Zechariah 8 - Introduction
_THE RESTORATION OF JERUSALEM. THE PEOPLE ARE ENCOURAGED TO THE BUILDING BY GOD'S FAVOUR TO THEM. GOOD WORKS ARE REQUIRED OF THEM. JOY AND ENLARGEMENT ARE PROMISED._ _Before Christ 518._... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE RESTORATION OF JERUSALEM. THE PEOPLE ARE ENCOURAGED TO THE BUILDING BY GOD'S FAVOUR TO THEM. GOOD WORKS ARE REQUIRED OF THEM. JOY AND ENLARGEMENT ARE PROMISED._ _Before Christ 518._... [ Continue Reading ]
I WAS JEALOUS FOR ZION, &C.— As a husband for his wife. See Ezekiel 16 and Hosea 2. "I have punished her infidelities with all the severity of despised and abused love; but, though sensible of her fault, my love is rekindled towards her, upon her change of conduct, and return in true repentance to m... [ Continue Reading ]
A CITY OF TRUTH— _A faithful city;_ a spouse without reproach. "She shall be no longer an abandoned, debauched, and prostituted city; no more shall be seen in Jerusalem the worship of strange gods; the true God alone shall be known and worshipped there!" We see a shadow of this prophesy in Judaea af... [ Continue Reading ]
IF IT BE MARVELLOUS— _Difficult._ Houbigant. It might seem difficult and marvellous to the Jews of those times, that Jerusalem should be called _a city of truth,_ and that it should be full of old men and children, as if some great and extraordinary period was about to begin; therefore, lest the Jew... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL BRING THEM— A most respectable Hebrew manuscript and the Arabic version add _into their land._ And I will bring them into their land, And they shall dwell in Jerusalem, &c. Archbishop Newcome.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PROPHETS, WHICH WERE, &C.— _Who spake,_ &c. The day of the foundation was about two years before, as this discourse of the prophet was in the fourth year of the prophet. It was at this time that the Lord began to raise up the prophets, and to give gracious promises to his people: till that perio... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE SEED SHALL BE PROSPEROUS— _For the seed shall be sown in peace._ Houbigant.... [ Continue Reading ]
AS YE WERE A CURSE, &C.— A standing form of imprecations among the heathens, who wished that their enemies might be as miserable as the Jews. This was to be changed into a blessing, to the contrary effect: "May you be as happy as the Jews who are restored." See Grotius and Calmet. No one can help re... [ Continue Reading ]
AND LET NONE OF YOU IMAGINE EVIL— _And let none of you devise in your heart the hurt of his neighbour,_ &c. It is worthy of observation, that the prophet here not only condemns evil actions, but evil intentions; _devise not evil in your hearts._... [ Continue Reading ]
IT SHALL YET COME TO PASS— _These things shall be when,_ or _until the people shall come,_ &c. The _until_ is to be connected with the things just spoken of; that is to say, "Your joy and gladness, which shall succeed your fasts, shall continue, while many people, &c." Because the faith and conversi... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THOSE DAYS, &C.— _Verily in those days ten men,_ &c. Christians are sometimes called by the name of _Jews,_ or confessors of the true religion, as being those to whom the promises made to the fathers of the Jewish nation chiefly belong. In this sense the word is to be taken here. The sense of the... [ Continue Reading ]