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... [ Continue Reading ]
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... [ Continue Reading ]
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 th... [ Continue Reading ]
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... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN CAME THE WORD OF THE LORD OF HOSTS UNTO ME, SAYING. Upon the sending of this embassy, and upon putting this question.... [ Continue Reading ]
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 mo... [ Continue Reading ]
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 d... [ Continue Reading ]
[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 prevent... [ Continue Reading ]
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.... [ Continue Reading ]
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 whi... [ Continue Reading ]
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... [ Continue Reading ]
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" f; a... [ Continue Reading ]
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 say g it is a worm like a barley corn, so strong as to cut the hardest stones in pieces; Moses (they say) use... [ Continue Reading ]
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,... [ Continue Reading ]
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;... [ Continue Reading ]