Zechariah 1:1–6

1:1 The dating formula locates Zechariah’s prophetic ministry in reference to the Persian king Darius (cf. v. 7; 7:1; cf. Introduction: Date and Occasion). Whereas earlier Prophetic Books are dated with reference to the reigns of kings of Israel and Judah (e.g., Isa. 1:1; Hos. 1:1), dating with reference to a foreign king suggests the shadow of exile still hanging over God’s people (cf. comment on Zech. 1:2–6a). The dating formula also places Zechariah in relation to Jeremiah’s prophecy of seventy years of desolation for Judah as punishment for not heeding God’s words (Jer. 25:4–12; cf. Zech. 1:12).

Darius succeeded Cambyses (r. 530–522 BC) and Cyrus (r. 559–530). In 539 BC, Cyrus had decreed the Judean exiles in Babylonia could return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple (cf. Ezra 1:1–4). However, an initial attempt to rebuild the temple came to a halt (Ezra 4:24). The date in this verse is some twenty years later (520 BC), and the “eighth month” is late October to late November, two months after temple building had resumed (cf. Hag. 1:14–15). This is around 66 years after the city of Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed by the Babylonians (in 586 BC).

The phrase “the word of the LORD came to” is a messenger-reception formula indicating Zechariah’s status as a prophet of God (cf. Zech. 7:1). The description “son of Berechiah, son of Iddo” places Zechariah in a priestly family (cf. Ezra 5:1; 6:14; Neh. 12:4–7, 16). This may explain the book’s focus on the temple and cleansing from sin (like the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel, also from priestly families).

1:2–6a Zechariah addresses his contemporaries, whose “fathers” (or “ancestors”) were those on whom God’s anger fell, resulting ultimately in the destruction of Jerusalem and exile. God was “very angry” because their fathers refused to obey his word repeatedly spoken by the “former prophets” (v. 4). The “former prophets” can refer to prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel who called on the people to repent (e.g., Isa. 45:22; Jer. 18:11; 25:5; Ezek. 33:11), but is used also to refer to the Historical Books of Joshua—Kings, which also explain how the devastation and exile of the northern and southern kingdoms were because of God’s wrath against sin.

God is called “LORD of hosts,” which can also be translated “Yahweh of armies” or “Yahweh, the Almighty.” The “hosts” or “armies” are heavenly beings, such as the horses and chariots in Zechariah 6:1–8. This title occurs fifty-three times in Zechariah and speaks of God’s might as king and his universal rule. It occurs three times in 1:3 to emphasize why the people should listen to God’s word through Zechariah.

Zechariah is to summon the people to “return to me”—a call to repentance and obedience to the national covenant.¹ In response, God promises, “I will return to you”—a promise of full restoration of the blessings of the covenant. In the wider context of the book, this promise also speaks of God’s return to the temple to dwell among his people, a key theme of Zechariah (cf. 1:16; 8:3, 15; 9:8–9; 14:16–21; cf. also Introduction: Theology of Zechariah: The Return of the Lord).

To “return” (or “repent”) involves turning to God “from your evil ways and from your evil deeds” (1:4; cf. Jer. 18:11; 25:5; 35:15). These evils the earlier prophets spoke against include idolatry, religious hypocrisy, and social injustice, which recurred among God’s people in Zechariah’s day (Zech. 5:3–4, 6; 7:9–10; 8:16–17; 10:2; 13:2). These evils are symptoms of a greater underlying problem God identifies when he says, “They did not hear or pay attention to me.” The heart of sin is a heart that rejects the word of God. Indeed, to reject God’s word is to reject God himself. This is why God was so angry with the fathers, who experienced his judgment.

In 1:5, Zechariah asks two rhetorical questions to help his contemporaries reflect on the consequences of rejecting God’s word. “Your fathers, where are they?” makes the point that the fathers have died in exile for their sins. “The prophets, do they live forever?” uses a form in Hebrew that expects the answer “no.” The implication is that the prophets who provided the warning to God’s people also eventually fell under his judgment and died. The people should heed God’s word and return to him while there is still time.

A third rhetorical question in verse 6a is designed to cause Zechariah’s contemporaries to acknowledge that God’s word achieves its purposes (cf. Isa. 55:11). The phrase “my words and my statutes” reflects Deuteronomy, where the phrase refers to the requirements of the national covenant and to the covenant itself (e.g., Deut. 28:15, 45; 29:1). The core of the prophets’ task was to call Israel back to the national covenant, reminding them of blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience (e.g., Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28). In this context, “overtake” refers to the curses coming on the people for disobedience, climaxing in the judgment of exile (cf. Deut. 28:2, 45).

1:6b Commentators are divided on whether it is the fathers or Zechariah’s contemporaries who are reported as repenting (“they repented”). In the flow of the Hebrew, the pronoun “they” most naturally refers back to the fathers, as the ESV indicates. However, in terms of the logic of Zechariah’s presentation, since judgment overtook the fathers and they are no more (v. 5), “they” is better understood as referring to Zechariah’s contemporaries. What is reported in this verse is that those who heard God’s word proclaimed by Zechariah repented and acknowledged the rightness of God’s dealings with his people. Significantly, the repentance of the returned exiles is also recounted as the response to the preaching of Haggai, Zechariah’s contemporary (cf. Hag. 1:12–14).