Charles Ellicott Commentary Zechariah 7
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Zechariah 7
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Zechariah 7
"And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of Jehovah came unto Zechariah in the fourth [day] of the ninth month, even in Chislev." — Zechariah 7:1 (ASV)
Fourth year ... This was in 518 B.C., the second year after the commencement of the rebuilding of the Temple, and about two years before its completion.
"Now [they of] Beth-el had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech, and their men, to entreat the favor of Jehovah," — Zechariah 7:2 (ASV)
When they had sent ... before the Lord. —Better, Then [the people of] Bethel [such as] Sherezer and Regemmelech, and his men, sent to entreat the Lord. “Bethel” stands for the inhabitants of Bethel, many of its former inhabitants had returned (Ezra 2:28); similarly, “Jerusalem” often means “the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” The verb “then there sent” seems to denote an event subsequent to the revelation spoken of in Zechariah 7:1. (Compare to 1 Kings 14:5, where the prophet Ahijah receives warning of the coming of the wife of Jeroboam.)
Though the literal meaning of “Bethel” is house of God, no instance can be cited of the words being used to denote the Temple (as it is taken by the English Version). Some (with the Septuagint) translate “to Bethel;” but this rendering is unsuitable, for we have no reason to suppose that “the priests belonging to the house of the Lord” resided specially at Bethel. Others, again, render the words, “when Bethel sent Sherezer, and Regem-melech, and their people.” Sherezer, or rather Sarezer, is mentioned as a name of one of the sons of Sennacherib (Isaiah 37:38), and Nergal-Sarezer occurs in Jeremiah 39:3. The name is Assyrian, [Nirgal] -sar-uśur, “May [Nergal] protect the king” (Schrader).
"[and] to speak unto the priests of the house of Jehovah of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?" — Zechariah 7:3 (ASV)
In.—It is better understood as belonging to. The Septuagint wrongly gives ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ.
In the fifth month.—On the tenth of the fifth month (Ab), Nebuzar-adan burned the Temple and Jerusalem with fire (Jeremiah 52:12–13). However, in 2 Kings 25:8–10, the seventh day of the fifth month is given as the date; perhaps it was in flames for three days. Now that the rebuilding was well in progress, they naturally desired to know whether the fast, which had been kept in commemoration of the past calamity, should still be observed.
Separating myself—namely, from meat and drink. The Septuagint, for “shall I weep, separating myself?” gives εἰσελήλυθεν ὧδε ... τὸ ἁγίασμα, reading the same consonants but different vowels (see my Student’s Commentary). Consequently, instead of “as I have done”, the Septuagint gives καθότι ἐποίησεν.
Zechariah 7:4–8:23. The prophet’s answer is contained in four sections (Zechariah 7:4–14; Zechariah 8:1–23), each of which is introduced by the words, “The word of the Lord of Hosts came”, etc., as a testimony that he spoke not of himself.
"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, and when ye drink, do not 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?" — Zechariah 7:4-7 (ASV)
The people are rebuked for the hypocritical, or merely formal, nature of their fasts. The prophet does not, even further on, give any direct answer to their inquiry. He seems to have wished to show them that fasting or not fasting was a matter of only secondary consideration.
Their fasts were undertaken on account of their sufferings; their sufferings were caused by their sins. So, then, their sins were the origin of their fasts. Let them remove sin from their midst, then fasting would be unnecessary.
“All stated fasts tend to degenerate into superstition, unless there is a strong counteracting agency. The original reference to God is lost in the mere outward act.... Selfishness is the bane of all true piety, as godliness is its essence” (Moore).
"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?" — Zechariah 7:5 (ASV)
All the people.—The question, though asked by only a few, was of interest to all the people; or the people of Bethel may have been the representatives of all the people; in any case, the reply is given to the whole nation (Zechariah 7:5). Though the mission came in the ninth month, no question was asked about the fast of the tenth month, but only about that of the fifth month. The reason for this appears to be that, the fast in Ab being connected with their mourning for the destruction of the Temple, it was natural that, now its rebuilding had progressed so far, they should inquire whether that particular fast should be kept.
The prophet, in his first reply, also mentions the fast of the 3rd of the seventh month (Tishri), which was kept in memory of the assassination of Gedaliah, which took place soon after the destruction of the Temple. The seventy years to which he refers are those between the seventh month B.C. 587 (the date of the assassination of Gedaliah) and the ninth month B.C. 518 (the date of the Bethel mission).
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