The Pulpit Commentary — Zechariah — Section 74

burning of the temple on the tenth da.y of the fifth month (Jer. lii. 13), in commemorn- Lion of which this fast of the fifth month had been instituted; and the renewed building of the temple, commenced in the second of Dinius (Ezra iv. 24; v. 1, 2), having now (in this fourth of Darius, see ver. l) so far advanced that the priests could live in it (seo ver. 3), what more natural and apparently opportune than this inquiry about the propriety of observin~ this fast any longer (comp. Dan. ix. 1-3)? 6. Ur its speci,al cha11nel, so to describe it. How peculiarly befitting, to all appearance, the particular messengers sent! And that, whether we understand them (with some) to be persons ~ent by the inhabitants of "Bethel" (translated in our version, "the house of God," in ver. 2), a place so long and notoriously connected with idol-worship and the con- tempt of God's will ( see 1 Kings xii. 32, 33; 2 Kings xvii. 28; Amos vii. 13); or w_hether, with others, judging from the Assyrian turn of their names (comp. 2 Kings Xl.X. 37; and contrast eh. vi. 10), we suppose that they were Jews of the Captivity come up in person to make inquiry. In either case, such au inquiry, from such persons, seems eminently deserving of praise-at first sight. IL THE SUB-SURFACE VIEW. Nevertheless, in all this same "fasting," about which they inquire, this Scripture, when further examined, shows us that their conduct had been only deserving of blame. This true, inasmuch as their conduct, during all that time, had been : 1. Never wholly in the right. "Fasting" is only valuable as an outward sign of repentance; but their repentance, during all "those seventy years" (ver. 5), had never been true repentance, i.e. "repentance toward God." Note, " Did ye at all fast unto rue, even to me P" in ver. 5; and comp. Acts xx. 21; also the "sorrow r<a-rii e,ov" of 2 Cor. vii. 10, and the sorrow of David (Ps. Ii. 4) and the prodigal (Luke xv. 18), for the evil of sin, with the sorrow of Saul (1 Sam. xv. 30), apparently for its consequence.s alone. 2. .Always eminently in the wrong. Their solicitude, when engaged in their Castings, had not really been about God's pleasure and will; but it had been, and that most thoroughly, concerning their own; as much so, in fact, as when, at other times, they had eaten and drunk (ver. 6). So completely, we see, in some cases, may mere abstinence from food be one of the" sins of the flesh" (comp Matt. vi. 16 and Isa. lviii. 3--7). 3. .Always inexcusably in the wrong. (1) For having sinned thus against light. Long ago and often (see beginning of ver. 7) God's "prophets" had warned their fathers against thus drawing nigh unto him with their lips only (Isa. =ix. 13); and they had the remembrance and the record of this as their guide. (2) For havi11fJ sinned thus against experience. When these prophets had so spoken all was happy and bright," Jerusalem" and the "cities round about" "inhabited" fully and in "prosperity," as also at that time, even those comparatively barren and country districts, "the south and the plain." How awfully different their condition during "those seventy years"! How loudly, therefore, their own experience, and, as it were, their own land itself, had admonished them! And yet how entirely in vain ! May not all this illustrate, further, for our own admonition? 1. The exceeding deceitfulness of formalism. All God's people (they speak as one .man in ver. 3), and even, apparently, all God's ministers (the "priests," ver. 6), being deceived thereby, in this instance, to so great an extent, and for so many years, and in such circumstances of trial (comp. John xviii.28 with xii.10, "Lazarus also;" and Matt. xxvii. 4, 6). 2. The exceeding penetration of God's Word. Unmasking thus, an~ making plain, and bringing to light all these deeply bidden deceits (comp. Heh. iv. 12, 13; al~o Luke xii. 2; Matt. ix. 4; 1 Cor. xiv. 25; Ps. I. 21, end; Ps. xc. 8). How easy, m short, to deceive ourselves! How impossible to mock God (see Gal. vi. 7) ! Vers. 8--14.-Hypocrisywarned. "And the word of the Lord came untoZechariah, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts," etc. The severe rebuke of _the prev\ous verses seems followed up in these verses by a very_solem~ yet ver:y merciful warrn~g, intended apparently to save the Jews from the vanous evils to which theu hypocnsy had exposed them. The language of God to their fathers, as referred to in ver. 7, appears still (note "thus spake," according to Pusey, Wardlaw, and others, in ver. 9) the theme of diacourse. And three successive points of importance, in connection with this language and its consequences, seem described to us here, viz. (1) a most gracious purpose ; (2) a stubborn refusal; and (3) a terrible doom. I. A MOB'.!' GRACIOUS PURPOSE. What was it really that, by the "former prophct11 ''  Oil, VII, 1-14.] THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAH. 'i l