By reading these two chapters it will be seen that they both relate to a question asked in the temple of the Lord, and the answer and explanation given by the prophet of God. Hence they may be studied as one. Two years prior to this time the prophet Haggai had told the people that the time had come for them to go up to the mountain and bring wood, and build the Lord's house in Jerusalem, at the same time reproving them for dwelling in houses ceiled with cedar, while His house was lying waste. God also told them that if they would go forward and build His house, He would take pleasure in them. He also stated that their lack of His blessing was due to the fact that they were running every man after his own things, and neglecting God's work.
Under the stimulus of the encouragement of the prophet, the people began to labor, and the work was prosecuted to such an extent that the temple services could be partially carried on. The Lord did bless them, and they were led to rejoice in what they saw accomplished.
In the midst of their rejoicing, however, they came to certain times in the year which had been set apart as days of fasting and mourning before God. With the return of these occasions would come the thought of evil which might again befall them, and those who doubted and hesitated would suggest that their prosperity would be transient, and that calamity would again come upon the city, and all their work would be destroyed.
This lead the people to send a question up to the temple by the hands of certain ones who went up to pray. These said to the priest: “Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?” By referring to chapter 8:19 we find that this question involved not only the fifth, but also the fourth, seventh, and tenth months. All through their captivity they had observed these as times of mourning and fasting for the following reasons: The tenth month, because in that month came Nebuchadnezzar with all his army and laid siege to the city of Jerusalem (Jer. 52:4). The fourth month, because it was upon the ninth day of that month that the walls were broken down and the city taken (Jer. 52:6, 7). The fifth month because upon the tenth day of that month were the Lord's house, the king's palace, and all the great buildings in Jerusalem burned by Nebuchadnezzar (Jer. 52:12). The seventh month because in that month was the last vestige of their government in the land of their fathers swept away by the murder of Gedaliah (Jer. 41:1–3).
These times of mourning observed during the captivity present before us a sad picture. The feelings of the captives are pathetically expressed in the Psalm as follows:—
“By the rivers of Babylon,
There we sat down, yea, we wept,
When we remembered Zion.
We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.”
And when requested to sing in their captivity they replied:—
“How shall we sing the Lord’s song
In a strange land?”
Yes, in a strange land, their beautiful city a heap of ruins, the sepulchers of their fathers possessed by strangers, the land of promise a desolation, its cities broken down, its fruitful hills and vales laid waste. No more was heard in their land the sound of the trumpet calling them to come up before the Lord; no happy throngs were seen wending their way over mountain and plain, by rippling brook and rushing river, to attend the great annual feasts in the city of David; no more is seen the great high priest clothed in his beautiful garments passing in and out before the people, and placing the blessing of their God upon them; no more do the mountains about Jerusalem echo and re-echo the grand chorus of the thousands of Levites as they chant the praises of Jehovah, or the glad responsive acclaim of that people whose God is the Lord. The hills are as silent as the halls of death; the fields are as barren as the mountains of Gilboa. The Israelites are gone and with them the blessing of their God.
In explaining why all this came upon them, the prophet says:—
“Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassions every man to his brother; and oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart. But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in His Spirit by the former prophets; therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts. Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the Lord of hosts; but I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned; for they laid the pleasant land desolate.” Zech. 7:9–14.
To those who were saying that the present prosperity would not last, and that they never would have a time of perfect peace, the prophet foretells the following scene of tranquillity:—
“Thus saith the Lord: I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy mountain. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: If it be marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvelous in Mine eyes? saith the Lord of hosts.” Chap. 8:3–6.
But the following verses show that all this would follow not because of fasting or form, but on condition of their faithfulness in heeding the words of God's prophets, and that He would be just as certain to bring His blessing upon them for obedience, as He had been to punish them for their sin, for there is absolutely no changing of His purposes. They must speak every man the truth to his neighbor; they must execute the judgment of truth in their gates; they must not imagine evil in their hearts against their neighbors; they must love no false oath; for all these things the Lord doth hate.
But now the captivity of Zion is turned. The Lord has caused His face to shine upon His inheritance, and they are again dwelling in the land of their fathers. Shall they continue to mourn and fast as in the captivity? Ah, no indeed. By their joy and gladness of heart, and as an expression of their faith, these days of mourning which marked their greatest defeats and severest afflictions are to be turned into cheerful feasts of rejoicing before the Lord, in which they are to recount His manifold mercies and multiplied blessings. Other cities witnessing this would be so anxious to share in it that they would say:—
“Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts; I will go also. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold of all the languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you; for we have heard that God is with you.” Chap. 8:21–23.
Such would have been the prosperity and influence of that people, through Christ, had they been faithful to their God. But alas! they failed. Nevertheless, God has a remnant, and they, together with all who can be gathered out for His name, shall see His glory in the full accomplishment of His purpose.
We are now living in the time when God has set His hand a second time to recover the remnant of His people, and the Deliverer that is to come will come, and will not tarry, and God's purpose shall be carried out, not in the natural descendants of Jacob, but in those who are Jews inwardly, whose circumcision is of the heart and not of the flesh, and who, being Christ's, are the true Israelites and the children or seed of Abraham.
In view of this fact, let us see what lessons we may learn from these chapters. We have been in the captivity of sin, but the same God of Israel still lives to turn our captivity, and to cause His face to shine upon us that we may be saved. We have passed weary days of fasting and mourning before the Lord. These days were in memory of our defeats and the victories of our enemy. But now these shall be turned into days of joy and rejoicing in which we shall feast upon the blessings of the Lord, as we with joy draw water out of the wells of salvation. Long have we lived in an enemy's land. Soon we are to possess our goodly inheritance, whose fields are living green, whose hills and valleys will be robed in such beauty as to fascinate and charm the beholder, whose water will be the pure river of water of life, and whose inhabitants shall be immortal.
Shall you be there? Shall I be there?
[The next article of this series is, “The Coming and Rejection of the Lovely One.”]
