Then the word of Yahweh of Armies came to me, saying, “Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month for these seventy years, did you at all fast to me, really to me? When you eat, and when you drink, don’t you eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves? Aren’t these the words which Yahweh proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and its cities around her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?’ ”
Yahweh’s word came to Zechariah, saying, “Thus has Yahweh of Armies spoken, saying, ‘Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother. Don’t oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.’ But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear. Yes, they made their hearts as hard as flint, lest they might hear the law, and the words which Yahweh of Armies had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from Yahweh of Armies. It has come to pass that, as he called, and they refused to listen, so they will call, and I will not listen,” said Yahweh of Armies; “but I will scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after them, so that no man passed through nor returned: for they made the pleasant land desolate.”
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 Here the Prophet tells us that he was sent…
Here the Prophet tells us that he was sent to the people and to the priests, not so much to teach the messengers who came from distant lands, as to correct the vices of his own nation; for the Jews had then begun, according to their usual manner, to dissemble with God, and had glided, as it has elsewhere appeared, into many evil practices. And it appears evident, that God did not commit to Zechariah what the messengers might bring back to Chaldea; but that an occasion was taken to remind the Jews, that they were to look to themselves. It may have been the case, that the priests themselves and all the rest had begun to raise a controversy, “How is this? our brethren inquire, whether the fast is to be still observed:” and the opinions might have been various. But as this is doubtful, I leave it as such. We however see that the Prophet does not speak here respecting the captives, nor does he address to their messengers anything which they might convey to Chaldea, but turns his discourse to the priests and to the people. The sum of the whole is, that while the captives gave no mean testimony of their religion, God reproved the Jews, who had returned to their own country, for ingratitude, as they had already begun to pollute themselves.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 14 For there were both of the people, and of…
For there were both of the people, and of the Priests, which doubted as touching this controversy, besides them which as yet remained in Chaldea, and reason of it, as of one of the chief points of their religion.
For they thought they had deserved toward God because of this fast, which they invented of themselves: and though fasting of itself be good, yet because they thought it a service toward God, and trusted therein, it is here reproved.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv4–14 Zec 7:4 Then came the word of the LORD…
Zec 7:4 Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me, saying,
Ver. 4. Then came the word of the Lord of hosts] This is often prefaced, for authority’s sake; and to procure audience and reverence. The Lord God hath spoken, who can but be affected? See that ye despise not him that speaketh from heaven. The angel, Mat 28:7, useth no other argument to assure the women of the truth of what he had told them but this, "Lo, I have told you."
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv4–14 Then, when these men had proposed their case, and…
Then, when these men had proposed their case, and expected the priests’ answer,
came the word of the Lord; an answer from God, which follows in the 7th and 8th chapters of this book at large.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v8 What was said Zac 7:7, that they should have…
What was said Zac 7:7, that they should have heard the words of the former prophets, is here enlarged upon, for warning to these hypocritical enquirers, who continued their sins when they asked with great preciseness whether they should continue their fasts. This prophet had before put them in mind of their fathers' disobedience to the calls of the prophets, and what was the consequence of it (Zac 1:4-6), and now here again; for others' harms should be our warnings. God's judgments upon Israel of old for their sins were written for admonition to us Christians (Co1 10:11), and the same use we should make of similar providences in our own day.
I. This prophet here repeats the heads of the sermons which the former prophets preached to their fathers (Zac 7:9, Zac 7:10), because the very same things were required of them now. "Thus does the Lord of hosts speak to you now, and thus he did speak to your fathers, saying, Execute true judgment." The duties here required of them, which would have been the lengthening of the tranquillity of their fathers and must be the restoring of their tranquillity, are not keeping fasts and offering sacrifices, but doing justly and loving mercy, duties which they were bound to by the light and law of nature, though there had been no prophets sent to insist upon them, duties which had a direct tendency to the public welfare and peace, and which they themselves would be the gainers by, and not God. 1. Magistrates must administer justice impartially, according to the maxims of the law and the merits of the cause, without respect of persons: "Judge judgment of truth, and execute it when you have judged it." 2. Neighbours must have a tender concern for one another, and must not only do one another no wrong, but must be ready to do one another all the good offices that lie in their power. They must show mercy and compassion every man to his brother, as the case called for it. The infirmities of others, as well as their calamities, are to be looked upon with compassion. Hanc veniam petimusque damusque vicissim - This kindness we ask and exercise. 3. They must not bear hard upon those whom they have advantage against, and who, they know, are not able to help themselves. They must not, either in commerce or in course of law, oppress the widow, the fatherless, the stranger, and the poor, Zac 7:10. The weakest must not be thrust to the wall because they are weakest. No thanks to men not to deny right to those who are in a capacity to demand it and recover it; but we must, not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake, give those their own who have not power to force it from us. Or it intimates that that which is but exactness with others is exaction upon the widows and the fatherless; nay, that not relieving and helping them as we ought is, in effect, oppressing them. 4. They must not only not do wrong to any, but they must not so much as desire it nor think of it: "Let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart. Do not project it; do not wish it; nay do not so much as please yourself with the fancy of it." The law of God lays a restraint upon the heart, and forbids the entertaining, forbids the admitting, of a malicious, spiteful, ill-natured thought. Deu 15:9, Beware that there be not a thought in thy Belial heart against thy brother.
