Zechariah the prophet was the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the priest who led the Levites (Neh. 12:4), and a contemporary of the previous prophet (Ezra 6:14). His name (Zekarya‚h) means “Yahweh remembers” or “Yahweh has remembered.” This is a theme that runs like a thread through the whole book. In the Greek and Latin version Zechariah is Zacharias.
The first verse presents Zechariah as the son of Berechiah and the grandson of Iddo, who was undoubtedly the same priest as the one mentioned in Neh. 12:4 as a contempo-rary of Zerubbabel. In Zech. 2:4 the prophet is spoken of as a youth (naàar). He would probably have been a young man at the time he cooperated with Haggai in the rebuilding campaign of 520 B.C. His last dated prophecy (chap. 7) was given two years later, in 518; yet chapters 9 -14 show every appearance of having been composed some decades after that, possibly after 480 B.C. in view of the reference to Greece (9:13) . As Unger points out (IGOT; p. 355), the successful resistance of the Greek nation to the invasion of Xerxes would naturally have brought them into a new prominence in the eyes of all the peoples of the Near East. We have no further information concerning Zechariah’s per-sonal career, except the reference in Matt. 23:35, which seems to indicate that he was martyred by mob action in the temple grounds (since the Zechariah that Christ mentions is said to be the son of Berechiah rather than of Jehoiada, who however met his end in a like manner back in the days of King Joash, according to 2 Chron. 24:20-21).81
Zechariah was written to encourage the returned remnant to complete their work in rebuilding the temple. The prophet also showed that God was at work in the world restoring Israel to their spiritual inhe-ritance in preparation for the coming Messiah. Doctrinally, Zechariah demonstrates the prominence of the temple in God’s spiritual restoration of Israel; shows the providence of God in bringing back His people to their land, and it highlights the preeminence of the Messiah in the future spiritual restoration of the Nation.
“The Word of the Lord” (13 occurrences) and “The Lord of Hosts” (53 occurrences) are two prominent expressions that lay stress on the divine nature of Zechariah’s message, but the prominent idea of the book preparing for the coming Messiah in both of His advents.
❝ 8:3. “Thus says the LORD, ‘I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.’
❝ 9:9-10. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, And the horse from Jerusalem; And the bow of war will be cut off. And He will speak peace to the nations; And His dominion will be from sea to sea, And from the River to the ends of the earth.
Zechariah builds to a tremendous climax in chapter 14 where he discloses the last siege of Jerusa-lem, the initial victory of the enemies of Israel, the cleaving of the Mount of Olives, the Lord’s defense of Jerusalem with His visible appearance on Olivet, judgment on the confederated nations, the topographi-cal changes in the land of Israel, the Feast of Tabernacles in the Millennium, and the ultimate holiness of Jerusalem and her people.82
Perhaps no Old Testament book is more Messianic than Zechariah.
In an often-quoted statement, George L. Robinson has called the Book of Zechariah “the most Messianic, the most truly apocalyptic and eschatological of all the writings of the Old Testament” (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1956, 5:3136). The messianic emphasis of Zechariah ac-counts for its frequent citation by New Testament authors.83
Zechariah presents Messiah or Christ in both of his advents and as both Servant and King, as Man and God, as the Angel of the Lord (3:1), the Righteous Branch (3:8), the Stone with the seven eyes (3:9), the Crucified Savior or the pierced One (12:10), the coming and humble King (9:9-10), the smitten Shepherd who will be abandoned (13:7), and the coming Judge and righteous King (14).