ZECHARIAH 7: 1-7
RITUALISM VERSUS SPIRITUAL REALITY
[Ezra 6:1-11]
The seventh and eighth chapters are the third distinct division of the prophecy. In the first portion was the call to national repentance and turning to the Lord for His Covenant blessings. After a national turning to God Zechariah was granted eight remarkable night visions which took him from the time in which he ministered to the coronation of Messiah over His world.
Approximately two years have passed since the night visions describing the future of Israel had been given. It is now 518 BC. The Temple was steadily rising before the people's eyes because the obstacles for the completion of the edifice were removed with the decree of Darius which confirmed the original decree of Cyrus (Ezra 6:1-14). The Nation's situation looked promising. Although the walls of Jerusalem were still in ruins and parts of the town were in desolation, the city and the surrounding country side were beginning to take shape again. The question naturally came to the minds of the people that since signs of apparent prosperity were beginning to abound should they continue to observe the days of national sorrow and fasting, which had been instituted in memory of the destruction of the Temple while they were captive in Babylon.
The Lord will again speak through Zechariah and grant an answer of far more depth and reach than was expected. God desires to curb the trend toward formalism in religion which is satisfied with meeting external observation (CIT). What God wanted from His people is true justice in their dealings combined with mercy and compassion for the weak. To obey the moral precepts and principles of the word is infinitely more important than ceremonies and man-made traditions [like abstinence from food and drink enacted while the people were in Babylon].
I. THE QUESTION OF THE FAST, 1-3.
II. THE QUESTION'S SELFISHNESS EXPOSED, 4-7.
A new Word of the LORD comes to Zechariah in verse 1. "Then it came about in the fourth year of Darius, that the Word of the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, Chis-lev."
As in the case of Zechariah's opening sermon a date is given according to the Babylonian calender. The fact that it was in the fourth year of Darius that this prophecy came is important. For by this time the decree of Darius given in Ezra 6:1-11 is being fulfilled and the harassment of those rebuilding the temple had been ordered to cease. The Temple is now about halfway completed and sacrifices have begun (Ezra 3:3). After a lapse of nearly two years with the resistance to rebuilding the temple ended Zechariah is again called to prophesy.
The occasion for the oracle is given in verse 2. "Now Bethel had sent Sha/re/zer and Re/gemme/lech and their men to seek the favor of the LORD."
Bethel (meaning house of God) was a well known city located some dozen miles north of Jerusalem. It was the place where Jeroboam set up the golden calves after the division of the tribes of Jacob into Judah and Israel (1 Kings 12:28, 13:1, Amos 7:13). It once had its own sanctuary and priests as an alternate place of worship to God's sanctuary. The coming of this delegation to Jerusalem for divine guidance shows that the severe correction of the Assyrian destruction and exile had done its work. Israel is united again and cured of idol worship.
Apparently Sha/re/zer and Re/gemme/leck were important leaders at Bethel because the other men are referred to as accompanying them on this mission. They are both Babylonian names which suggests they returned from Babylonian exile. The purpose of this mission was to seek -entreat- the favor of the LORD (lit. - to make sweet, pleasant, or stroke the face of the Lord). They came to those whom the LORD had appointed for such circumstances (Deut. 17:9-11; Ezek. 44:23-24; Mal. 2:7). with the question that is troubling them.
The delegation's question is found in verse 3. "Speaking to the priests who belong to the house of the LORD of Hosts, and to the prophets saying, "shall I weep in the fifth month and abstain, as I have done these many years?"
The city of Bethel through its representatives inquires of the priests and prophets as to whether they should continue the self-imposed tradition of mourning and fasting or not. They wanted to be free of this custom.
The fifth month was the month the Babylonian army destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple (2 Kings 25:9, Jer. 52:13). When the children of Israel went into captivity they established this time of mourning and fasting to commemorate this national calamity. (Thus they had been having this event for nearly 70 years). (The fifth month fast was only one of five fasts (7:5, 8:19) that were presently held concerning the fall of Jerusalem. [Tabeth fast for when the siege began, Thammuz - capture of city, Ab - burning of City and Temple, Tishri the 7th month - assassinations and massacre.] The O.T. required only one fast - Yom Kipper. Previously when the people apostated from the Lord and He sent chastisement God had been known to issue a call for a period of national fasting (Joel 1:13-14, Jonah). These calls to repentance were never intended to become an annual mechanical season of wailing and fasting.
The representatives from Bethel naturally assumed that since this commemoration had started with the destruction of the temple and the land that it should end with the completion of the Temple and up-building of the land. From Ezra 6:15 we know the Temple was within two years of completion (520-516 BC).
From the words ‘for so many years' a note of their distaste and impatience is detected. The Bethelites had lost the sense of voluntary dedication to the Lord in this tradition of wailing and fasting instituted to keep alive the memory of the tragic consequences of turning their backs on the Lord. Thus their legalistic observance of the rite was devoid of any glory to God or spiritual benefit to themselves. They had been doing it because it was expected of them and to please men. [weep: to mourn by crying or bewailing, showing emotion of grief or humiliation.]
So the question was one concerning this religious externalism or ceremony which had become merely a human tradition. They had become weary of this meaningless ritualism so void of spiritual reality. They wanted to be free from this load without offending those that were responsible for carrying on the traditions.
II. THE QUESTION'S SELFISHNESS EXPOSED, 4-7.
Instead of letting the priests and prophets answer the question, in verse 4 the Lord begins His response."Then the Word of the LORD came to me saying,"
Zechariah apparently was one of the prophets present when they posed this question. From the word order we know the question was primarily addressed to the priests but the Lord response through His prophet Zechariah. When the delegation came with this question they must have expected a simple yes or no response but God will use this question and its historical circumstances as a back drop for far-reaching prophecies dealing with the nation and its future (chs. 7 & 8).
