Zechariah 7
Butler7:1 AND it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chislev. Now they of Beth-el had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech, and their men, to intreat the favour of the LORD, and to speak unto the priests of the house of the LORD of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years? Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me, saying, Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month, even these seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me? And when ye eat, and when ye drink, do not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves? Should ye not hear the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited? 8, 9 And the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah, saying, Thus hath the LORD of hosts spoken, saying, Execute true judgement, and shew mercy and compassion every man to his brother: and oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart. But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by his spirit by the hand of the former prophets: therefore came there great wrath from the LORD of hosts. And it came to pass that, as he cried, and they would not hear; so they shall cry, and I will not hear, said the LORD of hosts: but I will scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate. 8:1, 2 And the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts: I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great fury. Thus saith the LORD: I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called The city of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts The holy mountain. Thus saith the LORD of hosts: There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. Thus saith the LORD of hosts: If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, should it also be marvellous in mine eyes? saith the LORD of hosts. Thus saith the LORD of hosts: Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country: and I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness. Thus saith the LORD of hosts: Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these words from the mouth of the prophets, which were in the day that the foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid, even the temple, that it might be built. For before those days there was no hire for man, nor any hire for beast; neither was there any peace to him that went out or
11 came in because of the adversary: for I set all men every one against his neighbour. But now I will not be unto the remnant of this people as in the former days, saith the LORD of
12 hosts. For there shall be the seed of peace; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant
13 of this people to inherit all these things. And it shall come to pass that, as ye were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and ye shall be
14 a blessing: fear not, but let your hands be strong. For thus saith the LORD of hosts: As I thought to do evil unto you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, saith the LORD of
15 hosts, and I repented not; so again have I thought in these days to do good unto Jerusalem
16 and to the house of Judah: fear ye not. These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth with his neighbour; execute the judgement of truth and peace in your
17 gates: and let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the LORD.
18,19. And the word of the LORD of hosts came unto me, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts: The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; there-
20 fore love truth and peace. Thus saith the LORD of hosts: It shall yet come to pass, that there
21 shall come peoples, and the inhabitants of many cities: and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to intreat the favour of the LORD, and to seek the
22. LORD of hosts: I will go also. Yea, many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the
23. LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to intreat the favour of the LORD. Thus saith the LORD of hosts: In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, shall even take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.
Chaps. 7, 8. God’s reply by Zechariah to the question respecting fasts. The moral law above the ceremonial. God’s promises conditional on obedience to His precepts. Fasts will be changed into feasts. The coming in of the Gentiles to worship the God of the Jews. B. C.
This second portion of the Book of Zechariah consists of a discourse occasioned by a question put to the priests and prophets in the temple. It was spoken two years subsequently to the previous vision, and the question which it answered was, Were they, now that they had returned to Jerusalem, to keep the solemn days of fasting and humiliation, which had been instituted during the exile at Babylon? This question he answered in the same spirit as Isaiah of old (chap. 58:3-7). They were not so to fast; for true fasting consists in doing justice and mercy; and it was because they had neglected these “weightier matters of the law” that they had been driven from their land. Let them keep justice and mercy, and then aged men and women supporting their steps with their staves shall once again dwell in their city, their streets shall be full of boys and girls at play, their temple shall be built, their land bear them bounteous crops, and they themselves, instead of being a curse, shall be a blessing to all people. If only they speak the truth, and execute judgment, and think no evil, and take no false oath, then their fasting days, “the fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth,” may all be kept as cheerful feasts. They may eat and drink, if they will; only they must love truth and peace (8:16-19). R. P. S.
