Zechariah 8:4

Zec 8:4 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age.

Ver. 4. There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem] Because the "Ancient of days, the just Lord, is in the midst thereof," Zep 3:5, and he will give every "good gift and perfect giving," Jas 1:17, that is, both temporal and spiritual. The Father of lights will be to his both a sun and a shield; and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly, Psa 84:11. Godliness hath the promises of both lives, 1Ti 4:8. Christ is heir of all, Heb 1:2, and the saints are his coheirs, Rom 8:17. He is the "everlasting Father," and also the "Prince of peace," Isa 9:6; his children and subjects shall have both the upper and nether springs, both the blessing of the right hand (spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ Jesus), and also of the left; riches and honour, delight and pleasure, life and length of days, peace and prosperity, &c., Pro 3:16-17; Pro 8:18;Psa 112:2-3; Deu 28:2-6.

And every man with his staff in his hand] His third leg, as they call it; q.d. they shall live so long that they shall need a staff, a servant or a son (such as Scipio was to his old decrepit father) to lean upon; because the strong men, the legs, shall bow themselves, that is, bend and buckle under their burden, Ecc 12:3. They shall not be cut off by the devouring sword of war, that slaughter-man of mankind that lays heaps upon heaps, and by chain bullets cuts its way through a heap of men at once, without respect of old or young.

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.

Zec_8:4-5

Old men and old women,. . .boys and girls

Inhabitants of the holy city

What a lovely civic picture, what a charming representation! Dear old travellers, sweet old mothers, each with a staff in hand and leaning upon it for very age, and these making their way through groups of romping boys and girls full of laughter and glee and young joy.

We cannot part with this word playing. Whoever thought the word playing was in the Bible? Always have great suspicion of any boy or girl who cannot play. See the picture, let it pass like a panorama before your eyes: old men, old women, little boys, little girls, children of every age, crowding the glad city, which is the city of truth, and which is dignified by the presence of the holy mountain. If all were old the city would be depressed, if all were children the city would be defenceless, but having old and young we have also the middle line, the average line, the active business energetic element, and there you have a complete city. It would have been a poor picture if the Lord in distributing His gifts had given to one man five talents, and to another one; the whole pith of the story would have been lost. Who does not see that but for the middle man in that parable there would have been no parable at all? The leap from one to five is too much; contrasts may be too startling; they may be so startling as to be tragical, and so tragical as to be discouraging; but the king gave to one man five talents, to another two, and to another one: preachers are eloquent upon the first and the last, and forget in too many instances that it is the average man that represents society. Boys and girls playing in the streets. Many parents are too dainty to allow their children to play in the streets; there propriety draws a line. Poor propriety, it is always drawing lines: that is about the only thing it can do. Whoever saw a boy or a girl who would not play whenever an opportunity occurred? Children must be made to feel that playing is religious. All children should just be as merry as possible. Both boys and girls should be really glad, frolicsome, playful, and therefore simply natural and human. Any young thing that does not play is a paradox. Why do not men relax their strenuous business life sometimes, and be boys again? Especially why do not fathers of families be boys among their own sons and daughters? How commonsense is the Bible? How graphic in its pictorial delineations, how rational in its conceptions of human necessities, and therefore how likely to become the right book when it comes to speak of inner mysteries, and upper possibilities, and further issues, and ultimate destiny. Is it possible for boys and girls to be Christians? Certainly; and almost impossible for anybody else to be Christians. The Church has been fruitful of mistakes, but probably hardly any mistake has been greater than the discouragement of the young in this matter of giving themselves to Jesus Christ. There have been men who have said to children affectionately, You cannot understand these things yet, you must wait a while. I undertake to pronounce that instruction to be unsound and untrue. We are not saved because we understand. If so, then salvation is of works, for understanding is an intellectual work, and men are saved by cleverness, by ability, by mental penetration, because they see certain things through and through. I will not be saved so let me be saved because Jesus wants to save me, loves me, and tells me that when we get together by and by in the long days of eternity He will tell me all about it. The church should be full of boys and girls. At present there are signs that boys and girls are being made more and more welcome to the Church. These signs should be gratefully hailed, for they are the signs of a deepening and widening Christian life. We cannot characterise all boys and girls as good, but surely there is a time when all boys and girls want to be good. This is the time to claim them for Christ. Jesus Himself took children very early; they were children that could not walk, they were brought--mark that word, for it indicates a good deal that is not expressed--to Him, and He said, Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of heaven. Boys and girls, there is one difficulty: people are extremely fond of us when we are babies; they would die for us then, or nearly so; they would sit up all night, they would expend their tenderest affection upon us, but when we are seven years of age, and from that to fourteen, we are looked upon somewhat coldly; then we shoot up into young men, and seem to recover part of the attention lavished upon us when we were babies. There is a zone of young life where young life has very much to take care of itself under the guidance of the schoolmaster--that sweet friend, that dear, dear soul that would do anything for us! Then be it ours to see that the young, when very young, are made to feel that there is something that cannot be seen, something better than fatherhood and motherhood as known upon the earth. Never burden a child with religious teaching. Never let a child know that there is such a thing as a Catechism. Never make the Bible a task book, saying, You must commit to memory such and such verses, or suffer my displeasure. Never associate penalty or suffering of any kind with the Bible, with the Sabbath Day, or with church going. In due time the Catechism will have its place, and Bible learning will have its place, and church going will have its place, but do not turn these early into burdens or penalties or associate with them the darkness of a shadow. Let the Sabbath Day be a day of jubilee, wedding day, resurrection day; a time when the joy bells ring their merry peals to call all men to the Fathers house, where there is bread enough and to spare. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)

