By the REV. ALEXANDER STEWART, EDINBURGH.
II. The four Horns and the four Carpenters.—Zech. i. 18.
THIS second vision is very similar to the first, and may be said to supplement its teaching.
The prophet lifted up his eyes, and saw four horns. The interpreting angel still stood by his side, and of him he asked the meaning of this new appearance. He was told that these were the horns that had scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. Then the Lord showed him four carpenters; and, in answer to his inquiry regarding the purpose these were designed to serve, he was informed that they were come to fray the horns, and to cast them out.
As we have already seen, the Jews who had returned from exile were “a feeble folk,” comparatively few in numbers, weak in resources, and exposed to constant attacks from their Gentile neighbours. The design of this vision is to encourage them by the assurance that God would overcome and scatter all their enemies, and, against every danger that threatened them, provide a fitting defence. Stronger is He that is with them than all they that can be against them.
This was also the message conveyed by the first vision—the vision of the horseman among the myrtle trees; but in the former case the truth was set forth in broad, general terms without any specific reference to the manner of its accomplishment; in this case the assurance is more explicit and particular, and bears more directly on the special circumstances in which the people were placed. They were confronted with a plain and definite danger, and their encouragement, in order to be effective, must be as pointed and distinctive as the circumstances to which it referred.
The horn is, of course, a symbol of power; and the number four implies that, in this case, hostile forces were operating from every quarter, north, south, east, and west. Many find in this vision a particular reference to the four great world-powers which at different periods in her history were the deadly enemies of the chosen nation—the Assyrian, the Babylonian, the Grecian, and the Roman. According to this view the words have a prospective reference, for neither the Greek nor the Roman empire had yet arisen. It is perhaps better, however, to regard the description as applying generally to the facts of the existing situation. The Jews were actually surrounded with powerful enemies—Assyrians and Samaritans on the north, Egypt on the south, the Philistines on the west, and Moab and Ammon on the east. These horns are represented as having already been at work; they had “scattered Judah so that no man did lift up his head.” Hemmed in on every hand by insolent foes, dispersed and enfeebled through repeated onslaughts, the Church of God was well-nigh paralysed with terror: its spirit was crushed; its power of resistance was broken. No man did lift up his head.
But over against this formidable combination the prophet saw four carpenters, and he was given to understand that their mission had reference to the horns. They were sent to fray them, and to cast them out. The word rendered “carpenter” means a workman generally, and might equally well be translated “smith.” We are to understand it as meaning an artisan in the general sense. And when the carpenters are said to “fray” the horns, the meaning is not that they are to cut them off, or file them down; the word is used in its old sense of “terrify;” hence our more common word “afraid.” The carpenters are the instruments of Divine retribution. By them the insolent oppressors shall themselves be terrified, the proud boasters shall be thrown into confusion, the overpowering confederacies shall be made to lick the dust.
This is the encouragement of the vision. However strong and fierce and proud the enemies of the Church of God may be, He has unfailing resources to check and counteract all their designs, and in His own time, and in His own way, He will arise and strike terror into their hearts, and scatter them in confusion, and deliver His people from their power. When the prophet looked first, he saw nothing but the four horns. They appeared to be an irresistible combination. They seemed to feel no fear, and to have known no defeat. They were in possession of the field, and carried themselves with all the pride of acknowledged supremacy. But when the Lord showed him the four carpenters, and explained to him the nature of their work, then he saw that the horns were not so invincible after all, and that the situation was not by any means so hopeless as at first he had deemed it.
Similarly the eye of man must have regarded the case of the feeble remnant, surrounded on every side by haughty and pitiless enemies, as desperate in the extreme. It seemed as if “the proud waters” must go over their soul. Horns to right and to left, and before and behind; it seemed as if they were in the very jaws of death. But the vision of faith, which God Himself bestows, could see four carpenters over against the four horns, for every danger an answering defence. For every horn that Satan or the world can put in the field, God can place a carpenter against it. He can put down army for army, leader for leader, man for man, force for force. The God of Israel has infinite resources, and cannot be outdone. However unopposed and irresistible the world may seem, He is controlling all its movements. He has forces of His own at work. He has instruments ready to His hand, and with these He takes the proud in their own craftiness, and turns aside the shafts of their malice, and causes their very wrath to praise Him. The agencies of Satan are many and varied, but for every legion that can take the field under the leadership of Satan, Christ can put forward an opposing force of His own, while maintaining at the same time, at His disposal, His countless ranks of willing reserves.
