Zechariah 7:1

This Chapter deals with a question from the Jews at Bethel about keeping a certain fast day. Zechariah 7:1-3 give the situation and state the question; and the balance of the chapter (Zechariah 7:4-14) reveals the prophet's response. Actually, this chapter is a unit with Zephaniah 8; because the prophet's answer was given in six statements. "Each statement is introduced with exact statements which indicate that the prophet's words were actually those of Jehovah."[1] The six parts of the answer are:

1. Zechariah 7:4-7

2. Zechariah 7:8-14

3. Zechariah 8:1-7

4. Zechariah 8:9-13

5. Zechariah 8:14-17

6. Zechariah 8:18-23

Only two of these responses are given in this chapter.

Zechariah 7:1

"And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of Jehovah came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chislev."

Some scholars have seized upon the unusual placement of the words, "The word of Jehovah came to Zechariah," in such a manner as to split the elements of the date in two, as an excuse for rejecting the passage, or for screaming "interpolation." Such views are the result of the prejudice that the prophet should always have followed some prescribed formula in giving the date. There is no valid reason whatever for such a prejudice, as proved by this variation from it. As the passage stands, the date is perfectly clear, as is also the truth that Zechariah was delivering God's message, not his own.

The time was November/December, 518 B.C., "nearly two years after the vision of Zechariah 1:7."[2] Gill dated the arrival of the delegation on "December 4,518 B.C."[3]