Chapter 1

Author: Zechariah, which means in the Hebrew, He whom God remembers. He is from a priestly line. His grandfather, Iddo, was one of the twelve priestly families that returned after the fifth cycle of discipline. Born a priest, he became a prophet. As a prophet he had both the gift and the office of prophet. Along with Haggai he is the one who encouraged the Jews to finish up the second temple.

The period of his ministry: three dates, Chapter 1:1, October, 520 BC; Chapter 7:1, 4th of December 518 BC; Chapter 9:13, 480 BC. At the time at which this prophecy begins we have a leadership role. The ruler of the Persian empire is mentioned as Darius Hystaspes, a very famous Persian monarch who ruled from 582-486 BC, so Zechariah is a contemporary. Under the leadership of Darius the Persian empire is more or less an empire of born-again believers. Its counterpart, the Greeks, were a bunch of demon-possessed monsters who are famous in history for their culture, a culture which has come down to us today and is worshipped regularly in the academic halls of our universities under classicism. The Persians were the scientists: astronomers and the greatest people in the ancient world in the field of medicine. They were a noble race at their beginning. They started out under Cyrus the Great who was a born-again believer and they were for several hundred years a nation saturated with born-again believers. They had declined by the time of Alexander the Great but they were a greater people than the Greeks by far.

The purpose of the prophecy was, along with Haggai, to encourage to build the second temple which had to be completed before the 5th cycle of discipline is over. It was completed in 516 BC. The second purpose was to orient the Jews with regard to their national future and with regard to Bible doctrine.

Zerrubabel was the leader of the Jews and descended from David — Matthew 1:13. The high priest was Joshua — not son of Nun — directly descended from Aaron. (Joshua was a common name. It means saviour in the Hebrew) The two prophets were Zechariah and Haggai.

Historical background

1. The decree of Cyrus the Great in 536 BC. This was the historical opening for everything in this book. Cyrus was a great born-again believer and was a genius in the field of political activity — 2 Chronicles, 50,000 Jews went back into the land although the 5th cycle was still on. Same situation today.

2. In 535 BC they began to rebuild the temple — Ezra 3:11-13.

3. Opposition came from the Samaritans and in 535 BC the temple rebuilding was stopped — Ezra 4.

4. There was no more work done on the temple for 14 years.

5. In 521 BC Darius Hystaspes comes to the throne.

6. Under encouragement from Haggai and Zechariah work is resumed — Ezra 5:1-2.

7. The temple was completed four years later in 516 BC — Ezra 6:15.

The introduction to Zechariah is Ezra. Zechariah is a book about the Lord Jesus Christ. There are ten Christological references.

1. Rider on the red horse — chapter 1.

2. Wall of fire — chapter 2.

3. The Branch — chapter 3.

4. The Lord of the whole earth — chapter 4.

5. The Branch and the two crowns — chapter 6.

6. The King of Palm Sunday — chapter 9.

7. The betrayed Shepherd — chapter 11.

8. The One who is pierced — chapter 12.

9. The smitten One — chapter 13:7.

10. The returning One — chapter 14.

Objective of the book: to take a period of history and show how Bible doctrine motivated a people to get started properly, to terminate the fifth cycle of discipline, to show the importance of occupation with Christ, and to help us to orient historically to our own day so that we can orient spiritually to our own day. We do not have to be confused by the events of history which we face.

Verses 1-6, Formal introduction: The termination of the 5th cycle of discipline is the building of the temple. The only way they were going to get a termination of the fifth cycle of discipline was to build that temple.

Verse 1 merely dates the event: “eighth month” — October in the Jewish calendar — “in the second year of Darius [Hystaspes]” — 520 BC.

Verse 2 — Israel’s past discipline, a reference to the 5th cycle. “The Lord hath been sore displeased with our fathers”; “our Fathers” is the generation that went into the fifth cycle of discipline.

“sore displeased” — the literal translation would be: “he was angry with a great anger", a very intensive statement.

Verse 3 — call to repentance. Three times we have the phrase: “The Lord of hosts", and the point is that God still has a plan for the Jews. But God could not crank up His will for their lives until their volition became involved — “turn ye” means repent, change your mental attitude. The point is they were still alive, He still had a purpose for their life. They had to go on positive volition, then the Lord will bless. “Repent” is the Hebrew word shub, and they have to do it first. Why? They have to go on positive signals toward God, which in this case is simply rebound. God is waiting to bless but He cannot until they go on positive signals.