And however strong and secure the world may be, it takes but a little movement of Divine power to strike terror into its heart. God’s carpenters can fray the proudest horns. The world was now at rest and quiet, secure in the consciousness of superior might; but God has only to bring His workmen on the scene and direct their efforts, in order to throw the world into confusion and dismay. The ease is gone, the security is broken, the strength has oozed away, the men of might fail to find their hands. The Lord has affrighted them, and they came to “know themselves to be but men.”
It might appear an unequal contest on the face of it, this, between the horns and the carpenters. It is probable, although of this we have no mention, that the prophet saw not only the horns, but the animals to which they belonged. Behind the horn in each case there was strength, as of an angry bull. And the means brought forward to oppose those formidable combatants might seem altogether inadequate for such an end. It might appear as if the carpenter must go down and be gored to death before the charge of the wild animal with the horn. Certain it is that God’s workmen are often chosen from among the weak things of the world, and that the task assigned them often seems hopelessly out of proportion to their powers. David has to go forward with his sling and his smooth stone from the brook, to meet the Philistine giant with the great sword and the spear like a weaver’s beam. Gideon and his three hundred followers with no more imposing equipment than trumpets and pitchers, are called upon to face the army of the Midianites, whose numbers were as the sands of the sea shore. A handful of weak, unlettered fishermen of Galilee are commanded to go into all the world and preach the gospel unto every nation, and bring all the nations of the earth unto the allegiance of Christ. It seemed a very unlikely thing when Luther nailed his theses to the door of the Church of Wittenberg that here was a carpenter who was to fray the horn of the Church of Rome, and cause that huge fabric to shake to its foundations. But this is God’s way of working. He chooses the feeble things of the world to confound the mighty; He makes use of human weakness as the medium for revealing the glory of His own strength, and thus makes it abundantly plain that the excellency of the power is of God and not of man.
But there is another element that must not be overlooked in this contest. On the one side you have a horn, on the other an artisan—that is, brute force opposed to intelligent skill. This is the reason why the carpenter is more than a match for the horn. He has wisdom and understanding. He can arrange plans. He can handle tools; and trained skill is ever too much for mere natural force, however imposing. Hence it is that God’s workmen shall ever be more than conquerors. They have opposed to them forces that at first sight appear overwhelming in their superiority. But there is a hidden knowledge which enables the frailest “thinking reed” to triumph over all the onsets of unreasoning strength. Satan indeed has craft and cunning; but the devices of Satan are foolishness when opposed to the wisdom of God. And the world attacks in wild fury, and strikes in blind rage; but its policy is short-sighted and its strength is misdirected.
But the workmen of God need not to be ashamed. To begin with, they have His own Spirit within them, and He it is who teacheth their hands to war and their fingers to fight. They have heavenly wisdom and heavenly skill. God’s Spirit instructs them when, and how, and where to strike, when attacking the forces of sin. And so their bow abides in strength, and the arms of their hands are made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. So, also, the worm Jacob shall thresh the mountains, and beat them small. Then they have good tools, and some measure of practical knowledge of their use. It is the kind of weapon that David had, and Gideon had, and that the Lord of Glory Himself had—the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. The sword of the Spirit in their hands, and the light and life and strength of the Spirit in their hearts—there you have the two indispensable requisites of workmen not needing to be ashamed. And it is by reason of this equipment that God’s carpenters, otherwise weak reeds shaken with the wind, are filled with strength and courage to “fray and cast out” the wildest and most powerful horns that can rise against them.
This vision has its message to the Church for all time. The angry horns threaten her from north, south, east, and west. She seems exposed to every attack, and likely to fall an easy prey to their fury. But in every time of need God can bring forth His carpenters. There are no gaps in the “walls and bulwarks” that encircle His people. From whatever quarter the enemy threatens, his advance can be opposed by the workmen of heaven. God can raise up men in every emergency to be His servants, and equip them with the gifts and graces necessary for the peculiar work to which He calls them. However furious and determined the powers of darkness may be, “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.” And this is His message to the wicked that oppress His Church, “Lift not up the horn.”
“Lift not your horn on high, nor speak
With stubborn neck. But know
That not from east, nor west, nor south,
Promotion doth flow.
“But God is Judge; He puts down one,
And sets another up.
For in the hand of God Most High,
Of red wine is a cup.”
“He that endureth to the end shall be saved.”