Zechariah
Chapter
7
{Chapter
7: This Question Answered. Should the Jews Continue
the Fasts of the Babylon Captivity/5th Cycle of Discipline?}
{Note: During the Babylonian captivity the Jews had four fasts every year. The feasts were set aside but the fasts continued.
1. The fast Tamuz - Jeremiah 39:2; 52:6,7. The purpose was to
recall the capture of Jerusalem in the reign of Zedekiah. Tarmuz
was the fourth Jewish month.
2. The fast of Ab, the fifth Jewish month - Jeremiah 52:12,13; 2
Kings 25:8,9. This recalled the destruction of Jerusalem and the
first temple in 586 BC.
3. Tshere, the seventh month - Jeremiah 41:1; 2 Kings 25:25,26.
This recalled the murder of Gedeliah.
4. Tueth, the tenth month - Jeremiah 39:1; 2 Kings 25:1. This
recalls the events of the siege of Jerusalem. Question: The
Jews in Bethel thought "Should they now go back to the
Levitical Offerings? The Jews are back in the Land and the
temple will be finished shortly.}
1~~And
it came to pass
in
the fourth year of king Darius {518 BC},
that
the word/'doctrinal communication' of Jehovah/God
came
unto Zechariah
in
the fourth {day} of the ninth month,
even
in Chisleu {Kiclev - our December}.
2-3~~Now
Bethel had sent
{Bethel is a city. Name means "the house of 'El/God"}
Sherezer
and Regemmelech, and their men,
to
pray before Jehovah/God {in Jerusalem}, 3~~
and
to speak unto the priests
who
were in the house of Jehovah/God of the armies/hosts
{they were there for the coronation of Joshua in the previous
chapter},
and
to the prophets, saying,
"Should
I weep in the fifth month
{part of the 'ritual' is to cry thinking this impresses God somehow
this 'ritual' was to commemorate the destruction of the temple},
caused
to keep on separating myself
{meaning to be caused to separate from food from the pressure of
'religion' - to fast},
as
I have done these so many years?"
{Note: The Jews in Bethel wanted to ask of both the priests and prophets if they should continue the fasts memorializing this 5th cycle of discipline or now they were back in the land, should they return to Levitical offerings instead.}
{Note:
Why did they have priests and prophets? What was the
difference?
The prophets received their message directly from the Lord. They had
a message for the people of their day along with prophetic
information for future generations. The priests had a different
system of communication. They always communicated doctrine from the
Torah. They taught the Mosaic law, the Levitical offerings, the holy
days, etc. They simply took scripture and taught scripture. The
prophets recorded new scripture as communicated to them by God.
However, both groups were communicators. However, 'Ritual without
reality' is meaningless (doctrine IS reality: Hebrews 11:1 in correct translation).}
{Farce
of Fasting}
4-5~~Then
came the word/'doctrinal communication' {dabar}
of
Jehovah/God of the armies/hosts
unto
me {Zechariah}, saying, 5~~
"Speak
unto all the people of the land,
and
to the priests, saying,
When
you fasted
and
'beat the breast'/mourned {caphad}
in
the fifth and seventh {month},
about
those seventy years,
did
you at all fast unto Me, {even} to Me
{means 'was this a bonified spiritual experience or just ritual without
reality?'}?
{Note: The priests had nothing to say because the scripture did not give the answer to them! These 'fasts' were 'man made' and not authorized by God at all - pure legalism. So Zechariah gives God's answer to the question.}
{Principal
of Faith - Using the Synonyms of Eating and Drinking}
6~~And
when you did eat,
and
when you did drink,
did
not you eat {for yourselves},
and
drink {for yourselves}?
{Note: Eating and drinking are synonyms for faith. There is no merit in eating or drinking. All humans do it or die. You receive no merit for doing so. That is the same with faith. Faith is a type of thinking totally compatibility with the plan of God and the character of God. We are saved by faith, not by works (which might have merit) - lest any man should boast.}
{Instead
of Ritual Without Reality - What SHOULD they have Been Doing?
Listening to Doctrine Instead of Ritual Without Reality}
7~~Are
not these the words/'doctrinal communications' {dabar}
which
Jehovah/God cried/proclaimed
by
the hands of the former prophets (?)
