Chapter 2 of Zecharya continues the series of prophetic visions that opened in the previous chapter, but here the matter is clarified further. The prophet sees four horns, followed by four craftsmen, and after them a man with a measuring line in his hand. From these visions emerges a complete picture: on the one hand, the four empires that gore Israel in all four corners of the earth, and on the other, the promise of Divine Providence, the cutting down of the horns of the nations, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem beyond limit or measure.
וָאֶשָּׂא אֶת־עֵינַי וָאֵרֶא וְהִנֵּה אַרְבַּע קְרָנוֹת׃ - And I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, four horns.
The Radak explains that this vision is an additional prophecy, yet it is clearer than the first, for here we have a distinct metaphor: a horn is an unmistakable symbol of goring, as Scripture states, "His horns are like the horns of a wild ox; with them he shall gore peoples together to the ends of the earth." The prophet sees a destructive, goring force, but does not yet know who they are. The Malbim adds that this is not an entirely separate prophecy, but rather an elucidation and explanation of the previous one: the four horns depict the empires positioned in the four directions of the world.
וָאֹמַר אֶל־הַמַּלְאָךְ הַדֹּבֵר בִּי מָה־אֵלֶּה וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי אֵלֶּה הַקְּרָנוֹת אֲשֶׁר זֵרוּ אֶת־יְהוּדָה אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵל וִירוּשָׁלָ͏ִם׃ - And I said to the angel who spoke with me, "What are these?" And he said to me, "These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem."
The word "horns" (karanot) is interpreted in two ways. On the one hand, a horn is an instrument of goring: the nations came and with their horns gored Israel, scattering them among the gentiles. On the other hand, keren also denotes a corner or angle, as in the rabbinic phrase "the southeastern corner" (keren deromit mizrachit). The four horns are therefore the four corners of the earth, the four directions of the compass - showing that from every angle and from every side there is a horn goring us and scattering us.
The Malbim further explains that the prophets described the four empires corresponding to the four directions of the world, each empire corresponding to one wind, as if each empire holds sway over a specific direction. Even though usually one empire prevails and rules supreme, one should not think that the other empires have ceased to exist - they all exist, but one is dominant. And just as the four directions of the heavens endure constantly, so too do the empires exist continually. Corresponding to them are the heavenly princes who channel influence to these kingdoms; they stand in four ranks associated with the four directions of the celestial Chariot, and each ministering angel channels influence to the direction beneath him, to his respective empire.
The vision informs the prophet that throughout the exile, Israel will see and feel the four horns goring them from all four directions - namely, the four empires, each prevailing in its own sphere. And this is what we see to this day. A person might think that we have reached a measure of calm, but the truth is otherwise. Edom may not be dropping physical bombs like Ishmael firing mortar shells, but it launches bombs of a different sort: at various UN assemblies, in declarations, boycotts, and hostile reports - sometimes remaining mere rhetoric, and sometimes inflicting tangible harm.
Know that this reality, where we are portrayed as murderers and as behaving improperly, is not coincidental: the four empires still exist, and they have not grown to love us. Make no mistake. If they could eradicate us and solve the "Jewish question" once and for all, they would do so. Indeed, many were merely disappointed that Hitler, may his name and memory be blotted out, did not finish the job - it gave them a clean conscience, as though someone else were doing the dirty work in their place.
Yet they forget: "You are children of Hashem your God." If the Jewish people were to cease, heaven and earth would cease. The Holy One, blessed be He, proclaims: Just as heaven and earth cannot cease, so Israel will never cease from being a nation before Him all the days. This is a covenant: "If My covenant be not with day and night, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth..." and likewise, "And yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, to break My covenant with them." We have an eternal covenant with the Holy One, blessed be He, that the Jewish people will never be consumed. Yet the nations have never abandoned their hopes - if not to destroy, then at least to grieve, torment, and persecute in every possible way. The four empires still exist and remain active, even if not with the same unchecked force.
וַיַּרְאֵנִי יְהֹוָה אַרְבָּעָה חָרָשִׁים׃ - And Hashem showed me four craftsmen.
