Bible Commentaries

The third answer was full of grace. It declared that God was jealous for Zion, that He had returned to it, and that therefore its prosperity was assured, notwithstanding that these people saw only the devastation which caused their lamentation. Because of the certainty of this restoration, the prophet appealed to the remnant to be strong and build, promising them in the name of Jehovah that instead of being a curse they would become a blessing. Reaffirming this divine intention to restore, the prophet called the people back to what the second answer had declared God sought, namely, the execution of justice and the manifestation of mercy.

The final answer to the questions suggested by the deputation consisted, first, of the declaration that Jehovah would turn all their self-appointed fasts into feasts. These fasts were named. Historically the institution of the fasts had commenced in the tenth month of a certain year, and ended in the seventh month of the next year. In this declaration the prophet deals with them as they occur in the months of one year, beginning with the fast of the fourth month, which celebrated the taking of the city; the fast of the fifth, which commemorated the burning of the city; the fast of the seventh, which had to do with the murder of Gedaliah; and, finally, the fast of the tenth, which commemorated the siege of the city, and historically was the first of the four. This arrangement opened the way for the prophet's further declaration, that when God turned the fasts into feasts He would do it by becoming to the house of Judah joy and gladness and cheerful feasts, with the result that the city of Jerusalem would become the center to which many peoples and the inhabitants of many cities would go to seek Jehovah. It was a gracious and glorious setting forth of the realization of their true ideal by the people of God whereby men of other nations and other peoples would cast in their lot with them because of their consciousness that God was with them.