_And the angel came again, and waked me_ This seems to indicate, that the prophet's attention was very deeply engaged by the foregoing vision; that all the powers of his mind were wholly engrossed by it; so that he had even fallen into a kind of trance, or ecstasy, when he was roused again by the an... [ Continue Reading ]
_So I answered_, &c. Namely, after I had seen and discerned; _What are these, my lord_ Observe how respectfully he speaks to the angel, calling him his lord; those that would be taught, must give honour to their teachers. He saw what these things were, but inquired what they signified. It is very de... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then he answered, Not by might nor by power_, &c. That is, Zerubbabel and Joshua, with the Jews under their conduct, shall finish the temple and re-establish the Jewish state, not by force of arms, nor by human power, but by the aid of my providence and grace; just as the lamps are supplied with oi... [ Continue Reading ]
_Who_, rather, _What art thou, O great mountain_ O great obstacle, apparently as insurmountable and immoveable as a high mountain. _Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain_ Thou shalt sink into nothing. The obstacle shall give way, the difficulty vanish, the opposition cease. _Removing mountains... [ Continue Reading ]
_For who hath despised_ The sense would be plainer if the particle _for_ were omitted, as it is in most other versions; namely, thus: _Who hath despised the day of small things? they shall rejoice_, &c. That is, who, or where are they, who despised the small beginnings of my temple, when the foundat... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then answered I_ Or, _Then spake I_, the Hebrew word ענה being not only used of giving an answer to a question, but likewise of beginning or continuing a discourse. _What are these two olive-trees_, &c. The prophet had learned the meaning of the candlestick and its lamps, and now wants to know what... [ Continue Reading ]