Zechariah 8:17

8:9-17 Those only who lay their hands to the plough of duty, shall have them strengthened with the promises of mercy: those who avoid their fathers' faults have the curse turned into a blessing. Those who believed the promises, were to show their faith by their works, and to wait the fulfilment. When God is displeased, he can cause trade to decay, and set every man against his neighbour; but when he returns in mercy, all is happy and prosperous. Surely believers in Christ must not trifle with the exhortation to put away lying, and to speak every man peace with his neighbour, to hate what the Lord hates, and to love that wherein he delights.

And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour,.... See Gill on Zechariah 7:10 hatred without a cause was a governing vice under the second temple, and Jarchi says was the cause of the destruction of it; see John 15:25 , and love no false oath; whereby the character and property of a fellow creature are hurt; nor any vain one, which the Jews were addicted to, Matthew 5:34, for all these are things that I hate, saith the Lord; as being contrary to his nature, and to his law; and is a reason why they should be hated and avoided by men.

Let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour: see Zechariah 7:10 . Love no false oath: see Zechariah 5:4 : you that must not lie to a man, must not swear to a lie before God, Psalm 15:4 Ezekiel 17:18,19 . For all these are things that I hate; so that I cannot be reconciled to them; so that I must not, will not let them go unpunished. If your will be blest as I promise, look you do as I prescribe. This is reason enough why you should not do them.

Verse 17. - Let none of you imagine (see note on Zechariah 7:10, where these words occur). Love no false oath. The prevalent sins at this time were not idolatry, but cheating and lying and injustice, vices learned in the land of exile, where they had turned their energies to traffic and commerce (see Zechariah 5:2-4 , and note on ver. 3 there). Zechariah 8:17

The ground upon which this promise rests is given in Zechariah 8:14 and Zechariah 8:15 , and it is closed in Zechariah 8:16 and Zechariah 8:17 by the addition of the condition upon which it is to be fulfilled. Zechariah 8:14 . "For thus saith Jehovah of hosts: As I thought to do evil to you, when your fathers were angry with me, saith Jehovah of hosts, and repented not; Zechariah 8:15 . So have I purposed again in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Fear ye not. Zechariah 8:16 . These are the words that ye are to do: speak truth every one to his neighbour; truth and judgment of peace judge ye in your gates. Zechariah 8:17 . And let not one devise the evil of his neighbour, and love not the oath of deceit: for all this, I hate it, is the saying of Jehovah." As the time of punishment by exile came upon Israel through the decree of God, so is it now a decree of the Lord to show good to Judah. In שׁבתּי זממתּי the שׁבתּי takes the place of the adverbial idea "again." The people have therefore no need to fear, if they are only diligent in practising truth, righteousness, and love to their neighbour. God required the same of the fathers ( Zechariah 7:9-10 ). Mishpat shâlōm is such an administration of justice as tends to promote peace and establish concord between those who are at strife. "In your gates," where courts of justice were held (cf. Deuteronomy 21:19 ; Deuteronomy 22:15 , etc.).

The את before כּל־אלּה in Zechariah 8:17 may be accounted for from a kind of attraction, inasmuch as by the insertion of אשׁר the object "all this" is separated from the verb, to bring it out with emphasis: "As for all this, it is what I hate." Compare the similar use of 'ēth in Haggai 2:5 , and Ewald, 277, d.

XXV. (1) And it came to pass.—With the account which follows comp. Jeremiah 52:4 seq., Jeremiah 39:1-10, Jeremiah 40-43. In the ninth year . . . tenth day.—Comp. the similarly exact dates in 2Kings 25:3; 2Kings 25:8. Ezekiel 24:1-2, agrees with the present. The days were observed as fasts during the exile (Zechariah 7:3; Zechariah 7:5; Zechariah 8:19). Came . . . against Jerusalem.—After taking the other strong places of Judah, as Sennacherib had done (Jeremiah 34:7; comp. 2Kings 18:13; 2Kings 19:8), Zedekiah must have prepared for the siege, as it lasted a year and a half. Forts.—The Hebrew word (dāyēq) occurs in Ezekiel 4:2; Ezekiel 17:17; Ezekiel 21:27; Ezekiel 26:8. Its meaning is some kind of siege work, as appears from the context in each case; but what precisely is not clear. The LXX. here has “wall” (τεῖχος); Syriac, “palisade” (qalqûmê, i.e., χαράκωμα).