THE FOUR HORNS AND FOUR AGENTS

2. The Four Horns (1:18-19)

       “Then I looked and there before me were four horns. I asked the angel who was speaking to me “What are these?” He answered me, “These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem.”

       The second picture appearing on the stage may seem somewhat obscure to us when speaking of “horns” but Zechariah understood it. The “horn” is often used in Scripture to symbolize “power” or “authority.” For example, Daniel describes his vision as “a ram with two horns” and “a goat with a prominent horn” (vs.3,5). Eventually they face off in a life and death struggle. The goat then “attacked the ram furiously, striking the ram and shattering his two horns” (v.7) Later this explanation is given: “the two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia. The shaggy goat is the king of Greece”(v.20-21). Earlier in his vision, Daniel saw four great powers: a lion, bear, leopard and an indescribable beast with 10 horns. He identifies them as Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome and then concludes: “the four great beasts are four kingdoms that will arise from the earth”(7:17).

       Apparently Zechariah saw the same thing Daniel saw. The interpreting angel explains: “these are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem” (v.19). Verse 21 makes it clear that these “horns” that scattered Judah represent “nations,” or “ruling powers” that will oppose Israel. But what comfort was this to the Jewish remnant now living among the broken ruins of Jerusalem? Things looked pretty hopeless for them. Yet the promise goes back to the Abrahamic and David covenant that assures ultimate victory for repentant Israel. David Baron concludes: “in spite of all the great Gentile powers, who would each in turn take up the work of scattering and afflicting Israel, Israel would not be wholly swallowed up nor be overwhelmed, but would remain when all those powers should have disappeared, and would triumph in God's deliverance when the memory of their mighty enemies should be buried in shame and oblivion” (David Baron, Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah,p.48).

3. The Four Craftsmen/Workers (1:20-21)

       “The Lord showed me four craftsmen. I asked, “What are these coming to do?” He answered, “these are the horns that scattered Judah so that no one could raise his head, but the craftsmen have come to terrify them and throw down these horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter its people.”

       The four craftsmen are divine agents sent by God against the world powers. They represent four successive powers that overthrow and destroy the “four horns."  If you go to Daniel 2,7 and 8, Daniel’s apocalyptic vision describes the major players of history God used to destroy these world powers oppressing Israel. For example, the Persian king, Cyrus, prophesied by Isaiah over a hundred years before his birth to be His agent, overthrew the Babylonian Empire. Two hundred years later Persia was conquered by the Grecian emperor, Alexander the Great.  Greece conquered the mighty armies of Xerxes and expanded his Empire all the way to India. Following his death at age 32, his four generals split the Kingdom into four equal parts.

       Toward the first century BC the powers of Rome began to show their iron will. They Conquered Greece and Caesar Augustus brought the Roman Empire to its zenith of power. However, the Roman Empire was never conquered from without. It imploded as moral decadence began to eat the heart out of its life and in time fell apart into territorial, warring factions.

       Daniel 7 describes the Roman Empire as an indescribable beast with 10 horns and a little horn rising from its center. That little horn represents the political ruler the Apostle John describes as the Beast/antichrist. He is said to unite the old Roman Empire into a 10-nation confederacy called the Revived Roman Empire. After antichrist makes a treaty with Israel for 7 years (Daniel 9:27) the Great Tribulation described in Revelation 6-18 begins. Toward the end of this oppressive plight against Israel, all the nations of the world will surround it in what Revelation 16:16 calls the Battle of Armageddon. Daniel describes the last “craftsman or agent” as the “rock” cut out of the mountain that not only crushes revived Rome but also all nations opposing Israel. In Daniel 7, this“craftsman/worker” is called “the son of man” and in Revelation 19:11, He is the rider on the white horse called “the King of kings and Lord of lords.” While describing this same event, Paul states: “then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming” (2 Thess.2:8).

       This prophetic drama describing “God's agents or workers” takes us from Israel’s past oppression to her future deliverance at Christ's second coming.

       The Four Horns And Four Craftsmen
                   

                The prophet looked and saw four horns

                 As nations rise to rule the world
                 He asked the angel who these were
                 "They scattered Jews throughout the earth."

                The prophet Daniel saw the same
                Four monstrous beasts rose from the sea
                Babylon & Persia, Greece & Rome
                Gentile powers till Christ's return.

                A frightening sight at last appeared
                A ten-horned monster looking weird
                And from its head a little horn
                The beast of Revelation born.

                But then four craftsmen did arise
                To terrify these national horns
                They are the agents God had sent
                Until all earthly rule is spent.

                The first was Cyrus, Persia's king
                Who conquered Babylon from within
                Then Alexander ruled from Greece
                Destroying Xerxes' ocean fleet.

                The power of Rome where Caesar ruled
                Crushed all the kings of Grecian fame
                Yet from within corruption flowed
                Until through time it did implode.

                Then in the vision Daniel saw

                Ten horns revived where Rome once stood

                But to its feet of iron-clay

                The "Rock" of ages crushed its prey.

                The final craftsman is that "Stone"

                Where Christ will rule from Israel's throne

                And all the kingdoms of this world

                Will then confess that Christ is Lord.

                           THOUGHT QUESTION

1. Whom do the "horns" in verse 19-20 represent and why is this symbol used?

2.  "Horns" in scripture represent "power" and "authority."  What "power" is described in Daniel 7:8,11,20-21 and about whom is it speaking?

3. In Daniel 7:3, four "powers" are said to come out of the sea, each representing a different nation. Then in Daniel 8, he identifies two of them as a ram with two horns and a goat with one horn which later becomes four horns. Can you identify these nations?

4. During the time of the revived Roman Empire described by feet of iron and clay, a final "agent or craftsman" is seen toppling the last "horn."  Who is it and how does that fit into our text?