HAGGAI & ZECHARIAH: PROPHETS FOR THE END OF DAYS – PART 6

FULL MEETING WITH MIDRASH HERE

NOTE: THE TRANSCRIPT IS NOT THE SAME AS THE RECORDING.

ZECHARIAH’S 2ND PROPHECY: A MAN ON A HORSE STANDING IN A RAVINE

This is Zechariah’s 2nd prophecy. Haggai prophesied in the 6th and 7th months of 520 BC. Then Zechariah prophesied in the 8th month followed by Haggai’s 4th prophecy in the 9th month. YHVH skipped the 10th month before giving Zechariah another prophecy in the 11th month. We will find out why YHVH skipped the 10th month right now.

Zechariah 1:7  On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius [520 BC], Yahweh’s word came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying,

I have gone indepth into who Berechiah, the son of Iddo, in part 3. I won’t revisit that here.

Why did YHVH skip the 10th month? First, the 10th month of 588 BC is when the Babylonians sieged Jerusalem for the 3rd and final time.

2 Kings 25:1  And it happened in the ninth year of his [Zedekiah’s in 588 BC] reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came. He and all his army came against Jerusalem and pitched against it, and built a siege-mound all around it.

So it was in the 10th month of 588 BC when the third and final horror of Babylonian captivity began to come to pass. The siege would end in the summer of 586 BC. YHVH skipped this month so as not to cause the Jews to remember the horror of the Babylonian exile. That time was over; it will be good for them to remember the captivity in the future but not in association with one of YHVH’s most positive prophecies. He did not want them to connect any more prophecies about them or the future with the Babylonian exile. That was over and He was moving them forward.

The third reason for skipping the 10th month to prophesy in the 11th month was for the purpose of reassurance for the upcoming Feast of Unleavened Bread in about 6 weeks. They need not worry about war in Persia, as there had been a couple of uprisings from 522 BC to 520 BC, or even any further harassment from the Samaritans interrupting the Feast. Later on, I will show you how we know these timelines.

HORSES KEEPING THE PEACE

Zechariah 1:8  “I had a vision in the night, and behold, a man riding on a red [Hebrew ‘adom’, Strong’s H122, Greek ‘purrhos’, Strong’s G4450] horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in a ravine; and behind him there were red [Hebrew ‘adom’, Strong’s H122, Greek ‘purrhos’, Strong’s G4450], brown [Hebrew ‘saruq’, Strong’s H8320, Greek ‘poikilos’, Strong’s G4164], and white horses [Hebrew ‘laban’, Strong’s H3836, Greek ‘leukos’, Strong’s G3022].

I will dissect these horses in the Hebrew and Greek because of people’s comparisons of them to the Book of Revelation which is written in Greek. And I can do this because Zechariah is also written in Greek in the Septuagint translation.

The red horse was in the lead but he was not alone. He had with him 2 other colors of horses of an unknown number that is not disclosed to us. We only know there were many horses because of the plural word “horses”. There was not 1 red horse, 1 brown horse and 1 white horse. No, there were many of each color. And each color symbolizes something. These are not the same 4 horses as in Revelation 6, which are white, red, black and green, in that order. Here in Zechariah 1:8 there are only 3 horses and only 2 of these colors are repeated in Revelation.

The Zechariah 1:8 horses have an entirely different purpose than those in Revelation. Red horses can be still after a war (meaning “keeping the peace”) or actively going to a war. Again, these are 2 different actions. The red (Hebrew ‘adom’, Strong’s H122; Greek ‘purrhos’, Strong’s G4450) horse in Zechariah 1:8 is keeping the peace. In Revelation 6:4 , the red horse (Hebrew ‘adom’, Strong’s H122; Greek ‘purrhos’, Strong’s G4450) is removing peace. By the way, in Zechariah and Revelation are the only 2 places where these red horses appear. I will elaborate on that a little later.

Zechariah’s red horse was continuing to monitor the situation surrounding the 520 BC Jews. The red horse had led the brown and white horses in continuing to patrol the earth for signs of uprisings and rebellions against Cyrus.

YHVH’s red horse with its rider was Cyrus’s strength in order to protect the Jews. More on that in a minute.

