Zechariah: The Vision of Four Horses

By Mary Vee
Zechariah 6:1-8

From Zechariah's Journal

Photo Courtesy

My name is Zechariah. An angel of the Lord visited me in a vision. It happened at night when I was alone.  Actually the angel ended up showing me several visions. This is the eighth and last vision. You can scroll down to past posts to read the other visions.

The first vision happened while I was in Jerusalem. We were rebuilding the temple. Darius was in his second year of reign in Babylon. The rest followed, all in the same night. This is the eighth vision the angel showed me. 

I looked up, again. Four chariots came out from between two mountains. These mountains were made of bronze.

The first chariot had red horses, a symbol of war and blood.

The second chariot had black horses, a symbol of famine and death.

The third chariot had white horses, a symbol of victory and peace.

The fourth chariot had speckled horses that were powerful, a symbol of death through judgement.

I asked the angel, "What are these my lord?"

The angel answered, "These are the four spirits of the heavens which have presented themselves to the Lord of all the earth.

"The chariot with black horses is going to the north.

"The chariot with white horses will follow.

"The chariot with spotted horses will travel to the south."

The strong horses struggled as they went out, as if something was preventing them from leaving.

The angel said to the charioteers, "Go. Patrol the earth. Watch and protect it."

The chariots left to do their work. I watched them go about doing what they were told.

The angel said, "See, the chariots patrolling the north have done their work and have quieted my anger in the land of the north." 




Author's note: I searched several commentaries and translations for this passage. There seemed to be quite a variety of thought as to the meaning. The one note scholars seemed to agree on is this prophetic passage is difficult to interpret but clearly has links to Daniel's visions and passages in Revelation.

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sources: Matthew Henry's Commentary volume 4, Hendrickson Publishers. 2000, the Pulpit Commentary, these versions: Amplified, Living, ESV, KJV, NKJV, American Standard, New International, International Children's Bible, The Message, The Oxford Jewish Bible, Biblestudiestools.com. 

1.  What did the red horse stand for?
2.  What did the black horse stand for?
3.  What did the white horse stand for?
4.  What did the speckled horse stand for?
5.  Where did the black horse go?
6.  Where did the white horse go?
7.  Where did the speckled horse go?
8.  What did the horses need to stop struggling?
9.  What happened when the horses did their work in the north?