Devotional Commentary on Zechariah 6
In what is to follow is interpretations I developed on my own but then
after consultation with Delitzsch and his friends and Ellen White, I realized
that I have made a complete circle arriving at the same place as they were long
before I was born. So much time spent when I could have taken a shortcut! Zechariah saw four chariots between two copper like mountains. The
interesting thing about the vision is that the horses were not in front of the
chariots but in them. The color of the first set of horses were red. All are
symbolic since no historical attachment is made to a literal existence of
horse-breeding in his own days. The chariots may be angels that carry these
horses in them. Of course if Ezechiel 1's vision is kept in mind, God is on His
throne above the firmament over these horses, if we may be allowed to cut and
paste information over Zechariah 6 from Ezechiel 1. The vision is placed in the
realistic context of "these are the four corners of the heavens coming
forth standing beside the Lord of the entire earth" (Zechariah 6:5). This
is the license that allows us to paste Ezechiel into Zechariah or fuse Ezechiel
and Zechariah into one new hybrid of understanding. What are the horses then? A very interesting suggestion was made in the
Middle Ages by two rabbis, one who suggested that they are the four kingdoms or
empires Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Edom or Ismael (Rashi) and one who
suggested that they are the four kingdoms Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome
(Redak). Seventh Day Adventists will find closer understanding with Redak's
view and will modify it to include both pagan and ecclesiastical Rome.
Red horses depicting the Babylonian empire
Black horses depicting the Medo-Persian
empire They moved to the northland meaning that Iran is south of Iraq and that is
from where the Medo-Persians went against Babylon.
White horses depicting the Greek empire
and they also went to the Northland to conquer the Medo-Persians
Spotted horses depicting both pagan Rome
(ending officially in 538 BCE and the Holy Roman empire ending officially in
1798) This empire asked to go all over the world and they did. We find them in
1798 all over the New World (Australia, New Zealand, United States, South
America, South Africa etc.). Catholicism's understanding of the word
"mission" was originally the word "propaganda" and a
document originated at the time of the discoveries of the modern world of new
areas across the globe. Catholicizing the New World was considered mission.
Since Catholicism is a political-religion, the meaning of propaganda or mission
for them is a political control aspect as well. It is not only a spiritual or
vertical dimension but an attempt by whatever it takes, to control the
horizontal levels of societies as well. A church building or a cross is for
them a sign that the kingdom of God reigns in an area. It is not merely the
presence of people who is loyal to God as we find it in Seventh Day Adventism,
but it is an attempt to gain control of all levels of society to protect,
secure, and advance their own institutions. Because the horses are spotted, the
spots area may denote pagan Rome but the remainder will be the next empire, the
Holy Roman Empire that was to exist for 1260 years between 538-1798.
What it meant and what it means What we have here is the awesome thought that all the world empires,
including the follow-up of the deadly wound of the Holy Roman empire in 1798,
namely the USA as world empire (Revelation 13, the second beast), is that all
these empires are within the wagon or chariot of angels under the control of
God who is on the firmament on His throne. The navigation is from God who
steers empires for His purpose to fulfill a role in history that will provide
the answers to the origin of evil by Lucifer, now Satan, who is just
actualizing what he inherently became. Should we have any trouble all over the world by nations and countries and
ideologies, we have this comfort that angels are the chariots for these
countries, nations, ideologies to exist in and as empires of the past risen and
fell by God's decision, so these modern ones can also. We have thus nothing to fear, except we forget how God has led us in
the past. (EGW)
Zechariah 6 and God in control of World Empires
The book of Zechariah is a fascinating piece of work by a prophet
after the exile. In a series of visions he saw so much of history laid out on a
table of time for him, that it also includes us. It is therefore important for
us to look at one of his visions, Zechariah 6:1-8 that deals with what we have
portrayed in picture form below. Zechariah said that he saw four chariots between two copper-like
mountains. Since the chariots are moving north and south one may assume that
the two copper mountains are on the east and west. The rising and setting sun
gives a copper appearance on the horizons on each side but it is possible that
he did not have that in mind here. He saw red horses, black horses, white
horses and spotted horses. The interesting thing is that the horses are in the
chariots not in front of it. The chariots contain the horses. This is very
remarkable since in Habakkuk 3 we have the picture of the day of the
Lord and in that eschatological theophany, God appears with angels and move
over the mountains like in chariots with horses. The chariots in Zechariah 6
are then also angels in the form of chariots but that contain the horses. The
horses are in the chariots. When
Delitzsch (1884) came to this part of chapter 6, he considered the view of
Hoffmann and Kliefoth of combining the colors with the empires. He then said: “We
cannot find any support in this for the interpretation of the four chariots as
denoting the four imperial monarchies of Daniel, since neither the fact that
there are four chariots nor the colour of the teams furnishes any tenable
ground for this”. He felt that the angel said it is the wind-directions thus
pointing to the four quarters of the globe but not to four empires rising one
after the other.” (Delitzsch 1884: 289-290). In
my view, they do represent the four empires of Daniel. The expression in verse
5 “four winds of heaven that goes out” ‘rb` rḥwt
hšmyn ywṣ’wt.
