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Zechariah

Old Testament

Zechariah

Visions to encourage the temple rebuilders, and prophecies of the coming King riding on a colt.

Overview

Who

Written by "Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet" (1:1). Ezra names him with Haggai as a prophet to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem while the temple was being rebuilt (Ezra 5:1, 6:14).

Written to The people of Judah who had come back from exile in Babylon, along with Zerubbabel the governor and Joshua the high priest (1:3, 3:1, 4:6, 8:9).

When

Traditional view: Written by Zechariah. The dated messages run from the eighth month of the second year of Darius king of Persia, about 520 BC (1:1), to his fourth year, about 518 BC (7:1).

Scholarly view: Most scholars agree that chapters 1-8 come from Zechariah in 520-518 BC. Chapters 9-14 carry no dates, and many scholars assign them to a later writer or writers; others hold that Zechariah wrote the whole book.

Where

Written to Jerusalem and Judah.

Written from Jerusalem, among the people who had returned (1:16, 8:3).

Why

To call the people to "turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you" (1:3); to encourage them to finish rebuilding the temple, "not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit" (4:6-9, 8:9); and to promise the coming of Zion's king (9:9) and the day when "the LORD shall be king over all the earth" (14:9).

Cyrus king of Persia let the exiles return to build the temple (Ezra 1:1-4). Work on it stopped under opposition (Ezra 4:24). In the second year of Darius, Haggai and Zechariah stirred the people to build again (Ezra 5:1-2; Haggai 1:1), and the temple was finished in Darius's sixth year (Ezra 6:14-15).

Outline

  1. 1:1-6 A call to return to the LORD
  2. 1:7-6:8 Eight night visions
  3. 6:9-15 A crown for Joshua the high priest: the man called the BRANCH
  4. 7:1-8:23 A question about fasting, and God's promises to Zion
  5. 9:1-11:17 First burden: the coming king and the rejected shepherd
  6. 12:1-14:21 Second burden: Jerusalem's cleansing and the day of the LORD

Key themes

  • Return to the LORD, and he will return to you (1:3).
  • God's work is done by his Spirit, not by human might (4:6).
  • God is jealous for Jerusalem and will dwell in the midst of her (1:14, 2:10, 8:3).
  • Zion's king comes lowly, riding upon an ass (9:9; quoted in Matthew 21:4-5 and John 12:14-15).
  • They shall look upon him whom they have pierced (12:10; quoted in John 19:37); smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered (13:7; quoted in Matthew 26:31).
  • The LORD will be king over all the earth (14:9).

From the book's own text, compared with Ezra, Haggai and the New Testament passages that quote it; dating views summarized from standard introductions.

Chapters

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14

The world around the text

About 520-518 BC. Zechariah's dated messages fall in the second to fourth years of Darius king of Persia (1:1, 1:7, 7:1), while the returned exiles were rebuilding the temple. Chapters 9-14 carry no dates.

JUDAHBABYLONIAJerusalemBabylon 1SusaTyreSidonDamascusHamath 1GazaAshdodMegiddo
Places in and around the letter. Ancient region names are approximate.

Who ruled

  • King of PersiaDarius I522-486 BC

    Zechariah dates his messages by the years of Darius. Darius confirmed Cyrus's decree and ordered the temple work to go on at royal expense. Zechariah 1:1Zechariah 7:1Ezra 6:1-12Haggai 1:1Behistun Inscription

  • Governor of JudahZerubbabelc. 520 BC

    A descendant of David who led the rebuilding. "The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it." Zechariah 4:6-10Haggai 1:1Ezra 3:8

  • High priestJoshua the high priestc. 520 BC

    Called Jeshua in Ezra. He stands in Zechariah's vision clothed in filthy garments, which are taken away, and later receives crowns as a sign. Zechariah 3:1-10Zechariah 6:11Haggai 1:1Ezra 3:2

  • Persian governor "on this side the river"Tattenaic. 520 BC

    The governor of the province west of the Euphrates. He asked who had allowed the building, wrote to Darius, and was told to let the work go on. Ezra 5:3-6Ezra 6:6-13

What was happening

  1. 539 BC
    WarBabylon falls to Cyrus

    Cyrus king of Persia took Babylon, ending the empire that had destroyed Jerusalem. Daniel 5:30-31Nabonidus Chronicle (ABC 7)Cyrus Cylinder

  2. 538 BC
    God's peopleThe first return

    Cyrus let the exiles go home to build the LORD's house. About fifty thousand returned with Zerubbabel and Jeshua. Ezra 1:1-4Ezra 2:1-2Ezra 2:64-65

  3. c. 536 BC
    God's peopleThe foundation is laid, then the work stops

    The returned exiles laid the temple's foundation with shouting and weeping. Opposition from their neighbors stopped the work until the second year of Darius. Ezra 3:10-13Ezra 4:4-5Ezra 4:24

  4. 525 BC
    WarPersia conquers Egypt

    Cyrus's son Cambyses invaded and took Egypt, bringing the whole region from the Nile to the Indus under one king. Herodotus, Histories 3.1-16

  5. 522-521 BC
    WarDarius crushes the revolts

    When Darius took the throne, provinces across the empire rebelled, Babylon twice. By 520 he had put them all down. Compare the riders' report in Zechariah's first vision: "all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest." Behistun InscriptionHerodotus, Histories 3.150-159Zechariah 1:11

  6. 520 BC
    God's peopleHaggai and Zechariah stir the people to build

    In Darius's second year the two prophets urged the people to take up the temple work again, and Zerubbabel and Jeshua began to build. Ezra 5:1-2Haggai 1:1-15Zechariah 1:1

