Zechariah: A Commentary on His Visions & Prophecies

by David Baron

This classic work on the Book of Zechariah explains the great Messianic prophecies and the prophetic events that center around the land and people of Israel.

Genres: Theology, Nonfiction, Reference

568 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1972

About the author

David Baron (1857 – 1926) was a Jewish convert to the Christian faith. He, together with co-founder Charles Andrew Schönberger (1841 – 1924), began the Hebrew Christian Testimony to Israel missionary organization, in London, with the purpose of converting Jews to Hebrew Christianity. Schönberger founded a branch mission in Berlin in 1921. In addition to writing several books, Baron also contributed articles to the periodical The Scattered Nation. He was a leader in the Hebrew Christian movements of the Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment) period in Europe.

Reviews

[JoséMaría BlancoWhite · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even after becoming a believer in Christ I kept my ingrained prejudice concerning the Jewish people in the sense that, though I was now forced -in a way of speaking- to love them, to pray for them and understand them, they -the Jews who stubbornly kept ignoring Jesus' words, which were first meant to them and, then, to the rest of the world, had to be really hard-to-love fellows. I mean, I couldn't keep from putting some blame on them for their suffering, while simultaneously addressing to them my loving thoughts and wishes. Yes, that's when heart and mind don't work in tandem. But now David Baron throws at me, in one final and non refutable sentence a piece of reasoning that I and -hopefully, nobody can argue with:

“Some time ago a person said: ' The Jews are today more stiff-necked and blinder than ever before '. Who has made them thus?”

The Jews might rightly ask: "Can He be our Redeemer whose followers have treated us thus in His name?" But as Baron says, "All this the Gentile nations have done to Israel out of cruel, selfish motives, and not out of regard for God at all."

David Baron -remember this book was first published in 1918- asks where are today those Ancient nations who lifted up their hands against the Jewish people; and one may ask today: where are those old Catholic nations, guardians of the Only True Catholic religion through their Vatican popes and Gestapo-like Inquisitions? And what happened to the one-thousand year Nazi Reich of Germany and its leader? This book, as all truly important books, is not only about religion or prophecy, it is history, it is a reminder of real stories that happened in the world -of times very close to us, up to yesterday, and that have vital links to the history of the Jewish nation, to Christ, and finally to both Jews and Christians of today.

As David Baron very rightly says, prophecy was not written so that it may be fulfilled, leaving us hopeless witnesses, but because it will be fulfilled, which leaves man as a free and responsible agent, free to make choices regarding God's most cherished people, the Jews spread all over the world, and responsible to give an account, if not in this life in the afterlife, for our behavior towards the Jews. So this book is important to all types of persons, not only Christians and Jews, but everybody, because it affects all nations so far as those nations have taken in many Jews that were scattered from Israel by God (Jer. 31:10), and given over to punishment, but at the same time, those nations were warned: “Make not a full end” (Jer. v.10). This brings to my mind our national shame [I mean of Spain] when we sent away our Jews in 1492, by which Spain did try to make a full end; the many Protestants burned in the stakes as heretics during the Counter reformation; and finally, in the 1600s, we sent the moriscos away. In view of our recent history, I am prone to say that only was left the scum of the Spanish race here. And thus we have earned our national miseries as fit rewards, to be shared by generations still to come.

Baron asks some very intriguing questions: "what might have been if the nation [Israel], as a nation, instead of rejecting, had accepted Christ, we can only guess and speculate about ... if, instead on one Paul, there were thousands of Pauls ... if Jerusalem, instead of Rome, had remained the capital of Christendom, and the Jew, instead of the Greek and Roman, the guiding spirit in the councils of the Church!" One thing is sure, history would have saved us a lot of suffering, and probably it wouldn't have been 2000+ years since His First Coming.

Read this book. It is easy to read. As I said, it is not just prophecy here, its issues are eternal and worldwide.

