Zechariah 1:18 - Meaning and Application

This is the comfort and victory of the church, as in (Isaiah 59:19), that when the enemy comes in like a flood with great force and anger, the Spirit of the Lord will raise a banner against him. In this vision, the second one the prophet received, we see that truth pictured clearly. God’s Spirit stands firm and pushes back against the strong power of the church’s enemies.

The prophet first sees the church’s enemies bold, threatening, and ready to destroy it. He sees four horns (Zechariah 1:18), which are explained in (Zechariah 1:19). These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem, meaning the Jews in both the countryside and the city, since they were God’s people. They had tossed them around, like angry bulls using their horns, and had scattered them so widely that no one dared even lift his head (Zechariah 1:21).

No one dared show a face of resistance, much less stand against them. The horns stand for power and rank, raised up in strength and violence. There are four horns because the Jews were surrounded on every side. If they escaped one enemy, they ran into another. Judah, Jerusalem, and many from Israel joined in building the temple, but enemies from every side kept pushing them back and driving them away.

Rehum, Shimshai, and the other Samaritans who opposed the temple work were such horns (Ezra 4:8). So were Sanballat, Tobiah, the Ammonites, and the Arabians who resisted the building of the wall (Nehemiah 4:7). The church’s enemies have horns, and they use their power to block every good work. The great enemy of the New Testament church has seven heads and ten horns (Revelation 17:3), so anyone who tries to serve the church should expect opposition.

The prophet then sees the church’s friends active and successful. He lifts his eyes and sees the four horns, and they look so powerful that he begins to fear for the safety of every good person and every good work. But then the Lord shows him four carpenters, or metalworkers, who were given power to cut down those horns (Zechariah 1:20, Zechariah 1:21). With our human sight, we see the enemy’s strength everywhere. But faith sees that the church is still safe, because the Lord shows us so, just as he opened the eyes of Elisha’s servant to see the angelic guards around his master (2 Kings 6:17).

Those who were to break the horns of the nations and drive them out were carpenters or metalworkers, some think iron workers, men with the skill and strength needed for the task. This was their proper work, and they had the tools ready to do it. God calls to his church’s service those whom he finds fit, or makes fit, for the task. If there are horns against the church, there are also carpenters for the church. Human wisdom and skill can outmatch the fury of beasts, for every kind of beast has been tamed by mankind (James 3:7).

There were four carpenters, one for each horn, enough hands to cut them all off. No matter where the church is threatened, and no matter how its work is opposed, God can find ways to restrain the enemy’s power and turn even wrath into praise. Some take these four carpenters to mean Zerubbabel, Joshua, Ezra, and Nehemiah, who carried on God’s work despite strong resistance. The wild beasts broke into God’s vineyard to ruin it, but the good rulers and good ministers God raised up, though they could not fully cut off the wicked horns like David did (Psalm 75:5, Psalm 75:10), still frightened them and drove them back.

When God has work to do, he will raise up some people to do it and others to defend it and protect those who are doing it.