Project 119: Zechariah 7
| Project 119 | Amy Hirsch
My husband Matt really enjoys studying history; he reads historical books for fun, loves to visit historical sites, and can even tell you the numerical order of the U.S. presidents (you should fact-check him sometime and ask him to tell you who the thirty-third, or twenty-sixth, or seventh president was!). History is important to Matt—to know where you are going, you need to know where you came from. Otherwise, you’re likely to repeat mistakes of the past.
We begin Zechariah 7 and two years have passed since Zechariah has received the nighttime visions. The temple is nearing its completion, and some of the delegates have an important question to ask the prophet: must they continue all of this fasting? Ever since the exile, there were fasts during several months of the year to mourn the loss of the temple, land, and even their elected officials. On the one hand, we can sympathize with the delegation. They were probably tired of fasting and ready to start a new season, and why not begin an era of celebration with the dedication of the new temple? But Zechariah saw things differently. The word of the Lord came to him, questioning the authenticity of their mourning. Were they fasting for show, for their own selfish gain, for themselves? Or were they fasting with sincere hearts?
The rest of Zechariah 7 is a bit of a history lesson about their ancestors. The earlier prophets had preached against this kind of showy fasting, against rending their garments rather than their hearts. But the people didn’t listen. Their focus was on outward obedience rather than inwardly conforming to the will of the Father. Had they truly fasted for the right purposes, had their hearts been aligned with God’s, then it would have been evident in their actions (Zechariah 7:8-10). But they starved themselves for the appearance of obedience, beating their breasts and voicing loud prayers in the temple so others might consider them holy—yet meanwhile, their hearts were far from God. Notice the four-fold description given for the people’s defiance: they refused to pay attention, turned their stubborn shoulders, stopped their ears, and made their hearts diamond-hard.
Zechariah wants the people to realize that this is how they ended up in their current predicament. They’ve been observing these fast days because of the disobedience of their forefathers, who strayed from God. God allowed them to face exile because of their sins. And now, He has given the Israelites an opportunity to come home, to rebuild the temple, to live in this land promised to Abraham as His people. Will they learn from history, or will they be doomed to repeat it? We find ourselves being forced to answer the same question, don’t we?
As I read the story of God’s people unfold, of their past unfaithfulness and rejection, I see myself in this story, sometimes caring more about my appearance than about my heart. I find myself in desperate need of forgiveness and mercy. Oh Lord, let all of our observances be about You— when we worship, when we fast, when we serve, when we share—and let these acts of obedience come from hearts that have been sincerely changed through the work of Christ!
Zechariah 7 (ESV):
A Call for Justice and Mercy
1 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Chislev. 2 Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech and their men to entreat the favor of the LORD, 3 saying to the priests of the house of the LORD of hosts and the prophets, “Should I weep and abstain in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”
4 Then the word of the LORD of hosts came to me: 5 “Say to all the people of the land and the priests, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted? 6 And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? 7 Were not these the words that the LORD proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, with her cities around her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?”
8 And the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying, 9 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, 10 do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.” 11 But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear. 12 They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the LORD of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of hosts. 13 “As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear,” says the LORD of hosts, 14 “and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known. Thus the land they left was desolate, so that no one went to and fro, and the pleasant land was made desolate.”