Deeper Commentary
Zechariah Chapter 6
Zechariah 6:1 Again I lifted up my eyes, and saw- The Hebrew has: "I turned [the word used also for repentance] and lifted up my eyes". After the exposure of Judah's sin in the preceding vision, Zechariah repents, as it were, for the situation. Just as Daniel and Ezra sought to, identifying themselves with God's sinful people. From now on in Zechariah, the visions appeal for repentance, interspersed with visions of the restored Kingdom that was even then possible. There is mention of the judgment to come upon the surrounding nations, whose idolatry clearly influenced the returning exiles. And the prophecy concludes with the picture of final judgment upon Judah in the last days, leading up to the return of the Lord Jesus to reestablish God's Kingdom in Judah for ever. The amazing potential for Zechariah's generation had been explained in chapters 1-3, but it wasn't realized by them. But the prophetic word was to come finally true in the work and coming of the Lord Jesus.
And behold, four chariots-
Zechariah 1
opens the prophecy with a vision of three kinds of horses- red, white and
speckled. These represented the powers which had subdued the land of Judah
and left it in the desolate state it was at the time of Zechariah (Zech.
1:12). It’s tempting to interpret them as Assyria, Babylon and
Medo-Persia; or perhaps Babylon, Media and Persia. Straight away, we read
of four horns,
representing the powers who had desolated God’s people; and how they would
be destroyed by the carpenters, surely looking forward to the carpenter
Messiah. And the vision of Zech. 6 has four and not three
kinds of horses- red, black, white and speckled, although only three of
them were used at the time (see on :6). This may be Zechariah’s
way of saying that because of Israel’s inability to fulfil the required
spiritual preconditions, as stated clearly in chapter 5, the longer version of the prophetic program was
going to come into play. Although as always, there is the distinct message
of hope, that finally God’s triumphant purpose with Israel shall come to
realization.
Came out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass- It has been said that Judah rejected idolatry on their return from Babylon. I submit that the Biblical evidence is different, as expounded throughout chapter 5; see on Zech. 13:2. They mixed pagan thinking with their form of Judaism, and although physical idols were later rejected by them, the results of this idolatry by the early returnees influenced Judaism permanently. Thus Zech. 6:1 pictures Yahweh's cherubim, Angelic chariots coming out from between two bronze mountains. In the ancient Near East there was the common idea that the sun god appeared each morning in his chariot from between two mountains (See C.L. & E.M. Meyers, Haggai, Zechariah 1-8, The Anchor Bible (New York: Doubleday, 2004) p. 319 for documentation). Zechariah's point [as is the point of Psalm 19, which uses the same images] is that it is the God of Israel who is the God of the sun, and not Shamash or some such similar deity of men's imagination. But the exiles clearly needed this reminder; we remember how only a generation or so before, Ezekiel found them worshipping the sun god in Yahweh's temple (Ez. 8:5). And earlier, Josiah had removed the "chariots of the sun" from the temple mount (2 Kings 23:11). Yet it seems that the Jews' desire to mix Yahweh's temple with the sun god was still just as strong even after the exiles returned.
The two
brass mountains of Zech. 6 are from where the horses / judgments issue
forth- towards the north and south of Israel. The mountains must therefore
be in central Israel; the reference could be to the valley of Jehoshaphat. I suggest the mountains in view are both in
Jerusalem- the Mount of Olives and Mount Zion, in between which is what
was called the
valley of Jehoshaphat. These mountains and that valley are from where
God’s latter day judgments proceed (Joel 3:2,16; Zech. 14:14). The
envisaged judgments upon the apostate Jews and Gentiles at Zechariah's
time didn't fully happen because so many preconditions weren't met; but
they will come in the last days. Or it may
be that they are the two mountains formed by the cleavage of the Mount of
Olives predicted in Zech. 14:4, at which time “half of the mountain shall
remove toward the north, and half toward the south”. This would connect
with the horses / chariots going out towards the north and south here in
Zech. 6. Any difficulties with exact chronology may be accounted for by
the suggestion that the meaning and nature of time will change in the time
around the Lord’s coming, as I have outlined at length in The Last Days.
