זכריה, פרק ד׳, פסוק א׳

Transitioning from one prophetic vision to another often requires a deep shift in the prophet's state of mind. When a prophet struggles to understand a divine message, he might fall into a deep sleep. This sleep represents a spiritual state where the word of God is temporarily hidden from him. To bridge this gap and explain the mystery of the previous vision, an angel must intervene and awaken the prophet to receive a new message [מלבי״ם, ביאור שטיינזלץ].

The angelic guide returns to the prophet, a detail noted because during the immediately preceding events, the angel had remained silent and did not speak to him at all [מצודת דוד]. In many prophetic encounters, a prophet simply looks up and observes the vision before him. In this specific instance, however, the prophet does not see the new vision on his own. Instead, the angel must actively rouse him so that his eyes can be opened to the message [רד״ק].

The physical act of this awakening is a subject of discussion. The primary approach among commentators is that the angel physically moved or stirred the prophet [מצודת ציון, מצודת דוד], causing him to wake up exactly as an ordinary person is roused from a deep sleep [רד״ק, מצודת דוד]. In contrast, another perspective suggests that the awakening was not a forceful interruption by the angel. Rather, the prophet woke up softly and gently, as if he were waking up completely on his own [אבן עזרא].

This description of waking from sleep raises deeper questions about the prophetic experience. Since the entire encounter takes place within the realm of a prophetic vision or dream, the concept of waking up seems unusual. It leaves a lingering question regarding why a physical awakening is described at all, and what a quiet, independent waking process truly adds to the understanding of how prophecy works [אברבנאל].