Horses

Zechariah begins and ends with horses.  In the first night vision, the horses are in a glen (1:8ff).  They have returned from patrol, and the world is at peace.  That’s not good; sometimes peace is complacency and established evil, and war needs to begin.  By the end of the night visions, the horses are heading out “between the two bronze mountains” (6:1), and are heading out to conquer.

A similar scene ends the book – again there are two mountains, between which people pass (14:4-5), and again there are horses, holy horses wearing high priestly bells (14:20).  They are ready for holy war, ready to charge out between the mountains to ensure that no Canaanite is left in the house of Yahweh.

The whole process of Zechariah – temple building, restored priesthood, suffering and deliverance, the shepherd raised up and struck down, the city besieged and saved – all of it has the goal of preparing an army for Yahweh, horses who will patrol the earth, led by the One on the white horse who goes out conquering and to conquer.