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Who are you, great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you are a plain; and he will bring out the capstone with shouts of ‘Grace, grace, to it!’ ”
Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house. His hands shall also finish it; and you will know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me to you.
Zechariah 4:7-9 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Then he answered and spoke to me, saying, “This is Yahweh’s word to Zerubbabel, saying, ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says Yahweh of Armies. Who are you, great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you are a plain; and he will bring out the capstone with shouts of ‘Grace, grace, to it!’ ”
Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house. His hands shall also finish it; and you will know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me to you. Indeed, who despises the day of small things? For these seven shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. These are Yahweh’s eyes, which run back and forth through the whole earth.”
Who are you, great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you are a plain; and he will bring out the capstone with shouts of ‘Grace, grace, to it!’ ”
Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
“The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house. His hands shall also finish it; and you will know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me to you.
Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.
Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you.
Who art thou, O great mountain before Zerubbabel? thou shalt become a plain; and he shall bring forth the top stone with shoutings of Grace, grace, unto it.'
Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying:
'The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv7–9 Here the angel pursues the same subject which we…
Here the angel pursues the same subject which we have been already explaining — that though the beginning was small and seemed hardly of any consequence and importance, yet God would act in a wonderful manner as to the building of the temple. But as this was not only arduous and difficult, but also in various ways impeded, the angel now says, that there would be no hindrance which God would not surmount or constrain to give way. He compares to a mountain either the Persian monarchy or all the hosts of enemies, which had then suddenly arisen in various parts, so that the Jews thought that their return was without advantage, and that they were deceived, as the event did not answer to their wishes and hopes.
We now then perceive the design of the Holy Spirit: as Satan attempted by various artifices to prevent the building of the temple, the angel declares here that no obstacle would be so great as to hinder the progress of the work, for God could suddenly reduce to a plain the highest mountains. What art thou, great mountain? The expression has more force than if the angel had simply said, that all the attempts of enemies would avail nothing; for he triumphs over the pride and presumption of those who then thought that they were superior to the Jews: “Ye are,” he says, “like a great mountain; your bulk is indeed terrible, and sufficient at the first view not only to weaken, but also to break down the spirits; but ye are nothing in all your altitude.”
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But the text may be read in two ways, “What art thou, great mountain? A plain before Zerubbabel;” or, “What art thou, great mountain before Zerubbabel? A plain.” The latter rendering is the best, and it is also what has been universally received. And he says that this mountain was before Zerubbabel, that is, in his presence, for it stood in opposition to him.
Now this doctrine may be fitly applied to our age: for we see how Satan raises up great forces, we see how the whole world conspires against the Church, to prevent the increase or the progress of the kingdom of Christ. When we consider how great are the difficulties which meet us, we are ready to faint and to become wholly dejected. Let us then remember that it is no new thing for enemies to surpass great mountains in elevation; but that the Lord can at length reduce them to a plain. This, then, our shield can cast down and lay prostrate whatever greatness the devil may set up to terrify us: for as the Lord then reduced a great mountains to a plain, when Zerubbabel was able to do nothing, so at this day, however boldly may multiplied adversaries resist Christ in the work of building a spiritual temple to God the Father, yet all their efforts will be in vain.
He afterwards adds, He will bring forth the stone of its top. The relative is of the feminine gender, and must therefore be understood of the building. Zerubbabel shall then bring forth the stone, which was to be on the top of the temple. By the stone of the top, I understand the highest, which was to be placed on the very summit. The foundations of the temple had been already laid; the building was mean and almost contemptible: it could not however be advanced, since many enemies united to disturb the work, or at least to delay it. Nevertheless the angel promises what he afterwards explains more fully — that the temple would come to its completion, for Zerubbabel was to bring forth and raise on high the stone of the top, which was to be on the very summit of the temple. And then he subjoins, shoutings, Grace, grace, to it; that is, God will grant a happy success to this stone or to the temple. The relative here again is feminine; it cannot then be applied to Zerubbabel, but to the temple or to the stone: it is however more probable that the angel speaks of the temple. And he says that there would be shoutings; for it was necessary to encourage the confidence of the faithful and to excite them to prayer, that they might seek, by constant entreaties, a happy and prosperous issue to the building of the temple. The angel, then, bids all the godly with one voice to pray for the temple; but as all prosperous events depend on the good pleasure of God, he uses the word חן, chen, grace, which he repeats, that he might more fully encourage the faithful to perseverance, and also that he might kindle their desire and zeal.
We now then see what this verse on the whole contains: first, the angel shows that however impetuously the ungodly might rage against the temple, yet their attempts would be frustrated, and that though they thought themselves to be like great mountains, it was yet in the power and will of God to reduce them to a plain, that is, suddenly to lay them prostrate. This is one thing. Then secondly, he adds, that a happy success would attend the building of the temple; for Zerubbabel would bring forth the top-stone, the highest. And lastly, he subjoins, that the faithful ought unanimously to pray, and so to persevere with the greatest ardor and zeal, that God might bless the temple, and cause the building of it to be completed. It now follows —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv7, 9 Though the enemies think to stay this building, yet…
Though the enemies think to stay this building, yet Zerubbabel shall lay the highest stone thereof, and bring it to perfection, so that all the godly shall rejoice, and pray unto God that he would continue his grace and favor toward the Temple.
He compareth the power of the adversaries to a great mountain, who thought the Jews nothing in respect of them, and would have hindered Zerubbabel, who represented Christ, whom the enemies daily labor to let in the building of his spiritual Temple, but all in vain.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv7–9 Zec 4:7 Who [art] thou, O great mountain? before…
Zec 4:7 Who [art] thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel [thou shalt become] a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone [thereof with] shoutings, [crying], Grace, grace unto it.
Ver. 7. Who art thou, O great mountain?] So the enemies seemed to themselves set aloft, and overtopping the low and poor estate of those feeble Jews, as they called them, Neh 4:2. But the virgin, daughter of Zion, despiseth them here, and laugheth them to scorn; she shaketh her head at them, and saith, Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? Isa 37:22. It is good for thee to meddle with thy match, and not to exalt thyself against the Holy One of Israel, who is more "glorious and excellent than those mountains of prey. The stouthearted are spoiled, they have slept their sleep" (such as Sisera did): "and none of the men of might have found their hands," Psa 76:4-5, when once they fell into the punishing hands of the living God. He will soon level these lofty mountains, Jer 51:25. Babylon is called a destroying mountain seated upon a rock; yet God will level, and lay it low enough.
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They shall become a plain] A champaign, that before seemed impossible, inaccessible. Christ’s enemies shall be in that place that is fittest for them, the lowest, that is, the footstool of Christ; when the Church, as it is the highest in God’s love and favour, so shall it be highest in itself. Gaudeo quod Christus Dominus est; alioqui totus desperassem, writes Miconius to Calvin upon the view of the Church’s enemies. Glad I am that Christ reigns; for else I had been utterly hopeless (Melch. Ad.). O pray, pray, saith another saint; for the Pope of Rome and his conventicle of Trent are hatching strange business. The comfort is that he that sitteth in heaven seeth them; the Lord above them hath them in derision. For in the thing wherein they deal proudly, God is above them; and his will shall stand when they shall dung the earth with their dead carcases. Sciat Celsitudo Tun, &c. Let your Highness know (saith Luther in a letter to the Duke of Saxony) that things are otherwise ordered in heaven than they are at Augsbourg; where the Emperor Charles V had made a decree to root out the reformed religion out of Germany. But soon after the Turk broke into Hungary and the borders of Germany; so the Caesar had somewhat else to do than to persecute the Protestants. So the primitive persecutors fondly inscribed upon the public pillars, Deleto Christianorum nomine, that they had blotted out the name of Christ and his religion from under heaven; but this they could never effect with all the power of the whole empire. They found and complained that the Church might be shaken and not shivered; concuti non excuti, as 2Co 4:8-9. Facundi sunt Martyrum cineres, the very ashes of the martyrs were fruitful, and their blood prolific. The Church conquers even when she is conquered; Christ overcame as much by patience as by power. The people of Rome (saith one), saepe proelio victus, nunquam belle, they lost many battles, but were never overcome in a set war; at the long run they crushed all their enemies. Bellarmine somewhat boasteth the like of the Church of Rome, that she was never worsted in any set battle by the Protestants. But if he had lived till these late years he would have known it otherwise, and indeed he could not be ignorant of that famous Bellum Hussiticum, as they called it in Germany, and the many fields fought and won by the Huguenots in France, &c. And if at any time the Church lose the day, Victa tamen vincet. conquored yet conquorers, Christ hath his stratagems, as Joshua had at Ai; he seems sometimes to retire, that he may return with greater advantage. Certain it is, he will thresh the mountains and beat them small before his Zerubbabels; he will make the hills as chaff, Isa 41:15.
