Zechariah

Thy King Cometh

Haggai got the builders back to work. Zechariah gave them something to build for. His book is the longest of the twelve minor prophets, and it is the most filled with Christ. It holds night visions of horses among the myrtle trees, a flying scroll, and a golden lampstand. It holds a high priest in filthy clothes made clean, a King riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, thirty pieces of silver thrown down in the house of the LORD, a Shepherd struck and His sheep scattered, and a people looking on the One they pierced. Zechariah preached to a small, discouraged remnant rebuilding a small, plain temple, and told them that God had not forgotten them. That is what his name means.

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Authorship & Setting

“In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet” (1:1). That is autumn 520 BC, in the same season that Haggai was preaching. Haggai’s second message came in the seventh month and his last two in the ninth, so Zechariah’s first word falls right between them. Ezra names both men together as the prophets who kept the builders going (Ezra 5:1; 6:14).

Zechariah came from a priestly family. His grandfather Iddo is listed among the heads of the priests who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel (Nehemiah 12:4, 16). Ezra calls him simply “the son of Iddo,” skipping a generation, as Hebrew genealogies often do. He was likely born in exile and came home as part of that first wave of returning families.

The book falls into two main parts. Chapters 1–8 are dated to the years of the temple rebuilding and include eight night visions and a question about fasting. Chapters 9–14 are undated, and many scholars place them later in Zechariah’s life. They contain two “burdens” that look far ahead: to the coming King, the rejected Shepherd, and the final day of the LORD, when “the LORD shall be king over all the earth” (14:9).

Key Figures

• Zechariah — a priest and prophet whose name means “the LORD remembers,” sent to remind a small remnant that God had not forgotten His promises.
• Joshua the high priest — shown in a vision standing before the Angel of the LORD in filthy garments, with Satan accusing him, and then clothed in clean robes (ch. 3). Later crowned as a sign of the coming Branch (6:11–13).
• Zerubbabel — the governor, told that the temple will be finished “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit” (4:6).
• The Angel of the LORD — a heavenly figure who intercedes for Jerusalem (1:12), rebukes Satan (3:2), and speaks with the authority of the LORD Himself.
• The Branch — the coming Servant who will build the temple of the LORD and “be a priest upon his throne” (6:13).
• The Shepherd — the true Shepherd, valued at thirty pieces of silver (11:12), struck so that the sheep are scattered (13:7).

Hebrew Word Study

זְכַרְיָה — Zekharyah

“The LORD remembers,” from zakar, to remember. For God, remembering is not recalling something He had forgotten. It means acting on His promises. The remnant felt small and overlooked, back in a ruined city under Persian rule. Zechariah’s name answered them before he said a word. Fittingly, the father of John the Baptist carried the same name, and he praised God that He had come “to remember his holy covenant” (Luke 1:72).

צֶמַח — tsemach

“Branch” or “Sprout,” a shoot growing up from what looks like a dead stump. Isaiah and Jeremiah used it for the Messiah from David’s line (Isaiah 11:1; Jeremiah 23:5). Zechariah uses it as a name: “I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH” (3:8), and “Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD” (6:12). David’s royal house had been cut down to a stump. God promised a living Branch.

רוּחַ — ruach

“Spirit,” breath, wind. Zerubbabel faced a mountain of rubble, opposition, and very little money. God’s word to him: “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts” (4:6). In the vision, the lampstand burns with oil that flows directly from two olive trees. No human hands fill it. God’s work is done by God’s Spirit, and the mountain in front of Zerubbabel “shalt become a plain” (4:7).

קֹדֶשׁ — qodesh

“Holiness,” what is set apart for God. The book ends with it written on the most ordinary things: “In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the LORD’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts” (14:20–21). The words once engraved on the high priest’s golden plate (Exodus 28:36) will be on horse bells and cooking pots. In the end, all of life will be holy to God.

Eight-Movement Narrative Outline

MOVEMENT ONE

Turn unto Me (1:1–6)

The book opens with a call to repentance: “Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you” (1:3). Zechariah reminds them that their fathers ignored the former prophets. “Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?” (1:5). Men pass away, but God’s words overtook their fathers exactly as spoken. The people repented and admitted God had dealt with them justly (1:6).

MOVEMENT TWO

Visions in the Night (1:7–2:13)

In one night Zechariah sees eight visions. The first is a rider on a red horse among myrtle trees in a hollow. The riders report that the earth is at rest, while Jerusalem still lies in ruins. The Angel of the LORD intercedes: “how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem?” (1:12). God answers with “good words and comfortable words” (1:13): He is jealous for Jerusalem and will return with mercy. Then four horns that scattered Judah are cast down by four craftsmen, and a man goes to measure Jerusalem, only to be told it will be a city without walls, because the LORD will be “a wall of fire round about” her (2:5). “He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye” (2:8).

MOVEMENT THREE

A Brand Plucked from the Fire (3:1–10)

Joshua the high priest stands before the Angel of the LORD in filthy garments, and Satan stands at his right hand to accuse him. “And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan… is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?”(3:2). The filthy garments are removed. “Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment” (3:4). The accuser has no answer, because God has already made the man clean. Then comes the promise: “I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH… and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day” (3:8–9).

MOVEMENT FOUR

Not by Might (4:1–14)

Zechariah sees a golden lampstand with seven lamps, fed by oil from two olive trees standing beside it. The angel explains: “This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts” (4:6). The hands of Zerubbabel laid the foundation, and his hands will finish it. Then a question for every discouraged builder: “For who hath despised the day of small things?” (4:10).

MOVEMENT FIVE

The Scroll, the Basket, and the Crown (5:1–6:15)

A flying scroll twenty cubits long carries the curse against thieves and false swearers into their houses (5:1–4). A woman called Wickedness is sealed in a basket and carried away to Shinar, the land of Babylon, where it belongs (5:5–11). Four chariots go out to patrol the earth (6:1–8). Then the visions end with an acted sign. Zechariah is told to make crowns and set them on the head of Joshua the high priest, and say, “Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH… he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne” (6:12–13). In Israel, priests and kings were kept separate. The Branch will be both.

MOVEMENT SIX

Fasting or Obedience? (7:1–8:23)

Two years later, a delegation asks whether they should keep fasting over the temple’s destruction. God asks back, “did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?” (7:5). What He wanted was always the same: “Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother: And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor” (7:9–10). Then He promises that He will dwell in Jerusalem again, and the old men and women will sit in the streets while boys and girls play there (8:4–5). The fasts will become feasts of joy, and ten men of every nation will take hold of a Jew’s garment saying, “We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you” (8:23).

MOVEMENT SEVEN

Thy King Cometh (9:1–11:17)

The first burden announces the King: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass” (9:9). He will speak peace to the nations and set prisoners free “by the blood of thy covenant”(9:11). But the flock’s shepherds have failed them. Zechariah acts the part of a true shepherd who is rejected, and his wages are weighed out: “So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver” (11:12). God says to throw it to the potter, “a goodly price that I was prised at of them” (11:13). The section ends with a woe to the worthless shepherd who leaves the flock (11:17).

MOVEMENT EIGHT

Him Whom They Have Pierced (12:1–14:21)

In the second burden, God defends Jerusalem against the nations. Then He pours on the house of David “the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son” (12:10). “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness” (13:1). “Smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered” (13:7). Finally, the LORD comes: “his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives” (14:4). Living waters flow out from Jerusalem, and “the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one” (14:9).

Christ Typology

The King on a donkey. On the Sunday before His crucifixion, Jesus sent for a donkey and her colt and rode into Jerusalem. Matthew and John both say it was done to fulfill Zechariah 9:9 (Matthew 21:4–5; John 12:14–15). He came exactly as Zechariah described: just, bringing salvation, and lowly. Kings rode horses to war. This King came in peace.

Thirty pieces of silver. Judas agreed to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15). When he threw the money down in the temple, the priests used it to buy the potter’s field (Matthew 27:3–10). Matthew connects the purchase to Scripture, drawing on Zechariah’s goodly price thrown to the potter along with Jeremiah’s field. The value men placed on God’s Shepherd was the price of a slave (Exodus 21:32).

The Shepherd struck. On the night He was betrayed, Jesus quoted Zechariah 13:7 to His disciples: “All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad” (Matthew 26:31). They all fled that same night. Zechariah 13:7 also says God calls this Shepherd “the man that is my fellow”, His equal. The One struck was God’s own companion.

Him whom they pierced. In Zechariah 12:10 God speaks: they will look upon “me” whom they pierced. At the cross a soldier pierced Jesus’ side, and John writes, “another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced”(John 19:37). Revelation 1:7 carries it forward to His return: “every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him.” And from the pierced side flowed blood and water (John 19:34), the fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness (13:1).

The Branch and the Priest-King. The high priest who received the crown in 6:11 was named Joshua, Yehoshua, the Hebrew form of the name Jesus. The one clothed in clean garments and crowned stands as a sign of the Branch, who will be “a priest upon his throne.” Hebrews presents Jesus as exactly that: our great High Priest who “sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens” (Hebrews 8:1).

Feet on the Mount of Olives. Jesus ascended from the Mount of Olives, and the angels told the disciples that He would “so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven”(Acts 1:11–12). Zechariah 14:4 tells where His feet will stand when He returns.

Personal Application

Start where Zechariah starts: “Turn ye unto me… and I will turn unto you.” God does not ask His people to fix everything first. He asks them to turn. Whatever your fathers did, whatever you have done, the door is open. And when the accuser stands at your right hand, remember Joshua. You do not answer Satan with your own record. The LORD rebukes him and points to the clean garments He has put on you. A brand plucked from the fire has no reason to go back into it.

Don’t despise the day of small things. Zerubbabel’s temple looked like nothing, and his resources were thin. God did not promise him more money or more men. He promised His Spirit. Whatever God has put in your hands to build, a home, a business, a family, or a ministry, is not measured by its size. “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit.”

Check your fasting. The people of Zechariah’s day kept up a religious routine for seventy years without asking whether God wanted it. What He wanted was true judgment, mercy, and compassion toward the weak. Religious habits are good. But God will always ask, “Did you do it unto me?”

And look on Him whom they pierced. Zechariah’s whole book points to one Person, the lowly King, the rejected Shepherd, the pierced One, the Branch, the coming Lord. The fountain for sin and uncleanness is open. One day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, and the LORD will be King over all the earth. Until then, the bells on the horses and the pots in your kitchen can already say it: Holiness unto the LORD.

TO GOD BE ALL THE GLORY · MARANATHA

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