Zechariah
Minor prophetAlongside Haggai, Zechariah urged the temple's rebuilding through a series of strange night visions, and looked further to the Messiah, a king coming humble on a donkey, and one they would look on whom they had pierced.
Old Testament · Minor Prophets
Zechariah
Night visions and a coming King, lowly, riding on a donkey.
Eight night visions, then oracles that reach further ahead than almost anything in the prophets. Zechariah works alongside Haggai to get the temple finished, but the material quickly outgrows the building project: a lampstand fed by two olive trees, a flying scroll, a high priest in filthy clothes being reclothed while the accuser stands by. The later chapters supply an extraordinary number of images the Gospels pick up, a king coming humble and riding on a donkey, thirty pieces of silver thrown to the potter, a shepherd struck and the sheep scattered, and one they look on whom they have pierced. The last chapter has the nations going up to Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Tabernacles, which is why it is quoted in nearly every discussion of the feasts.
If you remember one thing
Half strange visions and half plain promises, with more references to the coming Messiah than any prophet except Isaiah.
Who, when, and why
- Written
- Zechariah son of Berechiah, beginning two months after Haggai in 520 BC. Chapters 9 to 14 differ enough in style and subject that many scholars see a later hand, while others read the shift as a change of subject.
- First readers
- The same rebuilding community.
- Why it was written
- To encourage the work with visions of what God intended beyond it.
How it is shaped
- 1 to 6Eight night visions
- 7 to 8Questions about fasting, and the answer
- 9 to 14Two burdens: the coming king and the pierced one
What it keeps coming back to
Night visionsNot by might nor by powerA coming kingThe pierced one
A verse to carry
“Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says Yahweh of Armies.”
Zechariah 4:6
Passages that trouble readers
Zechariah 11:12-13
Thirty pieces of silver thrown to the potter in the house of the LORD. Matthew attributes a combined citation to Jeremiah, which has been discussed since the earliest commentators.
Named here rather than skipped. Where Christians read a passage differently, we say so instead of choosing for you.
Everyone here has a write-up, drawn from the same records that explain the names while you read the text.
Amoz
The fathers in the formulasThe names attached to prophets and officials to identify them: Isaiah son of Amoz, Ezekiel son of Buzi, Hosea son of Beeri, Joel son of Pethuel, Jonah son of Amittai, Zechariah son of Berechiah son of Iddo, Baruch son of Neriah, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel.
Isaiah 1:1Isaiah 7:4-9Jeremiah 32:12
Zerubbabel
Leaders of the returnThe governor and the high priest who led the first returning exiles, laid the foundation of the second temple, and finished it under the preaching of Haggai and Zechariah.
Ezra 3:8-13Ezra 5:1-2Haggai 2:20-23
Satan
The accuserThe Hebrew word satan means adversary or accuser, and in its earliest uses it is a role rather than a name, complete with the definite article: the accuser, standing in the heavenly court to press a case, as in Job and Zechariah.
Job 1:6-12Zechariah 3:1-2Matthew 4:1-11
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