《Trapp ’s Complete Commentary - Zechariah》(John Trapp)

Commentator

John Trapp, (5 June 1601, Croome D'Abitot - 16 October 1669, Weston-on-Avon), was an English Anglican Bible commentator. His large five-volume commentary is still read today and is known for its pithy statements and quotable prose. His volumes are quoted frequently by other religious writers, including Charles Spurgeon (1834 -1892), Ruth Graham, the daughter of Ruth Bell Graham, said that John Trapp, along with C.S. Lewis and George MacDonald, was one of her mother's three favorite sources for quotations.

Trapp studied at the Free School in Worcester and then at Christ Church, Oxford (B.A., 1622; M.A., 1624). He became usher of the free school of Stratford-upon-Avon in 1622 and its headmaster in 1624, and was made preacher at Luddington, near Stratford, before becoming vicar of Weston-on-Avon in Gloucestershire. He sided with parliament in the English Civil War and was arrested for a short time. He took the covenant of 1643 and acted as chaplain to the parliamentary soldiers in Stratford for two years. He served as rector of Welford-on-Avon in Gloucestershire between 1646 and 1660 and again as vicar of Weston from 1660 until his death in 1669.

Quotes from John Trapp:

Be careful what books you read, for as water tastes of the soil it runs through, so does the soul taste of the authors that a man reads. – John Trapp
He who rides to be crowned will not mind a rainy day. – John Trapp
Unity without verity is no better than conspiracy – John Trapp

00 Introduction

Book Overview - Zechariah

The Prophet. His name means "Remembered of the Lord" and like Haggai he appears to have been among the captives who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel. He was a co-laborer with Haggai, beginning his work two mouths later and continuing into the second year following him. The conditions of the times were the same as those described in Haggai.

The Prophecy. The purpose is the same as that of Haggai. The time of the first eight chapters is that of the rebuilding of the temple while the remaining chapters, 9-14, are thought to have been written thirty years later. It is distinguished for: (1) The symbolic character of its visions. (2) The richness of his Messianic predictions found in the second part. (3) The large place given to angelic mediation in the intercourse with Jehovah.

The Contents. The contents have been said to contain: (1) Encouragements to lead the people to repent and reform; (2) Discussions about keeping up the days of fasting and humiliation observed during the captivity; (3) Reflections of a moral and spiritual nature; (4) Denunciations against some contemporary nations; (5) Promises of the prosperity of God's people; (6) Various predictions concerning Christ and his kingdom.

Analysis.

I. Eight Visions Encouraging the Rebuilding of the Temple, Chs. 1-6. Introduction, 1:1-6.

1. The horseman among the myrtle trees, 1:7-17.

2. The four horns and four carpenters, 1:18-21.

3. The man with the measuring line, Ch. 2.

4. Joshua, the High Priest, and Satan, Ch. 3.

5. The Golden Candlestick, Ch. 4.

6. The Flying Roll 5:1-4.

7. The woman and ephah, 5:5-11 end.

8. The four war chariots, 6:1-8.

Appendix: Joshua crowned as a type of Christ, 6:9-15.

II. Requirement of the Law and the Restoration and Enlargement of Israel, Chs. 7-8.

1. Obedience better than fasting. 7:1-7.

2. Disobedience the source of all their past misery, 7:8-14 end.

3. The restoration and enlargement which prefigure Christ "The Jew," Ch.8.

III. Visions of the Messianic Kingdom. Chs. 9-14.

1. The Messianic King, Ch. 9-10.

2. The rejected Shepherd, Ch. 11.

3. The restored and penitent people, Chs. 12-13.

4. The divine sovereignty, Ch. 14.

For Study and Discussion. (1) The symbols and figures used in the several visions. (2) The different ways of expressing or planning the success of God's people and the overthrow of their enemies. (3) The discussion of fasting, should they keep it up? What is superior to it? etc. (4) The promises of these prophesies. (5) The denunciations and judgments found in the book.

