Zechariah 8:1-8

Again the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, 2. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; I was jealous for Zion. With great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury. 3 Thus saith the Lord; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called, a city of truth; and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, The holy mountain. 4 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. 5 And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. 6 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvellous in mine eyes? saith the Lord of hosts. 7 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country; 8 And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.

In offering my Commentary on this Chapter, I am very ready to allow all that former commentators have advanced in their referring what is here said of the prosperous state of Jerusalem, to the old Jerusalem, in the literal sense, as being very different after the people returned from the Babylonish captivity to what it was before. But I still think that far other, and far greater blessings are intended to be set forth, by the different things mentioned in this string of rich promises, than a mere respect to temporal enjoyments can justify. I shall take the freedom therefore with the Reader, while I look up for grace from the Lord to keep me from error, to observe, with great humbleness of spirit, that this Chapter will be very sweet, and very precious, if we read it spiritually, and read it with an eye to the days of the gospel. In this view, I beg the Reader to remark with me, how blessedly it opens. Thus saith the Lord of hosts. I admire the frequency of this expression. Surely it conveys, in the most blessed manner, the graciousness of the Lord. And when the Lord adds, that he was jealous for Zion with great jealously; may we not, after considering for how long a period He, whose goings forth had been of old from everlasting, had been longing for the time of his manifesting himself to Israel; may we not, I say, without violence to the expression, figure to ourselves the Lord Jesus Christ looking now with holy earnestness to the time as approaching? The Prophet Joel expresseth somewhat of the same kind. Then will the Lord (saith he) be jealous for his land, and pity his people. Joel 2:18. And observe what follows. Thus saith the Lord, I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And how is the Lord returned, but by tabernacling in our flesh? Surely this is the only return that could now fully delight the heart of Jesus, or satisfy the wants of the Church? This would be indeed to make Jerusalem's name the city of truth; when Jesus, the husband of his Church and people, gave his spouse his own name, who is himself the way, and the truth, and the life! John 14:1. And this would be, under the presence of the Lord Jesus, to make the aged resting on their staffs from the blessed influence of grace, long known, and long enjoyed, from the Spirit of their Lord; and the young rejoicing in the streets of the Lord's holy mountain, under the awakenings of his love, when betimes brought into a saving acquaintance with the Lord God of their salvation. But, if we read those scriptures without an eye to gospel days, and the presence of Jesus, I cannot conceive that no real joy could be proposed from beholding aged sinners dwelling in the streets of the old Jerusalem, unawakened, unregenerated, and hastening to their graves in the same state as when they were born; nor boys and girls playing in the mere pastimes of thoughtlessness and childhood, without God, and without Christ in the world! If the Reader will turn to Jeremiah 31:11 he will find a parallel passage, and proved to refer to the days of Christ's manifestation in the flesh, by a portion of it so explained. Matthew 2:17. I will not detain the Reader by enlarging on the many blessed things of a like nature contained in these verses, for the subject itself is endless. And indeed I hope, from the mere hints here given of explaining the subject spiritually, his own mind, under divine teaching, will be led to make many similar observations to those I have offered. Let me only add a thought on the graciousness of expression, in the Lord's taking off the thoughts of the people from the marvellous nature of those mercies, to the consideration of the greatness of his power, by whom these events were to be accomplished. His ability, and his love, and his covenant promises, become the full security of his people. It is this which brings his redeemed both from East and West, not Babylon, for this lay north, and the greater part of the people were returned. And in the days of Zechariah the western world had none of the children of Israel in it; and as for the Gentile Church, it was as yet unknown. So that every part of this blessed scripture concurs to point to the gospel days of the Lord Jesus, as the time spoken, and the blessings in it spiritually. For then it was the promise was to be fulfilled, when from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, the Lord said his name should be great among the Gentiles. Malachi 1:11; Hosea 2:23; Luke 13:29.