9 "The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house. His hands shall also finish it; and you will know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me to you.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and (g) thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me to you.
(g) Meaning, the Prophet, that I am Christ sent from my Father for the building and preservation of my spiritual temple.
The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house,.... The temple at Jerusalem, which was laid, or however renewed, after it had been long neglected, even the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, two months before this vision and prophecy, Haggai 2:18 compared with Zac 1:7,
his hands shall also finish it: signified by bringing in the head or top stone, Zac 4:7 and so Christ our great Zerubbabel has laid the foundation of his church, which is no other than himself; and is a foundation firm and strong, sure and certain, immovable and everlasting; and his hands will finish the building of it, by bringing and laying every elect soul upon this foundation; which may be concluded from his hands being those which have laid the foundations of the heavens and the earth; uphold all things in being, and hold the reins of government; and who, as Mediator, has all the persons of his people in his hands, and all grace and glory for them: his hands also have laid the foundation of grace in the hearts of his people, and he will finish it; he, who is the author, will be the finisher of faith:
and thou shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you; this clause is not an address to Zerubbabel, as Aben Ezra and others think; but to the people of the Jews, as appears from the plural word used, at the end of it; nor are the words spoken by the prophet of himself; though the Targum paraphrases them to this sense,
"and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me to prophesy unto you;''
that is, when they should see his prophecies accomplished, and the temple built, then they would know and acknowledge that he was a true prophet, sent of God unto them; nor is the angel designed, so often mentioned, that talked with the prophet; for he was sent, not to the Jews, but to him; but they are spoken by the Messiah, called "the Word of the Lord"; Zac 4:8 who, when he shall have finished the work of grace on every man's heart by his Spirit, and shall have completed the whole Gospel building, the church, by gathering in everyone of the elect; then it shall be known and owned by all, both the converted Jews and Gentiles, that he is the true Messiah, the sent of God to the forefathers of the Jews, who came to preach the Gospel to them, work miracles among them, and obtain eternal redemption for men.
Zerubbabel . . . shall . . . finish it-- (Ezra 6:15) in the sixth year of Darius' reign.
Lord . . . sent me unto you-- (Zac 2:9). The Divine Angel announces that in what He has just spoken, He has been commissioned by God the Father.
Thou - Zerubbabel and all the Jews.
*More commentary available at chapter level.