And he shall bring forth the head stone thereof with shoutings, saying, Grace, grace unto it] i.e. He shall hold out to lay the very last stone of this new building with joy, and with general acclamations and well wishes. There was a promise for it long before, Isa 44:28. This Zerubbabel was not ignorant of; as neither of that which followeth, Isa 45:1-2, that, for the effecting of that promise, God would go before him to make the crooked place straight, to break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron, i.e. to take away all rubs and impediments. There is the like promise in the New Testament, and it may be a singular encouragement to those that go on to build the tower of godliness, to prepare a tabernacle in their hearts for the Holy One of Israel, that he may dwell in them and walk in them, the gates of hell shall never prevail against them, since Christ, as another Samson, hath flung them off their hinges, hath destroyed the devil’s works, and laid the top stone of his spiritual temple with shouting, saying, Grace, grace unto it. The meaning is, saith an interpreter, that the angels, the faithful, and all creatures, rejoicing at Christ’s kingdom established in the world, shall desire God the Father to heap all manner of blessing and happiness upon it, see Psa 118:26 (Diodati). Or, they shall acknowledge and preach, that the Father hath laid up in him all the treasures of his grace and gifts of his Spirit. It is the observation of another reverend man, preaching upon this text, that when we preach human wisdom and foresight we should fall down and cry (as we are here taught), Grace, grace unto it; we are not to cry up Zerubbabal, Zerubbabel, any man or means whatever; but to exalt the free grace of God, the work of which alone it is and hath been. Zerubbabel should bring forth the head stone (as master builders used to do the first and last stone), and the people should magnify God’s mere free grace; and acknowledge that he was marvellous in their eyes. Thus that learned preacher (Mr Thomas Goodwin, Fast sermon before Parliament Apr. 27, 1642); who also by the lighted candlestick here understandeth full perfecting and finishing of the temple, and restoring the worship of God within it unto its full perfection of beauty and brightness. By the two olive trees, Zerubbabel with the elders, and Joshua, high priest, with the other priests that sat before him, as Zec 3:8 cf. Ezr 6:14 cf. Psa 52:8. These are said to empty golden oil, that is, their estates and pains for the finishing of costly work; and likewise because it was done in sincerity of heart, therefore it is called golden or pure oil. Further, these eminent ranks and sorts of persons that should give their assistance to this work are called sons of oil, Zec 4:14 marg., as being fruitful and affording plenty of it. Thus, Isa 5:1, a fruitful hill and fertile soil is in the original (as here) called a son of oil.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv7–9 Who art thou, O great mountain? the angel having…
Who art thou, O great mountain? the angel having resolved the question about building the temple, either himself doth deride all the power of opposers, or the prophet doth triumph over it, Who art thou? Sanballat and confederates, or Satan, or Babylon, or all put together, what are you all, compared with the power of God, the Lord of hosts, who by his Spirit will finish this work?
Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: thou standest in the way of my servant, and thinkest his weakness and poverty cannot remove thee; but if he cannot surmount thy height, I will bring it down and make thee as a plain, and my servant shall as easily go on with my work as a traveller goeth over a way plained before him.
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And he, Zerubbabel, as the servant of Christ, shall bring forth the head-stone; shall, as is usual, assist at the laying of the last finishing stone, as well as he saw and assisted when the first foundation stone was laid.
Thereof; of the second temple.
With shoutings; with loud acclamations, the signs of great joy and satisfaction in the thing done.
Crying, Grace, grace unto it; praying, and wishing all prosperity, and a long continuance of it, to the temple, and those that are to worship God in it; as grace and favour of God began, and finished, so may the same grace ever dwell in it, and replenish it.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv7–9 Who art thou, O great mountain?.... This is said…
Who art thou, O great mountain?.... This is said in reference to those who opposed the building of the temple, as Sanballat, and others; or the Persian monarchy, and Babylon the capital of it; a mountain being a symbol of a kingdom, or capital city; so Babylon is called, Jer 51:25 hence the Targum paraphrases the words thus,
"how art thou accounted a foolish kingdom before Zerubbabel!''
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and may denote the opposition made to Christ, and to the building of his church, both by Rome Pagan and Rome Papal; Rome is signified by a burning mountain cast into the sea, Rev 8:8 and may include all the enemies of the church and people of God, as sin, Satan, and the world; who, though they may look like high and great mountains, and make much opposition, and throw many difficulties in their way, yet in the issue will he of no avail; See Gill on Isa 49:11. Some Jewish writers (p), by "the great mountain", understand the Messiah, but very wrongly; for he is designed by Zerubbabel in the next clause; but not by the "headstone", as the Targum interprets it:
before Zerubbabel thou shall become a plain; as all opposition and difficulties were surmounted by Zerubbabel in building the temple; so all vanish and disappear before Christ, the antitype of Zerubbabel, in the building up of his church, through the conversion of sinners, and in the protection and preservation of it:
and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof; that is, he, Zerubbabel, shall finish the building of the temple, as in Zac 4:9 the headstone being the last and uppermost stone in the building, which is last laid, and completes the whole; and in the spiritual sense designs, not Christ the headstone of the corner, for it is he that is Zerubbabel's antitype, who brings it in; but the last man that will be converted, when the number of God's elect will be completed in regeneration: they are all in Christ's hands, and under his care; before conversion they are secretly his, his hidden ones; in conversion he brings them forth, and makes them to appear what they are; and, when the last of this number is born again, the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven, will be wholly built, and nothing wanting in it; and the work of grace will have the last hand put to it, and be perfect in all. Christ is indeed sometimes called the headstone of the corner, and the chief cornerstone, Psa 118:22 and he is the principal one in the spiritual building the church; he is the foundation stone, on which the whole is laid; and he is the cornerstone, that joins, knits, and keeps all together; he is both the stability, safety, and ornament of the building; Christ is the first, but not the last stone laid, which this must be: rather the perfection of grace is designed, or the bringing of the work of God to perfection; which may be signified hereby, in allusion to an edifice, which, when the last or top stone is laid, is then completed; and, if taken in this sense, must be understood, not of justifying grace, which is complete at once; Christ's righteousness being a perfect justifying righteousness, and every believer complete in it; but of sanctifying grace, which, though, as to the principle of it, is all wrought together, yet is not at once perfected; it is gradually brought to perfection; there is a perfection of parts, but not of degrees; no man is perfectly holy in himself, only as he is in Christ; but holiness in the saint will be perfected, for without it no man can see the Lord; and this is done at death in every individual believer; and then follows a state of sinless perfection; and the last measure of grace given, which perfects the work, may be called the headstone, the crowning, finishing part: and this wilt be brought in by Christ, the author and finisher of faith; who is a rock, and his work is perfect; he is able to do it; and who so fit, as he who is full of grace? and who so proper, as the master builder, and Head of the church? this grace, which perfects all, is in Christ; he brings it out from himself, in whom it has pleased the Father all fulness should dwell: but it is best of all to interpret the headstone of the last of the elect of God, and redeemed of the Lamb, that will be called by grace; who has this name, not from any superior excellency in him to any of the other lively stones, laid in the spiritual building; but because he is the last that is put there; and which shows, that not one of those God has chosen, and Christ has redeemed, shall be lost; it is the will of God, and it is the care of Christ, that none should perish, but all should come to repentance, to the glory of his rich grace; or otherwise the building would not be complete, nor the church the fulness of him that filleth all in all. The Targum indeed paraphrases the words of Christ,
"and he shall reveal his Christ, whose name is said from eternity, and he shall rule over all kingdoms:''
and mention being made of a capital and principal stone, in this vision of the candlestick, may put one in mind of the stone the Jews (q) speak of, which was before the candlestick in the temple, which had three steps, and on which the priest stood, and trimmed the lamps: and this will be attended
with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it; as the people of the Jews shouted, when the first stone was laid in the foundation of the temple, Ezr 3:11 so it is here intimated that their acclamations would be very great when the last stone would be brought in, and the building finished; which they would ascribe to the grace, favour, and good will of God to them: so likewise, as the work of conversion is wholly owing to the grace of God, an abundance of which is displayed in it; when it is finished in the hearts of all the Lord's people, and the last man designed to be called by it is converted, and so the spiritual building of the church finished; this will be attended with the shouts of angels, who rejoice at the conversion of every sinner, and much more when all the elect are gathered in; and the acclamations of all the saints, for the marriage of the Lamb, will now be come, and the church be ready, as a bride prepared for her husband; see Rev 19:6. The repetition of the phrase, "grace, grace", denotes that the work of conversion in all the saints, from the first to the last, is only owing to the grace of God, and not to any merit, motive, and condition in man; that they are saved and called, not according to their works, but according to the purpose and grace of God, his abundant mercy, free favour, and great love; and that this grace is exceeding abundant, which is displayed in the conversion of a single individual; and how large and copious must it be, which is given forth to them all. It is also expressive of the vehemency of those that use the phrase; and shows that they have a deep sense of it on their hearts; and are warmed, and glow with it; and cannot sufficiently express their admiration of it; and strive to magnify it to the uttermost of their power, being sensible of their obligations to God for it, and what gratitude is due to him on account of it: and this will be the cry of every saint in glory, throughout the endless ages of eternity; nor will the least sound be heard that is jarring, or contrary to it; all will be of one mind, and in one tone, and strive to outdo each other in exalting the free grace of God in the highest strains, with the greatest fervency of soul, and with the loudest acclamations, and those continually repeated.
(p) Tanchuma in Yalkut Simeoni in loc. (q) T. Bab. Menachot, fol. 92. 1. & Tamid, fol. 30. 2. Maimon. Beth Habechira, c. 3. sect. 11.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv7, 9 O great mountain - All opposers put together. Become…
O great mountain - All opposers put together. Become a plain - Thou shalt sink into nothing. The head stone - Shall assist at the laying of the finishing stone, as he assisted when the foundation stone was laid. Grace, grace - Wishing all prosperity, and a long continuance of it, to the temple and those that are to worship God therein. As the free favour of God began, and finished, may the same ever dwell in it and replenish it.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v7 Verse 7. O great mountain?] The hinderances which were…
Verse 7. O great mountain?] The hinderances which were thrown in the way; the regal prohibition to discontinue the building of the temple.
