Zechariah
Prophet
1 In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berekiah, the son of Iddo: 520BC Zechariah and Haggai were companion prophets who complemented each other, their ministries overlapped for a short period of time. God does this often, Moses and Joshua, Elijah and Elisha, Paul and Barnabas. Why?, because people listen and learn in different ways and through different means. Haggai spoke clearly, and Zechariah spoke colorfully through visions. So God uses them as a team to reach all his people that all might know and respond to his message (Ferguson). They both had been in captivity and returned with the 42,360 exiles to Jerusalem (Ezra 2:64-65). Haggai prophesied first, calling the people to rebuild God’s temple that God could make it glorious (Klein). Zechariah began his prophecy 2 months after Haggai and focused on rebuilding the people and their faith. (Phillips) Zechariah’s words were a supplement to Haggai’s message. His were words of encouragement. He knew that not all those that returned were fully sincere in their desire to serve God, and he therefore counseled them to repent of sin and return to God with all their hearts and minds (Boice) Zechariah repeatedly stressed sin and its deleterious effects on the nation. Zechariah simultaneously called the people of God to both repent and to rebuild for a glorious future. (Klein) They both prophesied at a time when the children of Israel were seeking to rebuild the ruins and reconstruct their lives. Zechariah means “Yahweh remembers” (Baldwin) Each mention of his name reminded himself and others that God never forgets his people. (“iah” at the end of name means “Yah” short for Yahweh) (Fries). His name describes God’s conventual relationship with his people, assuring Israel that the Lord’s relationship to his people continues, even during an era filled with discouragement and opposition. (Peterson). Also Zechariah’s father’s name, Berekiah, means “the Lord blesses” and his grandfather’s name, Iddo, means “in time” So putting these names together we understand God’s plan for his people, The Lord remembers and blesses in his time. (Fries). Zechariah descended from the priestly line, so he was well acquainted with the issues surrounding temple worship. (Neh 12:4 Iddo was a priest). Because he and his family were among the faithful who had endured the exile (Hag 2:21 Iddo is listed as returning), not only had he received a divine call to prophecy, he also knew personally what grievous circumstances his community had experienced. His acquaintance with the sorrow and uncertainty gave him credibility to speak to others who had suffered similarly (Klein) By the time of Zechariah, God’s people had been back in Jerusalem for nearly two decades. 18 years before, the people of Judah had begun rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem. They had laid the foundation with great fanfare and celebration, but they encountered opposition and hatred from the people who had occupied the land during the captivity. They constantly fought with them and criticized them trying to get them to stop rebuilding. So the people got discouraged and stopped building God’s house and focused on building their own houses. For 16 years they took no action. God had been speaking though Haggai and now a word came though Zechariah (Fries). God’s city, Jerusalem was in a state of disrepair and God’s people were disenchanted with their future prospects. The Lord gave Zechariah a word of revelation to guide and encourage the people as the navigated uncharted territory. (Klein).
People
3 Therefore tell the people:
Zechariah presents a people whose record has been disgraced by sin and whose covenant with God lay broken – a reality amply illustrated by the ruins of Jerusalem to which they returned, with its broken temple. Zechariah is a book for people who have failed God – people surrounded not with scenes of spiritual advance but rather besieged by spiritual collapse. It is a book for people who truly long to start over with God and a generation that wonders if the flame of bygone years can ever be relit (Phillips) It is a book about a loving God who comes to the people in despair and disillusionment and offers them a message of hope that even though they have rebelled against him, they can return. Here we can see that we can approach God and face the future in confidence, trusting him while being realistic about ourselves. Here God calls to us in ‘grace’; “Return to me and I will return to you”. (Zech 1:3). The reality is that God always uses failures to do his work; it is his glorious delight to call, restore, and equip weak and sinful people to bring glory to his name (Phillips)
Predicament. This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Return to me,’ declares the LORD Almighty, ‘and I will return to you,’ says the LORD Almighty.