Children in the streets

The image here presented is one of great force and beauty. The city rises before us as the glow of sunset begins to steal over Olivet, and the lengthening shadows begin to warn the labourer home. The streets are not silent or deserted, as they have hitherto been, but there sits the old man gazing on the scenes of peaceful beauty before him, while the aged companion of his earlier years sits by his side, to enjoy with him the freshening breeze that comes cool and sweet from the distant sea, while before them and around them are the merry shout, the joyous glee, and glad gambols of happy childhood, whose ringing echoes mingle sweetly with the tinkle of the bells and the lowing and bleating of the flocks that come softly from the hills as they hie them homeward to the nightly fold. There is an exquisite beauty in this picture that would strike a Jewish mind with peculiar force, to which the promise of old age and posterity was one of the richest that could be made. Indeed, the presence of the two extremes of life is one of the usual signs of prosperity. When war, famine, pestilence, or anarchy, have been raging, there are but few of either class, for their feebleness makes them the earliest victims. Hence, in the streets of Jerusalem, there were but few of either in her desolation, for even those who did remain abstained from coming forth their houses through fear. But the time was coming when security would be so general, that old and young would meet in the peaceful streets without fear of molestation or injury. (T. V. Moore, D. D.)

The human society in the city of God

The dear old capital, the centre of their reverential affections, and seat of their worship, beautiful for situation and holy for its history, will put on its thriving look again, and be the same blessed home to them that it was before. Observe that this Jerusalem was the city of God--a city that He has fashioned and filled after His own design, just as He wished it to be. This future Jerusalem was no mere mortal metropolis, bruit by human ambition, or populated by some sordid colony. It was to be modelled after a heavenly pattern. It was to embody the Divine ideal of a perfect, pure, and happy state. There is no mistake, then, in the citys composition, and no accident in its arrangements. If the Lord does not mean to have old men and old women in it, they will not be seen there; if boys and girls are found playing in the streets of it, we may be sure they did not stray in as vagrants, or get dropped there as foundlings; they are there by the express appointment of the Father of all the families of the earth. We may take these sentences, therefore, as a graphic outline of what God would have a Christian state of society to be, not in heaven, but in this world. In the scriptural imagery of symbolism, Jerusalem is a type of the Christian Church. Where the Gospel of Christ has done its perfect work, where Christianity has realised itself in social institution, and has penetrated all our private and public life with its practical regulation, there the whole of our being will come under its control; all its periods, from childhood to old age, will take the stamp and bear the fruit of this holy and gracious power in the heart; every capacity will be invigorated to its best exercise by Christian faith; our common work will be better and safer and happier work for being done in the name of Christ and for the sake of Christ; done by a Christian will, with a Christian purpose, in a Christian spirit, with Christian hands and brain and feet. Our faith is really the bread of our life. The Church is meant to open straight into your homes. The man and the children in the street, as the text says, should be the constant signs and witnesses of the kingdom of God within them--men about their business, children at their play, so toiling and trafficking, or so playing, as to make it plain that the stamp of the regeneration is upon them, the image of Christ within them. There is nothing in our domestic habits too small to bear this stamp and seal of the law of Christ, nothing too commonplace to be a test of sanctification. In these villages and cities there