Zechariah 7:7

Should ye not hear the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Zechariah 7:7. Should ye not hear the words — You needed not to have thus inquired, had you regarded the words spoken by my prophets, who have borne testimony to the real excellence and absolute necessity of obedience to the great and momentous precepts of my law, and who have called for true repentance and sincere love to God and man, with their proper fruits, and have shown how light and insignificant all ceremonies and formal services are in comparison thereof. When Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity — He puts them in mind of the reproofs, warnings, and exhortations of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others of the former prophets, delivered to them when they were in a state of comparative prosperity, in which state they would have been continued, if they had hearkened to these prophets, and been obedient to the Lord’s voice uttered by them. As if he had said, This is what you should have done on your fast-days; it was not enough to weep and separate yourselves on those days in token of your sorrow for the judgments that had come upon you; but you should have searched the Scriptures of the prophets, that you might have seen what was the ground of God’s controversy with your fathers, and might have taken warning by their miseries, not to tread in the steps of their iniquities. You ask, shall you do as you have done in fasting? No; you must do that which you have not yet done; you must repent of your sins, and reform your lives; that is it that we now call you to, and it is the same that the former prophets called your fathers to. To affect them the more with a sense of the mischief that sin had done them, and to bring them to true repentance, he reminds them of the former flourishing state of their country; Jerusalem was then inhabited, and in prosperity, but is now desolate and in distress; the cities round about, that are now in ruins, were then inhabited too, and in peace; the country likewise was very populous. But then God by the prophets cried to them, as one in earnest, and was importunate with them to mend their ways, and their doings, or else their prosperity would soon be at an end. Now, says the prophet you should have taken notice of that, and have inferred, that what was required of them for the preventing of the judgments, and which they did not perform, is required of you for the removal of the judgments; and if you do it not, all your fastings and weeping signify nothing. The south was that tract of land called the wilderness of Judea, Matthew 3:1; part of which, or near to it, was the hill country, mentioned Joshua 21:11; Luke 1:39. The LXX. here render it Ορεινη, the hill country. The plain was that open country, called the plains of Jericho, 2 Kings 25:5; and the plain of the valley of Jericho, Deuteronomy 34:3; and reached as far as the salt sea, or the lake of Asphaltites, called the sea of the plain, Deuteronomy 3:17; compare Jeremiah 17:26.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:1-7 If we truly desire to know the will of God in doubtful matters, we must not only consult his word and ministers, but seek his direction by fervent prayer. Those who would know God's mind should consult God's ministers; and, in doubtful cases, ask advice of those whose special business it is to search the Scriptures. The Jews seemed to question whether they ought to continue their fasts, seeing that the city and temple were likely to be finished. The first answer to their inquiry is a sharp reproof of hypocrisy. These fasts were not acceptable to God, unless observed in a better manner, and to better purpose. There was the form of duty, but no life, or soul, or power in it. Holy exercises are to be done to God, looking to his word as our rule, and his glory as our end, seeking to please him and obtain his favour; but self was the centre of all their actions. And it was not enough to weep on fast days; they should have searched the Scriptures of the prophets, that they might have seen what was the ground of God's controversy with their fathers. Whether people are in prosperity or adversity, they must be called upon to leave their sins, and to do their duty.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Should ye "not hear" the words, or, Know ye "not the words?" The verb is presupposed in the emphatic question, as in, "Shall I, the blood of these men?" 2 Samuel 23:17. David omits the word "drink" for abhorrence.

By the former prophets - Isaiah and Jeremiah , "when Jerusalem was dwelling abidingly," at ease, as the whole world then was, except herself, "and the south and the low-country," both belonging to Judah, were inhabited. The restoration then was still very incomplete, since he contrasts their then condition with the present, as inhabited or no. The mountain, the south, and the low country, known still by its name of Sephela to Greeks , made up the territory of Judah Joshua 10:40, Judges 1:9; Jeremiah 17:26; Jeremiah 32:44; Jeremiah 33:13.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

7. Should ye not hear the words—rather, "Should ye not do the words," as their question naturally was as to what they should do (Zec 7:3); "hearing" is not mentioned till Zec 7:12. The sense is, It is not fasts that Jehovah requires of you, but that ye should keep His precepts given to you at the time when Jerusalem was in its integrity. Had ye done so then, ye would have had no occasion to institute fasts to commemorate its destruction, for it would never have been destroyed (Zec 7:9-14) [Maurer]. Or, as the Margin, "Are not these the words" of the older prophets (Isa 58:3; Jer 14:12) which threatened a curse for disobedience, which the event has so awfully confirmed. If ye follow them in sin, ye must follow them in suffering. English Version is good sense: Ye inquire anxiously about the fasts, whereas ye ought to be anxious about hearing the lesson taught by the former prophets and verified in the nation's punishment; penitence and obedience are required rather than fasts.

