The Book of Zechariah, Chapter by Chapter

We want to take you through the book of Zechariah chapter by chapter. In our Haggai study we saw the people go back to work on the temple. Two months later another prophet stood up beside Haggai. Haggai told them to build. Zechariah told them why. Because their King was coming. We will tell you what each chapter is about and how it fits into the message of the book. And how it points us to the one God that is revealed in Jesus Christ.

Zechariah is the longest of the minor prophets. And it says more about Jesus than any of them. His King riding on a donkey (9:9). His betrayal for 30 pieces of silver (11:12–13). His pierced body (12:10). The shepherd struck and the sheep scattered (13:7). His feet standing on the mount of Olives (14:4). The gospel writers quote Zechariah again and again when they tell about the last week of Jesus’s life.¹

There are three things we want you to take away from this study. Zechariah is about turning back to God. “Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you” (1:3). Zechariah is about the one God and his one name. “And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one” (14:9). And Zechariah points to Jesus Christ. The one who said “they shall look upon me whom they have pierced” (12:10). We will explain these points as we go through the book. But we want you to keep them in mind as we begin.

“In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet” (1:1). That is 520 BC. The same year Haggai preached. We saw in our Ezra study that Haggai and Zechariah together stirred the people to finish the temple (Ezra 5:1; 6:14). Zechariah was from a family of priests (Nehemiah 12:16). And he was probably young. In chapter 2 an angel calls him “this young man” (2:4). His name means the LORD remembers. That is the message of the book. God had not forgotten his people.

The book has three parts. Chapters 1–6 are 8 visions Zechariah saw in one night. Chapters 7–8 answer a question about fasting. And chapters 9–14 are two burdens. Two messages about the future.² The first part is about the temple being rebuilt in Zechariah’s day. The last part looks far ahead. To the coming of the King. His rejection. His death. And his return.

We will break the book down like this. Turn ye unto me (1:1–6). The night visions (1:7–6:15). Fasting and truth (7–8). Thy King cometh (9–11). They shall look upon me whom they have pierced (12–13). And the LORD shall be king over all the earth (14). Then we will put together what Zechariah teaches about the one God. Just like in our other studies we will be using the KJV for our scripture quotations. And we will let you know where you can find the work of the scholars we reference.

Zechariah starts with the same message every prophet preached. Turn. And notice the promise. Turn ye unto me and I will turn unto you. God meets you when you turn. James says “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you” (James 4:8). Then he reminds them of their fathers. The prophets told them to turn. They would not. And they went to Babylon. “Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever? But my words and my statutes … did they not take hold of your fathers?” (vv.5–6). The fathers were dead. The prophets were dead. But God’s word was still standing. It did exactly what it said. Do not be like your fathers.

Three months later Zechariah saw 8 visions in one night. An angel stood with him and explained them. Each one tells the people something about what God was doing.

Horses Among the Myrtle Trees (1:7–17)

Zechariah saw a man on a red horse among myrtle trees in a low place. Behind him were other horses. They had gone all over the earth. And the whole earth was quiet and at rest (vv.8–11). The nations were at ease. But Jerusalem was still in ruins. Then “the angel of the LORD answered and said, O LORD of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem” (v.12). And God answered with “good words and comfortable words” (v.13). “I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it” (v.16). God had not forgotten.

Four Horns and Four Carpenters (1:18–21)

Then he saw 4 horns. The horns were the nations that scattered Judah. Then he saw 4 carpenters. Craftsmen. They came to cast out the horns (vv.18–21). For every power that rises against God’s people God has someone ready to tear it down.

The Measuring Line (2)

A young man went out with a measuring line to measure Jerusalem. But an angel said Jerusalem will have no walls. It will be too full of people (2:4). “For I, saith the LORD, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her” (2:5). God himself would be her wall. And her glory. Then “he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye” (2:8). The apple of the eye is the pupil. The most tender spot. Touch God’s people and you poke God in the eye.

Notice. The LORD says I come. And I will dwell in the midst of thee. God himself would come and live with them. And many nations would be joined to the LORD. Then the end of verse 11. “Thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto thee.” Trinitarians will say this shows one LORD sending another LORD.³ But notice who is speaking in these verses. The prophet carries the words of God. Sometimes God speaks. Sometimes the prophet speaks for himself. Verse 9 says the same thing. “Ye shall know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me.” That is the messenger. God says I come and I will dwell. The prophet says you will know God sent me when it happens. And when it did happen God came and dwelt in the midst. In the flesh. “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). The one who came is the LORD himself. Not a second LORD.

