Zechariah 1
v.3
Therefore tell the people: This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Return to me,’ declares the LORD Almighty, ‘and I will return to you,’ says the LORD Almighty.
Because a holy and just God must deal with sin, Zechariah began his message by reminding his people of how angry their faithful, covenant God had been with the covenant-breaking sins of their unfaithful preexilic ancestors. Zechariah’s hearers well knew that the Exile they had recently returned from was the direct result of God’s wrath against their ancestors, and that the temple they were now rebuilding had been destroyed because of their sins.
The divine wrath is followed by the availability of divine grace. Repentance is one of the conditions for the personal experience of God’s full blessing…The emphasis is on personal relationship and allegiance.
v.6
But did not my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, overtake your forefathers? “Then they repented and said, ‘The LORD Almighty has done to us what our ways and practices deserve, just as he determined to do.‘“
v.8
During the night I had a vision—and there before me was a man riding a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in a ravine. Behind him were red, brown and white horses.
In Rev 6:4 the red horse (cf. Zec 6:2) is asssocited with a sword, the instrument of war and death, which may also be the significance of the color here. In Neh 8:15 myrtle trees, which are evergreen, are associated with the Feast of Tabernacles for making booths; and in Isa 41:19 and 55:13 they are included in a description of messianic kingdom blessing.
v.12
Then the angel of the LORD said, “LORD Almighty, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and from the towns of Judah, which you have been angry with these seventy years?”
🔥The angel of the Lord was moved to intercede for the people of Judah. He desired the completion of the process of restoration, which required the reconstruction of the temple, Jerusalem, and the other towns of Judah. The report of the horsemen must have disappointed God’s chosen people because it told of rest and among the nations, when, instead, they were expecting the “shaking of all nations” (v 7, 20-23) as the sign of returning favor and full blessing to Zion. Through intercession the angel of the Lord prayed that in the “mercy” of God this situation would be rectified. The experience of God’s disciplining anger for seventy years had been first predicted by Jeremiah (25:11-12; 29:10). This period may be calculated from 605 B.C. (the time of the first deportation from the land) to about 536 or 535 (when the first returnees were settled back in the land), or from 586 (when the temple was destroyed), to 516 (when the temple was rebuilt). Either way, the point is that the people wondered why God was still angry with them when the appointed time of their punishment had expired (or was almost over).
v.13
So the LORD spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who talked with me.
v.14
Then the angel who was speaking to me said, “Proclaim this word: This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion,
In OT usage jealousy is but the intolerance of rivalry and unfaithfulness. When applied to the Lord, it usually concerns Israel and carries with it the notions of the marriage or covenant relationship and the Lord’s right to exclusive possession of Israel. In this context the key idea is that of God’s vindicating Israel for the violations against her. Actually, jealousy is part of the vocabulary of love; through such language the Lord showed his love for Israel.
v.15
but I am very angry with the nations that feel secure. I was only a little angry, but they added to the calamity.’
The nations that God used to discipline his people included Assyria and Babylonia. They are characterized as feeling “secure”—i.e., they were arrogantly (or carelessly) at ease. The full charge against the nations is that “they added to the calamity” of the divine discipline, not only by going too far and trying annihilate the Jews, but also by prolonging the calamity.