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II. He describes the wilfulness and disobedience of their fathers, who persisted in all manner of wickedness and injustice, notwithstanding these exhortations and admonitions frequently given them in God's name; various expressions to this purport are here heaped up (Zac 7:11, Zac 7:12), setting forth the stubbornness of that carnal mind which is enmity against God, and is not in subjection to the law of God, neither indeed can be. They were obstinate and refractory, and persisted in their transgressions of the law purely from a spirit of contradiction to the law. 1. They would not, if they could help it, come within hearing of the prophets, but kept at a distance; or, if they could not avoid hearing what they said, yet they resolved they would not heed it: They refused to hearken, and looked another way as if they had not been spoken to. 2. If they did hear what was said to them, and, as it seemed, inclined at first to comply with it, yet they flew off when it came to the setting to, and, like a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke, they pulled away the shoulder, and would not submit to the easy yoke and the light burden of God's commandments. They gave a withdrawing shoulder (so the word is); they seemed to lay their shoulder to the work, but they presently withdrew it again, as those Jer 34:10, Jer 34:11. They were like a deceitful bow, as that son that said, I go, sir, but went not. 3. They filled their own minds with prejudices against the word of God, and had some objection or other ready wherewith to fortify themselves against every sermon they heard. They stopped their ears, that they should not hear, as the deaf adder (Psa 58:4), and none are so deaf as those that will not hear, that make their own ear heavy, as the word is. 4. They resolved that nothing which was said to them, for the enforcing of these injunctions, should make any impression upon them: They made their hearts as an adamant-stone, as a diamond, the hardest of stones to be wrought upon, or as a flint, which the mason cannot hew into shape as he can other stone out of the quarry. Nothing is so hard, so unmalleable, so inflexible, as the heart of a presumptuous sinner; and those whose hearts are hard may thank themselves; they are of their own hardening, and it is just with God to give them over to a reprobate sense, to the hardness and impenitence of their own hearts. These stubborn sinners hardened their hearts on purpose lest they should hear what God said to them by the written word, by the law of Moses, and by the words of the prophets that preached to them; they had Moses and the prophets, but resolved they would hear neither, nor would they have been persuaded though one had been sent to them from the dead. The words of the prophet were not regarded by them, though they were words which the Lord of hosts sent and directed to them, though he sent them immediately by his Spirit in the prophets; so that in despising them they affronted God himself and resisted the Holy Ghost. Note, The reason why men are not good is because they will not be so; they will not consider, will not comply; and therefore, if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.
III. He shows the fatal consequences of it to their fathers: Therefore came great wrath from the Lord of hosts. God was highly displeased with them, and justly; he required nothing of them but what was reasonable in itself and beneficial to them; and yet they refused, and in a most insolent manner too. What master could bear to be so abused by his own servant? Such an implacable enmity to the gospel as this was to the law and the prophets was that which brought wrath to the uttermost upon the last generation of the Jewish church, Th1 2:16. Great sins against the Lord of hosts, whose authority is incontestable, bring great wrath from the Lord of hosts, whose power is irresistible. And the effect was, 1. As they had turned a deaf ear to God's word, so God turned a deaf ear to their prayers, Zac 7:13. As he cried to them in their prosperity to leave their sins, and they would not hear, but persisted in their iniquities, so they cried to him in the day of their trouble to remove his judgments, and he would not hear, but lengthened out their calamities. Those that set God at defiance, in the height of their pride, when pangs came upon them cried unto him. Lord, in trouble have they visited thee. But God has said it, and will abide by it, He that turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be an abomination, Pro 28:9; Pro 1:24, etc. Iniquity, regarded in the heart, will certainly spoil the success of prayer, Psa 66:18. 2. As they flew off from their duty and allegiance to God, and were of desultory and unsettled spirits, so God dissipated them and threw them about as chaff before a whirlwind: He scattered them among all the nations whom they knew not, and whom therefore they could not expect to receive any kindness from, Zac 7:14. 3. As they violated all the laws of their land, so God took away all the glories of it: Their land was desolate after them, and no man passed through or returned. All that country that was the kingdom of the two tribes, after the dispersion of the remaining Jews, upon the slaughter of Gedaliah, was left utterly uninhabited; there was not man, woman, or child, in it, till the Jews returned at the end of seventy years' captivity; nay, it should seem, the very roads that lay through the country were deserted (none passed or repassed), which, as it had an intimation of mercy in it (though they were cast out of it, yet it was kept empty for their return), so for the present it made the judgment appear much the more dismal; for what a horrid wilderness must a land be that had been so many years uninhabited! And they might thank themselves; it was they that by their own wickedness laid the pleasant land desolate. It was not so much the Chaldeans that did it. No; they did it themselves. The desolations of a land are owing to the wickedness of its inhabitants, Psa 107:34. This came of their wilful disobedience to the law of God. And the present generation saw how desolate sin had made that pleasant land, and yet would not take warning.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv4–12 Then came the word of the Lord of hosts…
Then came the word of the Lord of hosts unto me, saying. Upon the sending of this embassy, and upon putting this question.
Then came the word of the Lord of hosts unto me, saying. Upon the sending of this embassy, and upon putting this question.
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Zechariah 7:5
zac 7:5
zac 7:5
zac 7:5Speak unto all the people of the land,.... Of Judea, who had sent these men on this errand, and whom they represented, and in whose name they spake:
and to the priests; who were consulted on this occasion:
saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth; on the seventh or tenth day of the fifth month Ab, on account of the temple being burnt by Nebuchadnezzar:
and seventh month; the month Tisri, which answers to September; on the third day of this month a fast was kept on account of the murder of Gedaliah, Jer 41:1 though Kimchi says he was slain on the first day of the month; but, because that was a feast day, keeping a day for a fast on this occasion was fixed on the day following:
even those seventy years; of their captivity, during which they kept the above fasts. The Jews say (w) there was no fast of the congregation, or public fast, kept in Babylon, but on the ninth of Ab, or the fifth month only; and if so, other fasts here, and in Zac 8:19, must be private ones. These seventy years are to be reckoned from the nineteenth of Nebuchadnezzar, when the city was destroyed, to the second or fourth of Darius:
did ye at all fast unto me, even to me? the fast they kept was not according to the command of God, but an appointment of theirs; nor was it directed to his glory; nor was it any profit or advantage to him; and therefore it was nothing to him whether they fasted or not; see Isa 58:3.
