By the REV. ALEXANDER STEWART, EDINBURGH.
I. The Rider among the Myrtle Trees.—Zech i. 7-17.
WE have seen that Zechariah’s message begins with words of stern and solemn warning. It is a message whose successive aspects are suited to the varying circumstances of the people to whom it is directly addressed. They needed, first of all, a sharp reminder of their duty in connection with the Lord’s work. They needed a deeper sense of responsibility, a livelier and more active zeal. This end is now regarded as attained. The warning has taken effect. With consciences quickened by that Word which is “sharper than any two-edged sword,” and hearts in which the fire of devotion has been rekindled, the people have set their face again on the work they had so long neglected, and the walls of the second Temple are beginning to rise.
Then the character of the prophet’s message completely changes. It is no longer stern and threatening: it is tender and full of encouragement. It is adapted to the altered circumstances which are the result of the people’s obedience. They are engaged in a peculiarly trying work. They have returned to a land which they have found a wilderness. They are labouring among ruins which tell of the departed glory. They are a feeble people, comparatively few in numbers and largely destitute of resources. They are surrounded with strong and malicious enemies, who have opposed their work already, and who will as surely oppose it again. And to crown all they are harassed with disquieting inward fears. How can they in their weakness expect to build a Temple worthy to take the place of their former “holy and beautiful House?” Will God dwell among them in this new sanctuary as in the days of old? Will he accept the work of their hands? He is a jealous God. That at least they have learned from the long years of exile. In a word, this was their situation, “Without were fightings, within were fears.”
It is to meet those manifold difficulties that the first half of the prophecies of Zechariah are directed. The Lord vouchsafed unto him in the course of a single night, in what particular form of manifestation we need not too curiously enquire, a series of visions, eight in all, which when interpreted to the people were designed to strengthen their hands and minister hope and comfort to their hearts in view both of dangers without and perplexities within.
The first three visions form a group by themselves. They have respect to outward troubles, arising from the hostility of enemies and the magnitude of the work itself. They convey to the weak and defenceless remnant the strongest assurances that God will remove every external obstacle that stands in the way of the growth and prosperity of his own Church.
Let us look at the first of these, the vision of the Horseman in the myrtle grove. During the silence of night there appeared to the rapt eye of the prophet a valley, at the bottom of which there grew a clump of myrtle trees. Among the myrtles stood a rider on a red horse. It is this still figure that arrests the prophet’s gaze and dominates the scene. Behind him were other riders, some on red horses, some on speckled, or bay, and some on white.
Before proceeding further, let us seek to understand the symbolism of these appearances. First of all, then, “the myrtle trees which were in the bottom;” do they not fittingly represent the Church of God in the condition in which it was then placed? The myrtle stands in Scripture for the fruit of the Spirit. Instead of the thorn there shall come up the fir tree and instead of the brier there shall come up the myrtle tree. It is lowly, yet beautiful and fragrant, and its leaf is ever green. Here you have not only a lowly shrub, but a lowly situation. The myrtles were in a hollow, which appears to have been surrounded with hills. How appropriately this suggests the adverse circumstances in which the obedient remnant were at that time situated. They would have felt that they were “brought very low,” sojourning indeed in a valley of Baca. And round them on every side rise the towering hills, not in friendly strength, as the mountains are round about Jerusalem, but in hostile confederacy, menacing their life. Such was the attitude of the surrounding nations.
But who is this mysterious horseman that stands “in the midst” of the myrtles? To that question there can be but one answer. It is the Lord Jesus Christ. To Him alone can the description given fitly be applied. First of all He is called a man, then the Angel of Jehovah, and last of all Jehovah Himself, for it is He who is to be understood as also the speaker in the 13th verse. This is the man who is God’s Fellow, who then too, as now, was Mediator between God and men, and was wont to appear to His Church in human form. He is riding upon a red horse. The colour is significant. It speaks of war. He is a Warrior, this horseman, and a Leader and Commander of warriors; for behind Him stand other riders, some on red horses, the instruments of His vengeance, some on white, the messengers of peace, and others on speckled horses, signifying that in their mission judgment and mercy are blended.
“His state
Is kingly: thousands at His bidding speed,
And post o’er land and ocean without rest.”
Here, then, is the first element of encouragement in the vision. The Church is weak and oppressed, her enemies are numerous and powerful, she seems likely to fall an easy prey to their hate; but Christ is in the midst of the Church, and therefore “she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.” As John saw Him in Patmos, “walking among the seven golden candlesticks,” so to Zechariah, also “in the spirit,” He appears among the myrtle trees, ever watchful of His people’s circumstances, guiding their destinies, ready to interfere at any moment on their behalf. He may have seemed neglectful, uninterested, holding aloof from their affairs: Zion may have been saying “The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me,” but here He is represented as ever standing in their very midst, with their walls continually before Him. He possesses numerous agents who scour the whole earth hither and thither, fulfilling His pleasure. He is the great Commander; and those other riders are the swift and strong instruments that carry out His designs. Does He see fit to strike a blow at the enemy, to thwart their plans, or restrain their violence, or punish their sins, then behind Him
“Bright harnessed angels stand in order serviceable;”
they of the red horses, whose mission is associated with judgment. Has the time come to favour Zion? does she need comfort and strength? does He wish to turn His hand in mercy and loving-kindness “upon the little ones?” there are the men of the white horses not less able and willing to obey his behests. Does He desire information regarding the enemy, the extent of his resources, or his plan of attack, or the disposition of his forces? then here too is his Intelligence Department, keen-eyed emissaries who “walk to and fro through the earth,” noticing every detail, anticipating every move, and speeding back to report to their Lord. In short, we have here the symbols of resistless might and unfailing knowledge. Christ has a mighty arm, both to smite the wicked and to succour the righteous; He watches over the interests of His people with a sleepless eye, and He is ever ready to intervene in their time of need.
