient and hopeful time for rebuilding the temple. An Arabian bower.-Wide galleries ran all around the four sides, whose Moorish arches, slender pillars, and arabesque ornaments, carried the mind back, as in a dream, to the reign of Oriental romance in Spain. In the middle of the court, a fountain threw high its silvery water, falling in a never-ceasing spray into a marble basin, fringed with a deep border of fragrant violets. The water in the fountain, pellucid as crystal, was alive with myriads of gold and silver fishes, twinkling and darting through it, like so many living jewels. Around the fountain and pleasuresran a walk, paved with a mosaic of pebbles, laid in various fanciclimb up after it ful patterns; and this again was surrounded by turf smooth as by ambitiongreen velvet. Two large orange-trees, now fragrant with blossoms, come down again threw a delicious shade; arabesque sculpture, containing the and stoop for it choicest flowering plants of the tropics: huge pomegranate all extremes; trees, with their glossy leaves and flame-coloured flowers, dark- still we are gone leaved Arabian jessamines, with their silvery stars, geraniums, out of the way; luxuriant roses bending beneath their heavy abundance of nor is it till after many miserable flowers, golden jessamines, lemon-scented verbenum, all united' experiments that

souls!-'tis all we want-the end of all our wishes and pursuits; give us a prospect of this, we take the wings of the morning and fly to the uttermost parts of the

earth to have it in possession: we seek for it in titles, in riches,

by avarice-try