Zechariah: the coming king
Zechariah prophesied with Haggai to encourage the rebuilding of the temple. His eight night visions comfort the returned exiles, and his later oracles look ahead to a humble king riding on a donkey, and to a shepherd pierced and struck.
About the book
The book opens: "In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo" (Zechariah 1:1). That was 520 BC, two months after Haggai's first message, and Ezra tells how the two prophets together got the stalled work on the temple moving again (Ezra 5:1). Zechariah's name means ‘the LORD remembers’. Nehemiah lists a Zechariah as head of the priestly family of Iddo (Nehemiah 12:16), so many think of him as a prophet from a priestly house. The map under the Jesus tab sets Zechariah, with Haggai, in the era of return and rebuilding (c. 539–430 BC).
The church has received the whole book as Zechariah's. Since the seventeenth century, however, many scholars have assigned chapters 9–14 to another prophet or prophets, today usually of a later time. Unlike 1–8, these chapters have no dates and no visions; they never mention Zechariah, Zerubbabel or the building of the temple; chapters 9 and 12 each begin afresh as "the burden of the word of the LORD" (Zechariah 9:1); and they speak of Greece (Zechariah 9:13). Scholars who hold the whole book to be Zechariah's answer that the same themes run through both parts (Jerusalem restored, the nations coming to the LORD, a people cleansed), that a change of subject brings a change of style, and that Greece was well known in Persian times. Some take 9–14 as the word Zechariah received late in life.
How it unfolds
| Chapters | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1:1-6 | A call to return to the LORD |
| 1:7–6:15 | Eight night visions: horsemen, four horns, a measuring line, Joshua the high priest, a golden lampstand, a flying scroll, a woman in a basket, four chariots |
| 7–8 | A question about fasting: true justice and mercy; fasts turned to feasts |
| 9–11 | First burden: the humble king comes; the rejected shepherd and thirty pieces of silver |
| 12–14 | Second burden: mourning for the pierced one, a cleansing fountain, the shepherd struck, the LORD King over all |
Key passages
After seventy years of anger God says, "I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there My house will be rebuilt" (Zechariah 1:16). In the fifth vision Zechariah sees a golden lampstand fed with oil from two olive trees, and hears God's word to Zerubbabel, who was leading the work:
Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD of Hosts.
Zechariah 4:6
God asks, "For who has despised the day of small things?" (Zechariah 4:10); the foundation Zerubbabel laid became the temple completed in the sixth year of Darius, about 516 BC (Ezra 6:15).
In chapters 7–8 the people ask whether they should go on fasting in memory of Jerusalem's fall. God answers, "Administer true justice. Show loving devotion and compassion to one another" (Zechariah 7:9), and promises that the fasts "will become times of joy and gladness" (Zechariah 8:19).
From chapter 9 the book looks to the coming king:
Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Zechariah 9:9
God will break the bow of war, and the king will "proclaim peace to the nations" (Zechariah 9:10). Yet the people value the shepherd God gave them at "thirty pieces of silver" (Zechariah 11:12). Still God will pour out "a spirit of grace and prayer", and "they will look on Me, the One they have pierced" (Zechariah 12:10); it is the LORD who speaks of himself as pierced. On that day a fountain will cleanse them from sin (Zechariah 13:1), and at the last "the LORD will become King over all the earth" (Zechariah 14:9).
The book and Christ
The Gospels quote chapters 9–14 again and again. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey's colt, Matthew saw Zechariah 9:9 fulfilled (Matthew 21:4-5), and John quotes it too (John 12:15). Matthew Henry calls the verse "a joyful representation of the coming of the Messiah, of whom the ancient Jews explained this prophecy" Matthew Henry.
With the thirty pieces of silver Judas was paid, the chief priests bought the potter's field, and Matthew sees Zechariah 11:12-13 fulfilled. Yet he calls it "what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet" (Matthew 27:9). Many think Matthew joins Zechariah's words to Jeremiah's potter (chapters 18–19) and his purchase of a field (Jeremiah 32:9), and names the better-known prophet, as Mark joins Malachi to Isaiah under Isaiah's name alone (Mark 1:2). Augustine held that the name stands because all the prophets spoke by one Spirit, and that it also sends the reader to Jeremiah's field Augustine.
When a soldier pierced Jesus' side on the cross, John cites the Scripture, "They will look on the One they have pierced" (John 19:37). On the night he was arrested Jesus quoted Zechariah 13:7: "I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered" (Matthew 26:31). Jerome comments: "The good Shepherd is smitten, that He may lay down His life for His sheep" Jerome.
Reading it
Fourteen chapters at two a day take a week. Begin with Haggai and Ezra for the setting, then open Zechariah 1. The visions of chapters 1–6 are strange pictures, but in each one an angel explains what Zechariah sees: follow his explanations. Read chapters 9–14 with the Passion story (Matthew 26–27) beside you. Then go on to Malachi.
Practice
- Practice 1 of 6
How is the book of Zechariah built?
- Practice 2 of 6
According to Zechariah 4:6, how will the work on the temple be done?
- Practice 3 of 6
What event does Matthew 21 see as the fulfilment of Zechariah 9:9?
- Practice 4 of 6
When does John 19:37 cite Zechariah 12:10, "They will look on the One they have pierced"?
- Practice 5 of 6
When did Jesus quote Zechariah 13:7, "Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered"?
- Practice 6 of 6
What is true of the authorship of Zechariah 9–14?
Reading to the end marks it read; tap to switch it.
Related topics
Lessons from the Bible, the church's creeds and classic commentary. Each book's author and date are given as the church has received them, and scholars who see them otherwise are presented fairly. Scripture quotations: BSB.