[Steven Gattuso · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Baron's "Zechariah-Visions and Prophesies" was published originally in 1918. Mr. Baron devoted eleven years to this work, needed because of the book's enigmatic nature and his ardent desire to accurately and reverentially reflect the Lord's teaching here, amidst other pressing responsibilities.
Prophecy can have several instances of fulfillment, concluding in an end-times fulfillment, which can be particularly difficult to decipher, its meaning not becoming clear until the times are upon us. "Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end." Dan.12:9. Zech.11:8 has seen 40 different interpretations! Of Zechariah 14, Martin Luther writes "Here, in this chapter, I give up. For I am not sure what the prophet is talking about."
In a series of eight visions and the prophecy which follows, God through Zechariah reveals his plans for men and the Jewish people in particular. Jewish chosenness is not something to be envious of. They have passed through, and will continue to pass through the fires of hell, until a great reversal comes at the close of this age. Then, in a great cataclysm threatening Israel's imminent annihilation, a Messiah hitherto unrecognized appears! It is Israel's salvation, physical and spiritual; accomplished not until Jesus' second coming! Could there be a more dramatic close to this phase of human history? It is Jewish brokenness of spirit to which Jesus responds and the orgiastic hatred of the Jews' enemies which he will endure no longer. "It is I, announcing vindication, mighty to save." Is.63:1. "Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, every one who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him." Rev.1:7. He who parts the Red Sea saves his people in the most spectacular and seemingly impossible ways!
Reversal of reversals! God's people, who have suffered so horrifically throughout almost all their history, are to be pre-eminent in the age which is to come, the millennium, the thousand year reign of Christ upon earth from Jerusalem. No longer enemies of truth, they are now God's evangelists. "In those days, ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, 'Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.'" Zech.8:23. It is an era of universal peace. It is the fulfillment of the Lord's prayer. "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Mt.6:10. This is the millennial dawn preceding the eternal day.
Immediately preceding Jesus' return, there is a time of great tribulation coming upon earth in which a most vile one figures, the Antichrist. In Zechariah 11, there is a narrative of two shepherds. The first is thought to be the Good Shepherd by almost all modern expositors that I have read. The second seems to be Antichrist.
But I am puzzled as to how this first shepherd can be seen as good in any way, let alone as the Good Shepherd. In 11:8, he destroys three shepherds, which sounds to me like Daniel 7:8. Here, the little horn, thought to be Antichrist, plucks up three horns by the roots. In 11:10, he annuls a covenant which he had made with all the peoples. This sounds to me like Daniel9:27, where a strong covenant is broken and "upon the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator". In 11:13, he is paid thirty shekels of silver for his services which he subsequently casts into the treasury in the House of the Lord, foreshadowing Judas' action. Upon his refusal to continue as shepherd, God tells Zechariah who, as prophet, is portraying the shepherds, "take once more the implements of a worthless shepherd". Zech.11:15, RSV. This seems to imply the worthlessness of the first shepherd. Perhaps the first shepherd seems good until he annuls the covenant, reminiscent of Judas. Maybe these are two depictions of the same evil shepherd.
If the momentous prophecies of Zechariah concerning the second coming of Jesus are not fulfilled literally, it will be a great break from the tradition established at his first coming. So many of these prophecies seemed incapable of literal fulfillment, yet they were.
David Baron writes beautifully and reverentially of his love for Israel and her Messiah, and ours. Notwithstanding possibly occasional misinterpretation, his understanding of Israel's position in God's plan for the nations underlies a wise and learned exposition of Zechariah.

[Daniel Prohaska · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not my favorite commentary on Zechariah (that is Merril Unger's book, "Zechariah: Prophet of Messiah's Glory"), but it is an excellent commentary from a bygone age that deserves to be revisited by a modern audience. Baron's writing is beautiful, albeit a bit meandering at times.

[Ryan Jankowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

dispensational silliness with an appreciation for some reformed authors, overall little value

[GERALD GENTRY · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book I have read on Zechariah. A MUST-READ!!!!!!

[Rena · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Loved this book.