John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 5. Speak unto all the people of the land , etc.] Of Judea, who had sent these men on this errand, and whom they represented, and in whose name they spake: and to the priests ; who were consulted on this occasion: 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 Nebuchadnezzar: and seventh [month] ; the month Tisri, which answers to September; on the third day of this month a fast was kept on account of the murder of Gedaliah, ( Jeremiah 41:1) 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 captivity, during which they kept the above fasts. The Jews say there was no fast of the congregation, 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 ( Zechariah 8:19), must be private ones. These seventy years are to be reckoned from the nineteenth of Nebuchadnezzar, when the city was destroyed, to the second or fourth of Darius: did ye at all fast unto me, [even] to me ? the fast they kept was not according to the command of God, but an appointment of theirs; nor was it directed to his glory; nor was it any profit or advantage to him; and therefore it was nothing to him whether they fasted or not; (see Isaiah 58:3-7).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-7 - If we truly desire to know the will of God in doubtful matters, we mus not only consult his word and ministers, but seek his direction by fervent prayer. Those who would know God's mind should consult God' ministers; and, in doubtful cases, ask advice of those whose specia business it is to search the Scriptures. The Jews seemed to questio whether they ought to continue their fasts, seeing that the city an temple were likely to be finished. The first answer to their inquiry in a sharp reproof of hypocrisy. These fasts were not acceptable to God unless observed in a better manner, and to better purpose. There wa the form of duty, but no life, or soul, or power in it. Holy exercise are to be done to God, looking to his word as our rule, and his glor as our end, seeking to please him and obtain his favour; but self wa the centre of all their actions. And it was not enough to weep on fas days; they should have searched the Scriptures of the prophets, tha they might have seen what was the ground of God's controversy with their fathers. Whether people are in prosperity or adversity, they mus be called upon to leave their sins, and to do their duty.
Original Hebrew אמר559 אל413 כל3605 עם5971 הארץ776 ואל413 הכהנים3548 לאמר559 כי3588 צמתם6684 וספוד5594 בחמישׁי2549 ובשׁביעי7637 וזה2088 שׁבעים7657 שׁנה8141 הצום6684 צמתני6684 אני׃589
