ZECHARIAH 7: 8-14
FAILING TO OBEY THE WORD
The emphasis of the second message in this third section is to draw an even closer connection with the past to the present. In the earlier generation, just as in Zechariah's own day, the people needed to comprehend that God desired inner spiritual reality rather than external formalism. The basic mistake of the pre-exilic nation had been its failure to obey the Word of the Lord which resulted in devastation and captivity. The same fundamental blunder Zechariah asserts is being made by the restored community. They were lapsing into the same social, moral and ethical sins that brought on the ruin of their fathers and that sin was their failure to obey the Word from their hearts. The people must learn the lesson that the nation's life centers around its attitude toward and response to the Word of God (CIT). So God used the consequences of past disobedience as warnings and examples for the present.
I. GOD'S JUST DEMANDS, 8-10.
II. MAN'S REBELLION, 11-12.
III. GOD'S JUSTICE, 13-14.
This new Word beginning in verse 8 is to remind the people in greater detail what had been said in the previous Word from the Lord. Then the Word of the LORD came to Zechariah saying,
Once again Zechariah in words renewed to him by the direct inspiration of God's Spirit gives the gist of the message of the former prophets. Once again as in 7:4, "Thus says the LORD" forms the introduction to his authoritative declaration. If the wayward people and priests are to obey the Word of God they must hear it plainly and unequivocally. Hence we have the repeated stress of inspiration and divine authority.
The next two verses reveal social, moral and ethical areas where repentance is needed. Verse 9 reminds the people of God's call to practice justice. Thus has the LORD of Hosts said, dispense true justice and practice kindness and compassion each to this brother;
It is note-worthy that man's duties to his neighbor are stressed. For if one does not love his brother who he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen (1 Jn. 4:20).
These social, moral and ethical commands are the most ordinary tests of obedience to God and lie so near the surface that no deep spiritual discernment is necessary to form a correct estimate of them or to understand that failure to perform them is proof positive of disobedience to God's Word.
Let us look at the four commands or tests of their spiritual reality that the Lord gave the people in verses 9 and 10. The first test /commanded is to: "Dispense True Justice." Dispense (shephoke) is imperative and means a judicial decision based on the truth or objective evidence (Ezek. 18:8).
Administration of justice is to be according to the truth. This judgment based on truth is justice exercised with utter impartiality, with an unbiased weighing of all evidence and reaching a non subjective (non-personal) rendering (Lev. 19:15). This was a personal requirement as well as one that affected the conduct of public officials.
It is the task of seeing and making just moral, religious, spiritual, political, social and economic decisions. [Both individuals and leaders in Israel were also exploiting people for personal gain. Their behavior in such matters revealed the state of their hearts and the character of the nation (1 Sam. 24:13; Mt. 12:34; Lk. 6:45; 1 Jn. 3:10).] We today still are to strive to bring about such a proper and fair ordering of all society. The proper desire was perhaps best said by Amos. ‘But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never failing stream!' (Amos 5:24).
The 2nd test/command is: "Practice Kindness and Compassion." Practice is literally do or work. Practicing kindness (hesed) means that someone in a position to help, freely does. The word compassion is related to the root word for womb. It indicates a maternal kind of love that grows and matures others, a watching over those more helpless.
They are to have a brotherly attitude toward each characterizing those born from the same womb. Kindness and compassion are to be the order of day between a man and his neighbor. Kindness and compassion are the two great demands of righteousness and love. See Micah 6:6-8, Hosea 2:19-21.
Verse 10 addresses categories of people who more susceptible to being cheated, oppressed, or simply forgotten in society. "and do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do not devise evil in our hearts against one another.
The 3rd command or test is "do not oppress" the helpless and unfortunate. The widow and orphan have much in common with the sojourner (stranger-alien) and the poor. They represent the most common victims of oppression (Deut. 10:18, Isa.1:17, 23, Jer. 5:28, Jas.1:27, I Jn. 3:16-18). They are the more defenseless members of society without the social position or economic means to stand up for themselves and thus are particularly exposed to the unscruplessness of godless men (Ex. 22:22, 23:6-9, Lev. 19:15-18, Jer.7:6). Therefore each is singled out as not to be taken advantage of in their helplessness. Those who do so plainly manifest their greed and godlessness. Oppression is denounced so frequently in the O.T. that there is no real need of an exhaustive list of reference (Amos 2:6-8, 4:1, 5:11-12, 21-24, 8:4-6).
The 4th command is, "Do not think evil." God's people were not even to think evil of one another. After mentioning outward manifestations of wrong doing the prophet cites the root of evil from which such wrongs come but can not be so readily seen; the evil plans of the heart. True morality measures the thoughts and deeds according to the motives of the heart. The secret longing of the heart must be pure (Mic.2:1).
