Today in our journey through the 66 books of the Bible we are visiting the book of the minor prophet, Zechariah.
Author
Like Jeremiah (1:1) and Ezekiel (1:3), Zechariah was not only a prophet (1:1) but also a priest. He was born in Babylonia and was among those who returned to Judah in 538 BCE under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Joshua. Zechariah’s grandfather, Iddo, is named among the returnees in Nehemiah 12:4. At a later time, when Joiakim was high priest, Zechariah apparently succeeded Iddo (1:1,7) as head of that priestly family. (See Nehemiah 12:10-16). Since the grandson succeeded the grandfather, it has been suggested that the father, Berekiah (see 1:1,7), died at an early age. There is also a reference to Zechariah’s death in Matthew 23:35 where Jesus refers to Zechariah being murdered between the temple and the altar.
Zechariah was a contemporary of Haggai (Ezra 5:1; 6:14) but Zechariah continued in ministry long after Haggai. (Compare 1:1 and 7:1 with Haggai 1:1. See also Nehemiah 12:1-16.) Zechariah’s young age (see 2:4) in the early period of his ministry makes it possible that he ministered even into the reign of Artaxerxes I (465-424 BCE).
Traditionally, Zechariah is thought to have written the entire book that bears his name. But modern scholars are generally in agreement that the book of Zechariah was written by more than one hand. Most modern scholars attribute chapters 1 through 8 to Zechariah. But the same scholars question the authorship of chapters 9 through 14, citing differences in style and other compositional features. The bottom line is that some scholars suggest that historical and chronological references in chapters 9 through 14 require a different date and author from chapters 1 through 8.
Date
As in the case of Haggai’s prophetic ministry, scholars suggest very precise dates for much of Zechariah’s ministry. It is suggested that Zechariah began his ministry in October of the year 520 BCE, the same year as Haggai’s ministry. (See Zechariah 1:1-6.) It is further suggested that Zechariah’s eight “night visions”, recounted in Zechariah 1:7-6:8, took place around February 15, 519 BCE. Whoever the author of chapters 9 through 14 was, it is probably most accurate to date this part of the book to sometime in the fifth century BCE.
Themes
The occasion of Zechariah’s ministry is the same as that of Haggai. The main purpose of Zechariah and Haggai’s ministry was to encourage the Jewish people to complete the rebuilding of the temple. (See Zechariah 4:8-10 and Haggai 1-2.) Both prophets were obviously interested in spiritual renewal of the people of God as well as the physical construction of the temple of God. The purpose of Zechariah’s eight “night visions” in 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, and his word would continue to be fulfilled.
A second major theme of the book of Zechariah is Messianic prophecy. We will look at some of those prophecies in more detail in a moment.
A third major theme that relates to the second is apocalypticism. Apocalyptic is a special type of literature that developed in Judaism during the postexilic period. One of the most famous examples of apocalyptic literature is the book of Revelation which we will get to at the end of our “Route 66” series. The word “apocalypse” means “unveiling”. This type of literature “unveils” or “reveals” God’s plan using a highly symbolic literary technique.
A fourth major theme in Zechariah is eschatology. This is another big word that takes some explaining. The word comes from Greek and refers to the study of “the last things” or what some people refer to as “the end times”. When we get to the New Testament, we will see how Christian Scripture refers to the whole time between Jesus’ first and second comings as “the end times”.
Finally, there is a theological significance to Zechariah’s name. His name means “The Lord [Yahweh] remembers.” Our God remembers his promises to his people 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, leads into even grander pictures of the spiritual salvation and restoration to come through the Messiah. The book of Zechariah teaches the sovereignty of God in history, over people and nations—past, present, and future.
Structure
- Introduction (1:1-6)
- A Series of Eight Night Visions (1:7-6:8)
- The Symbolic Crowning of Joshua the High Priest (6:9-15)
- The Problem of Fasting and the Promise of the Future (chapters 7-8)
- Two Prophetic Oracles: The Great Messianic Future and the Full Realization of God’s Kingdom (chapters 9-14)
Key Concept—Messianic Prophecy
Well, as I said a few moments ago, there are several Messianic prophecies in the book of Zechariah. I would like to look at five of these prophecies that are either quoted or alluded to in the New Testament. Intriguingly, these five prophecies all appear in Zechariah 9-14, the section that modern scholars think was written by some anonymous author in the fifth century BCE.
