This man is Christ in His humanity as the Angel of Jehovah, the One speaking with Zechariah (vv. 1-2; cf. Ezek. 40:3).

See note Zech. 1:16¹. The man with the measuring line intended to measure Jerusalem so that Jehovah might repossess it after the seventy years of Israel’s captivity (vv. 2, 4b). This measuring was not only to know the size but also to know the condition and the situation. The measuring was done by a man, not by an angel. An angel is unqualified to measure anything human, because he does not have the human nature. Only Jesus, who has both the divine nature and the human nature, is qualified to measure Jerusalem.

Whereas the temple is the sign of God’s house, the city of Jerusalem is a sign of God’s kingdom for His administration. The city of Jerusalem was measured and was found to be an open region (v. 4), i.e., without limit. This indicates that God’s kingdom is unlimited, the size of God Himself, and that God Himself is the size of His kingdom.

That the wall of the city of Jerusalem and the glory within her will be Jehovah Himself indicates that Jehovah as Christ will be the protection of Jerusalem at her circumference and her glory at her center. This shows the centrality and universality of Christ in God’s economy. Today Christ is the glory in the center of the church, and He is also the fire burning around the circumference of the church for her protection. In the New Jerusalem the Triune God in Christ will be the glory at its center (Rev. 21:23; 22:1, 5), and this glory will shine through the transparent wall of the city (Rev. 21:11, 18, 24) to be its protection of fire.

The word spread indicates that God’s scattering the people of Israel when they were taken into captivity was His spreading them for the spreading of His testimony. When the children of Israel were scattered to Babylon, four young people became witnesses of God and a testimony for Him (Dan. 1:6). In this way God’s testimony was spread to Babylon. God is great and sovereign, and He has a broad heart. Therefore, He wanted His testimony to be spread to faraway places. Cf. Acts 1:8; 8:1, 4; 11:19.

The expression after the glory means after the return of the captives. In the seventy years of Israel’s captivity, the glory was absent from the center of Jerusalem (Ezek. 11:23 and note Ezek. 11:23^1a). But when the children of Israel returned to Jerusalem, the glory also returned. In the sight of God the return of the captives was a glory.

Both He and Me refer to Jehovah of hosts. This means that Jehovah of hosts is the Sender (vv. 9, 11) and the sent One. Jehovah is the Triune God (Exo. 3:15 and note Exo. 3:15¹). In this verse One of the three in the Godhead, referred to as He, sent another of the three, referred to as Me. The Sender is surely the Father, and the sent One is the Son (John 5:36b; John 6:57a; John 8:16). After the glory the Triune God decided that the Father would send the Son against the nations who plundered Israel. Both the Father and the Son are Jehovah.

Christ as the One sent by Jehovah of hosts and as the Sender, Jehovah of hosts, will be against the nations who plunder the people of Zion and touch them as the pupil of His eye. God’s people are very dear to Him, and whoever touches them touches the pupil of His eye. This was a word of comfort, encouragement, and consolation to Zerubbabel, Joshua, and all the other returned ones.

The I in this verse and the I and Me in v. 11 refer to Jehovah, the same One as the He and Me in vv. 8-9.

Before the glory returned to Jerusalem, Jehovah was silent, but after the glory He was roused up from His holy habitation. All flesh — including the flesh of the Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans — must be silent. Only Jehovah has the right to speak, and only He is the deciding factor.