Zechariah 1:1

Introduction

1:1 In the eighth month of Darius’ ¹  second year, ²  the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, ³  son of Berechiah son of Iddo, as follows:

Ezra 6:14-15

6:14 The elders of the Jews continued building and prospering, while at the same time ⁴  Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo continued prophesying. They built and brought it to completion by the command of the God of Israel and by the command of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia. 6:15 They finished this temple on the third day of the month Adar, which is the sixth ⁵  year of the reign of King Darius.

Haggai 2:10

The Promised Blessing

2:10 On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month of Darius’ second year, ⁶  the Lord spoke again to the prophet Haggai: ⁷ 

Haggai 2:20

Zerubbabel the Chosen One

2:20 Then the Lord spoke again to Haggai ⁸  on the twenty-fourth day of the month: ⁹ 

¹ sn Darius is Darius Hystaspes, king of Persia from 522-486 b.c.

² sn The eighth month of Darius’ second year was late October – late November, 520 b.c., by the modern (Julian) calendar. This is two months later than the date of Haggai’s first message to the same community (cf. Hag 1:1).

³ sn Both Ezra (5:1; 6:14) and Nehemiah (12:16) speak of Zechariah as a son of Iddo only. A probable explanation is that Zechariah’s actual father Berechiah had died and the prophet was raised by his grandfather Iddo. The “Zechariah son of Barachiah” of whom Jesus spoke (Matt 23:35; Luke 11:51) was probably the martyred prophet by that name who may have been a grandson of the priest Jehoiada (2 Chr 24:20-22).

⁴ tn Aram “in” or “by,” in the sense of accompaniment.

⁷ sn The sixth year of the reign of Darius would be ca. 516 B.C.

¹⁰ sn The twenty-fourth day of the ninth month of Darius’ second year was Kislev 24 or December 18, 520 b.c.

¹¹ tn Heb “the word of the Lord came to Haggai the prophet, saying.” This Hebrew expression is slightly different from the one in 1:1, 3; 2:1.

¹³ tn Heb “and the word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai.” This Hebrew expression is like the one in 2:10 and is slightly different from the one in 1:1, 3; 2:1.

¹⁴ sn Again, the twenty-fourth day of the month was Kislev 24 or December 18, 520 b.c. See v. 10.