Joshua the High Priest (3)

Then Zechariah saw Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD. And Satan was standing at his right hand to accuse him (3:1). Satan means the accuser. We saw him do the same thing to Job in our Job study. “And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan” (3:2). Notice the LORD speaks of the LORD. We saw in our Hosea study that this is how Hebrew talks. God naming himself. One God. “Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?” (3:2).

Joshua was “clothed with filthy garments” (3:3). He represented the whole nation. Dirty with sin. Satan was right about the dirt. But God said take away the filthy garments. “Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment” (3:4). They put a clean mitre on his head (3:5). That is the gospel. We stand before God in filthy rags. Satan accuses us. And God takes our sin away and dresses us in clean clothes. Isaiah said “all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). And Paul says “who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth” (Romans 8:33).

Then the promise. “For, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH” (3:8). The Branch again. We saw him in Isaiah 4 and 11 and Jeremiah 23. The Messiah. Then a stone with 7 eyes. “And I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day” (3:9). One day. That is the day Jesus died on the cross. One sacrifice for sins forever (Hebrews 10:12).

Not by Might, Nor by Power (4)

Zechariah saw a gold candlestick with 7 lamps. A bowl on top fed oil to the lamps. And 2 olive trees on each side kept the oil coming (4:2–3). The oil never ran out. No one had to fill it. Then the message to Zerubbabel.

Zerubbabel had a small group of people and a big job. The temple would not be finished by an army. Or by money. But by my Spirit. God’s own Spirit. The oil in the lamp. In the Bible oil is often a picture of the Holy Ghost. The church cannot do God’s work in its own strength. It takes the Spirit. Jesus told his disciples to wait until they were “endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). “Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain” (4:7). The mountain of trouble would become flat ground. “For who hath despised the day of small things?” (4:10). Do not look down on small beginnings. God can do a lot with a little.

The Flying Roll, the Ephah and the Chariots (5–6)

Chapter 5 has 2 visions. A huge flying scroll. 20 cubits by 10 cubits (5:2). It was the curse against thieves and liars. It would go into their houses and destroy them (5:3–4). Then a woman sitting in a basket called an ephah. Her name was Wickedness. She was carried away to the land of Shinar (5:8–11). That is Babylon. God would take sin out of the land and send it back where it came from.

In chapter 6 Zechariah saw 4 chariots coming out from between 2 mountains of brass. With red and black and white and spotted horses. They went out to all the earth (6:1–7). God’s spirit was at rest about the north country (6:8). God was in control of the whole world.

Behold the Man Whose Name Is The BRANCH (6:9–15)

Then God told Zechariah to make crowns of silver and gold and put them on the head of Joshua the high priest (6:11). That was strange. Priests did not wear crowns. Kings did. And kings came from Judah. Priests came from Levi. But God was showing something.

Behold the man. Pilate said the same words about Jesus. “Behold the man!” (John 19:5). The Branch would be a priest and a king at the same time. On one throne. The counsel of peace between them both. Meaning the two offices would be joined in one person.⁴ Hebrews says Jesus is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of the most high God (Hebrews 7:1). Jesus is our King. And he is our High Priest. And he would build the temple of the LORD. Jesus said “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). And “upon this rock I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18). The Branch builds the real temple. His church.

2 years later some men came from Bethel to ask the priests a question. They wanted to know if they should keep fasting in the 5th month like they had for 70 years (7:3). That fast remembered the burning of the temple. Now the temple was being rebuilt.

God answered with a question. “When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?” (7:5). God was asking if they fasted for him or for themselves. Then God said what he really wanted. “Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother: And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor” (7:9–10). That is what the old prophets said. And the fathers would not listen. “Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone” (7:12). So they were scattered.

Then chapter 8 is full of promises. 10 times it says “thus saith the LORD.” “I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth” (8:3). Old men and old women would sit in the streets again. And boys and girls would play there (8:4–5). “And they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness” (8:8). “Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour” (8:16). Then the answer to the question. The fasts would become “joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts” (8:19).

And the chapter ends with this. “In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you” (8:23). The nations would come to the God of Israel. Because they saw God was with his people. That is what happened in the book of Acts. Gentiles from every language came to the one God through a Jew. Jesus of Nazareth.

Lowly, and Riding Upon an Ass

Chapter 9 starts the first burden. God would judge the nations around Israel. Syria. Tyre. Sidon. The Philistines (9:1–7). Many believe this was fulfilled when Alexander the Great swept through that area.⁵ But God would camp around his house and protect it (9:8). Then this.

