8 I will camp around My house Because of the army, Because of him who passes by and him who returns. No more shall an oppressor pass through them, For now I have seen with My eyes.
This verse emphasizes Jehovah’s return to the Temple in Jerusalem.
8 I will camp around My house [Israel] Because of the army, Because of him who passes by and him who returns.
Jehovah would return to Jerusalem to protect His people from the nations who tried to keep the Jews from building the Temple (Ps 34:7). Alexander passed by and returned to Jerusalem several times.
The first part of the verse was fulfilled in history. Alexander asked Jaddua, the Jewish high priest, to pay the taxes Israel usually rendered to the Persians. Jaddua refused to break Israel’s agreement with Persia. Alexander proceeded to march against Jerusalem after the fall of Tyre and Gaza. God gave the high priest a dream to go outside the city to welcome Alexander, which he did. Instead of attacking the city, Alexander honored Jaddua’s God. The conqueror said that he had had a dream like this while still in Macedonia, Greece.
No more shall an oppressor pass through [overrun] them, For now I have seen with My eyes.
God protected Jerusalem from Alexander’s laying siege against it. Alexander passed through the city a few times but never tried to conquer it because it was under divine protection. The ultimate fulfillment of this passage is the second advent of Christ to earth, where Christ will become King Jesus, King of the world.
PRINCIPLE:
The conquests of Alexander were but the pledge of a future, more excellent protection for the nation Israel.
APPLICATION:
Verse 8 climaxes with the Messiah’s triumph over the nations of the world. God promised that Jerusalem and Judea would be spared by His providential hand. Alexander the Great fulfilled Zechariah 9:1-8 by conquests after his war with Darius, the Persian, in the battle of Issus in 333 BC.
While Alexander spared Jerusalem, the Seleucid Greeks ruled the city in the future. It was profaned by Antiochus Epiphanes IV (168 BC). The Romans would yet later attack the city and destroy its Temple in 70AD. That is why Israel will need a future King to rule not only Israel but the entire world.
