Chapter Note Matthew Henry Commentary (Complete)
Z E C H A R I A H.
CHAP. XII.
The apostle Galatians 4:25 ; Galatians 4:26 ) distinguishes between "Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children"--the remaining carcase of the Jewish church that rejected Christ, and "Jerusalem that is from above, that is free, and is the mother of us all"--the Christian church, the spiritual Jerusalem, which God has chosen to put his name there; in the foregoing chapter we read the doom of the former, and left that carcase to be a prey to the eagles that should be gathered to it. Now, in this chapter, we have the blessings of the latter, many precious promises made to the gospel-Jerusalem by him who Zechariah 12:1 ) declares his power to make them good. It is promised, I. That the attempts of the church's enemies against her shall be to their own ruin, and they shall find that it is at their peril if they do her any hurt, Zechariah 12:2 - 4 ; Zechariah 12:6 . II. That the endeavours of the church's friends and patrons for her good shall be pious, regular, and successful, Zechariah 12:5 . III. That God will protect and strengthen the meanest and weakest that belong to his church, and work salvation for them, Zechariah 12:7 ; Zechariah 12:8 . IV. That as a preparative for all this mercy, and a pledge of it, he will pour upon them a spirit of prayer and repentance, the effect of which shall be universal and very particular, Zechariah 12:9 - 14 . These promises were of use then to the pious Jews that lived in the troublous times under Antiochus, and other persecutors and oppressors; and they are still to be improved in every age for the directing of our prayers and the encouraging of our hopes with reference to the gospel-church.
Book Note Matthew Henry Commentary (Complete)
AN
EXPOSITION,
W I T H P R A C T I C A L O B S E R V A T I O N S,
OF THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET
Z E C H A R I A H.
T HIS prophet was colleague with the prophet Haggai, and a worker together with him in forwarding the building of the second temple Ezra 5:1 ); for two are better than one. Christ sent forth his disciples two and two. Zechariah began to prophesy some time after Haggai. But he continued longer, soared higher in visions and revelations, wrote more, and prophesied more particularly concerning Christ, than Haggai had done; so the last shall be first: the last in time sometimes proves first in dignity. He begins with a plain practical sermon, expressive of that which was the scope of his prophesying, in the Zechariah 1:1 - 5 ; but afterwards, to the end of Zechariah 6:1 - 15Zechariah 6:1 - 15 , he relates the visions he saw, and the instructions he received immediately from heaven by them. At Zechariah 7:1 - 14Zechariah 7:1 - 14 , from an enquiry made by the Jews concerning fasting, he takes occasion to show them the duty of their present day, and to encourage them to hope for God's favour, to the end of Zechariah 8:1 - 23Zechariah 8:1 - 23 , after which there are two sermons, which are both called burdens of the word of the Lord (one begins with Zechariah 9:1 - 17Zechariah 9:1 - 17 , the other with Zechariah 12:1 - 14Zechariah 12:1 - 14 ), which probably were preached some time after; the scope of them is to reprove for sin, and threaten God's judgments against the impenitent, and to encourage those that feared God with assurances of the mercy God had in store for his church, and especially of the coming of the Messiah and the setting up of his kingdom in the world.
