Zechariah 8:1

Restoration and completion of the covenant relation. - Zac 8:1. "And the word of Jehovah of hosts came, saying, Zac 8:2. Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and with great fury I am jealous for her." The promise commences with the declaration of the Lord, that He has resolved to give active expression once more to the warmth of His love to Zion. The perfects are used prophetically of that which God had resolved to do, and was now about to accomplish. For the fact itself, compare Zac 1:14-15. This warmth of the love of God towards Zion, and of His wrath towards the nations that were hostile to Zion, will manifest itself in the facts described in Zac 8:3 : "Thus saith Jehovah, I return to Zion, and shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem will be called city of truth, and the mountain of Jehovah of hosts the holy mountain." When Jerusalem was given up into the power of its foes, the Lord had forsaken His dwelling-place in the temple. Ezekiel saw the glory of the Lord depart from the temple (Ezeliel Eze 9:3; Eze 10:4, Eze 10:18; Eze 11:22-23). Now He is about to resume His abode in Jerusalem once more. The difference between this promise and the similar promise in Zac 2:10-13, is not that in the latter passage Jehovah's dwelling in the midst of His people is to be understood in an ideal and absolute sense, whereas here it simply denotes such a dwelling as had taken place before, as Koehler supposes. This is not implied in שׁבתּי, nor is it in harmony with the statement that Jerusalem is to be called a city of truth, and the temple hill the holy mountain. ‛Ir 'ĕmeth does not mean "city of security," but city of truth or fidelity, i.e., in which truth and fidelity towards the Lord have their home. The temple mountain will be c…

The prophet, in his foregoing discourses, had left his hearers under a high charge of guilt and a deep sense of wrath; he had left them in a melancholy view of the desolations of their pleasant land, which was the effect of their fathers' disobedience; but because he designed to bring them to repentance, not to drive them to despair, he here sets before them the great things God had in store for them, encouraging them hereby to hope that their case of conscience would shortly determine itself and that God's providence would as loudly call them to joy and gladness as ever it called them to fasting and mourning. It is here promised, I. That God will appear for Jerusalem, and will espouse and plead her cause. 1. He will be revenged on Zion's enemies (Zac 8:2): I was jealous for Zion, or of Zion; that is, "I have of late been heartily concerned for her honour and interests, with great jealousy. The great wrath that was against her (Zac 7:12) now turns against her adversaries. I am now jealous for her with great fury, and can no more bear to have her abused in her afflictions than I could bear to be abused by her provocations." This he had said before (Zac 1:14, Zac 1:15), that they might promise themselves as much from the power of his anger, when it was turned for them, as they had felt from it when it was against them. The sins of Zion were her worst enemies, and had done her the most mischief; and therefore God, in his jealousy for her honour and comfort, will take away her sins, and then, whatever other enemies injured her, it was at their peril. 2. He will be resident in Zion's palaces (Zac 8:3): "I have returned to Zion, after I had seemed so long to stand at a distance, and I will again dwell in the midst of Jerusalem as formerly." This secures to them the tokens of…

8:1-23 This section of Zechariah’s sermons is connected to the previous one by the topics of fasting (questions posed in 7:2-7 are answered in 8:18-19) and the ethical demands of covenant relationship with the Lord (7:8-10; 8:16-17). The tone and message shift from admonition and judgment to exhortation and restoration. Fasting would change to feasting (8:19).