Zechariah 7:1 And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu;
2 When they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regemmelech, and their men, to pray before the LORD,
3 And to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the LORD of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?
God gave us the time frame of events here. We are told this is the fourth year of king Darius. Notice once again that the Word of the LORD came to Zechariah. Again we are reminded that this is God’s inspired Word. Prophecy is not something to shrug off. It is something to be understood in its proper context.
We are told this word came to Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, the month Chisleu. That corresponds with our November/December.
In verse 2 we see that a delegation of Jews was sent from Babylon/Persia to Jerusalem. The Jews in Babylon were concerned with what was happening in Jerusalem now. We are given the name of two of the men that were sent to Jerusalem. We have no further information on these two men except that they were sent to seek counsel before the LORD. This is significant. Rather than praying to some pagan entity, these men were coming to pray to the true God, the self existent God Who knows all things, and Who cannot be interfered with. He is the eternal God Who is all powerful and all knowing.
In verse 3 we are told that they wanted to speak with the priests that were in the house of the LORD of hosts as well as to the prophets. These men wanted to know the truth. Back in Babylon, the captive Jews were still mourning the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. They had been fasting due to the destruction of Jerusalem earlier by the Babylonians. God never gave any command to fast for that.
God had sent the Babylonians into Jerusalem to break down the walls and tear down the Temple. Fasting against that was a complete waste of time. God had determined that it was time to punish the Jews quite severely and He had done that. If they wanted to fast they could have followed the example of Daniel in Daniel 9 where he sought the Lord for forgiveness for himself and the nation. He did not want God to stop His righteous judgment, but rather wanted God to keep His Word after the time of judgment. He acknowledged his sin and that of his nation. He acknowledged the righteousness and justice of God and sought God’s forgiveness. He knew God was merciful and just.
The time that Zechariah was speaking of here was now after the temple was rebuilt. The priesthood was in place. At that present time, the priesthood was restored to what it should have been all along. It was time for the people to get back to God’s law and thus to know His blessings.
We know there are many empty rituals being practiced in the name of God today as well. Wilful ignorance of God’s Word is inexcusable. God still has a few godly men who are ordained to teach His Word. The wise will seek them out and want to know the truth. By God’s grace, we still have His Word. We can know the truth. We need to submit to His Word and follow Him. That will mean we may need to cast off some imaginations that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. We need to get back to God’s plain truth. That is what will exalt His name and be a blessing to us.
Pastor Bartel