Zechariah - Intro

This prophet of God was raised up to the work of the Lord in the second year of king Darius of Babylon, (520 B.C.). The captivity of the chosen people was ending as Cyrus had restored the Jewish people back to their homeland in Palestine.

As they returned, the first priority was the rebuilding of the Temple which had been destroyed by the Babylonians when they defeated the Jews and took them captive exactly as the prophet Jeremiah had predicted and warned would happen if there was no repentance of the chosen people for their idol worship sinfulness. The work on the Temple had stopped due to the indifference of the people and their enthusiasm had diminished. The Lord was less than pleased and He raised up prophets to rekindle the spiritual fire to complete the Temple and restore the priestly order necessary for proper worship. Haggai had also been called by God and he and Zechariah were called to challenge the people to complete the necessary tasks. The writings of Zechariah and Haggai should be read in conjunction with the first six chapters of Ezra to gain understanding of these special days.

The Hebrew word Zechariah means “God remembered”. This prophet is introduced to us as the son of Berechiah, who himself was the son of Iddo. Ezra 5:1 informs us that Zechariah was the son of Iddo, which likely means that Berechiah had died at a relatively young age. With the possible exception of the book of Isaiah, no prophet's writing provides a better view of the mind of God toward what was happening in the promised land at the time of the prophet and what was to come later as revealed by prophecy to foretell the Messiah who would come.

Zechariah was of a priestly family, highly honored among the people. His grandfather, Iddo, was the head of the family group which was one of the twelve family groups who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel, and the high priest Joshua. In later years after Joshua had died and his son, Jehoiakim became high priest, Zechariah became head of his own family group succeeding Iddo. 

As those returning applied themselves to the Temple rebuilding the enthusiasm was strong. In seven months after the return they had finished rebuilding the altar for offerings, which had been stopped during the 70 years of exile. In the second year, zeal was lost among the people and Haggai was appointed by God to stir the people back toward the project. During this effort by Haggai, Zechariah was called by God with further messages for the chosen people. Haggai's main task was to encourage the reconstruction of the physical Temple while Zechariah was called to lead the people to a complete spiritual change, which would be helpful toward the physical work and in four years the work was completed with the renewal of spirit brought by Zechariah.

There are four divisions making up the book written by Zechariah:

CHAPTER ONE VERSES 1-6

An introductory address to the people which is a call to repentance.

CHAPTER ONE VERSE 7 THROUGH CHAPTER SIX

A series of eight visions, all highly symbolic, and all shown to the prophet in one night. These are generally consoling to the chosen people leading up to the “last days” and to the final work of God toward His chosen people, and other nations as well.

CHAPTERS SEVEN AND EIGHT

An address to answer the questions concerning the observation of national fasts and celebration of a renewed relationship with Jehovah God.

CHAPTERS NINE THROUGH FOURTEEN

Writings from the prophet in his later years starting from the immediate future time through the time of the climax of things to come when God Himself shall arrive among His people and as a result, “... Jehovah shall be king over all the earth, and there shall be but one Lord, and His name shall be One...”.

We are given information from the lips of Jesus Christ Himself concerning the death of this prophet in Matthew 23:35 when Jesus was confronting the Pharisees on their hypocrisy and spiritual blindness:

“That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zecharias, son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.”

The description of the death of the prophet is given to us in 2nd Chronicles 24.