01 Chapter 1

Verse 1

Zechariah 1:1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,

Ver. 1. In the eight month, in the second year of Darius] Two months after Haggai began to prophesy. {See Trapp on "Haggai 1:1"} These two prophets did jointly together reprove the Jews for their sloth in rebuilding the temple, and incite them to set forward the work, Ezra 5:1, contributing their utmost help thereunto, Zechariah 1:2. They were also a singular help the one to the other, in the execution of their office. For "two are better than one"; and why, see Ecclesiastes 4:9. {See Trapp on "Ecclesiastes 4:9"} For which cause also Christ sent out first the twelve, and then the seventy, by two and two, Mark 6:7, Luke 10:1. So Paul and Barnabas were sent abroad; the two faithful witnesses, Revelation 11:8. Sυν τε δυ ερχομενω, as the poet speaks of Ulysses, and Diomedes sent to fetch in the palladium. (a) One good man may be an angel to another (as Bradford was to his fellow martyr, Dr Taylor), nay, a god to another, as Moses was to Aaron, Exodus 4:16. And for others; in the mouth of two or three witnesses a truth is better believed by them; and a twisted cord not easily broken. Haggai lays down the mind of God to the people more plainly in direct and downright terms; Zechariah flies a higher pitch, abounding with types and visions; and is therefore worthily reckoned among the abstrusest and profoundest penmen of Holy Scripture, Prae caeteris obscurus est, profundas, varius, prolixus, et aenigmaticus (Cor. a Lapide). For it must be understood (and let it here be prefaced) that albeit all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable to instruct, 2 Timothy 3:16, pure, precious, and profitable, every leaf, line, and letter of it, Psalms 12:6, Proverbs 30:5; yet, between Scripture and Scripture there is no small difference; some pieces of God’s Book for their antiquity, and some other for their obscurity, do justly challenge our greater attention and industry. Of the former sort, famous for their antiquity, are the five Books of Moses, whom Theodoret fitly calleth the great Ocean of divinity ( τον της Yεολογιας ωκεανον), the fountain of the following Scriptures. Of the second sort, noted for their difficulty, and that will not be acquainted with us but upon further suit, some are hard through their fulness of matter in fewness of words, as the poetical books, wherein (no doubt) the verse also hath caused some cloud: and others again, by the sublimity of the subject they handle; such as are the Books of Ezekiel, and Daniel, and this of Zechariah, who is totus fere symbolicus, the whole is to take symbolically and is much followed by St John in his Revelation. Hence Jerome in his prologue to this prophet saith, Ab obscuris ad obscuriora transimus, et cum Mose ingredimur ad nubem et caliginem. Abyssus abyssum invocat. We pass from dark prophecies to that which is much more dark; and with Moses we are entering into the cloud and thick darkness. Here one deep calleth upon another. And, being in a labyrinth, we hope to get out by Christ’s golden clue; concerning whose passion, resurrection, and glory, he speaketh more like an evangelist than a prophet, and may therefore be rightly styled, The evangelical prophet.

Came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah] Therefore the same that our Saviour speaketh of Matthew 23:35, Luke 11:51, though I once thought otherwise, after Jerome, Luther, Calvin, Beza, Glassius, Grotius. But, 1. the name of his father, Berechiah; 2. the manner of Christ’s account (reckoning from Abel, the first martyr, to this, penultimus prophetarum, last, save one, of the prophets, and last of all that was slain by the Jews, after the rebuilding of the temple, whither, being assaulted, he ran for sanctuary), easily persuades me to alter mine opinion. As for those that hold that our Saviour there speaketh of Zacharias, the father of John Baptist, Luke 1:59, slain by the Jews, because he preached Virginis partum et Christi ortum, Christ born of a virgin, Baronius, Tolet, and others, as they affirm it without reason, so they may be dismissed without refutation. Hoc, quia de scripturis non habet authoritatem, eadem facilitate contemnitur, qua probatur, saith Jerome.

The son of Iddo the prophet] Whether the word prophet be to be referred to Zechariah or to Iddo is uncertain. That there was a prophet Iddo we read, and Zechariah might well be of his line, after many descents, 2 Chronicles 12:15. He is here mentioned (as also Ezra 5:1) ut nepoti suo Zachariae nomen et decus conciliet, for an honour to his ab-nephew, Zechariah; according to that of Solomon, "The glory of children are their fathers," to wit, if they be godly and religious, Proverbs 17:6. What an honour was it to Jacob that he could swear by the fear of his father Isaac! to David, that he could say, "Truly, Lord, I am thy servant, I am thy servant, the son of thine handmaid!" Psalms 116:16; to Timothy, that he had such a mother as Lois, such a grandmother as Eunice! 2 Timothy 1:5; to the children of the elect lady, to the posterity of Latimer, Bradford, Ridley, and other of those men of God, who suffered for the truth! If the degenerate Jews so boasted of Abraham, their father, John 8:33, Matthew 3:9, how much more might Zechariah (no degenerate plant, no bastardly brood, as they were, Matthew 12:39, γενεα μοιχαλις) boast and bear himself bold on his lather, Berechiah (the blessing of God), and his grandfather, Iddo (God’s witness, confessor, or ornament), since he trod in their holy steps, and was adorned with their gifts and virtues! The Papists brag much of Peter, and other apostles, their founders and predecessors; but this is but an empty title, to talk of personal succession (which yet cannot be proven), unless they could also show us their gifts and graces, as all the world may see they cannot. We read of a painter who, being blamed by a cardinal for colouring the visages of Peter and Paul too red, tartly replied that he painted them so, as blushing at the lives of their successors.

Verse 2

Zechariah 1:2 The LORD hath been sore displeased with your fathers.

