Zechariah 1:19

"And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these? And he answered me, These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem."

Despite the fact of "Israel" being omitted in the LXX, it is best to read the text as it stands in the American Standard Version. The New English Bible and others follow the Septuagint (LXX) in omitting it, based upon the supposition that Zechariah would not have been much concerned over the scattering of Israel (the northern kingdom) which had taken place such a long while previously to the scattering and deportation of Judah; but this is another error deriving from the failure to read the prophecy as God's Word, not Zechariah's. The thing in view here is the scattering of the whole Israel (both Judah and the northern kingdom). Joyce Baldwin discerned this accurately:

"The Hebrew, which is supported by the Qumran Greek text, should be allowed to stand (leaving both "Israel" and "Judah" intact in the passage). Zechariah has in mind the whole people scattered in exile, just as he considers the whole pagan world responsible for the scattering."[41]

This passage properly understood thus strongly supports the interpretation of the "horns" advocated under Zechariah 1:18, above. The whole Israel of God throughout its entire history had been viciously opposed by the great world powers: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, and shortly after Zechariah's times, by Medo-Persia; therefore, Medo-Persia must be understood as the fourth horn.

Watts also discerned another good reason why both the names of Judah and Israel are used here. Judah, at this point in history, was the only Israel.[42] Ephraim (the northern kingdom) never had any lawful right to the title "Israel"; and after their total destruction as a kingdom, the title naturally reverted to the lawful holder of it.

"`Jerusalem' picks up the claim to the mercies of David and the election of `Zion.' When Judah is defined in terms of Israel and Jerusalem, it is understood that she is the heir to the promises to Abraham, Moses, and David."[43]

Before leaving Zechariah 1:19, it should be observed that "the angel that talked with me" is here said to explain the meaning of the horns; but this is due only to the brevity of the account. It was established in Zechariah 1:13, that the Covenant Angel himself is actually the source of communications relayed to Zechariah by the interpreting angel.