Zechariah 8:7

Zec 8:7 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country;

Ver. 7. Behold, I will save my people from the east] This was in part, no doubt, literally meant to be the scattered Jews; and fulfilled also in those 500 years’ time between the captivity and Christ, though stories tell us not when and how; and shall be much more at their much desired conversion. For this is laid down for a general rule, that all evangelical promises made to the Jews, seeing they neither at first received the gospel, nor ever hitherto enjoyed that peace, plenty, and prosperity which these and such like promises do purport, cannot but aim at somewhat that is yet to come. Albeit it cannot be denied but that the great and glorious things which in the height and excellence thereof are spoken particularly to them, do in their measure and degree appertain in common to all the faithful; and so in the New Testament are ordinarily applied.

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_8:7-8

I will save My people from the East country, and from the West country

A two-fold Divine restoration

I.

A Divine temporal restoration. The reference here is to those Jews who had been scattered abroad over various countries through the Babylonian Captivity and other disastrous causes. The point is, that the restoration here promised is a temporal restoration to their own land and country. God is constantly restoring His people to those temporal blessings they have lost. He restores often--

1. To lost health;

2. To lost property;

3. To lost social status.

In all His peoples distresses He bids them look to Him.

II. A Divine spiritual restoration. This may mean, I will become their God in good faith or in reality, both on their side and on Mine. This is incomparably the most important restoration.

1. Man may lose his God, and be without God in the world.

2. The loss of God is the greatest loss. A man separated from God is like a branch separated from the root, a river from the fountain, a planet from the sun.

3. Restoration to God is the transcendent good. He who can say, The Lord is my portion, possesseth all things. This restoration the Almighty is effecting now in the world. He is in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. (Homilist.)

And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem--

The future of the Jews

The terms of this prediction carry us beyond any facts at that time existing, and refer to events then future. It predicts a return of the Jews from the West as well as the East, whilst at this time the only dispersion existing was toward the East in Babylon. Hence an universal dispersion is implied in this universal restoration, the terms, from East to West, being inclusive of the entire earth. This general dispersion did not occur until the final fall of Jerusalem, since which there has been no general restoration of the Jews, either in a literal or a figurative sense. Hence the main facts predicted are yet future. That they include a literal restoration of the Jews to their own land is probable, but that this is the main purport of the prophecy is just as improbable. There is something more than a mere political restoration required by the general drift of the prophecy, which is spiritual, not temporal, and which therefore demands a spiritual reunion to the spiritual theocracy, or the blood-bought and blood-washed Church of God. And this is particularly demanded by the covenant formula of Zec_8:8, They shall be My people, and I will be their God, which is always the exponent of spiritual blessings, and the fact is put beyond all question by the explanatory addendum, in truth and righteousness, which expressly affirms that this restoration and union are not to be outward, visible, and temporal, but inward, invisible, and spiritual. They will be a sincere and justified people, as He will be a true and pardoning God. (T. V. Moore, D. D.)

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

Zac 8:7. "Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Behold, I save my people out of the land of the rising and out of the land of the setting of the sun. Zac 8:8. And I bring them hither, and they will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and will be my people, and I shall be their God, in truth and righteousness." The deliverance of the people of God out of the heathen lands did indeed commence with the return of a body of exiles from Babylon under the guidance of Zerubbabel, but their deliverance out of all the countries of the earth is still in the future. Instead of all countries, the land of the rising (the east) and the land of the setting (the west) are individualized (cf. Psa 50:1; Psa 113:3; Isa 59:19; Mal 1:11). This deliverance is first effected through the Messiah. This is indisputably evident from the words, "I bring them to Jerusalem," by which of course we cannot understand the earthly Jerusalem, since that would not furnish space enough for the Jews scattered throughout all the world, but the open and enlarged Jerusalem mentioned in Zac 2:8, i.e., the Messianic kingdom of God. Then will those who have been gathered together out of all the countries of the earth become in truth God's nation. Israel was the nation of Jehovah, and Jehovah was also Israel's God from the time of the establishment of the old covenant at Sinai (Exodus 24). This relation is to be restored in the future, "in truth and righteousness." This is the new feature by which the future is to be distinguished from the present and the past. The words "in truth and righteousness" belong to the two clauses, "they shall be" and "I will be." For the fact itself, compare Hos 2:21-22; and for the expression, Isa 48:1 and Kg1 3:6.

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.)

8:7 from the east and from the west: This is an idiom meaning from all the regions to which the Hebrews were dispersed (compare Isa 43:5-6).

