Zechariah 7:4-7

THE FIRST ANSWERING STATEMENT. Zechariah 7:4-7

RV. Then came the word of Jehovah of hosts unto me, saying, 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? And when ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves? 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?

LXX. And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, Speak to the whole people of the land, and to the priests, saying, Though ye fasted or lamented in the fifth or seventh months (yea, behold, these seventy years) have ye at all fasted to me? And if ye eat or drink, do ye not eat and drink for yourselves? Are not these words which the Lord spoke by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and her cities round about her, and the hill country and the low country was inhabited?

COMMENTS

(Zechariah 7:4-7) Zechariah's answer to the question from Beth-el is made in six statements. Each statement is introduced with exact statements which indicate the prophet's words were actually those of Jehovah.

The first of these statements begins with Zechariah 7:4 and continues through Zechariah 7:7. The second begins with Zechariah 7:8 and concludes the chapter. The third begins at Zechariah 8:1 and runs through Zechariah 8:7. The fourth statement begins with Zechariah 8:9 and continues through Zechariah 8:13. The fifth statement begins at Zechariah 8:14 and ends with Zechariah 8:17. The sixth and final statement in answer to the question from Beth-el begins with Zechariah 8:18 and closes the chapter. It also forms the final paragraph of the first section of Zechariah's writing.

Jehovah's first answering statement (Zechariah 7:4-7) begins by reminding the questioners that the fasts in question had not been instituted by any divine directive. The reminder is in the form of three questions. Did ye at all fast unto me, even unto me? And when ye eat and when ye drink, do not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

To paraphrase these first two questions we might say When you began fasting in memory of the destruction and death, did you ask me?

The obvious conclusion is stated in the third question, Should ye not hear (more accurately have heard) the words which Jehovah cried by the former prophets. ? It would have been better for them to have heard and heeded the former prophets than to have invented fasts for themselves with no divine directive.

The former prophets were those who had preached in the times before the captivity. The practice of what they taught would have been the appropriate response to the captivity rather than self-appointed fasts of mourning. Rather than mourn over what God had brought upon them, they should have corrected the circumstances which caused Him to punish them.