Alexander came on a war horse. Zion’s King would come on a donkey. Just. Bringing salvation. Lowly. That is exactly what Jesus did. He sent his disciples for a donkey and a colt. And Matthew says “All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass” (Matthew 21:4–5). John quotes it too (John 12:15). We saw in our Zephaniah study that John put it together with Zephaniah 3:16. Fear not. The King of Israel who is the LORD in the midst of thee.

“And he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth” (9:10). Not just Israel. The whole earth. “As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water” (9:11). The blood of the covenant sets the prisoners free. Jesus said “this is my blood of the new testament” (Matthew 26:28). “Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope” (9:12). “And the LORD their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people” (9:16).

Chapter 10 says the LORD would care for his flock because their shepherds failed them (10:2–3). “Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow” (10:4). The cornerstone. The nail that holds things up. Out of Judah. “And I will strengthen them in the LORD; and they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the LORD” (10:12). Walk in his name. We saw the same thing in our Micah study. Whatsoever ye do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus (Colossians 3:17).

Thirty Pieces of Silver

Chapter 11 is a strange and sad chapter. God told Zechariah to act out being a shepherd of a flock that was going to be slaughtered (11:4). He took 2 staffs. One he called Beauty. The other Bands (11:7). He fed the flock. But the flock hated him. And he hated them (11:8). So he broke the staff Beauty. The covenant was broken (11:10). Then he asked for his wages.

30 pieces of silver. The price of a slave. We saw that in our Hosea study (Exodus 21:32). An insult. “A goodly price” is sarcasm. Now notice who says “I was prised at.” The LORD. They valued the LORD at 30 pieces of silver.

That is what Judas got for betraying Jesus. “And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver” (Matthew 26:15). Then Judas felt guilty. He threw the money down in the temple. The priests could not put it in the treasury because it was blood money. So they bought the potter’s field with it (Matthew 27:3–7). Matthew says this fulfilled the prophet (Matthew 27:9–10).⁶ Into the house of the LORD. To the potter. And notice. In Zechariah the LORD says that was the price I was valued at. When they priced Jesus they priced the LORD. The one sold for 30 pieces of silver was God manifest in the flesh.

Then Zechariah broke the other staff. Bands. The brotherhood between Judah and Israel was broken (11:14). And God said he would raise up a foolish shepherd. “Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock!” (11:17). When they reject the good shepherd they get a bad one.

Chapter 12 starts the second burden. “Thus saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him” (12:1). Notice who is speaking. The Creator. The one who made the heavens and the earth and the spirit of man. Keep that in mind for verse 10.

God would make Jerusalem “a cup of trembling” and “a burdensome stone” to the nations that came against her (12:2–3). He would defend Jerusalem. “And the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them” (12:8). Then this.

This is one of the most important verses in the Old Testament for knowing who Jesus is. Notice who is talking. The LORD. The one who stretched out the heavens and formed the spirit of man (12:1). And he says “they shall look upon me whom they have pierced.” Me. The LORD was pierced.

John tells us when this happened. When the soldier pushed a spear into the side of Jesus on the cross. “And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced” (John 19:37). And Revelation says of Jesus “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him” (Revelation 1:7). The one who was pierced was Jesus. And Zechariah says the one who was pierced is the LORD who made the heavens.

Now notice something else. The verse says “look upon me” and then “mourn for him.” Me and then him. Trinitarians will say this shows two persons. The Father speaking and the Son who was pierced.⁷ But notice. The one who says me is the one who was pierced. Not someone else. The speaker was pierced. It changes to him because the one who was pierced is God. And he is also a man. A son. They mourn for him as for an only son and a firstborn. As God he says me. As the man who died he is him. The Son. Not a second God. The one God who came as a son and was pierced. “God was manifest in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16). Paul says the church of God was purchased “with his own blood” (Acts 20:28).

Notice also what comes first. “I will pour upon the house of David … the spirit of grace and of supplications.” God pours out his Spirit. Then they look on the pierced one and mourn. That is what happened on the day of Pentecost. The Spirit was poured out. Peter preached that they crucified Jesus. “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart” (Acts 2:37). They looked on the one they pierced and mourned. And Peter told them what to do. Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38). Then the next verse in Zechariah.

First the piercing. Then the mourning. Then the fountain for sin. Out of the pierced side of Jesus came blood and water (John 19:34). The fountain opened. And on the day of Pentecost the people who looked on him and mourned were washed from their sins. God would also cut off the idols and the false prophets from the land (13:2–6).

Smite the Shepherd

The night Jesus was arrested he quoted this verse. “All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad” (Matthew 26:31). And that night all the disciples ran.