are many men who treat the whole system of positive Christianity, both doctrine and ordinance, with indifference. They live by the side of Christian institutions very much as they would live by neighbours speaking another language, and following different pursuits. What can break up this strange and heathenish unconcern? It is due largely to the impression men have that religion lies aside of life, and apart from its vital interests. Religion is regarded as a class concern, or a periodical and occasional concern, at any rate a partial and narrow concern. It lays hold on a peculiar and exceptional faculty in the mind. It comes to some, and not to others, and those others must be excused. There is much of this sentiment abroad, and it kills, in not a few, all effort to be Christians. Nothing will be more convincing, in exploding this error, than a daily demonstration, in our own persons and conduct, of the opposite truth Turn and look into the face of Christ as He walks the world in the majesty and beauty of His holiness. Is there anything that looks like a class, piety there? Do you gather from anything He says, that His followers are to have two divided lives, serving mammon a part of their time and God a part, the world with their busy energies, and God only with some sentimental states brought out at special seasons? Analyse the very essence and marrow of the Christian life. What are the parts of it? Faith, hope, charity. Is any one of them a class possession? Christianity intends that every man and woman and boy and girl shall be the better for it, and every corner and instant in the character and life of each shall be the better. It would make strong men more manly, pure women more pure, light-hearted children lighter-hearted, because the love of Christ casts all, fear out. We must expand our ideas, and give them life, by convictions of me way of coming to Christ, and being made one with Him in this world. It is a very simple road. Theology becomes only a blind guide when it complicates and mystifies it, and puzzles the unsophisticated mind with metaphysical cross examination. Do you want to be a Christian? Then you have already begun to be one--but you have only begun. The greatest part of salvation on our part is in the being willing to be saved. (Bishop Huntington.)

And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof--

Children for evermore

The prophet is speaking of the restoration of the temporal Jerusalem, of the return of her inhabitants when the long night of their captivity by Babylons streams is over. His words may be taken as prophetical of the heavenly Jerusalem. In the golden city there will be children--children for evermore!

Oh, theres nothing on earth half so holy

As the innocent heart of a child.

It would seem to us as if there could be no heaven without the children: and as if we could not wish those that are in heaven to grow up. Shall there be no sweet childlike voices bearing their part in the Song of Moses and the Lamb? The children of the heavenly city are described as playing. Children are children all the world over. And when we come to speak of the eternal world, we meet wire children there--real children, happy children, the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. (C. L. Balfour.)

Children in the city of God

I. Boys and girls may be in the city of God. They may know about Christ. They may be justified in Christ. They may be converted by the Holy Spirit. They may love Christ. They may imitate Christ--who spent a great part of His time in performing childrens duties.

II. Those boys and girls who are in the city of God are very happy. They are when they look back; when they look forward; when they look down; when they look up. They are happy now. They shall be happy hereafter.

III. Boys and girls who are Gods children are very safe. They are in the streets of a city, walled and eternal. Neither God, the devil, wicked men, poverty, diseases, nor death, will harm them there.

IV. Boys and girls, who are Gods children, must not go out of the city of God to seek amusement. To be very fond of amusement is not good. Duties in variety may often afford amusement. (James Stewart.)

