Zechariah 1:1-10

Introduction

The name “Zechariah” means “Jehovah Remembers.”  It is a common name.  Zechariah like Haggai dates his work to the time of Darius.  The approximate date of the book of Zechariah is 520-470 B.C. which means his ministry spanned approximately fifty years.  The basic theme of Zechariah is hope in God’s unfailing purpose and to encourage the people of God to live in victory and serve in diligence.  The focus of the book of Zechariah is the message of hope found in the Messiah.  Zechariah was contemporary with Haggai.  It was also an encouragement to those who were rebuilding the temple.

Zechariah 1:1

In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto

Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,

The eighth month is Bul which corresponds to part of October and part of November.  The second year of Darius was said to commence in 520 B.C.  This was Darius the king of Persia and not the Mede.  Zechariah was born into a line of prophets as we see that Iddo was a prophet.  Zechariah was also one of the prophets who was murdered by the hands of the Jews.  That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.  (Matthew 23:35)  It was in the eighth month in the year 520 B.C. that the word of the LORD came to Zechariah.

Zechariah 1:2

The LORD hath been sore displeased with your fathers.

This saying means that the LORD was intensely furious with them.  These were the ones who lived during the time of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian captivity.  They were sent into Babylon for their idolatry and evil ways which went against the law of God.  God mentions these things so that those he is speaking to here will not make the same mistakes and sins their fathers made because if they did they did provoking an even greater punishment.

Zechariah 1:3

Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts.

The term “turn ye” is a synonym for repentance toward God.  God promises that if they are not as stiffnecked as their fathers were, then he would turn unto them which means he would once again give them a favored nation status among the nations and would protect and prosper them.  Since the term “LORD of hosts” is used three times in this verse may be an allusion to the trinity.  The term also points to the fact that God is above all the angels in Heaven and all people upon earth.

Zechariah 1:4

Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the LORD.

Their covenant God was “the LORD of hosts.”  God is here giving this new generation a history lesson on how bad the former generation was.  God consistently sent prophets to them to cry against their evil ways.  The term “cried” means to “proclaim, pronounce, or publish.”  They constantly warned that generation to turn from their evil doings.  They did not pay attention to the prophets nor did they give heed to their message and obey.  God had no alternative but to meet their sinful behavior with judgment and then removal from the land for seventy years.  They neither mended their ways but allowed themselves to also turn those manners into evil deeds which God condemned and judged because they turned away from the LORD.  It is a warning to all Christians that we must also heed the word of the LORD and not just see the Bible as a wonderful book but we need to be obedient to what is in the pages.

Zechariah 1:5

Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?

Here God gives them a stark reality.  Those who were disobedient to the LORD had gone into captivity or else perished by the swords of the invading Babylonians.  They lived for just a few years according to their evil ways but now they will pay for those lifestyles with an eternity in hell.  Then God asks them if the prophets live forever?  This would include the false prophets like Hananiah who prophesied in the time of Jeremiah that Judah would only be kept in captivity for two years.  He died the same year he made that false prophecy.  Then this statement would include the true prophets which of course would be speaking about living forever on earth.  Even the true prophets of God had died because they were sent for a specific time and with a specific message.  The truly saved prophets of God would live forever in Heaven but not on the earth in its present state. 

Zechariah 1:6

But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, 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.

Here God warns the present people that the words and statutes which are decrees that God prophesied to the rebellious nation before them had come to pass and there was no withholding of the punishment.  What God decreed to both the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom had fully come to pass.  Then those who listened to the proclamation of Zechariah had determined that if God had dealt with the forefathers according to their sins, then he would deal with us in the same manner.  If we decide to take up the same lifestyles the forefathers did, then they could expect the same treatment.  So the people who heard Zechariah determined that they would not take up the rebellious lifestyle and would be obedient to the LORD.  Haggai had begun prophesying two months before Zechariah started to and they were chastised at that time for their laziness in not rebuilding the temple but they did get busy and began to rebuild and here_­ Zechariah is beginning to proclaim encouragement to them to continue in the right ways before God.

Zechariah 1:7

Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,

The month Sebat corresponds to the latter end of January and the beginning of February.  It is called the New Year of the Trees.  This means that the first sermon that  Zechariah preached was three months prior.  This means that the book of Zechariah was not continuous but broken up into separate sections as the LORD gave the message in his timing. 

Zechariah 1:8

I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white.

In this vision Zechariah sees a man riding a red horse.  And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.  (Revelation 6:4)  We see the red horse in Revelation was going out to take peace from the earth.  The result of this rider going forth taking peace from the earth is that people are going to kill one another. This rider will be given the power to cause much dissension and strife in the physical realm of the world thus causing the world to be constantly in turmoil. If you notice, this red horse in Zechariah is not charging ahead but is standing still among the myrtle trees.  It was not yet the time of his dispatch.  In Revelation the four horses are active because they have been dispatched.

The book of Revelation covers the time of the first coming of Christ to the second coming of Christ and that is why the red horse in Zechariah has not yet been dispatched to take peace from the earth.  Behind this standing rider were there other horses which were red, speckled and white.  The speckled horse was a combination of red, white, and black which represented times of good and bad, prosperity and want which would come upon the Judah as they would see both good and bad times until they are wiped out in 70 A.D.  The white horses represent the best of the times especially in the realm of salvation.  And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.  (Revelation 19:14)  The myrtle trees were very desired trees where the rider on the red horse positioned himself to observe.  The myrtle trees represented the saints and servants of God.  The area where the myrtle trees were growing were in the bottom country which could represent the low, mournful state that Judah was in at that time.

Zechariah 1:9

Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be.

Then Zechariah was puzzled as to what he saw and asked the Lord what these were so the angel that spoke with him concerning the vision of these horses.  Then the angel answered and agreed to show him what the vision meant.

Zechariah 1:10

And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the LORD hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.