Commentary on Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah and Malachi John Calvin
Zechariah 7
Zechariah 7:1-3
1. And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu;
1. Et factus est (datus est,) anno quarto Darii regis, sermo Iehovae ad Zachariam, quarta die mensis noni Chisleu;
2. When they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regemmelech, and their men, to pray before the LORD,
2. Nam miserat in domum Dei (hoc est, Templum) Sareezer et Regem-melech et viros ejus ad deprecandam faciem Iehovae (aut, Miserat in domum Dei Sareezer et
Regem-melech, in nominativo casu, et viri ejus ad deprecandam faciem Iehovae:)
3. And to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the LORD of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?
3. Ad dicendum sacerdotibus qui erant in domo Iehovae exercituum, et Prophetis, dicendo, An flebo mense, quinto? Separabo me? quemadmodum feci his annis? (est turbata series verborum, quemadmodum solitus sum facere his annis?)
There is no vision here, but the answer which Zechariah was commanded to give to the messengers of the captives: for he says that some had been sent from Chaldea to offer sacrifices to God, and at the same time to inquire whether the fast, which they had appointed when the city was taken and destroyed, was to be observed. But there is some ambiguity in the words of the Prophet, for it is doubtful whether the two whom he names, even Sherezer and Regem-melech, together with the others, had sent the messengers of whom mention is made, or they themselves came and brought the message from the captives. But this is a matter of no great moment.
As to the question itself, I am disposed to adopt their view, who think that these two came with their associates to Jerusalem, and in the name of them all inquired