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Zechariah 7

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Delegation Asks About Continuing the Fasts 1–3

1
And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of Jehovah came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chislev. ​
2
Now they of Beth-el had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech, and their men, to entreat the favor of Jehovah, ​
3
and to speak unto the priests of the house of Jehovah of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years? ​

God Challenges the Motivation for Fasting 4–7

4
Then came the word of Jehovah of hosts unto me, saying,
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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? ​
6
And when ye eat, and when ye drink, do not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves? ​
7
Should ye not hear the words which Jehovah 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? ​

The Requirement of True Justice 8–10

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And the word of Jehovah came unto Zechariah, saying,
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Thus hath Jehovah of hosts spoken, saying, Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother; ​
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and oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the sojourner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart. ​

Past Rebellion and Divine Judgment 11–14

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But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear. ​
12
Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which Jehovah of hosts had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets: therefore there came great wrath from Jehovah of hosts. ​
13
And it is come to pass that, as he cried, and they would not hear, so they shall cry, and I will not hear, said Jehovah of hosts; ​
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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 laid the pleasant land desolate. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Zechariah 7

Verse 1

the fourth year of king Darius — Dareyavesh is a Persian royal title. The date falls almost two years after the night visions began (1:7, the eleventh month of Darius's second year) and before the temple was finished 'in the sixth year of the reign of Darius' (Ezra 6:15). Chisleu is the ninth month, the one named in Neh 1:1.

Verse 2

Sherezer and Regemmelech — They are sent 'to pray before the LORD', literally to entreat his face (chalah), as in 'Intreat now the face of the LORD thy God' (1 Kgs 13:6). 'The house of God' is Beth-el in Hebrew, the name of Bethel (Gen 28:19), so the verse can be read as the people of Bethel sending these two men.

Verse 3

Should I weep in the fifth month — The fifth month was the month in which the house of the LORD was burnt (2 Kgs 25:8–9). 'Separating myself' is nazar, the verb of the Nazarite's separation (Num 6:2). The question comes while the house is being rebuilt; it was finished in Darius's sixth year (Ezra 6:15).

Verse 5

those seventy years — The fasts of the fifth and seventh months had been kept through the seventy years of 1:12, 'these threescore and ten years'. 'Fasted' is tsum, and 'mourned' is saphad, to lament aloud. 'Did ye at all fast unto me?' recalls 'Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not?' (Isa 58:3) and 'turn ye even to me… with fasting' (Joel 2:12).

Verse 6

did not ye eat for yourselves — The question reaches the people's eating and drinking as well as their fasts. In the law the feast was eaten 'before the LORD your God' with rejoicing (Deut 12:7); here it was eaten and drunk 'for yourselves'. Paul gives the measure, 'whether therefore ye eat, or drink… do all to the glory of God' (1 Cor 10:31).

Verse 7

the former prophets — Rishon, first or earlier: 1:4 uses the phrase for the prophets who 'cried', 'Turn ye now from your evil ways'. They spoke 'when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity' (shalev, at ease), and men lived in 'the south', the Negeb, and 'the plain', the Shephelah or lowland of Judah.

Verse 9

Execute true judgment — Mishpat emet, 'judgment of truth', as in Ezek 18:8, 'executed true judgment between man and man', and Zech 8:16. 'Mercy' is chesed, covenant kindness, and 'compassions' is rachamim, a plural from the word for the womb. The same requirements stand in Mic 6:8, and in 'the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith' (Matt 23:23).

Verse 10

the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor — The first three are the people the law protected: 'Thou shalt neither vex a stranger' and 'Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child' (Ex 22:21–22); Jer 7:6 names them again. 'Imagine' is chashab, to devise or plot, and the charge returns in 8:17, 'let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour'.

Verse 11

pulled away the shoulder — Literally gave a stubborn shoulder (sarar), the verb of the 'backsliding heifer' of Hos 4:16. Neh 9:29 has 'withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear'. 'Stopped' is kabad, to make heavy, as in 'make their ears heavy' (Isa 6:10).

Verse 12

an adamant stone — Shamir, a very hard stone or diamond, which is also the word for a thorn. It is the point that writes Judah's sin on 'the table of their heart' (Jer 17:1) and the 'adamant harder than flint' of Ezek 3:9. The words came 'in his spirit by the former prophets', as Neh 9:30 says, 'by thy spirit in thy prophets'.

Verse 13

they cried, and I would not hear — The same verb, qara', 'to call', serves for the LORD's cry and the people's, and shama, 'to hear', for their refusal and his. It is the order of Prov 1:24, 28, 'Because I have called, and ye refused… Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer', and of Jer 11:11.

Verse 14

scattered them with a whirlwind — Sa'ar, to rush upon or toss, the verb of the tempestuous sea in Jonah 1:11 and of those who 'came out as a whirlwind to scatter me' (Hab 3:14). The nations 'whom they knew not' recall Deut 28:36, and the 'pleasant land' (eretz chemdah) is the land they 'despised' (Ps 106:24).