What Does Zechariah 7:6 Mean?

And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?—God responds to the delegation's fasting question (7:1-3) by probing motives. The Hebrew vəkhī 'akhōl 'akhaltem vəkhī shātōh shəthītem hălō' 'attem hā'ōkhəlīm və'attem hashshōthīm (וְכִי אָכוֹל אֲכַלְתֶּם וְכִי שָׁתֹה שְׁתִיתֶם הֲלוֹא אַתֶּם הָאֹכְלִים וְאַתֶּם הַשֹּׁתִים, 'and when you ate and when you drank, was it not you who were eating and you who were drinking?') uses emphatic repetition. The rhetorical question exposes self-centered religion: their eating and drinking served themselves, not God.

The principle extends to fasting (v. 5): if eating serves self, doesn't fasting also serve self? God desires neither self-indulgent feasting nor self-righteous fasting but heart-level worship. Isaiah 58:3-7 similarly rebukes fasting divorced from justice and mercy. Jesus taught, 'when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; that thou appear not unto men to fast' (Matthew 6:17-18). The question 'Did not ye eat for yourselves?' diagnoses religious externalism—ritual without relationship, form without faithfulness. True worship flows from love for God and neighbor, not self-focused performance seeking divine favor or human applause.