Zechariah 7:1-7

Zechariah 7:1 f. The original account of the question about the fasting and Zechariah's answer has been considerably amplified by the insertion of other prophecies, probably later compositions, though they bear some resemblance to the style of Haggai. Note the editorial introductions to the paragraphs beginning Zechariah 7:8 and Zechariah 8:1, which are unnecessary if Zechariah is the speaker throughout. The date is Dec. 4, 518. In Zechariah 7:2 we have an excerpt from Zechariah's own narrative, the beginning of which is lost. The text of Zechariah 7:2 a is in confusion, and correction can be only conjectural. Apparently originally only two people were mentioned by name; the first, the sender, being Bethel Sharezer, and the second, the person sent, being Regem-melech (the names are probably corrupt). The sender of the deputation doubtless speaks in the name of the community, and is presumably the governor; moreover, since he is interested in merely Jewish fasts, he must be a Jew. This points to Zerubbabel. Sharezer may have been part of his Bab. name, but we have no evidence for this. It is improbable that a question would be formally asked in Dec. about a fast to be observed during the following Aug., and Zechariah 7:5 implies that the question concerned the fast of Oct. also, while in Zechariah 8:19 four fasts are mentioned, viz. in July, Aug., Oct., and Jan. The question put on Dec. 4 presumably had at least special reference to this last; it must therefore have been mentioned. Probably the list of fasts in Zechariah 7:3; Zechariah 7:5 has been accidentally cut down. The fasts mentioned seem to have been instituted in commemoration of the following national calamities: on July 9, 586, Jerusalem was taken (Jeremiah 39:2); on Aug. 7 the city and Temple were burnt (2 Kings 25:8); in Oct. Gedaliah was murdered (Jeremiah 41); on Jan. 10 the siege of Jerusalem began (2 Kings 25:1). The question about the fasting, since it concerned a matter of torah, would probably be addressed to the priests only, and to the prophets being added because Zechariah gave the answer. The fasts, he maintained, had not betokened any real repentance on the part of the people, but had been due to a superstitious belief that their calamities might be mechanically removed. There had been no more thought of glorifying God by the fasts than by eating and drinking, Zechariah 7:7 (note italics) is mutilated; the LXX reads, Are not these the words, etc. The South is the Negeb (p. 32), the lowland is the Shephelah (p. 31).