This narration is from a previous version of the study. The text on this page is current.
Zechariah is a book of consolation after judgment, but its consolation is never cheap. The Lord calls His people to return, cleanses the priesthood, strengthens the rebuilding of the temple, and exposes fasting without mercy and shepherding without love. Then the book opens toward the humble King, the rejected Shepherd, the pierced One, living waters, and worship filling the earth.
The visions can seem strange on a first reading. Yet their question is close to home: how can a wounded people live with God again? Zechariah does not answer by asking them to forget the ruins. He teaches them to hear the Lord’s promise in the midst of them.
A Priest and Prophet Among the Builders
Zechariah prophesied after the return from Babylon, when Judah lived under Persian rule and the temple was being rebuilt. His first oracle is dated to the eighth month of Darius’s second year, about 520 BC (Zechariah 1:1). It falls between Haggai’s dated words in the seventh and ninth months (Haggai 2:1, 10). These prophets speak into the same difficult work, not into an age of effortless recovery.
Zechariah belongs to a priestly setting as well as a prophetic one. Nehemiah 12:4 names Iddo among the priestly families that returned, and 12:16 names Zechariah as head of Iddo’s house in the next generation. This setting helps us understand the book’s concern for the high priest, the lampstand, the house of God, and the holiness of ordinary vessels. Worship is not decoration added to national recovery. Life with God is the heart of what is being restored.
Ezra 5:1-2 and 6:14 place Haggai and Zechariah beside the builders, helping the people through the prophetic word. Ezra 6:15 records the completion of the temple in Darius’s sixth year. The spoken word and the work of human hands belong together. God does not console the people so that they may remain idle; His promise gives courage for faithful work.
Still, the deeper question is whether the people themselves will be rebuilt in repentance, mercy, and worship. The book begins with the command to turn to the Lord and ends with holiness written over ordinary vessels. That movement matters: restoration is not merely construction. It is communion with God.
Priesthood, Kingship, and the Branch
Zechariah repeatedly places Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel the governor before the reader. They are real leaders of the returned community, not merely symbols. Joshua receives clean garments; Zerubbabel is strengthened to finish the house. Later, Joshua is crowned in a prophetic sign that points beyond his own office to the coming Branch.
The Christian reading must honor both the sign and its fulfillment. Joshua is not Jesus Christ, and the historical priest’s need for cleansing does not describe sin in our Lord. Yet the priestly name, the crown, the promise of the Branch, and the building of God’s house prepare us to recognize the sinless Christ as our Priest and King. The restored temple matters in its own history; it also teaches us to long for the communion God gives in His Son.
Project-made schematic of the priestly and royal lines. Haggai, Ezra, and Matthew call Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel; 1 Chronicles 3:19 preserves a Pedaiah link.
The Movement of the Book
| Chapters | Movement | What to watch for |
|---|---|---|
| 1-6 | Return, night visions, and the crowning sign | The Lord restores city, priesthood, temple, and people together. |
| 7-8 | Fasting brought before truth and mercy | A restored community protects the vulnerable and becomes a blessing to the nations. |
| 9-11 | The King and the shepherds | The meek King’s peace stands against pride, exploitation, and rejected grace. |
| 12-14 | Mourning, cleansing, and the Lord’s reign | Grace opens repentance; living waters and holiness reach beyond the sanctuary. |
The Night Visions of Chapters 1-6
Project-made schematic of the opening visions and their movement toward restored worship.
The visions are not a puzzle whose reward is secret knowledge. They train attention. We learn to see a city that heaven has not forgotten, a priest whom God can cleanse, a lamp supplied by the Spirit, and wickedness that cannot be made at home among God’s people. Consolation and repentance remain together throughout.
Reading Zechariah in the Septuagint
The chapter studies print Brenton’s English Septuagint, while following NKJV chapter numbering. Where the Greek and Hebrew-based wording differ, the commentary explains the difference beside the passage. “Lord Almighty” stands beside “Lord of hosts”; Joshua the high priest appears as “Jesus,” the Greek form of his name (3:1; 6:11). Brenton calls the promised servant and man “The Branch” (3:8; 6:12). The Greek name, “Anatolē,” can mean “rising,” including the rising of light; Brenton’s note at 3:8 directs the reader to the Dayspring of Luke 1:78. This helps us hear a Christian resonance without claiming that Luke simply quotes Zechariah here. In 1:8, Brenton’s rider stands between shady mountains where the NKJV places him among myrtle trees.1
There is also a chapter boundary to notice. NKJV 1:18-21, the horns and craftsmen, is Brenton 2:1-4. NKJV chapter 2 is therefore Brenton 2:5-17. Each reading carries both references. The difference should help us read carefully, not become an obstacle between the reader and the promise.
