Three-year Bible reading plan for 4 November 2005

King James Version (en)

King James Version (en)

Zechariah, Chapter 7

¹ The captives inquire of fasting, ⁴ Zechariah reproveth their fasting, ⁸ Sin the cause of their captivity

¹And 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 Chisleu;

²When they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regem-melech, and their men, to pray before the LORD,

³And 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?

⁴Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me, saying,

⁵Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?

⁶And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

⁷Should 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, when men inhabited the south and the plain?

⁸And the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah, saying,

⁹Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother:

¹⁰And 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.

¹¹But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.

¹²Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear 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.

¹³Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the LORD of hosts:

¹⁴But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.

Read more:Zechariah, Chapter 8

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7 In answer to a question concerning fasting, the prophet reproves them for the mismanagement of their fasts, Zec 7:1-7.
Exhorts them to reform their lives, Zec 7:8-14.

7:2 When they - The captives who still continued in Babylon.The house of God - The temple, which now half built began to be frequented. Regem - melech - It appears not who these were, but no doubt they were eminent in dignity and piety. Their men - The train of friends that accompanied them. To pray - To intreat the Lord for pardon of what was past, acceptance of them at present, and an answer to their enquiry.

7:3 The prophets - Haggai and Zechariah. Weep - Fast, in remembrance of the burning of the temple on the tenth day of that month. Separating myself - From worldly cares and designs.

7:5 Unto all the people - By their messengers. And seventh - For the murder of Gedaliah, slain by Ishmael. Even to me - You pleased yourselves in it, not me; you wept more for the inconveniences of the thing than the sinfulness of it.

7:6 For yourselves - I was as little minded by you in your fasts, as in your feasts.

7:7 Hear the words - You needed not have thus enquired, had you heeded the written word. Prophets - Who have called for repentance, and sincere love to God, and man, and shewed how light, formal services are.Prosperity - Did such observances preserve Jerusalem in its prosperity?Were they sufficient to save the men that inhabited the south of the plain?Did they do no good when things were all safe and well? And do you imagine they can profit you, now all is in ruins?

7:9 Spake - To your fathers.

7:10 Imagine evil - Neither think ill of, or with ill to, nor plot evil against one another.

7:11 Pulled away - Withdrew their shoulder from the yoke of the law.

7:12 In his spirit - By his holy spirit.

7:14 They laid the land desolate - By their sins.

NOTES

People are interested in fasting from the standpoint of rules of conduct, but the Lord reminds them why fasting was established. The Lord’s reproach...

Not only particular individuals, but the whole era of the Temple's restoration becomes, in a certain sense, a foreshadowing of the time...

Not only particular individuals, but the whole era of the Temple's restoration becomes, in a certain sense, a foreshadowing of the time of the Messiah's coming. Much changes with the advent of a new era, in both cases. Yet much also remains unchanged, as an eternal ordinance of the Almighty. What the prophet Zechariah tells the reader in chapter 7 marks the distinction between what is changeable and what is constant, a distinction radically at odds with conventional notions both in antiquity and in our own time.

The Jews who remained in Babylon, governed by the Persian king Darius, who was favourably disposed towards them, send envoys to Jerusalem asking whether they should observe the now traditional fasts of the fifth and seventh months. The first was established after 587 BC as a sign of mourning for Jerusalem's destruction; the second arose at about the same time in memory of the Jews' last uprising and the murder of Gedaliah, whom Nebuchadnezzar had left to govern conquered Judaea. Now the Temple in Jerusalem is being rebuilt: must they continue to mourn the destruction of the former one? As far as we can tell, the Babylonian Jews' envoys expect one of two answers. Perhaps the priests and prophets will rule that the fast should be abolished, since the cause of mourning has ceased to exist. Or perhaps they will decide to retain it as a traditional observance marking an important turning point in the people's history…

But the answer the Lord gives through Zechariah lies in an entirely different dimension and is striking in its bitterness. At almost the same time the Lord speaks of the same thing through Second Isaiah; it is even possible that the two prophets, Second Isaiah and Zechariah, are answering the very same question. In both cases the Lord rejects the traditional fasts as something people do not for His sake but for their own. ‘Was it for Me that you fasted?’ Zechariah exclaims in the Lord's name. ‘Look, on your fast day you do your own will and demand hard labour from others,’ He says through Second Isaiah (Isa 58:3). A traditional ritual observance proves empty and meaningless because the Lord is not its purpose. What else, one might ask, could be the purpose of such a religious practice as fasting? No, says the Lord: the Jews fasted not for Him but for themselves, to console themselves in their grief, to express their sorrow, ‘to appear to people to be fasting’, as the Lord Jesus Christ will formulate this thought. A deeply personal experience of grief and repentance took on a public character among the Babylonian Jews and became ostentatious and insincere.

