THE JUSTIFICATION OF PROVIDENCE

Chapter 6.

We now come to the last of the present series of visions, and instinctively hark back to the first. Logically, it may be, the prophet had no other way of finishing his subject: he must complete the cycle of his thinking by reviewing and recasting the whole. Hence the symbolism of chap, i. 7-17 is repeated in chap. vi. 1-8, depicting four teams of parti-coloured steeds going forth in all directions to vindicate the ways of God in the discipline of history. Educationally, too, the spiritual training of Israel demanded a similar recapitulation. No doubt the previous visions were admirably adapted to encourage the hopes and fire the zeal of the leaders; but who can be surprised if the prophetic teaching, on the part of the people, had only been responded to with considerable reservations? Few of them, it may be surmised, were endowed with the prophet's spiritual insight. Few of them had meditated, as he had done, in the seclusion of the myrtle grove.* Consequently the sordidness of their present was not touched, as it might have been, with the glory of their coming destiny. They were strangers, in large measure, to the stimulus of that undecaying hope. In truth, the glory of that future was very apt to be dimmed by the hard, prosaic facts of the present. The prophet had doubtless sketched in glowing colours the future expansion of the city, the installation of Joshua, the honouring of Zerubbabel, and the cleansing of the whole land; but where was there any sign of the promised "shaking of the nations," which was to be the historical starting-point for all these blessings? Where was there any indication that the agelong promise of divine help and deliverance was about to be fulfilled? Leaving the argument ecclesiastical on one side, what was the explanation or justification for allowing things to remain as they were? And Zechariah, in answer, could only recapitulate and re-emphasise the truths already enunciated: or say, like another seer —

          "What in me is dark,

Illumine; what is low, raise and support;

That to the height of this great argument

I may assert eternal Providence,

And justify the ways of God to men."

1. The Vision.

Meditating in the Kedron valley, the prophet lifted up his eyes, and beheld four war - chariots ( Kriegswagen, Orelli) coming forth from between the two mountains — Mount Zion on the one side, and the Mount of Olives on the other — and the two mountains were as mountains o? brass. They rose above him as frowning and unapproachable precipices; and as the valley between is represented elsewhere as a theatre of divine judgment (chap, xiv. 4, Joel iii. 12), the inaccessible gorge from which the four chariots rushed forth seemed to the prophet's gaze to be a fitting symbol of the divine seat of government, and a fitting point of departure for the disciplinary providence of the Lord. In the first chariot were red horses — representing blood and carnage, according to the usual significance of that colour (Rev. vi. 4); in the second, black horses — a no less expressive symbol of famine and mourning; in the third, white horses — denoting, as in Rev. vi. 2, joy and victory; while in the fourth chariot were grizzled or piebald horses — suggesting, it may be, the more normal type of divine providence, that it is neither all light nor all dark, but a mixture and measure of both. Beholding these four teams rushing forth from the rocky defile, the prophet turned to the interpreting angel, and said, "What are these, lord"? And the angel answered and said, These are divine emissaries sent forth towards (so Wellhausen) the four winds of heaven, in order to execute Jehovah's commands. For having approached, as the mounted scouts of the Lord, and given, in their report to the man among the myrtle-trees (chap. i. 11), they are now seen hasting away in the early morning to punish and subdue the nations, as the agents of His judicial wrath.

They went forth in all directions. The black horses went into the north country, and were immediately followed by the white; for if Israel had been twice smitten in that far-off land — first by Sennacherib and Sargon in the fall of Samaria, and then by Nebuchadnezzar in the siege and destruction of Jerusalem — not once, but twice, would the martial might of Jehovah smite that ruthless power beyond the river, until the white steeds of his celestial army would return with the joyous trophies of His victory. Or did the Jewish community look further back to the birthtime of their nation, and recall the bitter oppression of their fathers in the valley of the Nile? The spotted or speckled horses went forth in that direction to enforce the divine will among the swarthy inhabitants of the south. While, to complete the cycle of divine supervision and government, the red horses (so the Syriac and Aquila in ver. 7) rushed forth full of energy and eagerness to seek a field of action for themselves, and were honoured by receiving a roving commission — to go to and fro through the earth, and strike a blow for righteousness wherever the forces of evil or the purposes of Jehovah should require. From no quarter of the globe, indeed, was Israel to fear the approach of any possible invader. For even now the Lord of Hosts had seized all the strategical points by means of His celestial warriors, and no power on earth would be able to break through their serried ranks, and despoil or harass His people. In a word, the long-promised "shaking of the nations" was no figment of the imagination after all. The black horses were a sufficient guarantee that the humbling of the nations would assuredly be effected: while the white team afforded an equally significant pledge that the succeeding era of victory and peace would be signalised by manifold blessing for all. Hence the vision closes with the striking announcement in ver. 8 that the various teams, having accomplished their allotted tasks, the spirit of the Lord's jealousy was at last appeased in the north country, and the character of His eternal Providence justified.

2. A Pledge of its Fulfilment.

The last thing the prophet saw before he left the grove of myrtles was the disappearing forms of the black and white horses on their mission to the far north; and now the frst thing that appeals to him when he returns to the city and temple is the sight of certain deputies from their Babylonian brethren, who have arrived with princely gifts for the temple in their hands (vers. 9-15). To the spiritually illumined insight of the prophet the white steeds of the celestial army were already beginning to return. For in the visit of these deputies there was something more than a sequel or appendix to the entire series of visions; there was also a distinct pledge that the teaching contained in the preceding paragraph was in process of being realised. Even to the duller comprehension of the people, a visit from their Babylonian brethren was an event that could easily be grasped and appreciated; an event, therefore, that might easily be utilised for their moral and spiritual advancement, if only Zechariah their prophet and teacher knew how.

