Welcome to our third post about Zechariah’s first vision of a Man sitting on a horse among Myrtle trees. In the last post, we talked about how the 70-year judgment had come to an end and the Israelites were asking the Lord when He will show mercy to the returned exiles. We talked about how the Lord said He was jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy, and we also talked about the difference between Jerusalem and Zion. Also, we saw Zechariah’s first mention of the king and priest combo. In this post, we’re going to look at the rest of the vision of the Man on a horse among the Myrtle trees. Let’s get started!

ZECHARIAH
Prophet to the Returned Exiles
His End Time Prophecies

Third in a Three-Part Series
By Karen Thompson

The Nations That Helped Forward the Affliction

Let’s now examine verse 15: “And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.” This verse is the Lord’s response to hearing the report of the scouts on the horses standing among the myrtle trees. In verse 10, we see they were sent on a mission from the Lord to walk to and fro throughout the earth. They were sent forth as scouts to survey the nations. In verse 11, they reported their findings by saying “all the earth sitteth still and is at rest,” meaning the Gentile nations were at rest.

The Lord’s response to their report was to say He was “very sore displeased with the heathen.” The word “heathen” is the Hebrew word gowy which is also translated as nation/people.¹⁰ The plural of the word is goyim which means nations, more specifically non-Hebrew nations. Why did God become “sore displeased with the heathen” when He heard the Gentile nations were at ease? He was unhappy with the Gentile nations because they were at ease when Israel was not and was, instead, suffering. More specifically, the Lord was displeased with the Gentile nations, because they were partly responsible for Israel’s suffering.

The Lord said, “I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.” The phrase, “I was but a little displeased” is referring to the Lord’s displeasure with the sin and disobedience of Jerusalem’s forefathers that we read about in the beginning verses of chapter one. He warned His people not to be like their forefathers who ignored the prophets’ warnings telling them to turn from their evil ways and evil behavior (vv. 1–4). They did not listen to the prophets and so the Lord sent punishment. After Babylon’s conquest of Jerusalem, the other Gentile nations took advantage of her weakened state and they intentionally “helped forward the affliction.” The Lord only commissioned Babylon to afflict Jerusalem. None of these other Gentile nations were commissioned by God to do what they did. They brought a level of suffering to Jerusalem that He did not want. We know who these nations are because the prophet Ezekiel prophesied God’s rebuke and judgment to each of them. Ezekiel doesn’t tell us how these nations “increased the affliction.” He simply prophesied God’s judgment against them.

The first rebuke was to the Ammonites. We do, however, know what the Ammonites did to “help forward the affliction.” The Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar appointed a man named Gedaliah as governor over the Jewish people that were left in the land. King Baalis of the Ammonites took advantage of Jerusalem’s weakness and commissioned assassins to kill Gedaliah. Though Gedaliah was warned of the plot, he didn’t believe it because the leader of the assassins was a fellow Jew who, it turns out, was motivated by jealousy of Gedaliah. Sadly, a very trusting Gedaliah was assassinated. (Jer. chaps. 40–41)

Ezekiel 25:3, 6 reveals the attitude of the Ammonites when Jerusalem was made desolate by Babylon: “And say to the Ammonites, Hear the word of the Lord God, for thus says the Lord God: Because you said Aha! over My sanctuary when it was profaned and over the land of Israel when it was made desolate and over the house of Judah when it went into captivity and exile. … Because you have clapped your hands and stamped with the feet and rejoiced [in heart] with all the contempt, malice, and spite that is in you against the land of Israel” (Amp.). When the Ammonites saw Jerusalem destroyed, they experienced the feeling of pleasure at their misfortune. Schadenfreude, is the expression.

God’s judgment for them was in Ezekiel 25:4, 7: “Therefore behold, I am delivering you to the people of the East for a possession, and they shall set their encampments among you and make their dwellings in your midst; they shall eat your fruit and they shall drink your milk. … Therefore behold, I have stretched out My hand against you and will hand you over for a prey and a spoil to the nations, and I will cut you off from the peoples and will cause you to perish and be lost out of the countries; I will destroy you. Then will you know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service]” (Amp). The “people of the East” that the Lord was going to give the Ammonites to as a possession was Babylon.

He went on to judge Moab and Edom for taking vengeance and revenge upon Judah (vv. 11–14) and the Philistines for taking vengeance with malice and spite in their hearts, to destroy in perpetual enmity (vv. 15–17).

The chapters of Ezekiel 26, 27, and 28 are a prophetic word against the city of Tyre for its treatment of Jerusalem. Ezekiel 26:2 starts out with the Lord saying, “…because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, Aha! She is broken that has been the gate of the people; she is open to me; I shall become full now that she is desolate and a wasteland…” (Amp.). When Jerusalem was destroyed, the city of Tyre saw it as an opportunity to “become full” and became one of the nations that helped “forward the affliction.”

