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Zechariah
Chapter Seven
New King James Version (NKJV)
INTRODUCTION TO ZECHARIAH 7
This
chapter treats concerning the nature and use of certain fasts kept by the Jews,
on account of the destruction of the temple, and other things; and concerning
the message of the former prophets to them, and the effects of it. The occasion
of the former was an embassy sent by the Jews to the priests and prophets, to
know whether they should continue the fast of the fifth month; upon which the
prophet was sent by the Lord unto them. The time of the prophecy is noted, Zechariah 7:1. An
account of the embassy is given, of the persons that were sent, and to whom,
and upon what account, Zechariah 7:2. The
answer of the Lord to it by the prophet, showing the usefulness of fasts to
him, and putting them upon hearkening to his voice by the former prophets, when
Jerusalem was in great prosperity, Zechariah 7:4 and
then they are exhorted by him, in the ministry of the present prophet, to acts
of righteousness, several species of which are mentioned; and which were the
same they had been exhorted to by the former prophets, but had neglected, and
hardened their hearts against all exhortations and instructions, Zechariah 7:8 and
were the reason of their captivity and desolation, Zechariah 7:13.
Zechariah 7:1 Now in the fourth
year of King Darius it came to pass that the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, on the fourth day of the ninth month,
Chislev,
YLT
1And it cometh to pass, in
the fourth year of Darius the king hath a word of Jehovah been unto Zechariah,
in the fourth of the ninth month, in Chisleu.
And it came to pass, in the fourth year of King Darius,.... Near two
years after the foundation of the temple was laid, Haggai 2:10 and
near two years before it was finished, Ezra 6:15 when the
work was going forward, and there was a great deal of reason to believe it
would be completed:
that the word of
the Lord came unto Zechariah, in the fourth day of the ninth month, even
in Chisleu: which answers to part of our October, and part of November.
Zechariah 7:2 2 when
the people[a] sent
Sherezer,[b] with
Regem-Melech and his men, to the house of God,[c] to pray
before the Lord,
YLT
2And Beth-El sendeth
Sherezer and Regem-Melech, and its men, to appease the face of Jehovah,
When they had sent unto the house of God,.... It is, in
the Hebrew text, "when he sent Bethel"; which some, as Kimchi
observes, take to be the name of a man that was sent along with those after
mentioned; but the Targum and the Septuagint render it, "when", or
"after he had sent unto Bethel": not the place so called in Jacob's
time; but Jerusalem, where the temple or house of God was now building; and it
may be observed, that the words are expressed in the singular number,
"when he had sent"F20וישלח
"cum misisset, sub. populus", Junius & Tremellius,
Piscator, Drusius, Tarnovius; "et misit", Pagninus, Montanus;
"miserat autem sub". Israel, Vatablus; "et miserat",
Cocceius; "et misit Bethelum", i. e. "urbem", Burkius. ;
and not, as we render them, "when they had sent"; and agreeably, in Zechariah 7:3, it
is said, "should I weep", &c. as if these messengers were sent by
a single person, and yet a body of people is meant; and not the captives that
remained in Babylon, as most interpreters understand it; but the Jews that were
returned from thence, and were in Judea, as Junius and Tremellius observe; for
to them the answer is returned, and to them does the Lord by the prophet direct
his speech throughout the whole chapter. The persons sent were
Sherezer and Regemmelech, and their men; who these
persons were is not known; they were, no doubt, principal men of the people, by
whom they were sent, and the chief of the embassy, and had others with them
inferior to them: part of their business at Bethel, or the house of God, was,
to pray before the Lord; that they might be
directed aright, and have a proper answer returned to the question they came
with. The temple at Jerusalem was the place where men used to go up to pray;
see Luke 18:10.
Zechariah 7:3 3 and
to ask the priests who were in the house of the Lord of hosts, and the prophets, saying, “Should I weep in the fifth
month and fast as I have done for so many years?”
YLT
3speaking unto the priests
who [are] at the house of Jehovah of Hosts, and unto the prophets, saying, `Do
I weep in the fifth month -- being separated -- as I have done these so many
years?'
