Sent with Regem Melech by the Jews of the country to "the house of God," i.e. the congregation of priests at Jerusalem ministering at the altar, (the temple was not yet completed), to ask whether they should still observe the fast on the tenth day of the fifth month, the anniversary of the burning of the temple. Their fast had been a mere act of self imposed and hypocritical will worship, to please themselves, not the Lord (Zechariah 7:2).