"Take Hold Of The Skirt .... Of A Jew"

In Zechariah 8:23, the phrase, “take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew” is a very interesting phrase. The “skirt” of a Jew was one that had a fringe and blue ribbon upon it (Numbers 15:38; Deuteronomy 22:12) and was a distinguishing badge of a Jew.

The idea here presented, is that the Gentiles shall eagerly seek to share the religious privileges of the Jew. This was fulfilled in Acts 13:44-52 when the Jews angrily rejected God’s Word (Acts 13:44-45) and the Gentiles gladly accepted and were obedient to God’s Word (Acts 13:48).

Zechariah 8:18-23 is a prediction of the establishment of the Lord’s church (kingdom) and the reign of Christ over His kingdom (church) beginning at Jerusalem (Zechariah 8:22; cf. Luke 24:46-47; Acts 1:8; Acts 2).

The same prediction is in Isaiah 2:1-4; Micah 4:1-5. It is the kingdom the prophet Daniel saw in his prediction of the kingdom that was to “stand for ever” (Daniel 2:44).

Some of the characteristics of that spiritual kingdom are described by Paul in Romans 14:17 — some of the same characteristics as the fruit of the Spirit produces (Gal. 5:22-23; Ephesians 5:9).

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets