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Introduction
to Zechariah
This summary of the book of Zechariah provides information about
the title, author(s), date of writing, chronology, theme, theology, outline, a
brief overview, and the chapters of the Book of Zechariah.
Zechariah's prophetic ministry took place in the postexilic
period, the time of the Jewish restoration from Babylonian captivity. For
historical details see Introduction to Haggai: Background.
Like Jeremiah (1:1) and Ezekiel (1:3), Zechariah was not only a prophet (1:1) but also a member of a priestly family. He
was born in Babylonia and was among those who returned to Judah in 538/537 b.c.
under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Joshua (his grandfather Iddo is named
among the returnees in Ne 12:4). At a later time, when Joiakim was high
priest (see note on Ne 12:12-21), Zechariah apparently succeeded
Iddo (1:1,7) as head of that priestly family (Ne 12:10-16). Since the grandson succeeded the
grandfather, it has been suggested that the father (Berekiah, 1:1,7) died at an early age.
Zechariah was a contemporary of Haggai (Ezr
5:1; 6:14) but continued his ministry long after him
(compare 1:1 and 7:1 with Hag
1:1; see also Ne 12:1-16). His young age (see 2:4 and note) in the early period of his
ministry makes it possible that he ministered even into the reign of Artaxerxes
I (465-424 b.c.).
Most likely Zechariah wrote the entire book that bears his name.
Some have questioned his authorship of chs. 9
- 14, citing differences in style and other
compositional features, and giving historical and chronological references that
allegedly require a different date and author from those of chs. 1
- 8. All these objections, however, can be
explained in other satisfactory ways, so there is no compelling reason to
question the unity of the book.
The dates of Zechariah's recorded messages are best correlated
with those of Haggai and with other historical events as follows:
|
1. |
Haggai's
first message (Hag 1:1-11; Ezr
5:1) |
Aug. 29, 520
b.c. |
|
2. |
Resumption of
the building of the temple (Hag 1:12-15; Ezr
5:2) |
Sept. 21, 520 |
|
3. |
Haggai's
second message (Hag 2:1-9) |
Oct. 17, 520 |
|
4. |
Beginning of
Zechariah's preaching (1:1-6) |
Oct./Nov.,
520 |
|
5. |
Haggai's
third message (Hag 2:10-19) |
Dec. 18, 520 |
|
6. |
Haggai's
fourth message (Hag 2:20-23) |
Dec. 18, 520 |
|
7. |
Tattenai's
letter to Darius concerning the rebuilding of the |
|
|
8. |
Feb. 15, 519 |
|
|
9. |
Joshua
crowned (6:9-15) |
Feb. 16 (?),
519 |
|
10. |
Dec. 7, 518 |
|
|
11. |
Dedication of
the temple (Ezr 6:15-18) |
Mar. 12, 516 |
|
12. |
After 480 (?) |
The occasion is the same as that of the book of Haggai (see
Background; Dates). The chief purpose of Zechariah (and Haggai) was to rebuke
the people of Judah and to encourage and motivate them to complete the
rebuilding of the temple (Zec 4:8-10; Hag
1-2), though both prophets were clearly interested in spiritual
renewal as well. In addition, the purpose of the eight night visions (1:7 -- 6:8) is explained in 1:3,5-6: The Lord said that if Judah would
return to him, he would return to them. Furthermore, his word would continue to
be fulfilled.
The theology of Zechariah's prophecy matches his name, which means
"The Lord (Yahweh) remembers." "The Lord" is the personal,
covenant name of God and is a perpetual testimony to his faithfulness to his
promises (see notes on Ge 2:4; Ex 3:14-15; 6:6;
Dt 28:58). He "remembers" his covenant
promises and takes action to fulfill them. In the book of Zechariah God's
promised deliverance from Babylonian exile, including a restored kingdom
community and a functioning temple (the earthly throne of the divine King; see
Introduction to Psalms: Theology), leads into even grander pictures of the
salvation and restoration to come through the Messiah (see notes on 3:8-9; 4:3,14; 6:9-15; 9:9-10; 10:2,4; 11:4-14; 12:10 -- 13:1; 13:7; 14:4-9).
The book as a whole also teaches the sovereignty of God in
history, over people and nations -- past, present and future (see, e.g., 1:10-11; 2:13; 4:10,14 and note; 6:5,7; 8:20-23; 9:10,13-14; 10:11; 12:1-5; 14:9,16-19). See also Literary Forms and Themes
below.
The book is primarily a mixture of exhortation (call to
repentance, 1:2-6), prophetic visions (1:7 -- 6:8), a prophetic oracle of instruction or
exhortation involving a symbolic coronation scene (6:9-15), hortatory messages (mainly of rebuke
and hope) prompted by a question about fasting (chs. 7
- 8) and judgment and salvation oracles (chs. 9
- 14). The prophetic visions of 1:7 -- 6:8 are called apocalyptic (revelatory)
literature, which is essentially a literature of encouragement to God's people.
