Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Zechariah 13:1
In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.
1. In that day ] The day, or period, so often mentioned before (Zec 12:3-4; Zec 12:6; Zec 12:8-9; Zec 12:11), in which this whole prophecy shall be fulfilled.
a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness ] The form of the promise is Jewish, the substance Christian. For the lustral waters of the Law, the “water of sin” (Num 8:7) and the “water of uncleanness” (Num 19:9, where the word is the same as here, though rendered, “water of separation,” A. V. and R. V.), which were contained and renewed in bowl or laver, and which did but “sanctify to the purifying of the flesh,” shall be substituted the living fountain of the Gospel, opened once but remaining open ever (comp. Rev 4:1), which “purges the conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” (Heb 9:13-14; 1Jn 1:7.)
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Chap. Zec 13:1-6. Worthy fruits of Repentance
The mourning for sin thus produced and exhibited (Zec 12:10-14) shall be the precursor of cleansing from sin, for which ample and lasting provision shall be made, Zec 13:1; and of amendment of life. Idolatry and superstition shall be banished and forgotten, Zec 13:2. If any one shall venture to play the false prophet, his own parents shall be the first to inflict on him the prescribed penalty of death, Zec 13:3. So dangerous and suspected will the prophetic office become, that the false prophets will be ashamed and afraid to avow their calling and assume their garb, Zec 13:4. They will profess themselves, when questioned, to have been simple hinds from their youth, Zec 13:5; and if the charge against them be enforced by an appeal to the wounds on their bodies, as proofs of the idolatrous rites which they have practised, or of the punishment which has already overtaken them as false prophets, they will seek to meet it by an evasive and misleading reply, Zec 13:6.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
In that day there shall be a fountain opened – Zechariah often repeats, in that day Zec 12:3-4, Zec 12:6, Zec 12:8-9, Zec 12:11; Zec 13:1-2, Zec 13:4; Zec 14:6, Zec 14:8, Zec 14:13, Zec 14:20, resuming his subject again and again, as a time not proximate, but fixed and known of God, of which he declared somewhat. It is that day which Abraham desired to see, and saw it Joh 8:56, whether by direct revelation, or in the typical sacrifice of Isaac, and was glad: it was that day which many prophets and kings and righteous men desired to see Mat 13:17; Luk 10:24, and in patience waited for it,: the one day of salvation of the Gospel. He had spoken of repentance, in contemplation of Christ crucified; he now speaks of forgiveness and cleansing, of sanctification and consequent obedience. The fountain shall be not simply opened, but shall remain open. Isaiah had already prophesied of the refreshment of the Gospel. When the poor and needy seek water and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I, the Lord, will hear them, I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high places and fountains in the midst of the valleys Isa 41:17-18; here it is added, for sin. and for uncleanness.
There were divers Heb 9:10 symbolical washings under the law; the Levites were sprinkled with the water of purifying Num 8:7, literally, the water of taking away of sin: living waters Num 19:17, put to the ashes of an heifer, were appointed as a water for (removing) defilements (Num 19:9, Num 19:13, Num 19:20-21 bis; Num 31:23); a cleansing of sin Num 19:9. Now, there should be one ever-open fountain for all the house of David. Theodoret: Who that fountain is, the Lord Himself teacheth through Jeremiah, they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters Jer 2:13; and in the Gospel He says, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink Joh 7:37; and The water which I shall give him, is a fountain of living water, gushing up to everlasting life Joh 4:14. This was open to the house of David; for of that kindred He took human nature. It was opened also for the dwellers of Jerusalem, for the sprinkling of holy baptism; through which we have received remission of sins. Cyril: That, receiving divine and holy baptism, we are sprinkled with the Blood of Christ to the remission of sins, who can doubt? Dionysius: Of this fountain much was foretold by Ezekiel, that a fountain should issue forth from the temple of the Lord, and go down into the desert Eze 47:1, Eze 47:8-9, and every soul, to whom it shall come, shall live; and Joel, A fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and water the valley of Shillim Joe 3:18. Of this fountain Peter said to the Jews, when pricked in the heart and seeking forgiveness, Let everyone of you be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins Act 2:37-38.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Zec 13:1
In that day there shall be a fountain opened, etc.
The Fountain of Life
To what can the prophet refer but the exclamation of John, Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world.
I. Explain the promise.
1. The fountain. This image holds forth the Redeemer. In distinction from creatures, which are cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water, He may well call Himself the Fountain of living waters. He shall possess a plenitude Himself. The fulness of the Christian is derived and limited: it is the fulness of a vessel. The vessel is supplied from the fulness of a fountain. This fountain is the Lord Jesus. His fulness is original and boundless. It is the fulness of a spring.
2. The fountain was to be opened. A fountain, sealed would be useless; it would only provoke desire. What would the Saviours excellencies and benefits be to us if unattainable and inaccessible? The fountain was actually opened in His sufferings. The apostles laid it open doctrinally, in their preaching and in their epistles.
3. This fountain is opened for sin and for uncleanness. There had been provisions for ceremonial pollution, under the Mosaic economy. The brazen sea. Ten layers. See also the Pool of Siloam. Sin is uncleanness. Its very nature is contamination. Sin is a pollution the most deep and diffusive. The very conscience is defiled. It is the abominable thing. But there is a fountain that washes out even the stains of the soul,–and of sin. And it was opened for this very purpose.
II. To improve the truth contained in the promise. Five classes have a relation to the truth before us.
1. The ignorant. Such as cry, Peace, peace, when there is no peace.
2. The presumptuous. Antinomian perversion is worse than mere ignorance.
3. The self-righteous, who hope to cleanse themselves in some other way.
4. The fearful. For it is no easy thing to satisfy the conscience of awakened sinners.
5. Those who by faith have applied to the Saviour, and who know by experience that there is indeed a fountain opened for sin and uncleanness. (William Jag.)
The fountain for sin
I. What they needed. Two things: deliverance from guilt and condemnation, and deliverance from sins impurity. These are the very blessings for which our text represents provision has been made. The fountain is opened for sin and for uncleanness. The former meaning guilt, the latter pollution. The whole context prohibits our regarding the language as referring to anything ceremonial. The guilt, contracted, and requiring remission, is the guilt of piercing, that is, of putting to death the true, divinely promised. Messiah, and the uncleanness points to those unholy and hellish principles and dispositions in the soul from which the guilt originated, by which the fearful act was prompted. The guilt was deep. The depth of moral debasement and violence was fearful from which they who had been guilty of it required to be purified.
II. How these blessings are provided for them.
1. What is the fountain? It is a twofold figure, comprehending the grace of Christs Spirit as well as the virtue of Christs blood, cleansing as well as forgiveness. Theme blessings are always found in union. Christ died that sinners might be both pardoned and purified; and the two designs were emblematically indicated by the mingling of the blood and water that flowed from His pierced heart. The fountain means at once the blood of Christs atonement and the grace of Christs Spirit; the one required for forgiveness, and the other for regeneration and cleansing: the two, however, being inseparable; the faith which interests in the pardoning virtue of the blood, being the product of the grace of the Spirit, and the grace of the Spirit effecting the renewal and sanctification of the soul by means of the doctrine which makes known the pardoning virtue of the blood: it being the same faith, under the agency of the same Spirit, which at once justifies and sanctifies. And it is thus that the blood is represented as the means of purifying as well as of procuring pardon.
2. When was this fountain opened? When Christ died; when His blood was shed on the cross, for the remission of sins; when the blood and the water flowed in union from His pierced side. While strictly and properly, the fountain was opened then,–it might be said to have been opened from the time when it came first to be needed,–from the time when man sinned. It was then opened by anticipation. The first promise opened it. The moment man became a sinner he needed the two blessings of pardon and sanctification.
3. How is it here said to be opened in that day? The answer is, that although there have now and then, since the judgments of God overtook the Jewish people for their unbelief, been instances of Jews brought to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah and Saviour, and to obtain salvation by faith in Him; yet to the large mass of that dispersed, and for the time divinely abandoned people, the fountain has not been open. It has been sealed; sealed by themselves, and for their unbelief judicially sealed by God. When the time of mercy arrives the fountain shall, in Gods providence and by Gods grace, be opened for their cleansing from their guilt and their pollution. It is said of them, They shall look on Me whom they have pierced, and shall mourn.
4. For what purpose? Two–the washing away of guilt, and the washing away of moral defilement. Both these purposes were in the mind of God, as to be alike effected by the mediation of the Son. That the guilt of sin might be fully taken away, and thus the sinner escape its punishment, atonement was necessary.
5. For what persons? not simply for the restored of Israel,–but for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The idea thus conveyed is that of all ranks, from the royal occupants of the palace to the tenants of the meanest dwelling. All shall be stricken through with the conviction and alarm; all shall feel the bitterness of contrition; all shall mourn. And for all, in like manner, the fountain shall be opened. All shall need it. All shall have access to it. All shall avail themselves of it. (Ralph Wardlaw, D. D.)
The best fountain
It is a beautiful thing to see a fountain playing. Fountain in the text is the best fountain. What is meant by this fountain? It means the blood which Jesus shed when He hung upon the cross. It is in consequence of what Jesus then suffered–the blood He shed, and the death He died–that God pardons the sins of men, and saves their souls. It is the best fountain–
1. Because it is easy to get at. No long journey is needed. You may find it everywhere.
2. It never changes. Other fountains are sometimes in full play, and sometimes very feeble. Illustrate by the Pool of Bethesda. This is always the same.
3. Because of its wonderful powers. Some fountains cure diseases and restore health. This is designed for the souls of men. This has a wonderful cleansing power, and a wonderful healing power, and a wonderful preserving power against the worms of pride and selfishness that may imperil our souls, as they do the good ships; a wonderful beautifying power, and a wonderful saving power. (R. Newton, D. D.)
Christ our fountain
I. Wherein is Christ a fountain? When it is said Christ is our fountain, it holds forth two things:
1. Fulness. A fountain is not like a cistern; a cistern may be full, but the fulness of it may be emptied; so may the fulness of a fountain too, but then a fountain, or a spring, fills itself again immediately. So doth not a cistern. A cistern may be full, but it doth not rise up and run over, as a fountain doth, and that continually. For this reason the corrupt nature in us is compared to a fountain (Jer 6:7)–bubbling up in vain thoughts, inordinate desires, corrupt affections. Now, in Jesus Christ there is a fulness, and it is a fountain-fulness (Col 1:19), fulness–all fulness, and all fulness dwelling, and by the good pleasure of the Father. What is He full of? The two things that our poor souls have most need of towards the making of us happy. Merit and righteousness for justification; and spirit and grace for sanctification. He hath merit enough; His merit is of infinite value, sufficient to take away all sin (Heb 7:25)–able to save. He hath Spirit enough, to sanctify us throughout, to break the power of every lust, to strengthen us to every good word and work. He is such a fountain as can open in us a fountain, springing up into eternal life (Joh 4:14; Joh 1:16).
2. Uses–fulness. A fountain is of great use. What striving was there in Abrahams time, and Isaacs time, and Jacobs time, about wells of water (Gen 21:1-34; Gen 26:1-35). When Achsah was to ask a boon of her father Caleb, Give me, said she, springs of water (Jdg 1:15). Were we to ask but one thing of our heavenly Father, there were reason it should be, Lord, give us a fountain. Why, blessed be His name, He hath given us one. Not only springs of water, useful for our outward man, a land of springs, like Canaan but a Christ, a Christ for our souls. A fountain of water is useful for three things–
(1) For quenching of thirst. How glad is the weary traveller, or labourer, of a spring of water; though it be but fair water. Oh, says he, it hath saved my life. The Israelites in the wilderness, when there was no water, what an affliction was it to them. When they had it, it was sweet as honey and oil (1Co 10:4). Now, this fountain is very useful for this purpose. Is thy soul athirst?–athirst for peace, pardon, life, salvation, for grace, strength? Here is a fountain for thee, come and drink (Isa 55:1)–buying frightens; therefore, come freely. Thou art called (Joh 7:37; Rev 22:15). See the discourse of our Lord Jesus with the woman of Samaria (Joh 4:10-14). Alas! the most of men know not what this means–they are sensible of no need, and therefore of no desire, but (Psa 42:1) As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God.
(2) For washing away filth. Water cleanses; we could not tell what to do without it–to make our bodies, our clothes, comfortable. This fountain also is cleansing. Sin defiles, leaves a blot, a stain, upon the soul. It is uncleanness. The guilt of it is so: from that we are washed by the blood of Christ, satisfying Gods justice and making atonement; also purging the conscience (1Jn 1:7; Rev 1:5; Heb 9:14). The corrupt nature, which is the root and principle of it, is so (Psa 14:3). From this the Spirit of Christ washes in the laver of regeneration (Tit 3:4-5; 1Co 6:11).
(3) For watering the earth and making it fruitful. They use to have fountains for that purpose in their gardens, to be ready in a dry season to fetch water to refresh the plants. Herein also Christ is our fountain. Did He not water us every moment, grace in us would languish and die (Isa 27:3; Isa 44:3-4). Now, it is the second of these especially that this text speaks of–Jesus Christ is a cleansing fountain; we have need of Him as such, for we are filthy and defiled.
II. What kind of fountain is the Lord Jesus? As a cleansing fountain He hath these properties.
1. He is full, He hath enough wherewithal to cleanse us; merit enough, spirit enough. Under the law they had cleansing appointments as to ceremonial pollutions, but ours is beyond theirs. They had blood, but it was but the blood of bulls and goats, and that in a bason only; but we have the blood of the Son of God, not in a bason, but a fountain full of it. They had water; one particularly, called the water of purification, made of the ashes of a red heifer. Open and free as to terms. We say–What is freer than a gift? He is the gift of God (Joh 4:10), the free gift (Rom 5:1-21.), the unspeakable gift (2Co 9:15). Though thou hast no worthiness, no matter, He is worthy. Cordial acceptance makes Him ours. He forgives freely (Isa 43:25).
2. The only fountain. Besides Him there is no other (Act 4:12). We may think, perhaps, as Naaman–Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? (2Ki 5:12). But no other fountain will do.
III. The application, in four particulars.
1. Here is matter for thanksgiving to God, who–
(1) Appointed this fountain in the counsel of His will from all eternity (Joh 3:16).
(2) Opened it in the fulness of time, after it had been shut for four thousand years (Gal 4:4).
(3) Opened it to us; to us of this nation, country, neighbourhood, of this present age and generation. We are within hearing of the joyful sound.
(4) And specially, that He hath brought us to it and washed us in it. This is certainly the mercy of mercies,–Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood (Rev 1:5). This is more than angels can say. When ten lepers were cleansed, only one returned to give thanks (Luk 17:1-37).
2. Here is matter for conviction. Convincing! Of what? Of your need of this fountain to wash in. That which is unclean doth certainly need washing; but thou art unclean, I mean, thy soul, thy mind, thy conscience; inwardly, spiritually. I am sure thou wast so by nature; born in guilt and filth; like an infant weltering in blood and pollution (Eze 16:1-63). And art thou washed? When, and how? And by whom, and with what? I am sure that every sin thou hast committed hath added to that original pollution, and hath made thee more and more filthy (Psa 106:39; Mat 15:19-20). Even vain thoughts (Jer 4:17). So is the world also (Jam 1:27). Nay, our best duties have their pollutions (Isa 64:6). But there is one particular kind of sins, those against the seventh commandment, that is especially called uncleanness. And have we been in no sort guilty of that, neither in thought, word, nor deed? (Philip Henry.)
The fountain opened
I. A fountain. Water is much valued in the East. We cannot wonder that spiritual blessings are so often exhibited to us in Scripture under images borrowed from water. These images found their way at once to the understandings and feelings of Jewish men. The Lord Jesus is meant by the text. He is represented as a fountain for a particular purpose; not for the thirsty to drink from, but for the unclean to wash in. Here again the text carries us into eastern climes. Bodily ablutions are much more common there than among us. With the Jews, too, they partook sometimes of a sacred character. The prophet mentions two things, sin and uncleanness, but he has only one in his mind–sin under the figure of uncleanness. Does uncleanness degrade whatever it touches? So has sin degraded us. Is uncleanness a disgusting and loathsome thing? If there is anything disgusting in the universe, it is sin. When God calls it by this name, He represents it as some thing which He cannot bear to look upon. In the text is a remedy for this hateful evil. It is a suitable, a real, effectual remedy for it. It is a fountain that can remove uncleanness, and is intended to remove it. This fountain is nothing else than the precious blood of Gods own dear Son. That blood was shed for us. As water removes uncleanness from the body, so does this blood remove the guilt of sin from the soul. It does away with it, frees the soul from it, makes our condition as safe, and in the end as happy, as though we had never sinned. This effectual remedy for sin is here described as an abundant, lasting remedy. Thousands may wash in it, and it will be as everflowing as ever, able to cleanse thousands and thousands more.
II. For whom this fountain is intended. For the Jews first, then for all others.
1. The utter insufficiency of all rites and ordinances to cleanse the soul from sin. Who were these men? The very men to whom pertained the law, with all its sacrifices. When guilt oppressed or conscience disquieted them, they could in a few minutes be in their temple, and sharing in its sacrifices and service. But the text addresses them as if they were the very heathen. All their legal ordinances could not expiate their guilt. I is the same with our Christian sacraments. God has ordained them, not to take away sin, but to keep us mindful of it, and of that blood which can take it away.
2. We are taught here the all-sufficiency of Christs blood to cleanse the soul. There is no guilt too great for the blood of Christ to wash out, no sinner whom He cannot recover and save.
III. The time when this fountain shall be opened to these sinful men. In that day. The day of our Lords crucifixion. They point also to a day yet to come, when the Jews as a nation shall be brought to repentance and the reception of Christ. Learn–
1. There can be no real knowledge of Christ without repentance.
2. Wherever there is real repentance there also will God give in the end a real knowledge of His salvation. Would that we might all learn from this Scripture to seek for ourselves a deeper consciousness of sin, a more heartfelt and abiding sorrow on account of it! (C. Bradley.)
The fountain for sin and uncleanness
The prophet leads us to consider the legal uncleannesses so much and so fully developed in the Old Testament, and leads us through them to look at the great disease of sin–the leprosy of the soul.
I. The great uncleanness–the spiritual leprosy of the soul. This is that that defileth a man. It is not poverty; it is not sickness nor disease–however terrible or however sinful. That which defileth a man. This inward leprosy maketh a man an offence to God. This evil pervadeth the world, and yet men are as insensible of it as if there were no truth in it.
II. A fountain open for sin and for uncleanness. The fountain is the blood of Jesus. A bubbling fountain, ever full, ever abundant.
III. This fountain is said to be opened. Formerly, this fountain exclusively belonged to the priests and to the Jews; now, it is for the whole house of David, and for all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. There it stands, a fountain without cover, open and free for the very vilest. (J. H. Evans.)
The fountain opened
The text contains one important prediction which was fulfilled in Christ. It relates to the consequences of His death, with regard to His people, and shows of what great importance this event was to the whole Christian Church. The accomplishment shows with what confidence and comfort we may rely on the great doctrine of the atonement which it involves.
I. The promise of provision to be made against the effects of sin.
1. The prophet speaks of a fountain to be opened. A fountain is properly the source or spring head of waters. Springs or fountains are called, living, when they never cede or intermit, but are always sending forth their streams.
2. The blood of Christ was shed expressly, by appointment of God, and by covenant with the Son of God, for the expiation of human guilt, and for the cleansing and purifying of sinful men.
3. There is an inexhaustible fulness and sufficiency of merit in this blood of the Redeemer for the complete expiation of human sin. In its atoning and cleansing properties, the blood of Immanuel is as infinite as the mercy of God which it procures for sinners, and for the exercise of which it prepares the way.
4. This blood of Jesus Christ may he appropriated to the case and wants of any sinner that comes. Sinners may apply believingly to this blood, and obtain from it, not only the cleansing they require, but also plenteous forgiveness, substantial peace, and animating hope.
II. The persons for whom this provision against the effects of sin is promised.
1. By this expression the prophet intended primarily Gods ancient people, the Jews. But the Jews, as the peculiar people of God, were a type of Christians, and His people everywhere, It is no presumption in us to conclude, as we have already assumed, that this promised provision is intended for us.
2. The double phrase may denote both rich and poor in Gods Church.
III. The time when the promise was to be verified. The promise was actually fulfilled on the day of the Saviours crucifixion on Calvary. (J. Jaques, M. A.)
The opened fountain
The application of this prophecy to Messiah is beyond all doubt. It contains the announcement of a divinely appointed and effectual remedy for the guilt and misery of man.
1. The certainty of this provision. There shall be a fountain.
2. The perpetuity of this provision.
3. The freeness of this provision.
4. The sufficiency of this provision. (W. G. Barrett.)
The Lord Jesus Christ a fountain
I. In what sense may the Lord Jesus be depicted as the fountain opened? In opposition to those many broken cisterns of human invention to which men are prone to apply. In opposition to those rivulets, those brooks, which are occasionally good, but which soon flow away and are lost. Under the law there were various layers prepared for the purpose of purifying from ceremonial guilt and pollution. Jesus is a fountain in opposition to all these types and images. The Lord Jesus is the fountain, because He Himself in His own power, in His own essence, contains inexhaustible and perpetual fulness.
II. For what purpose the Lord Jesus is this fountain. For sin and for uncleanness. All sin is uncleanness. Repeating the expression gives more enlarged views of the efficacy of faith, and the grace of our Lord. For the purpose of giving comfort and peace to the believer the terms are doubled. This fountain cleanses not only from the guilt of sin, but also from the accusing and terrifying power of sin in the conscience.
III. To whom is it opened? The house of David and inhabitants of Jerusalem. In the East there were often contentions over fountains; this one is free to all. An open fountain, to which all ranks, all stations, all ages, all conditions, may repair. (Archdeacon Law.)
The fountain opened
I. The fountain that is opened.
1. The plenitude of Divine grace. It is not a wasting stream, that soon exhausts its store, but a never-failing fountain, ever flowing in plenteous supplies for every demand. The Lord Jehovah is emphatically styled, The God of all grace. Millions have been refreshed by this fountain, and still it is undiminished. There is enough for all, and enough for evermore.
2. The freeness of Divine grace. It is not a fountain sealed up, and forbidden; but freely opened and accessible to all. None are excluded from participating its richest blessings (Rev 22:17). No personal merit, or moral worthiness, is required in its willing recipients.
II. The period when it was opened. In that day, etc. When this expression occurs in the prophetic writings, it generally refers to the actual appearing, or spiritual reign of the Messiah. But we ought to notice respecting this fountain, that–
1. It was virtually opened in the original scheme of redemption. According to Gods gracious promise to mankind, Christ is called, The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
2. It was actually opened in the mediatorial work of the Redeemer. When the fulness of time was come, Christ was manifested in the flesh, to accomplish the will of God, and procure the salvation of sinners. He then fully opened this fountain, by fulfilling all righteousness in His own person–becoming the propitiation for our sins–rising again for our justification–ascending to heaven to be our Advocate with the Father–and diffusing an enlarged dispensation of the Holy Ghost; it was ministerially opened in the labours and writings of the Apostles, as ambassadors for Christ (1Co 1:23-24; 1Co 1:30); and it still continues open.
III. The people to whom it is opened. The house of David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. It is very evident–
1. This fountain was primarily opened to the Jews. To the Jews Christ was promised, and to them He came as His own people, according to the flesh. His personal ministry was generally confined to them; and He commanded His apostles to open their commission at Jerusalem, and preach the Gospel first to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Luk 24:46-47).
2. This fountain is now graciously opened to the Gentiles. The blessings of the Messiah were not to be confined to the Jewish Church, He was sent to be a light of the Gentiles, and for salvation to the ends of the earth. By the grace of God He tasted death for every man.
IV. The purpose for which it is opened. It is for sin and for uncleanness. This implies–
1. A fountain is opened for the expiation of sin. The death of Christ was a perfect sacrifice, by which an atonement was made for the sins of mankind.
2. A fountain is opened for the destruction of sin. It must not only be sacrificially expiated, but personally destroyed. The Son of God effects this destruction by the merit of His death, and the operation of His grace (Tit 2:14). All sin is moral uncleanness, and spreads its infectious disease through every power, both of body and soul. The ceremonial purifications under the law were emblematic of the efficacy of this fountain (Heb 9:13-14). (Skeletons of Sermons.)
The fountain opened
The fulfilment of this prophecy has never yet taken place, and will probably be considerably posterior to our times. Though not fulfilled to the Jews, yet, to us the fountain is opened.
I. What is this fountain? The ancient Jews had their sacrifices, and purifying oblations. They have now been long without a sacrifice and a priesthood. We are not to understand that these Levitical fountains will be opened again, as some have dreamed. The blood of animals might be an instituted means of taking away a ceremonial guilt, which yet left the sinner as he was before, in regard to the Governor of the world; but it had no fitness to take away moral guilt, because it failed in the two great principles of a true atonement,–a manifestation of the evil of sin, and a demonstration of Gods righteous government. These meet in Christ, who is the true fountain.
II. Its efficacy. In the removal of sin and uncleanness.
1. Sin is the transgression of the law. The law is transgressed in three ways,–by a violation of its precepts, by a neglect of its injunctions, and by a defect in its observance. Bringing all under the penalty of death.
2. Uncleanness (margin, separation for uncleanness). Allusion to arrangements in the Levitical system; typical of the manner in which sin separates between the soul and God.
III. The day when the fountain is opened. The day of our Lords crucifixion. The day when the Gospel is first preached in a heathen land. The day when a Spirit of grace and supplication is poured out. Whenever a penitent mourns. In every means of grace, that pardon may be repeated, and our sinful nature cleansed. We need never attend any of the ordinances of religious worship without receiving a renewed application of the blood of Christ, and a fresh communication of sanctifying grace. (R. Watson.)
The fountain opened
In the text the prophet anticipates the personal manifestation of the Messiah, and the unspeakable benefits to mankind from His atoning sacrifice.
I. The fountain that is opened. Fountain is a metaphor. It represents the mediatorial character of Christ. As the source and medium of salvation to the human race. A fountain opened implies–
1. The plenitude of Divine grace. It is a never-failing fountain, ever flowing in plenteous supplies for every demand.
2. The freeness of Divine grace. It is not sealed, but freely opened, and accessible to all.
II. The period when it was opened. In that day. This expression, in the prophetic writings, generally refers to the actual appearing, or spiritual reign of Messiah. It refers to Christs assumption of our nature, and sacrifice for our sins.
1. It was virtually opened in the original scheme of redemption.
2. It was actually opened in the mediatorial work of the Redeemer.
III. The people to whom it is opened.
1. This fountain was primarily opened to the Jews.
2. It is now graciously opened to the Gentiles.
IV. The purpose for which it is opened. It is for sin and for uncleanness. This implies–
1. A fountain is opened for the expiation of sin. The death of Christ was a perfect sacrifice, by which an atonement was made for the sins of mankind.
2. A fountain is opened for the destruction of sin. The ceremonial purifications under the law were emblematic of the efficacy of this fountain. (C. Simeon, M. A.)
The new economy of grace
It is not to the advent of a person, or to the occurrence of any historical event, that the prophecy in the beginning of this section refers: what is announced is the establishment of the economy of grace, the bringing in of the kingdom of God, free access to which should be given to all, small and great. There was provision made for the cleansing from sin and uncleanness of all without respect of persons; the Jew first, but also the Greek. The manifestation of this was by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who came to take away sin by the sacrifice of Himself; but it is the thing done rather than the doer of it that is here announced. It is for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem that this fountain is said to be opened. They seem to err grievously, however, who infer from this that this prophecy refers to the final conversion of the Jewish people. The prophets are wont to describe the new dispensation in language borrowed from the condition and usages of the old, and we interpret them aright when keeping this in view, we understand their descriptions, not as representations of simple historical facts, but as serving as the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, and as finding their fulfilment in crises and conditions of the kingdom of God on earth. They go upon the presumption that the Israel of God was never to be abolished, that its continuity was never to be interrupted, that though the outward national Israel might be cast off, because of their rejection of the Good Shepherd, the true Israel, the reality of which the other was but the symbol, the Israel that was really Israel, should continue forever. This idea our Lord and His Apostles adopted, and in their teaching and administrations carried out. (W. L. Alexander, D. D.)
A fountain for sin
Remission of sins and sanctification, purging away the guilt of sin by the grace of God in forgiving sins through Christs blood, and the virtue of His blood applied by the Spirit, and laid hold upon by faith, for purging all uncleanness of sin; this is compared to a springing fountain made open to all, in opposition to the small measure of water carried into the temple for legal washings. This benefit will be very conspicuous toward converted Israel, when the Redeemer shall turn iniquity from Jacob.
1. The great and chief privilege of the Gospel is remission and purging of sin, which, as they are only attainable through faith laying hold on Christs blood and the grace of God offered through Him in the Gospel, so without these, no other advantages by the Gospel will avail much, or be comfortable.
2. The free grace of God toward lost man, and the virtue of Christs blood is a treasure inexhaustible, and which cannot be overcome, with the greatness and multiplicity of sin in those who flee unto it, for it is a fountain or spring.
3. Pardon and virtue for purging of sin is not only purchased, and the way to it made patent, by the death of Christ, giving access unto God through Him; but is held forth in the offer of the Gospel and ministry of the Word, that none may pretend ignorance, nor any who need it seclude themselves from so free an offer, A fountain opened.
4. As the greatest must be in Christs reverence for this benefit, even those who have greatest gifts and are rulers of others, so the meanest in the Church, however they be not equal to others in gifts, yet have a like interest with them in this saving benefit.
5. When the Lord pours out upon His people the spirit of repentance and humiliation, it is a forerunner of ample manifestations of the grace of God, in opening up the treasures of the Gospel by the ministry of the Word, and in granting of pardon, and growth in purity. For, when the land shall mourn, in that day there shall be a fountain opened. (George Hutcheson.)
A word full of Gospel
The twelfth chapter of Zechariah is principally occupied with the indications of some particular day. Thus, we read again and again: In that day (verse 3); In that day (verse 4); In that day (verse 6); In that day (verse 8); In that day (verse 9); and In that day, in the opening of the thirteenth chapter–In that day there shall be a fountain opened. The reference is not in reality to some particular day; the day was not the same, the calendar was filled with that particular day, and yet the day was singular from all other days round about it. In all the previous instances we find nothing equal to the music that is discoverable in the opening of the thirteenth chapter. We read, In that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone; In that day I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness; In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; In that day shall there be great mourning in Jerusalem; but now, in the thirteenth chapter, In that day there shall be a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness–a fountain of water, a living fountain, hidden all the time in the rock; not a new fountain, the fountain was always there, but not always open; its existence was recognised by many a ceremonial action. We read of water in the Book of Numbers that is known in the literal Hebrew as the sin water, that is to say, the water that was applied to the cleansing of moral and spiritual offences, We delight to give an evangelical interpretation to this fountain. We call Jesus Christ the Son of God, the fountain that was opened for sin and for uncleanness. He offered to make men clean, He offered to refresh the souls of men with living water; He is described as the Water of earth, or the Water of heaven. David did not open the fountain, the fountain was opened in his house; the very grammar suggests an external and superintending act. In this living fountain we recognise Gods supreme miracle. For whom is the fountain opened? For a special class, and for that class only. It is not opened for Pharisees, righteous persons, or those who would carve their own way to heaven. This fountain is opened for sin and for uncleanness. Is any man conscious of sin? Here is the fountain. Has any man sat down by rivers of water and taken to him soap and nitre, and tried to cleanse his life of sin stains, and has consciously and pitiably failed in his attempt? Here is the fountain opened for uncleanness. Have we tried this fountain? Until we have tried it we cannot condemn it; until we have gone to it and sat beside it and invoked the spirit of its Creator, we cannot tell what virtue it possesses. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)
The fountain of life
Old mythology tells of one who discovered in his wanderings a fountain of peculiar qualities, and on bathing in it, found himself endowed with immortality. In the Holy Scripture this fiction is turned into solid fact. The Saviours fulness is original and boundless; the fulness of a spring always flowing and never diminished. The whole abundance of Gods free grace is poured unto us from this unfailing source. The fountain of life was opened on the day when the Divine Redeemer suffered and died for us. During the brief period of our Saviours ministry, the fountain flowed in partial streams, but at His death it was fully and forever opened. The Mosaic law had made ample provision for ceremonial pollution, and there were pools, like that of Siloam, where bodily disease might be cured, but the soul must be washed in another fountain. The stains of sin were so deep and so pervading, that even the conscience itself was defiled, and the everlasting benediction of Gods heavenly washing, could alone render the soul meet for His presence and glory. Such provision, accordingly, has been made, and a fountain has been opened for sin and for uncleanness. There are those who hope to cleanse themselves by some methods of their own. Would God have opened this fountain, if any other would have sufficed? The fountain stands open in the means of grace; in the invitations of Gods Word; in the nearness, the power, the grace of our adorable Lord and Saviour. (John N. Norton.)
