Israel. In that case, to use the language of a learned commentator who thinks only of the past, the four horns would " represent the enemies of Israel on every side: Edom and Egypt in the south; the Philistines in the west; the Ammonites and Moabites in the east; and from the north the Syrians, Assyrians, and especially the Chaldeans."
Or, according to another commentator who views this prophecy in relation to the then present, " the number four refers to the four cardinal points of the horizon, indicating that wherever God's people turned there were enemies to encounter."
But there can be no doubt, according to our judgment, especially if we remember the fact that it is the character istic of Zechariah's visions and prophecies, that the Divine messages contained in them are generally based on revelations already granted to the former prophets, that in this vision of the four horns there is a direct reference to the four great world-powers, differently represented by the four metals in the great image, and four great beasts in chaps, ii. and vii. of Daniel's prophecies the only four empires which were, or are, to rise till the kingdom of Messiah, the fifth of Daniel's visions, overthrows and absorbs all others in its universal dominion. This was the view of the most authoritative of Jewish commentators. Thus Kimchi says, " These are the four monarchies and they are the Baby lonian monarchy, the Persian monarchy, and the Grecian monarchy, and so the Targum of Jonathan has it (instead of four horns), the four monarchies."[1]
Some commentators have raised an objection to this
- ↑ He does not name the fourth. Abarbanel's explanation is to the same effect. The following passage is from Hengstenberg: "If we inquire more particularly what four empires are referred to, the first must be the Babylonian, which was not yet completely humbled, as the third vision shows, although it had received a fatal wound from the Persian smith (or carpenter ). The second is the Persian. That the Grecian must have been recognised by the prophet as the third, is evident from the expression in chap. ix. 13, I stir up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Javan. The fourth is not named. The connection with Daniel is apparent here also, for in his prophecy the approaching dominion of Greece is expressly and amply referred to; whilst the fourth monarchy, on the other hand, is left without a name,"
