Background of the Book of Zechariah

The Hebrew name for the Book of Zechariah is “Zechariah” (זכריה / Z’kharyah), and it’s the eleventh book in the Book of the Twelve Prophets (תרי עשר / Trei Asar). In the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh, Zechariah is placed after the Book of Haggai. Through the Book of Haggai, God declared that the time for rebuilding the Temple had come, and His people should faithfully resume the reconstruction to align with God’s plan. Through the Book of Zechariah, God declared how He would prepare the environment for building the Temple and how He would bring this Temple into glory. Haggai and Zechariah’s ministries were simultaneous and complementary: the Book of Haggai is like a craftsman, erecting the Temple’s framework, while the Book of Zechariah is like an artist, adding beautiful ornamentation to the Temple, allowing us to glimpse God’s glorious “that day.”

Tradition holds that the author of the Book of Zechariah is the prophet Zechariah. He was the second prophet to deliver prophecies after the Jewish return from exile, and he was very likely a priestly clan leader.

The Book of Zechariah is the longest of the Book of the Twelve Prophets. The first eight chapters contain messages delivered during the rebuilding of the Temple. The latter six chapters contain messages delivered after the Temple’s completion, possibly in Zechariah’s later years. Although the first eight chapters are full of visions, the latter six chapters are the most puzzling part of the Book of the Twelve Prophets, because the messages revealed by the prophet point to the coming of the Messiah more than five hundred years later, and extend all the way to the new heavens and new earth thousands of years in the future. Zechariah is the book in the Old Testament that most prominently features the Messiah theme, containing more prophecies about the Messiah than any book apart from Isaiah. Zechariah is extensively quoted in the Gospels’ passion narratives and in the Book of Revelation, more than all other Old Testament books combined.