Reflections on Zechariah 8

 Zechariah 08  (Contemporary English Version)

1. The LORD All-Powerful said to me:
2. I love Zion so much that her enemies make me angry.
3. I will return to Jerusalem and live there on Mount Zion. Then Jerusalem will be known as my faithful city, and Zion will be known as my holy mountain.
4. Very old people with walking sticks will once again sit around in Jerusalem,
5. while boys and girls play in the streets.
6. This may seem impossible for my people who are left, but it isn't impossible for me, the LORD All-Powerful.
7. I will save those who were taken to lands in the east and the west,
8. and I will bring them to live in Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be their God, faithful to bring about justice.
9. I am the LORD All-Powerful! So don't give up. Think about the message my prophets spoke when the foundation of my temple was laid.
10. Before that time, neither people nor animals were rewarded for their work, and no one was safe anywhere, because I had turned them against each other.
11. My people, only a few of you are left, and I promise not to punish you as I did before.
12. Instead, I will make sure that your crops are planted in peace and your vineyards are fruitful, that your fields are fertile and the dew falls from the sky.
13. People of Judah and Israel, you have been a curse to the nations, but I will save you and make you a blessing to them. So don't be afraid or lose courage.
14. When your ancestors made me angry, I decided to punish you with disasters, and I didn't hold back.
15. Now you no longer need to be afraid. I have decided to treat Jerusalem and Judah with kindness.
16. But you must be truthful with each other, and in court you must give fair decisions that lead to peace.
17. Don't ever plan evil things against others or tell lies under oath. I, the LORD, hate such things.
18. The LORD All-Powerful told me to say:
19. People of Judah, I, the LORD, demand that whenever you go without food as a way of worshiping me, it should become a time of celebration. No matter if it's the fourth month, the fifth month, the seventh month, or the tenth month, you should have a joyful festival. So love truth and live at peace.
20. I tell you that people will come here from cities everywhere.
21. Those of one town will go to another and say, "We're going to ask the LORD All-Powerful to treat us with kindness. Come and join us."
22. Many people from strong nations will come to Jerusalem to worship me and to ask me to treat them with kindness.
23. When this happens, ten people from nations with different languages will grab a Jew by his clothes and say, "Let us go with you. We've heard that God is on your side." I, the LORD All-Powerful, have spoken!

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As a parent who balances love with discipline, God's message to Israel in the beginning verses of chapter 8 was of His love for her. She was still "licking her wounds" from God's disciplining action against her and had not yet recovered, but God said to her, "I am extremely jealous for Zion; I am jealous for her with great wrath." (V. 2) It was true God had abandoned Israel because Israel had abandoned Him, but He had plans to "return to Zion and live in Jerusalem." (V. 3) Whereas to this point Israel had be unfaithful, when God returned to Jerusalem the nation would be known as faithful.

When God returns to Jerusalem, the nation will no longer be under a threat of invasion, but will be at peace. Then the old people can sit leisurely in the streets while children fill the streets in play. This will be possible because the Lord will protect them from "the land of the east and the land of the west." (V. 7) And He will bring the scattered remnants of Israel back to live there again. Given Israel's current conditions in Zachariah's day, all of this seemed incredible, maybe even unbelievable. But the Lord declared it and so it would be. Israel still waits for the fulfillment of these promises.

The Lord encouraged the people to "Let your hands be strong," for the rebuilding of the temple. In so doing, they would be doing more than rebuilding a building. They would be rebuilding their relationship with God. Feeling rejected by God, how could the people be sure of the future blessings He promised? He reminded them that He fulfilled the punishment He promised, and as surely as He did this, He would fulfill His promises of blessings. This meant that instead of treating them as He had done in former days, He would bless them. They would no longer be a curse among the nations, but a blessing. Not only would they be blessed, but they would bless others.

When Israel is again faithful to God, they must: "Speak truth to one another; render honest and peaceful judgments in your gates. Do not plot evil in your hearts against your neighbor, and do not love perjury." (Vv. 16-17) When one loves God and is faithful and obedient to Him, what does it look like? Verses 16 & 17 describe it. We might expect that God would describe faithfulness and obedience to Him in terms of faithfulness in our observance of worship practices and not having any other gods. But if our focus is on those things, they become an end in themselves. Worship, no matter how faithfully it is observed, is meaningless if it does not lead to love toward others.

The message from the Lord that begins in verse 18 returns to a question that was raised in chapter 7. A delegation from Bethel asked if they were to continue to observe two fasts that were instituted while they were in exile to commemorate the fall of Jerusalem. God's initial response to the question was to ask who they observed it for, and the implied answer was that they observed it for themselves. But now, in 8:19 the Lord tells them that in the future they will not only observe the two fasts they asked about, but will include two others not mentioned. All four fasts were instituted in rememberance of events that occurred in the last days before the fall of Jerusalem. However, these four fasts will, in the future, become feasts and times of joy and gladness. Even painful experiences become joyful remembrances when they draw us to the Lord.

In those days, when the joy of Israel is so great, people from other nations will want to join them as they go to worship the Lord their God.