The gospel age
I. It is a day for the abounding of sin cleansing influences.
To the Jews, washing from sin and ceremonial impurity was an idea with which they were well acquainted. It was enjoined by the law (Num 8:7, see also Eze 36:25). That sin and uncleanness are in the world. This is a fact written in all history, patent to every mans observation and consciousness.
2. The removal of sin is the worlds great necessity. Its existence is the cause of all the miseries of the world, physical, social, political, religious.
3. Provision for its removal abounds. A fountain opened. Sin and uncleanness are not an essential part of human nature. Men have lived without sin, and men in heaven do now. It is a mere stain on human nature, separable from it, and the means of separation are provided, provided in the Gospel. It is a fountain.
This implies–
1. Abundance. It is not a rill, a brook, a lake, but a fountain. What is the fountain? Infinite love. This implies–
2. Freeness. Flowing, ever open to all. This implies–
3. Perpetuity. The hottest sun does not dry up the fountain. It has an under connection with the boundless deep.
II. It is a day in which idolatry shall be utterly abolished. What a blessed age will that be, when all men on the face of the earth shall have their souls centred in love and devotion on the one great and common Father of us all!
III. It is a day in which all false religious teachings shall cease. And I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirits to pass out of the land, etc.
1. False religious teachers are great curses to a community. This is implied in the promise here of their destruction. They deceive souls on the most vital of all points.
2. False religious teachers may become objects of indignation even to their nearest relations. Thank God there is an age of reality coming, an age when men will recoil from shams as from demons vile.
3. False teachers will on this day be ashamed to exercise their mission. If any false prophets should continue to exercise their function, they will have to do it–
(1) in secrecy;
(2) and disclaiming their profession.
Should their disclaiming be questioned, they will take shelter in falsehood. And one shall say unto Him, what are these wounds in Thine hands? Then He shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of My friends.
Christ cleanses as well as forgives
A criminal, condemned by our law to die, can only be spared by the King empowering the Home Secretary to reprieve or pardon. Even then to remove the stain that must always rest upon that persons character is utterly beyond the power of them both. How different with Jesus. His power is unlimited. He not only is able to forgive sins, but He can cleanse away every trace of guilt, and present us faultless unto God.
The cleasing fountain
A fountain, says James Bailie, not a stagnant pool or a sluggish canal, but a torrent, a waterfall. Gods love flows forth like a great river over the Rock of Ages. Men bathe in that fountain, and their sins are swept away into the dead sea of Gods forgetfulness. God has pardoned transgressions, the very recital of which would have utterly destroyed our faith in human nature. One of the strongest proofs of Divine origin of Christianity is that it has received in its embrace liars, swindlers, and adulterers, and having cleansed and purified them, made them ornaments of society.
The remedy near at hand
Do you know that the wound that Hedley Vicars received before Sebastopol was not necessarily fatal? It was a wound that was very common, and a wound over which the surgeons had complete control, yet he died. How was it? It was because, in the hurry and haste of the march in the grey morning from the heights of the Crimea, the tents where the stores were, were left behind. Had there been a bandage near, had there been lint and cotton wool near, Hedley Vicars would have been saved; but he bled his life away before they could reach the tents. Ah, David tells you today that the tents where Gods supplies are, are never too far away. Blessed be God, the bandages, and lint, and healing efficacy of the blood of Christ, are not confined to Calvary, where it was shed. Here it flows. Oh, plunge into the fountain that was opened for sin! (John Robertson.)
The sense of sin
The sense of sin, we are told, is weaker today than it once was. Are we quite sure, if we could penetrate beneath the crust of mens reserve? An American humorist has put it, but oh! so truly, In his heart of hearts no man can have much respect for himself. In our heart of hearts, in our moments of colloquy with ourselves, when we feel ourselves to be in the presence of another whom we cannot name, we accuse ourselves, and there is no escape from the accusation and its penalty. The sense of sin may be outwardly weaker, but you are always upon safe ground if you appeal to the condemned conscience that is in every man. We have seen our life is marred by the presence of sin; and that mournful fact is not partial but universal. Touch the man and you touch one who has been seared and scored by the presence of an enemy, and that enemy is sin. (R. J. Campbell, B. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XIII
After the humiliation and conversion of the Jews, foretold in
the preceding chapter, they are here promised the full pardon
of their sins, and a deliverance from idolatry and false
prophets, 1-6.
Prophecy concerning the death of the Messiah, and the
persecution of his disciples, 7.
The remaining verses may refer to those Jewish converts to
Christianity who survived the calamities which their country
suffered from the Romans, 8, 9.
NOTES ON CHAP. XIII
Verse 1. In that day there shall be a fountain opened] This chapter is a continuation of the preceding, and should not have been separated from it.
A fountain] The source of mercy in Christ Jesus; perhaps referring to the death he should die, and the piercing of his side, when blood and water issued out.
To the house of David] To David’s family, and such like persons as it included. See the history of David and his sons, and then learn for whom Christ shed his blood.
Inhabitants of Jerusalem] Such like persons as the Jews were in every part of their history, and in their last times, when they clamoured for the blood of Christ, and pursued him unto death! Learn from this also for whom Christ died! These were the worst of the human race; and if he died for them, none need despair. They rejected, betrayed, crucified, slew, and blasphemed Christ, and afterwards persecuted his followers. For these he died! Yes: and he tasted death for EVERY MAN.
For sin and for uncleanness.] For the removal of the guilt of sin, and for the purification of the soul from the uncleanness or pollution of sin.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
In that day; when the Lamb of God shall be offered up a sacrifice for mankind, and the gospel shall be preached in which the glad tidings of our redemption are published.
A fountain: by water and ceremonial washings was legal pollution in many cases purged away, and much of the legal service stood in divers washings; but all these were shadows and types; here is that they typified, the matchless healing and purging fountain, i.e. the blood of Christ; here is the true Siloam, which never failed to heal any that rightly used it; it is Christ.
Opened: the spouse is to Christ a fountain sealed, but Christ is to sinners a fountain opened: under the law he was as the waters of the temple, for the Jew; but now he is opened to us Gentiles, free to all, and of easy access, and of sovereign virtue to heal.
To the house of David; he was every where nearest to them, and though his own kindred did some of them slight him, and not believe in him, yet some others did, and it may intimate to us the first tender of grace made to his own, to whom he came, though they received him not; or the royal family some of them will be benefited by it, and all of them need it; no outward privilege can secure us against the poison of sin, grace alone, this fountain only, can purge it away in great and noble, or mean and base.
To the inhabitants of Jerusalem; to all the Jews before the Gentiles,
To you first, saith the apostle,
God hath sent his Son; but in that it is opened, it is to us Gentiles also. Jerusalem, as image of the whole church, takes in the Gentiles; so inhabitants of Jerusalem are all to whom the gospel is preached, all penitents.
For sin and for uncleanness; for purging away of all manner of sins and uncleannesses, of which men repent, and from which they depart, according to that Pro 20:9; 1Jo 1:9.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. Connected with the close ofthe twelfth chapter. The mourning penitents are here comforted.
fountain openedIt hasbeen long opened, but then first it shall be so “to the houseof David,” c. (representing all Israel) after their long andweary wanderings. Like Hagar in the wilderness they remain ignorantof the refreshment near them, until God “opens theireyes” (Ge 21:19) [MOORE].It is not the fountain, but their eyes that need to be opened. Itshall be a “fountain” ever flowing not a laver needingconstantly to be replenished with water, such as stood between thetabernacle and altar (Ex 30:18).
for sin . . .uncleannessthat is, judicial guilt and moral impurity. Thusjustification and sanctification are implied in this verse as bothflowing from the blood of Christ, not from ceremonial sacrifices(1Co 1:30; Heb 9:13;Heb 9:14; 1Jn 1:7;compare Eze 36:25). Sinin Hebrew is literally a missing the mark or way.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
In that day there shall be a fountain opened,…. Which Aben Ezra and Kimchi understand literally; but R. Moses the priest figuratively; and so the Targum, which interprets it of the doctrine of the law being open as a fountain of water; and so Abendana, who compares it with Isa 2:3 but rather it should be understood of the preaching of the Gospel, and the administration of Gospel ordinances; though better of Christ himself, the fountain of gardens, and of living waters, from whose pierced side, of whom mention is made as pierced in the preceding chapter Zec 12:10, sprung blood and water; blood for justification, remission, and cleansing, and water for sanctification: and best of all of his blood particularly, called a “fountain”, not so much for the quantity of blood shed, as for its full virtue and efficacy to answer the purposes for which it was shed; it being the blood not only of man, and of an innocent man, but of the Son of God; and may be said to be “opened”, because of its continued virtue to cleanse from sin; it is not sealed, but opened, and always stands open; there is no hinderance or obstruction in coming to it; not the meanness or poverty of persons, they that have no money may come to these waters; nor their sinfulness, even though they are the chief of sinners; nor their being of this and the other nation, it is exposed to all; to all that the Father has given to Christ; to all sensible sinners: though it follows,
to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; for this, as it may be literally understood of the Jews in the latter day, including their great men and common people, high and low, rich and poor; so mystically of all the family of Christ the son of David, and of all that belong to the heavenly Jerusalem, even the whole church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven:
for sin, and for uncleanness; that is, for sin, which is uncleanness; sin is an unclean thing, and has defiled all human nature, and nothing can remove the pollution of it; but the blood of Christ can remove it, and that being shed makes atonement for it, procures the pardon of it, and justifies from it in the sight of God; and being sprinkled on the conscience, removes it from that. The Targum interprets it mystically of the forgiveness of sins, paraphrasing it thus,
“I will forgive their iniquities, as they are cleansed with the water of sprinkling, and the ashes of the heifer, which is for sin.”
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The penitential supplication of Israel will lead to a thorough renewal of the nation, since the Lord will open to the penitent the fountain of His grace for the cleansing away of sin and the sanctifying of life. Zec 13:1. “In that day will a fountain be opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and uncleanness.” As the Lord Himself pours out the spirit of supplication upon Israel, so does He also provide the means of purification from sin. A fountain is opened, when its stream of water bursts forth from the bosom of the earth (see Isa 41:18; Isa 35:6). The water, which flows from the fountain opened by the Lord, is a water of sprinkling, with which sin and uncleanness are removed. The figure is taken partly from the water used for the purification of the Levites at their consecration, which is called , sin-water, or alter of absolution, in Num 8:7, and partly from the sprinkling-water prepared from the sacrificial ashes of the red heifer for purification from the defilement of death, which is called , water of uncleanness, i.e., water which removed uncleanness, in Num 19:9. Just as bodily uncleanness is a figure used to denote spiritual uncleanness, the defilement of sin (cf. Psa 51:9), so is earthly sprinkling-water a symbol of the spiritual water by which sin is removed. By this water we have to understand not only grace in general, but the spiritual sprinkling-water, which is prepared through the sacrificial death of Christ, through the blood that He shed for sin, and which is sprinkled upon us for the cleansing away of sin in the gracious water of baptism. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin (1Jo 1:7; compare 1Jo 5:6).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Evangelical Predictions; The Destruction of False Prophets. | B. C. 500. |
1 In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. 2 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land. 3 And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of the LORD: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth. 4 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive: 5 But he shall say, I am no prophet, I am a husbandman; for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth. 6 And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.
Behold the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world, the sin of the church; for therefore was the Son of God manifested, to take away our sin, 1 John iii. 5.
I. He takes away the guilt of sin by the blood of his cross (v. 1): In that day, in the gospel-day, there shall be a fountain opened, that is, provision made for the cleansing of all those from the pollutions of sin who truly repent and are sorry for them. In that day, when the Spirit of grace is poured out to set them a mourning for their sins, they shall not mourn as those who have no hope, but they shall have their sins pardoned, and the comfort of their pardon in their bosoms. Their consciences shall be purified and pacified by the blood of Christ, which cleanses from all sin, 1 John i. 7. For Christ is exalted to give both repentance and remission of sins; and where he gives the one no doubt he gives the other. This fountain opened is the pierced side of Jesus Christ, spoken of just before (ch. xii. 10), for thence came there out blood and water, and both for cleansing. And those who look upon Christ pierced, and mourn for their sins that pierced him, and are therefore in bitterness for him, may look again upon Christ pierced and rejoice in him, because it pleased the Lord thus to smite this rock, that it might be to us a fountain of living waters. See here, 1. How we are polluted; we are all so; we have sinned, and sin is uncleanness; it defiles the mind and conscience, renders us odious to God and uneasy in ourselves, unfit to be employed in the service of God and admitted into communion with him, as those who were ceremonially unclean were shut out of the sanctuary. The house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem are under sin, which is uncleanness. The truth is, we are all as an unclean thing, and deserve to have our portion with the unclean. 2. How we may be purged. Behold, there is fountain opened for us to wash in, and there are streams flowing to us from that fountain, so that, if we be not made clean, it is our own fault. The blood of Christ, and God’s pardoning mercy in that blood, revealed in the new covenant, are, (1.) A fountain; for there is in them an inexhaustible fulness. There is mercy enough in God, and merit enough in Christ, for the forgiving of the greatest sins and sinners, upon gospel-terms. Such were some of you, but you are washed, 1 Cor. vi. 11. Under the law there were a brazen laver and a brazen sea to wash in; those were but vessels, but we have a fountain to ourselves, overflowing, ever-flowing. (2.) A fountain opened; for, whoever will, may come and take the benefit of it; it is opened, not only to the house of David, but to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to the poor and mean as well as to the rich and great; or it is opened for all believers, who, as the spiritual seed of Christ, are of the house of David, and, as living members of the church, are inhabitants of Jerusalem. Through Christ all that believe are justified, are washed from their sins in his blood, that they may be made to our God kings and priests,Rev 1:5; Rev 1:6.
II. He takes away the dominion of sin by the power of his grace, even of beloved sins. This evermore accompanies the former; those that are washed in the fountain opened, as they are justified, so they are sanctified; the water came with the blood out of the pierced side of Christ. It is here promised that in that day, 1. Idolatry shall be quite abolished and the people of the Jews shall be effectually cured of their inclination to it (v. 2): I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land. The worship of the idols of their fathers shall be so perfectly rooted out that in one generation or two it shall be forgotten that ever there were such idols among them; they shall either not be named at all or not with any respect; they shall no more be remembered, as was promised, Hos. ii. 17. This was fulfilled in the rooted aversion which the Jews had, after the captivity, to idols and idolatry, and still retain to this day; it was fulfilled also in the ready conversion of many to the faith of Christ, by which they were taken off from making an idol of the ceremonial law, as the unbelieving Jews did; and it is still in the fulfilling when souls are brought off from the world and the flesh, those two great idols, that they may cleave to God only. 2. False prophecy shall also be brought to an end: I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit, the prophets that are under the influence of the unclean spirit, to pass out of the land. The devil is an unclean spirit; sin and uncleanness are from him; he has his prophets, that serve his interests and receive their instructions from him. Take away the unclean spirit, and the prophets would not deceive as they do; take away the false prophets that produce sham commissions, and the unclean spirit could not do the mischief he does. When God designs the silencing of the false prophets he banishes the unclean spirit out of the land, that wrought in them, and was a rival with him for the throne in the heart. The church of the Jews, when they were addicted to idols, did also dote much upon false prophets, who flattered them in their sins with promises of impunity and peace; but here it is promised, as a blessed effect of the promised reformation, that they should be very much set against false prophets, and zealous to clear the land of them; they were so after the captivity, till, through the blindness of their zeal against false prophets, they had put Christ to death under that character, and, after that, there arose many false Christs and false prophets, and deceived many, Matt. xxiv. 11. It is here foretold, (1.) That false prophets, instead of being indulged and favoured, should be brought to condign punishment even by their nearest relations, which would be as great an instance as any of flagrant zeal against those deceivers (v. 3): When any shall set up for a prophet, and shall speak lies in the name of the Lord, shall preach that which tends to draw people from God and to confirm them in sin, his own parents shall be the first and most forward to prosecute him for it, according to the law. Deut. xiii. 6-11, “If thy son entice thee secretly from God, thou shalt surely kill him. Show thy indignation against him, and prevent any further temptation from him.” His father and his mother shall thrust him through when he prophesies. Note, We ought to conceive, and always to retain, a very great detestation and dread of every thing that would draw us out of the way of our duty into by-paths, as those who cannot bear that which is evil, Rev. ii. 2. And holy zeal for God and godliness will make us hate sin, and dread temptation, most in those whom naturally we love best, and who are nearest to us; there our danger is greatest, as Adam’s from Eve, Job’s from his wife; and there it will be the most praiseworthy to show our zeal, as Levi, who, in the cause of God, did not acknowledge his brethren, nor know his own children, Deut. xxxiii. 9. Thus we must hate and forsake our nearest relations when they come in competition with our duty to God, Luke xiv. 26. Natural affections, even the strongest, must be over-ruled by gracious affections. (2.) That false prophets should be themselves convinced of their sin and folly, and let fall their pretensions (v. 4): “The prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision; they shall not repeat it, or insist upon it, but desire that it may be forgotten and no more said of it, being ready themselves to own it was a sham, because God has by his grace awakened their consciences and shown them their error, or because the event disproves their predictions, and gives them the lie, or because their prophecies do not meet with such a favourable reception as they used to meet with, but are generally despised and distasted; they perceive the people ashamed of them, which makes them begin to be ashamed of themselves. And therefore they shall no longer wear a rough garment, or garment of hair, as the true prophets used to do, in imitation of Elijah, and in token of their being mortified to the pleasures and delights of sense.” The pretenders had appeared in the habit of true prophets; but, their folly being now made manifest, they shall lay it aside, no more to deceive and impose upon unthinking unwary people by it. A modest dress is a very good thing, if it be the genuine indication of a humble heart, and is to instruct; but it is a bad thing if it be the hypocritical disguise of a proud ambitious heart, and is to deceive. Let men be really as good as they seem to be, but not seem to be better than really they are. This pretender, as a true penitent, [1.] Shall undeceive those whom he had imposed upon: He shall say, “I am no prophet, as I have pretended to be, was never designed nor set apart to the office, never educated nor brought up for it, never conversant among the sons of the prophets. I am a husbandman, and was bred to that business; I was never taught of God to prophesy, but taught of man to keep cattle” Amos was originally such a one too, and yet was afterwards called to be a prophet, Amo 7:14; Amo 7:15. But this deceiver never had any such call. Note, Those who sorrow after a godly sort for their having deceived others will be forward to confess their sin, and will be so just as to rectify the mistakes which they have been the cause of. Thus those who had used curious arts, when they were converted showed their deeds, and by what fallacies they had cheated the people, Acts xix. 18. [2.] He shall return to his own proper employment, which is the fittest for him: I will be a husbandman (so it may be read); “I will apply myself to my calling again, and meddle no more with things that belong not to me; for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth, and cattle I will again keep, and never set up for a preacher any more.” Note, When we are convinced that we have gone out of the way of our duty we must evince the truth of our repentance by returning to it again, though it be the severest mortification to us. [3.] He shall acknowledge those to be his friends who by a severe discipline were instrumental to bring him to a sight of his error, v. 6. When he who with the greatest assurance had asserted himself so lately to be a prophet suddenly drops his claims, and says, I am no prophet, every body will be surprised at it, and some will ask, “What are these wounds, or marks of stripes, in thy hands? how camest thou by them? Hast thou not been examined by scourging? And is not that it that has brought thee to thyself?” (Vexatio dat intellectum–Vexation sharpens the intellect.) “Hast thou not been beaten into this acknowledgment? Was it not the rod and reproof that gave thee this wisdom?” And he shall own, “Yes, it was; these are the wounds with which I was wounded in the house of my friends, who bound me, and used me hardly and severely, as a distracted man, and so brought me to my senses.” By this it appears that those parents of the false prophet that thrust him through (v. 3) did not do it till they had first tried to reclaim him by correction, and he would not be reclaimed; for so was the law concerning a disobedient son–his parents must first have chastened him in vain before they were allowed to bring him forth to be stoned, Deu 21:18; Deu 21:19. But here is another who was reduced by stripes, and so prevented the capital punishment; and he had the sense and honesty to own that they were his friends, his real friends, who thus wounded him, that they might reclaim him; for faithful are the wounds of a friend, Prov. xxvii. 6. Some good interpreters, observing how soon this comes after the mention of Christ’s being pierced, think that these are the words of that great prophet, not of the false prophet spoken of before. Christ was wounded in his hands, when they were nailed to the cross, and, after his resurrection, he had the marks of these wounds; and here he tells how he came by them; he received them as a false prophet, for the chief priests called him a deceiver, and upon that account would have him crucified; but he received them in the house of his friends–the Jews, who should have been his friends; for he came to his own, and, though they were his bitter enemies, yet he was pleased to call them his friends, as he did Judas (Friend, wherefore hast thou come?) because they forwarded his sufferings for him; as he called Peter Satan–an adversary, because he dissuaded him from them.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
ZECHARIAH – CHAPTER 13
THE REMNANT POINTED TO THE CROSS
Verse 1:
Verse 1 declares that in that day of mourning there will be a fountain opened to the house of David, and his city’s inhabitants, for sin and for uncleanness. It has been available, and offered to all who would receive it, even through all their years of dispersion, but they were blinded and would not come to the fountain, 2Co 4:3-4; Heb 9:14; 1Pe 1:19. Like Hagar in the wilderness, Israel remains blind, until God opens their eyes through further judgment chastening; Though the fountain has been available all the time, Gen 21:19; Rev 22:17. Both justification and sanctification flow to man, through the fountain of the blood, as pictured in ceremonial sacrifices, Num 19:9; 1Co 1:30; Heb 9:13-14; 1Jn 1:7; Eze 36:25.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
From this verse we again learn, that Zechariah promised the spirit of repentance to the Jews, so that they would find God still propitious to them, when their circumstances were brought to the verge of despair: for it would not have been enough for them to feel sorrow, except God himself became propitious and merciful to them. He had said indeed that the Spirit of grace and of commiserations would be poured forth; but he had not as yet taught clearly what he now adds respecting remission and pardon. After having then declared that there would be felt by the Jews the bitterest sorrow, because they had as it were pierced God, he now mentions the fruit of this repentance. And hence also appears what Paul means by sorrow not to be repented of; for it generates repentance unto salvation. When then our sorrow is blessed by the Lord, the end is to be regarded; for our hearts are thereby raised up to joy. But the issue of repentance, as Zechariah declares here, is ablution: and he alludes to the legal rites when he says,
A fountain shall be opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. We know that formerly under the law many washings were prescribed to the Jews; and when any one had become defiled, to wash himself was the remedy. It is certain that water was of no value to cleanse the heart; but the sins of men, we know, are expiated by the death of Christ, so that true ablution is by the blood which he shed for us. (167) Hence the types of the law ought no doubt to be referred to this blood. The meaning is that God would be reconciled to the Jews when they became touched with sincere sorrow, and that reconciliation would be ready for them, for the Lord would cleanse them from every defilement.
He speaks of a fountain opened; and he no doubt intimates here a difference between the law and the gospel. Water was brought daily to the temple; but it was, we know, for private washings. But Zechariah promises here a perpetual stream of cleansing water; as though he had said, “Ablution will be free to all, when God shall again receive his people into favor.” Though remission of sins was formerly offered under the law, yet it is now much more easily obtained by us; not that God grants a license to sin, but that the way in which our filth is cleansed, has become more evident since the coming of Christ. For the fathers under the law were indeed fully assured that God was so propitious as not to impute sins; but where was the pledge of ablution? In the sprinkling of blood, and that blood was the blood of a calf or a lamb. Now since we know that we have been redeemed by Christ, and that our souls are sprinkled with his blood by the hidden power of the Holy Spirit, it is doubtless the same as though God had not only set before our eyes our ablution, but also placed it as it were in our hands, while to the fathers it was more obscure or shown to them at a distance.
And he says, To the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. He had before restricted God’s favor to that city, that he might goad the Jews, who had preferred their outward gratifications to so great a happiness; for they thought themselves happy in their exile, because they inhabited a pleasant and fruitful country, and enjoyed quietness and peace; and thus it happened that they despised the deliverance offered to them. Hence the Prophet promises here to the citizens of Jerusalem and to the royal family a fountain in which they might wash away their filth; for from Sion was the law to go forth, and from Jerusalem the word of the Lord. (Isa 2:2.) And we know that from thence were taken the first-fruits of the new Church. (168) What we have before seen respecting God’s favor being extended farther, is no objection; for both events were in their due order fulfilled, as God blessed the tribe of Judah, who trusted in his promises and returned to their own country, and afterwards extended wider his favor, and gathered into one body those who had been dispersed through distant parts of the world.
He adds, For sin and for uncleanness, or as some read, “for sprinkling,” which is by no means suitable, except the word “sin” be taken for expiation. The word is derived from נדד, nedad, but it often means sprinkling, sometimes uncleanness, and sometimes the uncleanness of women, and so some render it here. The verb signifies to remove or to separate; and hence נדה, nede, is the removal of a woman from her husband during her uncleanness, but it is applied to designate any uncleanness. It might indeed be taken here for the uncleanness of women, as an instance of a part for the whole; but I am led by the context to render it uncleanness. Now if we translate חטאת, chathat, sin, then נדה, nede, must be rendered uncleanness; but if the first be expiation, then the second may be sprinkling: and this meaning I am disposed to take, for under the law sins were cleansed by sacrifices as well as by washings. (169)
The import of the whole then is — that though the Jews had in various ways defiled themselves, so that they were become filthy before God, and their uncleanness was abominable, yet a fountain would be prepared for them, by which they might cleanse themselves, so as to come before God pure and clean. We hence see that it was the Prophet’s object to show, that the repentance of which he had spoken would not be useless, for there would be a sure issue, when God favored the Jews, and showed himself propitious to them, and already pacified, and even provided for them a cleansing by the blood of his only-begotten Son, so that no filth might prevent them to call on him boldly and in confidence; for instead of the legal rites there would be the reality, as their hearts would be sprinkled by the Spirit, so that they would be purified by faith, and would thus cast away all their filth.
(167) Jerome and Cyril say that the “fountain” is baptism; but Theodoret with more wisdom considered it to be the blood of Christ. Marckius regarded it as the grace of God flowing to us through the merits of the Redeemer, and applied for justification and sanctification. The word “fountain,” says Drusius, intimates the perennity and abundance of grace. — Ed.
(168) The house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem were specifically mentioned, says Grotius, because they had grievously offended. The design seems to have been to point out those who had been most guilty, who had been themselves the murderers of their own Messiah. This fountain was yet opened for them. — Ed.
(169)
For sin and defilement, Newcome
For guilt and for uncleanness, Henderson
Our version cannot be mended “for sin and for uncleanness.” The latter word, [ נדה ], has been strangely rendered by some. Its first meaning is removal or separation, which took place in case of uncleanness: but it is also used to designate the cause of removal, even uncleanness, and that generally, as we find from Ezr 9:11, where the “land” is said to be “unclean ([ נדה ]) with the filthiness ([ נדת ]) of the people,” or rather polluted with the pollution of the people “of the lands.” It is used in this text as synonymous with [ טמא ], which means what is unclean, defiled, or polluted. See Ezr 6:21
This verse is most strangely rendered by the Septuagint, in a way quite unaccountable. The three other versions — Aq., Sym. , and Theod. , — are not very far from the original. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
LATER THINGS OR EVENTS INCIDENT TO THE END OF THIS AGE
Zec 12:1 to Zec 14:21.
IN concluding our studies of this prophecy we will attempt the treatment of three chapters, twelve to fourteen. Any one of these contains material sufficient for many addresses, but inasmuch as the three relate to one general period of time they may be compassed by a single discourse.
There is no portion of Zechariah which so effectually approves of our sub-title The Old Testament Apocalypse as that contained in the chapters now before us for study. At very many points we have seen this Book parallel Johns great volumeThe Revelation. But the most marked agreement between Zechariah, the Prophet of the Old Testament, and John, the great Seer of the New, is noted by a comparison of the latter chapters of these Books. In truth, the very best students of the Scriptures,the men who accept them as verbally inspired, who read them with devoutest spirit, who reckon a literal understanding of their statements as the sanest interpretation of their meaning, who know them sufficiently to compare volume with volume, chapter with chapter, and even sentence with sentence,are perfectly agreed in regarding the latter chapters of Zechariah and the latter chapters of Revelation as looking to one and the same great period in history, and to the same transcendent events. Our study of these chapters has convinced us of the correctness of these views.
The chapters fall into natural study under three heads,The Tribulation: The Restoration: and The Millennium.
THE TRIBULATION
The burden of the Word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
In that day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open Mine eyes upon the House of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the Lord of Hosts their God (Zec 12:1-5).
I shall pass over the natural suggestions of this text of how Jehovah was really burdened by this Word; how He was also the Maker of heaven and earth, and of how Jerusalem itself is to be the storm center of the worlds greatest and last conflict, in order that we may straightway give ourselves to the discussion of the Tribulation.
This is the sad day of Scripture.
That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,
A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.
And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have siwied against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung (Zep 1:15-17).
Such is the language that Jehovah put into the lips of Zephaniah His Prophet. When Isaiah was contemplating the Millennium he said of the peoples
And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more (Isa 2:4).
But when Joel was contemplating this time of tribulation he said,
Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:
Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears; let the weak say, I am strong (Joe 3:9-10).
Men have been wont to anticipate with joy the hour when the sword should become the plowshare and the spear the pruning-hook, but who can imagine the awful day when the plowshare shall become the sword and the pruning-hook the spear? And yet that is the day to which the Words of Zechariah look.
There are some events upon which even the sun in the heavens refuses to look. When Christ was dying on the Cross,the Innocent, yet infinitely suffering victim of wicked men,God threw a veil over the face of the sun, and all nature shuddered to its very heart as it turned from the awful scene! According to Jesus Christ, when this hour of which Zechariah speaks shall arrive,
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for My Names sake.
And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many (Mat 24:7-11).
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elects sake those days shall be shortened (Mat 24:21-22).
For a teacher of the Word of God to tell people that the world is going to grow steadily better and all human conditions are destined to constant improvement, until by a slow yet sure evolution of human history the Millennium will break, is to part company absolutely with the Prophets of the Old Testament and the teachers of the New, Christ included. According to these there is a day of tribulation ahead, the scenes of which will cause that the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light.
When Christ was crucified the earth, as if sickened at heart, shook throughout her form; but when this day of tribulation comes, other planets shall be moved out of their places in demonstration of the awful agony to which Gods universe will be subjected. Read the twenty-fourth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew and be not deceived. It was an awful thing when wicked men sacrificed Jesus Christ on the Cross; but human history will know one worse day, and that will be when Jehovah offers on the altar of judgment all them who have rebelled against Him! See Eze 39:17-20.
In that day Gentile and Jew shall suffer. What shall happen to the Gentile is recorded in this twelfth chapter, verses two to nine; and what shall happen to Jerusalem and the Jew is written into this same prophecy (Zec 13:7 to Zec 14:2).
Is it not significant that the very Prophets who foretold the dispersion of the Jews, the persecutions to which they should be subjected, the great tribulation into which they should eventually be called, were themselves members of this nation? And while every Jew is a patriot, those who loved Israel best were the very men the Spirit compelled to utter the sentences of her coming judgment. It was Isaiah who prophesied judgment for the Gentiles who oppressed his people (Isa 51:22-23). But, as we have seen also, it was the same Isaiah who told his people of the tribulation which should come upon them. They charged Elijah with troubling Israel, but after events proved that Elijah was telling Israel only the truth. John was a Jew and yet when the vision was vouchsafed him he was faithful to declare,
And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of Heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great (Rev 19:17-18).
It is strange how people start back from such a picture as that which is presented in Revelation touching this day of universal tribulation, and yet remain unimpressed by the very shadows that prove this coming event.
Yesterday you devoured your newspaper; aye, some have even transgressed the Lords Day and have this morning poured over the bloody page to learn whether China or Japan has contributed, in the last twenty-four hours, the largest number of soldiers to the point of the sword.
Twenty years ago there were teachers on every side who were saying, The world has seen its last war. Arbitration has superseded battle; but the better students of the Book knew that the blood-red dawn of the twentieth century was the sign of the storm that was to sweep the world. When Russia and Japan engaged in their first fight men predicted that this was a little difficulty and would pass with a brief day. Months passed and the streams of blood deepened; then the dove of peace was scarcely settled when the World War broke. No man knows when a change in international difficulties may end; but the God who taketh up nations in His hands and to whom the whole future is more familiar than is his most recent past to any man, knows what conflicts are to come; and He, by the mouth of His Prophets, has spoken of this great cataclysm of blood. And yet, what believer should question that in it all right will triumph, human happiness will be enhanced, and Divine honor and love glorified!
