Why did the people question the necessity of fasting in Zechariah 7:3? Zechariah 7:3 “…to ask the priests of the house of the LORD of Hosts and the prophets, ‘Should I weep and fast in the fifth month as I have done these many years?’ ” Date and Setting The scene is “the fourth day of the ninth month, Chislev, in the fourth year of King Darius” (7:1)—7 December 518 BC. Temple reconstruction (begun 520 BC under Haggai’s exhortation) is half-finished; hope is rising that the seventy-year exile punishment (Jeremiah 25:11-12) is concluding. Who Asked the Question? A delegation from Bethel—once the Northern Kingdom’s religious center—travels roughly twelve miles to Jerusalem. Their names, Sharezer and Regem-melech (7:2), are Babylonian, showing continued exile influence. They seek an official ruling, approaching both “the priests … and the prophets,” recognizing priestly legal authority (Deuteronomy 17:9) and prophetic moral insight (2 Chronicles 36:15-16). Origin of the Fifth-Month Fast Only one annual fast is mandated in Torah: the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16). After Jerusalem’s fall on 9 Av, 586 BC (2 Kings 25:8-10; confirmed by the Babylonian Chronicle, CBS 21946), exiles instituted four commemorative fasts (Zechariah 8:19): • 10th month — siege began (Jeremiah 52:4) • 4th month — city wall breached (Jeremiah 39:2) • 5th month — Temple burned (2 Kings 25:8-9) • 7th month — Gedaliah assassinated (Jeremiah 41:1-2) For sixty-eight years the fifth-month fast had marked national catastrophe. With a new Temple rising, the delegates wonder whether the grief ritual is now obsolete. Why They Questioned the Necessity 1. Changing Circumstances – The physical reason for mourning (a destroyed Temple) is disappearing. Ritual without context felt hollow. 2. Ritual Fatigue – Continuous austerity for decades breeds weariness (cf. Isaiah 1:14). They desire relief but fear presumption. 3. Legal Uncertainty – Because the fasts were self-imposed, only priestly adjudication could legitimize cessation (Malachi 2:7). 4. Self-Interest – God exposes their motive: “When you fasted … was it really for Me that you fasted?” (7:5). They want divine blessing more than divine fellowship. 5. Spiritual Blindness – They treat fasting as transactional, not transformational. The question reveals heart distance masked by religious form (cf. Isaiah 58:3-7). Prophetic Answer to a Ritual Question Zechariah shifts from liturgy to ethics: • Remember past disobedience (7:7). • Practice covenant virtues: “Administer true justice, show loving devotion and compassion” (7:9). • Warning: the same hardened hearts that caused exile will nullify mere ritual (7:11-14). Thus God ignores the yes/no of fasting until the people confront the why of obedience. Priestly Law on Fasting Mosaic Law prescribes corporate self-affliction only on Yom Kippur (Leviticus 23:27). All other fasts are voluntary or situational (Judges 20:26; Esther 4:16). Therefore, the priests could legitimately permit discontinuation, provided hearts remained contrite. Comparative Biblical Episodes • Joel 2 – Fasting accompanied by rending hearts, not garments. • Jonah 3 – Nineveh’s fast evidenced repentance; God relented. • Isaiah 58 – Invalid fasting condemned; justice demanded. Each episode reinforces Zechariah’s theme: spiritual integrity over external deprivation. Archaeological and Historical Corroboration • Babylonian tablets (e.g., BM 21946) date the 586 BC destruction precisely to Nebuchadnezzar’s 19th year, 7th-12th Ab, matching 2 Kings 25:8-9. • The Lachish Letters, burned layers on Level II at Lachish, and the City of David’s destruction ash provide material confirmation of the catastrophic event mourned every fifth month. • Elephantine papyri (5th cent. BC) list Jewish observances, showing post-exilic adaptability of fasts and feasts, supporting the fluidity implied in Zechariah. Eschatological Reversal God promises: “The fasts … will become joyful and glad occasions and happy festivals” (8:19). Mourning transforms into celebration when covenant fidelity is restored and ultimately when Messiah reigns—prefiguring Luke 5:34-35, where Jesus ties fasting’s necessity to His physical absence. Practical Implications for Believers Today 1. Examine motive—fasting is a means, not an end. 2. Align practice with current covenant reality; mourning yields to joy in Christ’s finished work. 3. Pursue justice and mercy; fasting divorced from ethics forfeits blessing. 4. Anticipate eschatological fulfillment—temporary disciplines point toward eternal communion. Conclusion The people questioned the fifth-month fast because circumstances, fatigue, legal ambiguity, and mixed motives converged. Zechariah redirects them from ritual timing to heart alignment, asserting that true worship hinges on obedience, compassion, and covenant loyalty—principles as relevant now as in 518 BC. |
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