NOTES for Zec 6:1-15

Concluding the series of visions of the prophet Zechariah is a new image designed to mark the beginning of a different era, radically different from the previous one, in the spiritual history of Israel and all humanity. The prophet sees horses, a symbol of the military might of the ancient world. Horses were used almost exclusively for war: peaceful travelers and merchants made do with camels and donkeys. The clatter of hooves everywhere in the Ancient East was associated with the rapid advance of conquering armies. Only recently, Israel and the entire East had experienced the might of the Babylonian troops. Before that, the Assyrians came to Palestine from the north, and after them the Babylonians under the leadership of Nebuchadnezzar subordinated the whole earth to themselves. But Babylon itself was forced to open its gates to the armies of the Persians coming from the north. The north, where the prophet sees the movement of the mysterious horses, had long since become for the Israelites a sign of trouble, the land from which the conqueror comes.

But the Angel with whom Zechariah speaks reveals to him that there was also another meaning in this endless and rapid movement of armies. All of them came to the land of Israel because the people of God had turned away from their Creator. Mired in paganism and divided by everyday violence, they found themselves powerless before enemies. Only turning to God could save the people. Thus, involuntarily, the conquerors became an instrument that served the spiritual and moral purification of Israel. The "four spirits," as the Angel calls the horses seen by the prophet, recall what the Lord spoke of to the prophet Jeremiah before the Babylonian captivity: the conquerors are an instrument of wrath and purification in His hand, which directs the course of history. And now the prophet sees that these horses are returning to their place, so as not to disturb the chosen people anymore. The external threat has passed, and from now on other paths lead to the fulfillment of the designs of the Almighty.

Following this, the Lord commands Zechariah to perform a prophetic action to express the essence of the revelation. Many prophets resorted to actions of this kind, especially Zechariah's predecessors — Jeremiah and Ezekiel. It was Ezekiel who, speaking of the exiles in Babylon, turned to the image of refining silver. The Lord spoke through him that the precious metal of the faith and strength of spirit of God's people would be refined and purified from dross in the furnace of calamities and captivity. And so, in the next generation, Zechariah is to take pure gold and silver brought by the repatriates from Babylon, and cast a symbolic crown from them. The choice of this very material is meant to express that the purification foretold by Ezekiel has been accomplished.

But it is not a king the prophet will crown with this crown: he is to adorn the head of the high priest Joshua. Crowning the high priest, who took an active part in the restoration of the Temple, the prophet proclaims the great promise of God: "behold the Man, — His name is the BRANCH, He shall grow up out of His root and shall build the temple of the Lord. He shall build the temple of the Lord and shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule on His throne; He shall also be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both." These words recall the promise to David, given through the prophet Nathan, that his descendant, the Branch from his root, would build the true Temple to God. But no less are these words of Zechariah connected with the words of the Lord Jesus Christ: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The image of the Body of Christ as the true Temple of God turns out to be deeply rooted in the preaching of the prophets.

The crowning of the high priest Joshua thus becomes a sign that the coming Messiah will indeed unite in Himself the priesthood and the kingship and will open a new era for Israel and all humanity. Returning to the beginning of the chapter, we can say that in this era of the New Testament it will no longer be the events of history, cruel and blind, that will be the instruments leading to salvation, but the Lord Himself will become the Deliverer of people.