Charles Ellicott Commentary Zechariah 1:21

"Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These are the horns which scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head; but these are come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations, which lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it." — Zechariah 1:21 (ASV)

Many commentators suppose that this vision refers to the future as well as the past, and that in it the objects are combined to form one complete picture, without any regard to the time of their appearance in historical reality. And so they interpret the “four horns” as symbolizing the four empires—the Assyrian, the Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, and the Greco-Macedonian. But this is not the case, as this verse clearly shows.

It is true that the word “scattered” might, if standing alone, be taken as fulfilling the role of both a historic and, at the same time, a prophetic perfect tense. But since the dependent clause is “so that no man did lift up his head”—which is in the perfect tense—the phrase “have scattered” can refer only to the actual past. We must, therefore, reject all reference to the four monarchies we have enumerated, because the Greco-Macedonian had not yet come into existence. If, then, the “four horns” do symbolize four monarchies, they can only be the Assyrian, Egyptian, Babylonian, and Medo-Persian.

Some commentators have gone so far as to identify the four workmen with Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Cambyses, and Alexander the Great. (Compare and contrast Haggai 2:22.) But it seems more probable that here we must not draw too close a comparison between the symbol and the thing symbolized. Instead, we should understand the “four workmen” as merely representing the destruction of these nations for the good of the Jewish nation, without the manner of its accomplishment being accurately defined.

We can note, in passing, that some commentators do not interpret the vision as referring to four distinct nations. Instead, they suppose the number four is used in reference to all the powers hostile to Judah, from whatever quarter they may have come.

This vision, a natural consequence of the preceding one, is a vision of comfort. Its object is to assure the people that just as the former nations hostile to Israel and Judah had been destroyed, so the present Medo-Persian monarchy—which also had at times oppressed them—should have the horn of its hostility utterly cast out. This monarchy should also protect them and encourage the rebuilding of Jerusalem.