Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?
The question belongs to messages given when the Jewish people were anxious that the permission to rebuild might be withdrawn. Those messages were meant to sustain and encourage the people by revealing God's compassion and love.
Its question reminds the people that their ancestors and the prophets who warned them do not live forever, pointing to the passing of generations. By contrast with those passing generations, the words that follow show that God's warnings and commands remained in force and were fulfilled in the fathers' experience. The verse therefore calls its hearers to learn from their fathers' disobedience and to heed God's sure word. God's word does not fail, and blessing is promised to those who listen to it.
The question belongs to messages given when the Jewish people were anxious that the permission to rebuild might be withdrawn. Those messages were meant to sustain and encourage the people by revealing God's compassion and love.
Its question reminds the people that their ancestors and the prophets who warned them do not live forever, pointing to the passing of generations. By contrast with those passing generations, the words that follow show that God's warnings and commands remained in force and were fulfilled in the fathers' experience. The verse therefore calls its hearers to learn from their fathers' disobedience and to heed God's sure word. God's word does not fail, and blessing is promised to those who listen to it.