Zechariah 7

Zechariah 7:1

IV. JEWS FROM BETHEL INQUIRE CONCERNING CONTINUANCE OF FAST (Chaps. 7, 8) A. The Question Concerning the Fast (7:1-3)Chapters 7 and 8 form a division by themselves, dealing with the subject of fasting. A delegation from Bethel (NKJV marg.) came to inquire if they should continue to fast on the anniversary of the fall of Jerusalem. They had been doing this for over seventy years.

Zechariah 7:4

B. First Message (7:4-7)Meaning: The fasts were their idea, not God’s. The Lord wants reality, not just ritual. The answer to the above question is given in four distinct messages (Zec_7:4-7; Zec_7:8-14; Zec_8:1-17; Zec_8:18-23). In the first, God reminds them that the fast in both the fifth and seventh months had been instituted by themselves, not by Him. Both their fasting and their feasting were for themselves, not for God. Before the destruction of Jerusalem, the former prophets had warned the people that God wants righteousness and reality rather than ritual.

Zechariah 7:8

C. Second Message (7:8-14)Meaning: Judgment had come upon the people because they had refused to practice justice, righteousness, and mercy. In the second message, God explains why judgment came upon the nation. He had called the people to practice justice, mercy, and compassion. But they refused to heed. Notice the results of their disobedience: divine wrath; unanswered prayer; scattering of the people among . . . the nations; desolation of the land. In other words, the fast about which they were inquiring was a result of their own sinfulness and disobedience. As William Kelly warns: Ordinances, whatever they may do, never take the place of practical righteousness, and still less of faith, in the sight of God.