Zechariah 7:3
Ver. 3. And to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the Lord of hosts,.... That ministered in the sanctuary, as the Targum explains it, who offered sacrifices, &c. and who were to be consulted in matters of religion, Mal 2:7:
and to the prophets; who were then in being, as Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi:
saying, Should I weep in the fifth month; which is the month Ab, and answers to July: now on the seventh day of this month, according to 2Ki 25:8, the temple was burnt by the Chaldeans; and, according to Jer 3:12, it was on the tenth of this month, which day was kept by the Jews as a day of fasting and humiliation, in commemoration of it; and by the Misnic doctors {u} afterwards was removed, and kept on the ninth day of the said month; but, seeing the temple was in great forwardness of being rebuilt, the question with those Jews was, whether they should continue any longer mourning and fasting on that account:
separating myself: that is, from eating and drinking, and not taking the lawful pleasures and recreations of life:
as I have done these so many years? for the space of seventy years, as in Zec 7:5.
{u} Misn. Taanith, c. 4. sect. 7, 8. T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 29. 1.