Zec 1:2 | KingComments | STEP | The prophet cuts right to the chase. He wants to strike his fellow citizens in their conscience. They are no better than their fathers. Because of the guilt of the fathers the temple is destroyed. But they are also negligent in rebuilding it. It is easy to get used to our circumstances, without paying attention to the hand of the Lord Who put us in those circumstances because of our unfaithfulness. The prophet does not elaborate on the cause of the anger. By speaking about it in this way, he asks them, as it were, to examine in their memories the occasions on which that anger has become visible. This should lead them to discover what caused it. That will stop them in their unfaithfulness to the LORD. The prophet warns in a clear way that God does not allow Himself to be mocked. They have returned to the land of God, but not to God Himself. Their exile and the destruction of the city and the temple are clear proof of God’s anger. But there is a way back and that is the way of conversion to the LORD with their whole heart. That is why in the following verse the offer of grace follows after the anger.

‏ Zechariah 1:2

The Anger of the LORD

The prophet cuts right to the chase. He wants to strike his fellow citizens in their conscience. They are no better than their fathers. Because of the guilt of the fathers the temple is destroyed. But they are also negligent in rebuilding it. It is easy to get used to our circumstances, without paying attention to the hand of the Lord Who put us in those circumstances because of our unfaithfulness.

The prophet does not elaborate on the cause of the anger. By speaking about it in this way, he asks them, as it were, to examine in their memories the occasions on which that anger has become visible. This should lead them to discover what caused it. That will stop them in their unfaithfulness to the LORD. The prophet warns in a clear way that God does not allow Himself to be mocked.

They have returned to the land of God, but not to God Himself. Their exile and the destruction of the city and the temple are clear proof of God’s anger. But there is a way back and that is the way of conversion to the LORD with their whole heart. That is why in the following verse the offer of grace follows after the anger.