Zechariah 6:4-6

In response to the prophet’s request for interpretation, his angel guide explained that the chariots represented the four spirits (winds, Heb. ruhoth) of heaven (i.e., angels), which were going forth having been in the presence of the Lord of all the earth (cf. Zechariah 4:14). They were His messengers, the executors of His will (cf. Psalms 104:4). The chariot with the black horses went north from Jerusalem, the direction from which most of Israel’s enemy invaders descended on the Promised Land (e.g., Babylonia; cf. Jeremiah 1:14; Jeremiah 4:6; Jeremiah 6:22; Ezekiel 1:4). The chariot with the white horses went out next and evidently followed the previous one north. The one with the dappled horses headed south. Egypt lay to Israel’s south, and it was another implacable enemy. Presumably the red horses went south too.

Because of the geography of Palestine all of Israel’s enemies came against her from the north or from the south; the Mediterranean Sea on the west and the Arabian Desert on the east prohibited major foreign invasions from those directions. Since the chariots went in compass directions we should probably understand their judgment to be universal (cf. Zechariah 2:6; Jeremiah 49:36; Ezekiel 37:9; Revelation 7:1). They went north and south out of Palestine, but they executed judgment in every direction. The total picture is of God executing His judgments against all nations that oppose Israel.