Everything Exists for Israel!
Brit-Am Biblical Commentary (BABCOM) to the Book of Zechariah
Zechariah (NKJV) 8:
1 Again the word of the LORD of HOSTS came, saying,
2 Thus says the LORD of HOSTS:
I am zealous for Zion with great zeal;
With great fervour I am zealous for her.
3 Thus says the LORD:
I will return to Zion,
And dwell in the midst of Jerusalem.
Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth,
The Mountain of the LORD of HOSTS,
The Holy Mountain.
the City of Truth. RADAK [see RABBIS QUOTED https://hebrewnations.com/articles/sources/rabbisquoted.html # as it was promised, "The remnant of Israel shall do no unrighteousness And speak no lies" (Zephaniah 3:13). This promise applies to all Israel. Jerusalem is here mentioned (by Zechariah) because it will be at the head of the Kingdom and also because it contain the Holy Mountain of God that will no longer be desecrated by foreigners. #
METZUDAT DAVID. Jerusalem will be called "The City of Truth" because its people will be truthful.
4 Thus says the LORD of HOSTS:
Old men and old women shall again sit
In the streets of Jerusalem,
Each one with his staff in his hand
Because of great age.
5 The streets of the city
Shall be full of boys and girls
Playing in its streets.
In the Messianic Age people will be healthier than they now are. Several generations will dwell alongside each other.
6 Thus says the LORD of HOSTS:
If it is marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days,
Will it also be marvelous in My eyes?
Says the LORD of HOSTS.
7 Thus says the LORD of HOSTS:
Behold, I will save My people from the land of the east
And from the land of the west;
8 I will bring them back,
And they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem.
They shall be My people
And I will be their God,
In truth and righteousness.
The Israelites and Judah will be brought back from the Places of their Dispersal in the east (e.g. Australia, New Zealand), and west.
The Almighty will renew HIS Covenant with HIS People!
9 Thus says the LORD of HOSTS:
Let your hands be strong,
You who have been hearing in these days
These words by the mouth of the Prophets,
Who spoke in the day the foundation was laid
For the House of the LORD of HOSTS,
That the Temple might be built.
The TEMPLE will be rebuilt.
10 For before these days
There were no wages for man nor any hire for beast;
There was no peace from the enemy for whoever went out or came in;
For I set all men, everyone, against his neighbor.
Before the Messiah comes will come a time of great troubles. Every one will be against the other. Money will be worthless.
Note:
"There were no wages for man nor any hire for beast."
In the past donkeys and beasts of burden were used. Nowadays with machination there is no need for these animals. You cannot even give them away let along hire them out!
Perhaps automation will similarly drastically reduce the need for human workers?
11 But now I will not treat the remnant of this people as in the former days, says the LORD of HOSTS.
12 For the seed shall be prosperous,
The vine shall give its fruit,
The ground shall give her increase,
And the heavens shall give their dew
I will cause the remnant of this people
To possess all these.
13 And it shall come to pass
That just as you were a curse among the nations,
O house of Judah and house of Israel,
So I will save you, and you shall be a blessing.
Do not fear,
Let your hands be strong.
Judah and the Israelites who had been attached to Judah will have been persecuted. Judah was considered accursed, Judah in Christian eyes was depicted as a "Judas." The name "Judas" is another form of the name "Judah."
God will save Judah.
14 For thus says the LORD of HOSTS:
Just as I determined to punish you
When your fathers provoked Me to wrath,
Says the LORD of HOSTS,
And I would not relent,
In the past the Jews were persecuted. There were periods when the Jews were persecuted everywhere. During the Holocaust many were saved by fleeing overseas BUT for a great many the doors were closed everywhere!
15 So again in these days
I am determined to do good
To Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.
Do not fear.
Just as Judah suffered and then it was as if God was determined that they should be punished so too in the future will it be the opposite.
16 These are the things you shall do:
Speak each man the truth to his neighbor;
Give judgment in your gates for truth, justice, and peace;
17 Let none of you think evil in your heart against your neighbor;
And do not love a false oath.
For all these are things that I hate,
Says the LORD.
We all need to be more POSITIVE towards each other.
18 Then the word of the LORD of HOSTS came to me, saying, 19 Thus says the LORD of HOSTS:
The fast of the fourth month,
The fast of the fifth,
The fast of the seventh,
And the fast of the tenth,
Shall be joy and gladness and cheerful feasts
For the House of Judah.
Therefore love truth and peace.
The Jews keep the four fasts of mourning over the Destruction of the Second Temple, i.e.
the fast of the fourth month, -17th Tammuz
the fast of the fifth, - 9th of Av
and the fast of the seventh, - 3rd of Tishrei (Gedaliah)
and the fast of the tenth, - 10th Tebeth (Tevet).See:
Why The Jews Are Judah! Proof that the Present-Day Jews are the Judah of Scripture.
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/jew/judah.html
20 Thus says the LORD of HOSTS:
Peoples shall yet come,
Inhabitants of many cities;
21 The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying,
Let us continue to go and pray before the LORD,
And seek the LORD of HOSTS.
I myself will go also.
22 Yes, many peoples and strong nations
Shall come to seek the LORD of HOSTS in Jerusalem,
And to pray before the LORD.
23 Thus says the LORD of HOSTS: In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.
a Jewish man. in Hebrew "Ish Yehudi" literally man of Judah which, as the Midrash point out, can mean any Jew as we find Mordecai from the Tribe of Benjamin referred to be in the same way (Esther 2:5).
ten men. RADAK says that this is just a round figure for illustrative purposes.
A Midrash says that "ten men from every language of the nations" means 700 since there are 70 major nations and ten from each one will attach themselves to every Jew!
Rabbi Mosheh VALLY (1697- 1776) gives it a mystical interpretation and says that "ten men" represent the 10 Holy Sparks that were previously imprisoned by the forces of Impurity but will then be released. We would apply this to the Lost Ten Tribes.
The Midrash says:
# Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: If the People of the World had have known how beneficial the Temple was for them, they would have surrounded it with fortifications in order to protect it . It was even better for them than it was for I|srael... Not only was the Temple for their benefit but if it were not for Israel [i.e. the Jews in this context] the rain would not fall and the sun would not shine... in the future the Peoples of the World will see that God clings to Israel and they [the Gentiles} will come and cleave as it says, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you" (Zechariah 8:23). (Midrash Tanchumah Bamidbar 3).