John Watson never said a truer thing than this, Progress by suffering * * is embodied in the economy of human history. * * Humanity has fought its way upwards at the point of the bayonet, torn and bleeding, yet hopeful and triumphant. As each nation suffers it prospers; as it ceases to suffer, it decays. Our England was begotten in the sore travail of Elizabeths day. The American nation sprang from the sons of martyrs. United Germany was baptized in blood. * *
Before we have finished with Zechariah we shall find that out of this baptism of blood which shall characterize the end of the age, will come a people, and a reign, of righteousness. A period more glorious than any which has preceded it; a state which shall exceed all the Utopias of which uninspired men have dreamed. And yet before we speak of that some other things must be mentioned if we are to give ourselves to a real study of this text.
Out of this tribulation the Church will escape. In the midst of Zechariahs description of battle the Lord halts the picture to say,
Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle.
And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Asal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee (Zec 14:3-5).
I shall never forget the first time I ever heard a reference made to that great truth of Scripture with which so few are familiar, namely, that God is dealing with the people of the world in three divisions. It was the lamented A. J. Gordon who, standing before the Baptist ministers of Chicago, said, Brethren, I will talk to you a little while this morning concerning the Jew, the Gentile, and the Church of God.
1Co 10:32 becomes the key to many of the mysteries of the Word. After one has heard these three divisions,the Jew, the Gentile, and the Church of God, he rightly divides the Scriptures, assigning to each that which was surely intended for it; and when the day of travail upon the part of the Jew and the Gentile shall come, let it be known that the Church of God will not participate in the agonies of that hour. (It is perhaps necessary, in passing, to make the distinction between apostate Christendom, as it now exists, and the Church of God which is nothing else than the Body of Christ. Christendom is made up of church members; the Church of God is made up of true believers. Many church members will go into the tribulation and perish there, but the members of the Church of God shall be saved out of that awful hour.)
A comparison of Scripture with Scripture shows that the coming of the hour to wake the righteous dead with His voice, and to catch up together with them the living saints, as promised in 1Th 4:13-18, precedes the great tribulation which is to come upon the earth. To the church in Philadelphia Jesus, by the pen of John, said, Because thou hast kept the Word of My patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth (Rev 3:10).
The saints of the tribulation period will not be churchmen who are alive and upon the earth when that hour strikes, but converts made by the tribulation itself. The hundred and forty and four thousand [sealed] of all the tribes of the Children of Israel, and the Gentile multitude which no man could number, * * [standing] before the throne; These which came out of great tribulation will present the throng of converts produced by that awful time.
Doubtless one reason why many of the Christians of the earth have not been more ardent touching the Return of the Lord is the fact that they have felt that it was to be antedated by this day of tribulation. But let it be understood that the Church,the Body of Christ,will spend the tribulation period with its Head in the Heavenlies; and if there is any one season destined to be more festive than another, and worthy to be regarded as the joyous wedding hour, it is this very brief time when the tribulation of the earth, so awful to contemplate, shall only be exceeded by the Rapture of the saints as they assemble about Him whose great heart of love has, like a magnet, lifted them from home and street, and even out of the depths of the cemetery.
THE RESTORATION
As in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew events which are separated by long stretches of time are so presented as to make them seem practically one, so in the study of Zechariah the references to the tribulation and the Millennium are intermingled. Three things, however, are clearly taught concerning the restoration.
In it the city and the land will participate.
In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the House of David shall be as God, as the Angel of the Lord before them.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem (Zec 12:8-9).
We have already seen that Jerusalem is to be rebuilt; that its walls are to be greatly enlarged; that it is to even break out on every side the tents of Judah lying beyond the inclosed city. And now behold this promise that Jehovah shall defend its inhabitants. The feeblest among them that day shall be as Davidthe mighty warrior of the past. The House of David shall be as God, as the Angel of the Lord before them. It seems a strained thing to say that some descendants of the House of David will be found who will break forth as captains and leaders in that hour. The Descendant of the House of David is none other than Jesus Himself,the Angel of Jehovah,who shall indeed be as God. And when He shall undertake the defense of Jerusalem what powers can stand before Him?
Far more wonderful than the return of the Jews to Jerusalem, the exaltation of that city to the place of her first importance, and the manifestation of the power of God in the very overthrow of all them that are against His people, is the promise concerning the land,
All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamins gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the kings winepresses (Zec 14:10).
And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited (Zec 14:11).
Visitors to Palestine now find it a hilly country; yea, splendidly mountainous; those who shall tread it in that time shall discover it level,an elevated plateau. Such indeed is the Word of Scripture as spoken about Palestine. Scientists I suppose would resent this suggestion and claim that it is a physical impossibility. But who that has ever crossed the Rocky Mountains, or the mountain ranges of the Northwest, and studied the upheavals of the past, and seen the power of God to do what He will with the earth, but believes that the same One who lifted our mountains from the level can reduce them again,and will,when the exigencies of His infinite purposes require it? No wonder Mrs. E. M. Exton has written the poem published but a few years since:
Oh, Palestine, sweet Palestine!
Our eyes would fain behold
The glory of the latter day,
By Prophets long foretold.
When thy fair hills, and lovely vales,
Teeming with life, shall sing
The praises of Immanuel,
Israels anointed King.
When on mount Zion there shall stand
A Temple to His praise,
Surpassing that which Solomon
Built in the former days.
To which the ancient tribes ascend
In throngs to praise their God;
With ardent love, and earnest zeal,
According to His Word.
From out that glorious Temple then
Rich streams of life shall flow,
With healing virtue to restore
Whereer the waters go.
From Thee, as center of the earth,
Such righteous laws shall spring,
To benefit the earth, and man,
Yea, every living thing.
As man could never formulate,
Forceful, yet just and true;
Suited alike to every land,
To Gentile and to Jew.
The PrinceMessiahshall return
In righteousness to reign:
For He as Heir to Davids throne
The title doth retain.
The cruel oppressor He will break,
The groaning earth set free;
With universal power will rule
The world in equity.
While they of Tarshish and the isles,
With every land, shall bring
Their tribute to Jerusalem,
The City of the King.
Thy sons again once more have turned
Their longing eyes to thee.
Oh, Palestine, sweet Palestine,
Een now they homeward flee.
By it Israel will be restored to Divine favor.
And I will pour upon the House of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon Me wham they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.
And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the House of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart;
The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart;
All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.
In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the House of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness (Zec 12:10 to Zec 13:1).
Paul in his Epistle to the Romans, reminds the Gentile world of the promises to Israel in these words,
For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?
For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
For this is My covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins (Rom 11:24-27).
It would hardly seem necessary, in view of all that has been said in this volume, to refer at any length to the promised restoration of Israel, but we should not pass over the fact that this restoration comes through their penitence; nor forget how deep their penitence is, as set forth in the concluding verses of this twelfth chapter.
Some months ago I saw a Jew under conviction for sin; a Jew convinced that his Christ had been crucified. The bitterness of his grief surpassed anything I have ever witnessed in the form of contrition for sin! When he came to me he had just finished reading the Gospel of Matthew and the Epistle to the Romans, and he had walked the streets in utter agony, questioning with himself whether he were yet in his right mind. Seeing how deep was his anguish, I suggested that he meet two Christian Jews who were in the building at the time, and he cried out as if the thought were unbearable, No! No! I do not want to meet them; I do not want to meet any one. I cannot! I must be alone until this anguish passes and I find pardon and peace!
There are places and dates at which, and on which, the Jews wail now. But the wail is largely perfunctory. The time will come, however, when their wailing will be the result of breaking hearts, in answer to the conviction of a crucified Savior; And in that day there shall be a fountain opened to the House of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness (Zec 13:1).
John Bunyan gives us a vivid pen picture of what it will mean when Peters call, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, shall become effective with the Jews. He imagines their answers to the overtures of the Apostle:But I struck Him on the head with the rod: is there any hope for me? Every one of you, saith the Apostle. But I spat in His face: is there any forgiveness for me? Yes, is the reply, for every one of you. But I drove the spikes into His hands and feet, which transfixed Him to the Cross: is there cleansing for me? Yes, cries Peter, for every one of you. But I pierced His side though He had never done me wrong; it was a ruthless, cruel act, and I am sorry for it now: may that sin be washed away? Every one of you, is the constant answer.
Meyer also justly comments, As it was at the beginning of this era, so it shall be at its close, with this difference that whereas then only some few thousand souls stepped into the fountain, at last a whole nation, the House of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, shall wash there and be cleansed. Then the words of the Apostle Peter, spoken centuries ago in Solomons porch, will be fulfilled when Israel repents and turns again; her sins will be blotted out, and there will come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, and the restoration of all things, Which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy Prophets since the world began (Act 3:21).
Then idols and false prophets shall come to an end.
And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of Hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.
And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the Name of the Lord: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive:
But he shall say, I am no prophet, I am cm husbandman; for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth (Zec 13:2-5).
One of the strangest movements of modern times is the going after false prophets. The worship of idols is no new thing. From the earliest days the faithful of Jehovah, and even Jehovah Himself, have been in battle against these. The false prophet is no new thing, but his multiplication and his exaltation through great followings surely characterize the times in which we live. When one thinks of all the claims that Dowie put forth and remembers that a million people accepted him as the actual embodiment of every pretension, and of the scores of smaller boasters since, he is impressed with the language of Timothy,(1Ti 4:1-2)Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron.
When one studies the claims of Sanford and understands how large was his following, how abominable his behavior, how cruel even his customs, according to the reports of those who came from the inside, he must feel that 2Th 2:11-12 is witnessing fulfillment:And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the Truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
We have seen boys playing a game called Following the Leader. One is the leader and whatever he does, where he steps or jumps, the rest must follow. The Devil has adopted it. Beware of following either a man or a woman claiming to be a great leader. Christ says, Follow Me.
And the false prophets of the present hour foreshadow that great leaderthe Man of Sin. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory. This leader also shall be made ashamed, yea, even destroyed by the brightness of His Person upon whom we have fixed our hopes, and whose personal return to the earth shall seal the doom not only of his agents but of the very adversary himself.
THE MILLENNIUM
But it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
And it shall be in that day, that Living Waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
And the Lord shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and His Name one (Zec 14:7-9).
And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.
And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the Lords House shall be like the bowls before the altar.
Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of Hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the House of the Lord of Hosts (Zec 14:16-21).
Three remarks:
Then JehovahJesusshall be King of the whole earth. Zechariah is only resounding the statements of his predecessors concerning the Kingship of Jesus. That supremacy has been the prediction of every Prophet, and is reaffirmed by every Apostle. The promises of it are so oft repeated that pages would be required even for their quotation. Suffice it now to remember All nations shall serve Him. Yea, The world, and they that dwell therein. The stone that smote the image is to become the great mountain and fill the whole earth. Only a half century ago Strauss alarmed the Christian world by declaring that no such Person as Jesus ever lived except in the minds of His Apostles; He was but an imagined Christ. And yet He who conquered more hearts and controls more thought and affection today than any other person who ever trod the earth will, when He walks it again, command all men and they shall obey Him.
Then all the inhabitants will join in Jehovahs worship.
And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.
And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles (Zec 14:16-19).
The Millennium is not to be a time of willing submission upon the part of all; but it is to be a time when all who refuse to worship the King shall be visited by His fury. Now the wicked flourish as the green bay tree; then they shall know only the blight of Gods judgment.
Holiness unto Jehovah shall characterize all custom and conduct.
In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the Lords House shall be like the bowls before the altar.
Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of Hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the House of the Lord of Hosts (Zec 14:20-21).
In reading Dr. Lorimers volume Christianity in the Social State he speaks of that good time to come when in the new civilization there will be no necessity for any statutes against strong drink. The people will be so educated, their lower nature so completely under control that it would be equally an insult to their intelligence and morality for the legislature to pass an enactment against drunkenness!
But alas for the vain reasoning of men! Lorimer sleeps with the dead, education is almost universal in the greater governments, and yet iniquity deepens! In man there is no help. Salvation is of the Lord. Holiness awaits His glorious reign!
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
CRITICAL NOTES.] This verse completes the thought of Zec. 11:10. God not only pours out the Spirit, but provides means of purification. The verse exhibits the two grand doctrines of the gospeljustification and sanctification [Henderson]. Unclean.] Alluding to water of separation or purification for sin (Num. 19:9).
Zec. 13:2. Idols] (ch. Zec. 10:2, marg.) Prevalent form of ungodliness, cut off, i.e. utterly destroyed. Prophets] False prophets, perhaps under demoniacal influence. Spirit] of uncleanness, opposed to the Spirit of holiness (cf. Act. 16:16; 1Jn. 4:6; Rev. 16:13).
Zec. 13:3.] The evil denounced will be abolished; the very parents of false prophets would be the first to inflict merited punishment (cf. Deu. 13:6; Deu. 13:10; Deu. 18:20).
Zec. 13:4. Prophets] themselves would be ashamed] of their calling; wear] the badge of a prophetassumed to deceive] i.e. to lie by imposing upon the people.
Zec. 13:5. Say] A dramatic representation of means by which he deceives. He is charged with wounding himself in idolatrous worship (1Ki. 18:28). He denies the charge; declares that they are chastisements which he formerly received in the house of his relatives or friends.
Zec. 13:6.] By many the words are applied to Christ.
HOMILETICS
THE FOUNTAIN FOR UNCLEANNESS.Zec. 13:1
These words are connected with the preceding chapter. The outpouring of the Spirit will be followed by universal sorrow, and then by forgiveness and purification. Learn
I. That sin is moral pollution. The evil is described by two words: sin, which is transgression of the law; uncleanness, which is impurity. Sin defiles the heart and conscience, makes unfit for the presence and service of God. What leprosy was to the body, sin is to the soul; the uncleanness of the one sets forth the impurity of the other (Psa. 51:9). Education, outward profession, and religious privilege do not exempt from this corruption. The house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem required to be washed. All have sinned and need deliverance: first from the guilt, and then from the pollution of sin. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
II. That God has made provision to take away this moral pollution. In that day there shall be a fountain opened. The fountain comprehends forgiveness and sanctification. The grace of Christs Spirit, as well as the virtue of Christs blood: whatever is necessary for both ends (cf. 1Jn. 5:5-6).
1. A fountain denotes fulness. It is not a well, cistern, nor reservoir; but a fountain of inexhaustible fulness.
2. A fountain denotes sufficiency. It is ever full and ever flowing. Enough mercy in God, enough merit in Christ, to cleanse the vilest of the vile. The laver of old had to be replenished (Exo. 30:18); but God in Christ justifies from the guilt and cleanses from the pollution of sin. The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
III. That this provision is always accessible to men. It is a fountain opened, not closed nor sealed up, as in Son. 4:12. The atonement is not a fountain hid and inaccessible. Men are not excluded on account of nationality and the greatness of their sinthe injustice of Gods demands or inability to comply with them.
1. Opened in eternity by the purpose of God. Before the disease came the remedy was provided. The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
2. Opened in every age for all nations of the earth. It was open from the time when it was first neededfrom the time that sin came into the world. Ever since it has been opened to Jew and Gentile in every age. From the beginning to the end of the world it will ever be open, if our eyes are only opened to see it.
THE OPENED FOUNTAIN
That day opens up a bright vision to the prophet in the darkness of his time. Looking 500 years into the future, he predicts an event at Jerusalem which displays the love of God and makes provision for the necessities of man. There shall be a fountain, &c. This is a figure of the source and method of salvation through Christ.
I. The purpose of Divine provision. For sin and uncleanness.
1. To expiate sin a necessity. This is the great problem of humanitywhat all pilgrimages and penances have had in view. Christs death atoned for sin and accomplished what Jewish sacrifices typified.
2. Then pardon for sin is required. Grace destroys the power of sin and delivers from its dominion. For this purpose was the Son of God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
II. The freeness of Divine provision. A fountain opened.
1. Opened freely by Jehovah. It is not dug by man. The Divine mind originates the scheme. Man wanders in the wilderness ready to perish, seeking water where there is none; but God opens a fountain to quench his burning thirst.
2. Opened freely to all. It is not sealed up, nor forbidden, but accessible to all, without money and without price. Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
III. The plenitude of Divine provision. In Christ is unlimited fulness of grace and truth. Millions have been refreshed, and still the waters flow on with undiminished volume. Enough for all, and enough for evermore. The waters that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water, &c.
IV. The perpetuity of Divine provision. A fountain opened, and always open. It never closes. Its store is never wasted nor exhausted. It is an ever-flowing, never-failing fountain to supply every demand. Not the deceitful brook nor summer stream which vanishes away; nor the broken cistern which holds no water. It is a perpetual spring, which makes the valley of Baca a well, the wilderness glad, and the desert to rejoice and blossom as a rose. This fountain is open nowopen for you. Drink, and thirst no more [Adapted].
There is a fountain filled with blood [Cowper].
THE PURIFICATION AND REFORMATION OF ISRAEL.Zec. 13:1-6
That grace which pardons sin will also sanctify the soul. The promise which says, From all your filthiness, declares also, From all your idols will I cleanse you. Sanctification and reformation go together.
I. The purification of Israel. Many seek to get rid of the guilt and consequences wthout desiring freedom from the stain of sin. Repentance however bitter, tears however numerous, do not repair the evils of a wicked life. We must be renewed by grace, and washed in this fountain for sin and uncleanness. Some of the vilest characters at Corinth were washed in a double sense. Ye are sanctified, but ye are justified (two aspects of the same work) in the name of the Lord Jesus.
II. The reformation of Israel. Idolatry and divination shall be utterly abolished. The very names shall be cut off, and unmentioned. False prophets and the spirit of uncleanness shall be completely destroyed. This is done
1. By a spirit of judgment. They will discern between the true and the false, commend the one and avoid the other.
2. By a spirit of zeal. The nearest relations were to denounce those who seduced from God, and cast the first stone. Loyalty to God is needful now as ever. Love to God must be supreme, and nothing must compete with holiness and truth. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.
3. By a spirit of shame. Pretenders will be ashamed, and strip off the outward dress of their calling. They will rid themselves of every suspicion by disowning the profession of a prophet, and when pressed by questions evade true answers. All to ensure safety. Self-inflicted torture, fastings, and wounds in the body will not avail to save the soul. Humiliation and hypocrisy in the devotees of religion are hateful to God, who demands simplicity and godly sincerity. Never do evil that good may come.
CHRIST WOUNDED IN THE HOUSE OF HIS FRIENDS.Zec. 13:6
Many apply the words to the Messiah. It seems rather difficult, but very natural, so to apply them.
I. He was rejected by his countrymen. Christ was born a Jew, attended the Jewish synagogue, and lived and laboured among them. Yet he came unto his own, and his own received him not. He was rejected by the whole nation, who shouted, Crucify him, crucify him!
II. He was forsaken by his disciples. He longed for human sympathy, and required human aid in his work. But the best friends are weak, fall short of duty, and desert their duty. His disciples fell asleep. One denied, and another sold him. All forsook him and fled away. My friends have forsaken me, cried a great statesman. My friends, there are no friends, uttered Socrates. Christ looked for pity in his chosen few, and there was none.
III. He is wounded now by his people. In the domestic and social circles friendship decays and creates grief. What hurts more than lack of confidence, especially after long acquaintance? Christ is wounded
1. By the inconsistent conduct of his people. When their life does not accord with their profession they crucify him afresh, and put him to an open shame. They act the deed afresh, and inwardly approve of the treatment which he received (Heb. 6:6).
2. By coldness and indifference. Treating things for which he died as of no moment. Disregarding his authority, and neglecting the means of grace which he established. Christ is pierced yet, and his sorest wounds are often in the house of his friends.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Zec. 13:1.
1. The great spring. I will pour out.
2. The great agent. The Spirit of grace and supplication.
3. The effect. They look; they mourn; they see the fountain opened [McCheyne].
Zec. 13:2-4. False prophets.
1. Putting on garments to deceive, to impose upon the people, and impress them with an idea of superior sanctity.
2. Uttering words which are false. The false was always prevalent among the Jews; is with us; and seeks to meet a craving of our nature. The Word of God is complete. Nothing more can be given by pretenders to Divine inspiration. Beware of false prophets, &c.
3. Zeal against false prophets may be great, but should always be in a legitimate method, and with prudence.
4. When false prophets are converted they are ashamed of their former deeds, and repudiate their calling.
Zec. 13:3. Zeal for God against error and profanity. Zeal requiring parental sacrifice and punishment of those whom we love. Dearest friendships should not prevent the exposure of false teaching.
Zec. 13:6. Wounded. There are four kinds of such wounds.
1. Those arising from their just reprehensions.
2. Those that result from their sufferings.
3. Those produced by our being bereaved of them.
4. Those inflicted by their improper conduct. Again; if the Lord Jesus be the sufferer, he is wounded in the house of his friends by their negligent conduct, by their selfishness, by their gloomy conduct, by their unholiness. His question isIs this thy kindness to thy friend? [Jay].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 13
Zec. 13:1. Unclean. If we did not first take great pains to corrupt our nature, our nature would never corrupt us [Clarendon]. That must needs be deadly which could be healed by no other way but the death of Christ. Who, therefore, seriously considering that his sins could in no other way be expiated than by the death of the Son of God himself, would not tremble to tread as it were this most precious blood underfoot by daily sinning? [Bishop Davenport].
Zec. 13:2-4. Idols. Idolatry has its origin in the human heart. Men love sin, and do not want to be reproved for it; therefore they form for themselves a god that will not reprove them [J. H. Evans].
With what unutterable humility
We should bow down, thou blessed God, to thee,
Seeing our vanity and foolishness,
When to our own devices left, we frame
A shameful creed of craft and cruelty [Landon].
Zec. 13:4-5. Lies. All deception in the course of life is indeed nothing else but a lie reduced to practice, and falsehood passing from words into things [South]. It is too much proved that with devotions visage and pious action we do sugar over the devil himself [Shakspeare].
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
IN THAT DAY (7) . . . Zec. 13:1
K.V . . . In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.
LXX . . . In that day every place shall be opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for removal and for separation.
COMMENTS
In connection with the mourning over Him Whom they pierced, a fountain is to be opened for sin and uncleanness. Sin is transgression against the law of God. Uncleanness is that condition of ones soul which makes him unfit for the presence of God. The death of Davids Branch (cp. Zec. 3:8 and Zec. 6:12) Who is seen here in the hour of His death (pierced) provides the fountain for sin and uncleanness.
Jesus understanding of the Old Testament was that the Christ should suffer, and rise again the third day. When this has been done, repentance and remission of sins is to be preached in His name. (cf. Luk. 24:44-47)
The death and resurrection opened the fountain. The preaching of repentance, which is a deliberate decision for the will of God by one who has stood against it, relates the fountain to sin which is a transgression of the Law. Remission of sins, which is Gods answer to the moral impurity resulting from sin, relates the fountain to uncleanness.
An entire volume could be written showing, from Scripture, that this fountain is the blood of Jesus.
Chapter XLIQuestions
In the First Day
1.
The future glory of the restored Jewish nation was delayed by their _________________.
2.
The key to the final chapters of Zechariah is found in the phrase _________________.
3.
This term describes two days which from Zechariahs point of view were both in _________________.
4.
The first of these days describes _________________.
5.
The second day describes _________________.
6.
Review the four characteristics of the day of Jehovah. (See introduction of Zechariah.)
7.
Zechariahs first use of in the day (Zec. 3:8-10) refers to _________________.
8.
What is the significance of the term Israel in Zec. 12:1?
9.
Why does Zechariah here refer to Jehovah as the creator of the heavens and the earth and the spirit of man?
10.
The first period referred to by in that day is addressed to
and has to do with _________________.
11.
The second period referred to as in that day has to do with _________________.
12. Several things are said to be going to happen in the Messianic age. Each is introduced by in that day. They are:
a.
In that day (1)
b.
In that day (2)
c.
In that day (3)
d.
In that day (4)
12.
e. In that day (5)
f.
In that day (6)
g.
In that day (7)
h.
In that day (8)
i.
In that day (9)
13.
Israel at the time of Zechariah could be none other than _________________.
14.
What of Jerusalem in the time of Messiahs first coming?
15.
What was to be the relationship of the Jews to all nations during the Messianic age?
16.
Historically the military action against which the Jews were least effective was the _________________.
17.
What is meant by Jehovah smiting the peoples and horses with blindness?
18.
Who are they of Jerusalem? (Zec. 12:1)
19.
How does Zec. 12:10 fix this section as being fulfilled in the Messianic age?
20.
Compare Zec. 12:10-14 with Joh. 19:34-37.
21.
What is the condition upon which Jews may again become part of Gods true Israel? (cf. Rom. 11:17-24)
22.
Conversion is always an _________________ experience.
23.
How was the mourning over Him who they had pierced fulfilled on Pentecost?
24.
Who are all the families that remain?
25.
In connection with the mourning over Him whom they pierced a ___________ was to be opened for ____________ and _____________.
26.
The _________________ opened the fountain.
27.
_________________ relates the fountain to sin.
28.
_________________ relates the fountain to moral impurity or _________________.
29.
_________________ is frequently associated with uncleanness.
30.
The _________________ is generally credited with ministering the coup de grace to classic idolatry.
31.
What prophecy is condemned during the Messianic age?
32.
How does Zec. 13:6 relate to Him whom they pierced?
33.
What is meant by the wounds between thine arms?
34.
Discuss Zechariah) Zec. 12:7 in light of Act. 2:23.
35.
What nation is symbolized historically by the sword?
36.
Jesus could be legally executed by _________________.
37.
Compare Zec. 13:7 to Mat. 26:31 and Mar. 14:27.
38.
Following the death of Jesus the number of His followers was about _________________.
39.
Compare Zec. 13:9 and 1Pe. 1:6-7.
40.
To those who endured persecution, Jehovah gives _________________ and _________________ they acknowledge
Both are _________________.
41.
The _____________ is Gods new Israel.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) The meaning of this verse seems to be that the people would keep the law with more heartfelt earnestness, and consequently acceptably. There seems to be a reference to Num. 8:7; Num. 19:9, et seq.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
XIII.
(1-3) Some critics consider that Zechariah 12, Zec. 13:1-6, and Zechariah 14 were composed in the time of Jehoiakim (cir. 600), or that Zechariah 14 was written a little later, when the confidence of victory expressed in the earlier chapters was considerably lessened on account of the more threatening position of political affairs. To this we can only reply that, if so, the prophet was a false prophet, and proclaimed Peace, peace, when there was no peace; and we, at least, are not inclined to undertake the responsibility of making such a statement concerning the author of these chapters. We suggest that these verses should be placed between Zec. 12:9-10.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
PURIFICATION OF JERUSALEM; REMOVAL OF ALL HINDRANCES TO DIRECT COMMUNION WITH JEHOVAH, Zec 13:1-6.
The penitential mourning and supplication will not be in vain. Jehovah will be merciful, remove all sin, and bring about a complete moral transformation in the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Intimate fellowship with Jehovah will be restored, and everything that in any way might hinder direct communion will be swept away.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1. In that day When the mourning described in Zec 12:10-14, will be held.
Shall be a fountain opened Zec 12:10, ascribes the penitential mourning to the influence of a divinely sent spirit, which creates repentance for sin and leads the people to make penitential supplication; but Jehovah will provide also the means of purification. The figure is adopted in part from the “water of expiation” (Num 8:7), and in part from the “water of impurity” (Num 19:9; compare Eze 36:25; Psa 51:9). The water is only the symbol, the power that will remove the sin is divine.
To the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem See on Zec 12:10. High and low will be benefited by the provision.
Sin uncleanness It is doubtful that the prophet means to distinguish here between inward sin and outward uncleanness which results from the former. The two terms are practically identical in meaning. Every kind of sin and uncleanness will be washed away. 2.
The names of the idols See on Hos 2:17. Idolatry will be blotted out so completely that even the names of the idols will be forgotten.
The prophets Since they are to be removed, the author evidently thinks that in the new era they will prove a hindrance. Since the prophet played a very prominent part throughout the entire religious history of Israel, many hesitate to believe that this passage means to announce a complete cessation of all prophetic activity, and they see here only a condemnation of the so-called false prophets (see on Mic 3:7); for this view they find support in the fact that the prophets are mentioned here in close connection with idols and with the unclean spirit. But this fact by no means proves the point; at the most it proves that all prophecy deserves to be abolished like idols. The entire context makes it exceedingly probable that the prophet means to announce the removal of the entire prophetic order. This announcement might be made for one or the other of two reasons, either the entire prophetic order was expected to become so corrupt that it would need to be cut off, or the people as a whole were expected to reach such a perfect knowledge of Jehovah that the prophetic order would be no longer needed. That the author has in mind the prophetic order, and not individuals who might possess a prophetic experience, is clear from Zec 13:4-5. There is no reason to suppose that as long as prophecy existed the entire prophetic order became corrupt or was expected to become corrupt; at any rate, the utterances of the author of this section prove that in his days there were still men with sublime spiritual visions. On the other hand, Joe 2:28-30 (compare Jer 31:34), expresses the expectation that in the Messianic age all flesh would have prophetic experiences, so that there would be no need of a distinct prophetic order. This hope of Joel, far from contradicting the teaching of this passage, interprets it. When all the people are blessed with prophetic visions there will be no need of a prophetic order, hence it will be removed.
Unclean spirit Literally, the spirit of uncleanness; that is, the spirit, or invisible inner power, which leads to unclean actions (see on Joe 2:28; compare 1Ki 22:22).
With Zec 13:3 may be compared Deu 18:20, where the death sentence is pronounced upon the prophet who claims to speak in the name of Jehovah when in reality he utters his own words.
Father mother In that age the obligations to Jehovah will be more sacred than those arising from the most intimate blood relationship.
Speakest lies prophesieth If in that age anyone claims special prophetic gifts, that claim itself proves him to be a liar and impostor, and so worthy of death.
Thrust him through Bring to a violent death (compare Zec 12:10).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
ALLEGORY OF THE FOOLISH SHEPHERD, Zec 11:15-17 (+ Zec 13:7-9.)
This allegory is the sequel of the allegory of the good shepherd; Zec 11:15-16, continues the record of the people’s experiences down to the present, Zec 11:17 turns to the future. The flock that rejected the good shepherd was not left to itself it was given into the hands of a foolish shepherd, who worked havoc with it; but he is doomed, and the flock will be delivered (Zec 13:7-9). By the allegory the prophet teaches that the present miserable condition of the people is due to their own stubbornness, and at the same time he assures them that Jehovah will return in mercy and compassion at some future time.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
THE FINAL TRIUMPH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD, Zec 9:1 to Zec 14:21.
With Zec 9:1, begins the second main division of the Book of Zechariah, which consists of various oracles, loosely connected, dealing for the most part with events leading up to the final triumph of the kingdom of God. It opens with an announcement of the overthrow of the nations surrounding Palestine (Zec 9:1-8), which will prepare the way for the advent of the Messianic king (9, 10) and the restoration and exaltation of the exiled Jews (11-17). This restoration is described more fully in Zec 10:1 -xi, 3. The promises are followed by an allegory which is intended to warn the people that the realization of the glorious promises depends upon their attitude toward Jehovah (Zec 11:4-17; +Zec 13:7-9). The remaining portion of the book naturally falls into two parts. The first (Zec 12:1 to Zec 13:6) opens with a picture of a marvelous deliverance of Judah and Jerusalem (Zec 12:1-9); but this triumph is only the preparation for the bestowing of rich spiritual gifts. In order to enjoy these fully, they must pass through a process of spiritual preparation (10-14). Then Jehovah will remove all spiritual uncleanness, and a life of intimate fellowship with Jehovah will ensue (Zec 13:1-6). In chapter xiv the prophet pictures a new conflict between Jerusalem and the nations. At first the latter will be successful, then Jehovah will interfere, save a remnant, and set up his kingdom upon earth (1-7). From Jerusalem he will dispense blessing and prosperity (8-11); the hostile nations will be smitten and their treasures will become the possession of the Jews (12-15). Those who escape will turn to Jehovah (16); any who fail to do him proper homage will be smitten with drought (17-19), but Judah and Jerusalem will be holy unto Jehovah (20, 21).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
VARIOUS UTTERANCES CONCERNING THE FUTURE OF ISRAEL, Zec 12:1 to Zec 14:21.
The heading (Zec 12:1) names the subject of these utterances, Israel, a term used here not in a national but in a religious sense of the people of Jehovah. The prophecies center around Jerusalem and Judah, the home of the postexilic Jewish community. The section falls naturally into two parts, Zec 12:1 to Zec 13:6, and Zec 14:1-21; Zec 13:7-9, has no close connection either with Zec 13:1-6, or with chapter 14 (see on Zec 13:7-9). The first part, Zec 12:1 to Zec 13:6, consists of three divisions; the first (Zec 12:1-9) deals with some marvelous deliverance of Judah and Jerusalem, the second (Zec 12:10-14) with a prolonged penitential mourning over some great crime, the third (Zec 13:1-6) with the purification of the community and its restoration to intimate fellowship with Jehovah.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Future of the House of David and the Dwellers in Jerusalem, the Servant Pierced, the Spirit Poured Out, The Superseding of Prophecy, the Fires of Refinement ( Zec 12:1 to Zec 13:9 ).
Zechariah’s experiences as previously described have brought home to him that the present time is not going to produce the hoped for golden age of God’s rule. The dream of the eight visions (Zec 1:7 to Zec 6:15) which had promised so much of a purified Israel over whom would rule the Branch, appears to have turned sour. Instead of an Israel being established over whom the shepherd of Ezekiel is reigning (Eze 37:15-28), it has ended up in the hands of false shepherds (Zec 11:4-17). His thoughts may well then have turned to the words of Isaiah depicting the coming Suffering Servant (Isa 50:4-9; Isa 52:13 to Isa 53:12), for having been himself rejected and valued at thirty pieces of silver he foresees the coming of a Great Prophet and Shepherd Who will be in contrast to the false prophets, yet One Who will face rejection and suffering as he has himself.
So he recognises that the future of Jerusalem, as a picture of the people of God, must first be one of woe before God’s glory is revealed. Tragedy must precede triumph.
His depiction of the future of ‘Jerusalem’ is now outlined. It will be noted that it assumes first the coming establishment of Jerusalem as an independent political centre under Nehemiah by the very nature of what is described. Without that it could never have the prominence suggested by this picture. (In Zechariah’s time it was still an unwalled huddle of buildings).
It then briefly recognises its chequered future. And finally it leads up to its future as the place from which salvation will be made available to the world and to its final experience of the blessing of God (Zec 14:3-21). Thus as in much of prophecy it contains a near and a far view. What is prophesied will apply through history but will culminate in the activity of the final days before the final establishment of God’s rule.
The prophecy is necessarily given in symbolic terminology, for the background necessary to present it as it is presented in the New Testament was absent. The prophet spoke, in terms that he knew, of what was in fact beyond his comprehension. How could he visualise a world wide church? Rather he saw in Jerusalem as representing God’s gathered people what we think of as ‘God’s church’ as surrounded by the world. And we should note that at that time it was God’s church, His ‘congregation’. He could only necessarily speak in limited terms, for the full plan of God would have been incomprehensible, both to him and to the people. But he knew the central facts, that there would be suffering before triumph, that in the end the people of God would achieve victory, security and safety and that the King would come who would establish the reign of God.
But what does the word ‘Jerusalem’ represent in these eschatological prophecies? In the near view it is the city, but it is the city seen as being the centre of the people of God. As we have seen earlier it is the city as representing the people of God (Zec 2:7). When men gathered against ‘Jerusalem’ they were gathering against all who then represented God, those who had, as it were, come together to re-establish the Kingly Rule of God. Thus it is not just the city as it was in itself that is in mind, for that constantly comes under the condemnation of the prophets. It is rather the idea behind it, the idea of the ideal Jerusalem as being the gathering place of God’s people. It is Jerusalem as the ideal centre of the true worship of God (compare Isa 2:2-3), with ‘those who dwell in it’ being seen as representing all who worship and obey Him truly.
It is the place from which, through its people, God’s truth will go to the world (Mic 4:2; Isa 2:3; Isa 62:1). It is the place from which God will ‘roar’ and utter His voice when He brings judgment on the nations (Joe 3:16; Mic 1:2). It replaces the ark of the covenant as the throne of God (Jer 3:16-17), until that throne is raised to Heaven at the resurrection of Christ. It is the place from which God Himself will establish His reign (Isa 24:23). So, linked with Jerusalem are thoughts which far transcend it, so that in the end it is itself transcended.
That this is so in Zechariah comes out in what we saw earlier, that ‘Zion’, which was often synonymous with Jerusalem, which was partly built on Mount Zion, could also be used as a description of the people of God far away from Jerusalem (Zec 2:7). It was clear then that the people represented the city even when far away. In other words in a very real sense Jerusalem, Zion, is ‘the people of God’ wherever they are.
That there is this difference is again emphasised in Zec 12:6 where he says, ‘Jerusalem will yet dwell in her own place, even Jerusalem.’ Here the first ‘Jerusalem’ initially represents His people as the true worshippers of God, wherever they are, who have been away, but will now return home. And they are necessarily a symbolic people, for none who had actually dwelt in Jerusalem would by then necessarily be alive. Thus he is not thinking here of just anyone who lives in Jerusalem. He is thinking of the true, returned people of God, the Jerusalem who return to Jerusalem.
These distinctions are stressed and amplified in the New Testament where the heavenly aspect of Jerusalem is stressed. For Paul distinguishes the Jerusalem ‘which is in bondage’, the earthly city, from the Jerusalem ‘which is above’ (Gal 4:25-26), the heavenly Jerusalem, when pointing out that Christians are the ‘children of promise’ (Gal 4:28). They are the true Jerusalem. And Hebrews speaks of ‘Mount Zion’ as being ‘the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem’ (Heb 12:22). This leads on to the vision of the new Jerusalem, whose source is from Heaven, in ‘the new earth’ (Rev 21:2; Rev 21:10) and again represents the whole people of God. So in all this it is the idea that is behind Jerusalem that is prevalent, not the city of Jerusalem itself. (Compare the similar use in many references in Isaiah where there is the Jerusalem/Zion which is the city of God in contrast with ‘the world city’, the future glorious Jerusalem, which has eternal connections and will be part of the everlasting kingdom. See Isa 1:27; Isa 4:3-5; Isa 12:6; Isa 18:7; Isa 24:23; Isa 26:1-4; Isa 28:16; Isa 30:19; Isa 33:5; Isa 33:20; Isa 35:10; Isa 46:13; Isa 51:3; Isa 51:11; Isa 51:16; Isa 52:1; Isa 59:20; Isa 60:14; Isa 61:3; Isa 62:1; Isa 62:11; Isa 65:18-19; Isa 66:10; Isa 66:13; Isa 66:20).
And once we come to the New Testament Jerusalem is not so much a city as an idea, an idea closely aligned with the idea of the people of God. The old earthly Jerusalem has to be destroyed, and the real Jerusalem is the heavenly one with which His people are connected (Gal 4:25-26). And that is what Zechariah has in mind when he thinks of ‘Jerusalem’.
Furthermore Peter also stresses the spiritual nature of ‘Zion’ when he speaks of the church of God as living stones in the new Temple which is His church, built on the chief cornerstone and note that it is laid ‘in Zion’ (1Pe 2:4-7 based on Isa 28:16).
It is true that the prophets themselves saw their prophecies as necessarily relating to a ‘physical Jerusalem’. To them the people of God and Jerusalem were very much identified. But especially in the case of Isaiah it was very much an eschatological Jerusalem. His descriptions of it far exceed any possible conception of an earthly city. To him Jerusalem/Zion is synonymous with God’s people (‘we, the daughter of Zion’ – Isa 1:9); it will be purged by the removal of the filth of the daughter of Zion – Isa 4:4; it represents ‘the inhabitants of Jerusalem’ – Isa 5:3; Isa 8:14; Isa 22:21; Isa 28:14; Isa 30:19; it is to arise and clothe itself in beauty – Isa 52:2; it is a place of rejoicing where weeping is heard no more – Isa 65:18-19); and it is from Jerusalem/Zion with its exalted, unearthly Temple, that God’s message will go out to the world (Isa 2:4; Isa 62:6-7). It is the Jerusalem/Zion which is the city of God in contrast with the world city. It is the future glorious Jerusalem, which has eternal connections and will be part of the everlasting kingdom (Isa 1:27; Isa 4:3-5; Isa 12:6; Isa 18:7; Isa 24:23; Isa 26:1-4; Isa 28:16; Isa 30:19; Isa 33:5; Isa 33:20; Isa 35:10; Isa 46:13; Isa 51:3; Isa 51:11; Isa 51:16; Isa 52:1; Isa 59:20; Isa 60:14; Isa 61:3; Isa 62:1; Isa 62:11; Isa 65:18-19; Isa 66:10; Isa 66:13; Isa 66:20) .
It was, however, to be expected that the prophets would stop short of making it fully heavenly or seeing in it simply a picture of the people of God as such. They had no concept of Heaven. And they could not even conceive of a people of God not connected with Jerusalem. (It took the early church great searching of heart before they also did so). So as they peered with God’s help into the future, Jerusalem was their conception of the people of God. Surrounded on all sides by a wicked world they were God’s people, ‘Jerusalem’. The prophets had no full or detailed conception of an afterlife, or of a spiritual kingdom, or of living in a heavenly sphere, and did not think in those terms. Even when, rarely, resurrection is mentioned it is closely connected with this earth (Isa 26:19). So a Jerusalem purified and made spiritual, a perfected Jerusalem that fulfilled all the hopes of the prophets and the true people of God, was God’s ideal. It represented His true ‘congregation (church)’.
The idea of ‘Jerusalem’ both in the near view and in the far view therefore represented hope, deliverance, the congregation of Israel gathered together, the presence of God with His people, a centre of God’s rule, and the final fulfilment of what God intended His people to be. It was to be the fulfilment of all their expectations. And that was why inevitably it had in the end to become a heavenly city. For no earthly city, populated by earthly people, could achieve those expectations. We can therefore justly take the idea of Jerusalem as Paul did and see it as representing all God’s people wherever they were.
But the prophets could not wholly think like that, for, as mentioned above, there was then little specific detailed conception of an afterlife, or of a world-wide, ‘invisible’ kingdom. So to them it was in Jerusalem that they saw the fulfilment of all their hopes for the future, it represented the people of God surrounded by an antagonistic world, and it resulted in the triumph of God depicted in earthly terms which were never full worked out.
But in the end, the important question is not so much how the prophets saw it as how God intended it to be seen. And there the New Testament position is directly relevant. In the New Testament the idea of Jerusalem is related to what we call ‘Heaven’. Yet even ‘Heaven’, like ‘Jerusalem’ to the prophets, is but a name for the ideal future, the place where God dwells, the future home of His people. It simply recognises that the Jerusalem of the prophetic hopes could not be realised on earth. Thus Revelation finally amplifies it in terms of a ‘new Earth’.
So as we read Zechariah and the prophets we must see Jerusalem sometimes as it was and sometimes in terms of its heavenly ideal, as representing God’s whole people.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Pouring out of the Spirit And The Repentance Brought About By Considering The Pierced One ( Zec 12:10 to Zec 13:1 ).
Zec 12:10
‘And I will pour on the house of David and on the dwellers in Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and of supplication, and they will look to me whom they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for his only son, and will be in bitterness for him as one who is in bitterness for his firstborn.’
From now on in this section all the promises are to the ‘house of David’ and the ‘dwellers in Jerusalem’, and yet in this terminology the whole land is in mind (Zec 12:12; Zec 13:2; Zec 13:8). Once again we recognise that they are a symbolic, representative group representing the people of God as a whole.
This remarkable prophecy of the death of Christ and the outpouring of the Spirit, both on members of His own family, ‘the house of David’ (Act 1:14), and on those appointed to take His message to the world, ‘the dwellers in Jerusalem’, can only fill us with awe and gratitude.
Jesus’ own brothers of the house of David did become true followers of Him. James the Lord’s brother became a prominent leader of the Jerusalem church and His other brothers also proved true to Him. They shared in the outpouring of the Spirit. And the Apostles became dwellers in Jerusalem, going out from there to the world. And they were indeed ‘like David’ both in boldness and in faithfulness.
Firstly the prophecy looks to the ‘piercing’ of One Who was in so close a relationship with God that He can describe it as the piercing of Himself. It is His true Prophet Who is to be pierced. It is His true Shepherd Who is to be smitten (Zec 13:7).
‘They will look on me whom they have pierced.’ In one sense they will be piercing God Himself. Yet that the piercing is of a human being comes out in the following phrases where the verse reverts to ‘him’ and describes One Who is mourned like an only son. This can only look back to the suffering Servant described by Isaiah 53 (we have noted earlier in the chapter his knowledge of Isaiah’s work). Here the prophet is thinking of One Who will suffer on behalf of God’s people, will offer Himself as a sacrifice for sin, and will be received by God as the victor. And while the reference to the only son is indirect, it is nevertheless significant. There will be mourning as for an only son. But there is also reference to the house of David which gives the verse Messianic significance. It is the time of the Messiah.
Secondly it looks to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, commencing in the life of Christ (Mar 1:10), continuing in the Upper Room (John 20), and wonderfully revealed to the world in Jerusalem at Pentecost (Acts 2). These events truly changed history and affected the whole world.
‘The Spirit of grace and of supplication.’ This must have in mind Joe 2:28 and Isa 44:3-5, and many similar passages, where God’s grace and favour is made known to men in the pouring out of the Spirit, causing them to walk in His ways and to prophesy. It is a picture of fruitfulness and of blessing, using the pouring down of rain as a symbol for the work of the Spirit. But here it goes a step further in recognising the direct connection with the suffering Servant.
‘Grace’. In Psa 84:11 God’s grace is revealed in the fact that He withholds nothing from those who walk uprightly. All that we receive from God is through His grace, His undeserved favour, and that grace abounds to those who are His.
‘Supplication.’ In Jer 36:7 supplication is directly linked with returning from evil ways. The idea here is of true repentance and submission to God. Thus those who experience this outpouring return to God and receive His favour and His Spirit.
‘Me whom they have pierced.’ The piercing is an indication that we are dealing with a Prophet (Zec 13:3). Zec 13:3 would suggest that ‘piercing through’ was the recognised punishment for false prophecy. Thus the One Whom God would send was to be treated as a false prophet. The so-called people of God would reject Him and pierce Him, and by doing so they would accuse God Himself of being false. Thus He Himself would be pierced by their action, for the One Whom they rejected would be proclaiming His truth.
But once they had pierced Him there would be many who would be woken to the truth about Him. When the Spirit was poured down on them they would look on what had been done and they would mourn for Him and for their sinfulness.
‘And they shall mourn for him –.’ The theme of mourning is emphatically stressed in these verses in a number of ways and is clearly connected with the pouring out of the Spirit of grace and supplication, demonstrating that their hearts have been changed and that it is a mourning for sin and for the way in which they have offended God. It is the mourning of repentance from that sin and for what they have brought on the suffering Servant, and will result in their benefiting from the fountain for sin and uncleanness (Zec 13:1).
‘As one mourns for his only son’. They will recognise that they have done this to One Who should have been as dear as an only son. This is doubly stressed. He will be as dear to them as their firstborn sons.
Zec 12:13-14
‘In that day there will be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megiddon, and the land shall mourn every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart, the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart, the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart, the family of the Shimeites apart, and their families apart, all the families that remain, every family apart and their wives apart.’
The depth of the mourning for sin is brought out by the continued emphasis. It has been compared with the mourning for a firstborn son, now further comparisons are made.
‘As the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megiddon.’ This clearly refers to some well known ceremony of mourning. The name Hadad-rimmon suggests connection with fertility rites, for Hadad is the god of storm (compare Baal) and Rimmon is similarly the chief god of Damascus (2Ki 5:18). Such rites would include mourning as the dead deity was sought in order to bring him back to life for the renewal of the seasons (compare weeping for Tammuz in Eze 8:14). Rites like these would often continue through the centuries long after their main meaning was forgotten.
But it is mentioned, not to approve of the rites, but as a prime example of open and deep mourning which all would recognise. There may be some connection with the death of Josiah, the last great and favoured descendant of David to do what was right in the eyes of Yahweh. This took place in the valley of Megiddo, and may well have been remembered by appropriating such rites.
The mourning will be deep and personal for each family will be apart, and wives apart from their men. Prominent in the mourning will be the royal family and the priests. David, the head of the royal house, is mentioned and especially David’s son Nathan (2Sa 5:14; 1Ch 3:5; Luk 3:31), and Levi the head of the priestly tribe, and especially the Shimeites (see Num 3:18; Num 3:21). Then the remainder of the people. The mourning will go right from the top to the bottom. It is noteworthy that the natural descent of Jesus and His family from David was through Nathan (Luk 3:31).
So the mourning for sin will reach to all parts of Israel, including members of the Messiah’s own family.
Zec 13:1
‘In that day there will be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the dwellers in Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.’
The result of the piercing of the Messianic Servant will be the opening of a fountain for sin and uncleanness both for His own family and household and for those who ‘dwell in Jerusalem’, that is those whose hearts are true towards the God of Jerusalem.
The idea of a fountain for the removal of sin is not found elsewhere in the Old Testament. Elsewhere the idea of the fountain is as a fountain of life, or of living waters, which symbolise life through the Holy Spirit (Psa 36:9; Pro 13:14; Isa 41:18; Jer 2:13; Jer 17:13; Joe 3:18).
But in mind here are almost certainly the words of Ezekiel in Eze 36:24-29. ‘I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean. From all your filthiness and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart also I will give you and a new Spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you — and I will save you from all your uncleannesses.’ The deep mourning and repentance of sin in Zec 12:10-12 opens the way for God’s Spirit to work within them, and indeed shows that He has already begun to work within them. That work produces new life and results in the removal of sin and uncleanness through the waters from God’s fountain.
But sprinkled water as in Ezekiel is water that has been treated with the ashes of a heifer – Num 19:17 (see ‘the waters of expiation’ – Num 8:7) and thus cleanses through its sacrificial qualities. That is why it is ‘clean’ water. Thus this ‘fountain opened for sin–’ must be seen as connected with the piercing of the true Prophet with His shedding of blood interpreted sacrificially as in Isaiah 53, compare possibly Isa 52:15.
The idea of sin being washed away by water is rare in the Old Testament. The ritual washings did not cleanse. They were only preparatory. When they were used men would ‘ not be clean until the evening’. Something further was necessary. When David speaks of being washed from sin he parallels it with being purged with hyssop. His emphasis is on being cleansed through sacrifice, and always sprinkling involves sacrificial blood in one way or another.
So the prophet declares that there is coming a day of great repentance for sin resulting from the piercing of the Servant Messiah, a day of great spiritual renewal, and the provision of God’s final answer to the problem of sin and uncleanness.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The True and the False Prophets ( Zec 12:10 – Zec 13:9 ).
The way in which all this will take effect is now clearly laid out. A contrast is made between:
The piercing (rejection) of the True Prophet Who is coming when the Spirit is poured out, which will result in repentance and a fountain opened for sin and uncleanness (Zec 12:10 to Zec 13:1).
The piercing of false prophets because they are false (Zec 13:2-3).
The smiting of the false prophets by those who really prove themselves his friend (Zec 13:4-6).
The smiting of the true Shepherd, with the resultant pouring out of the Spirit, repentance of those who respond, opening up of a fountain for sin and uncleanness, and purifying of God’s people (Zec 13:7-9).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Fruits Of Penitence
v. 1. In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, v. 2. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, v. 3. And it shall come to pass that when any shall yet prophesy, v. 4. And it shall come to pass in that day that the prophets, v. 5. but he shall say, I am no prophet, I am an husbandman, v. 6. And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands?
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Zec 13:1-6
3. This repentance will lead to purification from past defilement, and a reaction against idolatry and false prophet.
Zec 13:1
In that day. At the time when the great mourning (Zec 12:1-14.) takes place, or, more generally, in the Messianic period, when all these things shall be fulfilled. Shall be a fountain opened, etc. Shah be opened and continue open. The allusion is to the lustral rites practised in the consecration of the Levites, who were to have “water of sin” sprinkled on them, and to “the water of separation,” or “water of uncleanness” (the word found in our passage), used for purposes of legal purification (see Num 8:7; Num 19:9). Instead of this merely ceremonial cleansing, there should be in the Christian Church the cleansing of the soul by the blood of Christ (1Pe 1:2; 1Jn 1:7). Septuagint, , “Every place shall he opened.” The house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem represent the whole nation, as in Zec 12:10; the cleansing is as universal as the sin (see the announcement in Eze 36:25; Eze 47:1-12; Joe 3:18). For sin and for uncleanness. The latter word is used for the separation on account of uncleanness (Le 15:20, etc.); and the two terms together comprise all guilt and pollution.
Zec 13:2
I will cut off the names of the idols. Idols should be so utterly abolished that their very names should perish (Hos 2:17; Mic 5:12, Mic 5:13; Zep 1:4). The prophet names the two chief sins which had brought ruin on the old theocracyidolatry and false prophetism, and declares that these shall not be found in the new theocracy. As these two sins were not specially prevalent after the Captivity, some see in their mention here an argument for the pre-exilian authorship of this part of Zechariah. But the prophet, grounding his message on past history, does well to give assurance that such lapses shall not happen again. Nor is it altogether certain that the warning against these errors was not needed after the return. There were false prophets in Nehemiah’s time (Neh 6:14); and we read in the Book of Maccabees that many Jews adopted heathen rites and customs, among which the worship of idols must have been included (1 Macc. 1:11, etc.; 2 Macc. 4:13, etc.), and the people and even priests contracted marriages with heathen wives (Ezr 9:2; Neh 13:23); so that there was real danger of relapse. The prophets. The false prophets are meant, as is evident from their being associated with idols and the unclean spirit, and from verses 3-6. The Septuagint has, “the false prophets;” so the Vulgate. The unclean spirit. This is the lying spirit which works in the false prophets (see 1Ki 22:19-23), and which we find later denounced by apostles (Act 16:18; 1Co 10:20, 1Co 10:21; 2Th 2:9, 2Th 2:10; 1Ti 4:1). Septuagint, (comp, Mat 12:43; Rev 18:2).
Zec 13:3
When any shall yet prophesy; i.e. if any man shall pretend to have predictive powers conferred on him by God. There is here no intimation that true prophecy should cease, as Keil and Kohler suppose; the man is punished, not because he prophesies, but because “he speaketh lies.” His father and his mother. The passage is grounded on the enactments in Deu 13:6-10 and Deu 18:20, which commanded the death of a false prophet or of one who enticed others to Idolatry. Here the holy zeal of the parents should put the law in force. This was quite a different state of things from that which obtained in former times. The earlier prophets continually complain of the favour shown to these deceivers (comp. Isa 9:15; Jer 5:31; Mic 2:11); and we never read of the legal punishment being inflicted after due investigation, the test being the nonfulfilment of the prediction (Deu 18:22). In the new theocracy, so great is the recoil from such pretenders, that their nearest relations shall at once punish them with death without any previous legal process. Shall thrust him through. Stab, pierce him, put him to death, as in Deu 12:10. The gospel deals more tenderly with heretics (Luk 9:55). “Defendenda religio non est occidendo,” says Laetant. (‘Div. Inst.,’ 5.20), “sed moriendo; religio cogi non potest“ (Wordsworth, in loc.).
Zec 13:4
Shall be ashamed. The falsity of their pretensions being now recognized, these prophets shall be ashamed to utter their oracles in public. When he hath prophesied; rather, when he prophesieth. A rough garment; a mantle of hair; Septuagint. : Vulgate, pallio saccino. Such was the mantle of Elijah (1Ki 19:13, 1Ki 19:19; 2Ki 1:8; 2Ki 2:13, 2Ki 2:14) and of John the Baptist (Mat 3:4), and it seems to have become the distinctive badge of the prophet, and was assumed by these pretenders in order to inspire confidence.
Zec 13:5
I am an husbandman. The imposter shall confess the truth about himself, and own that he is only “a tiller of the ground ( ),” as Gen 4:2. The abnegation in Amo 7:14 is quite different in character. Man taught me to keep cattle; literally, man bought (or, possessed) me; Revised Version, I have been made a bondman. So eager is he now to hide his false pretensions, that he is willing, to be considered a slave, employed from his youth in farm work, and therefore incapable of executing the prophetical office. Vulgate, Quoniam Adam exemplum meum ab adoloscentia mea; i.e. “I have followed the example of Adam in tilling the ground and in earning my bread by the sweat of my brow.” St. Cyril and some modern commentators hold that the false prophet says this in sorrow and repentant, not with any idea of deceiving; and that herein is exhibited a signal instance of the grace of God in the Messanic period, when even such sinners are converted from the error of their ways.
Zec 13:6
What are these wounds in thine hands? or rather, between thy hands, i.e. on thy breast; Revised Version, between thine arms. Cheyne compares, “between his arms,” i.e; in his back (2Ki 9:24) and “between your eyes” i.e. on your foreheads (Deu 11:18). Not satisfied with the assertion in Zec 13:5, the questioner asks the meaning of these wounds which he sees on his body. Jerome considers these scars to be marks of correction and punishment at the hands of his parents. More probably they are thought to be self-inflicted in the service of some idol, according to the practice mentioned in 1Ki 18:28; Jer 48:37. Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. This may be a confession of guilt, the impostor owning that his friends, had thus punished him for his pretensions; or, as the word rendered “friends” is generally used in the case of illicit or impure love or spiritual fornication, it may be here applied to the idols whom he served. But it seems most probable that the answer is intentionally false and misleading; as if he had said, “The wounds were not made as you suppose, but are the result of something that happened to me in my friends’ house.” The LXX. renders, , “with which I was struck in my beloved house.” To see in this passage a reference to our blessed Lord and his crucifixion, though such an opinion has the support of the Roman Liturgy and of many interpreters, is to do violence to the context, and to read into the words a meaning wholly alien from the subject of false prophets, which is the matter in hand.
Zec 13:7-9
4. For the smiting of the good Shepherd Israel is punished, passes through much tribulation, by which it is refined, and in the end (though reduced to a mere remnant) is saved.
Zec 13:7
Awake, O sword. Zechariah proceeds to show the course of the purification of the people. The mention of the false prophet and the shameful wounds in his flesh leads him to the contrast of the true Prophet and the effects of his “piercing.” The abruptness of the commencement of the verse is dramatic, and gives no sufficient cause for supposing that this paragraph ought to be transferred (as Ewald and others desire) to the end of Zec 11:1-17. (For a similar apostrophe, comp. Jer 47:6.) It is introduced here to show that all that happened to the Shepherd was done after the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God; and as if the sword could never have dared to act thus except it were permitted by the Divine will. The “sword” represents any kind of instrument that inflicts death (comp. Exo 5:21; 2Sa 12:9; Isa 27:1). My Shepherd. The Shepherd of Jehovah, who is speaking. He is the good Shepherd, the Representative of Jehovah, mentioned in Zec 11:4, etc; the Messiah, who is identified with Jehovah in Zec 12:10. The Septuagint has, , “my shepherds” (Vatican), as if no particular person was indicated, but rather all the leaders of the people of God; but the next clause seems to render the reference definite. The man that is my fellow. The word rendered “man” means rather “mighty man;” that rendered “fellow” occurs often in Leviticus, but nowhere else (Le 5:21; Lev 6:2; Lev 19:11, Lev 19:15, Lev 19:17, etc.), and is usually translated “neighbour;” it implies one united to another by the possession of common nature, rights, and privileges. God could speak only of One thus associated with himself, that is, of him who could say, “I and my Father are One” (Joh 10:30). The term is variously translated by the versions. Septuagint, = : Aquila, : Vulgate, Virum cohaerentem mihi. That the Shepherd is Messiah is proved by Christ’s application of the following clause to himself (Mat 26:31). Smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. When Christ was apprehended, all the disciples forsook him and fled (Mat 26:56); and what they did was done by others. Even the faithful few were scandalized at the cross The command, “Smite the Shepherd,” like the apostrophe, “Awake, O sword,” shows that it was God’s purpose that was being there executed (see Joh 19:11; Act 2:23). It is also thus intimated that the dispersion of the Jews, and their denationalizing, were results of this rejection and smiting of the Shepherd. This dispersion is farther explained in verses 8, 9, where it is shown that to some it will be ruin, to others salvation. I will turn mine hand. “To turn,” or “bring back the hand over,” is used in a good and a bad sense (comp. Isa 1:25; Amo 1:8). There is a promise of comfort in the use of the phrase here. God’s hand shall cover and protect some, while he punishes the others. Those thus protected are called the little ones, the humble and meek. This recalls Christ’s words to his disciples, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luk 12:32).
Zec 13:8
In all the land; i.e. Palestine, the country in which the good Shepherd tended his flock (Zec 11:1-17.), and which is a figure of the kingdom of God (comp. Zec 12:12; Zec 14:9, Zec 14:10). Two parts therein shall be cut off and die; literally, the mouth, i.e. the portion of two, as Deu 21:17; 2Ki 2:9, where it denotes the double portion inherited by the firstborn. The inheritance is divided into three portions, of which two parts are given over to death. Compare a similar allotment in the case of the Moabites (2Sa 8:2). The doomed portion is supposed to represent the multitudes who perished at the siege of Jerusalem. This may be; but by analogy it stands for those who shall not accept the Messiah or be purified by suffering, even as Christ said, “Many are called, but few chosen” (Mat 20:16; comp. Mat 3:12). The third. This third part represents the faithful among the Jews (Rom 11:5), and the Christian Church gathered out of all nations (comp. Isa 6:13; and especially Eze 5:2, Eze 5:12).
Zec 13:9
Through the fire. This third part, like its Master, passes through much tribulation, and is thereby refined and purified (comp. Psa 66:10; Isa 48:10; Jer 9:7; Dan 12:10; Mal 3:3; 1Pe 1:6, 1Pe 1:7). Call on my Name. In their distress they shall turn in faith to Jehovah, as the covenant God, a very present Help in trouble (Isa 65:24). Thus is represented God’s dealing with his Church in every age.
HOMILETICS
Zec 13:1
The end of sin.
“In that day there shall be a fountain opened,” etc. The close of the last chapter described certain persons as pouring forth “a fountain of tears” (Jer 9:1). This opens by describing a “fountain” of a different kinda fountain opened for the especial benefit of those who thus mourned (comp. Zec 12:10). In this last-mentioned verse their grief is attributed to their looking on him “whom they had pierced.” Remembering how distinctly this expression is applied, in Joh 19:37, to the death of Christ Jesus, we seem justified in concluding that there is a similar reference here. According to this, therefore, the “fountain” of Joh 19:1 is a figurative description of that flow of blessings which comes from Christ’s cross; and its “opening in that day” to the people described is a similar description of their being then at last enabled to discover and partake of that flow. So “opened,” what will be its results? Two principally, both of chief importance, viz, an end of sin
(1) in regard to its guilt; and an end of sin
(2) in regard to its pollution.
I. THE END OF ITS GUILT. Sin, as being the transgression of Law (1Jn 3:4; 1Jn 5:17; Rom 4:15; Rom 5:13), involves the displeasure, and that inevitably, of the Lawgiver. If the Law is worth enacting, it is worth enforcing. If not meant, indeed, to be enforced, why was it ever proclaimed? The wiser, also the better, the holier, the higher the Lawgiver, the more this reasoning holds. The greater also, such being the case, and that both in itself and also before him, is the offence of rebelling against him. And it is this “offence,” this deadly “offence,” that the mystical fountain here described in the first placeproviding, as it does, “a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world”so entirely brings to an end. See how emphatically this is taught generally in Rom 8:1; Rom 3:25. And see how the same appears to be taught specially concerning Jerusalem and its inhabitants in the future in such passages as Isa 40:2; Isa 43:25; Jeremiah h 20 (see also Dan 9:24). Now their “iniquities have separated,” as described in Isa 59:2, “between them and their God, and their sins have made him [margin] hide his face from them, that he will not hear.” Then, through that “opened fountain,” this will all be reversed. No longer separated or concealed from them, he will accept their prayers with “delight” (see Joh 4:23, end; Pro 15:8).
II. THE END OF ITS POLLUTION. Besides being an offence to God, sin is an injury to ourselves. Being altogether unworthy of us in every respect, it brings about, and that immediately, our own degradation and shame. It involves pollution, that is to say, as well as guilt. And it further involves, such being the case, in addition to the before-mentioned separation or alienation of God’s favour from us, the separation or alienation of our nature from him. This second evil would seem to be described in our text as “separation” for or by means of “uncleanness.” How such alienation on man’s part through the pollution of sin is evidenced, we may see in Gen 3:8; Luk 5:8; Isa 30:11; Rom 1:28, beginning; and also in that which is assumed respecting us in the gracious appeal of 2Co 5:20. On the other hand, how entirely this second alienation can be overcome by the remedy of our text is seen in 1Jn 1:7, end; Joh 12:32. And how completely both this and the previously mentioned alienation are to be removed in the case of Judah and Israel at the last, as here described, we may perhaps see in Jer 31:31-34, especially as quoted and summarized in Heb 10:16, Heb 10:17 and elsewhere.
If this interpretation is accepted, we may learn hence for ourselves, in concluding:
1. The necessity of Christ‘s death. In all cases we see it is thus that God has appointed as to doing away with our sins. It is only by the “fountain” in this way provided, and not by any fountain of tears on man’s part, however copious, however unexampled, however certainly due even to an influence from above (Zec 12:10), that the “double cure” of sin can be wrought.