That he was not left to his own limited resources is evident from the opening formula of ver. 9, "The word of the Lord came unto me" saying, "As to the taking of gifts from those of the captivity, even from Heldai, from Tobijah, from Jedaiah and from Josiah the son of Zephaniah (so Kittel), who have come from Babylon; take indeed silver and gold, and make a crown (singular, as in Job xxxi. 36), and set it upon the head of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest." The crowning of Zerubbabel, as a type of the Messianic fulfilment, would have done equally well (cf. iv. 14); but there were various reasons, not difficult to specify, why Joshua the high priest should be selected instead. For one thing, a scion of the house of David, like Zerubbabel, might have overlooked the typical significance of the act, and been led to cherish ambitions that could scarcely be realised within the limits of the Jewish colony. In the words of Pusey, it would have been confusing in the highest degree — "a seeming restoration of the kingdom, when it was not to be restored; an encouragement of the temporal hopes, which were the bane of Israel." For a similar reason, it might have provoked unnecessary complications with Persia. Recognition of a Jewish governor, with the standing of a Persian satrap, was one thing; to allow him to assume the dignity and wear the insignia of royalty was another and totally different matter. Indeed, to one like Zechariah, no such ambiguous action was possible. The type of the coming Branch could easily be found in a different office and representative. It could be found in the person of Joshua the high priest. No doubt it was something new and unheard of in Israel to see the high priest with a royal crown upon his head; but so far from flattering Joshua with this instructive piece of symbolism, the proclamation which was immediately added (ver. 12) was a sufficient reminder of the essentially typical character of the act.

"Speak unto them (all those who were present at the symbolical coronation — so Wellhausen), saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold the man whose name is the Branch; for He shall shoot up out of His place — springing up out of obscurity into wide-spreading luxuriance (cf. iii. 8); and He shall build the temple of the Lord; and He shall wear the insignia ( Ehrenzierde, Orelli) and sit and rule upon his throne; and He shall be a priest upon his throne — not less than a ruler — and the counsel of peace shall be between them both." Clearly in this depiction of the coming Branch we are carried a great deal further than in chap. iii. 8. Not only is He to grow and flourish like the goodly cedar, until His benign shadow fills the land; but, as God's vicegerent on earth, He will do, what no Zerubbabel or Joshua can do, build the ideal, world- wide temple of Jehovah, of which Zerubbabel's, or even Solomon's temple, was only the instructive type. Nay, more, in so building and extending the spiritual kingdom of Jehovah, He will exercise the dominion and wear the highest honours of royalty; He will be a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek (Ps. cx. 4). He will be both King and Priest — a King whose interests are entirely taken up with the erection of a spiritual temple, and yet a Priest whose sacerdotal functions will be equally consecrated to the well-being of Jehovah's throne and people. In a word, He will be a spiritual king, or a royal priest, whose sole object and continual endeavour will be to secure an era of abiding and universal peace.

Who could read so sublime a delineation of Israel's future and conclude that the coronation of Joshua began and ended with himself? It was a ceremonial transaction that pointed far beyond its more immediate application. It was at once a memorial and a pledge — a memorial of the truth that Jehovah, the God of Israel, had indeed returned to His people, and a pledge of the ultimate victory and supremacy of Jehovah's cause. It was therefore to be read in the light of Israel's spiritual calling, and accepted as a vindication of her undecaying hope. The crown itself, no less than the coronation, ought to be interpreted and preserved from the same idealistic standpoint. Let it be laid up in the temple as a memorial for Heldai, and for Tobijah, and for Jedaiah, and for Josiah the son of Zephaniah (reading Heldai for Helem, and Josiah for Hen, according to the Syriac and ver. io) — a memorial of the gifts and sacrifices already brought and dedicated to the service of Jehovah; but a pledge also of the far mofe costly presents that would yet be brought and presented by all nations in the glory of the Messianic fulfilment. "They that are afar off shall come and build in the temple of the Lord, and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you."

And yet, finally, what is the meaning of the solemn ethical condition, which this preacher of righteousness has placed at the close of the present chapter — "This shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God"? Does it mean that the advent of the Messianic age and the ultimate ingathering of the nations, are made dependent on the loyalty and obedience of Israel? Does it suggest that the white steeds of Jehovah's army will never again be seen in the grove of myrtles, unless Israel, according to the flesh, be there to bid them welcome? No, the vindication of eternal providence is not always easy in any circumstances; but to postulate the ultimate thwarting of Jehovah's plan, because of the disloyalty of any particular nation, would render any such vindication impossible. The ethical condition is added, not for the sake of the Messianic fulfilment, but for Israel's sake, that she might have a part, a large and worthy part, in the final coronation. Her disloyalty would not thwart the divine plan. The Messianic age would assuredly be ushered in, and so, too, would the final ingathering of the nations; but a disobedient Israel would not be there to see it, the Lord of the whole earth would be crowned without her. The eternal providence of Jehovah would not be thwarted. If it were not wrought out in Israel's loyalty and devotion, it would be wrought out in Israel's rejection. And yet this need not be. The whole object of Zechariah's visions has been to render all such failure on the part of Israel a practical impossibility. Let the chosen nation but turn to the Lord, and realise the greatness of her spiritual destiny, and her part in the final triumph of Jehovah's cause would be fully assured. The white steeds of the celestial army would again be seen in the Kedron valley. They would arrive and give in their report to the Lord of the whole earth. And when that report was trumpeted forth from between the two mountains of brass, all the world would know that God's eternal providence had been justified.