Zechariah 7:8

_AND THE WORD OF THE LORD CAME UNTO ZECHARIAH, SAYING,_ No JFB commentary on this verse....

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....

Instead of quoting the former prophets, Zechariah gives the substance of their exhortations, as renewed to himself....

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

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....

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....

The Answer. Second Section 8. _the word of the Lord came_ It is not necessary to suppose that there was a break, or interval of time, between the sections which are introduced by this formula. The frequent appeal to Jehovah, as the Author of their prophecies, is a characteristic of the post-captivity prophets. Comp. chap. 8 (in which the phrase "thus saith Jehovah," or "Jehovah of hosts," occurs thirteen times), Haggai 2:6, note....

THE SECOND ANSWERING STATEMENT. Zechariah 7:8-14 RV. And the word of Jehovah came unto Zechariah, saying, Thus hath Jehovah of hosts spoken, saying, Execute true judgement, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother; and oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the sojourner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart. But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which Jehovah of hosts had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets: therefore there came great wrath from Jehovah of hosts. And it is come to pass that, as he cried, and they would not hear, so they shall cry, and I will not hear, said Jehovah of hosts; but I will scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations