Who was Zechariah?
Zechariah’s prophecy began in the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, placing his ministry two months later than that of Haggai. Being in touch with the real needs of his day prompts him to waste no time. He immediately confronts the people with the sad facts of history . With a word from the Lord, ‘Turn unto me’, 1:3, he reminds them that a previous generation had been confronted with the same command and had been negligent in their response, 1:4. The word of the Lord would not fail, and proof of this is seen in the land becoming wasted and the fathers dying in disobedience. Zechariah, mindful of history and with a word from the Lord, begs the people not to make the same mistakes as a previous generation but learn history’s lesson so that this generation would be something for God. God spoke to Zechariah in both visions and dreams, as he awoke and as he slept, by night and by day. Zechariah was a man in constant communion with God. His time perspective seems to be ...