The Angel Among the Myrtles: The Son of God in Zechariah 1

This article is part of a series on Old Testament Christophanies. For important background information, see An Introduction to Old Testament Christophanies–with Justin Martyr. 

Over two centuries after Amos prophesied, Zechariah began his prophetic ministry. The “word of the LORD” came to Zechariah the prophet, the Son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, in “the eighth month of the second year of Darius”[1] (Zech 1:1), which was in late October or in early November, 520 BC. Zechariah prophesied about eighteen years after the people had returned from exile in Babylon.

A few months after Zechariah first heard from the Lord, he was given eight visions—all in one night (Zech 1:7—6:8). The purpose of the visions was to encourage the people to build the second temple. And in two of the visions Zechariah beheld the Angel of Yahweh. The prophet’s first vision is recorded in Zechariah 1:7–17. The “word of the LORD” came to Zechariah on “the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius” (v. 7), which was February 15, 519 BC. It was then that Zechariah first saw the Son of God:

I saw at night, and behold, a man was riding on a red horse, and he was standing among the myrtle trees which were in the ravine, with red, sorrel and white horses behind him. Then I said, “My lord, what are these?” And the angel who was speaking with me said to me, “I will show you what these are.” And the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered and said, “These are those whom the LORD has sent to patrol the earth.” So they answered the angel of the LORD who was standing among the myrtle trees and said, “We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth is peaceful and quiet” (Zech 1:8–11).

The rider on the red horse, who stood among the myrtle trees, is called a “man” in verses 8 and 10. In verse 11, the same rider who stood among the myrtle trees is called “the Angel of the LORD.” According to the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary, the rider was “Jehovah, the second person of the Trinity, manifested in man’s form, an earnest [foreshadow] of the incarnation . . .”[2] The “angel who was speaking with me” in verse 9 was evidently a created angel who had come to present the vision to Zechariah, the same interpreting angel mentioned several more times throughout the eight visions (Zech 1:13–14; 2:3; 4:1, 4–5; 5:5, 10; 6:4). This interpreting angel seems to be distinguished from the Angel of Yahweh.

Zechariah saw a shady grove of myrtle trees down in a ravine. This ravine represented the low state of Israel at the time. But there was good news: the myrtles hinted at the potential Israel had to rise to great heights. Myrtle trees are evergreens, and their growth is used to characterize the return to Edenic conditions on earth (Isa 41:19; 55:13), which will largely be realized during the Messiah’s reign. Myrtle trees were also used in the construction of the tabernacles, which were lived in during the Feast of Tabernacles (or “booths,” Heb. sukkot) (Neh 8:15–16). The seven feast days in Leviticus 23, including Tabernacles, are all shadows of what the Messiah has done and will do (Col 2:16–17). The Feast of Tabernacles will be fulfilled by the reign of Messiah Jesus on earth after the Second Coming (i.e., the Millennium). Zechariah 14, the final chapter of the book, looks forward to the divine Messiah’s reign. After Yahweh comes and stands on the Mount of Olives (v. 4), He will be king over all the earth (v. 9). At that time, people from the nations that had come to attack Jerusalem will be obligated to go to Jerusalem and worship the King, Yahweh of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (v. 16). If a family fails to go and worship the King and to celebrate the feast, then Yahweh will withhold rain from their land (vv. 17–19). This King, who is Yahweh on earth, can only be the Son of God. And it was He, in His preincarnate state, who was seen standing among the myrtle trees. Zechariah’s first vision at the beginning of his book acts as a bookend with the prophesied reign of the Messiah at the end of his book. Israel may have been in a low state, but the nation will rise above all others when the Messiah reigns from Jerusalem. Moreover, it was during the Feast of Tabernacles that Solomon dedicated the first temple (1 Kgs 8:65–66; 2 Chr 7:8–10), and when Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest built the altar for the second temple before the foundation had been laid (Ezra 3:1–6). And even Jeroboam dedicated the idolatrous altar at Bethel during his counterfeit Feast of Tabernacles (1 Kgs 12:32–33). Clearly, there was a strong connection between Tabernacles and temple worship in the Hebrew mind. Mavin Sweeney, a professor of Hebrew Bible, wrote that “the role of the myrtle at Sukkoth [the Feast of Tabernacles] as a symbol of rebirth and new creation would fit well with the role of the Temple as the center of creation and the cosmos.”[3] The building of the second temple was to be undertaken in anticipation of the time when the Messiah (the “Branch”) would come and build a temple (Zech 6:11–14). The Angel of Yahweh, who was the preincarnate Messiah, standing among the myrtles would have sent a strong message to the people to build the second temple.

