Комментарий к Зехарья 1:18

The prophecy of Zechariah is extremely enigmatic, because it contains visions resembling a dream that requires an interpretation. We cannot ascertain the truth of its interpretation until the teacher of righteousness comes. Nonetheless, I will put my heart to reconciling the verses, one by one, according to the interpretations that resemble it and following the interpretation of Jonathan.

" In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, was the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying" - The prophet is to be referred to Zechariah, though perhaps Iddo may also have been a prophet, for it is said that he is the same as Iddo, the seer. (II Chronicles 9:29.) We have also found in the Midrash* the words, " Iddo, the prophet."

In the eighth month Before they commenced resuming the work of the construction, for they commenced it on the twenty-fourth day of the [ninth] month.

" Saying" - to Israel, as is immediately added, "And thou shalt say unto them." Say unto them, that they should remember the displeasure wherewith the Lord was displeased with the fathers, that is, with the generation in whose time the temple was desolated ; they should also remember that it was on account of their deeds that the Lord was displeased with them, they should therefore return to the Lord, and not be like their fathers. They were at this time slothful in building the temple, for they did not begin to build until the ninth month, and evil deeds were still in their hands, as is written in the book of Ezra.

with your fathers who were in the generation of the destruction of the Temple.

" Therefore say." This is plain.

" Be not:' This is plain.

[As for] your fathers - where are they? See that they suffered an evil blow, with famine, with the sword, and with pestilence.

" Your fathers, where are they?" Do ye not see that they have been consumed by the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, as the prophets said to them ?

But the prophets - do they live forever? And if you ask, “the prophets, too where are they? Have they not died?” I [God] will answer you, “Should the prophets have lived forever?” But their end proves that their words were true; for all My words, and the declarations of the decrees of My retribution that I commanded My servants, the prophets, concerning you - did they not overtake your fathers?

" And the prophets, do they live for ever ?'' The prophets, who reproved them, could they live for ever, and reprove them ? He reproved them already, and they did not hearken. But see how every thing has happened to them, as the prophets announced, and as is said (in the following verse), "But my words and statutes," Our Rabbis, of blessed memory, have interpreted the words, "The prophets, where are they," as the answer of the people. They say that the congregation of Israel gave a controversial reply to the prophet. He said to them, Return in true repentance, for your fathers sinned, and where are they? The people answered him, And the prophets who did not sin, where are they ? But they afterwards repented and made confession to him.

" But my words and statutes" My statutes, i. e. my evil decrees which I decreed concerning them, that they should die by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence, and that the survivors should be led away captive, do ye not see that they have overtaken your fathers, and have all come upon them, as I commanded my servants the prophets to announce to them ? and they themselves repented and confessed this in the time of the desolation, as is said in the following verse, " And they returned and said."

" Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month)' that is, the month Shevat. As to the names of the months, as they are written in the roll of Esther, and in this book we do not know whether they are Chaldee or not, for we do not find them in the other holy books.

" The word of the Lord was to Zechariah." An angel came to him, and spake with him, and showed him this vision, which he is now narrating.

I saw tonight Our Sages explained [this phrase as] they explained [it] in the Aggadah of the chapter entitled “Helek” (Sanh. 93a), but the sequence of the chapter and the language do not fit it.

"I saw by night." The visions of Zechariah are very obscure, like those of Daniel, but the visions of the other prophets are not so ; the reason is, that the power of prophecy had been gradually exhausting from the days of the captivity ; therefore, they did not make their words clear, and did not understand the visions as they were. He says, " I saw by night," i. e., in the visions of the night I saw this vision, in which I beheld -

and behold! A man an angel.

"a man riding upon a red horse." We have found in the words of our rabbis of blessed memory, the following exposition of this verse : " I saw in the night, that the Holy One, blessed be He, sought to turn the whole world into night, and behold a man riding. This man is no other than the Holy One, blessed be He, for it is said, "The Lord is a man of war." "Upon a red horse.' The Holy One, blessed be He, sought to turn the whole world into blood, but when he looked upon Hannaniah, Mishael, and Azariah, his anger was cooled, for it is said, "And he stood among the myrtle-trees (hadassim.)" The myrtle- trees can mean nothing else but the righteous, for it is said, ' He brought up Hadassah.' (Esther 2:7) In like manner, "In the bottom,' means nothing else but Babylon, for it is said, "That saith to the deep, be dry." (Isaiah 44:27.) Immediately the black horses became speckled, and the red horses white, for it is said, ( And behind him red horses, speckled and white.' (Verse 8.)" But we shall endeavour to interpret the vision as well as we can. "

on a red horse This is an allusion that He would exact retribution upon the Chaldeans, Media, and Persia with the sword and with blood, as He says (verse 15 below): “And I was very wroth with the nations.”

A man." That is, the angel of the Lord, as in Daniel 9:21 , " The man Gabriel; " and so we read further on, " The angel of the Lord that stood between the myrtle- trees." He saw him riding upon a horse, to denote his speed in embassy. As to the meaning of the word " red,'* and the other colours, it may be that some definite meaning was intended by them ; and my lord my father, of blessed memory, has written, that the red horse is typical of Nebuchadnezzar, who is called the head of gold, and gold is red; for this prophecy refers to the four king- doms, like the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, and the visions of Daniel. And although the horses figuratively re- present the angels the messengers of God, there is, ne- vertheless, a reference to the four kingdoms. The vision of " a man riding," signifies that the angels rule over the lower world, and that all the work of God on earth is done by them and through their mediation. The object of the man's mission was to root up the kingdom of Babylon ; and although at the time of this vision the Babylonian monarchy had been already rooted out, the vision was exhibited to him complete, as it had been, on account of the three kingdoms that were still future. The vision happened in the time of the Persian monarchy, as is said, " In the second year of Darius."

and after him were red, etc., horses prepared for the mission of the Omnipresent. That there were among them [horses of] many sorts of colors was a [means of] praise for him. black do not know what color this is. Jonathan rendered קְוָחִין.

