The Vision of the Horses
Zechariah's first vision is carefully dated and unfolds at night among myrtle trees in a hollow. He sees a rider on a red horse with other colored horses behind him and asks for interpretation. The riders are explained as those whom the LORD has sent to patrol the earth, and their report is that all the earth is resting quietly. The paragraph establishes the vision's tension: the nations appear settled, yet that apparent peace exists while Jerusalem remains in need of restoration.
O7n the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo. 8I looked out into the night and saw a man riding on a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in the hollow, and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses. 9“What are these, my lord?” I asked. 10Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, “They are the ones the LORD has sent to patrol the earth.” 11And the riders answered the angel of the LORD who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth is at rest and tranquil.”
The angel of the LORD responds to the riders' report with an intercessory plea, asking how long mercy will be withheld from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah. God's answer comes in kind and comforting words. He declares intense jealousy for Jerusalem and Zion, anger toward the nations at ease who intensified Judah's calamity, and a renewed promise to return to Jerusalem with mercy. His house will be rebuilt, a measuring line will again mark out the city, and the cities of Judah will once more overflow with prosperity and divine comfort. The paragraph turns heavenly intercession into concrete promises of rebuilding and renewed election.
12Then the angel of the LORD said, “How long, O LORD of Hosts, will You withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which You have been angry these seventy years?” 13So the LORD spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who was speaking with me. 14Then the angel who was speaking with me said, “Proclaim this word: This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion, 15but I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease. For I was a little angry, but they have added to the calamity. ’ 16Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there My house will be rebuilt, declares the LORD of Hosts, and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.’ 17Proclaim further that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘My cities will again overflow with prosperity; the LORD will again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem.’”