Zechariah · chapter 2 of 14
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Zechariah 2 tells the third night vision: a man with a measuring line goes out to measure Jerusalem, and an angel announces that the city will be inhabited without walls because of the multitude of people and animals. The Lord will be a wall of fire around her and glory in her midst. The chapter calls the exiles to flee Babylon, declares that whoever touches Israel touches the apple of God's eye and promises that the Lord will dwell with his people.
After the first and second visions, which promise compassion and cast down the oppressors, the third vision shows Jerusalem's future. The city, still being rebuilt, seems small and defenseless. God answers that her security will not come from stones but from his own presence.
Zechariah lifts his eyes and sees a man with a measuring line in his hand. He asks where he is going, and the man answers that he is going to measure Jerusalem, to see how wide and how long it is. Meanwhile, the angel who spoke with Zechariah goes out, and another angel goes out to meet him and tells him to run and tell the young man that Jerusalem will be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in her.
The Lord declares that he himself will be to her a wall of fire all around and the glory in her midst. Then comes a call to the exiles: flee from the land of the north, for the Lord has scattered them like the four winds of heaven, and escape, Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon. The Lord of hosts, who sent him after glory to the nations that plundered them, says that whoever touches them touches the apple of his eye. He will raise his hand against them, and they will become plunder for their servants, and they will know that the Lord of hosts has sent him.
Then comes an invitation to joy: sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion, for the Lord comes and will dwell in your midst. Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on that day and be his people, and he will dwell in your midst. Judah will be his inheritance in the holy land, and the Lord will again choose Jerusalem. The chapter ends with a command: be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Jerusalem will be inhabited without walls, and the Lord will be a wall of fire around her and glory in her midst. The city's security does not depend on its defenses but on God's presence, which is both protection and radiance.
Whoever touches God's people touches the apple of his eye. It is an image of care and closeness: the people are the most tender and guarded part of God, and so those who harmed them will be judged.
The Lord invites Zion to sing and rejoice because he comes and will dwell in her midst. The central promise of the chapter is God's presence with his people, which Christians see fulfilled in Christ and in the Spirit.
Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on that day and be his people. The promise opens beyond Israel and announces that people from every nation will be counted among those God calls his own.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: A measuring line. — Zechariah 2:1
Answer: As villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock. — Zechariah 2:4
Answer: A wall of fire all around her and glory in her midst. — Zechariah 2:5
Answer: That he touches the apple of his eye. — Zechariah 2:8
Answer: That he comes and will dwell in her midst. — Zechariah 2:10
Answer: Be silent, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling. — Zechariah 2:13
Zechariah 2 challenges the idea that security comes from walls and plans. Jerusalem will have no walls, but she will have the Lord. In a small group you can ask what our sense of personal, family or church security rests on, and what would change if we trusted more in God's presence.
The chapter also speaks of God's care: no one is insignificant to the One who calls his people the apple of his eye. Anyone who feels alone or vulnerable can remember that God looks on his own with tenderness and dwells with them.
Zechariah 2 ends with the Lord rousing himself from his holy dwelling to live with his people. In chapter 3 the vision moves from the place to the person: Joshua the high priest stands before the angel of the Lord in filthy clothes, and the Lord cleanses him.
That the city will grow so large that no wall could contain it, and that it will not need one because the Lord will protect it. Nehemiah's walls were built later, so the promise speaks of a deeper security than stones.
It is the pupil, the most delicate part of the eye, which is protected by instinct. The image shows God's deep care for his people. The Hebrew text has some difficulty, but the general sense is clear.
Many Jews remained in Babylon and other lands. The call invites them to return to the land and to leave a seat of power that would be judged, and more broadly not to put down roots in what opposes God.