A promise of triumph.
"Ho, ho! come forth, and flee from the land of the north, saith the Lord," etc. Soon after the time of the deliverance of this prophecy, Babylon suffered greatly at the hands of Darius. The primary reference of the verses before us is to this fact, in the judgment of some—Zechariah 2:6, Zechariah 2:7 being an urgent call to flee from that city and land, and Zechariah 2:8, Zechariah 2:9 a solemn prediction of the calamities about to come upon it, uttered in support of that call. It will, perhaps, be safer for us to use the passage in a general way, and as showing to us
I. ZION'S DUTY TOWARDS GOD. God's people called here by that name because the prophet has been speaking specially of Jerusalem, and because the "time to favour Zion," as the life-centre of their whole community, had now come. Being so named, observe:
1. To what they are called; viz. to be separated from Babylon, and her doings, and, to a certain extent, from her people (comp. Revelation 18:4; Isaiah 48:20; 2 Corinthians 6:17; 2 Chronicles 19:2, etc.).
2. How they are called to this; viz.
3. Why they are called to it.
II. GOD'S DEVOTION TO ZION. If God thus calls upon his people to be peculiarly his (1 Peter 2:9), he is ready and willing, on his part, to be peculiarly theirs. "After the glory" just previously spoken of—i.e. (perhaps) besides being the invisible glory and defence, as there described, of his Zion—there were two further things he would do.
1. He would openly identify himself with their cause. He would let it be seen; he would "send" the Messenger-Jehovah himself to proclaim it, that they were part of himself, as it were—nothing more intimately so, in real truth (see end of Zechariah 2:8; and comp. Deuteronomy 32:10; also Exodus 4:22; Acts 9:4; Matthew 25:40).
2. He would as openly manifest himself against their enemies. "I will shake my hand over them," and spoil those that spoil thee (comp. Zechariah 2:9 and Zechariah 2:8). This a special proof of the presence of God with his servants, and of their mission to speak in his Name (end of Zechariah 2:9). So of Moses (comp. Exodus 3:21, Exodus 3:22; Exodus 12:35, Exodus 12:36); of Barak ( 5:12); of Christ himself (Psalms 68:18; Ephesians 4:8; Colossians 2:15).
All this:
1. A glorious picture of the state of God's people at the time of the end.
2. An instructive lesson as to the great thing to be aimed at by us now. (So 2:16; John 15:4, etc.; compare also what is shown of the importance of "holding the Head," in Colossians 2:19, and context; and of being "found in Christ," in Philippians 3:9.)