Zechariah 6:2

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹And again I lifted up my eyes and saw four chariots coming out from between two mountains-mountains of bronze. ²The first chariot had red horses, the second black horses,³the third white horses, and the fourth dappled horses-all of them strong. ⁴So I inquired of the angel who was speaking with me, "What are these, my lord?" ⁵And the angel told me, "These are the four spirits of heaven, going out from their station before the Lord of all the earth. ⁶The one with the black horses is going toward the land of the north, the one with the white horses toward the west, and the one with the dappled horses toward the south." ⁷As the strong horses went out, they were eager to go and patrol the earth; and the LORD said, "Go, patrol the earth." So they patrolled the earth. ⁸Then the LORD summoned me and said, "Behold, those going to the land of the north have given rest to My Spirit in the land of the north."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

red: Zechariah 1:8, Revelation 6:2-5, Revelation 12:3, Revelation 17:3

black: Zechariah 6:6, Revelation 6:5, Revelation 6:6

Reciprocal: Nahum 2:3 - made Revelation 6:4 - horse

Cross-References

Genesis 3:6
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

Genesis 4:26
And to Seth also a son was born, and he called him Enosh. At that time men began to invoke the name of the LORD.

Genesis 6:1
Now when men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born to them,

Genesis 6:2
the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they took as wives whomever they chose.

Genesis 6:3
So the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days shall be 120 years."

Genesis 6:4
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and afterward as well, when the sons of God had relations with the daughters of men. And they bore them children who became the mighty men of old, men of renown.

Genesis 6:6
And the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

Genesis 6:7
So the LORD said, "I will blot out man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth-every man and beast and crawling creature and bird of the air-for I am grieved that I have made them."

Genesis 6:8
Noah, however, found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

Genesis 6:12
And God looked upon the earth and saw that it was corrupt; for all living creatures on the earth had corrupted their ways.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

In the first chariot [were] red horses,.... If these are to be understood of the apostles of Christ, and ministers of the Gospel, they may be compared to "horses", for bearing the name of Christ, and drawing the chariot of the Gospel; for their strength to labour in the word and doctrine; for their courage in the cause of Christ; and for their swiftness in doing his work; and to "red" ones, for their flaming zeal for the honour of the Redeemer, and their bloody sufferings for his sake: and if of angels, they may be compared to "horses", because strong and swift to do the will of God; and to "red" ones, because they are the executioners of his wrath and vengeance on wicked men: but if by "the chariots" are meant the monarchies, then by these "red horses" must be designed the Babylonians and Chaldeans, so called because their soldiers were clothed in red, and their chariots were like flaming torches; and they were sanguinary, cruel, and bloody in their tempers, and in their actions to the Jews; and were signified by Nebuchadnezzar's head of gold in his image; see Nahum 2:3:

and in the second chariot black horses; which, applied to the apostles and ministers of the Gospel, may denote their mean and abject appearance outwardly, and their knowledge in the mysteries of grace, which are dark and obscure to others; and, if understood of angels, is applicable to them, when messengers of ill tidings, or executioners of judgment: but if the monarchies are meant, which seems best, the Medes and Persians are intended; and their "black" colour is expressive of the sorrowful estate of the Jews under them, especially in the time of Haman, as Jarchi and Kimchi observe: black horses were reckoned strong, well made, and fit for labour; and the Ethiopians and Moors chose to have their horses they used in war all of this colour, to strike the greater horror and terror into their enemies; and to see black horses in a dream was accounted a bad omen s. The Medes and Persians were a strong and warlike people, and were very terrible to their enemies, under Cyrus; and very troublesome and distressing to the Jews, under Cambyses and Ahasuerus.

s Vid. Bochart. Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 2. c. 7. col. 106, 107.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The symbol is different from that in the first vision. There Zechariah 1:8, they were horses only, with their riders, to go to and fro to enquire; here they are war-chariots with their horses, to execute God’s judgments, each in their turn. In the first vision also, there is not the characteristic fourfold division, which reminds of the four world-empires of Daniel Daniel 2:0; after which, in both prophets, is the mention of the kingdom of Christ. Even if the grisled horses be the same as the speckled of the first vision, the black horses are wanting there, as well as the succession, in which they go forth. The only resemblance is, that there are horses of divers colors, two of which, red and white, are the same. The symbol of the fourth empire, grizzled, strong, remarkably corresponds with the strength and mingled character of the fourth empire in Daniel.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Zechariah 6:2. In the first chariot were red horses] The empire of the Chaldeans, which overthrew the empire of the Assyrians.

The second chariot black horses — The empire of the Persians founded by Cyrus, which destroyed the empire of the Chaldeans.