Welcome to Bible Fiber where we are encountering the textures and shades of the prophetic tapestry in a year-long study of the twelve minor prophets, one prophet each month. I am Shelley Neese, president of The Jerusalem Connection, a Christian organization devoted to sharing the story of the people of Israel, both ancient and modern.
I am sorry about the prolonged break between our last episode of Haggai and today. My family made a cross country move this summer from Mississippi to Arizona. Only now is life starting to normalize again. I am thankful to have my commentaries, podcast equipment, and coffee pot all unpacked and part of my daily orbit again.
This week we are starting the book of Zechariah, “son of Berechiah, son of Iddo,” according to the book’s superscription (1:1). Both Ezra (5:1) and Nehemiah (12:16) refer to Zechariah only as the son of Iddo and omit the “son of Berechiah.” Commentators theorize that Berechiah, his father, must have died in exile, leaving Zechariah in the care of his grandfather Iddo. In Nehemiah’s genealogy, he listed Zechariah son of Iddo as one of the heads of the priestly families (12:16).
The name Zechariah was surely common, but it is highly unlikely that among the early waves of returnees were two Zechariahs, sons of Iddo. Assuming Nehemiah’s Zechariah is the same as the literary prophet, we learn a great deal from this otherwise simple introduction in the first verse. Zechariah was both a priest and a prophet, in the same vein as Ezekiel and Jeremiah. He also must have been young when he returned from exile to be serving as priest almost seventy years later in the time of Nehemiah.