When the apocalyptic section is read along with the salvation (or deliverance)
oracles in chs. 9 - 14, it becomes obvious that the dominant emphasis of the book
is encouragement because of the glorious future that awaits the people of God.
In fact, encouragement is the book's central theme -- primarily
encouragement to complete the rebuilding of the temple. Various means are used
to accomplish this end, and these function as subthemes. For example, great
stress is laid on the coming of the Messiah and the overthrow of all
anti-kingdom forces by him so that God's rule can be finally and fully
established on earth. The then-current local scene thus becomes the basis for contemplating
the universal, eschatological picture.
Several interpreters have arranged the eight visions of 1:7 -- 6:8 in a chiastic (or concentric) pattern of a-b-b-c / c1-b1-b1-a1:
I.
Introduction (1:1-6)
A.
The Date and the Author's Name (1:1)
II.
A Series of Eight Visions in One Night (1:7;6:8)
III.
The Symbolic Crowning of Joshua the High Priest (6:9-15)
V.
Two Prophetic Oracles: The Great Messianic Future and the Full
Realization of God's Kingdom (chs. 9-14)
a.
The destruction of surrounding nations but the preservation of
Zion (9:1-8)
.
The prologue (11:1-3)
.
The siege of Jerusalem (12:1-3)
.
The siege of Jerusalem (14:1-2)
──《New
International Version》
Introduction to Zechariah
This prophecy is suitable to all, as the
scope is to reprove for sin, and threaten God's judgments against the
impenitent, and to encourage those that feared God, with assurances of the
mercy God had in store for his church, and especially of the coming of the
Messiah, and the setting up his kingdom in the world.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Zechariah》
00 Overview
ZECHARIAH
INTRODUCTION
We must think of the prophet Zechariah as living and preaching
among surroundings the same as those with which Haggai, his companion in
responsibility and tribulation and honour, was familiar. The captivity in
Babylon had come to an end. The mighty empire, which for seventy years had
enslaved God’s people, had fallen before Cyrus. The king had authorised and
invited the Hebrew exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the house of the
Lord. But yet the sanctuary was unbuilt; no place of habitation had been found
for the God of Jacob. An unworthy timidity, and a sad failure of trustfulness,
and an overweening regard for self combined to promote this lamentable result.
It was, then, fully fifteen years after the band of exiles had arrived in
Jerusalem that Haggai and Zechariah were raised up to kindle within their
countrymen a worthier spirit. Side by side these two servants of the King
stood, strengthening each other’s hands in God; side by side, until the
slumberous eyes had been opened, and the forgetful hearts led back to the path
of duty, and the Temple raised out of its ruins. Then Haggai laid down the
burden of the prophet, and was gathered to his fathers; and Zechariah bore
witness for God alone.
I. What we know of
Zechariah himself may be rapidly told. He was priest as well as prophet. His
grandfather’s name and his own are mentioned in the Book of Nehemiah (Nehemiah 12:16), in the catalogue given
there of the members of the priestly class. He was the head of one of the
families that ministered about God’s altar, no less than a preacher of the
Lord. He united the two offices just as Jeremiah and Ezekiel had done in former
days. The patriotic zeal of the prophet for the honour of his country and the
glory of God was linked in Zechariah with that tender affection which every
true priest must have felt for the shrine in which it was his blessedness to be
a servant. Sprung from ancestors who for centuries had gone in and out of the
sacred courts, he would have been strangely unmindful of the best traditions of
his family if he had not been very jealous for the worship of the Lord God of
Israel. God had called him to a task which a pious priest could not but
welcome, and to which he could only surrender himself with enthusiasm. He was
quite a young man when he stood up first to deliver the Divine message. He
tells us that he was the son of Berechiah and the grandson of Iddo. The Book of
Ezra, in its account of the matter, makes no mention of the father, and speaks,
indeed, as if the prophet were sprung immediately from Iddo (Ezra 5:1; Ezra 6:14). Probably Berechlah died at an
early age, before he had time to make for himself a name with strangers like
Ezra, though his memory could not but be cherished and perpetuated by his own
son. It was in the care of his grandfather that Zechariah returned to Jerusalem
from his alien home by the banks of the Euphrates. He could not be more than a
mere child when the great deliverance took place. For, years after, when he
became God’s ambassador, he was still too young to exercise the priestly
functions. Nehemiah informs us that he did not rank among “the chief of the
fathers” during all the days of the high priest Joshua; not, indeed, until
Joiakim, Joshua’s son and successor, was put in charge of the worship of
Jehovah; then only Zechariah was enrolled among those who made sacrifice and
intercession for the people. He was a prophet before he was a priest. If Haggai
were an old man before his ministry commenced, Zechariah’s was begun in the
days of his youth; God has room and work in His kingdom alike for the veteran
and for the child. And nothing is pleasanter than to see, as in this instance,
the old and the young taking part together in duties that are holy and
heavenly. And sometimes the young are inclined to disparage the work of their
elders; they are too self-confident; they imagine that there are no thoughts so
large as their own, and no arms so strong, and no hearts so fervent. It is
better when the two join hands frankly, as Haggai and Zechariah did, and Peter
and Mark, and Paul and Timothy; and recognise cordially and ungrudgingly that
each has his own place. Probably many years lay between Zechariah’s first
exercise of the prophetical office and his last. The chapters that close his
book are very different both in manner and in matter from those with which it
opens--so different that many have concluded that they could not have been
penned by him at all. But it may make the difference easier of comprehension if
we suppose these later chapters to belong to Zechariah’s age while the others
are the utterance of his youth. A man speaks in his maturity in phrases and
tones which he did not employ when he was younger; he has passed into another
atmosphere. Such was Zechariah, who testified for God in a time of declension
and darkness. It was a difficult work. But I can well believe that, when the
prophet’s heart grew weary and doubtful, he would encourage himself by the
strong consolations proclaimed in the very name he bore--a name which many a
Hebrew father gave to his child. It spoke of the loving kindness of the Lord.
Zechariah means, “he whom Jehovah remembers.”
II. Passing to look
at the contents of His message, we find that the prophecy divides itself into
three parts, the first inclusive of the six opening chapters, the second of the
seventh and eighth, the third embracing the remainder of the Book. After a short
introduction, in which the author calls upon his countrymen to repent of their
indolence, and selfishness and sin, the first section of the prophecy is
commenced. It is a striking and beautiful section. It describes the history of
one very remarkable night, that which lay between the 23rd and 24th days of the
month Sebat, a month corresponding with our February. The year was the same as
that in which Haggai began and ended his brief but fruitful ministry--the
second year of Darius Hystaspis. During this night, while Zechariah slept, God
presented to his gaze one strange heaven-drawn picture after another. Vision
succeeded vision, clear and vivid, till there were eight of them in all. And
when the last had gone the prophet awoke, comforted in his own heart, and
having learned much regarding the destiny of the nation that was dear to him;
it had been the most blessed night he had ever known. The second part of
Zechariah’s prophecy--that which occupies the seventh and eighth chapters--was
not uttered until two summers and winters had passed away. During this interval
the Jews had set themselves zealously and devotedly to the restoring of God’s
neglected house; and they had not lacked tokens of His favour and grace. But a
question had sometimes been discussed among them which they were anxious to
have settled. And to whom could they go with more propriety or with greater
likelihood of success, some of them thought, than to the prophet in whom the
Spirit of the Lord was, and who had already been inspired to address to them
such good and comfortable words? So, in December of the year 518 B.C., a
deputation came to Zechariah from Bethel, one of the cities to which the
captives had returned, to propound to him their difficulty. It concerned the
national fast days, which they had kept four times a year during their exile in
Babylon--days on which they had wept when they remembered Zion, captured and
shamed and downtrodden. Should they still observe them now that the restoration
had taken place? Perhaps God did not mean them to mourn any longer, and would
be displeased if they did not manifest gladness because of the great things He
had done for them. But, on the other hand, it might still be His desire that
they should humble themselves and sit in dust and ashes, for their Church and
nation were feeble and of small account. Zechariah answered his questioners in
words which carry us back to some of the noblest sentences of Isaiah (Isaiah 58:1-14), and forward to some of
the searching and spiritual utterances of Christ (Matthew 6:16-18). He told them that God
preferred obedience to fasting, faith and holiness to sackcloth and a sad
countenance. He reminded them that it was their failure to fulfil the weightier
precepts of His law which had lain at the root of all their miseries. He bade
them pay most heed to judgment and righteousness and truth. And, to nerve them
for duties so high and broad and deep, he drew aside the veil from the future.
God, he said, would make them glad according to the days wherein they had seen
evil He would bless Jerusalem as He had done in former times. Old men and women
would move quietly along its streets, or would sit out in the sunshine, talking
of the many strange events which had happened since they were young, and none
would alarm or disturb them; while troops of happy children, playing together
fearlessly the games they loved so well, would make the thoroughfares resound
with their irrepressible mirth and gaiety. And where would be the necessity for
days of mourning then? Their fasts would be changed into feasts; their “winter
of discontent” made glorious summer. That was the reply; and would not Sherezer
and Regemmelech and the rest go back to Bethel with hearts lightened and glad?
