Zechariah 7 Study Notes: A Question About Fasting
Men from Bethel ask whether they should keep mourning with a yearly fast. The LORD asks whether their fasts were truly for Him, repeats the earlier prophets' call to justice and mercy, and recalls how their ancestors' hard hearts led to exile.
General
What question did Bethel send messengers to ask the priests and prophets?
Answer: Whether to keep mourning and fasting during the fifth month
The town of Bethel sent men to seek the LORD's favor by putting a question to the temple priests and the prophets (7:2). They asked whether they should keep mourning and fasting during the fifth month, a practice kept up for many years (7:3). The fifth month was when Babylon's army burned the LORD's house and Jerusalem (2 Kings 25:8-9), the disaster this fast is widely understood to have mourned. God does not answer with a simple yes or no right away; His fullest answer comes in 8:19.
- Zechariah 7:2-3 (BSB)“Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech, along with their men, to plead before the LORD by asking the priests of the house of the LORD of Hosts, as well as the prophets, “Should I weep and fast in the fifth month, as I have done these many years?””Messengers from Bethel come to the priests and prophets with a question about a long-kept fast.
- 2 Kings 25:8-9 (BSB)“On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign over Babylon, Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem. He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building.”During the fifth month Babylon's commander burned the LORD's house and Jerusalem.
- Zechariah 8:19 (BSB)““This is what the LORD of Hosts says: The fasts of the fourth, the fifth, the seventh, and the tenth months will become times of joy and gladness, cheerful feasts for the house of Judah. Therefore you are to love both truth and peace.””The LORD later answers that the fasts will be turned into joyful feasts.
Theological
What question did the delegation from Bethel bring to the priests and prophets (7:2-3)?
Answer: Whether to keep mourning and fasting during the fifth month
Bethel sent a delegation to entreat the LORD by putting a question to the temple priests and the prophets: should they continue to mourn and fast during the fifth month, a practice kept up for many years (7:2-3)? The fast is generally understood to have recalled the burning of the temple and city by Babylon in that month (2 Kings 25:8-9). The LORD's reply first probes their motives (7:4-14) and only later announces that such fasts will become joyful feasts (8:19).
- Zechariah 7:2-3 (BSB)“Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech, along with their men, to plead before the LORD by asking the priests of the house of the LORD of Hosts, as well as the prophets, “Should I weep and fast in the fifth month, as I have done these many years?””Messengers from Bethel come to the priests and prophets with a question about a long-kept fast.
- 2 Kings 25:8-9 (BSB)“On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign over Babylon, Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem. He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building.”During the fifth month Babylon's commander burned the LORD's house and Jerusalem.
- Zechariah 8:19 (BSB)““This is what the LORD of Hosts says: The fasts of the fourth, the fifth, the seventh, and the tenth months will become times of joy and gladness, cheerful feasts for the house of Judah. Therefore you are to love both truth and peace.””The LORD later answers that the fasts will be turned into joyful feasts.
General
How did the earlier generation respond to the LORD's call to justice and mercy?
Answer: They refused, turned away and made their hearts hard as stone
They refused to listen. They stubbornly turned away, plugged their ears, and made their hearts as hard as flint, so that they would not hear the law or the words the LORD delivered through the former prophets, words that came by His Spirit. As a result, the LORD's fierce anger came on them (7:11-12). The prophets' words came from God's Spirit, as Nehemiah also says (Nehemiah 9:30), and Stephen later charged his hearers with resisting the Spirit just as their ancestors did (Acts 7:51). This shows how deep sin goes in the human heart. A heart of stone does not soften by itself; only God can remove it and put a soft, living heart in its place (Ezekiel 36:26).
- Zechariah 7:11-12 (BSB)“But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they stopped up their ears from hearing. They made their hearts like flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD of Hosts had sent by His Spirit through the earlier prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of Hosts.”The fathers resisted the law and the prophets' messages, which came by the LORD's Spirit.
- Nehemiah 9:30 (BSB)“You were patient with them for many years, and Your Spirit admonished them through Your prophets. Yet they would not listen, so You gave them into the hands of the neighboring peoples.”God's Spirit warned Israel through the prophets for many years, yet they paid no attention.
