Answer 2) Vs. 8-14 - When the heart is wrong, the ritual is wrong. It is not the ritual that you go through but the attitude of your heart that is important to Him.
Zechariah 7:8 And the word of the L-RD came to Zechariah, saying,
Again this is not Zechariah speaking but the L-rd.
Zechariah 7:9 Thus has the L-RD of hosts said, Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassion every man to his brother:
Here the children of Israel are told that they are to be more concerned in living for G-d than if they are performing the correct ritual.
Showing compassion and the love of G-d to their fellow man.
Zechariah 7:10 and do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.'
Yeshua also spoke sternly to some of the people scribes and Pharisees of his day.
Matt 23:27-28 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like unto whitewashed sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
Zechariah 7:11 But they refused to pay attention, and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears from hearing.
The people refused to listen.
“turned a stubborn shoulder” - G-d’s puts His hand on the shoulder of His children, as any father would do, to gently correct them. They, like a stubborn child, pulled away from His guiding hand.
“stopped their ears” - They act like spoiled children who stick their fingers in their ears, refusing to listen to G-d words.
Zechariah 7:12 And they made their hearts like flint so that they could not hear the law and the words which the L-RD of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets; therefore great wrath came from the L-RD of hosts.
“like flint” - better translation would be “as hard as a diamond”. - They ignored the word of the L-rd deliver by Ruach HaKodesh through the prophets. Therefore G-d had NO choice but to send His wrath upon them.
The seventh letter is Zayin - focal point of sustenance and struggle.
This whole chapter deals with the focal point of struggle, including struggling with G-d. Sometimes we don't know what is good for us and we are our worst enemy.
“We have fasted” which deals with "Sustenance". Struggle or the sweat of his brow obtains man’s sustenance.
It is still, however, a blessing from G-d. He who nourishes all, from huge powerful beasts to the embryonic stages of tiny vermin (Shabbos 107b). This daily supply of nourishment is one of the foremost acts of Divine kindness (Midrash Shocher Tov;)
Seven comprises of six directions in which one can view (east, west, north, south, up, down) plus one representing the focal point. The temple seems to be the focal point.)
(Notice also we see the 1st and 3rd members of the tri-unity of G-d mentioned in this verse. “the Father”, “the L-RD of hosts”, and “Ruach HaKodesh”, “His Spirit”)
Zechariah 7:13 Therefore it is come to pass, that as He cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, says the L-RD of hosts:
There are consequences to our actions. G-d cried out to them and they would not listen. So when they cried out to Him, He didn’t listen to them either.
Zechariah 7:14 but I scattered them with a storm wind among all the nations whom they have not known. Thus the land is desolated behind them, so that no one went back and forth, for they made the pleasant land desolate."
They were scattered through out the world, and the land was left desolate.