Zechariah 1:3

saith the Lord of hosts See note on Haggai 2:6. In this verse the phrase occurs three times. The first and third times it is literally, "saith Jehovah of hosts." But the second time there is a variation in the Hebrew and it is properly "(it is the) utterance, or oracle of Jehovah of hosts." The same interchange of the two forms of expression is found in Haggai 1:8-9; Haggai 2:6-9.

The interpreting angel;

a clear and satisfactory idea of the vision is obtained. The man riding upon a red horse, the Leader of the company of horsemen, appears again in Zechariah 1:10, where the circumstance of his "standing among the myrtle-trees" is repeated, in order to identify him with the horseman of Zechariah 1:8. In Zechariah 1:11 he is called "the Angel of the Lord;" but to make it clear that he is the same person who was previously described as "a man," his "standing among the myrtle trees" is again mentioned. Having thus been defined as the angel of the Lord (and he is the only person throughout the vision to whom that name is given) he is referred to in the next verse, Zechariah 1:12, by that title only, there being no further need to mention the circumstance of his standing among the myrtle trees, which was only introduced for the purpose of identifying him with the "man" of Zechariah 1:8; Zechariah 1:10. In Zechariah 1:13 he who is "a man" in Zechariah 1:8, and "the Angel of Jehovah" in Zechariah 1:11-12, becomes perhaps (see note on that verse) "Jehovah" Himself. If this view be adopted, then only one other angel appears upon the scene, "the angel that talked or communed with me" (Zechariah 1:9; Zechariah 1:13-14), who on this supposition stands, as it were, outside in this as he does in all the subsequent visions, and is only employed to interpret them to the prophet.

the myrtles The myrtle is said to be indigenous to Palestine. That it abounded in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem at this period of Jewish history we learn incidentally, from the description of the Feast of Tabernacles, which was held under Ezra and Nehemiah. "Go forth," so the proclamation ran, "unto the mount, and fetch olive-branches, and pine-branches, and myrtle-branches, and palm-branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written." Nehemiah 8:15.

in the bottom i.e. the low, deep valley, which appears to have been the favourite habitatof the myrtle. Comp. "litora myrtetis lætissima," "amantes litora myrtos." Virgil, Georg. ii. 112, iv. 124. Here it may well have been the valley of the Kedron. Others render, but with less probability, "the shady (place)." The idea that the "tabernacle" or dwelling-place of God is intended has nothing to recommend it.

red horses, speckled, and white With respect to the first and last of the colours, "red," i.e. bay or chestnut, and "white," there is no doubt. What exactly the intermediate colour is, "speckled," or "bay" (margin), "sorrel," R.V., must remain uncertain. Much ingenuity has been expended in endeavouring to give a meaning to the various colours of the horses. But inasmuch as the horsemen have been on the same mission, Zechariah 1:10, and all bring back the same report, Zechariah 1:11, and no reference is made to the colour of their horses by the angel who interprets the vision, it may fairly be regarded as a detail, to which no special importance is to be attached. We may say with Calvin (and it is a remark of general application to the visions and parables both of the Old Testament and of the New), "Si contenti simus mediocritate, nihil hic erit adeo perplexum, quin saltem facile sit summam totius vaticinii colligere. Sed multum nocuit curiositas interpretum, qui dum excutiunt singulas syllabas, pueriliter ludunt in multis." His own view is, that the obscurity in which the vision is shrouded, the dark night, the low valley, the sombre myrtles, is intended to remind the prophet that God's judgments are unsearchable and His ways past finding out, while the angel riders are a help to his human weakness to understand how, like a king whose couriers are continually passing to and fro throughout his dominions, the Almighty is intimately acquainted with all that is done upon earth, and the different coloured horses picture to his mind the truth, that all human events, whatever be their complexion, are alike under the cognisance and control of the never-failing Providence, which ordereth all things both in heaven and earth; and we may add, however diverse they appear, are all working harmoniously to accomplish His will.