THIS chapter treats concerning the nature and use
Of 'certain fasts kept by'the. Jews, on account of the
destruction of the temple, and other things; and con-
cerning the message of the former prophets to thetn,
and the effects of it. The occasion of the former
was an 'embassy sent by the Jews to the priests and
prophets, to know whether they should continue the
fast of the fifth month; upon which the prophet was
sen,t by the Lord unto them. The time of the pro-
phecy is noted, ver. 1. An account of the embassy is
given, of 'the persons that were sent, and to whom, and
upon-what account, ver. 2, 3. The answer of the
Lord to it by the prophet, shewing the usefulness of
fasts to him, and putting them upon hearkening to
his voice b.y the former prophets, when Jerusalem was
in great. prosperity,. yet. 4. 5, 6, 7. and then they are
exhorted by 'him, in the ministry of the presentproishet,
ú to acts of .righteousness, several species of which are
mentioned-; -and which-were the same they had been
exhorted to by the former prophets, but had neglected,
and hardened their hearts against all exhortations and
instructions, ver. ?, 9, 10, 11, 12. and were the reason
of theircaptivity and desolation, ver. 13, 14.
Ver. 1. And. it,came ,to pass, in the fsurth year of
King Darius, &c.] Near two .years after the ,founds-
lion of the temple was laid, Hagg. iS. 10, 18. and near
two years before it was finished, Ezra vi. 15. when
the work ,was going forward, and there was a great
deal ofreason to believe it would be cotnpleted: that
the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, in the fourth
day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu : which answers
to part ofour'Ootober, -and' pUTt of November.
Ver. 2. When .they .had sent unto the house of God,
&c.] It is, i'n the Hebrew text, when he sent Beth-el;
which some, as Kimchi observes, take to be the name
of a man that was sent along with those after men-
tioned; but the-Targum and. the Septuagint render
it,. when, or after he ihad sent unto Beth-el: not the
place so called in Jacob's time; but Jerusa/em, where
the temple or 'house of God was now building; and it
may be observed, that the words are expressed in the
singular-number, when he had sent {}; and not, as we
render them, when they had sent; and agreeably, in
ver. 3, it .is said, should I weep, &c. as if these mes-
sengers were sent by ,a single person, and yet a body
of people is meant; and not .the captives that remained 
ú in Babylon, as most interpreters understand it; but the.
Jews that ,were returned from thence, and were i.n
Judea, 'as Junius and Tremellius observe; for to them
'the answer .is returned, and to them does the Lord by
the prophet direct his speech throughout the whole
chapter. The ,persons sent were Sherezer and Regem.-
melech, and their men; who these persons were is
not known '; they were, no. doubt, principal men
of. the. people, by whom they were sent, and the
chief of the embassy, and had others with them in.
feri0r to them: part of their business at Beth-el.
or the house of .God, was, to pray beJbre the Lord;
that-they might be directed. aright, and have a proper
answer returned to the question they came with. The
temple at Jerusalem was the place where men used to
go up to pray; see Luke xvii, 10.
Vet. 3. And to speak unto the priests which were in
the house of ,he Lord of hosts, &c.] That ministered
in the sanctuary, as the Targum expla4ns it, who of-
fered sacrifices, 4'c. and who were to be consulted in
matters of religion, Mal. iS. 7: and to the prophets;
who were then in being, as Haggai, Zechariah. and
Malachi: saying, should I weep in the fifth month;
which is the month Ah, .and .answers to July: now on
the seventh day-of this month, according to 2 Kings
xxv. 8, 9, the temple was burnt by the Chaldeans;
and, according to Jer. iii. 12, 13, it was .on, the tenth
of this month, which day was kept by the Jews as a
day of fasting and humiliation, m commemoration of
it; and by the Misnic doctors {} afterwards was re-
moved, and kept on the ninth day of the said month;
but. seeing the temple was in great forwardness .of
being rebuilt. the question with those Jews was. whe-
ther they should continue any longer monrniug and
fasting on that account: separating myself: ,that is.
from eating and drinking, and not taking the lawful
pleasures and recreations of life: as I have done these
so many years? for the space of seventy years. as ia
ver. 5.
Vet. 4. Then came the word of the Lord of hosts
unto me, saying.] Upon the sending of fins embassy,
and upon putting this question.
Vet. 5. Speak unto all the people of -the land, &c.]
Of Judea, who had sent these men on this errand. and
whom they personsted, and in whose name the .y spake:
and to ,the priests; who were consulted on titus occa-
sion-: saying, when ye fasted and mourned in the fifth ;
on .the seventh or tenth day of the fifth month Ab.
on account of the temple being burnt by Nebuchad-
nezzar: and seventh month; the month Tisri, which
answers to S. ptember; on the third day of this month
a fast was kept on account ot' the murder of Geda-
liah, Jet. xli. 1. though Kimchi says he was slain on
the first day of the month; but, because that was a
,feast-day, keeping a day for a fast on this occasion was
fixed on the day following: even those seventy years;
of their calativity, during which they kept the above
fists. Thd Jews say" there was no fast of the con-
gregation, or public fast, kept in Babylon, but on the
ninth of Ab, or the fifth month only; and if so, other
fasts here, and in ch. viii. 19, must be private ones.
These seventy years are to be reckoned from the
nineteenth of Nebuchadnezzar, when the city was de-
st. toyed, to the second or fourth of Darius: did ye at all

{t} \^xlvyw\^ cum misisset, sub. populus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator,
Drusius, Tarnovius; & misit, Pagninus, Montanus; miserat autem
sub. Israel, Vatablus; & miserat, Cocceius; & misit Bethelum, i. e.
urbem, Burkius.
{u} Misn. Taanith, c. 4. sect. 7, 8. T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 29. 1.
{w} T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 54. 2.