Behind the Angel on the red horse were three other riders seated on horses. These riders were angelic beings, working under the direction of the uncreated Angel leading them. The colors of their horses were red, sorrel (Heb. seruqqim, a reddish-brown color), and white. We aren’t told what the colors of the horses mean. A typical explanation for the Angel of Yahweh’s horse is that the red color represents war and bloodshed, as is the case with the red horse in Revelation 6:4. And it is true that the Messiah will spill blood to protect His people (Isa 63:1–6; Rev 19:13, 15). However, the tone of Zechariah’s vision is one of peace. After all, the horsemen reported back to the Angel of Yahweh that all the earth was peaceful and quiet. Many theories attribute the colors of all the horses to concepts, such as red being emblematic of war and sorrel being emblematic of Israel’s mixed state of affairs. White is commonly thought to be emblematic of conquest and triumph, which is true of the horse in Revelation 6:2. I prefer to think that the colors are best understood according to other imagery in the vision itself, namely the myrtle trees. Sweeney observed that

The colors of the horses, red, sorrel, and white, appear to correspond to the colors of the myrtle’s flowers, and the setting in February indicates the time immediately prior to the spring time when the myrtle can first be expected to flower . . . Furthermore, the leaves are shaped like eyes, and appear to stand behind the role of the horses as YHWH’s patrols that are sent to search out the earth.[4]

In the vision, the Messiah stood in the midst of the myrtles. If the colors of the horses were in fact meant to correspond to the colors of the myrtle’s flowers, then the horses represented the place they were sent from, the Messiah’s presence.

In Zechariah’s eighth vision he was shown four chariots. Each chariot was drawn by horses all of one color that differed from the colors of the other chariots’ horses. The colors of the sets were red, black, white, and dappled (Zech 6:1–3). The horses in this vision aren’t meant to be identified with the horses in Zechariah’s first vision, as evidenced by there being different numbers of horses in the two visions and by their colors only partially matching. Likewise, the four horsemen of the Apocalypse and their horses—one white, one red, one black, and one ashen—in Revelation 6:1–8 represent different authorities than the horsemen and horses in Zechariah 1. There is however, one horseman in the Book of Revelation who appeared in Zechariah’s first vision: the Son of God. At the Second Coming, Jesus will come riding on a white horse. And following Jesus will be the armies of heaven, seated on their own white horses (Rev 19:11–14). The Angel of Yahweh rode a red horse, while Jesus will ride a white horse. The horses are different, but the rider is the same. The Angel of Yahweh riding a horse with riders on horses behind Him foreshadowed the triumphant return of Jesus Christ, when He will ride on His horse with the armies of heaven riding on horses behind Him.

Continuing in Zechariah 1, the Angel of Yahweh asked “Yahweh of hosts” how long He would have no compassion for Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which He had been indignant for seventy years (v. 12). The seventy years of exile in Babylon were over, but the Israelites were still in a low state. The Angel petitioned Yahweh of hosts (the Lord of heaven’s armies) to end any further punishment. Here the Son interceded for His people with the Father. Jesus would later pray as an intercessor in His high priestly prayer (John 17).

Yahweh answered the angel who was speaking with Zechariah with gracious and comforting words. The angel who was speaking with the prophet told him to proclaim that Yahweh of hosts was exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and Zion, and that He was angry with the nations who were at ease, for they had furthered the disaster. Yahweh of hosts declared that He would return to Jerusalem with compassion; His house would be built in it, and a measuring line would be stretched over the city. Yahweh of hosts promised that His cities would again overflow with prosperity, and that He would again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem (vv. 13–17). Even though it was the Angel of Yahweh who asked the question, the answer was given to the interpreting angel. This is because the Angel didn’t ask the question for his own sake, but for the sake of the prophet and for those who would receive the Lord’s message. The Lord especially loved Jerusalem, for what the city was and what it would be. The Lord had felt only a little anger toward His people in comparison to the anger He now felt toward the nations that oppressed them, thus prolonging Israel’s punishment. The Lord’s house, the second temple, would be built in Jerusalem. The measuring line stretched over Jerusalem symbolized the city’s restoration and expansion. The promises in the final verse—that the Lord’s cities would overflow with prosperity and that He would again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem—had a partial application to the time after the temple was built. These promises, however, have yet to fully come to pass. They will when Jesus returns to reign from Jerusalem.

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[1] This was the Persian monarch Darius I. Zechariah likely dated his book in reference to Darius since there was no human king of Israel at that time.

[2] Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, Commentary, vol. 2, Zech 1:8.

[3] Sweeney, Twelve Prophets, 2:577.

[4] Sweeney, Twelve Prophets, 2:577.