Theopedia

Book of Zechariah

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass.”

— Zechariah 9:9 (KJV)

Overview

The Book of Zechariah is a prophetic book of the Old Testament, one of the twelve Minor Prophets and, with Haggai and Malachi, one of the three prophets of Israel’s restoration after the Babylonian exile.1 Its first six chapters unfold as a series of night visions concerning the reestablishment of the Jews in their own land and God’s future dealings with them; its later chapters shift to direct prophetic oracles, including some of the Old Testament’s sharpest messianic material.2

Author and Date

Zechariah identifies himself as “the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo” (Zech. 1:1), though Ezra names him more simply as “the son of Iddo” (Ezra 5:1; 6:14), likely because Iddo, his grandfather, was the better-known figure; this Iddo is probably the priest of that name who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel and Joshua (Neh. 12:4), which would make Zechariah, like Jeremiah and Ezekiel before him, of priestly descent.1 He began prophesying two months after Haggai, in the second year of Darius Hystaspes (chap. 1:1, compared with Hag. 1:1), placing the start of his ministry at 520 BC, and the two prophets overlapped for at least a short time.1

The authorship of the book’s final six chapters (Zech. 9-14) has been disputed on grounds of style and internal character, with some scholars arguing they belong to an earlier age and were only later attached to Zechariah’s own prophecies.3 Weighing the internal evidence on both sides as nearly balanced, Barrows judged that the chapters’ unbroken association with Zechariah’s book throughout its transmission should carry decisive weight in favor of their genuineness as his own work.3

Historical and Literary Context

Zechariah prophesied to the Jewish remnant that had returned from Babylonian captivity under Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest, at a time when the community, worn down by opposition from surrounding peoples, had let the work of rebuilding the temple lapse (Ezra 4-5).1 Together with Haggai, Zechariah was sent to rebuke the people for their spiritual indifference and to encourage them to resume and complete the temple’s reconstruction, a mission Ezra records as successful (Ezra 5:1-2; 6:14-15).1

Structure

The book divides naturally into three parts.2

  • Night visions (chs. 1-6). After a brief introductory call to repentance (1:1-6), Zechariah receives a series of eight visions in a single night concerning the restoration of Jerusalem and God’s future dealings with his people, closing with a symbolic coronation prophecy of the Branch as both priest and king upon David’s throne (6:9-15).2
  • A question about fasting (chs. 7-8). Occasioned by an inquiry about a fast kept since the exile, Zechariah rebukes empty formalism and promises the future prosperity of Judah and Jerusalem.2
  • Two oracles (chs. 9-14). Written later than the first two parts, these chapters concern the future destinies of God’s covenant people. The first oracle (9-11) reaches from the nearer future, understood to include the conquests of Alexander the Great (9:1-8), to the advent of the Messiah (9:9) and his rejection by the nation’s corrupt rulers (chap. 11); the second oracle (12-14) is occupied with the great conflict of the last days that ushers in the era of the LORD’s triumphant reign.2

Major Themes

Messianic prophecies later fulfilled in Christ. Zechariah’s oracles name particular events of the Messiah’s advent with unusual precision. Jerusalem’s king was to come to her “meek and lowly, unostentatious and peaceful,” his dominion ultimately universal,4 a prophecy fulfilled at the triumphal entry, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey (Matt. 21:1-5; John 12:14-15; Zech. 9:9). In chapter 11 the Messiah appears as a shepherd making a last appeal to his flock, rejected by those he came to save and sold for thirty pieces of silver, an enormity for which the nation is given up to long desolation.4 Zechariah’s circumstances of the Messiah’s being “sold for thirty pieces of silver by one of his disciples” were fulfilled in Judas’s betrayal (Zech. 11:12-13; Matt. 27:3-10).5 The same chapters foretell that his side would be pierced (Zech. 12:10; 13:7), fulfilled at the crucifixion (John 19:34-37).5 Zechariah 12:10 itself, “they shall look upon me whom they have pierced,” is addressed by the LORD in his own person, evidence that the one pierced is himself the supreme God;6 the New Testament applies the same words to Christ, pierced at the cross (John 19:37; Rev. 1:7).6

The LORD’s coming reign. Zechariah 12:10 also promises that God will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem “the spirit of grace and of supplications,” so that they look on the one they pierced and mourn for him as for an only son.7 This outpouring belongs to a wider prophetic pattern in which the LORD makes a new covenant with his people, gives them new hearts, and pours out his Spirit so that they love and obey him from within rather than by external constraint.8 Zechariah likewise announces that Jerusalem will be rebuilt and its priesthood and temple renewed, so that God dwells among his people (Zech. 1:17; 2:1-5; 3:1-8; 6:9-15; 8:1-9).9

Encouragement to complete the temple. Zechariah’s earliest recorded ministry was bound up with the practical work of rebuilding. Alongside Haggai, he reproved the returned exiles for having grown cold toward the work and spurred them on until it was finished (Ezra 5:1-2; 6:14-15).1

Related Doctrines

References

  1. Elijah Porter Barrows, Companion to the Bible (New York: American Tract Society, 1867), 346. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  2. Barrows, 347. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  3. Barrows, 348. ↩ ↩2

  4. Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Volume I (New York: Charles Scribner and Company, 1871), 494. ↩ ↩2

  5. John Gill, A Body of Doctrinal Divinity; or, A System of Evangelical Truths, Deduced from the Sacred Scriptures, 2 vols. (London: Printed for the Author, and Sold by George Keith, 1769), book IV, chap. 4. ↩ ↩2

  6. Benedict Pictet, Christian Theology, trans. Frederick Reyroux (Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1845), 107. ↩ ↩2

  7. Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Volume III (New York: Charles Scribner and Company, 1873), 803: “I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications; and they shall look on me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son.” ↩

  8. Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics: Abridged in One Volume, ed. John Bolt (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2011), chap. 24, “The Return of Christ.” ↩

  9. Bavinck, chap. 24, “The Return of Christ.” ↩