Before Zerubbabel - a plain] The sovereign power of God shall remove them. March on, Zerubbabel; all shall be made plain and smooth before thee. I have given thee the work to do, and I will remove all hinderances out of thy way.
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He shall bring forth the headstone] As he has laid the foundation stone, so shall he put on the headstone: as he has begun the building, so shall he finish it!
With shoutings] The universal acclamation of the people.
Grace, grace unto it.] How beautiful is this structure! May the favour of God ever rest upon it, and be manifested in it!
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v7 Zec 4:7-9. Who, rather, What art thou, O great…
Zec 4:7-9. Who, rather, What art thou, O great mountain — O great obstacle, apparently as insurmountable and immoveable as a high mountain. Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain — Thou shalt sink into nothing. The obstacle shall give way, the difficulty vanish, the opposition cease. Removing mountains, or levelling them into plains, are proverbial expressions, denoting the overcoming the greatest difficulties, and removing all obstacles. So that the angel here encourages Zerubbabel to go on with his undertaking of rebuilding the temple, and restoring the Jewish state, assuring him that all the endeavours of the Samaritans, and of others of the neighbouring people to hinder him, would be fruitless, and that nothing should be able to withstand him. As the words of the text proceed immediately from Jehovah, Blayney thinks they appear more dignified, if considered as expressing the same sense by an interrogation, closed by a brief answer, thus: “What art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel, a level plain.” He shall bring forth the headstone — Namely, of the temple. He shall lay the top or headstone upon the walls of the temple: agreeably to what is said in the next verse, that he should finish the temple, as well as lay the foundation of it; with shoutings, crying Grace, grace unto it — Which action of Zerubbabel shall be accompanied with the joyful acclamations of the people, as also with their earnest prayers, wishing all prosperity, and a long continuance of it, to the temple, and those that should worship God therein. As if he had said, As the free favour of God began and finished the building, may the same favour ever dwell in it and replenish it. But although this be the literal sense of the passage, it has undoubtedly also a mystical meaning. As Christ is figuratively intended by the stone laid before Joshua, (Jos 3:9,) so here it is figuratively signified that God would bring forth, or bring into the world, the Messiah, as the top, or headstone, the last or finishing ornament of the church, God’s spiritual house, Eph 2:21. To this sense the Chaldee paraphrase expounds the words: “His Messiah shall come forth, who was named from all eternity, and shall obtain the empire of all the kingdoms of the earth.” And St. Jerome tells us upon the place, that the ancient Jews explained it so. His hands also shall finish — He shall have the happiness of seeing the great work, which he hath begun, finished and brought to perfection. And thou shalt know, &c. — These may either be the words of the prophet to Zerubbabel, signifying, that when the prediction now uttered was accomplished, it would evidently appear to have been delivered by a divine commission, in which sense similar words must be understood, Zec 2:9. Or they may be the words of the angel to the prophet, signifying that when the promise made in the preceding clause was fulfilled, then he would know that God had sent this divine instructer to him, and that the vision was really from God.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv7–8 Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou…
Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt be a plain - The words have the character of a sacred proverb; “Every one that exalteth himself shall be abased” Luk 14:11; Luk 18:14. Isaiah prophesies the victories of the Gospel in the same imagery, “Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight and the rough places plain” Isa 40:4. And in the New Testament Paul says, “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” 2Co 10:4-5. As it is the character of antichrist, that he “opposeth and exalteth himself above everything that is called God” 2Th 2:4, so of Satan himself it had been said in the former vision, that he stood at the right hand of Joshua “to to resist him” Jos 3:1.
So then the mountain symbolizes every resisting power; Satan and all his instruments, who, each in his turn, shall oppose himself anti be brought low. In the first instance, it was Sanballat and his companions, who opposed the rebuilding of the temple, on account of the “exclusiveness” of Zerubbabel and Joshua , because they would not make the temple the abode of a mixed worship of him whom they call your God and of their own idolatries. In all and each of his instruments, the persecuting emperors or the heretics, it was the one adversary. Cyril: “The words seem all but to rebuke the great mountain, that is, Satan, who riseth up and leadeth against Christ the power of his own stubbornness, who was figuratively spoken of before Jos 3:1. For that as far as it was allowed and in him lay, he warred fiercely against the Saviour, no one would doubt, who considered how he approached Him when fasting in the wilderness, and seeing Him saving all below, willed to make Him his own worshiper, showing Him “all the kingdoms of the world,” saying that all should be His, if He “would fall down and worship him” Mat 4:8-9. Then out of the very choir of the holy Apostles he snatched the traitor disciple, persuading him to became the instrument of the Jewish perverseness. He asks him, “Who art thou?” disparaging him and making him of no account, great as the mountain was and hard to withstand, and in the way of every one who would bring about such things for Christ, of whom, as we said, Zerubbabel was a type.”
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And he shall bring forth the headstone - The foundation of the temple had long been laid. Humanly it still hung in the balance whether they would be permitted to complete it Ezra 5: Zechariah foretells absolutely that they would. Two images appear to be used in Holy Scripture, both of which meet in Christ: the one, in which the stone spoken of is the foundation-stone; the other, in which it is the head cornerstone binding the two walls together, which it connects. Both were cornerstones; the one at the base, the other at the summit. In Isaiah the whole emphasis is on the foundation; “Behold Me who have laid in Zion a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, well-founded” Isa 28:16. In the Psalm, the building hall been commenced; those who were building had disregarded and despised the stone, but “it became the head of the corner,” crowning and binding the work in one .
Both images together express, how Christ is the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last; the Foundation of the spiritual building, the Church, and its summit and completion; the unseen Foundation which was laid deep in Calvary, and the Summit to which it grows and which holds it firm together. Whence Peter unites the two prophecies, and blends with them that other of Isaiah, that Christ would “be a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence. To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of people but chosen of God and precious, ye also are built up a spiritual house - Whence also it is contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious: unto you which believe He is precious, but unto them which be diobedient, the same stone which the builders refused is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence, to them which stumble at the word being disobedient” 1Pe 2:4-7.
A Jew paraphrases this of the Messiah; Jonathan: “And He shall reveal His Messiah, whose name was spoken from the beginning, and he shall rule over all nations.”
With shoutings, grace, grace unto it - that is, all favor from God unto it, redoubled favors, grace upon grace. The completion of the building was but the commencement of the dispensation under it. It was the beginning not the end. They pray then for the continued and manifold grace of God, that He would carry on the work, which He had begun. Perseverance, by the grace of God, crowns the life of the Christian; our Lord’s abiding presence in grace with His Church unto the end of the world, is the witness that He who founded her upholds her in being.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v7 Great mountain. So he calls the opposition made by…
Great mountain. So he calls the opposition made by the enemies of God’s people; which, nevertheless, without any army or might on their side, was quashed by divine Providence. (Challoner) --- It may also mean Sion covered with ruins. --- Chief; either the first or the last stone. (Calmet) --- Equal grace. Shall add grace to grace, or beauty to beauty. (Challoner) --- He shall greatly adorn it. Hebrew, "when they shall lift it (the stone) up, they will exclaim: Let it be agreeable and loved." (Calmet) --- Protestants, "He shall bring forth the head-stone thereof with shouting, crying: Grace, grace unto it." The people filled the air with their cries, when the temple was founded fourteen years before. (Haydock) --- This second attempt shall be more successful. The temple was finished in four years, 1 Esdras v. 16., and vi. 16. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv7, 9 All mountain-like obstacles (Isa 40:4; Isa 49:11) in Zerubbabel's…
All mountain-like obstacles (Isa 40:4; Isa 49:11) in Zerubbabel's way shall be removed, so that the crowning top-stone shall be put on, and the completion of the work be acknowledged as wholly of "grace." Antitypically, the antichristian last foe of Israel, the obstacle preventing her establishment in Palestine, about to be crushed before Messiah, is probably meant (Jer 51:25; Dan 2:34, Dan 2:44; Mat 21:44).
bring forth the headstone--Primarily, bring it forth from the place where it was chiselled and give it to the workmen to put on the top of the building. It was customary for chief magistrates to lay the foundation, and also the crowning top-stone (compare Ezr 3:10). Antitypically, the reference is to the time when the full number of the spiritual Church shall be completed, and also when "all Israel shall be saved" (compare Rom 11:26; Heb 11:40; Heb 12:22-23; Rev 7:4-9).
