Summary
Zechariah encourages the post-exilic community through eight night visions and prophetic oracles that look far beyond the immediate rebuilding effort to the coming of the Messiah and the establishment of God's universal kingdom. It is one of the most explicitly messianic books of the Old Testament.
Outline
- Call to Repentance (1:1–6)
- Eight Night Visions (1:7–6:8)
- Crowning of Joshua the High Priest (6:9–15)
- Questions About Fasting (7–8)
- Oracles: The Coming King and Shepherd (9–14)
Key Verses
"Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD Almighty."
"See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey."
"They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child."
Christ in Zechariah
The King riding on a donkey (9:9); the pierced one (12:10); the smitten shepherd (13:7); the Branch who builds the temple (6:12)