Zechariah 6:5

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

These: Zechariah 1:10, Zechariah 1:11, Psalms 68:17, Psalms 104:3, Psalms 104:4, Ezekiel 1:5-28, Ezekiel 10:9-19, Ezekiel 11:22, Hebrews 1:7, Hebrews 1:14, Revelation 14:6-13

spirits: or, winds, 1 Kings 19:11, Psalms 148:8, Daniel 7:2

go: Zechariah 4:10, 1 Kings 22:19, 2 Chronicles 18:18, 2 Chronicles 18:19, Job 1:6, Job 2:1, Job 2:2, Daniel 7:10, Matthew 18:10, Luke 1:19

the Lord: Zechariah 4:14, Isaiah 54:5

Reciprocal: Joshua 3:11 - the Lord Daniel 9:22 - he informed Micah 4:13 - the Lord of Zechariah 1:9 - the angel Zechariah 3:7 - I will Revelation 1:4 - from the

Cross-References

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

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 6:9
This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God.

Genesis 6:19
And you are to bring two of every living thing into the ark-male and female-to keep them alive with you.

Genesis 6:20
Two of every kind of bird and animal and crawling creature will come to you to be kept alive.

Genesis 6:21
You are also to take for yourself every kind of food that is eaten and gather it as food for yourselves and for the animals."

Genesis 8:21
When the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, He said in His heart, "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from his youth. And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done.

Genesis 13:13
But the men of Sodom were wicked, sinning greatly against the LORD.

Deuteronomy 29:19
because when such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself, saying, 'I will have peace, even though I walk in the stubbornness of my own heart.' This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the angel answered and said unto me,.... In order to grant him his request, and explain the vision of the chariots:

these [are] the four spirits of the heavens; or, "the four winds of the heavens"; the apostles and ministers of the Gospel may be compared to "the winds", because their ministry is the ministration of the Spirit, which is like wind that blows invisibly, powerfully, and where it listeth; and because in and by it the Spirit breathes life and comfort into the souls of men; and because of the powerful efficacy and penetrating nature of the word preached by them, and their swiftness and readiness to do the will of God: angels are called "spirits" or "winds", Psalms 104:3 they are created spirits, and so differ from God; are incorporeal ones, and so differ from men; and are immaterial and immortal, and so die not: they are spiritual subsistences, and spirits of the heavens, or heavenly spirits; heaven being the place of their abode and residence; and they may be compared to "winds", for their invisibility, wonderful penetration into places and things, their very great swiftness, and prodigious power and strength. The Targum paraphrases the words thus,

"these are the four kingdoms, which are as the winds of heaven;''

and so the same are signified by the four winds in Daniel 7:2 to which they may be compared for their swift and forcible carrying all before them, and for their fickleness and changeableness; and to which, the several parts of the world, into which they went, agree:

which go forth, from standing before the Lord of all the earth: so the apostles of Christ, and ministers of the Gospel, stood before him in his eternal purposes and decrees from everlasting; and went forth, having their commission from him in time; and were sent by him into the several parts of the world he is the Lord of; and by whom they were filled with gifts, grace, and courage, fitting them for their work. Angels also stand before him, ministering unto him; always behold him; are in his presence, and enjoy his favour; and go forth from him, being sent forth by him on various accounts into all the parts of the world; which Jehovah is the Creator, Upholder, and Governor of: moreover, this is applicable to the four monarchies; these stood before the Lord in his vast and infinite mind; in the secret decrees of it, before the world was; and the sending and going forth of them from him show that they were powers ordained of God, who has the government of the whole world in his hands.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

These are the four spirits of the heavens - They cannot be literal winds: for spirits, not winds, stand before God, as His servants, as in Job, “the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord” (Job 1:6; Job 2:1. This they did, (Jerome), “for these four kingdoms did nothing without the will of God.” Zechariah sums up in one, what former prophets had said separately of the Assyrian, the Babylonian, Egyptian, Persian. “O Assyria, the rod of Mine anger - I will send him against an ungodly nation, and against the people of My wrath I will give him a charge” Isaiah 10:5. “I will send and take all the families of the north, and Nebuchadrezzar, the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land” Jeremiah 25:9. “The Lord shall hiss for the fly, that is in the uttermost part of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria, and they shall come, and shall rest, all of them, in the desolate valleys” Isaiah 7:18-19. “I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the Lord; and they shall come, and shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem” Jeremiah 1:15. Whatever the human impulse or the human means, all stand before the Lord of the whole earth, ministering to His will whose are all things, the Judge of all, who withholdeth the chastisement till the iniquity is full, and then, through man’s injustice, executes His own just judgment. Osorius: “He says that they went forth from where they had stood before the Lord of the whole earth, to show that their power had been obtained by the counsel of God, that they might serve His will. For no empire was ever set up on earth without the mind, counsel and power of God. He exalts the humble and obscure, He prostrates the lofty, who trust overmuch in themselves, arms one against the other, so that no fraud or pride shall be without punishment.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Zechariah 6:5. The four spirits of the heavens — Ministers of God's wrath against the sinful nations of the world.