Prophet Zechariah the Sickle-seer (c. 520 Before the Nativity of Christ)

The Prophet Zechariah the Sickle-seer was one of the twelve minor prophets. For seventy years the Jews were in the Babylonian captivity, but at last King Cyrus freed them and returned to them the holy things carried off after Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem. In the seventh month after their return the Jews restored the ruined altar, and then set about rebuilding the Temple too. Pious people made generous offerings, but through the machinations of wicked people, robbers and pagans, the building dragged on. To kindle the spirit of faith in Israel, the Lord chose two prophets from among them, Haggai and Zechariah.

Zechariah was still a youth when the Lord called him to prophetic service and counted him worthy of seeing unearthly visions. It is in the book of the Prophet Zechariah that the last events of the Saviour’s earthly life are revealed: His entry in glory into Jerusalem (9:9), the selling of the Lord for thirty pieces of silver and the buying of the potter’s field with that money (11:12–13), the piercing of the Saviour’s side (12:10), the scattering of the apostles in the garden of Gethsemane (13:7), the darkening of the sun during the Saviour’s Passion on the Cross (14:6–7). According to tradition, Zechariah, the chosen vessel of God’s grace, lived to a deep old age. He was buried near Jerusalem together with his great contemporary and fellow labourer Haggai. We call the Prophet Zechariah “the Sickle-seer” because in a vision he saw a scroll, curved like a sickle, flying through the air as a portent of wrath (5:1–2).