In the eighth month,.... The month Marchesvan, called the month Bul, in 1 Kings 6:38 which answers to part of our October, and part of November: this was but two months from the first prophecy of Haggai, Haggai 1:1 and but a few days after his second, Haggai 2:1 so near were the prophecies of these two prophets together:
in the second year of Darius: king of Persia; not Darius the Mede, but Darius the son of Hystaspes:
came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah; that is, "the word of prophecy from before the Lord", as the Targum paraphrases it; which came to him, either in a dream, or in a vision, or by an impulse on his mind; who is described by his descent, the son of Barachias; mention is made of this name in Matthew 23:35. It signifies "the blessed of the Lord", and is the same with Eulogius or Benedictus:
the son of Iddo the prophet: the word "prophet", as Kimchi observes, belongs to Zechariah; not but that his grandfather Iddo might be a prophet too; and the same writer takes notice, that in the Midrash mention is made of Iddo the prophet; and so there is an Iddo that is called the seer and the prophet in 2 Chronicles 9:29 but whether the same with this is not certain. The name is by some thought to be the same with Firmicus, Statius, Robertus:
saying; as follows: