Background Information
I. Zechariah’s name means “Yahweh Remembers.”
II. This book is a sequel to the book of Haggai. The historical setting for chapters 1 through 8 is the same as that of Haggai (520–518 B.C.). Work on the temple resumed in 520 B.C. and work was completed in 516 B.C. The date for chapters 9 through 14 is uncertain but indications are that it was penned between 480 and 470 B.C. (due to the references to Greece in 9:13).
III. Message of the book: An apocalyptic look to the final consummation of God’s eternal purpose in the glory of the Messiah’s rule.
IV. “Few books of the Old Testament are as difficult of interpretation as that of Zechariah. Jewish expositors like Abarbanel and Jarchi, and Christian interpreters such as Jerome, have been forced to concede that they failed ‘to find their hands’ in the exposition of the prophet’s visions (using a Hebrew idiom found in Ps. 76:5), and that they passed from one labyrinth to another, and from one cloud into another until they were lost. And, indeed, the scope of the prophet’s vision and the spiritual profundity of his thought challenge the most earnest reflection. In fact, it is no exaggeration to affirm that of all the prophetic compositions of the Old Testament, Zechariah’s visions and oracles are the most messianic, and, accordingly, the most difficult, because mingled and intermingled with so much that is apocalyptic and eschatological.” (Robinson, pg. 149)
V. Messianic prophecy in the book of Zechariah:
A. Sold for 30 pieces of silver (Zech. 11:12,13).
B. They will look one the one pierced (Zech. 12:10).
C. Fountain for sin and uncleanness opened (Zech 13:1).
D. Wounded in the house of His friends (Zech 13:6).
E. Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter (Zech. 13:7).
VI. What we can learn from the book:
A. The value of the “former prophets” (1:4; 7:12; cf. 2 Tim. 3:16,17).
B. The rule of the Messiah would be world–wide (2:11; 6:15; 8:23; 14:16).
C. Fasting and even feasting are nothing in themselves, for neither of these caused or averted Israel’s exile; God requires justice, mercy, truth and righteousness from His people (8:16,17).
D. We can appreciate the eternal purpose of God in His plan to redeem man. Zechariah foretold “the day of the Lord” in exacting detail centuries before it happened (11:12,13; 12:10; 13:1).