This prohibition excludes not only designs but desires to get back at (revenge) or an attitude of ill-will, vindictiveness or animosity. It is in the heart where true religion must begin.
The clear inference is that the people of the restored community need to repent (change their way of their thinking and living - make a 180 degree turn) and begin to practice this ethical teaching and that would turn their fasting from mere formalistic legalism and hypocrisy into seeking the face of God. God seeks truth in the inward life and expects it be manifested to those about us.
II. MAN'S REBELLION, 11-12.
To the positive demands of verses 9 & 10 certain conditions are added that would have kept flagrant injustice in check if man had just listen and obeyed God's Word. A variety of expressions are used to convey this thought of obstinate rebellion.
The three indictments of verse 11 together with verse 12 represent a strong progression of evil. Though repeatedly warned and lovingly entreated by the Lord there was a refusal of the pre-exilic people to obey the word as verse 11 states. But they refuse to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears from hearing.
The accounting of how people had responded to the LORD's message in the past lists four rebellions.
1st, "They refused to pay attention." They looked the other way as if they had not been spoken to. When they were bidden to do something they simply refused obedience. Not only did they persist in wickedness and injustice but they refused the admonitions and exhortations frequently given in God's name.
It was a deliberate act on their part, not only of not giving attention to the message that was being presented, but of refusing to act on it. They had heard it, but they deliberately decided to do nothing about it. They refused to listen to the LORD's words, mend their ways and repent (Jer. 5:3; 8:5; 11:10).
The 2nd rebellion was, "they turned a stubborn shoulder." Instead of receiving God's Word and serving Him with joyful and glad hearts (Deut. 27:47) and finding His yoke easy and His burden light (Mt.11:28-30), they turned from it. The picture in the language is of an animal refusing to be bound by the constraint of a yoke and continually rebelling against indicated directions. Pre-exile Israel had refused to give heed to God's Word being rebellious against its control and authority over their lives.
The 3rd rebellion is, "they stopped their ears" - literally, they made heavy their ears. This is a persistent refusal to heed God's Word so that the word spoken or preached no longer reached them. There are none so deaf as those that will not hear. This was done by filling their minds with prejudices against the Word of God and resolving that nothing said to them would be considered.
The figure "they made their ears heavy" implies they deliberately refused to listen to God and accordingly were responsible for their unresponsiveness (Isa. 6:10). One of the most terrible moral consequences of men turning away from doing the will of God is that they have ears but they don't hear and eyes but they do not see and God holds them accountable.
Verse 12 states that they were blocking off any spiritual response to what the LORD was saying to them and then gives God's reaction. And they made their hearts like flint so that they could not hear the law and the words which the LORD of Hosts sent by His Spirit through the former prophets; therefore great wrath came from the LORD of Hosts.
The 4th and final rebellion is "and they made their hearts like flint." The climax is reached here. Such persistent rejection of God's Word as verse 11 depicts over time must produce a hardened, cold and unresponsive state of heart described here. When one's heart becomes so utterly immune to the influences of the Word it warrants its comparison to an impenetrably hard substance (Ezek.3:9) like flint or a diamond, a substance that can mark but cannot be marked on.
Notice "they made their hearts," so they are morally responsible for their state. Nothing is so hard, so unmalleable, so inflexible, as the heart of a presumptuous sinner and they can thank themselves for their condition.
Pharmaceutical companies make billions of dollars selling drugs that PREVENT HARDENING OF THE ARTERIES, a condition that can lead to heart attacks, which kill thousands of people every year.
A more serious condition than hardening of the arteries, however, is hardening of the heart, and it cannot be prevented by any wonder drug. The prophet Zechariah warned the Israelites about it. They had hardened their hearts and refused to listen to the words of the Lord. Symptoms of this deadly condition were their refusal to execute true justice and their failure to show mercy and compassion (v. 9). As a result, the Lord became angry and stopped listening to them (v. 13).
While it's important to keep plaque from forming in our arteries, it's even more important to keep our hearts from becoming callous to people who are important to God: widows, orphans, aliens, and the poor (v. 10).
It's crucial to follow our doctor's orders to keep our arteries from hardening. But it's even more crucial to obey God to keep our hearts from becoming hardened to the needs of others.
Ask God to bring to mind a person who needs the help of someone with a soft heart. [Julie Ackerman Link, Our Daily Bread.] For to love Christ is to have a heart for others.
What they refused to hear and received into their hearts so that they might obey was the law. The law is literally the Torah. The Torah is the Jewish name for the first five books of the Bible, and the prophets is the name for the rest of the O.T. Scripture.
Here we also have a very remarkable incidental statement of the Bible's own claim to divine inspiration. Though the former prophets were the human agents, there was a divine agent, God's Spirit, who was active in giving His Word. Therefore even in days of old there was a correct understanding of inspiration as the work of God's Spirit. It is a Word worthy of all the honorable claims in its behalf and cannot be disobeyed with immunity.
The long term disobedience could have only one result. Therefore great wrath came from the LORD of Hosts." The people's disobedience to revealed truth resulted in divine anger. For God is not mocked, and how ever great His patience and long suffering, His anger is in the end poured out upon all who are obstinately impenitent. According to the Hebrew arrangement of the Bible, the last page we read is 2 Chronicles 36:14-16.
III. GOD'S JUSTICE, 13-14.
In verses 13 & 14 Zechariah tells several other resultant calamities that overtook that disobedient generation. Verse 13 states that they are cursed with powerlessness in prayer, and verse 14 that they were scattered among the nations and that their land became desolate. "And it came about that just as He called and they would not listen, so they called and I would not listen" says the LORD of Hosts;
Just as the LORD had cried to them by His prophets for so long, so often, and so patiently, yet they would not hear, so they cried to Him in their distress for deliverance and He would not hear.
The first inevitable result of disobedience is powerlessness in prayer. In the years of calamity God turned a deaf ear to their cries just as they had perilously turned a deaf ear to Him when He called to them in their prosperity about their sins. They had been forewarned that if God kept calling to them and they refused to give Him audience that they would keep calling and He would not hear just retaliation (Jer.11:11, 14, 14:12, Isa. 1:15, Prov.1:22 & 28). And it came to pass - the solemn and awful words which have not only verified themselves in the terrible history of the Jewish people for last 2000 years, but still stand as a warning to the individual sinner whether Jew or Gentile, that those of unbelief who will not heed God will not enter into His rest.
Some additional results of the judgment of God are given in verse 14. But I scattered them with a storm wind among all the nations whom they have not known. Thus the land is desolated behind them, so that no one went back and forth, for they made the pleasant land desolate."
Since they demonstrated no kindness or compassion neither did God withdrew His. Instead of hearkening to their prayer, He scattered them with the violence of a tornado among the nations. He scattered them about like chafe before a whirlwind. The words scatter (to storm or to race) and whirl (hurl them by a storm wind) away upon the nations express a strong violent scattering like a might hurricane or tornado would scatter objects. So Israel was scattered among the nations with a reckless abandon as a whirlwind might display in scattering objects in its fury. The rebellious found His authority incontestable and His power irresistible, this Master they had spurned and defied.
The conclusion lays the guilt of the whole desolation of the land upon the disobedient forefathers. Since they had violated all the laws of their land, so God took sway all the glories of it. Thus we have this picture of complete emptiness and desolation. Even the roads were void of travelers for no one passed through the land. And the people had no one to thank for it but themselves for their own wickedness made the pleasant land, the land of desire and delight, the land flowing with milk and honey, desolate, deserted and empty. The hardness and unyieldedness of their hearts turned the land into a hard and unyielding place.
CONCLUSION
What about the original question raised by the Bethelite concerning their traditional mournings and fastings? How was it answered? By pointing out the true issue of indifference and disobedience to the Word of God. Instead of a comparatively insignificant issue, God points to the motive, to the underlying cause of evil of which they had not yet truly repented. These traditions were nothing to God in and of themselves, so long as there was no real sorrow for sin and a heartfelt desire to do His will as expressed in His Word.
Thus in comparison their ritual observing of fasts or traditions was an unimportant matter. Obeying the Word of God was the all-important question they faced. If they would honestly face this issue the question the Bethelites asked would automatically be answered. The question we need to ask ourselves is, "Am I being indifferent to the Word of God?" Read Romans 11:20-23.
We can see that things moved far from the first question about observing a tradition to consider the basic attitudes that were being revealed. This is often the way when we approach God. We do not perceive what our real problem is. The matter that perplexes us may well be the symptom of something much deeper, which has to be dealt with first of all.
Are we sure that our conduct can stand up to scrutiny? When we worship God and engage in specifically religious duties, are we giving him the first place in our thinking that is rightfully his? Do we have the same awareness of God and what he wants in our everyday conduct? We may not think of ourselves as oppressors (7:10). Surely that is only true of tyrannical rulers or criminal organizations? But oppression occurs whenever we see others who are vulnerable or ignorant and take advantage of it to our own benefit (Jas. 2:5-6; 5:4-6). [Mackay, Focus on the Bible, Vol. 2. Zechariah, E 4]
God is still calling us and we are still responsible for our answer. Now that he who spoke before by the prophets has spoken to us through his Son, should we not be even more ready to respond?
