Lesson 39: Zechariah

Fiery Prophet of God

Zechariah was a priest (descended from an important priestly family (his grandfather Iddo is mentioned in Nehemiah 12:4) and a contemporary of Haggai. They seem to be a sort of prophetic team as the pair are mentioned twice in Ezra (5:1 & 6:14). Though Zechariah seems to supplement Haggai, he makes a contribution all his own to post-exilic prophecy.

Zechariah is as aware as Haggai of the spiritual needs of the people, but Zechariah goes on to introduce glimpses of things as they are from a heavenly standpoint. The transcendent God is working out his eternal purpose for Judah and Jerusalem, equipping his covenant people to fulfill the spiritual role for which he chose them (Zech. 1:7–6:15). The prophet goes on to spell out in everyday terms the quality of life which they are to display (7:1–8:23). But he knew it would be misleading to give the impression that the goal would be reached through a gentle evolutionary process. The last six chapters are dominated by struggle and tension. At first the battle is local and God’s people triumph, but later the rejection of the good shepherd (11:4–17), mourning (12:10–13:1) and the slaughter of the shepherd (13:7–9) intensify the sinister impression that evil forces are gaining control. Finally those forces capture Jerusalem, and that is the signal for the Lord’s intervention to establish his kingdom over all the earth.

The book prepares God’s people for the worst calamity they can ever face, the triumph of evil over good. Even God’s representative dies at the hand of evil men. There is no room in Zechariah’s thinking for glib optimism, but when evil has done its worst the Lord remains King, and will be seen to be King by all the nations.

For those interested in more details about the prophetic books, consider reading this Introduction to Zechariah.

For those who would like to explore details of this book, please consider videos from Fr. Mike Schmitz’s “Bible in a Year” program. You can find the entire playlist here.