Zechariah 6:1

And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked,.... When he saw another vision, as follows: and, behold, there came four chariots; by which are meant, not the four Gospels; rather the apostles of

And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass.

CHAPTER 6 The vision of the four chariots, . By the crowns of Joshua the high priest are showed Christ the Branch, and his church and kingdom, . And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes: see . There came four chariots: the appearance or emblem is plain enough, we can easily conceive that; but the things signified hereby are most difficultly found out, and perhaps not found when we think they are: here then, if any where, all are bound to write modestly, and all are bound to read carefully, and to judge candidly. Whether by these chariots are meant, 1. The various changes made by wars in the nations; the chariots, as some say, were chariots for war, and drawn by several-coloured horses, and thus wars and mutations thereby might be signified: or, 2. The four monarchies, of different temper and carriage toward the Jews and others, whom they ruled, as very many learned expositors think: or, 3. The four Gospels, with the apostles and preachers of the gospel sent by Christ, as others.: or, 4. Angels, who are sometimes styled chariots of God, and who are by the prophets, Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah, and by the Apocalypse, introduced as great ministers and servants of Christ in the affairs of his church, — I determine not; though perhaps all these might fairly be woven into one web, in which angels, as employed in the affairs of church and empire, act their part in the revolution and changes of things, be these of what temper soever they will in both, till the gospel be preached by the Messiah and his apostles. Out from between two mountains; out of a deep; shady, and dark valley, which here is laid between two mountains; so God’ s judgments are a great deep, whilst his righteousness is as the great mountains, . The mountains were mountains of brass: these mountains appear to the prophet very wonderful; for they were of brass, to denote the immovable decrees of God, his steady executions of his counsels, the insuperable restraints upon all empires and councils, which God keeps within the barriers of such impregnable mountains, whence not one can start till he open the way: and possibly it may import the pressures, difficulties, and distresses of the times signified hereby. CHAPTER 6 The mountains were mountains of brass: these mountains appear to the prophet very wonderful; for they were of brass, to denote the immovable decrees of God, his steady executions of his counsels, the insuperable restraints upon all empires and councils, which God keeps within the barriers of such impregnable mountains, whence not one can start till he open the way: and possibly it may import the pressures, difficulties, and distresses of the times signified hereby.

Zechariah 6:1 And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains; and the mountains [were] mountains of brass.Ver. 1. And I turned, and lift up mine eyes] i.e. I passed on to another vision; and I lifted up the eyes of my mind, higher to heaven, saith Jerome, to receive a further revelation from God. And whereas he saith, I turned, he declareth, that God from on every side giveth his Church clear testimonies of his care of her so that she will give heed unto them, and lift up her eyes. There came four chariots out] i.e. Four squadrons of angels, God’ s warriors, and ministers of his manifold decrees, which are here set forth by the name of brazen mountains, see Zechariah 1:8, Chariots the angels are called in many places, 2 Kings 2:11; 2 Kings 6:17 Habakkuk 3:8, but especially Psalms 68:17. The chariots of God (in the Hebrew it is chariot, in the singular, to note the joint service of all the angels) are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels (of cheerful ones, so the Septuagint: ευθυμουντων, of such as serve the Lord readily and freely, with joy and tranquillity, and so do quiet his spirit, as it is said here, Zechariah 6:8, give him full satisfaction). The Lord is among them as in Sinai, in the holy place; that is, the angels by their swiftness and warlike prowess make Zion, the Church, as dreadful to all her enemies (did not one of them so to Sennacherib?) as those angels made Sinai, at the delivery of the law, which was given in fire, Deuteronomy 33:2. God rideth upon the heavens for Israel’ s help, i.e. upon the angels. Heb. the word rendered angels, in the above cited Psalms 68:17 (and so the Chaldee plainly expresseth it), is by some (who derive it from Shaan, to sharpen) referred to chariots; to note a kind of chariots armed with sharp hooks, used in wars, as many humane writers record. And so it maketh something to the confirmation of this interpretation, concerning angels, rather than the four monarchies. But the angel himself is our best interpreter, Zechariah 6:5, where, being asked by Zechariah what these chariots were? he answereth, These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth, for a plain periphrase of the angels, Zechariah 1:10. From between two mountains] Tanquam e carceribus, as designed by God’ s all-disposing providence and power, and ready pressed at his appointment and pleasure to run their race, do their office, execute God’ s judgments, which are both unsearchable and inevitable; and this the poets hammered at in their ineluctabile Fatum, unescapable destiny, as they called it. God’ s decrees lie hidden under mountains of brass, as it were, till they come to execution; they run as a river underground, till they break out and show themselves.

