Zechariah 6 King James Version (KJV)
6 And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass.
2 In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black horses;
3 And in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot grisled and bay horses.
4 Then I answered and said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these, my lord?
5 And the angel answered and said unto me, These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth.
6 The black horses which are therein go forth into the north country; and the white go forth after them; and the grisled go forth toward the south country.
7 And the bay went forth, and sought to go that they might walk to and fro through the earth: and he said, Get you hence, walk to and fro through the earth. So they walked to and fro through the earth.
8 Then cried he upon me, and spake unto me, saying, Behold, these that go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country.
9 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
10 Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah, which are come from Babylon, and come thou the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah;
11 Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest;
12 And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The Branch; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord:
13 Even he shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.
14 And the crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of the Lord.
15 And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the Lord, and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God.
Commentary
The crowning of Joshua (6:9-15)
Just as the setting up of the Messiah’s kingdom will be marked by the crowning of the Messiah as universal king, so the re-establishment of the nation Israel was marked by the crowning of Joshua. The crown was made from gold and silver brought from Babylon by some exiles who had recently arrived in Jerusalem (9-11).
A coronation of the high priest was unusual, but because the restored nation of Israel was still under Persian rule, a coronation of the Davidic prince Zerubbabel may have appeared to be an act of rebellion. But the Persians were not likely to object to a religious ceremony marking the restoration of Israel’s national life and the reconstruction of their temple.
Zechariah’s words, spoken on behalf of God, further indicate that the crown rightly belonged to Zerubbabel; for though the words were addressed to Joshua they applied to Zerubbabel. It was Zerubbabel, not Joshua, who was the ‘branch’ in David’s family tree, the royal descendant entitled to the throne of Israel. Joshua’s rightful place was as the high priest who assisted the civil ruler. The two men, because of the peaceful understanding between them, led the nation in the ways of God. Their joint rule fittingly foreshadowed the rule of the true ‘Branch’, the king-priest Messiah (12-13; cf. 3:8; see also notes on Hag 2:20-23).
The three recently returned exiles who supplied the gold and silver for the crown were apparently witnesses at the ceremony. The crowning took place in the house of their friend Josiah, and the crown was later placed in the completed temple in Jerusalem. There it was displayed as a memorial to those who gave it and as a symbolic guarantee of greater things to come (14-15).