John Calvin Commentary Zechariah 7:11-12

"But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which Jehovah of hosts had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets: therefore there came great wrath from Jehovah of hosts." — Zechariah 7:11-12 (ASV)

The Prophet here, by referring to the fathers, more sharply reproves the Jews of his age, for he saw that they differed little from their fathers.

The sum of what he says is that the Jews in all ages dealt unfaithfully and perversely with God. For however much they boasted of their care and zeal for religion, they still sought to satisfy God only with vain trifles. This, then, was the Prophet’s object.

For it is certain that there had always been some pretense to religion in that nation, but it was mere dissimulation. For they were meanwhile intent on their ceremonies, and when God seriously remonstrated with them, their previously concealed obstinacy and perverseness immediately appeared.

He therefore says that they refused to hear. He does not now accuse the dead, except for the purpose of teaching the people of his age.

He saw that they were concerned about fasting at appointed seasons, while at the same time they regarded as almost nothing the main requirements of the law: mercy, justice, and uprightness. These are indeed the three things which Christ mentions (Matthew 23:23).

He then intimates that this doctrine was not new and that their fathers had been sufficiently warned and instructed, but that they willfully, and, as it were, intentionally rebelled against God.

In short, he pulls off their mask of ignorance. For as men mostly seek to lessen their sins by pleading that they had not been clearly or promptly taught, the Prophet declares that there was no excuse of this kind, because they had been rebellious and untamable; they had refused to hear.

To explain more fully this perverseness, he afterwards says that the shoulder of withdrawing had been presented by them. The Hebrews say that men serve with the shoulder when they are submissive and tractable, and willingly undergo the burden laid on them, according to what we have seen in Zephaniah 3:1.

The Prophet now, on the contrary, says that the Jews had a refractory shoulder, as they refused to bear the yoke but shook off every fear of God. The reason for the metaphor is this: as burdens are carried on the shoulder, so the Lord lays the law on our shoulders, that the flesh may not indulge itself at pleasure but be kept under restraint. He therefore says that they had presented a rebellious shoulder. The word סררת, sarret, is properly translated “declining.” Some translate it as “perverse,” and others as “contumacious.” Since the meaning is the same, I do not argue about the word. It is enough to know that the contumacy of the Jews is what is condemned here, for they had been completely unteachable and had refused to submit to God and to His word.

He afterwards mentions their ears: They made heavy their ears, lest they should hear. In short, the Prophet sought by all means to prove the Jews guilty, that they might not bring forward anything to lessen their sin: for they had in every way, with the most resolute wickedness, refused to obey God when His teaching was sufficiently clear and intelligible.

He then comes to the heart: They made, he says, their heart adamant, or the very hardest stone. Some translate it as steel, and others as flint. It sometimes means a thorn, but in this place, as in Ezekiel 3:9 and Jeremiah 17:1, it is to be taken for adamant, or the hardest stone.

We now see then that the Prophet’s object was to show that the Jews had no excuse, as if they had fallen away through error or ignorance, but had always willfully and perversely rejected sound doctrine.

The Prophet then teaches us that hypocrisy had been the sole hindrance preventing them from understanding and following what was right.

But it may be useful to notice the manner of speaking which the Prophet adopts in condemning the perverseness of the Jews, when he says that they had refused to pay attention to God. For we ought here to observe the connection between the fear of God and obedience, and on the other hand, between the contempt of the law and willful rebellion.

If, then, we would not be condemned for contumacy before God:

1. First, attention must be given to His word.
2. Second, our shoulders must be submitted, so that we may bear submissively the yoke laid on us.
3. Third, we must listen with our ears, so that the word of God preached to us may not be lost but may take deep root in us.
4. Finally, our hearts must be turned to obedience, and all hardness corrected or softened.

Then Zechariah adds that the Jews had a stony or an iron heart, so that they repudiated the law of God and all His Prophets. He gives the first place to the law, for they should have sought from it the whole doctrine of religion; and the Prophets, as has often been stated, were only interpreters of the law.

He afterwards mentions the words which had been sent by Jehovah through his Spirit and through his Prophets. By saying that God spoke by His Prophets, he meets an objection with which hypocrites are accustomed to cover themselves when they reject the truth. For they object and say that they would willingly be submissive to God, but that they cannot bear the authority of men, as if God’s word changed its nature by coming through the mouth of a human.

But as hypocrites and profane men are accustomed to diminish the authority of the word, the Prophet here shows, with this pretext in mind, that God intended to be heard, though He employed ministers. Hence by this kind of concession it is implied that Prophets are intermediaries, and yet that God so speaks by their mouth that contempt is shown to Him when truth is not given its due honor.

And further, lest human baseness should cause the word to be disregarded, he also mentions the Spirit, as if he had said that God had spoken not only by His servants, even mortal men, but also by His Spirit.

There is then no reason for hypocrites to excuse themselves deceitfully by saying that they do not rebel against God when they belittle His prophets; for the power and majesty of the Holy Spirit appear and shine out in the doctrine itself, so that the human condition of the messengers does not diminish its authority in any way.

This point was also added to condemn the Jews, because they had been warned at the proper time from the very beginning, and it was solely their own fault that they did not repent.

For if the Lord had allowed them to go astray for a long time, there would have been some pretext for their evasions. But since God had tried to recall them to the right way, and prophets, one after another, had been continually sent to them, their unfaithfulness, indeed, their iron perverseness in obstinately refusing to obey God, was more fully revealed. This is the reason why Zechariah mentions the former prophets here.

He then adds that there was great wrath from Jehovah of hosts. By this sentence, he reminded them that it was not a matter of dispute, as if it were a doubtful thing, whether their fathers had been wicked and disobedient to God, for He had sufficiently proved by punishments that He detested their conduct.

For this principle must be held as true: God does not deal unjustly with people when He chastises them; instead, the gravity of crimes is to be estimated by the punishment He inflicts.

As God then had so severely chastised the ancient people, the natural conclusion is that their wickedness had become intolerable. We now see then why the Prophet said that there had been great wrath from God; the reason was that the Jews might not think that He had been slightly offended, as He had not been satisfied with a moderate punishment. For since His wrath had been so great, and since He had in such a dreadful manner punished the sins of the people, it follows that their wickedness had been more serious than men considered it to be.

There is also here an implied comparison, for the unfaithfulness of those who then lived was worse because they took no warning from the calamities of their fathers, so as to deal with more sincerity with God. They knew that their fathers had been carefully and in various ways admonished; they knew that exile followed, which was an evidence of the dreadful vengeance of God. Since then they were like their fathers and had not cast off their perverse disposition, they proved themselves guilty of greater and more refractory baseness, for they should have been influenced at least by fear when they saw that God’s judgment had been so dreadful against obstinate men.