Zechariah's Second Vision Series

“By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. 2 There on the poplars we hung our harps, 3 for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!' 4 How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land? 5 If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. 6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy. 7 Remember, Lord, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. “Tear it down,” they cried, “tear it down to its foundations!” 8 Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the one who repays you according to what you have done to us. 9 Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.”

From Psalm 137: 7 we might see Edom as one of the nations represented by the four horns in our text. Assyria scattered the ten northern tribes of Israel.v The phrase in Zechariah 1:18, “scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem” seems to include all 12 Tribes, even though focus narrows to Judah and more specifically Jerusalem.vi

Some identify the four horns with Daniel’s four beasts in Daniel 2 and 7. That would be Babylon, Medo-Persian, Greece, and Rome (with the ten toes Daniel 2 and ten horns in Daniel 7 representing the end-time kingdom during the Tribulation period). Certainly, Daniel’s prophecies point to the end-time, and Zechariah’s second vision probably does too.vii However, there are complications in identifying Zechariah’s four horns with those specific nations to the exclusion of all others. The general thrust of Daniel’s visions and Zechariah’s second vision are, nevertheless, compatible. The scattering of Israel was not limited to the 586 BC event. After Israel’s rejection of Christ (Messiah), Israel was scattered (Matt. 23-24).viii Rome was instrumental in that scattering and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Many have tried unsuccessfully to link the four horns to four particular nations.ix

In Zechariah’s day there would be a partial fulfillment of this prophecy that would happen “in a little while.” The Babylonians were punished by the Persians in the early phase of Darius’s reign.x But this second vision assures God’s people of all ages that their oppressors will be brought down in due time.xi Rome fell after abusing and scattering God’s people. The end-time Antichrist kingdom will fall as well (Dan. 2:40-45; Rev. 14). The principle of retribution on nations that mistreat God’s people flows throughout history.

Since the four horns are not identified with specific nations and are simply described as “horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter its people,” (Zech. 1:21), it is best to understand them as all nations that oppress God’s people, Israel as a nation and Christians.xii If knowing which nations are referenced were crucial, we would have been given that information.xiii Any nation that oppresses God’s people will fall. It happened to Germany in 1945. It will happen to America if she continues on her current course. This second vision is a warning to any nation that mistreats God’s people. This second vision is also a promise to God’s people that the persecution and oppression will not go unpunished. The means of God’s judgment is revealed in the second half of the vision.