1:12 angel of the LORD. The Angel of the LORD (i.e., the Second Person of the Trinity) here prays as an Intercessor or Mediator to the Lord of Hosts (i.e., the First Person) on behalf of His people. He is, indeed, “our Advocate with the Father” (I John 2:1).

1:12 threescore and ten years. The seventy years of prophesied exile had passed, and the Jewish remnant had come back home, but they still had not rebuilt the temple, as they had been commissioned to do. These visions given to Zechariah are intended to empower him (along with Haggai, whose testimony must soon end) to encourage and constrain them to complete it.