Zechariah 6:2 In the first chariot were red horses; in the second
chariot black horses- The vision in Rev. 6 of horses going forth to bring judgment is clearly alluding to
the similar vision in Zech. 1:8-12; 6:1-8. Chariots of horses recall the
cherubim visions of Ezekiel, and suggest Angelic activity controlling the
entities on earth which they represented in the court of heaven.
The horses
of Zechariah 1 are those nations who have trampled up and down the earth /
land of Israel, subduing it until it is quiet. The chariots / horses of
Zechariah 6 are the Angel cherubim representatives of those nations, who
are sent out against them in judgment. Such judgment is portended in
Zech. 1 also, where straight after the vision of the horses we read of
the four horns who have abused Israel being cut off by the carpenter
Messiah of Israel. Significantly, there is an Angel stationed with the
horses in the valley from which they emerge, as if to show that the
judgments upon the land were Angelically controlled; Israel was not at the
hands of chance human evil, indeed the horses report back to the Angel.
This sets the scene for the horses / chariots of chapter 6 going out in
judgment against those nations and the apostate Jews influenced by them of
the preceding vision in chapter 5.
Zechariah 6:3 In the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth
chariot dappled horses, all of them powerful- The particular
significance of the colours may not be that important; they could
represent death, famine, disease etc. ; or they could simply be references
to the various world powers represented. Zechariah, like us, wanted a
detailed explanation of the colour scheme, but the answer was that they
represent the Angels (:4,5).
Zechariah 6:4 Then I asked the angel who talked with me, What are
these, my lord?- Zechariah, like us, wanted a detailed explanation of
the colour scheme, but the answer was that they represent the Angels
(:4,5). No specific interpretation is given. The colours may simply have
been to visually differentiate them.
Zechariah 6:5 The angel answered me, These are the four spirits of the sky- see on :4; Zech. 1:8-11. The four horses / chariots are understood by most commentators to have connection with the four metals and beasts of Daniel’s prophecies. Their connection with the four winds / spirits of the Heavens recalls the way that the four beasts of Daniel 7 arise as a result of the same four winds / spirits / Angels being active. That is the simple takeaway lesson- that our world is not out of control, but all is carefully orchestrated towards the final consummation in the establishment of God's Kingdom in Judah.
These things
didn't come to term in Zechariah's days as they could have done, but they
will in the last days. I have explained elsewhere that the four metals
and beasts of Daniel’s prophecies refer to powers that will dominate the
land and people of Israel in the last days, whatever historical
application they may have had. The metals and beasts all exist together in
the last days, because they are all judged together at the coming of
Christ to earth.
The horse riders of Rev. 6 are clearly based on this vision in Zech. 6, and they would therefore be Angels. Zech. 6:5 describes the horses as "standing before the lord of the whole earth"- the mighty Angel of the Cherubim that stands for the land (earth) of Israel,
perhaps Michael. In Zech. 1:8 they are behind Him, although He then sends them out to survey the state of the land of Israel. They return to Him, reporting that "we have walked to and fro throughout the earth (land), and behold, all the earth sitteth still and is at rest". Is there any reason to doubt that these Angels literally walked about in the land, albeit unseen, perhaps at a similar speed to which we walk? They walked "to and fro" because it is not in their ability to know the exact situation of a country just from a cursory glance. The comment of the Angel on this was: "I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease" (Zech.
1:15)- that were sitting at rest in God's land. This scenario is similar to that in 1 Kings 22, where Angels come and go from God, reporting back information and receiving commands, showing how much the Angel in the myrtle trees, "the Lord of all the earth" (land), was a representation of God Himself.
'Chariots' and the 'cherubim' are linguistically connected, and thus also
connected in Biblical usage- e. g. "He rode upon a cherub (chariot)" (Ps.
18:10). The number four has links with the Angel cherubim; John Thomas
interprets these "four (chariot) spirits of the Heavens" (6:5) as the same
as the four faces of the cherubim. The whole vision is full of Angelic
language. "The chariots of God are... thousands of Angels" (Ps. 68:17);
God makes His Angels spirits (Ps. 104:4). The horses within the chariots also represent Angels, under the control of the four mighty cherubim Angels. This is similar to Ps. 68:17 describing God's chariots as being full of Angels.