“Could my tears forever flow,” etc.
2. The necessity of man‘s faith. The necessity, we mean, of course, where there is the capacity for faith in existence. Till that capacity for faith is exercised, no matter what the object of faith, what can it do? Till the “fountain” in this way be “opened” win other words, be discovered and usedwhom can it cleanse? (See Rom 5:1 and Act 15:9 respectively for the two sides of this truth.)
3. The abundance of God‘s gracewhether to pardon or heal. It is not a cistern, not even a well, but a fountain, to which we find it compared (comp. Jer 2:13; Joh 4:12, Joh 4:13). No limitation as to supply. No limitation as to use (see Deu 11:10, Deu 11:11).
Zec 13:2-6
The end of error.
“And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols,” etc. After the end of sin, the end of that which leads to sin, viz. of error. This gift completes the previous blessings by making them lasting and sure (comp. Psa 85:8). This gift also, as we find it described here, is most complete in itself. It is so, whether we consider what is told us
(1) as to the future action of God, or
(2) as to the action of men, in brining error to an end.
I. THE ACTION OF GOD. It is promised here that he will put an end to error:
1. By abolishing its very symbols. The “names” of idols are the symbols or words by means of which their supposed attributes or connection with different localities are set forth and commemorated; and under which also they are worshipped. Besides numerous classical examples, see in Act 19:34 how evidently the people of Ephesus considered it as equivalent to a declaration of their faith to repeat the mere name of Diana. What is promised here, therefore, is that it should be eventually with all systems of error as it is now with many of the singular and subtle heresies which vexed the primitive Church. They are so far forgotten by this time that it is a matter of difficult antiquarian research even to ascertain their true meaning.
2. By banishing its teachers. Not only then shall the “tares” of falsehood be “rooted up,” but the “enemy” also that sowed them shall be taken away, This, moreover, shall be done so completely that not only the false “prophet,” but the “unclean spirit” also, his inspirer and confederate, shall “cease” to exist in the land. Error, therefore, at that happy season, shall be twice dead, as it were; gone altogether beyond recollection; gone also beyond recovery.
II. THE ACTION OF MAN. Even should any persons qualified to act as false prophets be still left in existence (see again 1Sa 28:7), there will be two further things effectually to prevent them from making use of their gifts. There will be the extent to which, at that time, the false prophet:
1. Shall be hated by others. He will be hated
(1) by all others, including specially even those who, as having brought him into being, will naturally be the most disposed to befriend or endure him. Also
(2) be will be hated by these in the bitterest manner, their mouths pronouncing against him, and their hands inflicting on him sentence of death. And finally
(3) he will be hated thus on account of his connection with error (note “for thou speakest lies,” and “when he prophesieth,” in Act 19:3). Acting also at that time in the same direction, will be the extent to which the false prophet shall be:
2. Despised by himself. For example, he will be ashamed
(1) of his inward prophetical thoughts or “visions,” not thinking more of them as guides to truth than a sensible man does of his dreams. He will be ashamed
(2) of his outward prophetical garb, being so far from wishing to have it “seen of men” (Mat 23:5) that he will never clothe himself in it. And, finally,
(3) he will be ashamed of both these things to such an extent as to be wilting rather to be regarded as a bondman, or slave (so many understand Act 19:5), and ready rather to seek shelter from the imputation of being a prophet in any subterfuge, however absurd. “Call me anything but a teacher of truth. Believe what you will of me except that I profess to be that!”
Whatever the special application of the passage which sets before us such a complete cessation of error, there are two general principles of much importance which seem illustrated thereby.
1. The increasing light of the future. Compared with the past, whether Jewish or pagan, how full of light the dispensation that now is (see Mat 13:16, Mat 13:17; Heb 11:13; 1Pe 1:10, 1Pe 1:11; Act 17:3; Act 26:18)! Compared with the future, how full of darkness (1Co 13:9-12; 1Jn 3:2; Col 1:12; Rev 21:23; Rev 22:4, Rev 22:5)! Much, indeed, yet remains to be revealed to those described in Psa 25:14.
2. The great consequent blessedness of the future. What a scene of distraction, with its “many masters” (see Revised Version, Jas 3:1) and discordant outcries (Mat 24:23-26), not unlike the scene described in Dan 7:2, is the present! How profound the tranquillity, how sweet the calm, caused by the cessation of all! Happy, indeed, to have the hope of travelling at last “to where beyond these voices there is peace”!
Zec 13:7-9
A wonderful sentence.
“Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow,” etc. The prophet here seems again to “hark back,” as at the openings of Zec 9:1-17. and 11. (where see remarks and references), from the “glory” that was to “follow” to the “sufferings” that were to precede. At any rate, we have the highest authority (Mat 26:31, Mat 26:56) for understanding this passage of the “sufferings” and death of our Lord himself. This being so, how does its language present that great “Passion” to us? As something surpassingly wonderful
(1) in itself; and
(2) in its results.
I. WONDERFUL IN ITSELF. Here is a man spoken ofhere is a command given respecting himby the Lord of hosts.
1. How wonderful the man spoken of!
(1) He is supreme in office. All other men are to him but as sheep. He is to them in the position of a shepherd. He is also recognized and appointed as such (“my Shepherd”) himself. Nor is there any other whatever so appointed, except by his direction and in a subordinate place (see Isa 40:11; Joh 10:11; Heb 13:20; 1Pe 2:25; 1Pe 5:4).
(2) He is supreme in nature. He is Jehovah’s “fellow,” or equal, just as men dwelling together in Palestine as neighbours (see Le 19:15, 17; 25:14,15, etc; where the same word is employed) were fellows, or equals. Higher than thishigher, i.e; than the highestwho can possibly be?
2. How wonderful the command, things being thus!
(1) Consider its purport; viz. that such a one should be smitten at all; should be smitten also with such a weapona weapon of so judicial a nature (Rom 13:4); a weapon of so deadly a character, aiming at life itself (Mat 26:52). Why should the “sword” be thus called upon to “awake”as though previously “asleep” and neglecting its dutyagainst him? Who less deserving, in himself, to suffer thereby? Who more fit, rather, in every way, to employ it (see Joh 5:22; Act 17:31, etc.)?
(2) Consider its Authorthe Lord of hosts. The marvel is the same as that we read of in Isa 53:10, “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief” (see also Act 2:23; Rom 8:1-39 :82). It is the Judge of judges, the eternal Father himself, who bids the sword awake against him!
II. WONDERFUL IN ITS RESULTS. For these, as described to us here, are:
1. Most unexpected. The immediate result, indeed, that of scattering the sheep, is not at all unexpected. What more likely, what more certain to follow, humanly speaking, from smiting the Shepherd? But the ultimate result, that of saving these “little ones” (so many understand end of Isa 53:7), that of preserving the sheep by thus slaying their Preserver (comp. Joh 18:8, Joh 18:9; Mat 27:42, beginning; Gal 3:13; Isa 53:5, end), is unexpected indeed. Has not the very idea, indeed, seemed the height of “foolishness” to many (1Co 1:23) who thought themselves “wise”?
2. Most widely diverse. This extraordinary method of preserving the flock was not expected to preserve all within reach of its influence. On the contrary, far too many amongst themsomething like two to one of them, in fact, all taken together (“in all the land”)would decline to avail themselves of it.
(1) Its effect upon these who despise itfor it would have effect upon thesewould be their uttermost ruin. The method of deliverance, by being thus inverted, would become their destruction. The weapon of defence, by being turned thus against them, becomes a weapon of death (see 2Co 2:16, beginning; Luk 2:34; Heb 2:3).
(2) Its effect on those who embrace it, on the other hand, would be their uttermost salvation. Observe the various steps. First, they are “left;” that is (see Eze 9:8), not destroyed. Next, they are purified by disciplinei.e. saved from the power of sinas metals by fire; and this as thoroughly at the last (comp. Heb 12:23, end) as when gold has been “tried” till it requires trying no longer. Concurrently with this, on the other hand, they are saved so thoroughly from the condemnation of sin, that they have full access to God’s presence and attention; and when they openly speak of God as their Portion (as such persons will do, Psa 16:5; Psa 119:57), are acknowledged by him as his portion in a similar manner (see Psa 67:6; Jer 10:16; Jer 51:19; Deu 32:9; So Deu 2:16). They are favoured by him, in fact, both secretly and openly too (Mat 6:6).
Three brief thoughts to conclude.
1. How lofty the superstructure of the gospel salvation! Salvation itself, understood rigorously (as we have noted), is only not being lost. Actually, as here described to us, it is all that heart can desirethe heirship of all things through Christ (Rom 8:17; Gal 4:7; 1Co 3:22, 1Co 3:23).
2. How deep its foundations! Penetrating to the very greatest depths, as it were, of the Divine nature and plans (Rev 13:8).
3. How certain its truth! Like that house which the Saviour himself describes (Mat 7:24; Mat 25:1-46) as being founded on a rockfounded, in fact, on that “Rock of Ages,” which not all the “ages” can shake (comp. Heb 12:27, Heb 12:28).
HOMILIES BY W. FORSYTH
Zec 13:1
The fountain of grace.
Salvation through Christ. The glorious gospel.
I. THE EVIL. “Sin and uncleanness.” All are sinners. Law, facts of life, testimony of conscience, prove our guilt. Sin defiles all that it touches. Uncleanness, alas how prevalent, and in manifold forms! ‘Twas sin that brought it all into the world. If there were no sin there would be no uncleanness. Need for grief and prayer.
II. THE REMEDY. Fountain, etc.
1. Freedom of access. Open, not shut. None debarred. In the promise of Godby the atoning death of Christthrough the ministry of grace, the fountain has been opened for all (Joh 19:34; 1Jn 1:7; Heb 9:13).
2. Plenitude of supply, Not a pool or a cistern, but a fountain, with rich and ample supplies for all. Thousands and tens of thousands have already been blessed, and whosoever will may come, and will find that Christ is mighty to save.
3. Perennial virtue. Not like Bethesda, at certain times; but all the year round, and from, generation to generation. After many years’ absence, I visited the home of my youth. There were sad changes. Friends were gone. None to know me. But under the shade of firs, in the old place, I found the spring where I had often slaked my thirst. It was still the samethe water sweet and refreshing as ever. So Christ is “the Same yesterday, today, and forever.”F.
Zec 13:7
The sword.
There is here something of heaven and earth. Jehovah speaks. He lays his command on the sword of justice, to awake and “smite.” This implies death, and death not of a common sort, but as a judicial act, under the sanction of law. We take the scene to illustrate the tragedy of Calvary (Mat 26:31; Joh 16:32). Three questions may be asked.
I. WHO? The rebellious Babylon, Rome, Jerusalem? No. “The man that is my fellow.” Who is this? Search, and where can you find such a one? Abraham was God’s friend, but not his “fellow.” Prophets and kings, martyrs and confessors, all stand aside. None but Christ answers the description. He is the First and the Last and the only One, in human likeness, who could say, “I and my Father are One”
II. WHY? Justice has its reasons. All that God does must be in accordance with eternal right. But here is mystery. The Man who alone was “without sin,” holy and perfectthe solitary man, in human form, who was nearest of kin to God himselfto be dealt with as if he were a transgressor, and as if he had done things worthy of death,this is exceeding strange. The key is in the term “Shepherd.” Implies covenant relationship. Substitution of person and of sufferings. The One for the many; the Shepherd for the sheep.
III.. WHAT THEN? We reasonably expect results worthy of such a tragedy. Twofold.
1. Judgment. Not only as to the disciples, but the Jewish people.
2. Mercy. Tender compassion. Gracious interposition. Glorious resolve. “I will turn my hand upon the little ones.” Let us note that there is but one alternativehand or sword. If we pass by God’s hand stretched out to save, we must perish by the sword. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”F.
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS
Zec 13:1-6
The gospel age.
“In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered,” etc. Concerning the preceding chapter and these six verses, Dr. Keil says, “This section forms the first half of the second prophecy of Zechariah concerning the future of Israel and of the world, viz. the prophecy contained in ch. 12-14, which, as a side piece to ch. 9-11, treats of the judgment by which Israel, the nation of God, will be refined, sifted, and led on to perfection through conflict with the nations of the world. This first section announces how the conflict against Jerusalem and Judah will issue in destruction to the nations of the world (Zec 12:1-4). Jehovah will endow the princes of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem with marvellous strength to overcome all their foes (Zec 11:5-9), and will pour out his spirit of grace upon them, so that they will bitterly repent the death of the Messiah (Zec 11:10-14), and purify themselves from all ungodliness (Zec 13:1-6).” “The day” here is generally supposed by expositors to point to the gospel age; and three remarks are here suggested in relation to this day.
I. IT IS A “DAY” FOR THE ABOUNDING OF SIN–CLEANSING INFLUENCES. “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” This phrase comprehended the whole Jewish nation. To the Jews, washing from sin and ceremonial impurity was an idea with which they were well acquainted. It was enjoined by the Law (Num 8:7; see also Eze 36:25).
1. That sin and uncleanness are in the world. This is a fact written in all history, patent to every man’s observation and consciousness.
2. The removal of sin is the world‘s great necessity. Its existence is the cause of all the miseries of the world, physical, social, political, religious.
3. Provisions for its removal abound. “A fountain opened.” Sin and uncleanness are not an essential part of human nature. Men have lived without sin, and men in the other world do now. It is a mere stain on human nature, separable from it, and the means of separation are providedprovided in the gospel. In the mediatory life, teaching, works, death, resurrection, and ascension of the Son of God. In all this he has opened to the world a fountain of influence by which sin is to be cleansed. It is a fountain. This implies:
(1) Abundance. It is not a rill, a brook, a lake, but a fountain. What is the fountain? Infinite love.
(2) Freeness. Flowing, ever open to all.
(3) Perpetuity. The hottest sun does not dry up the fountain. It has an under connection with the boundless deep.
II. IT IS A “DAY” IN WHICH IDOLATRY SHALL BE UTTERLY ABOLISHED. The spirit of idolatry is giving to any object that love which belongs only to the Supreme; and this sin is perhaps as rife in regions where monotheism is professed as in those lands where polytheism holds its empire. The cutting off the “names of the idols” means their utter destruction (see Hos 2:17). But you may destroy all the million idols, involving those which are the workmanship of men and these which are the creation of God, before which men have bowed, and yet leave idolatry as rampant as ever. Nothing but the destruction of the spirit will be the destruction of idolatry. Hence we have here suggested a time when men shall give their affection to the Supreme Being, and to him alone, when they shall worship the one true and living God. This is the idolatry the gospel comes to destroy; it is to turn men from idols to. the living God. What a blessed age will that be, when all men on the face of the earth shall have their souls centred in love and devotion on the one great and common Father of us all! “In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats” (Isa 2:20).
III. IT IS A “DAY” IN WHICH ALL FALSE RELIGIOUS TEACHINGS SHALL CEDE. “And I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land,” etc. The words here in relation to false prophets suggest the following thoughts.
1. False religious teachers are great curses to a community. This is implied in the promise here of their destruction. False teachers in any branch of knowledge, be it historic, scientific, philosophic, literary, or artistic, are for many reasons great evils; but in religion the evils they inflict are inconceivably great. They deceive souls on the most vital of all points. False religious teachers are not merely teachers of pantheism, idolatry, or Mohammedanism, but even those who are nominally teachers of the gospel. The man who gives a wrong interpretation of the gospel is a false teacher, and such men are found even in the pulpits of our England. What blasphemous ideas of God and degrading notions of his blessed Son have we in some of the popular sermons of the age! Whosoever teaches the conventional Christ is false to the Christ of the gospel.
2. False religious teachers may become objects of indignation even to their nearest relations. “And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of the Lord: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth.” It will be, indeed, a blessed time when the people of a country will have a greater love for truth than for their dearest relations, even their very children; when the appearance of a false teacher will awaken such a public indignation as will expose his very life to danger; when men’s moral ears will be so attuned to truth, that the very sound of falsehood will become intolerable. Thank God, there is an age of moral reality coming, an age when men will recoil from shams as from “demons vile.”
3. False religious teachers will on this “day” be ashamed to exercise their mission. “The prophets shall be ashamed.” If any false prophets should continue to exercise their function, they will have to do it:
(1) With secrecy. “Neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive.” It is said, when Domitian banished philosophers from Rome, many persons shaved off their beards and flung away their cloaks, that they might not be included in the ban. So now the false prophet will be ashamed of his badge, his rough garment, made perhaps of untanned sheepskin, or a Bedouin blanket made of camel’s hair, like that of John the Baptist.
(2) Disclaiming their profession. “He shall say, I am no prophet, I am an husbandman.” If they carry on their work, they will do it under a false character, such as farmers or herdmen. “I belong to that class in society which lies under the least suspicion of aspiring to a function in which knowledge of affairs, dexterity in making use of men’s weaknesses, and some literary faculty are needed. Besides, ‘men own me from my youth’ (for this is the meaning of the words rendered, ‘men taught me to keep cattle from my youth’); and so if I had had the will I could never have had the chance of setting up as a prophet I have not been my own master. Not quite satisfied with this disclaimer, the supposed examiners ask to be allowed to look at his hands, as you can judge roughly of a man’s calling by the state of his handsat least, you can thus judge whether a man is earning his bread with his hands or his head. They at once detect suspicious marks on this man’s hands, wounds which they evidently suspect to have been self-inflicted in accordance with some idolatrous rite. Self-mutilation and self-laceration have always been common accessories of pagan worship, and common accompaniments of manifestations of pagan fanatical ecstasy. They are far from uncommon still in heathen and in Mohammedan countries. Permanent marks of a distinctive kind were also frequently made upon different parts of the person, and especially upon the arms, in acknowledgment of allegiance to some particular god (Jer 48:37), where mourning is thus described. ‘Every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped: upon all the hands shall be cuttings.’ But the man denies that his wounds have any such significance; they are not, he says, religious marks at all: ‘they are wounds which I received in the house of friends,’ in some rustic frolic with his boon companions, or as the slave’s brand in the house of his master” (Dr. Dods). Should their disclaiming be questioned, they will take shelter in falsehood. “And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.” “The doubting examiner asks him to show him his hands, that he may ascertain if he has the rough hands of a farmer; those hands he shows, but they have nevertheless marks of a prophet on them, and of these very marks he gives a false account.” “I was wounded in the house of my friends.”
CONCLUSION. Thank God, we live in this gospel age. The sin-cleansing fountain is here, sending forth its streams in all directions. They flow through all the good books we have, through all the good lives we meet with. Let the streams multiply. The fountain will supply streams equal to the exigencies of all. Let us remove obstructions, cut new channels, and strive to let them into every heart. These will multiply in power, and increase in volume, till all idolatry, false, teaching, and every other form of iniquity that pollutes the heart of the world, be washed clean away, and the whole world be holy in character, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.D.T.
Zec 13:7-9
God’s government of the world.
“Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts’ smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones. And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my Name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.” Here we have God’s government of the world in two aspects, bringing penal ruin on many in a community, and remedial discipline upon a few; appearing as the sword of justice in the one case, and as a refiner’s pot in the other. Here we have it
I. AS BRINGING PENAL RUIN UPON MANY.
1. The destruction of their leader. “Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd.”! In the Bible language political religious leaders are represented as shepherds. For example, it was applied to Cyrus (Isa 44:28). The person defined is represented as “the man that is my fellow.” Dr. Keil’s rendering is, “the man who is my neighbour;” and Dr. Henderson’s, “the man who is united to me.” Who is this man? On this question there are different opinions. “Calion thought it was Zechariah himself as representative of all the prophets, and that the prophecy referred only indirectly to Christ. Grotius, Eichhorn, Bauer, and Jahne apply it to Judas Maccabaeus; Ewald, to Pekah; Hitzig, to the pretended prophets spoken of in the preceding verses.” The expression, “my fellow,” does not necessarily. mean one who is equal in nature and character, but rather one who has fellowship of interests and aims. The poorest labourer in the cause of gospel truth is a “fellow” with the Archbishop of Canterbury, even a fellow labourer of Christ, and fellow labourer with God himself. Evangelical writers, however, apply the language to Christ, without much critical examination and without hesitation. They do this mainly on the ground that Christ himself quotes the passage, on the night in which he was betrayed, as an illustration of what was immediately awaiting him. “Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad” (Mat 26:31). He does not say that the prophecy referred to him, but merely that the passage was about to be illustrated in his history. The Shepherd was to be smitten, and the sheep scattered. This, indeed, is a common fact in the history of the world; when the leader is gone the fold is scattered. Christ was, indeed, about to be smittensmitten to death, not by the “sword” of Divine vengeance, as is impiously held by some, but by the wrath of his human enemies. “Awake, O sword.” “These are words,” says an old orthodox expositor, “of God the Father giving orders and commission to the sword of his justice to awaken to his Son.” It is the sword of justice that he may die as a criminal on an ignominious tree; awaking to smite him, not with a drowsy blow, but with a mighty one.” Dr. Watts has the same idea
“The Father plunged his flaming sword
In his atoning blood.”
From all such representations of the benign God of the universe, and the Infinite Father of love, my reason and heart revolt as from a monstrous creed or cursed blasphemy. However, I am not going to debate either the question whether the words were intended for Christ or not, or, if they were, the accuracy or otherwise of the interpretations thus given. Our point is that God often brings sufferings on a people by striking down their leader. There are few greater calamities that can befall a people than when nations lose their shepherds and leaders, or when Churches lose their pastors. Even when families lose their heads the loss is incalculable.
2. The dispersion of the flock. This comes to most communities when the true leader is taken away. The removal of a leader in a familya parentoften leads to a scattering of the children. So with the leader in a Churchthe pastor; and so with the leader of a nation. When the shepherd has gone, the flock is scattered, and the scattering is a great evil. Unity is strength and harmony; division is weakness and disorder. When communities are broken up and dispersed, the various members often place themselves in antagonism with each other, and rivalries, jealousies, and envyings run riot.
3. The ruin of multitudes. “And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.” Probably this refers primarily to the destruction of two-thirds of the inhabitants of Judea by the Roman arms, and the famine or the pestilence and other destructive influences which are the usual concomitants of all wars. Thus the afflictions of the great majority of the human race, here represented as the two-thirds of a community, come upon them as the retribution of justicethe Divine sword here invoked. They are not disciplinary, but penal. The victims do not morally improve under them, they grew worse. They are “cut off and die.”
II. BRINGING REMEDIAL DISCIPLINE TO A FEW. “And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my Name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.” The very calamities which were penal and utterly ruinous to two-thirds of that population were morally disciplinary and improving to the remaining third. In the one case they were the strokes of the “sword” of justice. In the other the calamities were but fire in the “pot of the refiner.” Just as the refiner purifies his silver and his gold by fire, God in mercy spiritually improves his people by the trial and the sufferings which he inflicts. These, taught by the purifying influence of trials:
1. Pray and are heard. “Shall call on my Name, and I will hear them.”
2. Are accepted of God as his people, They acknowledge their relationship. “I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, the Lord is my God.”
CONCLUSION. Amidst all the difficulties connected with this passage, this doctrine stands out in sublime prominence that afflictions which are penal and destructive to the many are remedial and merciful to the few. All experience shows this to be true. Two men stand before me. Both are equally afflicted with similar sufferings. The one writhes, murmurs, and rebels under his afflictions; he becomes intensified in his enmity to God. Like Pharaoh, his heart is hardened; he dies a rebel, and is lost. The “sword” of justice has struck him. The other becomes spiritually thoughtful, repentant, resigned, humbled, and devout. The “fire” has purified him, and like David he says, “It is good for me that I was afflicted,” and like Paul, “I glory in tribulation.”D.T.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Zec 13:1. A fountain openedfor sin and for uncleanness The blood of Christ, which cleanseth from all sin, (1Jn 1:7.) is manifestly here intended, the Jews being, upon their repentance and conversion, to be admitted to all the privileges of the Christian covenant. The Hebrew words
chattath and niddah, which we translate sin and uncleanness, are legal terms; the former denotes sin generally, or any transgression of the law which required atonement, and is sometimes put for the means of purification from it, Num 9:17.; the latter is used for that uncleanness, or legal defilement, which secluded a man from all intercourse with holy things. Now whatever efficacy the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkled on the unclean, had to purify from legal sin and defilement, the same is ascribed to the blood of Christ in the Christian dispensation, for purging the conscience of a sinner from the guilt of dead works, or all moral pollution. Heb 9:13-14.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2. REPENTANCE AND CONVERSION.
s Zec 12:10 to Zec 13:1.
A. A plentiful Effusion of the Spirit causes Men to look upon the Jehovah they have pierced, and Mourn bitterly (Zec 12:10). B. Greatness of the Mourning (Zec 12:11). C. Each Family mourns separately (Zec 12:12-14). D. A Provision far the Penitents (Zec 13:1).
10 And I will pour out upon the house of David,
And upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
The Spirit15 of grace and supplication,16
And they shall look upon me17 whom they pierced,
And they shall mourn for him18 as the mourning over an only one,
And be in bitterness19 for him as one is in bitterness for the first-born.
11 In that day the mourning shall be great in Jerusalem,
Like the mourning of Hadadrimmon20 in the valley of Megiddo.
12 And the land shall mourn, family by family apart,
The family of the house of David apart and their wives apart,
The family of the house of Nathan apart and their wives apart.
13 The family of the house of Levi apart and their wives apart,
The family of the Shimeite21 apart and their wives apart.
14 All the remaining families,
Family by family apart and their wives apart.
Zec 13:1 In that day there shall be a fountain opened
To the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
For sin and for uncleanness.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
This passage presents a complete contrast to the one immediately preceding. The change is every way startling. There is not a word of war, or conflict, or victory, no reeling-cup for the nations, no torch among sheaves, no march of a hero at the head of conquering hosts. On the contrary, all is subjective, subdued, spiritual. It is a picture of penitence as vivid and accurate as any found any where in the Scriptures. The people are seen standing alone in their relation to Him whom they have rejected, and meditating upon the character of their great crime. One thought occupies all minds, one feeling pervades all hearts. The experience of their great ancestor recorded in the 51st Psalms renewed on a broad scale, and a great sorrow spreads over the community, the intensity of which is likened on one hand to that occasioned by the sorest domestic affliction, and on the other to that of a great public calamity felt to be at once universal and irreparable. Each tribe and family goes apart to weep in silence and solitude over the grievous infliction. What now is the nexus between this passage and that which precedes? It seems to be this. As the former portion of the chapter set forth the outward protection of Providence shown toward the New Testament Israel, by means to which it emerged victor from all trials and conflicts, and saw its enemies utterly discomfitted, this portion turns to the other side of Israels experience and deals with its inward character, showing how the covenant people become such, how the Church in its new form commences the Christian life, and obtains a title to the divine protection. It is by the bitter herbs of repentance, leading to pardon and renovation through a believing sight of the pierced Saviour,the whole preceded and induced by a copious shower of spiritual influences of the same kind as those predicted by Joel (Joe 2:28), Isaiah (Isa 44:3; Isa 32:15). In this view the two parts of the chapter correspond to each other and make one complete whole. The result of the failure of the shepherd in Zechariah 11. is shown to be not final and absolute, but a link in the chain of events which works out the fulfillment of the old covenant promises, and the ingathering of all the Israel of God.
A vast spiritual blessing is promised. It begins in the outpouring of a gracious Spirit, which produces an intense and wide-spread penitential sorrow, and this again is followed by purification and forgiveness.
Zec 12:10. And I pour out. supplication. The house of David and inhabitants of Jerusalem, here and in Zec 13:1, stand for the whole covenant people, according to a usage by which the capital represents the nation (Zec 2:2; Zec 8:8). The mention of the royal house indicates that all ranks from the highest to the lowest need and shall receive the promised gift. The pouring out rests upon the earlier passage (Joe 2:28), and differs from it in defining more minutely the character of the effusion. It is a spirit of grace and supplication, which is abundantly bestowed. is not=prayer (Gesenius, Noyes), nor love (Ewald), but grace or favor. The Spirit of grace then is the Spirit which brings grace (cf. Heb 10:29). It. produces in the mind of man the experience of the grace of God, and this experience rousing the sense of sin and guilt, naturally leads to supplication; and this in turn suggests the looking spoken of. is applied both to bodily and mental vision, and not unfrequently with the idea of confidence in the object beheld (Num 21:9; Isa 23:11; Isa 51:1). The phrase, upon me, must refer to Jehovah, for according to ver.1 He is the speaker throughout. The before , as usual defines more clearly the accusative, and thus renders impossible the rendering of Kimchi, because. Ewald and Bunsen prefer the reading of a number of MSS , upon him instead of upon me; but the authority for the received text is overwhelming, and on ever critical ground it is to be adopted (see Text, and Gram.). The other reading seems to have arisen from an attempt to correct the Hebrew on the ground that it was impossible that God could actually be pierced,an objection which of course falls away at once when the doctrine of the Incarnation is received. Whom they pierced. was rendered by the LXX. reviled, or insulted, probably because they thought the literal meaning of the word unsuitable, since they similarly avoided it in rendering Zec 13:3, where the E. V. has, His father and his mother shall thrust him through. Several Christian critics have adopted this as the figurative meaning of the verb, and translated or expounded accordingly (Theodore of Mopsuestia, Calvin, Grotius, Rosenmller, Gesenius, Maurer); but entirely without reason, for in every other case the word is confessedly used in its literal sense (Jdg 9:45; 1Sa 31:4; Zec 13:3); and the prodigious mourning subsequently mentioned, with the comparisons by which it is set forth, the loss of an only son or a first-born, and the wail over the good king Josiah, presupposes the occurrence of a literal death. But the point is put beyond question by the Apostle John, who after recounting the act of the soldier who pierced the Saviours side, adds (Joh 19:37), Another Scripture saith, They shall look on Him whom they pierced; of course not meaning that this one act of the soldier exhausted the meaning of the prophecy, but that it was a fulfillment of it. The change of person in the quotationhim whom Hot me whom,is due simply to the fact that in the Prophet it is Messiah Himself who is speaking, while in the Gospel John speaks of Him. Matthew makes a similar change of person in his quotation (Mat 27:9). The remainder of the verse describes the result which is to follow from this looking to the pierced One. And they shall mourn. The object of this verb is put not in the first person, as we should expect, but in the third, for him; but such an enallage of person is not uncommon in Hebrew. See any of the grammars for examples. That the pronoun is to be in the masculine and not in the neuter (Gousset, Schultens, etc.), see in Text, and Gramm. Mourning over art only son, is of course a sign of the deepest sorrow (cf. Amo 8:10). Similar is the death-wail over a first-born, of which the great instance is found in the last of Egypts ten plagues (Exo 11:6). There was an incipient fulfillment of this prophecy in the fact mentioned by Luke (Luk 23:48), that at Christs crucifixion, all the people. smote their breasts. (The primary meaning of is to strike, especially on the breast). But the true fulfillment began when the multitudes at Pentecost were pricked to the heart (Act 2:37).
Ver.11. The mourning shall be great, ff. The Prophet furnishes an historical illustration of the greatness of the mourning. The reference is generally supposed to be to the lamentation over Josiah, who was mortally wounded in the valley of Megiddo (2Ch 35:22). Hadadrimmon appears to have been a city in this valley, and Jerome speaks of such a city as still existing in his day, although he says that its name had been altered to Maximinopolis. Josiah was a king of Judah, a pious king, and one whose death was lamented in an extraordinary manner (2Ch 35:25). There is no need to seek for other applications of the text, such as the absurd reference of the Targum to the death of Ahab, who could not have been mourned at all, much less, generally or bitterly; or the impious suggestion of the heathen weeping for Thammnz or Adonis (Movers, Hitzig); or the frivolous notion of Pressel, that the allusion is to Siseras mother (Jdg 5:28), as mentioned in the Song of Deborah! Equally frivolous are Pressels objections to the common view, namely, (1) That Josiah did not die in Megiddo but on the way to Jerusalem, where he was buried and lamented; (2) that he, being now a man of nearly forty years of age, could not properly be spoken of as a first-born or only son! Hengstenberg. on the contrary, states well the reasons why just he should be introduced here as a type of the Messiah. He was slain on account of the sins of the people; his reign was the closing manifestation of mercy on the part of the Lord; unspeakable misery followed immediately afterwards; the lamentation for his death rested upon the mingled feelings of love, and of sorrow for their own sins as the cause of his death.
A still more elaborate description of the mourning is given in the next three verses.