Verses 4-5 — pre-exilic illustration. Negative volition, see Hosea 4:6. Gomer was a picture of Israel about to go under the 5th cycle of discipline. God still carries the torch for Israel. Hosea 4:6 — no Bible doctrine, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge [lack of knowing doctrine]; because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me [Israel was a priest nation in the sense that they represented God to the heathen people]: seeing thou hast forgotten the doctrine of thy God, I will also forget thy children [a prophecy of the coming of the 5th cycle”; Zechariah 1:4 — “Be not as your fathers,” a long line of people who failed and went into the fifth cycle of discipline. They did everything wrong. What was behind it all? Negative volition all the way. The contrast here is: Don’t fall into the failure of that generation that went under the fifth cycle of discipline. They failed. You turn unto me, and I will turn unto you.

Verse 5 — “Where are they?” — they are in heaven, and this is the generation who failed and went into captivity. This is a verse of grace. Grace depends on who and what God is. No matter how you fail you are going to win. The greatest virtue in the Christian life is to know Bible doctrine.

Zechariah is warning a generation. You see the generation that came back in 536 BC came back because their parents, including the one who experienced Psalm 119, had given them this fantastic doctrinal background. And they actually had the doctrine but they were not using it at this moment. And Zechariah comes along and says, Get with it. And they do — “and the prophets, do they live for ever?” — the answer is, Yes, they do.

Verse 6 — “But” (nevertheless) “words” refers to the general areas of scripture; “statutes” — categories of scripture. In this case the 5 cycles of discipline, Leviticus 26 — “did they not take hold” means to overtake — “your fathers.” They were warned time and time again about the 5th cycle of discipline but they didn’t listen and were overtaken by it. God keeps His word — “they returned” — literally, they repented; “our ways” — mental attitude failures; “our doings” — production failures.

“Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.” So this is the first administration of the fifth cycle of discipline to the southern kingdom.

Visions — 3: the horses, the horns, and the grave carvers. These three visions have to do with the people that God used. God used a nation, and in the administration of the 5th cycle of discipline in 586 BC God used a nation, Chilled. But Chilled abused the power He gave it. This abuse is first recorded in Psalm 119. So God is going to cut of their horn — a nation’s horn is a nation’s power.

Verse 7 — 24 February, 520 BC was the time of the vision. Man riding on the red horse is the Lord Jesus Christ — cf. verse 11.

Doctrine of Christophanies

1. The Angel of the Lord or Angel of Jehovah is Jehovah — Genesis 16:7-13; 22:11-18; 31:11-13; 48:15,16; Exodus 3; 13:21; Acts 7:30-39; Judges 6:11-25. “Lord” in the English Bible is the tetragrammaton. It is always used for one person in the Godhead — the second person.

2. The Angel of Jehovah is distinct from Jehovah — Genesis 24:7, 40; Numbers 20:16; Exodus 23:20; 1 Chronicles 21:15-18; Daniel 3:25-28. Each person in the Godhead is called Jehovah somewhere in scripture. Distinction is made between the Angel of Jehovah who is Christ, and Jehovah the Father. Sometimes Jehovah the Father sends Jehovah the Son, who is the visible member of the Godhead, on some special mission — the Angel of Jehovah.

3. The Angel of Jehovah is the second person of the Trinity because the second person is the visible member of the Trinity — John 1:18; 6:46; 1 Timothy 6:16; 1 John 4:12. The Angel of Jehovah no longer appears after the incarnation of Christ. Both the incarnate Christ and the angel of Jehovah are said to be sent by the Father.

The red horse identifies Jesus Christ as the saviour. Red is for all the blood of the Old Testament sacrifices which is analogous to the sins of the world poured out upon Christ on the cross and judged. The blood of Christ always stands for spiritual death, not His physical death.

“myrtle trees” — the indigenous shrub of Palestine — i.e. He is represented as being identified with Israel — “in the bottom” is literally, “in the valley", representing the period of Israel’s pressure, the 5th cycle of discipline and/or the Babylonian captivity; “behind him [the Lord Jesus Christ],” three troops: “A” troop, a sorrel; “B” troop, a bay; “C” troop, a grey. All three troops are troops of angels. Sorrel troop: reddish brown. These are the slaughterers responsible for the slaughter of the invading armies at the second advent. Bay troop: brown body, black mane and tail. Red and black, two separate colours. These represent the angels which divide, the separators. Described in Matthew 13 — separation of the wheat and the tares. Grey (or white) troop: The white horse is what the Lord Jesus Christ rides in Revelation 19:11; 6:2, and this represents victory. With Christ there is inevitable victory because of union with Him.

We should note here that angelic forces are operating in the devil’s world, both elect and fallen angels, and that some times, in order to have peace in the world, God has to use angelic forces. That means that world peace very frequently depends upon elect angels such as these three troops. God does not use these angelic forces to bring world peace unless there is a strong doctrinal reason.

We are talking about the first generation of believers back in the land. They are generally connected and oriented to the grace of God and the plan of God through a knowledge of Bible doctrine. The majority are born-again believers and they are about to enter into a golden age which will start with the completion of the second temple. They will have almost 200 years of excellent environment of prosperity, all because of Bible doctrine. There are three great demonstrations in history as to what Bible doctrine can do. One of them is the post-exilic period, 516-323 BC. The second is the period of the Antonine Caesars in the Roman empire from 96-192 AD. The third is the Victorian era in Great Britain in which Bible doctrine had a period of ascendancy, and the repercussions and results were absolutely fantastic.

Verse 9 — the inquiry of the prophet. He didn’t understand what he saw in the vision, just like today when a person opens his Bible and after reading a paragraph or two he doesn’t understand anything that he reads. So the prophet has to make an inquiry. What is this all about?

“Then said I” — a reference to Zechariah — “O my lord,” addressed to the interpreting angel in this case. He addresses the angel as “my lord” simply because he is a superior creature and because he is his teacher. God used angels to teach people in Old Testament times. And he calls the angel “my lord” because if the angel is going to teach him anything Zechariah must recognise his authority; “what are these? — a reference to the three angelic troops; “I will shew thee what these things mean,” and then he switches over to let the Lord Jesus Christ do the speaking in verse 10. In other words, Zechariah has a teaching angel but sometimes the teaching angel simply turns it over to the Lord, and this is one of those cases.

Verse 10 — It is actually Christ as the angel of Jehovah who teaches in this verse. He is the interpreter in this case. The Lord is described as the one that stood among the myrtle trees. This is a Christophany. The myrtle tree is mentioned simply because it is an indigenous shrub in Palestine and the point is the Lord’s interest in Israel and in His people.

“These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and from throughout the earth” — in other words, God has a purpose which must go into operation. The Jews are back in the land, they are recolonising, they are rebuilding Jerusalem. They must first of all build a temple. The temple has been hindered in its construction and will not be completed until 516 BC. Then there will be a prolonged period of time when they will not have walls and Jerusalem will not be defensible by ordinary means. In the ancient world it was imperative to have walls to set up a basic system of defense. Jerusalem will not have walls until 445 BC in the days of Nehemiah and this means that during that interim — 516 and 445 BC — there must be a special type of protection and this type of special protection includes these angelic forces. The Jews are going to have nearly 200 years of peace, they are going to be protected in a very war-torn world, and even though throughout the world there will be many battles and many wars the Jews were going to be protected because of their doctrinal stand. The protection came from the three angelic troops.

Verse 11 — The angels return from their mission with a report — “walking to and fro", verse 10, their reconnaissance mission. The man of verse 10 and the Angel of the Lord in verse 11 both refer to Christ. “Walking to and fro” is a hiphil imperative construct and it should be translated “to go through the entire earth” .The mission of these three angelic troops was to establish stability in the areas that would affect the Jews, so that the Jews would be protected, and so that the Jews could continue their rebuilding mission.

“sitteth still” — there is a stabilised situation throughout the earth. This is the rise of the Persian empire. Under Cyrus the Great it was one of the finest and greatest nations of all time. Zechariah chapter one is a picture of history behind the scenes. We are generally familiar with historical events, but behind the scenes we have angelic forces in a constant struggle and a constant fight.

So the Jews are now protected. Why were they protected? This angelic activity started about 550 BC and it concluded about 520 BC. During those 30 years there was the rise of Cyrus the Great and his rise was made possible under the most phenomenal conditions: the manner in which he defeated the Medes, the manner in which he defeated the Lydians who occupied the area now known as Turkey, the manner in which he was able to neutralise the Chaldeans, and then finally to go all of the way to Egypt. He conquered the world in a period of 25 years. And here in Zechariah one we have the angelic side which resulted in a stabilised nation, Persia, which God used to give the Jews their 200 years of prosperity, both spiritual and material, because they went positive toward Bible doctrine.

