The Book of Zechariah: Expository Commentary from Sermons by Dr Peter Masters

Bible Commentary on Zechariah

by Dr Peter Masters, Metropolitan Tabernacle, London (adapted from sermons) with content from Bible Notes

Zechariah ministered alongside Haggai in Jerusalem in 520 BC and in the years that followed. The remnant had returned to Jerusalem after the 70 years of captivity in Babylon. Babylon had fallen; the Medo-Persian Empire had taken over; and the Cyrus edict had been issued, proclaiming freedom to religious and other nationals, who had been captive in the empire of Babylon. Time had passed since a contingent of Jews had returned from Babylon under the leadership of Zerubbabel, the governor, and Joshua, the high priest. The building work had been started in 536 BC, but little progress had been made since then.

Haggai and Zechariah were therefore both sent to minister to the Jews in Jerusalem (Ezra 5:1; 6:14) and they overlap with each other, but they are ministering in very different ways. Haggai is sent to urge the people to take God’s command to rebuild seriously, and not to put their own interests first. He is a man of few and yet very effective words; the people respond to his message with alacrity and begin the work of rebuilding the temple. Zechariah follows a different track. He is a priest, listed among those who served under Zerubbabel (Nehemiah 12:16), as well as being a prophet. In Nehemiah he is called the son of Iddo, who was strictly speaking his grandfather (Zechariah 1:1), but the Hebrew usage of the word ‘son’ allows this flexibility. His name means ‘Remembered of the Lord’. He is inspired to speak of future things very much more than Haggai, and he is also more of an apocalyptic prophet with visions that need explanation. His prophetic ministry begins between Haggai’s second and third prophecies, and he is later given a series of visions after Haggai’s final prophecy in the same year, and further prophecies after that.

The book can be divided into four parts: 1. A call to the people to take seriously God’s discipline of the nation during the exile in Babylon, and to come to repentance (1:1 – 1:6); 2. A series of 8 visions, plus one symbolic act that effectively stands for a ninth vision (1:7 – 6:15); 3. An explanation for why the nation had been taken into exile and a call to put away hypocrisy (7:1 – 8:23); 4. Two burdens (prophecies), one concerning Israel’s enemies, and the other concerning Israel itself (9:1 – 14:21). Some think that the book is the product of more than one author because of the difference of style and vocabulary in the various parts of the book. Leupold deals with these objections and rather obviously explains them in terms of subject matter of the parts of the book, and perhaps the different times of life that Zechariah prophesied.

Although Zechariah does encourage his own generation to continue the work of building the physical temple, Haggai has a great emphasis on this. Zechariah does more to encourage the godly among those who have returned from Babylon, and he speaks much more of the coming of Christ and the New Testament church, so that he looks far ahead to the gospel age in his visions (6:15). The book consists of wonderfully encouraging new covenant prophecies expressed in the language of the old covenant, and yet they are consistent and clear. Zechariah is in fact an excellent book to become grounded in the language of Old Testament prophecy and how to interpret it. His prophecies are linked to prophecies in other Old Testament books, and the Book of Revelation picks up on the symbolism in his visions and many other Old Testament prophecies in a way that unifies the entire Bible. The visions in the second section are evidently all given in one night (1:8), for one vision immediately leads into the next as they are presented to his mind (2:1; 3:1; 4:1; 5:1; 5:5; 6:1). The last section of Zechariah also includes short term prophecies regarding Israel’s political history during the intertestamental period.Zechariah is the longest of the minor prophets and is known as one of the most difficult of Old Testament books, but unreasonably so. It is definitely hard for liberals to understand, who discount the possibility of real future prophecy. It is also hard for those who expect its visions to be largely fulfilled at the very end of earth’s history. Some simple rules help us to understand the book. We should use the same meaning for symbols as in other books of the Bible; Zechariah hardly ever uses an original symbol. We take our cue from the New Testament, and so if the verse is speaking of Messiah, you know he is speaking of the period of the coming of Christ. Depart from those rules and confusion reigns.

Zechariah is second only to Isaiah in the number of Messianic prophecies. The book is certainly made more difficult by treating its visions and prophecies as referring to actual events in the history of the nation up to the time of Christ and in the years afterwards. In the final section of the book, there are prophecies about literal future events, such as the invasion of the lands around Palestine by Alexander (Zechariah 9), but this final section also contains figurative descriptions of the time of Christ. If the literal approach to the book is followed, it becomes a nightmare to interpret. It is better to say that the symbols should be assigned the same meaning as in other books. The Book of Revelation interprets much of its prophecies. We need a sane, sensible approach to the book. These symbols should have the same meaning they have in Daniel, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah. Zechariah’s prophecy is then seen to be about the coming of Christ. It is a book for spiritual minds.

He is not precisely quoted, but alluded is to frequently by the Lord in the New Testament. There are many famous expressions and statements of Christ, which run so close to the words of Zechariah that it is remarkable, and they are meant to be. Christ is obviously showing himself to be the fulfilment of these very prophecies. It is prophecy that includes much comfort for all different conditions of the Christian life.