Who was the prophet Zechariah in the Bible?

Zechariah's name means “Jehovah remembers.” He was the son of Berechiah (“Jehovah blesses”) who was the son of Iddo (“the appointed time”). Israel had long been in a depressed state. It seemed as though God had forgotten them, but He remembers, and in His own appointed time He returns to them in blessing. But the measure of revival and blessing in Zechariah's day was very limited, and Israel lapsed again into a depressed condition that was still seen when the Lord Jesus came, in whom we see another striking evidence of “Jehovah remembering.” By rejecting Christ, Israel has lapsed into a worse state than ever, now for many centuries, and by the time of the great tribulation they will be brought to feel deeply that God has forgotten them. Only then will the prophecy of Zechariah be fully accomplished. It will be God's appointed time of remembering and blessing Israel with blessings that will never end.

Zechariah's message to Israel begins abruptly: the Lord has been greatly displeased with their fathers. How could Israel boast in their lineage when this was true? They had become accustomed to the sins their fathers had allowed, and lacked the exercise that Josiah had (2 Kings 22:10-13) when he heard Scripture read to him and realized how far his fathers had departed from its precepts. Well might the Lord tell Israel to return to Him, with the promise that, if so, He would return to them.

Zechariah is named in Ezra 5:1 and 6:14; he was of priestly descent, which we learn by consulting Nehemiah 12:4, 16. His name means "Jehovah remembers." He was the son of Berechiah, which means "Jehovah will bless;" and his grandfather's name was Iddo; Iddo means "the appointed time." These are significant names; one might say the great prophetic message of Zechariah is given in these three names in a nutshell. For the covenant-keeping God remembers His people, which the visions and messages of Zechariah show. When He remembers them He will bless them, but it will be at the appointed time, and the appointed time has not yet come, hence the greater part of Zechariah remains unfulfilled.

Nothing personal is revealed concerning the prophet except that he was the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet. The dates mentioned are the eighth and eleventh months of the second year, and the ninth month of the fourth year of Darius, answering to 519 and 517 B.C., Zech. 1:1, 7; Zech. 7:1. Haggai's prophecy was in the second year of the same Persian king, so the two prophets were contemporary, and, according to Ezra 5:1; Ezra 6:14, they both roused and encouraged the Jews to go on with the building of the temple. Zechariah's prophecy is much occupied with the great Gentile kingdoms under which the Jews were placed: there is also much respecting Jerusalem, and it reaches on to the time of the Messiah and His rejection, and to the last days when Israel and Judah shall be blessed in the land.

Zechariah (whom the Lord remembered). This prophet commenced his prophetic service two months later than his contemporary and colleague Haggai (compare Zech. 1:1 with Haggai 1:1). The latter is simply termed "Haggai the prophet," whereas the father and grandfather of our prophet are expressly named. We gather from a comparison of the first verse with Neh. 12:4, and Ezra 5:1, that Zechariah was of priestly descent, as were Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Ezra, and perhaps Habakkuk. We would direct special attention to the minute accuracy of the dates in the books of Zechariah and Haggai. They conclusively mark God's recognition of the sovereign power granted to the Gentiles, and under which His people were placed till the government of the world shall be once again exercised through the Jew, and from Jerusalem, the city of the Great King.

The prophecies contained in this book are mainly respecting Judah as a people, and Jerusalem as a city in their judgment, as also in their blessed future, but in special relation to the Gentiles. The eight visions seen in one night (chaps 1-6) from the Persian power, under Cyrus (the rider among the myrtle trees, but figuring Christ, Zech. 1:8) till the temple and throne are set up in Jerusalem in millennial glory, present the great facts connected with Israel and her relation to the imperial powers. In the rest of the book numerous details of a deeply interesting kind, bearing upon the millennial future, are given; moral truths, prophecies of and about the Messiah, and physical facts accompanying the Lord's descent to Mount Olivet for Jewish deliverance, make up a record of undying interest to prophetic students (Zech. 14).

Zechariah (= Remembered of Jehovah) was the second post-exile prophet and a contemporary of Haggai. They prophesied at the same time (see Ezra 5:1; 6:14).

It is generally assumed that the prophet Zechariah is identical with the man of the same name mentioned in Neh. 12:16. Hence Zechariah was prophet and priest at the same time as were Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Out of Zech. 2:4 we further see that he started his prophetical ministry in early years.

Zechariah the priest (Neh. 12:16) prophesied in Jerusalem to those Jews who had been permitted by Darius to return from their exile to the city of their God. The express object of their return was to rebuild the house of God destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar.

Zechariah, who proclaimed his prophecies during the second empire, spoke of three empires beginning with the Persian. He was the prophet of the few, humbled, remaining ones from Judah, who, through Cyrus’ intervention, had returned. Yet, his view, like Daniel’s, reached much farther than the time in which he lived.

Despite their common service, these two prophets did not have the same goal in view. Haggai spoke more exclusively about the house. Zechariah’s eye reaches farther. He had as subject the city Jerusalem, the remnant of Judah, and the last day, in so far as this related to the Messiah. Moreover he gave a general overview of the kingdoms of the nations and their moral condition in the last days. But he especially drew attention to the sufferings of Christ and the various ways in which His glory will be revealed.

The testimony of the prophets was nearly completed when the Jews were carried away into Babylon. We have only three post-captivity prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, though some of the prophecies of Jeremiah (see Jer. 52:30) and Daniel were given after the great captivity. Haggai distinctly affirms that his word was "the word of Jehovah," and that it came to him at different times. He announced his messages authoritatively, with, "Thus says Jehovah." (Haggai 1:1, 7; 2:1, 7, 20.) Zechariah also asserts the divine source of his most solemn and beautiful utterances, when he says, "The word of Jehovah came unto Zechariah." This he repeatedly asserted. (Zech. 1:1, 7; 7:1; 8:1.) Malachi also introduces his mournful testimony with, "The burden of the word of Jehovah to Israel by Malachi." It is well not to overlook how this prophet, like others, looks on to the Lord coming in glory to the faithful in Israel, His "jewels," as the Sun of Righteousness with healing to them and judgment on the wicked. This prophet also presses, in Jehovah's name, the divine authority of the writings of Moses, saying, "Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments." (Mal. 1:1; 4:2, 4.)

Amongst the latter prophets, long after Hosea, Zechariah appeared. In his days a remnant had returned from Babylon, idolatry had been dropped and the first appearing of Christ was the approaching event. Hence he has hardly a word to say on the subject of idolatry, but much as to the religious formalism and hypocrisy that was developing and also as to the Messiah whose coming drew nigh. He predicts His first coming in grace, and His rejection.