ZECHARIAH
INTRODUCTION
A
Bible Study - Commentary by Jim Melough
Copyright
2002 James Melough
Zechariah, meaning remembered of Jehovah, was a contemporary of Haggai
whose prophecy began “In the second year of Darius ... in the sixth month, in
the first day of the month,” see Hag 1:1, i.e., in 520 BC, Zechariah’s
prophecy beginning “... in the eighth month, in the same year. See also Ezra
5:1-2.
Some commentators maintain that this Zechariah is not to be confused with the
one of the same name mentioned in Mt 23:35, but many able scholars adduce
convincing evidence that he was indeed the same. The question, however, in no
way affects the validity of his prophecy.
Some “liberal” critics, pointing to the different subject matter, and to
stylistic differences in the language of chapters 9-14, have sought to
attribute them to a different author, but the inconsequential differences are
generally recognized as being due to the fact that those chapters dealt with
different subject matter, and were written much later than those comprising
the first part of the book.
While Haggai’s message was partly one of rebuke, and also of encouragement,
relative to Israel’s failure to complete the building of the Temple,
Zechariah’s was one of encouragement to resume and finish that work.
Nothing more is known of him other than that he was a Levite, a priest, Neh
12:1, 16, “the son of Berechiah blessed of Jehovah, the son of Iddo
due time: adorn him, the prophet,” 1:2, so that he was a priest as well as
a prophet. He is generally assumed to have been born in Babylon during the
seventy-year exile, his arrival in Jerusalem being recorded in Neh 12:4, 16,
while Ezra in 5:1 and 6:14 mentions his ministry.
His prophecy sweeps from the rebuilding of the Temple by the remnant which
returned from Babylon, all the way to the Millennium, and as noted in the
Scofield Bible, “... no O.T. prophet has more prophecy concerning Christ,
Israel, and the nations in so short a space than has Zechariah. He predicts
the second coming of Christ, His reign, His priesthood, His kingship, His
humanity, His Deity, His building of the Temple of the Lord, His coming in
lowliness, His bringing of permanent peace, His rejection and betrayal for
thirty pieces of silver, His return to Israel as the crucified One, and His
being smitten by the sword of the Lord.”
Dr Fink has made the instructive comment that Zechariah “provides a complement
to the prophecy of Daniel - Daniel gives God’s program for the times of the
Gentiles from the Gentile perspective; Zechariah gives God’s program for the
times of the Gentiles from Israel’s perspective.”
[Zecahriah 1]