The Prophet Zechariah

⭑ Catholic Public Domain Version 2009 ⭑

- Chapter 6 -

And I turned, and I lifted up my eyes and I saw. And behold, four four-horse chariots went out from the middle of two mountains. And the mountains were mountains of brass.(a)

In the first chariot were red horses, and in the second chariot were black horses,

and in the third chariot were white horses, and in the fourth chariot were speckled horses, and they were strong.(b)

And I responded and said to the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these, my lord?”

And the angel answered and said to me, “These are the four winds of heaven, which go forth to stand in the presence of the Sovereign of all the earth.”

The one with the black horses was departing into the land of the North, and the white went forth after them, and the speckled went forth towards the land of the South.(c)

(d)

(e)

Yet those who were the most strong, went out, and sought to go and to roam quickly through all the earth. And he said, “Go, walk throughout the earth.” And they walked throughout the earth.(f)

And he called me and spoke with me, saying, “Behold, those who go forth to the land of the North, have quieted my spirit in the land of the North.”

The Crown and the Temple

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

From those of the captivity, take from Heldai, and from Tobijah, and from Jedaiah. You will approach in that day, and you will go into the house of Josiah, the son of Zephaniah, who came from Babylon.(g)

And you will take gold and silver; and you will make crowns, and you will set them on the head of Jesus the son of Jehozadak, the high priest.

And you will speak to him, saying: Thus says the Lord of hosts, saying: Behold, a man; the Rising is his name. And under him, he will rise up, and he will build a temple to the Lord.(h)

And he will raise a temple to the Lord. And he will carry the glory, and he will sit and rule upon his throne. And he will be a priest upon his throne, and a counsel of peace will be between the two of them.(i)

(j)

And the crowns will be to Heldai, and Tobijah, and Jedaiah, as well as to Hem, the son of Zephaniah, as a memorial in the temple of the Lord.(k)

And those who are far away, will approach, and will build in the temple of the Lord. And you will know that the Lord of hosts sent me to you. Yet this shall be only if, when hearing, you will have heeded the voice of the Lord your God.

Footnotes

(a)6:1 Four chariots:The four great empires of the Chaldeans, Persians, Grecians, and Romans. Or perhaps by the fourth chariot are represented the kings of Egypt and of Asia, the descendants of Ptolemeus and Seleucus.(Challoner)

(b)6:3 All the horses were strong, not merely the speckled ones. The symbolism of the horses is that of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. The white horses represent a war, ordained by God, in which a vast territory is conquered (World War 3). The red horses represent civil disorder and violence during the war. The black horses represent a famine. The speckled (varii) horses represent death from a variety of causes. There are four of each type of horse representing the four directions, for these events affect the whole world.(Conte)

(c)6:6 The speckled horses, representing death from a variety of causes, has a greater effect in the Southern Hemisphere. The War (white horses) and the Famine (black horses) have a greater effect in the Northern Hemisphere. The civil disorder and violence (red horses) have a great effect throughout the world.(Conte)

(d)6:6 The land of the north:So Babylon is called; because it lay to the north in respect of Jerusalem. The black horses, that is, the Medes and Persians: and after them Alexander and his Greeks, signified by the white horses, went thither because they conquered Babylon, executed upon it the judgments of God, which is signified, ver. 8, by the expression of quieting his spirit.(Challoner)

(e)6:6 The land of the south:Egypt, which lay to the south of Jerusalem, and was occupied first by Ptolemeus, and then by the Romans.(Challoner)

(f)6:7 The red horses are the most strong and they roam throughout the whole earth. The red horses represent civil disorder and violence.(Conte)

(g)6:10 The word ‘transmigratione’ could be translated as ‘transmigration,’ except that in English, the word captivity more clearly conveys the fact the Babylonian captivity was forced upon the Jews. The word ‘transmigration’ could be applied even to a voluntary movement of peoples.(Conte)

(h)6:12 Or, ‘the East’ is his name. The sun rises in the East, so the word for rising and for East is the same. Since the rising of the sun in the East is a fact known to all, this correspondence between Rising and East is not merely a coincidence of the Latin language. The man named ‘the Rising’ or ‘the East’ is the one often called ‘the Angelic Shepherd.’(Conte)

(i)6:13 These two previous verses refer to the great monarch and the Angelic Shepherd, the great monarch rises to power under the guidance and after the Angelic Shepherd. The great monarch will build a Temple to the Lord, in Jerusalem, under the guidance of the Angelic Shepherd. The great monarch will sit on one throne and the Angelic Shepherd will sit on another (the throne of the papacy). And their will be peace and cooperation between them both: “12And you will speak to him, saying: Thus says the Lord of hosts, saying: Behold a man[the Angelic Shepherd]; the Rising is his name. And under him[the Angelic Shepherd], he[the great monarch]will rise up, and he[the great monarch]will build a temple to the Lord.13And he[the great monarch]will raise a temple to the Lord. And he[the Angelic Shepherd]will carry the glory, and he[the great monarch]will sit and rule upon his throne. And he[the Angelic Shepherd]will be a priest upon his throne, and a counsel of peace will be between the two of them[the Angelic Shepherd &the great monarch].”(Conte)

(j)6:13 Between them both:That is, he shall unite in himself the two offices or dignities of king and priest.(Challoner)

(k)6:14 Notice that in Latin, the second and third of these four names are feminine (ending in ‘æ’). These four names represent the four leaders who rule after the great monarch, when his vast kingdom is divided into four parts. Two of the names are feminine because two of the four leaders will be women, even though it is contrary to God’s will for women to have such positions of leadership in society. The fourth name is the man who will rule over the kingdom of the South (Israel, the Middle East, Northern Africa), which is the southern-most part of the great monarch’s kingdom. He will be the holiest of the four leaders; his kingship is a memorial to the Temple of the Lord. He is called the ‘son of Zephaniah,’ yet he is not the son of the great monarch. Rather, he is like the great monarch; he takes after him as a son takes after his father.(Conte)