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Grace, grace--The repetition expresses, Grace from first to last (Isa 26:3, Margin). Thus the Jews are urged to pray perseveringly and earnestly that the same grace which completed it may always preserve it. "Shoutings" of acclamation accompanied the foundation of the literal temple (Ezr 3:11, Ezr 3:13). So shoutings of "Hosanna" greeted the Saviour in entering Jerusalem (Mat 21:9), when about to complete the purchase of salvation by His death: His Body being the second temple, or place of God's inhabitation (Joh 2:20-21). So when the full number of the saints and of Israel is complete, and God shall say, "It is done," then again shall "a great voice of much people in heaven" attribute all to the "grace" of God, saying, "Alleluia! Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God" (Rev 19:1, Rev 19:6). Psa 118:22 regards Him as "the headstone of the corner," that is, the foundation-stone. Compare the angels acclamations at His birth, Luk 2:14. Here it is the top-stone. Messiah is not only the "Author," but also the Finisher (Heb 12:2). "Grace" is ascribed "unto it," that is the stone, Messiah. Hence the benediction begins, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ" (Co2 13:14).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v7 Zec_4:7-10 contain a message of encouragement, addressed, on the…
Zec_4:7-10 contain a message of encouragement, addressed, on the basis of the vision, by the prophet to Zerubbabel (see on Zec_2:6). Most commentators regard the verses out of place, since Zec_4:11 forms the natural continuation of Zec_4:6. They are suitable in the mouth of Zechariah and they embody some ideas suggested by the vision (Zec_4:10), so that they cannot be removed entirely from the latter, but the connection would become smoother if Zec_4:7-10 were placed after Zec_4:14. Marti thinks that the account of the vision is contained in 1-6a, 10b-14, while the rest, 6b-10a, Contains the message.
Zec_4:7 is in the form of an apostrophe to the obstacle which threatens to thwart the purpose of Zerubbabel.
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O great mountain — Since the prophet is thinking of the rebuilding of the temple, the mountain cannot be a figure of the hostile Persian power, or of the power of the world as opposed to the kingdom of God; it is rather a “figure denoting the colossal difficulties which rose up mountain-high at the continuation and completion of the building of the temple.” These difficulties will be completely removed before Zerubbabel. The headstone [“topstone”] — The topmost stone completing and crowning the building. The anointed of Jehovah will put the final touch on the building while the watching multitude will break forth in songs and cries of rejoicing and benediction.
Grace, grace unto it — Not only to the stone, but to the completed temple. These are the words of the cry, a petition that Jehovah may bestow his grace and favor upon his newly completed dwelling place.
Zec_4:9-10 contain a new message of encouragement and promise to the prince, introduced by Zec_4:8.
Moreover — In addition to the message contained in Zec_4:7.
Shall also finish it — He will surely carry to completion the building enterprise (compare Ezr_6:15).
Thou shalt know — The completion of the temple will be an external attestation of the prophet as a divinely sent messenger (Zec_2:9; Zec_2:11).
Who hath despised the day of small things? — Or, who despises (G.-K., 106g). The question implies disapproval of the people’s apathy toward the temple, and of their excuses that their resources are insufficient to build a temple worthy of Jehovah (Hag_2:3). If Jehovah is satisfied, who has a right to think lightly of the present house, though it be small? 10b states why there is no ground for despair. R.V. is preferable to A.V.: “For these seven shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel; these are the eyes of Jehovah, which run to and fro through the whole earth.” The thought may be brought out even more clearly by a free rendering: “For these seven eyes of Jehovah, which run to and fro through the whole earth, shall rejoice when they see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel.”
Those seven — Not the seven eyes of Zec_3:9 (see there). The use of the demonstrative would seem to indicate that the eyes are referred to in the immediate context; if so, the seven lamps (Zec_4:2) must symbolize the seven eyes. Seven is used as a sacred number expressing the idea of completeness or perfection (see Hastings’s Dictionary of the Bible, article “Numbers”). The eyes of Jehovah sweep over the whole earth; nothing can escape them.
Shall rejoice, and shall see — Better, shall rejoice when they shall see (G.-K., 164a). The eyes are a symbol of the divine care and providence, which is world-wide.
The plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel — A sign that he is engaged in building, or at least that he is superintending the work. If Jehovah takes such delight in the restoration of the temple, what folly for men to despise the enterprise! The text of Zec_4:10 may be in some disorder, but the general sense is clear.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv7, 9 7. great mountain] Comp. Isa_40:4; Isa_49:11; Mat_17:20; Mat_21:21; 1Co_13:2.…
7. great mountain] Comp. Isa_40:4; Isa_49:11; Mat_17:20; Mat_21:21; 1Co_13:2. So had the mountain-like obstacles of the power of their captors (Ezr_1:1), and the unwillingness of the people, first to return (Zec_4:5), and then to persevere in the work (Hag_1:14), already “become a plain,” by the “Spirit of the Lord,” stirring up the spirit of man.
Grace, grace unto it] i.e. all favour rest upon it! “Faveat ei Deus, faveant homines.” Maurer.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv7–9 (7) O great mountain?—This is figurative of the colossal…
(7) O great mountain?—This is figurative of the colossal difficulties put in the way of the completion of the building of the Temple by the neighbouring powers. (Comp. Mat_21:21.)
Thou shalt become a plain.—This certainly gives the true meaning of the original, which, however, is singularly graphic, and consists of but one word—literally, to a plain: i.e., thou shalt become. LXX. mistake the word for an Aramaic infinitive, and render τοῦ κατορθῶσαι, “that thou shouldest bring it to a successful issue.” In the preceding vision, Joshua, as the high priest—in this, Zerubbabel, as the Prince of Judah—is the representative of the nation; in Zec_4:14 the two are referred to simultaneously.
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Grace, grace unto it—i.e., unto the head stone which, as being the crowning stone of the building, is used to represent the whole Temple. The words are a prayer, which takes the form of a shout of triumph (like Hosanna!), and mean, May God’s grace or favour rest on the house for ever!
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv7–9 Who art thou, O great mountain? The "mountain" is…
Who art thou, O great mountain? The "mountain" is a figurative expression to denote the various difficulties that stood in Zerubbabel"s way and impeded the carrying out of his great design. Before Zerubbabel. The Vulgate affixes these words to the former part of the clause, but the accent is in favour of the Authorized Version. Thou Shall become a plain; literally, into a plain! A command. All obstacles shall be removed. (comp. Isa_40:4 Isa_49:11 Mat_17:20 Luk_3:4, Luk_3:5) Septuagint, tou katorywsai (intrans.), "that thou shouldst prosper;" "ut corrigas" (Jerome). He shall bring forth the headstone thereof. "He" is evidently Zerubbabel. He shall commence and put the finishing stroke to the work of rebuilding the temple. Many commentators take this stone to be the one that completes the building, "the topstone." But it may well be questioned whether a building like the temple could have any such stone. An arch or a pyramid may have a crowning stone, but no other edifice; nor is there any proof that such a topstone was known or its erection celebrated. It may be a mere metaphor for the completion of the work. It is better, however, to take it as the cornerstone, to which we know great importance was attached. (comp. Job_38:6 Psa_118:22, etc.) This stone, on which the building rests, Zerubbabel will bring forth from the workshop; as the next verses say, his hands have laid the foundation. That action, already past, is represented as future, the regular commencement of the work under Zerubbabel"s direction being intimated, and its happy conclusion promised. Septuagint, Kai exoisw toyon thv klhronomiav , "And I will bring forth the stone of the inheritance the meaning of which is obscure, though Jerome explains it by considering it an allusion to Christ. With shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it! All the by standers, as the stone is placed, shout in acclamation, "God"s favour rest upon it!". (Ezr_3:10) The LXX seems to have mistaken the sense, rendering, Isothta caritov carita authv , "The grace of it the equality of grace"; (Joh_1:16) and to have led St. Jerome astray, who translates, "Et exsaequabit gratiam gratiae ejus," and comments thus: "We all have received of his fulness, and grace for grace, that is, the grace of the gospel for the grace of the Law, in order theft the Israelites and the heathen who believe may receive equal grace and a like blessing." The Targum recognizes here a Messianic prophecy: "He will reveal the Messiah whose Name is spoken of from all eternity, and he shall rule over all the kingdoms.
Vers. 7-10. Encouragement to Christian workers.
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I THOUGH THE WORK BE DERIDED, IT IS GOD"S WORK. Therefore we are sure it is right and good. We can throw ourselves into it with all our heart. Patience. What is of God cannot fail.
II THOUGH THE DIFFICULTIES BE GREAT, THEY ABE CAPABLE OF BEING OVERCOME, Difficulties are a test. They show what spirit we are of. They separate the chaff from the wheat. Remember "Formality" and "Hypocrisy" in the "Pilgrim"s Progress." Difficulties are a challenge. They put us on our mettle. Courage mounteth with occasion. Once we can say, "It is our duty," nothing should daunt us. (Act_5:29 Act_20:24) In A.D. 1800 Napoleon wanted to cross the Alps with his army into Italy. He asked Marescot, chief of the engineers, "Is it possible?" He replied, "Yes, but with difficulty." "Let us, then, set out," was the order of the great captain. (1Co_9:25) Difficulties are our education. It is not ease but effort that makes men. "Our antagonist is our helper," said Burke. "He who has battled, were it only with poverty and hard toil, will be found stronger and more expert than be who could stay at home from the battle, concealed among the provision wagons, or even resting unwatchfully, abiding by the stuff" (Carlyle). So it is in all spheres of activity. "To overcome, we must conquer as we go." Difficulties lead us to a deeper and truer appreciation of our dependence upon God. (Rom_5:3-5 Rom_8:31, Rom_8:37)
III THOUGH THE PROGRESS BE SMALL, ULTIMATE SUCCESS IS CERTAIN. God"s Word is sure. He is truth, and cannot lie. He is love, and cannot betray. He is almighty, and cannot be defeated. The laying of the foundation stone, in his Name, implies the completion of the structure; and, by faith, we already hear the shoutings and the jubilant cries as the work is finished. "Grace, grace unto it! F.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v7 Who art thou, O great mountain
Zec_4:7-9
Who art thou, O great mountain
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The temple of God built amidst difficulties
I.
