¹sn There is a remarkable concentration of this name of God in this section of Zechariah. Of 36 occurrences in the book, 15 are in vv. 1-23 and six in just vv. 1-8. The reason is the sheer human impossibility of accomplishing what lies ahead—it must be done by the sovereign Lord.
²map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
³sn The references to longevity and to children living and playing in peace is eschatological in tone. Elsewhere the millennial kingdom is characterized in this manner (cf. Isa 65:20; Jer 31:12-13).
⁴sn The affirmation They will be my people, and I will be their God speaks of covenant renewal, a restoration of the unbroken fellowship the Lord desired to have with his people but which their disloyalty had ruptured. In the eschaton God and Israel will be in covenant union again (cf. Jer 31:33).
⁵sn These prophets who were there at the founding of the house of the sovereign Lord include at least Haggai and Zechariah, and perhaps others. The founding referred to here is not the laying of the temple foundations in 536 b.c. (Ezra 3:8) but the resumption of work two years before the time of the present narrative, i.e., in 520 b.c., as vv. 10-12 make clear.
⁶tn Or “the heavens.” The same Hebrew term, <y]m^v* (shamayim), may be translated “heavens” or “skies” depending on the context.
⁷tn The verb <m^z` (zamam) usually means to plot to do evil, but with a divine subject (as here), and in light of v. 15 where it means to plan good, the meaning here has to be the implementation of discipline. God may bring hurt but its purpose is redemptive and/or pedagogical.
⁸sn For a similar reference to true and righteous judgment see Mic 6:8.
⁹sn The fasts of the fifth and seventh months, mentioned previously , are listed here with the fourth and tenth month observances. The latter commemorated the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians on January 15, 588 b.c. (2 Kgs 25:1), and the former the breach of the city walls on or about July 18, 586 b.c. (Jer 39:2-5).
¹⁰sn This scene of universal and overwhelming attraction of the nations to Israel’s God finds initial fulfillment in the establishment of the church (Acts 2:5-11) but ultimate completion in the messianic age (Isa 45:14, 24; 60:14; Zech 14:16-21).