There are several similarities between this last vision and the first one (1:7-17) indicating a return to ideas introduced at the beginning of this chiastic series of revelations. Again there is a group of horses of various colors, but their order and colors are somewhat different. Zechariah mentioned a rider in vision one but no chariots, but in vision eight chariots without horsemen appear. There is a similar emphasis on the fact that Yahweh controls history and subdues the nations that oppress Israel.
"This last of the eight [visions] shares so much in common with the first that the two, at least, must be viewed as book ends enveloping the whole series."118
6:1 The next thing Zechariah saw in his night visions was four chariots coming out from between two bronze mountains.119Chariots were instruments of judgment, and bronze is a color that often carries this connotation in Scripture (cf. Exod. 27:2; Num. 21:9).120Bronze was used to defend against attackers (Isa. 45:2; Jer. 1:18), so perhaps impregnability is also in view.121Perhaps the mountains represent the gateway to heaven from which these agents of judgment come.122Another view is that they were Mount Zion and the Mount of Olives with the valley between being the Kidron Valley.123A third possibility is that they are the two parts of the Mount of Olives that will split apart when Messiah returns to the earth (cf. 14:1-8). Nevertheless they are "bronze."
6:2-3 The two horses pulling the first chariot were red. Black horses pulled the second chariot, white horses the third, and dappled horses the fourth. All of them were strong. These horses evidently represent angels who facilitate the work of other angels, represented by the chariots (cf. v. 5). The colors of the horses may symbolize various aspects of judgment, perhaps war and bloodshed in the case of the red horse, famine and death for the black, victory and triumph for the white (cf. 1:8; Rev. 19:11, 14), and plague and disease for the dappled (spotted; cf. Rev. 6:1-8).124
6:4-6 In response to the prophet's request for interpretation, his angel guide explained that the chariots represented the four spirits (winds, Heb. ruhoth) of heaven (i.e., angels), which were going forth having been in the presence of the Lord of all the earth (cf. 4:14). They were His messengers, the executors of His will (cf. Ps. 104:4). The chariot with the black horses went north from Jerusalem, the direction from which most of Israel's enemy invaders descended on the Promised Land (e.g., Babylonia; cf. Jer. 1:14; 4:6; 6:22; Ezek. 1:4). The chariot with the white horses went out next and evidently followed the previous one north. The one with the dappled horses headed south. Egypt lay to Israel's south, and it was another implacable enemy. Presumably the red horses went in the same direction.
Because of the geography of Palestine all of Israel's enemies came against her from the north or from the south; the Mediterranean Sea on the west and the Arabian Desert on the east prohibited major foreign invasions. Since the chariots went in compass directions we should probably understand their judgment to be universal (cf. 2:6; Jer. 49:36; Ezek. 37:9; Rev. 7:1). They went north and south out of Palestine, but they executed judgment in every direction. The total picture is of God executing His judgments against all nations that oppose Israel.
6:7 When these horses went out from between the bronze mountains they were eager to patrol the earth; they were anxious to carry out these judgments. The Lord gave them permission to patrol it, so they did.
"From first to last (cf. 1:10) the affairs of the nations are under God's direction, not man's. It is this certainty that makes prophecy possible."125
6:8 The Lord then called out to Zechariah that the horses that had gone out into the north had appeased His wrath in the land of the north. This probably represents judgment on Babylon specifically, but it probably hints at the total destruction of all enemies of Israel.
