By means this question that God asks to his people, if their spirituality is truly centered on love for Him. In the introduction to the chapter, the people ask how to better serve God. However, the question betrays a formalism in their spiritual relationship with God, that is, the validity of their actions is only based on the observance of religious formalities:
“And in the fourth year of King Darius, the word of Jehovah came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, that is, the month of Chislev. 2 The people of Bethel sent Sharezer and Regemmelech and his men to beg for the favor of Jehovah, 3 saying to the priests of the house of Jehovah of armies and to the prophets: “Should I weep in the fifth month and abstain from food, as I have done for so many years?”” (Zechariah 7:1-3).
Should I weep in the fifth month and abstain from food, as I have done for so many years? This question reveals much about the way of serving God. When he said, « as I have done for so many years », shows that it was for him a burden. He was not truly doing it for God or as a sacrifice to Him, also mentioning the time involved… Thus, we better understand God’s response, through the prophet Zechariah:
“The word of Jehovah of armies again came to me, saying: 5 “Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, ‘When you fasted and wailed in the fifth month and in the seventh month for 70 years, did you really fast for me? 6 And when you would eat and drink, were you not eating for yourselves and drinking for yourselves? 7 Should you not obey the words that Jehovah proclaimed through the former prophets, while Jerusalem and her surrounding cities were inhabited and at peace, and while the Negeb and the Shephelah were inhabited?’”” (Zechariah 7:4-7).
God answers with simple rhetorical questions, which can be summarized as follows: “Did you really fast for me?” (Zechariah 7:5). By reminding them of the past attitude of their ancestors (before and during the seventy years of exile in Babylon), God shows that He is not fooled and that He knows what there is in their hearts, revealed by the formality of their first question.
Then, with a second statement, He tells them that they must serve Him with their hearts, not only by loving Him, but also by loving their neighbor by doing good to them, helping them when they are in distress:
“The word of Jehovah again came to Zech·a·riʹah, saying: 9 “This is what Jehovah of armies says, ‘Judge with true justice, and deal with one another in loyal love and mercy. 10 Do not defraud the widow or the fatherless child, the foreigner or the poor; and do not scheme evil against one another in your hearts.’ 11 But they kept refusing to pay attention, and they stubbornly turned their backs, and they stopped up their ears so as not to hear. 12 They made their heart like a diamond and would not obey the law and the words that Jehovah of armies sent by his spirit through the former prophets. So there came great indignation from Jehovah of armies.”
13 “‘Just as they did not listen when I called, so I would not listen when they called,’ says Jehovah of armies. 14 ‘And I scattered them with a storm wind throughout all the nations that they had not known, and the land was left desolate behind them, with no one passing through or returning; for they turned the desirable land into an object of horror’”” (Zechariah 7:8-14).
And in the last part of his answer, God reminds them that he sent their ancestors into exile in Babylon (and also in Assyria) for their rebellion: “They kept refusing to pay attention, and they stubbornly turned their backs, and they stopped up their ears so as not to hear. 12 They made their heart like a diamond and would not obey the law and the words that Jehovah of armies sent by his spirit through the former prophets” (Zechariah 7:11, 12). As a result, God “scattered them with a storm wind throughout all the nations that they had not known”? particularly Assyria and Babylon.
God’s simple answer is also summarized in the words of his Son, Jesus Christ, centuries later:
“After the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they came together in one group. 35 And one of them, versed in the Law, tested him by asking: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 He said to him: “‘You must love *Jehovah (YHWH) your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 The second, like it, is this: ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments the whole Law hangs, and the Prophets”” (Matthew 22:34-40).
Furthermore, in his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ warned against the practice of spiritual or religious formalism, with the main goal of being seen by others (and not out of love for God and their neighbor):
“Take care not to practice your righteousness in front of men to be noticed by them; otherwise you will have no reward with your Father who is in the heavens. 2 So when you make gifts of mercy, do not blow a trumpet ahead of you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be glorified by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 3 But you, when making gifts of mercy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your gifts of mercy may be in secret. Then your Father who looks on in secret will repay you.
5 “Also, when you pray, do not act like the hypocrites, for they like to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the main streets to be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your private room and, after shutting your door, pray to your Father who is in secret. Then your Father who looks on in secret will repay you” (Matthew 6:1-6).
The formalistic practice of Christian spirituality, devoid of love, has no value in the eyes of God and his Son Jesus Christ. We must serve God, and his Son Jesus Christ, with sincere love, without self-interest, and love our neighbor with genuine brotherhood:
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but do not have love, I have become a clanging gong or a clashing cymbal. 2 And if I have the gift of prophecy and understand all the sacred secrets and all knowledge, and if I have all the faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my belongings to feed others, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I do not benefit at all.
4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous. It does not brag, does not get puffed up, 5 does not behave indecently, does not look for its own interests, does not become provoked. It does not keep account of the injury. 6 It does not rejoice over unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:1-8).
* YHWH is the tetragrammaton, or four-letter for the Divine Name. In the New World Translation of the Bible, it appears with the vocalization commonly used for centuries as « Jehovah ». This vocalization is doubly inaccurate because it inserts the pronunciation J instead of I (i) or Y, and the V corresponding to W, which is pronounced « U » or « ou » (not V). The correct vocalization of the Tetragrammaton is YeHou(W)aH, Yehouah. The inaccurate vocalization « Jehovah » is retained in the Bible translation used, just as the inaccurate vocalization of « Jesus, » pronounced Yeshua or Yeshoua, because they are the most known to readers (click on the link to examine the study on the Divine Name in more detail: The Divine Name YHWH is pronounced as it is written).
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