Zechariah 1, Horses and Horns

Zechariah ministers at the end of the Babylonian captivity, at the same time as the prophet Haggai. His prophecies begin in late 520 BC, within a month or so after the prophecies of Haggai. In a space of just over two years, Zechariah will have nine visions. It is possible that the first eight visions all occur within a single night.

Zechariah 1:1-6, Return to Me
In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berekiah, the son of Iddo:

 

"The LORD was very angry with your forefathers. Therefore tell the people: This is what the LORD Almighty says: 

`Return to me,' declares the LORD Almighty, `and I will return to you,' says the LORD Almighty. Do not be like your forefathers, to whom the earlier prophets proclaimed: This is what the LORD Almighty says: `Turn from your evil ways and your evil practices.' But they would not listen or pay attention to me, declares the LORD.

Where are your forefathers now? And the prophets, do they live forever?

But did not my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, overtake your forefathers? "Then they repented and said, `The LORD Almighty has done to us what our ways and practices deserve, just as he determined to do.'"

During the reign of Darius the Great, the people in exile were finally allowed to return to Judah. God, speaking through Zechariah, explains that the defeat and captivity was because the people of Israel had not followed God in the past. Now is a time to change. The people are called to return to YHWH and He then will return to them. (See Malachi 3:7 for this same message.)

Zechariah (whose name means "YHWH remembers") was the grandson of Iddo. Nehemiah 12:12-21, lists the heads of priestly family after the exile and in verse 16, gives Zechariah as the head of Iddo's family. (Presumably Berekiah, Zechariah's father, had died at an early age in Babylon?) Zechariah is presumably relatively young at this time, much younger, for example, than Haggai is prophesied just before him.

The later prophet Malachi quotes verse 3 in Malachi 3:7. Just as Malachi quotes Zechariah, in verse 4 Zechariah repeats a statement of Jeremiah's (Jeremiah 35:15.) The book of Zechariah begins with standard prophetic warning about straying from the Covenant. But after these introductory verses, the text changes, with a sequence of eight night visions....

Zechariah 1:7-11, Man on a red horse
On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berekiah, the son of Iddo. During the night I had a vision--and there before me was a man riding a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in a ravine. Behind him were red, brown and white horses.

I asked, "What are these, my lord?" 

The angel who was talking with me answered, "I will show you what they are."

Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, "They are the ones the LORD has sent to go throughout the earth." And they reported to the angel of the LORD, who was standing among the myrtle trees, "We have gone throughout the earth and found the whole world at rest and in peace."

Zechariah dreams of a man on a red horse leading horses that are red, brown and white. A divine messenger explains that these horses are sent to go throughout the earth. Having done so, they have found rest and peace. (At this time, the vast Persian/Babylonian Empire had enforced a period of peace in the ANE.) The horses will return in 6:1-8. The color red is often associated with blood; in the New Testament Revelation 6:4, a red horse with a sword represents warfare and death.

The angel stands among myrtle trees , evergreen shrubs common to Jerusalem, sometimes used in the Feast of Tabernacles. The ravine, possibly east of Jerusalem, might have been the Kidron Valley. The angel will accompany Zechariah through his eight visions.

Zechariah 1:12-16, Return to Me
Then the angel of the LORD said, "LORD Almighty, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and from the towns of Judah, which you have been angry with these seventy years?"

So the LORD spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who talked with me. Then the angel who was speaking to me said, "Proclaim this word: This is what the LORD Almighty says: 

`I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion, but I am very angry with the nations that feel secure. I was only a little angry, but they added to the calamity.'

The angel asks God how long the towns of Judah will be empty and abandoned. The seventy years of Jeremiah's prophecy (see Jeremiah 25:8-14) are about up.

Zechariah 1:16-17, I will return with mercy
"Therefore, this is what the LORD says: 

`I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there my house will be rebuilt. And the measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem,' declares the LORD Almighty.

"Proclaim further: This is what the LORD Almighty says: 

`My towns will again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem.'"

God will turn to Jerusalem and grant her mercy and have His house rebuilt there. A measuring line represents plans to build. (But the rebuilding of Jerusalem, including the completion of the walls will take  another eighty years, completed about 440 BC in the time of Nehemiah.) With YHWH's future protection, prosperity will return to Judah.

Zechariah 1:18-21, Four horns

Then I looked up--and there before me were four horns! I asked the angel who was speaking to me, "What are these?" 

He answered me, "These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem."

Then the LORD showed me four craftsmen.

I asked, "What are these coming to do?" 

He answered, "These are the horns that scattered Judah so that no one could raise his head, but the craftsmen have come to terrify them and throw down these horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter its people."

The horses have been now replaced by four horns. These horns represent kingdoms that have scattered the people of Israel. (Horns, representing kingdoms, play an important role in the visions of Daniel, see chapters 7 and 8 and especially 8:8.) The horns are followed by four craftsmen who will defeat the four horns. 

First published December 10, 2025; updated December 10, 2025