And through Zechariah and Second Isaiah the Lord says what the Jews really needed, what should have expressed their repentance and sorrow. ‘Thus spoke the Lord of hosts then [before the captivity]: administer fair judgement and show mercy and compassion, each to his brother,’ Zechariah reminds them. Second Isaiah says, ‘This is the fast I have chosen: loose the fetters of injustice, undo the bonds of the yoke, set the oppressed free and break every yoke; share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house…’ (Isa 58:6–7). What matters to God is not the outward expression of remorse but, in John the Baptist's words, ‘fruit worthy of repentance’. With bitterness, the prophet Zechariah exclaims that it is precisely to mercy, compassion and active love of one's neighbour that the Lord calls people, and that this could have protected Jerusalem from destruction, because this is precisely what God's righteousness consists in. But the Jews ‘would not listen… and so the Lord's great anger came upon them’: the prophet reminds them of what his predecessors announced long before.

Clearly, as historical conditions change, the requirement of mercy and compassion remains unchanged; mercy is precisely the fruit of repentance and purification that the Lord awaits. Traditional observances, by contrast, do not even merit discussion, so closely are they tied to particular historical circumstances and the spiritual tasks of their time. We cannot fail to notice that Christ will say exactly the same thing to the Jews when He reminds them of the prophet Hosea's words: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God more than burnt offerings’ (Hos 6:6, Mt 9:13). Yet then, too, as in the days of Second Isaiah and Zechariah, the Jews will refuse to listen to Him. Replacing the fruit of repentance with its outward expression is all too convenient for people, and this problem is not peculiar to the Jews.

Today, and in all the times many was and is said on the right of the Jewish people on the land given to them by God. Indeed: it will be clear to whoever will read attentively and impartially the Bible that the Land of Israel belongs only to one people, the people of God, to whom God gave it… in ownership? As an unconditional...

Today, and in all the times many was and is said on the right of the Jewish people on the land given to them by God. Indeed: it will be clear to whoever will read attentively and impartially the Bible that the Land of Israel belongs only to one people, the people of God, to whom God gave it… in ownership? As an unconditional property? And begin here this historic collision, with which many is said in the same biblical books. Already, the Pentateuch denies in fact the absolute and unlimited right of the people of God on the land given to them by God. The Torah connects directly the right of the people for the ownership of the land with the observation of the union-covenant formerly concluded with God.

Strictly speaking, it is not about the ownership, but about the unlimitedly potential use, which can still be limited, until the complete deprivation of the people of the land received from God in case of violation by these people of the concluded union. But the paradox of the situation consists of the fact that the land given by God to His people for use, is designated by God Himself as the Holy Land. And in the general sense of the biblical traditional understanding of the holiness, the saint, the sanctified saint can belong only to God and to the one that God has blessed, as He blessed by His presence His people.

Only people sanctified by God can possess a land sanctified by God, only such a unity of the people and the land can be spiritually adequate. That is why no other people can be genuine, full master of the land prepared by God for His people. But it, of course does not mean in itself that the land cannot turn out in the power of any other people, quite as any other land in the fallen world, torn by the wars and the fights for territories. However, it can occur only if the people of God violate the conditions of the union concluded with God and stop being the people of God in this measure, in which the condition is violated.

Of course, God does not turn away from His people, even when the people turn away from their God. But the people lose the right to holiness, and in the limit the loss of such a right means the destruction of the Temple - the house of God, sanctified by God Himself, - and the loss of the land, this eviction, of which the prophet reminds to his fellow countrymen. Well then, the land comes to desolation: because God cannot give it to another people and His own people are not ready spiritually to be really its genuine master and custodian. The land is transformed into desert and waits its time. Waits, when the people intended for it by God will once again be worthy of it.

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