Zechariah – A Biblical Overview, Part 1

The books of Daniel and Zechariah fit closely with the Book of Revelation. Other prophets like Isaiah have much to say about Armageddon, the Millennium and even the Great Tribulation. But, Daniel and Zechariah have a specific focus that we should pay attention to, if we wish to understand the events of Revelation more clearly.

Furthermore, there are some descriptions in Zechariah that will change how you will think about key parts of Revelation.

As always, we will have more questions than answers, but we will do our very best to stick to what God actually says, instead of what we want Him to say.

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Zechariah – A Biblical Overview, Part 1

(Update on Unfulfilled Prophecies Website Below)

Zechariah is one of the few prophets mentioned by name by Jesus, and He shows us that even during the beginnings of the Second Temple, there was great evil at Jerusalem. Here is what Jesus said:

34 Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, 35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

– Matthew 23:34-36 (NKJV)

That passage is part of the Woe that Jesus cries out to the Scribes and Pharisees, for their hypocrisy and evil hearts. And in fact, the Pharisees were in Jerusalem at the building of the temple and would have been part of the murder of Zechariah.

How do we know this?

Well, the name of the people that we call Pharisees is actually פרעשים (pah-roh-sheem). They were the descendants of Parosh. And, we see them here:

the people of Parosh, two thousand one hundred and seventy-two;

– Ezra 2:3 (NKJV)

Ezra 2 lists the people that came with him to build the Temple. And the Paroshim (Pharisees) were the ones who came with him. It is horrifying to think that the people who came with Ezra to build the Temple, sacrificing their comfortable livelihoods in Babylon for a difficult existence at the place where Jerusalem once stood… and then have them later turn and murder poor Zechariah …that’s truly awful to think.

But, we can see the truth of this in Nehemiah when he goes to build the city of Jerusalem, and finds all kinds of corruption in the Temple. In fact, when he leaves for only a short time, he returns to see yet again corruption that he worked so hard to eradicate.

So, the accusation by Jesus against the Scribes and Pharisees makes a lot of sense. They were the descendants of those who murdered Zechariah. This also means that we need to remember that corruption that was at the Second Temple as it was being built.

Now, where else do we see the prophet Zechariah mentioned?

Some might want to say that he’s mentioned in Isaiah 8, but his father’s name is slightly different than mentioned by Jesus and in Zechariah 1. Also, this would have meant that Zechariah was well over a hundred years old when he was murdered. Not impossible but highly unlikely.

However, we do have references to Zechariah in Ezra and Nehemiah. But, in these verses, the reference is to his grandfather, Iddo. And, you’ll notice that Zechariah is careful to mention that Iddo was his grandfather.

Why?

Because Iddo was a prophet. He was well known, so Zechariah was making sure the people could identify him properly. It seems that Zechariah’s father, Berechiah, was obscure and would not have done much to identify Zechariah. Also, like Jeremiah, a scribe might have been the one to write down the words of Zechariah, and he might also have had an incentive to make sure people understood who Zechariah was.

Also, it is not unusual in the Bible for people to be referred to as sons of their grandfathers. None of this is vastly important, except to locate Zechariah properly, and to understand how bad things were when the Temple and Jerusalem were being built.

Just reading Nehemiah, you can feel his agony, frustration and astonishment over the sins of the people. And Ezra felt even worse, literally tearing his hair out over how bad things were. And, Zechariah had to live through that and eventually be murdered because of it.