Note: when we offer up our requests to God, it must be with a readiness to receive instructions from Him, for if we turn away from hearing Him, we cannot expect that our prayers should be acceptable to Him.
In verse 5 God challenges the whole community to change its attitude.
"Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, "When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month those seventy years, was it actually for Me that you fasted?"
The sinful attitude revealed in the question of the self-imposed fast is that it is not observed for God's glory and so the Word of the Lord will be revealed. This word of the Lord was not just for the people of Bethel but for all the people of the land, including the priests.
The inquiry of the Bethel committee is not answered directly for it was inconsequential whether they kept the wailing and fasting. The important issue was the problem of observing man-made rules as if it is worship to God when it carries no heartfelt desire. The attitude of this question is symptomatic of the deep evil that was infesting the nation and it will receive exhaustive treatment over the next two chapters.
God's question does not focus on the facts or origins of their fasts, but on the religious motivation behind them. Pointedly God asks, "Was it really for Me that you fasted?" God admitted they had performed the external act of complete absence of food and drink along with the public mourning and laments that were being done, and being done for seventy years. Yet God views these acts with indifference because while they were done the people were centered on themselves. So God begins by overthrowing the false notion that fasting (or any other act) is in itself a meritorious act.
Fasting was to be engaged in at times of sorrow and crisis (2 Sam. 12:16; Mt. 9:15), particularly national crisis (2 Chr. 20:3; Jer. 36:9). As a spiritual exercise, it was accompanied by confession of sin (1 Sam. 7:6), by repentance and by a recognition of an individual's true standing before God. ‘Return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning' (Joel 2:12). [Makay, Christian Focus Commentaries, Zechariah]
These fasts and mournings were not the outward sign of a heart of remorse and repentance but they were out of sorrow over their external calamities. They were not for their sin itself but for the after-effects of the sin. Their self denial was for self-interest not over their sin against God. They wanted the effects of their sin removed, not that their sin would be removed from them. They regarded their fasts not only as meritorious but also as an end in themselves; rather than as the means of letting go of the essentials of this world, a turning away from self and a turning to God.
It could have been a healthy reminder of the deserved affliction suffered at the Lord's hand and done as an offering of genuine repentance in light of God's chastisement. Fasting unto God would be fasting that is practiced to facilitate one's approach to God to re-attain His favor-not in a spirit of righteous acts but in putting aside the physical so that one might be more responsive to the Spirit.
[Tomorrow I'm fasting for the pain I have caused a God that loves me so much and has been deeply hurt by my disobedience. What about you? Should you fast over your apathy and wrong priorities?]
Verse 6 addresses their normal lives [or the eating and drinking included in their other religious celebrations or festivals]. "And when you eat and drink, do you not eat for yourselves and do you not drink for yourselves?"
Not only were their special fasts not done for God's glory but neither were their daily lives, represented by the normal routine of eating and drinking. Their daily life was not lived for God's greater glory. They were living for themselves. They did not live for God glory but fill their bellies out of a natural craving to satisfy their self serving appetites.
The very life they lived was mechanical, formalistic and an external piece of empty ritual. Instead of their living being motivated by a higher plane of action, they did what they did for self-motivated reasons! How much better it is to live daily for God than to ease the convictions of conscience through a formal religious observance.
Apart from the application of these words to the Jewish people at that time there is also a solemn lesson for us that we should lay to heart. Do we think that mere external religious observance no matter how regular and how long done acquires any merit with God? Or do we come and worship and perform its many facets to give God honor and glory, to draw near to Him? Do we live out our daily lives as a selfish routine or do we live to bring glory and honor to God through the routine of our daily lives?
The Apostle Paul exhorted us to live this way, which is the opposite of the way they were living. First Cor. 10:31 says, "whether when you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
Verse 7 indicates their present attitude is the same one that God had dealt with in their ancestors. "Are these not the words which the Lord proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous with its cities around it, and the Negev and the foothills were inhabited?"
These words begin the well deserved rebuke, not only to the questions from Bethel, but also to the priests and people of the land in general.
God refers to the former prophets. God spoke His word through them previously. These old words of God have the answer to their present situation. God's word never goes out of date.
Isaiah, Samuel, Moses and others pointed out the ritualistic religion of their day (Isa. 1:10-15, 48:3-5, 1 Sam. 15:22-23, Deut. 10:12-13; Jer. 7:21-24; Hos. 6:6; Amos 5:21-27; Mic. 6:6-8). Did God not have the same complaint to make now? And so they are challenged to heed the word of God. For the all important matter is to obey God's word and God's word cannot be obeyed by empty ritual.
God also reminds them of the former prosperous condition of Judah and Jerusalem. Jerusalem was inhabited meaning it was active and alive. It was prosperous meaning the people were at ease. Towns were about her, meaning she was the hub of a large economic and political system, a city of importance. And all that was taken away. Zechariah seeks to impress on them that all the calamity had been the results of their disobedience to God's word.
To obey the moral precepts and principles of the word is infinitely more important than ceremonies and abstinence from food and drink.
CONCLUSION
If the people's concern was over dead ritual rather than spiritual reality then once again Israel had not yet learned their lesson and the economic and political prosperity they were experiencing would disappear regardless of whether they had their empty ritual of national wailing and fasting or not.
When you go the church, pray, or fellowship with other believers, is there a desire to give God glory or from what you can get out of it. Is your attitude to get or to give?
God wants to bless His people but He can only bless His people if they live a life intended to bring Him honor and glory. God does desire people to worship Him, to worship Him in Spirit and in truth (Jn. 4:24), not in ritual and formality.