We come to the closing section of the Book. It may have been uttered, as I have
hinted, many years later, when the active work of Zechariah’s life was almost
over, and when at length it was ringing to evensong. No detailed analysis of
these six chapters can be given here. Let it be said, however, that they have a
distinctly Messianic character. They speak of a King who was to come to Zion in
future days, a meek and lowly King, but One invested with singular majesty too,
for He would set free the captives of Israel, and would overthrow the enemies
of His people. Then the image changes, and it is a Shepherd to whom the
citizens of Jerusalem are pointed forward. But they who ought to be the sheep
of His pasture deliberately reject Him, and heap contumely upon Him, and go
after a foolish shepherd who cannot profit them. It is a sad picture; and the
prophet’s voice grows tremulous and indignant as he paints it. But, before he ends
his message his accents are happier again. He sees Jerusalem lifted proudly on
high as the capital of the land. He sees Jehovah Himself dwelling in her as her
Ruler and Prince. He sees everywhere a noble purity in the ascendant. There is
to be no distinction of secular and sacred, of clean and unclean; for all
things, the commonest objects of life, are consecrated to the Lord. When the
priest puts the collar on his horse, and goes to his day’s work or his day’s
recreation, he will be as truly at one with God as when he enters the Holy of
Holies with the censer in his hand and the fair mitre on his head and the
jewels of the breastplate glittering in the sun. Is it not a splendid ideal?
Would that it were nearer its realisation even now, after all these centuries
of the Gospel!
III. I have said
that the concluding chapters of the Book have been made the subject of keen
discussion. Many opinions have been expressed regarding their authorship; many
doubts have been thrown on the belief that Zechariah spoke and penned them. It
has been urged that they are altogether different in tone and contents from the
chapters which precede them. There we were called to look on one significant
vision after another; here there are no visions, only direct predictions, warnings
of judgment, promises of succour and salvation. There the unbuilt Temple was
always present to our thoughts; here the Temple has vanished altogether from
view. There everything was of the profoundest interest and importance to the
Jews of the prophet’s day; here it is difficult to believe that these Jews
could be moved and stirred by much to which they are bidden listen--it seems to
deal with events remote from their time, with hostile nations and powers that
had been formidable to their fathers, but had ceased to vex and trouble them. £
The Book of Job and the Epistle to the Hebrews are not less divinely precious
to our souls because we cannot be sure what human hand it was that penned them.
But in this case there is no sufficient cause why we should alter our old
beliefs. We may still regard the prophecy of Zechariah as a unity. Criticism
itself, after discovering many stumbling blocks and throwing out many
conjectures, is coming back to that conviction. £ If the preacher were far
advanced in life before he published the truths contained in this division of
the Book, there would be no need for him to refer to the rebuilding of the
Temple; the work had long been accomplished; the headstone had been laid years
ago, with shoutings of “Grace, grace unto it.” And as for the references to
nations, which were not then annoying the chosen people, or able to annoy them,
these too can be explained in an intelligible and satisfactory way. £ Then it
must not be forgotten that there are strong arguments which tend to show that
this section could scarcely have an earlier date. It is filled with allusions
to the later writings of the Old Testament. It appears to have come from a man
who was familiar not only with the more ancient of those who had preceded him
as God’s heralds and ministers, but with one like Ezekiel, who had been a
contemporary of the Exile. Altogether, while “it is not easy to say which” way
the weight of evidence preponderates, we may lawfully continue to think of
Zechariah as the author from beginning to end of the prophecy which has been
called by his name.
IV. Only a few
words can be added about the lessons of the Book for ourselves; indeed, these
lessons are so many and so weighty that it is hard to select among them,
1. Let the first part, that in which those wonderful visions are
recorded, speak to us of the blessedness of being in alliance and friendship
with God, the wretchedness of being opposed to Him. It was intended to comfort
the feeble Jews, and to tell them that greater was He who was for them than all
who were against them. Their adversaries were both crafty and powerful; but
they must never dream that the way of the ungodly could prosper, or envy the
success of the wicked. That success was destined to be short-lived.
2. The second part of the prophecy, that in which Zechariah answered
the question about days of fasting, should remind us of the nature of true
religion. Seasons of solemn humiliation and of solemn festival are good if they
give outward expression to the penitence and the joy of the heart; they are bad
whenever they degenerate into observances of routine and custom, and whenever
they are severed from a living and practical piety. Above all things God
desires us to be in earnest; beyond all things He abhors hypocrisy--the show and
semblance of religion sundered from its reality.
3. Finally, let us fix thought and affection on the Messiah presented
to our view in the closing division of the Book. Let us mourn because our sins
have pierced God’s good Shepherd--mourn and be in bitterness, as one mourneth
for his only son, and as one is in bitterness for his firstborn. Let us ever be
thankful for the “fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins,”
which has been opened to wash away our uncleanness. And let us see that the King,
who rides forth in lowly majesty, is King of our hearts and lives. Behold, He
stands at the door and knocks; let us hear His voice and open to Him; then He
will come in, and sup with us, and we with Him. (Original Secession
Magazine.)
