09/26/2026 – ‘The myrtle trees that were in the bottom.” Zechariah 1:8 // To me, the persecuted body in Christ, specifically Nigeria, represents the myrtle trees in this verse. // Commentary Below – Continue to pray and support the Nigerian remnant church.
“The vision in this chapter describes the condition of Israel in Zechariah’s day; but being interpreted in its aspect towards us, it describes the Church of God as we find it now in the world. The Church is compared to a myrtle grove flourishing in a valley. It is hidden, unobserved, secreted; courting no honour and attracting no observation from the careless gazer. The Church, like her head, has a glory, but it is concealed from carnal eyes, for the time of her breaking forth in all her splendour is not yet come. The idea of tranquil security is also suggested to us: for the myrtle grove in the valley is still and calm, while the storm sweeps over the mountain summits. Tempests spend their force upon the craggy peaks of the Alps, but down yonder where flows the stream which maketh glad the city of our God, the myrtles flourish by the still waters, all unshaken by the impetuous wind. How great is the inward tranquility of God’s Church! Even when opposed and persecuted, she has a peace which the world gives not, and which, therefore, it cannot take away: the peace of God which passeth all understanding keeps the hearts and minds of God’s people. Does not the metaphor forcibly picture the peaceful, perpetual growth of the saints? The myrtle sheds not her leaves, she is always green; and the Church in her worst time still hath a blessed verdure of grace about her; nay, she has sometimes exhibited most verdure when her winter has been sharpest. She has prospered most when her adversities have been most severe. Hence the text hints at victory. The myrtle is the emblem of peace, and a significant token of triumph. The brows of conquerors were bound with myrtle and with laurel; and is not the Church ever victorious? Is not every Christian more than a conqueror through him that loved him? Living in peace, do not the saints fall asleep in the arms of victory?”
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Commentary:
First, let’s look at a short excerpt in “Halley’s Bible Handbook”, a summarization of the book of Zechariah:
Summary title in the heading for these six pages: “Zechariah // Rebuilding the Temple // Forecast of the Grander Future Temple // Visions of the Coming Messiah and His Universal Kingdom”. – pgs 378 – 383
Note – The fore-glimpses of Christ are some 550 years prior to Christ. Zechariah and Haggai were contemporaries, aiding in the building of the temple. (520 – 516 B.C.).Twenty years prior, 50,000 Jews, under Zerubbabel, return to Jerusalem. Short excerpt – pg. 378: “God’s messages through the prophets generally came by the direct moving of God’s spirit upon the prophet’s mind. But here they are given through an angel who talks back and forth with the prophet. ” (speaking of verses 7 through 17)
Here is a link to John Gill’s commentary just for our verse – Zechariah 1:8 , regarding the myrtle trees.
https://www.bibleportal.com/commentary/section/john-gill/24029
Here I am giving you a section just on the myrtle trees from verse 1:8:
“and he stood among the myrtle trees which were in the bottom : by the “myrtle trees” may be meant the Israelites, as Kimchi interprets it; and that either as in Babylon, which he supposes is designed by “the bottom”; agreeably to the Targum, which paraphrases the words, “and he stood among the myrtle trees which are in Babylon”; or rather, as now returned to their own land; and so may denote the low estate and condition in which they were when they began to rebuild the temple, being feeble, and opposed by their enemies, mightier than they; but yet, inasmuch as the Lord was in the midst of them, they had encouragement to go on in the work, as is suggested in Haggai 2:3 , though the saints and people of God in general may be here meant by the “myrtle trees”; and the ancient Jews F15 T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 93. 1. interpret them of the righteous, saying, there are no myrtle trees but the righteous; and give this as a reason why Esther was called Hadassah, Esther 2:7 which signifies a myrtle tree, because this is the name of the righteous F16 T. Bab. Megilla, fol. 13. 1. ; and these may fitly be compared to such trees for their goodliness and beauty to look at, for their sweet and fragrant smell, for their verdure and greenness, and for their flourishing in valleys and watery places F17 “—-Et amantes littora myrtos.” Virgil. Georgic. l. 4. , signified here by “the bottom”; all which is true of the saints, who are pleasant plants, comely through Christ’s comeliness; whose graces, when in exercise, send forth a sweet smell; whose prayers are odours, and whose good works are acceptable, being done in faith; whose leaves never wither, and who flourish much, being planted by the river of divine love; and in whom the grace of God ever remains, and they persevere in grace to the end: these may be said to be “in the bottom”; or in a low estate; not only before conversion, but after; when corruptions prevail, temptations are strong, grace is weak; God hides his face, Christ is absent, and the Spirit withdraws his influences; and so it is true of the church in general, when under persecution, or pestered with false teachers, and when the life and power of religion are almost gone; and yet even then Christ stands in the midst of them, to sympathize with them, and as ready to help and assist them, to deliver them out of their troubles, to protect them from their enemies, and to restore them to their former state and condition. A grove of myrtle trees in a plain, in which they delight, being dark and shady, is thought by some to be an emblem of this world, in which there is a mixture of good and bad men; and of the care of Providence over human affairs, consulting the good of man, especially the raising up of the church of God out of a low estate by Christ, and his apostles, and other ministers of the word, performing their offices, according to the different abilities and gifts God has bestowed upon them F18 Vid. Levin. Lemnii Herb. Bibl. Explicat. c. 39. p. 108. : “
So, Esther was called “Hadassah’ , which signifies a myrtle tree… , link below:
https://biblestudentsdaily.com/tag/myrtle-tree/
Let’s look only on the Esther section:
Esther – The Name
Esther is the Persian name meaning “star” which reminds one of Daniel 8:10, speaking about the persecution of the Church, “It grew great, even to the host of heaven. And some of the host and some of the stars it threw down to the ground and trampled on them.” The stars here would be Christians. Esther’s Hebrew name was Hadassah, which means a “myrtle tree” which is featured in the vision granted to Zechariah where he saw the invisibly present Lord riding upon a red horse standing amongst the myrtle trees “that were in the bottom (the shady valley)” (Zechariah 1:8), which was a place of lowness and dis-esteem. This would well represent the position of the Jews at this time in the Book of Esther. They were a chastised people, slow to recover from their self-brought captive state, and not highly regarded in the eyes of the world. Just as a myrtle tree has a sweet smell and a bitter taste, so too Esther was “sweet” in character and was adverse (“bitter”) to the wicked Haman. These two opposites of character are also found in Matthew 10:16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”
So I conclude with: Continue to pray and support the remant church in Nigeria!
If you are not familiar on what is going on in Nigeria, it’s understandable, there isn’t much in mainstream news media, even christian sites.
In this blog, you can go to the search window and type in “Nigeria” , then hit enter. You will see multiple posts going back over 2 1/2 years. see “Religious violence in Nigeria – Wikipedia” with the note that “Muslim strife in Nigeria tracing back to 1953.” Also check out: “62,000 Nigerian Christians murdered since 2000 – genocidewatch”.
Finally, I will say that Ted Cruz, Senator from Texas, has been a voice for Nigeria crying for justice and action. Thank you Ted! Praise God!
Always connected through prayer and by His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Jimmy