# Zechariah 07 📖: Obedience Better Than Fasting [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-Zechariah Overview]] | [[Zechariah 06]] | [[Zechariah 08]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ### The Hypocrisy of False Fasting [[#Verse 01.]] In King Darius’ fourth year, on the fourth day of Kislev, the ninth month, the Lord’s message came to Zechariah.  [[#Verse 02.]] Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melech and their companions to seek the Lord’s favor  [[#Verse 03.]] by asking both the priests of the temple of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies and the prophets, “Should we weep in the fifth month, fasting as we have done over the years?”  [[#Verse 04.]] The message of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies then came to me, [[#Verse 05.]] “Speak to all the people and priests of the land as follows: ‘When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and seventh months through all these seventy years, did you truly fast for me—for me, indeed?  [[#Verse 06.]] And now when you eat and drink, are you not doing so for yourselves?  [[#Verse 07.]] Should you not have obeyed the words that the Lord cried out through the former prophets when Jerusalem was peacefully inhabited and her surrounding cities, the Negev, and the foothills were also populated?’” [[#Verse 08.]] Again the Lord’s message came to Zechariah:  [[#Verse 09.]] “The Lord of Heaven’s Armies said, ‘Exercise true judgment and show brotherhood and compassion to each other.  [[#Verse 10.]] You must not oppress the widow, the orphan, the resident foreigner, or the poor, nor should anyone secretly plot evil against his fellow citizen.’ [[#Verse 11.]] “But they refused to pay attention, turning away stubbornly and stopping their ears so they could not hear.  [[#Verse 12.]] Indeed, they made their hearts as hard as diamond, so that they could not obey the law of Moses and the other words the Lord of Heaven’s Armies had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies poured out great wrath. [[#Verse 13.]] “‘Just as I called out, but they would not obey, so they will call out, but I will not listen,’ the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says.  [[#Verse 14.]] ‘Rather, I will sweep them away in a storm into all the nations they are not familiar with.’ Thus the land became desolate because of them, with no one crossing through or returning, for they had made the fruitful land a waste.” ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. Chapter 7 is dated to the fourth year of Darius, in the ninth month called Kislev (7:1), 518 BC. 2. A delegation came from Bethel to ask whether they should keep fasting (7:2-3). 3. The fast of the fifth month mourned the burning of the temple by Babylon (2 Kings 25:8-9). 4. Jewish people still observe a fast on the ninth of Av, mourning the destruction of the temples. 5. The fast of the seventh month (7:5) likely mourned the murder of the governor Gedaliah (2 Kings 25:25). 6. God answers their question about fasting with a question about their hearts (7:5-6). 7. 7:9-10 summarizes the message of the earlier prophets, like Isaiah 1:17 and Micah 6:8. 8. The Hebrew word for "flint" or "diamond" in 7:12 describes an extremely hard stone. 9. God scattered them as with a whirlwind among the nations (7:14). 10. Zechariah reminds the people that their ancestors ignored the earlier prophets (7:7, 12). ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the One who taught that true devotion flows from the heart, not empty ritual (7:5-6). Jesus warned against fasting for show (Matthew 6:16-18) and showed perfect compassion to the needy (7:9-10; Matthew 9:36). ## 🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. God asks, "When you fasted, was it really for Me?" (7:5). How can religious practices become about us instead of God? 2. God calls His people to show faithful love and compassion, and not oppress the widow, orphan, foreigner, or poor (7:9-10). Who are the vulnerable people God has placed around you? 3. The people made their hearts as hard as flint (7:12). What causes a heart to become hard toward God? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 5: When you fasted and mourned, was it really for Me? - 📖 verses 9-10: Show true justice, faithful love, and compassion, and do not oppress the vulnerable. - 📖 verse 12: They made their hearts as hard as flint so they would not listen. ## 🔗 Related Passages - 🔗 [[Matthew 06#Verse 16.|Matthew 6:16-18]] - Do not fast to be seen by others. - 🔗 [[Matthew 09#Verse 36.|Matthew 9:36]] - Jesus has compassion on the crowds. - 🔗 [[Isaiah 58#Verse 05.|Isaiah 58:5-7]] - The kind of fasting God chooses. - 🔗 [[James 01#Verse 27.|James 1:27]] - Care for orphans and widows. - 🔗 [[Hebrews 03#Verse 15.|Hebrews 3:15]] - Do not harden your hearts. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection 📝 SOAP: [[Zechariah 07- SOAP|Show Justice to Each Other]] ## 📂 Internal Notes