Daily Devotions
Zechariah
"Did you really fast for Me?"
Text: Zechariah 7:4
A SOBERING ANSWER
The delegation probably hoped that they would have a word of commendation for having kept up with fasting and weeping over so many years. The answer that came from the Lord was probably not what they expected.
“Then the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying,
‘Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests:
“When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years,
did you really fast for Me—for Me?”‘”
Zechariah 7:4-5
1. “Then the word of the LORD of hosts came to me”
a) The delegation of two spoke to the priests and also to the prophets.
b) They probably reasoned that the priests would show more understanding.
c) But the answer came not from the priests but the LORD of hosts Himself.
i) This answer would be authoritative.
ii) This answer would be the final word too.
2. “Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests”
a) This message was not just to the delegation of two.
b) This word was for all the people.
c) It was also for the priests.
3. It was God’s turn to raise a question concerning the fast that had been practised
a) The practice mentioned:
Mourning and Fasting
b) Two fasts were actually held:
i) The fast in the fifth month was to remember the destruction of the temple.
ii) The fast in the seventh month (a minor fast) was to remember the assassination of Gedaliah (Jeremiah 40-41; Gedaliah was the leader of the people left behind after the Babylonians conquered Judah).
c) Did the people really fast and think of God in their fasting?
The answer was obvious! It was a ritual that was kept! God was not on their mind!