Zechariah 1:4

Zec 1:4 Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and [from] your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the LORD.

Ver. 4. Be ye not as your fathers] Man is a creature apt to imitate, to be led more by his eyes than by his ears; and children think they may lawfully be as their fathers. St Peter’s converts had received their vain conversation from their fathers, as it were, ex traduce, or by tradition, 1Pe 1:18. And St Stephen tells his perverse hearers that they were as good at resisting the Holy Ghost as their fathers had been before them, Act 7:51. They used to boast much of their ancestors, Joh 8:33, and to bind much upon their example and authority, Jer 44:17 Mat 5:21. They thought they were not much to be blamed, because they did but as their fathers had done before them. The prophet therefore dehorts or rather deters them from that folly; setting forth both the crime and doom of their forefathers, whom they so much admired, and so stiffly imitated, and this he often repeateth that they might once consider it, and be wrought upon by those domestic examples.

Have cried] Loudly and lustily; according to that, "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet," Isa 58:1 : sic clames ut stentora vineas, A minister should be a Simon Zelotes, a son of thunder; as Basil was said to thunder in his preaching, lightning in his life; as Jerome for his vehemence was called Fulmen Ecclesiasticum, the Church’s light bolt; as Harding, before his shameful apostasy, wished he could cry out against Popery as loud as the bells of Oseney; and as Farellus (that notable French preacher), whose voice when the envious monks sought to drown by ringing the bells as he was preaching at Metis, he lifted up his voice ad ravim usque; and would not suffer himself to be outroared. The saint’s bell (as they called it) Pierius useth for a hieroglyphic of a preacher, who must not speak the word only, but sound it out into all the earth, Rom 10:18, not preach it only, but cry it, as the apostle’s word signifieth, 2Ti 4:2, clangite, clamate, Jer 4:5. Boate, vociferate, Mat 3:3 (Bοωντος, boantis, vociferantis). Ministers have to do with deaf men, dead men, living carcases, walking sepulchres of themselves. Now therefore as our Saviour lifted up his voice when he said, "Lazarus, come forth"; so must they stand over men and cry aloud, "Awake, thou that sleepest, and stand up from the dead, that Christ may give thee light," Eph 5:14.

Turn you now from your evil ways, &c.] This was the constant cry of the prophets, as here, and apostles, as Act 26:18, to open men’s eyes (naturally closed up that they cannot see the evil of their ways, Jer 2:35 Rev 3:15), to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God.

And from your evil doings] Heb. Designs, gests, or exercises, enterprised advisedly, and prosecuted studiously, of natural disposition and inclination, as Pro 20:11 1Sa 25:3. This St John usually calleth committing of sin, 1Jn 3:4; 1Jn 3:8-9 Joh 8:34; this is to add rebellion to sin, Job 34:37, impudence to impotence, brows of brass to iron sinews, Isa 48:4. This is wickedness with a witness, which if men could but see in its native colours and cursed consequents, they would soon be persuaded to turn from it. As the eye cannot but be offended with a loathsome object, so neither can the understanding. Take rat poison, it looketh not evil; but when a man feels it boil, burn, torture him, &c., he hates it extremely. So he should do sin; he will do else at length, when it is too late. For prevention: take the counsel of a martyr, get thee God’s law, as a glass to look in. So shall you see your faces foul arrayed, and so shameful, mangy, pocky, and scabbed, that you cannot but be sorry at the contemplation thereof, and seek out for cure; especially if you look to the tag tied to God’s law, the malediction; which is such, as cannot but make us to cast our currish tails between our legs, if we believe it. But O faithless hard hearts! O Jezebel’s guests, rocked and laid asleep in her bed! O wicked wretches! &c.

But they did not hear] Though the prophets cried, and spake loud enough to be heard and heeded. A heavy ear is a singular judgment, Isa 6:10; a hearing ear, a precious mercy, Pro 20:12. God must be entreated to bore our ear, Psa 40:6, and to make the bore so big that the word may enter; to say as Isa 42:18, Hear, ye deaf, and look, ye blind, that ye may see.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Be ye not like your fathers - Strangely infectious is the precedent of ill. Tradition of good, of truth, of faith, is decried; only tradition of ill and error are adhered to. The sin of Jeroboam was held sacred by every king of Israel: “The statutes of Omri were diligently kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab” Mic 6:16. “They turned back and were treacherous like their forefathers; they turned themselves like a deceitful bow” Psa 78:57, is God’s summary of the history of Israel. Cyril: “Absurd are they who follow the ignorances of their fathers, and ever plead inherited custom as an irrefragable defense, though blamed for extremest ills. So idolaters especially, being called to the knowledge of the truth, ever bear in mind the error of their fathers and, embracing their ignorance as an hereditary lot, remain blind.”

