“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.
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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The Prophecy of the Book of Zechariah
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The Prophecy of Gog of Magog (Ezekiel 38 and 39)
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The Synopsis of the Study of the Prophecy of Daniel
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The Greek word translated as « presence, » mentioned in Matthew (24:3), is “πάρειμι”, “parousia” (Strong’s Concordance (G3952))…
The biblical account shows that the investiture of a king at the head of a kingdom occurs in two stages…
The verse 29, describes the signs before the « coming, » not the « presence, » of the Son of Man…
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Table of languages of more than seventy languages, with six important biblical articles, written in each of these languages…
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