Zechariah 8

The Lord’s zeal for Zion and Jerusalem (vs. 1-8)—Chapter 7 speaks of God’s punishment of the former people because of their refusal to hear the message He sent via the prophets. But chapter 8 is a declaration of hope. Jehovah is still zealous for His people, Israel (v. 2), and will return and “dwell in the midst of Jerusalem” (v. 3), “the city of truth.” The peace and prosperity of the city is pictured in quaint terms in verses 4 and 5: “Old men and old women shall again sit In the streets of Jerusalem, each one with his staff in his hand because of great age. The streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.” It will be a marvelous thing that He will do (v. 6), bringing His people back from wherever they have been scattered (vs. 7-8). “They shall be My people and I will be their God, in truth and righteousness” (v. 8). To indicate the emphatic truth of this section, seven times the phrase “thus says the Lord” (or some equivalent) is found. God only has to say something once for it to be true; with this repeated emphasis, we are impressed with the determination of the Lord to fulfill His promise.

Prosperity upon righteousness (vs. 9-17)—The Lord does expect something in return, of course. Those who, currently, had been heeding the preaching of the prophets are given encouragement in verse 9: “Let your hands be strong…that the temple might be built.” Don’t be discouraged by what happened before “these days [when] there were no wages…no peace…” (v. 10). That’s not the way it will be now: “’I will not treat the remnant of this people as in the former days,' says the LORD of hosts” (v. 11). There would be prosperity and abundance (v. 12). Israel’s enemies will no more frighten them (v. 13). Just as the Lord had determined to punish their fathers because of iniquity, He is just as determined “to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah” (vs. 14-15). Yet…”these are things you shall do…” (v. 16). These promised blessings are not unconditional. Jehovah expected the people to speak the truth, do justice, have a pure heart, “not love a false oath” (vs. 16-17)—in other words, live a righteous, godly life in return for His favors. That had/has always been the case, of course. Subsequently, we will see that the Jews, for their part, were not terribly faithful to the Lord’s requests, and there would be problems as a result. But God’s blessings are available for those who put themselves in a position to receive them.

Mourning turned into joy (vs. 18-23)—Thus, the fasts and mournings the Lord had been asked about in chapter 7 will be a thing of the past. They would be turned into “joy and gladness and cheerful feasts” (v. 19). “Therefore love truth and peace.” People from all over will come together and “pray before the Lord and seek the Lord of hosts” (vs. 20-21), even “many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem” (v. 22). Other “nations” always refers to non-Jews (Gentiles), and more often than not refer to the Messianic, church age. But that doesn’t seem to be the case here. There just don’t seem to be any other references, in this chapter, to the Messiah or Christian dispensation. This is all in answer to the question asked in chapter 7. The bottom line is, Jerusalem and Judah will be so fruitful, so well provided for by God, that “ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you’" (v. 23). All men will want to take part in the glory and grace God’s provides for His people. Palestine was a land “flowing with milk and honey” and just waiting for a people who would humbly submit themselves to the Lord. The Jews never really did, even after the captivity, though there would be no more idolatry and worship of Canaanites gods and goddesses. That is the one lesson they learned from their exile in Assyria and Babylon.