Now, the brown horse. The symbolic meaning of the “brown”, “speckled”, “spotted”, “sorrel” or “chestnut” horses, in whatever English translation you are reading, means that conditions had been, past tense, sort of mixed in Persia and Samaria politically. This is the reason for the constant patrolling of YHVH’s horses. They are monitoring and defeating all uprisings and rebellions, 2 of which, again, happened in Persia in 522 and 521 BC. The Jews would have understood this. They would have been comforted by this vision of horses at rest. They would be safe to continue their rebuilding project.

The brown horse is translated wrongly using the words “speckled” or “spotted”. That brings to mind European and North American horses. “Brown”, “sorrel” and “chestnut” are better translations. Actual spotted horses like North American or European horses were uncommon, even rare, in the Near East at that time. The more common Near East horse body ranged from tan to dark brown or dark reddish brown, but its head (which can have a white patch on the muzzle), ears, mane, tail and lower legs were most often dark brown.

Now let’s look at the white horses which symbolize peace. There had been “brown horse” uprisings, but now, everything is still. The white horse is there to agree, as a 2nd witness to the red horse, that there is peace, actual peace so the Jews can keep working on the temple.

THE HORSE UNDER MESSIAH

The red horse, the war horse, had a man riding on it which was the “Angel of the LORD” aka the “Angel of YHVH” aka the “commander of YHVH’s army” and a few other terms. This is called a “theophany”. It involves the appearance of pre-incarnate Yeshua on the earth, something which was common in the Old Testament.  

The other horses did not have riders. His one red horse was the only one with a rider. He commands all the horses and they do His bidding without riders. The red horse harks back to Isaiah’s prophecy of Cyrus’s success in overthrowing Babylon which came from Yeshua on His red horse. His red horse rode into war with Cyrus. How do I know this since Isaiah did not prophesy about red horses?

Isaiah 45:1  Yahweh says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him, and strip kings of their armor; to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut:
Isaiah 45:2  “I will go before you, and make the rough places smooth. I will break the doors of brass in pieces, and cut apart the bars of iron.

YHVH went before Cyrus and his army just as He did when He went before Israel in the Exodus and when they crossed the Jordan river with Joshua.

Isaiah 45:3  I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that it is I, Yahweh, who call you by your name, even the God of Israel.
Isaiah 45:4  For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel my chosen, I have called you by your name. I have given you a title, though you have not known me.
Isaiah 45:5  I am Yahweh, and there is no one else. Besides me, there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not known me;
Isaiah 45:6  that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is no one besides me. I am Yahweh, and there is no one else.

Cyris is the only Gentile ruler to be prophesied about by name, a prophecy coming about 150 years before his birth. That was Yeshua on His red war horse going before Cyrus and his army and it is the same horse and rider He showed to Zechariah. Cyrus even said “YHVH, the God of heaven, has given all the kingdoms of the earth to me” in Ezra 1:2 and 2 Chronicles 36:23.

THE ZERUBBABEL CONNECTION

The red horses only appear in Zechariah and Revelation. This is another confirmation that Zerubbabel was tied to the Book of Revelation and could have been Yeshua’s messenger to John in Revelation 1:1 and John’s “brother” in Yeshua in Revelation 22:9.

THE MYRTLE

The red horse rider was shown in Zechariah 1:8 in association with the myrtle tree. Myrtle branches are associated with Sukkot. The myrtle also has a special meaning in symbolism. Let’s read the commandment about Sukkot.  

Leviticus 23:40  You shall take on the first day the fruit of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before Yahweh your God seven days.
Leviticus 23:41  You shall keep it as a feast to Yahweh seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations. You shall keep it in the seventh month.
Leviticus 23:42  You shall dwell in temporary shelters for seven days. All who are native-born in Israel shall dwell in temporary shelters,
Leviticus 23:43  that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in temporary shelters, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.’”

Myrtles are not mentioned specifically in the commandment to keep Sukkot. So where does the myrtle being used at Sukkot come from?

Nehemiah 8:13  On the second day, the heads of fathers’ households of all the people, the priests, and the Levites were gathered together to Ezra the scribe, to study the words of the law.
Nehemiah 8:14  They found written in the law how Yahweh had commanded by Moses that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month;
Nehemiah 8:15  and that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the mountain, and get olive branches, branches of wild olive, myrtle branches, palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make temporary shelters, as it is written.”

This was at Sukkot. From where did Nehemiah understand the use of myrtles at Sukkot? Why did he send the Jews out to get, among the other species, myrtle branches? It is because probably this had been the understanding in the time of the first temple. The Jews were just doing what they had been doing before the Babylonian captivity.

It was Isaiah, who prophesied in first temple times, that gave us the symbolic definition of the myrtle, and it has a significant meaning.

Isaiah 55:13  Instead of the thorn the cypress tree will come up; and instead of the brier the myrtle tree will come up: and it will make a name for Yahweh, for an everlasting sign that will not be cut off.”

The myrtle is the sign of that which is everlasting, eternal, and pre-incarnate Yeshua among the myrtles prophesies that something everlasting, eternal, will come from what the 520 BC Jews are doing. He is overseeing the temple’s reconstruction Himself to ensure their success.

He is also sealing His own fate. Five hundred years into the future, He will be born through the very temple they were rebuilding under His very own supervision for the purpose of implementing His everlasting, eternal sacrifice made from the foundation of the world, in Heaven outside of time, which He fulfilled on the earth in the 1^st century on the Cross. Yeshua was there, with the 520 BC Jews, to make sure that happened!

The profoundness of this cannot be overstated.

THE RAVINE

Then we also see that He is in the ravine.

Zechariah 1:8  “I had a vision in the night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in a ravine; and behind him there were red, brown, and white horses.

The Greek Septuagint renders Zechariah 1:8 differently than the Masoretic text.

Zechariah 1:8  I saw by night, and behold a man mounted on a red horse, and he stood between the shady mountains… -Brenton Septuagint.

Most English versions say “ravine” for the Hebrew word ‘metsullah’, Strong’s H4699. The ravine, or shady place, He was probably in was the Kidron Valley where myrtles grew in abundance between 2 mountains: the Mount of Olives and Temple Mount.

It was on Temple Mount that the builders were working. But here was see Yeshua, on the red horse, drawing these 2 mountains together by standing in the Kidron Valley, the place of “shadiness”, which has its own prophetic value. 

We know that His life and death happened on both of these mountains. So, Him seated on His red horse which stood between those two mountains was a prophecy that almost no one understands. The commentaries I read use the ravine as a symbol of Yeshua’s humility. No, it is more than that! It is a prophecy about His very life yet to come in a human body.

We know how important this is because the word ‘metsullah’ only appears once – here. Its root word, ‘tsalal’ (Strong’s H6751) means “hovering over; to shade, as twilight or an opaque object, begin to be dark, shadowing”. One aspect of what happened on the Mount of Olives and Temple Mount at the crucifixion was that Yeshua ended up in a dark place, the place where dead believers were. Thus, He was prophesying His death by standing between those 2 mountains.  

The other symbolic meaning is that He has come from that place where we cannot go, the realm beyond this physical world which is YHVH’s Heavenly one. Perhaps the Kidron Valley is an entry point from His Heavenly realm.

‘Metsullah’ has symbolisms that can only apply to Yeshua, and the word does so in many different ways.

A QUESTION TO THE MAN ON THE RED HORSE                                                                                                                                                                       

Zechariah 1:9  Then I asked, ‘My lord, what are these?’” The angel who talked with me said to me, “I will show you what these are.”
Zechariah 1:10  The man who stood among the myrtle trees answered, “They are the ones Yahweh has sent to go back and forth through the earth.”
Zechariah 1:11  They reported to Yahweh’s angel who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, “We have walked back and forth through the earth, and behold, all the earth is at rest and in peace.”

I already identified YHVH’s Angel as Yeshua in His warrior and commander aspect of the Heavenly army. Yeshua, as the Angel of YHVH/commander of the heavenly host now reports that his mission was to keep peace in Persia, which Samaria was now part of, by continued patrolling of the entire Persian geographical area. The patrols had been successful and there was now ‘shaqat’ (Strong’s H8252), “peace”. The uprisings of 522 BC and 521 BC had been put down and everything was well again.

This was the reassurance the 520 BC Jews needed to be comfortable moving forward with the reconstruction. That is the reason for this particular vision to Zechariah. The Jews needed to be reassured by YHVH that there would be no more trouble while they worked.

This was not a prophetic tie to the Tribulation. It was only for them, in that day, although the principle of it has profound application in our own lives that strengthens us to move ahead with His instructions. He will always be there to guard us, as well, but this prophesy’s main purpose was reassurance to the 520 BC Jews.

YHVH SPEAKING TO YHVH

Zechariah 1:12  Then Yahweh’s angel replied, “O Yahweh of Armies, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which you have had indignation these seventy years?”

