John Trapp on Zechariah 7:5

Verſe 5. Speak unto all the people of the land] Not to the Embaſſadours onely: as the cauſe is common, ſo let the anſwer be publike: for they were all too well conceited of their external ſervices, bodily exerciſes, and made much adoe about a trifle, a practiſe of their own deviſing, neglecting the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith Mat. 23.23.

and to the prieſts] Who themſelves were to ſeek belike; And having been the authours and obſervers of theſe cuſtoms, were backward to aboliſh them, as thoſe that reſted in them without true repentance, faith and new obedience.

when ye faſted and mourned in the fifth and ſeventh moneth] ſc. For the ſlaughter of Gedaliah and the ſad conſequence thereof 2 Kings 25.22. and Jer. 41.1.

even thoſe ſeventy yeers] wherein ye have loſt full ſevenſcore faſts: and were not a button the better for them: becauſe they faſted rather to get off their chaines then their ſins: they reſted in their faſts, in the work done, neither regarding how, nor why they ſhould faſt. Now God weighes mens actions by their aymes. And with him, though a good ayme doth not make a bad action good (as we ſee in the caſe of Uzzah) yet a bad aym makes a good action bad, as in Jehu's reformation. He had a ſquint eye to his own ends in all (as the eagle hath an eye upon her prey when ſhe flies higheſt) and ſo conſulted ruine to his own houſe.

did ye at all faſt unto me, even to me?] Did you propound me to your ſelves? Or gat I any thing by the hand? Did you ſerve me? and not your ſelves rather upon me? was it not ſinful ſelf-love, and baſe ſelf-ſeeking that put you upon theſe practiſes? lookt you any higher therein, then onely to the ſatisfying of your own carnal humours? God was not in all your thoughts. This Daniel ſaw and acknowledged with grief and ſhame, Chap. 9.13. All this is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and underſtand thy truth: Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil and brought it upon us &c. The Jews no doubt had prayed much and oft during that ſeventy yeers captivity: yet Daniel denies that they had prayed to any purpoſe: becauſe they had failed both quoad fontem & quoad finem, they had acted from evil principles, and had been carried on by ſelf-reſpects. They had not that true-heart ſpoken of by the Apoſtle Heb. 10.22. but that wicked minde mentioned by the Wiſe-man Prov. 21.27. The ſacrifice of the wicked is abominable: how much more when he brings it with a wicked minde: either as thinking to cozen the God of heaven,Hoſ. 10.1. Cant. 5.4. or at leaſt to ſtop his judgements, and ſtill the noiſe of his own conſcience by his external ſervices. Thus Ephraim bore fruit to himſelf, but proved an empty vine: when as the ſpouſe (that fruitful vine on Chriſts houſe-ſide) kept her fruit for her beloved: who therefore fed heartily upon it, and not upon her vine onely, but her milk too, not upon her honey onely, her finer and ſweeter ſervices, but upon her honey comb too, that had much wax in it, meaning her worſer and courſer performances. If the heart be upright all's well betwixt Chriſt and his people. O labour for that truth in the inward parts, that we may be with Appelles approved in Chriſt Rom. 16. that he may ſay of [illegible: 1 letter]s, as once he did of Nathaneel, Behold an Iſraelite indeed in whom is no guile, Great vertues [illegible: 1 letter]ot, ſweetned with ſincerity are no ornaments unto us. And Great infirmities, not ſowred with hypocriſie, are no great deformities. Thoſe God acknowledgeth not, theſe he imputeth not.