ZECHARIAH THE BOOK OF THE FUTURE OF JERUSALEM 

Zechariah is a prophet who offers the faithful real encouragement. He is also the prophet who foresaw the restoration and glory not only of Jerusalem but also of the kingdom to come. He is also one of the greatest of the ancient, inspired prophets in the Old Testament as well as a great poet 

Author 

The opening verse of the book says that Zechariah wrote it. There are several men in the Old Testament by the name of Zechariah. The Zechariah who was the author of this book was born in Babylon. He was evidently of the priestly lineage (Zech. 1:1, 7; Ezra 5:1, 6:14; Neh. 12:4, 16) all mention that. However, this book also calls him a prophet (Zech. 1:1, 7). When the Jewish exiles returned under Zerubbabel, Zechariah was among them. According to Jewish tradition, Zechariah was a member of the great synagogue that collected and preserved the original scrolls of Scripture from which we get our modern bible. Matthew 23:35 indicates he was murdered between the Temple and the altar, the same way that an earlier Zechariah was martyred in 2 Chronicles. 

Recipients 

Zechariah 1:1 gives the date of his book very clearly: “In the eighteenth month of the second year of Darius”. The verse not only records the year, but also the month. To be exact, it was November, 520 BC. That means that Zechariah was a younger contemporary of Haggai the prophet, and Joshua the High  Priest. Haggai began his ministry first, probably by just two months, but it was their combined preaching which resulted in the motivation to see the completion of the Temple in 516 BC. 

Zechariah had a 40+ year ministry dating from 520-480 BC. The Jews who had returned from exile where the ones who received the book, more specifically, the faithful remnant who had returned sixteen years before with high hopes of rebuilding the Temple. Local interference caused them to give up on the project. They then became a selfish generation, becoming absorbed with personal and domestic projects. That were ultimately humbled when the Lord’s allowed crop failure which led to economic depression in the land. 

So, the recipients were all the people of Israel who returned from the captivity and some messages were especially addressed to Joshua, the High Priest (Zech. 3:8), and Zerubbabel, the governor (Zech. 4:6). 

Message 

 Zechariah was a fellow worker with Haggai in bringing God's message to the Jews in Jerusalem at the beginning of the postexilic period. Their chief concern during the early days of their ministry was to wake up the Jews from their selfish laziness and urge them to rebuild the temple. Zechariah went on to give teaching over a wide range of issues, as part of his task to prepare people for the era of the Messiah that lay ahead. Therefore, the subject of this book is the restoration of Jerusalem but also the encouragement that God renews His people as they follow His will and do His work.  

Structure 

 The literary structure falls into 4 main sections. 

I.                 Introduction: A Call to Repentance 1:1-6 

II.                II. Visions 1:7-6:15 

III.              III. Questions 7:1 - 8:23 

IV.              Burdens 9:1-14:21 

Purposes 

 The first purpose of Zechariah is to stimulate the completion of the Temple by proclaiming the restoration of Jerusalem. In a sense, Zechariah is continuing the ministry of Haggai to get the temple completed. Yet he and Haggai approach the goal differently. For one thing, Haggai mainly uses rebukes and reprimands, whereas Zechariah employs encouragement. 

 The second purpose of Zechariah is to promote spiritual revival so the people would call upon the Lord with humble hearts and commit their ways to Him. Haggai‘s chief task was to arouse the people to the necessity of the outward task of rebuilding the Temple, whereas Zechariah now goes beyond that to seek an inward spiritual renewal of the people as well. Zechariah was not only interested in the physical rebuilding of the Temple, but also the spiritual maturity of the people. 

Summary: 

 By proclaiming the ultimate restoration of Jerusalem, Zechariah urges the people to rebuild the Temple and recommit themselves to the Lord. God encourages and renews His people so that they will do His work. His prophetic voice also foreseeing a day when there will be an ultimate restoration of and for all God’s people. 
(C) J R McCandless (LIFE Publishing)