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Old Testament

Zechariah

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Zechariah, a younger contemporary of Haggai, encouraged the returned exiles to return to the LORD and rebuild His house, and then lifted their eyes far beyond it. Its first half () gives eight night visions, the crowning of a priest as a sign of the coming Branch, and promises that fasts will become feasts; its second half () tells of a humble King on a donkey, a Shepherd valued at thirty pieces of silver and struck, a pierced One mourned, and the LORD King over all the earth. It belongs in the Bible because it gave God's people hope that He would finish His work, and because the Gospels draw on it again and again in telling the story of Jesus' last week.

Author
Zechariah son of Berechiah, son of Iddo (1:1), a prophet from a priestly family who worked with Haggai (Ezra 5:1; 6:14; Nehemiah 12:16). Many scholars assign chapters 9-14 to a later author or authors, while others hold that Zechariah wrote the whole book; the debate is set out under Read well.
Audience
The small community back from Babylon in Jerusalem, led by Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest, and Jews still in Babylon whom the LORD calls to come home (2:6-7).
When
Chapters 1-8 are dated from 520 to 518 BC, in the second and fourth years of Darius I (1:1, 7; 7:1). Chapters 9-14 are undated; proposals range from Zechariah's own later years to the Greek period after Alexander the Great.
Where
Jerusalem, while the second temple was being built. The visions range over the whole earth, and the later oracles look to Damascus, Tyre, Philistia, Egypt, Assyria and Greece.
Genre
Zechariah mixes several kinds of writing: a call to repentance, symbolic night visions explained by an angel, a sign-act with crowns, a sermon on fasting, and in chapters 9-14 two long oracles, each headed 'burden', full of images of war, shepherds and the last day. The visions share features with apocalyptic writing like Daniel and Revelation, which reuses Zechariah's horses, lampstand and olive trees. Read the symbols as pictures with a message for builders in a small, weak province, and read the later chapters as poetry about God's future rather than a timetable.

Shape of the book

  1. Return to Me: The First Visions · ch 1–3A call to repent, then horsemen among the myrtles, four horns and craftsmen, a city without walls, and Joshua the high priest cleansed before the accuser.
  2. By My Spirit: The Last Visions and the Crown · ch 4–6The lampstand and two olive trees, the flying scroll, the woman in the basket, four chariots, and a crown for Joshua as a sign of the Branch.
  3. Fasts Become Feasts · ch 7–8A question about fasting is answered with a call to justice and mercy, then ten promises of a renewed Jerusalem to which the nations come.
  4. The First Burden: The King and the Rejected Shepherd · ch 9–11Neighbors judged, a humble King on a donkey, the flock gathered, and a good shepherd paid thirty pieces of silver and replaced by a worthless one.
  5. The Second Burden: The Pierced One and the LORD's Day · ch 12–14Jerusalem defended, mourning for the pierced One, a fountain for sin, the Shepherd struck, and the LORD standing on the Mount of Olives as King over all the earth.

Themes

  • Return to Me, and I Will Return to You. The book opens with God's offer: return to Me, and I will return to you (). The exiles must not repeat their fathers' refusal to listen (; ), and God's return to Zion with mercy (; ) is the ground of every later promise.
  • Not by Might but by My Spirit. To a governor with little power and a temple barely begun, the word is 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit' (). The mountain becomes a plain, and no one should despise the day of small things (, 10).
  • Cleansing and Holiness. Joshua's filthy clothes are replaced (), the curse searches out thieves (), wickedness is carried off to Shinar (), a fountain is opened for sin and impurity (), and in the end even the cooking pots of Jerusalem are holy to the LORD ().
  • Shepherds and the Shepherd. The people wander like sheep without a shepherd (). God's chosen shepherd is rejected and paid a slave's price (), worthless shepherds follow, and finally God calls a sword against His own Shepherd, the man who is His companion, so that the flock is scattered and refined ().
  • The Nations Joined to the LORD. Many nations will join themselves to the LORD and become His people (). Ten men from every language will grasp the robe of a Jew because God is with His people (), and survivors from the nations will go up yearly to worship the King ().
  • The LORD Will Be King. The book ends with the LORD Himself coming, standing on the Mount of Olives and becoming King over all the earth, so that there is one LORD and His name the only name (, 9).

Where Christ is

The Gospels quote or echo Zechariah at almost every step of Jesus' last week: the King on a donkey, the thirty pieces of silver, the struck Shepherd and scattered sheep, and the pierced One. Earlier, the Branch who builds the temple and is a priest on His throne joins the offices that Jesus fills as King and High Priest. Revelation takes up Zechariah's horses, lampstands, pierced One and living water.

