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Zechariah 8 Commentary Verses 9-17
Zechariah 8 Commentary Verses 9-17 | Let’s turn our attention to the 8th chapter of the book of Zechariah.
This book has started with a call to repentance for the Jews who had returned to Israel after being held captive in Babylon for about 70 years. The Jews apparently did repent and so God promised to turn to them.
Then we had those multiple visions in chapters 1-6 – many of
them containing a hopeful message for these returned exiles.
And after that, we’ve been studying these two chapters –
chapters 7 and 8 – in which God has been asked a question and is now in the
process of answering that question. The question had to do with whether the
returned Jews ought to fast or not.
Why were they fasting? Because about 70 years ago God had
the Babylonians come in and destroy their temple because the Jews kept sinning
against him.
But now that Zechariah and Haggai were preaching that these
people need to get to work rebuilding the temple – and that’s just what they were
doing – with the temple being resurrected before their very eyes… did they need
to keep fasting about the destruction of this building that was now being
reconstructed?
And as we’ve seen, God answers that question in four
separate answers.
First, the Lord let these people know that their fasting
wasn’t pleasing to him because they weren’t doing it for him. They weren’t
loving God.
Second, the Lord told the people that their ancestors had
sinned against their fellow-man.
And both of these realities – not loving God and not loving
neighbor – caused the destruction of their former temple and thus was the
ultimate reason that these people had been fasting in the first place.
Then we entered into the third response from the Lord to
this question about fasting last time. And where the first two responses were
negative and accusing the Jews of wrongdoing, this third response is full of
forgiveness and mercy and wonderful promises.
And so, we covered verses 1-8 last time and saw the first
part of this third response that God gives to their question about fasting.
Lord-willing today we’ll be studying verses 9-17 to see the second part of this
response.
Let’s read Zechariah 8:1-17 to see the broader context and
then we’ll study verses 9-17 in detail.
[Read Zec 8:1-17]
Zechariah 8 Commentary 8.9
Let’s look at that 9th verse once more.
9 ¶ [Thus saith/Also says] the LORD of hosts;
[Let your hands be strong/Gather strength],
ye that hear in these days these words [by/from] the [mouth/mouths] of the prophets,
[which were/those who spoke/who were there] [in the day that/at] the [foundation/founding] of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid,
[that/to the end that/so that] the temple might be built.
So, this is encouragement for the Jews of Zechariah’s time
to continue doing what the Lord sent the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to do.
God sent those prophets to encourage the people to keep rebuilding the temple.
These prophets – Haggai and Zechariah and perhaps others
that we’re unaware of – were sent when the temple foundation was laid already.
The foundation was laid but the work was discontinued for 16 years while the
people gave in to discouragement.
But now God has returned to these people and wants them to
get back to doing what he sent them to Jerusalem to do in the first place – to
rebuild that temple whose destruction the Jews were still mourning to that very
day!</
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By PaulZechariah 8 Commentary Verses 9-17 | Let’s turn our attention to the 8th chapter of the book of Zechariah.
This book has started with a call to repentance for the Jews who had returned to Israel after being held captive in Babylon for about 70 years. The Jews apparently did repent and so God promised to turn to them.
Then we had those multiple visions in chapters 1-6 – many of
them containing a hopeful message for these returned exiles.
And after that, we’ve been studying these two chapters –
chapters 7 and 8 – in which God has been asked a question and is now in the
process of answering that question. The question had to do with whether the
returned Jews ought to fast or not.
Why were they fasting? Because about 70 years ago God had
the Babylonians come in and destroy their temple because the Jews kept sinning
against him.
But now that Zechariah and Haggai were preaching that these
people need to get to work rebuilding the temple – and that’s just what they were
doing – with the temple being resurrected before their very eyes… did they need
to keep fasting about the destruction of this building that was now being
reconstructed?
And as we’ve seen, God answers that question in four
separate answers.
First, the Lord let these people know that their fasting
wasn’t pleasing to him because they weren’t doing it for him. They weren’t
loving God.
Second, the Lord told the people that their ancestors had
sinned against their fellow-man.
And both of these realities – not loving God and not loving
neighbor – caused the destruction of their former temple and thus was the
ultimate reason that these people had been fasting in the first place.
Then we entered into the third response from the Lord to
this question about fasting last time. And where the first two responses were
negative and accusing the Jews of wrongdoing, this third response is full of
forgiveness and mercy and wonderful promises.
And so, we covered verses 1-8 last time and saw the first
part of this third response that God gives to their question about fasting.
Lord-willing today we’ll be studying verses 9-17 to see the second part of this
response.
Let’s read Zechariah 8:1-17 to see the broader context and
then we’ll study verses 9-17 in detail.
[Read Zec 8:1-17]
Zechariah 8 Commentary 8.9
Let’s look at that 9th verse once more.
9 ¶ [Thus saith/Also says] the LORD of hosts;
[Let your hands be strong/Gather strength],
ye that hear in these days these words [by/from] the [mouth/mouths] of the prophets,
[which were/those who spoke/who were there] [in the day that/at] the [foundation/founding] of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid,
[that/to the end that/so that] the temple might be built.
So, this is encouragement for the Jews of Zechariah’s time
to continue doing what the Lord sent the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to do.
God sent those prophets to encourage the people to keep rebuilding the temple.
These prophets – Haggai and Zechariah and perhaps others
that we’re unaware of – were sent when the temple foundation was laid already.
The foundation was laid but the work was discontinued for 16 years while the
people gave in to discouragement.
But now God has returned to these people and wants them to
get back to doing what he sent them to Jerusalem to do in the first place – to
rebuild that temple whose destruction the Jews were still mourning to that very
day!</