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Longman and Dillard (1994:484) characterize Zechariah the book and Zechariah the man as follows:
Zechariah is the longest of the minor prophets. It is also perhaps the most difficult. Jerome called it the “most obscure” book of the Hebrew Bible, an opinion often cited and widely shared by subsequent readers. The difficulties of the book have spawned many opinions about the date and authorship of various portions as well as the interpretation of the individual pericopes. Yet it is also a very important book to Christian readers:Zechariah 9– 14 is the most frequently cited portion of the Old Testament in the Passion narratives (Lamarche 1961, 8– 9), and apart from Ezekiel, this book has exercised more influence than any other on the author of Revelation.

Zechariah was apparently a popular name: more than twenty-five individuals in the Bible are known by it. The prophet is identified as the son of Berekiah the son of Iddo (1:1), probably the same person known in a telescoped form as Zechariah son of Iddo (Ezra 5:1; 6:14; Neh. 12:16). If this identification is correct, Zechariah was a member of one of the families of priests who returned from the captivity; this would also serve to explain his familiarity with and interest in matters pertaining to the temple (e.g., 1:16; 3– 4; 6: 9– 15; 8:9, 20– 23; 14: 16– 21).
Longman and Dillard (1994:485-486) described both the historical context and why the latter eschatological chapters (9-14) of Zechariah are thought by many to have been composed by another author at another time.
Zechariah is set against the background of the first generation of returnees from the Babylonian exile (Berquist 1995; Provan, Long, and Longman 2003, 285– 303). His night visions are dated to the second year of Darius (520/519 BC). Although Cyrus, the king of Persia, had authorized the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple of God in 539, the returnees found themselves facing external opposition (Ezra 3: 8– 4:5, 24; 5: 1– 6:22) and a variety of personal and practical difficulties (Hag. 1: 5– 11; 2: 15– 19;Zech. 8: 9– 13). Work on the house of God was delayed until God raised up two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, to spur the people to tend to the construction of the temple (Ezra 5: 1– 2). The work on the temple was resumed, and the construction was completed in 516 (Ezra 6: 13– 15). Since Haggai and Zechariah were preaching to the same audience under the same historical circumstances, it is not surprising to find common themes in their pronouncements (cf. Hag. 1: 5– 11 and 2: 15– 19 with Zech. 8: 9– 13; Hag.2: 20– 23 with Zech. 4: 6– 10).

Essentially, the first eight chapters of Zechariah are taken up with issues of more immediate concern to the restoration community. The night visions raise the question of retribution against Gentile nations (1: 7– 21 [MT 2:4];6: 1– 8), the security of Jerusalem (2: 1– 12 [MT 5– 17]), the construction and completion of the temple (4: 1– 14), and the problem of sin in a supposedly purified remnant (3: 1– 10; 5: 1– 11). A delegation comes to the city from Jews in the Diaspora to seek clarification on whether fasts commemorating various stages of the destruction of the city should continue to be observed (chaps. 7– 8). These chapters reflect the historical background of the community early in the restoration period. The final six chapters, however, seem less oriented to issues of immediate concern; instead, they include eschatological and apocalyptic imagery largely pertaining to a more distant future. For this reason and several others, critical scholarship has reached a consensus that chapters 9– 14 are from a different author and period.
Longman and Dillard (1994:489) note that there is no consensus scholarship on the date when Chapters 9-14 of Zechariah was composed.
... the consensus among critical scholars has been that chapters 9– 14 are from a different author or authors than chapters 1– 8. However, beyond this assertion there is little unanimity. A bewildering variety of dates and settings have been proposed for the second half of the book, ranging from the eighth century BC to the Maccabean period [167 - 37 BCE].