THE SEEMING DIFFICULTIES IN OUR LORDS WAY. Solomon raised his goodly structure in quiet. Joshua and Zerubbabel had difficulty after difficulty to overcome. Turn to the Lord Jesus. What difficulties were there in His way when He first undertook to build Gods temple in heaven! He had--
1. To introduce sinners into heaven; to bring those near to God, who were among the farthest from Him.
2. He had to prepare sinners for heaven. The Lord the Redeemer has to work to the very last against the bias of nature, and the power of natures lusts. Consider how many of such men He has to work on and change before His task can be completed. He has to bring many sons unto glory. Remember where this work is to be done. In a world where there is everything to obstruct, and really nothing to aid it. It is to be accomplished too against all the powers of darkness. It cannot be done in an hour, or a day, or a year.
II. The ease and completeness with which the Redeemer o`vercomes the difficulties before Him. This is more strongly expressed in the abrupt language of the original, than in our translation Who art thou? There is no surprise or ignorance implied in this question. There is something like derision and contempt in it. The question expresses at once His own dignity, and the insignificance in His sight of the obstacles opposed to Him; His own almighty power and their utter impotence. Here lies one of the hardest lessons we have to learn in practical Christianity--to see the difficulties of salvation, and not be discouraged by them; to see the hills before us and around us, and yet to feel sure that the Lord will carry us over them.
III. The means whereby the Lord Jesus carries on His great work. Christianity has been established in the world without the worlds aid, by means which have seemed most unlikely to establish it. Its very existence in the world at this moment is one of the greatest moral wonders the world ever saw. The Lord Jesus fits us for heaven by means of His Spirit. Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Observe then here how jealous God is for the honour of the Holy Ghost. In looking to the Lord Jesus as our sanctifier, we must not overlook the Holy Spirit. He sanctifies us by this Spirit.
IV. The effect which will be produced by the completion of Christs work. Gods present dealings with our world will not go on forever. There is a day coming when all His purposes of mercy towards it will be accomplished. The completion as spoken of under the figure of bringing forth and putting on the top or headstone of a building. This, in Eastern countries, was generally done with much ceremony, and in the presence of many beholders. With such a prospect before us, well may we ask with this prophet, Who hath despised the day of small things? As for the Church of Christ, let us learn to be ashamed of our fears concerning it. (C. Bradley, M. A.)
Salvation secure
Treat the text as designed to encourage the believer in the assurance of his final salvation, in strong confidence of continuing and upholding power, to be vouchsafed to him.
I. The honor of God is concerned in a persuasion of our final safety.
1. In all spiritual temples the command to build, and the means to build, and the laying the foundation for the building, originate solely with God Himself. How unlikely then that God should forsake the work of His own hands. God is the author of that spiritual temple which is to be raised from the ruins of our degraded humanity. Man is as powerless to work a change in his own spiritual affections as he is to fix a new sun in the heavens, or to divert the course of the trackless deep.
2. The honour of God is concerned in the accomplishment of this work, by the multiplied succours which He has provided for carrying it on. We discover a constant regard to a law of progression. Whether God be ripening a blade of grass, or forming a world from the shapeless void, there is to be a beginning, a continuance, and an end. The building up of the soul into a holy temple in the Lord is no exception to this law. God will take His own time, and work in His own way.
II. The building of this temple will redound to the glory of Christ. Zerubbabel is a type of Christ.
1. There is a promise on the part of Christ to His people, that He will work in them all needful grace to keep them faithful unto the end.
2. Christ is concerned in our final victory, because the believers triumphs form an integral part of His own. Conclusion--
(1) Be as confident with regard to the completion of the work as if it were altogether of God.
(2) Be as diligent in working out that accomplishment as if it were altogether your own. (Daniel Moore, M. A.)
The building of the spiritual temple
Zerubbabel is a type of a far greater builder than himself, and the temple of Zerubbabel is a shadow of a far nobler temple. Zerubbabel is a type of Him whom God hath exalted from among the people, to build His spiritual temple; and the temple of Zerubbabel is a type of that Church, which is built on the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone; of which every true Christian is a lively, that is, a living stone; and in which all are builded together, for a habitation of God through the Spirit. Each converted Christian is a temple of God by the Spirit, and like the temple of Zerubbabel, is honoured by the indwelling God as His abode. Christians are spoken of in Scripture as living stones of one great spiritual temple (as well as each being a separate temple). The manner in which the separate stones of Solomons temple were prepared was striking and remarkable. While that temple was in building, no sound of axe or hammer was heard. Of the glorious temple to the Lord--a temple built of ransomed and purified souls, of deathless and sinless bodies--our Lord Jesus Christ is the chief builder. And He will not fail nor be discouraged, until He has erected His spiritual building on Gods eternal hill of Zion. But He uses instruments. He has His fellow labourers. He directs their work. The whole plan is in His mind. To His ministers he gives diversities of operations by the same Spirit. It is the conviction that our great Master is with His servants, even unto the end of the world, that supports and cheers them under difficulties that would otherwise overwhelm them. (W. Weldon Champneys, M. A.)
His hands shall also finish it--
The founder and finisher of the temple
Zerubbabel is very little more than a grotesque name to most Bible readers. He was a prince of the blood royal of Israel, and the civil leader of the first detachment of returning exiles. The words of the text are, in their plain original meaning, the prophetic assurance that the man, grown an old man by this time, who had been honoured to take the first spadeful of soft out of the earth, should be the man to bring forth the headstone with shoutings of grace, grace unto it! I take them to be a Messianic prophecy. This Zerubbabel was a prophetic person. What was true about him primarily is thereby shown to have a bearing upon the greater Son of David who was to come thereafter, and who was to build the Temple of the Lord.
I. There is here, a large truth as to Christ, the true temple builder. I am Alpha and Omega, etc. All the letters are from Him, and He underlies everything. That is true about Creation, in the broadest and in the most absolute sense. He is the beginning, and in Him all things consist. He is the Beginner and the Finisher of the work of redemption, which is His only, from its inception to its accomplishment. Jesus makes a new beginning; He presents a perfectly fresh thing in the history of human nature. Just as His coming was the introduction into the heart of humanity of a new type, the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, so the work that He does is all His own. He does it all Himself. The text declares that all through the ages His hand is at work. Shall also finish it--then he is labouring at it now. We have to think of a Christ who is working on and on, steadily and persistently. A work begun, continued, and ended by the same immortal hand is the work on which the redemption of the world depends.
II. We have here the assurance of the triumph of the Gospel. There were many who were ready to throw cold water on the works of Zerubbabel. The text is the cure for all hopeless calculations by us Christian people, and by other than Christian people. When we begin to count up resources, and to measure these against the work to be done, there is little wonder that good men and bad men sometimes concur in thinking that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has very little chance of conquering the world. That is perfectly true, unless you take Him into the calculation, and then the probabilities are altogether different. He renews and purifies the corrupted Church, and He lives forever. When Brennus conquered Rome, and the gold for the citys ransom was being weighed, he clashed his sword into the scale to outweigh the gold. Christs sword is in the scale, and it weighs more than the antagonism of the world and the active hostility of hell.
III. Here is encouragement for despondent and timid Christians. Jesus Christ is not going to leave you halfway across the bog. That is not His manner of guiding us. He began and He will finish. If the seed of the kingdom is in our hearts, He will watch over it, and He will bless the springing thereof. Be of good cheer, only keep near the Master, and let Him do what He desires to do for us all.
IV. Here is a striking contrast to the fate which attends all human workers. Few of us are happy enough to begin and finish any task, beyond the small ones of our daily life. Authors die with half finished books. No man starts an entirely fresh line of action; he inherits much from the past. No man completes a great work that he undertakes. Coming generations, if it is one of the great historical works of the world, work out its consequences for good or evil. We have to be contented to do our little bit of work that will fit in along with that of a great many others. How many hands does it take to make a pin? We have to be content to be parts of a mighty whole. Multiplication of joy comes from division of labour. So let us do our little bit of work, and remember that whilst we do it, He is doing it in us for whom we are doing it, and let us rejoice to know that at the last we shall share in the joy of our Lord, when He sees of the travail of His soul, and is satisfied. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Reasons against pessimism
Those Hebrew prophets were thorough optimists. No matter how great the desolation which was around them, no matter how deep the degradation into which the people had fallen, no matter how dark the prospect, they told of a glory to follow. Their words are charged with hope. They summoned languid, desponding souls to courageous action. They never hung their harp upon the willows. In the presence of error, evil, idolatry there is no quailing, no craven cry of fear, but a tone of almost contemptuous defiance. Can the force of contempt go further? Moab is my washpot,--I will wash my hands in Moab. Over Edom I will fling my old shoe. It is so here. This young Zechariah is perhaps the most hopeful of all the prophets. He calls upon the daughter of Zion to sing and rejoice. The holy city, which has been despoiled, shall become so vast that no angel can measure it, and God shall be a wall of fire round about it, and the glory in the midst of it. In this chapter he seeks to encourage Zerubbabel in the great work of rebuilding the temple. A mighty mountain of hindrance bars his way. But by this most suggestive vision the prophet assures him that he shall be aided in his work by the mysterious energy of God. Perhaps there never was an age when the servants of Christ were more exposed to dejection, or when it was more incumbent upon them to maintain an undaunted and confident spirit. Pessimism is in the air. It fills our literature with a wailing cry. As Goethe said: Men write as if they were all ill, and the whole world a lazaretto. There is a deep undertone of sadness in the life of our times. The culture of the age is mournful. One may well ask, Is this metric England? The number of suicides in this country during the past thirty years has risen from 65 per million to 79. In London it is 85, in Paris 422. Now, pessimism is the legitimate outcome of unbelief. If man is a bubble, soon to be pricked by death, how can he be glad? Men are congratulating the world that faith is dying; but they will find, if it dies, that some other things, which they would fain keep, have disappeared too. But if pessimism is proper to unbelief, it ought to have no place in the minds of Christian men. What are the reasons against pessimism? What reasons have we for declaring that it will be laid low?
