Commentary for Zechariah 1:12

And the angel of the Lord replied The angel that was speaking to me.

And the angel of the Lord answered" i. e., either he who was standing among the myrtle-trees, who was for the help of Israel, or the angel that was speaking with the prophet ; mid this last is the true (interpretation).

" How long wilt thou not have mercy upon Jerusalem ?" As long as the Gentile nations are at rest, (Israel) cannot go forth from captivity, nor, until the destruction of Babylon. And, behold! the subject of this vision was long past at the time when he saw it; but the angel shows him the past, in order to let him see that the prosperity of Babylon and its desolation were all from God, blessed be He, through the mediation of the conducting angels,t and that they were employed in promoting the welfare of Israel ; and that the three remaining kingdoms and their fall should also be from God, according to what he had shown him of the Babylonian monarchy, which was past.

"against which thou hast had just indignation these threescore and ten years." If these words refer to the past, as we have interpreted, then the seventy years refer to the kingdom of Babylon, and the indignation was that which existed during the whole time of Nebuchadnezzar. Or, the seventy years may have been mentioned in reference to the time of the vision, which was in the second year of Darius; at which time the seventy years were complete for the desolation of Jerusalem. For although this vision was in the month Shevat: and they had begun to build in Kislev, nevertheless the indignation still continued, and during all the time of the building the city, they were at war with their enemies.