Zechariah 8

Zechariah 8 is the eighth chapter of the Book of Zechariah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.^[1][2] This book contains the prophecies spoken by the prophet Zechariah, and is a part of the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets.^[3][4]

Text

• The original text is written in Hebrew language.
• This chapter is divided into 23 verses.
• Continuation of the subject in the seventh chapter.^[5]

Textual versions

Some most ancient manuscripts containing this chapter in Hebrew language:

• Masoretic Text (10th century)
• Dead Sea Scrolls: (2nd century BC)^[6][7]
  • 4Q80 (4QXII^e): extant: verses 2‑4, 6‑7^[6]

Ancient translations in Koine Greek:

• Septuagint (3rd century BC)
• Dead Sea Scrolls: (2nd century BC)^[6]
  • Naḥal Ḥever (8ḤevXII^gr): extant: verses 19‑21, 23^[6]
• Theodotion version (~AD 180)

Structure

NKJV groups this chapter into:

• Zechariah 8:1-19 = Jerusalem, Holy City of the Future
• Zechariah 8:20-23 = Gentiles seek Jews

Verse 7

Thus saith the Lord of hosts;

Behold, I will save my people

from the east country,

and from the west country;^[8]

• "from … east … west": that is, from every region (compare Psalm 50:1; the "West" is literally, "the going down of the sun"; Malachi 1:11) to which they are scattered; they are now found especially in countries west of Jerusalem. The dispersion under Nebuchadnezzar was only to the east, namely, to Babylonia. The restoration, including a spiritual return to God (Zechariah 8:8), here foretold, must therefore be still future (Isaiah 11:11, 12; 43:5, 6; Ezekiel 37:21; Amos 9:14, 15; also Zechariah 13:9; Jeremiah 30:22; 31:1, 33);^[5] also Romans 11:26.^[9] See a similar promise, Isaiah 43:5, 6; compare John 11:52.^[9]

Verse 8

And I will bring them,

and they shall dwell in the middle of Jerusalem:

and they shall be my people,

and I will be their God,

in truth and in righteousness.^[10]

• "And they shall be My people": God promises this as to those who were already His people; "I will save My people - and will bring them, and they shall dwell - and they shall be My people." And this they were to be in a new way, by conversion of heart, 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" (Jeremiah 24:7; add Jeremiah 30:22), 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.^[11]
• "and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem": the Gospel church; and be no more foreigners and strangers, but of the household of God, enjoying all the immunities and privileges of the Jerusalem that is above, the mother of us all:^[12]

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.^[13]

• "The fast of the fourth month": Jerome gives the later Jewish traditions concerning the fastings. The fast of the seventh 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;^[9] On the ninth day "of the fourth month" of Zedekiah's eleventh year, Jerusalem, in the extremity of famine, opened to Nebuchadnezzar, and his princes sat in her gate;^[11] Jerusalem was taken (Jeremiah 39:2; 52:6, 7). It was therefore made a fast day.^[5]
• "The fast of the fifth": This fast in the fifth month, the month of Ab, had been established in memory of the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. The temple was burnt on the ninth or tenth of the month (see 2 Kings 25:8, 9; Jeremiah 52:12, 13).^[9] Jerome wrote that the fast of the fifth month was observed in memory of the return of the spies sent to explore Canaan, and the consequent punishment of forty years' wandering in the wilderness, as well as of the burning of the temple by the Chaldeans.^[9]
• "The fast of the seventh" (also in Zechariah 7:5): This fast was in memory of the murder of Gedaliah and those with him at Mizpah, issuing in the dispersion of the Jews (2 Kings 25:25, 26; Jeremiah 41:1-3).^[5]
• "The fast of the tenth": Jerome states that the fast of the tenth month was appointed because it was then that Ezekiel and the captive Jews received intelligence of the complete destruction of the temple.^[9] On the tenth month and tenth day, in the ninth year of Zedekiah, the siege began (Jeremiah 52:4).^[5]

Verse 23

Thus saith the Lord of hosts;

In those days it shall come to pass,

that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations,

even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying,

We will go with you:

for we have heard that God is with you.^[14]

• " Ten men": The number ten is used for a large indefinite number (compare Genesis 31:7; Leviticus 26:26; 1 Samuel 1:8).^[9]
• "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.^[11]
• "They shall lay hold of the skirt of one man who is a Jew": Jerome: "That is, of the Lord and Saviour (Jesus Christ), of whom it is said, "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; for "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.^[11] The startling condescension of this passage is, that our Lord is spoken of as "a man, a Jew." Yet of His human Nature it is not only the simple truth, but essential to the truth. Pilate said to Him in scorn, "Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered Thee unto me" John 18:35. But 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. Whence Paul 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 in the very letter 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).^[11]

See also

• Related Bible parts: Isaiah 43, Ephesians 4

Notes and references

Bibliography

External links

Jewish

• Zechariah 8 Hebrew with Parallel English
• Zechariah 8 Hebrew with Rashi's Commentary

Christian

• Zechariah 8 English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate