Zechariah 8

Zechariah 8:1-7

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 to Chifley; 2. When they had sent unto the house of God, Sherezer, and Regem-melech, and their men to 1 pray before the LORD, 3. And to speak unto the priests which were in 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? 4. Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me, saying, 5. Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye failed and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me? 6. And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves? 7. Should ye not bear 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, when men inhabited the South and the plain?

Though we have nothing here recorded of the prophet for two years, we are assured he was well employed, Ezra vi. 14. but he had no commission to publish his discourses, till on the present occasion. We have,

1. The question proposed concerning fasting. Sherezer and Regem-melech, persons of some none, with their men, are commissioned in the name of the people to go up to the house of God, either from Babylon, or from those who were situated in the country of Judea, at a distance from Jerusalem; to whom, in v. 5. the answer seems to be directed. Their business at the temple was to pray before the Lord, as the greatest of men should count in their honour to do, and to speak to the priests which were in the house of the Lord of hosts, whose office and business it is to explain the will of God; and the people, even the chief of them, should with reverence and attention bear the law at their mouth; for they who are sincere in their prayers, will be serious in their enquiries to know God’s mind, that they may do it; and to the prophets, whom God had done in mercy raised up to them, saying, should I weep in the fifth month, on the day when the temple was burnt by the Chaldeans, separating myself for fasting and prayer, as I have done these so many years? during their captivity, and since their return; which now they doubted whether it were proper for them to continue, their temple being in great forwardness, and a prospect of its happy re-establishment before them. Not, (1.) In cases of conscience God’s ministers should be consulted. (2.) When God afflicts, he calls to weeping and fasting: to be stupid, or unconcerned, would be to despise the chastening of the Almighty, and provoke a heavier scourge.

2. Zechariah hath an answer given him for them, and it is a sharp reproof for their hypocrisy and disobedience. They had faded indeed; in the fifth and seventh month, in memory of the burning the temple, and the murder of Godsiah, but their fasts were mere ceremonious duties, without any real humiliation of God: did ye at all fast unto me, even to me? Their eye was not single, they did not propose God’s glory as their soul, and therefore their services could not be acceptable, however long they had continued them; in mentioning which, they seem tacitly to upheard God with not taking notice of them, and to value themselves on their performances: but their fasts were no more pleasing than their common meals, or their festivals, in which they eat and drank for themselves; not giving him thanks, or doing him honour; or designing, in the site of his creatures, to glorify him, but to indulge themselves. Should ye not bear 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, when men inhabited the South and the plain? This was what they should have done, which would have prevented the desolamans, and in their fasts these scriptures should have been attended to, both as a matter of humiliation, and as a warning against the iniquities which had provoked God to destroy the land. But this they had neglected; and it is then to no purpose to fail, whilst our hearts continue unhumbled for the sins which are the cause of our calamities.

Babam Chut 1-15

8. ¶ And the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah, saying, 9. Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, ‘Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassion every man to his brother. 10. 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. 11. But they refused to hearken, and piled away the shoulder, and flopped their ears, that they should not bear. 12. Yes, they made their hearts as an adamant-stone, lest they should bear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts. 13. Therefore it is come to pass that, as he cried, and they would not bear; so they cried, and I would not bear, saith the LORD of hosts. 14. But I scattered them with a whirland among all the nations whom they knew nor: thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.

Zechariah 8:8-14

The examples they had seen, and the words of the preceding prophets, should have been warnings to them.

1. The prophets puts them in mind what had been the subject of the former prophets dislocues. Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, execute true judgment, impartially admitting, justice without respect of persons, and shew mercy and compassion every man to his brother, under all his wants of body or soul, affixing him with our advice, our purse, our peron, and our prayers; forgiving every provocation, and leaving his infirmities. And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor, whose helpless state should plead for them, and in none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart; neither harbour a design of mischief, nor entertain an evil surmise concerning them.

2. He reminds them of the disobedience of their fathers. They refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, disobedient and refractory against all the warnings given them, and stopped their ears, that they should not bear, not deigning so much as to hearken to God’s messages. Yes, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, impenetrable to conviction, neither regarding the law of Moses, nor the words of his divinely commissioned messengers the prophets.

3. For these things came a great wrath upon them, from the Lord of hosts; and since they would not bear his calls, God refused to hear their cries in the day of their calamity; scattered them among the nations, laid their pleasant land desolate; a righteous judgment upon them for their obstinacy, impenitence, and hardness of heart. Note, (1.) They who in prosperity set at nought God’s shrewdings, will cry too late for mercy, when it is the time of judgment. (2.) Sinners have only themselves to blame for their eternal ruin.