The former prophets - The prophets spake God’s words, as well in their pastoral office as in predicting things to come, in enforcing God’s law and in exhorting to repentance, as in announcing the judgments on disobedience. The predictive as well as the pastoral office were united in Nathan 2Sa 7:4-16; 2Sa 12:1-14, Gad 1Sa 22:5; 1Sa 24:11, Shemaiah 2Ch 11:2-4; 2Ch 12:5-8, Azariah 2 Chr. 15, Hanani 2Ch 16:7-9, Elijah 1Ki 17:1, 1Ki 17:14; 1Ki 18:1, 1Ki 18:41; 1Ki 21:19, 1Ki 21:21, 1Ki 21:23, 1Ki 21:29; 2Ki 1:4, 2Ki 1:16, Elisha 2Ki 3:17-18; 2Ki 4:16; 2Ki 5:27; 2Ki 7:1-2; 2Ki 8:10-13; 2Ki 13:14-19, Micaiah the son of Imla, whose habitual predictions against Ahab induced Ahab to say 1Ki 22:8, “I hate him, for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.” The specific calls to conversion here named and their fruitlessness, are summed up by Jeremiah as words of all the prophets. For ten years he says, “The word of the Lord hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking, and ye have not hearkened. And the Lord hath sent unto you all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending; but ye have not hearkened nor inclined your ear to hear. They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil ways and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord hath given unto you and to your fathers forever and ever; and go not after other gods to serve and worship them, and provoke Me not to anger with the works of your hands, and I will do you no hurt. But ye have not hearkened unto Me, saith the Lord; that ye might provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt. Therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, Because ye have not heard My words ...” Jer 25:3-8. The prophetic author of the book of Kings sums up in like way, of “all the prophets and all the seers.” “The Lord testified against Israel and against Judah by the hand of all the prophets and all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways and keep My commandments, My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets, and they did not hear, and hardened their neck, like the neck of their fathers” 2Ki 17:13.

The characteristic word, “turn from your evil ways and the evil of your doings” occurring in Jeremiah, it is probable, that this summary was chiefly in the mind of Zechariah, and that he refers not to Isaiah, Joel, Amos etc., (as all the prophets were preachers of repentance), but to the whole body of teachers, whom God raised up, analogous to the Christian ministry, to recall people to Himself.

The title, “the former prophets,” contrasts the office of Haggai and Zechariah, not with definite prophets before the captivity, but with the whole company of those, whom God sent as He says, so unremittingly.

And they hearkened not unto Me - Jerome: “They heard not the Lord warning through the prophets, attended not - not to the prophets who spake to them but - not to Me, saith the Lord. For I was in them who spake and was despised. Whence also the Lord in the Gospel saith, “He that receiveth you, receiveth Me” Mat 10:40.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

4-6. Similar appeals were made to former generations, but they would not heed; therefore they were cut off.

The former prophets — All the predecessors of Zechariah. They all with one accord urged the people to hate the evil and love the good. It is not necessary to suppose that the prophet has in mind any particular prophet or any particular utterance (compare Hos_14:2; Eze_33:11; 2Ki_17:13; Amo_5:14). The fathers did not hearken, and judgment overtook them.

Where are they?… do they live forever? — The fathers are dead and even the prophets have passed away, but the words which the latter spoke and the former neglected proved true, for the threatened destruction came.

Words — Especially of threatening (Jer_39:16; Eze_12:28).

Statutes — Not a legal term as in Mal_4:4, but practically identical with the preceding “word”; the judicial decrees of Jehovah proclaimed by the prophets.

My servants the prophets — The “former prophets” (Zec_1:4). The prophets are frequently called the servants of God or of Jehovah, because it was their office to execute the purpose of their divine Master. Take hold of [“overtake”] — “The judgments decreed by Jehovah resemble messengers sent out by Jehovah to pursue and destroy the sinners” (Deu_28:15; Deu_28:45). The climax was the exile.

