Zechariah 6:6 - Exposition

The angel now ( Zechariah 6:6 , Zechariah 6:7 ) indicates the various destinations of the chariots, except the first with the red horses. Why this is omitted has never been satisfactorily explained. Some regard Zechariah 6:7 as giving the destination of this chariot, by making a slight change in the word rendered "bay" in the Authorized Version, which would cause it to mean "red." The Syriac, indeed, which omits the word in Zechariah 6:3 , translates it here by "red." If we retain the Masoretic reading, we must let this difficulty remain unsolved, and suppose that the angel explains only part of the vision, leaving the rest for the prophet's meditation. The black horses which are therein; literally, that wherein are the black horses, they go forth, etc.; which is equivalent to "the chariot wherein are the black horses goeth forth." So the Revised Version. The north country. Babylonia (see note on Zechariah 2:6 ). After them; behind them. The white horses go to the same quarter; and thus is indicated the overwhelming destruction that was coming on Babylon, and the victory and triumph of the conquerors over it. The south country; i.e. Egypt ( Isaiah 30:6 ; Daniel 11:5 ), another hostile power, also, perhaps, Edom and Ethiopia. One chariot only is seen to go towards it, drawn by the speckled horses that denote a mixed judgment, perhaps of war and pestilence (see on Zechariah 6:3 ). The north and south symbolize the whole earth and the powers hostile to the true Israel.