NOTES for Zec 7:14
Today, as throughout history, much is said and has been said about the Jewish people's right to the land God gave them. Indeed, anyone who reads the Bible attentively and without prejudice will see quite clearly that the land of Israel belongs to only one people, God's people, to whom God gave it… to possess? As unconditional property? Here begins the historical conflict discussed at length in those same biblical books. Already the Pentateuch, in effect, denies God's people an unconditional and unlimited right to the land He gave them: the Torah explicitly links that right to observance of the covenant previously made with God. Strictly speaking, what is at issue is not ownership but potentially indefinite use, which can nevertheless be restricted, even to the point of the people's being entirely deprived of the land they received from God if they break the covenant. Yet the paradox is that the land God gave His people to use is designated by God Himself as holy land.
According to the general meaning of the traditional biblical understanding of what is holy, sacred and sanctified, what is holy can belong only to God and to those He has sanctified, as He sanctified His people by His presence. Only a people sanctified by God can possess a land sanctified by God; only such a unity of people and land can be spiritually fitting. That is why no other people can be the true and rightful master of the land God prepared for His people. This does not, of course, in itself mean that it cannot fall under the power of another people, like any other land in a fallen world torn by wars and struggles for territory. Yet this can happen only if God's people violate the terms of their covenant with Him and cease to be God's people to the extent that they violate that covenant. God does not turn away from His people even when the people turn away from their God. But they lose their right to what is holy, and, at its furthest extent, the loss of that right means the destruction of the Temple—God's house, sanctified by God Himself—and the loss of the land, the exile of which the prophet reminds his fellow countrymen.
The land then falls into desolation: for God cannot give it to another people, while His own people prove spiritually unready to become its true master and guardian. The land turns into a wilderness and awaits its time. It waits for the people God intended for it to become worthy of it once more.