(w) T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 54. 2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 Unto all the people - By their messengers. And…
Unto all the people - By their messengers. And seventh - For the murder of Gedaliah, slain by Ishmael. Even to me - You pleased yourselves in it, not me; you wept more for the inconveniences of the thing than the sinfulness of it.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 Verse 5. When ye fasted and mourned in the…
Verse 5. When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth - month] This they did in the remembrance of the burning of the temple, on the tenth day of that month; and on the seventh month, on the third of which month they observed a fast for the murder of Gedaliah, and the dispersion of the remnant of the people which were with him. See Jer 41:1, and 2Kg 25:25.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv4, 7, 9, 13 Zec 7:4-6. Then came the word of the Lord…
Zec 7:4-6. Then came the word of the Lord unto me — When these men had proposed their case, and were expecting the priests’ answer, God commissioned his prophet to give them the answer contained in the subsequent part of this and in the following chapter; saying, Speak unto all the people of the land — Let all the people in general, and not only those who have proposed the question, know what I am now about to say to thee, in answer to it. When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month — “The Jews not only observed those fasts which were instituted by God himself, but likewise added others, in commemoration of great calamities. The exiled Jews instituted four of these fasts; one in the fourth month, (June 17,) in commemoration of the breach of the wall, mentioned Jer 52:7; one in the fifth month, (July 4,) in commemoration of the burning of the temple, Jer 52:12; one in the seventh month, (September 3,) for the murdering of Gedaliah, Jer 41:2; and one in the tenth month, (December 4,) in commemoration of the beginning of the siege, 2Ki 25:1. These fasts were observed, not only in their captivity, but likewise in Judea, between the reigns of Cyrus and Darius the son of Hystaspes; the Jews therefore, as we have remarked, particularly inquired concerning the observation of the fast on account of the burning of the temple, because that temple was now rebuilding; for they might doubt whether it was not improper to retain it any longer, as the reason had ceased which gave rise to it; or, whether the commemoration of past calamities was not of great utility to the morals of mankind.” See Grotius, and Calmet’s Dictionary on the word FASTS. Did ye fast at all unto me — Blayney renders it, Did ye fast any fastings of mine? Or, Did ye fast my fastings, mine? When ye fasted, were those fastings observed as mine, my ordinances? No: you did not fast with an intention to obey me, or from religious motives, and with sincere purposes of repentance and reformation. You lamented more the losses, inconveniences, and miseries you suffered, than the sinfulness of your conduct which brought these calamities upon you. And when ye did eat, did ye not eat for yourselves? — Did you not seek your own pleasure and convenience, and not my glory? I was as little regarded by you in your fasts as in your feasts.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv5–14 Speak unto all the people of the land -…
Speak unto all the people of the land - They of Bethel had spoken as one man, as Edom said to Israel, “Thou shalt not pass by me” Num 20:18; and “the men of Israel said to the Hivite; Perhaps thou dwellest in the midst of me, and how shall I make a league with thee?” Jos 9:7. God gives the answer not to them only, but to all like-minded with them, “all the people of the land,” the whole population (in our language); as Jeremiah says, “ye and your fathers, your kings and your princes and all the people of the land” Jer 44:21, and, “the scribe who mustered the people of the land.” Jer 52:25.
When ye fasted and that, mourning - It was no mere abstinence from food (severe as the Jewish fasts were, one unbroken abstinence from evening to evening) but with real mourning, the word being used only of mourning for the dead (Gen 23:2; Gen 50:10; 1Sa 25:1; 1Sa 28:3; 2Sa 1:12; 2Sa 3:31; 2Sa 11:26; 1Ki 13:29-30; 1Ki 14:13, 1Ki 14:18; Ecc 12:5; Jer 16:4-6; Jer 22:18; (twice); Jer 25:33; Jer 34:5; Eze 24:16, Eze 24:23; Zec 12:10, Zec 12:12), or, in a few instances, , for a very great public calamity; probably with beating on the breast.
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In the seventh month - The murder of Gedaliah, “whom the king of Babylon made governor of the land,” completed the calamities of Jerusalem, in the voluntary, but prohibited exile to Egypt, for fear lest the murder should be avenged on them Jer. 41–43.
Did ye at all fast unto Me, Me? - God emphatically rejects such fasting as their’s had been, as something, unutterably alien from Him, “to Me, Me!” Yet the fasting and mourning had been real, but irreligious, like remorse for ill-deeds, which has self only for its ground. He prepares the way for His answer by correcting the error of the question. Osorius: “Ye fasted to yourselves, not to Me. For ye mourned your sorrows, not your misdeeds; and your public fast was undertaken, not for My glory, but out of feeling for your own grief. But nothing can be pleasing to God, which is not referred to His glory. But those things alone can be referred to His glory, which are done with righteousness and devotion.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 Years, from the ruin of the temple till the…
Years, from the ruin of the temple till the fourth of Darius. --- Unto me? Did you grieve for the injury done to me; or was your sorrow caused by your own loss? The prophet gives not a direct answer; but sufficiently shews that exterior works of themselves are of little value. Whether the Jews entered into his sentiments or not, they still observe these fasts, though he said they should be changed into days of rejoicing, chap. viii. 19. (Calmet) --- The fast was good, but imperfect, wanting works of charity. (St. Gregory) (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 Speak unto all--The question had been asked in the…
Speak unto all--The question had been asked in the name of the people in general by Sherezer and Regemmelech. The self-imposed fast they were tired of, not having observed it in the spirit of true religion.
seventh month--This fast was in memory of the murder of Gedaliah and those with him at Mizpah, issuing in the dispersion of the Jews (Kg2 25:25-26; Jer 41:1-3).