And to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the Lord
of hosts,.... That ministered in the sanctuary, as the Targum explains it,
who offered sacrifices, &c. and who were to be consulted in matters of
religion, Malachi 2:7,
and to the prophets; who were then in being,
as Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi:
saying, Should I weep in the fifth month; which is the month
Ab, and answers to July: now on the seventh day of this month, according to 2 Kings 25:8, the
temple was burnt by the Chaldeans; and, according to Jeremiah 3:12, it
was on the tenth of this month, which day was kept by the Jews as a day of
fasting and humiliation, in commemoration of it; and by the Misnic doctorsF21Misn.
Taanith, c. 4. sect. 7, 8. T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 29. 1. afterwards was removed,
and kept on the ninth day of the said month; but, seeing the temple was in
great forwardness of being rebuilt, the question with those Jews was, whether
they should continue any longer mourning and fasting on that account:
separating myself: that is, from eating and drinking, and not
taking the lawful pleasures and recreations of life:
as I have done these so many years? for the space of seventy
years, as in Zechariah 7:5.
Zechariah 7:4 4 Then
the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying,
YLT
4And there is a word of
Jehovah of Hosts unto me, saying:
Then came the word of the Lord of hosts unto me, saying. Upon the
sending of this embassy, and upon putting this question.
Zechariah 7:5 5 “Say
to all the people of the land, and to the priests: ‘When you fasted and mourned
in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you
really fast for Me—for Me?
YLT
5`Speak unto all the people
of the land, and unto the priests, saying: When ye fasted with mourning in the
fifth and in the seventh [months] -- even these seventy years -- did ye keep
the fast [to] Me -- Me?
Speak 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, Jeremiah 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 sayF23T. Bab.
Pesachim, fol. 54. 2. 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 Zechariah 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 Isaiah 58:3.
Zechariah 7:6 6 When
you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves?
YLT
6And when ye eat, and when
ye drink, is it not ye who are eating, and ye who are drinking?
And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink,.... Either at
common meals, or at their festivals:
did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves? merely and
only for their own refreshment and pleasure, and not for the glory of God;
though that ought to be the principal end in eating and drinking, 1 Corinthians 10:31.
Zechariah 7:7 7 Should
you not have obeyed the words which the Lord proclaimed through the former prophets when Jerusalem and the
cities around it were inhabited and prosperous, and the South[d] and the
Lowland were inhabited?’”
YLT
7`Are not [these] the words
that Jehovah proclaimed by the hand of the former prophets, in Jerusalem's
being inhabited, and [in] safety, and its cities round about it, and the south
and the plain -- abiding?'
Should ye not hear
the words which the Lord hath cried by the former prophets,.... As Hosea,
Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others; suggesting that it would have been much better
for them to have regarded the exhortations and instructions which the Lord sent
them by his servants, which would have prevented their captivity; and so would
have had no occasion of fasting and mourning: for those prophecies were
delivered out
when Jerusalem was inhabited, and in prosperity, and the cities
thereof round about her; when Jerusalem, and the cities about it, were full of people,
and enjoyed all the blessings of life in great plenty; and which would have
continued, had they attended to the exhortations, cautions, and warnings given
them:
when men inhabited the south and the plain? the land of
Judea, as the MisnicF24Misn. Sheviith, c. 9. sect. 2. doctors say,
was divided into three parts; the mountainous part, the plain, and the valley.
Jerusalem was in the mountainous part, and these are the other two; and not
only those parts of the land which were hilly, and those cities that were
encompassed with mountains, were in safety and prosperity; but those also that
were in the champaign country, and in the low valleys. The "south"
was that part of the land of Canaan formerly inhabited by the Amalekites, and
which they invaded when David was at Ziklag, Numbers 13:29.
Sometimes it was called Negeb, as here; and sometimes Daroma, as frequently in
the Jewish writings; in which Judea is often called the south, with respect to
Galilee; for they distinguish between the inhabitants of Galilee and the
inhabitants of the south country: and say, a disciple might intercalate the
year for Galilee, but not for the south, i.e. Judea. It reached from
Eleutheropolis to the south of the land, eighteen or twenty miles: it was
distinguished by the JewsF25T. Hieros. Maaaser Sheni, fol. 56. 3.
