Zechariah 8:1Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He raises a lament against the harshness of the Babylonians, who, surpassing all limits of wickedness, did what the Lord Himself had not desired: for He had explicitly stated, “For I have angered them a little, but they have laid hold on the wicked.” Thus, “I was jealous for Jerusalem,” meaning He expressed His zeal for it, “and with great fury I was jealous for it.” In essence, He declared that the Babylonians would face more severe afflictions than those they had imposed on others, and upon such ruthless destroyers, I will unleash My wrath. This was realized through Christ; for out of compassion for us, lost in despair, and in a fervent love for the Church, He liberated us from the dominion of the forces of darkness and their chief madness, rescuing His faithful followers from their cruelty.

The Lord took Jerusalem, symbolizing His people Israel, as if they were a bride, covering her in the garments of His love and healing her from the blood of idolatry, as a husband would cherish his wife, as explained more fully in Ezekiel (Ezekiel 16:6-12). However, she, having been nourished with the finest flour, oil, and honey, dressed in exquisite attire and adorned with precious jewels by the generosity of her Husbandman, betrayed Him by committing infidelity with the Assyrians and Chaldeans. The Lord remarked, “As a woman despises her husband, so the house of Israel has despised Me” (Jeremiah 3:20). Captured and led astray by her lovers, she lost her former beauty; remembering her past joy in sorrow, she sighed, I will return to my former husband, for I was better off then than I am now (Hosea 2:7). The Lord welcomed her back and proclaimed: I was zealous for Zion with a fervent jealousy and was indignant towards him whom I once assured, I will not be angry with you, and my jealousy will leave you (Ezekiel 16:42). My prior anger was intense because she had been sullied by her many lovers and dishonored my union; I gave her over to her adulterous lovers, not as a married woman but as an unfaithful maid, a worthless slave, subject to mistreatment in disloyal homes. Yet the love I display now, in returning to her because she has repented and rebuilt my temple, is immense – there I will dwell among her. The city of truth, once known as the city of falsehood, shall be recognized anew, as described in Isaiah: truth has fallen asleep, or slumbered therein, and now it is filled with murderers (Isaiah 1:21). It will be called the holy mountain of the Lord Almighty, for on this mountain, after the temple is restored, sacrifices will be made, and worship conducted according to their order. Historically, it is understood that Zion and Jerusalem—places of divine contemplation—represent the hearts of believers, who, facing the Lord’s anger for their sins, are taken into captivity to learn about God through trials if they have not recognized Him through blessings. However, upon their repentance, the Lord will turn to Zion and reside among Jerusalem, indicating the same state, or the same city; where once sins reigned, now truth, embodied in Christ, will reside. The mountain of the Lord of Hosts shall be known as the holy mountain, as expressed: Those who hope in the Lord are like Mount Zion (Psalms 124:1), and, Great is the Lord, greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in His holy mountain (Psalms 47:2). Isaiah and Micah declare: In the latter days, the mountain of the Lord will be established as the highest among the mountains and exalted above the hills; all nations will stream to it, and many peoples will hurry there, saying, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob (Isaiah 2:2-3; Micah 4:1-2). The Apostle Paul also references this mountain and city in the sacred discourse: You have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to countless angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven (Hebrews 12:22-23), if the limits of the Latin language do not hinder us from embracing this epistle in light of the indisputable authority of the Greeks.