Vers.1214. And the land shall mourn, ff. Not only the capital, but the whole land shall mourn, and this not only in gross but in detail, every family and every subdivision of a family apart. The mention of the wives apart is not to be explained from the habit of the women in all lands to go into mourning (Pressel), but simply as a further specification of the intensity and universality of the mourning. The mention of David and Levi is easily understood, as these were heads respectively of the royal and priestly lines. The other two names are not so clear. The old Jewish view supposed Nathan to refer to the prophetic order, and Shimeite to the teachers, who were said to have sprung from the tribe of Simeon; but Shimeite is not the patronymic of Simeon, but Shimeonite; nor is there any evidence that that tribe furnished teachers for the nation, and Nathan the prophet was not the head of any order. It is better to adopt the view (Hengstenberg, Henderson, Keil, Khler) first stated by Luther: Four families are enumerated, two from the royal line under the names of David and Nathan (son of David), and two from the priestly line, Levi and his grandson Shimei; after which he embraces all together. Thus he mentions one leading family and one subordinate branch, to show that the grief pervades all, from the highest to the lowest. All the remaining families. Not those that are left after the judgment (Neumann), nor the less renowned (Khler), nor as implying that some families shall have become extinct (Henderson); but simply the remainder after those which have just been specified by way of example. This penitential grief will not be in vain.
Zec 13:1. There shall be a fountain opened, ff. This verse resumes and completes the process begun in Zec 12:10 of the preceding chapter. It treats of the same parties, the house of David and the inhabitant of Jerusalem, standing here as there for the whole nation. He who poured out the spirit of supplication will also provide the means of purification from sin. A fountain is shut up as long as it remains under ground, or is sealed from access (Son 4:12); it is opened when it breaks forth and flows freely. The reference appears to be to a twofold usage in the Mosaic ritual; one, the sprinkling of the Levites at their consecration with water of purifying, lit., sin-water, i. e., for purification from sin (Num 8:7), and the other the sprinkling of persons contaminated by contact with death, with the water prepared from the ashes of the red heifer, called the water of uncleanness, i. e., which removed uncleanness. In both these cases the impurity denoted the defilement of sin, and the outward purification was a symbol of the inward. So the water which flows from the fountain in the text, is a water of sprinkling by which sin and uncleanness are removed. It does not need to be renewed from time to time, as was the case with the Levitical waters, but issues from a living well-spring. The meaning cannot be a new water supply for the metropolis (Pressel), nor even grace in general (Khler), nor the grace of baptism, as the older critics said; but is the blood which cleanseth from all sin (1Jn 1:7), the blood of that sacrifice which was typified in the sin-offering of the red heifer, the blood which removes alike the guilt and he dominion of sin.
Excursus on Zec 12:10. The history of the interpretation is interesting.
I. Among the Jews the early opinion was in favor of the Messianic interpretation. Thus in the Gemara of Jerusalem, it is said, there are two different opinions as to the meaning of this passage. Some refer it to the lamentation for the Messiah; others to the mourning for sin. Both concurred in thinking of a dying Messiah, but one thought directly of Him and his suffering, the other of the sin which caused his death, directly or indirectly. The former took as a masculine suffix, the latter as neuter. In contrast to this the Gemara of Babylon maintains the personal application of the passage, but says that it refers to Messiah ben Joseph who is to suffer and die, while Messiah ben Judah is always to live. And this convenient fiction of two Messiahs was subsequently adopted by Aben Ezra and Abarbanel, the latter of whom confessed that his chief object was to remove the stumbling-block interposed by Christians when they interpreted the prophecy, as relating to the crucified One. Kimchi and Jarchi denied any Messianic reference. They said that there was a change of subject, and either adopted the false reading upon him instead of upon me, or translated the following word because instead of whom, so that they interpreted, the pierced One=every one who had been slain in the war with Gog and Magog, and said, they will all lament for the death of one as if the whole army had been slain. But this view is its own refutation. The translators of the LXX. had the same text as we have, but gave the sense vex instead of pierce, because they could not see the relevancy of the literal meaning. Some consideration of the same kind operated upon the Chaldee paraphase, which renders they shall pray before me because they have been carried away (or have wandered about). The modern Jews, however, generally adhere to the literal sense of the verb , and explain it in the method proposed by Kimchi, rejecting either expressly or tacitly the notion of a double Messiah.
II. Among Christians the reference to Christ was adopted without dissent by the early expositors and most of the Reformers. Strange to say, the first exception is found in Calvin, who understood the passage as referring to God, who is figuratively said to have been pierced, i. e., irritated and provoked by the Jews. He, however, held that as Christ is God, manifest in the flesh, what happened to Him was a visible symbol of the substance of the prophecy, and therefore was justly cited by John as its fulfillment. This view was warmly repudiated by Calvins contemporaries, and followed only by Grotius, and some Socinian writers. Later writers applied the words to some distinguished Jewish leader or martyr. Jahn suggested Judas Maccabus, and rendered, they will look upon Him (Jehovah) on account of Him whom they have pierced. Baur thought it was impossible to determine which pf the leaders it was, but it was one of those who had lost their lives in the service of the true God. Bleek adopted the same view, and to get rid of the reference to Jehovah, substituted for , the poetic form of , and rendered they look to Him whom they pierced. This is simply desperate, for occurs only four times in the Old Testament, and these are all in the Book of Job, and immediately before a noun, and as it is here in the construct state, it cannot possibly be joined to the accusative . Besides, this view fails to account for the universal mourning or the opened fountain.Ewald for one martyr substitutes a plurality of such as had fallen in the war with the heathen. He renders they look to Him whom men have pierced, thus changing the text and assuming another subject for the verb, and explains thus, the intention is to show that no martyr falls in vain, but will one day be mourned with universal love. But this is opposed to the religious tone of the first clause, grace and supplication, and to the fact that in both the preceding chapter and the following, only one person is spoken of as an object of persecution. Hofmann, after giving up his first view of a plural object, adopted another according to which he rendered, My heroes look at Him whom men have pierced. But never means hero (see Frst, sub voce), and besides, is usually construed with the preposition . Nor does the sense he thus obtains at all suit the connection. An altogether different view has been adopted by Vogel and Hitzig, whom Pressel for substance follows, namely, that the Prophet speaks of himself whom he identifies with Jehovah. The murder of a Prophet is regarded as an attack upon Jehovah himself. The statement of this view is enough to show its untenableness. For although the sender and the sent are often identified, yet no instance can be found in Scripture, among all its records of martyrdom, of a case in which the death of a prophet is represented or mourned for as if it were the death of Jehovah. Noyes, in his Translation of the Hebrew Prophets (ii. 387), first mentions Calvins explanation,22 and then adds, Or the meaning may be that the people pierced Jehovah, when they recently put to death some one of his messengers or prophets who is not named. But the violent death of a prophet was not such a rare thing in Jewish history; and why should it in any case lead to such a great and universal mourning as is here described? Or, if there had been some murder of a prophet so exceptional in its atrocity as to convulse the whole nation in an agony of grief, would there not be some trace of the fact in the books of Kings or Chronicles? Yet none such is found.
THEOLOGICAL AND MORAL.
1. When our Lord was about to ascend to heaven He commanded the Apostles (Act 1:4) not to allow themselves to be drawn or driven from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father. There can scarcely be a doubt that the passage before us contains one form or instance of the promise to which the Saviour referred. The first great gift of heaven, for which men were taught to look in the latter days, was a divine person incarnate to make reconciliation for iniquity and bring in everlasting righteousness; the next one was that of another divine person whose influences should apply the redemption effected, and thus complete the work of the Fathers sovereign love. The latterthe Holy Spirithad of course been present and active in the previous stages of the Churchs history; otherwise there could have been no Church, for the Spirit is the indispensable bond of union between God and his people. But during the old economy, owing to its very nature as an introductory, preparatory, and restricted dispensation, the gifts of the Spirit were far less rich and powerful and general and constant, than they were ultimately designed and required to be in order to effect the purposes of grace. Hence the promise of an effusion which should not be intermittent or partial, either in its nature or its subjects, but every way adequate to the necessities of the case. This promise was given by the older Prophets, Joel (Joe 2:28-29), Isaiah (Isa 59:21), Jeremiah (Jer 31:33-34), Ezekiel (Eze 36:27), and is now resumed after the exile by Zechariah, who uses the very term (=pour out) employed by Joel three centuries before. (Isaiah uses a different word, , but of the same signification.) The effusion is not to be fitful or scanty, but generous and abundant, a pouring rain from the skies, overcoming all obstacles, reaching all classes and effecting the most blessed and durable results. Its precise influence as conceived by Zechariah, is in the way of overcoming depraved natural characteristics by imparting grace and developing this grace in the exercise of supplication. All true and successful prayer is in the Spirit (Eph 6:18, Judges 20). Paul had often gone through the forms of supplication in his unconverted career, but it was only when spiritually enlightened that it could be truly said of him, as it was, Behold, he prayeth (Act 9:11). In the view of a thoughtful mind, prayer itself is hardly so great a blessing as the promise of a divine Spirit to help our infirmity and make intercession within us. (Rom 8:26.)
2. This passage is singularly happy in pointing out what all experience has shown to be the chief means of kindling evangelical repentance,this apprehension of a crucified Saviour. Men are indeed convinced of sin in various ways. Natural conscience sometimes inflames remorse to a fearful pitch. Sudden judgments, or what are thought to be such, stimulate fear until reason is eclipsed. A. keen sense of shame proves to be a sorrow of the world which worketh death. But the true, healthy conviction of sin, the repentance which needeth not to be repented of, is born at the cross. There the sinful soul sees its sin as it sees it nowhere else in the world, sees all the vileness, malignity, and inexcusableness of its past life, and is thoroughly humbled and prostrated in contrition. It becomes conscious of its own share in the dark and bloody crime of Calvary. As one of those for whom Christ died, it had part in driving the nails and pushing the spear, and is justly liable to the aggravated doom of those who with wicked hands crucified the Lord of glory. Hence all pleas in extenuation are given up, all excuses are felt to be frivolous. Nothing is left but a fearful looking for of judgment, so far as the souls own merits and claims are considered. But this very conviction of total unworthiness is accompanied with a conviction of Christs wondrous love in bearing the cross, and an inspiration of hope in the efficacy of his atoning death. Thus the arrow that kills bears with it the balm that makes alive. The true penitent says, I am lost, for my sins have slain my Lord; nay, I am saved, for my Lord died that those very sins should be blotted out. So the repentance is real, deep, and hearty, but it is not sullen, angry, or despairing. It grows keener and more comprehensive by experience, but faith and hope are growing in like measure, and thus the equipoise in which the spiritual life began is maintained even to the end. Even at the height of his usefulness Paul felt that he was not worthy to be called an Apostle, and at the close of life called himself chief of sinners; yet he knew whom he had believed, and expected a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, would give him in that day.
3. There are two striking peculiarities of penitential sorrow,its depth and its solitariness. The Prophet uses the strongest metaphors known to human experience. No pang which death can inflict is so severe as that which wrings the heart of parents following to the tomb the remains of a first-born or an only son. It seems as if all hope and joy were interred in the same grave. So again a great national calamity is intensified by the reciprocal influence upon one another of all who are affected by it. When President Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, a shuddering horror seized every heart throughout the land, and multitudes who had never seen the kindly leader were as deeply moved as if the blow had fallen on their own kindred. A gloomy pall settled down over all hearts and all households. But penitential grief which is awakened by the sight of a pierced Saviour is as real and pervading as that which proceeds from any outward affliction, personal, domestic, or national, its theatre is within. There are no outward manifestations, but the feeling for that reason is the more concentrated and intense. The soul renews the experience of the royal penitent,my sin is ever before me. But the stricken soul mourns apart. As there is a joy, so there is a sorrow, with which a stranger intermeddleth not. The relations of the soul to God are so delicate that all shrink instinctively from exposing them to the view of others. Deep grief is necessarily solitary. In its acme, neither sympathy nor fellowship is sought or allowed. Much more must this be the case when the grief is spiritual, for the hand of God which causes the pain alone can cure it, and the soul nauseates all other comforters. David Brainerd mentions that on one occasion when ho was preaching to his Indians, the power of God came down among them like a mighty rushing wind. Their concern was so great, each for himself, that none seemed to take any notice of those about him. They were, to their own apprehension, as much retired as if they had been alone in the thickest desert. Every one was praying apart, and yet all together. Cowper is not the only penitent who could say in truth,
I was a stricken deer that left the herd.
The immediate prompting of all who become convinced of sin is to fly to some solitary place and be alone with God, unless indeed, as in the case of Brainerds Indians, the absorption of mind is so complete that they are insensible to the presence of others. The heart knoweth its own bitterness, and a godly sorrow shuns companions until it has wrought a repentance unto salvation not to be repented of (2Co 7:10).
4. Repentance of itself, however deep and thorough, is of no avail toward justification. It does not repair the evils of wrong-doing even in common life, any more than in the sphere of religion. The spendthrift may bitterly mourn the extravagance which ate up his estate, or the debauchee the excesses which ruined his constitution, but in neither case does the penitence bring back what has been lost. It is the same with the sinner. Tears and penances are no compensation for sin. Sin is. a debt (Mat 6:12), and a debt is satisfied only by payment. The payment may be made by one person or by another, but it must be made, or sin remains with its legal and endless consequences. Hence the fullness of this passage of the Prophet, which to a most elaborate painting of the distress for sin caused by a believing apprehension of the cross, appends the true and only-source of relief for that distress,the fountain set flowing on Calvary. There must be aid from without. A continuous baptism of tears is of itself impotent. Nothing avails but a provision by the Being whom sin has offended, and just this is furnished in that blood of sprinkling which was symbolized in so many ways in the Old Covenant. Apart from this, nothing is left for a conscious sinner but despair.
5. A striking expression of this is given in two passages in the New Testament, evidently founded upon the words of Zechariah. In Mat 24:30, our Lord says, Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. In Rev 1:7 the beloved disciple resumes these words with an additional particular, Behold, He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. All men are to see Christ, not merely in his glory but as bearing the scars by which that glory was won. Some see Him so as to be subdued into a salutary contrition; they are drawn to Him by irresistible attraction, and while they mourn over sin rejoice in the ample and gracious pardon He bestows. Others, alas, are to see Him, not voluntarily but by a necessity which they would fain escape! They see Him a lamb as it had been slain, but no more within their reach and for their advantage. He is to them a lost Saviour, one whose pierced side and mangled limbs express only the fearful wages and terrible iniquity of sin, but offer no hope of forgiveness and acceptance.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Moore: All true repentance arises from a sight of a dying Saviour, one who has died for us. True repentance is only love weeping at the foot of the cross, the soul sorrowing for sins that have been so freely forgiven. True religion is a personal thing, and when it takes strong hold of the heart, will lead the soul apart to solitary wrestling with God and acts of personal humbling before Him.
Bradley: Holy mourning for sin is a bitter thing; there comes along with it many a tear and pang; but yet there is mingled with it a comfort and a blessedness which must be felt to be known. The very look which makes the heart bleed, is a look at One who can do more than heal it.Pray for this sorrow. When would you mourn and weep for your sins, if not now? Somewhere you must weep for them; would you keep back this weeping till you come to that world where; tears are never dried up; where you must weep; if you weep at all, forever? And somewhere you must look upon this pierced Jesus 1 Will you look on Him for the first time when He opens the heavens and calls you out of your graves to his judgment-seat?It is a blessed though a mournful thing to see Him now, but it is a dreadful thing to see Him for the first time in the very moment when his work of mercy is forever ended, when fountain He has opened for sin and uncleanness is forever closed.
McCheyne: 1. The Great Spring. I will pour. 2. The Great Agent. The spirit of grace and supplication. 3.The Effect. They look; they mourn; they see the fountain opened.
Jay: There were provisions for ceremonial pollution under the Mosaic economy, the brazen sea for the priests and the ten lavers for the things offered in sacrifice. There were also fountains for bodily diseases: the pool of Siloam to which our Saviour sent the man born blind; and the pool of Bethesda, where lay a number of sufferers waiting for the troubling of the waters. Christ differed from all these, as a fountain for moral and spiritual defilement, for sin and uncleanness.
Footnotes:
[15]Zec 12:10.. Noyes and Henderson render a spirit, but the absence of the article is compensated by the construct case (Green, H. G., 246, 3).
[16]Zec 12:10 is rendered in E. V. supplications, but as the word occurs only in the plural, it is doubtless to be regarded as singular in sense. The Genevan renders compassion, but usage is altogether in favor of the other meaning.
[17]Zec 12:10. is to be preferred to . because grammatically it is the more difficult reading; it is opposed to the favorite opinions of the Jews; it is found in all the ancient MSS., and found not only in the best of the later ones but in by far the largest number of them; and it is sustained by LXX., Aq., Symm., Theod., Syr., Targ., Vulg. and Arab.
[18]Zec 12:10. cannot be rendered on account of it, because after always denotes the person for whom mourning is made, and in all the following instances in this verse in which it occurs, the reference is undoubtedly to a person.
[19]Zec 12:10. is best understood intransitively with its cognate finite verb. The E. V. is at once more literal and more emphatic than attempted emendations.
[20]Zec 12:11.. A . . on which etymology throws no light.
[21]Zec 12:13.=The Shimeitea patronymic here just as in the corresponding case (Num 3:21).
[22]So far as I have observed, every writer of whatever school is glad to get the sanction of this great name for his opinion.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
DISCOURSE: 1259
CHRIST, THE FOUNTAIN OPENED
Zec 13:1. In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin, and for uncleanness.
THE various metaphors by which our Lord is described in Scripture, while they give just representations of him, are frequently calculated in a peculiar manner to impress the minds of those who heard them. This remark admits of the fullest confirmation from our Lords own discourses [Note: See Joh 6:35; Joh 11:25.]: it may also be illustrated by the prophecy before us. The Jews had heard of the wanderings of their ancestors in the wilderness; and they had themselves traversed a much larger tract of country in their return from the Babylonish captivity. To them therefore the tidings of a fountain to be opened would convey very strong and pleasing sensations. Nor shall we be unaffected by them if we lament our spiritual defilements.
We propose to consider,
I.
The meaning of the prophecy
The Scriptures often mention a time under the expression that day
[This expression sometimes refers to the apostolic, and sometimes to the millennial period. It is to be understood in this place as designing the former. That was a day in comparison of which all preceding ages were but as the morning dawn: then the mists of Gentile ignorance and Jewish superstition were dispelled before the Sun of Righteousness.]
At that period Christ was to be known under the notion of a fountain
[Christ is frequently spoken of under the metaphor of a fountain [Note: Jer 2:13. Isa 12:3.]. He virtually applies the name to himself [Note: The Jews after their return from Babylon used on a certain day to fetch water in a joyous and triumphant manner from the pool of Siloam, in reference, it is supposed, to Isa 12:3. And on that day our Lord addressed them, and pointed them to himself as the true well of salvation, Joh 7:37-38.]. He is described nearly by the same character even in heaven [Note: Rev 22:1. The river, which John beheld, proceeded out of the throne of the Lamb.]. He justly answers to this description, having within himself an inexhaustible source of blessings.]
He was to be a fountain opened
[From eternity was he as a fountain sealed, having in himself all fulness, before there existed any creatures to whom he might impart of it. Before his incarnation he afforded a scanty measure of his Spirit [Note: The meanest Christian is more enlightened than the greatest of the prophets, Luk 7:28.]. At the time of his death he properly became a fountain opened.]
The persons for whom it was to be opened were the house of David, &c.
[The house of David are the spiritual seed of Christ [Note: He is the root as well as the offspring of David, Rev 22:16.]. The inhabitants of Jerusalem are the members of the Christian Church. Both together import all believers, high and low, rich and poor; none are excluded who wish to participate his blessings.]
The end for which it was to be opened was, to cleanse from sin
[There had been fountains for ceremonial uncleanness [Note: There was a brazen sea, above fifty feet in circumference, and almost ten in depth, wherein the priests were to wash their hands and feet: there were also ten lavers wherein the things offered for sacrifice were washed, and from whence the water for the sprinkling of the offerers was taken, 2Ch 4:6.]. There were also fountains for the cure of bodily disorders [Note: The pool of Siloam, whither our Lord sent the blind man to wash, (Joh 9:11.) and which was typical of Him who was the Shiloh of the tribe of Judah, (Gen 49:10.) and eminently the sent of God. Compare Joh 9:7; Joh 6:38-40. Bethesda was still more appropriate to this use, Joh 5:2-4.]. But Christ was a fountain for moral defilement, and spiritual maladies.]
In due season this prophecy received its accomplishment.
II.
The completion of it
From the incarnation of Christ this fountain was more fully exhibited: during his ministry its waters flowed in partial streams; but at his death it was fully opened:
It was broken open on the cross
[In our Lords agony, the blood had flowed through every pore [Note: Luk 22:44.]: previous to his crucifixion his back had been torn with scourges [Note: Joh 19:1. Psa 129:3.]: the crown of thorns pierced his sacred temples [Note: Mar 15:17; Mar 15:19.]: his hands and feet were nailed to the accursed tree [Note: Psa 22:16.]; and his side, pierced with the spear, emitted blood and water [Note: Joh 19:34. This imported that he should cleanse both from the guilt and power of sin, 1Jn 5:6.]. Thus did men and devils concur in breaking open this fountain. The dying thief was made a monument of its cleansing efficacy [Note: Luk 23:43.].]
It was set open on the day of Pentecost
[Then the Spirit was poured out in a more abundant measure: thousands, even of the murderers of our Lord, were cleansed by it. The effects produced were instantaneous and abiding [Note: Act 2:42-47.]: the blackest guilt was purged, the most ferocious natures changed. Nor was its influence to be confined any longer to one age or nation.]
It was left open in the promises to all succeeding generations
[We may say of this fountain as St. Paul does of the Gospel [Note: Rom 10:6-8.]. The word is the channel in which it flows: it has already spread its streams to the ends of the earth [Note: Rom 10:18.]: it will flow till that prophecy be fully accomplished [Note: Hab 2:14.]: the invitations to it are yet sounding in the ears of all [Note: Isa 55:1. Rev 22:17.].]
Address
1.
To those who expect salvation while they live in sin
[If men could be saved in their sins, why was this fountain opened? Would God have given up his Son to death without necessity? or shall they who neglect the fountain be cleansed like those who wash in it? Let none deceive their own souls: to wash in this fountain is the one thing needful. They who cry with the leper, shall receive the same answer [Note: Mat 8:2-3.].]
2.
To those who hope to cleanse themselves in some other way
[Many hope to wash away their guilt by tears of repentance. But would God have opened this fountain, if any other would have sufficed? How lamentable that there should still be such cause for those expostulations [Note: 2Ki 5:13.]! Let those who say like Peter, remember the answer given him [Note: Joh 13:8.].]
3.
To those who doubt whether they may come to this fountain
[Many imagine that the greatness of their guilt is a bar to their acceptance; but the fountain was opened for sin and for uncleanness. What would have been the effect of such hesitation at the pool of Bethesda [Note: Joh 5:4; Joh 5:7.]? Be it remembered that all, who have a need, have a right to wash: let every one then press forward, lest he lose the blessing.]
4.
To those who have experienced its cleansing efficacy
[It is in you that the efficacy of this fountain must be seen. Let it appear that it has cleansed you from earthly and sensual desires. But still you have need to wash in it daily [Note: We contract defilement every step we take. Bishop Beveridge justly observes, Our very tears need to be washed, and our repentances to be repented of.]. This do, and you shall soon join in that triumphant song [Note: Rev 1:5-6.]]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
CONTENTS
The Prophet is still looking by faith into the Gospel days, and describing under the spirit of prophecy, many blessed things to be accomplished in the days of Christ, and the after ages of his Church.
(Zec 13:1 ) In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.
If by faith, as the Prophet wrote, the Reader is led now to contemplate the mercy here promised, he must take his stand at the foot of the cross, and behold the soldier’s spear, as the instrument opening the fountain in the heart of Christ, as Jehovah appointed, for sin and for uncleanness. I need not again repeat what hath been so often observed through all the writings of the Prophets; namely, that the day here alluded to, is the day of the Gospel, Christ’s day and glory. Looking at Jesus on the cross, we do indeed behold the Lamb of God, as John the Baptist cried out in his ministry, taking away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Joh 1:29 . And, Reader! do not fail to observe, that this sacred laver for cleansing, is a fountain, not a stream, but a fountain, springing from itself. So the Church sung. Son 4:15 . And observe yet further, for whom it is opened, namely, the same as in the following Chapter, the spirit of grace and supplications were to be opened upon the house of David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Jesus’ whole family, both Jew and Gentile, for all are alike unclean, and all need cleansing. Hence the Church in heaven are represented as having washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Rev 7:14 . Reader! sit down by faith around this crimson fountain, and contemplate the whole Church as made clean only by the washing in this one laver; and when you have duly pondered the vast and momentous subject, look up, and bless Jehovah, Father, Son, and Spirit, for this unequalled gift, whereby alone all our uncleanness, filthiness, and sin, could be done away. 1Jn 1:7 ; 1Co 6:11 ; Eze 36:24-32 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The Incentives to Worship (For Ascensiontide)
Zec 13:6
The Prophet is anticipating the first Ascension Day, the day the Church observed last Thursday; a day which, for the importance of the event it commemorates, ranks with Christmas and with Easter. He is looking on to the first Ascension Day. Think what the picture is that floats up before him: The Passion is over; the Cross is ended; the forty days after the Resurrection are completed; and, at last, the great and final day has come, and from the mountain’s summit the conquering Saviour is preparing to return to His Throne. The battlements of heaven are lined with the angel hosts ready to do Him welcome. The golden gates of heaven have swung back to receive Him, and from out those gates runs the chorus of the heavenly choir, ‘Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in’. And as they watch and wait, the question passes along those angel ranks: In what shape, in what appearance will He come? Will He come as they saw Him leave His Throne before He took human flesh, or will He come as they saw Him last when they spread their wings around the Cross? How will He come? And as they ask, He enters in at the open door, and they see at once that He comes not as He went, for in His hands and feet and side are the wound-marks of His suffering. The question runs through the astonished angel host,’ What are these wounds in Thy hands?’ And He answers in the tones that are so familiar on earth and in heaven, ‘The wounds with which I was bruised in the house of My friends’.
I. What does the vision of the Prophet say to us Today? It tells us of the eternal measurements of sin; it tells us of the eternal assurances of love; it tells us of the eternal measurements of prayer; but does it not tell us something else? Surely it tells us, and in moving, pathetic tones of its own, the eternal incentives to worship. You and I are slow to worship God. You and I are apt to be careless and neglectful of the worship of God. I cannot think of any picture in the Bible which will come to us with more force than this, ‘What are those wounds in Thy hands? ”Those with which I was wounded in the house of My friends.’ For see what the vision has to do with worship. What is the ground, the real ground, upon which all worship rests? Surely it is belief in a living Christ. You do not worship a dead Christ upon the Cross, you worship a living Christ upon the Throne. God forbid that you and I should ever lose sight of the picture of the Christ upon His Cross; but if we are to worship God with all earnestness, with all reverence, with the devotion of all the best powers that we have, it is not a Christ upon the Cross that we must look to, it is a living Christ upon the Throne: ‘I am He that liveth eternally’. You hear Christ say those words, and there is only one thing for you and me to do: to fall down and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever.
II. And what is the motive power of worship? Is it not just gratitude for mercies received? I cannot think of any more beautiful description of worship than that which the Psalmist gives us: ‘I love the Lord, because He hath heard my voice and my supplications ‘. But directly he says, ‘I love the Lord,’ what does he go on to say in response to that love? He goes on to declare his intention to worship: ‘I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now, in the presence of all His people.’ What makes the neglect of God’s worship so terrible Today is that it reveals the want of grateful hearts. There cannot be a man or woman living on God’s earth who is able to say, ‘I love the Lord, because He hath heard the voice of my supplication,’ who must not perforce go on to say, ‘What can I render to the Lord? This, at any rate, I can render, poor sinner though I am, “I will take the cup of salvation… I will pay my vows unto the Lord “. I will worship the God to whom I owe my all.’
III. And, last of all, what is the characteristic of worship? Where does it find its noblest feature? Is it not in this: Not in what I receive, but what I give? The very motto of all true worship is this:
‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’. What is the true, the highest feature of worship? I tell you it is the consecration of the best of everything to God. It is the dedication of every human power, of every human talent, of every human faculty.
What Are These Wounds in Thine Hands?’
Zec 13:6
I. When our Lord appeared to His disciples after the Resurrection, He showed them His hands and His side. By this time He was on the other side of death. From the Resurrection to the Ascension was a short step compared to that between Good Friday and Easter. That step had been taken, and He was revealed as the Conqueror. Henceforth the note of power the power of His Resurrection rings loudly through the New Testament. The strength that God set at work in Christ when He raised Him from the dead is the theme of believers from now to the end of time. But that strength was the power of victorious and accepted sorrow. He carried through the grave the strong and full and everlasting indications of His sorrow. His wounds were no more burning, but their record remained, and will remain, in the scars that are the seal of victory.
II. He came through the grave with the life whole in Him. It is not enough to say that after the Cross, the suffering, the blood, the patience, there came the life and power. The life and power were there through all the endurance, though they blazed forth in their glory at the Resurrection. So Good Friday and Easter are not so far apart as they seem. He carried Good Friday into Easter, and there was Easter in Good Friday. He showed them His hands and His side. It was as much as to say to them, ‘In this new land, where all is peace and triumph, you are safe with Me. These wounds are fountains of grace, the titles of My glory, and the seals of My power to save. For you the rains will descend a little while, and the winds beat, but I have not forgotten the storm that burst on Me.’
III. In heaven, where He and His redeemed are together, and at rest for ever, He appears to them as a Lamb as it had been slain. They, His people, have the marks of wounds. They have come up out of the great tribulation of earthly life. The angels have never known a wound, but He is a Lamb as it had been slain. Nothing has dishonoured Him or shamed Him. It is not of the suffering that impoverishes, but of the suffering that enriches that He bears the traces. It is the power and the witness of victorious and availing sorrow that are His through the eternal years. He has offered up one sacrifice for sins for ever, and the memory of that sacrifice is green, and its tokens are never out of the eyes of those it has brought home to God.
W. Robertson Nicoll, The Garden of Nuts, p. 133.
References. XIII. 6. W. C. E. Newbolt, Counsels of Faith and Practice, p. 264. C. H. Wright, The Unrecognized Christ, p. 112. C. G. Clark-Hunt, The Refuge of the Sacred Wounds, p. 25. J. I. Blackburn, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxvii. 1905, p. 302. R. Mackintosh, ibid. vol. lxviii. 1905, p. 147.
Purification
Zec 13:9
Consider the purpose of God in asking His children to live with Him the life of contrition. God is seeking our personal purification. The great work God is doing within us is the separating of the pure from the impure.
I. Life is a purgatory, and is intended to be purgatorial. God’s penances here are not punitive, but remedial. Our sorrows form the mystic fire in which God wills to separate between us and our sin. Why does character sometimes determinate under God’s discipline of life? Because the suffering is not looked upon in its true light nor submitted to in a true spirit.
II. If there had been no sin, there would have been no intermediate state, and hence it follows that it is a penitential discipline, for the purifying of the spirit The vision of Jesus seen by us coming out of the sinful past, and carrying into His presence a marred nature, how can that vision be anything but one that develops contrition even to the limit of perfection?
The intermediate state is a state of joy, because it is a state of purgation.
III. Sweet communion. You could not bear the purification but for this ‘They shall call upon Me, and I will answer’.
George Body, The Sermon Year Book, 1891, p. 357.
Reference. XIV. 6, 7. W. M. Taylor, Outlines of Sermons on the Old Testament, p. 287.
Zec 13:9
A favourite text of Charles Wesley.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
XXX
THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAH (CONCLUDED)
Zechariah 12-14
This chapter concludes our study of the prophet, Zechariah. This includes the later part of the second division of the prophecy. The last six chapters of Zechariah seem to give a forecast of the history of Israel from the time of the prophet’s writing down to the end of the nation’s history, just as in the book of Revelation we interpret the seven seals, the seven trumpets, etc., as a forecast of the history of the church to the second advent.
We have had the vision of the shepherd who was to feed the flock of slaughter, who found the flock disloyal, unfaithful, and unappreciative, and who broke the staff, dissolving the union between the two, signifying that this office as shepherd was ended; how that a worldly shepherd was appointed over them, and then followed a brief history of the tragedy of Israel’s history, when they smote ther shepherd and put him to death. In this chapter we take up the consummation of it all, the last, final struggle, and the ushering in of the messianic age as found in Zec 14 .
In Zec 12:1-9 we have the salvation of Jerusalem, the spiritual history of the people, their inner life, national and religious, pictured as the life of their capital, Jerusalem. The clue to it we find in the later part of verse I, where he speaks of Jehovah as the One that forms the spirit of man within him, and this section gives the details as to how Jehovah formed the spirit of Israel, the true kernel of the nation, the center of the national life. We have here Jerusalem represented as the center of Israelitish life, the capital of the nation, besieged by all nations, God protecting her against them and making her the “cup of reeling” and the “burdensome stone” and the “pan of fire” unto all the peoples round about. He says, “I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling, or a bowl filled with wine of which the nations shall drink, and it shall make them drunk and they shall reel and stagger.”