  7. c. 520-519 BC
    RulersDarius confirms Cyrus's decree

    Tattenai questioned the building. A search found Cyrus's decree at Achmetha, and Darius ordered the work to continue and be paid for from royal taxes. Ezra 5:3-6:12

  8. 515 BC
    BuildingThe second temple is finished

    The temple was finished on the third day of Adar in Darius's sixth year and dedicated with joy. Ezra 6:14-18Zechariah 4:9

  9. 490-479 BC
    WarPersia's wars with Greece

    Persia invaded Greece twice and was turned back at Marathon (490), Salamis (480) and Plataea (479). Greece, which Zechariah names in 9:13, was becoming Persia's great rival. Herodotus, Histories 6.102-117Herodotus, Histories 8.40-96Herodotus, Histories 9.1-89Zechariah 9:13

  10. 445 BC
    BuildingNehemiah rebuilds Jerusalem's walls

    Under the Persian king Artaxerxes, Nehemiah came from Shushan and rebuilt the walls in fifty-two days. Nehemiah 2:1-8Nehemiah 6:15

  11. 332 BC
    WarAlexander takes Tyre and Gaza

    Alexander the Great besieged island Tyre for seven months and then Gaza for two, on his way to Egypt. Zechariah 9 speaks of Tyre's "strong hold" and of Gaza, Ashkelon, Ekron and Ashdod. Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander 2.15-27Zechariah 9:3-7

Jerusalem

Where Zechariah prophesied. A small, poor community was rebuilding the temple among the ruins of the city Babylon had burned.

The day of small things
The new temple looked like nothing beside Solomon's. Old men who had seen the first house wept when its foundation was laid. Zechariah asks, "who hath despised the day of small things?" Ezra 3:12Haggai 2:3Zechariah 4:10
A large city with few people
Even in Nehemiah's day, "the city was large and great: but the people were few therein, and the houses were not builded." Compare Zechariah's promise that Jerusalem would be inhabited "as towns without walls for the multitude of men." Nehemiah 7:4Zechariah 2:4Zechariah 8:4-5
Gates and towers
Zechariah 14:10 measures the city by Benjamin's gate, the first gate, the corner gate and the tower of Hananeel. Jeremiah and Nehemiah name the same landmarks. Zechariah 14:10Jeremiah 31:38Nehemiah 3:1
The mount of Olives
The hill "which is before Jerusalem on the east," across the Kidron valley. David went up it weeping when he fled from Absalom. Zechariah 14:42 Samuel 15:30Acts 1:12

Tyre

The great Phoenician trading city on the coast north of Judah, built partly on an island. Zechariah 9 says she "heaped up silver as the dust."

An island fortress
Tyre's main city stood on an island off the shore, with strong walls. Nebuchadnezzar besieged it for thirteen years. Zechariah 9:3Ezekiel 26:7Ezekiel 29:18Josephus, Against Apion 1.21
Merchants of the sea
Tyre traded with the whole Mediterranean and beyond. Ezekiel lists her trade in silver, iron, tin, horses, ivory and fine cloth. Ezekiel 27:3-25Isaiah 23:8

Daily life and culture

The fasts of mourning · 7:3-5, 8:19
The people asked whether to keep fasting. Their fasts remembered the fall of Jerusalem: the siege began in the tenth month, the wall was broken in the fourth, the temple burned in the fifth, and Gedaliah was murdered in the seventh. Zechariah 7:3-5Zechariah 8:192 Kings 25:1-92 Kings 25:25Jeremiah 39:2Jeremiah 41:1-2
Riders on patrol · 1:8-11, 6:1-8
The Persian kings kept mounted messengers stationed along their roads. Herodotus says nothing mortal travels faster. Zechariah sees horsemen sent "to walk to and fro through the earth." Zechariah 1:8-11Zechariah 6:7Herodotus, Histories 8.98
The high priest's mitre · 3:4-5, 14:20-21
The high priest wore a mitre with a gold plate engraved "HOLINESS TO THE LORD." Zechariah sees a clean mitre set on Joshua's head, and later the same words on the bells of the horses. Exodus 28:36-38Zechariah 3:5Zechariah 14:20
The ephah · 5:6-11
An ephah was the basket or vessel used to measure grain. The law required "a just ephah," and Amos condemns sellers "making the ephah small." Zechariah 5:6Leviticus 19:36Amos 8:5
Thirty pieces of silver · 11:12-13
Thirty shekels of silver was the price the law set for a servant gored by an ox. Matthew records the thirty pieces paid to Judas and the potter's field bought with them. Zechariah 11:12-13Exodus 21:32Matthew 27:3-10
A king on an ass · 9:9
Israel's kings rode mules and asses: Solomon was made king riding David's mule. Zechariah's king comes "lowly, and riding upon an ass," and the Gospels record Jesus entering Jerusalem so. Zechariah 9:91 Kings 1:33-38Matthew 21:4-5John 12:14-15
The mourning at Megiddo · 12:10-14
King Josiah was killed in battle in the valley of Megiddo, and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned him; Jeremiah wrote laments for him. Zechariah compares the coming mourning to "the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon." Zechariah 12:112 Chronicles 35:22-25

Scripture first, then ancient records (the Behistun Inscription, the Cyrus Cylinder, the Babylonian Chronicles) and ancient writers (Herodotus, Arrian, Josephus). Drafted by Claude and not yet reviewed by a person.