{the former prophets are those before the 5th cycle of discipline
began - Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Hosea are in view - warnings}
when
Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity
{they were warned when they were under perfect conditions
for learning},
and
the cities thereof round about her
{suburbs occur where there is great prosperity},
when
men inhabited the south and the plain
{to the South of Jerusalem was a great plain that all this area was
prosperous and populated}?
{Note: In other words, God is saying "Shouldn't you have been learning doctrine instead of going through ritual?" Ritual without reality (doctrine) is meaningless. They were warned before 586 BC (see Hosea 4:1-6 as a good example).}
{What
Does Count with God? What YOU THINK!}
8-9~~And
the word/'doctrinal communication' {dabar}
of
Jehovah/God came unto Zechariah, saying, 9~~
"Thus
says Jehovah/God of the armies/hosts, saying,
'Judge/Execute
{shaphat - confess your sin to God} . . .
true
judgment {'emeth mishpat}
{from II Corinthians 11:31 - 'if we judge ourselves, we should not
be judged' we know this means to judge yourself and name/site
your sins to God - I John 1:9},
and
show mercy { checed}
{grace in action - this indicates that you are back in fellowship
no mental attitude sins - forgive as Christ forgave and not
bitter, jealous, vindictive, judging, slandering, gossiping, etc.}
and
compassions { racham}
every
man to his brother'."
{Verse
10 - Some Illustrations of Previous Verse}
10~~"
'And oppress not the widow
{represents the category of a helpless woman
object of gossip, judging, maligning, etc.},
nor
the fatherless {orphan - also the helpless category}. . .
the
obnoxious {ger},
nor
the poor {`aniy}
{represents the category of 'someone who embarrasses you if
you were seen with them' - poor dresser on and on}.
And
let none of you invent evil
{chashab 'ra - invent evil that is not there}
against
his brother
in
your heart/'right lobe'
{the thinking part of the mind - the mentality of the soul!}
{all these people in sackcloth and ashes (so 'religious on the
outside) were full of mental attitude sins - pride, jealousy,
bitterness, gossip, maligning etc. - all these are inventing evil
against someone else}.' "
{Verses
11-12: No Response . . . But 'Reaction' of the Pre-Exilic People}
11~~But
they refused to hearken
{negative volition to bible doctrine -
no rebounding and reduction of mental attitude sins},
and
pulled away the shoulder
{idiom: we say 'they pulled away their shoulder from your touch'
ever see a woman pull away when she is angry? - to give the
cold shoulder},
and
stopped their ears
{index fingers put in ears literally - overt action}
that
they should not hear
{idiom for refusing to listen and or obeying the doctrine they did
hear}.
12~~Yes,
they made their hearts/'right lobes'
as
a diamond {shamiyr}
{The diamond is the hardest stone in existence.
represents solid negative volition here},
that
they should not hear, listen and obey {shama`}
the
law and the words/'doctrinal communications' {dabar}
which
Jehovah/God of the armies/hosts has sent
by
His Spirit by the former prophets;
therefore
came a great wrath {5th cycle of discipline}
from
Jehovah/God of the armies/hosts.
{Note: They NEEDED to hear doctrine but they stuck their fingers in their ears. So, God place them under the 5th cycle of discipline. Under the 5th cycle, they want to fast and weep and wail to impress God. But God is only impressed with the intake of His Word.}
{Verses
13-14: Reality of Divine Discipline}
13~~"
'Therefore it is come to pass,
that
as he {the prophets}
cried/shouted
{qara' - shouting out doctrine},
and
they would not hear, listen and obey {shama`};
so
they cried {qara' - this time like a baby since they hurt so much},
and
I {God} would not hear, listen and obey {shama`}',
said
Jehovah/God of the armies/hosts."
{Note: A play on words here. They would not listen when God's prophets 'cried' (taught doctrine) so God would not listen when they cried (out in pain of slavery and slaughter). The 5th cycle of discipline is a horrible but just judgment of God.}
14~~I
{God} scattered them
{the
Jews under the 5th cycle}
with
a whirlwind
among
all the nations whom they knew not.
Thus
the land was caused to be desolate after them,
that
no man passed through nor returned
for
they {unbelievers and believers minus doctrine}
'caused
the laying waste'/'caused the desolation'
of
the pleasant land
{because THEY plugged their ears - THEY had mental attitude sins
without rebound - THEY turned their shoulder to God and His Word
so He turned His shoulder to them and their prosperous land -
THEY are responsible for their own collapse}.
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