the plain—southwest of Jerusalem. They then inhabited securely the region most unguarded.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Should ye not hear the words? you needed not have thus inquired had you heeded the word written. Should you not remember, or have you not read, what Isaiah 58:3-7, determines in this very case? Which the Lord hath cried, openly and loudly spoken,

by the former prophets; who have given you the true value of obedience to the great and momentous precepts of the law, who have called for repentance and sincere love to God and man, and have on just balance showed how light and under weight formal services have been.

When Jerusalem was inhabited, and in prosperity: did such observances preserve Jerusalem in its prosperity? Did they prevent the desolation of the cities round about her? Were they sufficient to save the men, the multitudes, that inhabited the south of the plain? Did they, or could they, do no good when things were all safe and well? and do you fondly imagine they can profit you now all is in ruins? Can they restore a fallen state that could not support it falling?

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Should ye not hear the words which the Lord hath cried by the former prophets,.... As Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others; suggesting that it would have been much better for them to have regarded the exhortations and instructions which the Lord sent them by his servants, which would have prevented their captivity; and so would have had no occasion of fasting and mourning: for those prophecies were delivered out

when Jerusalem was inhabited, and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her; when Jerusalem, and the cities about it, were full of people, and enjoyed all the blessings of life in great plenty; and which would have continued, had they attended to the exhortations, cautions, and warnings given them:

when men inhabited the south and the plain? the land of Judea, as the Misnic (x) doctors say, was divided into three parts; the mountainous part, the plain, and the valley. Jerusalem was in the mountainous part, and these are the other two; and not only those parts of the land which were hilly, and those cities that were encompassed with mountains, were in safety and prosperity; but those also that were in the champaign country, and in the low valleys. The "south" was that part of the land of Canaan formerly inhabited by the Amalekites, and which they invaded when David was at Ziklag, Numbers 13:29. Sometimes it was called Negeb, as here; and sometimes Daroma, as frequently in the Jewish writings; in which Judea is often called the south, with respect to Galilee; for they distinguish between the inhabitants of Galilee and the inhabitants of the south country: and say, a disciple might intercalate the year for Galilee, but not for the south, i.e. Judea. It reached from Eleutheropolis to the south of the land, eighteen or twenty miles: it was distinguished by the Jews (y) into upper and nether Daroma, or south country: the upper consisted of the hilly part of it; the nether of the plain; and by Jerom (z) mention is made of interior Daroma, by which there should be an exterior one. The "plain", or "Sephela", was all the champaign country, near to Eleutherepolis, to the north and west; and so the above writer (a) says it was called in his times: now each of these were well inhabited; Daroma, or the southern part; hence it is frequent, in Jewish writings (b), to read of such a Rabbi of Daroma, or the south, as R. Jacob, R. Simlai, and others; and of the elders of the south (c); and so Jerom speaks of Eremmon, and Duma, large villages, in his days, in Daroma or the south; the one sixteen, the other seventeen miles from Eleutheropolis; and of Ether, Jether, and Jethan, one of which was eighteen, and another twenty miles from it (d); and in the Apocrypha:

"Simon also set up Adida in Sephela, and made it strong with gates and bars.'' (1 Maccabees 12:38)

mention is made of Adida in Sephela, fortified, by Simon; and in which also were various other places well stored with inhabitants. This expresses the happy and safe state the Jews were in before their captivity, and in which they would have remained, had they hearkened to the words of the Lord.

(x) Misn. Sheviith, c. 9. sect. 2.((y) T. Hieros. Maaaser Sheni, fol. 56. 3. & Sanhedrin, fol. 18. 4. (z) De locis Hebr. fol. 91. C. & 92. I.((a) Ibid. fol. 94. M. (b) T. Hieros. Beracot, fol. 2. 2. & 11. 4. & Succah, fol. 53. 4. (c) T. Hieros. Erubin, fol. 23. 3.((d) Ut supra, fol. 90. K. & 91. C. & 92. I.

Geneva Study Bible

Should ye not hear the words which the LORD {i} hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and her cities around her, when men inhabited the south and the plain?

