What is the meaning of Zechariah 7:5? Ask all the people of the land and the priests • The LORD directs Zechariah to address both ordinary citizens and religious leaders, underscoring that everyone is accountable. Malachi 2:1 shows God similarly confronting priests, while Joel 2:12-17 calls the whole assembly, priests and people alike, to genuine repentance. • God’s question is public, exposing mere ritual. Isaiah 1:12-15 records the LORD asking why His people keep coming with offerings when their hearts are far from Him. When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months • The fast of the fifth month commemorated the temple’s destruction (2 Kings 25:8-10). • The fast of the seventh month remembered the murder of Gedaliah and the collapse of Jewish governance (2 Kings 25:25-26). • These man-made fasts began during exile as acts of mourning, yet by Zechariah’s day they risked becoming empty tradition, much like the hollow fasts condemned in Isaiah 58:3-6 and Jesus’ warning in Matthew 6:16-18. For these seventy years • The time frame matches the Babylonian exile foretold in Jeremiah 25:11 and Jeremiah 29:10, fulfilled as noted in 2 Chronicles 36:21. • Even after return, the people’s hearts could still live “in exile” if they clung to ritual instead of relationship—echoing the caution in Psalm 51:16-17 that God desires a broken and contrite heart more than sacrifices. Was it really for Me that you fasted? • The LORD exposes motive. Fasting that centers on self-pity, cultural habit, or public image misses the point. Jesus later echoes the same challenge in Matthew 6:16-18: “do not be somber like the hypocrites.” • True fasting seeks the LORD’s glory and aligns with His commands. 1 Samuel 15:22 says, “To obey is better than sacrifice,” and 1 Corinthians 10:31 adds, “whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.” • Without heartfelt obedience—justice, mercy, compassion, per Zechariah 7:9-10—fasting is empty. Hosea 6:6 summarizes God’s heart: “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.” summary Zechariah 7:5 confronts a nation that had turned sincere mourning into rote religion. God asks every person and every priest whether their seventy-year tradition of fasting was truly centered on Him. The question exposes motives, reminding us that external observance—no matter how longstanding—means nothing without a heart that seeks the Lord’s glory, obeys His word, and walks in mercy and justice. |
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