The Chosen Key Word in this Chapter is “Fasted” it comes from the Hebrew Word “tsum” which means “to fast.”
Zechariah answers questions about fasting by calling the people to genuine justice and mercy instead. Welcome to Bible Life Basics Chapter Reviews, I am Chris and this is Zechariah 7.
Zechariah receives the word of the Lord in the fourth year of king Darius, when the people of Bethel had sent men to pray before the Lord, and to speak to the priests and the prophets, asking whether they should weep in the fifth month, separating themselves, as they had done these many years, the word of the Lord coming to Zechariah, asking when they “fasted,” “tsum” in Hebrew, and mourned in the fifth and seventh month these seventy years, whether they fasted at all to Him.
Zechariah asks when they ate, and when they drank, whether they did not eat for themselves, and drink for themselves, reminding them these should be the words which the Lord cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities around her, when men inhabited the south and the plain, the word of the Lord coming again to Zechariah, declaring, “Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother,” urging them not to oppress the widow, the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor, and let none imagine evil against his brother in his heart.
Zechariah records how they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear, making their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent in His spirit by the former prophets, therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts, declaring that as He cried, and they would not hear, so they cried, and He would not hear, He scattering them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not, thus the land being desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned, for they laid the pleasant land desolate, this sobering historical review explaining why genuine repentance, not mere ritual fasting, remained the people’s urgent need.
Zechariah’s pointed question, when you fasted, did you fast at all to Me, exposes how easily religious ritual can devolve into empty self-focused observance disconnected from genuine relationship with God or concern for others. His reminder that Israel’s earlier refusal to execute true judgment and show mercy led directly to their exile offers a sobering historical lesson that outward religious practice can never substitute for authentic ethical obedience.
Visit Us At: www.youtube.com/@BibleLifeBasics
Support Us On Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/BibleLifeBasics