That perhaps refers to the commotion that was created among the nations previous to the Maccabean age, and afterward, when all the nations that apparently could come in contact with Judah and Jerusalem seemed to be possessed with a passion to destroy her. The anti-Judaistic feeling, or anti-Semitic feeling, was very prominent through those centuries, and the larger fulfilment of this prophecy is the hate of Judaism which has run through all the centuries since. The Jews have been a cup of reeling to all the peoples that have come in contact with them. He says here, “Upon Judah also shall it be in the siege against Jerusalem.” All is now concerned about Jerusalem and Judah, the tribe in whose territory Jerusalem is situated.
Again he says, “I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples, and all that burden themselves with it shall be sore wounded.” This may refer to the fact that near many cities in the east, it was the custom to have a stone where all the young men could try their strength in lifting it. Or it may refer to a great boulder in the ground to be raised up out of its position and cast away, and as they dig about the stone and lift it up, the only thing they accomplish is to bruise and tear their own hands. The stone is fixed and immovable. The latter is the more probable interpretation. Anyhow, it means that all through the centuries Jerusalem has been a fixed, established fact. God put Jerusalem there and intended that no nation would move the center of his people; that they could not move Jerusalem. They fought round about it and for it and against it for a century or two, but it remained. And he says, “All the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it.”
Zec 12:4 shows what Jehovah is going to do upon all the enemies that come against Jerusalem: “I will smite every horse with terror, and his rider with madness; and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah.” His eye is upon Judah for a special purpose. Zec 12:5 gives the result: “The chieftains of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in Jehovah of hosts their God.” Jerusalem was in Judah, the capital of Judah, and the chieftains of Judah now wake up to the fact that their strength and stability and hope are centered in Jerusalem, their capital, and when they realize that, they fight bravely for their city, and the result is that all the nations are defeated.
Zec 12:6 says, “I will make the chieftains of Judah like a pan of fire among wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves.” The fulfilment of that may be found in the fact that when the Maccabean heroes rose to fight down Hellenism, thousands of the Jews saw that their national life was at stake if they did not fight for their religion and their country, and rallied around the banner of the Maccabeans, and thus their enemies time and again were overthrown, though there may be a larger fulfilment later on.
In Zec 12:7 he says, “Jehovah also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory . . . of the inhabitants of Jerusalem be not magnified above Judah.” In other words, God was going to so deal with them that the people of Jerusalem would have no occasion to feel that they were above the people of the country. Then those inhabitants of Jerusalem and of Judah shall be revived in their national life and spirit. God will put the spirit of the hero in them. “In that day shall Jehovah defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David,” the hero warrior, who, when a boy faced the lion and the bear, and when but a youth, a giant; “and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of God,” or as a supernatural being, having superhuman powers. That hath a fulfilment in the house of David represented by Jesus Christ, as God or as the angel of God, and his disciples who were as heroic as David. Zec 12:9 refers to the fact that Jehovah has made it hard for all nations that have oppressed the Jews, and in a large measure this has been fulfilled, because those nations have suffered. “In that day” here refers to whatever day was referred to in the several prophecies of the passage, reaching down to the time of Christ and his apostles.
In Zec 12:10-14 we have the conversion of the Jews. This is a remarkable passage, one of the author’s favorite passages, a vision of the conversion of the people of Judah and Jerusalem after this great conflict is over. It is a picture of their spiritual life, the life of the spirit of the nation from its religious standpoint. Now look at the promise: “I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication.” “Grace” refers to those qualities of the spirit that adorn the person when God’s spirit is given. Coupled with that is the spirit of supplication, “And they shall look unto me whom they have pierced.” We have no reference to one pierced by them excepting as suggested in Zec 13:7-9 and that is presupposed in this statement. They had pierced their own shepherd, the representative of God, and now he pictures the time coming when they shall look unto him. God is speaking: “Whom they have pierced,” the one whom they have wounded, the one against whom they had poured out their bitterest hatred. This is going to be a great conversion of the Jewish nation.
This prophecy has a fulfilment in the events of Pentecost and following, but the greatest fulfilment is to follow in the conversion of the Jews as a nation. At that time there will be a bitter mourning, a great mourning; they shall mourn as one mourns for his only son; the Jews could appreciate what that meant better than we can the only one left to bear his name, the only one to keep that name alive in Israel. It shall be as when they mourned for Josiah, who was slain by Pharaohnecoh in the valley of Megiddon when they mourned at Hadadrimmon, a little village just a few miles from the scene of battle. There will be national mourning and a family mourning, for the land shall mourn every family apart. Then he mentions certain families to indicate how completely that is going to be carried out. The family of David, the royal family, then the family of Nathan, one of the sons of David, brother of Solomon, an obscure member of the royal family, which indicates all members of the royal family, the men in one part, the wives in another, men and women separately. The family of the house of Shimei, one of the little or obscure families of the tribe of Levi, to indicate how that every family shall mourn: families mourning, men mourning alone, women mourning alone. This was fulfilled when they looked upon the cross; there many of the people looked upon him whom they pierced, as John says quoting this passage of Zechariah as being literally fulfilled.
It was fulfilled in the larger sense when at Pentecost three thousand men and more, pricked in their hearts, said, “Men and brethren, what shall we do? We have killed our Messiah!” And in a few weeks thousands, more looked unto him whom they had pierced. For decades afterward many more and through the centuries there have been a few. More and more the Jews are coming to this point when they will look unto him whom they pierced, and there is no grief more poignant, more penetrating to the human heart than the grief of a loyal Jew who realizes that his nation killed their Messiah. God will pour out his spirit upon the nation and all the nation shall look unto him whom they have pierced, mourning as for an only son.
In Zec 13:1-6 we have the cleansing of the people as the result of the mourning and supplication above described. The fountain opened for sin and uncleanness was opened for the house of David, the royal family who needed cleansing, needed it as well as the people, showing that he has not in mind the Messiah, for the Messiah did not need cleansing. It is also to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and it is for sin and uncleanness. It is a picture of a fountain flowing to cleanse, something like Ezekiel’s picture where he says, “I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and cleanse you from your sins,” and David’s “Purge me with hissop and I shall be clean.” Upon this passage is based our song: There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuel’s veins, And sinners plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains.
That is the fulfilment of it for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Of course it applied to them first, but it is not confined to them in its application. Then he shows how idols, prophets, and unclean spirits shall be cut off: “I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land and they shall no more be remembered.” That was partly true in the refining of Judaism that followed the Maccabean age, but it receives its fulfilment only in Christianity, the daughter of Judaism, for it is only where Christianity goes that the idols are cut off and are not remembered. Not only the idols are cut off, but the unclean spirits pass out of the land. This again has its fulfilment where the gospel goes, for it is only where Christianity flourishes that these unclean spirits are put out.
Then the prophets are to be cut off also. Prophecy is going to be so discredited that there will be no more of it permitted. He says here that when anyone shall prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, “Thou shalt not live”; we are not going to have any preacher in our family, and in order to get him out of the way they thrust him through, saying, “Thou speakest lies in the name of Jehovah.” Now this cannot refer to the true prophet and preacher, but to every kind and species of false prophets.
It refers to all kinds of sorcerers, diviners, especially fakirs. And if there shall be one of those that escape, he shall be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies. They are not going to wear a hairy garment to deceive, trying to make themselves look like Elijah, and make people believe they are real prophets as Elijah was. It will be a good thing when preachers cast off all their ecclesiastical “toggery.” He shall say, “I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground; for I have been made a bondman from my youth. And one will say, How do you account for those wounds?” Then he shall answer, “These are the wounds I received in the house of my friends.”
It is difficult to understand exactly the meaning of this passage. Apparently, this is an excuse on the part of the prophet, who has been caught and he seeks to evade the consequences. He was wounded in the house of his friends. They put those marks upon him. So then these constitute no reason for condemning him. That is one idea. A great many apply this to Christ himself. When he shall appear and the Jews, his own people, shall ask him, “Whence those wounds between your hands?” Then he shall say, “These are the wounds I received in the house of my friends,” i.e., among you Jews. That is the larger fulfilment, but the immediate application of it seems to be to the wretched fakers that had no business to preach. There are many of them yet in the East with marks upon their hands to signify their profession.
In Zec 13:7-9 we have the smiting of the Shepherd. This is the climax of the nation’s tragedy. The putting of its shepherd to death. The fulfilment of this is in Jesus Christ who was smitten and his little flock scattered. The larger fulfilment is in the fact that the sheep put to death their Christ, and have been scattered ever since. “Awake, O sword,” says Jehovah, “against my shepherd and against the man that is my fellow.” In Gethsemane we see the application of this. Although his only beloved and only begotten Son prayed until the sweat broke forth from his brow, that the sword might pass, God says, “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow.” The sword must descend, the shepherd must be smitten. It was then that he turned his hand upon “his little ones” the humble and meek, and as a result two parts of the people were to be cut off, two-thirds of the nation destroyed, and it was so in the intervals following Jesus’ death and the destruction of Jerusalem. “And I will bring the third part (and he did bring a great multitude of the Jews) into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people; and they shall say, Jehovah is my God.” The fulfilment of that occurred in the history of the Jews after the crucifixion.
We have the final assault upon and deliverance of Jerusalem in Zec 14:1-8 . This brings us to the last chapter and the consummation, the final act in the great drama as pictured by this prophet, Zechariah: “Behold, a day of Jehovah cometh.” There have been many days of Jehovah, when he smote nations and peoples, when he overturned things upon earth, but there is to come a greater day, a day when Jehovah shall manifest his judgments in power. The first result of this day will be the strange fact that Jerusalem shall be captured. Jerusalem the center, the nation’s very life core shall be captured. “Thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee, and I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; the city shall be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished,” as was customary in the capture and sack of a city. “And half of the city shall go into captivity and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.”
Now, what is going to happen when this terrible fate overtakes the city? “Then shall Jehovah go forth and fight against those nations as when he fought in the day of battle.” Although Jerusalem shall be captured and half her people sold into slavery, yet Jehovah will then appear at the crisis to save the city. “His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives,” which is before Jerusalem on the east and towers between two and three hundred feet higher than Mount Moriah, or Zion, upon which Jerusalem was situated. “And the Mount of Olives shall be cleft in the midst toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley and half of the mountain shall be removed toward the north and half of it toward the south,” that is, there shall be a great supernatural manifestation of God’s power to make a way of escape for the people from their city. This has never been literally fulfilled, and never will be. The idea is that when the crisis comes upon God’s people, he will make a way of escape, and thus he pictures the way of escape as a cleaving of the mount, separating it and opening a valley for the people to flee. “Ye shall flee by the valley of the mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azel.” We don’t know just where Azel was, some little place east of Jerusalem. “And ye shall flee like as ye fled from before the earthquakes in the days of Uzziah king of Judah,” which event Amos refers to and which followed just two years after he began his preaching. “And Jehovah my God will come and all the holy ones with thee,” and that period for a short time shall be a day of gloom. “It shall come to pass in that day that the earth shall not be light; the bright ones, the sun, the moon, and the stars shall withdraw themselves.” “It shall be one day which is known unto Jehovah, not day, not night,” twilight gloom, murk, half-night, and half-day, but it shall come to pass that at eventide as the day draws to an end, a new day will dawn and there will be light at eventide. This prophecy is yet unfulfilled. The time forecast here is the final gathering of the nations against the Jews, gathered back into their land, just before the millennium. This is the great battle of Jehoshaphat in the plain of Esdraelon, where Jehovah intervenes and saves the Jews from a shameful defeat. It is a great spiritual conflict under the symbol of war. Here the veil falls from their eyes and they behold the Christ as their Saviour. The nation is converted, as it were, in a day and the millennium is here ushered in. (See Revelation of “The Interpretation.”)
In Zec 14:9-11 we have the prophetic picture of the kingdom of Jehovah, king over all the earth, which is in exact accordance with the visions drawn by Isaiah, Micah, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah. “Jehovah shall be one and his name one,” that is, there is to be the one God, with one name. “And the land shall be made like the Arabah,” the valley of the Jordan, which was so attractive to Lot that he chose it for his cattle and flocks. The land is going to be made like that valley from Geba, a little place north of Jerusalem, to Rimmon on the south, away down in the land of Simeon, we do not know exactly where. Then he goes on with his description of this city, how it is to be built, its dimensions and its various gates, “And there shall be no more curses but Jerusalem shall dwell safely.” All this will be fulfilled in the millennium.
Next comes the plagues upon her enemies (Zec 14:12-15 ). The nations that war against Jerusalem shall be utterly destroyed; he gives a picture of the plagues that shall fall upon these nations. “Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, their eyes shall consume away in their sockets, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. . . . They shall turn one against another. There shall be a great tumult from Jehovah among them, and they shall lay hold everyone on the hand of his neighbor, and they shall rise up against his neighbor, and Judah shall fight at Jerusalem.” In spite of that, all the wealth of the nations round about shall be gathered together, gold, silver, and apparel in great abundance. Afterward in spite of all the enemies the Jews shall have the wealth, privileges, power, influence of the world. This will be fulfilled in the destruction of the enemies of the Jews before the millennium at which time the Jews will be converted.
The remaining nations shall keep the Feast of Tabernacles at Jerusalem. The remaining nations means those who have not warred against Jerusalem, but have assumed either a friendly or a neutral attitude. This is the millennial age, this is the time pictured by Isaiah and Micah and the others, when all the nations shall be Jews, and they are to come up and worship the King, Jehovah of hosts, and keep the Feast of Tabernacles. Now if this is to be literally fulfilled, then all the nations of the world shall have to become Jews and go up to Jerusalem and keep the Feast of Tabernacles in October. Can we imagine that our Christianity shall have such a setback as that; that we shall all have to revert back to Judaism? This is a picture of the nations converted to the God of Israel expressed in the terms of Judaism. But if any of these nations will not keep the Feast of Tabernacles, they are to have no rain upon them, and Egypt, which is independent of rain because of the overflow of the Nile, is not forgotten by the prophet, but is mentioned as liable to punishment, though he doesn’t say what punishment that is. This is the prophet’s picture of the conversion of the Gentile nations to Judaism, and when we enlarge Judaism into Christianity and picture the conversion of the nations to Christianity, which is the real fulfilment of this, we have the larger fulfilment.
And lastly, Jerusalem shall be holy. “The bells upon the horses shall be holy to Jehovah. And the pots before Jehovah’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar.” All this means there are to be so many people, and they are all to observe the sacrifices and feasts, and they must make every pot in Jerusalem as large as one of those great basins in the Temple. And more than that every one of those pots in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holy unto Jehovah. This is the Judaistic and ceremonial idea of holiness. And they that sacrifice shall come and take of them and boil therein. Ezekiel had kitchens in his picture of the Temple for boiling the sacrifices. Zechariah says that there are going to be great holy pots, and they are, to boil in them. “In that day there shall be no more a Canaanite,” that is, there shall be no more heathen, the foreigner, and unclean person, and unworthy person in Jerusalem and in Judah. “All shall be clean,” which is in exact accordance with Rev 21:27 . where John says. “There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, or maketh an abomination or a lie.” “Blessed are they that have washed their robes, that they may have the right to come to the tree of life and enter into the gates of the city.” John’s picture is richer and larger and fuller than Zechariah’s but in substance they are the same.
QUESTIONS
1. What is the prophetic picture of Zec 12:1-9 and what is the fulfilment of it?
2. What is meant by the “cup of reeling,” “the burdensome stone, “the pan of fire,” and what is the day referred to in the expression, “in that day”?
3. What is the prophetic picture of Zec 12:10-14 and what is its fulfilment?
4. What illustration in verse 2, and what is the significance of the families mourning apart?
5. What prophetic picture of Zec 13:1-6 and in what does it have fulfilment?
6. What allusion in Zec 13:6 ?
7. What prophecy of Zec 13:7-9 and where do we find its fulfilment?
8. What is the meaning of “little ones” (Zec 13:7 ), “two parts cut off” in Zec 13:8 , and “the third part refined” in Zec 13:9 ?
9. What prophetic picture of Zec 14:1-8 and what is the fulfilment of it?
10. What prophetic picture of Zec 14:9-11 and what is the fulfilment of it?
11. What is pictured in Zec 14:12 and what is the fulfilment of it?
12. What final picture of Zechariah and when will it be realized?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Zec 13:1 In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.
Ver. 1. In that day there shall be a fountain opened ] Nunc fructum poenitentiae adiungit, saith Calvin here. This is the fruit of their repentance. No sooner mourn they over Christ, but they are received to mercy. “I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord: and” (or ever I can do it) “thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin,” Psa 32:5 ; that is, both the sting and stain of it, the guilt and the filth, the crime and the curse. Repent, and your sins shall be blotted out, saith Peter to those nefarious kill-Christs, Act 3:19 . God will cross the black lines of your sins with the red lines of his Son’s blood, 1Jn 1:6 . A fountain shall be opened; not a cistern, but a spring; a pool better than that of Siloam, which is by interpretation, Sent, Joh 9:7 , and so a type of Christ, who “loved us, and washed us from our sins with his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen,” Rev 1:5-6 . To seal up this matchless mercy to us, he sent first, by the hand of his forerunner, and baptized those that repented for the remission of sins, Mat 3:2 Act 2:38 , and afterwards he set wide open this blessed fountain, this laver of “regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost,” Tit 3:5 . Saying by his ministers to every believer, as once to Paul, “Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord,” Act 22:16 ; whereunto salvation is promised, Rom 10:18 Joe 2:22 . Baptism also is said to save us, 1Pe 3:21 , sc. sacramentally, for it sealeth up salvation to the believer, Mar 16:16 , and is of perpetual and permanent use to him, for that purpose, his whole life throughout, ut scaturigo semper ebulliens, as a fountain bubbling up to eternal life. Here then the sacrament of baptism is prophesied and promised. And hence, haply, the baptism of John is said to have been from heaven, Mat 21:25 . All the Levitical purifications pointed to this king’s bath of Christ’s meritorious blood, this everflowing and overflowing fountain, for the grace of our Lord Jesus hath abounded to flowing over (as St Panl’s expression is) with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. Neither can it ever be dried up, as was the river Cherith, the brooks of Tema, &c., but is an inexhausted fountain, a fresh running spring, for all that have but a mind to make toward it. Tam recens mihi nunc Christus est, ac si hac hora fudisset sanguinem, saith Luther; Christ is still as fresh and sovereign to me as if this very hour he had shed his blood. He was the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world; and shall be so to the end thereof. Cruci haeremus, sanguinem sugimus, et intra ipsa Redempteris nostri vulnera figimus linguam, saith Cyprian of the Lord’s Supper; i.e. We cleave to the cross at this holy ordinance; we suck Christ’s blood, we thrust our tongues into the very wounds of our Redeemer, and are hereby purged from all pollutions of flesh and spirit.
To the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem
For sin and for uncleanness
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Zec 13:1
1In that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity.
Zec 13:1 In that day This is the repeated eschatological marker of chapters 10-14 (cf. Zec 13:2).
a fountain will be opened The concept of a fountain of life comes from Isa 12:2-3; Jer 2:13 (for the negative see Jer 51:36; Hos 13:15); and Jer 17:13. God is the source of life (cf. Psa 36:5-9). In this context it refers to the forgiveness of sin, which is obviously related to the repentance mentioned in Zec 12:10. This is a picture of the new covenant of Jer 31:34; Eze 36:25 (cf. Rom 11:26-27; Eph 5:26; Tit 3:5).
The VERB (BDB 834 I, KB 986, Niphal PARTICPLE) also connected to it is a Qal IMPERFECT, to be (BDB 224, KB 243), which denotes an emphasis of permanently opened! God’s life-giving water will now flow forever (cf. Zec 14:8; Eze 47:1-12; Rev 22:1; Psa 46:4).
for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem The royal line and the people who returned from exile are the recipients (cf. Zec 12:10). Notice there is no distinction between Jerusalem and Judah, as in Zec 12:2; Zec 12:5; Zec 12:7.
for sin This is the common Hebrew term (BDB 308) which means to miss the goal, to miss the mark, or to miss the way (cf. BDB 306).
for impurity This Hebrew term (BDB 622) was used mostly of ceremonial defilement by menstrual flow, but was also used for idolatry (cf. 2Ch 29:5-6; Ezr 9:11).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
In that day. The future day, when this prophecy shall come to pass.
shall be. This is not the simple future tense, but the verb hayah, with the Participle, meaning that the fountain shall be permanently opened.
a fountain. This waits for literal fulfilment, and is not an intangible one as in the present day.
opened: i.e. set open. The only occurance of this participle in the O.T. Compare the first in Gen 7:11.
for = for [the expiation of] sin, &c.
sin Hebrew. chata. App-44.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
And in that day ( Zec 13:1 )
“In that day, in that day.” Here it is again, “in that day,”
there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness ( Zec 13:1 ).
Reminds us of that beautiful song, “There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins, and sinners plunge beneath that flood with all their guilty stains.” But the fountain will be open in Jerusalem as they recognize Jesus Christ as the Messiah and as the Lord. They turn their hearts towards Him, because the Spirit of God will open their eyes. And the veil that has been covering their eyes will be taken away, and they will recognize Jesus as Lord, and the fountain for sin opened to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
And it shall come to pass in that day [in that day], saith the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land ( Zec 13:2 ),
Now here is the prediction that, of course, Israel would go back to idolatry. And of course, they do have today not little idols in the sense of carved out images, but they are extremely materialistic, and they do have their shrines of the tomb of Rachel, the tomb of Abraham, the tomb of David and all. Even the Western Wall has become sort of a place of almost idolatry in the sense that they feel that they are closer to God in these particular places. They like to go to these places to feel close to God. They say if you want to be close to God, go to the place where a man of God exists, because God exists with that man. But that, in a sense, is the consciousness of idolatry, because an idol is actually something to remind me of the presence of God. When a person creates an idol, it is always indicative to the fact that he has lost that valuable consciousness of God’s presence. Somewhere deep inside he longs for that which he has lost. So he creates a reminder. “There’s a place, oh there’s where I met God.”
It’s amazing the things that people can, more or less, make religious relics out of. I went to a church one time that had ugly platform furniture. I mean, it looked like it came from the Goodwill. The overstuffed chairs were ripped, and I mean it was just, it was just ugly. Looked like nobody cared. So I announced to the people my intentions, cause I love to get in to build things. I announced my intentions to remodel the platform. “We’re gonna get new furniture up here. We’re gonna get a new pulpit; I’m gonna build a new pulpit.” After the service a woman came up and she was absolutely livid. “Brother Smith, you can’t get rid of that pulpit. Twenty years ago this evangelist was here, and he’s the one that donated the pulpit. And he preached the first sermon from that pulpit, and he cried, and the pulpit was stained with his tears. Oh, so many glorious sermons have been preached from that pulpit. You can’t get rid of that pulpit.” I said, “It’s ugly.” “Oh, but you can’t get rid of it.” Oh, and it was an ugly piece of furniture. So we bought the new platform chairs, and I purchased some veneer plywood, and I built a whole new pulpit around the old one. Leaving the old one there, but I completely… it looked like a brand new pulpit. But still the old one was built into the inside. She came to church, let out a gasp when she saw the new pulpit. I had desecrated the house of God! She was so angry she was ready to leave the church. I said, “Oh no, no, come here. Let me show you something.” I took her behind with the ugly old doors, and everything else, the ugliness was behind it; the people couldn’t see it anymore. But that satisfied her. The old pulpit still there you know. But that’s tragic when people get attached to things.
In the days of Hezekiah the people had begun to worship the brass serpent that Moses had made in the wilderness. It had become an idol. They’d begun to worship it. They were longing for the presence of God that their fathers had in the wilderness. They were longing to see the power of God that their fathers saw in the wilderness, and they began to worship the relic. But Hezekiah broke the thing in pieces, and he said, “Nehushtan, that’s not a thing of God; it’s a thing of brass. Nehushtan, a thing of brass.” He called it what it was. “That pulpit’s not a sacred relic; it’s an ugly piece of old furniture.” Nothing sacred about a relic. Just because at a place the Spirit of God has moved in the hearts and lives of the people doesn’t make it a sacred place. God doesn’t dwell in places, God dwells in the hearts and lives of His people.
We could move outside and worship the Lord outside and be just as close to God as we are inside. We’re not any closer to God here than we are at home. God does not dwell in buildings made with man’s hands. The heavens of heavens cannot contain Him. But a person loses that consciousness of the presence of God and somehow he is longing for that which he has lost. And so he builds a relic, or he takes a relic that reminds him of God’s presence, and he begins to worship near that, or he begins to worship the relic itself, even worse.
But God said, “I’m gonna cut off all the idols.”
and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land ( Zec 13:2 ).
That is, the false prophets, and the unclean spirit.
And it will come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say to him, Thou shalt not live; for you’re speaking lies in the name of the LORD: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesies. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear the rough garments to deceive: But he shall say, I am no prophet, I am a husbandman; [I am a farmer,] for a man taught me to keep cattle from my youth. [I’m a rancher.] And one shall say unto him ( Zec 13:3-6 ),
Now he leaves now the false prophets, and he comes now back to the One who was pierced, “And one shall say unto Him,”
What are these wounds in your hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn my hand to the little ones ( Zec 13:6-7 ).
Now the problem and the question arises, does verse Zec 13:6 fit with verse Zec 13:5 , or does it fit with verse Zec 13:7 ? The author of the Living Bible, which is an interesting interpretation of the scripture, but an extremely poor translation. It’s one man’s interpretation. Dr. Taylor evidently feels that verse Zec 13:6 fits with verse Zec 13:5 . I personally disagree with him. I believe that verse Zec 13:6 fits with verse Zec 13:7 n. He gives, what I consider, an almost blasphemous interpretation of verse Zec 13:6 . “What are these wounds? Oh, these I got when I was in a drunken brawl at my friend’s house.” But I believe that they are referenced to Jesus Christ again, when they, Israel recognizes Him by the wounds in His hands, and they say unto Him, “What are the meaning of these wounds?” and He will answer very softly, very tenderly, “Those which I was wounded in the house of My friends.”
Now verse Zec 13:7 we know refers to Jesus Christ, because it was quoted in the New Testament when Jesus was arrested and all the disciples forsook Him and fled that the scripture might be fulfilled which said, “Smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.” So that is used in the New Testament to refer to the fact that the disciples all fled at the arrest of Jesus. So we know that that one definitely refers to Jesus Christ, and it is my personal opinion that six fits with seven.
And it shall come to pass, in all the land, saith the LORD, that two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third part shall be left therein ( Zec 13:8 ).
So, again, the Jews are gonna go through a great holocaust in which two thirds of them will die. Only one third will come through. The antichrist is gonna make a covenant with the nation of Israel, but after three and a half years, he’s gonna break the covenant as he comes to Jerusalem and declares that he is god, and seeks to show that he is god, and demands to be worshiped as god. And the faithful remnant at that time will flee to the wilderness. The antichrist will then seek to destroy all of the Jews that remain in the land, and two thirds of them will be destroyed; one third shall escape.
And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined ( Zec 13:9 ),
That is, they are going to go through the fire of persecution once again in this last seven years. This time is known in the scripture as the time of Jacob’s trouble, we also call it the Great Tribulation.
and I will try them as gold is tried: and they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, Yahweh is my God ( Zec 13:9 ).
So here, those that remain there will be again that glorious grafting back into the tree. The branch that had been cut off will be grafted back again. The unfaithful wife will be received and restored again as God washes her and cleanses her according to the prophecy of Hosea and brings her back unto Himself. Oh, love that will not let me go. Though I stray and turn my back and walk away, yet God will not let me go in His love. But He draws me back to Himself and restores me into fellowship. Oh, how gracious and glorious is the God that we serve. Israel, who has failed, will be brought back again by God and joined to Him after the refining process of the fire.
“
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Zec 13:1. In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness.
They shall see that pardon when they have truly seen their sin. When once the foulness of their transgression is perceived, then the fount, sin of cleansing shall be perceived, too. No man ever knows the preciousness of the God given remedy till he has felt the force of the terrible disease. No one by faith plunges into the crystal fount of perfect cleansing without first lamenting the filthiness which needs to be removed.
Zec 13:2. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.
Where there is pardon, there is sure to be sanctification. The idols must fall, and the false prophets must go. We cannot have our sins and have a Saviour too. If we have Christ to blot out our sin, we must have the same Christ to remove sin as to its authority, and power, and dominion over us.
Zec 13:3. And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy,
When any false prophet shall still pretend to prophesy,
Zec 13:3. Then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of the LORD: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth.
So intense shall be the hatred of false prophets, that men shall not spare even their own children. They shall abhor them when they stand up against the Lord of hosts and against his truth.
Zec 13:4. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive:
They shall give up this wicked employment at once and for ever. Just as when one, who has pretended to tell fortunes, is converted, and he forsakes that evil occupation; so converted men must never be in association with those who are familiar with the spirits of the dead, and who practice sorcery and the like abominations. Everything of the kind is to be, abhorred by godly men, and they must turn away from it with holy horror and disgust.
Zec 13:5-6. But he shall say, I am no prophet, I am an husbandman; for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth. And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands?
What are these marks of the idol gods and goddesses? Have you not been branded with them? Did you not belong to the accursed fraternity that worship idols, and receive the sigmate in their hands?
Zec 13:6. Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.
Idolatry shall become so detestable a thing that he will say anything rather than acknowledge that he has had aught to do with idols. Those very marks in which the false prophets once gloried, they shall loathe. The Brahmin shall throw away his sacred thread, and those who have been tattooed is honour of other false gods shall hate the marks of shame that are upon their persons. Now, brethren, inasmuch as the heathen prophets received in their bodies the marks of their gods, we understand something of what Paul meant when he wrote to the Galatians, From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. He regarded his baptism as a kind of water-mark that could not be removed. He looked upon the marks of the scourge, with which he had been beaten again and again for Christs sake, as being proofs that he belonged to Jesus. They stamped him with the broad arrow of the great King, so that all men might know that he was dedicated to him and to his service, tattooed with marks in his flesh that were indelible, and never to be re moved.
Zec 13:7-8. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones. And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.
So, in the times of Gods fiercest judgments, he has a remnant according to the election of grace who shall escape the sword, because that sword has been awakened against him who was their Representative, their Surety, and who stood as Substitute in their place.
Zec 13:9. And I will bring the third part through the fire,
Saved; yet so as by fire. This is true in a certain sense of all the righteous. They shall certainly be saved, and though the fires of persecution should rage around, the Lord will bring them through the fire. They shall not perish in it, but they shall even derive good from it; I will bring the third part through the fire,
Zec 13:9. And will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried:
If you are Gods people, you will certainly be tried and tested. As surely as ever God has put you in the third part that he will save, he has also ordained that you should pass through the fire. You shall have, both within and without, that which shall test your sincerity, and prove whether your faith is of divine origin or not. There is no easy road to heaven.
The path of sorrow, and that path alone,
Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown.
Yet we who believe in Jesus are not an unhappy people. The character of Gods saints is still according to Pauls paradoxes; As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
Zec 13:9. They shall call on my name, and I will hear them:
What a precious little sentence: they shall call on my name! And God will give ear to their prayer: And I will hear them. The shall and the will are put close together, and the one is as much the work of Gods grace as the other is: They shall call on my name, and I will hear them.
Zec 13:9. I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.
Note these quick responses,echoes, as it were. They call and God hears. God speaks, and they reply. God says, It is my people. They answer, The Lord is my God. Blessed are you if you can join in these heart-echoes, or can say, with the spouse, My Beloved is mine, and I am his. Is there this mutual interchange of love between you and the all-glorious Lord? If so, thrice happy are you; but if not, God grant that you may speedily enter into this secret of the Lord! May he bless to every one of us the reading of his Word, for his dear Sons sake! Amen.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Zec 13:1
IN THAT DAY (7) . . . Zec 13:1
In connection with the mourning over Him Whom they pierced, a fountain is to be opened for sin and uncleanness. Sin is transgression against the law of God. Uncleanness is that condition of ones soul which makes him unfit for the presence of God. The death of Davids Branch (cp. Zec 3:8 and Zec 6:12) Who is seen here in the hour of His death (pierced) provides the fountain for sin and uncleanness. Jesus understanding of the Old Testament was that the Christ should suffer, and rise again the third day. When this has been done, repentance and remission of sins is to be preached in His name. (cf. Luk 24:44-47)
The death and resurrection opened the fountain. The preaching of repentance, which is a deliberate decision for the will of God by one who has stood against it, relates the fountain to sin which is a transgression of the Law. Remission of sins, which is Gods answer to the moral impurity resulting from sin, relates the fountain to uncleanness. An entire volume could be written showing, from Scripture, that this fountain is the blood of Jesus.
