Commentary on Zechariah

Commentary on Zechariah 8

COMMENTARY ON ZECHARIAH 8 he word of the lord almighty came to me saying, The Lord almighty says this: I am jealous for Jerusalem and Sion with a great jealousy, and am jealous for it with a great anger. The Lord says this: I shall turn back to Sion, and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; Jerusalem will be called a true city, and the mountain of the Lord almighty a holy mountain (Zec 8.1–3). The text cited is explained in this way: The word of the Lord almighty came saying what is indicated in what follows: The Lord almighty says this: I am jealous for Jerusalem and Sion, recalling it to myself after repelling and rejecting it so that abuse by foreigners was heaped on it. It is not lightly that I am jealous for it, but with a great anger. The comparison is drawn with wives living with their husbands . The wife who sets aside her marital obligations and through love for outsiders abandons the conjugal home no longer enjoys the care of her former partner and is then ignored . The result is that it is said to her by her abandoned husband , I no longer care for you nor feel any jealousy for you. After all, how could anyone feel jealousy or solicitude when the marriage is over? So even if the woman who scorned the conjugal home is driven off, she becomes the object of jealousy once more if she seizes the opportunity for repentance and returns to the man she abandoned, once her former partner with extreme generosity lets her come back. Now, we must move from the situation of the wives to the consideration of Sion and Jerusalem—by Jerusalem and Sion referring not to the places but to their inhabitants. In bringing them up from Egypt God entered into a relationship with them and provided them with laws and ordinances like a dowry; the result was that he showed his betrothed care and consideration, and shared his bed with her as was proper for a husband with 155 his partner. After agreement was reached in this way according to law, she set aside the marriage laws and set aside her husband , who was her protector and ally. Hence the saying, “As a wife sets aside her partner, the house of Israel set me aside”1 and thus went off to sinful demons and impure spirits, and became the object of lustful abuse. Her companions in an allegorical sense are Babylonians and Assyrians. When this had gone on for a long time, Jerusalem, or Sion, came to her senses and recalled the one who had taken her as a companion, the result being that she decided to go back to the one from whom she had been separated. At any rate she uttered these words: “I shall go back to my husband of former times because at that time I was better off than now.” The one to whom she began to come back and return accepted this kind of repentance on her part, and said, “On that day”—namely , when her return is confirmed—“she will call me ‘my husband ,’”2 as a result of which he will from then on be jealous for her as protector and provider with a great anger, punishing those who heap abuse on her. Since he was jealous of her with such a great anger as to long to be with her as before when she had not abandoned the conjugal bed, hence he turns back to her and says, I shall dwell in her midst. (He speaks of Sion and Jerusalem as one, Sion being a part of the capital.) Now, what will happen when I shall turn back and dwell in her midst if not her once again being styled a true city, no longer desolate but full of citizens and buildings, the Temple rebuilt along with the houses one by one, the result being that there will now be lanes and roads as before, shrines and squares and streets? When Jerusalem taken literally is given this name, the mountain of the Lord almighty will also be holy as it was before the captivity : the customary rites will be celebrated there, and songs and hymns performed in accord with the words of the psalmist when he says in one case, “A song of praise befits you, O God, on Sion,” and in another, “Sing to the Lord who dwells on Sion.”3 156...