Some highlights of the book of Zechariah meant to provoke further reading. The book of Zechariah begins with an early statement 'Return to Me and I will return to you" What 'returns' means deepens with each of the three sections of the book.

1. A Dreamscape pointing to a man called branch
The book of Zechariah
A Dreamscape Pointing to a Man Called Branch
The Book of Zechariah

2. Return to MeReturn to Me

3. Background
• 70 years of exile has passed
• A remnant of a remnant has returned
• Zechariah the new King has an ambition to rebuild the
temple and work has just begun
• Joshua is the high priest, without a temple
• Returning to the land and returning to God is not the same
thing
• An older Haggai has been preaching 2 months, and now
the younger Zechariah joins as well. It is the dead of winter.

4. by Zachariah (God Remembers)
the son of Berekiah (God Blesses)
the son of Iddo (At the appointed time)
The Lord Remembers
by Zachariah (God Remembers)
the son of Berekiah (God Blesses)
the son of Iddo (At the appointed time)

5. Three books end the Old
Testament, written close in time

6. Three books end the Old
Testament, written close in time:
• Haggai (meaning ‘My Feast’ ) - ministered for about 4
months and an older man. Calls the people to consider
their situations and encouragement of the temple being
built.
• Zechariah (meaning God remembers ) - starts the same
year as Haggai, 2 months later but a younger man.
Despite the apparent ordinariness of life, Jerusalem will
be built and God’s purposes for them and the nations will
stand.
• Malachi (meaning ‘My Messenger’ ) - some see as an
extension of the chapters of Zechariah and speaks of a
greater Malachi messenger
Haggai and
Zechariah
start the
same year
Malachi completes
the Old Testament
and may extend the
latter part of
Zechariah

7. Return to Me
Says the Lord of Hosts
And I will return to you
Zechariah 1:3
Return to Me
Says the Lord of Hosts
And I will return to you
Zechariah 1:3

8. “Return to Me and I will return to you.”
Zechariah 1:3
• Like the father of the prodigal son(s), God waits for his
children to return and will run out to meet them when they
do
• “Do not despise the day of small things”, God assures the
leaders and people.
• Zechariah has three main sections and in each what
‘Return to God’ means deepens as God not only
commands repentance but provides it in richer ways

10. A short introduction of Zechariah,
followed by eight dreams in one night
And an interpreter, a guide
through the dreams

11. An interpreter: a man riding a red horse
standing in the myrtle trees by the deep

13. God Remembers
• And in the first six chapter of Zechariah shows how
He will remember His promises in terms of eight
dreams all given in one night
• The dreams are ‘chiastic’ and the first and last
dreams will be similar with important points to
emphasize in the middle dreams
• There is a final dream for emphasis the follows the
eight dreams
On to the first dream…
those who were sent to patrol the earth

15. A vision of four horsemen
patrolling the earth
The man on the red horse appears to be
the captain of the horsemen

18. Four horns that scatter the nations

19. Somehow the horns of nations

21. A man with a measuring rod and
Four workers who will destroy the horns

22. Could be the Persian empire or temple workers. Both have been suggested.

23. The daughters of Zion rejoicing ties to other
parts of both Zephaniah and Zechariah
Zechariah 2:10
Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord.
Here is chapter 2, the emphasis is on God dwelling with Zion (Israel at Jerusalem)
In chapter 9, the King comes humble on the donkey as quoted in the New Testament on the triumphal
entry of Jerusalem by Jesus riding on a donkey.
Zechariah 9:9
[ The Coming King of Zion ] Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on
a colt, the foal of a donkey.
and from Zephaniah 3:14-15
14 Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of
Jerusalem! 15 The Lord has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies. The
King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil.

24. And other ties to later dreams
and later parts of Zechariah
•A plumb line is in Zerubbabel’s hands to
measure Jerusalem.
•The plumb line aspect will be built on in
later dreams regarding Jerusalem and the
temple being rebuilt

25. Images related to builders begin
A man with a measuring rod is seen

26. A
Plumb
Line
A plumb line
in the hands of Zerrubabel
might emphasize
that the temple
and Jerusalem
will be built

27. A plumb line
A standard

29. And now the center few
dreams
• Both concern the high priest, Joshua, and the
king, Zerubbabel
<— pointing to the branch

