Zechariah 8

These sermons provide a transition between the visions of the present (chapters 1–6) and those of the near future (chapters 9–11) and the more distant future (chapters 12–14).

Chapter 7 talks about fasting due to past disasters. Chapter 8 focuses on feasting for future blessings.

This part of Zechariah’s sermons links to the previous section through fasting and the ethical demands of a covenant with the Lord (Zechariah 7:8–10; 8:16–17). Questions about fasting in 7:2–7 are answered in 8:18–19. The tone and message shift from warning and judgment to encouragement and renewal. Fasting will change to feasting (Zechariah 8:19).

Zeal (or passion or jealousy) is a key part of how the Old Testament describes God (see also Zechariah 1:14). God’s zeal shows that he is personal and deeply involved, not an impersonal force of nature.

God is zealous for his word and for the people of his covenant. Because of this zeal, God judges sin, restores those who repent, and rewards those who pursue righteousness.

• I will … dwell in Jerusalem: After the exile in Babylon, the people hoped the Lord would return to live among them (see Zechariah 1:16–17; Haggai 2:4–7; compare Ezekiel 48:35).

• I will return: God would come back to Jerusalem not only because the temple was rebuilt but also because the Hebrew community was purified (Zechariah 3).

• Isaiah compared Jerusalem to a faithful woman who became unfaithful (Isaiah 1:21). Zechariah shared Isaiah’s vision of Jerusalem becoming the City of Truth again ("the Faithful City" in Isaiah 1:26).

The images of elderly men and women walking, along with boys and girls playing in the streets, show that families are returning to the once devastated city of Jerusalem. God's presence returning to his rebuilt temple will bring peace and safety to the city's people (see Jeremiah 33:10–11).

The Old Testament presents God as able to do what humans cannot do. God performs acts that are beyond human power because he created the heavens and the earth. Nothing is beyond God’s ability or power (Genesis 18:14; Jeremiah 32:17, 27; see also Matthew 19:26).

from the land of the east and from the land of the west: This phrase means "from all the places where the Hebrew people had been scattered." It refers to the many regions where they lived after being forced out of their land (compare Isaiah 43:5–6).

they will be My people, and I will be their … God: This phrase shows the close bond between Israel and God in their covenant relationship (see Exodus 19:5–6; Jeremiah 30:22; 31:33; Ezekiel 34:30–31; Hosea 2:23).

the foundations were laid: This refers to Zerubbabel's and Jeshua's first efforts to rebuild the temple in 536 BC (Ezra 3:8–13). They quickly abandoned the temple reconstruction project. It did not resume until the prophets Haggai and Zechariah encouraged it 16 years later (Ezra 5:1–2; Haggai 1:1).

This section shows how Jerusalem's situation improved when they rebuilt the temple (see 2 Chronicles 15:3–7). The call to be strong (Zechariah 8:9, 13) serves as an inclusio (a rhetorical device that begins and ends a section with a similar refrain) for the section.

the enemy: The neighboring peoples opposed rebuilding the temple (Ezra 4). Later, enemies opposed Nehemiah's rebuilding of Jerusalem's wall (Nehemiah 4).

• Peace (shalom in Hebrew) is an important theme in Zechariah’s message (Zechariah 8:10, 12, 16, 19). God's presence in the rebuilt temple would bring peace to Judah (see Haggai 2:6–9). Zechariah uses the farming cycle to show God's blessing (see Haggai 2:18–19), which would end the drought that Haggai described (Haggai 1:10).

• The small group of people who returned to Judah after the exile was called the remnant. In the Bible’s teaching, the remnant connects God’s judgment with his promise to restore his people (see Haggai 1:12, 14).

resolved: Repeating this word emphasizes God's control in judging Israel's sin and later blessing them.

• God expects his people to act with honesty and fairness (see Ephesians 4:25).

• your gates: Legal proceedings took place at the city or temple gates (see Deuteronomy 21:19; 25:7).

• During Zechariah’s time, the people of Judah committed the same sins that led to the exile in Babylon. This behavior threatened God's plans for their restoration (see Zechariah 7:8–10; 8:16).

• I hate all these things: God hates evil (Psalm 5:5; Proverbs 6:16–19) because of his complete holiness (Psalms 5:4; 15:1; 24:3).

• Here, the Lord gives a clear answer to the question asked by the messengers from Bethel (Zechariah 7:2–3).

• The early summer fast remembered when Jerusalem's walls were breached (2 Kings 25:3–4; Jeremiah 52:6–7). The midsummer fast mourned the burning of Solomon's temple (2 Kings 25:8–10; Jeremiah 52:12–14). The autumn fast marked the assassination of Gedaliah, the governor of Jerusalem (2 Kings 25:22–25; Jeremiah 41:1–3) or the day of atonement (Leviticus 23:26–32). The winter fast recalled the start of the siege of Jerusalem (2 Kings 25:1; Jeremiah 52:4).

• The fasts will become feasts when God restores Israel and shows His glory to the nations (Isaiah 65:18–19).

God is with you: God’s presence brings back the ideal relationship between God and people (Genesis 3:8; Exodus 24:9–11; 25:8; Isaiah 7:14; 57:15; Ezekiel 43:7; John 1:14).