Zechariah
A prophet of the return from exile who, with Haggai, urged the rebuilding of the temple. His book of night visions and later oracles is quoted in the Gospel accounts of Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem and his death.
Zechariah son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, began to prophesy in the eighth month of the second year of Darius I, two months after Haggai, and his last dated message falls in the fourth year, 518 BC (Zechariah 1:1) (Zechariah 7:1). Ezra calls him the son of Iddo and credits the two prophets with getting the temple finished (Ezra 5:1; 6:14). His visions promise that God has returned to Jerusalem, show the high priest Jeshua the High Priest cleansed and crowned, and assure Zerubbabel that he will complete the building (Zechariah 1:16) (Zechariah 3:1–5) (Zechariah 4:6–10) (Zechariah 6:9–13).
Chapters 9–14 carry no dates. The Gospels draw on them: the king who comes riding on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9) (Matthew 21:4–5), the shepherd who is struck (Zechariah 13:7) (Matthew 26:31) and the one “whom they have pierced” (Zechariah 12:10) (John 19:37).
In the timeline
- March 515 BC, estimated dateThe Second Temple Is Completed
After years of delay the returned exiles, urged on by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah and backed by a decree of Darius, finish rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem. It is dedicated in the spring of 515 BC.