- Acts 7:51 (BSB)“You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.”Stephen charges his hearers with always resisting the Holy Spirit as their fathers did.
- Ezekiel 36:26 (BSB)“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”God promises to replace hearts of stone with new, responsive hearts.
Theological
How does 7:11-12 describe the fathers' response to God's word?
Answer: They refused, turned away and made their hearts hard as stone
They would not heed, stubbornly turned away, stopped their ears, and hardened their hearts as flint, refusing the law and the words the LORD delivered through the former prophets, words that came by His Spirit; so fierce wrath fell on them from the LORD (7:11-12). The verse ties prophetic speech directly to the Spirit (compare Nehemiah 9:30), so rejecting the prophets was resisting the Spirit, the charge Stephen later brings (Acts 7:51). The picture is of willful, culpable hardness, a vivid display of human depravity. Such hearts are changed only by God's sovereign work of giving a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26).
- Zechariah 7:11-12 (BSB)“But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they stopped up their ears from hearing. They made their hearts like flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD of Hosts had sent by His Spirit through the earlier prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of Hosts.”The fathers resisted the law and the prophets' messages, which came by the LORD's Spirit.
- Nehemiah 9:30 (BSB)“You were patient with them for many years, and Your Spirit admonished them through Your prophets. Yet they would not listen, so You gave them into the hands of the neighboring peoples.”God's Spirit warned Israel through the prophets for many years, yet they paid no attention.
- Acts 7:51 (BSB)“You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.”Stephen charges his hearers with always resisting the Holy Spirit as their fathers did.
- Ezekiel 36:26 (BSB)“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”God promises to replace hearts of stone with new, responsive hearts.
General
In 7:10, which groups does the LORD forbid His people to oppress?
Answer: Widows, orphans, outsiders and people in poverty
The LORD sums up what He had always required: judge fairly and truly, and treat each other with loving devotion and mercy (7:9). They must not crush widows, orphans, outsiders or the poor, nor secretly scheme to harm each other (7:10). These are the people with the least power to defend themselves, and God Himself takes up their cause (Deuteronomy 10:18). Micah gave a similar summary of what God requires (Micah 6:8), and James says true religion still looks after orphans and widows (James 1:27). Godly living, not ritual alone, shows a heart that belongs to Him.
- Zechariah 7:9-10 (BSB)““This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Administer true justice. Show loving devotion and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. And do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’”The LORD sums up what He required: true justice, mercy, and no oppression or evil plotting.
- Micah 6:8 (BSB)“He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”Micah sums up what the LORD requires: justice, mercy and humble walking with God.
- Deuteronomy 10:18 (BSB)“He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and He loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing.”God Himself defends orphans and widows and loves the stranger.
- James 1:27 (BSB)“Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”James says pure religion includes looking after widows and orphans in trouble.
Theological
Which vulnerable groups does 7:10 name as people the LORD forbids His people to oppress?
Answer: Widows, orphans, outsiders and people in poverty
The LORD restates the heart of His covenant demands: judge with genuine justice, and treat each other with loving devotion and mercy (7:9); oppress no widows, orphans, sojourners or poor people, and devise no inward schemes against one another (7:10). These four groups lacked protection in the community, and the LORD presents Himself as their defender (Deuteronomy 10:18). The summary parallels Micah 6:8 and is echoed in James's definition of pure religion (James 1:27). Such righteousness is the fruit of a true relationship with God, not a substitute for it, and empty fasting cannot replace it.
- Zechariah 7:9-10 (BSB)““This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Administer true justice. Show loving devotion and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. And do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’”The LORD sums up what He required: true justice, mercy, and no oppression or evil plotting.
- Micah 6:8 (BSB)“He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”Micah sums up what the LORD requires: justice, mercy and humble walking with God.
- Deuteronomy 10:18 (BSB)“He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and He loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing.”God Himself defends orphans and widows and loves the stranger.
- James 1:27 (BSB)“Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”James says pure religion includes looking after widows and orphans in trouble.
