Zechariah
Author: Zechariah
Zechariah, son of Berechiah, prophesies to the returned community in the days of Darius, alongside the rebuilding Haggai urges.
Outline
Night visions (1–6)
Horses, horns, a measuring line, the high priest’s garments, a lampstand, a flying scroll, and a crowned priest.
Fasting and justice (7–8)
The question about fasting is answered with the justice the earlier prophets demanded and with a promise that fasts become feasts.
The king and the shepherd (9–14)
A king comes lowly on a donkey, a shepherd is valued at thirty pieces, and the Lord stands on the Mount of Olives.
Key verses
Zechariah 4:6
The word to Zerubbabel is that the work is not by might or power but by the Lord’s Spirit.
Zechariah 9:9
Daughter Zion is told her king comes, just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey.
Zechariah 14:9
The Lord will be king over all the earth, and in that day there will be one Lord and his name one.
Zechariah begins in the same season as Haggai, the second year of Darius, with a call the returned people already know from their fathers. The Lord was sore displeased with the fathers. He said, turn to me, and they did not hear. Do not be like them. The present generation is told that the words and the statutes which the earlier prophets cried are still the condition of the house they are rebuilding. Then the night visions open, and the book becomes a set of signs for a small community living under Persia.
A man on a red horse stands among the myrtle trees, with horses behind him that have walked through the earth and found it still and at rest. The Lord is jealous for Jerusalem. He will return, his house will be built, and a line will be stretched on the city. Four horns that scattered Judah are met by four craftsmen. A man with a measuring line is told that Jerusalem will be inhabited as towns without walls, for the Lord will be a wall of fire and the glory in the midst. The visions keep pairing a small visible city with a protection the walls cannot be.
Joshua the high priest stands before the angel in filthy garments, with Satan at his right hand to resist him. The Lord rebukes Satan. The garments are taken away. A fair miter is set on Joshua’s head. He is charged to walk in the Lord’s ways, and he and his fellows are men of sign, for the Lord will bring forth his servant the Branch. A stone with seven eyes is set, and the iniquity of the land is removed in one day. A lampstand of gold and two olive trees prompt the word to Zerubbabel: not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit. The hands that laid the foundation will finish it. Who has despised the day of small things? A flying scroll is the curse that enters the house of the thief and the false swearer. A woman in an ephah is carried to Shinar. Four chariots go out from between mountains of brass. Then crowns of silver and gold are set on Joshua’s head, and the Branch is said to build the temple, bear the glory, sit and rule as a priest on his throne, and hold the counsel of peace between the two offices. The visions refuse to let the rebuilding be only masonry. Priesthood, spirit, and a figure called the Branch are part of the house.
Men come from Bethel to ask whether they should keep weeping in the fifth month, as they have done for so many years. The answer asks whether the fast was really for the Lord. It repeats the earlier demand. Execute true judgment, show mercy, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the stranger, and the poor, and let none imagine evil against his brother. The fathers refused, and the land became desolate. Now the Lord says he is returned to Zion. Old men and old women will sit in the streets, and boys and girls will play. The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months will become joy and gladness. Many peoples will take hold of the skirt of a Jew and say, we will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.
The later oracles look past the Persian governors. The burden on Hadrach and Damascus includes a word to Zion. Rejoice greatly. Your king comes, just and having salvation, lowly and riding upon a donkey, upon a colt the foal of a donkey. He will speak peace to the nations. His dominion is from sea to sea. The Lord will save his flock. A later shepherd is valued at thirty pieces of silver, a price cast to the potter in the house of the Lord. A sword awakes against the Lord’s shepherd, and the sheep are scattered. Jerusalem becomes a cup of trembling to the peoples. They look on the one they have pierced and mourn. A fountain is opened for sin and uncleanness. The prophets and the unclean spirit pass out of the land. The Mount of Olives splits. Living waters go out from Jerusalem. The Lord will be king over all the earth. In that day there will be one Lord, and his name one. The survivors of the nations go up to keep the feast of tabernacles. Zechariah’s range is the point. The same book that tells Zerubbabel not to despise a small day also describes a king on a donkey, a pierced one, and a single name over the whole earth.