BIBLE PEOPLE | ZACHARIAH, THE PROPHET

1. Bible People

a) The Bible is an historic record of real people and places. 

b) Here is a brief biography of such a person during Bible times.

2. Zechariah, the Prophet

a) Zechariah was a prophet from 520 BC to 518 BC in Jerusalem, about 2500 years ago. During that era, many Jews were returning from the Babylonian Captivity to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple, which had been destroyed by the Babylonians.

b) Zechariah, the son of Iddo, was instrumental in inspiring his fellow Jews to rebuild the Temple (see Ezra 6:14).

c) Zechariah began prophesying during the same year as the prophet Haggai, in about 520 BC. Zechariah's prophecies came from visions that showed God's power, God's judgment of sin, the importance of spiritual strength, and the promise of things to come, including the promise of the Messiah.

d) Zechariah's prophecies often looked far into the future, a future in which the Jews would again be exiled from their homeland and scattered throughout the world. His prophecies said that Jews would be persecuted worldwide, that Jerusalem would become a battleground of nations, and that Jerusalem would become the religious center of the world.

e) Today, we can see with our own eyes that Zechariah's prophecies accurately described the worldwide dispersion of Jews that has taken place during the past 1900 years, as well as the fact that Jerusalem has become a focal point of the international community (the United States and Europe, and the United Nations) and a religious focal point among Jews, Christians and Moslems.

f) Zechariah, means "Yah has remembered". The Bible's book of Zechariah is the 11th book of the twelve minor prophets.