A "charash" is a craftsman, like a carpenter, and the role of these craftsmen is to cut down the horns: the craftsman arrives with a saw and saws off the horn. Everything here is a metaphor and an allegory. The meaning is: for every kingdom that gains dominance in the world in one of the four directions, the Holy One, blessed be He, has already prepared a craftsman to dismantle it - He has already prepared another kingdom to serve as its antibiotic and subdue it. Yet this offers no complete comfort to us, for that second kingdom rises to rule, and after it comes a third that saws off the horn of its predecessor and takes the crown itself. Thus the Holy One, blessed be He, prepared Media against Babylon, and Greece against Media, and so on - and in practice, we continue to suffer, sometimes more and sometimes less, sometimes truly persecuted and sometimes in relative calm, but the fundamental reality has not changed.
Chazal expound: Who are the four craftsmen? Mashiach ben David, Mashiach ben Yosef, Eliyahu, and Malki-Tzedek. Radak likewise cites this rabbinic teaching. The explanation is that at the end of the process, in the future to come, the four horns will be severed through two forces: through the power of valor, war, and the kingdom of Israel - represented by Mashiach ben David on the side of Israel and Mashiach ben Yosef concerning the nations; and through the power of the priesthood and the service of Hashem - represented by Eliyahu, who is a righteous priest on the side of Israel, and Malki-Tzedek, who was a priest of God Most High concerning the nations. Thus, everything we witness is merely a stage leading toward the ultimate redemption.
וָאֹמַר מָה אֵלֶּה בָאִים לַעֲשׂוֹת וַיֹּאמֶר לֵאמֹר אֵלֶּה הַקְּרָנוֹת אֲשֶׁר־זֵרוּ אֶת־יְהוּדָה כְּפִי־אִישׁ לֹא־נָשָׂא רֹאשׁוֹ וַיָּבֹאוּ אֵלֶּה לְהַחֲרִיד אֹתָם לְיַדּוֹת אֶת־קַרְנוֹת הַגּוֹיִם הַנֹּשְׂאִים קֶרֶן אֶל־אֶרֶץ יְהוּדָה לְזָרוֹתָהּ׃ - And I said, 'What are these coming to do?' And he spoke, saying, 'These are the horns that scattered Judah, so that no man could raise his head; and these have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations that lifted up a horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.'
"Zeru" means scattering: the horns scattered Judah far more than was warranted, in a way that no one could have imagined. "So that no man could raise his head" - the imagery is drawn from the animal kingdom: aggressive beasts gore the heads of weaker animals with their horns, and the weak lamb lowers its head, unable to raise it to confront the thrust, but rather forced to endure it. So too, the nations gored Judah until no one in Israel could lift his head.
And why does the verse say "to terrify" in one phrase and "to cast down" in another? The Malbim explains: at times the craftsmen come merely to terrify the nations, so that they will see and fear and not lift a horn to gore Israel; at other times, they strike them even harder - casting down and flinging away the horns of the nations, meaning toppling them from power. "Leyadot" is an expression of throwing, as in the verse "they cast (vayadu) a stone at me." And why is all this necessary? "That lifted up a horn against the land of Judah to scatter it" - for if they are not cast down, they will once again lift a horn to come against the land of Judah and scatter it.
וָאֶשָּׂא עֵינַי וָאֵרֶא וְהִנֵּה־אִישׁ וּבְיָדוֹ חֶבֶל מִדָּה׃ וָאֹמַר אָנָה אַתָּה הֹלֵךְ וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי לָמֹד אֶת־יְרוּשָׁלַ͏ִם לִרְאוֹת כַּמָּה־רָחְבָּהּ וְכַמָּה אָרְכָּהּ׃ - And I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand. And I said, 'Where are you going?' And he said to me, 'To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length.'
In those days, they did not measure with a meter tape but with a measuring line - a cord by which they determined length. The prophet sees a man holding a measuring line, going to measure Jerusalem. The Malbim explains that this is a declaration that the wall of Jerusalem is destined to be built soon, when Artaxerxes will grant them permission to rebuild Jerusalem, as it is written, "and a line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem" - a line being a measuring cord that was stretched out to mark borders.
וְהִנֵּה הַמַּלְאָךְ הַדֹּבֵר בִּי יֹצֵא וּמַלְאָךְ אַחֵר יֹצֵא לִקְרָאתוֹ׃ - And behold, the angel who spoke with me went out, and another angel came out to meet him.
The angel holding the measuring line departs, like someone who has finished his task and left. But immediately another angel comes out to meet him; this second angel is higher in rank, influencing him and giving him instructions, in the manner of "receiving one from another." From this we know that the angel coming out to meet him is of a higher station.