Recreations, false and true

The man who imagines that his instincts for healthy recreation must be either ignored or destroyed if he is to live a Christian life is deluded by a dangerous untruth. I prefer the word recreation to the word amusement. The latter may be no more than idle rest, the former is definite in its promise of renewal. There appear to be two somewhat different sets of considerations which claim our notice according as one or the other immediate purpose in Christian life presses with emphasis. If self-protection is our main idea, some things do not show themselves within range of vision, which are not only visibly present, but well up toward the front, if our main thought is aggression, conquest, possession of the whole world of human life for Christ. That cannot be a recreation which results in mental and moral and spiritual languor. Dissipation is the true name for that. The thing is poison to him, whatever it may be to others, and he must refuse it. Take the case of the children of our Church and homes, still retaining for the present the idea of protection, safety. We know that the circle of social relation, and that of Church relation, are not bounded by the same line. Even if Christian parents were more wisely careful in the matter of their childrens choice of friends than they sometimes show themselves to be, it is not as far possible today as it was thirty years ago to exclude the currencies of the world: and it is almost impossible to guard against the penetrative power of current literature, let our will and our watch be ever so resolute. By what attitude, with regard to amusements, can our young people be sent forth most safely into the multitude of men and the tumult of life? My strong conviction is that we should, in full frankness, teach them to distinguish between things that differ. They will understand that evil is evil, and that good is good. We need, then, set up no jealous bar against this or that recreation, or any amusement which is really such, and for all their life they will be capable of judging the wrong and right of things, also of the expediency of this or that, in a way which the most complete quasi-papal Index would never afford. Take dancing. Late hours so spent afford no recreation. Indiscriminate companionships, indelicacy of dress, wastefulness in dress, never under any circumstances can be right. Brand the wrong as evil, claim your childrens verdict, and it will be given without hesitation, and then see, if you like, whether those things need intrude. They seem ridiculously nonessential. There are games which have been and are largely abused for purposes of gambling, and which have been eschewed or regarded as objectionable on that account. Gamblers are ready to turn every occasion into an opportunity for the exercise of their vice. To say that chess, or whist, or billiards is wrong, because betting and gambling have been connected by some men with the game, is scarcely a sensible conclusion. The theatre is often unquestionably poisonous and corrupting. But is it true beyond all doubt that evil is essential to the theatre? Has the theatre, distinguishing it from the drama, ever had a fair chance? The very presence of this power today, to say nothing of former generations and other lands, shows surely that there is not only an instinct to act, but a desire to see dramatic portrayal, such portrayal being an aid to the understanding and realising of a conception admittedly the fruit of a genius which is a worthily-used Divine gift. Must this necessarily injure the man or woman who attempts the task, and the society, in the midst of which such means are organised? Is the case of musical performance essentially different? Mendelssohns Elijah is, in the music of it as well as in the libretto, a magnificent drama. Is an organised dramatic portrayal necessarily an evil? I cannot think it. But the principle of cautious self-protection and avoidance is not the whole, or the highest part, of Christian life and duty. The attitude of aggression is a true and necessary one, and aggressive Christianity has a voice and a work in this sphere of amusements and recreations. In the matter before us isolation is not security, and victory is the only safety. Watch as we may, warn as we may, if we do not rescue such amusements from evil surroundings, the temptation they present will again and again overwhelm. Forms of recreation are not the outcome of chance, they are a response to something which is part of us. If the people who organise the standing institutions receive no support from good people in any attempts to respond in worthy ways to the demand for amusement, they will be tempted to degrade their provision to a lower level. We must offer recreative substitutes for that which we condemn. We have to win and conquer and possess the world for Christ, and not be content to say a thing is wrong without, at all events, an attempt to set it right. It is neither Christian nor heroic to hand down difficulties to our children without an endeavour to grapple with them To many devout Christians the very necessity for considering such subjects as have occupied us, is almost a pain. They have never felt unrest. They can scarcely understand the besetment by which others say they are assailed. The fact is that, a generation ago, the majority of people did not occupy their minds with matters which we could not evade if we would. I think even conflict is healthier than stagnation. Work and play are as necessary parts of our life as worship. The greatness of the Gospel, the glory of God in Jesus Christ, is its power of salvation to the uttermost. (D. Jones Hamer.)

Boys and girls playing in the streets of the city

God has a city still. In it live all who love Him and serve Him. They are walled about with Gods love and care. They have the temple of His presence. Like Jerusalem, it is a city of peace; it is pleasant for situation, the joy of the whole earth. The Heavenly Father would have His city full of boys and girls, playing in the streets.

I. Why God would have them in His city.

1. Because He loves them so much. The Heavenly Father will never have the children shut out from anything that He has provided for the people. He does not forget any little one. He does not think that you are too young, or too ignorant, or too weal His city will not be right unless you are there. And He wants you now.

2. Because it is dangerous outside the city. There were in the old days wild beasts prowling about,--jackals and hyenas; and perhaps a fierce old lion came down from the hills to see what he could find. And outside the city today there is the old lion that goes about seeking whom he may devour. And there are many robber bands that strip people of everything, and make slaves of them to hard masters, and even kill them. Sins like drunkenness, and vice, and dishonesty, I mean.

