Zechariah 8:5

8:1-8 The sins of Zion were her worst enemies. God will take away her sins, and then no other enemies shall hurt her. Those who profess religion must adorn their profession by godliness and honesty. When become a city of truth and a mountain of holiness, Jerusalem is peaceable and prosperous. Verses 4,5, beautifully describe a state of great outward peace, attended with plenty, temperance, and contentment. The scattered Israelites shall be brought together from all parts. God will never leave nor forsake them in a way of mercy, for this he has promised them; and they shall never leave nor forsake him in a way of duty, as they have promised him. These promises were partly fulfilled in the Jewish church, betwixt the captivity and the time of Christ's coming; and they had fuller accomplishment in the gospel church; but the full import must be as to the future times of the Christian church, or the future restoration of the Jews. With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible; so far are God's thoughts and ways above ours. In the present low state of vital godliness, we can hardly conceive that so complete a change can be made; but a change thus extensive and glorious, can be brought to pass by the almighty power of the new-creating Spirit, in less time than he was pleased to employ in creating the world. Let the hands of all who labour in the cause of the gospel be strong, serving the Lord in true holiness, assured that their labour shall not be in vain.

And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls,.... Denoting a large increase of inhabitants, in a literal sense; and may spiritually signify the large numbers of converts, of new born babes, who are regenerated by the grace and Spirit of God, and are accounted of by the Lord for a generation: playing the streets thereof; being in health and rigour, and in great security. The Targum renders it, "singing" or "praising in the spacious places thereof"; singing the praises of God in Gospel strains; saying their Hosannas to the Son of David; rejoicing in the great salvation by Christ, and magnifying the grace of God, and setting forth the glories of it in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; see Matthew 11:16. In Jerusalem, literally taken, there were various streets, besides the street of the temple, which led to it, Ezra 10:9 mention is made of others in Jewish writings, as of the upper street (k), and of the street of the butchers, and of the street of those that dealt in wool (l). (k) Misn. Shekalim, c. 8. sect. 1.((l) Misn. Erubin, c. 10. sect. 9.

The streets; every street. Shall be full of boys and girls; have many young ones healthful, strong, brisk, and lively, the present joy and future hope of all; so will I fulfil the promise of multiplying your children. Playing in the streets: Jerusalem shall be in that peace, health, and plenty, that parents shall neither fear danger to their children abroad, nor need their labour at home. So shall that Psalm 128 be fulfilled to them.

Verse 5. - Full of boys and girls. Jerusalem and the other cities had long been strangers to any such happy sight. Large increase of population is a blessing often promised in the latter days ( Hosea 1:10 ; Micah 2:12 ). Perowne remarks that our Lord alludes to the games of children the marketplaces as a familiar incident his days ( Matthew 11:16, 17 ; comp. Jeremiah 11 ). Zechariah 8:5

There shall yet dwell old men and old women - Dionysius: "Men and women shall not be slain now, as before in the time of the Babylonish destruction, but shall fulfill their natural course." It shall not be, as when "He gave His people over unto the sword; the fire consumed their young men and their maidens were not given to marriage; the priests were slain by the sword and their widows made no lamentation" Psalm 78:63-64 ; apart from the horrible atrocities of pagan war, when the unborn children were destroyed in their mothers' womb 2 Kings 15:16 ; Hosea 13:16 ; Amos 1:13 , with their mothers. Yet (as in Zechariah 1:17 ), once more as in the days of old, and as conditionally promised in the law Deuteronomy 4:10 ; Deuteronomy 5:16 , Deuteronomy 5:33 ; Deuteronomy 6:2 ; Deuteronomy 11:9 ; Deuteronomy 17:20 ; Deuteronomy 22:7 ; Deuteronomy 32:47 ; Ezekiel 20:17 . As death is the punishment of sin, so prolongation of life to the time which God has now made its natural term, seems the more a token of His goodness. This promise Isaiah had renewed, "There shall no more be an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days" Isaiah 65:20 . In those fierce wars neither young nor very old were spared. It implied then a long peace, that people should live to that utmost verge of human life.