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did ye . . . fast unto me?--No; it was to gratify yourselves in hypocritical will-worship. If it had been "unto Me," ye would have "separated yourselves" not only from food, but from your sins (Isa 58:3-7). They falsely made the fast an end intrinsically meritorious in itself, not a means towards God's glory in their sanctification. The true principle of piety, reference to God, was wanting: hence the emphatic repetition of "unto Me." Before settling questions as to the outward forms of piety (however proper, as in this case), the great question was as to piety itself; that being once settled, all their outward observances become sanctified, being "unto the Lord" (Rom 14:6).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv4, 7 Fasting not an essential element of true religion, 4-6.
Fasting not an essential element of true religion, 4-6.
The new revelation (Zec_7:4 ff.; see on Zec_1:1) has to do with this inquiry. 5.
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Unto all the people — All were interested in the fast, hence all would be interested in the prophet’s teaching.
The priests — They were always the conservatives, the prophets the progressives; the former were prone to emphasize the letter of the law, the latter the spirit, and because they were not bound to the letter they were able to lead the people into new and higher truth, though in doing this they frequently encountered the most bitter opposition of the priests. The new message had to do with the spirit of the law; therefore it was only natural that it should pass from the prophet to the priests, who in turn might pass it on to the people. We have here an illustration of a fact noted by Beecher, “The record represents the prophets as the medium through which the torah is given from the deity; the priests as the official custodians and administrators of the torah; and both as the expounders and interpreters of torah.”
The… seventh month — The third day of this month was observed as a day of fasting and mourning in commemoration of the murder of Gedaliah (2Ki_25:25-26; Jer_41:1 ff.).
Fifth — See on Zec_7:3.
Seventy years — In round numbers, seventy years had elapsed since the fall of the city.
Did ye at all fast unto me — Was the fast observed as a means of grace by which the people drew closer to God? Was Jehovah benefited in any way by their fasting? The pronoun is repeated for the sake of emphasis (Hag_1:4). 6.
Did not ye eat for yourselves — Eating is of value only to the eater. Jehovah derives no benefit either from their fasting or their feasting, but they should know whether or not the one or the other is useful to them.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14 4–7. The Answer. First Section
4–7. The Answer. First Section
5. seventh month] This fast appears to have been observed during the captivity, because in the seventh month “the murder of Gedaliah, whom the king of Babylon made governor of the land, completed the calamities of Jerusalem, in the voluntary but prohibited exile to Egypt, for fear lest the murder should be avenged on them.” Pusey. See 2Ki_25:25-26; Jeremiah 41-43.
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even to me] For the emphatic repetition of the pronoun comp. Hag_1:4 and note.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13 (4-7) The people (as in Isa_58:3-8) are rebuked for…
(4-7) The people (as in Isa_58:3-8) are rebuked for the hypocritical, or merely formal, nature of their fasts. The prophet does not, even further on, give any direct answer to their inquiry. He seems to have wished to show them that fasting or not fasting was a matter of only secondary consideration. Their fasts were undertaken on account of their sufferings; their sufferings were caused by their sins. So, then, their sins were the origin of their fasts. Let them remove sin from their midst, then fasting would be unnecessary. “All stated fasts tend to degenerate into superstition, unless there is a strong counteracting agency. The original reference to God is lost in the mere outward act. . . . Selfishness is the bane of all true piety, as godliness is its essence” (Moore).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv4–14 Vers. 4-7. In answer to the inquiry, the delegates…
Vers. 4-7. In answer to the inquiry, the delegates are told that fasting is in itself an indifferent thing, but is to be estimated by the conduct of those who observe it.
Then came the word of the Lord. This formula marks the several portions of the answer to the inquiry (see ver. 8 Zec_8:1, Zec_8:18). The present verse takes up the sentence in ver. 1, interrupted by the explanation of the object of the deputation (vers. 2, 3).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv4, 7, 12, 13 Did ye at all fast unto Me, even to…
Zec_7:4-9
Did ye at all fast unto Me, even to Me?
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Rebuke of mere ceremonies
God had, through successive ages, exhorted the Jews to true repentance, and condemned their dissimulation, that they might not think that true religion was made up of fasting and of similar things. Fastings being of themselves of no moment, a beginning ought to be made with true religion and spiritual worship. When this question about the fast was raised by the captives, much disputing prevailed among the people. The Jews ever reverted to their old ways, being blindly attached to their frigid ceremonies, and thinking in this manner to propitiate God, so the prophet derides their preposterous labour and toil. See, he says, the only question now is, whether there should be fasting, as though this were the principal thing before God; in the meantime, godliness is neglected, and real calling on God; the whole of spiritual worship is also esteemed by you as nothing, and no integrity of life prevails: for ye bite one another, plunder one another, wrong one another, and are guilty of lying; ye heedlessly close your eyes to such vices as these; and at the same time, when fasting is neglected, ye think that the whole of religion falls to the ground. These are your old ways, and such were commonly the thoughts and doings of your fathers; and it appears evident that ye trifle with God, and that ye are full of deceits, and that there is not in you a particle of true religion. For God formerly spoke loudly in your ears, and His words were not obscure when He exhorted you by His prophets; He showed to you what true repentance was, but effected nothing. Is it not then quite evident that ye are now acting deceitfully, when ye so carefully inquire about fasting? This reproof was needful, in order more sharply to stimulate them; it was wholly necessary to discover their hypocrisy, that they might not be too much pleased with external performances. (John Calvin.)
