Zechariah 1:3

_Turn ye. Such expressions admonish us of our free-will, and when we answer, convert us, &c., (Lamentations v. 11.; Calmet) we confess that God's grace preventeth us. (Council of Trent, Session vi. 5.) (Worthington) --- We may resist the Holy Spirit, (Haydock) and reject his graces. The prophet exho... [ Continue Reading ]

Zechariah 1:5

_Always. He seems to hint, that after Malachias prophets would be sent no more till Christ should appear; or, that God's word should be fulfilled (ver. 6.) though the prophets were dead. (Calmet)_... [ Continue Reading ]

Zechariah 1:6

_Fathers. They felt their effects. (Haydock) --- Returned; being converted by the sight of God's judgments, Osee iv. 1., and 2 Esdras i. 6._... [ Continue Reading ]

Zechariah 1:7

_Sabath. These names were brought from Chaldea. The month was lunar, and corresponded sometimes with parts of our December and January, at other times with January, or with that and the following month. (Calmet)_... [ Continue Reading ]

Zechariah 1:8

_A man. An angel in the shape of a man. It was probably St. Michael, the guardian angel of the Church of God. (Challoner) --- It is plain that he was an angel, ver. 11. (Worthington) --- He appears in obscurity, to shew the distress of the nation. (Calmet) --- Among. Septuagint, "between two shady m... [ Continue Reading ]

Zechariah 1:10

_These are they, &c. The guardian angels of provinces and nations. (Challoner) --- The Jews believed that each nation had such an angel, who had to give an account to one in higher authority. God proportions his revelation to their ideas._... [ Continue Reading ]

Zechariah 1:11

_Rest. All the country under Michael's care enjoyed peace, (Calmet) in the second year of Darius. (Haydock) -- The red horse implies slaughter, Apocalypse vi. 4. It was now repressed. (Tournemine)_... [ Continue Reading ]

Zechariah 1:12

The seventieth year; viz., from the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem, in the ninth year of king Sedecias, to the second year of king Darius. These seventy years of the desolation of Jerusalem and the cities of Juda, are different from the seventy years of captivity foretold by Jeremias; which beg... [ Continue Reading ]

Zechariah 1:13

_Answered. We have here a proof of the intercession of angel, and of its good effects. (Haydock) --- In me; revealing God's will. (St. Jerome) --- Yet it seems to be St. Michael, chap. iv. 1. (Chaldean; Theod.[Theodotion or Theodoret]) (Calmet)_... [ Continue Reading ]

Zechariah 1:15

_Nations, represented as four horns, ver. 18, 19. --- Evil, through malice, and thus deserved themselves to be punished, Osee i. 4._... [ Continue Reading ]

Zechariah 1:18-20

Four horns,...four smiths. The four horns represent the empires, or kingdoms, that persecute and oppress the people of God: the four smiths or carpenters (for faber may signify either) represent those whom God makes his instruments in bringing to nothing the power of persecutors. (Challoner) --- The... [ Continue Reading ]

Zechariah 1:21

_Every. Hebrew, "at pleasure; none shall lift," &c. These kingdoms shall no longer prove formidable. (Calmet) --- Fray, or "terrify." Septuagint, "to sharpen them in their hands. The horns are nations," &c. (Haydock)_... [ Continue Reading ]

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