Fasts & Feasts: Self-Serving versus God-Honoring

Introduction

Fasting and Missions

Zechariah 7-8 is the nearest thing to an active missionary calling that we see in the Old Testament outside the book of Jonah—the embittered and reluctantly successful missionary.

But the difference between Jonah and Zechariah are striking:

Jonah: Proclaims judgment, which led to Nineveh’s repentance and God relenting (Jonah 1:2).

Zechariah: Declares the transformative power of God’s presence, which:

Permits full restoration of the remnant.

Prompts the nations to beg that they might join Israel in worshiping the Lord (Zech 8:23).

The Practice of Fasting

Associations

Repentance and confession, whether over Israelite idolatry and rebellion or in outright pagan Nineveh.

Mourning over death and loss.

Danger from enemies or even God’s own wrath.

OT Background

Various terms associated with fasting and repentance:

Terms: “to fast,” “to eat no bread,” “to deny oneself,” or “to afflict one’s soul.”

Significance: Actions meant to be outward signs of an inward work of repentance for sin.

Period

A one-day fast

A fast might go on during the daytime.

Saul’s foolish vow made during the heat of battle against the Philistines (1 Sam 14:24).

1 Samuel 14:24 NLT

24 Now the men of Israel were pressed to exhaustion that day, because Saul had placed them under an oath, saying, “Let a curse fall on anyone who eats before evening—before I have full revenge on my enemies.” So no one ate anything all day,

David’s vow imposed on after Joab assassinated his son Abner, who had led the coup against him: “David had refused to eat anything on the day of the funeral, and now everyone begged him to eat. But David had made a vow, saying, ‘May God strike me and even kill me if I eat anything before sundown’” (2 Sam 3:35).

2 Samuel 3:35 NLT

35 David had refused to eat anything on the day of the funeral, and now everyone begged him to eat. But David had made a vow, saying, “May God strike me and even kill me if I eat anything before sundown.”

A fast during the night like Darius imposed on himself during Daniel’s night in the lions’ den: “Then the king … spent the night fasting. He refused his usual entertainment” (Dan 6:18).

Daniel 6:18 NLT

18 Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night fasting. He refused his usual entertainment and couldn’t sleep at all that night.

Three days and nights, like the national fast Esther sought on her behalf before entering the king’s palace: “Go and gather together all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will do the same. And then, though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I must die” (Esth 4:16).

Esther 4:16 NLT

16 “Go and gather together all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will do the same. And then, though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I must die.”

Seven days

The mourning rites after the death of Saul and his sons: The men of Jabesh Gilead retrieved the corpses of Saul and his sons from the Philistine fortress at Beth Shan. (1 Sam 31:13).

1 Samuel 31:13 NLT

13 Then they took their bones and buried them beneath the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and they fasted for seven days.

David’s mourning while his newborn hovered near death, because of God’s judgment on David over his sin with Bathsheba (2 Sam 12:16-20).

2 Samuel 12:16–20 NLT

16 David begged God to spare the child. He went without food and lay all night on the bare ground. 17 The elders of his household pleaded with him to get up and eat with them, but he refused. 18 Then on the seventh day the child died. David’s advisers were afraid to tell him. “He wouldn’t listen to reason while the child was ill,” they said. “What drastic thing will he do when we tell him the child is dead?” 19 When David saw them whispering, he realized what had happened. “Is the child dead?” he asked. “Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.” 20 Then David got up from the ground, washed himself, put on lotions, and changed his clothes. He went to the Tabernacle and worshiped the Lord. After that, he returned to the palace and was served food and ate.

Forty days, like Moses receiving the Law on Sinai (Exod 34:28; Deut 9:9; 1 Kgs 19:8). The last reference looks something like a marathoner’s carb-loading before a race:

1 Kings 19:8 NLT

8 So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God.

Set Days

Read only the text references and not the texts themselves for these set days; indeed, reference only the chapter numbers so note takers can keep up.

Law of Moses mandates fasting only for the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:29-31; 23:26-33; Num 29:7-11).

Leviticus 16:29–31 LEB

29 “And this shall be a lasting statute for you: in the seventh month, on the tenth of the month, you must deny yourselves and you must not do any work, whether the native or the alien who is dwelling in your midst, 30 because on this day he shall make atonement for you to cleanse you; you must be clean from all your sins before Yahweh. 31 It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you shall deny yourselves—it is a lasting statute.

During the exile, four other annual fasts were observed (Zech 7:3, 5; 8:19), each of them marking disasters associated with Babylonian exile.

4th month, 9th day:

Tammuz: Summer, begins July 4th this year.

Breach of Jerusalem’s walls (Jer 39:2).

Jeremiah 39:2 LEB

2 In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the city was taken by assault.

5th month, 7th day (see also Zech 7:3, 5):

Av: Midsummer, begins August 7, this year.

Destruction of the temple (2 Kgs 25:8-9).

2 Kings 25:8–9 LEB

8 In the fifth month, on the seventh of the month, that is, the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, a commander of the imperial guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9 He burned the temple of Yahweh, the palace of the king, and all of the houses of Jerusalem; every large house he burned with fire.

7th month (see also Zech 7:5):

Tishri: Fall, begins Oct 11, 2020

Assassination of the Persian-appointed governor Gedaliah (2 Kgs 25:25; Jer 41:1-2)

2 Kings 25:25 LEB

25 But it happened in the seventh month that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah the son of Elishama from the offspring of the kingship came, and ten men with him, and they struck down Gedaliah so that he died with the Judeans and with the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.

Jeremiah 41:1–2 LEB

1 And then in the seventh month Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, from the offspring of the kingship, and one of the chief officers of the king, came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam at Mizpah, along with ten men. And they ate bread together there at Mizpah. 2 And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah got up, along with the ten men who were with him, and they struck Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword and killed him whom the king of Babylon had appointed in an official position over the land.

10th month, 10th day:

Tevet: Winter, began Jan 11, 2020—these last two Wednesdays (Feb 12 and 19, 2020) fall in Shevat

Beginning of Nebuchadnezzar’s siege of Jerusalem (2 Kgs 25:1-2; Jer 39:1).

2 Kings 25:1–2 LEB

1 It happened that in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem. He encamped against it and built siege works against it all around. 2 So the city came under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

Jeremiah 39:1 LEB

1 In the ninth year of Zedekiah, the king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and laid siege to it.

And in the postexilic period annual public fasts increased:

The one Ezra ordered in prayer for safe journey back to Jerusalem in lieu of requesting Persian military escort (Ezra 8:21-23).

Ezra 8:21–23 LEB

21 I proclaimed a fast there at the river Ahava to humble ourselves before our God in order to seek from him a safe journey for us, our children, and our possessions. 22 For I was ashamed to ask the king for troops and horses to protect us from enemies on the way because we said to the king, “the hand of our God is favorable to all who seek him, but his strength and anger are against all who forsake them.” 23 So we fasted and sought our God for this and he responded to our prayer.

Confessing sins, separating themselves from foreigners, and renewing the covenant in Jerusalem (Neh 9:1).

Nehemiah 9:1 LEB

1 On the twenty-fourth day of this month the Israelites gathered in fasting, in sackcloths, and with soil on them.

Outline

Zechariah receives delegation from Bethel who have a question about fasting (Zech 7:1-7).

Zechariah’s answer is a call to covenantal justice, which their ancestors had ignored and so ended up in exile (Zech 7:8-14).

God’s promise of restoration for Jerusalem and all his remnant (Zech 8:1-23).

Body

Question (Zech 7:1-3)

Reading from NLT, but restoring the Hebrew order. The NLT has “prophets and priests,” but the order is priests and prophets: MT לֵאמֹ֗ר אֶל־הַכֹּֽהֲנִים֙ אֲשֶׁר֙ לְבֵית־יְהוָ֣ה צְבָא֔וֹת וְאֶל־הַנְּבִיאִ֖ים and LXX, λέγων πρὸς τοὺς ἱερεῖς τοὺς ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ κυρίου παντοκράτορος καὶ πρὸς τοὺς προφήτας.

Zechariah 7:1–3 (NLT) — … another message came to Zechariah from the Lord. 2 The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regemmelech, along with their attendants, to seek the Lord’s favor. 3 They were to ask this question of the priests at the Temple of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies and the prophets: “Should we continue to mourn and fast each summer on the anniversary of the Temple’s destruction (lit. in the fifth month), as we have done for so many years?”

Answer (Zech 7:4-8:8)

The questioners came with a simple question, “‘Yes’ or ‘no”?). But the the priests’ Urim and Thummim couldn’t answer this one; it required prophetic interaction with Torah—even if the fast itself had originated in Israel’s traditions rather than in the Scriptures themselves—so they were getting their answer from the prophet Zechariah and perhaps his colleague Haggai.

The LORD’s Own Question (Zech 7:4-7)

Zechariah 7:4–7 (NLT) — 4 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies sent me this message in reply: 5 “Say to all your people and your priests, ‘During these seventy years of exile, when you fasted and mourned in the summer and in early autumn [lit. 5th and 7th months], was it really for me that you were fasting? 6 And even now in your holy festivals, aren’t you eating and drinking just to please yourselves? 7 Isn’t this the same message the Lord proclaimed through the prophets in years past when Jerusalem and the towns of Judah were bustling with people, and the Negev and the foothills of Judah were well populated?’”