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָו רֻץ דַּבֵּר אֶל־הַנַּעַר הַלָּז לֵאמֹר פְּרָזוֹת תֵּשֵׁב יְרוּשָׁלַ͏ִם מֵרֹב אָדָם וּבְהֵמָה בְּתוֹכָהּ׃ - And he said to him, 'Run, speak to this young man, saying: Jerusalem shall be inhabited like open villages, because of the multitude of people and livestock within it.'
"This young man" refers to the prophet, and the higher angel sends his companion to convey an additional message to him. The Malbim explains: this wall destined to be built will only be temporary, because the redemption you are witnessing now - where the angel measures the borders of Jerusalem to erect a wall - is not yet the complete and ultimate redemption. The true redemption will arrive at the End of Days, and then "Jerusalem shall be inhabited like open villages": a confining wall will not be able to contain the city due to the immense multitude of people and livestock within it, and they will need to expand outward in every direction.
And one can say that we already see part of this process. Over a century ago, venturing outside the walls - Mishkenot Sha'ananim and the like - was considered a breakthrough, an idea that people could hardly fathom or conceive. And today, who can view the Jerusalem within the walls as anything other than a tiny, confined space? Jerusalem has continually expanded beyond measure.
Rashi explains that the angel said to his fellow: go tell the prophet that the Holy One, Blessed is He, consulted with His heavenly retinue and declared that Jerusalem will have no set limit or measure. That is to say, initially the prophet sees the surveyor, and afterward a messenger is sent to announce that Hashem, as it were, changed the plan, and under the new plan Jerusalem will have neither limit nor measure. The Malbim, on the other hand, does not explain this as a change of plans: the first mission referred to that immediate time, when Jerusalem indeed required measurement and a wall; rather, they add and inform him that in the future, at the End of Days, Jerusalem shall dwell as open towns. And if you ask: what will happen to the wall at the End of Days? After all, they will still need protection - to this comes the next verse.
וַאֲנִי אֶהְיֶה־לָּהּ נְאֻם־יְהֹוָה חוֹמַת אֵשׁ סָבִיב וּלְכָבוֹד אֶהְיֶה בְתוֹכָהּ׃ - "And I will be to her," declares Hashem, "a wall of fire all around, and I will be for glory in her midst."
The Holy One, Blessed is He, in His glory will protect her like a wall: the nations will see and fear to approach Israel because of the consuming fire that will surround her, for whoever touches them will be consumed by the fire.
The Malbim explains a profound principle: in the macrocosm, we see that whichever entity is more elevated encloses, surrounds, and protects the other. Thus the physical world is the world of Asiyah (Action), the least elevated and most corporeal of all, while all the other realms are higher and more spiritual than it - and they encompass and surround it. By contrast, in the microcosm - man, who is called a "microcosm" due to the many parallels between him and the greater universe - the opposite is true: whatever is more elevated is more inward. The heart is surrounded by all the limbs, and the soul is even deeper inside - like a king seated with his legions around him, where the legions are the troops of lesser standing.
And this is what is stated in Yechezkel: "My dwelling place shall be over them... when My Sanctuary is in their midst" - the essence of the Sanctuary will be over them, surrounding them, after the manner of the macrocosm, where Israel serves as a chariot for the Shechinah and that which is greater hovers over that which is lesser. But if so, a difficulty arises: why does it say "My Sanctuary in their midst," when the natural way is for the holier element to encompass from without? To this, our verse concludes, "and I will be for glory in her midst" - this entire matter is solely to enhance the glory of Israel.
And why? Because in truth, the surrounding light (ohr makif) is far greater than the inner light (ohr pnimi), yet the inner light is more readily perceived. To explain: there is the concept of vessels and lights, and within the lights there are inner light and surrounding light. Inner light is the light that enters into the vessel, which the vessel can contain and bear. Surrounding light is a higher light, more spiritual and sublime. The proof is that vessels are always subordinate to lights, and when the light enters inside, it indicates that the vessel can endure it; whereas when the light is too intense - as occurred during the creation of the worlds with the shattering of the vessels - the vessel breaks, unable to absorb the immense light within it. The Holy One, Blessed is He, then channels and bestows the light from the outside, and the light radiating on the outside is called surrounding light. It follows that it is more powerful and refined, since the vessel is too small to contain it.
