Zechariah 8:21

Zec 8:21 And the inhabitants of one [city] shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts: I will go also.

Ver. 21. And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another] Not only come upon them when they light on them, and they have a fit opportunity, but they shall go on purpose, one city to another, to gain them to Christ. Propriissimum opus viventis est generare sibi simile, saith the philosopher, It is the most proper work of every living creature to propagate his own kind. The divine saith the same. Grace is communicative, charity is no churl. Birds, when they come to a full heap of grain, will chirp and call in for their fellows.

Let us go speedily] As so many heavenly cherubims, winged creatures, as the doves to their windows with weariness of flight, as counting him happiest that is first there. Many among us fail publicly and shamefully in want of care to come time enough to God’s service. It will be long enough ere such men beg David’s office of doorkeeper out of his hand; for the doorkeeper of God’s house was to be first in and last out; but these clean contrary. Mr Fox, speaking of our godly ancestors at "the beginning of the Reformation here: To see," saith he, "their travels, earnest seekings, burning zeal, readings, watchings, sweet assemblies, resort of one neighbour to another for conference and mutual confirmation, may make us now, in these our days of free profession, to blush for shame."

To pray before the Lord] To see his face in Zion, to partake of his ordinances. What gadding is there by Popish pilgrims to Hull, Loretto, &c. Sic videmus in Italia integros pagos et oppida turmatim Lauretum confluere, ac se invicem cohortari ad visitandam et venerandam, saith a Lapide on this text. i.e. So we see whole towns and villages to flock together, and to call one upon another to visit the lady of Loretto, and to stuff her churches with vowed presents and memories; though all the thank they have for the same from God is, who required these things at your hands? Bring no more vain oblations.

And to seek the Lord of hosts] Chald. to seek doctrine from the Lord, to be informed of the right way and means to worship, him. Praying and hearing are instanced as principal parts of God’s public worship.

I will go also] Have after (said Latimer to Ridley going to the stake) as fast as my old legs will carry me. Caesar never said to his soldiers, Ite, but Eamus, Go ye, but Go we. The Pharisees are justly taxed for this, that they could load others with duty, but themselves would do nothing, Mat 23:4. Not so these good souls in the text; every of whom was as forward for himself as zealous for another. There are those who make these to be the words of the well affected in answer to the former invitation. Let us go speedily, say some citizens: Agreed, say the other, I will go also.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Let us . . . I--manifesting zeal and love: converted themselves, they seek the conversion of others (Sol 1:4). To exhortation in general ("Let us go"), they add individual example ("I will go"). Or, the change from plural to singular implies that the general consent in religious earnestness leads each individual to decide for God.

go speedily--literally, "go, going"; implying intense earnestness.

pray--Hebrew, "entreat the face" (Zac 7:2); entreat His favor and grace.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 21. I will go also.] This is the answer of the person invited. It is a good work. We must have God for our friend. We cannot expect this unless we seek him: and as we know not what an hour may bring forth, let us go speedily.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

It follows, Come shall the inhabitants of one to one, that is, the inhabitants of one city to another; saying, going let us go, etc. He means by these words, that there will be a mutual consent among all nations, so that they will stimulate one another, and thus unite together their exertions. We here see that the Prophet’s object was to encourage the Jews to entertain good hope, and thus to cause them to persevere, so that they might not doubt but that success would attend their work and labor, because the Lord would have himself worshipped at Jerusalem, not only by themselves but also by all nations. But as the Jews could not believe that nations could by force be drawn there, he teaches them, that their assembling would be voluntary; he says that those who had been before extremely refractory would be disposed to come of their own accord, so that there would be no need of external force to constrain them; for they would willingly come, nay, would excite one another, and by mutual exhortations stimulate themselves so as to come together to worship God at Jerusalem.

The ardor and vehemence of their zeal is to be noticed; for the Prophet says, that they would come of their own accord, and also encourage one another, according to what we have seen in the second chapter Zechariah 2:1, Lay hold will each on the hand of his brother, and say, let us go to the mount of the God of Jacob. But more is expressed in this place, for not only shall each one encourage his brother whenever met and an opportunity be offered, but he says that they will come from all quarters. We now then see the design of the Prophet in these words. And we hence learn, that faith then only produces its legitimate fruit when zeal is kindled, so that every one strives to increase the kingdom of God, and to gather the straying, that the Church may be filled. For when any one consults his own private benefit and has no care for others, he first betrays most clearly his own inhumanity, and where there is no love the Spirit of God does not rule there. Besides, true godliness brings with it a concern for the glory of God. It is no wonder then that the Prophet, when describing true and real conversion, says, that each would be solicitous about his brethren, so as to stimulate one another, and also that the hearts of all would be so kindled with zeal for God, that they would hasten together to celebrate his glory.

Then he adds, Let us go to entreat the face of Jehovah. The phrase is common in Scripture. But we must observe, that the Prophet in speaking of God’s worship, sets prayer in the first rank, for prayer to God is the chief part, yea, the main thing in religion. It is, indeed, immediately added, and to seek Jehovah: he explains the particular by the general; and in the next verse he inverts the order, beginning with the general. However, the meaning continues the same, for God seeks nothing else but that we should be teachable and obedient, so as to be prepared to follow wherever he may call us, and at the same time carefully to enquire respecting his will, as we have need of him as our leader and teacher, so that we may not foolishly go astray through winding and circuitous courses; for if we deem it enough to take presumptuously our own way, the endeavor to seek God will be superfluous. It must then be observed, that God is then only really sought when men desire to learn from his word how he is to be worshipped. But, as I have already said, the Prophet adds prayer here, for the design of the whole truth respecting salvation is to teach us, that our life depends on God, and that whatever belongs to eternal life must be hoped for and expected from him. We now then understand the import of the whole.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(21) And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another.—LXX., καὶ συνελεύσονται κατοικοῦντες πέντε πόλεις εἰς μίαν πόλιν, “and the inhabitants of five cities shall come together to one city,” borrowing the word “five” possibly from Isa_19:18, “In that day there shall be five cities . . . one shall be called . . .”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21. speedily] Lit. come let us go, to go, which may merely express the earnestness of the exhortation. “Omnes una et magno studio.” Rosenm.

to pray before] or to entreat the favour, as in Zec_7:2.

I will go also] The response of one city to the invitation of another. In like manner the inhabitants of a city speak of themselves in the sing. number, 1Sa_5:10.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thus saith the Lord of hosts,.... For the further confirmation and illustration of this prophecy:

in those days it shall come to pass; this shall be done in the times of the preaching of the Gospel by Christ and his apostles:

that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take bold of the skirt of him that is a Jew: which may be understood either of our Lord Jesus Christ; who was a Jew by nation, the Jews were his own people, and Judea his nation; by descent, he springing from the tribe of Judah, and the family of David; by religion, being made under the Jewish law; by his habit and dress, by which, as well as by his language, the woman of Samaria knew he was a Jew, Joh 4:9 and very probably he wore the fringe the Jews did on the border of his garment, Mat 9:20 and which the Jewish doctors think is here meant (t) by the skirt; but this may intend, in a spiritual sense, the skirt being put for the whole garment, Eze 16:8, the robe of Christ's righteousness, which sensible sinners take hold of by faith, and put it on as their justifying righteousness: and "ten men" out of "all nations" being said to do it, and this number signifying many, Lev 26:26 may denote that the number of them that believe in Christ for righteousness, and are justified by it, are many, Isa 53:11 though they are but few when compared with others; and that as God has chosen, Christ has redeemed, so the Spirit calls some out of all nations; and God is the God of the Gentiles as well as of the Jews, since the one are justified by him as well as the other, Rom 3:29 or this may be understood of any of the apostles of Christ, who were all Jews; and especially the Apostle Paul, who was the apostle of the Gentiles; who were sent into all the world to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles, by which means they came to hear it; and many of them out of every nation laid hold on the skirts of these men; believed and embraced the doctrines they preached; were greatly affected towards them; gave up themselves to them; consorted with them; accompanied them, and cleaved unto them; did not care to part with them, as children, that lay hold on their parents' skirts, will not leave them, but go with them where they go, as follows:

saying, We will go with you; either with Christ, resolving to follow him whithersoever he goes; to hold to him the Head; to abide by his truths and ordinances; to walk on in his ways, whatever they suffer for his name's sake: or with his ministers and people, determining to go along and join with them in all religious exercises; see Rut 1:16,

for we have heard that God is with you: with Christ, as he always was; in the council and covenant of grace before time, and at the beginning of time to his incarnation; and during his state of humiliation, and in his sufferings and death; and now in his state of exaltation; hence his name "Ithiel", God with me, Pro 30:1 or with his ministers and people, which he has promised to be unto the end of the world; and this the Gentiles heard and understood, by the power that went along with their ministry, to the conversion of multitudes of sinners; and by the miracles which they wrought, for the confirmation of the doctrines they delivered.

(t) T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 32. 2.

Next: Zechariah Chapter 9

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The inhabitants of one city shall go to another - It is one unresting extension of the fairly, the restlessness of faith and love. Osorius: “They shall not be satisfied with their own salvation, careless about the salvation of others; they shall employ all labor and industry, with wondrous love, to provide for the salvation of others as if it were their own.” It is a marvelous stirring of minds. Missionary efforts, so familiar with us as to be a household word, were unknown then. The time was not yet come. “Before the faith” in Christ came, the Jewish people were not to be the converters of mankind. They were to await for Him, the Redeemer of the world, through whom and to whom they were to be first converted, and then the world through those who were of them. This mutual conversion was absolutely unknown. The prophet (see below on Zec 9:12) predicts certainly that it would be, and in God’s time it was. “From you,” Paul writes to a small colony in Greece, “sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad” 1Th 1:8. “Your faith” Rom 1:8, he writes to the pagan capital of the world, “is spoken of throughout the whole world.”

Within eighty years after our Lord’s Ascension, the Roman governor of Bithynia reported, on occasion of the then persecution, that it spread as a contagion. Pliny ad. Trajan Eph. x. 97: “The contagion of that superstition traversed not cities only but villages and scattered houses too.” Before the persecution, the temples had been desolated, the solemn rites long intermitted, the sacrificed animals had very rarely found a purchaser. An impostor of the same date says, , Pontus is full of atheists and Christians.” “There is no one race of people,” it was said before the middle of the second century , “whether Barbarians or Greeks or by whatsoever name called, whether of those wandering houseless tribes who live in wagons or those pastoral people who dwell in tents, in which there are not prayers and Eucharists to the Father and Creator of all things, through the name of the crucified Jesus.” “The word of our teacher,” said another, , “abode not in Judaea alone, as philosophy in Greece; but was poured out throughout the whole world, persuading Greeks and barbarians in their several nations and villages and every city, whole houses and each hearer individually, and having brought over to the truth no few even of the very philosophers. And if any ordinary magistrate forbid the Greek philosophy, immediately it vanishes; but our teaching, immediately at its first announcement, kings and emperors and subordinate rulers and governors with all their mercenaries and countless multitudes forbid, and war against us and try to extirpate; but it the rather flourishes.”

The second century had not closed, before another said, , “We are a people of yesterday, and yet we have filled every place belonging to you, cities, islands, castles, towns, assemblies, your very camp, your tribes, companies, palace, senate, forum! We leave you your temples only. We can count your armies; our numbers in a single province will be greater.” “People cry out that the state is beset; that the Christians are in their fields, in their forts, in their islands. They mourn, as for a loss, that every sex, age, condition, and now even rank is going over to this sect.” : “On whom besides have all nations believed, except on Christ who hath already come?” Then having enumerated the nations mentioned in the Acts Act 2:9-11, he adds, “And now the varieties of the Getulians, and the many tracts of the Moors, all the bounds of the Spains, and the divers nations of the Gauls, and places of the Britons, unreached by the Romans but subdued to Christ; of Sarmatians, Dacians, Germans, and Scythians, and of many remote nations, and many provinces and islands, unknown to us, and which we can scarce enumerate. In all which places the name of Christ, who hath already come, reigneth, seeing that before Him the gates of all cities are opened and none are shut against Him, before whom “the bars of iron are broken in pieces and the gates of brass are opened” Isa 45:2.