Ver. 2. The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers] Heb. He hath boiled against your fathers with foaming anger, with height of heat. There are degrees of anger, see Matthew 5:22, Deuteronomy 29:28. The Lord rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation. Surgit hic oratio: and the last of those three words is the same here used in the text; noting a higher degree than the two former, even such a fervour and fierceness of God’s wrath as maketh him ready to kill and cut off, {see 2 Kings 6:6, and note the affinity of that word with this} like as he had much ado to forbear killing of Moses, when he met him in the inn, Exodus 4:24, and as Nebuchadnezzar was not only angry, but very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon, Daniel 2:12. Now if the wrath of a king be as many messengers of death, Proverbs 16:14, what shall we think of the foaming and frothing wrath of God, which burns unto the lowest hell, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains, Deuteronomy 32:22. After which followeth, in the next verse, "I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them," Deuteronomy 32:23. He had done so upon the ancestors of these refractory Jews, who had been saepius puncti et repuncti, minime tamen ad resipiscentiam compuncti, often punished, but could never be reclaimed; so incorrigibly flagitious, so shamelessly, so prodigiously wicked were they, till there was no remedy. This their vile stubbornness made him sore displeased with them; and put thunderbolts into his hands to destroy them; for though fury be not in God, Isaiah 27:5, to speak properly, he is free from any such passions as we are subject to, yet if briars and thorns set against him in battle, if a rabble of rebels conspire to cast him out of his throne, saying, "We will not have this man to rule over us," &c., "I would go through them, I would burn them together," saith he, in the same breath. Abused mercy turneth into fury. Nothing so cold as lead, and yet nothing so scalding, if molten. Nothing more blunt than iron; and yet nothing so keen, if sharpened. The air is soft and tender; yet out of it are engendered thunder and lightnings. The sea is calm and smooth; but if tossed with tempests, it is rough above measure. The Lord, as he is Father of mercies, so he is God of recompences: and it is a fearful thing to fall into his punishing hands, Hebrews 10:31. If his wrath be kindled, yea, but a little, woe be to all those upon whom it lights, Psalms 2:12 : how much more when he is sore displeased with a people or person, as here! For "who knoweth the power of thine anger?" saith Moses; "even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath," Psalms 90:11; that is, let a man fear thee never so much, he is sure to feel thee much more, if once he fall into thy fingers. And this is here urged by the prophet as a motive to true repentance; since by their fathers’ example they might see there was no way to escape the dint of the Divine displeasure but to submit to God’s justice, and to implore his mercy: men must either turn or burn, "For even our God is a consuming fire," Hebrews 12:29.

Verse 3

Zechariah 1:3 Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts.

Ver. 3. Therefore say thou unto them] These Jews, saith Cyrill, had neither seen their fathers’ wickedness, nor heeded their calamities. Mittitur ergo ad cos Zacharias quasi paedagogus, Zechariah therefore is sent unto them as a schoolmaster or monitor; that by considering what had been, they might prevent what otherwise would be, and redeem their own sorrows.

Thus saith the Lord of hosts] A far greater Lord and potentate than that great King of Persia, who was now their sovereign. True it is that they had been commanded by a former king to desist from building the city, Ezra 4:12; Ezra 4:21. But there was no one word in that letter to forbid the building of the temple. There was also now another king set up, and of another family. They are therefore by this prophet and by Haggai called upon again and again to turn to the Lord, and to return afresh to their work, Ezra 5:1. Wherein, because they were sure to meet with many enemies, therefore here and elsewhere (eighteen several times in that eighth chapter) there is frequent mention made of the Lord of hosts, for their better encouragement. {See Trapp on "Malachi 3:17"}

Turn ye unto me, saith the Lord of hosts] This is the great doctrine of the Old Testament; as "Repent ye" is of the New. And this he purposely prefixeth as a preface and preparative to the other prophecies both of mercies and judgments, whereof the whole is fitly made up. Sour and sweet make the best sauce. Promises and menaces mixed make the most fruitful discourse; and serve to keep the heart in the best temper. Hence David’s ditty was composed of discords, Psalms 101:1 "I will sing of mercy and judgment," and so be both merry and wise. But, to the words of the text:

Turn ye unto me, &c.] By sin men run away from God (whereby it appeareth that sin is the greatest evil, because it sets us furthest off from the greatest good), and by repentance they return unto him, Deuteronomy 30:2; Deuteronomy 30:8-10, Malachi 3:7, Jeremiah 4:1, Hosea 14:1, Acts 26:18. Hence, Acts 3:19 "Repent, and be converted." Contrition is repentance for sin, 2 Corinthians 12:21, Revelation 9:20. Conversion is repentance for sin, Acts 8:22, Hebrews 6:1. Hereunto is required first a serious search of our ways (for it is a metaphor taken from a traveller), "Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord," Lamentations 3:40. I considered my ways, and then (seeing myself far wide) I turned my feet to thy testimonies, Psalms 119:59. Satius est recurrere, quam male currere, said that emperor in his symbol; It is better to stop or step back, than run on when out of the way; for here he that hasteth with his feet sinneth, Proverbs 19:2, the faster he runs the farther he is out. But as the deceived traveller (when once he finds his error) in his judgment he disliketh it, in his will he turneth from it, in his affections he grieveth at it, and is angry with his false guides, with his utmost endeavour he not only turns again to the right way, but makes the more haste that he be not benighted; so is it here, David not only turned his feet to God’s testimonies, from which he had swerved, but he thenceforth made haste and delayed not to keep his commandments, Psalms 119:59-60. For this true conversion we are speaking of, this repentance never to be repented of, is an upright, earnest, and constant endeavour of an entire change of the whole man from all that is evil to all which is good.