The angel is still present with Zechariah to guide him through this next vision. "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.'" (Zechariah 1:18-19) In the Bible a "horn" usually denotes strength and authority, particularly that of a king or kingdom. David sometimes referred in the psalms to his "horn", meaning his authority and right to rule, for which he gave the Lord all the credit.
In Zechariah's vision these four horns likely represent four kingdoms. Scholars have some differences of opinion regarding precisely which kingdoms these are. Some prefer to stick with the ancient kingdoms that existed in Zechariah's day, or which had already come and gone by Zechariah's day, such as Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, and Medo-Persia. This leaves out all the nations that would be future enemies of Israel after Zechariah's time, but perhaps this is what is intended, for the angel uses the past tense when he says these nations "scattered" Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. Other Bible scholars take a futuristic view of Zechariah's vision and include Greece and Rome. They conclude that these four horns represent Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. But this leaves out the powerful nation of Assyria to whom the ten tribes of Israel had already fallen long before Zechariah's day. This futuristic translation also leaves out more modern enemies, such as Germany under Adolf Hitler. There are other Bible scholars who believe the four horns symbolize oppression from every side and that these horns stand for north, south, east, and west. Personally, I prefer this last opinion, for Israel has been attacked and oppressed from all four corners of the compass. Even today she sits surrounded by enemies. Jerusalem itself has been attacked at least fifty-two times, has been captured and recaptured forty-four times, besieged twenty-three times, and destroyed twice. Truly Israel has had to fear danger from every side, from every point of the compass, from north and south and east and west.
This vision could not have been a happy one for Zechariah, but the tone of it is about to change. In yesterday's passage we found the Lord affirming His promise to rebuild the nation, and He spoke of His anger toward those who harmed His people. While it's true that He allowed His people to be captured because of their idolatry, He intended these circumstances to be a temporary form of correction. But the nations to whom Israel and Judah fell went beyond the boundaries the Lord set for them in His discipline of His people. Assyria in particular seemed to revel in cruelty toward captive Israel. The Lord said in our study yesterday that the nations who came against His people "went too far with the punishment". He said He was very angry with those nations, indicating His intent to overthrow them.
So now we move on from the imagery of the four powerful horns that scattered the people of Judah and Israel. "Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen." (Zechariah 1:20) Four new characters, these craftsmen, are in view and their appearance must give Zechariah some reassurance. Craftsmen would not come unless something was to be rebuilt. In the original Hebrew the word the NIV renders as "craftsmen" is "carpenters". We are going to learn something surprising about the power of these carpenters.
When he sees these four characters, Zechariah tells us, "I asked, 'What are these coming to do?' He answered, 'These are the horns that scattered Judah so that no one could raise their 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.'" (Zechariah 1:21) I wonder if this statement puzzled and shocked Zechariah. How can carpenters with hammers and nails overthrow kings and kingdoms? Can carpenters wield more power than kings? They can if they are commissioned by the Lord! The message of the book of Zechariah is that a King is coming, and an eternal kingdom. The rebuilding of the temple is the beginning of the fulfillment of this promise. Though no temple is present in Jerusalem today, the return of the people to their homeland and the rebuilding of the temple in Zechariah's day was still the beginning of the fulfillment of this promise. The Lord kept His promise to bring the people home from captivity in Babylon and to restore their nation. He will continue to keep all His promises regarding the nation of Israel, the temple, and the coming King and His kingdom.
Barry G. Webb, in his book The Message Of Zechariah, states, "The revolutionary message of this vision is that the judgment of the world is already being put into effect wherever God deploys His workmen. Through them God brings His kingdom into the world, a kingdom that will eventually sweep away and replace every earthly power." This is the kingdom that the book of Zechariah concerns, for he will be granted a vision of the coming King, and he will say of Him in Zechariah 14:9, "The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and His name the only name."
Amen! May Your kingdom come, Lord!
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