In the previous couple of articles, God was giving a message to the prophet Zechariah, and reiterated messages of justice, mercy, and compassion (see Zechariah 7:8-10). However, these weren’t new messages that God was giving His people through Zechariah – these are instructions that God had already made clear in the past.
Regrettably, we find in the next few verses that this is not what was practiced.
“But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the LORD Almighty was very angry.
“ ‘When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,’ says the LORD Almighty. ‘I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land they left behind them was so desolate that no one traveled through it. This is how they made the pleasant land desolate.’ ”
Zechariah 7:11-14 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/zec.7.11-14.NIV
Here, God revisits what had happened in the past: He had given clear instructions to His people, but they rejected His commands. In fact, while the NIV says that they “made their hearts as hard as flint”, the NASB version relates their hearts to “a diamond”. Some translations refer to this stone as “adamant”, which – per a summary in Bing, citing Oxford Languages – is an older English term for the hardest possible substance, often associated with diamond.
However, when comparing translations, I noticed that the New Catholic Bible [NCB] translates this as a verb, which is a usage of “adamant” that I think we’re more familiar with: If we say that someone is adamantly opposed to something, we understand that they are resolute in their stand against it.
As a result, I think that the NCB captures the people’s behavior well when it says that “They were adamant in their refusal to accept the teaching and the law that the Lord of hosts had transmitted by his Spirit through the former prophets.” [Zechariah 7:12 NCB – Bible Gateway]
When someone becomes that stubborn and actively resists listening to the words that the loving God offers to them, this makes God angry. He knows what is best for His people – His creation; His children – and when they continue down harmful and destructive paths of selfishness and self-seeking behaviors, this would reasonably make any loving parent unhappy. When God’s people ignore His principles of healthy community and do not take care of others around them, God’s anger is justified and expected.
So, just as the people (in this case, those in ancient Judea) didn’t listen to God, He didn’t listen to them. He dispersed them into exile and put them to flight from their enemies, and their beloved homeland became a wasteland.
A commentary referred to “covenant curse” (Hahlen & Ham, p.337), where the covenant between God and His people included promises of both blessings and curses, depending on the behavior of the people in that covenant. This was the “curse” part of that covenant.
Remember, though, that even though human beings sometimes just lash out to make ourselves feel better, when God hands out discipline or punishment, even that is for a greater purpose. God’s promises were still on track: both the short-term consequences of the people’s rebellion, and His long-term guarantee to bless the world through Abraham’s lineage. In fact, remember that even the people that Zechariah is delivering God’s message to had already received God’s mercy in being able to return to Judea and start rebuilding after 70 years of exile.
As Mark Scott wrote for the Lookout, “Thoughtlessness was perhaps one of the greatest sins. A thoughtful heart always listens to God.” Let’s not be guilty of frittering away a life with Jesus Christ by not actually giving it the attention it deserves. God is always paying attention, and His love for us is too great to let us waste the life that He’s given us without Him at least trying to bring us back to something better.
From Sunday School lesson prepared for August 11, 2024
References:
- The Lookout, August 11, 2024, © 2024 Christian Standard Media.
- Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation.
- The College Press NIV Commentary – Minor Prophets Vol. 2 Nahum-Malachi, by Mark Allen Hahlen and Clay Alan Ham. © 2006 College Press Publishing Co.
Those Who Sin Differently 