Zechariah 7

1-7 Hypocritical Fasting Condemned

1 God’s word comes to Zechariah in the 4th year of King Darius, 9th month, 4th day.

2-3 Bethel residents send messengers to temple priests to ask whether or not they should continue to fast in the 5th month.

4-7 God replies that they always fasted for themselves, anyway, and they eat and drink for themselves as well, not for God. Reminiscent of God’s injunction to King Saul (through Samuel) in 1 Samuel 15:22:

"Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obedience to the voice of the Lord? Surely, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.

8-14 Punishment for Rejecting God’s Demands

8-10 God tells the people through Zechariah to “render true judgments”: be kind to the widow, orphan and poor and do not devise evil toward each other. I like the definition of “true” that is implied in this verse, meaning much more than just not false, but the act of making faithful, right, and wise decisions.

9-14 But the people refused to listen, so he scattered them, and didn’t answer when they called, and their land became desolate. Verses 8-10 occur in Zechariah’s time, but 9-14 speak of the past. It must be a warning: this is what I ask of my people, and this is what happened in the past to those who rebelled.