II. How may we get into this city? Its gates are shut to keep out all enemies, and the watchmen with spears keep guard above the battlements. A long way off from the city there stands a man looking and longing to enter it. Why does he not come in? He has been an enemy of the King, a rebel against His laws. He could never get in there, at the gate of the law. Then I see that they are making, a new gate. Over it they have written the words, Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out. No watchmen or archers guard it. But there is One with such tender love and compassion that none could ever shrink from Him. It is the Kings Son. Forth from this gate come messengers, offering free pardon for all. The Kings Son has borne their punishment,--suffered in their stead,--that He might bring them all into the city of God. And now, whoever will, may come.

III. What are the boys and girls doing in Gods city? They are playing; they are very happy. The moment children get unhappy they leave off playing.

1. They are happy because their sins are forgiven, and they know that God loves them.

2. They are happy because of the wall that is about them, the wall of Gods love and care. Have you ever heard of the old woman who always used to pray, O God, be a wall about us? It was in the dreadful days of Napoleon Buonaparte. He was driven back from Russia, and fierce Russian soldiers were following him. Everybody was greatly frightened, thinking that the soldiers would come upon them and take all that they had, and perhaps kill them. But when this old woman heard of it, she said, O God, be a wall about us! Her neighbours laughed, and even her little grandson said, What does grandmother mean by talking about God being a wall about us? Ah, said the old woman, you will see, you will see; He can take care, of us and be a wall about us. The soldiers had to march close by her house, but in the evening she prayed to God, and went to bed as usual. In the night the soldiers passed; but they did not see her dwelling. There came a very heavy fall of snow, and it drifted against the hedge of the cottage garden so high that the soldiers could not see it, and all passed along without knowing that there was a house there. Thus God really built a wall about her. He sent down the light snow from heaven and piled it up for her defence.

3. They are happy because they can play in the city. If God had not told Zechariah to say this, I am afraid some people would have thought of something very different. They would have said, the children must be very quiet; they must be seen more than heard; they must always be going up to the temple, and always praying, and singing hymns. But when God brought the boys and girls back to His city, the streets were to be full of them, playing in the streets thereof. Because they were in the Holy City, they were not to try to be men and women; they were to be boys and girls still, full of fun and fond of playing, and loving to run and shout. (Mark Guy Pearse.)

The children of the king

Zechariahs heart is plainly in the sight he describes. Gladness grows in him as he watches in vision the children at play, and hears their ringing laughter. And his spirit is the spirit of the Bible, which everywhere shows the warmest interest in the joys of children. Who of the worlds teachers but Christ took children in their arms, laid hands on them, and blessed them? He thinks His praise imperfect when there are no little voices in the choir. The religion of Christ has quite changed the thoughts and feelings of men about children. How do children fare where the Bible is not known? You owe your childhood, all its kindness and happiness, to Jesus Christ, the lover of children. Jerusalem was the city of God on earth, and the picture of the city of God in heaven. In heaven there shall be a mighty multitude of happy children, Illustrations may be borrowed from the last two chapters of the Book of Revelation, which is the book of Gods city.

I. The glory of the city.

1. There is perfect safety in it.

2. It contains everything needed for life and joy.

3. The King is the centre of the city.

Near the Rhine stands the city of Carlsruhe, or Charles Rest, so called after its founder. It has the shape of an outspread fan, and all the streets branch out hem the palace, in front of which stands the bronze statue of the grand duke.

II. The citizens of the city. A city derives its glory more from the people than from the places in it.

III. The gate of the city. You do well to ask, Shall I get into the city? Penitence is necessary. Those only who have loved holiness on earth can enter into the city of holiness. Thank God that the day of mercy is not past, and that the gate of mercy still stands open; and enter in by hearty faith in the Saviour of sinners. (James Wells.)

The new humanity

This charming word picture is a representation at once vivid and sublime of the new human race. It sets before us a city in the time of prosperity and peace. In time of peace children crowd in the open spaces, and engage in gleeful play. The spiritual idea is--men and women of the Gospel age--their characteristics as represented by the city street scene. Old photographs of new people.

I. The new humanity is characterised by youthfulness. Childhood is peculiar to Christianity. Gods religion is the only one that makes a speciality of children. Jesus made children a type of believers. Of such is the kingdom of heaven. Childlikeness is characteristic of Christians in a state of grace and in a state of glory.

1. In a state of grace. Children are humble, obedient, forgiving, contented, hopeful, loving. So are Christians.

2. In a state of glory. Christianity reveals a future state, where the good are ever young. Heaven is the land of the living. Religion a life of eternal juvenility transfigured with eternal glory.

