Charles Ellicott Commentary Zechariah 9:8

"And I will encamp about my house against the army, that none pass through or return; and no oppressor shall pass through them any more: for now have I seen with mine eyes." — Zechariah 9:8 (ASV)

Amid all these dangers, Israel is promised, under Divine protection, a certain immunity.

Because of the army. —This is the meaning of the word as pointed in the Hebrew text, but some, altering the vocalization, would render it “as a garrison;” and others, as the Septuagint translates it, “a column.”

Him that passeth ... returneth. —Pusey refers these words directly to “Alexander, who passed by with his army on the way to Egypt, and returned, having founded Alexandria,” but this appears to us to be too special an application of an expression that occurs in a general sense in Zechariah 7:14; Exodus 32:27; and Ezekiel 35:7. The promise, however, was undoubtedly fulfilled when Alexander entered Jerusalem, prostrated himself before the high priest, and treated the Jews with peculiar favor.

Oppressor. —This is the same word that is used in Zechariah 10:4. (Compare Isaiah 3:12 and Isaiah 60:17.)

Have I seen. —Compare Exodus 3:7. In the estimation of the person of little faith, God only sees when He actively interferes.