Devotional Commentary on Zechariah 7
I was searching for a commentary that
I can rely on at least sometimes and that I found in Franz Delitzsch the father
of the skew Assyriologist Friedrich Delitzsch. Franz started to teach at
Leipzig in 1844. What does that tells us? He stated as a Lutheran that the
bonds of the Concord of Augsburg should not restrain us in exegesis. And
rightly so. That is why his conservative “progressive
thinking” brought him on the same par as Ellen White and the doctrines of
Adventism before 1890. He died in that year. Jews said about him that no-one
understood the Hebrew Old Testament as thoroughly in Christian circles as him.
I agree. Chapter 7 and chapter 8 form a combo
and they belong together really. In chapter 7 returnees from Bethel asked
whether they should still fast on those days that are marked in the history of
the Chaldean disaster over Jerusalem. They were keeping fast-days in the 5th,
7th, 4th and 10th months. 10th of Ab 586 the Temple
was destroyed by fire of Neb (Jeremiah 52:12-13) This is the day the captain of the
guard Nebuzar-dan came and burnt a larger area than was previously done on the
7th day. “House of the Lord, and the king’s house, and all the
houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great, burned he with fire”. 7th of Ab 585 Temple was
destroyed. (2 Kings 25:8-9). He came on the 7th to the
outskirts of Jerusalem but the burning was done on the 10th of Ab
586 BCE. For three days they have been planning their destruction before they
entered on the 10th. There is no discrepancy here and
Jeremiah was there and first hand witness and would not be wrong and so is the
witnesses and sources of Kings but from other eyes not Jeremiah’s. Even with
CNN one has to harmonize data to come to a synthesis of harmony from different
sources and witnesses arriving at the truth. 3rd of Tishri they fasted
for the Gedaliah murders 9th of Tammuz Neb conquered
Jerusalem in Zedekiah’s 11th year. 10th of 10th
month in Zedekiah’s 9th year Neb came. So these were days that they were
fasting for. The fourth year of Darius the Great
was in 518 BCE and in the 9th month of Kislev God spoke an answer to
Zechariah on this question of fast day keeping or not. “And He had sent Beth-el-śar-eṣer
and Ragum-melek and his men to praise before the face/in the presence of the
Lord” (verse 2). “And they sent” is not supported in the consonantal text of the
Hebrew. People have separated the two names of Beth-el and śar-eser like
Delitzsch, but that is not necessary. The KJV rendering that Sher-é-zer
and Re-gem-mel-ech should be sent to the “house of God” is unacceptable for
there is no preposition or directive he to even suggest the word “to” or “towards”.
A similar position as mine was advocated also by Delitzsch. The name Beth-el-śar-eser is
interesting. In KAI 234 on the reverse line 3 there is a contract from Ashur in
this Canaanite Inscription book by Donner and Röllig.
In that contract is a name very similar to the one just mentioned. The name of
the individual is spelled: blsrzr. Here it is btlśrṣr.
It is tempting to connect the name
Regem-melek with the Elephantine houseowner drgmn, which would originate in the
genitive relationship “of Regem”. His house was in the south at Elephantine
just behind Hohea as the papyrus from Assouan indicated and published by A. van
Hoonacker in 1915, page 15. This is of course a century later and just like
Omri were a point of reference a century or two later so it can be with these
names. These two individuals had to speak to
the priests “that belong to the house of the Lord” (verse 3). They did not go
to a temple in which were priests. With the temple destroyed the priests are
those who belong to the Lord in their office or function. The term is only
referential and not indicative of an actual temple. God asked whether He should weep and
separate? God asked that when they eat and drink
whether that eating and drinking was not for themselves? God is making the
point in verse 5 that it does not matter whether they are fasting or eating,
they do it not with Him in mind. God gave the same message to them
through the prophets earlier (verse 7). The message was called or cried out [qr’].
The institution exists and the
religious ceremonies take their course but the focus has been lost sight of.
This is the dilemma pointed out by God. They missed the earlier message and
the same is now before them. Obey rather than fast. In verse 3 there is a singular action
of weeping and a singular action of sending yet two men were sent to worship
and ask the priests and prophets a question. On this basis it seems as if the
Lord is asking the question through Zechariah as one can see in verse 13. In verse 5 there is a plural action of
fasting and weeping. The accusation formula is that it is addressed to the “people
of the land” and “to the priests”. On this basis God is the One speaking in
verse 3 about Himself and they are addressed in verse 5. Zechariah himself
speaks. With allusions to the “former prophets”
Isaiah, Hosea, Amos and Micah, the Word of the Lord came to Zechariah (verse
8). They are asked to execute true
judgment and mercy and do compassions one to another (man to his brother). They are not to oppress the widow, the
fatherless, the stranger [gr] or the poor. “The evil of one another should not
be imagined in the heart” (verse 10). The r`t “of” one another (man with his
brother) should not be ḥšb
(think, reckoned, computed, devised) in their hearts”. In our society also everything depends
on computation, organization, even malicious, deceitful and sinful acts. The origin of imaginations are images
burnt into memory. So the solution lies here too. Stop watching. When you do
not see you do not desire and do not take. Stop looking. Many mental diseases
and pathologies can be solved this way because that is why the Lord said that
we are not to make any image of what is in heaven or earth and worship them.
Text versus Image. Text is safe for the mind but images like games, idol
singers mania, sports, sport idols mania, and sex related images are bulldozing
the memory of a person to act in lines with Satan’s agendas. Solution? Text
only and do not look. Switch off. “But they refused to listen” (verse
11). That was the key problem then before
the exile and now after God is saying to them about fasting, it can be the same
problem again. “And they made their heart as a Shamir
= diamond [so Delitzsch] not to listen to the Torah and to the Words that the
Lord of Hosts sent through His [Holy] Spirit by the earlier prophets” (verse
12). God cares that is why He sent
messages. But people do not listen. As He called and they did not listen
before the exile, so if will happen after the exile that He will call but they
will not listen so when they called the Lord He did not listen (verse 13). We
are under the same situation and the same principle applies to our digital
generation. People flash pass the Word of God in their smartphones and just
drop “Amen” to show participation but there is no “hearkening to the Torah [=
instruction] of the Lord.” “And with a whirlwind I will scatter
them among all the nations whom they did not know” (verse 14). It is sad to say
and the Jews will admit it is true, they were scattered in history among all
nations whom they initially did not know. The land was a desolation nearly
throughout the Middle Ages. God is not linked to a land or ethnic
race. God said to Zechariah that the very land these returnees are looking at
will eventually be also waste with no one passing because of the similarity of
their sins. Since God is not owner of just one
land but many and faithful people are anywhere on the globe, the same rule
applies. If faithful people become wayward and do not listen to His
instruction, they too can be migrated all over the globe and their land can also
become a waste. It applies to all of us in modern times as well.
Dear God Forgive us for not getting it even
though You spell it out so clearly. Ownership comes from Creatorship and thus
that right demands not machine-like worship but relational thanks from us.
Thank you Lord. In Jesus Name, Amen.