THE MATERIAL which we have been studying thus far in this series consists of visions which were granted to Zechariah in the second year of Darius, king of the Medes and the Persians. The messages found in chapters 7 and 8 were given two years later, in the fourth year of this same monarch. During these two years doubtless much work had been accomplished on the reconstruction of the Temple, for it was completed in the sixth year of Darius (Ezra 6:15). Whether or not Zechariah received any communications from the Lord of Israel during these two years, we cannot say. We may be certain that such a true servant of God exercised the keenest interest in the rebuilding of the Temple and in the spiritual welfare of the community.

In this fourth year of Darius, the people of Bethel, which was about 12 miles northeast of Jerusalem, sent a delegation to the Holy City, "to entreat the favor of Jehovah, and to speak unto the priests of the house of Jehovah of hosts and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?" (7:2,3). During the captivity the Jews generally had observed the fasts of the fourth, the fifth, the seventh, and the tenth months, which occasions were in memory of certain calamities that had overtaken the Jewish nation (see 8:19). These people had continued in fasting and prayer, looking to God to restore them to their land and to His favor. All of us are apt by the continual observance of a ceremony to fall into a formal, mechanical type of service and to perform the specific acts by rote, while the heart is centered on something foreign to the service. The Jews, being schooled in law thou shalt and thou shalt not naturally would fall into such a professional attitude in their observance of the ritualism.

Since it was obvious to all that the Temple would be built, these people in Bethel naturally thought that the time had arrived to cease the fasts and prayers in which they had engaged for seventy years.

The word of God came to Zechariah instructing him to speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, "When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month, even these seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?" By this rhetorical question the prophet meant to affirm that, though the children of Israel had actually fasted during these seventy years of Babylonian captivity, they had engaged in their religious exercises in a mechanical, heartless manner, or if not, in such a way as not to reach the heart of God. In fact, in verse 6 he declared, "And when ye eat, and when ye drink, do not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?" This situation reminds one of that which existed in the days of Israel as set forth in Isaiah 58. In these two passages the prophet, of course, was speaking of voluntary fasting and praying into which the worshipers entered halfheartedly. In Isaiah 1, however, the prophet was denouncing the nation for entering into the regularly prescribed worship at the Temple which was offered in the same spirit. I fear that should the Lord speak to us frequently, He would bring against us the same or similar denunciations.

In verse 7 of this chapter the prophet goes to the heart of the matter by asking the people if they did not think that they should give heed to the words which Jehovah cried by the former prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited and was enjoying special prosperity, together with the cities of the south and in the lowlands. God spoke from time to time by the former prophets those before the captivity and pleaded with the nation to forsake its evil ways and to turn to Him with all its heart and render a spiritual service. Furthermore they insisted that the worshipers must live consistent lives, being guided by the moral and ethical code of the law of Moses. Notwithstanding all the preaching which was done by these earnest messengers of God, the people as a whole, together with their rulers and priests, ignored completely God and His loving appeal. The writer of Chronicles gives us one of the clearest statements on this point. "And Jehovah, the God of their fathers, sent to them by his messengers, rising up early and sending, because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling-place: but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the wrath of Jehovah arose against his people, till there was no remedy" (II Chron. 36:15,16).

On this occasion the word of the Lord again came to the prophet, according to verse 8. This time the Lord enlarged upon the messages which He had given to the generations prior to the captivity. Zechariah therefore said, "Thus hath Jehovah of hosts spoken, saying, Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother; and oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the sojourner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart. But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which Jehovah of hosts had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets: therefore there came great wrath from Jehovah of hosts" (Zech. 7:9-12).

From this quotation we see that God expected His people to deal justly with their fellow-men and to exercise kindness and compassion toward all. Furthermore, the Lord was opposed (and still is) to oppression of the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, and the poor. It is an abomination to Him for men to devise evil and to plot against another in order to take advantage of him. Thus declared the prophet.

Instead of accepting the plain instructions which these prophets had given, their fathers refused to hearken and completely turned away from hearing the message of God. The Lord never forces any man's will. He always uses moral suasion and appeals to the better element of man's nature; but He never has and never will force man to act contrary to His will. It is, however, true that God does deal personally with men and does break their stubborn wills under certain conditions. Let us remember, however, that God is not going to force the will. Even when by circumstances the sinner's will and resistance against God is broken, the Lord has not taken away from him his right to exercise his own choice and to pit his will against that of the Almighty.

In explaining further the determined opposition which they had exercised toward God and His messengers, Zechariah declared, "They made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which Jehovah of hosts had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets" (vs. 12a). There was but one result which could follow; namely, that the wrath of God should be poured out upon them. This came in the form of the overthrow of the nation by the Babylonians and the consequent exile for seventy years.

Whenever men refuse to hear God, as did these Israelites, they may call in a time of crisis, but He refuses to answer. This principle is set forth in verse 13.

In verse 14, however, there is a statement that God would scatter Israel among all the nations which they had not known. This prophecy goes far beyond the Babylonian Exile and unfolds the world-wide dispersion of Israel during the present centuries. There is, therefore, a blending of the near fulfilment in the Exile and that of Israel's world-wide dispersion (Diaspora).