The rest of the chapters tell how God will bring the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar against the city of Tyre to destroy it. The city of Tyre was located in what is present-day Lebanon. When Nebuchadnezzar invaded the city, it was located on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Nebuchadnezzar destroyed that city; afterward, the citizens of Tyre relocated to an island a half mile from the mainland. Alexander the Great would later fulfill the rest of God’s prophetic word against Tyre and bring it to rubble. After Alexander destroyed Tyre, the city never regained its power and prestige.¹¹

Ezekiel also prophesied against Egypt for being deceitful toward Israel. The Jewish people turned to Egypt for help, but pharaoh deceived them and then betrayed them and brought harm to them. For that, God would judge Egypt by bringing King Nebuchadnezzar to destroy it like he destroyed Tyre. Egypt, like Tyre, would never be a great nation again. (Eze. 29, 30, 31, 32)

One last nation listed as one that helped forward the affliction against Israel is Mount Seir, a mountain range in the land of Edom. The Lord said, “Behold, O mount Seir, I am against thee, and I will stretch out mine hand against thee, and I will make thee most desolate” (Eze. 35:3). The reason for Mt. Seir’s judgment is in verse five: “Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity….” Indeed, Mt. Seir helped forward the affliction, and for that, God would bring judgment. 

The Lord wanted Jerusalem punished, but the Gentile nations “helped forward the affliction,” which means they took advantage of Jerusalem’s weakened state and seized the opportunity to take revenge and to plunder her further. For that reason, God judged them.

Flash forward 70 years into the future when the Jewish exiles returned to Jerusalem. To say their neighboring nations were not happy about it is an understatement. Unfortunately, there is little information about what exactly happened with them and their hostile neighbors. The Jewish people have always been very good at recording their history; however, the recorded history of when the exiles first returned to Jerusalem has large gaps. We know they were having conflict with their neighboring nations because of Zechariah’s eight visions. One of Zechariah’s visions indicate they were under duress from their neighbors to the north and south, but we are never told about the specific details. The only recorded information about this conflict comes from the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. The book of Ezra tells us about the resistance they received from their neighbors when they began to restore the temple. Their neighbors constantly threatened and harassed the returned exiles and even went so far as to write letters to the king of Persia to convince him to stop the restoration work on the temple. The book of Nehemiah tells us about the conflict he had with Sanballot the Horonite who was a leader in Samaria and an official of the Persian Empire and who was allied with Tobiah the Ammonite and Geshem the Arabian. Nehemiah tells us how they harassed, threatened, and plotted against the returned exiles trying to prevent the restoration of the city.

Jerusalem Will Prosper and Increase

Zec. 1:16 Therefore thus saith the Lord; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. 17 Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.

Verses 16 and 17 are also part of the word of encouragement from the Lord to the returned exiles. If you recall in verse 12, the Angel of the Lord that stood among the myrtle trees prayed to God asking Him, “How long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah.” In response to that prayer, God spoke to the interpreting angel and said “good and comfortable words” concerning Jerusalem. After that the angel who spoke with Zechariah said to him, “Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction” (vv. 14–15). Then we see verse 16 starts out “Therefore…” meaning because I am angry with the nations who helped forward the affliction, he says, “I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.” These are part of the good and comfortable words the Lord spoke to the interpreting angel.

God’s reply to the question, “How long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem” was, “I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies.” He was ready to show mercy to His people. He went on to say His house, meaning His temple, would be built in it. This is to say that God’s plan was to dwell with His people yet again. He went on to say a “line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.” This “line” is a measuring line, which is to say the city would increase and grow in size. It would prosper. The next verse confirms that this is the correct interpretation for the measuring line. It says, “My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad…” What this means is that in addition to Jerusalem increasing, the cities in Judah would grow in size due to prosperity. Jerusalem and the cities throughout Judah were promised prosperity and increase. These words were, indeed, good and comfortable words to the returned exiles because they had been experiencing anything but prosperity and increase.

The last portion of verse 17 says, “The Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.” Here we see the reoccurring theme of both Zion and Jerusalem, the spiritual and the civil. Jerusalem would not be complete without Zion. There would be no Zion without Jerusalem. After their punishment, the Lord decided to show mercy and bring comfort to His struggling people. And He “shall yet choose Jerusalem” which means He still considers Jerusalem to be His chosen city, holy and set apart for His glory. Throughout the book of Zechariah, the prophet prophesies much about God’s plan and destiny for Jerusalem, her glorious destiny.

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