Paired rhetorical questions:

About fasting: “Was it really for me that you were fasting?”

About feasting: “Aren’t you eating and drinking just to please yourselves?”

How would you fast but not really for the Lord?

Sorrow of self-pity rather than repentance

External trappings without internal reality

Pious performance without attentive heart

Ritual piety without social conscience

Answering the Real Questions (Zech 7:8-14)

Zechariah 7:8–14 (NLT) — 8 Then this message came to Zechariah from the Lord: 9 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Judge fairly (מִשְׁפַּ֤ט אֱמֶת֙ שְׁפֹ֔טוּ), and show mercy and kindness (וְחֶ֣סֶד וְרַֽחֲמִ֔ים עֲשׂ֖וּ) to one another. 10 Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and the poor. And do not scheme against each other. 11 “Your ancestors refused to listen to this message. They stubbornly turned away and put their fingers in their ears to keep from hearing. 12 They made their hearts as hard as stone, so they could not hear the instructions or the messages that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies had sent them by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. That is why the Lord of Heaven’s Armies was so angry with them. 13 “Since they refused to listen when I called to them, I would not listen when they called to me, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 14 As with a whirlwind, I scattered them among the distant nations, where they lived as strangers. Their land became so desolate that no one even traveled through it. They turned their pleasant land into a desert.”

Renewed call for social justice (Zech 7:9-10), in keeping with message of earlier prophets.

Extending implications of the second great commandment (Lev 19:18), especially those most vulnerable.

No perverting the course of justice, such as by false witness, libel, perjury, bribery, or conspiracy.

The measure of your ancestors’ failure in covenant-keeping (Zech 7:11-14).

Their failure (vv. 11-13).

Their exile (v. 14).

Call to Covenantal Faithfulness and Promise of Restoration (Zech 8:1-23)

Restoration Hopes (Zech 8:18-19)

Zechariah 8:18–19 (NLT) — 18 Here is another message that came to me from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 19 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: The traditional fasts and times of mourning you have kept in early summer, midsummer, autumn, and winter are now ended. They will become festivals of joy and celebration for the people of Judah. So love truth and peace.

You asked about whether to continue the fasts.

Fasts will be converted into feasts

Mourning will be turn to joy

You should have asked about social justice.

Failure in this regard

Got your ancestors sent away into exile.

Meant I gave no regard to your fasts

I’m taking the initiative in covenantal renewal, but you’ve got to sign on to it.

Ultimate Covenantal Faithfulness (Zech 8:20-23)

Zechariah 8:20–23 (NLT) — 20 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: People from nations and cities around the world will travel to Jerusalem. 21 The people of one city will say to the people of another, ‘Come with us to Jerusalem to ask the Lord to bless us. Let’s worship the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. I’m determined to go.’ 22 Many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord of Heaven’s Armies and to ask for his blessing. 23 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: In those days ten men from different nations and languages of the world will clutch at the sleeve of one Jew. And they will say, ‘Please let us walk with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’ ”

Mission

Centripetal rather than centrifugal.

Attractional rather than seeker-sensitive.

International

Fulfilling the Abrahamic covenant (Gen 12:1-3).

Reversing the effects of rebellion at the tower of Babel (Gen 11).

Conclusion

Summary

The people sought an answer about religious rites

The message of the Lord address “true religion that’s undefiled”:

Implicitly rejecting empty religion enacting hypocritical rites.

Calling people back to their known obligations:

Love, and therefore obey God

Love your neighbor as yourself.

In breadth—all the world

In depth—the poor, disadvantaged, and vulnerable

Prayer

Follow me with an amen to a prayer that I have adapted from John Calvin’s commentary on Zechariah 7-8.

Grant, Almighty God,

That as we are so inclined to fooling ourselves,

we may learn to examine ourselves rigorously,

and to drill down into our own consciences,

so that none of us may sleep in self-delusion.

May we be so offended by our own secret vices,

that we pursue true religion with watchful industry.

May we so strive to devote ourselves wholly to thee,

that we may groan under the burden of our sins.

May we cast ourselves entirely upon thy mercy,

and yet be touched with true penitence,

Grant that we we may so continue in watchfulness,

that we not fall into hypocrisy and empty religion.

Keep us until having at length put off the corruptions of our flesh,

and we shall be received into that purity

which has been prepared for us in heaven.

by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Grant that we might display your glory and righteousness,

that the lost would see a great light.

Grant that we could say, “Follow me as I follow Christ”;

And that some might “clutch at our sleeves,”

Grant that those who “clutch at our sleeves”

not be cast into outer darkness as blind lead the blind;

but rather walk the bright path into New Jerusalem,

And join the roaring multitude around your throne.

Amen.