What is the meaning of Zechariah 1:5?

Where are your fathers now?

“Where are your fathers now?” (Zechariah 1:5a)

• Zechariah reminds the returned exiles that the previous generations who ignored God’s warnings (Zechariah 1:4) have already passed from the scene. Psalm 90:10 speaks of the brevity of life, and Hebrews 9:27 underscores that every person faces death and judgment.

• The question presses the listeners to recall how disobedience led to exile (2 Kings 17:13-18; Jeremiah 7:25-26). Their fathers are gone, but the consequences of their choices linger.

• Isaiah 40:6-8 contrasts fading human life with the enduring word of the Lord. While their fathers withered like grass, God’s decrees remained unchanged.

• The implied call is to break from their fathers’ unbelief and respond obediently while there is still time (Psalm 95:7-8).

---

And the prophets, do they live forever?

“And the prophets, do they live forever?” (Zechariah 1:5b)

• Even the faithful messengers who delivered God’s word—men such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel—were mortal (Hebrews 11:32-40). Their voices fell silent, but the words God spoke through them still stand (2 Peter 1:19-21).

• This reminder guards against placing confidence in personalities rather than in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 3:4-7 warns against elevating human leaders; the growth comes from God alone.

• Though the prophets died, their prophecies continued to unfold. Daniel’s visions reached beyond his lifetime (Daniel 12:9-13), and Micah foretold the Messiah’s birthplace centuries before Christ’s advent (Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:5-6). God’s purposes outlive His human instruments.

• The permanence of Scripture is affirmed: “Your word, O LORD, is everlasting” (Psalm 119:89). The mortality of prophets highlights the immortality of the message they carried.

---

summary

Zechariah 1:5 sets human mortality beside divine permanence. The fathers who rebelled are gone, and even the prophets have died, yet God’s word has neither aged nor lost authority. The verse calls every generation to heed that living word, turning from inherited patterns of disobedience to wholehearted obedience, knowing that while lives are brief, God’s promises and judgments endure forever.