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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Zechariah 7:8 - 7:14
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An Appeal to the Past
v. 8. And the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, saying,
v. 9. Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, rather, "Thus spake Jehovah," in addressing the children of Judah in former days, before the exile, saying, Execute true judgment, literally, "judge the judgment of truth,". and show mercy and compassions every man to his brother, so that kindness and pity should be practiced at all times, Isa_58:6-7; Jer_7:28;
v. 10. and oppress not the widow nor the fatherless, the orphans, the stranger nor the poor, these four classes ever being in the care of the Lord, Isa_1:17; Jer_5:28; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart, this being a summary of a number of admonitions with which the earlier prophets had tried to influence the people for their own good.
v. 11. But they refused to hearken, they were consistently rebellious, and pulled away the shoulder, like an ox who refuses to accept the yoke on his neck, and stopped their ears, Cf Isa_6:10, that they should not hear.
v. 12. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, like the hardest stone, impervious to every impression from without, lest they should hear the Law, the books of Moses, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in His Spirit, inspired by His Spirit, by the former prophets, who were the instruments of God in making known His will; therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts, as shown in the captivity of Judah.
v. 18. Therefore it is come to pass, that as He cried, in the exhortations of His prophets, and they would not hear, so they cried, they called when in trouble, so Jehovah says, and I would not hear, saith the Lord of hosts;
v. 14. but I scattered them with a whirlwind, in a terrible storm of His wrath, among all the nations whom they knew not, strange to them in language, customs, and religion. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned, all of Judea practically being a wilderness; for they laid the pleasant land desolate, the children of Judah themselves being to blame for the desolation which came upon the land. When sinners receive the just punishment of their sins, they have but themselves to blame for their afflictions, though their pride would attempt to deny it.