NOTES for Zec 8:16-17

Through the prophet Zechariah the Lord calls the people after their return from captivity to trust His blessing and to labor. "Do not be afraid!" is the key phrase of the whole eighth chapter, expressing the prophet's faith that the ways of the Lord, however inscrutable they may be, draw the human being toward salvation and life. In verses 14-17, again repeating the call "Do not be afraid!", the Lord says something exceptionally important and unexpected. All His preceding words can be understood as a call to persistent labor on the building of the Second Temple, if one remains within the frame of the historical context. But the Word of God does not leave us this possibility. "These are the things that you shall do," says the Lord. One expects here a list of architectural details of the Temple's construction... But it turns out that the heart must be applied to an entirely different labor: "speak the truth to one another; judge with truth and peace at your gates. Let none of you think evil in his heart against his neighbor."

So the creative labor by which we are called to participate in God's saving action consists in judging according to truth, loving peace, and not thinking evil against one's neighbor. First, these words immediately broaden the context of the prophecy: from a word of consolation to the Jerusalemites at the end of the sixth century B.C., they become a promise of the Kingdom of the age to come. Second, almost for the first time in the Old Covenant, God's rejection of evil is so clearly extended not only to actions but also to human thoughts. Clearly, in this too there is a foretaste of the New Covenant. Finally, it is important that the Lord calls people to this work of truth, peace, and mercy for a definite reason expressed in negative form. One must not think evil against one's neighbor or love a false oath because God hates all this. Such a calling to likeness to God is also one of the essential features of the New Covenant.