Zechariah 6:6 The one with the black horses goes out toward the north
country; and the white went out after them; and the dappled went forth
toward the south country- See on :4. "The north country" must be Babylon (Zech.
2:6; Jer. 1:13,14 etc. )- those Angels went to minister to the Jews there
and to enable the hearts of the Persian rulers to continue to support the
work of rebuilding (or is this looking back to the judgements on Babylon
in preparation for Cyrus' decree concerning the restoration?). Another
group of Angels went toward the South- Egypt or the land of Judah (Ez. 20:46,47).
If the eretz of the South is in fact the area of Judah south of
Jerusalem, as it is in Zech. 7:7, then we would have confirmed the idea
that the Angels of judgment went forth because of Judah's sins, but didn't
actually judge them. But they did judge Babylon, the north.
We note there were four coloured horses in :2,3, but we don't read of the red horses doing anything. Perhaps red represents blood and judgment. This was prepared against Judah for their sins, but the red horses weren't used. The restored Judah wasn't then destroyed. See on :2. In the longer term application, the four horses and chariots represented the nations of Daniel 2 who would dominate Judah. The red horse would then not be mentioned because it had already achieved its purpose upon Babylon, which had by then fallen to the Medes. Bible prophecy has multiple applications, in accordance with human prayer, repentance or lack thereof. And so these two suggested interpretations can both be legitimate.
Zechariah 6:7 The strong went out, and sought to go that they might
walk back and forth through the earth: and he said, Go around and through
the earth! So they walked back and forth through the earth- These
Angels, the same as those who originally surveyed the whole area by
walking "to and fro through the earth" in Zech. 1:10,11, "sought" permission from the co-ordinating Angel to continue their work.
The Angels wished to do something but needed the permission of Michael the
Angelic "lord of all the earth" to do so. We shall take over the roles of
Angels in the future Kingdom. There will be scope therefore to serve God
upon our own initiative; and what we earnestly desire to do for Him will
be empowered. In this life we are to develop that desire to serve, and
then all the limitations will be taken away. The "earth" here is probably
'the land' of Israel- which would have included
Babylon, at its proper extent from 'sea to sea'.
Zechariah 6:8 Then he called to me, and spoke to me, saying, Behold,
those who go toward the north country have quieted My spirit in the north
country- The "spirit" must be understood in the light of :5, where
the reference is to Angels. Maybe the reference is to an Angel crying out
for judgment upon Babylon. Or the Spirit-Angel that needed quietening in Babylon was perhaps the satan-Angel that was resisting the Angel seeking to further the rebuilding work; . He would have gone (literally?) to Babylon to give the "prince of Persia" the idea of banning the rebuilding. The two Angels that quietened Him were those of Dan. 10:12,13- the Joshua-Angel of Zech. 3:1, and Michael who "came to help Me" (Gabriel) in Dan. 10:13. Alternatively, note that Dan. 9:21 describes Gabriel being "caused to fly with weariness"- thus it may have been Gabriel who was 'quieted' or 'given rest' (AVmg.) in Zech. 6:8, implying He was in Babylon trying to enable the rebuilding but needed the support of the other two Angels.
Zechariah 6:9 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying- Despite the awful sins and weaknesses of Judah revealed in the previous chapter, God wanted still to try to force through His plan for reestablishing His Kingdom, even if some details had to be changed.
Zechariah 6:10 Take of them of the captivity-
Note
how this still calls the returned community "the exiles"- as if to suggest
that they still had the mentality with which they went into captivity. The
temptation to mix flesh and spirit is simply very powerful, and recurs
daily in our lives in various forms. In those temptations we face what the
exiles faced- a desire to appear faithful to God externally whilst doing
exactly what they wanted, influenced by the world around them.
Even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah; and come the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, where they have come from Babylon- They had apparently only recently arrived and were staying in the home of Josiah. It could be that they had brought with them some of the gold and silver artifacts of temple worship which had been taken into Babylon earlier, but were now released. Their names are significant. "Heldai" ['worldliness'], "Tobijah" ['Yah's goodness / grace'], "Jedaiah" ['Yah knows'], living in the house of Josiah, "Yah has founded"]. The impression is that despite the worldliness of the exiles, known by God, God's grace had led to the foundation of the new temple being founded, and they were to continue building upon it. See on Zech. 11:8.
