Marks of a New Age
In some respects Zechariah is the most difficult of all the minor prophets despite the fact that we know perhaps more about the background and date of this book than we do for any of the others. Like them, Zechariah invites our imagination by his use of visions, symbols and images but with the risk of using them to say whatever we want. To minimalise this take trouble to get into the background and locate those moments where that background rings bells for us.
Roughly a century earlier, in tough political and economic circumstances, the (exiled) élite had settled in Babylon; the poor had been left behind. By the time we get to Zechariah, some of those exiles were beginning to return. Some were shocked to find that traditional beliefs and expressions of religion were at a low ebb. Others who had developed a more modern, cosmopolitan, ‘secularist’ outlook shocked those who had never been away. Some found the arrival of the returnees, not to mention the influx of ‘foreigners’ (ie Babylonians) coming with them unacceptable, especially when they started throwing their weight about. Zechariah finds himself living in a divided community. Each needed the other. Each resented the other. Differences made life difficult. What was needed was someone with a vision. That man was Zechariah.
Unlike some of the prophets weighed down with their situation Zechariah has a message of hope. A new day is dawning. Joy is round the corner, and it is neither the result a political turnaround nor the fruit of human effort. It is utterly and entirely a victory for God.
The key to understanding him is to identify with the overall situation. Read the text with one eye on your own situation. Hear what Zechariah is saying not to them then but to us now. If the detail gets in the way, let it wash over you and soak into your skin. Sooner or later, you may find a refreshing drink in a thirsty land.