They returned — Though the judgments did not produce a complete change of heart, they did open the eyes of the people so that they recognized that they were sent by Jehovah in punishment for their own sins (Lam_2:17; Ezr_9:5 ff.). The experience of the fathers should teach a lesson to the children.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1:4 Before the Exile, earlier prophets actively called Judah and Israel to repentance. Zechariah especially reflects the prophetic influence of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. • ancestors who would not listen: The people of Israel (2 Kgs 17:13-14) and Judah (2 Chr 36:15-16) were taken into exile because they stubbornly refused to heed the word of the Lord (cp. 2 Chr 30:7).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Be ye not as your fathers--The Jews boasted of their fathers; but he shows that their fathers were refractory, and that ancient example and long usage will not justify disobedience (Ch2 36:15-16).

the former prophets--those who lived before the captivity. It aggravated their guilt that, not only had they the law, but they had been often called to repent by God's prophets.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

In order to correct and to subdue the obstinacy of the people, he here upbraids them with having descended from wicked and perverse parents. The Jews, we know, too much flattered themselves; and we know that they were especially inflated with the vain boasting that they derived their origin from the holy fathers. But the Prophets had something else in view. We indeed know that when anything becomes customary, almost all become hardened and flatter themselves in their vice; for immorality is then counted almost as the law, and what is sanctioned by public consent seems lawful. Since then they had not ceased for many years to provoke the wrath of God, it was necessary to add this reproof, Be not like your fathers: for they no doubt imagined that God approved of them, as they were not worse than their fathers. But God shows that their fathers had been very wicked and perverse.

Let us learn from this passage, that the examples which are wont to be set up as a shield are so far from being of any weight before God, that they enhance our guilt: and yet we see that this folly infatuates many; for at this day the religion of the Papists seems to them holy and irreprehensible, because it has been handed down to them by their fathers. Hence, whenever they bring forward the fathers, they think it a sufficient defense against the charge of any errors. But nothing occurs more frequently in the Prophets than the truth, that examples tend more to kindle the wrath of God, when some men become the occasion of sin to others, and when posterity think that whatever has proceeded from their fathers is lawful.

But we must at the same time bear in mind the design of the Prophet, for he did not intend simply to show, that the Jews in vain alleged the examples of the ancient; but, as I have said, he intended to shake off their self-flatteries by which they lulled themselves asleep; and he intended especially to put down those evil practices, which by long use had prevailed among them. This then is the reason why he says, Be not like your fathers. The Spirit employs the same sentiment in many other places, especially in the ninety- fifth Psalm (Psalm 95:1), and also in other Psalms.

Then he says, that the Prophets, who had been sent by God, had cried to their fathers, but that they did not attend. As then contempt of the truth had for so many ages prevailed among the Jews, and as this impiety was not duly abhorred by them, since they thought themselves to be as it were in perpetual possession — these are the reasons why the Prophet expressly upbraids them with this, that God’s word had been formerly despised by their nation — cry then did the former Prophets. He also exaggerates again their crime and their sin, because God had often recalled them to himself but without success. Had the Prophets been silent, and had God applied no remedy for their defection, their ingratitude would not indeed have been excusable; but since Prophets had often been sent to them, in succession, one after the other, and each had endeavored to restore the wretched men to a state of safety, not to attend to their holy and serious admonitions, by which God manifested his care for their well-being, was a much more atrocious crime.

We hence learn, that when we find any people prone to this or that vice, it ought to be resisted with greater diligence; for Satan almost always employs this artifice — that when he finds us prone to this or that vice, he directs all his efforts to drive us headlong into it.

As then the Prophets had been for a long time despised by the Jews, Zechariah designedly brings before them that perverseness which had been too long known. cry then did the former Prophets, saying Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, return ye, I pray, from your evil ways, and from your evil works; but they heard not nor attended. After having spoken of God’s kind invitation, which was a singular pledge of his love, since he thus manifested his concern for their safety, he shows on the other hand how unworthily the Jews had conducted themselves, for they obstinately rejected this favor of God. They were indeed more than sufficiently proved guilty; for by saying, Return ye, I pray, from your evil ways and from your evil works, he assumes it as a fact that the reproofs given were just. And he farther says, that they refused to hear. Hence their perverseness was less endurable; for though they were self-condemned, they did not yet repent, nor deigned to hearken to God. And he subjoins the words, nor did they attend; for by this repetition is more fully expressed, not only their stupidity, but their strange madness, inasmuch as they had so rejected God, and closed up the door of his favor, as though they sought designedly to drive him far from them, lest he should come to them.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(4) The former prophets—viz., those who prophesied when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity (Zec_7:7), before the captivity. LXX., οἱ πατέρες ἔμπροσθεν [to whom] the prophets before [enjoined], which is inaccurate. Οἱ προϕῆται οἱ ἔμπροσθεν, “the prophets of former times,” would have been correct.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4. the former prophets have cried] Rather, cried, as R.V. The reference is not to any one particular prophet or prophets, in whose writings words similar to these may be found; but to the whole body of prophets, who had preceded Zechariah and Haggai, and of whose message in the discharge of the didactic, as distinguished from the predictive function of their office, the substance is here given. Comp. Jer_7:25-26.