A considerable progress having by this time been made in the rebuilding of the temple, and affairs going on pretty smoothly, the hopes of the Jewish nation began to revive, and a deputation was sent to inquire of the priests and the prophets whether it was God’s will that they should still continue to observe the fast which had been instituted on account of the city and the temple having been burned by the Chaldeans. To this the prophet is directed to reply: That this and another fast of the like kind, being of their own appointment, regarded themselves only and not God; that what he required of them was the practice of moral righteousness, like as he had enjoined it to their fathers, who, disregarding his injunctions, had brought upon themselves and upon their country all the evil which they had recently experienced. Having thus accounted for God’s past severity, the prophet (chap. 8) goes on to inform them that the anger of Jehovah was now appeased, and He was again disposed to be gracious unto His people and to restore Jerusalem. He exhorts them therefore to proceed vigorously with the building of the temple, and assures them that they would from that instant experience a happy revolution in their affairs. He renews his exhortation to the practice of moral goodness, and promises them on that condition their fasts should be turned into joyful feasts; and they should be so distinguished by the Divine favor that many nations would be eager to embrace their religion and sue for their alliance. Blayney.
7:1. The fourth year of King Darius—B.C. 518. Nearly two years had elapsed since the visions vouchsafed to Zechariah had been made known for the encouragement of the people. Meanwhile the work of restoration had progressed and Jerusalem had begun to wear somewhat of her former aspect. With returning prosperity and power it was only natural that a question should arise as to the propriety of retaining those services of humiliation, which had been instituted as memorials of the destruction of the city and temple. B. C.
1-3. The date is given precisely, this being a matter of historic importance. From the arrival of the first caravan of returning Jews in the first year of Cyrus (B.C. 536) to the second year of Darius (about B.C. 520), the people had been harassed by their Samaritan enemies; the work on the temple for a time dragged heavily, and was finally quite suspended. At length, under special messages from God by Haggai and Zechariah, it was resumed in the second year of Darius. With this resumption commenced an era of great prosperity. Their foreign enemies ceased to annoy them; the smiles of God rested on all their labors. After two years of such prosperity, the question naturally arose, whether they should continue to observe certain days of fasting, as they had done then some seventy years. The most prominent of these days are specially referred to here; that in the fifth month (verse 3), and that also in the seventh month (verse 5). Chap. 8:19 refers to two others—viz., one in the fourth month and another in the tenth. The history indicates the special reason of fasting on these days. In the fifth month the temple was burned (Jer. 52:12). In the seventh, Gedaliah was slain, and the small remnant that remained with him were scattered and destroyed (Jer. 41:1 ff.). In the fourth month the city was taken (Jer. 52:6, 7). In the tenth it was invested by the armed hosts of Nebuchadnezzar (Jer. 52:4). The people in the capacity of a worshipping congregation sent this commission to their priests and prophets with this inquiry. H. C.
5,6. The sense of these two verses is much the same with that of Paul (1 Cor. 8:8)—viz., that eating or abstaining from meat is in its own nature indifferent; nor is it acceptable to God any further than it is subservient to the true ends of religion. The prophet first reproves the hypocrisy of their fasts before he gives them a direct answer to the question proposed. This he does in chap. 8:19. W. Loreth.
This rebuke manifestly applied to some of those who united in this inquiry. The Lord asks, Did your fasting have any regard to Me? Did you think of your sins against Me? Did you humble yourselves before Me? So, when ye ate and when ye drank, was it not ye that ate, and ye that drank? This is the literal rendering, and implies that they thought of nothing but their own gratification, ate and drank merely to enjoy themselves, and as if there were no God to thank, no great Giver to recognize as the fountain of all blessings. H. C.
To these men of Bethel, and through them to all formal worshippers God says: Why consult Me about these services? What have I to do with them? It was not Me you had in view, but yourselves, in performing them. If you like them, continue them. If they are a weariness to you, how much more to Me. So long as you merely wish to please yourselves, or to secure yourselves against some imagined danger, devise whatever services you think will best suit yourselves. When the worship of God becomes to us a mere duty the performance of which we feel incumbent upon us that we may not lose God’s favor; when we enter upon it without heart, or even with some repugnance or distaste, God cannot recognize that as worship of Him, but only as the service of our own superstitious and ignorant self-seeking. We seek the company of our friends, not that we may ingratiate ourselves with them, but because we are happier there than elsewhere; such is the worship which God delights in. Dods.
