Welcome to Bible Fiber where we are encountering the textures and shades of the prophetic tapestry in a year-long study of the twelve minor prophets. I am Shelley Neese, president of The Jerusalem Connection, a Christian organization devoted to sharing the story of the people of Israel, both ancient and modern.
This week we are studying Zechariah 6. Zechariah 6 provides the eighth vision in the sequence. The final vision concludes with what biblical scholars call a prophetic sign-act, a real-life action on the part of the prophet that symbolizes a divine revelation. Chapter 6 upholds the major theme of all Zechariah’s visions: the restoration of Judah and construction of the Temple.
The vision opens with the prophet looking up and seeing “four chariots coming out from between two mountains—mountains of bronze” (6:1). Colored horses—red, black, white, and dappled—pull the chariots (6:2). Zechariah asks the messenger for the meaning of the horses. The messenger explains that the chariots are “the four winds of heaven going out” from the presence of the Lord (6:5).
The elements of commonality between vision eight and vision one signal to the reader that the last vision is the bookend to the first. Zechariah’s last vision is wrapping up what the first vision started. The first vision has four horses of four different colors ridden by four horsemen.
In the eighth vision, there are four chariots pulled by horses of varied colors. In the first vision, the horses are standing among the myrtle trees. In the last vision, horse-drawn chariots appear from between bronze mountains. In both visions, the teams of horses and their envoys are doing the work of Yahweh by patrolling the earth (1:10; 6:7). The horsemen in the first vision are tasked with a reconnaissance mission before any warfare. By the last vision, the appearance of horse-drawn chariots, instruments of warfare in antiquity, signals the commencement of a military campaign.