Fasting
A question about the propriety of continuing the stated fasts under the altered circumstances of the people brings a delegation to the prophet to solve this doubt. The date of this transaction was two years after the symbolic visions of the preceding portion. But the Jewish people needed something more than information in regard to the continuance of this fast. The whole doctrine of fasting had become overlaid with an incrustation of formalism and superstition that needed to be broken up. Fasting had become not a means but an end, a mere form, as it is in Mohammedan and papal countries at this day, and had attached to it an opus operatum that wholly destroyed its real value. They thought that God must bless them, indeed was bound to bless them, if they rigidly observed these outward rites, whatever was their inward character. Thus formalism acted in the time of the restoration, precisely as it acted in every subsequent period of the Church; and before a mere question of ritual observance could be settled, it was important that their minds should be set right on the deeper questions of their spiritual relations with God. The prophet, instead of answering the question about the fast of the fifth month, proceeds to rebuke them for their selfish and stupid will worship, and their ignorance in regard to the whole subject of fasting, not only as to this, but as to all the stated fasts that they had been observing. (T. V. Moore, D. D.)
The self-centredness of fasting
It is not enough to fast. That may be a trick; there may be a way of doing it which robs it of all its virtue and of all its significance. God takes our ceremonies to pieces and says aloud, What is the meaning of all this--your church going and hymn singing, and apparently decent observance of religious ordinances? Is it in reality unto Me, or it is unto yourselves? Fasting is not postponed feasting. Yet this is what it has been turned into many times. Fasting has become a process by which we have got ready for eating. We have kept at it were on one side all the things we have abstained from, and then, when the fasting day was over, we transferred the whole of them to the table and gorged ourselves with the very things we had fasted from. That is not fasting. When you fast from your bread, you must give your bread away--Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry? Fasting is not to lock the cupboard where the bread is, and to say, We shall not want you today, but tomorrow about this time we shall be prepared for the feast. No, the loaf must be given away, and there must not be left one crust in the house. When we feast the poor, we truly fast ourselves. God will not have any other fasting. As for church going, what is the meaning of it? Is it to relieve the tedium of a dull night? Is it to hear something that will titillate the senses or momentarily please the fancy? Is it to get rid of something at home? Or does it express the spirit of adoration, the necessity of the souls immortality? Is it a coming to God because He is God? Is it worship, or a form of entertainment? The Lord thus searches into our ceremonies and says, What do they mean? So also with our feasting: the criticism of God is not partial: the judgment of heaven attends our banqueting and asks questions whilst the foaming goblet is in our hands. And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves? (Zec_7:6). But, O Thou loving God, Thou art also our Creator, and are we not so made that we cannot get away from ourselves? The Lord answers, Yes, you are so made: but you forget there is a second creation, a miracle called incarnation, and following upon that a sacrament called Pentecost, the Whit-tide of the Spirits descent, so that a man shall be himself, yet no longer himself, yea another self; God will give him another heart. If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is not his old self one whit, but a new creature, with new aspirations, new necessities, new desires, with the restlessness which leads to contentment, with the ambition that despises the constellations because they are too small for its religious capacity. You are right when you say, you cannot get away from yourselves, your prayers are selfish unless you take great heed to them; but if you be rooted in Christ, living branches in the living Vine, why then you shall perform this miracle of being yourself and yet not yourself; of the earth, yet of the heaven; standing upon the earth, yet having a celestial citizenship and franchise. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)
How to keep a truly religious fast
The inquiry of the text concerns the fast of the fifth month, which was observed as a sad remembrance of the destruction of the city and temple of Jerusalem. The exiles had three other fasts. Did they really serve any religious end and purpose? Did not the people content themselves with a mere external show and performance, without any inward affliction and humiliation of their souls, in order to a real repentance? Did they not still go on in their sins, nay, and add to them on these occasions, fasting for strife and debate and oppression? Were they not worse rather than better for them? And therefore God had no regard to them. Notwithstanding the outward solemnities of fasting and prayer, there was nothing of a religious fast; Did ye at all fast unto Me, even unto Me? The prophet Isaiah calls a true fast, the fast which God hath chosen, and an acceptable day to the Lord.
I. In general, what is it to fast unto God?
1. A truly religious fast consists in the afflicting of our bodies by a strict abstinence.
2. In the humble confession of our sins to God, with shame and confusion of face.
3. In an earnest deprecation of Gods displeasure, and humble supplications to Him that He would avert His judgments, and turn away His anger from us.
4. In intercession with God for such spiritual and temporal blessings upon ourselves and others as are needful and convenient.
5. In alms and charity to the poor, that our humiliation and prayers may find acceptance with God.
II. In particular what is the duty of a day of solemn national repentance and humiliation? Apply the above five essentials of a true fast to the particular circumstances of the day. (J. Tillotson, D. D.)
True and mistaken fasting
The prophet expostulates with the people concerning their monthly fasts, whether they did indeed deserve that name, and were not rather a mere show and pretence of a religious fast. It is necessary to consider the original and occasion of these monthly fasts. When carried into captivity, the Jews appointed four annual fasts. (Zec_8:19.) The question is,--Did these fasts truly serve to any religious end and purpose? Were not the people rather worse than better for them? They were sensible of the judgments of God which were broken in upon them, but they did not turn from their sins, but persisted still in their obstinacy and disobedience. These fasts could not therefore be acceptable to God.
I. What is it to keep a truly religious fast?
1. A truly religious fast consists in the afflicting of our bodies by a strict abstinence that so they may be fit and proper instruments to promote and help forward the grief and trouble of our minds.
