Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me, saying,
The verse introduces a message from the Lord of hosts given to Zechariah, beginning the answer to the question about fasting. The message is addressed to all the people of the land and to the priests. It is a rebuke to people who should have been a moral light amid darkness but disregarded the word of the Lord.
The message questions whether the people's fasting and mourning had truly been done for God. That fasting and mourning in view took place during the exile. It specifies fasting and mourning in the fifth and seventh months through seventy years. The message also questions whether their eating and drinking had been for themselves.
In this way the verse exposes self-serving religion, in which they lived for themselves and neglected the work God had appointed them to do as laborers together with God. The message calls them to heed what was spoken by the earlier prophets, to judge fairly and to practice mercy, justice and compassion. It recalls the words spoken when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, with the surrounding cities and with people inhabiting the south and the plain.
The message warns that refusing to hear God brought judgment and scattering. These words describe the experience of God's people during the preceding twenty years, when they followed wrong principles, violated God's law in spirit and letter, and could not receive His blessing. These admonitions call people to examine their lives and set things in order.
The verse introduces a message from the Lord of hosts given to Zechariah, beginning the answer to the question about fasting. The message is addressed to all the people of the land and to the priests. It is a rebuke to people who should have been a moral light amid darkness but disregarded the word of the Lord.
The message questions whether the people's fasting and mourning had truly been done for God. That fasting and mourning in view took place during the exile. It specifies fasting and mourning in the fifth and seventh months through seventy years. The message also questions whether their eating and drinking had been for themselves.
In this way the verse exposes self-serving religion, in which they lived for themselves and neglected the work God had appointed them to do as laborers together with God. The message calls them to heed what was spoken by the earlier prophets, to judge fairly and to practice mercy, justice and compassion. It recalls the words spoken when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, with the surrounding cities and with people inhabiting the south and the plain.
The message warns that refusing to hear God brought judgment and scattering. These words describe the experience of God's people during the preceding twenty years, when they followed wrong principles, violated God's law in spirit and letter, and could not receive His blessing. These admonitions call people to examine their lives and set things in order.