Глава 7

Zechariah 7:1–3. And in the fourth year, under Darius the king, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah in the fourth month of the ninth month, who is Hasel (whom we call Apelleus). And the king and his men sent ambassadors to Bethel, Sarasar, and Arbeseer, to pray to the Lord. A verb to the priest who is in the church of the Lord Almighty, and to the Prophet: if there is a shrine here in the fifth month, or I fast, as if I had already created many years. Others argued that these were the leaders of the Huthites, resettled by Shalmaneser, and other nations, who after this were called Samaritans. But whether they belonged to these peoples or to others, the Divine Scripture did not reveal this to us; It is obvious that, being foreigners, they ruled over foreigners; However, living in the neighborhood of the Jews, they borrowed a lot of useful things from the Prophets and from other pious men, and therefore they sent sacrifices to God, and wanted to find out from the priests and Prophets whether the church of God had received the proper decoration, or, as they say, we should again propitiate God by fasting, which we did not stop doing for a long time. With this question, the God of all speaks to his people, and thereby teaches them what they should do. For he says: Zechariah 7:5–6. Say to all the people of the earth and to the priests, saying: If you fasted, or cried on the fifth or seventh day of the month, and behold seventy years, did you fast? And when you eat or drink, don’t you eat and drink? Do not think, says God, that there is any benefit to Me from your fast. If, lamenting and crying a thousand times more, you fast in “fives and weeks,” then I will not gain any benefit from it. And that this is really so is evidenced by the time of captivity; because for seventy years you did not serve Me in fasting. Therefore, just as by eating and drinking you give yourself pleasure, so you yourself benefit from fasting. And do not think that this is a new teaching, because from ancient times, from the earliest times, I did not stop telling this to your ancestors and fathers through the Prophets. Zechariah 7:7. Isn’t this the essence of the words, even as the Lord said by the hands of the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited, and the city was inhabited, and the cities around it, and the hill country and the valley floor were inhabited? Thus, having shown the antiquity of this sermon, he reveals in detail how one can serve Him. Zechariah 7:9. Judge righteous judgment, and show mercy and generosity to each one of his brothers, Zechariah 7:10. But do not force the widow, the orphan, the stranger, the wretched, and let no one remember the malice of his brother in his hearts. I told your fathers, says God, that those who judge should pronounce an impartial and fair sentence, and should deal mercifully with their neighbors, those who bear the heavy yoke of widowhood, and should not oppress those who mourn their orphanhood with their power, and should not turn the powerlessness of the poor into a reason for covetousness, and, moreover, turn away from rancor, and do not take revenge on those who began the offense. This is what I said to them; they didn’t want to listen. Zechariah 7:11. But Dasha despises splashes. And taking blows upon themselves, they suffered from insensibility; because the Prophet called insensibility “spurs of despising”, taking a figurative figure of speech from slaves who suffer punishment with whips and do not benefit from it. And your burden has gone away, so you can’t hear it, Zechariah 7:12. and made your heart disobedient, disobedient to My law and My words, even as the Lord Almighty sent by His Spirit by the hand of the former Prophets, but they reaped the fruit of disobedience. For there was great wrath from the Lord Almighty. Zechariah 7:13. And it will happen, as He said, and no one heard Him: they will cry out, and the Imam will not hear, says the Lord Almighty. Here the type of time changes. The past is spoken of as the future; it is said: “they will cry out,” instead of “they cried out,” “and the imam did not hear,” instead of “he did not hear.” all tongues will not understand, and the earth will be desolate, take care of them from those who pass by and from those who return. And this is clear from what follows, because again the Prophet changed his manner of speech and said: And left the coveted land in desolation. God spoke this about the disobedience and punishment of their fathers: for it is incredible that those who experienced bitter slavery, who had just been freed from it, and who had not yet built a city, would again threaten such disasters.