I. The new humanity is characterised by enjoyment. Playing. All young life is playful--the colt, kitten, lamb, child. The Gospel is a system to make men glad. Joy is a duty. God is our best friend--our Father. Christians possess the secret of happiness--relation to Him. Externally, all may be forbidding, but there are hidden springs within. The Christian, though poor, is rich.

III. The new humanity is characterised by safety. In the streets.

1. Gods affection for them proves this. He has loved man best of all. His affection is means to an end. All the attributes of God work for His love.

2. Gods sacrifice for them proves this. God willingly sent forth His Son.

3. Gods work in them proves this. His resources are boundless, and His purposes unalterable. To commence is to consummate. He who is Alpha is also Omega.

4. His promises to them prove this. We severally and jointly promise to pay,--so reads the promissory note. The Trinity are personally and collectively pledged to save the believer. We can trust them. The bridge of Gods promises grips the Rock of Ages.

IV. The new humanity is characterised by multitude. Full. Jesus will save a multitude untold.

1. The plan in operation proves this. Power of God. Mighty through God.

2. Divine promises to Christ prove this. Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance.

3. The expectations of Christ prove this. Many shall come, etc. Apply--

(1) Seek the new nature.

(2) Live the new life.

(3) Then will come the new song in the new Jerusalem. (B. D. Johns.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Zec 8:4-5. There shall yet old men, &c., dwell in Jerusalem — Namely, both at this time and afterward. Formerly war, or famine, or pestilence, or wasting diseases cut off men and women before they grew to old age; but now it shall be otherwise: I will bless the people with a state of peace, and with health and long life. And every man, or, every one, man or woman, with his staff in his, or her, hand for very age — It shall not be from weakness and diseases that they lean upon their staves, but mere old age shall bring them to do it. And the streets, &c., shall be full of boys and girls — Strong, brisk, and lively; playing in the streets — As in a time of perfect peace and security.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4, 5. During the early postexilic period the inhabitants of Jerusalem were few in number (Neh_11:1 ff.); in the new era this will change, for Jerusalem will again swarm with inhabitants (compare Zec_2:1 ff.).

Old men and old women — Long life is a divine blessing (Exo_20:12; Psa_91:16; Isa_65:20), which will be enjoyed by many in the new age.

Staff… for very age — Extreme old age will compel them to lean upon staves (compare Isa_36:6).

Boys and girls playing — The wealth of children also is an indication of the divine favor (Psa_127:3; Psa_128:3). Free from care and surrounded by peace and prosperity they will joyfully spend their youth. Promises of this nature would have a peculiar significance in those days, in view of the fact that those who returned from exile appear to have been chiefly persons in the full strength of manhood. 6. Jehovah will surely fulfill the promise, though it may seem incredible. A free rendering of 6a would bring out the thought more clearly, “Though that which shall take place in those days may seem too wonderful to the remnant of this people.”

The remnant of this people — Those of the present generation who will live to see the fulfillment of the promises.

In these days — Points to the time in the future when the promises contained in Zec_8:4-5 will be fulfilled.

Should it also be marvelous in mine eyes? — The question presupposes a negative answer. Though the people may think it incredible, there is no limit to the divine power and resources.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Zac 8:4. "Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Yet will there sit old men and women in the streets of Jerusalem, every one with his staff in his hand, for the multitude of the days of his life. Zac 8:5. And the streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in their streets." Long life, to an extreme old age, and a plentiful number of blooming children, were theocratic blessings, which the Lord had already promised in the law to His people, so far as they were faithful to the covenant. Consequently there does not appear to be any Messianic element in this promise. But if we compare this fourth verse with Isa 65:20, we shall see that extreme old age also belonged to the blessings of the Messianic times. And as Israel had almost always to suffer most grievously from wars and other calamities, which swept off the people at an untimely age, during the time which extended from Zerubbabel to Christ; it must be admitted, notwithstanding the description of the prosperous times which Israel enjoyed under the government of Simon (1 Maccabees 14:4-15), that this promise also was only fulfilled in a very meagre measure, so far as Jerusalem was concerned, before the coming of Christ.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

8:4-5 The images of old men and women walking and of boys and girls playing in the streets indicate repopulation and resumption of normal family life in the once decimated city of Jerusalem. The return of God’s presence to his rebuilt Temple would bring peace and safety to the city’s inhabitants (see Jer 33:10-11).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Though their enemies did greatly molest and trouble them, yet God would come and dwell among them, and so preserve them so long as nature would suffer them to live, and increase their children in great abundance.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

So tranquil and prosperous shall the nation be that wars shall no longer prematurely cut off the people: men and women shall reach advanced ages. The promise of long life was esteemed one of the greatest blessings in the Jewish theocracy with its temporal rewards of obedience (Exo 20:12; Deu 4:40). Hence this is a leading feature in millennial blessedness (Isa 65:20, Isa 65:22).

for very age--literally, "for multitude of days."

