And Bethel proceeded to send Sharezer and Regem-melech and his men to soften the face of Jehovah,

Zechariah 7:1-3.

4. Over what event were those Bethelites evidently fasting in that fifth month each year?

⁴ Bethel was one of the towns that had been reestablished in the land of Israel by the Jews who returned from exile in Babylon. (Ezra 2:28; 3:1) When Sharezer and Regem-melech from there asked: “Shall I weep?” it meant every inhabitant of Bethel individually.