2. In the humble confession of our sins to God with shame and confusion of face, and with a hearty contrition and sorrow for them.
3. In an earnest deprecation of Gods displeasure, and humble supplications to Him that He would avert His judgments and turn away His anger from us.
4. In intercession with God for such spiritual and temporal blessings upon ourselves and others as are needful and convenient.
5. In alms and charity to the poor, that our humiliation and prayers may find acceptance with God.
II. What is our duty on a day appointed for solemn humiliation and repentance throughout the nation?
1. We should humble ourselves before God everyone for his own personal sins and miscarriages, whereby he hath provoked God, and increased the public guilt, and done his part to bring down the judgments and vengeance of God upon the nation. There cannot be a general reformation without the reformation of particular persons which do constitute and make up the generality.
2. We should heartily lament and bewail the sins of others, especially the great and crying sins of the nation. This hath been the temper and practice of good men in all ages. Illustrate by Jeremiah, Lot, David, Daniel, Ezra, etc. We should lament and bewail the general prevalence of impiety and vice which has diffused itself through all ranks and degrees of men, magistrates, ministers, and people.
3. We should earnestly deprecate Gods displeasure, and make our humble supplications to Him, that He would be graciously pleased to avert those terrible judgments which hang over us, and which we have just cause to fear may fall on us; and that He would be entreated by us at last to be appeased towards us, and to turn from the fierceness of His anger.
4. We should pour out our most earnest supplications for the preservation of their majesties sacred persons.
5. Our fasting and humiliation should be accompanied with our alms and charity to the poor and needy.
6. We should prosecute our repentance and good resolutions to the actual reformation and amendment of our lives. This is the proper fruit and effect of all our humiliation and good resolutions. Without this, all our fasting will signify nothing. (Archbishop Sharp.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v8 CRITICAL NOTES.] Zec_7:8-14.] God requires obedience, not formal fastings.…
CRITICAL NOTES.] Zec_7:8-14.] God requires obedience, not formal fastings. The disobedience of the fathers brought judgment upon the nation.
Zec_7:9. Execute] Admonitions which have special reference to evils of which they were guilty. Judgment] Righteous impartiality in public and private matters. “Judgment of truth (cf. Eze_18:8) is such an administration of justice as simply fixes the eye upon the real circumstances of any dispute, without any personal considerations whatever, and decides them in accordance with truth” [Keil]. Mercy] Tender love to all. Compassion] to the unhappy, sympathy for human suffering.
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Zec_7:10.] This verse specifies some of the chief ways of violating the preceding requisition, and shows that it covers the thoughts of the heart as well as the acts of the members [Lange]. Imagine] i.e. devise evil (Psa_36:4; Mic_2:1). Meditate no revenge, but act up to the royal law of love.
Zec_7:11.] The attitude of the people towards these precepts described. Their fathers and some of them refused], paid no serious attention; then pulled away], like a refractory beast refusing the yoke (Neh_9:29; Hos_4:16). “It seems rather to refer to one on whose shoulder we lay our hand, when he is reluctant to listen to us, in order to arrest, and beseech him to hear, but he fretfully and violently ‘draws the shoulder’ from our kind and earnest grasp” [Wardlaw] Stopped] Made heavy (Isa_6:10; Jer_7:26; Act_7:57).
Zec_7:12. Adamant] Hard and impenetrable as stone (Eze_3:9; Eze_11:19). Wrath] The consequence of disobedience and obduracy (2Ch_36:16).
Zec_7:13. He] by his prophets. They] cried in calamities, retribution in kind. They would not hear God, and he would not hear them (Pro_1:24-26; Isa_1:15).
Zec_7:14.] The great wrath described in its execution. Scattered] for 70 years among foreign and barbarous nations; like a tempest driven among those who pitied them not. After] their exile and expulsion no occupants possessed the land. Passed through] Lit. goes away and returns again (Exo_32:27), pass to and fro. They] The Jews themselves to blame; they desolated the pleasant land] lit. the land of desire; made the choice land a desert by their sins (Jer_3:19; Psa_106:24).
DIVINE REQUIREMENTS AND HUMAN DISREGARD.—Zec_7:8-14
The prophet exposes the hollowness of mere outward forms, and reminds the people that their ruin was not caused by neglect of ritual, but by disregard of the plainest duties of justice and humanity. They had refused to hear the reiterated and explicit injunctions of the prophets, and they are reproved for their folly. Notice—
I. The Divine requirements specified. They had practised injunctions of their own imposing and neglected the commands of God. The prophet repeats the substance of former teaching and urges the claims of Jehovah.
1. Sincerity in life. Obedience is better than sacrifice.
(1) Execute judgment. Practise justice officially and privately, before God and man. Judgment must be true, without personal considerations or partiality. “He that hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true judgment between man and man.”
(2) Compassionate the miserable. “Show mercy” to the unfortunate, be kind and have “compassions every man to his brother.” “Kindness is the golden chain by which society is bound together,” says Goethe.
(3) Oppress not the helpless. Special regard must be paid to the widow and the fatherless, the stranger and the poor. “Ye shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child” (Exo_22:21). “Thou shalt neither vex a stranger nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
2. Purity in heart. We must not only do no wrong, but not even wish it. No evil must be devised in the heart. “Let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.” Cherish no ill-feeling, no wish to retaliate. All evil inclinations and spiteful intentions must be subdued. We can never act rightly if we do not feel and think rightly. Hence the law of God restrains the heart. “Beware that there be not a thought (word) in thy wicked (Belial) heart” (Deu_15:9).
