Introduction (Zech 1:1–6)

• 1:1—A superscription dating this oracle to October/November of 520 bc.

• 1:2–6—A brief call to repent so that God may restore His people. A repeated wordplay on the Hebrew verb שׁוּב (shuv, “to return, repent”) holds this section together.

• 1:2–3—God’s anger against the generation of the ancestors impelled the prophets to preach, “Return [שׁוּב (shuv)] to Me, declares Yahweh of hosts, that I may return [שׁוּב (shuv)] to you” (1:3).

• 1:4—The need for repentance is extended to the current generation of Zechariah’s audience, who must not walk in their ancestors’ footsteps: “Do not be like your forefathers fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, ‘… Return [שׁוּב (shuv)] now from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ But they did not listen or give heed to Me, declares Yahweh.”

• 1:5–6a—b—The ancestors’ unrepentance led to destruction in exile. Later, they realized their mistake: “Then they repented [שׁוּב (shuv)] and said, ‘As Yahweh of hosts purposed to do to us in accordance with our ways and our deeds, so He has dealt with us.’ ” This ancestral object lesson confronts Zechariah’s audience with the urgent question of whether they will repent before it is too late (Floyd, Minor Prophets, 322–23).

This section’s pointed use of rhetorical questions and wordplay on שׁוּב (shuv) provides an introduction for the whole book (Wenzel, Reading Zechariah).