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Zechariah 1:1. In the 8th month, the second summer, under Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah Barachiah, the son of Addov, the Prophet, saying: And the divine Haggai and the godly Zechariah began prophecy in the same year; but Haggai in the sixth month, and Zechariah in the eighth month; and from this it is clear that the first, according to the prophecy, is two months older than the second. They mention the time in order to make the time of return known, and to give us clear information that at that time the king of the Jews was not among those reigning. Moreover, they also prove the truth of the Prophets who foretold before the captivity; because they predicted not only the siege, and the capture of Jerusalem, and the taking of the inhabitants into slavery, but also the continuation of captivity, and the return from Babylon. Therefore, since all this came to fruition, a certain time passed for them, and, according to the prophecy, the Jews already enjoyed freedom; It is not without reason that blessed Haggai and Zechariah first of all pointed to the second year of the reign of Darius of Persia. For this year the desolation of the city was completed for seventy years; and this can be learned from the prophecy itself. The Prophet informs about the name of the father who gave birth to him, and about the name of the one by whom the father was born; because at this time many false prophets were prophesying false things, and it probably happened that some of them were of the same name as him. Therefore, so that the same name does not harm the truth, when what is said falsely is simply offered to everyone, as what was foretold is true, the Prophet clearly distinguishes himself by his gender. Then he says what he was commanded to say. Zechariah 1:2. The Lord was angry with your fathers with great anger. This beginning of the prophecy is full of wisdom, and suitable for those who were then taught about the divine. For with a fresh memory of what happened to the fathers, and having learned that the cause of their unspeakable disasters was God’s righteous wrath, they tried, as likely as not, to say and do what would appease the philanthropic Master, and it brought them an abundance of benefits. And that this is the purpose of what was said is evidenced by what follows. For it is said: Zechariah 1:3–4. And you said to them: here says the Lord Almighty: turn to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will turn to you, says the Lord of hosts. And do not, like your fathers, awaken them when the former Prophets rebuked them, saying: Herein says the Lord Almighty: Turn away from your evil ways, and from your evil undertakings, and those who are disobedient and not heedful, listen to Me, says the Lord Almighty. Knowing, says God, how many admonitions I gave to your fathers through the Prophets, and that for their resistance I gave them over to final destruction, avoid imitating them, but listen to what I say in order to take advantage of My providence for you. This is what the words mean: “turn to Me, and I will turn to you.” Similar to this is what was said in another place: “and turned your backs towards Me, and not your faces” (Jer. 2:27); for whoever does not want to carefully pay attention to the Divine words is exactly like one who turns away and shows his backbone. Therefore, God says: if you want to heed My laws, then you will be worthy of My providence for you. And teaching that it is not difficult for Him to bestow upon them all the abundance of blessings, He repeatedly called Himself both the Lord Almighty and the Lord of hosts, and thereby made it known that He, sovereign and reigning over all, as the Creator and Maker and Lord of the Powers themselves, very easily changes the properties of events, leads from prosperity to misfortune, and returns those in a difficult state to prosperity. Zechariah 1:5–6. Where are your fathers and prophets? food will live forever? Moreover, you accept My words and My laws, as I commanded in My soul through My servant the Prophet, who overcame your fathers. You see the truth of My words, says God, and the Prophets came from this life, and your fathers were given over to punishment, but My words remain, proclaiming their truth by their very deeds, and not having the Prophets who wrote it as intercessors for themselves (they have already experienced the definition of death), they themselves cry out and testify that nothing false is spoken in them. Therefore, accept with zeal through the Prophets what is offered to you by the All-Holy Spirit. And she answered and decided: as the Lord Almighty commanded that he should do for us according to our path, and according to our undertaking, do so for us. They agreed with what was said, confessed the truth, felt the sins and said that the prophecy was true, the wrath of God was righteous, and the punishment was proportionate to the sin. Zechariah 1:7. In the twenty-fourth of the first ten months, this is the month of Shebath, in the second summer, under Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah Barachiah the son of Addov, the Prophet. The Prophet, as a Jew, used the Hebrew numeral, and the Jews recognize Nissan or Aviv as the first month; for the great Moses legitimized this to them, clearly crying out: “This month is the beginning of months for you; the first month will be in the months of summer” (Ex. 12:2). Therefore, for those who begin to count from this month, Savat will be the eleventh; and the Macedonians call it Peritios. And the Prophet says that in this month, even before the completion of the second year, He again received into himself the effectiveness of God’s grace. For whatever he calls a word, or a verb, or a vision, or a hand, by all this he means the effectiveness of God’s grace. And as soon as he, enlightened by her, saw a certain vision, he left it to us, committing it to writing. And says: Zechariah 1:8–11. At night I saw a man mounted on a red horse, standing between the overshadowing mountains, and behind him the horses were red, and grey, and mottled, and white. And he said: what are these, Lord? And the Angel spoke to me, saying in me: I will show you what this is. And the man answered, stood between the mountains, and said to me: these are the ones whom the Lord sent to embrace the earth. And he answered the Angel of the Lord standing between the mountains, and decided: the whole earth has died, and behold, the whole earth is inhabited, and is silent. Those seen by the Prophet are obviously invisible forces, according to the word of the divine Apostle, “we send to serve for those who want to inherit salvation” (Heb. 1:14). Apparently their nature is not there, because it is incorporeal; but the Lord Himself and the common Lord of all, in the case of each need, forms their visible image. And the Divine Scripture clearly teaches us this, indicating their various forms. For Daniel saw them differently, Ezekiel saw them differently, and Isaiah and Micah saw them in other forms. But these intelligent natures are few-personal and incorporeal; in accordance with the need, their Lord gives them visible