This points out a principle: you do not get your materialistic prosperity and you do not get your general national prosperity from legislation. Legislation can protect the privacy and the rights of individuals but it was never designed to change people. It was designed to handle people as they are, the crook, the dishonest person, and so on; it cannot cure the evils of the world.

Verses 12-13: the intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Angel of the Lord.

Verse 12 — “Lord of hosts,” God the Father. Jesus Christ is praying for the Jews. He is now calling the Father’s attention to the fact that now everything is prepared on the earth and now is the time to finish up the period by the construction of the temple.

“indignation” — the 5th cycle of discipline.

Verse 13 — God the Father answers the teaching angel.

“good words” means the plan of God for the Jews is recognised and operative — “comfortable words” — words of confidence. The Jews can have confidence in the Lord, He is removing the 5th cycle of discipline and their great period is about to begin.

In verses 14-16 we now have an amplification of the phrase “good words” .

“So the angel that communed with me” — the angel who teaches Zechariah —"Cry thou, saying”; the word “cry” doesn’t mean to cry, it means to preach, to teach doctrine.

“jealous” — an anthropopathism (God is not jealous). Should be translated “zealous.”

Verse 15 — “I am very sore displeased” or “angry with a great wrath” which is what the Hebrew actually says — “heathen” now refers to that nation which administered the 5th cycle of discipline, the Chaldeans. They abused their power — “they helped toward the affliction” — abuse of power.

Verse 16 — The restoration of Israel means the rebuilding of the temple. “With mercies” — lots of grace in action. The temple will be rebuilt and the day it is built the 5th cycle of discipline is over. And at a future time there will be walls — “and a line [a surveyor’s line] shall be stretched forth upon [around] Jerusalem” .Eventually they will survey and rebuild the walls.

Verse 17 — the future of these things as a result of Bible doctrine; “cry yet” — keep preaching.

“prosperity” — this is prosperity based on Bible doctrine — “shall yet spread abroad” — the Jews are going to have about 200 years of great prosperity — “and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion” — that will be in four years, the end of the 5th cycle of discipline in 516 BC — “and shall yet choose Jerusalem” — Jerusalem is going to have a place in the plan of God at the end of the 5th cycle of discipline. So here is the result of this tremendous back-to-doctrine movement that occurred during the Babylonian captivity.

Verses 18-19 — the vision of the horns: verse 18, the content; verse 19, the explanation.

What are the four horns here? a. Assyria, used in 721 BC to administer the 5th cycle of discipline to the northern kingdom. A “horn” is a powerful nation at the peak of its power. b. Chaldea, the Neo-Babylonian empire — 606 BC. In 598 BC Nebuchadnezzar returned. In 586 BC he returned again and destroyed the temple and started the 5th cycle of discipline. c. The Hellenistic empire of the Selleucids — Antiochus the Great and Antiochus Epiphanes, these two especially persecuted the Jews. d. Rome — 63 BC, Pompey the Great, beginning of the 4th cycle of discipline. The 5th cycle began in AD 70 (Titus). In each case none of these nations could stand the power and God had to take it away.

Verses 20,21: collective application.

“carpenters” — horn carvers {it is the Hebrew word for grave carver]. God uses other nations now to eliminate those who couldn’t stand all that power and abused it. So we note from this that one of the reasons that national entities are removed and empires are removed is because of power lust and power madness.

Verse 21 — The first “these” refers to the horns; the second “these” refers to the horn carvers. What are the four horn cutters?

1. Assyria had horn cut off in 612 BC. The first horn cutter was Nabopolasser, father of Nebuchadnezzar.

2. Cyrus the Great was the second horn cutter. Chaldea was the second horn, cf. Daniel 5.

3. The Selleucid dynasty — a Hellenistic monarchy, fantastic in their persecution of the Jews. Rome was the third horn cutter. Rome had three famous contacts with the Selleucids: a, The Battle of Magnesia, 190 BC; b. Antiochus Epiphanes, 168 BC; c. Pompey the Great, 63 BC.

4. The horn is Rome. The fourth horn cutter is the Lord Jesus Christ who destroys the revived Roman empire at the second advent — Revelation 17:8-12; Revelation 19; Daniel 7.