Writer: Zechariah

3. (a) How is Zechariah identified, and why is his name appropriate? (b) When was Zechariah’s prophecy spoken and recorded?

³ Who was Zechariah? There are about 30 different persons mentioned in the Bible with the name Zechariah. However, the writer of the book that bears this name is identified as “Zechariah the son of Berechiah the son of Iddo the prophet.” (Zech. 1:1; Ezra 5:1; Neh. 12:12, 16)

6. (a) What accounts for the change of style from chapter 9 of Zechariah onward? (b) What may be the reason for Matthew’s referring to Zechariah as “Jeremiah”?

⁶ There are some Bible critics who say that the change in style of writing from chapter 9 onward indicates that that section could not have been written by Zechariah. The change in style, however, is certainly no greater than the change in subject matter would justify. Whereas the first eight chapters 1-8 deal with matters of more present importance to the people of Zechariah’s day, in chapters 9 to 14 the prophet looks forward into a more distant future. Some have queried why it is that Matthew quotes Zechariah but attributes his words to Jeremiah. (Matt. 27:9; Zech. 11:12) It appears that Jeremiah was at times reckoned as first of the Later Prophets (instead of Isaiah, as in our present Bibles); hence Matthew, in referring to Zechariah as “Jeremiah,” could have been following the Jewish practice of including a whole section of Scripture under the name of the first book of the section. Jesus himself used the designation “Psalms” to include all the books known as the Writings.​—Luke 24:44.b