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Zechariah 7 Commentary Verses 8-14
Zechariah 7 Commentary Verses 8-14: Let’s turn our attention to Zechariah 7.
We’ll be continuing today in a section that began in the first verse of this chapter with a question. A few of the Jews had been sent by others to ask whether they should continue to mourn and fast commemorating the destruction of their temple around 70 years prior to this point.
And they get their answer. Well, they get four installments
to their answer because God replies to their question with four separate
responses.
Last time, we saw the first response that God gave to their
question regarding whether they should keep weeping and fasting concerning the
destruction of their temple and of Jerusalem.
And that first response basically probed the nature of their
fasting. We saw that God was not at all impressed with their fasting because
they did it selfishly.
In other words, because God had sent them to Jerusalem to
build his temple and they had not done it but rather they were just living
their lives for themselves – whatever they did – whether they ate or drank or
abstained from these activities – it was all selfish. And God was not
impressed.
Zechariah 7 Commentary: God’s Second Response (7:8-14)
And that brings us to God’s second response to their
question about fasting in the 5th month. So, let’s read verses 8-14
of Zechariah 7 to start to understand the next point that God wants to make to
these Jews of Zechariah’s day.
[Read Zec 7:8-14…]
So, this section breaks down into three major parts.
We have God’s original message to the Israelites of old –
the commands he gave to his people before he had to send them into exile.
That’s verses 8-10.
Then God details their response to that original message.
And we come to discover that the people’s response to God’s message before the
exile was stubborn rebellion. That’s verses 11-12a.
And finally, in this section we have God reminding these
Jews that he was left with no choice but to punish them. And the way that he
chose to punish them was by sending them out of their land. We see that in
verses 12b-14.
Zechariah 7 Commentary God’s Original Message (8-10)
So, let’s look at God’s original message that went unheeded
for a long time by his people. It’s a message that is very relevant to their
question of whether they should mourn the destruction of their temple, because
their original response to this message caused the destruction of that very
temple!
8 ¶ [And/Then/Again] the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah, saying,
9 [Thus speaketh/Thus has X said/X said] the LORD [of hosts/who rules over all/Almighty], saying,
So, the following content is something that God had already
expressed in the past. We need to be clear on that. It’s not that the Jews of
Zechariah’s day were being told this – no, this was the message that their
ancestors heard. Here it is.
[Execute/Dispense/Exercise/Administer/Judge] [true/righteous (LXX)] [judgment/justice],
and [shew mercy/practice kindness/show brotherhood/deal mercifully] and compassions [every man to his brother/to each other/to one another]:
10 And oppress not the widow, nor the [fatherless/orphan], the [stranger/foreigner/alien], nor the poor;
[and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart./and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.’/nor should anyone secretly plot evil against his fellow human being.’
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By PaulZechariah 7 Commentary Verses 8-14: Let’s turn our attention to Zechariah 7.
We’ll be continuing today in a section that began in the first verse of this chapter with a question. A few of the Jews had been sent by others to ask whether they should continue to mourn and fast commemorating the destruction of their temple around 70 years prior to this point.
And they get their answer. Well, they get four installments
to their answer because God replies to their question with four separate
responses.
Last time, we saw the first response that God gave to their
question regarding whether they should keep weeping and fasting concerning the
destruction of their temple and of Jerusalem.
And that first response basically probed the nature of their
fasting. We saw that God was not at all impressed with their fasting because
they did it selfishly.
In other words, because God had sent them to Jerusalem to
build his temple and they had not done it but rather they were just living
their lives for themselves – whatever they did – whether they ate or drank or
abstained from these activities – it was all selfish. And God was not
impressed.
Zechariah 7 Commentary: God’s Second Response (7:8-14)
And that brings us to God’s second response to their
question about fasting in the 5th month. So, let’s read verses 8-14
of Zechariah 7 to start to understand the next point that God wants to make to
these Jews of Zechariah’s day.
[Read Zec 7:8-14…]
So, this section breaks down into three major parts.
We have God’s original message to the Israelites of old –
the commands he gave to his people before he had to send them into exile.
That’s verses 8-10.
Then God details their response to that original message.
And we come to discover that the people’s response to God’s message before the
exile was stubborn rebellion. That’s verses 11-12a.
And finally, in this section we have God reminding these
Jews that he was left with no choice but to punish them. And the way that he
chose to punish them was by sending them out of their land. We see that in
verses 12b-14.
Zechariah 7 Commentary God’s Original Message (8-10)
So, let’s look at God’s original message that went unheeded
for a long time by his people. It’s a message that is very relevant to their
question of whether they should mourn the destruction of their temple, because
their original response to this message caused the destruction of that very
temple!
8 ¶ [And/Then/Again] the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah, saying,
9 [Thus speaketh/Thus has X said/X said] the LORD [of hosts/who rules over all/Almighty], saying,
So, the following content is something that God had already
expressed in the past. We need to be clear on that. It’s not that the Jews of
Zechariah’s day were being told this – no, this was the message that their
ancestors heard. Here it is.
[Execute/Dispense/Exercise/Administer/Judge] [true/righteous (LXX)] [judgment/justice],
and [shew mercy/practice kindness/show brotherhood/deal mercifully] and compassions [every man to his brother/to each other/to one another]:
10 And oppress not the widow, nor the [fatherless/orphan], the [stranger/foreigner/alien], nor the poor;
[and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart./and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.’/nor should anyone secretly plot evil against his fellow human being.’