Zechariah 7:1-14

Warnings From the Past

Chs.7 and 8 go together, and were spoken on a date (fourth day of the ninth month in the fourth year of Darius) two years later than the series of visions described above, viz. in 518 b.c. (On contemporary events see on Zechariah 6:8.) They are Zechariah's answer to a question put to him by certain visitors to Jerusalem, who asked whether the fast observed by the Jews in the fifth month, in memory of the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, should still be kept. Zechariah says, 'No; God demands not fasts, but observance of moral laws, by neglecting which your forefathers suffered punishment.' Zechariah 8. God has assuredly come to dwell with His people. The Messianic age is at hand. Fast days will soon become joyful feast days; and even the heathen will desire to worship with the Jews.