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Zechariah 7:3
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Obedience Better than Fasting

1 Now in the fourth year of King Darius it came to pass that the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, on the fourth day of the ninth month, Chislev,
2 when1 the people sent Sherezer, with Regem-Melech and his men, to the house of God,4 to pray before the Lord,  
3 and to aask the priests who were in the house of the Lord of hosts, and the prophets, saying, “Should I weep in bthe fifth month and fast as I have done for so many years?”  
4 Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying,
5 “Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: ‘When you afasted and mourned in the fifth band seventh months cduring those seventy years, did you really fast dfor Me—for Me?  
6 aWhen you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves?  
7 Should you not have obeyed the words which the Lord proclaimed through the aformer prophets when Jerusalem and the cities around it were inhabited and prosperous, and bthe South and the Lowland were inhabited?’ ”  

Disobedience Resulted in Captivity

8 Then the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying,
Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
<< Zechariah 7:2   Zechariah 7:4 >>


Zechariah 7:3

Should I weep in the fifth month—"I" represents here the people of God (compare Zechariah 8:21). This rather favors MAURER'S view, taking "the house of God," the congregation, as nominative to "sent." Their hypocrisy appeared because they showed more concern about a ceremony of human institution (not improper in itself) than about moral obedience. If, too, they had trusted God's promise as to the restoration of Church and State, the fast would have now given place to joy, for which there was more cause than for grief [PEMBELLUS].

to the prophets—Haggai and Zechariah especially. The tenth day of the fifth month was kept a fast, being the anniversary of the destruction of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 52:12-14). They ask, Should the fast be continued, now that the temple and city are being restored?

separating myself—sanctifying myself by separation, not only from food, but from all defilements (compare Joel 2:16) as was usual in a solemn fast.




Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Zechariah 7:3:

Haggai 1:1
Zechariah 7:1
Zechariah 7:2
Zechariah 7:7
Zechariah 8:16-17
Zechariah 8:18-19
Zechariah 8:19
1 Corinthians 7:5

 

<< Zechariah 7:2   Zechariah 7:4 >>

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