The prophet and his mission--Zechariah was a common name among the
Jews. Of the personal history of this Zechariah we know nothing. There is no
evidence to connect him with the man mentioned in Matthew 23:35. His family seems to have
returned from Babylon with the first expedition in the reign of Cyrus. He was
very young at the time of his return. He had seen the arresting of the erection
of the Temple by the successful machinations of the Samaritans in the Persian
Court, and the depressed tone of the national character during the time that
followed this arrest. He had witnessed the growth of that selfish greed for
their own individual interests, and their neglect of the interests of religion,
that was so mournful a characteristic of this period. He had also seen the
creeping feebleness with which the work of rebuilding the Temple was undertaken
and prosecuted, when the edict of permission was again issued by Darius
Hystaspis. Now, as the Temple was to them the grand symbol of revealed
religion, indifference to it was an undoubted symptom of backsliding and
spiritual declension. It was therefore necessary that they should be stirred up
to the discharge of their duty as to the Temple, and awakened to a proper
estimate of that great plan of mercy to the world, of which the Temple and the
theocracy were but symbols, in order that their zeal might have at once a right
motive and a right direction. Hence Haggai was first raised up to rouse them to
activity in building the Temple, and two months later Zechariah followed, to
take up the same theme, and unfold it yet more richly to the minds of the
people, by connecting the poor and passing present, with the magnificent and
enduring future. The scope of the prophecy, then, is to produce a genuine
revival of religion among the people, and thus encourage them in the right way
to engage in the rebuilding of the Temple. (T. V. Moore, D. D.)
Summary of the contents of the Book--
1. The Word of God which introduces the prophetic labours of
Zechariah (Zechariah 1:1-6).
2. A series of seven visions which Zechariah saw in the night, on the
twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, in the second year of Darius (Zechariah 1:7, to Zechariah 6:8).
3. A symbolical transaction which brought the visions to a close (Zechariah 6:9-15).
4. The communication to the people of the answer of the Lord to a
question addressed by certain Judaens to the priests and prophets, as to the
necessity of keeping certain fast days (chaps. 7, 8).
5. A prophecy of threatening import concerning the land of Hadrach,
the seat of the ungodly world power (chaps. 9-11).
6. A burden concerning Israel (chaps. 12-14). All the parts of the
Book hang closely together; and the differences which exist between the first
two prophecies and the last two, and which have led some writers to ascribe
them to two different prophets, are not worthy of notice. It is clear that
though the prophecies of this Book have their foundation in the building of the
second Temple, it is impossible that they refer solely to that event, or to
those times. They point onward to the close of the present dispensation. They
fit only into events, and into times, not even yet reached. Only as we bear
this in mind throughout the entire Book shall we be able clearly to understand
it, and be preserved from a labyrinth of perplexity. And we must guard against
the mistake into which so many have fallen, of applying the revelations of the
future glories of the Kingdom of God to the Church of Christ. The prophecies of
this Book relate to the Jewish nation and their Messiah; and to the Kingdom of
God to be set up among them at His second coming in glory, and which is to rule
the world. (Frederick White, M. A.)
ZECHARIAH
INTRODUCTION
We must think of the prophet Zechariah as living and preaching
among surroundings the same as those with which Haggai, his companion in
responsibility and tribulation and honour, was familiar. The captivity in
Babylon had come to an end. The mighty empire, which for seventy years had
enslaved God’s people, had fallen before Cyrus. The king had authorised and
invited the Hebrew exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the house of the
Lord. But yet the sanctuary was unbuilt; no place of habitation had been found
for the God of Jacob. An unworthy timidity, and a sad failure of trustfulness,
and an overweening regard for self combined to promote this lamentable result.
It was, then, fully fifteen years after the band of exiles had arrived in Jerusalem
that Haggai and Zechariah were raised up to kindle within their countrymen a
worthier spirit. Side by side these two servants of the King stood,
strengthening each other’s hands in God; side by side, until the slumberous
eyes had been opened, and the forgetful hearts led back to the path of duty,
and the Temple raised out of its ruins. Then Haggai laid down the burden of the
prophet, and was gathered to his fathers; and Zechariah bore witness for God
alone.