Here we have another theological term: binitarianism; YHVH speaking to YHVH. We have this in Genesis 19:24 and Psalms 110:1. It is also found in the New Testament in Matthew 11:25-26, 26:36-44 and Matthew 27:46, Mark 14:32-39 and 15:34, Luke 10:21, 22:39-46, Luke 23:34 and 46, John 11:41-42, John 12:27-28, John 17:1-26.

Binitarianism also goes the other way when the Father speaks to or about the Son in Matthew 3:17 and 17:5, Mark 1:11 and Mark 9:7, Luke 3:22, 9:35 and 20:13. Those are the places when the Father calls Yeshua His beloved Son.

Zechariah was no stranger to this concept. He didn’t cry out saying, “Oh no! God cannot speak to Himself”! Zechariah knew who the Angel of YHVH was. How do we know Zechariah knew who was on that horse? This concept of binitarianism was an ancient first temple concept. The Israelites did not use the word ‘binitarianism’. But they understood the concept from Genesis 18, Exodus 23:20–21, Joshua 5:13-15 and Judges 13 in the account of Samson’s mother and father.

Binitarianism also explains the Father and the Son appearing together as 2 different figures that don’t speak directly to each other such as in Daniel 7:9-14. It was only in the later centuries AD that rabbinic authorities discouraged the doctrine of binitarianism because Christians used it to support Yeshua being God.

Jewish philosopher, Phyllo, taught this doctrine in the 1^st centuries BC and AD, as well. He lived from 20 BC to 40 AD. So, while so many people, Jews and others who reject Yeshua as God, we know that first temple Jews and the 1^st century Jews understood binitarianism as evidence of God showing up in 2 different places. So don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Judaism doctrine changed this understanding centuries after the Cross and only to reject Yeshua. Not because someone had a sudden insight that binitarianism is wrong and they could prove it.

Binitarianism, YHVH speaking to YHVH (God speaking to God) is one of many ways that we know Yeshua is God! His Father is God; the Son is God. Both are God together, united, echad. That is what ‘echad’ means. Two that became a unit: ‘echad’.

Zechariah 1:13  Yahweh [the Father, YHVH of Armies, in Heaven] answered the angel [pre-incarnate Yeshua, the messenger on the red horse] who talked with me [Zechariah] with kind and comforting words.
Zechariah 1:14  So the angel [pre-incarnate Yeshua] who talked with me said to me, “Proclaim, saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies says: “I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.

True to form then, YHVH of Armies (pre-incarnate Yeshua) got His instructions directly from His Father, YHVH of Armies in Heaven, who said:

Zechariah 1:15  I am very angry with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, but they added to the calamity.”

YHVH’s displeasure with the Jews was temporary but the heathen had wreaked more havoc with the Jews than YHVH had ordained. Man always brings greater punishment that YHVH does in His mercy. This is why David asked YHVH not to let him fall into the hands of men (2 Samuel 24:14 and 1 Chronicles 21:13) after he performed the unlawful census.

Zechariah 1:16  Therefore Yahweh says: “I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy. My house shall be built in it,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and a line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem.”’

THE HORNS AND CRAFTSMEN

Zechariah 1:17  “Proclaim further, saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies says: “My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and Yahweh will again comfort Zion, and will again choose Jerusalem.”’”

Why was this declaration necessary? YHVH had renewed the covenant with them through Haggai and Zechariah’s earlier words but the choice of capital had not been stipulated at that time. It was only implied because of where the Jews were – in Jerusalem.

The 520 BC Jews needed to have it reinforced in them that they were rebuilding YHVH’s own selected capital city again! Why did the need this declaration, this selection?

Think about what might have been going through their minds; the question that was uppermost in their heads as they worked. They may have been thinking there was the possibility that YHVH would choose a different capital because He had done that before. He might relocate the capital as He had done when the earlier capital, Shiloh, had failed.

Then Jerusalem had failed. It may have been in their thoughts that another capital would be chosen by YHVH. No! His choice is Jerusalem! The Jews need not have worried about this. YHVH was reestablishing His capital with their help!

With that explanation out of the way, and the Jews comforted that their work would not be for nothing, YHVH gave them their next vision.

HORNS AND CARPENTERS

There had been some horns, some nations, that He had used to punish and scatter His people.

The next prophecy is about the solution to that problem. 

