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Following this, the Prophet goes on to describe another vision and says that he saw a man carrying Zechariah 2:1. already surveying then he asked where he was going; and he said he was coming Zechariah 2:2. size of Jerusalem colic longitude and latitude it is. To this description the Prophet adds that the Angel who spoke these words to him was standing, but another Angel who approached him commanded him to go to the young man carrying the measure and say: Zechariah 2:4. Jerusalem will be fruitfully peopled by the multitude of men and animals that are in its midst: Zechariah 2:5. and I will be around him, says the Lord, a wall of fire, and I will be in his midst for glory. Look, the Angel speaks on behalf of God, I will not diminish the size of the city, but, from Me, your and its Master, know that as much as possible, a great multitude of people and livestock will live in it, outline the size corresponding to the multitude of inhabitants. Moreover, I myself, according to my goodness, will be an insurmountable and impregnable wall for this city. This is what is called the “wall of fire”: because, just as it is impossible to cross a large burning fire, it is also impossible for anyone to overcome someone protected by God’s grace. I will not only give all security to the city, but I will make it famous, and its glory will spread everywhere. The Prophet saw all this, and the guardianship of the Patron Angel, and the hasty procession of other Angels, and the measurements of the city, so that he himself could unquestionably accept the good promises about Jerusalem, and the people of God would be confident in exactly what was said, when those who were not spoken would only hear the words, but would see the foreshadowing of the events themselves. For the Angel, having shown this to the Prophet, immediately commands him to exclaim: Zechariah 2:6–7. O oh, flee from the land of the north, says the Lord; I will gather you from the four winds of heaven, says the Lord. Save yourself to Zion, you who live in the daughter of Babylon. Having these promises, not only you who have already returned, do not lose heart, but also you; Those who are still voluntarily living in Babylon (because, having received permission, hesitate to return), hasten to go to your fatherland, which in a short time I will restore to its former prosperity. Zechariah 2:8–9. The Lord Almighty says to you: in the wake of the glory of Me who has sent you captive into the tongues, touch you before, as if you touched the apple of His eye. Therefore, I will lay My hand on you, and they will benefit those who work with them, and you will understand that the Lord Almighty has sent Me. You will be worthy of such guardianship of the God of all, that everything that upsets you will be considered to touch the apple of His eye, not because it is surrounded by a body and divided into members (the God of all is incorporeal and indescribable), but in a human form this expresses the disposition that He has towards you. Blessed David also asks Him for this care: “Keep me, O Lord, like the apple of your eye” (Ps. 16:8). Therefore, says God, I will make all those who robbed and plundered you subject to their own subjects, and they will suffer from them the same thing that they forced you to endure. And learn the truth of God’s words from the events themselves. But with the Jews this came true symbolically, and the truth of the prophecy had its most exact fulfillment for us; because the Lord Christ, having overthrown the demons who plundered us, turned our minds into their own property, enslaved all the members of our body for himself, and made them subject to His holy servants. And this was expressed more clearly through the mouth of the godly wise Isaiah, crying out: “Those who fear them will cry out from you: for the messengers will be sent to the mountaineers, crying, asking for peace: for these ways will be desolate” (Is. 33: 7–8). So the demons cried out: “What is Jesus, the Son of God, to us and to you? Thou hast come before the time to torment us” (Matthew 8:29); and again: “I adjure Thee, do not torment me” (Mark 5:7). So in Philippi, she who had an inquisitive spirit within her cried out: “These men are the servants of the highest God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation” (Acts 16:17). So the demons still cry out before the victorious martyrs, and involuntarily proclaim their victory, while exposing their weakness. Therefore, those who robbed us of old, like some kind of prey, were handed over to the robbed by the One Sent in the wake of glory, so that the ancient glory, which the deceived ancestor Adam destroyed, would again be acquired by our nature, and we would know the benefactor and Savior of our souls and the Father who sent Him through the love of mankind. He was sent not as God, but as man; because, like God, he is equal to the One who gave birth. “I,” He says, “is in the Father, and the Father in Me”; and: “The Father abides in Me, it is He who does the works” (John 14:10); and: “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30); and: “he who has seen Me in the form of the Father” (John 14:9). He is sent as a man, fulfilling the economy of us, but not diminishing the Divine. nature. For “who was not equal to God in the form of God, but did not become equal to Himself, but He took upon Himself the form of a servant” (Phil. 2:6-7). Therefore, the Prophet showed us not only the duality, but also the equality of Persons: “To Him the Lord Almighty says: for the glory of My messenger,” and, showing who sent, he adds: “And you will understand that the Lord Almighty sent Me.” Therefore, both the One who sent is the Lord Almighty, and the One who was Sent is the Lord Almighty, and there is no difference in merit. Following this, the Prophet adds: Zechariah 2:10–11. Show off and rejoice, daughter of Zion, behold, I will come and dwell in your midst; says the Lord. And many nations will run to the Lord on that day, and they will be His people and will dwell in your midst, and you will understand that the Lord Almighty has sent Me to you. And this is completely befitting for us, who were called from the pagans and received salvation; we are commanded to have fun and rejoice; because the Lord of all has dwelled in us. One should know that even the most sensual Jerusalem is inhabited by pagans; those who believed in the Lord 1. And from this we equally recognize the duality of Persons and the equality of Persons. “Behold, I am coming and will dwell in your midst, says the Lord, and you will understand that the Lord Almighty has sent Me to you.” Zechariah 2:12. And the Lord will inherit Judah, His portion in the holy land, and will choose Jerusalem. For the Master from Judas took the form of a slave, and made it His participation. Witness to this is the godly wise Paul, who cries out: “Look, for the Lord has risen from the tribe of Judah” (Heb. 7:14). And showing that the Lord, not only Jerusalem, but also the entire human race, calls for salvation, the Prophet adds: Zechariah 2:13. Let all flesh stand in awe at the presence of the Lord, as He has risen from the clouds of His saints. So David says: “All flesh will come to You” (Ps. 64:3); so Isaiah cries: “behold, all flesh will see salvation” from our God (Is. 40:5). He rightly calls “holy” “clouds” the Prophets, who do not prophesy themselves, but in the Spirit of grace, as in a certain sea, drawing up prophetic rain. The Prophet says that the Lord rises and comes from the clouds, because, through them, foretelling His coming, and bringing to fulfillment what was foretold, He proved by reality the divinity of the prophecy. I will not argue much with the fact that this, as others have interpreted, befits the Jews during their return from captivity. But that this Prophecy was truly and indisputably fulfilled by the incarnation of our God and Savior, this can be learned from the event itself; because after this incarnation, thousands of pagans, leaving their former delusion, resorted to the God of all and were called people of God; After this incarnation, a pious host, gathered from the pagans, began to dwell in Jerusalem; after this incarnation, all flesh accepts the first coming of the Savior, and awaits His second coming with trepidation. But it's time to return to interpretation. Blessed Theodoret speaks of this about his time.