Explaining the Book

Zechariah 8 Bible Study Verses 18-23

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Zechariah 8 Bible Study verses 18-23: Let’s turn our attention to Zechariah 8. We’ll be studying verses 18-23 to end this chapter.

And what we’ll see in this section is the Lord’s 4th

response to the Jews’ question about fasting. Remember that the Jews who came
back from Babylon to Jerusalem were curious as to whether they should keep
mourning and fasting to commemorate the destruction of the Temple by Babylon
about 70 years prior to this point.

And the Lord answered their question in four separate

responses. The first response highlighted the fact that God was not happy with
their fasts in the first place because those fasts were self-centered and not
done for the Lord. The second response highlighted the Jews’ previous lack of
love for one another. So, these Jews had not loved God or neighbor as they had
been commanded. And this is why the Lord had to destroy their temple in the
first place, which is why they were fasting.

Then the third response let these Jews in on the fact that

God was planning to richly bless them with his own presence among them in the
future. And that’s still future to this day.

And so, now here’s the fourth and last response from the

Lord. And it also – like the third response – addresses the awesome blessings
that God has in store for them.

So, let’s read Zechariah 8:18-23 to see this last response

in full.

[Read Zec 8:18-23…]

Zechariah 8 Bible Study verses 18-19

So, first of all, let’s examine what the Lord is talking

about with these various fasts in all of these months that he mentions in
verses 18 and 19.

KJV Zechariah 8:18 ¶ [And the/The/Again the] word of the LORD [of hosts/who rules over all/Almighty] came [unto/to] [me, saying,/me as follows/me]

19 [Thus saith the LORD of hosts;/The LORD who rules over all says,/This is what the LORD Almighty says:]

The fast of the fourth month,
and the fast of the fifth,
and the fast of the seventh,
and the fast of the tenth,

[shall be/will become] [to/for] the house of Judah [joy/joyful] and [gladness/happy/glad occasions], and [cheerful feasts/pleasant feasts/happy festivals];

[therefore/so] love [the truth/truth] and peace.

Now, the Lord just mentioned four separate fasts that the

Jews of Zechariah’s day were observing. And that’s interesting because our
knowledge of the number of months on which these Jews were fasting has been
increasing throughout these two chapters that we’ve been studying for the last
few weeks.

At first the Jews come and ask the Lord whether they should

fast in the fifth month. By they way, they came in the ninth month to
ask that question. So, they were looking forward to the fast that was to come
in a few months. But anyway, the Jews initially asked only about the fast of
the fifth month. That’s just one month they’re asking about in Zechariah
7:3.

Well, then the Lord responds to their question in Zechariah

7:5 by mentioning their fasting in both the fifth and seventh
months and how neither was pleasing to him because they were done improperly
with a focus on themselves rather than on the Lord to whom they were supposedly
fasting. But you can see that now the number of months in which these Jews were
fasting is expanded to two from the one they originally mentioned.

But now here in Zechariah 8:19 we have not one… not two… but

actually four months during which these Jews were fasting. That’s what God
says.

So, we’re going to look at these various months and try to

figure out what caused the Jews to fast during them.

Zec
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Explaining the BookBy Paul