Zechariah 1
1. Who was Darius (verse 1)? Answer
2. What dates are referenced in verses 1 and 7? Answer
3. How is the date in verse 1 related to the rebuilding of Jerusalem's temple? Answer
4. Why was the Lord angry with the fathers (verses 2 to 5)? Answer
5. What is unique about God's call for repentance in verse 3? Answer
6. What is the point of verse 6? Answer
7. What is the meaning of verses 8 through 17? Answer
8. What is the meaning of verses 18 to 21? Answer
Zechariah 2
9. What is the time frame and meaning of chapter 2? Answer
Zechariah 3
10. What does Joshua's filthy garments represent (verse 3)? Answer
11. Who is My Servant the Branch and the Stone (verses 8 - 9)? Answer
12. What time period is referenced in verse 10? Answer
Zechariah 4
13. What prophetic event is foreshadowed in verse 3? Answer
14. How is the phrase "the day of small things" (verse 10) related to Jerusalem's temple? Answer
Zechariah 5
15. How big was the scroll in verse 2? Answer
16. What does the scroll symbolize or represent (verses 1 to 4)? Answer
17. Where is the land of Shinar (verse 11)? Answer
Zechariah 6
18. Where else are four horses of different colors mentioned in Scripture (verses 2 and 3)? Answer
19. What may the horses of different colors represent? Answer
20. Who is the Branch (verses 12 - 13)? Answer
Zechariah 7
21. What is the date referenced in verse 1? Answer
22. What was the importance of the fifth Hebrew month (verses 3 - 5)? Answer
23. What is the point being made in verses 5 to 10? Answer
24. What is referenced in verse 14? Answer
Zechariah 1 Answers
1. Zechariah wrote at a time when the Medo-Persian Empire dominated the world. The empire began in 539 B.C. during the reign of Cyrus the Great. In 520 B.C., when Zechariah wrote, Darius I the Great ruled the empire. In was during Darius' reign (522 to 486 B.C.) that the Persian Empire reached its peak of power.
2. Zechariah is one of several Old Testament writers whose dates were based on the start of the Biblical religious year on Nisan (Abib) 1 as opposed to the civil year of Tishri 1 (Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings).
Zechariah 1:1 references the eighth Hebrew month of 520 B.C. which was called Heshvan. On our modern calendars this ran from October 25 to November 23.
Zechariah 1:7 refers to the eleventh Hebrew month called Shebat. On our modern calendars this ran from January 22 in 519 B.C. to February 20. Shebat 24 fell on Wednesday, February 14.
[What Is the Biblical Calendar?]
3. The Minor Prophet Haggai informs us that work on rebuilding Jerusalem's temple restarted on the 24th day of the sixth month of Darius' second year (Haggai 1:15). This was less than two months before Zechariah wrote.
[Where Was the Temple Located?]
4. The Lord was angry with the fathers because they refused to repent of their sins, especially the sin of idolatry. Because of such sins the Kingdom of Israel was overrun by the Assyrians and taken completely out of the land by 723 B.C. In 586 Babylon attacked Judah and Jerusalem for the third time, destroying the city and burning the temple to the ground. It also completed its goal of removing all the Jews out of Judah except the poorest (2Kings 24:14).
[Where Was Ancient Israel Taken Captive?]
5. The phrase "Lord of hosts" is used three times in Zechariah 1:3.
6. God, in Zechariah 1:6, is reiterating that the warnings he gave to his people, over many years, were not for nought. The penalties promised by God's true prophets for disobedience all came to pass.
7. Verses 8 to 17 of chapter 1 are the first of Zechariah's eight visions he was given in a single night. These verses convey God's love for Israel followed by his wrath against those nations who punished his people far more than he wanted. The verses in question finally convey the Lord's promises to rebuild Jerusalem and cause her to prosper.
8. Zechariah 1:18 - 21 continues the theme of God punishing those nations who were overly zealous in punishing his people. The four horns might possibly refer to four primary oppressors of Israel and Judah that have (past tense) scattered the people. These people could be the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians and the Egyptians.
Zechariah 2 Answers
9. The time being referenced in Zechariah 2 is the return of Jesus to rule the earth during the Millennium. The Lord himself promises to live among his people (see verses 10 and 11).
Chapter 2 discusses God's divine judgment on Gentile nations which will be followed by his blessing, enlarging and protecting Jerusalem.
Zechariah 3 Answers
10. Joshua's filthy garments represents his sins. Satan is present to accuse him of disobedience. The Angel of the Lord rebukes the devil and proceeds to acquit Joshua not because he was faultless but because God is gracious and has chosen Israel and his people.
The role of the High Priest was to act as an intercessor between God and his people. The wearing of clean robes and a clean mitre represent him being able to perfectly fulfill his duties.
11. The branch and stone discussed in Zechariah 3:8 - 9 refers to Jesus Christ. The Lord is referred to as a Branch in Isaiah 11:1 - 5 and Jeremiah 23:5 because he is a descendant of King David who will sit on his throne upon his return (Luke 1:32).
Jesus is also symbolized as a stone as he is the foundation upon which the church will be built and salvation offered to all humans (Matthew 21:42, 1Peter 2:6). He was able, in one day, to cleanse the people of sin through his sacrifice (Zechariah 3:9).
12. Zechariah 3:10 references the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ where everyone will be able to peaceably sit under his own vine or fig tree (1Kings 4:25, Isaiah 36:15, Micah 4:4).
Zechariah 4 Answers
13. The two olive trees of Zechariah 4:3, each with their own oil-supplying branches (verse 12), represent two "anointed ones" that stand before the Lord (verse 14).
[Biblical Symbolism of Number Two]
The two olive trees of Zechariah 4 foreshadow the calling and work of Revelation's Two Witnesses who are also represented by trees standing before God.
And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth (Revelation 11:3 - 4).
14. Zechariah wrote his book during the time when Jerusalem's temple was being rebuilt. Some of those who returned to Jerusalem from captivity remembered how great and grand was the first (Solomon's) temple. Their view, upon seeing the rebuilding efforts, was that the second temple would be far less impressive and glorious than the first.
God, in Haggai 2, openly addressed the comparisons being made between the first and second temples and the disappointment it created.
Who is left among you that saw this house (the temple) in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? (Haggai 2:3).
In Zechariah 4:10 the Lord addresses those who looked down on the humble beginnings of the rebuilding effort. He assures them that the progress of the work, though seemingly small, would end with great success.
Zechariah 5 Answers
15. The scroll in Zechariah 5:2 was stated to be 20 cubits long by 10 cubits wide. An ordinary (common) cubit was 17.5 inches (44.5 centimeters) long. A 20 by 10 cubit scroll would therefore be 29.1 feet (8.89 meters) long by 14.1 feet (4.3 meters) wide!
[Biblical Weight and Measures]
16. The scroll of Zechariah 5 represents the totality of God's judgment against those who disobey his laws.
Zechariah 5:3 reveals that the scroll has writing on both sides. On one side the eighth commandment against stealing is mentioned (Exodus 20:15). On the other side the third commandment prohibiting taking the Lord's name in vain is listed (Exodus 20:7).
It is interesting to note that the third and eighth commandments are the middle commandments if five were written on each side of the scroll.
17. The land of Shinar is Babylonia (Genesis 10:10).
Zechariah 6 Answers
18. Zechariah's four horses are red, black, white and "grisled and bay" (Zechariah 6:3). Revelation's four horses are white, red, black and pale (a greenish pale) (Revelation 6:2 - 8).
19. If we use Revelation 6:2 - 8 as a pattern, the red horse symbolizes war and the killing of humans. Black represents famine that brings hunger and starvation. White symbolizes deception on a grand scale while "grisled and bay" (or spotted) likely symbolizes death.
[The Four Horsemen
of the Apocalypse!]
20. The Branch, as stated in our answer to Zechariah 3:8, is Jesus Christ. Upon his return he will exercise the role of both King and Priest over the earth.
God promises in Zechariah 6:12 - 13 that Jesus, when he comes back to earth to start his millennial reign, will rebuild Jerusalem's temple.
Zechariah 7 Answers
21. Two years after Zechariah 1:1, which dates to 520 B.C., is 518.
Chisleu is actually the Hebrew ninth month named Kislev. Kislev in 518 B.C. ran from November 3 to December 1. This makes Kislev 4 falling on November 6 in 518 B.C.
22. The fifth Hebrew month is called Ab (Av). Fasting during the month of Ab began while the Jews were in captivity for seventy years (Zechariah 7:5). The reason for the fast was that it was on Ab 9 in 586 B.C. that the total destruction of Jerusalem's temple began under the Babylonians.
[Babylon Destroys Jerusalem's Temple]
Amazingly, it would also be on Ab 9 that, many years in the future, Herod's temple would be burned to the ground by the Romans in 70 A.D.
23. The Lord was rebuking the Jews for fasting for their own selfish reasons. The Lord does not require fasting for its own sake but rather with the goal of motivating people to repent and pursue righteousness. God wants a change of heart and for people to focus their energies on doing good for others.
[How Should We Treat the Poor?]
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? . . . (Isaiah 58:6 - 7).
Fasting, without any corresponding repentance and obedience to God (Zechariah 7:7 - 10), is an act of self-deception that makes the person feel righteous in the absence of actually doing what is right.
24. Zechariah 7:14 could be applied to a lesser extent to Israel (the northern ten tribes) who were conquered and taken into captivity around 723 B.C. The Assyrians took them completely out of the land after which they never returned in any significant numbers like the Jews did to Judah and Jerusalem. These Israelites ultimately scattered to many nations.
[Where Are Israel's Lost Tribes Today?]
The primary focus of Zechariah 7:14 is the Jews. The Babylonians, in three different waves (605, 597 and 586) took captives out of the Kingdom of Judah and brought them to various parts of Babylon. After Babylon was conquered the Jews were under the control of the Medo-Persian empire.