images. He did this for blessed Zechariah, for he showed him the Angel protecting the people of God, and this was Saint Michael, as the Angel said while talking with Daniel. For he says: “There is not one who helps me about these: but Michael is your prince” (Dan. 10:21), the Prophet sees him riding a horse, according to the speed of the horse. The red color of the horse means anger at warring nations; because the angry one is bloody and red in color. And the mountains show not only hardness, but also the height of the Angels assigned for protection. The many branches and overshadowing of the mountains suggest the Divine providence that blessed David promises to those who have placed their trust in God; for he says: “he who lives in the help of the Most High will dwell in the shelter of the heavenly God” (Ps. 90:1); and again: “Your blanket will cover you” (Ps. 91:4), and in another place: “You have covered me with the shelter of Your wing” (Ps. 16:8). And Israel in the wilderness was covered by a pillar of cloud. Therefore, here too the Angel, patron of the people of God, was seen standing between the overshadowing mountains, thereby showing Divine help. However, Aquila and Symmachus called the mountains myrtle. And myrtle is an fragrant plant that has the power to cool the heat of passions. Therefore, this also means future consolation for the Jews from the God of all. The Prophet, seeing red, gray, motley and white horses appearing behind Michael, asks, wanting to know what is the reason for what is being shown to him; and from the first Angel he saw, who stood between the overshadowing mountains, he learns that the horses were sent to survey the whole earth, and in confirmation of what was said, those riding on these multi-colored horses said to the Angel standing between the mountains: having walked around the entire inhabited earth, we found that it enjoys peace and silence. The angel, to whose protection the people of God are entrusted, having heard this, and being very indignant that while everyone is enjoying peace, the people entrusted to him are still struggling with thousands of disasters, brings this prayer to the Master: Zechariah 1:12. Lord Almighty, until you have mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, which you have despised during this seventieth year. It should be known that the period of the first captivity was fulfilled in the first year of Cyrus, who reigned among the Persians; because the good and philanthropic Lord included the time of prophecy among the test of disasters. We showed this more precisely in the interpretation of the Prophet Ezekiel. For the seventy-year period of desolation of Jerusalem was completed in the second year of the reign of Darius. Therefore, its calculation should begin from the eleventh year of King Zedekiah, during which the city of Jerusalem was taken. For if anyone begins his search from this year, he will find that this period was fulfilled in the second year of the reign of Darius, the son of Istaspov. Therefore, the Angel who protects the people of God begs God of all to turn their attention to the prophecy, take into account that the time has been fulfilled, and no longer despise the city dedicated to Him and given over to ultimate desolation. And the Lord, having accepted this prayer, says the Prophet, Zechariah 1:13. I answered the Angel speaking in me with kind words and words of comfort. The Prophet says that this is not another Angel than the one standing between the mountains, but he himself, and talks with him and prays for the people. Moreover, he says that the Angel speaks in him, because he did not use words and uttered a voice that was not produced by the movement of the tongue and the opposition of the air, but sounded inside the Prophet and was formed in him. Therefore, the holy Angel, trusting in God’s favor, commands the Prophet to cry out and say: Zechariah 1:14–15. The Lord Almighty says: I am zealous for Jerusalem and Zion with great zeal, and with great wrath I am angry at the attacking tongues: I have already become angry a little, but they are going to do evil. I will no longer tolerate ignoring what has been done to Jerusalem, but I will punish those who have violated the measure of a certain punishment and who have dared to cause more evils to it than what is due. For I, punishing Jerusalem for violating My laws, deprived My providence for it; They, taking this as a reason for fearlessness, did not want to be satisfied with the disasters caused to him. Therefore, filled with just zeal, I will honor Jerusalem with mercy, and I will demand from them an account of their insolence. Then he describes the methods for pardon, promises to bring to an end the building of the house of God, the renewal of the city and the restoration of fences. For this is what the words mean: Zechariah 1:16. The measure will continue in Jerusalem. And then the holy Angel commanded the Prophet to cry out and say: Zechariah 1:17. The Lord Almighty says to Sitsa: The cities will be filled with goodness, and the Lord will have mercy on Zion, and will choose Jerusalem. God gives an abundance of blessings to many Jewish cities; for the Prophet expressed this by saying: “Their cities will yet be filled with goodness.” However, he will again prefer Jerusalem to other cities, and will give it ancient advantages. It should be noted that he did not promise eternal well-being to the Jews, but indicated a certain period, saying: “yet,” and letting it be known in advance that when the Heir passes, then the law, which takes the place of steward and overseer, will become ineffective, and with it the place in which the service according to the law was performed will be abolished. After this, the Prophet turns his speech to a description of other visions, and says that he saw four horns, and after asking questions, he learned from the Angel that these were the ones who scattered Judah and Jerusalem. Then he also says that the God of all kinds showed him the same number of tree-makers, that again he asked, and heard: Zechariah 1:21. These roses squandered Judah and Israel, and these roses came out, and I sharpened four roses in my hands, the Gentiles raising a horn on the land of the Lord, which I squandered. Therefore, the Prophet says that the invisible Powers have been given a command by God of all kinds - to arouse and irritate these nations against each other, so that those who have sinned against Israel will suffer punishment from each other. For the Prophet expressed this with the words: “I have sharpened it in my hands.” He speaks of four horns, not meaning the number of any nations, but because there are four parts of the world: east, west, south, north. And there were invasions of the Jews from all directions of the world; the Assyrians and Babylonians, the Philistines and Egyptians, and sometimes the Edomites, Moabites and Ammonites attacked; and the Prophet called those who attacked the Jews from the four corners of the world four horns. The Prophet also placed in the same number the invisible Forces by which nations are aroused against each other, so that they would receive punishment from each other for their insolence.