Mathematical properties of 24 and the vision of Zechariah

Standing by, he who says these things says that the Almighty will do such things; for with great mercy and boundless kindness, he calls those who distance themselves from God and from virtue to return and draw near, so that by drawing near to him, they may receive eternal life, according to what is written: 'Draw near to the Lord and he will draw near to you' (James 4:8). These said retreats and proximities occur in relation and disposition, but not in place.

Turning to me, and I to you. You do not become like those who begot you according to wickedness, whom the prophets called before the present time, so that you might not suffer the same things as them. And what did they call to them? Or to turn away from faulty customs and evil ways? But not having heard and not having attended to them, they perished along with those deceived by false prophets, so that there are no longer even the foxes or those snatched away by their sorcery. Since therefore neither the prophets nor the deceived are present, you, to whom I bring the word of God, walk the divine ways and do not pursue the evil ones.

For divine and profitable instructions are announced to us in our Spirit—this is the Holy—by my servants the prophets who have it; for these, having the Spirit of truth and being prepared by it for speaking, benefit those who pay attention to them, of whom those called fathers have had experience; because they neither heard nor paid attention to them, they were answered through their works. Just as the Lord has stretched out to do, so it shall happen to them, even if God has stirred them to repentance, so that they might not suffer the things threatened.

In the fourth and sixth month in the twelfth month—this is the month of Sabbath—in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying (Zechariah 1:7). All things happening and being given by God have order and harmony which has proportion, 'doing great and unsearchable things,' 'arranging all by measure and number.' Moreover, the word of the prophet lying before us, becoming visible more by scientific theory than by being heard, is arranged having much certainty according to number in a tetrad...

And the twenty-fourth of the twelfth month according to the Hebrews. The number 24 is powerful as a square; for this is divided by its parts thus: half 12, a third 8, a fourth 6, a sixth 4, an eighth 3, a twelfth 2, a twenty-fourth 1. That which is born from 24 according to the composition of its parts is a square, for six times six. And nothing is so certain of forms as the square.

The one before us has an exceptional quality, that each of its sides has composed a perfect number, the six. Likewise with 24, and the 12, being composed of its parts, produces a square: half 6, a third 4, a fourth 3, a sixth 2, a twelfth 1; these parts, being composed together, fulfill the sixteen, the latter being also a square, a small square of four. And this has an exceptional quality according to its own sides; for the square is a ten in power thus: 1, 2, 3, 4.

I saw in the night, and behold a man riding a red horse, and he was standing among the two mountains of shade, and behind him red and mixed and variegated and white horses (Zechariah 1:8). When the word of the Lord came to Zechariah by night, there was seen to him a man riding a red horse, standing among the two mountains of shade (Zechariah 1:7). And the man riding the red horse is the Savior who became man. And a red horse is that which surrounds a body; for the human flesh is red by nature, because blood flows through it. But where did he see the man standing, and between whom, and when was the one receiving God to stand watch?

He saw him, then, 'among the mountains of shade.' These two covenants happen to be fruitful and shady because of the density of meanings and the ambiguity of the words concerning theology and incarnation. And since each of those announced in the two covenants has much obscurity with enigma and depth, in a night he saw the approach of the man to the horse, similarly to what was said about him: 'He set darkness as his hidden garment' (Zechariah 6:5); for in this expression, that which is hidden is signified by the obscurity, just as in: 'The abyss was as his enveloping garment' (Psalm 183:6). To see the interpreted man riding the red horse, and the horses coming behind him, very...