" And he stood amongst the myrtle-trees that were in the bottom." These signify Israel, and he compares them to myrtle-trees ; for as these have a good odour, so the Israelites in Babylon had the good odour of the com- mandments. He is represented as standing among them to help them, and deliver them from captivity. "

among the myrtles that were in the pool Among the myrtle trees of Babylon.

"In the bottom" This is Babylon.

" And behind him red horses, specified and white." " Speckled," a species of colour, but what colour is not clear to us. There are some who say, that it means, coloured with colouring stuff, but this is nonsense. The speckled horses in this vision, are instead of the black horses in the other vision of the four chariots. (Chap, vi.) The Targum of Jonathan renders " speckled" by JVinD, and according to another reading, ^rmp> " bay." * So far as appears, these horses had no riders upon them : he that was riding was the prince or captain over the other angels, and therefore he saw him riding. " And behind him red horses." If we interpret " a red horse," of Nebuchadnezzar, then we should interpret the " red horses," of his son and grandson ; and, behold ! these answer to the first chariot (in chap. vi.). " Speckled and white.'" As if he had said. Behind them were speckled horses, and behind them again white. And, behold ! he does not mention any thing to answer to the fourth chariot, for he did not see it in this vision, on account of its distance, but in the other vision he did see it.

And I said to one angel who showed me all this. “What are these, my lord?” He was the one riding on the red horse.

" And I said he that spake with me, said." This answers ,to what is said above, " The word of the Lord was to Zechariah."

" I will show thee" (literally, I will cause thee to see). He ought to have said, I will cause thee to hear, for he did not show him any thing more than the vision of the horses, which he had shown him from the beginning. " I will show thee," may mean, I will cause thee to hear ; for the sense of seeing is employed figuratively for the other senses, as it is said, " And all the people saw the thunderings." (Exodus 20:15) " See the smell of my son." (Genesis 27:27.) But the literal interpretation of " I will show thee," is also good, for it may refer to the other vision of the four horns, which is clearer than this, though he did not understand it until it was explained to him.

to walk to and fro on the earth To see the tranquility of the nations.

" And he answered.' He that was riding upon the horse. The prophet heard the angel riding on the horse answer, although he had not asked him anything; and he said to him, These horses arc the messengers of God, whom he hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth, in the same way as Satan said, " From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it." (Job 1:7) But, perhaps, the angel that was riding, did not answer the prophet at all, but the word " answer," is to be taken, as in Deuteronomy 26:5, " Thou shalt answer, and say ; " and again, in Job 3:2, " And Job answered and said," where it occurs the first time. And then the sense may be, that the prophet heard the rider on the horse speaking to, and asking those horses, which the Lord had sent to walk to and fro through the earth, what was the state of the earth : * and they answered and said, " We have walked to and fro through the earth, and have seen it sitting still, and at rest." " These," may signify " to these;" and thus (the preposition is omitted in the following cases), " One told David, saying, Ahitophel is among the conspirators." Here David is the same as " to David." (II Samuel 15:31.) And again, " And two men, captains of bands, were the son of Saul," i. e., to the son of Saul; and there are other similar passages.

" And they answered." This is plain.

" Sitteth still and is at rest" i. e., We have seen the peace of the Gentile nations, and Israel in trouble, there- fore the angel answered and said, " How long wilt thou not have mercy upon Jerusalem ? "

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.

And the Lord answered the angel who was speaking to me, good words Not that the prophet heard what He answered [the angel], but from what the angel said to him, “Proclaim, saying, ‘I am jealous etc.,’” I know that He answered him good words.

" And the Lord answered .... words, comforts," The governing word is omitted. The absolute form, is to be interpreted as if it were "words of comfort ; " or it may be an adjective, and this is the fact.

I am jealous for Jerusalem I am exacting the retribution [for] the cause of Jerusalem from those who oppress her.

" And the angel said to me" The good words which God, blessed be He, spake to him, he spake to me, that I might proclaim them in the ears of Israel to comfort them.

that are at ease Concerning whom these [messengers] say that they sit still and are at rest.

"I am sore displeased heathen at ease" that is, as is said above, " Sitteth still, and is at rest."

for I was wroth with My people, a little.

" I was a little displeased" I was a little displeased with Israel, so as to carry them captive from their land, and this word, a "little' is put in contrast to what they (the Gentiles) had done to Israel after their captivity.

and they helped to do harm In addition to the wrath, [they helped] to do harm.

"Helped fonvard the affliction " by doing them evil, more than enough, and so it is said in Isaiah, " I was wroth with my people, I profaned my inheritance, and delivered them into thy hand, but thou showedst them no mercy ; upon the ancient hast thou heavily laid thy yoke." (Isaiah 47:6.)

and a plumb line shall be stretched out to measure its wall, its length and breadth.

" Therefore thus saith the Lord" the Kethib has a heh at the end, like (a dwelling). The Keri is without the heh. The word signifies a building line, a cord, which they stretch over the row of bricks.

" Cry yet through good shall be spread abroad" On account of the abundance of good and prosperity that they shall have, they shall be spread abroad ; that is to say, the inhabited part shall increase.

- has pathach, and is from a dageshed conjugation.