VII. Zechariah's Later Exhortations and Predictions. In chapters 7 and
8, which conclude the original sermons of Zechariah, the apocalyptic
language with which he clothed his earlier predictions regarding the
future of the Judean community disappeared, and he spoke as did Amos and
Haggai, plainly and directly regarding the questions which were then
stirring the people. When a deputation came from the north to inquire
whether or not, now that the temple was being rebuilt, they should
continue to observe their fasts in memory of the destruction of Jerusalem
and the death of Gedaliah, the prophet raised the searching question of
whether their motive in these services was to please Jehovah or to please
themselves. He then went on to declare that the only effective way to
serve Jehovah was by deeds of justice and kindness, especially to the
dependent classes in the community, and that the horrors of the exile had
come because their fathers had failed to worship Jehovah by righteous
deeds.

The prophet concludes with a brilliant picture of the coming restoration
of Jerusalem and of the peace and prosperity which should be the lot of
all, because Jehovah was about to gather his scattered people from the
east and the west and to establish them in the midst of his sacred city.
Other nations should eagerly come to Jerusalem to seek the favor of
Jehovah and to ally themselves with his faithful followers, the Jews. In a
prophecy, preserved in Micah 4:1-4 and Isaiah 2:1-4 (which probably comes
from this period) the same thought is nobly expressed:

It shall come to pass in the latter days,
That the mountain of Jehovah shall be established,
Even the house of our God on the top of the mountain,
And it shall be lifted above the hills.