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 4. There shall yet old men and old women] In those happy times the followers of God shall live out all their days, and the hoary head be always found in the way of righteousness.

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

He confirms what we have already stated, that the Jews would be safe under the hand and protection of God, as he would dwell among them. The cause of a safe and quiet state he made to be the presence of God. For when we have peace with the whole world, we may yet disturb one another, except the God of peace restrains us; inasmuch as mutual and intestine discord may harass us, though we may be spared by external enemies. It is then necessary in the first place, that the God of peace and salvation should dwell in the midst of us. But when we have the presence of God, then comes full security. Suitably then does the Prophet now say, that yet dwell would old men and old women the midst of Jerusalem: for since the time the Jews had returned, they had been harassed, we know, by continual wars; and it could hardly be expected that they could live long in a state of incessant troubles, while new fears were daily disturbing them. Since then they were thus in incessant and endless dangers, the Prophet gives them relief, and promises that there would be to them yet a quiet habitation, so that both men and women would live to extreme old age. Hence he says, There shall yet dwell, etc

Then he adds, a staff shall be to man for his age, or on account of multitude of days. This seems indeed to have been said with no great propriety; for it would have been much better had vigor been given them, so that men failed not through old age. Hence the weakness mentioned here seems to have been a sign of God’s curse rather than of his favor; and on this account the Lord promises by Isaiah, that old men would be vigorous and strong, (Isaiah 65:20;) so that they felt not the disadvantage of age. But the design of Zechariah, as we have already reminded you, was here different; for many by their daily complaints depressed the minds of the godly, declaring that they were deceived, and saying that Jerusalem would not long stand, as they were surrounded by so many enemies. Hence Zechariah shows, that the Jews would be in no danger of falling by the hand of enemies, as they would live securely without any external disturbances; for we know that many old men, half alive through age and supporting themselves by a staff, cannot be anywhere seen, except in a state of peace and quietness, undisturbed by enemies.

We now then perceive the design of the Prophet, which was to show, that Jerusalem would be tranquil and in peace, and that this would be the fruit of God’s presence; for its citizens would die through years, and not through the violence of eternal enemies. To the same purpose is what follows —

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.

(4-5) This promise may well be regarded as having been fulfilled to the letter in the days of Simon the Maccabee (1Ma_14:4-15), when “the ancient men sat in all the streets . . . and the young men put on glorious and warlike apparel,” and “every man sat under his vine and his fig-tree, and there was none to fray them.”

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

4, 5. We read, as a fulfilment of this prophecy, that in the days of Simon, in the times of the Maccabees, “the ancient men sat all in the streets, communing together of good things” (1Ma_14:9); while our Lord alludes to the games of children in the market-place, as a familiar incident in His own days. Mat_11:16-17.

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.

And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls,.... Denoting a large increase of inhabitants, in a literal sense; and may spiritually signify the large numbers of converts, of new born babes, who are regenerated by the grace and Spirit of God, and are accounted of by the Lord for a generation:

playing the streets thereof; being in health and rigour, and in great security. The Targum renders it, "singing" or "praising in the spacious places thereof"; singing the praises of God in Gospel strains; saying their Hosannas to the Son of David; rejoicing in the great salvation by Christ, and magnifying the grace of God, and setting forth the glories of it in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; see Mat 11:16. In Jerusalem, literally taken, there were various streets, besides the street of the temple, which led to it, Ezr 10:9 mention is made of others in Jewish writings, as of the upper street (k), and of the street of the butchers, and of the street of those that dealt in wool (l).

(k) Misn. Shekalim, c. 8. sect. 1. (l) Misn. Erubin, c. 10. sect. 9.