II. The Divine requirements disregarded. Except men execute judgment, whatever be their fastings and pretensions, they reject the word of God. Ceremonial observances without love to God and man are a solemn mockery.
1. They refused to hearken to God’s word. They hated the claims and rebelled against the authority of God’s commands.
(1) They were wilfully deaf. “Stopped their ears.”
(2) They were wilfully prejudiced. “That they should not hear.” They had no desire to know, much less to practise. God pursued them in earnest, constant warning, but they shook their shoulders, refused to submit or bear the yoke, and were determined in their obstinate purpose (cf. Act_7:51). “They hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.”
2. They hardened their hearts in sin. “They made their hearts as an adamant stone.” They were resolved that nothing should make an impression upon them: they became proud, presumptuous, and inflexible. Divine power even could neither soften their hearts nor shape their lives. “They dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments (which, if a man do, he shall live in them), and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck and would not hear.”
III. The fatal consequences of disregarding the Divine requirements. Most terrible are the penalties here set forth. “Therefore,” since they have rejected God, punishment will be in proportion to the violation of his law. “Terrible penalties, withal, if thou still need penalties,” says Carlyle, “are there for disobeying.”
1. God was angry. “Therefore came” wrath, a great wrath, from the Lord of hosts. This anger is evinced—
(1) By disregarding their prayers. “They cried, and I would not hear.” There is “great reason,” says Bp. Reynolds, “that God shall refuse to hear him who refuseth to hear God.” “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.”
(2) By scattering them among other nations. “I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations.” The common bond of humanity and social intercourse was broken (Deu_28:49-50); they were cast out of their own into a land of perfect strangers, from whom they received no kindness nor mitigation of sorrows.
2. The land was desolated. “For they laid the pleasant land desolate.” It was not the enemy, but their own sins that had cursed their country. God’s presence is the beauty of a nation, but sin will turn it into a barren waste. Human guilt desolates everything that is “pleasant.” Let us take warning. If we despise God’s word he will not hear our cry in the day of wrath. The harder men grow in heart, the heavier the stroke at the judgment day. Those who are lost will have to blame their own folly. No delusion will rob them of this conviction, and no remedy can be devised for the misery which they despised and cannot endure. “They would none of my counsel; they despised all my reproof: therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.”
RIGHTEOUS RETRIBUTION.—Zec_7:13
This is the first part of punishment, retribution in kind. They would not hear God when he called to them; now he will not hear them when they cry to him. This is God’s method of dealing with nations and individuals.
I. It is often physically true. The drunkard pays when at last he feels himself the slave of habits which he knows will ruin soul and body, and yet unable to throw them off. The licentious who survive the power of gratification may be tortured by appetites for which exhausted nature has no provision [cf. Lange].
II. It is always spiritually true. He that digs a pit for another shall fall into it himself. The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own devices (Pro_14:14). Those who contemn the word of God shall be unheard in the day of distress Alarmed at their situation, they will call, but God will not answer them. Thus men become the cause of their own misery, and constantly remind us of the wise man’s words: “Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way” (Pro_1:30-31; Pro_28:9; Gal_6:7-8).
“I do as truly suffer
As e’er I did commit” [Shakespeare].
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Zec_7:9. Love, the royal law of life, the essence of religion. Not religious profession, but the practice of social duty. Keep from evil in thought and act. Meditate no revenge, brood over no wrongs, but in all things act up to the requirements of God’s law. “Love worketh no ill.” “Love will not permit us to injure, oppress, or offend our brother; it will not give us leave to neglect our betters, or despise our inferiors. It will restrain every inordinate passion, and not suffer us to gratify our envy at the expense of our neighbour’s credit and reputation; but it will preserve us harmless and innocent” [Bp. Sherlock].
Moral duties. Required in every age. Superior to external ordinances.
Zec_7:10. Widow and fatherless.
1. A sad condition in life. Weak and helpless.
2. A proof of God’s care. “Widows and orphans are God’s clients taken into his special protection” [Trapp].
3. An evidence of true religion. “One of the surest tests of an intelligent Christianity, as well as of a high civilization, is found in the provision made and maintained for those who so often are the victims either of cruel neglect or, alas, of wilful oppression” [Lange]. Compare the teaching of Scripture with the customs of heathenism.
Zec_7:11. Pulled away the shoulder. What is implied in these words?
1. A benevolent purpose.
2. Remarkable human power to resist it.
3. Mysterious providence to permit resistance.
4. Astounding effrontery in the conduct indicated. “Pride not only withdraws the heart from God, but lifts it up against God” [Manton].
“All pride is willing pride” [Shakespeare].
Zec_7:12. Hearts as adamant. The stone, whatever it be, was hard enough to cut ineffaceable characters (Jer_17:1); it was harder than flint (Eze_3:9). It would cut rocks; it could not be engraven itself, or receive the characters of God. This is the last sin, obduracy, persevering impenitence, which resisted the Holy Ghost, and did despite to the Spirit of grace. Not through infirmity, but of set purpose, they hardened themselves, lest they should be converted and be healed (Isa_6:10). Observe the gradations.
1. The words of God are not heard.
2. The restive shoulder is shown. Men turn away, when God by the inner motions of his Spirit, or by lesser chastisements, would bring them to the yoke of obedience. They would not hear the burden of the law, whereas they willingly bore that most heavy weight of their sins.
3. Obduracy. Their adamantine heart could be softened neither by promises nor threats; therefore nothing remained but the great wrath which they had treasured to themselves against the day of wrath [Pusey].
Hardness is the state of a person insensible alike to entreaties, expostulations, warnings, admonitions, and chastisements (Jer_5:3). Men become obdurate—
1. By separating themselves from God, the source of all life, just as a branch dries up when detached from the tree, or as a limb withers when the connection between it and the heart ceases.