1. The Prophecy of Palm Sunday…
First, there is what I am calling “The Prophecy of Palm Sunday”. Zechariah does not call it that. But both the Gospel of Matthew (21:5) and the Gospel of John (12:15) quote Zechariah 9:9 as a prophecy fulfilled by Jesus on Palm Sunday. Zechariah 9:9 says…
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
We all know the Palm Sunday story well enough to know how the Gospels (in this case Matthew and John) portray Jesus as fulfilling this prophecy. So, I thought it might be interesting to look at how Jews interpret Zechariah 9:9. Here is what “The Jewish Study Bible” says in a footnote on Zechariah 9:9… “This image of the ideal future king (Messiah) has been very influential in Jewish tradition and has influenced the depiction of Jesus in the Gospels.” So, notice two things about what “The Jewish Study Bible” says. First, it agrees that Zechariah 9:9 is a Messianic prophecy. But second, it says that this prophecy influenced the depiction of Jesus in the Gospels. In other words, the Gospel writers depicted Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem in such a way as to fit with the Messianic prophecy in Zechariah 9:9. The unstated suggestion of “The Jewish Study Bible” is that Jesus may not have entered Jerusalem in this manner.
Now, of course, there is no way to know historically and with 100% certainty that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey on the Sunday before his death. After all, they didn’t have cameras in the first century with a date code on them. And even if they did, we know in our own day how such camera footage can be falsified. But keep in mind, our knowledge of all historical events is dependent upon authorities who have written about these events. When considering historical reliability, historians consider, for one thing, how close to the event the writing about it was.
Now, all the Gospels were written within the first century. So, that means the Gospels were written within 70 years of the event. In the case of the Gospel of Mark, it was probably written in the 60s of the first century. So, that puts the Gospel of Mark within 30 years of the event of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on the Sunday before his death. All four Gospels agree that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the Sunday before his death but, intriguingly, they each refer to the animal Jesus was riding in a slightly different fashion.
- Mark and Luke call the animal a πῶλον, which can mean the colt of a horse or ass.
- Matthew calls the animal an ὄνον which means a donkey. Matthew also calls it a πῶλον (a colt).
- John calls the animal an ὀνάριον, which means a young donkey, and John calls it a πῶλον ὄνου, as Matthew does.
None of the Gospels refer to the animal exactly the way Zechariah 9:9 did. The Greek version of Zechariah 9:9 (which Matthew and John loosely quote from memory) calls the animal a πῶλον νέον which means a new colt. If the Gospels were trying, after the fact, to make Jesus’ act fit exactly with Zechariah 9:9, why didn’t they use Zechariah’s exact terms? What makes most sense to me is to say that Jesus indeed rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday using a colt, the foal of a donkey and that Matthew and John later discover the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9 and use it in the telling of their story.
2. The Prophecy of Thirty Pieces of Silver…
The second Messianic prophecy I want to focus on appears in Zechariah 11:12-13. I call it “The Prophecy of Thirty Pieces of Silver”. It goes like this…
I told them, ‘If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.’ So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.
And the Lord said to me, ‘Throw it to the potter’—the handsome price at which they valued me! So, I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord.
This prophecy is referred to in Matthew 27:9-10 regarding the thirty pieces of silver paid to Judas for betraying Jesus. Matthew says…
Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: ‘They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on him by the people of Israel, and they used them to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.’
Matthew, in referring to Jeremiah, seems to be conflating two stories, the one in Zechariah 11:12-13 and two stories in Jeremiah 19:1-13 and 32:6-9.
The stories in Zechariah and in Jeremiah originally had nothing to do with the Messiah. But this fact highlights the way that references to Messianic prophecy end up in the Gospels, especially in Matthew. I think what happened was this… Jesus did and said certain things during his life. When the authors of the Gospels later reflected on what Jesus said and did, they found amazing parallels in the Hebrew Scriptures and so in telling Jesus’ story, they quote those parallels as Jesus fulfilling prophecy.