I. First of all, it is alien to human nature. The fundamental principle of pessimism is that evil is an essential element of human nature. It is original and permanent. The world is corrupt in its nature. The teaching of the Word of God is that sin is an intrusion. We are often told that the Scripture view of man is too dark. It is the only bright view of the subject. That which regards sin as natural is horrible, and forbids hope. Sin is neither the essence of the creature nor the act of the Creator. So terrible is it when it culminates, that it would be fearful to regard it as the mere outcome of the natural working of the human heart. What a vivid picture is that which our Lord gives of the state of man! The human heart is a house, and living in it, ordering it, is a strong man armed. Yes, sin is a mighty tyrant, but it is only a lodger. It occupies the city of Mansoul, but it has crept in and it can be cast out. Is not this evident from a survey of the effects of evil? It is manifestly foreign to human nature, for it runs right athwart the interests, and cuts deep into the powers of that nature, sapping its strength, and draining its very life blood. It is a wrong inflicted upon the soul, not the intended outcome and expression of the soul. It is a great hurt, a violation of law, a break in the harmony of life, a discord in its music, a derangement of its order. The effects of sin are eloquent of its nature. It spoils, rends, tears, maims perverts It is off the course of nature. Human nature has fallen among thieves, which have robbed, wounded it and left it half dead. Sin is not the essence of man; it is an alien thing, it is a foreign power. Men feel it has to be accounted for, that it is not according to the constitution of things. A belief in a fall runs through the religions of the world. Archdeacon Wilson has well said: The problem about evil which has attracted the mind of man has always been enunciated as the origin of evil. Did any one ever write an essay or vex his mind over the origin of good? It is in the constitution of our minds to ask for a reason for anything that is rare, exceptional, or anomalous. Why does an eclipse of the sun take place? What is the cause of thunderstorms? But we do not often ask why the sun gives light. Can it be that evil is so rare a phenomenon? No; the pessimist will not admit, and the optimist will not assert, that evil is so rare an interference that we are driven to account for it because of its rarity. It is not because it is rare, but because we instinctively feel it is an intruder, however common it may be. We ask for the cause of sickness, common as it is. Health is the normal state; disease the abnormal. Sin is an interference, a fall.
II. Another reason against pessimism, and a ground for hope, is to be found in the wiles and deceptions that evil must practise before it can succeed. It pretends to be what it is not. It palms itself off as something else. Sin only keeps its place by deception. It is transformed into an angel of light. It wears the garb of goodness, and declines to be unclothed. Nor does it wholly possess the human soul. The noblest, most authoritative power of the soul may be cowed and silenced, but it never consents heartily to the sway of evil. Conscience is often like a discrowned king, whose commands are slighted, but it does not run with the multitude of the passions to do evil. It stands solitary, apart, issuing, however vainly, its protests. Hence sin and fear go together. The mountain shakes and trembles, as Sinai at the voice of God. Conscience doth make cowards of us all. Nor are the forces of evil so compact, so massive, so welded together as they seem. It is well to follow the counsel which the angel gave to the fearful Gideon--But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host, and thou shalt hear what they say, and afterwards shall thine hands be strengthened to go down to the host. An undefined fear pervades the ranks of evil. There are vague presages of approaching disaster.
III. But let us hasten on to consider the chief reason against pessimism, the highest ground for cherishing the spirit of the text. The vision recorded in this chapter is most beautiful and suggestive. The prophet sees a golden candelabrum, like that which had been in the old temple, but much grander. It has a bowl on the top of it, and beneath are seven lamps and seven pipes to the lamps, and on each side of the bowl stands an olive tree. The prophet is taught that his help is in God. As the lamp was supplied, not by human agency, but direct from the living trees, so he is to learn that evil will be overthrown and righteousness exalted, not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. The advent of Jesus Christ into this world was the coming of one stronger than the strong man armed. It was the introduction of a new spiritual energy, a life-giving, restoring force. His whole work, and the consequent descent of His Spirit, show that God is on the side of man, and that the evils which have enslaved, defiled, degraded him shall be overcome. Truth, purity, love are on the throne of the universe. The Lord reigneth, let the earth be glad. And further, we are reminded that as we seek to overcome the mountains of evil which are in this world, we can only be qualified for our work as we receive the power of the Holy Ghost. To trust in our own strength, to place our dependence in men or means, to rely on ecclesiastical organisations and auxiliaries, will entail inevitable weakness and defeat. I read the other day of an Italian miser, who died near San Remo worth £120,000, who for years went without stockings because he grudged paying for the washing of them. Some Christian workers are guilty of a similar penuriousness with regard to the spiritual treasures, the unsearchable riches, which are at their disposal. Let us not be straitened in ourselves, for we are not straitened in God. Let us be of good cheer, and cultivate a bold, buoyant optimism. And let us be clear as to what is implied in the hope of the overthrow of evil and the establishment of righteousness. It is not implied that the millennium will be here in a fortnight, or that the progress of goodness is steady and uniform. Dalliance with the world may enfeeble the churches, and they may be shorn of their strength. Everything depends on the extent to which the Spirit of Christ prevails among men. The great mountain of evil is a crumbling mountain. Some of us have quailed before that mountain. Sin seems so fixed and strong. The characteristic evils of our nature seem so inveterate. (J. Lewis.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v7 Zec_4:9.] Additional information. Finish] So he did, in the…
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Zec_4:9.] Additional information. Finish] So he did, in the sixth year of Darius (Ezr_6:15).
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Zec_4:10. Day of small things] “The short period which had elapsed since the Jews had begun to rebuild the temple, and the commencement which had been inconsiderable and inauspicious.” Who?] with its negative answer, contains an admonition to the people and their rulers not to despise the small beginnings [Keil]. Plummet] With the human is strikingly contrasted Jehovah’s estimate of the work. His eyes, which run to and fro, rejoiced when they saw Zerubbabel with the plummet in hand; a sign of work commenced, and superintending care. Zerubbabel is the type of a future Zerubbabel, the Messiah, who will build the temple of God. HOMILETICS
DIVINE GRACE THE SOURCE OF ALL STRENGTH.—Zec_4:7-10
The resources of the Jewish leader were few, and dangers formidable, hence the promise of help. The beginning may be small and discouraging, but the co-operation of the Holy Spirit will ensure success. Joshua and Zerubbabel shall finish the work, and bring forth the copestone amid the loud shouts of the people—“Grace, grace unto it.”
I. The work was carried on under the Divine auspices. The leaders do their part, but it is “with those seven” eyes (ch. Zec_3:9), “the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth.” God watched the foundation, and was ever present to superintend. Nothing took him by surprise or happened unknown. In all parts of the earth his people are defended and guided by his providence. “The Divine eye is ever in union with the Divine arm,” says a writer; “the knowledge of God with his power.” Under his inspection the work must prosper. He takes cognizance of all creatures, inspires and directs all efforts. Those that have the plummet in hand can do nothing without him, should seek his presence, and depend upon his help. “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.”
II. The difficulties were overcome by Divine help. Difficulties there were, manifold and great, in the people themselves and outside them.
1. Some despised the work. Circumstances were disheartening, made them sigh and desist. They were few in number, and the work in proportion to their means very great. “Who hath despised the day of small things?”
2. Powerful enemies opposed the work. They were artful, malignant, and often successful. Like great mountains, impassable and immovable, they stood in the way. But the mountains were levelled down, difficulties vanished away, and all became a plain. “Thou shalt thresh the mountains,” when engaged for God (Isa_41:15). To despond is faithless and guilty. Nothing can resist God. The victories of his word are sure. “Every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked be made straight, and the rough places plain.”
III. The work was finished amid joyful acclamations of Divine praise. “He shall bring forth the head-stone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.” The people wished well to the building, and prayed that it might stand for ever. The finishing of the temple was a type of the work of God in all ages. The Jewish builder represented Christ, the Divine architect of the spiritual temple. His work begun by grace should end by grace. Amid opposition it is carried on and will be finished. Soon the plaudits of men and angels shall shout in acclamation and acknowledgment of the multiplied favour of God. Grace, free grace, shall be the theme of their song! “Grace, grace unto it.”