The grace of God to the exiles is of course a foretaste of His grace to
us. Time and again God speaks of the exiles in such positive language. For
all that they had willingly adopted the gods of the captors, God still
fondly describes them as 'Zion who dwells in Babylon' (Zech. 2:7).
They were the Kingdom in embryo, waiting to just be transplanted from
Babylon to Judah, just as we are the temple of God prepared symbolically
in Heaven and waiting to be revealed on earth. Putting that grace another
way, God proclaimed that despite all their idolatry and weakness in
Babylon, Judah had 'paid off' their guilt for former sins by their service
there (Is. 40:2). We can only marvel at God's grace, and the tragedy was
that it was wasted and unperceived by them. May we do somewhat better.
Zechariah 6:11 Yes, take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them on the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest- Zech. 6:11-15 is clear enough that Joshua-Jesus could have become a king-priest, and the Kingdom of God been reestablished in his time. Perhaps the crowning of Joshua was because God realized that Zerubbabel was not going to make it as the king He had intended. But there is no record that Judah ever got near having a king again. Joshua the high priest never became king Joshua. Or perhaps the allusion is to High Priestly mitre, the lack of which in Zech. 3:5 was a cause for concern to Zechariah. "Crowns" plural would suggest that the priestly mitre was to be complemented by a crown of rulership.
Zechariah 6:12 And speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh of
Armies, Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: and he shall grow up out
of his place; and he shall build Yahweh’s temple- see on Zech. 4:14; Jer. 23:5.
"The Branch" was a title for Messiah, who was to appear at the restoration
(Jer. 23:5; 33:15). The Hebrew here reads rather strangely: "Behold there is a man- Shoot is his
name". Seeing Zerubbabel's name means 'Shoot from Babylon', it's odd that
Zerubbabel isn't named specifically. Perhaps the implication is that
Zerubbabel had failed, but another person with the same basic name still
could fulfil the prophecies. But with the failure of Zerubbabel, there was
no other king-priest to fulfil the prophecies. The Maccabees attempted to
force a fulfilment, with opportunists like Simon and John Hyrcanus
claiming to be king-priests- but with no actual dynastic evidence. And
they hardly fulfilled the prediction that the King-Priest Messiah would
sit on David's throne (Zech. 6:10).
It seems that Haggai and Zechariah returned to Jerusalem from Babylon
in order to prepare the way for Zerubbabel- they were therefore the
primary fulfillment of the prophecies of an Elijah-type prophet heralding
the coming of the Messiah king. Zerubbabel's failure therefore meant that
their ministry was re-scheduled and fulfilled in the work of John the
Baptist. Zerubbabel is called “the branch” (Zech. 3:8; 6:12; Jer. 23:5,6),
and this obviously invites connection with the prophecy of a branch /
Messiah who would grow out of the cut down stump of Jesse (Is. 11:1).
Again, Zerubbabel fits the picture perfectly. The house of David had been
cut down in judgment, but the prophesied branch would not be from the
royal line of Kings- but rather simply from the ‘stump’ that had been
left, i.e. a descendant of Jesse who was not in the direct line of kings.
Mic. 5:2 speaks of a similar person- a Messiah-king who would be from
Bethlehem, i.e. the family of Jesse, rather than from Jerusalem where the
royal line of kings were born. His origins would be “from old”- i.e. a
person who is still a descendant of Jesse, but not in the direct line of
kings.
Zechariah 6:13 Even he shall build Yahweh’s temple; and he shall bear the glory- In :11 we saw Joshua crowned with a priestly mitre; this 'bearing the glory' might mean that he was also to have the urim and thummim. Ezra 2:63 and Neh. 7:65 had perhaps prophesied that a priest would stand up with the urim and thummim in the envisaged restoration of the Kingdom. I explained on Zech. 3:9 that possession of the urim and thummim was also envisaged at this time.