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

save my people from . . . east . . . west--that is, from every region (compare Psa 50:1; the "West" is literally, "the going down of the sun") to which they are scattered; they are now found especially in countries west of Jerusalem. The dispersion under Nebuchadnezzar was only to the east, namely, to Babylonia. The restoration, including a spiritual return to God (Zac 8:8), here foretold, must therefore be still future (Isa 11:11-12; Isa 43:5-6; Eze 37:21; Amo 9:14-15; also Zac 13:9; Jer 30:22; Jer 31:1, Jer 31:33).

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 7. I will save my people from the east country, and from the west] From every land in which any of them may be found. But these promises principally regard the Christian Church, or the bringing in the Jews with the fulness of the Gentiles.

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

He pursues the same subject, and introduces a preface, very necessary in so confused a state of things; for it was very difficult to raise up desponding minds and to inspire them with confidence, when pressed down with fear and trembling. This is the reason why Zechariah repeats so often, that he declared nothing but God’s commands only.

Behold, he says, I will save, or deliver my people. As dispersion took away hope, the Prophet restores it, and says, that it would not be difficult to gather the people from all parts of the world, when God stretched forth his hand; and emphatical is the expression, I will deliver my people. God then does here exalt himself, that we may learn to exalt his power, and not to judge of it according to our own comprehension. I will deliver my people, he says, from the rising as well as from the setting of the sun. This sentence then is connected with the preceding, in which the Prophet briefly shows that the Jews erred and acted perversely, when they ascribed no more to God than what the judgment of their own flesh dictated, or what seemed probable according to the course of nature. As then he had taught them that great wrong is done to God except he is separated from men, and shines eminent above the whole world, he now adds, that God, with whom nothing is wonderful or difficult, had resolved to gather his people, and from their dispersion to restore them again to Jerusalem. The Prophet then says here nothing new, but rightly applies what he had just said of God’s infinite and incomprehensible power, which men absurdly attempt to inclose in their own brains, and to attach to earthly instrumentalities.

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.

(7) From the east . . . and from the west.—There were Jews in exile in the west as well as in the east (Joe_3:6); and, indeed, a very general dispersion may be almost implied from Isa_43:5-6.

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

7. from the east country, and from the west country] Comp. Isa_43:5-6. The promise is larger than has yet been fulfilled.

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 l will bring them,.... To Zion, into the church of God, the Gospel fold, where Christ has engaged to bring his other sheep, that there may be one fold for Jew and Gentile, Jer 3:14 Joh 10:16,

and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: the Gospel church; and be no more foreigners and strangers, but of the household of God, enjoying all the immunities and privileges of the Jerusalem that is above, the mother of us all:

and they shall be my people; appear to be so by effectual calling; which makes those manifest to be the people of God, to be in the covenant of his grace, who before were not known to be so, either by themselves or others, Pe1 2:10,

and I will be their God, in truth, and in righteousness; according to the covenant of his grace, which will now in a very open manner be truly and faithfully fulfilled; and they, in consequence of the grace bestowed on them, will worship God in sincerity and truth, being justified by the righteousness of Christ, and so will have no dependence on their own for their acceptance with God; see Hos 2:19.

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

I will save My people from the East country and from the West country - Dionysius: “that is, the whole world; for Israel had been scattered in every part of the world.” God had said to Israel, “I will bring thy seed from the east and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Keep not back” Isa 43:5-6. The two tribes had been carried to Babylon and had been dispersed, or had been allowed to migrate to the various provinces of the Babylonian or Persian empire. But these were in the East, though commonly called the north, because they invaded Israel from the north. Those who had migrated to Egypt were in the south. As yet none were in the West. The dispersion, as well as the gathering, was still future. When our Lord came, they had migrated westward. Greece, Italy, Asia minor, were full of them; and from all they were gathered. All Paul’s Epistles written to named Churches, were written to Churches formed from converts in the West. In all these countries God would gather His one people, His Church, not of “the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles” Rom 9:24, grafted into them, as our Lord said, “I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and from the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven; but the children of the kingdom (the unbelieving Jews, who were not the remnant) shall be cast out into outer darkness” Mat 8:11-12.

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

Sun, from Chaldea and the islands. This chiefly regards the Christian Church. (Calmet) --- Assyria and Chaldea lay to the north. The promises are too great for the synagogue. (Worthington)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Thus saith the Lord of hosts: here again God engageth his almighty power to make good his promise.

Behold; consider well what power is to do this.

I will save my people, bring them safe,

from the east country; Persia and Media, which lay east from Jerusalem, and, being now masters of Babylon and the captive Jews, they are said to be brought out of the east, though otherwhiles they are brought out of the north; both very consistent.

