CRITICAL NOTES.]
Zechariah 8:16.] Just as in ch. Zechariah 7:9-10, first positive (Zechariah 8:16), then negative (Zechariah 8:17). Judge] truly and promote peace. Gates] Places of administering justice.
Zechariah 8:17. Hate] Lit. emphatic. “They are all these things which I hate;” i.e. the sum of what I hate; for they comprise the breaches of the two tables [cf. Pusey].
HOMILETICS
MORAL CONDITIONS OF PROSPERITY.—Zechariah 8:16-17
These verses contain a virtual and instructive reply to the question relative to the celebration of the fast (chap. Zechariah 7:3). It was not in such merely external, ritual, or ceremonial observances, that Jehovah delighted; but in the love and practice of moral rectitude [Hend.]. In Zechariah 8:14-15 we have the grounds upon which God’s promise rests; here, the conditions upon which it will be fulfilled. There are two aspects of duty as essential to prosperity.
I. Sympathy with our fellow-creatures. We are forbidden—
1. To act evil “Execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates.” Nothing must be done in partiality, violence, and passion. In public administration and private inter course we must allay feuds and seek peace.
2. To speak evil. “Speak ye every man the truth.” (a) In social intercourse. “To his neighbour.” (b) In public courts. “Love no false oath.” “Truth is the band of union, and the basis of human happiness. Without this virtue there is no reliance upon language, no confidence in friendship, no security in promises and oaths” [Jeremy Collier].
3. To think evil. “Let none of you imagine evil in your hearts.” All evil springs from the thoughts. The most secret sins and the most grievous acts begin there. “To think well,” says Paley, “is the way to act well.” “The thoughts of the righteous are right” (Proverbs 12:5).
II. Moral conformity to God. “All these things” forbidden, are evils which God hates, and will punish. Therefore we should hate and avoid them also; shun them, not for the sake of policy, nor propriety, but as offensive to God. Men are seeking to substitute philanthropy for piety; “the claims of humanity” fur the worship of God. But Scripture and experience prove that there can be no true and permanent love to man, which is not the offspring of love to God. The test of our character and the degree of our prosperity will be according to our conformity to God. If we love what he loves, and hate what he hates, we shall bear his image and become his children. “For love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God.”
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 8
Zechariah 8:16-17. I hate. Men resemble the gods in nothing so much as in doing good to their fellow-creatures [Cicero]. Every day should be distinguished by at least one particular act of love [Lavater].