Click *H for Haydock Commentary. *Footnote for footnote etc.
Click any word in Latin Greek or Hebrew to activate the parser. Then click on the display to expand the parser.
* Footnotes
- A.M. 3487.
*H And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, in the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Casleu.
Ver. 1. Casleu, in our November or December. C.
*H When Sarasar, and Rogommelech, and the men that were with him, sent to the house of God, to entreat the face of the Lord:
Ver. 2. And. Sept. from; (S. Jer.) or, "to Bethel sent Sarasar and Arbesesar, the king, and his men, to render the face of the Lord propitious." H. — These were Persian governors under Darius, (S. Jer.) or Cutheans, (Theod.) or Jews, at a distance from the temple, though in the country. M. —But they seem rather to be some who had not returned. C.
*H To speak to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying: Must I weep in the fifth month, or must I sanctify myself as I have now done for many years?
Ver. 3. The fifth month. They fasted on the tenth day of the fifth month; because on that day the temple was burnt. Therefore they inquire whether they are to continue that fast after the temple is rebuilt. See this query answered v. 19 of the following chap. Ch. — The third of the seventh month (v. 5) was also a fast, on account of the death of Godolias, (C.) during the captivity. 4 K. xxv. 8. 25. W. — Sept. "Has the sanctification entered hither in the fifth month, as they (or I) have done?" &c. H. — Fasting and lamentation are styled sanctification, because they promote it; curatos quoque sanctificat; (S. Jer.) if the proper conditions be observed. H.
* Footnotes
-
*
Isaias
58:5
Is this such a fast as I have chosen: for a man to afflict his soul for a day? is this it, to wind his head about like a circle, and to spread sackcloth and ashes? wilt thou call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord?
*H Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying: When you fasted, and mourned in the fifth and the seventh month for these seventy years: did you keep a fast unto me?
Ver. 5. Years, from the ruin of the temple till the fourth of Darius. — Unto me? Did you grieve for the injury done to me; or was your sorrow caused by your own loss? The prophet gives not a direct answer; but sufficiently shews that exterior works of themselves are of little value. Whether the Jews entered into his sentiments or not, they still observe these fasts, though he said they should be changed into days of rejoicing. C. viii. 19. C. — The fast was good, but imperfect, wanting works of charity. S. Greg. W.
*H And when you did eat and drink, did you not eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?
Ver. 6. Yourselves, to gratify the senses more than from necessity, and without doing it for God's glory. H.
*H Are not these the words which the Lord spoke by the hand of the former prophets, when Jerusalem as yet was inhabited, and was wealthy, both itself and the cities round about it, and there were inhabitants towards the south, and in the plain?
Ver. 7. Prophets. He alludes to Is. lviii. 3. See also Jer. xiv. 12. Joel ii. 12. The Jews were always too much attached to the letter, without minding the spirit of the law, being zealous for corporal rather than for spiritual works. — South. Several of these cities were occupied by the Idumeans. — Plain, or Sephala, which afterwards became flourishing and populous. C.
* Footnotes
-
*
Matthew
23:23
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you tithe mint and anise and cummin and have left the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and faith. These things you ought to have done and not to leave those undone.
*H Thus saith the Lord of hosts, saying: Judge ye true judgment, and shew ye mercy and compassion every man to his brother.
Ver. 9. Judgment. Avoid sinning, when you fast. W.
* Footnotes
-
*
Exodus
22:22
You shall not hurt a widow or an orphan.
-
*
Isaias
1:23
Thy princes are faithless, companions of thieves: they all love bribes, they run after rewards. They judge not for the fatherless: and the widow's cause cometh not in to them.
-
*
Jeremias
5:28
They are grown gross and fat: and have most wickedly transgressed my words. They have not judged the cause of the widow, they have not managed the cause of the fatherless, and they have not judged the judgment of the poor.
*H And oppress not the widow, and the fatherless, and the stranger, and the poor: and let not a man devise evil in his heart against his brother.
Ver. 10. Devise. Sept. "wickedly remember in your hearts each one the evil of his brother." H.
*H But they would not hearken, and they turned away the shoulder to depart: and they stopped their ears, not to hear.
Ver. 11. Depart, so to leave the burden on their partner. Heb. C. — Lit. "giving way;" recedentem. Sixt. V. recedentes. Sept. "they gave a contemptuous back," (H.) like a slave, whom the whip cannot correct.
*H And they made their heart as the adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts sent in his spirit by the hand of the former prophets: so a great indignation came from Lord of hosts.
Ver. 12. As, &c. Heb. "of Samir;" a stone used to polish jewels. Sept. "disobedient."
*H And it came to pass that as he spoke, and they heard not: so shall they cry, and I will not hear, saith the Lord of hosts.
Ver. 13. So shall. It seems the past time would be preferable; as Theodoret, S. Cyr. &c. understand it. C. — Yet the Jews, whom the prophet addressed, were also reprehensible; and they or their posterity felt the effects of God's indignation, when he scattered them throughout the world, as we see at present. Sept. have the future; but Prot. the past tense, "they cried," &c. H.