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6. Four Chariots

¹ I looked up again, and there before me were four chariots coming out from between two mountains—mountains of bronze. ² The first chariot had red horses, the second black, ³ the third white, and the fourth dappled—all of them powerful. ⁴ I asked the angel who was speaking to me, “What are these, my lord?”

⁵ The angel answered me, “These are the four spirits Or winds of heaven, going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world. ⁶ The one with the black horses is going toward the north country, the one with the white horses toward the west, Or horses after them and the one with the dappled horses toward the south.”

⁷ When the powerful horses went out, they were straining to go throughout the earth. And he said, “Go throughout the earth!” So they went throughout the earth.

⁸ Then he called to me, “Look, those going toward the north country have given my Spirit Or spirit rest in the land of the north.”

A Crown for Joshua

⁹ The word of the LORD came to me: ¹⁰ “Take silver and gold from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon. Go the same day to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah. ¹¹ Take the silver and gold and make a crown, and set it on the head of the high priest, Joshua son of Jozadak. Hebrew Jehozadak, a variant of Jozadak ¹² Tell him this is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the LORD. ¹³ It is he who will build the temple of the LORD, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he Or there will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two.’ ¹⁴ The crown will be given to Heldai, Syriac; Hebrew Helem Tobijah, Jedaiah and Hen Or and the gracious one, the son of Zephaniah as a memorial in the temple of the LORD. ¹⁵ Those who are far away will come and help to build the temple of the LORD, and you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you. This will happen if you diligently obey the LORD your God.”

From this verse we learn that the chief object of the vision was — that the Jews might know that the dreadful tumults in Chaldea, which had in part happened, and were yet to take place, were not excited without a design, but that all things were regulated by God’s hidden counsel, and also that God had so disturbed and embarrassed the state of that empire, that the end of it might be looked for. There is therefore no reason for any one too anxiously to labor to understand the import of every part of the prophecy, since its general meaning is evident. But why does the angel expressly speak of the land of the south rather than of the land of the north, or of the whole world? Even because the eyes of all were fixed on that quarter; for Chaldea, we know, had been as it were the grave of the Church, whence the remnant had emerged, that there might be some people by whom God might be worshipped. The angel then invites the Jews here to consider the providence of God, so that they might know that whatever changes had taken place in that country, had proceeded from the hidden counsel of God.

The words, they have quieted my spirit, are understood by interpreters in two ways. Some think that God’s favor towards his people is here designated, as though he had said, that he was already pacified; but others, by the word spirit, understand the vengeance of God, because he had sufficiently poured forth his wrath on the Chaldeans; and both meanings are well adapted to the context. For it was no common solace to the Jews, that God had poured forth his wrath on the Babylonians until it was satiated, as when one ceases not to be angry until he has fulfilled his desire, and this mode of speaking often occurs in Scripture. I am therefore disposed to embrace the second explanation — that God began to be quieted after the second chariot had gone forth; for he was then reconciled to his chosen people, and their deliverance immediately followed. That the Jews might know that God would be propitious to them, he bids them to continue quiet and undisturbed in their minds, until these chariots had run their course through the whole of Chaldea; for what the angel now says would be fulfilled, even that the Spirit of God would be quieted, who seemed before to be disturbed, when he involved all things in darkness, even in Judea itself. ⁶⁴⁶⁴ Grotius, Dathius, Newcome, and Henderson agree in the view given by Calvin, regarding “spirit” here in the sense of wrath or vengeance. See Judges 8:3; Isaiah 33:11. But Marckius and Blayney render it “wind,” as in verse 5th, in the sense of judgment. The latter renders the sentence thus — “See those that went forth against the north country have caused my wind to rest on the north country;” and he adds, “So [רוח] is used in Jeremiah 4:11,12; and [הנוח] signifies to cause to rest or abide, that is, to inflict. See Isaiah 30:32; Ezekiel 5:13; 24:13. And the same verb in Kal signifies to rest or settle upon, as a calamity doth. Exodus 10:14.”—Ed.