1:7. In the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month which is called Sabath, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zacharias the son of Barachias, the son of Addo, the prophet, saying:
1:8. I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees, that were in the bottom: and behind him were horses, red, speckled, and white.
A man… An angel in the shape of a man. It was probably Michael, the guardian angel of the church of God.
1:9. And I said: What are these, my lord? and the angel that spoke in me, said to me: I will shew thee what these are:
1:10. And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered, and said: These are they, whom the Lord hath sent to walk through the earth.
These are they, etc… The guardian angels of provinces and nations.
1:11. And they answered the angel of the Lord, that stood among the myrtle trees, and said: We have walked through the earth, and behold all the earth is inhabited, and is at rest.
1:12. And the angel of the Lord answered, and said: O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem, and on the cities of Juda, with which thou hast been angry? this is now the seventieth year.
The seventieth year… Viz., from the beginning of the seige of Jerusalem, in the ninth year of king Sedecias, to the second year of king Darius. These seventy years of the desolation of Jerusalem and the cities of Juda, are different from the seventy years of captivity foretold by Jeremias; which began in the fourth year of Joakim, and ended in the first year of king Cyrus.
1:13. And the Lord answered the angel, that spoke in me, good words, comfortable words.