(i) By this he condemns their hypocrisy, who thought by their fasting to please God, and by such things as they invented, and in the meantime would not serve him as he had commanded.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

7. Should ye not hear the words] Comp. Isaiah 58:3-7; 1 Samuel 15:22. To that old teaching it is that you have need to take heed and return. It was uttered in the time of your national prosperity. By neglecting it that prosperity was lost. Only by returning to it can it be regained.

the south and the plain] two of the three divisions of the territory of the tribe of Judah; the Negeb and the Shepçlah (or lowland, R. V.). Perhaps the third division, “the hill country,” Luke 1:39, is pointed at in the words, “Jerusalem and the cities thereof round about her.” Jdg 1:9; Obadiah 1:19 and note.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 7. - Should ye not hear the words, etc.? A verb must be supplied. "Do ye not know the words?" or "Should ye not obey the words?" Syriac, Septuagint, and Vulgate, "Are not these the words?" By the former prophets (Zechariah 1:4). It had been a common cry of the prophets from early times that men must not put their trust in the observance of outward ceremonies, but attend to the cultivation of moral obedience and purity (see 1 Samuel 15:22; Proverbs 21:3; Isaiah 1:11, 12, 16, 17; Isaiah 58:3, etc.; Jeremiah 7:22, 23; Hosea 6:6; Micah 6:8, where see note). When Jerusalem was inhabited. Before its destruction and the deportation of its inhabitants. He recalls the former prosperity to their memory, contrasting it with the present low estate, to remind them of all they had lost in punishment of disobedience. The south (Negeb). The southern part of Judaea was so called (see on Obadiah 1:19; and comp. Numbers 13:17; Joshua 15:21). The plain (Shephelah); the low land, along the coast of the Mediterranean (Joshua 15:33; 1 Macc. 12:38). The above districts comprise two of the three divisions of Judaea (Judges 1:9); the third, the mountain or hill country (Luke 1:39), is intended in the expression, "Jerusalem and the cities round about her." There was still a great dearth of population in the country, and the towns were not half inhabited, nor was the]and half cultivated. Zechariah 7:7

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The first of these four words of God contains an exposure of what might be unwarrantable in the question and its motives, and open to disapproval. Zechariah 7:4. "And the word of Jehovah of hosts came to me thus, Zechariah 7:5. Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh (month), and that for seventy years, did ye, when fasting, fast to me? Zechariah 7:6. And when ye eat, and when ye drink, is it not ye who eat, and ye who drink? Zechariah 7:7. Does it not concern the words, which Jehovah has preached through the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and satisfied, and her towns round about her, and the south country and the low land were inhabited?" The thought of Zechariah 7:6 and Zechariah 7:7 is the following: It is a matter of indifference to God whether the people fast or not. The true fasting, which is well pleasing to God, consists not in a pharisaical abstinence from eating and drinking, but in the fact that men observe the word of God and live thereby, as the prophets before the captivity had already preached to the people. This overthrew the notion that men could acquire the favour of God by fasting, and left it to the people to decide whether they would any longer observe the previous fast-days; it also showed what God would require of them if they wished to obtain the promised blessings. For the inf. absol. see at Haggai 1:6. The fasting in the seventh month was not the fast on the day of atonement which was prescribed in the law (Leviticus 23), but, as has been already observed, the fast in commemoration of the murder of Gedaliah. In the form צמתּני the suffix is not a substitute for the dative (Ges. 121, 4), but is to be taken as an accusative, expressive of the fact that the fasting related to God (Ewald, 315, b). The suffix is strengthened by אני for the sake of emphasis (Ges. 121, 3). In Zechariah 7:7 the form of the sentence is elliptical. The verb is omitted in the clause הלוא את־הדּברים, but not the subject, say זה, which many commentators supply, after the lxx, the Peshito, and the Vulgate ("Are these not the words which Jehovah announced?"), in which case את would have to be taken as nota nominativi. The sentence contains an aposiopesis, and is to be completed by supplying a verb, either "should ye not do or give heed to the words which," etc.? or "do ye not know the words?" ישׁבת, as in Zechariah 1:11, in the sense of sitting or dwelling; not in a passive sense, "to be inhabited," although it might be so expressed. שׁלוה is synonymous with שׁקטת in Zechariah 1:11. ישׁב, in the sense indicated at the close of the verse, is construed in the singular masculine, although it refers to a plurality of previous nouns (cf. Ges. 148, 2). In addition to Jerusalem, the following are mentioned as a periphrasis for the land of Judah: (1) her towns round about; these are the towns belonging to Jerusalem as the capital, towns of the mountains of Judah which were more or less dependent upon her: (2) the two rural districts, which also belonged to the kingdom of Judah, viz., the negeb, the south country (which Koehler erroneously identifies with the mountains of Judah; compare Joshua 15:21 with Joshua 15:48), and the shephēlâh, or lowland along the coast of the Mediterranean (see at Joshua 15:33).