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

There shall yet dwell old men and old women - Dionysius: “Men and women shall not be slain now, as before in the time of the Babylonish destruction, but shall fulfill their natural course.” It shall not be, as when “He gave His people over unto the sword; the fire consumed their young men and their maidens were not given to marriage; the priests were slain by the sword and their widows made no lamentation” Psa 78:63-64; apart from the horrible atrocities of pagan war, when the unborn children were destroyed in their mothers’ womb 2Ki 15:16; Hos 13:16; Amo 1:13, with their mothers. Yet (as in Zec 1:17), once more as in the days of old, and as conditionally promised in the law Deu 4:10; Deu 5:16, Deu 5:33; Deu 6:2; Deu 11:9; Deu 17:20; Deu 22:7; Deu 32:47; Eze 20:17. As death is the punishment of sin, so prolongation of life to the time which God has now made its natural term, seems the more a token of His goodness. This promise Isaiah had renewed, “There shall no more be an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days” Isa 65:20. In those fierce wars neither young nor very old were spared. It implied then a long peace, that people should live to that utmost verge of human life.

The man, whose staff is in his hand for the multitude of days - The two opposite pictures, the old men, Dionysius), “so aged that they support with a staff their failing and trembling limbs,” and the young in the glad buoyancy of recent life, fresh from their Creator’s hands, attest alike the goodness of the Creator, who protecteth both, the children in their yet undeveloped strength, the very old whom He hath brought through “all the changes and chances of this mortal life,” in their yet sustained weakness. The tottering limbs of the very old, and the elastic perpetual motion of childhood are like far distant chords of the diapason of the Creator’s love. It must have been one of the most piteous sights in that first imminent destruction of Jerusalem Jer 6:11; Jer 9:21, how “the children and the sucklings swooned in the streets of the city; how the young children fainted for hunger in the top of every street” Lam 2:11, Lam 2:19.

We have but to picture to ourselves any city in which one lives, the ground strewn with these little all-but corpses, alive only to suffer. We know not, how great the relief of the yet innocent, almost indomitable joyousness of children is, until we miss them. In the dreadful Irish famine of 1847 the absence of the children from the streets of Galway was told me by Religious as one of its dreariest features . In the dreary back-streets and alleys of London, the irrepressible joyousness of children is one of the bright sun-beams of that great Babylon, amid the oppressiveness of the anxious, hard, luxurious; thoughtless, careworn, eager, sensual, worldly, frivolous, vain, stolid, sottish, cunning, faces, which traverse it. God sanctions by His word here our joy in the joyousness of children, that He too taketh pleasure in it, He the Father of all. It is precisely their laughing, the fullness of her streets of these merry creations of His hands, that He speaks of with complacency.

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

Old men; very old men, and very old women: formerly war, or famine, or pestilence and wasting disease, or wild beasts, did cut off men and women before they grew to old age; but now it shall be otherwise, I will bless with health and long life in a peaceful state.

Old women; though naturally the weaker, though by child-bearing further weakened, yet there shall be many of these very old; or possibly it may intimate a very long life with their beloved mates, and so old men will be ancient husbands, old women their ancient wives. However, this old age shall be a crown of honour to this city.

Every man, every one, as the Hebrew will bear it,

with his staff in his hand for very age; through multitude of days; it shall not be from weakness and diseases that they lean upon their staff, but very age shall bring them to it.

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

There shall yet old men...dwell (sit), etc. A picture of happy security and plenty, in vivid contrast to the desolation deplored in La 2 La 5. In the days of the Maccabees it is noted, among other tokens of peace and prosperity, that "the ancient men sat all in the streets, communing together of good things". (RAPC 1Ma 14:9) For very age; Hebrew, for multitude of days. People shall reach the utmost limits of human life. According to the old Law, length of days was the reward of obedience, (Gen_15:15 Exo_20:12 Deu_4:40) and an early death was inflicted as a punishment of sin. (Deu_28:20 Ps 54 Psa_78:33) Such promises are made also in Messianic times, (Isa_65:20) though in a different sense.

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

Old men - Formerly war, or famine or pestilence, and wasting diseases, cut off men and women before they came to old age.

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

be in the streets of Jerusalem

"be living in Jerusalem"

in his hand because he has grown so old

People having the opportunity to grow old implies the city will be peaceful and prosperous for a long time. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

The streets of the city will be full

The public areas of the city will be full of people in their normal activities.

translationWords

staff

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

because of old age they will require the staff in their hand.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.