Text: Zechariah 7:5-6
OT Text Referred to: Jeremiah 29:10
Subject: Fasts for seventy years (* see seventy years network)
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Promise-Fulfillment
Significance: Zechariah 7:5's mention of "these seventy years" of fasting presupposes Jeremiah 29:10's promise that God would "visit" His people after seventy years. Jeremiah 29:10 was addressed to the exiles as a word of hope: settle down in Babylon, wait patiently, and after seventy years God will bring you home. Zechariah, writing as that promise reaches fulfillment, probes whether the returned community has learned what Jeremiah's letter actually demanded — not merely endurance for a set period, but genuine seeking of God ("you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart," Jer 29:13). The seventy-year fasts marked time without the wholehearted seeking Jeremiah specified, exposing hollow observance.