1. Zechariah 5:1-4. A scroll that curses? What could this be?

Short answer: The Word of God. Consider the scroll of Revelation 5 also, a history book written in advance. God’s Word and God’s plan are the standard lifted up before the world’s population, exposing all hearts. It is, as Macarthur points out, the size (30 x 15 feet) of the Holy Place in the Temple. God’s holiness, God’s law, God’s standards, set before mankind, and bringing them to judgment, unless forgiven by the blood of Jesus.

2. Zechariah 5:5-11. Where is this wickedness?

“Shinar” is the destination of the basket of evil. Another name for Babylon. A Temple will be built there, as one is being built in Jerusalem. These two Holy Places will continue to compete. Babylon, of course, had already been defeated by Medo-Persia, but this vision may be telling us of its return at a later time.

3. Zechariah 6:1-8. How did the chariots going “north” give rest to the Lord there?

I have consulted Macarthur again here and believe he is on to something. These four chariots of Zechariah’s last vision connect to the four horses of the first vision, and have to do with the control of God over the peoples and kingdoms of earth. He believes that the satisfaction God receives in this passage has to do with the final destruction of Babylon, recorded in Revelation. Babylon is usually referred to as the northern enemy, as it relates to the land of Israel. God’s wrath is appeased when Babylon is finally gone.

4. Zechariah 7:5, 8:19. Why is the Lord not pleased with their fasting, and what change does He command?

• Their fasting made them feel they had done something good, but it did not touch God’s heart.
• Though they did these religious rituals their heart was not right.
• There was no joy in their giving this sacrifice to the Lord.
• The days they commemorated (see Jeremiah 52) were days of sorrow, forgetting the happy things God was now doing for them.

So, from now on, the fasts are to be full of joy, and in fact festivals! In addition, concentrate on truth and peace, proper treatment of your neighbors. Walk with God all week, not just on fast days.

5. Zechariah 9:9-10. What is unusual about the sequence of events prophesied in these two verses?

Zechariah, without knowing it, is seeing the first and the second comings of Jesus all at the same time!

6. Zechariah 11:4-16. Read this passage carefully, then see what persons come to your mind.

Zechariah, like Ezekiel many years before, is asked to act out a prophecy before Israel. Here is the description of the scenes of this drama:

• Zechariah is to play the part of an unfeeling, uncaring shepherd, who feeds his flock only for the slaughtering of them, and therefore the making of money. He cares not for the sheep.
• He also has no real concern for assistant shepherds working under him. He fires three of them and leaves them to die, turning them over to their enemies.
• Then he decides he has had enough of this job, and he breaks his commitment. He quits. He asks for his wages.
• He is given 30 pieces of silver. The price of a slave.
• He throws it to a potter.

Who is Zechariah impersonating? Is it not Judas Iscariot’s betrayal of his Lord and Master? Others suggest this may be antichrist, as the flow of the following verses might indicate…

7. Zechariah 11:15-17. Who is the person depicted here?

Jesus has been betrayed, cut off. Zechariah is now to become a worthless fool of a shepherd and God says He is going to raise such a one, who will not care for the perishing. Is this the antichrist? Would anyone else fit the description? Does Zechariah switch from first century to last? He did it before when talking of Jesus in chapter 9. It is possible.

8. Zechariah 12:10-13:1. When will the “fountain” be open, and what is it?

Beware chapter divisions! When 13:1 opens with “in that day,” and you ask, “What day?” the answer of course must be in chapter 12, where God speaks of the great destruction on all nations, and the mourning of the Jews over the God they pierced, all end time themes.

But end time is not only the second coming of Jesus. The last days also encompass His first coming. The Day of the Lord is in one sense the day in which we live (Anno Domini), as indeed we date our time from that special day when Jesus was born here. It was during the life and especially the death and resurrection of Jesus that the fountain of cleansing was open, the opportunity to have all sins washed away. Jews were first to take advantage of this cleansing, as demonstrated on the day of Pentecost when 3,000 of them came to the Lord, repenting of their sins.