Zechariah was one of those Extraordinary Prophets whom God raised up and sent to the Jews, after their return from Babylon. He was contemporary with Haggai, and began his Ministry about two months later, in the Reign of that Darius who encouraged and set forward the building of the Temple; to the pursuit of which affair, these two Prophets did jointly stir up and animate the People of God. Who this Zechariah was, and to what Tribe and Family he belonged, we are at a loss, his Genealogy being only reckoned up to his ⟨p. 2⟩Grandfather, of whose Stock there is no mention made elsewhere in the Old Testament: only this I suppose is beyond just dispute, that he is the same whom these Jews did barbarously murder, for his faithful reproofs given them, and denouncing of Gods Righteous Threatenings against them for their sins; which added to their guilt, and is articled against their Posterity by Christ himself, in Mat. 23.35. This Book is partly Doctrinal, partly Visional. In the Visional part of it he gives an account of all the Changes or Revolutions which were to pass over the Jewish Nation, till, for their sins, and more particularly, for their despising of Christ, and the Salvation by him offered to them, they should be laid desolate; and so abide, till such time as God should again graciously call them: and there are interwoven the Predictions of the Judgments of God on other Nations, so far as they concerned his dealings with this people. Divers of these Visions are exceeding mysterious, and the harder to be understood by us, not only because of the depth of the Allegories used, and the intermixing of things fore signified by way of anticipation; but also because they are not as yet accomplished: And here we are more especially to observe those Prophesies which point to the Calling of the Jews to Christ, and the Spiritual Glory of that time, which is more than once hinted at in this ⟨p. 3⟩Book: as also the Calling of the Gentiles, and the wonderful enlarging of the Grace of God to other Nations. To make the way clear to the words of our Text, let us observe, that at the beginning of Chap. 12. Our Prophet predicts an happy and glorious Estate which God will in due time restore Jerusalem unto, and he indigita•es a special appointed season in which this should eminently be accomplished:
ZEchariah was one of those Extraordinary Prophets whom God raised up and sent to the Jews, after their return from Babylon. He was contemporary with Haggai, and began his Ministry about two months later, in the Reign of that Darius who encouraged and set forward the building of the Temple; to the pursuit of which affair, these two Prophets did joyntly stir up and animate the People of God. Who this Zechariah was, and to what Tribe and Family he belonged, we are at a loss, his Genealogy being only reckoned up to his ⟨p. 2⟩Grandfather, of whose Stock there is no mention made elsewhere in the Old Testament: only this I suppose is beyond just dispute, that he is the same whom these Jews did barbarously murder, for his faithful reproofs given them, and denouncing of Gods Righteous Threatnings against them for their sins; which added to their guilt, and is articled against their Posterity by Christ himself, in Mat. 23.35. This Book is partly Doctrinal, partly Visional. In the Visional part of it he gives an account of all the Changes or Revolutions which were to pass over the Jewish Nation, till, for their sins, and more particularly, for their despising of Christ, and the Salvation by him offered to them, they should be laid desolate; and so abide, till such time as God should again graciously call them: and there are interwoven the Predictions of the Judgments of God on other Nations, so far as they concerned his dealings with this people. Divers of these Visions are exceeding mysterious, and the harder to be understood by us, not only because of the depth of the Allegories used, and the intermixing of things fore signified by way of anticipation; but also because they are not as yet accomplished: And here we are more especially to observe those Prophesies which point to the Calling of the Jews to Christ, and the Spiritual Glory of that time, which is more than once hinted at in this ⟨p. 3⟩Book: as also the Calling of the Gentiles, and the wonderful enlarging of the Grace of God to other Nations. To make the way clear to the words of our Text, let us observe, that at the beginning of Chap. 12. Our Prophet predicts an happy and glorious Estate which God will in due time restore Jerusalem unto, and he indigita•es a special appointed season in which this should eminently be accomplished:
