Zechariah 7: religious devotion instead of mercy

 Jews had returned from Babylon and some of them were living in Bethel. In Babylon they used to mourn and fast next August to show sorrow for being there, but now, as circumstances changed they sent a message to the high priest asking if they should continue with the fasting. The Lord sent a message to Zacheriah as an answer:

4-6 God-of-the-Angel-Armies gave me this Message for them, for all the people and for the priests: “When you held days of fasting every fifth and seventh month all these seventy years, were you doing it for me? And when you held feasts, was that for me? Hardly. You’re interested in religion, I’m interested in people.

In a more concrete way, what the Lord wants?

10 ... Well, the message hasn’t changed. God-of-the-Angel-Armies said then and says now:

    “‘Treat one another justly.
    Love your neighbors.
    Be compassionate with each other.
    Don’t take advantage of widows, orphans, visitors, and the poor.
    Don’t plot and scheme against one another—that’s evil.’

11-13 “But did your ancestors listen? No, they set their jaws in defiance. They shut their ears. They steeled themselves against God’s revelation and the Spirit-filled sermons preached by the earlier prophets by order of God-of-the-Angel-Armies. And God became angry, really angry, because he told them everything plainly and they wouldn’t listen to a word he said.


So, the Lord wants me to love people, to be compassionate husband and father, to love and treat well people.