The parallels that the Gospel writers saw in the book of Zechariah are amazing when taken all together because, as I said, they all occur in Zechariah 9-14. There are five of them. And they move in chronological sequence according to the chronology of the last week of Jesus’ life. First, you have the event of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, then you have Jesus’ betrayal by Judas on Maundy Thursday, then you have prophecy regarding the events of Good Friday which we turn to next…
3. The Prophecy of his Piercing
Next in order is what I call “The Prophecy of his Piercing”. We read in Zechariah 12:10 these words of the Lord…
And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.
Zechariah 12:10 is quoted in John 19:37 in reference to Jesus being pierced with a sword in his side by a Roman soldier while he hung on the cross. And, as Peter Craigie says, “The echoes of this scene continue to be heard in the Book of Revelation (1:7).”
What did Zechariah 12:10 originally refer to? Intriguingly, Zechariah 12:10 is another verse that some Rabbis have interpreted as being a Messianic prophecy.
Did Jesus fulfill this prophecy? Only John records Jesus being pierced with a sword. But just because this incident is only reported in one Gospel, it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. And furthermore, even if Jesus wasn’t pierced by a Roman sword, he was pierced with nails. All the Gospels agree about that. Even secular historians agree that Jesus was crucified. And nailing a victim to a cross was a common means of crucifixion among the Romans.
4. The Prophecy of the Sheep Being Scattered
The fourth passage I want to look at in Zechariah is in 13:7. I call it “The Prophecy of the Sheep Being Scattered” …
“Awake, sword, against my shepherd,
against the man who is close to me!”
declares the Lord Almighty.
“Strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered,
and I will turn my hand against the little ones.
This prophecy is perhaps the most intriguing of all because Jesus is the one who quotes it in Mark 14:27 and Matthew 26:31…
“You will all fall away,” Jesus told them, “for it is written:
“‘I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered.’
So, it appears that Jesus was the first one to claim that he was fulfilling Messianic prophecy from the Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus’ disciples, later speaking, and writing about him, followed Jesus’ pattern.
5. The Prophecy of his Coming in Glory
The final prophecy is in Zechariah 14:4 where we read…
On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.
I call this “The Prophecy of his Coming in Glory”. This is an interesting one because Zechariah 14:4 is one of only two places in the Hebrew Scriptures that refers to the Mount of Olives. The other place is in 2 Samuel 15:30. Zechariah 14:4 is alluded to, though not quoted, in Acts 1:9-12 where we read about Jesus’ ascension into heaven…
After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city.
So, Luke makes clear in the book of Acts that Jesus ascended into heaven from the Mount of Olives, just east of Jerusalem. And the angel tells the disciples in this passage that Jesus will return to earth in the same way that they have seen him leave. Thus, the tradition of the Church has been that when Jesus comes back to earth it will be to the Mount of Olives, and some see this as a fulfilment of Zechariah 14:4. But what did Zechariah 14:4 mean in its original context? Peter Craigie describes the context this way…
Once again, the scene begins with conflict around Jerusalem. The people of the world have gathered together in an alliance, a kind of “United Nations”, with their common goal being the destruction of Jerusalem, which seems somehow to threaten their common ground. The city is captured, houses are plundered, women raped, and it looks at first as if the victory is complete; half the survivors are sent into exile, the other half remaining in their homes. But then God enters the conflict and the tide of the larger battle is turned.
It sounds like a description of the modern conflict in the Middle East, doesn’t it? And yet, the situation Zechariah was describing, using highly symbolic apocalyptic language, was the situation of God’s people in his time. The one lesson I think we can transfer to our own time is this: just when evil seems to have the upper hand, God will enter the cosmic battle and turn the tide for the good.
My father often quoted Isaiah 59:19, “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.” This was true for ancient Judah. It is true for us today. And it will be true in the last day when Jesus returns for the final judgment and the final establishment of his eternal kingdom. Jesus is going to win in the end…
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