John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 7. [Should ye] not [hear] the words which the Lord hath cried by the former prophets , etc.] As Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others; suggesting that it would have been much better for them to have regarded the exhortations and instructions which the Lord sent them by his servants, which would have prevented their captivity; and so would have had no occasion of fasting and mourning: for those prophecies were delivered out when Jerusalem was inhabited, and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her ; when Jerusalem, and the cities about it, were full of people, and enjoyed all the blessings of life in great plenty; and which would have continued, had they attended to the exhortations, cautions, and warnings given them: when [men] inhabited the south and the plain ? the land of Judea, as the Misnic doctors say, was divided into three parts; the mountainous part, the plain, and the valley. Jerusalem was in the mountainous part, and these are the other two; and not only those parts of the land which were hilly, and those cities that were encompassed with mountains, were in safety and prosperity; but those also that were in the champaign country, and in the low valleys. The “south” was that part of the land of Canaan formerly inhabited by the Amalekites, and which they invaded when David was at Ziklag, ( Numbers 13:29 1 Samuel 30:1). Sometimes it was called Negeb, as here; and sometimes Daroma, as frequently in the Jewish writings; in which Judea is often called the south, with respect to Galilee; for they distinguish between the inhabitants of Galilee and the inhabitants of the south country: and say, a disciple might intercalate the year for Galilee, but not for the south, i.e. Judea. It reached from Eleutheropolis to the south of the land, eighteen or twenty miles: it was distinguished by the Jews into upper and nether Daroma, or south country: the upper consisted of the hilly part of it; the nether of the plain; and by Jerom f145 mention is made of interior Daroma, by which there should be an exterior one. The “plain”, or “Sephela”, was all the champaign country, near to Eleutherepolis, to the north and west; and so the above writer says it was called in his times: now each of these were well inhabited; Daroma, or the southern part; hence it is frequent, in Jewish writings f147 , to read of such a Rabbi of Daroma, or the south, as R. Jacob, R. Simlai, and others; and of the elders of the south f148 ; and so Jerom speaks of Eremmon, and Duma, large villages, in his days, in Daroma or the south; the one sixteen, the other seventeen miles from Eleutheropolis; and of Ether, Jether, and Jethan, one of which was eighteen, and another twenty miles from it f149 ; and in the Apocrypha: “Simon also set up Adida in Sephela, and made it strong with gates and bars.” (1 Maccabees 12:38) mention is made of Adida in Sephela, fortified, by Simon; and in which also were various other places well stored with inhabitants. This expresses the happy and safe state the Jews were in before their captivity, and in which they would have remained, had they hearkened to the words of the Lord.
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 הלוא3808 את853 הדברים1697 אשׁר834 קרא7121 יהוה3068 ביד3027 הנביאים5030 הראשׁנים7223 בהיות1961 ירושׁלם3389 ישׁבת3427 ושׁלוה7961 ועריה5892 סביבתיה5439 והנגב5045 והשׁפלה8219 ישׁב׃3427