It is a very common expression for the Neo-Assyrian rulers like Sargon II and
Sennacherib to call themselves rulers of the “four winds of the earth”. In
Daniel 8 the expression is used in verse 8 thtyh l’rb` rwḥwt
hšmym. In that verse the goat became great and the great horn was broken and
four notable ones came in its place. These came up towards the four winds of
the earth. Kliefoth
and Hoffmann felt that these nations, the Babylonians and Medo-Persians went
out to fulfill their judgment of the previous empire, Babylon for the Assyrians
and Medo-Persia for the Babylonian empire’s fall (see Delitzsch 1884: 290). In
analogy with Daniel 8:8 one would expect the four chariots of Zechariah 6:1 to
be of the same reference. The
red horses symbolize Babylon who sacked Ashur in 612 BCE and the Black horses
symbolize Medo-Persia in 536 – 331 BCE who also went north to sack Babylon. Then
the White horses symbolize the Greek empire. In Daniel’s vision, the Greek
empire was divided in four. Seemingly
Zechariah’s vision ends with the Roman empire (pagan and holy Roman empire,
because it was spotted, thus until 1798) which is seen in Daniel as the “Time
of the End”. When
Zechariah came to the interpretation of these four chariots, he started with
the Black one and not the red one at all in verse 5. Why? Because the
Babylonian empire was past in 539 BCE. Delitzsch disagrees though but the
continued existence of people in and near Babylon after the takeover by Persia
and rebellions from there, cannot be interpreted as “empire” any longer. Sorry
Delitzsch. Rabbi
Redak in the 12th century thought that the black horses represent Persia and
Media also. He also felt that the white horses represent Greece. The spotted
horses Redak also saw as Rome. We are in good company here with the
explanation. It was Julianus Caesar, emperor of Rome who commenced the war against
in Egypt against the Greeks. That was south. The
spotted ones [Rome] “went to the southland”(verse 6). The “ash-colored ones
begged “to go to walk to and fro on the earth” (verse 7). The Lord gave him
permission to “walk to and fro on the earth” and that is what the Roman empire
did in both the pagan and Vatican-controlled empires of Rome until 1798. Constantine
and his wife Theodora built churches left right and center of the globe of
their day and many churches are evidence of that. In
verse 8 a voice came saying: “Look those going to the northland eased My Spirit
in the northland.” Rabbi Rashi explained it thus: “They caused My anger to
subside in Babylon when they destroyed Belshazzar and Nebuchadnezzar’s
descendants”. He based it on Isaiah 48:14 saying “the Lord loves him who shall
do His will in Babylon”. Up
to this point in verse 8 ending, 539 BCE is in mind. A
preteristic historical event is explained to Zechariah in 520 BCE saying that
from the exiles certain families should be taken with Zechariah and they should
come to the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah who have come from Babylon. The
Lord wants from Zechariah and some helpers a symbolic act as prelude to the
building of the temple at that time. It
can rightfully be seen in these verses that the purpose is to set up an agenda
for the construction of a temple. It
is good to look at a request by Jews to Darius later on the 25th of November
407 for the building of a temple at that time. There is an extra-biblical
inscription (See Cowley no. 32) in which they requested to build a YHW temple
at Elephantine in Egypt. What
happened here is mindboggling. Zechariah wrote in 520 BCE and these Jews in 407
BCE but there are some correlations in their actions and the names involved. Some
of the names correspond in Zechariah 6 with witnesses that wrote the letter of
request to Darius in 407 BCE from Elephantine and not Jerusalem. Cowley
32:18 Anani = ḥn
(Zechariah 6:14); Cowley 32:1 Jedaniah the priest = yd`yh (Zechariah 6:10, 14);
Cowley 32:1 [recto] Delaiah [dlyh] = Heldai [hldy] (Zechariah 6:10); Cowley
33:5 Hoshea hws` = Josiah yhws` (Zechariah 6:11). The
name Deliah or dlyh can be found at stratum V destruction level of
Tiglath-Pilezer III in 732 BCE at Hazor on a jar-fragment ldlh displayed in the
Hazor Museum at the entrance to Kibbutz Ayelet Hashahar. Just stop there and
get off the bus. Did
some of these names that Zechariah had to find in Jerusalem resettle in
Elephantine island in Egypt so that their children’s names can be found in
houses there? From a papyrus from Assouan the groups of houses of these Jews
were distributed in such a way that Gadol ben Ošea
is on the eastern side and next to him Meshullam. On the western side is Hanul
son of Zechariah and in the south is the house of Hoshea ben Urija. Hoshea is
one of the names as witnesses on the Elephantine papyrus no. 32 of Cowley as
was shown above. (see
A. van Hoonacker 1915, page 15 for the street-plan drawing on the papyrus). It
is about a Jewish community at Elephantine in 407 BCE. This
is not to say that the names in Zechariah are these names at Elephantine. In
verse 11 a silver and gold crown must be made and placed upon the head of
Joshua the son of Jehozadak the High Priest. To crown a priest is unusual. It
was not their function. The Messianic role and function of Christ must be
brought into focus here as Delitzsch 1884 in his commentary quickly understood.