  • Your King Comes on a Donkey. Fulfillment. Zion's King comes righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, and speaks peace to the nations (). Matthew and John quote the verse at Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, and John adds that the disciples understood it only after He was glorified. (; ; )
  • The Shepherd Sold and Struck. Fulfillment. The good shepherd is valued at thirty pieces of silver, thrown to the potter in the LORD's house (), the price for which Judas betrays Jesus and with which the priests buy the potter's field. Jesus quotes , the sword against the Shepherd and the scattering of the sheep, on the night of His arrest. (; ; ; ; ; )
  • The One They Have Pierced. Fulfillment. God pours out a spirit of grace and prayer, and 'they will look on Me, the One they have pierced' and mourn (). John cites the verse when the soldier's spear pierces Jesus' side, and Revelation applies it to His return, when every eye will see Him. (; ; ; )
  • The Branch, Priest on His Throne. Promise and fulfillment. God will bring His servant the Branch, remove the land's guilt in a single day, and the man called the Branch will build the LORD's temple, rule on His throne and be a priest on His throne (; ). Hebrews presents Jesus as the King-Priest who offered Himself once for all and sat down at God's right hand. (; ; ; ; )
  • Living Water and the Coming of the LORD. Echo and fulfillment. Living waters flow out from Jerusalem and the LORD becomes King over all the earth (). On the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, the feast ends with, Jesus offers rivers of living water; the angels promise He will return as He left from the Mount of Olives; and Revelation ends with the river of life and no more curse. (; ; ; )
Reading well, key terms and common misreadings

Read it well

  • Read Ezra 5-6 and Haggai first. Zechariah's visions were given to the same builders at the same time, and their message is that God will finish what He has begun.
  • In the visions, follow the pattern: Zechariah sees, asks 'What are these?', and the angel explains. The explanations, not modern guesses, are the key.
  • Know the debate over chapters 9-14. Many scholars think they come from a later author or authors, pointing to the change from dated visions to undated oracles, the different style, the mention of Greece (9:13) and the fresh 'burden' headings (9:1; 12:1). Others defend one author, pointing to shared themes such as the cleansing of the people, the coming of the nations, God dwelling in Jerusalem and the hope of a royal figure, and noting that Greeks were already known in the Persian period. The New Testament quotes both halves as Scripture without settling the question.
  • Keep the Passion narratives open beside chapters 9-14, and Revelation beside chapters 1-6 and 14. The New Testament's use of Zechariah is the best guide to how Christians read it.
  • Matthew 27:9 attributes words closest to Zechariah 11:12-13 to Jeremiah. Many think Matthew combined Zechariah with Jeremiah's potter and field passages and named the more prominent prophet.

Key terms

  • Return שׁוּב (shuv) — Used for the people's repentance and for God's turning back to them (1:3, 16; 8:3). The book begins with this two-sided return.
  • Angel of the LORD מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה (mal'akh YHWH) — A messenger who speaks and acts for God and is at times closely identified with Him (1:12; 3:1-6; 12:8). Many Christian interpreters see appearances of the Son; others a created angel.
  • Branch צֶמַח (tsemach) — The royal shoot of David's line (Jeremiah 23:5). In 6:12 the following verb plays on it: the Branch will branch out and build the temple.
  • The accuser הַשָּׂטָן (ha-satan) — Literally the adversary, standing as prosecutor against Joshua in God's court (3:1-2). The LORD rebukes him and cleanses the accused.
  • Burden, oracle מַשָּׂא (massa) — The heading of 9:1 and 12:1, also used in Malachi 1:1. The three headings mark the last oracles of the prophetic books.
  • Pierce דָּקַר (daqar) — To thrust through, usually with a weapon and often fatally (12:10; 13:3). It points to a real death, not mere insult.

Easy to misread

  • Treating the visions as puzzles to be matched to modern events. They were given to encourage builders in 520 BC, and the angel's explanations tie them to that work and to God's larger purpose.
  • Assuming a later date for chapters 9-14 settles their authority, or that defending one author is necessary to hear them as Scripture. Christians on both sides of the authorship question read these chapters as God's word, as the Gospels do.
  • Reading chapter 14 with only one possible meaning. Many premillennial readers expect a literal return of the Lord to the Mount of Olives and a reign from Jerusalem, while amillennial and other readers see prophetic pictures of God's final victory and the new creation in the terms of Zechariah's world. All agree that the LORD will be King over all the earth.
  • Thinking 11:12-13 and 13:7 describe only the prophet's own experience. The sign-act and the poem were about God's shepherd and God's flock, and Jesus Himself applies 13:7 to His death.

Further reading: David Guzik, Enduring Word · Matthew Henry on CCEL · BibleProject overview video

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