And shall sit and rule on His throne; and he shall be a priest on His throne; and the counsel of peace shall be between them both- Being a priest upon a throne implies a king-priest, after the order of Melchizedek and not according to the Mosaic system. There would be peace or a merging into unity between the concepts of priesthood and kingship which had previously been kept separate. Joshua-Jesus could have become the king-priest. But he like Zerubbabel failed and dropped the baton.
Zechariah 6:14 The crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to
Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in Yahweh’s
temple- The idea is that the crowns were to be left in the temple for
a sign of the potential that was possible; for Joshua and the three new
arrivals from Babylon were never in fact crowned kings and rulers.
"Heldai", 'worldliness'] of :10 is now renamed "Helem", 'vision' or
'vision of God'. If they quit their worldliness, then God's envisioned
purpose of reestablishing the Kingdom immediately would come about. All
the time, the message is of potentials. Another person, "Hen", is
mentioned in addition to those of :10. This is the word for "grace", which
Yahweh had kept secret ['Zephaniah']. By grace, these men could still
participate in the reestablished Kingdom.
Zechariah 6:15 Those who are far off shall come and build in Yahweh’s
temple- The implication of "come" is that Gentiles would enter the
sacred space of the temple in order to rebuild it. The acceptance of
Gentiles within God's house is clearly implied. But Gentiles
didn’t come and help the Jews in building as the restoration prophecies
required. It could be that their refusal
of Gentile help to build the temple, insisting that only Jews
work in it (Ezra 4:3 cp. Neh. 2:20), was actually going too far; by being
so exclusive, they were disallowing the fulfilment of the prophecies both
in Zech. 6 and in Isaiah, that Gentiles would help in the final rebuilding
of Zion. As with some of us, their quite correct refusal to allow “the
adversaries of Judah” (Ezra 4:1) to fellowship with us in the work can
lead us to an exclusive approach to fellowship, that actually disallows
the essentially outgoing and inclusive spirit of the God we serve. The
Jews returned from Babylonian having swung to the opposite extreme from
their earlier worldliness; they returned proud and refusing contact with
the Gentile world, considering themselves saved by their own strength. And
this is perhaps reflected in the way they refused on principle to allow
any Gentiles to help them in the building work. Is. 60:10,11 had foretold:
“And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall
minister unto thee [as in the decree of Cyrus]... Therefore thy gates shall
be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night”; and them as
Ez. 43 had also described, “I will glorify the house of my glory” (Is.
60:7). But due to the Jews’ abuse of the Sabbath and their refusal to
believe Yahweh would be the promised wall of protecting fire to them, the
gates could not be open continually, and had to be shut at night (Neh.
7:3; 13:19). And Antiochus quite soon after Nehemiah’s time destroyed them
[which shows how the spirituality involved in what we do, e.g. the
building of the wall, is the essential thing, rather than the achievement
of anything in itself]. The implication of the prophecies about Zion’s
open gates was that whosoever would could then come at any time to seek
Yahweh. But men were potentially turned away from Him, and His Kingdom not
realized...just because greedy, materialistic Jews wanted to have a few
more coins in their pocket as a result of their trading on the Sabbath.
And so with us, our meanness, our disabling of adverts to be placed,
preaching to be done...by our selfishness, our desire to have more than we
need to cover us in the case of an y eventuality, all this effectively
shuts up the Kingdom against men. If the Pharisees could do just this, it
is possible for us to do it. The salvation of others has been delegated
into our hands.
And you shall know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me to you- As noted on Zech. 2:9; 4:9, there was distinct scepticism about Zechariah. But he recognizes in the next sentence that the fulfilment of his words and his personal justification would only happen if his audience were obedient. The implication is that his visions of the restored Kingdom could have come about in that generation.
This will happen, if you will diligently obey the voice of Yahweh your God’- One of God’s greatest tragedies must be all the potential He has set up, which we don’t use- the plans He’s made possible, which are left unfulfilled because we don’t rise up to it. Ez. 40-48 describe a great temple which the returning exiles could have built; but they didn’t. Most didn’t even bother returning from Babylon; those who did traded with the Gentiles, married their women, and built their own houses rather than God’s. Zech. 6:15 says the same in the context of this temple being built: “And this shall come to pass, if you will diligently obey the voice of the Lord”.
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