The Pulpit Commentary — Zechariah — Section 82

HOMILETICS. Vars. 1-8.-.Assurance of favour. "Again the word of the Lord of hosts came to me." When warning is carried too far, it degenerates into threatening, and defeats its own end, producing despair instead of desire to escape. It is probably on this account that the solemn warning with which eh. vii. concludes gives place, in this chapter, to an animating series.of encouragements and promises. (For somewhat similar transitions, see Heb. vi. 9; Isa. i. 18, etc.) In the verses now immediately before us, we have the beginning of these encouragements in a gracious assurance of favour to the remnant addressed by the prophet-an assurance conveyed to them in the way (1) of emphatic repetition; (2) of graphic detail ; and (3) of copious addition. I. EMPHATIO REPETITION. We have such repetition: 1. Of the feelings of Jehovah towards the enemies of his Zion. He had described himself before (eh. i. 14) as looking with an eye of displeasure and jealousy on the comparative" ease" of those foes. We have the same idea here (in ver. 2) in a still more forcible shape. "I was jealous for Zion with great fury." What can go beyond that? 2. Of the purposes of Jehovah towards Zion herself. On this point, also, God's former declaration (a.s found in eh. i. 16; ii. 10) is repealed and enforced. Not only would God again dwell in her, as prophesied before; but he would do so in such a manner as to make her a city of truth and holiness (ver. 3; and comp. Jer. xxxi. 23). All this as though to impress 011 his people how deliberately he had spoken. " I know what I said, and I mean it ; I meant even more than I said." Such is the purport, such also the effect, of repetiti,m like this. It is the natural language of steadfast purpose and conscious power to fulfil. Some persons think, accordingly, that the Epistle to the Ephesians is, virtually, such a repetition of that to the Colossians; and that the same holds good about the two Epistles to the Galatians and Romane. II. GRAPHIO DETAIL. A previous prophecy (eh. ii. 4) had declared that Jerusalein should be iuhabited as "towns without walls." Vars. 4 and 5 of the present chapter amplify this description under three principal ideas of great beauty and force. 1. The idea of restoration and order. Instead of being a city of waste places (compare sixty years afterwards, Neh. vii. 4, margin), we see i.t a city of populous "streets." Thie a wonderful touch. In a growing neighbourhood, where every new building is an event, we think most of the houses; in a completely built city, where there is no room for more buildings, we think most of the thoroughfares. 2. The idea of safety and peace. In times of warfare and tumult the first to succumb to violence and privation and terror are the aged. Streets, therefore, full of such (ver. 4) tell a twofold tale. Had there not been long peace in the past, these aged ones would not have survived. Were there not assured peace in the present, they would be in flight or concealment, and not in the streets. 3. The idea of gladness and foy. What happier sight on this earth than that described in ver. 5, in its comparative innocence, its a.bunda11t life its musical utterances, its sweet faces and smiles, its graceful figures and move- me~ts, and the untold wealth of tender love and delighted looks, of which, in so many different homes, it gives proof! How all this detail would help me11 to realize what God's promises meant! 80 THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAH. [OH, VIII, 1-23,