Zechariah 7:12

Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts. YEA, THEY MADE THEIR HEARTS AS AN ADAMANT - (; ). LEST THEY SHOULD HEAR THE LAW, AND THE WORDS WHICH THE LORD OF HOSTS HATH SENT IN HIS SPIRIT BY THE FORMER PROPHETS - i:e., sent by the former prophets inspired with his Spirit (cf. , the Lord's messenger in the Lord's message). THEREFORE CAME A GREAT WRATH FROM THE LORD OF HOSTS - (). Since they pushed from them the yoke of obedie...

He then comes to the heart, _They made_, he says, _their heart adamant_, or the very hardest stone. Some render it steel, and others flint. It means sometimes a thorn; but in this place, as in Ezekiel 3:9, and in Jeremiah 17:1, it is to be taken for adamant, or the hardest stone. (75) We now see that the Prophet’s object was to show that the Jews had no excuse, as if they had fallen away through error or ignorance, but had ever wilfully and perversely rejected sound doctrine. The Prophet then teaches us that hypocrisy had been the sole hindrance to prevent them from understanding and following what was right. But it may be useful to notice the manner of speaking which the Prophet adopts in condemning the perverseness of the Jews, when he says, that they had refused attention to God. For we ought here to observe th

8-14 God's judgements upon Israel of old for their sins, were written to warn Christians. The duties required are, not keeping fasts and offering sacrifices, but doing justly and loving mercy, which tend to the public welfare and peace. The law of God lays restraint upon the heart. But they filled their minds with prejudices against the word of God. Nothing is harder than the heart of a presumptuous sinner. See the fatal consequences of this to their fathers. Great sins against the Lord of hosts, bring great wrath from his power, which cannot be resisted. Sin, if regarded in the heart, will certainly spoil the success of prayer. The Lord always hears the cry of the broken-hearted penitent; yet all who die impenitent and unbelieving, will find no remedy or refuge from miseries which while here they despised and defied, but which they then will not be able to bear....

Verse Zechariah 7:12. _MADE THEIR HEARTS AS AN ADAMANT STONE_] שמיר _shamir_ may mean the _granite_. This is the hardest stone with which the common people could be acquainted. Perhaps the _corundum_, of which _emery_ is a species, may be intended. _Bochart_ thinks it means a stone used in _polishing_ others. The same name, in Hebrew, applies to different stones....

HARDER THAN ADAMANT - The stone, whatever it be, was hard enough to cut ineffaceable characters : it was harder than flint . It would cut rocks; it could not be graven itself, or receive the characters of God. This is the last sin, obduracy, persevering impenitence, which “resisted the Holy Spirit” Acts 7:51. and “did despite to the Spirit of grace” Hebrews 10:29. Not through infirmity, but of set purpose, they hardened themselves, lest “they should convert” Isaiah 6:10 and be healed. They feared to trust themselves to God’s word, lest He should convert them by it. Lest they should hear the law and the words which the Lord Go

EXPOSITION VERSE 1-8:23 Part II. THE ANSWER TO A QUESTION CONCERNING THE OBSERVANCE OF CERTAIN FASTS. ZECHARIAH 7:1 § 1. _A deputation comes from Bethel to ask whether a fast instituted in memory of the calamity of Jerusalem was still to be observed._ ZECHARIAH 7:1 IN THE FOURTH YEAR OF KING DARIUS. This happened, then, B.C. 518, nearly two years after the visions had occurred (Zechariah 1:7). In two years more the te

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) used it in hewing the stones for the two tables of the law, and in fitting the precious stones in the ephod; and Solomon in cutting the stones for the building of the temple; and is so hard that it cannot be broken by iron: and as hard is naturally the heart of man, and which becomes more so by sinning, and obstinate persisting in it, that nothing can remove the hardness of it but the powerful and efficacious grace of God: as hard as the adamant is, it is to be softened by the blood of a goat, as naturalists says h; so

Zechariah 7:1. _And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu;_ God's prophets were not always in the spirit, and when the Word of God came to them, it was a notable day, and they marked it in their diary. I think that we, too, who are not prophets can remember some special time when God's Word was peculiarly precious to us. We can put down «the fourth day of the ninth month.» Zechariah 7:2. When they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regemmelech, and their men, to pray before the LORD, And to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the LORD of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done thes

II. QUESTIONS CONCERNING CERTAIN FASTS CHAPTER 7 _ 1. The question (Zechariah 7:1) _ 2. The reproof (Zechariah 7:4) 3. The lessons of the past (Zechariah 7:8) Zechariah 7:1. Nearly two years had passed since Zechariah's great visions, and during that time the people had been obedient to the vision and built the house. Soon the ancient worship was to be resumed. A question arose in the minds of the people concerning certain Jewish days of fasting. The principal day was the day set apart in memory of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. It was kept on the ninth day of the fifth mon

ZECHARIAH 7:8 is probably an amplification of the original address by a later hand and likewise Zechariah 8:1. Both are much like Zechariah 1:2....