Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew loving-kindness and mercies one to another,
Men came from Bethel to ask whether they should keep up an old fast. God's answer moved past the calendar and repeated what He had always asked: honest judgment and kindness between neighbours.
God's answer put ritual in its place. The quotations below use an older wording: "Execute true judgment" where the ESV has "Render true judgments."
He adds, "Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassion, every man to his brother." Religious ceremonies, whatever they may do, never take the place of practical righteousness in the sight of God, and still less the place of faith. There may be, and often is, the greatest zeal for an outward ceremony while the heart is far from Him.
Verse 8 sounds like a fresh message. In fact it sums up what God had already cried out through the prophets before the exile.
Verses 9 and 10 give the substance of His former messages to His people. Verses 11 and 12 point out how they refused His word. Verses 13 and 14 show that the withering judgments which fell on Israel and the land were the result of their hardened hearts and sinful rebellion. So we have first a summary of what God required of His people as the condition of being kept in blessing in the land.
Notice which side of the law God pressed on them.
This is the second table of the law: love to their neighbours. That is what the Lord recalled His people to in the days of their prosperity. It is, in fact, love to their neighbour, measured spiritually by their love to themselves. So He had called them to give true judgment and show no favouritism. He had called them to have a tender and compassionate heart. He had called them to stop oppressing the helpless, the widow, the fatherless, the stranger and the poor... All this shows the value God places on our practical conduct, on a walk with others shaped and ordered by His word. And He called Israel back to these moral features, because their history shows these were the very things they lacked.
This is not the law at full stretch.
That was no doubt based on the law. But the Lord had softened the demands of the law so far that their hearts, if they still could obey, would find these demands neither too high nor too severe. In short, the prophets had preached uprightness and love for the neighbour.
What was left was the smallest demand of all:
In this time of decline, God, who loved them, had not even asked them to return love to Him. He only pressed on them to leave their self-love, their self-will, and to think of others and do the will of God.
Their fasting had a visible test. It showed in how they treated the people around them. One writer adds that the New Testament asks for more.
If their fast was honestly for God, then they would show it in their attitude toward others. They would give true judgment and be fair in their dealings, and that would mean showing mercy and compassion... Yet these are negative commands. The New Testament goes much further, as in Galatians 6:10: "So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone." We ought not only to hold back from doing evil. We should actively do good.
Zechariah repeats these words as a warning. Israel refused them the first time, and the nation paid for it.
They were to execute true judgment, show mercy and compassion, not oppress the widow nor the fatherless, the poor or the stranger. These were His demands in the past. But their fathers did not listen. So the judgment of the Lord came on them, and He scattered them with a whirlwind. History has repeated itself.
- Asked — Bethel asked about a fast. God answered about justice and mercy, because ceremonies never stand in for practical righteousness.
- Softened — the demand rests on the law, but God lowered it so far that a willing heart would not find it too high or too severe.
- Minimal — God did not even ask for love back toward Himself, only that they drop self-will and think of others.
- Practical — true judgment means no favouritism. Mercy means a tender heart toward the widow, the fatherless, the stranger and the poor.
- Refused — their fathers would not listen. God scattered them, and that is why Zechariah says it all again.
and oppress not the widow and the fatherless, the stranger and the afflicted; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.
The chapter opens with a question about fasting. God answers by naming widows, the fatherless, foreigners and the poor — and the plans people make against each other in secret. Why answer a religious question with a social one? And why does He reach past behaviour into the heart?
These lines are not a fresh command. One writer shows that the whole section from verse 8 onward is God's own summary of what He had already said for generations.
At first sight the eighth verse looks like the start of a new message. But a closer look shows that the Lord is only giving a summary, through Zechariah, of the words He had "cried by the former prophets." So verses 9 and 10 give the substance of His former messages to His people. Verses 11 and 12 point out how His people had refused His word. And verses 13 and 14 show that the withering judgments which had fallen on Israel and the land were the result of their hardened hearts and sinful rebellion.
The people asked whether they should keep fasting. The reply weighs ceremony against conduct.
Ordinances, whatever they may do, never take the place of practical righteousness, and still less of faith, in the sight of God. There may be, and there often is, the greatest zeal for an outward institution while the heart is far from Him.
The verse lists the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner — a foreigner living among them — and the poor. Each one is easy to exploit.
If their fast was honestly for God, then they would show it in their attitude toward others. They are told not to oppress the widow. Dishonest people will take cruel advantage of a widow's lack of business knowledge. The fatherless, the strangers and the poor are also in a position that leaves them open to such people. Yet this is negative. The New Testament goes much further, as for example Galatians 6:10: "So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone." We ought not only to refrain from doing evil, but should actively do good.
God guarded these same four groups long before Zechariah, when He gave His law — and He said what He Himself would do about it.
The tendency of fallen mankind is to take advantage of these, oppressing and defrauding them. Such conduct is disgusting to God, and His kindness shines out, even as He gives His law. He will be their Defender. As He thinks of them His word is, "I am gracious."
The last clause moves from what hands do to what the mind works out in private. Where the ESV says "devise evil," older translations say "imagine evil." One writer reads the whole list as love of neighbour worked out in practice.
This is love to their neighbour, measured by the love they have for themselves. So God had called them to carry out true judgment and show no favouritism. He had called them to have a tender and compassionate heart. He had called them not to oppress the helpless — the widow, the fatherless, the stranger and the poor. And last, they were not to imagine (that is, devise; see Micah 2:1-3) evil against their brothers in their hearts. All this shows the value God attaches to our practical conduct, to a life with others shaped and ordered by His word.
The nation was in decline. One writer notices what God did not ask of them.
In this time of decline, God, who loved them, had not even asked them to return love to Him. He only impressed on them to leave their self-love and their self-will, and to think of others and do the will of God.
Even a mild demand could not change the heart. The same writer looks ahead to God's remedy.
This is how it always goes when anyone comes under the demands of the law, no matter how lenient they are. Law can only bring one under a curse. But another day will come: the day of the new covenant. Then God will write His law in the hearts of the people, because the Lord has erased all their unrighteousness and given them a new heart. Then they will live under "the law of liberty," where the new man will delight in doing God's will.
- Heart behind the fast. The question was about fasting; the answer is about widows. Outward practice never replaces practical righteousness. Zeal for a religious institution can sit next to a heart far from God.
- Heart toward the weak. God names Himself the Defender of the widow, the fatherless, the foreigner and the poor. Each one is easy to take advantage of.
- Heart in private. The command reaches the plan a person forms against a brother in the heart, before it ever becomes an act.
- Heart refused. These were old words, already cried by earlier prophets. The judgment that fell was the fruit of hardened hearts and rebellion.
- Heart replaced. One writer notes that law, however mild, can only bring a curse. The answer is a new covenant that writes God's will inside a new heart.