Based on this, the verse is explained: "a wall of fire all around" corresponds to the aspect of surrounding light, after the manner of the macrocosm where whatever is more elevated surrounds and encompasses the other - and this is the more powerful and sublime light. Meanwhile, "and I will be for glory in her midst" is because the inner light is more visible: when the nations see that the Holy One, Blessed is He, rests His Presence in the Temple in their midst, it will make a greater impression upon them. Therefore, Hashem says that He will rest His glory in the Beit HaMikdash - so that through this, Israel's glory will be magnified in the eyes of the nations.
הוֹי הוֹי וְנֻסוּ מֵאֶרֶץ צָפוֹן נְאֻם־יְהֹוָה כִּי כְּאַרְבַּע רוּחוֹת הַשָּׁמַיִם פֵּרַשְׂתִּי אֶתְכֶם נְאֻם־יְהֹוָה׃ הוֹי צִיּוֹן הִמָּלְטִי יוֹשֶׁבֶת בַּת־בָּבֶל׃ - "Ho, ho! Flee from the land of the north," declares Hashem, "for I have spread you like the four winds of the heavens," declares Hashem. "Ho, Zion, escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon!"
The Malbim notes the precise difference between the two expressions. To the exiles in the land of the north, it is said only "flee" - that they should flee from there, though not necessarily to the Land of Israel. But to the inhabitants of Babylon, it is said "escape" - that they should ascend from their exile and come to Zion. "To escape" (lehimalet) means to be rescued and reach a safe haven, a complete deliverance; whereas "to flee" (lanus) means merely to run away and move from one place to another, which is not yet a true escape.
And indeed, that is how it unfolded: those who ascended from Babylon were the ones who reached the Land in the days of Ezra and Nechemiah. But those exiled to the land of the north - the exiles of Sancheriv and Nevuchadnetzar - did not return to Jerusalem. Yet they did not remain in their place either, for later on, during the wars of the Greeks and Romans, they were dispersed from there to the four winds of heaven. This is the meaning of "for I have spread you abroad like the four winds of heaven" - this refers to the Jewish diaspora scattered across all the lands of the earth. The Malbim notes that this was already hinted at in the vision of the four horns: only the inhabitants of Babylon escaped to Zion during the Second Temple era, while the rest of the four horns scattered them to the four winds of heaven.
The Radak cites here a teaching of Chazal: What is the meaning of "for I have spread you abroad like the four winds of heaven"? Just as the world cannot exist without the four winds, so too the world cannot exist without Israel. The world cannot endure without the four winds of heaven, and likewise it cannot endure without the Jewish people. As the Holy One, Blessed be He, declared: only if heaven and earth cease to exist could Israel ever cease from being a nation before Him. Thus, the existence of the Jewish people is the very existence of the world: had Israel not accepted the Torah at Mount Sinai, the world would have returned to formlessness and void (tohu vavohu). "In the beginning G-d created" - for the sake of Israel, who are called reishit (the first); Israel, the Holy One, Blessed be He, and the Torah are one. All these expressions teach that Israel's existence is an absolute necessity, and if anyone were to attempt to eliminate the Jewish people, there would be no basis whatsoever for the continued existence of the world. You are like the four winds of heaven and equal to them: just as the four winds can never cease, so Israel will never cease to exist.
כִּי כֹה אָמַר יְהֹוָה צְבָאוֹת אַחַר כָּבוֹד שְׁלָחַנִי אֶל־הַגּוֹיִם הַשֹּׁלְלִים אֶתְכֶם כִּי הַנֹּגֵעַ בָּכֶם נֹגֵעַ בְּבָבַת עֵינוֹ׃ - For so said the Lord of Hosts: After glory He has sent me to the nations that plunder you, for whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye.
Two familiar Hebrew idioms trace their roots to this verse: "shilachti oto achar kavod" (sent him away respectfully), and "shamar alav kebavat eino" (guarded it like the apple of his eye).
Rashi explains "after glory" to mean after your glory. That is to say, Hashem sent me to the nations who plunder you in order to safeguard your honor and elevate it. In the Midrash Aggadah, however, they explained it differently: "After glory" means after I repay Esau for the honor with which he honored his father. Esau possesses a merit that makes it difficult for us to cast off his yoke entirely: the honor and respect he showed his father, for which he still receives reward. Says the Midrash: once I have paid him the full reward for that honor, it will become possible to dismantle him completely.
The Malbim explains that the prophet is informing Israel: Know that the glory of Hashem and His Divine providence (hashgachah) will accompany you in all the places where you are scattered. For it was said, "flee from the land of the north" - meaning they are not coming to the Land, and only the people of Babylon ascend to Zion. Nevertheless, even those fleeing from the land of the north are accompanied by the glory of Hashem wherever they are dispersed. The "glory of Hashem" here is an expression of Divine providence. And just as we saw that the craftsmen come "to cast down the horns of the nations," so too regarding those who harmed them, the Holy One, Blessed be He, will strip away their power, until the time of Redemption arrives and Hashem dwells as a wall of fire around Jerusalem.
Accordingly, "after glory He has sent me" means: I follow after the glory of Hashem that accompanies Israel, in order to proclaim and announce to the nations who oppress and plunder them: Know that whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye. You have not merely entangled yourself with Israel; you have entangled yourself with the Holy One, Blessed be He. And the apple of whose eye? The Malbim explains: the apple of the eye of that Divine Glory.
And why does the verse portray the glory of Hashem as possessing eyes? Because that is the very essence of what it seeks to convey. The Holy One, Blessed be He, accompanies Israel with individual Divine providence, and providence is expressed through sight and eyes - "He cast His eye upon him" to watch over him. Thus, one who harms Israel strikes at those very eyes of providence through which the Holy One, Blessed be He, watches over them. As it is written, "to provoke the eyes of His glory" - for the eyes of the glory of Hashem, meaning His providence and His eyes that rove throughout the entire earth, are attributed to His glory, and one who sins defies the eyes of Hashem's glory that watch his deeds, rebelling directly before His gaze. This is what is meant by: whoever touches you for harm touches the apple of the eye of Hashem's glory, which watches and guards over Israel in their exile.
כִּי הִנְנִי מֵנִיף אֶת־יָדִי עֲלֵיהֶם וְהָיוּ שָׁלָל לְעַבְדֵיהֶם וִידַעְתֶּם כִּי־יְהֹוָה צְבָאוֹת שְׁלָחָנִי׃ - For behold, I am waving My hand over them, and they shall be spoil to their servants; and you shall know that the Lord of Hosts has sent me.
"Waving My hand over them" - over the nations who come to plunder Israel. These correspond to the four craftsmen we encountered earlier, who will cast down the horns of the nations and eliminate the horns that gore Israel. "And they shall be spoil to their servants" - the dynamic will reverse: you, the nations, will become plunder for Israel, who until now were your servants, and now the servants will rule over you. "And you shall know that the Lord of Hosts has sent me" - if you do not believe my mission now, in the end you will know that I was a messenger from Hashem sent to warn you not to touch the apple of the eye of His glory.
רָנִּי וְשִׂמְחִי בַּת־צִיּוֹן כִּי הִנְנִי־בָא וְשָׁכַנְתִּי בְתוֹכֵךְ נְאֻם־יְהֹוָה׃ - Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your midst, says the Lord.
The verses before us are familiar to us from the haftarah of Parashat Beha'alotecha, and they are also read on Chanukah. The Radak writes that it is possible to interpret this prophecy as referring to the future era, the Messianic age - for "many nations shall join themselves" and "be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for He is aroused from His holy habitation" were not fulfilled during the redemption of the Second Temple, but will only be fulfilled in the future redemption. Even though the rest of the section appears to deal with the Second Temple, since it speaks of Yehoshua and Zerubbabel, it nevertheless stands to reason that the destinies described here speak of the Messianic era. The Malbim explains it in this way as well.
The Malbim explains: After conveying the warning that the Holy One, blessed be He, gave to the nations not to plunder Israel, oppress them, or gore them, because the Lord watches over them with watchful eyes - He now turns His focus toward the daughter of Zion, those who ascended from Babylon, to whom it was said, "Escape, O Zion." They will have singing and rejoicing over the salvation that will arrive at the end of the days of wrath. Then the Lord says: I will come to you in order to dwell in your midst - just as He promised in verse 9, "And I will be to her, says the Lord, a wall of fire all around, and I will be the glory in her midst."
וְנִלְווּ גוֹיִם רַבִּים אֶל־יְהֹוָה בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא וְהָיוּ לִי לְעָם וְשָׁכַנְתִּי בְתוֹכֵךְ וְיָדַעַתְּ כִּי־יְהֹוָה צְבָאוֹת שְׁלָחַנִי אֵלָיִךְ׃ - And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord on that day, and they shall be My people, and I will dwell in your midst; and you shall know that the Lord of Hosts has sent me to you.