I. What we know of
Zechariah himself may be rapidly told. He was priest as well as prophet. His
grandfather’s name and his own are mentioned in the Book of Nehemiah (Nehemiah 12:16), in the catalogue given
there of the members of the priestly class. He was the head of one of the
families that ministered about God’s altar, no less than a preacher of the
Lord. He united the two offices just as Jeremiah and Ezekiel had done in former
days. The patriotic zeal of the prophet for the honour of his country and the
glory of God was linked in Zechariah with that tender affection which every
true priest must have felt for the shrine in which it was his blessedness to be
a servant. Sprung from ancestors who for centuries had gone in and out of the
sacred courts, he would have been strangely unmindful of the best traditions of
his family if he had not been very jealous for the worship of the Lord God of
Israel. God had called him to a task which a pious priest could not but
welcome, and to which he could only surrender himself with enthusiasm. He was
quite a young man when he stood up first to deliver the Divine message. He
tells us that he was the son of Berechiah and the grandson of Iddo. The Book of
Ezra, in its account of the matter, makes no mention of the father, and speaks,
indeed, as if the prophet were sprung immediately from Iddo (Ezra 5:1; Ezra 6:14). Probably Berechlah died at an
early age, before he had time to make for himself a name with strangers like
Ezra, though his memory could not but be cherished and perpetuated by his own
son. It was in the care of his grandfather that Zechariah returned to Jerusalem
from his alien home by the banks of the Euphrates. He could not be more than a
mere child when the great deliverance took place. For, years after, when he
became God’s ambassador, he was still too young to exercise the priestly
functions. Nehemiah informs us that he did not rank among “the chief of the
fathers” during all the days of the high priest Joshua; not, indeed, until
Joiakim, Joshua’s son and successor, was put in charge of the worship of
Jehovah; then only Zechariah was enrolled among those who made sacrifice and
intercession for the people. He was a prophet before he was a priest. If Haggai
were an old man before his ministry commenced, Zechariah’s was begun in the
days of his youth; God has room and work in His kingdom alike for the veteran
and for the child. And nothing is pleasanter than to see, as in this instance,
the old and the young taking part together in duties that are holy and
heavenly. And sometimes the young are inclined to disparage the work of their
elders; they are too self-confident; they imagine that there are no thoughts so
large as their own, and no arms so strong, and no hearts so fervent. It is
better when the two join hands frankly, as Haggai and Zechariah did, and Peter
and Mark, and Paul and Timothy; and recognise cordially and ungrudgingly that
each has his own place. Probably many years lay between Zechariah’s first
exercise of the prophetical office and his last. The chapters that close his
book are very different both in manner and in matter from those with which it
opens--so different that many have concluded that they could not have been
penned by him at all. But it may make the difference easier of comprehension if
we suppose these later chapters to belong to Zechariah’s age while the others
are the utterance of his youth. A man speaks in his maturity in phrases and
tones which he did not employ when he was younger; he has passed into another
atmosphere. Such was Zechariah, who testified for God in a time of declension
and darkness. It was a difficult work. But I can well believe that, when the
prophet’s heart grew weary and doubtful, he would encourage himself by the
strong consolations proclaimed in the very name he bore--a name which many a
Hebrew father gave to his child. It spoke of the loving kindness of the Lord.
Zechariah means, “he whom Jehovah remembers.”
II. Passing to look
at the contents of His message, we find that the prophecy divides itself into
three parts, the first inclusive of the six opening chapters, the second of the
seventh and eighth, the third embracing the remainder of the Book. After a
short introduction, in which the author calls upon his countrymen to repent of
their indolence, and selfishness and sin, the first section of the prophecy is
commenced. It is a striking and beautiful section. It describes the history of
one very remarkable night, that which lay between the 23rd and 24th days of the
month Sebat, a month corresponding with our February. The year was the same as
that in which Haggai began and ended his brief but fruitful ministry--the
second year of Darius Hystaspis. During this night, while Zechariah slept, God
presented to his gaze one strange heaven-drawn picture after another. Vision
succeeded vision, clear and vivid, till there were eight of them in all. And when
the last had gone the prophet awoke, comforted in his own heart, and having
learned much regarding the destiny of the nation that was dear to him; it had
been the most blessed night he had ever known. The second part of Zechariah’s
prophecy--that which occupies the seventh and eighth chapters--was not uttered
until two summers and winters had passed away. During this interval the Jews
had set themselves zealously and devotedly to the restoring of God’s neglected
house; and they had not lacked tokens of His favour and grace. But a question
had sometimes been discussed among them which they were anxious to have
settled. And to whom could they go with more propriety or with greater
likelihood of success, some of them thought, than to the prophet in whom the Spirit
of the Lord was, and who had already been inspired to address to them such good
and comfortable words? So, in December of the year 518 B.C., a deputation came
to Zechariah from Bethel, one of the cities to which the captives had returned,
to propound to him their difficulty. It concerned the national fast days, which
they had kept four times a year during their exile in Babylon--days on which
they had wept when they remembered Zion, captured and shamed and downtrodden.
Should they still observe them now that the restoration had taken place?