Zechariah and the New Testament
The Gospels do not treat Zechariah as a store of disconnected predictions. In Christ, the book’s kingship, rejection, mourning, and mercy become a living unity. Some connections below are explicit Gospel citations; others are visionary images taken up in Revelation.
| Zechariah | New Testament connection | Its force for Christian reading |
|---|---|---|
| 9:9 | Matthew 21:5; John 12:15 | The King comes to Jerusalem in meekness. |
| 11:12-13 | Matthew 27:9-10 | The thirty pieces of silver enter Matthew’s account of betrayal and the potter’s field. Matthew names Jeremiah; the imagery must be read across the prophetic texts, not flattened into an identical quotation. |
| 12:10 | John 19:37; Revelation 1:7 | The pierced Christ is seen and mourned. Brenton’s wording about mockery differs from the wording cited in John. |
| 13:7 | Matthew 26:31; Mark 14:27 | Christ speaks of the struck Shepherd and the scattered disciples. |
| 1:8; 6:1-8 | Revelation 6:1-8 | Colored horses return within a new vision of judgment; the scenes and colors are not identical. |
| 4:1-14 | Revelation 11:4 | The two olive trees and lampstand imagery return in the vision of God’s witnesses. |
This reading leads to compunction, not contempt. The rejected Shepherd and the pierced One expose human sin, including our own. They must not become a pretext for hostility toward Jews or for imagining that the Church stands above the need to repent.
Reading with Alexandria
Two important Alexandrian witnesses are Didymus the Blind’s Commentary on Zechariah and St. Cyril of Alexandria’s treatment of Zechariah in his Commentary on the Twelve Prophets. Their sustained attention reminds us that the difficult visions belong within the Church’s patient reading of Scripture, not at its margins.
Jerome records that Didymus wrote five books on Zechariah at his request (Lives of Illustrious Men, chapter 109).2 The commentary was recovered among the Tura papyri near Cairo in 1941.3 The Coptic Synaxarium commemorates Didymus on Paona 6. Zechariah’s visions thus belong to a living Egyptian inheritance of scriptural study as well as to the wider Christian tradition.
Didymus helps us understand return as a change in the heart, not a journey through space (pp. 29-30), and the wall of fire as light and warmth for those within God’s city (pp. 53-54). St. Cyril follows the angel’s intercession toward Christ our advocate (pp. 101-102) and hears the promise of God’s dwelling in the light of the Incarnation and the gathering of the nations (pp. 113-114). These witnesses serve the passage best when their insight helps us listen more closely, not when their names replace explanation.
The Church’s Voice in Worship ⛪
In Holy Pascha, the Church reads Zechariah 1:1-6 on the Eve of Tuesday, Monday night, at the First Hour. Lazarus Saturday brings the meek King in Zechariah 9:9-15 to the threshold of Palm Sunday. On Good Friday, Zechariah 11:11-14 is read at the First Hour, and 14:5-11 at the Ninth Hour.
This is not random placement. The Church hears Zechariah as a path from repentance into the Passion: the King comes meekly, the Shepherd is rejected, the pierced One is mourned, the fountain is opened, and the Lord reigns.
Zechariah’s call to return, the meek King, the rejected Shepherd, and the Lord’s reign in the Coptic readings.
The book also teaches the Church outside Holy Week. Zechariah 8:7-13 is read on Tuesday of the first week of Great Lent, the week of preparation; 8:18-23 follows on Thursday of that week. The promises of restored Zion and fasts turned to gladness place mercy, truth, and hope within the discipline of the fast.
At the Laqqan, the Liturgy of the Waters of the Apostles’ Feast, and at the consecration of a baptistery, the Church reads the promise to Zion in 8:7-19 and the living waters of 14:8-11. She reads the lampstand and olive trees of 4:1-14 in the preparation of the holy Myron. The book’s hope is carried into the Church’s sacramental life: God gathers a people, gives life, and makes what is offered to Him holy.
The Synaxarium commemorates the righteous Zechariah, son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, on Amshir 15. His companion prophet Haggai is commemorated on Kiahk 20. Their names are not merely dates in ancient history; the Church remembers those through whom she still hears the word of God.
A Reader’s Guide to the Chapters
| Study | Focus | Readings discussed here |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Return to Me and the Horsemen Among the Myrtle Trees | NKJV 1:1-21: repentance, heaven’s consolation, horns answered by craftsmen | 1:1-6, Eve of Tuesday in Holy Pascha, First Hour |
| 2. The Measuring Line and the Lord Dwelling in Zion | NKJV 2:1-13: abundance, refuge, and the Lord’s coming | |
| 3. Joshua the High Priest and the Branch | Clean garments, renewed service, and the promised Branch | |
| 4. Lampstand, Olive Trees, and Not by Might | The Spirit sustains the work and its small beginnings | 4:1-14, preparation of the holy Myron |
| 5. Wickedness Removed | The flying scroll and wickedness carried away | |
| 6. The Chariots and the Branch Crowned | The Lord rules the earth; Joshua’s crown points beyond him | |
| 7. Fasting, Truth, and Mercy | The Lord asks for whom the people fast | |
| 8. Restored Zion and the Nations Seeking God | Communal life healed; fasts become joy; the nations seek the Lord | 8:7-13 and 8:18-23, first week of Great Lent; 8:7-19, Apostles’ Feast Laqqan and baptistery consecration |
| 9. Your King Comes Humble and Riding on a Donkey | The meek King and the blood of the covenant | 9:9-15, Lazarus Saturday |
| 10. The Lord Restores His Flock | The Shepherd gathers and strengthens the scattered | |
| 11. The Rejected Shepherd and Thirty Pieces of Silver | The flock is wounded by rejected grace and false care | 11:11-14, Good Friday, First Hour |
| 12. They Shall Look on Me Whom They Pierced | Grace gives the mourning of repentance | |
| 13. The Fountain Opened and the Shepherd Struck | Cleansing, truth, and the scattered flock | |
| 14. The Lord Shall Be King Over All the Earth | Living waters and holiness in ordinary life | 14:5-11, Good Friday, Ninth Hour; 14:8-11, Apostles’ Feast Laqqan and baptistery consecration |
How to Receive the Book
Read the visions slowly enough to hear their repeated promise of God’s presence. Do not hurry past the call to repent in order to reach the images that seem more mysterious. Nor should repentance become a refusal of consolation. The Lord who names the wound also promises the craftsmen, clean garments, sustaining oil, and living water.
The book’s final holiness reaches the pots of Jerusalem. That is a fitting test of our reading. If these visions teach us to pray with hope, deal truthfully with our neighbor, protect the vulnerable, and offer ordinary work to God, we have begun to receive what the prophet gives.
Sources
Scripture in the chapter guides is from Brenton’s English Septuagint (LXX), with NKJV chapter numbering and labeled LXX equivalents where they differ.
Historical setting: Zechariah 1:1; Haggai 2:1, 10; Ezra 5:1-2; 6:14-15; Nehemiah 12:4, 16.
Didymus the Blind, Commentary on Zechariah, translated by Robert C. Hill, Fathers of the Church 111 (2006).
St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Twelve Prophets, volume 3, translated by Robert C. Hill, Fathers of the Church 124 (2012), the commentary on Zechariah.
St. Jerome, Lives of Illustrious Men, chapter 109, on Didymus’s five books on Zechariah.
St. Augustine, On Grace and Free Will, chapter 10; The City of God, Book XX, chapter 30.
St. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, chapters 115-116.
Footnotes
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Brenton, Zechariah 1, 2, 3, and 6; Greek text of Zechariah 3:8 and 6:12; Thayer’s entry for ἀνατολή. ↩
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St. Jerome, Lives of Illustrious Men, chapter 109. ↩
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Robert C. Hill, introduction to Didymus the Blind, Commentary on Zechariah, FOC 111 (2006), p. 4. ↩