The prophet now proceeds to narrate the explanation he received of these appearances. By him stood an angel, who acted the part of an interpreter. Of him he asked about the riders in the myrtles, and the man on the red horse himself furnishes the information. “These are they,” he says, “whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.” These messengers now hand in their report; they have been to and fro through the earth, and this is what they have to say regarding its condition—“Behold all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.”
These words refer to the condition of the heathen world, particularly the nations that were round about the chosen people. They sat still and were at rest. They appeared to enjoy peace and prosperity: they “sat still” in the midst of plenty, they were “at rest” in the consciousness of strength and security. What a contrast between their condition and that of the Jews—the one flourishing and powerful, the other feeble and afflicted, and tossed with disabling fears. This was a contrast of which the Jews would have been painfully conscious. It doubtless added to their perplexity. Their enemies had peace and plenty; they had trouble and want. Did God know, and was there knowledge in the Most High? If He had a favour unto them, would He have dealt with them so?
But here we have an assurance which is designed to answer this troubled questioning. The Lord does know. Here are His messengers who have returned, and are representing to Him all the facts of the case. He knows the contrast; let them not be afraid that their way is hid from the Lord.
But more than that, He acts on His knowledge. The man on the red horse, who is here called the Angel of the Lord, now assumes the part of Intercessor. He is not unmoved by the intelligence which has been communicated to Him, and He makes it the subject of an appeal to Heaven. “O Lord of Hosts, how long wilt Thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which Thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years.” Here is further encouragement. Christ is not a passive spectator of His Church’s affairs. He is actively pleading her cause, and the voice of His intercession “rises like a fountain for her night and day.” He is ever an advocate with the Father, presenting her case in the Court of Heaven. “How long,” He cries, “will this condition of things endure, the Church afflicted, and the world at ease. ‘Tis time Thou work, Lord; this height of the world’s prosperity and this depth of the Church’s adversity call alike to Thy justice and Thy mercy.”
The Intercessor prevails. The result of His pleading is that He is able to speak to the interpreting angel “with good words and comfortable words;” and these words the angel in turn conveys to the prophet. Zechariah is commanded to deliver to the people a message which may be said to embody the substance of the vision. Let us briefly glance at the leading points in these “good and comfortable words.”
(a) “The Lord is jealous for Jerusalem and Zion with a great jealousy.”
Let them not think that He views with indifference their sorrows and their dangers. However much their outward circumstances might seem to point to a different conclusion, yet they are very near to God’s heart. He that touches them touches the apple of his eye. Them only has He known of all the families of the earth, and their very afflictions are an evidence of His love. They may seem to have been given over to their enemies’ will, and to have been allowed to waste away in utter neglect; but in God’s heart the fire of a great jealousy has been continually burning, and His loving hand has been about them when they knew it not.
(b) He is “very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease.”
So little is worldly prosperity to be regarded as an evidence of divine favour. The heathen seemed prosperous and secure, but God is sore displeased with them; the Church is afflicted and tossed with tempest, but God is jealous for her with the jealousy of a great love. The heathen had exceeded the bounds of their commission. “I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.” The meaning of these words is rather difficult to express. “In a little wrath” the Lord had given over His people into the hands of the heathen, because of their own unfaithfulness; the Assyrian was the rod of His anger; but the cruelty and oppression of the heathen had exceeded the measure of the divine chastisement. “In all the wantonness of insult and outrage, they had aggravated the affliction to the utmost limit of their power.”
(c) He is “returned to Jerusalem with mercies.”
The time to favour her is come. The winter of her desolation is past, the rain of her chastisement is over and gone. Not alone have the Jews come back to Jerusalem: the Lord has returned also, and dwells in their midst. And the Temple shall be built; let them have no misgivings on that point; other hands than theirs have been at the laying of the foundations, and those same hands shall also finish it. The line also shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem; the designer and the builder have their work to do to restore its former glories. The land shall enjoy prosperity. New cities shall spring up throughout its length and breadth, and the Lord shall comfort Zion, and manifest that He hath desired Jerusalem “for His habitation.”
The truths taught in this vision are of abiding comfort for the Church of Christ. She is still in the valley surrounded by the frowning hills. She still seems afflicted and forsaken, while the world prospers and is at ease. But let us not forget the man on the red horse. He has not yet left His post. Still there He stands, and His eye has not grown dim with watching, nor His heart weary with waiting. He still knows all the phases of her changing need, He still pleads her case before His Father’s throne; and when the time to favour her shall have come, He will again appear in His glory, and turn the shadow of death into the morning.