Book of Zechariah

Zechariah is one of the minor prophets of the Old Testament. Yet the Book of Zechariah shouldn't be considered minor at all, since it is fervently apocalyptic and it makes some spectacular prophecies. Zechariah is considered to be one of the first expressions of Jewish eschatology, since it describes an extremely specific universal transfiguration. It contains many beatific visions of a paradisal future. Zechariah opens with a series of visions, yet the eschatological prophecies only begin later on.

Notable predictions
The first notable prediction that is in :

The spectacular visions continue in Zechariah 9, which begins by predicting the absolute destruction of Israel's enemies. explains the doom of a few major territories:

Zechariah 9 proceeds to describe Israel's messianic king in :

Zechariah's eschatology
You'd think that Zechariah couldn't get any stranger, yet this book climaxes with the following obviously acid-inspired chapter:

This chapter,, outlines an obviously eschatological event. It explains a kind of universal transfiguration that will alter the nature of the world forever.

The eschaton depicted in Zechariah appears to go as follows:


 * 1) There will be a day in which all the nations of the Earth declare war on Jerusalem.
 * 2) God will personally fight for Jerusalem and rot the flesh of their enemies.
 * 3) This day will be characterized by continuous, unending light. (Cosmic aberrations are a common mythological motif in apocalyptic literature.)
 * 4) God will become King over all the Earth, and his name will become one. (This appears to imply that God will unite the world under one language, an idea that also appears in .)
 * 5) The nations that survive this will come and worship God at Jerusalem. (God will apparently withhold rain from anyone who fails to do this.)

Needless to say, Zechariah is a pretty wacky piece of writing.