Perhaps God did not mean them to mourn any longer, and would be displeased if
they did not manifest gladness because of the great things He had done for
them. But, on the other hand, it might still be His desire that they should
humble themselves and sit in dust and ashes, for their Church and nation were
feeble and of small account. Zechariah answered his questioners in words which
carry us back to some of the noblest sentences of Isaiah (Isaiah 58:1-14), and forward to some of
the searching and spiritual utterances of Christ (Matthew 6:16-18). He told them that God
preferred obedience to fasting, faith and holiness to sackcloth and a sad
countenance. He reminded them that it was their failure to fulfil the weightier
precepts of His law which had lain at the root of all their miseries. He bade
them pay most heed to judgment and righteousness and truth. And, to nerve them
for duties so high and broad and deep, he drew aside the veil from the future.
God, he said, would make them glad according to the days wherein they had seen
evil He would bless Jerusalem as He had done in former times. Old men and women
would move quietly along its streets, or would sit out in the sunshine, talking
of the many strange events which had happened since they were young, and none
would alarm or disturb them; while troops of happy children, playing together
fearlessly the games they loved so well, would make the thoroughfares resound
with their irrepressible mirth and gaiety. And where would be the necessity for
days of mourning then? Their fasts would be changed into feasts; their “winter
of discontent” made glorious summer. That was the reply; and would not Sherezer
and Regemmelech and the rest go back to Bethel with hearts lightened and glad?
We come to the closing section of the Book. It may have been uttered, as I have
hinted, many years later, when the active work of Zechariah’s life was almost
over, and when at length it was ringing to evensong. No detailed analysis of
these six chapters can be given here. Let it be said, however, that they have a
distinctly Messianic character. They speak of a King who was to come to Zion in
future days, a meek and lowly King, but One invested with singular majesty too,
for He would set free the captives of Israel, and would overthrow the enemies
of His people. Then the image changes, and it is a Shepherd to whom the
citizens of Jerusalem are pointed forward. But they who ought to be the sheep
of His pasture deliberately reject Him, and heap contumely upon Him, and go
after a foolish shepherd who cannot profit them. It is a sad picture; and the
prophet’s voice grows tremulous and indignant as he paints it. But, before he
ends his message his accents are happier again. He sees Jerusalem lifted
proudly on high as the capital of the land. He sees Jehovah Himself dwelling in
her as her Ruler and Prince. He sees everywhere a noble purity in the
ascendant. There is to be no distinction of secular and sacred, of clean and
unclean; for all things, the commonest objects of life, are consecrated to the
Lord. When the priest puts the collar on his horse, and goes to his day’s work
or his day’s recreation, he will be as truly at one with God as when he enters
the Holy of Holies with the censer in his hand and the fair mitre on his head
and the jewels of the breastplate glittering in the sun. Is it not a splendid
ideal? Would that it were nearer its realisation even now, after all these
centuries of the Gospel!
III. I have said
that the concluding chapters of the Book have been made the subject of keen
discussion. Many opinions have been expressed regarding their authorship; many
doubts have been thrown on the belief that Zechariah spoke and penned them. It
has been urged that they are altogether different in tone and contents from the
chapters which precede them. There we were called to look on one significant
vision after another; here there are no visions, only direct predictions,
warnings of judgment, promises of succour and salvation. There the unbuilt
Temple was always present to our thoughts; here the Temple has vanished
altogether from view. There everything was of the profoundest interest and
importance to the Jews of the prophet’s day; here it is difficult to believe
that these Jews could be moved and stirred by much to which they are bidden
listen--it seems to deal with events remote from their time, with hostile nations
and powers that had been formidable to their fathers, but had ceased to vex and
trouble them. £ The Book of Job and the Epistle to the Hebrews are not less
divinely precious to our souls because we cannot be sure what human hand it was
that penned them. But in this case there is no sufficient cause why we should
alter our old beliefs. We may still regard the prophecy of Zechariah as a
unity. Criticism itself, after discovering many stumbling blocks and throwing
out many conjectures, is coming back to that conviction. £ If the preacher were
far advanced in life before he published the truths contained in this division
of the Book, there would be no need for him to refer to the rebuilding of the
Temple; the work had long been accomplished; the headstone had been laid years
ago, with shoutings of “Grace, grace unto it.” And as for the references to
nations, which were not then annoying the chosen people, or able to annoy them,
these too can be explained in an intelligible and satisfactory way. £ Then it must
not be forgotten that there are strong arguments which tend to show that this
section could scarcely have an earlier date. It is filled with allusions to the
later writings of the Old Testament. It appears to have come from a man who was
familiar not only with the more ancient of those who had preceded him as God’s
heralds and ministers, but with one like Ezekiel, who had been a contemporary
of the Exile. Altogether, while “it is not easy to say which” way the weight of
evidence preponderates, we may lawfully continue to think of Zechariah as the
author from beginning to end of the prophecy which has been called by his name.
