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Fasting and the Promise of the Future: 7.1 - 8.23

After a lapse of two years, Zechariah is again called on to prophesy.
that is, on Dec. 7, 518 BC.

A delegation from Bethel came to ask if they should still observe the
national fasts that had been established during the time of the captivity,
namely in the fourth month, when the city walls were breached; in the fifth month, when the temple was destroyed by fire; in the seventh month, the anniversary of the murder of Gedeliah, and in the tenth month, on the day Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem. 

The word of the Lord came to the prophet. He was to ask the people and
priests: When you fasted on those days, was it for the Lord, or for yourself? In other words, they lacked the right interior dispositions. This would be the same sort of lack of which God complained in Isaiah 29.13.

So instead of the old fasts, the Lord asked for four things: 1)administer true justice, that is, proper ordering of society; 2)show hesed, mercy and compassion; 3)do not oppress the widow and orphan - a widow might
have no means of financial support without a husband; 4)do not think evil, avoid hatred and revenge. These were really the chief things the covenant had called for. So they should go back to obeying the covenant. But the people refused, they were as hard as flint, and so the Lord was angry. That is why He had scattered them before.

If they complied, God would restore His favor to them, and even
foreigners would join in their joy. So they should go ahead in rebuilding the temple, and the great promises would be fulfilled, for nothing is difficult to God.