Zechariah 7:1-14
1 And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu;
2 When they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regemmelech, and their men, to praya before the LORD,
3 And to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the LORD of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?
4 Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me, saying,
5 Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?
6 And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?
7 Should ye not hear the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain?
8 And the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah, saying,
9 Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Executeb true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother:
10 And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.
11 But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.
12 Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit byc the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.
13 Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the LORD of hosts:
14 But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasantd land desolate.
The third message of Zechariah was uttered nearly two years later. It was a fourfold answer to an inquiry made by the people concerning the necessity for observing certain fasts.
The history of these fasts is contained in 2 Kings 25:1. One was established in the tenth month, in connection with the siege of the city. The next, which occurred in the fourth month, commemorated the taking of the city. The third, held in the fifth month, was in memory of the burning of the city, and the last was in the seventh month, the month in which Gedaliah was murdered.
The inquiry was confined to the fast of the fifth month, whether it was necessary to continue its observance. The answer of the prophet was delivered in four statements of what Jehovah had said to him. The first of these answers declared that the fasts had been instituted, not by divine command, but entirely on the initiative of the people themselves. It declared also that they should consider the messages which had been delivered to them before the occasion which gave rise to the fasts of which they now complained.
The second answer reminded them that God sought justice and mercy rather than the observance of self-appointed fasts. It also reminded them that they had refused to hear the call of justice, and therefore all the evil things which had befallen the city had resulted. The inference was that had they been obedient, the occasions for these fasts would never have arisen.