IV. Only a few
words can be added about the lessons of the Book for ourselves; indeed, these
lessons are so many and so weighty that it is hard to select among them,
1. Let the first part, that in which those wonderful visions are
recorded, speak to us of the blessedness of being in alliance and friendship
with God, the wretchedness of being opposed to Him. It was intended to comfort
the feeble Jews, and to tell them that greater was He who was for them than all
who were against them. Their adversaries were both crafty and powerful; but
they must never dream that the way of the ungodly could prosper, or envy the
success of the wicked. That success was destined to be short-lived.
2. The second part of the prophecy, that in which Zechariah answered
the question about days of fasting, should remind us of the nature of true
religion. Seasons of solemn humiliation and of solemn festival are good if they
give outward expression to the penitence and the joy of the heart; they are bad
whenever they degenerate into observances of routine and custom, and whenever
they are severed from a living and practical piety. Above all things God
desires us to be in earnest; beyond all things He abhors hypocrisy--the show
and semblance of religion sundered from its reality.
3. Finally, let us fix thought and affection on the Messiah presented
to our view in the closing division of the Book. Let us mourn because our sins
have pierced God’s good Shepherd--mourn and be in bitterness, as one mourneth
for his only son, and as one is in bitterness for his firstborn. Let us ever be
thankful for the “fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins,”
which has been opened to wash away our uncleanness. And let us see that the
King, who rides forth in lowly majesty, is King of our hearts and lives.
Behold, He stands at the door and knocks; let us hear His voice and open to
Him; then He will come in, and sup with us, and we with Him. (Original
Secession Magazine.)
The prophet and his mission--Zechariah was a common name among the
Jews. Of the personal history of this Zechariah we know nothing. There is no
evidence to connect him with the man mentioned in Matthew 23:35. His family seems to have
returned from Babylon with the first expedition in the reign of Cyrus. He was
very young at the time of his return. He had seen the arresting of the erection
of the Temple by the successful machinations of the Samaritans in the Persian
Court, and the depressed tone of the national character during the time that
followed this arrest. He had witnessed the growth of that selfish greed for
their own individual interests, and their neglect of the interests of religion,
that was so mournful a characteristic of this period. He had also seen the
creeping feebleness with which the work of rebuilding the Temple was undertaken
and prosecuted, when the edict of permission was again issued by Darius
Hystaspis. Now, as the Temple was to them the grand symbol of revealed
religion, indifference to it was an undoubted symptom of backsliding and
spiritual declension. It was therefore necessary that they should be stirred up
to the discharge of their duty as to the Temple, and awakened to a proper
estimate of that great plan of mercy to the world, of which the Temple and the
theocracy were but symbols, in order that their zeal might have at once a right
motive and a right direction. Hence Haggai was first raised up to rouse them to
activity in building the Temple, and two months later Zechariah followed, to
take up the same theme, and unfold it yet more richly to the minds of the
people, by connecting the poor and passing present, with the magnificent and
enduring future. The scope of the prophecy, then, is to produce a genuine
revival of religion among the people, and thus encourage them in the right way
to engage in the rebuilding of the Temple. (T. V. Moore, D. D.)
Summary of the contents of the Book--
1. The Word of God which introduces the prophetic labours of
Zechariah (Zechariah 1:1-6).
2. A series of seven visions which Zechariah saw in the night, on the
twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, in the second year of Darius (Zechariah 1:7, to Zechariah 6:8).
3. A symbolical transaction which brought the visions to a close (Zechariah 6:9-15).
4. The communication to the people of the answer of the Lord to a
question addressed by certain Judaens to the priests and prophets, as to the
necessity of keeping certain fast days (chaps. 7, 8).
5. A prophecy of threatening import concerning the land of Hadrach,
the seat of the ungodly world power (chaps. 9-11).
6. A burden concerning Israel (chaps. 12-14). All the parts of the
Book hang closely together; and the differences which exist between the first
two prophecies and the last two, and which have led some writers to ascribe
them to two different prophets, are not worthy of notice. It is clear that though
the prophecies of this Book have their foundation in the building of the second
Temple, it is impossible that they refer solely to that event, or to those
times. They point onward to the close of the present dispensation. They fit
only into events, and into times, not even yet reached. Only as we bear this in
mind throughout the entire Book shall we be able clearly to understand it, and
be preserved from a labyrinth of perplexity. And we must guard against the
mistake into which so many have fallen, of applying the revelations of the
future glories of the Kingdom of God to the Church of Christ. The prophecies of
this Book relate to the Jewish nation and their Messiah; and to the Kingdom of
God to be set up among them at His second coming in glory, and which is to rule
the world. (Frederick White, M. A.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》