8-14. A summary of the message sent by many of the prophets (verse 7) shortly before the Captivity; by Jeremiah and Zephaniah in the days of Josiah, and somewhat earlier by Hosea, Amos, Isaiah and Micah. This message refers to the ways of God toward the people, and of the people toward God in the age next preceding the time of Zechariah. That history was exceedingly full of most pertinent and valuable instruction. H. C.
9,10. This prophet here repeats the heads of the sermons which the former prophets preached to their fathers, 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. H.
Habitual communion with God is the root of the truest and purest compassion. It does not withdraw us from our fellow feeling with our brethren, it cultivates no isolation for undisturbed beholding of God. It at once supplies a standard by which to measure the greatness of man’s godlessness, and therefore of his gloom, and a motive for laying the pain of these upon our hearts, as if they were our own. He has looked into the heavens to little purpose who has not learned how bad and how sad the world now is, and how God bends over it in pitying love. And that same fellowship which will clear our eyes and soften our hearts is also the one consolation which we have when our sense of all the ills that flesh is heir to becomes deep to near despair. When one thinks of the real facts of human life, and tries to conceive of the frightful meanness and passion and hate and wretchedness that has been howling and shrieking and gibbering and groaning through dreary millenniums, one’s brain reels, and hope seems to be absurdity, and joy a sin against our fellows, as a feast would be in a house next door to where was a funeral. Ah! brethren, if it were not for the heavenward look, how could we bear the sight of earth! “We see not yet all things put under Him.” No, God knows, far enough off from that. Man’s folly, man’s submission to the creatures he should rule, man’s agonies, and man’s transgression, are a grim contrast to the psalmist’s vision. If we had only earth to look to, despair of the race, expressed in settled melancholy apathy, or in fierce cynicism, were the wisest attitude. But there is more within our view than earth; “we see Jesus;” we look to the heaven, and as we behold the true man, we see more than ever, indeed, how far from that pattern we all are; but we can bear the thought of what men as yet have been, when we see that perfect example of what men shall be. The root and the consolation of our sorrow for men’s evils is communion with God. A. M.
11-14. These stubborn tinners 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. Therefore came great wrath from the Lord of Hosts. As they had turned a deaf ear to God’s word, so God turned a deaf ear to their prayers. 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. As they flew off from their duty and allegiance to God, 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. As they violated all the laws of their land, so God took away all the glories of it; their land was desolate after them. H.
Chap. 8. As already remarked in the introduction to chap. 7, this continues and concludes the subject opened in that chapter. It gives the brighter side—the message of the Lord to the truly humbled, penitent and believing portion of the people. Hence it abounds in cheering promises.
1, 2. “Jealous for Zion.” This revived jealousy for Zion implies that the Lord’s love for her was enkindled afresh; His pity, too, became active; His apprehensions also for the honor of His name before the nations; and not least, His indignation toward the people that had so cruelly oppressed Zion. All these feelings conspired toward His purpose to return in mercy to Zion, as the next verse states.
3. These are the blessings. Moral purity stands specially prominent. “Jerusalem shall be called” (because she shall really be) “the city of truth,” distinguished above all other cities for substantial integrity of character; and the temple mountain where the Lord dwells shall be “the holy mountain”—holy, by reason of the regeneration and sanctification of those who worship the Lord there. Such should be the results of the Lord’s returning to Zion, to dwell there by His spiritual presence. These are the legitimate criteria of His real presence by His Spirit anywhere.
4,5. A beautiful scene of peace and prosperity, indicated by the groups of the aged, still living as witnesses to the long-continued exemption from desolating wars, and the yet more numerous throng of little boys and girls playing and happy in the streets. Evermore, through all the ages before Christ, such external prosperity is accounted as evidence of God’s favor and approval. “Length of days is in her right hand; in her left, riches and honor.” The genius of God’s providential government
in that age involved a high degree of present retribution. H. C.