1 And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass.
2 In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black horses;
3 And in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot grisled and bay horses.
4 Then I answered and said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these, my lord?
5 And the angel answered and said unto me, These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth.
6 The black horses which are therein go forth into the north country; and the white go forth after them; and the grisled go forth toward the south country.
7 And the bay went forth, and sought to go that they might walk to and fro through the earth: and he said, Get you hence, walk to and fro through the earth. So they walked to and fro through the earth.
8 Then cried he upon me, and spake unto me, saying, Behold, these that go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country.
9 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
10 Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah, which are come from Babylon, and come thou the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah;
11 Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest;
12 And speak unto him, saying, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, saying, 'Behold the man whose name is The Branch; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord:
13 Even he shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.
14 And the crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of the Lord.
15 And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the Lord, and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God.'”
[12] King David was the son of Jesse (see Isaiah 11:1-2). This refers to the Davidic dynasty. If Christians claim otherwise, you can disprove the claim with the next verse (or with Isaiah 11:1-2) since no one can be both a priest and a king.
The Christian claim here is that 'branch' refers to Jesus (netzer or nazer). This kind of reading between the lines is cute, but the underlying claim is really that Jesus is of the line of David, not that his name appears between two words in Hebrew. Even the Muslims claim the same thing about the Prophet's name in the book of Songs; there are numerous other examples. If it must be said, we say it: The appearance of a name or a location read between two words is of no consequence.
[13] is a common passage to show that one cannot be both a priest and a king. See Priests and Kings.
<html><b>and the mountains were mountains of copper</b> A sign of the strength of these kingdoms, which came to them from between the two mountains, which are hard and strong, as these four chariots are messengers of the Holy one, blessed be He, to give ruling power to the four kingdoms of Babylon, Media, Greece, and Edom.</html>
<html><b>red horses</b> They were the ones that caused Babylon to mount, for [Babylon] is red, as it is written (Dan. 2:38): “You are the head of gold” [gold having a red tinge]. <b>black</b> [Horses,] to cause Media to mount, for they blackened the faces of Israel in the days of Haman.</html>
<html><b>white</b> To cause Persia to mount, and Persia built the Temple. <b>spotted</b> They are spotted. [Their function is] to cause Greece to mount, [as Greece] oppressed Israel with various kinds of decrees <b>ash- colored</b> to cause Edom and Ishmael to mount, but I do not know the expression אֲמֻצִּים. Jonathan rendered: ash-colored.</html>
<html><b>These are the four corners of the heavens</b> The heavenly princes of the nations that rule over the four corners of the heavens. <b>coming forth from standing, etc.</b> They came before Him, and He gave them permission from His mouth to rule.</html>
<html><b>The one [chariot] the black horses were in was going to the northland</b> to cause Media to ride. Concerning the red ones, he does not write that they were going forth because the kingdom of Babylon had already been destroyed. <b>and the white ones went forth after them</b> to cause Persia to mount both of them, in the north, and they ruled over Babylon. <b>and the spotted ones went forth to the southland</b> to cause Greece to mount so that Greece should take the kingdom from Persia. In Rav Saadiah’s interpretation of Daniel, the king of the south (11:5) is identified with the king of Greece.</html>
<html><b>And the ash-colored ones went forth and begged</b> of Him that they have a very long rule, to go throughout all the earth. <b>And He said, “Go, walk to and fro on the earth”</b> He gave them permission to rule a great ruling, and that is the kingdom of Edom.</html>
<html><b>Look, those going forth to the northland</b> to cause Media and Persia to mount. <b>eased My spirit</b> They caused My anger to subside in Babylon when they destroyed Belshazzar and Nebuchadnezzar’s descendants. This is what Isaiah (48:14) said: “The Lord loves him who shall do His will in Babylon, etc.”</html>
<html><b>Take from the exiles - from Heldai, etc., who have come from Babylon</b> All these people.</html>
<html><b>whose name is the Shoot</b> He is Zerubbabel, mentioned above (3:8): “Behold, I bring My servant, the Shoot,” since his greatness burgeoned little by little. Some interpret this as referring to the King Messiah, but the entire context deals with the [time of the] Second Temple. <b>who will spring up out of his place</b> From royal descent.</html>
<html><b>and he shall bear glory</b> The glory of the kingship. <b>And he shall sit</b> The High Priest [shall sit] on the throne of the priesthood. <b>And a council of peace, etc.</b> The king and the Priest shall love one another.</html>
<html><b>And the crowns shall be for Helem, etc.</b> This is a transposed verse. It should be understood as: And the crowns shall be in the Temple of the Lord as a good memorial for Helem and for Tobijah, who donated the silver and the gold. Those crowns were hanging in the windows in the height of the Temple, as we learned in tractate Middoth (36a, 3:8). <b>for Helem</b> That is Heldai.</html>
<html><b>And it shall come to pass if you hearken</b> And this thing shall come to pass for you if you hearken, etc.</html>