e hear a lot about social justice these days. The topic is huge and there are myriad things that could be said about it. I am zeroing in on only one.

In the Old Testament book of Zechariah, Chapter 8:4-5, we find these words, “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Once again old men and women will walk Jerusalem’s streets with their canes and will sit together in the city squares. And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls at play” (NLT).

When I studied Zechariah in an inductive Bible class, my study leader quoted a man by the name of Speers whose words she found in her Expository Bible Commentary. This man said, “Too often men measure a city’s significance by its businesses, professions, industry, its buildings, its wealth, its art and culture. Zechariah suggests we measure the significance of our cities by their effect upon two groups easily overlooked—the old and the young.”

Studylight.org has this observation: “[D]uring the destruction of Jerusalem both of these groups of Israelites had suffered greatly (Lamentations 2:21). In other words, Jerusalem would become a place of tranquility, long life, peace, prosperity, and security for even the most defenseless of her citizens (cf. Isaiah 65:20-25). These conditions await the return of Jesus Christ at His second coming.

“In one of the most amazing and challenging statements about measurement of the health of society, Zechariah suggests that we look at the place the old and the young have in that society”

This, then, is at least one measure of how our city, state, or nation is doing with regards to social justice: how are our very young and very old faring?