Albert Barnes Commentary Zechariah 2:6

"Ho, ho, flee from the land of the north, saith Jehovah; for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, saith Jehovah." — Zechariah 2:6 (ASV)

Ho! ho! and flee - Since such safety and glory are in store for God’s people in Jerusalem, He who had provided it, the Angel of the Lord, bids His people everywhere to come to it, saving themselves also from the peril that was to come on Babylon. So Isaiah bade them, “Go you forth of Babylon; flee you from the Chaldaeans with a voice of singing; declare you, tell this, utter it to the end of the earth; say you, The Lord has redeemed His servant Jacob” (Isaiah 48:20). “Depart you, depart you, go you out from there; touch no unclean thing: go you out of the midst of her; be you clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord” (Isaiah 52:11); and Jeremiah, “Flee you out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul; be not cut off in her iniquity, for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance. He will render to her a recompense” (Jeremiah 51:6, and Jeremiah 50:8). “My people, go you out of the midst of her, and deliver you, every man his soul from the fierce anger of the Lord” (Jeremiah 51:45).

The words, “flee, deliver yourself,” imply an imminent peril for Babylon, such as came upon her two years after this prophecy, in the fourth year of Darius. But the earnestness of the command, its repetition by three prophets, and the context in Isaiah and Jeremiah, imply something more than temporal peril: the peril of the infection of the customs of Babylon, which may have detained many there who did not return. For this reason, in the New Testament, the words are cited concerning the great evil city of the world: “Wherefore come out from among them and be you separate, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you” (2 Corinthians 6:17); and under the name of Babylon: “I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, My people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues” (Revelation 18:4).

For I have spread you abroad as the four winds of heaven - The north country, although its capital and center was Babylon, was the whole Babylonian empire, called “the North” (Jeremiah 1:13–14; Jeremiah 3:18; Jeremiah 4:6; Jeremiah 6:1, 6:22; Jeremiah 23:8) because its invasions always came upon Israel from the north.

But the book of Esther shows that, sixty years after this, the Jews were dispersed over the 127 provinces of the Persian empire, from India (the Punjab) to Ethiopia (Esther 1:1; Esther 3:8, 3:12-14; Esther 8:5, 8:9), whether they were purposely placed by the policy of the conquerors in detached groups, as the ten tribes were in the “cities of the Medes” (2 Kings 17:6), or whether, when more trusted, they migrated of their own accord.

God, in calling them to return, reminds them of the greatness of their dispersion. He had dispersed them abroad as the four winds of heaven. He, the Same, recalled them.