Christ would be priest and after His High Priestly role since 1844 in the Investigative
Judgment as Son of Man before the Ancient of Days [Father] He would be crown as
King of Kings and Lord of Lords according to the Book of Revelation. In
Daniel 8:14 the root zdk played an important role. The hapax legomenon is used:
nzdk. The root is found in yhwzdk the father of Joshua probably a contemporary
of Daniel. There was a similar name in Moab since one of the Moabite seals read
about a century earlier lkmšṣdq. Kamosh is
righteous or cleansed. Kamosh was the Moabite god. The father of Joshua’s name
is Yahweh is righteous or cleansed. The temple was to be righteous or cleansed
as a process during the Investigative Judgment since 1844 (see Daniel 8:14). John
Bright said that the name yhwš` has a
Messianic theme here. Kittel and Morgenstein said that Bright suggestion is a
problem since it is an argument argumentum ex silentio. Another scholar said it
is Zerubabel whose name is changed to Joshua. Elliger said it is another writer
who inserted this. Weiser thought it is Zechariah himself. Delitzsch
said that you cannot put two crowns, a silver one and a gold one on a person’s
head. He said that there is no sharp distinction between the priest who
receives the crown in verse 11 and the Messiah of verse 13 (Delitzsch 1884:
298). Then
the Lord told Zechariah in verse 12 “Behold a man whose name is Shoot [Tsemach]
and from His place will He sprout up, and build the temple of Yahweh”. Delitzsch
is onto something here. He says that putting a crown on a priest which should
not rule over people or judge people indicate that the action is typical
(Delitzsch 1884: 299). Joshua
is typical of Christ who is antitypical. Above was already said how Christ will
be priest and king together in future. In
Jeremiah 33:15 the Messiah is called Tsemach. “It
also contains the allusion to the fact that He will grow from below upwards,
from lowliness to eminence” said Delitzsch correctly. Köhler,
Hengstenberg and Tholuck as well as Delitzsch understood this temple to be not
a physical temple on earth but a spiritual temple of which the physical ones were
types. They thought that Christ would build His church and that is the temple
(Delitzsch 1884: 299 citing 1 Peter 2:5; Hebrews 3:6 and Ephesians 2:21-22). The
Tsemach = Sprout = Christ is to show the glory of the temple. “He
who will build the temple, the Same will carry eminence”. Ellen
White cited Zechariah here and said: “‘He shall bear the glory’ To Christ
belongs the glory of redemption for the fallen race. Through the eternal ages,
the song of the ransomed ones will be, ‘Unto Him that loved us, and washed us
from our sins in His own blood, . . . to Him be glory and dominion for ever and
ever.’ “ Ellen White in The Great Controversy,page 416. Verse
13 “and He shall build the Temple of the Lord and He shall bear glory. And He
shall sit and rule on His throne and the Priest shall be on His throne”. Think
about the Trinity for a second. In Acts when Stephen was martyred he said he
saw the heavens opened and the Son of Man sitting with the Father on the same
throne. But, at that time Christ was Priest in the Holies as mediator for
sinners becoming faithful and after His heavenly sanctuary work and functions
He will become King of Kings at the Door of Mercy closing, which is the end of the
sanctuary work. It
is all here. There is also consistency in theology of Stephen and Luke who
wrote it and Zechariah and what Adventism is preaching about these situations.
And Delitzsch came here close to it. Back
in Zechariah’s day, the crowns that were made was to be a memorial of the
antitypical work of Christ in Heaven on their behalf. It would be in the
earthly temple but just a type of what the Sprout to come would do and
accomplish as Priest and King (verse 14). “And
distant ones shall come and build in the temple of the Lord and you shall know
that the Lord of Hosts sent me to you. And it shall come to pass if you hearken
to the voice of the Lord your God.” (verse 15). Delitzsch
et al felt that the temple is the Christian Church and that the distant ones
were in Zechariah’s day from Babylon and is a type of the thousands of distant
nations becoming Christian in future helping to build the temple/Christian
church. They do so with their means and financial support. To
become a partaker is to hearken to the voice of the Lord (Delitzsch 1884: 310).
Says
Ellen White: “The work of Christ as man's intercessor is here presented. By His
sacrifice and mediation, Christ is both the foundation and the builder of the church
of God, the temple of God. Zechariah ‘speaks of the Gentiles as helping in the
work: 'They that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the Lord;’
and Isaiah declares, ‘The sons of strangers shall build up thy walls.’” Ellen
White in The Acts of the Apostles, page 595. Again
Delitzsch the scholar and Ellen White the inspired author by the Holy Spirit
are seeing interpretations eye to eye here.
Dear
God Somehow
we think Delitzsch is the closest here to the truth of the matter and if so,
keep us listed in your engraved Hand when You plead before the Father for the
forgiveness of all sins and broken habits. In Jesus Name. Amen.