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1 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev. 2 The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek, together with their men, to entreat the Lord 3 by asking the priests of the house of the Lord Almighty and the prophets, “Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?” 4 Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: 5 “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? 6 And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? 7 Are these not the words the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills were settled?’” ~ Zechariah 7:1-7
As we transition today into Zechariah 7, we discover it had been two years since the people of Israel had returned to the promised land of Israel from Babylon. It was 518 B.C., and the temple was halfway built. As a result, the people were encouraged because all of the obstacles had been removed for the rebuilding of the Temple and Jerusalem. Yet, there was a great danger the people would fall into a pattern that they fell into in the past. And as it turned out, they fell back into it again. Once back in the promised land, the people fell prey to ritualism which always has as its goal the disengagement of our hearts from God.
In v.1 of today's text we read, "In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev."
The time was the end of November and the beginning of December. And, a small delegation came from Bethel to ask the priests of the house of the Lord about the issue of fasting.
In v.2-3 of today's text we read, "2 The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek, together with their men, to entreat the Lord 3 by asking the priests of the house of the Lord Almighty and the prophets, “Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?"
In the Book of Leviticus God prescribed one day that the Jews were to fast. And it was in the seventh month, it was Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The Lord said on that day you will afflict your souls. That was the only day that God prescribed for the Jews to abstain from food, and remember Him.
But, as time went on, the Jews, after the captivity, decided to fast on days that were not prescribed by the Lord. They added several days to keep their memory alive regarding the Babylonian captivity and the destruction of Jerusalem. In fact, four days were added to the one day that God had given.
The phrase at the end of v.3, "as I have done these so many years" reveals their fastings were a real pain to them, and so, they were inquiring about the validity of their rituals. They innately knew their problem was the fact that they were going through the motions.
In v.4-7 in today's text we read, "4 Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: 5 “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? 6 And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? 7 Are these not the words the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills were settled?"
In His response, God let the people know that He didn't really care about their added religion. He had not prescribed these extra four days for fasting. God is all about the sincerity of our hearts, not the ceremony that we keep. He could care less about our rituals. God always is most interested in a personal relationship with His people. But, all through time man thinks he must earn God's favor, all the while missing the point of a heart to heart relationship with the Lord.
The idea of fasting has always been a voluntary restraint from food in order that we might give our hearts to the Lord more fully. It has never been about our performance, it has always been about our relationship with Him. So, rather than being driven by the need for food, we do well to be led by God's Holy Spirit in our worship of God. When we do this, we position ourselves to be defined by God most.
In v.7 God grants perspective on the subject of religion. All of the fasts the Jews were observing, all of them were commemorating disasters brought on by their own sin. They would have been a lot better off listening to and obeying God.
Biblical fasting is a product of a broken heart. We must be careful to never think because we have performed a religious formality that we worshiped God. True worship is that which comes out of the heart that has experienced the touch of God. And, obedience to the Word of God is really the real issue.
In addition, we must be careful to hear the words of the Lord. The people had come up with these additions themselves. These were their words, not the Lord's words. And, the sad thing is the whole reason they went into Babylonian captivity in the first place was due to the fact that they did not listen to the Lord.
As indicated at the end of v.7, there was a time when Jerusalem was inhabited, a time when it prospered. Everything flourished because they had listened to the Lord. They came to the place where they were no longer listening to and obeying the Lord. If the people had listened to God and walked in obedience, they would have never gone into Babylonian captivity. God never sanctions religion with its rituals and routine. He is against religion because it is man made and it removes the involvement of the heart in our worship of Him. We will either be captivated by that which will destroy us or we will be captivated by the One who will flourish us. The choice is ours.
God has given humanity free will, and if we choose to disregard God, and do what we want, the fruit of free will will be painful. When we find ourselves at this point, we find comfort in the One who allowed Himself to be caught in our pain. When dying on the cross, He received the fruit of our free will, and He made it possible for us to engage God with our hearts.
