ZECHARIAH
CHAPTER 7
The Lord reproves hypocrisy in fasts—He calls upon the people to show
mercy and compassion and live godly lives.
[Righteousness More Important Than Ritual This chapter contains the explanation
of why the Lord refused to hear the prayers of Judah and permitted Nebuchadnezzar
to scatter the Jews from their homeland for a time. It begins with the question
of whether the Jews who had returned from Babylon should continue to observe
the feasts and fasts that they had observed while in exile as memorials of
the burning of Jerusalem and the temple at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. “Zechariah’s
answer, which is intended to reach the ears of all the people (v. 5), is
of special significance when we remember his profound interest in the Temple;
it shows that he, like the former, i.e., the pre-exiles, prophets . . . ,
cared infinitely more for righteousness than for ritual. Their fasting, he
reminds them, like their eating and drinking, did not in any way affect God,
but only themselves. His demand, voiced by those prophets, was for something
very different—for true justice (cf. Amos 5:24), kindness (cf. Hos. 6:6)
and pity in their social relationships, and for the temper which would scorn
to exploit the defenseless members of society or to harbor malicious designs
against them (vv. 9b–11). This prophetic law (v. 12), i.e., instruction,
though it had been mediated by the divine Spirit, they had willfully rejected,
turning a stubborn shoulder (v. 11) like an animal that refuses to bear the
yoke, with the result that Jehovah was indignant (v. 12), scattered them
among strange nations (v. 14a), and abandoned their lovely land to desolation
(v. 14b).” (Frederick Carl Eiselen, ed., The Abingdon Bible Commentary, p.
824.)]
1 A
ND it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius,
that the word of the L
ORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth
day of the ninth month,
even in Chisleu;
2 When they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regem-melech, and their men, to pray before the L
ORD,
3
And to speak unto the priests which
were in the house of the L
ORD of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?
4 ¶ Then came the word of the L
ORD of hosts unto me, saying,
5 Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests,
saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh
month, even
those seventy years,
did ye at all fast unto
me, even to me? [What Was the Purpose of the Feasts? While the
Jews were in captivity in Babylon, they celebrated four different feasts in
remembrance of events that took place when Babylon attacked and destroyed Jerusalem.
One feast was celebrated in the tenth month, the month in which the Babylonians
laid siege to Jerusalem (see Jeremiah 39:1). A second feast, celebrated in
the fourth month, commemorated the destruction of Jerusalem (see Jeremiah 39:2;
52:67). A third feast, held in the fifth month, marked the destruction of the
temple (see Jeremiah 52:12–14). A fourth feast was celebrated in the seventh
month to commemorate the assassination of Gedaliah, the puppet king placed
over Judah by the Babylonians after they destroyed Jerusalem (see 2 Kings 25:25).
344 345 Zechariah reminded the people that they had set up the feast days to
remind them of tragedies, but not once did they remember the Lord through feasts
while in captivity.]
6 And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat
for yourselves, and drink
for yourselves?
7
Should ye not
hear the words which the L
ORD hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when
men inhabited the south and the plain?
8 ¶ And the word of the L
ORD came unto Zechariah, saying,
9 Thus speaketh the L
ORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother:
10 And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.
11 But they refused to
hearken, [ Hebrew "Shema" is translated here as hearken which means to "listen" and "obey". ] , and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.
12 Yea, they made their hearts
as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the L
ORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the L
ORD of hosts.
13 Therefore it is come to pass,
that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the L
ORD of hosts:
14 But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.