Zechariah 8:1-18

Zechariah 8:4 f. A beautiful description of the result of the restoration of peace and safety. During the troublous past Jerusalem had been no place for feeble old age or for children. The sympathetic touch, playing in the streets thereof, is one of the very few indications in the OT of a love for children as such.

Zechariah 8:7. with its refer. ence to the east and west looks like a later prophecy of the return from the Dispersion,

Zechariah 8:10. is in agreement with Haggai 1:6; Haggai 2:16. It is noteworthy that the adversaries here referred to are Jews, not Samaritans.

Zechariah 8:12 is a reminiscence of Hosea 2:23 ff. (cf. Haggai 1:10).

Zechariah 8:13. The phrases to be a cuise and to be a blessing do not mean to be a source of blessing or cursing, but to be an illustration of such.

Zechariah 8:18 f. Zechariah's answer: the four fasts are henceforth to be kept as holidays.