I. Zechariah’s Ancestry and Point of View.  Haggai’s contemporary, the prophet Zechariah, was evidently a priest.  In the genealogy of Nehemiah 12:4, it is stated that he belonged to the priestly family of Iddo.  This conclusion is confirmed by the character of his prophecies.  Like the priest-prophet Ezekiel he is exceedingly fond of apocalyptic symbolism.  He is also deeply interested in the priesthood and in its ceremonial purity.  Furthermore, it is exceedingly probable that he was a descendant of one of the many priests carried as exiles to Babylon.  This is shown by his keen interest in and exact knowledge of the great political movements that were then shaking the Persian Empire.  His conception of Jehovah is also strongly influenced by the analogies drawn from the Persian court.  In his thought Israel’s God is a transcendental ruler, who communicates with his subjects not directly, but through angelic messengers, and who, like the Persian kings, is dependent for information regarding his great kingdom upon the reports of the different members of his heavenly court.  Thus Zechariah marks a wide departure from the simple theology of the pre-exilic prophets who thought of Jehovah as dwelling in the midst of his people and communicating directly with all who turned to him in faith.

II.  The Book of Zechariah.  The book which records the prophet’s sermons contains four distinct divisions:  (1) An exhortation addressed to the people in December, 520, three months after Haggai first appealed to them to rise and rebuild the temple, Zechariah 1:1-8; (2) symbolic visions dealing with the problems in the Judean community, 1:7-6:8; (3) practical counsel, exhortations, and promises, 6:9-8:23; (4) a later appendix coming from a prophet who probably lived during the earlier part of the Maccabean period, 9-14.  All of Zechariah’s recorded sermons probably date from the three or four years between 520 and 516 B.C., during which the temple was being rebuilt.  They throw a remarkably clear light upon an exceedingly critical and significant period in the life of the Jews of Palestine.  They are also in many ways the best Old Testament source for the study of the unfolding of Israel’s messianic hopes.

III.  Problems and Hopes of the Judean Community.  Four or five practical problems confronted and disturbed the temple-builders.  The first was:  Would Jerusalem and the temple, still without walls, be protected from the attack of the hostile foes that encircled them.  A second and larger question was:  What was to be the outcome of the great tempest through which the Persian Empire was passing, and did it mean for the Jews deliverance from the powerful conquerors who for centuries had oppressed and crushed them?  The third was:  Would the necessarily modest service of the restored temple, already sadly polluted by heathen hands, be acceptable to Jehovah?  Another problem was:  What were the relations and the respective duties of Zerubbabel and Joshua, the civil and religious authorities in the community?  It was also inevitable that at this time the hope of securing their independence under the leadership of Zerubbabel should come prominently to the front.  To each of these problems Zechariah addressed himself, and his book records his convictions and public utterances.