[²] Hebrew the seeing. Many ancient authorities have, the fear.
5. Zechariah] Nothing is known (apart from this passage) of this Zechariah.
who had understanding] margin, “who gave instruction Hebrew mēbhīn, a word applied to a leader of song (1 Chronicles xv. 22, “skilful”; 1 Chronicles xxv. 7, “cunning”; 1 Chronicles xxv. verse 8, “teacher”).
in the vision of God] Read, in the fear of God (so LXX., Targum Peshitṭa), making a slight correction of the Hebrew text.
⁶And he went forth and warred against the Philistines, and brake down the wall of Gath, and the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod; and he built cities in the country of Ashdod, and among the Philistines.
6. the Philistines] Compare xvii. 11, xxi. 16, xxviii. 18; 2 Kings xviii. 8; 1 Maccabees v. 66–68, xiv. 34.
brake down the wall] See note on xxv. 23.
Jabneh] Mentioned only here in the Old Testament, but probably to be identified with “Jabneel” (Joshua xv. 11). At a later date it was called “Jamnia” (2 Maccabees xii. 8), and, after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., it became for a while the chief centre of Jewish intellectual and religious activities. Its ruins are to be seen about 10 miles south of Jaffa (Joppa) on the coast. The modern Yebna is a few miles inland. Bädeker, Palestine⁵, p. 122.
Ashdod] compare 1 Samuel v. 1 ff.; Isaiah xx. 1; Zephaniah ii. 4; Nehemiah iv. 7, xxiii. 23; Acts viii, 40 (Ἄζωτος). Ashdod (modern Esdūd) was situated between Gaza and Joppa, some three miles from the sea.
in the country of Ashdod] (literally “in Ashdod”). Perhaps the name has been repeated through an early scribal error and we should read simply “and built cities among the Philistines.”