And I said, Whither goest thou? And he said unto me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof.
Commentary for this Verse
Zechariah's third night vision opens with a man carrying a builder's line. He is heading out to measure a city that still lay in ruins. That raises two questions: what does the measuring mean, and which Jerusalem is in view?
The Line Is a Claim
A measuring line marks out land as someone's own. So when God sends a man to run that line around Jerusalem, He is staking a claim:
William KellyThe measuring line is the symbol of taking possession, either in title or in fact, when renewed dealings or restorations would follow. Here it is rather the first of the two, a claim in title. Real possession would wait for the overthrow of the Gentile powers. But the act of measuring was meant to show even then that God intended to bless in this way.
Measuring Comes Before Blessing
Dennett compares two other places where God has something measured:
Edward DennettTwo similar passages are found in Scripture — the first in Ezekiel 40, and the second in Revelation 11. Looking at them will help us interpret this one. In both of these cases measuring seems to be a preparation for taking possession in order to bless. That is to say, it is an action directed by God just before He comes in once more to set up His dwelling place again and to own His people. It is so also in Zechariah... He remembers His former mercies towards her. So He sends the "man with a measuring line in his hand" to find out its width and its length. Only then does He take possession and set up His royal throne in her, for righteous government in blessing.
A City Larger Than Any Jerusalem Yet
The announcement comes at the least likely moment, and the city measured is not the one the exiles rebuilt:
H. L. RossierAt the time of this vision, the city Jerusalem lay in ruins, its walls torn down; only the foundations of the temple had been laid. Yet the angel said: "I'm going to measure Jerusalem"! ... The future Jerusalem will reach far beyond anything it has ever been. So it will be much larger than the city the returned exiles rebuilt... This future city is not the city of Nehemiah, nor the Jerusalem that rejected its Messiah and King.
A Jerusalem safe enough to live without walls has never yet existed:
L. M. GrantThis can only be future. Jerusalem has never yet been so free from danger that it needed no "walls," no protection from raiding enemies. It looks forward beyond the day of "Jacob's trouble," the great tribulation, to the millennial reign of the Lord Jesus.
Who Holds the Line
Commentators differ on who the man with the line is. Rossier calls him an angel; Grant reads him as the Lord Himself:
L. M. GrantZechariah 1:16 told of a line being stretched out over Jerusalem. Now, in answer to Zechariah's question, the Man tells him He has come to measure the length and width of Jerusalem. This Man is the Lord Jesus. He alone can see exactly what God has purposed for the future blessing of the earthly Jerusalem.
Two Dimensions, Not Three
Zechariah's man takes width and length only. Compare that with the city John sees:
George DavisonIt is worth pointing out that when Zechariah mentions the earthly city, only the width and the length are given (Zech. 2:2). When we read of the heavenly city being measured, it is the length, the width and the height of it (Rev. 21:16). Height is added there because its heavenly character takes precedence over earthly Jerusalem.
Nothing Left Unmeasured
Measuring is God's way of taking account, and His interest did not stop with that city:
George DavisonThe idea in the measuring is, of course, that he was taking account of it. God assured the prophet... that He was interested in every detail of that city, the width and the length; that city in its entirety was coming into remembrance before God. And God has His eye upon the whole sphere today, He has the measure of every one of us, from whatever place we may have come... there was not one inch of that territory which was not under His eye.
Summary
- Line — The measuring line marks out an owner's portion. God runs it around Jerusalem to claim her as His.
- Title — God claims the city long before He hands it over. Possession waits for the Gentile powers to fall, but the survey proves He means to bless.
- Timing — Measuring comes just before God moves in to bless, as in Ezekiel 40 and Revelation 11. He surveys the ruins because restoration is next.
- Size — He takes width and length only, which marks this as the earthly city. It outgrows Nehemiah's Jerusalem and every Jerusalem since, so the vision looks on to Christ's reign.
- Detail — What God measures, He has taken account of. Not one inch of His territory, and not one of His people, falls outside His eye.