But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.
But I scattered them with a whirlwind - of wrath (Nahum 1:3).
Among all the nations whom they knew not - foreign and barbarous.
Thus the land was desolate after them - after their expulsion and exile. It was ordered remarkably by God's providence that no occupants, took possession of it, but that during the Jews' absence it was reserved for them against their return after seventy years.
For they laid the pleasant land desolate - the Jews did so by their sins. The blame of their destruction lay with themselves, rather than with the Babylonians (2 Chronicles 36:21).
The pleasant land - Canaan-literally, the land of desire (Jeremiah 3:19, margin)
Remarks:
(1) When we are in doubt as to any point of duty, our wisest course is to lay the whole case in prayer before the (1) When we are in doubt as to any point of duty, our wisest course is to lay the whole case in prayer before the Lord, asking to be directed by His good Spirit what He would have us to do.
(2) But in so asking for heavenly guidance, we must see that we ask in sincerity, and not self-deceit or hypocrisy. To have more regard to outward ordinances than to moral obedience is essentially hypocritical (Zechariah 7:3), Men will much more readily "separate themselves" from particular foods, and from outward contact with the world, than from the inward defilements of the heart, which are what mainly pollute us.
(3) In all our religious observances we should conscientiously sift our motives-Is it unto the Lord, or unto self, that we regard them? (Zechariah 7:5-6.) Where self is the center where all our actions and performances converge, God is dethroned from His rightful position. Holy services, as fastings, alms-givings, and humiliations, ought all to have reference to God and His glory as their main end.
(4) When we humble ourselves on account of bygone judgments inflicted on our country, our families, and ourselves, we must not stop short there: we must also search the Scriptures of "the prophets," in order to know the ground of the Lord's past visitations of wrath.
(5) The history of Judah and Jerusalem is especially profitable to study as a sample of the principle upon which God deals with His people (Zechariah 7:7). Once the whole country was filled with a prosperous people. Had the Jews then obeyed the warning voice of God by His prophets they would not have had to mourn and fast for the humiliation of their country. Too often the admonitions of ministers are disregarded by those who are flushed with prosperity. So it was with the Jews before the captivity: and their children, after the captivity, were now failing to learn the lesson to be derived from the case of their fathers. Let us learn heavenly wisdom from the bitter experience of others, rather than have to lament too late our self-destroying blindness and perverse impenitence.
(6) The word of the Lord of hosts (Zechariah 7:9) to past generations is as much addressed to us as to them; because His requirements are the same in all ages: He demands not merely religious profession, but the practice of every social duty. Not merely are we not to "imagine evil against" our fellow-men, but we are positively to "show mercy and compassions every man to his brother." Ceremonial observances, when accompanied with these "weightier matters of the law," are acceptable before God; but, without them, are a solemn mockery of the heart-searching Yahweh.
(7) Nothing is more amazing than the self-willed obstinacy of sinners. Though God seeks solely their good in His loving appeals, they virtually "pull away the shoulder, and stop, their ears," and make "their hearts as an adamant" (Zechariah 7:11-12).
(8) It is the Holy Spirit, in His inspired servants, and not mere man, that such persons resist. How just, then, is the retribution in kind wherewith they are visited! Since they cherish hard hearts, they must expect hard judgments. Since they will not hearken to the voice of God's mercy, they must hear the voice of God's "wrath" (Zechariah 7:12). As they will not hear His cry in their day of grace, so God will not hear their cry in His day of vengenace (Zechariah 7:13).
(9) They who sin, themselves "lay desolate" all that was once "pleasant" in their portion (Zechariah 7:14). In the coming day of retribution the lost shall lay all the blame of their misery on their own infatuation. Let us learn betimes to improve our spiritual privileges, and to hear God's loving voice appealing to us as a Father to His children (Zechariah 7:13); so shall we reach the heavenly "land of desire" (margin, Zechariah 7:14), where desolation is unknown, and where the sillier can never come.