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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
Version (NKJV)