Hard Hearts
And the word of the LORD came again to Zechariah: 9 “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. 10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each 11 “But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears. 12 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.
Verses 8 to 10 are a continuation of the theme that has been set for this chapter. They contain a description of true worship. It is striking to note that true religion, as God prescribes it, is not done to God but to our neighbor. Every single thing that God wanted the people (and us) to do here is something that was directed toward our neighbor. “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. . . . Whoever loves God must also love his brother” (1 John 4:20,21).
The directives of verses 9 and 10 can be summarized in three commands: (1) be fair, (2) be merciful, (3) be compassionate.
The Lord’s eye was on the law courts of the land. He was concerned for the person who “got taken.” These people were his people! It stirred him to righteous anger when others took advantage of them. In wisdom and love he gave the poor their belongings, however small or poor they appeared to be. The Lord was the one who answered the requests of the poor that came to him within the confines of the Fourth Petition of the prayer he would later teach his disciples to pray: “Give us today our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). Martin Luther explained that our daily bread is “all that we need for our body and life.” The poor and deprived among God’s ancient people needed these things even more than others. Defrauding them was doubly bad.
Mercy and compassion were also matters that applied here. If someone really felt mercy, he would not take advantage of the widows or the orphans. Instead he would help them and share with them from the sustenance that God provided. In a word, he would be compassionate.
The Hebrews had a vivid picture before them when they heard the word we know as compassion. Their word was related to the word for the womb. Compassion is the feeling that a mother has for her children, who are part of her own body. Blood is thicker than water. When someone we love and care for is hurting, we hurt too, in the pits of our stomachs. Compassion can actually hurt. We feel for each other.
The Lord described the religion of the last days as being such in which “the love of most will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). Romans chapter 1 describes wicked people as “senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless” (verse 31). Zechariah said to God’s people in general, regardless of their age in history, “Show mercy and compassion to one another.”
Mercy also has to do with our feelings for each other. “In your hearts do not think evil of each other.” Mercy gently rubs out the wrinkles caused by infractions, either real or imagined. Mercy puts the best construction possible on our neighbor’s actions. Mercy forgives and tries to forget. The Lord simply said, “Don’t do it! Do not think evil of each other in the convenient chamber of your heart. Don’t do it!”
Verses 11 and 12 hold the response to the Lord’s gentle request for true worship: “They refused.” God told his people the right way, but they refused. “How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing” (Matthew 23:37). When the Lord spoke to his people, backs turned, ears stopped, and hearts became flint hard. What a picture of man’s reluctance and rebellion! And there without the grace of God are we.
“So the LORD Almighty was very angry.” This was not a stewing, old grandfatherly god rocking perplexed in his chair and pleading in a quavery voice to naughty grandchildren. This was the Almighty with his nostrils flaring in anger and with the awful capability to wreak destruction on those who turned their shoulders and tempered their hearts.
By itself, sin is an abstract thing. It does not exist outside of living beings. It turns God’s creation into a hateful person. God is angry with people! Hell is proof of this.
But he loves people with an even greater intensity. That is a seeming contradiction which only the cross of Christ can bridge. The cross is the piece of the puzzle that joins God’s intense anger and his intense love. He damned his Son to die because of the one; he saved us from death because of the other.