Remarks Upon the Book of Zechariah

IN this chapter we have the record of a question proposed by the Jews concerning the continuation of the custom of fasting, which they had followed during the captivity at Babylon. We have also the answer of the Lord given at some length, and accompanied by admonition and reproof. There is a lesson in this chapter quite as important for us as it was for the Jews to whom it was directly addressed.

Sherezer and Regem-melech and their men were sent to the house of God to pray before the Lord, and to speak unto the priests [Joshua and his fellows, Zech. 3: 8], and to the prophets [Haggai and Zechariah, Eze. 5:1; Hag. 1:1; Zech. 7:1], and to propound this question: "Should l weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done, these so many years?" Zech. 7:1.-3. The fast in the fifth month was in commemoration of the burning of the temple and of the city by the king of Babylon. 2 Kings 25:8, 9; Jer. 52:12, 13. The second temple was at this time built in part, and therefore the Jews thought that their fasting might now cease.

The answer of the Lord implies that he had never been pleased with their fasting. They mentioned the fast of the fifth month which they had observed because the temple and the city were burned in that month. But the Lord speaks also of the fast of the seventh month which they had observed because of the assassination of Gedaliah at Mizpeh, and of the dispersion of the remnant of the Jews that had been left by the king of Babylon. Jer. 41:1-18. The Jews had fasted in these two months during seventy years, and the question which they propounded to the Lord implied that in their judgment they had done something meritorious. Zech. 7:2-5. Their spirit was like that of the Pharisee in the temple. Luke 18: 9-14.

The Lord graciously revealed to the Jews the serious errors which they had committed in the celebration of these fasts during the long period of seventy years. When they had fasted they had not done it to the glory of God. They had fasted to be seen of men, and to receive praise one of another for their great piety. Matt. 6:16-18. Or they had fasted to relieve their own minds of distress because of the sins which they had committed, while at the same time they intended to return to those sins again as soon as the fast was ended.

This conduct was the more inexcusable in the Jews because that Isaiah, about 100 years before that they were carried to Babylon, had set before them the folly of pretending to fast on account of sin, while they had no intention of forsaking their sins. Isa. 58:1-7. The words of Isaiah are often quoted to show that God does not approve of abstinence from food and of actual humiliation. But we find the prophet Daniel at Babylon, about 160 years after the time of this prophecy of Isaiah, actually humbling himself before God with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. And we find that God regarded the humiliation of Daniel. See Dan. 9:3, 4, 20, 21. Daniel was familiar with the prophecy of Isaiah concerning fasting, and he knew that God was not displeased with humiliation when the heart of man repents of sin. On the contrary he believed such humiliation to be acceptable to God when men mean to turn from their sins, as in the case of the Ninevites, who repented at the preaching of Jonah. See Jonah 3:1-10. But when men who oppress the poor, or who are extortioners, bow down their heads like a bulrush (Isa. 58:5, 6) in the act of fasting, but make no restitution of their unjust gain, and have no intention of forsaking their covetous practices, their fasting is an abomination before God.

But God teaches the Jews another lesson, which was probably a greater surprise to them than was the lesson on fasting. He says: "And when ye did eat and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?" Zech. 7:6. This language implies that we should eat and drink to the glory of God. It is the very doctrine of St. Paul: "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." 1 Cor. 10:31. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and we are not our own. 1 Cor. 6:19. We must not eat unwholesome food to gratify our appetite. Nor may we eat an undue quantity even of that which is wholesome. If we seek the glory of God in that which we eat and drink, we shall use that food which will best preserve our health and strength for the service of God. Christian temperance consists in the moderate use of that, which is good, and in total abstinence from that which is evil. There can be no temperance in the use of tobacco.

In verse 7 the prophet calls the attention of the people to the words of the former prophets on this subject. He must therefore refer particularly to the words of Isaiah which we have already examined. He also refers no doubt to the warnings of the prophets, given while Jerusalem was yet in prosperity, that that city would be destroyed if the inhabitants did not turn from their sins. Jer. 7:1-16; 17:19-27; Micah 3:8-12.

But the Lord does not leave the subject here. He sets forth the works, meet for repentance, which should accompany their fasting. His language implies that the sins which he names were the sins that had caused him to punish the nation, and that though the Jews had fasted they had not forsaken these sins. Thus he says: "Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassion every man to his brother; and oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart." Zech. 7:8-10. Will any Christian man say that one of these duties can be neglected by us because we are justified by the blood of Christ?

Zechariah, speaking in the name of the Lord, tells the Jews how their fathers had acted in resisting this instruction, and what ruin came upon them in consequence. Thus he says: "But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamante stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in his Spirit by the former prophets; therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts." Verses 10, 11.

During all the period that the Lord offered mercy on condition of repentance, they would not listen, but went on in their sins. When the wrath of God came upon them then they prayed, but it was too late. Thus the Lord speaks: "Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the Lord of hosts; but I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them; that no man passed through nor returned; for they laid the pleasant land desolate." Zech. 7:13, 14. Sin was the ruin of the Jews, as it will be our ruin if - we persist in it. The captivity in Babylon and the dispersion of the Jews by the Romans were caused by rebellion. Had the Jews been faithful to God they might have remained in their own land to this day, and have been the most honored of all the nations Upon the face of the earth.