Zechariah 7



Zechariah 7                                                                                              Zechariah 7    Zechariah 7   Zechariah 7
 
Zechariah 7:1 And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu;
  • The fourth year = Two years later than the first literal prophecy in Zechariah 1:1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,
  • Chisleu = Corresponding with our December
2 When they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regem-melech, and their men, to pray before the Lord,
  • They had sent unto the house of GOD, = etc. : or, when Sherezer had sent (and Regem-melech and his men) to Bethel", etc. Beth-el had already been occupied by exiles returned from Babylon.
  • Ezra 2:28 The men of Beth-el and Ai, two hundred twenty and three.
  • Nehemiah 7:32 The men of Beth-el and Ai, an hundred twenty and three.
  • Sherezer = Probably born in exile, as he bears an Assyrian name.
  • Pray before the LORD = entreat God's favour by pray or by sacrifice.
  • Sherezer. Probably born in exile, as he bears an Assyrian name.
  • Men = Hebrew word of 'enosh
3 And to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?

4 Then came the word of the Lord of hosts unto me, saying,

5 Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?

6 And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

7 Should ye not hear the words which the Lord hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain?

8 And the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, saying,

9 Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother:
  • Execute = too take action = do what's right = Do things God's way
10 And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.
  • Try to get alone with each other
  • Don't worry about what your brother might do to you, love your brother = If it possible
11 But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.
  • Pulled away the shoulder = they didn't do their part = they wanted to do things their ways
  • Do things to help each other
12 Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts.
  • God said = therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts
  • Why?
  • Because they wouldn't do things God's Way
13 Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the Lord of hosts:
  • If you're never doing things God's Ways = God not going to be there for you = when you need His help
  • God's not going to hear your cries = No Blessing
  • God's going to do to you = as you do unto Him
14 But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.
  • Jeremiah 50:6 My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place.
  • Resting Place = Christ
 
• Exactly 2520 years from the exile of Benjamin, Iceland became an independent nation.
 
•  The first tribe to be conquered by the Assyrians was Manasseh, in 745 B.C. Exactly 2520 years later America became a nation on July 4, 1776.

(Leviticus. 26: 28-46) God warned Israel that if they persisted in continually breaking His Laws, not only would curses come upon them.

He would punish them for seven times, (a time being 360 years, seven times would be 2520 years) and would banish them from the land of Palestine and scatter them among the heathens (like lost sheep)

• Study the book: Abrahamic Covenant, (A study outline of the identity of God's people) By E. Raymond Capt - page 25
 
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