now] i.e. I pray.

unto me] whose word, and not their own, the prophets spoke. Comp. Luk_10:16.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Be ye not as your fathers,.... Who lived before the captivity, and misused the prophets and messengers of the Lord, and despised his word, and fell into gross idolatry; the evil examples of parents and ancestors are not to be followed:

unto whom the former prophets have cried: such as Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others:

saying, thus saith the Lord of hosts, Turn now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings; by their "evil ways" may be meant their idolatrous worship; and by their "evil doings" their immoralities; or, by both, their wicked lives and conversations, both before God and men; from whence they were exhorted by the former prophets to turn, and to reform; even "now", at that present time they prophesied to them, immediately, lest destruction come upon them:

but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the Lord; speaking by his prophets, who were sent by him, and came and spoke in his name; so that not hearing them was not hearing him who sent them, and whom they represented.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Be ye; you who have seen the sorrows of a long captivity, who are wonderfully brought back, who are under the teachings of rod and staff.

The former prophets; all the former prophets, 2Ch 36:15,16.

Cried; preached earnestly, frequently, and compassionately.

Turn ye now from your evil ways; now, to-day, yet before it is too late, O turn from vicious, sinful courses and ways; from your atheism, idolatry, murders, oppressions, and adulteries.

And from your evil doings: it is repeated that it might be more impressive upon them. The prophets importunately entreated them to cease from evil, Isa 1:16; 31:6 Jer 3:12; Eze 18:30; Hos 14:1.

They did not hear; they did not because they would not, they regarded not what I said by my prophets, neither could they be persuaded to it.

Nor hearken unto me: this obstinate disobedience is twice together charged on them, to make their sin appear in its greatness.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The former prophets have cried. Omit "have." The prophets referred to are those before the Captivity, both those whoso writings are extant, as Hosea, Joel, Amos, etc., and those whose names are mentioned in the historical books, e.g. Nathan, Gad, Shemaiah, Azariah, Hanaui, Elijah, Elisha, Micaiah (Pusey). (See similar complaints in 2Ki_17:13 2Ch_36:15, etc.; Jer_25:3-8, which last passage seems to have been in Zechariah"s mind)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Turn from your evil ways and wicked practices

No longer doing certain actions is spoken of as if it were turning away from those actions. The phrases "evil ways" and "wicked practices" mean basically the same thing. AT: "Stop doing all of your wicked actions" (See: Metaphor and Doublet)

But they would not hear and did not pay attention to me

Both of these phrases mean that the people of Israel would not obey the commands of Yahweh. AT: "But they would not listen to my commands" (See: Parallelism)

this is Yahweh's declaration

Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. See how you translated a similar phrase in Zechariah 1:3. AT: "this is what Yahweh has declared" or "this is what I, Yahweh, have declared" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)

Your fathers, where are they? Where are the prophets, are they here forever?

These two rhetorical questions emphasize that both their ancestors and the prophets who proclaimed Yahweh's message to their ancestors have died. The questions can be translated as a statement. AT: "Neither your fathers nor the prophets are here because they have all died." (See: Rhetorical Question)

But my words and my decrees that I commanded my servants the prophets, have they not overtaken your fathers?

This rhetorical question emphasizes the positive answer that it anticipates. Yahweh speaks of the people's ancestors experiencing the consequences of not obeying Yahweh's commands as if his words and decrees were a person who had chased after and overtaken them. The question can be translated as a statement. AT: "But my words and my decrees that I commanded my servants the prophets have overtaken your fathers." or "But your fathers have suffered the consequences for disobeying my words and my decrees that I commanded my servants the prophets to tell them." (See: Rhetorical Question)

my words and my decrees

These phrases are both ways to refer to Yahweh's message that the prophets had declared to their ancestors. (See: Doublet)

our ways and actions

The words "ways" and "actions" mean basically the same thing. AT: "our behavior" (See: Doublet)

translationWords

ancestor

evil

declare

word

decree

command

servant

repent

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.