The New Student's Reference Work/Zechariah
Zechari'ah, one of the ancient Hebrew prophets, was born in Babylonia during the captivity, and accompanied the exiles on the return to Jerusalem under Zerubbabel and Joshua. Very little is known of his history, but there is enough to show that he was a man of great influence and combined the functions of priest and prophet. His prophecies may be divided into three parts. The first eight chapters consist mainly of a series of visions relating to the building of the temple and the glory that shall result for Jerusalem; the second portion, chapters ix-xi, threatens Damascus and Phœnicia with ruin and predicts that Judah will be greater than Javan (Greece) and that both Egypt and Assyria will be humbled; while the remaining portion sets forth that dark times are before Judah, which shall be an ordeal for the nation, after which a millennium of holiness will be ushered in. "In that day upon the bells of the horses shall be Holiness unto the Lord; and the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea! every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts."