Zechariah 2:4 - Exposition

And said unto him; i.e. the second angel said to the interpreter. Run . He was to hasten and deliver the message, because it was a joyful one and calculated to allay the prophet's solicitude. This young man. The Prophet Zechariah. The term applied to him is thought to show that he was still young when the vision appeared; but the word is used also for minister, or servant, or disciple, without necessarily defining the age. Others, not so suitably, consider that the measuring angel is meant, who is thus stopped in his intention of measuring Jerusalem, as being ignorant of God's counsels. Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls. Jerusalem shall be as open villages in a plain country. The word perazoth is used in Ezekiel 38:11 , meaning "unwalled villages" where men dwelt "without walls, having neither bars nor gates." So Esther 9:19 , where it means, "country towns," in contrast to the metropolis, which was walled and fortified. The idea in the text is that Jerusalem in the future shall be so extended that walls shall no longer contain its inhabitants, but they shall spread themselves in the open country on every side. It is certain that the city did greatly increase in after time, if we may believe Aristeas's account in his famous letter to his brother Philocrates; and the annunciation of this prosperity would be a comfort to the prophet (comp. Josephus, 'Bell. Jud.,' 5.4, 2). But no material increase of this nature satisfies the prophecy, which can only have its fulfilment in the spiritual Jerusalem, whose Builder is Christ, in whose light the nations of them that are saved shall walk ( Revelation 21:24 ; see Isaiah 49:18 , etc.; Isaiah 54:2 , Isaiah 54:3 ). This open condition implies not only extent, but peace and safety also. The reason of this quiet security is given in the next verse. Septuagint, κατακάρπως κατοικηθήσεται ἰερουσαλὴμ , "Jerusalem shall be abundantly inhabited."