Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did you at all fast unto me, even to me?
All Commentaries on Zechariah 7:5 Go To Zechariah 7
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Even when they were exiles in Babylon and their captors were trying to force them to sing a sacred hymn, they neither yielded nor obeyed, even though they were captives and slaves to the masters who had conquered them…. And they could not observe the fast. The prophet made this clear when he said, “ ‘Did you keep a fast for me for seventy years?’ said the Lord.” Nor could they offer sacrifice or pour libations. Listen to the three boys when they said, “We have no prince, prophet or leader, no place to offer firstfruits in your sight and find mercy.” The prophet did not say, “We have no priest,” because there were priests among the captives. But to make you understand that the whole matter was a question of the place and that the whole code of laws was bound up with that place, he said, “We have no place.” .
