NOTES for Zec 7:1-14
People are interested in fasting from the standpoint of rules of conduct, but the Lord reminds them why fasting was established. The Lord’s reproach to Zechariah’s contemporaries, that whether they fasted or did not fast they did so not for Him but for themselves, remains relevant today. This is not only because in our time one can often hear, for example, discussions about the benefits of fasting as a means of achieving quasi-medical aims, such as giving the body a rest, when fasting is separated from prayer and faith. Here fasting and not fasting are mentioned together if they are not related to God’s will. Both a fast and a meal can take place before His eyes, for it is no accident that during a sacrifice part of the sacrificial meat was eaten before the Lord by His servants. Through Zechariah the Lord once again recalls what He had already proclaimed through earlier prophets, Isaiah for example: fasting is unthinkable without mercy and compassion.
The Lord also reminds us that He does not listen to those who refuse to hear Him. One can listen without hearing; one can confidently suppose that everything is well with us and fail to notice one’s own deeds, which have become automatic habits...