(2 Kings 25:22-25; Jeremiah 40:13 to 41:10) Another fast was observed on the tenth day of the tenth month Tebeth, to memorialize the day when Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon began his long siege of Jerusalem. (2 Kings 25:1, 2; Jeremiah 52:4, 5) A fourth fast was kept on the ninth day of the fourth month (Tammuz), for that was the day when the Babylonians made a breach in the walls of Jerusalem in 607 B.C.E., and made their way into the doomed city.​—2 Kings 25:2-4; Jeremiah 52:6, 7; Zechariah 8:19.

6. The first three events as commemorated were what expressions from Jehovah, and so what question properly arises?

⁶ The things commemorated by fasting down to the year 519 B.C.E., namely, the start of the siege of Jerusalem, the breaching of the walls of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, and the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple by the armies of Babylon, were all the execution of the judgments of Jehovah. Whereas the murder of Governor Gedaliah by a treacherous Jew was not the execution of a judgment from God, it did lead up to the utter abandonment and desolation of the land of Judah just as Jehovah had decreed. All these were mournful events for the disobedient Jews. But were the judgments executed by Jehovah things over which to fast and to mourn? Should the carrying out of God’s will be bemoaned? Is it an evil to be memorialized in sorrow?

7, 8. (a) To whom was Jehovah’s viewpoint on the question directly given? (b) Instead of there being fasting, what should have been done, and when this?

⁷ God’s viewpoint of the matter was given to his prophet Zechariah, not to the priests of whom Sharezer and Regem-melech had been sent from Bethel to inquire. Says the inspired Zechariah:

⁸ “And the word of Jehovah of armies continued to occur to me, saying: ‘Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, “When you fasted and there was a wailing in the fifth month and in the seventh month, and this for seventy years, did you really fast to me, even me? And when you would eat and when you would drink, were not you the ones doing the eating, and were not you the ones doing the drinking? Should you not obey the words that Jehovah called out by means of the former prophets, while Jerusalem happened to be inhabited, and at ease, with her cities all around her, and while the Negeb [Southland] and the Shephelah [Lowlands] were inhabited?”’”​—Zechariah 7:4-7.

9. From what standpoint was their fasting for those seventy years and since then comparable with their own eating and drinking, and what would have been the better thing?

⁹ When the exiled Jews fasted during the seventy years of desolation of the land of Judaha and also during all these years since the remnant of them returned to their homeland, were they really fasting to Jehovah? Was it fasting that He could accept? Was it fasting that he had imposed upon them? Was it not a fasting over the destruction of things that he had condemned to destruction? These abstinences from food were just like their indulging in food and drink. They were eating for themselves. Similarly, they were fasting for themselves, because of the calamities that had come upon them for their not obeying the words that their God had called out by Jeremiah and other former prophets. Under such attitudes, how could they benefit spiritually from their fasting? How could such fasting make them more inclined to do God’s will? Obedience in the first place was better than fasting over the calamities that came upon them because of not obeying God right at the start.

10. Was it fasting that would straighten out matters, and what preventive measures should have been taken by those involved?

¹⁰ It is not fasting because of one’s troubles that straightens out matters with God. What does do this is one’s turning from the disobedient way and doing positive good according to God’s commands. On this score, let us note what Zechariah was further told to say: “And the word of Jehovah continued to occur to Zechariah, saying: ‘This is what Jehovah of armies has said, “With true justice do your judging; and carry on with one another loving-kindness and mercies; and defraud no widow or fatherless boy, no alien resident or afflicted one, and scheme out nothing bad against one another in your hearts.” But they kept refusing to pay attention, and they kept giving a stubborn shoulder, and their ears they made too unresponsive to hear. And their heart they set as an emery stone to keep from obeying the law and the words that Jehovah of armies sent by his spirit, by means of the former prophets; so that there occurred great indignation on the part of Jehovah of armies.’

11. Because the inhabitants had refused to hear him calling to them, what did Jehovah do to them, with what effect on the land?

¹¹ “‘And so it occurred that, just as he called and they did not listen, so they would call and I would not listen,’ Jehovah of armies has said. ‘And I proceeded tempestuously to hurl them throughout all the nations that they had not known; and the land itself has been left desolate behind them, with no one passing through and with no one returning; and they proceeded to make the desirable land an object of astonishment.’”​—Zechariah 7:8-14.

12. The repatriated Jews remaining on the land would now be by what course​—by fasting or what?

¹² That was straightforward speech to Sharezer, Regem-melech and the men with them from Bethel. Their beloved homeland had been left desolate for seventy years because of the badness and disobedience to God’s law calling for justice according to truth, for loving-kindness and mercies. Now their return from Babylon had discontinued the desolation of the land. They could remain in that land by a course opposite to that of their fathers, that of obedience. Fasting in memory of calamities would not do it. In connection with obedience, they must carry on with the temple work.

13. Why would fasting over mournful events that befell Jehovah’s people during World War I be improper, and so what is the proper course for us to take?

¹³ Are we today going to carry on mourning or fasting on days that are anniversaries of calamities or mournful events that befell Jehovah’s worshipers during World War I? If such things were judgments executed by Him for the delinquencies of His organized people, are these executions of divine judgment not right things, proper things? Mourning or fasting over such things expressing God’s righteous judgments is improper. We should not mourn or fast because we have suffered thereby. That would be self-centered​—not a fasting to Jehovah, but a feeling sorry for ourselves. Learn the lessons from the past and apply them now! Then, with tears dried from our eyes, let us rejoice in Jehovah’s restored favor and forge ahead with his temple work!

Chapter 15

Many Nations Go to the City of Divine Favor

1. For the would-be fasters, what was the good news from Jehovah through Zechariah?

HERE IS the good news​—for the would-be fasters of almost twenty-five centuries ago, and for those of today: “This is what Jehovah of armies has said, ‘The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth month, and the fast of the seventh month, and the fast of the tenth month will become for the house of Judah an exultation and a rejoicing and good festal seasons.’”​—Zechariah 8:19.

2. Such a change in attitude called for what other change in the background, as in David’s case according to Psalm 30:1, 11?

² Such a change meant indeed a change in the mental attitude of the members of the restored “house of Judah” away back there in the sixth century B.C.E.​—and of us today! As a background for such a radical change in viewpoint and conduct, there had to be a