2. By a life of pleasure and sin, the effects of which may be compared to those of the river north of Quito, petrifying, according to Kirwin’s account, the wood and leaves cast into its waters; or to those of the busy feet of passers-by, causing the crowded thoroughfare to grow hard [Rev. C. Neil].
Zec_7:11-12. Causes of spiritual ruin.
1. Heedless indifference.
2. Stubborn rebellion—
(1) in refusing the yoke, and
(2) in stopping the ears.
3. Resistance to the Holy Spirit.
Zec_7:13-14. Self-inflicted calamities.
1. Rejection of God in trouble.
2. Dispersion in strange lands.
3. Devastation of country. Mark the contrast: the land of desire and the land of desolation. Obey the word of God and seek to reach that heavenly “land of desire,” where desolation is unknown, and whither the spoiler can never come [cf. Fausset].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 7
Zec_7:8-10, Duties. Your daily duties are a part of your religious life just as much as your devotions are [H. W. Beecher]. Formality in religion is the name of being alive [Jenkyn].
“The path of duty is the way to glory” [Tennyson].
Zec_7:11-12. Stopped ears. Wise men are instructed by reason; men of less understanding by experience; the most ignorant by necessity; and beasts by nature [Cicero].
“The ear is the road to the heart” [Voltaire].
Zec_7:13-14. Come to pass.
“The past lives o’er again
In its effects, and to the guilty spirit
The ever-frowning present is its image” [S. T. Coleridge.]
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v8 An Appeal to the Past
An Appeal to the Past
v. 8. And the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, saying,
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v. 9. Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, rather, "Thus spake Jehovah," in addressing the children of Judah in former days, before the exile, saying, Execute true judgment, literally, "judge the judgment of truth,". and show mercy and compassions every man to his brother, so that kindness and pity should be practiced at all times, Isa 58:6-7; Jer 7:28;
v. 10. and oppress not the widow nor the fatherless, the orphans, the stranger nor the poor, these four classes ever being in the care of the Lord, Isa 1:17; Jer 5:28; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart, this being a summary of a number of admonitions with which the earlier prophets had tried to influence the people for their own good.
v. 11. But they refused to hearken, they were consistently rebellious, and pulled away the shoulder, like an ox who refuses to accept the yoke on his neck, and stopped their ears, Cf Isa 6:10, that they should not hear.
v. 12. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, like the hardest stone, impervious to every impression from without, lest they should hear the Law, the books of Moses, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in His Spirit, inspired by His Spirit, by the former prophets, who were the instruments of God in making known His will; therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts, as shown in the captivity of Judah.
v. 18. Therefore it is come to pass, that as He cried, in the exhortations of His prophets, and they would not hear, so they cried, they called when in trouble, so Jehovah says, and I would not hear, saith the Lord of hosts;
v. 14. but I scattered them with a whirlwind, in a terrible storm of His wrath, among all the nations whom they knew not, strange to them in language, customs, and religion. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned, all of Judea practically being a wilderness; for they laid the pleasant land desolate, the children of Judah themselves being to blame for the desolation which came upon the land. When sinners receive the just punishment of their sins, they have but themselves to blame for their afflictions, though their pride would attempt to deny it.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv4, 8, 11, 13 the word of Yahweh of hosts came to me,…
the word of Yahweh of hosts came to me, saying, "Speak
This idiom is used to introduce a special message from God. AT: "Yahweh of hosts gave me a message. He said, 'Speak" or "Yahweh of hosts spoke this message to me: 'Speak" (See: Idiom)
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in the fifth and in the seventh month
"in months 5 and 7" (See: Ordinal Numbers)
in the fifth
The word "month" can be supplied in translation. AT: "in the fifth month" (See: Ellipsis)
in the seventh month
The assumed knowledge is that the Jews mourned during a part of the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar because in this month the remaining Jews in Jerusalem fled to Egypt after the murder of Gedaliah, whom the king of Babylon appointed as governor over Judah. The seventh month is during the last part of September and the first part of October on Western calendars. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information and Hebrew Months)
for these seventy years
The assumed knowledge is that the people of Israel had been slaves in Babylon for 70 years. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information and Numbers)
were you truly fasting for me?
This question is asked to make the people think about what their real reason for fasting had been. It can be translated as a statement. AT: "you were not really fasting for me." (See: Rhetorical Question)
When you ate and drank
Possible meanings are 1) when they feasted and drank when celebrating religious festivals or 2) when they ate and drank whenever they were not fasting.
did you not eat and drink for yourselves?
This question is used to make the people think about whether they were honoring Yahweh when they ate and drank. This can be translated as a statement. AT: "it was for yourselves that you ate and drank." (See: Rhetorical Question)
Were these not the same words ... to the west?
Yahweh uses a question to scold the people. This question can be translated as a statement. AT: "These are the same words ... to the west." (See: Rhetorical Question)
by the mouth of the former prophets
Here "mouth" is a metonym for the words spoken by the mouth. AT: "by the words of the former prophets" or "through the former prophets" (See: Metonymy)
you still inhabited Jerusalem
"you still lived in Jerusalem"
foothills
hills at the base of a mountain or mountain range
translationWords
word of God
Yahweh of hosts
priest
fast
mourn
year
word
preach
prophet
Jerusalem
prosper
Negev
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv4, 5, 7, 10, 11, 12, 14 7:4-7 Rather than answering the question right away, Zechariah…
7:4-7 Rather than answering the question right away, Zechariah first confronted his hearers with their selfish motives and hypocrisy. The most important issue was whether or not their heart’s desire was really to please God and do his will; if not, it made no difference whether or not they kept a fast.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.