Back in their homeland, the Jews had grown cold in their spiritual lives. The initial enthusiasm they had for rebuilding the new temple had turned into complacency and discouragement. Their work had stopped, their faithfulness had withered, and they had willfully turned in rebellion against God’s command to rebuild the temple. The sin of the people was their failure to get on with building the Lord’s temple and were already experiencing his anger with them in the form of failed harvests and grinding poverty. The sin was not so much in what they were doing as what they were not doing. It wasn’t the sin of home improvement as if these were wrong in themselves, it was the sin of immersing themselves in these things while the Lord’s house remained in ruins (Haggai 1:4) (Motyer). Haggai was sent previously to call them back to God’s plan, pleading with them to begin again the work God had called them to do (Haggai 1:1-8). Their discouragement was understandable, they faced a massive task and much opposition for the 16 years prior to Zechariah’s message. (Ezra 4:4-5). We all know that it is hard to keep going with something long term, even if we believe if is what God wants us to do, in the face of discouragement, intimidation, false accusations and constant frustrations. These can wear down even the most stouthearted individual. (Motyer) But in the midst of all of the difficulties we must not forget the importance of the task that God had called them to do. The temple was central to all Jewish life and worship. It had to be in place for significant events to occur for the coming Messiah. This was God’s building project. He provided everything they need, from positioning a king favorable to the task (Is 44:24-28), to providing all the materials for the project (Haggai 1:8). He even selected the workers, freeing them from captivity to serve him in this glorious task. But the people of God had become spiritual lethargic they had become spiritually apathetic. They had no hearts to seek Him and no hands to serve him. They were living their life, just without the Lord (Haggai 1:4), serving themselves rather than their savior. So, through Zechariah, God calls his people to return when they wander far from him. We all have times of spiritual complacency when we find ourselves wandering from him. We are all like sheep have gone stray (1 Pet 2:25) , we are all prone to wander and leave the one we love. Oh the great news is the gospel brings hope that all who are lost can be found and that all distant and wandering believers can come back to the Lord (Fries). Anyone can Return. The message of Zechariah is just a relevant today as it was years ago. In an age of spiritual apathy, constant criticism, and cultural concessions is difficult for believers not to feel discouraged and become defeated. We too just stop seeking, serving and sharing Jesus asking ourselves, “What is the use?”. (Boice) Here the words of this prophecy give us hope that there the Lord is still working. One writer states: This message may be fitly applied to our age; for we see hos Satan raises up great forces, we see how the whole world conspires against the people of God, to prevent the increase or progress of the kingdom of Christ. When we consider ho great are the difficulties which meet us, we are ready to faint and to become wholly dejected. Let us remember that it is no new thing for enemies to surpass great mountains in elevation; but that the Lord can reduce them to a plain (Zech 4:7). This, then, our shield can cast down and lay prostrate whatever greatness the Devil may set up to terrify us; for as the Lord reduces a great mountain to a plain . . . so to this day, however boldly may multiplied adversities resist Christ in the work of building a spiritual temple to God the Father, yet all their efforts will be in vain (Calvin) Here is great words of encourage to us from a minor prophet as we seek to live out the gospel.
Product.
It took Zerubbabel, the Jewish governor, two years to rebuild the foundation of the temple. Then construction was delayed by Samaritan settlers whose friendly overtures masked a hidden hostility (Ezra 4:1–5). Because of the opposition to the temple construction, Persia withdrew support for the project, and for seventeen years the temple sat unfinished (Ezra 4:21). Finally, God sent the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to support Zerubbabel (Ezra 5:1–2), Through their exhortations and encouragement the people repented from sin and returned to serving the Lord in rebuilding the temple. Four years later, in 516 BC, the temple was completed and dedicated with great fanfare (Ezra 6:16). When God’s priorities take precedence his people will prosper, but when God’s people pursue other things they will plunge into ruin.
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