Zechariah 7:8 And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, 9 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, 10 do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.” 11 But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear. 12 They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the Lord of hosts.
You may recognize these words, as they were near the conclusion of our recent study in the minor prophets. They contain the core of what we are talking about in this new series: disobedience had been taking place to core values of God's commands and therefore, of His character. On positive side, God had told them to be just and to show kindness and mercy to only one another, but specifically to the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, and the poor. Negatively, they were not to oppress or in any way make an evil plan against them. Instead, they had willfully chosen to ignore God's command and stubbornly turned away from Him and His will, hardened their hearts and violated God's command. They were acting nothing like His people. That is how we get "exiled', separated from God's blessings, His peace, His safety, and His perfect will for us, both individually and corporately as His people. We need to take these commands much more seriously.
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