Zechariah
Chapter 6
Octave: The Four Chariots
Once again, I looked up and saw four chariots emerging from between two bronze mountains of bronze.
Harnessed to the first chariot were red horses, to the second were black horses,
to the third were white horses, and to the fourth were spotted horses—all of them strong.
I asked the angel speaking with me: “What are these, my lord?”
The angel replied: “These are the four winds of heaven, going forth after presenting themselves before the Lord of the whole earth.
The chariot with the black horses is headed toward the north country, and the white ones are following them, but the spotted ones are going toward the south country.”
All these strong ones are scattering; they have sought permission to go and walk about the earth. The Lord had said: ‘Go! Walk over the earth!’ So they are doing so.”
Then he cried out to me: “Look, those have just gone to the land of the north, and they will set my spirit at rest in the land of the north.”
The Crown
The word of the Lord came to me:
“Take offerings from the returned captives, from the hands of Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, and go today to the house of Josiah, Zephaniah’s son, where they have arrived from Babylon.
Take silver and gold and have crowns made, which you will set on the head of the high priest Joshua, son of Jehozadak.
Repeat to him these words of the Lord Sabaoth: ‘Here is the man whose name is Branch. From where he is, he will branch out and build the temple of the Lord.
It is he who will build the temple of the Lord, and this will be his glory. He will sit and rule on his throne. A priest will sit at his right, and there will be harmony between both.’
As for the crowns, they will stay in the temple of the Lord as a memorial of what Heldai, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Josiah, Zephaniah’s son, have done.
Those from afar will come and help build the temple of the Lord, and you will know that the Lord Sabaoth has sent me to you. This will happen if you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God.”
Commentaries
Eight Visions.
The eight visions in this section are organized in a concentric or chiastic structure. The preceding verses (1:1-6) serve as an introduction, confirming the covenant (1:1-6), and conclude with a reference to the covenant established through the priest Joshua (6:12-15). In these visions, the Lord is presented as a warrior fighting against the kingdoms of the earth.
Octave: The Four Chariots.
The four chariots encounter a transformed reality when the spirit or anger of the Lord (rûî = my spirit) is appeased or calmed in the north (Babylon), after the nations have already been judged (8). Here, the omnipotence of God is highlighted.
The Crown.
Josiah may have been the son of the priest Zephaniah, who was taken into exile (cf. 2 Kgs 25:18), while Zerubbabel was the grandson of King Jeconiah, also deported (2 Chronicles 36:9-10). Both figures embodied Judah’s hope for the restoration of the worship and political life of God’s people. The first Zechariah (1-8) trusted that these two figures would jointly perform the priestly and royal functions in Israel. In reality, Zerubbabel never performed a royal function; he was only a delegate of Persian power. From chapter 9 onwards, these figures disappear, giving way to an opening towards a messianic vision of both functions, as hinted at in Zechariah 6:12-13.