DESPISING THE DAY OF SMALL THINGS—Zec_4:10
The Jews are reproved for their heartlessness and unbelief. They should not estimate God’s work by present appearances. Their progress though small is an earnest of great and glorious success. To despair when God has promised help, is to doubt his faithfulness, power, and omniscience. These words declare—
I. A fact in history.
1. “The day of small things.” This, notwithstanding great toil and much time spent in the work of God. In Jewish history and in the present time—in the Sunday School and in the Christian Church—in philanthropic and missionary enterprise, it is the day of small things. Though success may be realized, yet it is small in itself; small in comparison with what might be, and with what will be.
2. Let us learn a lesson. To be humble, because we have done so little and been so idle. To be more prayerful; “O Lord, revive thy work.” To depend more upon God. “Not by might, nor by power.”
II. A tendency in our nature. Contempt for small beginnings in religious matters has been a common feeling. Sanballat despised the work of Nehemiah (ch. Zec_4:2). Christianity “was despised and rejected of men,” in the person of its founder and his apostles. Missionaries, religious institutions and societies, have been ridiculed in their feeble beginnings. Why does this happen? “Because,” says Foster, “we do not apprehend the preciousness of what is good, in any, even the smallest thing—we know not what is requisite to be previously done, to bring the small beginning into existence We are apt to set far too high a price on our own efforts, as estimated against their results; and then there is the impiety of not duly recognizing the supremacy of God.”
III. A reproof from God. ‘ “Who hath despised?” How unreasonable and foolish in the present circumstances. “Our duty,” said Spinosa, “is neither to ridicule the affairs of men, nor to deplore, but simply to understand them.” It becomes no one, least of all a believer, to deride a small beginning, and think despondingly of the work of God. This conduct is foolish.
1. Because there are no little things really. Appearances deceive. We see not the connection, the beginning and the end of things. “All are links of one vast chain.”
2. Because great things spring from what appear little things. In nature, we have mighty forests from smallest seeds, and broad rivers from tiny streamlets. It is “first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear.” In history, we have great results from small beginnings. The Bible and missionary societies are illustrations. The law of providence and the gospel of Christ teach the same truth. A little leaven hid in the meal affects the mass; the grain of mustard becomes a mighty tree; and the handful of corn on the bleak mountain-top yields a waving harvest like the fruitful Lebanon. Despise not, despair not. The work will and must be finished. What, then, will be the end of those who help not, but deride and hinder its accomplishment? “Behold, ye despisers, and wonder and perish.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Zec_4:7. Great mountain. Mighty enemies despised, subdued, and rendered subservient to the cause of God. “A mountain is spoken of in Scripture emblematically, to denote the greatest difficulties and oppositions of men to cross any design; and the overturning or levelling of these mountains expresseth the highest actings of the power of God, in subduing all difficulties and oppositions for the good of his people” [Caryl].
Zec_4:8; Zec_9:1. The promises of the Word are faithful and worthy of confidence—their repetition indicates our distrust, but God’s readiness to perform.
2. It is a special favour to a people when God grants them reformation, power to build a habitation for his name, and to finish their work.
3. When this work is finished, it is a proof of Christ’s unchangeable love and care, and should be rightly studied as revealing the character of God. Thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me [cf. Hutcheson.]
The whole drift of this chapter might be summed up in the words of Jesus to his disciples, “Have faith in God!” and the encouragement that was held out to the Jewish builders, is held out to us. We have, first of all, what should ever be enough to inspire confidence, though it stood alone—independent of all information as to the way in which the work was to be effected by him—we have the express and explicit promise of Jehovah, that the building shall be finished; and that before the obedient and prayerful efforts of his people the greatest—the most apparently insurmountable—obstacles give way. We have more than the bare word of promise: the assurance of the incessantly attentive superintendence and watchful care of his ever-present providence. The “seven eyes of the Lord run to and fro” to help. Still further, we have the promise of the constant and copious effusion of the Holy Spirit. The might and power of man are pronounced altogether incompetent, and this Divine influence is promised. This was true in the existing case. Faith, fortitude, energy, and perseverance were needful, and supplied by the Spirit in leaders and people. It is true in a peculiar sense of the spiritual temple. The stones must be prepared, and no energy but God’s can make them living stones. Even all legitimate and zealous effort must prove fruitless, unless God give his influence with them. But having the promise, we need never despond. As the ancient Church was animated to look with confidence for the accomplishment of the glorious things awaiting her; so let us look forward to the great results promised to us [Wardlaw].
Zec_4:10. When good men despise the day of small things, the grand essential of religion, faith, is wanting. They lack faith in the unerring wisdom of the Divine scheme and determinations; faith in the goodness of God, the absolute certainty that infinite wisdom and power cannot be otherwise than good; faith in The promises of God, that his servants shall, in the succession of their generations, see his cause advance from the small to the great, though this be not granted to any one separately; that their labours shall, each in their turn, be approved and recorded; and that they shall at last exult in the glorious consummation [John Foster]. We ought not to despise the day of small things, because—
1. such conduct tends to prevent its becoming a day of great things;
2. angels do not despise it, but rejoice over every one repenting sinner;
3. our Saviour does not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax;
4. God does not despise it, but noticed even some good thing found in the son of Jeroboam;
5. the day of small things is the commencement of great things [Payson].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 4
Zec_4:6-7. Power. Dependence gives God his proper glory. It is the peculiar honour and prerogative of Deity to have a world of creatures hanging upon it—staying themselves upon it; to be the fulcrum, the centre of a lapsing creation [Howe].
Zec_4:10. Despised. To a decidedly irreligious contemner, we might say, “Beware what you do;” for “if the thing be of God,” you are daring him by your contempt. If there be something of his spirit and power contained and acting in things, it is not safe to make free with them in the way of scorn, however inconsiderable in magnitude they may seem. It may one day (not “a day of small things” that) be a question, not of rebuke, but of judgment. On that day will not be forgotten a contempt of the introductory littleness (say, rather, undisclosed dignity) of what God had determined to advance to greatness and glory [John Foster].
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v9
Zechariah
THE SOURCE OF POWER
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THE FOUNDER AND FINISHER OF THE TEMPLE
Zec 4:9.
I am afraid that Zerubbabel is very little more than a grotesque name to most Bible-readers, so I may be allowed a word of explanation as to him and as to the original force of my text. He was a prince of the blood royal of Israel, and the civil leader of the first detachment of returning exiles. With Joshua, the high priest, he came, at the head of a little company, to Palestine, and there pathetically attempted, with small resources, to build up some humble house that might represent the vanished glories of Solomon’s Temple. Political enmity on the part of the surrounding tribes stopped the work for nearly twenty years. During all that time, the hole in the ground, where the foundations had been dug and a few courses of stones been laid, gaped desolate, a sad reminder to the feeble band of the failure of their hopes. But with the accession of a new Persian king, new energy sprang up, and new, favourable circumstances developed themselves. The Prophet Zechariah came to the front, although quite a young man, and became the mainspring of the renewed activity in building the Temple. The words of my text are, of course, in their plain, original meaning, the prophetic assurance that the man, grown an old man by this time, who had been honoured to take the first spadeful of soil out of the earth should be the man ‘to bring forth the headstone with shoutings of Grace, grace unto it!’
But whilst that is the original application, and whilst the words open to us a little door into long years of constrained suspension of work and discouraged hope, I think we shall not be wrong if we recognise in them something deeper than a reference to the Prince of David’s line, concerning whom they were originally spoken. I take them to be, in the true sense of the term, a Messianic prophecy; and I take it that, just because Zerubbabel, a member of that royal house from which the Messiah was to come, was the builder of the Temple, he was a prophetic person. What was true about him primarily is thereby shown to have a bearing upon the greater Son of David who was to come thereafter, and who was to build the Temple of the Lord. In that aspect I desire to look at the words now: ‘His hands have laid the foundation of the house, and His hands shall also finish it.’
I. There is, then, here a large truth as to Christ, the true Temple-builder.
It is the same blessed message which was given from His own lips long centuries after, when He spoke from heaven to John in Patmos, and said, ‘I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last.’ The first letter of the Greek alphabet, and the last letter of the Greek alphabet, and all the letters that lie between, and all the words that you can make out of the letters-they are all from Him, and He underlies everything.
Now that is true about creation, in the broadest and in the most absolute sense. For what does the New Testament say, with the consenting voice of all its writers? ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Without Him was not anything made that was made.’ His hands laid the foundations of this great house of the universe, with its ‘many mansions.’ And what says Paul? ‘He is the Beginning, in Him all things consist’ . . . ‘that in all things He might have the pre-eminence.’ And what says He Himself from heaven? ‘I am the First and the Last.’ So, in regard to everything in the universe, Christ is its origin, and Christ is its goal and its end. He ‘has laid the foundation, and His hands shall also finish it.’
But, further, we turn to the application which is the more usual one, and say that He is the Beginner and Finisher of the work of redemption, which is His only from its inception to its accomplishment, from the first breaking of the ground for the foundations of the Temple to the triumphant bringing forth of the last stone that crowns the corner and gleams on the topmost pinnacle of the completed structure. There is nothing about Jesus Christ, as it seems to me, more manifest, unless our eyes are blinded by prejudice, than that the Carpenter of Nazareth, who grew up amidst the ordinary conditions of infant manhood, was trained as other Jewish children, increased in wisdom, spoke a language that had been moulded by man, and inherited His nation’s mental and spiritual equipment, yet stands forth on the pages of these four Gospels as a perfectly original man, to put it on the lowest ground, and as owing nothing to any predecessor, and not as merely one in a series, or naturally accounted for by reference to His epoch or conditions. He makes a new beginning; He presents a perfectly fresh thing in the history of human nature. Just as His coming was the introduction into the heart of humanity of a new type, the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, so the work that He does is all His own. He does it all Himself, for all that His servants do in carrying out the purposes dear to His heart is done by His working in and through them, and though we are fellow-labourers with Him, His hands alone lay every stone of the Temple.