Trinitarians will say “the man that is my fellow” means a second divine person equal with God.⁸ But notice. It says the man. A man. The word fellow means one close by. A neighbor or associate. It is used in Leviticus for your neighbor. The shepherd is “the man” who stands closest to God. The man Christ Jesus. The man in whom God dwelt. Paul says “there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). God struck the shepherd. And the man who was struck was the one in whom all the fulness of the Godhead dwelt.

Then a third of the people would be brought through the fire and refined like silver and gold. “They shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God” (13:9). They shall call on my name.

The last chapter looks to the end. All nations would gather against Jerusalem to battle. And half the city would be taken (14:2). “Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle” (14:3). Then this.

The LORD’s feet will stand on the mount of Olives. God has feet. Now read Acts. Jesus led his disciples out to the mount of Olives and went up into heaven. And two men in white said “this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). “Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet” (Acts 1:12). Jesus left from the mount of Olives. He will come back to the mount of Olives. And Zechariah says the feet that stand there are the feet of the LORD. The LORD my God shall come and all the saints with him. Paul says “at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints” (1 Thessalonians 3:13). We saw in our Ezekiel study that the glory of the LORD left Jerusalem by the mount of Olives. And it will come back the same way.

Then “living waters shall go out from Jerusalem” (14:8). Half east. Half west. Summer and winter. Just like the river in Ezekiel 47. Then the most important verse in the book.

One LORD. And his name one. This is the Shema. “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD” (Deuteronomy 6:4). We covered that in our Deuteronomy study. Zechariah says in the end there will be one LORD over the whole earth. Not three. One. And his name will be one. Not three names. One name.⁹

Now who is the King over all the earth. Revelation tells us. “And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS” (Revelation 19:16). That is Jesus. Who stands on the mount of Olives. The LORD. Whose feet stand there. Jesus. Who is the one name. Jesus told his disciples to baptize “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19). Name. Singular. And on the day of Pentecost Peter told them that name. “Be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 2:38). One LORD. And his name one. And that name is Jesus. “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name” (Philippians 2:9).

The chapter ends with the nations coming up every year to worship “the King, the LORD of hosts” and keep the feast of tabernacles (14:16). The feast where God dwelt with his people. And holiness will be everywhere. “In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD” (14:20). We saw in our Exodus study that those words were written on a gold plate on the high priest’s mitre. Now they will be on the horses’ bells and the cooking pots (14:21). Everything will be holy. Not just the priest. Everything.

Zechariah may be the clearest book in the Old Testament about who Jesus is. Before we finish we want to put it all together. There are three things we want to point out.

First the LORD himself came to dwell with his people. “Lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the LORD” (2:10). “I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem” (8:3). Not a messenger. The LORD. Riding on a donkey. Just and having salvation (9:9). And John says the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

Second the LORD was priced and pierced. He said “a goodly price that I was prised at of them” (11:13). And Jesus was sold for 30 pieces of silver. He said “they shall look upon me whom they have pierced” (12:10). And John said they looked on Jesus whom they pierced. The Creator who formed the spirit of man was pierced in the flesh as a man. The shepherd struck was the man who is God’s fellow. One God manifest in the flesh.

Third there will be one LORD and his name one (14:9). The feet of the LORD will stand on the mount of Olives where Jesus ascended. And the King over all the earth is the King of kings and Lord of lords. The one name is the name of Jesus. Not three persons with three names. One God. Revealed in Jesus Christ. “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9).

We have gone through Zechariah chapter by chapter. Here is what we can conclude. First Zechariah is about turning back to God. Turn ye unto me and I will turn unto you. Do not be like your fathers. God took off Joshua’s filthy garments. He did the work not by might nor by power but by his Spirit. And he wanted truth and mercy more than fasting.

Second Zechariah is about the one God and his one name. The LORD remembers his people. He is a wall of fire around them and the glory in the midst. And in the end the LORD will be king over all the earth. One LORD. And his name one.

Third Zechariah points to Jesus Christ. The Branch who is priest and king. The King riding on a donkey. The one sold for 30 pieces of silver. The one they pierced. The shepherd struck for the sheep. The fountain opened for sin. And the LORD whose feet will stand on the mount of Olives when he comes again with all his saints. Look upon him whom they pierced. And call on his name.

Zechariah saw the temple being built and the King coming. But about 100 years later the people had grown cold again. The priests were offering sick animals. The men were divorcing their wives. And the people were robbing God. One more prophet would speak before 400 years of silence. That is where Malachi begins.