31. A lamp stand between two olive trees
offices of priest and king combined with reliance on God

38. A flying scroll
of righteous standards

41. A flying woman
representing wickedness
removed from the land and sent to Babylon

47. Jesus in Zechariah’s night visions
• The man by the red horse, is described as both ‘man’ and
‘angel of the Lord,’ pointing to Jesus humanity and divinity.
The ‘man’ appears to be the captain of the various horsemen
and chariots and the Lord is described ‘the Lord of hosts’
• The merging of offices of the priest and king points to Jesus
as both priest and king in the visions of the two olive trees
• the cleansing of Joshua points to the substitutionary role in
bearing sins of a future Joshua (Joshua is greek for Jesus)
• Explicit mention is made of Joshua and those with him being a
sign regarding a man called branch and sins being taken
away in a day

48. One dream follows the eight
in the crowning dream, Joshua is crowned
• Sliver and gold is collected from some men
returning from Babylon (reminiscent of treasures of
Egypt of the exiles used for the tabernacle of
Moses)
• A crown is made
• The crown placed initially on the head of Joshua,
the high priest
• The crown is then left in the temple as memorial

49. The crowning of the high priest

50. (Note: Jesse is King David’s father)

51. a priest king
God sees and acts in history
wickedness dealt with and removed
righteousness will dwell in the land
A final emphasis

52. • It’s like a stair case going up to the main point, then back down the same way up
• Horses bookend the start and end, first patrolling and reporting, then going out to do God’s decrees
• Sin and opposing nations dealt with inside that. Sin without Israel dealt with and sin inside sent to Babylon.
• Jerusalem will be built up in righteousness and justice, inside that
• A king priest figure representing ‘the branch’ is inside that and the innermost part and the emphasis of the
‘chiastic stairs’. The sins of the people dealt with, sin taken away in a day
• A final vision follows. Not part of the chasm but a summary for emphasis.
Let’s look at the ‘chiasm’ of dreams again
Four sets of bookends

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54. Should we still fast about the destruction
of Jerusalem some 70 years ago?

55. Men came from Babylon
asking if they needed to fast still
• There was a fast over the destruction of Jerusalem
the last 70 years
• But Jerusalem is being rebuilt and some exiles
returned
• So should they fast still?
Note: There are two directions translations go:
1) men came from Bethel (9 miles from Jerusalem)
2) ’Bethel Sharezer’ a known proper name of a person sent from
Babylon with a question
Either way the question and answer would apply

56. And got an answer they
didn’t expect
• A question of motive and inclinations of the heart
• “Was it for Me you fasted”
• As part of returning to God and repentance motive
is added to actions
• Religious actions should be not mechanical but done
out of the love of God and for the glory of God
• Repentance and return to God has been deepened

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58. A harsh conquest

59. In contrast, a King comes in peace
riding on a donkey

60. And a yet deeper repentance and return to
God provided,
but first…
• God’s hand is seen as the actions of Alexander the
great are foretold even to the point of describing the
cities that fell and their order. Even describing the
manner the island city of Tyre fell.
• In contrast, the Messiah rides in to Jerusalem on a
donkey, as a sign of peace.
• The servant songs of Isaiah makes a similar contrast:
the harshness of Cyrus (making nations tremble) with
the gentleness of the suffering servant, the Messiah
(carrying the lambs in his arms).

61. And a yet deeper repentance and return to
God provided,
but first…
• A good shepherd is needed
• A good shepherd is provided
• A good shepherd is rejected and God
himself somehow valued at 30 pieces of
silver
• One might compare to the pageant in
Psalms 109, 110 (where a poor man is
betrayed, supported by the right hand go
God then raised and made a priest king
according to the order of Melchizedek)

63. God insulted by such a low price

64. Shepherd struck and sheep scattered

65. And a yet deeper repentance and return to
God provided,
but first…
• In Zechariah there is promise to protect Israel in some ultimate sense.
Around the same time, God protected Israel from the nations in the
account of Esther and that could be a foretaste on future or more ultimate
helps.
• A realization “they looked upon Him who they pierced” and with that a full,
deep and wonderful repentance
• “and I will pour the spirit of grace and supplications on them so that they
might mourn…”
• A blessing for the nations who come to God (a blessing promised to
Abraham)
• A holiness so pervasive that “bells on horses” and “bowls in kitchens” are
holy somehow, not restricted to the temple

67. Zechariah is apocalyptic,
even the greek word for remove in ‘removal of sin in one
day’ is apocalypse ( an apocalypse of sin so to speak )
a fountain opened for removal of sin

68. And the interpreter?
A man? an angel? somehow the Lord
of hosts? the shepherd at God’s right
hand who was struck? the Messiah?
or all of the above?

69. The Lord Remembers
A Dreamscape Pointing to a Man Called Branch
The book of Zechariah
fin’

70. Zechariah is the 8th most quoted
Old Testament book in the New Testament