Zechariah 1:1

Zechariah 1:1-6. Introductory call to Repentance

1. The Author and date of his first Prophecy

the eighth month, in the second year of Darius The Jews after the Captivity substituted for the years of the reigns of their own kings, by which they had been accustomed to date their history, those of the foreign kings to whom they were subject. But they retained their own months, though with altered names. The eighth month had before been called Bul (1 Kings 6:38). No name is given to it in the Bible after the return, but we learn from the Talmud and from Josephus that it was called Marcheshvan. This name has been supposed to be "a purely Hebrew term," and to signify "wet" or "rainy." The month coincides with our November and with the rainy season in Palestine. See Dict. of the Bible, Art. Month.

Haggai's first prophecy had been delivered in the sixth month, and his second prophecy in the seventh month of this same year. (Haggai 1:1; Haggai 2:1.)

the son of Berechiah called elsewhere, the son of Iddo. Ezra 5:1; Nehemiah 12:16. See Introd. to Zech. Chap. 1. p. 47.

1. The prophet;