The priests. They were addressed as interpreters of the Law (see Haggai 2:11, and note there). Which were in; rather, which belonged to. The prophets. Such as Zechariah, Haggai, and perhaps Malachi, through whom God communicated his will.
Should I weep in the fifth month? The use of the first person singular to express a community or a people is not uncommon; here it means the Bethelites (comp. Numbers 20:18, Numbers 20:19; Joshua 9:7; 1 Samuel 5:10, 1 Samuel 5:11).
Weeping is the accompaniment of fasting ( 20:26; Nehemiah 1:4; Joel 2:12). This fast in the fifth month, the month of Ab, had been established in memory of the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.
The temple was burnt on the ninth or tenth of the month (see 2 Kings 25:8, 2 Kings 25:9; Jeremiah 52:12, Jeremiah 52:13). The only fast-day enjoined by the Law of Moses was the great Day of Atonement on the tenth day of the seventh month, Ethanim (Le 23:26, etc.
). But the Jews added others in memory of certain national events (see 20:26; 1 Samuel 7:6; Isaiah 58:3, etc.). In Zechariah 8:19 mention is made of four extraordinary fasts instituted and observed during the Captivity, viz.
on the ninth day of the fourth month, in memory of the capture of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans; in the fifth month, in remembrance of the burning of the temple and city; in the seventh month, in consequence of the murder of Gedaliah (Jeremiah 41:1, Jeremiah 41:2); and in the tenth month, in memory of the commencement of the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar (see note on Zechariah 8:19).
Separating myself. Abstaining from food and pleasure. Vulgate, vel sanctificare me debeo, such separation or abstinence being regarded as a consecration to the Lord. The LXX. has not understood the passage, rendering, εἰσελήλυθεν ὧδε ἐν τῷ μηνὶ τῷ πέπτῳ τὸ ἁγίασμα "The sanctification hath come in here in the fifth month."
These so many years. All the seventy years of exile. There is, perhaps, some Pharisaical complacency in this assertion.