VI. SEVENTH VISION.—THE FOUR . (1) And I turned . . . eyes.—Better, And again I lifted up my eyes (Zechariah 4:1; Zechariah 5:1; Zechariah 8:3). There came.—Better, coming forth. The prototypes of these two mountains were, no doubt, the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:4) and Mount Zion, between which lies the Valley of Jehoshaphat, where the Lord judges (such is the meaning of the name) the nations (Joe 3:2, sqq.). But the mountains themselves were visionary, and are represented as of brass, to denote, according to some, the immovable firmness of the place where the Lord dwells, and where He has founded His kingdom.

CHAPTER VI The vision of the four chariots drawn by several sorts of horses, 1-8. The other vision in thus chapter may refer in its primary sense to the establishment of the civil and religious polity of the Jews under Joshua and Zerubbabel; but relates in a fuller sense, to the Messiah, and to that spiritual kingdom of which he was to be both king and high priest. In him all these types and figures were verified; on him all the promises are yea and amen, 9-15. NOTES ON CHAP. VI Verse 1. There came four chariots] Four monarchies or empires. This is supposed to mean the same with the vision of the four horns, in Zechariah 1:18-21. Mountains of brass.] The strong barriers of God's purposes, which restrained those powers within the times and limits appointed by Jehovah.

1. turned, and lift up] Rather, lifted up again. Comp. Zechariah 5:1.looked] Rather, saw.four chariots] These have very commonly been identified with the four great powers or kingdoms of Daniel’s visions (chap. 2, 7). The first chariot, as to the destination of which the vision is silent, will then represent the Babylonian empire, of which the power was already broken, and which had therefore no future to be foretold. The second and third chariots are, on this supposition, the Medo-Persian and Macedo-Grecian empires, by which successively the overthrow of Babylon, “the north country,” was to be completed; while the fourth chariot, the power of Rome, triumphing first over Egypt, “the south country,” extends its victorious sway over all the earth. This view, however, is not without its difficulties, and some commentators prefer to regard the chariots generally, in accordance with the interpretation put upon them by the Angel (Zechariah 6:5), as swift and mighty engines of destruction (four in number like “the winds of heaven”), which fall with twofold vengeance (Zechariah 6:6) on Babylon the latest enemy of Israel, while they execute wrath also upon Egypt (Ib.), her earlier oppressor, and thus cause that “shaking of all nations,” which was the promised precursor of good. Haggai 2:7. two mountains] Lit. the two mountains. The use of the definite article has been held to indicate the (well-known) mountains, either of Zion and Moriah (which, however, do not appear to have been generally regarded by the Jews as two), or more commonly of Zion and Olives. The chariots would then travel along the valley of Jehoshaphat. This is not, however, necessarily the force of the article (comp. “the ephah,” Zechariah 6:6). It may only mean that the prophet saw the chariots coming into view between “the two mountains,” which he had previously noticed though he has not previously mentioned them, as the side-scenes of the picture. mountains of brass] Denoting, perhaps, that the great powers or agencies, which overthrow empires and shape the destinies of nations, as they come forth from God (Zechariah 6:5), so also have their course defined by the counsels of His irresistible and immutable will.

Behold, four chariots going forth - Alb.: “By the secret disposal of God into the theater of the world,” “from between two mountains of brass.” Both Jews and Christians have seen that the four

1. The introductory formula is practically the same as in Zechariah 1:18; Zechariah 2:1; Zechariah 5:1. Chariots — War chariots. The occupants are sent forth to war.