As mentioned in the last installment, we have finished the first section of the book of Zechariah. Two great oracles occupy the latter half of the book. The first is contained in chapters 9-11, and the second is in chapters 12-14. But before we come to these oracles, we need to cover the didactic portion of the book, not yet mentioned. These are found in chapters 7-8.
Interpreters differ on whether the exiles in Babylon sent emissaries to the house of the Lord, or whether the house of the Lord (Bethel) sent emissaries to Jerusalem. Bethel was a city about twelve miles north of Jerusalem, and had been settled in the return from Exile (Ez. 2:28; Neh. 7:32; 11:31). I prefer this latter option. The question they brought to the priests and prophets was this: now that the Temple is under construction, should they continue to commemorate the desolation of the Temple? For the seventy years, they had been fasting in the fifth month (to remember the burning of the Temple — Jer. 52:12-13) and in the seventh month (to remember the killing of Gedaliah — 2 Kings 25:25-26). In chapter eight we discover that they observed two other fasts as well. They pose this question, but Zechariah does not answer it immediately (not until 8:18-19). Instead, Zechariah preaches a sermon to all the people of the land.
Zechariah presents a sermon to all the people of the land (v. 4). Their question about the details of fasting provokes a general response on the nature of all true religion, and brings up the issue of the discpline of feasting. Zechariah asks whether they were truly fasting for God (v. 5). But his measuring stick for answering the question is really interesting. When they eat and drink, when they feast, they do so for themselves (v. 6). This means that when they fast, they are also doing so for self-centered reasons — whether self-pity, or self-righteousness, or some other religious foolishness. In other words their fasting was skewed because their feasting was skewed. This is why it is so important for us to remember the words of 1 Cor. 10:31. Whatever we do should be to the glory of God, and this must include our celebrations. This is why God had removed them from the land in the first place.
Learning to celebrate as grateful Christians is one of the great lessons we need to learn, and the more pious a Christian is, the more difficulty he has with such a demand from God. Thus saith the Lord, enjoy yourself, why don’t you?
The prophets had spoken clearly (v. 7). Shouldn’t you have done what they said when you were under God’s blessing, when you were properous? God measures obedience to the first commandment by means of the second commandment, like unto it. How can you say you love God whom you have not seen, when you do not love your brother, whom you have seen (1 John 4:20)? So execute true justice, show mercy and compassion. Do not oppress the vulnerable (vv. 8-10).
But they had adamantine hearts. Despite how plain the word was, the Jews’ fathers had refused to listen. They refused to take the yoke of the law on their shoulders, and they had made their ears heavy. They made their hearts like the hardest stone, and so God brought His wrath upon them (vv. 11-12). Just as He sent His word, and they refused to hear it, so also they would cry out in their distress, and God would be deaf to them (v. 13). God threw them into exile far away with the violence of a whirlwind (v. 14). Thus God in His wrath made the pleasant land desolate. We greatly err in our thinking about the wrath of God. “And it shall be, that just as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good and multiply you, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you and bring you to nothing; and you shall be plucked from off the land which you go to possess” (Dt. 28:63).
What then is the lesson? Those who refuse God’s joy as He pours out blessings — and they refuse it by neglecting gladness and joy themselves — will see God rejoicing over their destruction. If our nation goes down in judgment, we should see behind it a God who delights in His holy wrath. And behind that is His joy in the goodness of His creation. When God’s covenant people fall, it is because they refused to enjoy . . .