Not only does my text, in its highest application, point to Jesus Christ as the Author of redemption from its very beginning, but it also declares that all through the ages His hand is at work. ‘Shall also finish it’-then He is labouring at it now; and we have not to think of a Christ who once worked, and has left to us the task of developing the consequences of His completed activity, but of a Christ who is working on and on, steadily and persistently. The builders of some great edifice, whilst they are laying its lower courses, are down upon our level, and as the building rises the scaffolding rises, and sometimes the platform where they stand is screened off by some frail canvas stretched round it, so that we cannot see them as they ply their work with trowel and mortar. So Christ came down to earth to lay the courses of His Temple that had to rest upon earth, but now the scaffolding is raised and He is working at the top stories. Though out of our sight, He is at work as truly and energetically as He was when He was down here. You remember how strikingly one of the Evangelists puts that thought in the last words of his Gospel-if, indeed, they are his words. ‘He was received up into heaven, and sat at the right hand of God, and they went everywhere, preaching the word.’ Well, that looks as if there were a sad separation between the Commander and the soldiers that He had ordered to the front, as if He were sitting at ease on a hill overlooking the battlefield from a safe distance and sending His men to death. But the next words bring Him and them together-’The Lord also working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.’ And so, brethren, a work begun, continued, and ended by the same immortal Hand, is the work on which the redemption of the world depends.
II. Notice, secondly, that we have here the assurance of the triumph of the Gospel.
No doubt, in the long-forgotten days in which my text was spoken, there were plenty of over-prudent calculators in the little band of exiles who said, ‘What is the use of our trying to build in face of all this opposition and with these poor resources of ours?’ They would throw cold water enough on the works of Zerubbabel, and on Zechariah who inspired them. But there came the great word of promise to them, ‘He shall bring forth the headstone with shoutings.’ The text is the cure for all such calculations by us Christian people, and by others than Christian people. When we begin to count up resources, and to measure these against the work to be done, there is little wonder if good men and bad men sometimes concur in thinking that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has very little chance of conquering the world. And that is perfectly true, unless you take Him into the calculation, and then the probabilities look altogether different. We are but like a long row of ciphers, but put one significant figure in front of the row of ciphers and it comes to be of value. And so, if you are calculating the probabilities of the success of Christianity in the world and forget to start with Christ, you have left out the principal factor in the problem. Churches lose their fervour, their members die and pass away. He renews and purifies the corrupted Church, and He liveth for ever. Therefore, because we may say, with calm confidence, ‘His hands have laid the foundation of the house, and His hands are at work on all the courses of it as it rises,’ we may be perfectly sure that the Temple which He founded, at which He still toils, shall be completed, and not stand a gaunt ruin, looking on which passers-by will mockingly say, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ When Brennus conquered Rome, and the gold for the city’s ransom was being weighed, he clashed his sword into the scale to outweigh the gold. Christ’s sword is in the scale, and it weighs more than the antagonism of the world and the active hostility of hell. ‘His hands have laid the foundation; His hands shall also finish it.’
III. Still further, here is encouragement for despondent and timid Christians.
Jesus Christ is not going to leave you half way across the bog. That is not His manner of guiding us. He began; He will finish. Remember the words of Paul which catch up this same thought: ‘Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perfect the same until the day of Jesus Christ.’ Brethren! if the seed of the kingdom is in our hearts, though it be but as a grain of mustard seed, be sure of this, that He will watch over it and bless the springing thereof. So, although when we think of ourselves, our own slowness of progress, our own feeble resolutions, our own wayward hearts, our own vacillating wills, our many temptations, our many corruptions, our many follies, we may well say to ourselves, ‘Will there ever be any greater completeness in this terribly imperfect Christian character of mine than there is to-day?’ Let us be of good cheer, and not think only of ourselves, but much rather of Him who works on and in and for us. If we lift up our hearts to Him, and keep ourselves near Him, and let Him work, He will work. If we do not-like the demons in the old monastic stories, who every night pulled down the bit of walling that the monks had in the daytime built for their new monastery-by our own hands pull down what He, by His hand, has built up, the structure will rise, and we shall be ‘builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit.’ Be of good cheer, only keep near the Master, and let Him do what He desires to do for us all. God is ‘faithful who hath called us to the fellowship of His Son,’ and He also will do it.
IV. Lastly, here is a striking contrast to the fate which attends all human workers.
There are very few of us who even partially seem to be happy enough to begin and finish any task, beyond the small ones of our daily life. Authors die, with books half finished, with sentences half finished sometimes, where the pen has been laid down. No man starts an entirely fresh line of action; he inherits much from his past. No man completes a great work that he undertakes; he leaves it half-finished, and coming generations, if it is one of the great historical works of the world, work out its consequences for good or for evil. The originator has to be contented with setting the thing going and handing on unfinished tasks to his successors. That is the condition under which we live. We have to be contented to do our little bit of work, that will fit in along with that of a great many others, like a chain of men who stand between a river and a burning house, and pass the buckets from end to end. How many hands does it take to make a pin? How many did it take to make the cloth of our dress? The shepherd out in Australia, the packer in Melbourne, the sailors on the ship that brought the wool home, the railwayman that took it to Bradford, the spinner, the weaver, the dyer, the finisher, the tailor-they all had a hand in it, and the share of none of them was fit to stand upright by itself, as it were, without something on either side of it to hold it up.
So it is in all our work in the world, and eminently in our Christian work. We have to be contented with being parts of a mighty whole, to do our small piece of service, and not to mind though it cannot be singled out in the completed whole. What does that matter, as long as it is there? The waters of the brook are lost in the river, and it, in turn, in the sea. But each drop is there, though indistinguishable.
Multiplication of joy comes from division of labour, ‘One soweth and another reapeth,’ and the result is that there are two to be glad over the harvest instead of one-’that he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.’ So it is a good thing that the hands that laid the foundations so seldom are the hands that finish the work; for thereby there are more admitted into the social gladness of the completed results. The navvy that lifted the first spadeful of earth in excavating for the railway line, and the driver of the locomotive over the completed track, are partners in the success and in the joy. The forgotten bishop who, I know not how many centuries ago, laid the foundations of Cologne Cathedral, and the workmen who, a few years since, took down the old crane that had stood for long years on the spire, and completed it to the slender apex, were partners in one work that reached through the ages.
So let us do our little bit of work, and remember that whilst we do it, He for whom we are doing it is doing it in us, and let us rejoice to know that at the last we shall share in the ‘joy of our Lord,’ when He sees of the travail of His soul and is satisfied. Though He builds all Himself, yet He will let us have the joy of feeling that we are labourers together with Him. ‘Ye are God’s building’; but the Builder permits us to share in His task and in His triumph.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v8 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
The angel who speaks with Zechariah continues to explain the vision.
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The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, "The hands
This idiom is used to introduce a special message from God. AT: "Yahweh gave a message to me. He said, 'The hands" or "Yahweh spoke this message to me: 'The hands" (See: Idiom)
The hands of Zerubbabel have laid ... his hands will bring it to completion
Here the word "hands" represents Zerubbabel. AT: "Zerubbabel has laid ... he will bring it to completion" (See: Synecdoche)
the foundation of this house
The word "house" represents the temple. AT: "the foundation of this temple" (See: Metonymy)
Who has despised the day of small things? These people will rejoice
Zechariah uses this rhetorical question to speak specifically about those who have "despised the day of small things." It can be translated as a statement. AT: "Those who have despised the day of small things will rejoice" (See: Rhetorical Question)
the day of small things
"the time of small things." This phrase refers to the time when the people were building the temple and appeared to be making little progress. AT: "the time when progress was slow" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
plumb stone
This refers to an instrument made with a heavy object attached to the end of a string that builders used to ensure that the walls of buildings were straight.
These seven lamps ... these two olive trees
These phrases refer to the lamps and olive trees that Zechariah saw in Zechariah 4:2-3.
These seven lamps are the eyes of Yahweh that roam over the whole earth
The seven lamps symbolize the eyes of Yahweh, but they are not literally the eyes of Yahweh. The angel speaks of Yahweh seeing everything that happens on the earth as if his eyes roamed over the whole earth. AT: "These seven lamps represent the eyes of Yahweh, who sees everything that happens on the earth" (See: Symbolic Language and Metaphor)
translationWords
olive
lampstand
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v7 4:7 A mighty mountain . . . will become…
4:7 A mighty mountain . . . will become a level plain is a figure of speech in both Old Testament (see Isa 40:4; 49:11) and New Testament (see Matt 17:20; 1 Cor 13:2). Faith in God enables his servants to overcome seemingly impossible obstacles. • The capstone or headstone (final stone) completes a stone wall or building (see Ps 118:22). • May God bless it!: This prayer seeks God’s favor and blessing on the new Temple.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.