The man, whose staff is in his hand for the multitude of days - The two opposite pictures, the old men, Dionysius), "so aged that they support with a staff their failing and trembling limbs," and the young in the glad buoyancy of recent life, fresh from their Creator's hands, attest alike the goodness of the Creator, who protecteth both, the children in their yet undeveloped strength, the very old whom He hath brought through "all the changes and chances of this mortal life," in their yet sustained weakness. The tottering limbs of the very old, and the elastic perpetual motion of childhood are like far distant chords of the diapason of the Creator's love. It must have been one of the most piteous sights in that first imminent destruction of Jerusalem Jeremiah 6:11; Jeremiah 9:21, how "the children and the sucklings swooned in the streets of the city; how the young children fainted for hunger in the top of every street" Lamentations 2:11, Lamentations 2:19. We have but to picture to ourselves any city in which one lives, the ground strewn with these little all-but corpses, alive only to suffer. We know not, how great the relief of the yet innocent, almost indomitable joyousness of children is, until we miss them. In the dreadful Irish famine of 1847 the absence of the children from the streets of Galway was told me by Religious as one of its dreariest features .

Zechariah 8:4 . "Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Yet will there sit old men and women in the streets of Jerusalem, every one with his staff in his hand, for the multitude of the days of his life. Zechariah 8:5 . And the streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in their streets." Long life, to an extreme old age, and a plentiful number of blooming children, were theocratic blessings, which the Lord had already promised in the law to His people, so far as they were faithful to the covenant. Consequently there does not appear to be any Messianic element in this promise. But if we compare this fourth verse with Isaiah 65:20 , we shall see that extreme old age also belonged to the blessings of the Messianic times. And as Israel had almost always to suffer most grievously from wars and other calamities, which swept off the people at an untimely age, during the time which extended from Zerubbabel to Christ; it must be admitted, notwithstanding the description of the prosperous times which Israel enjoyed under the government of Simon (1 Maccabees 14:4-15), that this promise also was only fulfilled in a very meagre measure, so far as Jerusalem was concerned, before the coming of Christ.

3 . And I lifted up my eyes ] in the vision: cf. Daniel 10:5 ; Genesis 31:10 ; Zechariah 1:18 ; Zechariah 2:1 ; Zechariah 5:1 ; Zechariah 5:9 ; Zechariah 6:1 . a ram standing before the stream, and it had two horns; and the two horns were high , &c.] The ram is an emblem of power and dominion: cf. Ezekiel 39:18 . The symbolism of the figure is explained in Daniel 8:20 : the ram, as a whole, represents the combined power of the Medes and Persians; but the strength of the animal lying in its horns, these are taken as representing more particularly the two powers separately, that of Persia, as being the stronger, and arising after that of Media, being represented by the higher horn, which came up last. On the distinction between the two empires, see the notes on Daniel 2:39 and Daniel 5:31 .

save my people from … east … west —that is, from every region (compare Psalms 50:1; the "West" is literally, "the going down of the sun") to which they are scattered; they are now found especially in countries west of Jerusalem. The dispersion under Nebuchadnezzar was only to the east, namely, to Babylonia. The restoration, including a spiritual return to God (Zechariah 8:8), here foretold, must therefore be still future (Isaiah 11:11, 12; 43:5, 6; Ezekiel 37:21; Amos 9:14, 15; also Zechariah 13:9; Jeremiah 30:22; 31:1, 33). 8. in truth —in good faith, both on their side and Mine: God being faithful to His everlasting covenant and enabling them by His Spirit to be faithful to Him. 9-13. All adversities formerly attended them when neglecting to build the temple: but now God promises all blessings, as an encouragement to energy in the work. hands … strong —be of courageous mind (2 Samuel 16:21), not merely in building, but in general, as having such bright prospects (Zechariah 8:13, &c.). these days —the time that had elapsed between the prophet's having spoken "these words" and the time (Zechariah 8:10; compare Haggai 2:15-19) when they set about in earnest restoring the temple. ## the prophets —Haggai and Zechariah himself (Ezra 5:1, 2). The same prophets who promised prosperity at the foundation of the temple, now promised still greater blessings hereafter. 10.