General
True or False: The LORD tells the people that His message to them is something no prophet had ever said before.
Answer: False
This is false. The LORD asks whether these are not the very words He had announced by the prophets of earlier times, back when Jerusalem with its towns was crowded and thriving, and people lived in the Negev (the southern desert) and the western hill country (7:7). His challenge is not new. The book opens with the same reminder of the former prophets whom the fathers refused to hear (1:4). God had sent messengers again and again out of compassion, but the people mocked them until judgment fell (2 Chronicles 36:15-16).
- Zechariah 7:7 (BSB)“Are these not the words that the LORD proclaimed through the earlier prophets, when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were populous and prosperous, and the Negev and the foothills were inhabited?’””The LORD points back to what the earlier prophets proclaimed while Jerusalem still thrived.
- Zechariah 1:4 (BSB)“Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Turn now from your evil ways and deeds.’ But they did not listen or pay attention to Me, declares the LORD.”The opening of the book also recalls the former prophets' call that the fathers ignored.
- 2 Chronicles 36:15-16 (BSB)“Again and again the LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to His people through His messengers because He had compassion on them and on His dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD against His people was stirred up beyond remedy.”God sent His messengers again and again, but the people mocked them until His wrath came.
Theological
True or False: The LORD presents His word in 7:7 as a message never before spoken by any prophet.
Answer: False
This is false. The LORD asks whether these are not the words He had announced by the former prophets while Jerusalem and its towns were crowded and at ease, with the southern desert and the lowlands settled (7:7). The present generation is being confronted with the same word their fathers rejected, as the book's opening also stresses (1:4). The Chronicler sums up that history: God persistently sent His messengers in compassion, but they were scorned until His wrath could no longer be held back (2 Chronicles 36:15-16).
- Zechariah 7:7 (BSB)“Are these not the words that the LORD proclaimed through the earlier prophets, when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were populous and prosperous, and the Negev and the foothills were inhabited?’””The LORD points back to what the earlier prophets proclaimed while Jerusalem still thrived.
- Zechariah 1:4 (BSB)“Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Turn now from your evil ways and deeds.’ But they did not listen or pay attention to Me, declares the LORD.”The opening of the book also recalls the former prophets' call that the fathers ignored.
- 2 Chronicles 36:15-16 (BSB)“Again and again the LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to His people through His messengers because He had compassion on them and on His dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD against His people was stirred up beyond remedy.”God sent His messengers again and again, but the people mocked them until His wrath came.
General
According to 7:13-14, how did the LORD respond to the fathers who would not listen?
Answer: He would not answer their cries, and He scattered them abroad
The LORD says that because they ignored Him when He called, He in turn ignored them when they cried out (7:13). Like a storm wind He scattered them among foreign nations unknown to them, while the land behind them became so empty that no one traveled through it. Their sin turned a delightful land into a wasteland (7:14). This was the very judgment the law had warned of (Deuteronomy 28:64), and Proverbs pictures the same pattern for people who refuse wisdom's call (Proverbs 1:24, 28). The exile was God's just judgment, and the people were responsible for it.
- Zechariah 7:13-14 (BSB)“And just as I had called and they would not listen, so when they called I would not listen, says the LORD of Hosts. But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known, and the land was left desolate behind them so that no one could come or go. Thus they turned the pleasant land into a desolation.””The LORD describes the result of their refusal: unheard cries, scattering among the nations and a desolate land.
- Proverbs 1:24 (BSB)“Because you refused my call, and no one took my outstretched hand,”Wisdom warns those who refuse her call.
- Proverbs 1:28 (BSB)“Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will earnestly seek me, but will not find me.”Those who rejected the call will one day cry out and receive no answer.
- Deuteronomy 28:64 (BSB)“Then the LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.”The law warned that disobedience would bring scattering among all nations.
Theological
What consequences of the fathers' refusal does the LORD describe in 7:13-14?
