Zechariah 13:1-6 -- Despite the often-repeated claim that Zechariah 13:1-6 foretold a time in history when divinely guided prophetic utterances would come to a permanent end (the death of the last apostle of Christ is routinely suggested), the passage is instead a warning against false prophets, including God's pledge to stop their activities during a time of national apostasy in Israel.

At the time Israel was constituted as a nation, Moses announced that the country would have to rid itself often of false prophets who mislead the people away from the native law and faith (Deuteronomy 18:20-22; 13:6-11). One example can be seen just prior to the Babylonian exile (Jer 23:11-40). During this period, many false prophets were promoting the superstitious cult of Ba'al Worship--a polytheistic complex of deities believed responsible for everything from good weather and harvests to fertility. Such false prophets "caused Israel to err" (Jer 23:13-14), though the prophecies uttered were in fact mere ravings of active imaginations and expressions of the popular zeitgeist of the time (Jer 23:16-17,25-27). Not only did God not commission or sanction the messages of these self-proclaimed prophets (Jer 23:21,32), but He instead pledged to bring a calamitous judgment upon them (Jer 23:11-12), to the point where claims of prophetic utterance would come to a stop in the nation (Jer 23:36,38-40). In keeping with this pattern, Zechariah likewise foresaw a similar apostasy and divine rebuke against false prophets (Zechariah 13:1-6).

Like Jeremiah, Zechariah also foresaw a time when God would purge the nation of false prophets (13:1-2) who "speak lies in the name of the Lord" with intent "to deceive" (13:3-4). Zechariah 13:3 cites the Law of Moses concerning false prophets, foreseeing that relatives including mothers and fathers would apply capital punishment to false seers arising even within their own families (cf. Zech 13:3 to Deuteronomy 13:6-11/18:20). Though the time of the cleansing period foretold by Zechariah in 13:1-6 is not certain, Zechariah's prophetic ministry was primarily given for the exiles out of Babylon (Ezra 6:14), and and chs. 1-8 of Zechariah have clear reference to that time.ÊAs such, the passage could apply to numerous of God's cleansings/restorations in OT times, whether deliverance from Babylon, the Persians (see: Esther), or the Greeks (Seleucid Dynasty of Maccabean period). For example, Israel was "cleansed of all sins" by God's Spirit at the return from Babylon (cf. Zech 13:1-2 with Jer 33:4-9; Ez 36:17-29).

The rebuke of false prophets found in Zech 13:1-6 has many parallels in Old Testament scripture, for it was often the case that misguided or wicked men claimed to be spokespersons for God when in fact God was offering no prophetic message to the people (see: Micah 3:5-7; Jer 23:33-40; Amos 8:11-12; Ps 74:9; 1 Sam 3:1). In none of these instances is scripture suggesting that true prophetic utterances were ending permanently for all times. In other words, Zechariah 13:1-6 was not telling of some future time when authentic prophesying would come to a final end any more than Micah or Jeremiah or Amos were teaching such in Micah 3:5-7 or Jer 23:33-40 or Amos 8:11-12.

The withdrawing or absence of prophetic vision was common throughout Israel's history (Lam 2:9; Ez. 7:26; 1 Sam 3:1). The muting of prophecy spoken about at Jer 23:33-40, Lam 2:9, and Ez. 7:26 took place at the event of the Babylonian exile; the muting of prophecy spoken about in Micah 3:6-7 took place in conjunction with via the Assyrian invasion of the Northern Kingdom in 8th century BC. Since those silent periods did not in any way imply the end of prophetic utterances in human history, neither does Zechariah 13:1-6 imply an end of prophetic utterances in human history. And, obviously, if such passages were predicting that prophetic utterance would end forever at those earlier times, Jesus and the apostles could not have been prophetic, and the New Testament writings are uninspired.

For those who suggest that the mention of "in that day" (13:4) is a reference to the supposed end of all prophetic utterance after the apostles of Jesus all died, it needs to be remembered that "in that day" is a phrase used of nearly all Day-of-the-Lord judgments which took place during Old Testament times (see Zeph 1:7-10; Isa 4:1; 7:18; 9:19 ; Obad 1:8). It bears repeating here that the Zechariah 13 passage could apply to numerous of God's cleansings in Old Testament times, whether the deliverance from Babylon, the Persians (Esther), or the Greeks (Seleucid Dynasty of Maccabean period).

A final point must be offered here. Miraculous signs and wonders have ebbed and flowed with God's appointed times (1 Sam 3:1), the peaks of which arrived under Moses and Christ. Even so, the reemergence of prophetic activity and miracles in certain other eras is well documented (Daniel 4:2-3; 1 Sam 10:5,10; 1 Sam 19:20; Neh 9:26-32; Isa 8:18-19; Isa 20:3; Jeremiah 32:20), and never did God pledge that he would bring all miracles and prophetic vision to an end at some point in history. Though some argue that continuation of any prophetic gifts beyond the apostolic era must mean the Canon of Holy Scripture remains open and can be expanded, it should be noted that many authentic prophetic utterances depicted in scripture had nothing to do with writing scripture or determining a canon, but instead had local and temporal uses. Moreover, Church councils have authroritatively determined the canon of scripture to be completed and distinct from private revelations. The Catholic Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship offers this comment on private revelations in paragraph 90:

"Popular piety has always been interested in extraordinary happenings and events that are not infrequently connected with private revelations...In this regard, it is useful to recall what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says about private revelation: 'Throughout the ages there have been so-called private revelations, some of which have been recognized by the the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It is not their role to improve or complete Christ's definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history. Guided by the Magisterium of the Church, the sensus fidelium knows how to discern and welcome in these revelations whatever constitutes an authentic call of Christ or his saints to the Church.'"