“ZECHARIAH, THE SON OF BERECHIAH, THE SON OF IDDO THE PROPHET” (ZECHARIAH 1:1) · EXILE & RETURN

Zechariah. Night visions in the second year of Darius; the fasts in the fourth; two burdens after.

SCRIPTURE CALLS

Prophet

ERA

Exile & return 586–430 BC

IN THE DAYS OF

Darius · Zerubbabel

BOOK

Zechariah

HOW THE WORD CAME

The first word: Turn ye unto me

THE CALL

How the word first came

THE FIRST WORD: TURN YE UNTO ME

“Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts.”

Zechariah 1:3 (KJV) →

HOW THE WORD KEPT COMING

  • He saw visions “by night”, and asked “the angel that talked with me” what they meant. Zechariah 1:8–9 Zechariah 1:19 Zechariah 4:1–5 Zechariah 5:5 Zechariah 6:4
  • He was told to take silver and gold from the returned exiles, make crowns and set them on the head of Joshua the high priest. Zechariah 6:9–15
  • He was told to “feed the flock of the slaughter” with two staves called Beauty and Bands, and later to take “the instruments of a foolish shepherd”. Zechariah 11:4–17
  • Chapters 9 and 12 open with “The burden of the word of the LORD”. Zechariah 9:1 Zechariah 12:1
  • When Sherezer and Regem-melech asked the priests and prophets whether to keep weeping in the fifth month, the word came to Zechariah. Zechariah 7:1–7
  • Ezra names him “Zechariah the son of Iddo” and says the elders “prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah”. Ezra 5:1 Ezra 6:14
  • Scholars' viewKeil (1868) takes this Darius to be Darius Hystaspes (Darius I): Zechariah, he writes, began “in the second year of Darius Hystaspes, only two months later than his contemporary Haggai”. On Parker and Dubberstein's tables (1942), the second year of Darius I ran from spring 520 BC to spring 519 BC, and his fourth year began in spring 518 BC. Zechariah 1:1 Zechariah 7:1 [37][24]

BEFORE THE KINGS

Before two rulers

KING OF PERSIA

Darius

“In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah”

Zechariah 1:1 (KJV) →

GOVERNOR OF JUDAH

Zerubbabel, governor of Judah

“Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.”

Zechariah 4:6 (KJV) →

THE MESSAGE

The word in its main themes

Return unto me

“Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried”

Zechariah 1:4 (KJV) →

Jealous for Jerusalem; the house shall be built

“I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the LORD of hosts”

Zechariah 1:16 (KJV) →

Not by might, nor by power

“Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.”

Zechariah 4:6 (KJV) →

Judgment and mercy rather than fasts

“Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother”

Zechariah 7:9 (KJV) →

Many nations shall be joined to the LORD

“We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.”

Zechariah 8:23 (KJV) →

Thy King cometh

“behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass”

Zechariah 9:9 (KJV) →

The day of the LORD

“And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.”

Zechariah 14:9 (KJV) →

THE WORD TO …

To whom the word was spoken

TO JOSHUA THE HIGH PRIEST

“Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee”

Zechariah 3:8 (KJV) →

TO ZERUBBABEL

“Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain”

Zechariah 4:7 (KJV) →

TO THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND AND THE PRIESTS

“When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?”

Zechariah 7:5 (KJV) →

TO THE DAUGHTER OF ZION

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee”

Zechariah 9:9 (KJV) →

TO THE LAND OF HADRACH

“The burden of the word of the LORD in the land of Hadrach, and Damascus shall be the rest thereof”

Zechariah 9:1 (KJV) →

TO THE IDOL SHEPHERD

“Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock!”

Zechariah 11:17 (KJV) →

SIGNS

Signs and wonders

VISION

The man among the myrtle trees

VISION

Four horns and four carpenters

VISION

The measuring line

VISION

Joshua clothed anew

VISION

The candlestick and two olive trees

VISION

The flying roll

VISION

The woman in the ephah

VISION

Four chariots

SIGN-ACT

Crowns for Joshua

SIGN-ACT

The two staves and the thirty pieces

SIGN-ACT

The foolish shepherd

WHAT CAME OF THE WORD

As Scripture reports it

THE WORD

SCRIPTURE REPORTS

THE WORD

SCRIPTURE REPORTS

THE WORD

SCRIPTURE REPORTS

THE WORD

SCRIPTURE REPORTS

THE WORD

SCRIPTURE REPORTS

THE BOOK

The book of Zechariah

  • 1 Turn ye unto me Zechariah 1:1–6
  • 2 The myrtle trees Zechariah 1:7–17
  • 3 Horns and carpenters Zechariah 1:18–21
  • 4 The measuring line Zechariah 2:1–13
  • 5 Joshua clothed anew Zechariah 3:1–10
  • 6 Candlestick and olive trees Zechariah 4:1–14
  • 7 The flying roll Zechariah 5:1–4
  • 8 The woman in the ephah Zechariah 5:5–11
  • 9 Four chariots Zechariah 6:1–8
  • 10 Crowns for Joshua Zechariah 6:9–15
  • 11 Fasts and feasts Zechariah 7:1–8:23
  • 12 First burden Zechariah 9:1–11:17
  • 13 Second burden Zechariah 12:1–14:21

WHERE THE NEW TESTAMENT QUOTES IT · 14

Each band joins a chapter of Zechariah to the New Testament books quoting it (6 books).

COMPANIONS AND OPPONENTS

Who stood with him, and against him

Berechiah

Iddo

Haggai

Joshua son of Josedech

Zerubbabel

Heldai

Josiah son of Zephaniah

Sherezer and Regem-melech

The angel that talked with me

HOW THE STORY ENDS

Scripture says, tradition says

SCRIPTURE SAYS

  • From the textZechariah's last dated word is in the fourth year of Darius; Ezra says the house was finished in the sixth year through the prophesying of Haggai and Zechariah. Scripture says nothing of his death. Zechariah 7:1 Ezra 6:14–15

TRADITION SAYS

  • G. L. Robinson writes in the ISBE that “nothing is known of his end. The Targum says he died a martyr.”[28] Who says so: The Targum, as reported in the ISBE, reported 1915

OPEN QUESTIONS

Where readers have differed

Grandson of Iddo, a priest who succeeded him as head of the house

C. F. Keil (1868); G. L. Robinson in ISBE (1915), conditionally

Keil holds that Zechariah “followed his grandfather in that office under the high priest Jehoiakim”, and that “his father died young”, which he thinks may explain why Ezra calls him “the son (grandson) of Iddo”. Robinson writes that the same Iddo “seems to be mentioned” in Nehemiah 12:4, and “if so, Zechariah was a priest as well as a prophet”. Zechariah 1:1 Ezra 5:1 Nehemiah 12:4 Nehemiah 12:16 [24][28]

IN SCRIPTURE

Every passage

CHAPTERS · 17

Zechariah 1 Zechariah 2 Zechariah 3 Zechariah 4 Zechariah 5 Zechariah 6 Zechariah 7 Zechariah 8 Zechariah 9 Zechariah 10 Zechariah 11 Zechariah 12 Zechariah 13 Zechariah 14 Ezra 5 Ezra 6 Nehemiah 12

PASSAGES · 4

Zechariah 1:1–14:21 Ezra 5:1–2 Ezra 6:14–15 Nehemiah 12:16

WHAT SCRIPTURE DOES NOT SAY

  • Zechariah's book does not call him a priest; Nehemiah 12:16 names a Zechariah at the head of Iddo's priestly house.
  • The book gives no date for chapters 9–14.
  • Scripture does not say how or when Zechariah died.

