I. Name

In the superscription he is called Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet. We learn from Neh. 12:16 that Iddo was the head of one of the priestly families who accompanied Zerubbabel and Joshua, leaders of the first company who went from Babylon to Jerusalem in 537 B. C. Ezra 5:1 and 6:14 further identify him with Haggai in appeals to secure the rebuilding of the temple. He seems to have been quite young when he began to prophesy, 2:4. His first recorded utterance is dated in the eighth month of the second year of Darius, 520 B. C, only two months after Haggai delivered his first message. How long his work continued we have no record, but if the last chapters of his book belong to him, he must have prophesied many years.

II. Unity

All critics agree that the first eight chapters were written by Zechariah. But Mede, an English critic who died in 1638, on account of Matt. 27:9 ascribing Zech. 1 1:12, 13 to Jeremiah, argued that chapters 9-1 1 were written by Jeremiah instead of Zechariah. Some later critics assign chapters 12-14 to an unknown prophet who lived just before the destruction of Jerusalem, while others claim they are post-exilic. This idea of a dual authorship has been accepted by very many. Their reasons for detaching these chapters are numerous and some of them complicated. Many of these reasons are so frivolous as not to need any answer, such as that in the first eight chapters we have visions, but not in the last six chapters; or that the first section is carefully dated while the latter part is not. More reasonable are the following:

1. Difference in style. Words are used, it is claimed, in different senses in the two sections, the idioms differ, and especially the first part is very prosaic while the latter is full of force.

2. The general conception of society and the references to other nations in the second section do not fit Zechariah's time.

3. The Messianic teaching differs. In the first part the prevailing conception of the Messiah is that he is a priest; in the second part he is a king.

4. Some hold that the facts dwelt upon in the second section occurred before Zechariah's time and therefore are not a subject for his prophecy. Others hold that they deal with subjects so far in the future that Zechariah could know nothing about them, nor could the people have understood them if he had mentioned them. Those who deny that Zechariah was the author of the second part are very much divided as to the person to whom they should be assigned. Some refer chapters 9-1 1 to one author and chapters 12-14 to another, while others refer them all to one person. Some claim that chapters 9-1 1 were written in the time of Isaiah, others give them to Jeremiah, while others place them later than Zechariah. All of the objections grow out of the difficulty in finding historical facts to fit the allusions of the prophecy, or out of the conception of prophecy entertained by the critic.

The argument in favor of the unity of the book may be thus stated:

1. The fundamental ideas of both sections are the same. The bold condemnation of the enemies of God's people; the stern and fearless rebuke of sin in Judah and Israel; the firm conviction that God rules and therefore good will finally prevail; the hopefulness which does not fail in the darkest hour, but enables him to see that the kingdom of the Messiah will prevail among the nations; these thoughts pervade alike both sections of the book.

2. It is evident also that while the outward form of the message differs, the general style remains unchanged throughout.

3. There is the same tendency as is found in other later prophets to refer to older prophecies. Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Isaiah are often quoted and their prominent sayings are introduced to emphasize the prophet's appeal.

4. The first part is without question written by Zechariah in the period following the first return from Babylon, and there is nothing in the circumstances of the second part which is inconsistent with this period. The legitimate field of prophecy embraces the future as well as the present, and the contests and triumphs of Messiah's kingdom might be set forth by Zechariah as well as by one who lived earlier or later.

5. Besides, it is very difficult to understand why those who prepared the Canon should assign so many separate productions to one man, living so near the time of the man who is known to have written a part of them, and that their mistake should be accepted without question by those who had such good opportunity of knowing all the facts in the case.

For an exhaustive treatment of the argument in favor of the unity of the book, see The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, Vol. XII., p. I.

These considerations, taken in connection with the remarkably divergent conclusions of those who deny the unity of the book, lead us to decide that the attempt to divide the authorship has not been successful, and we must continue to maintain that the book was all written by Zechariah.

III. The Teaching of the Book

The Book of Zechariah has much that is characteristic and valuable. Its strange visions, apocalyptic in form, find fuller expression in the great Apocalypse of the New Testament. Its teaching concerning sin is very thorough. Its pictures of the Messiah and of His kingdom are wonderfully clear and comprehensive when viewed in the light of the person and work of Christ as revealed in the Gospel. Few of the prophets have been so often recognized and their words incorporated into the New Testament as Zechariah.

IV. Contents

The book has four main divisions:

1. An exhortation to repentance, in which he urges them not to make the mistake of their fathers, whose neglect of God's Word proved so disastrous to them, 1;1-6.

2. A series of eight visions, seen in one night, the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month of the second year of Darius. These were accompanied with a symbolical action of the prophet in crowning Joshua, the High Priest. Chs. 1:7 to 6:15. These are designed to encourage the Jews to go on with the building of their temple. The visions are:

(a) The horseman among the myrtle trees, 1:7-17, teaching that although the earth seems quiet, God is preparing to fulfill His promise to His people in regard to the rebuilding of the temple.

(b) The four horns broken by four smiths, 1:18-21, teaching that God is about to break the power of the enemies of His people.

(c) The man with a measuring-line, 2:1-13, teaching the great increase of Jerusalem because the nations join themselves to her.

(d) Joshua, the High Priest, and Satan, 3:1-10. Joshua is accused by Satan but vindicated and receives a promise in regard to the coming Messiah.

(e) The golden candlestick and the two olive trees, 4:1-14, teaching that divine grace will be given through God's chosen channels, the priesthood and the civil power.

(f) The flying roll, 5:1-4, teaching that every sin is recorded and every sinner found and punished.

(g) The woman cast into the ephah and borne away, 5:5-11, teaching that God will remove the iniquity of the land.

(h) The four chariots with different colored horses, 6:1-8. These go all through the earth to execute the divine judgments.

These visions are followed by a symbolic act, 6:9-15, the crowning of the High Priest, accompanied by a promise concerning the work of the Branch, the Messiah, who as King and Priest will rule successfully and gather all nations about Him.

3. Nearly three years after the visions Zechariah is asked by the people in regard to the fast they kept in memory of the destruction of the first temple, whether it should be observed now that they had a new temple, Chs. 7, 8. The answer is that God does not require such fasts but obedience to His commands. This will secure a future of unparalleled blessings. The structure of Chapter 8 is to be noted with its ten brief but encouraging messages, each beginning with "Thus saith Jehovah."

4. Chapters 9-14 are made up of two prophetic utterances, both of which begin with the special word "burden."

(a) Chapters 9-1 1 declare that a judgment is about to fall upon the surrounding nations, but the Messiah will come to save His own. The people are urged to forsake idolatry and mercy is promised them. If they trust in the Lord they will be regathered from their wanderings. When they refuse God's offer their judgment is proclaimed, they are abandoned to the care of shepherds who oppress and slay them. By the breaking of his staff, "Beauty," the prophet symbolizes his estimate of their folly in rejecting the true Shepherd and shows the hopeless antagonism between Judah and Israel.

(b) Chapters 12-14, the second burden, tell how the nations gather against Jerusalem, but Jehovah saves His people, opens a fountain for purification of sin and destroys idolatry. Another assault is made on Jerusalem and the city captured, but God cleaves the Mount of Olives to make a way of escape for His people. The Messiah appears, streams of salvation flow to the ends of the earth, the nations join themselves to God and His people, and holiness everywhere prevails.

LITERATURE

Commentaries: Orelli; G. A. Smith, The Book of the Twelve Prophets; Keil and Delitzsch; Pusey. Hengstenberg's Christology; Robertson Smith, The Prophets of Israel; Farrar, The Minor Prophets; article "Hosea" in Bible Dictionaries of Smith and Hastings; Introductions of Driver, Keil, Bleek; Stanley, History of the Jewish Church. Moore: Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi; Perowne: Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi in Cambridge Bible for Schools; Alexander, Zechariah, His Visions and Warnings; Geo. L. Robinson, "The Prophecies of Zechariah with Special Reference to the Origin and Date of Chapters IX-XIV," printed in The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures Vol. XII., p. 1.