Zechariah 6
January 27
Reading: Zechariah 6
1 Again I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, four chariots came out from between two mountains. And the mountains were mountains of bronze. 2 The first chariot had red horses, the second black horses, 3 the third white horses, and the fourth chariot dappled horses-- all of them strong.
4 Then I answered and said to the angel who talked with me, "What are these, my lord?"
5 And the angel answered and said to me, "These are going out to the four winds of heaven, after presenting themselves before the Lord of all the earth. 6 The chariot with the black horses goes toward the north country, the white ones go after them, and the dappled ones go toward the south country."
7 When the strong horses came out, they were impatient to go and patrol the earth.
And he said, "Go, patrol the earth."
So they patrolled the earth.
8 Then he cried to me, "Behold, those who go toward the north country have set my Spirit at rest in the north country."
9 And the word of the LORD came to me: 10 "Take from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon, and go the same day to the house of Josiah, the son of Zephaniah. 11 Take from them silver and gold, and make a crown, and set it on the head of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. 12 And say to him, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD. 13 It is he who shall build the temple of the LORD and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both."'
14 "And the crown shall be in the temple of the LORD as a reminder to Helem, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Hen the son of Zephaniah.
15 "And those who are far off shall come and help to build the temple of the LORD. And you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. And this shall come to pass, if you will diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God."
Zechariah 6:1-8 is the last of the eight night visions of Zechariah, it mirrors the patrol of the earth in Zechariah 1:7-17. Now, instead of four horsemen, we see four chariots coming from between two bronze mountains. Could this be a glorified view of Mount Zion, Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives? The salvation of the Lord comes from the suffering and death of His Messiah.
The chariots are four spirits of heaven wanting to do a second patrol of the earth. The Lord sends them out, this time the patrol to the north sets God’s spirit at rest. If the foes of Israel to the north have been humbled, all the foes of God’s people have been pacified. This is a vision of the promise of God to rescue and vindicate His people. The Spirit of the Lord does not rest until He has brought justice for His people forever.
In Zechariah 6:9-15 we read of the symbolic crowning of Joshua, the high priest. A new group of exiles have arrived from Babylon. (vs. 10) From the riches that they have brought, Zechariah is instructed by God to make a crown of silver and gold for Joshua. The high priest, as God’s representative before His people, is to be honored as the Temple is rebuilt. All this is to show them that the Lord of Hosts is with them.
At first, this seems to be very odd. There is no precedent in the history of Israel for a priest to be crowned. It is all the more surprising in that Zerubbabel, the governor who is actually building the Temple, has a name that means “shoot (or branch) of Babylon.” Why not crown him?
What we read in verse 12 is truly surprising. Joshua the high priest, upon his crowning, is called “branch” or “sprout.” Why? In Isaiah and Jeremiah the “branch” or “shoot” of Jesse is the Davidic King, the Messiah. In Ezekiel, the Messiah establishes the millennial Temple. Recall Zechariah 3 where we saw Joshua as a symbol of the coming Messiah. Joshua here is depicting for God’s people the promise of the coming Messiah, the priest-king who will build the true Temple of God using the lives of those He has saved to life everlasting.