In all these places dwelleth a people called by the name of Christ. For who could reign over all, save Christ the Son of God, who was foretold as about to reign over all nations forever?” Then having contrasted the limited rule of Solomon, Darius, the Pharaohs, Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander, “the Romans who protect their own empire by the strength of their legions and are unable to extend the might of their kingdom beyond these nations (Germans, Britons, Moors, Getulians), he sums up, “but the kingdom and the Name of Christ is extended everywhere, is believed in everywhere, is worshiped by all the nations above enumerated. Everywhere He reigns, everywhere is adored, is given everywhere equally to all. With Him no king hath greater favor; no Barbarian inferior joy; no dignities or birth enhance the merit of any; to all He is equal; to all, King; to all Judge; to all, God and Lord.” A little later, a pagan owns, while calumniating, , “Those most foul rites of that impious coalition are growing throughout the whole world, as bad things come up most luxuriantly, evil ways creeping on daily.” The Christian answers . “That our number increases daily, this is no imputation of error, but a testimony to praise. For in a good mode of life, its own persevere, aliens accrue to it.”

Let us go on and on - Perseveringly, until we attain “to entreat the face of the Lord.” It is not a Theism or Monotheism, but the God, who had revealed Himself to Israel, who, when our Lord came, was worshiped in Jerusalem, to which those invited say, “I too would go with thee.” Yet not so, but the words seem to speak of that which is a special gift of the Gospel, continued progress, “forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, to press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us go on and on” Phi 3:13-14; whence it is a Christian proverb, , “not to go on is to go back.” : “The whole life of a good Christian is a holy longing to make progress.” “The one perfection of man is, to have found that he is not perfect.” : “If thou sayest, It sufficeth, thou art lost.” : “To be unwilling to increase, is to decrease.”

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The inhabitants of one city shall go to another; great was the zeal and forwardness of primitive converts to bring others into the church, and to acquaint them with the doctrine of Christ; and this is here foretold under the zeal and forwardness of the Jews to gather one another, and to ascend thus to the temple.

Let us go speedily; in going let us go, set forth presently, hold on constantly and cheerfully, Isa 2:3; Mic 4:2.

To seek the Lord of hosts; to call upon his name, entreat his favour, or face, as it is in the Hebrew, one part of religious worship put for all, and explained by seeking the Lord for counsel and supply, for grace, comfort, and glory.

I will go also: this foretells a readiness in the invited, they shall with as much zeal embrace the motion as others made it.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The inhabitants of one city shall go to another. The LXX has, "The inhabitants of five cities shall go unto one;" Vulgate, "The inhabitants go one to another." Let us go speedily. The Hebrew is an imperfect followed by an infinitive absolute an idiom which implies combination, Let us go on and on, continually. So Pusey and Wright. To pray before the Lord; to entreat the favour of the Lord. (see note on Zec_7:2) The Gentiles would be moved, not only to make pilgrimages to the great annual festivals, but to seek to know the Lord, and how to worship him acceptably. I will go also. The inhabitants answer willingly to those who exhort them. It is quite unnatural to take the clause to mean (as Drake does), "I, Zechariah, will go too, to see the alteration in the mode of observing these fast days.

The soul"s response to the gospel call.

"I will go also." This resolution is

I PERSONAL. "I" Religion is a thing between the soul and God. We are brought face to face with Christ in the gospel. Free and responsible. Must decide for ourselves.

II RESULT OF CONVICTION. Many careless, some anxious, others almost persuaded. fie who says, "I will go," has considered the question, and made up his mind on evidence which to him is satisfactory and convincing. "God is with you.

III PROMPTLY AND THOROUGHLY CARRIED OUT. Not a mere thought; or impulse, or sentiment. Not the result of transitory feelings in times of excitement. But the expression outwardly of the change wrought within of the heart won to Christ. (Psa_119:59, Psa_119:60)

IV FORTIFIED BY THE SYMPATHY AND APPROVAL OF ALL THE GOOD. We crave sympathy. Alliance with others gives courage, especially at the outset. The fellowship of the saints intensifies our best emotions and increases our purest joys.

V LEADING TO A TRUE AND NOBLE LIFE. F.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I will go also - The invited, shall with as much zeal embrace the motion, as others made it.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.