“Then I looked up and saw four horns. So I asked the angel who was speaking with me: “What are these?” He replied: “These are the horns that dispersed Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem””
(Zechariah 1:18,19)
The horns are the expression of sovereignty, whether of God or exercised by men. The « four horns » seem to allude to the symbolism of those found on the four corners of the temple altar in Jerusalem, representing Jehovah’s sovereignty through the power of the bull’s horns (Exodus 27:2).
The horns are the symbols of the powerful sovereignty of Jehovah. The facts that two cherubim were on the ark of the covenant show that the cherubim are the guardians of Jehovah’s holiness, through battle or war (if any) (Exodus 25: 17-22). The fact that the Jehovah’s altar, from which the animals were sacrificed, had four horns, one for each angle, demonstrates that the bull’s horns also symbolize the maintenance of the holiness of Jehovah’s creatures by force or war (where applicable) (Leviticus 4: 7,18).
Obviously, the “four horns”, in the context of the prophecy of Zechariah, which scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem, represent the rival sovereignty of the nations which worked as artisans who wrought the calamity of the people of God (Zechariah 1:20; Psalms 94:20):
“Then I looked up and saw four horns. 19 So I asked the angel who was speaking with me: “What are these?” He replied: “These are the horns that dispersed Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”
20 Jehovah then showed me four craftsmen. 21 I asked: “What are these coming to do?”
He said: “These are the horns that dispersed Judah to such an extent that no one was able to raise his head. These others will come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations that lifted up their horns against the land of Judah, in order to disperse her”” (Zechariah 1:18-21).
According to the historical context of the exile of Israel (in Assyria) and the tribe of Judah and Jerusalem, to Babylon (see the page on the historical context of Zechariah’s prophecy), these four horns represent all the nations that contributed to the dispersion of Israel (in Assyria) and the tribe of Judah and Jerusalem. These four horns are primarily Assyria and Babylon, Tyre, Sidon, and Philistia, as well as the neighboring nations directly related to Israel, the tribe of Judah, and Jerusalem, namely Edom, Ammon, and Moab.
As an example, the prophecy of Obadiah (written at the time of the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem by the Babylonians) describes the malicious behavior of the nation of Edom toward Israel (its brother), Judah, and Jerusalem: “The vision of Obadiah: This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said regarding Edom: “There is a report that we have heard from Jehovah, and there is an envoy that has been sent among the nations, ‘Rise up, you people, and let us rise up against her in battle’” (Obadiah verse 1). This introduction shows that Edom’s treachery toward its brother Israel did not go unnoticed by God.
« Look! Small is what I have made you among the nations. You are despised very much. 3 The presumptuousness of your heart is what has deceived you, you who are residing in the retreats of the crag, the height where he dwells, saying in his heart, ‘Who will bring me down to [the] earth?’ 4 If you should make your position high like the eagle, or if among the stars there were a placing of your nest, down from there I would bring you,” is the utterance of Jehovah » (Obadiah verses 2-4).
The nation of Edom was located at the southernmost tip of the Dead Sea, in a mountainous and very rugged region, which provided a natural defense against any invader. According to the prophecy of Obadiah, this nation became very proud and wicked. Through his prophet, God announces that no nation is beyond his reach; to execute his judgment against it, even if it is perched on the mountaintops (like Edom), or even among the stars (a metaphor for absolute inaccessibility to humankind), He will bring it down to earth… Here is the divine declaration of judgment against Edom:
“And I shall certainly destroy the wise ones out of Edom, and discernment out of the mountainous region of Esau. 9 And your mighty men must become terrified, O Teman, for the reason that each one will be cut off from the mountainous region of Esau, because of a killing. 10 Because of the violence to your brother Jacob, shame will cover you, and you will have to be cut off to time indefinite. 11 In the day when you stood off on the side, in the day when strangers took his military force into captivity and [when] outright foreigners entered his gate and over Jerusalem they cast lots, you also were like one of them.
12 “And you ought not to watch the sight in the day of your brother, in the day of his misfortune; and you ought not to rejoice at the sons of Judah in the day of their perishing; and you ought not to maintain a big mouth in the day of [their] distress. 13 You ought not to come into the gate of my people in the day of their disaster. You, even you, ought not to peer at his calamity in the day of his disaster; and you ought not to thrust out a hand upon his wealth in the day of his disaster. 14 And you ought not to stand at the parting of the ways, in order to cut off his escapees; and you ought not to hand over his survivors in the day of distress. 15 For the day of Jehovah against all the nations is near. In the way that you have done, it will be done to you. Your sort of treatment will return upon your own head. 16 For in the way that YOU people have drunk upon my holy mountain, all the nations will keep drinking constantly. And they will certainly drink and gulp down and become as though they had never happened to be” (Obadiah verses 8-16).
