14 The Question of Fasting

The people of the city of Bethel about twelve miles north of Jerusalem sent a delegation of men led by Sharezer and Regem-melech from there to Jerusalem in order to make the inquiry of the Lord at His Temple. Some Bible versions have mistranslated Bethel as the Temple, which was under construction since Bethel does mean the house of God. There is no other Old Testament reference of this to corroborate the Temple rendering. The city of Bethel is the correct translation. This delegation that came to Jerusalem were moved to ask whether Israel should continue to fast as they had in Babylon. The delegates were Jewish men (even though they had Babylonian names which were commonly applied to the Jews by the Babylonians cf. Daniel 1:7) who came from Bethel (cf. Ezra 2:28). Bethel had been the center of apostate worship for the Northern 10 tribes of Israel (cf. 1 Kings 12:28–29; 13:1; Amos 7:13) when Jeroboam I took the land of the north and established a center of false worship there after Solomon’s death (cir. 931 B.C.). He set up a pagan worship of golden calves among other heinous practices leading the Israelites into sin (cf. II Kings 10:29; II Chronicles 13:8). These men who led the delegation were important leaders because they had a following that accompanied them on this mission. Bethel was no longer a religious community after the captivity and many of its inhabitants had returned from the captivity with those from Jerusalem (cf. Ezra 2:28; Nehemiah 7:32; 11:31).