SOURCES

Where this page comes from

  • S. R. Driver, An Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament (2nd ed., New York 1892; first published 1891) (1891), ch. XI (Daniel), pp. 458–483.
  • S. R. Driver, An Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament (2nd ed., New York 1892; first published 1891) (1891), ch. V (Ezekiel), pp. 260–279.
  • S. R. Driver, An Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament (2nd ed., New York 1892; first published 1891) (1891), ch. VI §10 (Haggai), pp. 320–321.
  • S. R. Driver, An Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament (2nd ed., New York 1892; first published 1891) (1891), ch. VI §11 (Zechariah), pp. 322–333.
  • S. R. Driver, An Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament (2nd ed., New York 1892; first published 1891) (1891), ch. VI §12 (Malachi), pp. 333–336.
  • E. B. Pusey, Daniel the Prophet: Nine Lectures Delivered in the Divinity School of the University of Oxford (1864), Lecture I, p. 1, and the table of contents, pp. xxxi–xxxvii.
  • E. B. Pusey, Daniel the Prophet: Nine Lectures Delivered in the Divinity School of the University of Oxford (1864), Lecture III, pp. 103–105.
  • E. B. Pusey, Daniel the Prophet: Nine Lectures Delivered in the Divinity School of the University of Oxford (1864), Lecture IV, pp. 169–170.
  • J. A. Montgomery, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Daniel (International Critical Commentary) (1927), Introduction §2, pp. 2–3.
  • J. A. Montgomery, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Daniel (International Critical Commentary) (1927), Introduction §19, pp. 60–61.
  • J. A. Montgomery, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Daniel (International Critical Commentary) (1927), Introduction, 'The dating of the two sections', pp. 96–97.
  • J. A. Montgomery, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Daniel (International Critical Commentary) (1927), on Dan 9:24–27, pp. 393–394.
  • G. A. Smith, The Book of the Twelve Prophets, vol. 2 (The Expositor's Bible) (1898), Preface, p. viii.
  • G. A. Smith, The Book of the Twelve Prophets, vol. 2 (The Expositor's Bible) (1898), ch. XXIII, pp. 331–333.
  • C. F. Keil, tr. M. G. Easton, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Daniel (Keil and Delitzsch) (1872), Introduction (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. M. G. Easton, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Daniel (Keil and Delitzsch) (1872), note on Dan 2:39–40 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. M. G. Easton, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Daniel (Keil and Delitzsch) (1872), notes on Dan 9:24–27 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. M. G. Easton, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Daniel (Keil and Delitzsch) (1872), note on Dan 11:36–45 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel (Keil and Delitzsch) (1876), note on Ezek 1:1 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel (Keil and Delitzsch) (1876), the survey of chs. 40–48 (read on Bible Hub, printed with Ezekiel 1).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel (Keil and Delitzsch) (1876), note on Ezek 14:14 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel (Keil and Delitzsch) (1876), note on Ezek 29:17–21 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. James Martin, The Twelve Minor Prophets, vol. 2 (Keil and Delitzsch) (1868), note on Hag 2:7 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. James Martin, The Twelve Minor Prophets, vol. 2 (Keil and Delitzsch) (1868), introduction to Zechariah, on 1:1 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. James Martin, The Twelve Minor Prophets, vol. 2 (Keil and Delitzsch) (1868), introduction to Malachi, on 1:1 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. Sophia Taylor, The Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther (Keil and Delitzsch) (1873), note on Neh 6:10–14 (read on Bible Hub).
  • R. Dick Wilson, "Daniel, Book of", International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (1915), sections VII (Genuineness) and VIII (Interpretation).
  • George L. Robinson, "Zechariah, Book of", International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (1915), sections 1, 4 and 6.
  • Benjamin of Tudela, tr. M. N. Adler, The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela (1907), pp. 43–44 (Ezekiel's sepulchre) and 52–53 (Daniel's sepulchre at Shushan).
  • E. G. Hirsch, K. H. Cornill, S. Schechter and L. Ginzberg, "Ezekiel", Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 5 (1903), pp. 313–316.
  • S. Schechter and L. Ginzberg, "Ezekiel's Tomb", Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 5 (1903).
  • E. G. Hirsch, "Haggai", Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 6 (1904).
  • I. Singer and A. Guttmacher, "Malachi, Book of", Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 8 (1904), In Rabbinical Literature; Critical View.
  • K. Kohler and L. Blau, "Bat Ḳol", Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 2 (1902).
  • Tertullian, tr. Peter Holmes (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3), On the Resurrection of the Flesh (1885), chapters 29–30.
  • Augustine, tr. S. D. F. Salmond (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 6), The Harmony of the Gospels (1888), book 3, chapter 7, §§28–31.
  • R. A. Parker and W. H. Dubberstein, Babylonian Chronology 626 B.C.–A.D. 45 (Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 24; dates cited as facts only) (1942), p. 28 (table of years: Darius I, years 1–4).
  • John Gill, An Exposition of the Old Testament (1748–1763), note on Ezek 4:4 (read on Bible Hub).
  • H. D. M. Spence and J. S. Exell (eds.), Pulpit Commentary: Ezekiel (1880–1897), note on Ezek 4:4 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. J. Ellicott (ed.), A Bible Commentary for English Readers (c. 1878–1884), note on Hag 2:7 (read on Bible Hub).
  • R. Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and D. Brown, A Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments (1871), note on Hag 2:7 (read on Bible Hub).
  • H. D. M. Spence and J. S. Exell (eds.), Pulpit Commentary: Haggai (1880–1897), note on Hag 2:7 (read on Bible Hub).
  • John Gill, An Exposition of the New Testament (1746–1748), note on Matt 27:9 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. J. Ellicott (ed.), A New Testament Commentary for English Readers (c. 1878–1884), note on Matt 27:9 (read on Bible Hub).
  • R. Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and D. Brown, A Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments (1871), note on Matt 27:9, quoting John Lightfoot (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. J. Ellicott (ed.), A New Testament Commentary for English Readers (c. 1878–1884), note on Matt 23:35 (read on Bible Hub).
  • A. B. Bruce, The Synoptic Gospels (The Expositor's Greek Testament, vol. 1) (1897), note on Matt 23:35 (read on Bible Hub).
  • H. E. Ryle, The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges) (1893), note on Neh 6:14 (read on Bible Hub).
  • John Gill, An Exposition of the Old Testament (1748–1763), note on Neh 6:14 (read on Bible Hub).
  • H. D. M. Spence and J. S. Exell (eds.), Pulpit Commentary: Nehemiah (1880–1897), note on Neh 6:14 (read on Bible Hub).
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1683–1685), note on Neh 6:14 (read on Bible Hub).

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