Subsequently, the nation of Edom ceased to exist; it no longer exists today. The conclusion of Obadiah’s prophecy shows that it is God who allows or prevents a nation from existing or ceasing to exist. In this case, the mention of the nation of Israel has continued to exist to this day, while that of Edom has definitively disappeared: » And saviors will certainly come up onto Mount Zion, in order to judge the mountainous region of Esau; and the kingship must become Jehovah’s » (Obadiah verse 21).
The book of Zechariah shows, in different ways, how these « four horns » would be held accountable in his time (see historical context of Zechariah’s prophecy):
“Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,” declares Jehovah.
“For I have scattered you to the four winds of the heavens,” declares Jehovah.
7 “Come, Zion! Make your escape, you who are dwelling with the daughter of Babylon. 8 For this is what Jehovah of armies says, who after being glorified has sent me to the nations that were plundering you: ‘Whoever touches you touches the pupil of my eye. 9 For now I will wave my hand against them, and they will become plunder for their own slaves.’ And you will certainly know that Jehovah of armies has sent me” (Zechariah 2:6-9).
For having attacked his people, God was going to scatter these four horns—that is, the nations that contributed to the ruin of the tribe of Judah, Jerusalem, and Israel (these messages of divine condemnation are in the prophetic books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel). As a result, Babylon, Nineveh (the capital of Assyria), Ammon, Moab, Edom, Tyre, Sidon, and Philistia, have now completely disappeared.
It seems that Zechariah 1:19, reveals what correspond to the three different colors of the horses, which act to avenge the myrtles, the people of God. The color red, represents Judah. The color reddish-brown, Israel. The white color Jerusalem. The avenging horsemen of the myrtles, are evidently angels who cause a plague on all the earth, because according to the prophecy, horses symbolize the plague (Zechariah 14:15).
The one who commands this cavalry is red, an archangel (leader of the angels), who watches over the myrtles (Exodus 23:20). This means that the color red (Judah), symbolizes the sovereignty of God through kingship. The color white (Jerusalem) symbolizes the sovereignty of God through the priesthood. The reddish-brown color, represents Israel as a whole.
Zechariah’s prophecy explains how God will manifest his mercy on his present people, before, during and after the Day of *Jehovah (YHWH), which corresponds to the great tribulation, also mentioned in the prophecies of Daniel and Jesus Christ (Daniel 12:1 and Matthew 24:21,22):
“In that day there will be no precious light—things will be congealed. 7 And it will become one day that is known as belonging to Jehovah. It will not be day, nor will it be night; and at evening time there will be light. 8 In that day living waters will flow out from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the western sea. It will happen in summer and in winter. 9 And Jehovah will be King over all the earth. In that day Jehovah will be one, and his name one” (Zachariah 14:6-9).
God, through his Son, the King, Jesus Christ, will scatter the four horns that are currently persecuting the servants of God and his Son (Matthew 25:31-46, see the study page on the prophecy of Ezekiel and Gog of Magog). God, through his Son, the King, will avenge the innocent blood that has been shed:
“When he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those slaughtered because of the word of God and because of the witness they had given. They shouted with a loud voice, saying: “Until when, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, are you refraining from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”” (Apocalypse 6:6,9).
Nations and individuals who attack the servants of God and his Christ are attacking them directly:
“Whoever touches you touches the pupil of my eye” (Zachariah 2:8).
* YHWH is the tetragrammaton, or four-letter for the Divine Name. In the New World Translation of the Bible, it appears with the vocalization commonly used for centuries as « Jehovah ». This vocalization is doubly inaccurate because it inserts the pronunciation J instead of I (i) or Y, and the V corresponding to W, which is pronounced « U » or « ou » (not V). The correct vocalization of the Tetragrammaton is YeHou(W)aH, Yehouah. The inaccurate vocalization « Jehovah » is retained in the Bible translation used, just as the inaccurate vocalization of « Jesus, » pronounced Yeshua or Yeshoua, because they are the most known to readers (click on the link to examine the study on the Divine Name in more detail: The Divine Name YHWH is pronounced as it is written).
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