Answer: He would not answer their cries, and He scattered them abroad
The judgment fits the sin: because they ignored the LORD's call, He ignored their cries (7:13). Like a storm wind He scattered them among unfamiliar nations, leaving the land so desolate that no one passed through, and so they made a delightful land a ruin (7:14). This was the covenant curse of Deuteronomy 28:64 carried out, and it follows the pattern of Proverbs 1:24, 28, where refusing wisdom's call leads to unanswered cries. God sovereignly sent the exile, yet the blame lies wholly with the people who hardened themselves.
- Zechariah 7:13-14 (BSB)“And just as I had called and they would not listen, so when they called I would not listen, says the LORD of Hosts. But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known, and the land was left desolate behind them so that no one could come or go. Thus they turned the pleasant land into a desolation.””The LORD describes the result of their refusal: unheard cries, scattering among the nations and a desolate land.
- Proverbs 1:24 (BSB)“Because you refused my call, and no one took my outstretched hand,”Wisdom warns those who refuse her call.
- Proverbs 1:28 (BSB)“Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will earnestly seek me, but will not find me.”Those who rejected the call will one day cry out and receive no answer.
- Deuteronomy 28:64 (BSB)“Then the LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.”The law warned that disobedience would bring scattering among all nations.
General
When the LORD answers through Zechariah, what does He first question about their fasting?
Answer: Whether they had truly fasted for Him or only for themselves
The LORD tells Zechariah to put a question to all the people and the priests. During those seventy years of fasting and grieving twice a year, in both the fifth and the seventh month, had they truly done it for Him? And when they ate and drank, was that not just for their own sake (7:5-6)? The issue was not the calendar but the heart. Isaiah had rebuked people who fasted while still doing as they pleased and mistreating their workers (Isaiah 58:3-4), and Jesus warned against fasting to be seen by others (Matthew 6:16). Whether eating or going without, God's people are to do everything for His glory (1 Corinthians 10:31).
- Zechariah 7:5-6 (BSB)““Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, was it really for Me that you fasted? And when you were eating and drinking, were you not doing so simply for yourselves?”The LORD questions the motive behind seventy years of fasting and feasting.
- Isaiah 58:3-4 (BSB)““Why have we fasted, and You have not seen? Why have we humbled ourselves, and You have not noticed?” “Behold, on the day of your fast, you do as you please, and you oppress all your workers. You fast with contention and strife to strike viciously with your fist. You cannot fast as you do today and have your voice be heard on high.”Isaiah rebuked people who fasted while doing as they pleased and oppressing their workers.
- Matthew 6:16 (BSB)“When you fast, do not be somber like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.”Jesus warns against fasting to be seen by others.
- 1 Corinthians 10:31 (BSB)“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.”Eating, drinking and all of life are to be done for God's glory.
Theological
What does the LORD's first response in 7:5-6 call into question?
Answer: Whether they had truly fasted for Him or only for themselves
Instead of ruling on the calendar, the LORD turns the question back on the people and priests: through seventy years of fasting and lament in both the fifth and the seventh month, had they truly fasted for Him, and was not their eating and drinking simply for their own sake (7:5-6)? The problem lies in self-centered religion, whether in abstaining or feasting. Isaiah exposed fasting joined to self-will and oppression (Isaiah 58:3-4), Jesus condemned fasting done for human applause (Matthew 6:16), and Paul directs all eating and drinking to God's glory (1 Corinthians 10:31).
- Zechariah 7:5-6 (BSB)““Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, was it really for Me that you fasted? And when you were eating and drinking, were you not doing so simply for yourselves?”The LORD questions the motive behind seventy years of fasting and feasting.
- Isaiah 58:3-4 (BSB)““Why have we fasted, and You have not seen? Why have we humbled ourselves, and You have not noticed?” “Behold, on the day of your fast, you do as you please, and you oppress all your workers. You fast with contention and strife to strike viciously with your fist. You cannot fast as you do today and have your voice be heard on high.”Isaiah rebuked people who fasted while doing as they pleased and oppressing their workers.
- Matthew 6:16 (BSB)“When you fast, do not be somber like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.”Jesus warns against fasting to be seen by others.
- 1 Corinthians 10:31 (BSB)“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.”Eating, drinking and all of life are to be done for God's glory.