Zechariah 7:4-5

The Lord spoke to Zechariah, and he proceeded to inform the messengers, all the people in the land, and the priests. The issue that the messengers had raised had widespread implications for the whole nation. The Lord asked rhetorically if the people had really observed the fasts that they had instituted in the fifth and seventh months for 70 years for His benefit or for themselves. Seventy years is a round number for the length of the Captivity here, assuming the 70 years had not completely run their course yet. The fast in the seventh month commemorated the assassination of Gedaliah (2 Kings 25:25; Jeremiah 41:2). [Note: The Illustrated . . ., 8:93.] Evidently the people had turned these events into occasions for self-pity over their physical condition rather than engaging in prayer and genuine spiritual repentance.