Zechariah 1:7-21

On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, as follows: I saw at night, and behold, a man was riding on a red horse, and he was standing among the myrtle tress which were in the ravine, with red, sorrel and white horses behind him. Then I said, "My lord, what are these?" And the angel who was speaking with me said to me, "I will show you what these are." And the man who was standing among t he myrtle trees answered and said, "These are those whom the LORD has sent to patrol the earth." So they answered the angel of the LORD who was standing among the myrtle trees and said, " We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth is peaceful and quiet."
Then the angel of the LORD said, "O LORD of hosts, how long will You have no compassion for Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which You have been indignant these seventy years?" The LORD answered the angel who was speaking with me with gracious words, comforting words. So the angel who was speaking with me said to me, "Proclaim, saying, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and Zion. But I am very angry with the nations who are at ease; for while I was only a little angry, they furthered the disaster. " Therefore thus says the LORD, "I will return to Jerusalem with compassion; My house will be built in it," declares the LORD of hosts, "and a measuring line will be stretched over Jerusalem." ' Again, proclaim, saying, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem." ' "
Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, there were four horns. So I said to the angel who was speaking with me, "What are these?" And he answered me, "These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem." Then the LORD showed me four craftsmen. I said, "What are these coming to do?" And he said, "These are the horns which have scattered Judah so that no man lifts up his head; but these craftsmen have come to terrify them, to throw down the horns of the nations who have lifted up their horns against the land of Judah in order to scatter it."
 - Zechariah 1:7-21

 As I had previously mentioned, I am a bit more nervous about delving into Old Testament stuff. With it's symbolism and foreshadowing, I do have some concern that I will be able to understand it well enough. There is so much that is required to understand about the culture and society and history of peoples at this time and place in history as many of the types and shadows are based on a historical, social and cultural context that I am simply not very familiar with. However, with the help of various scholarly commentaries, we shall soldier on.

We start with a man riding on a red horse. Presumably, this man is a manifestation of God, perhaps the Christ. Riding on a horse may symbolize swiftness and in some cases can allude to kingship. He is among myrtle trees which, as I understand it, are usually trees grown at the bottom of valleys. They are not particularly tall and grand like oaks or cedars, but they do tend to have a pleasant aroma. This may be a way of identifying Judah who is at a very low place in their history, being in captivity in Babylon. But, there are those who remained faithful to God, which is symbolized by the pleasant aroma of the tree.

It also seems significant that the man (Christ?) was riding a red horse, typically symbolizing war or blood, and being followed by sorrel and white horses. Sorrel is usually a sort of speckled horse, which could be a reference to an intermingling of people and the white horse is though to represent victory. So, if this is correct, Christ comes to shed His blood and as a result, Jews and Gentiles both are reconciled to the Father and ultimately Jesus is victorious (note the order of the horses).

Next, we see that these were sent to patrol the earth and they have found it peaceful and quiet. It is believed that this refers to the fact that God's people are considered to be a broken people and the rest of the world is squarely in the hands of the adversary. Therefore, things are relatively peaceful because the enemies of God seem to have won. They are living out their sinful lives without fear of judgement.

The angel then entreats God to have compassion on Judah and God indicates that these other nations whom He used to pronounce judgement on Judah had taken things too far. God did not want Judah utterly destroyed, and that was what many of these nations were trying to do. So, God promises that He will restore Judah and allow them to prosper.

The next vision is of horns and craftsmen. God says that the horns represent the nations He used to judge Israel, but that He will send "craftsmen" who will essentially help them to shake free of these oppressive nations so that they can return to Jerusalem and rebuild Judah as a strong and prosperous nation. I presume that these craftsmen include people such as Nehemiah and Ezra who were instrumental in restoring Jerusalem less than 100 years after Zechariah wrote these prophecies.

Once again, God keeps His promise that, while He allowed Judah to be punished, He did not completely abandon them and, here, He doubles down on His promise to make them His people and to be with them. Next, we will take a look at further visions from Zechariah.

Until then, grace, love and peace.