And from the west country: no doubt some of the Jews were carried westward; the trade of selling men was known in those days, and Tyre is noted and threatened for it by Ezekiel, Eze 27:13, beside other sea-towns west of Canaan, which would be ready to buy captive Jews, and convey them westward. But if this promise should look to the Roman empire, and secure the Jews a return from that captivity, it is plain how their empire lay west from the Jews. Or perhaps it is a synecdoche, these two parts of the world mentioned, but all parts intended, as Psa 1:1; 113:3; Mal 1:11.

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

7, 8. There will be a restoration more extensive than the return of 537.

My people — The Jews still in exile (compare Zec_2:6 ff.; Isa_43:5-6; Jer_30:10).

East… west — Literally, rising and setting of the sun. Only two points of the compass are mentioned, though the prophet expects a return from all quarters of the globe (compare Psa_50:1; Mal_1:11). All the returning exiles will flock to Jerusalem, the dwelling place of Jehovah, there to worship him as their God (see on Mic_4:1-4; Hos_2:23). The restoration to fellowship will be sealed with a new covenant (Jer_30:22).

In truth and in righteousness — See on Hos_2:19-20.

Message of encouragement and admonition, 9-17.

After picturing the future in such glowing colors the prophet turns with words of encouragement to his contemporaries, who might be tempted to lose heart. True, they have suffered much, but now Jehovah is thinking “to do good unto Jerusalem and to Judah” (9-15), if they will keep his commandments (16, 17).

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

God promises to bring his dispersed people home again a promise only yet partially fulfilled. My people. A title of honour. (comp. Hos_2:23) From the east country, and from the west country. Two regions are named, symbols of the whole world. (comp. Psa_50:1 Mal_1:11) The return of the captives from Babylon was a prelude of the future restoration of the dispersed, when all Israel shall be saved. (Rom_11:26) (See a similar promise, Isa_43:5, 6 Joh_11:52)

Vers. 7, 8. A twofold Divine restoration.

"Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Behold, I will save my people "out of the land of the rising and the land of the setting" (Keil) from the cast country, and from the west country; and I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness." "The east and the west are here put as parts for the whole. The meaning is, "I will deliver my people from regions whither they have been scattered." Were there any reason to believe that the prophecy has respect to a restoration of the Jews yet future, there would be a singular propriety in the use of awObm vmVh, "the setting of the sun," the Jews being now, for the most part, found in countries to the west of Jerusalem; but there is every reason to conclude that it has an exclusive reference to what was to take place soon after it was delivered. Vast numbers were carried away captive after the time of Alexander. Not fewer than a hundred thousand were carried by Ptolemy, and were settled in Alexandria and Cyrene" (Henderson). We shall use these words as suggesting a twofold Divine restoration temporal and spiritual.

I HERE IS A DIVINE TEMPORAL RESTORATION. "And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem." There is no sound reason for believing that the people here mentioned as those that were brought "from the east country and from the west" refer to the Jews in the far future, who, some suppose, will be restored to Jerusalem at last. I know of no authority lop supposing that such a restoration will ever be effected. Nor does the passage point, I think, to the universal conversion of the Jews to Christianity in the last times. The reference is manifestly to those Jews who had been scattered abroad over various countries through the Babylonian Captivity, and other disastrous causes. The point is that the restoration here promised is a temporal restoration to their own land and city. They had been exiled for many long years, and deeply did they deplore in a foreign land their expatriation. "By the rivers of Babylon we sat down," etc. The Almighty by Cyrus restored them. And he is constantly restoring his people to those temporal blessings they have lost. He restores often

(1) to lost health;

(2) to lost property;

(3) to lost social status.

He is the temporal Restorer of his people. In all their distresses he bids them look to him. "Call upon me in the day of trouble," etc.

II HERE IS A DIVINE SPIRITUAL RESTORATION, "And they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness." This may mean, "I will become their God in good faith, or in reality, both on their side and mine." This is incomparably the most important restoration. In truth, all temporal restorations are of no permanent value without this. Observe:

1. Man may lose his God. He may be without "God in the world." Indeed, the millions are in this state. "They feel after him, if haply they may find him.

2. The loss of God is the greatest toss. A man separated from God is like a branch separated from the root, a river from the fountain, a planet from the sun.

3. Restoration to God is the transcendent good. He who can say, "The Lord is my Portion" possesseth all things. This restoration the Almighty is effecting now in the world. "He is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. D.T.

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

The east-country - Persia and Media, which lay east from Jerusalem, and were now masters of Babylon.

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