Zechariah 7

Chapter seven <*><*><*><*><*><*> Questions about commemorations came up and are answered in this Chapter.
Verse 1 And it was in the year four, according to Daryavesh the King, when came the word of Yahuweh to Zecharyah, in the fourth, according to month the ninth, in cislev. Years were indicated by the year that a king reigned. Daryavesh = Darius
When the Jewish calendar was established later on, this was the third month in the Jewish year 3243 or 518BCE.
The fourth day in the ninth month called cislev, which month is around our month December. Chanukah is celebrated in the end of this month.
The religious ninth month is actually the third civic month. Rosh Hashanah the Jewish New Year falls in the seventh month called Tishri, corresponding with the month September.
Since the Jewish months do not rotate through the years the same as the Gregorian calendar months do, there is no fixed relationship between them.
Verse 2-3. Then send Beyt-El, Saretzer and Regem melekh and his men to pray before Yahuweh. To speak to the priests that where in Beyt Yahuweh Tzevaot (Temple) and to the prophets to say: " (Am I) To weep in month the fifth to dedicate like I did this so many years?" Bethel ,= House of El. The translation House of God can't be correct because they did, not know the Teutonic deity God, in those days.
This little town send some men to inquire of the priests and prophets, the prophets being Chaggay (Haggai) and Zecharyah.
Now the Hebrew text could indicate two men and their followers but it could also be interpreted as "Saretzer and (he) a friend of the King", because that is what regem melehk means.
They (He) inquired whether Tisha B'Av still had to be kept, which is the ninth day of Av, which is the fifth month (July-August).
On this day, in the year 3174 (586 BCE), the Babylonians destroyed the Temple build by Solomon.
The weeping, or morning started in the fourth month, which is Tammuz because that was the month the Babylonians breached the walls of Yerushalaim and the mourning culminated on Tisha B'Av. It is very remarkable that all the real calamities in Jewish history felt on Tisha B'Av, like the destruction of the Temple in the year 3830 (70CE) and many others, like the quelling of the Bar Kogbah uprising by the Romans, the start of the inquisition in Spain and the expelling of the Jews from England. It might be a warning that all those calamities are not incidental but being on the same calendar day, are planned by Yahuweh that way, to show that His warnings should not be taken lightly, Deuteronomy 28. Tisha B'Av therefore, is still one off the yearly commemorations of the nation Israel and Jews anywhere.
When we are studying the rest of the Chapter is important to realise that Tisha B'Av is not one of the seven religious commemorations that are instigated by Yahuweh. It is a man made commemoration not ordered by Yahuweh, we find therefore no other reference to this remembrance in the Tanakh.
Verse 4-5 Then came word Yahuweh Tzevaot to me to speak: "Speak to all people (off) the Land and to the priests to say: "When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh also these 70 year did (you) fasted my fasts to Me?" The fast in the seventh moth was to remember the assassination of Gedalyahoo (Gedaliah) the Jewish governor of Juda. 2Kings 25:23-25. This to, had been a man made commemoration.
Yahuweh says here: "You fasted your own fasts but did you do my fasts to me, all those seventy years?"
Verse 6 "And when you ate and when you drank is it not so, you the eaters and you the drinkers?" Yahuweh is saying that like fasting also their eating and drinking were done purely to please themselves.
Verse 7 "Is it not so with the words, which proclaimed Yahuweh by hand (power of) the prophets the ones before when it was (that) Yerushalaim (was) inhabited and at ease and her cities round about her and the Negev and the plains were inhabited?" Yahuweh says that before the captivity people did the same. The prophets brought the word of Yahuweh to them, to warn them that they were to busy with themselves and did not make time for Yahuweh and His commemorations. The books of Isaiah and Jeremiah are full of those warnings.
The Negev is the area in the south of Israel. Negev in Hebrew is therefore also used to indicate the South side another word for south is teyman or teman.
We learn here that before the exile, people were living in the Negev.
In Jeremiah 13:19 it is predicted that the cities in the Negev would be locked up after the exile.
In Zecharyah's days it was mostly uninhabited. Now it has been a desert for a long time but once it will bloom again and be inhabited. To day the first parts are already cultivated.
The final restoration shall be in the future when the whole of Israel shall be restored, including the cities of the Negev, see Jer. 33:12-16, see also Obadiah 20.
Verse 8-10 And was the word (of) Yahuweh to Zecharyah in order to say; "So spoke Yahuweh Tzevaot to say:" judgment true you judge and goodness and compassions you do, man to his brother and widow and orphan, stranger and needy you do not oppress and evil to do man his brother do not you plan in your hearts!''' Yahuweh told Zecharyah that He had told Israel before, how they should have behaved instead of making a fuss of commemorations, which is the context topic.
The first part of the warning in verses 5 and 6 are contrary to the great commandment in the Torah Deut.6:5. "You shall love Yahuweh your El with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might" The warnings in the verses 8-11 are contrary to the second command, which is like it and this is summed up in the last part of Leviticus 19:18. But you shall love your neighbour as yourself; On these two commandments depends the whole Torah and the prophets, Matthew 22:40. Yahuweh therefore includes the whole Torah and the prophets in this warning.
Verse 11-12 "But they refused to pay attention and gave a stubborn shoulder and their ears they made unresponsive from hearing.
And according their hearts they made adamant from heeding the Torah and the words which send Yahuweh Tzevaot in His spirit by means the prophets the former ones and there was anger great from Yahuweh Tzevaot!" Yahuweh is saying here that they wilfully and rebelliously ignored His Torah and the warnings send by Him through the earlier prophets.

The Church ignores the Torah, calling it obsolete
Judaism has made its own version of the Torah.
The greatest part of modern Israel has abandoned Yahuweh altogether as the El of Israel.
Most of the world says there is no God. Those who feel there might be some higher power, seek him in strange religions.

Verse 13 "And it was like as called unto and not they heard, so they called and not I shall hear!" says Yahuweh Tzevaot. They did not listen to Me, so I will not listen to them, says Yahuweh. The "not hear" is in the future tense, which means that Yahuweh shall keep on not listening when He is not listened to.
Verse 14 "And blowing them by a storm upon all the nations as unknown. Then the land be made desolate behind them from passing and returning and appointed land pleasant, to desolation" Most of this is the imperfect tense, which means that it is an action once started but not finished yet. This implied to Zecharyah and his audience that if they still not would be listening to Yahuweh, all this was still keeping on happening.
To this we all witness to day and Israel is still not listening and still, although they seemed to have come back to the pleasant land, it is not restored as is promised by the prophets.
From the book Ezra we can learn that the people from Zecharyah's days were returning to the Torah. However, Yahuweh fore sees that they again will fall away and this warning is therefore to those who come after those as well.
In the following chapters Yahuweh is going to show us that He intends to make a complete restoration on His own terms and in His own time. <*><*><*><*><*><*>

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