& Sanhedrin, fol. 18. 4. into upper and nether Daroma, or south country:
the upper consisted of the hilly part of it; the nether of the plain; and by
JeromF26De locis Hebr. fol. 91. C. & 92. I. mention is made of
interior Daroma, by which there should be an exterior one. The
"plain", or "Sephela", was all the champaign country, near
to Eleutherepolis, to the north and west; and so the above writerF1Ibid.
fol. 94. M. says it was called in his times: now each of these were well
inhabited; Daroma, or the southern part; hence it is frequent, in Jewish
writingsF2T. Hieros. Beracot, fol. 2. 2. & 11. 4. & Succah,
fol. 53. 4. , to read of such a Rabbi of Daroma, or the south, as R. Jacob, R.
Simlai, and others; and of the elders of the southF3T. Hieros.
Erubin, fol. 23. 3. ; and so Jerom speaks of Eremmon, and Duma, large villages,
in his days, in Daroma or the south; the one sixteen, the other seventeen miles
from Eleutheropolis; and of Ether, Jether, and Jethan, one of which was
eighteen, and another twenty miles from itF4Ut supra, fol. 90. K.
& 91. C. & 92. I. ; and in the Apocrypha:
"Simon
also set up Adida in Sephela, and made it strong with gates and bars.' (1 Maccabees 12:38)
mention
is made of Adida in Sephela, fortified, by Simon; and in which also were
various other places well stored with inhabitants. This expresses the happy and
safe state the Jews were in before their captivity, and in which they would
have remained, had they hearkened to the words of the Lord.
Zechariah 7:8 8 Then
the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying,
YLT
8And there is a word of
Jehovah unto Zechariah, saying:
And the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, saying. Giving him
orders to repeat what the former prophets had said, and to urge the same things
on the people which they had before rejected, the rejection of which had issued
in their ruin.
Zechariah 7:9 9 “Thus
says the Lord of hosts: ‘Execute true justice, Show mercy and compassion Everyone
to his brother.
YLT
9`Thus spake Jehovah of
Hosts, saying: True judgment judge ye, And kindness and mercy do one with
another.
Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying,.... The same
things as he had before; for the things following are ever in force, and always
to be attended to, and to be regarded and preferred before anything merely
ritual and ceremonial; and especially before the traditions and commandments of
men, of which nature the above fasts were:
Execute true judgment; or, "judge judgmentF5משפט אמת "judicium
veritatis", Montanus, Calvin, Cocceius, Burkius; "jus
veritatis", Junius & Tremellius, Tarnovius. of truth"; this is
addressed to the judges of the people, that when any cause came before them
between man and man, that they would judge righteously, according to the law of
God; and, without respect to persons, pass sentence as the truth of the case
required:
and show mercy and compassion every man to his brother; whether in
want of food, raiment, or in whatsoever distress, whether of body or mind;
which is much more acceptable to God than any legal sacrifices, or outward
abstinences and humiliations, Hosea 6:6.
Zechariah 7:10 10 Do
not oppress the widow or the fatherless, The alien or the poor. Let none of you
plan evil in his heart Against his brother.’
YLT
10And widow, and fatherless,
Sojourner, and poor, ye do not oppress, And the calamity of one another ye do
not devise in your heart.
And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor
the poor,.... Such as have no husband to provide for them, nor father and
mother to care for them, and are in a strange land, where they have no friends
or acquaintance, and are poor, and can not help themselves. Laws of this kind
were frequently inculcated among the Jews; see Deuteronomy 24:14,
and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart; thoughts of
evil are sinful, and forbidden by the law of God, as well as actions, which
agrees with our Lord's sense of the law, Matthew 5:22, see Leviticus 19:17.
Zechariah 7:11 11 “But
they refused to heed, shrugged their shoulders, and stopped their ears so that
they could not hear.
YLT
11And they refuse to attend,
And they give a refractory shoulder, And their ears have made heavy against
hearing.
But they refused to hearken,..... That is, the Jews,
before the captivity, refusal to give heed to the above exhortations, and obey
the voice of God in them:
and pulled away the shoulder; from serving the Lord,
and supporting his interest: or "they gave", or presented, "a
rebellious shoulder"F6כתף סררת "scapulam aversam", Pagninus;
"deflectentem", Montanus; "rebellem", Munster, Tigurine
version; "refractarium", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; so Ben
Melech. ; a refractory one, that slides back, like a backsliding or refractory
heifer, that will not admit of the yoke, Hosea 4:16 so these
could not bear the yoke of the law, nor the burden of duty; nor suffer the
words of exhortation, or receive the admonitions given them:
and stopped their ears, that they should not hear; like the deaf
adder, Psalm 58:4 they
would not hear, and pretended they could not; which was an instance of contempt
to the speakers.
Zechariah 7:12 12 Yes,
they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law and the words which
the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. Thus
great wrath came from the Lord of hosts.
YLT
12And their heart they have
made adamant, Against hearing the law, and the words, That Jehovah of Hosts
sent by His Spirit, By the hand of the former prophets, And their is great
wrath from Jehovah of Hosts.
Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone,.... The word
here used is translated a "diamond" in Jeremiah 17:1 and
it is said to be harder than a flint, Ezekiel 3:9. The
Jewish writers sayF7Misn. Sota, c. 9. sect. 12. Pirke Abot. c. 5.
sect. 5. & Maimon. & Bartenora in ib. Kimchi in 1 Reg. vi. 7. Jarchi in
Isa. v. 6. it is a worm like a barley corn, so strong as to cut the hardest
stones in pieces; Moses (they say) used it in hewing the stones for the two
tables of the law, and in fitting the precious stones in the ephod; and Solomon
in cutting the stones for the building of the temple; and is so hard that it
cannot be broken by iron: and as hard is naturally the heart of man, and which
becomes more so by sinning, and obstinate persisting in it, that nothing can
remove the hardness of it but the powerful and efficacious grace of God: as
hard as the adamant is, it is to be softened by the blood of a goat, as
naturalists saysF8Pausan. Arcadica, sive l. 8. p. 485. Plin. Nat.
Hist. l. 37. c. 4. ; so the blood of Christ sprinkled on the heart, and a sense
of forgiveness of sin by it, will soften the hardest heart:
lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of
hosts hath seat in his Spirit by the former prophets; the words of
reproof, admonition, caution, and exhortation, which Jeremiah and others were
sent to deliver to them, under the influence of the Spirit of God:
therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts; which brought
the Chaldeans upon them, who carried them captive into Babylon.
Zechariah 7:13 13 Therefore
it happened, that just as He proclaimed and they would not hear, so they
called out and I would not listen,” says the Lord of hosts.
YLT
13And it cometh to pass, as
He called, And they have not hearkened, So do they call, and I do not hearken,
Said Jehovah of Hosts.
Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried,.... The Lord
by the former prophets called them to repentance and obedience:
and they would not hear; his words, nor obey his
voice:
so they cried: when they were besieged in Jerusalem, and
were carried captive into Babylon:
and I would not hear, saith the Lord of hosts; so as to
deliver them out of the hands of their enemies; see Proverbs 1:24.
Zechariah 7:14 14 “But
I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they had not
known. Thus the land became desolate after them, so that no one passed through
or returned; for they made the pleasant land desolate.”
YLT
14And I toss them on all the
nations, That they have not known, The land hath been desolate behind them, Of
any passing by and turning back, And they set a desirable land for a
desolation!
But I scattered them with a whirlwind,.... Denoting
the fierceness of his wrath, and the strength of his fury, seen in their
dispersion:
among all the nations whom they knew not; such as the
Babylonians, Medes, and Persians, people before unknown to the Jews:
thus the land was desolate after them; that is, the
land of Judea was destitute of inhabitants, or had but few remaining in it,
after the Jews were carried captive into Babylon; for the rest, after the death
of Gedaliah, fled into Egypt:
that no man passed through, nor returned; neither from
Egypt, nor from Babylon, until the seventy years of captivity were ended; nor
indeed did any from other nations pass through and fro, or settle in it, during
this time, that we have any account of:
for they laid the pleasant land desolate; either the
Israelites by their iniquities, which were the cause of it; or the Babylonians,
as the instruments of God's vengeance. This pleasant land is the land of
Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey; the glory of all lands, for its
great fruitfulness, and delightful situation; and especially for being the seat
of the divine Majesty, and where his people dwelt, and where his temple was,
and he was worshipped; see Ezekiel 20:6 Deuteronomy 8:7.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》
New King James
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