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Abarbanel on Zechariah
Abarbanel on Zechariah — CC0 English partial community translation
Unverified edition · Chapter 1
Reading language: eng · Original language (catalog): English
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Chapter 1 · All reading sections
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Abarbanel on Zechariah 1:1:1
The first prophecy of this book begins with the words, "In the eighth month" and goes until the words "Until the twenty-fourth day." That's all one section. And I have six questions about this small prophecy
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Abarbanel on Zechariah 1:1:2
The first question is why in the entire book of Isaiah, which contains many prophecies, not one of them is defined by the month and year and day that it was said on. The same thing for Hosea, Joel, Amos, Ovadiah, Jonah, Michah, Nachum, Habakuk and Tzefania's prophecies. You never see any of these ten prophets describe the day, month, and year when they prophecized. In in Malachi the same thing. Only Haggai and Zacharia describe the specific month and year. Many prophets it descirbes the name of the king or kings of the era they prophecized in, but that's more general, just to let us know the time period and generation, not a specific, narrowed down date, and the reader only needs to be told about the era and generation when it comes to these prophets first visions. Maybe this is because before the Babylonian exile, prophecy was normalized so it wasn't important enough to give the time/date of, but in the time of the second temple prophecy was rare, they specified the year and month when they saw their visions because the event was greater in their eyes. But this theory is disproven when you look into the book of the prophets. Jeremiah we find that his prophecy is specified by the year -- the fourth year of King Yehoyakim ben Yoshiyahu, and also the month and year as it says in Jeremiah, "It was in that year, the beginning of Zedekiah's reign, in the fourth the year in the fifth month, Gd said to me...." or "It was told in the fifth month of Yehoyakim ben Yoshiyahu the king of Judah, declare a fast..." and also "It was after the ten days when Gd spoke to Jeremiah." And Jeremiah lived before the Babylonian exile and the month and year is still specified in some of his prophecies. But only some of them -- the majority of Jeremiah's prophecies aren't listed with the time they occurred. Same with Ezekiel, who had prophecies that occurred after the exile on the river and prophecies in the era of Yechoniah, the King of Judah, sometimes the month and time is given. But there are many prophecies that came afterwards where the time isn't mentioned like for example, in Ezekiel it says, "In the sixth year, in the sixth month in the fifth of the month, I sit in my house while the elders..." and then a later prophecy of Ezekiel doesn't tell the month and year. And then even later prophecies revert to tell the time they took place, "it was in the seventh year, the fifth month, the tenth day..." followed by many more prophecies without the time until the prophecy of Tzur where again the time is give as the pasuk says, "it was was in the eleventh year on the first of the month..." and then afterwards, Ezekiel has even more more prophecies without the time, until the prophecy of Pharoah which says, "it was in the tenth year, tenth month, twelth day..." And if you go through the entire book of Ezekiel you see many prophecies with and many without the date specified. Same for Haggai, the first prophecy includes the date and the rest don't. And this prophecy of Zecharaiah that I'm explaining, you'll see several of Zechariah's prophecies include the date and several don't. And all of his prophecies were in the era of the exile and after. Why isn't it standardized when the time is given. And to add to this question, Malachi was the last prophet of all, and the date of his prophecies is not specified, his follow the patterns of Isaiah and the earlier prophets. What is the reason for all this? I haven't found anything in the writings of the scholars or meforshim about this other than that of my Rav who wrote about chapter 4, part three of the vision of chariot of Ezekiel where he asked the same question about the date being included. ...
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Abarbanel on Zechariah 1:1:3
The second question is is if Zecharaia wanted to put a time to his first prophecy according to the month and year, why didn't he also mention the day of the month that he prophecized on, because the rest of his procephies when he gives the month and year he also gives the day, except for the first prophecy where he only tells the month and year and not the day.
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Abarbanel on Zechariah 1:1:4
The third question is on the phrase, "Gd became angry with your ancestors." Why does this need to be said. Did they not know that Gd was angry and that was the reason for the destruction and exile. What else is learned from this phrase.
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Abarbanel on Zechariah 1:1:5
The fourth question is about the words, "Thus said Gd, Lrd of Hosts, return to Me." and repentence is done because of a sin, but if the anger that Gd had was one their ancestors who sinned, how would their repentence help because they are not liable for their ancestors' sins unless they continue to do those sins. The commentaries explain that the sin that needed to be atoned for was that they delayed building the Temple and they had their own specific sins in their hands, as it indicates in the book of Ezra, but we don't find that Zecharia ever admonishes them for these sins.
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Abarbanel on Zechariah 1:1:6
The fifth question is that you see the words, Gd of Hosts repeated over and over in the pesukim. It doesn't seem that the repitition is needed for the order of the dialogue and is this not reciting the Lrds Name in vain?
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Abarbanel on Zechariah 1:1:7
The sisth question is on the words in pasuk 5, "Where are your ancestors now? And did the prophets live forever?" What does it mean "where are your ancestors?" didn't they already die a natural death, the type of death that every man, righteous or wicked dies eventually. And on the words, "Did the prophets live forever," it's confusing because do we expect them to live forever. Now, I will explain the pesukim according to these questions.
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