Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Zechariah 8:1-8
God Declares His Purposes For His People With Promises of Great Blessing (Zechariah 8:1).
God now makes a number of declarations through Zechariah in respect of His people.
· Firstly, ‘I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy.' In this the longing in His heart that His people should become what they should be is clearly expreseed. And so is His determination to save them.
· Secondly, “I am returned to Zion and I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall called ‘the city of truth' and the mountain of YHWH of Hosts ‘the holy mountain'.” His jealousy over them (His determination not to let them go) has brought about His intervention, and so although He had previously abandoned them, now He has returned to them
· Thirdly, “Old men and old women will yet dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand for very age, and the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.” The result will be an abundance of people living in total security.
· Fourthly, “If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, should it also be marvellous in my eyes.” Although it may seem impossible the fact is that there is no limit to what He can do.
The section then closes with the promise of hope for the future.
‘And the word of YHWH of Hosts came to me, saying, “Thus says YHWH of Hosts, I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great fury.” '
God had not forgotten His people. His love and concern for them and His jealousy over the fact that they were His own people still causes Him to desire to act. He could not forget what He had promised them and that He had once made them His own. Note the strength of the feeling. ‘Jealous over you with a great jealousy'. He had a great concern for His people and wanted the best for them and from them. Compare the similar words in Zechariah 1:14.
‘With great fury.' This fury was directed at the nations who had taken advantage of His wanting to chasten His people and had grievously afflicted them (Zechariah 1:15)
‘Thus says YHWH, “I am returned to Zion and I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called ‘the city of truth' and the mountain of YHWH of Hosts ‘the holy mountain'.” '
The fact is that God is ready to act, as long as they are willing to respond and obey. Indeed He can say that He has now ‘returned to Zion'. ‘Zion' refers to the people of God wherever they are (Zechariah 2:7). They are His people and He has come to them.
‘And I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem.' Ezekiel in vision had seen the departure of YHWH from Jerusalem to dwell with those in captivity (chapter 10-11 with chapter 1). Now He is ready to dwell again in Jerusalem. This is His purpose. He wants Zion to return to Jerusalem. And His further purpose behind this is that they might from there convey truth to the nations. He wants Jerusalem to so reveal the truth to the nations that it is called ‘the city of truth' (compare Isaiah 2:3). And because of the reverence the nations will hold for it they will see the mountain on which it is built as a ‘holy' mountain, a mountain especially set part for the manifestation of God.
For the giving of a new name to Jerusalem compare Isaiah 62:2. The idea is that it has become responsive to Him and will enjoy a renewed relationship with Him.
But in one sense God's ‘purpose' failed because the people were found wanting. Nevertheless it was from that city that God's truth would finally be revealed to the nations, in Him Who was the Truth, and it would indeed be a holy mountain because on that mountain God's own Son would crucified. (See on chapter 12). And because Zion had failed to return to Jerusalem in full and continual obedience He would use them in the places to which they had gone as the foundation of His future people (the synagogues were the first recipients and preaching opportunities of the Gospel).
Even today we can look at Jerusalem in its present spiritual darkness and declare, ‘that is the place from which truth came out'. For He Who was Himself the Truth (John 14:6) once walked there. But because it rejected its Messiah, it too was finally rejected to be replaced by ‘the Jerusalem which is above' (Galatians 4:26; Hebrews 12:22).
‘Thus says YHWH of Hosts, “Old men and old women will yet dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand for very age, and the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.” '
In the time of Zechariah it was mainly only the strong and hardy, who had been able to return, who lived there, although there would of course be some older people and some children. And as they looked round at the hardy conditions under which they had to live they must have wondered, ‘will it ever thrive again?' But YHWH's promise was that Jerusalem will soon return to being a normal city, so that large numbers of people grow to great old age there and children are born in profusion to play in the streets. This is both a promise of future prosperity and of peace.
Some of these promises were fulfilled literally in future days in the intertestamental period, others awaited the coming of the Branch of David and would be fulfilled in a way far beyond what was expected. But we must remember that to them that day did not seem so far away, (in the same way as to the early church the second coming of Christ did not seem that far away).
‘Thus says YHWH of Hosts, “If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, should it also be marvellous in my eyes, says YHWH of Hosts?” '
This could be saying that when all this is accomplished it will seem to the people as a marvel, as something that could not be expected. They will wonder at it in amazement. or it could mean that to Zechariah's listeners it seemed too good to be true. But God assures His people now that it is no marvellous thing in His eyes. For He is fully competent to bring it about. To Him it is but as a commonplace.
‘Therefore thus says YHWH of Hosts, “I will save my people from the East country, and from the West country, and I will bring them and they will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and they will be my people, and I will be their God in truth and righteousness.'
The mention of East and West is an extension to previous promises where North (Babylon) and South (Egypt) were in mind. The promise is that He will gather His people from wherever they may be.
And as the centuries passed many of the people did gather in the land in preparation for the coming of Christ, but as always only the remnant, resulting in the early church, responded when God called. Today again we have seen the gathering in of the Jews from places worldwide, and it may be that we will yet see a work of God among them by His Spirit as a result of which many of them come to Him and recognise Him as their God in truth and righteousness before the final coming of Christ. Outside of Him the Jews have no future. But in the end such promises finally look beyond this to the new Heaven and the new Earth and to the new Jerusalem which will be composed of His people.