Verses 1-8 return to a theme of renewal, revisiting Zechariah 1:14-17: the Lord of Hosts' zeal or jealousy for Jerusalem and Zion, foreseen in Zechariah 1, reappears in Zechariah 8:2. Biblical translations which refer to "zeal" in Zechariah 1:14 use the same word in Zechariah 8:2 (see for example the New King James Version and the footnotes for both verses), while translations which prefer to use "jealous" and "jealousy", such as the
New International Version, do so in both chapters. Verses 9-13 return to the theme of
temple building (cf. ).
Verse 7 :
Thus saith the Lord of hosts; ::
Behold, I will save my people :::
from the east country, :::
and from the west country; "From … east … west" engages every region of the world (cf.
Psalm 50:1) where the people of Israel had been scattered: to the east, under Nebuchadnezzar, mainly to
Babylonia, and to the "west", literally, "the going down of the sun" (
Malachi 1:11), especially countries west of
Jerusalem. also
Romans 11:26 (or a similar promise,
John 11:52). • "And they shall be My people": God promises to those who were already His people, as Jeremiah says, "I will give them an heart to know Me, that I am the Lord, and they shall be My people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto Me with their whole heart" (; cf. ), and, "This shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put My law in their inward parts, and will write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people" (
Jeremiah 31:33). • "and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem": referring to 'the household of God', with 'no more foreigners and strangers'.
Verse 12 :
For the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things. • "The seed shall be prosperous": translated from Hebrew ,
ha-, literally, "the seed of peace", denoting that the crops sown shall be crops of peace and secure".
Expectations for Jerusalem (verses 14–17) The central message of these verses is the expectation of YHWH that in view of the restoration (
8:1–8) and promised prosperity (
8:9–13), Jerusalem must live according to her renewed status as covenant people.
Pilgrimage to Jerusalem (verses 18–23) This final part of the oracle in
Zechariah 7–8 returns to the beginning theme of "fasting", arranged as a '
bracketing device' with 7:1–7, as indicated in some clues: • Pilgrimage to Jerusalem: by the Bethelites (7:2–3) then by the peoples of the nations (8:20–21) in order " to beseech the favor of YHWH" (7:2; 8:21) • Representatives sent: by a single city (7:2) and by "all languages of the nations" (8:23) • Fasting in sorrow (7:3) will be replaced by 'feasting for joy' (
8:19).
Verse 19 :
Thus saith the Lord of hosts; ::
The fast of the fourth month, ::
and the fast of the fifth, ::
and the fast of the seventh, ::
and the fast of the tenth, :
shall be to the house of Judah ::
joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; :
therefore love the truth and peace. • "The fast of the fourth month":
Jerome gives the later Jewish traditions concerning the fastings. The
fast of the seventeenth day of the fourth month commemorated the breaking of the two tables of the commandments by Moses, as well as the first breach in the walls of Jerusalem; • "Ten men": The number ten is usually used for a large indefinite number (cf. ; ; ). It is also the number of men required to form a synagogue in Jewish tradition. • "Of all languages of the nations": The day of
Pentecost was to be the reversal of the confusion of Babel; all were to have one voice, as God had said, "It (the time) shall come to gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come and see My glory" (
Isaiah 66:18). • "They shall lay hold of the skirt of one man who is a Jew": Jerome interpret this "one man, a Jew" as
Jesus Christ, connecting it with the prophecy: "A prince shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until He shall come, for whom it is laid up, and for Him shall the Gentiles wait" (Genesis 49:8-10) and "there shall be a rod of Jesse, and He who shall arise to rule over the Gentiles, to Him shall the Gentiles seek" (
Isaiah 11:10), for it was essential to the fulfillment of God's promises. The Christ was to be "the Son of David"
Matthew 1:1; Matthew 22:42. "Hath not the Scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the linen of Bethlehem, where David was?" (John 7:42). David, "being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins according to the flesh, He would raise up Christ to sit on his throne Acts 2:30; "Of this man's seed hath God, according to promise, raised unto Israel a Savior, Jesus" (
Acts 13:23). Paul also begins his great doctrinal Epistle with this contrast, "the Gospel of God concerning His Son Jesus Christ, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power" (Romans 1:1-4). He was that "one Man among a thousand, whom Solomon says, I found; but a woman among all those have I not found" (Ecclesiastes 7:28); the one in the whole human race. It was fulfilled when "they brought to Him all that were diseased, and besought Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole" (Matthew 14:35-36). "The whole multitude sought to touch Him, for there went virtue out of Him and healed all" (Luke 6:19, add Luke 8:46; Mark 5:30). ==See also==