"And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord" - meaning that many will convert and accept upon themselves the true faith. Even so, "and I will dwell in your midst" - specifically in the midst of Israel, as it says, "And I will walk among you." "And you shall know that the Lord of Hosts has sent me to you" - for the previous mission was to warn the nations, whereas this mission is directed uniquely to you, to bring you tidings of hope.
וְנָחַל יְהֹוָה אֶת־יְהוּדָה חֶלְקוֹ עַל אַדְמַת הַקֹּדֶשׁ וּבָחַר עוֹד בִּירוּשָׁלָ͏ִם׃ - And the Lord shall inherit Judah as His portion upon the holy land, and He shall choose Jerusalem again.
The Malbim explains, based on Yechezkel chapters 45 and 48, that in the future division of the Land, a tract from the tribal inheritance of Judah will be set aside as a sacred portion for the Lord. That portion which had been Judah's inheritance will be sanctified as a special place for Hashem: the Beit HaMikdash will stand there, surrounded by the dwelling place of the Kohanim and Levites. And the future Jerusalem, according to the measurements detailed there, will be forty-five mil away from the Beit HaMikdash - a considerable distance. The strip remaining between Jerusalem and the Beit HaMikdash will belong to King Mashiach, and it too is a sacred offering, set aside from the territory of Judah's inheritance for the holy, while Judah will take its portion to the north of this sacred portion.
It turns out, then, that the portion which fell to Judah in the division of Yehoshua will be inherited by the Lord - it will become the Lord's estate on the holy land. The Malbim notes that this explanation is preferable to that of the other commentators, who interpreted "venachal" in the sense of "vehinchil," that the Lord will cause Judah to inherit its portion. After all, where do we find "venachal" meaning "caused to inherit"? "Venachal" means that He Himself inherited. Therefore, the true straightforward meaning is that the Lord Himself will inherit Judah's portion, and that portion which was until now the earthly share of Judah will become a sanctified domain for the Lord. "And He shall choose Jerusalem again" - the Lord will not alter the site of the Temple, even though because of this He will take Judah's portion, since the sacred offering set aside from Judah's territory will extend across a breadth of seventy-five mil, as explained in Yechezkel.
הַס כָּל־בָּשָׂר מִפְּנֵי יְהֹוָה כִּי נֵעוֹר מִמְּעוֹן קָדְשׁוֹ׃ - Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for He is aroused from His holy habitation.
Rashi explains "Be silent, all flesh" - referring to the other nations. And the Radak explains "aroused from His holy habitation" - from heaven, which is a metaphor like a man awakening from his sleep, as it is said, "Then the Lord awoke as one out of sleep," meaning that the Lord awakens, as it were, to redeem Israel.
And the Malbim explains that when the prophet envisions in this prophecy the divine revelation of the future era, and how the Lord takes vengeance on the adversaries of Judah, he declares: At that time, everyone will fall silent before the Lord. When the Lord is aroused from His holy habitation - just as Chavakuk said upon witnessing the retribution of Babylon - all will be hushed and silent, and no one will dare utter a peep against the glory of the Lord who has been aroused from His holy habitation.
Chapter 2 opens with the four horns - the four kingdoms situated in the four corners of the world, goring Israel throughout the exile, none of which cease to exist even when one is dominant. In contrast, Hashem shows four craftsmen, for Hashem prepares the downfall of each kingdom; in the future to come, the horns will be severed through the power of the monarchy of Israel and the power of the priesthood - Mashiach ben David and Mashiach ben Yosef, Eliyahu, and Melchizedek. Next comes the vision of the measuring line: a wall was built during the Second Temple period, but in the end of days, Jerusalem will sit as an open city due to the multitude of people and livestock, and Hashem will be a wall of fire around her (the aspect of an encompassing light) and His glory within her (an inner light that is more discernible) - to magnify the honor of Israel. The prophet distinguishes between "flee from the land of the north," which does not constitute complete salvation, and "escape to Zion," which is true deliverance, declaring that Hashem's glory accompanies Israel in all their dispersals, and that whoever touches them touches the apple of His eye. From there, he moves to the great tidings: "Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion," many nations will join Hashem, Judah's portion will be a holy inheritance, and Hashem will awaken from His holy habitation - and let all flesh be silent before Him.