Zechariah 4:4 Commentary and Bible Study

In imitation of Zechariah, we too may ask God for the meaning of his word, and the difficult things in it. All believers may do this, and nobody instantly understands everything, for we grow in knowledge over our entire Christian lives. God rewards this teachable spirit with understanding of things that were hidden from us before, so that we continually make progress. None of us should be content to understand no more than we understood a year ago. If we do not understand something in Scripture, then we should ask for help from God, for nothing is given to us in vain, and all Scripture is profitable, and without understanding we cannot profit. But in reply the angel asks whether it is the case that Zechariah does not understand these things, and he confirms that he does not. Given that he has just asked what the vision means, this further question by the angel seems to express surprise at his lack of understanding. Why would this be? There is an implied mild rebuke here to Zechariah for not knowing. The vision uses the language of Old Testament symbols which the nation had been trained to recognise. God complains that Israel failed to read the signs. Nevertheless God is patient with our slowness to learn and the picture is immediately interpreted.