I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Zechariah 1-6.

    I am not sure what to make of Zechariah’s vision of the horsemen, but I noticed something about it that never occurred to me before. Zechariah tells us that there was a man sitting on a red horse and that behind him were men on red, brown, and white horses (some translations translate the “brown” differently, but I don’t think that matters). Typically, we read that as four horsemen. However, I realized today that the wording does not limit the horsemen behind him to one on each color of horse. There may have been multiple men on red horses, multiple men on brown horses, and multiple men on white horses. At least, according to the way it reads in English. I am sure that our tendency to read this as four horsemen is the fact that in chapter six, Zechariah does refer to four chariots and the Book of Revelation refers to four horsemen.

    However, I want to focus on some of the Messianic prophecies in this passage. Actually, the first thing I want to focus on is not exactly a Messianic prophecy. Zechariah tells the people of Israel that God will send men against the nations who plundered them (the context implies the “men” being referred to are beings of great power and/or armies). Further, he tells them that those who harm the Children of Israel harm God’s most precious possession. Perhaps a more detailed study would prove me wrong, but my knowledge of history suggests that nations which have treated the Jewish people well have risen to great wealth and power, while those which treated them badly have suddenly fallen from positions of dominance. Now, the interesting thing is that this prophecy extends into a Messianic prophecy where Zechariah tells us that the day is coming (and I believe arrived with Jesus) that people from many nations will join themselves to the Lord, and those people will become God’s people just as the Children of Israel already were. While I believe that there is a special place in God’s heart for those who are descended from Jacob, I believe that those who choose to serve Christ are in that same place. God will adopt into His people all who accept the salvation which He offers.

    Then there is the metaphorical vision of God removing the sins from the priest Jeshua (I believe that this is a reference to someone who was a contemporary of Zechariah) and purifying him. Zechariah has a vision in which he sees the filthy and tattered clothes removed from Jeshua and replaced by clean, new garments. Those filthy and tattered clothes represent Jeshua’s sins and the new clothes represent the righteousness which God gives to him. Then Zechariah tells us that what God is doing for Jeshua the priest is a symbol of what He is going to do for everyone. If we allow, God will remove our sins from us and replace them with righteousness. Just remember, that just as our sins were actions we took, so is the righteousness which God has given us. However, those actions represent not our righteousness, but God’s.