Zechariah 1:18  I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, four horns.
Zechariah 1:19  I asked the angel [pre-incarnate Yeshua] who talked with me, “What are these?” He answered me, “These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”

Who scattered Judah? Babylon and Egypt.

Who scattered Israel? Assyria.

Who keeps the Jews scattered now? Persia.

The horns, nations, which scattered YHVH’s people were, in order: Assyria, Egypt, Babylon and Persia.

Why is Egypt in this list when Egypt had not attacked Israel like those other nations listed? Because some of the Jews scurried out of Jerusalem and settled in Egypt before Babylon finished the captivity. You can read about that in Jeremiah 41 to 44.

This vision had 2 parts. One part to identify the 4 unruly horns, or unruly nations, and then to identify what it was that would defeat those nations. It turns out that their defeat had something to do with carpenters.

Zechariah 1:20  Yahweh showed me four craftsmen.
Zechariah 1:21  Then I asked, “What are these coming to do?” He said, “These are the horns which scattered Judah, so that no man lifted up his head; but these [the craftsmen] have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations, which lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.”

The Hebrew word for “terrify” is ‘charad’ (Strong’s H2729). Its root word means to “shake”, as in shaking things up. It means to “discomfit” or make those horns uncomfortable with the Jews rebuilding the temple even as those same nations were riled up and powerless to do anything about it. They had to watch, powerless, as carpenters, not a great Jewish army, went about doing God’s will!

What “discomfited” the nations about that? In those days, when a god was overthrown, he was overthrown and done. He was not just overthrown. He was done! But YHVH did something no other god had ever done: He arose again and had started rebuilding His House! YHVH was rising again, and then, in 500 years, Yeshua would come and rise out of His grave. No matter what men do, they cannot keep our God in His grave! He just keeps returning! Today, we see how the beast nations are doing everything in the power to prevent another return!

YHVH of Armies’ Jews were just quietly rebuilding what Babylon had destroyed under the supervision of 4 chosen carpenters: Zerubbabel and Joshua, and coming in another 60 years, Ezra and Nehemiah.

And there was nothing the nations could do about it! Assyria had been defeated. They and their gods were gone. Egypt was defeated, again, and their gods were gone or amounted to nothing even though Egypt was still in operation. Egypt was powerless to stop the rebuilding. Babylon had been defeated and was gone and their gods were also defeated. Persia did not want to stop the rebuilding but about 90% of the Jewish population remained in Persia. They had not returned to Jerusalem. And unfortunately, Persia’s gods found themselves in the Jewish Kabbalah and the Zohar.

And then there was the Samaritans. They were not a nation and were not one of the horns, but they had harassed the Jews. This also was going to stop for the duration of the rebuilding because Persian King Darius I issued a decree to that effect (Ezra 6:1-12) in 520 BC.

Ezra 6:1  Then Darius the king made a decree…

Ezra 6:12  May the God who has caused his name to dwell there overthrow all kings and peoples who stretch out their hand to alter the same, to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem. I Darius have made a decree. Let it be done with all diligence.

The 520 BC Jews rebuilt the temple in peace because Yeshua, on His red horse, put a stop to all harassment of them!

THE SINGLE CRAFTSMAN

It is no accident that YHVH used the symbolism of the carpenters because, in about 500 years, He was going to send pre-incarnate Yeshua to incarnate in a human body who would be a carpenter. He would be just like those Jews who had rebuilt YHVH’s temple.

He wasn’t going to rebuild the stone temple, though. It was already complete and in the hands of the Roman empire when He came the first time. So what was He building? The temple without hands!

Mark 14:58  “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.’”

If you have not listened to my teaching on the temple without hands as prophesied by Zechariah, you should listen to it. It is in part 3 of the teaching series.

SUMMARY

Zechariah’s visions in the night of the 24th day of the 11th month show us 2 aspects of our God and King. And good it is that we are studying this on Yom Teruah 2026, the day that prophesies of the crowning of our God and King over all the earth! There are no accidents with YHVH!

Psalms 37:23  A man’s steps are established by Yahweh. He delights in his way.

Romans 8:28  We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.

Yeshua, YHVH of Armies, was the protector over the Jews of 520 BC and He would soon be the carpenter who would single-handedly rebuild His temple, the one made without hands, which is the one He will ride from Heaven to earth again to protect at the end of the Tribulation! This was the ultimate purpose of the rebuilding of the second temple and was the thing He was explaining to them and to us.

The promise of His eternal salvation and protection of His people is all over this passage.