Zerr: That day (Zec 13:1.) means the day designated in Zec 12:10 when “they shall look upon me whom they have pierced. This is one of the most precious prophecies in the Bible because it predicts the Fountain, filled with blood, drawn from Emanuels veins. It refers to the flow of blood that came from the pierced side of Christ, and poured down upon the ground to satisfy the wrath of God against sin, and made it possible for Him to save mankind from sin and its consequences.
Questions
In the First Day
1. The future glory of the restored Jewish nation was delayed by their _________________.
2. The key to the final chapters of Zechariah is found in the phrase _________________.
3. This term describes two days which from Zechariahs point of view were both in _________________.
4. The first of these days describes _________________.
5. The second day describes _________________.
6. Review the four characteristics of the day of Jehovah. (See introduction of Zechariah.)
7. Zechariahs first use of in the day (Zec 3:8-10) refers to _________________.
8. What is the significance of the term Israel in Zec 12:1?
9. Why does Zechariah here refer to Jehovah as the creator of the heavens and the earth and the spirit of man?
10. The first period referred to by in that day is addressed to and has to do with _________________.
11. The second period referred to as in that day has to do with _________________.
12. Several things are said to be going to happen in the Messianic age. Each is introduced by in that day. They are:
a. In that day (1)
b. In that day (2)
c. In that day (3)
d. In that day (4)
e. In that day (5)
f. In that day (6)
g. In that day (7)
h. In that day (8)
i. In that day (9)
13. Israel at the time of Zechariah could be none other than _________________.
14. What of Jerusalem in the time of Messiahs first coming?
15. What was to be the relationship of the Jews to all nations during the Messianic age?
16. Historically the military action against which the Jews were least effective was the _________________.
17. What is meant by Jehovah smiting the peoples and horses with blindness?
18. Who are they of Jerusalem? (Zec 12:1)
19. How does Zec 12:10 fix this section as being fulfilled in the Messianic age?
20. Compare Zec 12:10-14 with Joh 19:34-37.
21. What is the condition upon which Jews may again become part of Gods true Israel? (cf. Rom 11:17-24)
22. Conversion is always an _________________ experience.
23. How was the mourning over Him who they had pierced fulfilled on Pentecost?
24. Who are all the families that remain?
25. In connection with the mourning over Him whom they pierced a ___________ was to be opened for ____________ and _____________.
26. The _________________ opened the fountain.
27. _________________ relates the fountain to sin.
28. _________________ relates the fountain to moral impurity or _________________.
29. _________________ is frequently associated with uncleanness.
30. The _________________ is generally credited with ministering the coup de grace to classic idolatry.
31. What prophecy is condemned during the Messianic age?
32. How does Zec 13:6 relate to Him whom they pierced?
33. What is meant by the wounds between thine arms?
34. Discuss Zechariah) Zec 12:7 in light of Act 2:23.
35. What nation is symbolized historically by the sword?
36. Jesus could be legally executed by _________________.
37. Compare Zec 13:7 to Mat 26:31 and Mar 14:27.
38. Following the death of Jesus the number of His followers was about _________________.
39. Compare Zec 13:9 and 1Pe 1:6-7.
40. To those who endured persecution, Jehovah gives _________________ and _________________ they acknowledge. Both are _________________.
41. The _____________ is Gods new Israel.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
This, however, will be brought about when, recognizing their sin, the chosen people repent with mourning. In that day, by way of a fountain opened to them, they will be cleansed from all the things which have defiled and degraded them.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
a Day of Testing
Zec 13:1-9; Zec 14:1
This Fountain was opened, when the soldier pierced the Saviors side. But it is not enough for God to forgive; He must deal drastically with the waywardness of his people. And so thorough would be the work, that parents would rather their son should die than assume for filthy lucre and without the divine call, the lucrative profession of a prophet. A township would arise against a man suspected of being a prophet, who, in his terror, would pretend that he was a tiller of the ground. And if they discovered marks in his body which indicated that he had been previously branded as a false prophet, he would rather assert that his friends had been the cause of his affliction, than that he had any sympathy with the prophetic office.
Note that remarkable anticipation, Zec 13:7-9. See Mat 26:31. Jesus knew that He was the Fathers fellow. He thought it not robbery to be equal with God. We will come unto Him, and make our abode with Him. But He is also the Man. By the grace of the One Man, we may reign in life, Rom 5:17.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Chapter 13
The Fountain Opened And The Shepherd Smitten
Immediately linked with the time when Israel shall have reached, in spirit, the day of atonement, the fountain is provided for cleansing from all defilement which the first verse of this chapter announces. When the Spirit of God has wrought repentance in the remnant, the word of God will at once be applied in cleansing.
It is to (not in, as people often attempt to quote it) the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem that the fountain is opened in order that they may be morally cleansed from all sin and uncleanness, in accordance with the testimony of Ezekiel (chap. 36:24-27): For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them.
The day of atonement brings them to the cross. The next step is the laver, to which the fountain answers. Observe well, it is not, as Christian poets have sung, a fountain filled with blood, but of living water-the word of God applied in the Spirits power to their consciences. The same truth is taught in the Lords washing His disciples feet, the laver of regeneration, and the washing of water by the Word, but all in connection with the present dispensation. So from the side of the crucified Saviour flowed both blood and water – blood, to expiate sin before God; water, to cleanse the ways and keep the saint free from defilement.
As the power of the truth is brought home to the remnant, it will lead them to judge all iniquity and to put away all uncleanness. Idolatry will become as an evil dream when it is past, and deceivers of all kinds will pass out of the land (ver. 2).
As all prophecy will have come to its glorious fulfilment, the office of the prophet shall cease. Any essaying that role will be judged even by his own parents (vers. 3, 4).
But One there is in contrast to the false prophets in every way, even the One for whom they shall mourn when they are brought to see how they have sinned against Him. He shall say, I am no prophet, I am a husbandman; for man acquired Me as a servant from My youth. Some have followed the rabbis in applying these words, and those following, to the deceivers; but it seems far clearer, and more in keeping with the context, to apply them to the Lord Jesus Christ. He was acquired as a servant from His youth, and, like the devoted slaves of Exod. 21, for love of His own He would not go out free. To Him the wondering remnant cry, What are these wounds in Thy hands? He replies, Those with which I was wounded in the house of My friends. What grace, that He should so speak of Judah, who knew Him not when He came among them in lowliness (vers. 5, 6).
But He could never have been wounded by them, had it not been according to the purpose of God that He should be made a sin-offering. So at once we read, Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the Man that is My Fellow, saith Jehovah: smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn My hand upon the little ones (ver. 7). Clearly the smitten Shepherd here is the wounded One of the preceding verses. There, it was mans treatment of Him that was emphasized. Here, it is the solemn fact that Gods judgment fell upon Him when, for our sins, He was smitten on the cross. There, as the Good Shepherd, He gave His life for the sheep, and endured divine wrath, that all who trust in Him might be forever secure from the well-deserved vengeance of Jehovahs insulted throne. So the words are directly applied in Mat 26:31. The Shepherd was smitten by Jehovah Himself. The sheep were for the moment scattered, but Gods hand is turned in grace to the little ones who are lowly enough to own their guilt and trust in Him whose precious blood cleanseth from every stain. To the remnant, the value of His work will be made known when their blindness has passed away, and they will be numbered among the feeble and the poor in spirit who cast themselves upon redeeming grace.
Not all Israel, however, nor yet all of Judah, shall be saved. But of those restored to the land after the Church has been rapt away to heaven, two parts will be cut off in death during the time of Jacobs trouble. The third part will be brought through the fiery trials of the great tribulation, and will be refined as silver and purified as gold. They shall call upon Jehovahs name, and He will respond to them in grace and loving-kindness. To them He will say, It is My people, thus reversing the Lo-ammi sentence of Hosea, chap. 1; while they in turn shall cry with hearts uplifted at the thought of such abounding mercy, Jehovah is my God!
Their salvation will be thus of a double character, as was that of their fathers of old, wherever faith was in exercise, who were brought to God and saved from Egyptian bondage.
The closing chapter gives us the details of their deliverance from their enemies, and does not leave them till they are seen keeping the happiest feast of all the year-that of the tabernacles- with the assured sense of the favor of Jehovah.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Zec 13:1
I. Into this world, where the fountains were all sin and uncleanness, Messiah came. And for a while He was a fountain sealed. Within His own bosom He carried the purity of heaven, the calm consciousness of His own divinity, a great deep of gentleness and love and compassion. But that was not enough. It was not enough that He should be a holy visitor, by His surpassing sanctity pronouncing a tacit verdict on the surrounding iniquity; an angelic tourist through the realms of earth, leaving them more wretched and lonely than before. He had come not so much a visitor as a victim, not so much to sojourn as to save. Found in fashion as a man, God the Son became the kinsman of sinners, and engaged in His own Person to achieve an ample atonement for the sins of the world. It was on Calvary that the fountain sealed of incarnate love became the fountain opened of redeeming merit.
II. The fountain is open still. Fresh and efficacious and free as on the day when His mighty sacrifice was offered, the merit of Immanuel still continues. The truth concerning Jesus, published in the Bible, is the fountain opened to the world. The man who believes that truth has his sins washed away. When the muddy Arve joins the limpid Rhone, after a while the bright waters grow troubled, and at last they flow together a turbid stream. But it is not so with this fountain. However many the sins, however much the defilement which it washes away, it springs pure and pellucid as ever, and the reason is that this fountain resembles the sea. Though a limited outlet, it is a boundless tide. In Persia, says a legend, there was a fountain, and if any impurity were cast into it there was sure to be a storm the selfsame day. But here is the very converse. Over the sinner’s head are lowering the dark thunderclouds of wrath Divine; but, emboldened by God’s own invitation, the sinner casts his sins into the fountain opened, and the sky is clear. God’s anger is turned away, and with a pleasant countenance He beholds the believing and returning transgressor.
J. Hamilton, Works, vol. vi., p. 194.
References: Zec 13:1.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvii., No. 971; B. Isaac, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 37; J. N. Norton, Golden Truths, p. 355.
Zec 13:1-6
I. In the words “for sin and for uncleanness” there is apparently an allusion in the former to the water used in the purification of the Levites at their consecration, and in the latter to the water for the purifying of the congregation of Israel, prepared from mixing the ashes of the red heifer slain as a sacrifice with water. As water applied to the person removes bodily defilement, it becomes a fitting emblem of that which removes from the inner man moral defilement. Here the reference is to the cleansing energy which He who pours on men the spirit of grace and supplication bestows on all who truly repent, and which comes to men through the sacrificial death of Christ, whose “blood cleanseth from all sin.”
II. The fountain opened, its cleansing waters are free to all-to the inhabitants of Jerusalem as well as the house of David. The grace of salvation is free to all without respect of persons.
III. True repentance will show itself on the part of those who are subjects of it, in the relinquishment of all former objects of evil attachment, and the entering upon a new life of godliness and holy service. So should it be with the covenant people after the great mourning and the attendant cleansing. As the sins to which Israel was most prone, and which brought on the nation the Divine judgments, were idolatry and false prophecy, so the restoration of the people to a new life of godliness and righteousness is depicted by the extermination of idols and false prophets from the land.
IV. It is for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem that this fountain is said to be opened. They seem to err grievously, however, who infer from this that the prophecy refers to the final conversion of the Jewish people. The prophets are wont to describe the new dispensation in language borrowed from the conditions and usages of the old; and we interpret them aright when keeping this in view; we understand their descriptions not as representations of simple historical facts, but as serving as the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, and as finding their fulfilment in crises and conditions of the kingdom of heaven on earth. They go upon the presumption that the Israel of God was never to be abolished, that its continuity was never to be interrupted, that though the outward national Israel might be cast off because of their rejection of the Good Shepherd, the true Israel, the reality of which the other was but the symbol, the Israel that was really Israel, should continue for ever.
W. Lindsay Alexander, Zechariah’s Visions and Warnings, p. 271; see also Homiletic Magazine, vol. x., p. 353.
Reference: R. C. Anderson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxii., p. 53.
Zec 13:7-9
I. The Person here represented as smitten by the sword of Divine justice is none other than the Messiah, the Christ. No other being but He is at once man and the fellow of Jehovah, the Lord of hosts; and He alone is the Shepherd whom God promised to set over His people Israel to feed them as a flock. Both these our Lord asserted for Himself (Joh 10:14; Mat 26:63-64, Mat 27:43).
II. The stroke inflicted on Him. This was the deadly stroke of Divine justice. As there is but one Being to whom the description of the prophet can refer, so there is but one event to which the command here given can be understood as pointing-the slaying of Him who as the Good Shepherd laid down His life for the sheep. His death was perpetrated by the “wicked hands” of men, but they were in this only the instruments by which God fulfilled His own purpose and counsel. He was a willing victim; He laid down His life of Himself, but He at the same time recognised the hand of God in the infliction, and held it as a fulfilment of the prediction here recorded.
III. The consequence to the flock of this smiting of the Shepherd. It was twofold. The sheep were to be scattered, but God was to turn back His hand over the humble and meek ones of the flock. The former of these our Lord applied to the dispersion of His disciples as consequent on His crucifixion; the other consequence was realised when the Lord, having been raised from the dead, showed Himself to individuals and to groups of them, and especially when, having, according to His promise given before His death, gone before them into Galilee, He met them there as a body to the number of about five hundred, and there showed Himself unto them alive from the dead, and received their worship as Lord of all.
IV. Though preserved and rescued the little flock would not escape all trouble and suffering. God would bring them through the fire, and refine and purify them in the furnace of affliction, and the result of this discipline would be their recovery from all apostasy, and their final establishment in the Divine favour, and their full union to Jehovah as His people.
W. Lindsay Alexander, Zechariah’s Visions and Warnings, p. 286; see also Homiletic Magazine, vol. xi., p. 161.
References: Zec 13:9.-Homiletic Magazine, vol. x., p. 8; J. Irons, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 61. Zec 14:1-11.-W. L. Alexander, Homiletic Magazine, vol. xi., p. 357. Zec 14:5.-J. Keble, Sermons from Advent to Christmas Eve, p. 14. Zec 14:6, Zec 14:7.-B. Gregory, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xviii., p. 49; W. M. Taylor, Old Testament Outlines, p. 287.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
CHAPTER 13
1. The cleansing (Zec 13:1)
2. The blessed results of the cleansing (Zec 13:2-6)
3. The smitten Shepherd (Zec 13:7)
4. Salvation and condemnation (Zec 13:8-9)
Zec 13:1. This verse is misplaced; it belongs to the preceding chapter. It is a prophecy of the cleansing of the repenting portion of Gods earthly people. The fountain of cleansing, so beautifully expressed by Cowper:
There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuels veins, And sinners plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains–
was in existence through all the centuries of Israels long dispersion. But the nation in blindness did not believe. Now all is changed. Their guilt is pardoned; all unrighteousness and iniquity is taken away. The Redeemer has come and turned away ungodliness from Jacob Rom 11:26-36. The prophetic Word is filled with promises concerning this future cleansing of the remnant of the nation Psa 103:1-22; Isa 33:24; Eze 39:29; Isa 59:20-21; Isa 45:19.
Zec 13:2-6. The cleansing is followed by the cutting off of the names of the idols, so that they will no longer be remembered. The false prophets and the unclean spirits, which had control during the great tribulation will be cast out and forever pass away. We have seen before in the 10th chapter that Israel will return to idolatry in the last days. The unclean spirit of idolatry which was cast out will at last return with seven others and will find the house empty, swept, and garnished. And the evil spirit, with the seven others more evil than himself, will enter in and dwell there, so that the last state of Israel becometh worse than the first. This will happen to this evil generation. This section of the 13th chapter makes it very clear that when the fountain is opened against sin and uncleanness, that idols will have been in the land, and false prophets prophesy there immediately before the manifestation of the Lord from heaven; for how could the names of the idols be cut off from the land if there were none there? Palestine may well be put down now as the great centre of false worship. Greek and Latin crosses are seen on all sides in Jerusalem and other places, while saints, holy houses, and places are worshipped and adored.
On the spot where the LORDS house stood, there stands today the mosque of the false prophet. All is idolatry. Of course when the Lord returns these false temples will be destroyed, and the Greek and Latin idolatries, as well as Islam, will forever pass out of existence. There will be a purging of the land from these abominations. This may be included in the prophecy here. Still, it is the people of Israel who are especially concerned in the prophecy before us. The land has often been the scene of idol worship, and the people engaged in that which Jehovah despises. It will be so again, only in a much worse form, when false prophets who are inspired by the unclean spirit and demons themselves will be their guides.
We must look to Revelation for a key. It is well known to all students of the prophetic word that all which comes after the third chapter in the last book of the Bible is future still. We are yet in the things which are present. When the Lord has taken the Church to Himself then the great visions, tribulations, wrath, and judgment will be fulfilled. Aside from the scenes in heaven we learn from Revelation the events in the earth during the great tribulation which ends with the wrath from heaven. Now in the 9th chapter and the 20th verse of Revelation .(Rev 9:20) we read, And the rest of mankind which were not killed with these plagues repented not of the works of their hands that they should not worship demons and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk.
Who is the person mentioned in verse six (Zec 13:6)? In Studies in Zechariah we speak of this man as representing the counterfeit Christ, imitating the true Christ. But after more careful consideration we have come to the conclusion that this view is untenable. It is Christ Himself. He is here contrasted with the false prophets. It is the Pierced One. After they look upon Him they will inquire about those wounds in His hands and He will answer them, revealing the story of His rejection. This leads to the prophecy in the next verse.
Zec 13:7. This certainly is Christ, whose rejection, more than His rejection by His own, is here revealed. It is the same as in Isa 53:1-12, the suffering One, who is a man, and called My Fellow, the fellow of Jehovah of Hosts, Jehovah Himself, who speaks here, and what does He speak? The sword is to work against His Shepherd and against His own Fellow. The blessed mystery of the atonement is thus brought out. Indeed it is the heart of the Gospel here. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have life eternal. The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all. It speaks of Him, the forsaken One, the Son of God, forsaken in the hour of His agony, the sword upon Him and against Him. In the New Testament we find the passage quoted in the Gospel of Matthew 26th chapter and 31st verse (Mat 26:31): Then saith Jesus unto them, all ye shall be offended because of Me this night; for it is written, I will smite the Shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.
Zec 13:8-9. There is a very misleading idea among many students of prophecy as if the statement of Rom 1:26, all Israel shall be saved, meant that all the Jews will receive the blessing and the glory on that coming day of salvation. Some of the evil systems, like the Russell cult (International Bible Student Association), go so far as to teach that there will be a resurrection of all the ungodly Jews of past generations for a second chance. This passage silences these unscriptural theories. The promise of restoration and glory belongs to the godly, the believing and repenting remnant. The mass of Jews, who call themselves Reform Jews, who in reality are infidels, because they deny the Word of God and have completely discarded the faith in a coming Messiah, will be cut off. The third part (the remnant) only will be saved.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
that: Zec 12:3, Zec 12:8, Zec 12:11
a fountain: Job 9:30, Job 9:31, Psa 51:2, Psa 51:7, Isa 1:16-18, Eze 36:25, Joh 1:29, Joh 19:34, Joh 19:35, 1Co 6:11, Eph 5:25-27, Tit 3:5-7, Heb 9:13, Heb 9:14, 1Jo 1:7, 1Jo 5:6, 1Pe 1:19, Rev 1:5, Rev 1:6, Rev 7:13, Rev 7:14
the house: Zec 12:7, Zec 12:10
uncleanness: Heb. separation for uncleanness, Lev 15:2-33, Num 19:9-22, Eze 36:17, Eze 36:29
Reciprocal: Exo 30:18 – a laver Exo 38:8 – the laver Exo 40:7 – General Lev 8:6 – washed Lev 11:25 – and be unclean Lev 11:36 – a fountain Lev 11:40 – eateth Lev 14:6 – dip them Lev 15:27 – General Lev 16:19 – General 1Ki 7:38 – ten lavers 2Ki 5:12 – better 2Ki 5:14 – went he down 2Ch 4:2 – a molten sea Job 25:4 – how can Psa 65:3 – transgressions Pro 30:12 – not Isa 4:4 – washed away Jer 33:8 – General Eze 24:11 – that the filthiness Eze 37:23 – shall they defile Eze 47:1 – waters issued Zec 3:9 – remove Mat 5:4 – General Joh 4:10 – living Joh 5:4 – was made Joh 13:5 – poureth Joh 13:8 – If Act 2:36 – all Act 10:43 – him Act 13:32 – how Act 13:38 – that Act 26:6 – the promise Eph 1:7 – whom Eph 5:26 – with Heb 10:10 – we Heb 10:22 – our bodies 1Pe 3:21 – the putting
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
WHEN DEEP REPENTANCE thus takes place, a fountain is opened to cleanse from sin and uncleanness. We all know Cowper’s hymn, based on this verse, notwithstanding we believe the reference here is not to the blood of Christ, shed long ago, which cleanses from sin judicially; that is, as before the throne of God in judgment, but to that ‘clean water’, that God will ‘sprinkle’ upon them, as predicted in Eze 36:25. It was to this verse that our Lord referred, as we believe, when He spoke to Nicodemus of that new birth, which is needful if any are to enter the kingdom of God. It was overlooked by the Jews, so Nicodemus was astonished, at the words of the Lord. As a teacher in Israel, he should have known it, as Joh 3:10 indicates; for both ‘water’ and ‘the Spirit’ of which man needs to be ‘born’, are mentioned in Eze 36:1-38.
At last then there will be a born-again Israel, and as a result of that they will possess a new nature: the unclean spirit will be gone, and the idols and other evil things that once ensnared them will be put away. No more will false prophets appear to deceive. If any should attempt it, their very parents would condemn them to death. Their unreality will be made perfectly manifest, as verse Zec 13:4 indicates.
Verse Zec 13:5 begins, ‘But he shall say… ‘Who is this ‘he’? Verses Zec 13:5-6 present a difficult problem. Some take them as referring to one of the false prophets, just alluded to: others as reverting to the true Shepherd, referred to in the previous chapter, and again very clearly in verse Zec 13:7; and with this we are inclined to agree. The true Shepherd took the place of the ‘Hebrew Servant’, as indicated in the opening verses of Exo 21:1-36, and was pierced amongst those to whom He came in the spirit of friendship. He took the humble place, and one of suffering, even among men. And there was far deeper suffering beyond this.
Verse Zec 13:7 predicts that far greater matter. Israel nationally were God’s sheep, and their sins and apostasy had a twofold effect. It stirred up God’s governmental retribution in this world, of which the prophet had much to say; and it also raised the far more serious matter of God’s eternal judgment in the life to come. The true Shepherd was to meet that in such fashion that Jehovah’s sword was to awake against Him. The sword that had been awakened by the persistent sins of the faithless sheep, was to smite not them but the holy Shepherd.
‘The Man that is My Fellow’ – these words may have been an enigma to the prophet who wrote them, for 1Pe 1:10, 1Pe 1:11, tells us that often the Old Testament prophets had to discover they were saying things, the full meaning of which would only appear in an age to come: the privileged age in which we live. These words are no enigma to us, who can read Rom 1:3, and learn that He who became ‘seed of David according to the flesh’ was none other than ‘His Son Jesus Christ’. When the Son of God assumed Manhood in holiness and perfection, there was indeed a Man that could be called Jehovah’s Fellow. He could take the place of sinful men and allow the judgment sword to awake against Himself.
But the immediate effect of the smiting of the Shepherd would be the scattering of the sheep, on the one hand, but also the turning of God’s hand upon the little ones. The children of Israel had been scattered ‘because there is no shepherd’, as Eze 34:5 says; but since the smiting of the true Shepherd, a far more serious and prolonged scattering has taken place, and yet the ‘little ones’ have not been forgotten but rather remembered for blessing.
If we turn to Isa 1:25, we find the same expression, ‘I will turn My hand’, and the context there indicates that the turning of His hand means blessing, when for His adversaries there is judgment. If we read the closing chapters of the Gospels and the opening chapters of the Acts, we see God turning His hand in blessing upon the ‘little ones’, when the great ones among the Jews were pursuing their way in blindness to the hour of their great scattering. The great verse we have been considering has indeed been wondrously fulfilled.
And the two verses that conclude the chapter will be fulfilled with equal exactness in their season, for they refer, we judge, to what God will bring to pass at the end of this age, when He will deal with a people to be found in the land at that time. In Eze 20:34, Eze 20:38, we learn how God will deal with the people scattered throughout the nations, purging them before He brings them into the land for blessing. Here we learn what He will do to such as may be left ‘in all the land’, in the last days. Judgment will fall on two-thirds of them, and only a third will come through into blessing. And those blessed will have to pass through the fire of tribulation, which will refine them in a spiritual sense, and bring them at last into vital connection with God. They will truly own Him, and He will own them in blessing.
Fuente: F. B. Hole’s Old and New Testaments Commentary
Zec 13:1. That dap means the day designated in Zec 12:10 when “they shall look upon me whom they have pierced. This is one of the most precious prophecies in the Bible because it predicts the Fountain, filled with blood, drawn from Emanuels veins. It refers to the flow of blood that came from the pierced side of Christ, and poured down upon the ground to satisfy the wrath of God against sin, and made it possible for Him to save mankind from sin and its consequences.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Zec 13:1. In that day When the Lamb of God shall be offered up a sacrifice for mankind, and the gospel shall be preached, in which the glad tidings of our redemption are published. This seems to be a continuation of the prophecy begun at the ninth verse of the preceding chapter; and the meaning to be that, through the atoning sacrifice of the Messiah, the repentance and humiliation there described should be accepted of God, and followed with a full pardon and gracious communication of sanctifying grace to the penitent. There shall be a fountain opened The blood of Christ, which cleanseth from all sin, (1Jn 1:7,) is manifestly here intended, the Jews being, upon their repentance and conversion, to be admitted to all the privileges of the Christian covenant. Probably there may be an allusion in the words to the one great spring at Jerusalem, (mentioned Isa 7:3,) which served the uses of king and people. See Vitringa. The spouse of Christ, his church, is a spring shut up, a fountain sealed, Son 4:12; but Christ is to sinners a fountain opened: under the law, he was as the waters of the temple for the Jews; but now his merits are opened to us Gentiles, free for all, and of easy access, and of sovereign virtue to heal. For sin and for uncleanness The original words here used, and , are legal terms; the former denotes sin generally, or any transgression of the law which required atonement, and is sometimes put for the means of purification from it, Num 19:9-17; the latter is used for that uncleanness, or legal defilement, which secluded a man from all intercourse with God, and holy things. Now whatever efficacy the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkled on the unclean, had to purify from legal sin and defilement, the same is ascribed to the blood of Christ in the Christian dispensation, for purging the conscience of a sinner from the guilt of dead works, or moral pollution. Blayney. The legal washings were but shadows and types of this matchless, healing, purifying fountain, which never fails to heal all those that apply to it. It must be observed, likewise, that spiritual graces and influences, communicated by the Holy Spirit, are also compared to a fountain, Joe 3:17; and by these sinners are represented as being washed and cleansed, Eze 36:25; Tit 3:5.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Zec 13:1. In that day there shall be a fountain openedfor sin and for uncleanness. The beasts slain without the camp, the execrated beasts, from whose ashes the waters of sprinkling were secreted, gave the chief of sinners, and the most polluted a title to enter the congregation of the Lord. In like manner, we should note, that the most holy persons, as Aaron and his sons, were washed before they were anointed to the priestly office. Solomon also was taken in haste to the great fountain of the Gihon, which rushes out at the foot of mount Zion, without the city, to be washed and consecrated. 1Ki 1:33. Thus all believers must first be cleansed from sin in the laver of the new birth, and be sanctified by the renewing of the Holy Ghost. Tit 3:5.
This explains the preseding words, of looking to Him whom the jews had pierced; for without the shedding of blood there is no remission. This fountain was sufficient to wash the house of David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, when the culprit wept, as for his firstborn, (and many had given their children to Moloch) from the stains of war and of blood. But the word fountain denotes also the continual flowing of doctrine and of grace, which shall ever encrease, like the river which Ezekiel saw rising from the threshold of the new temple in the Zion of God: chap. 47. It designates also the abolition of the ceremonial law, as in the new covenant, Jer 31:31; and the cessation of sacrifices, as in Psa 40:6. Else what need of another priest of a higher order, and a more efficacious fountain?
Zec 13:2. I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land. Their name and their reputation shall cease; and as oracles they shall be totally disregarded, wherever the gospel shall be preached. This is so eminently fulfilled that in christian countries the names of heathen idols are unknown. Mens bodies were delivered from the power of demons as soon as the kingdom of Christ appeared, and the false prophets could no longer practise their divinations amidst the blaze of gospel light and glory.
Zec 13:5. He shall say, I am no prophet. I am a husbandman. This is a luminous prediction of the cessation of heathen oracles. True predictions, or such as seemed to come to pass, were sometimes delivered in the temples by the pythonesses, as Augustine allows; for kings and governors could not for ever be deceived, though those oracles were by the christian fathers ascribed to demons. Plutarch has written a book on the cessation of oracles, and searches in vain for the cause. Tertullian, in his apology for the christian religion, tells us the cause; it is the coming of Christ, which has imposed silence on the demons. Zechariah foresaw this, and therefore joins the cessation of oracles with the advent and the death of Christ, as in the following words, where justice is invoked to take satisfaction for the sins of the people.
Zec 13:7. Awake, oh sword, against my shepherd, the great shepherd of the church, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts. The Chaldaic corresponds with the English, designating Christ as one with the Father, and dwelling in his bosom from eternity. Pro 8:22. Joh 1:18. The dispersion of the sheep is understood of the persecutions on the christian church. He who bore the cross thought it no robbery to be equal with God, being here called his fellow.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Zec 13:1-6. The result of the national repentance is the removal of guilt. The figure of the fountain is perhaps suggested by Ezekiel 47. The first sign of Judahs true restoration will be the abolition of all idolatry and of the spirit of uncleanness, i.e. Greek disregard of Hebrew laws of purity. There will also be a total abolition of all the professional prophets who, like modern fortune-tellers and palmists, traded upon the credulity of the foolish. The utter disrepute into which the prophetic order had fallen was due to the abandonment by the better teachers since Ezras time of the older forms of prophecy for the exposition of the written Scripture. In other words, the true prophets had become scribes, while those who merely prophesied for a livelihood still carned on the calling which they had brought into disrepute. Some of the scribes were no doubt in the highest sense of the word prophets, but since they no longer spoke in the authoritative manner of the ancient prophets, it seemed to their contemporaries that the era of prophecy had passed away (cf. Psa 74:9, 1Ma 14:41). The writer looks forward to a time when those who wear a hairy garment to deceive will be no more tolerated, and when the popular indignation against them will be so great, that even the parents of one who claims to be a prophet will have no hesitation in putting him to death. Then if anyone be accused of prophesying on the ground that he has wounds like the self-inflicted lacerations which the prophets exhibit as a proof of their inspired frenzy, he will prefer to charge himself with disgraceful conduct rather than admit the truth, and will pretend that the wounds have been inflicted on him in some vile debauch. The word rendered friends means elsewhere lovers and that in a bad sense. A different vocalisation would give the sense amours; i.e. the false prophet will pretend that he has been wounded by the indignant relatives of the victims of his lusts. [J. G. Frazer (Adonis, Attis, Osiris,3 i. 74f.) thinks that the wounds between the arms were marks tattooed on his shoulders in token of his holy office, the lovers being the Baalim. The shoulders are among some primitive peoples the sensitive part of the medicine-man, and are often covered with an infinite number of small marks, like dots, set close together.A. S. P.]
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Results in Great Blessing
(vv. 1-4)
Zec 13:1-9 is directly connected with what went before in Zec 12:1-14. Judah’s repentance will find a wonderful restoring answer on the part of God. The fountain opened for the house of David in that day (v.1) will be the same fountain that was opened at Calvary, but never before acknowledged by the Jews. Only when they realize their sinfulness and uncleanness will they truly appreciate God’s means of cleansing it away.
As to judicial cleansing from sins in the eyes of God, it is “the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son” that “cleanses from all sin” (1Jn 1:7). Judah then will realize the value of that blood shed at Calvary and find peace by virtue of this. But the fountain is not a fountain of blood, but of water. This implies, not judicial cleansing, but moral cleansing. The water of the Word of God (cf. Eph 5:25-26) will have wonderful effect in cleansing away the very attitude of disobedience on the part of the Jews. They will be cleansed before God from their guilt, and will be cleansed in character by their reception of the Word of God which has wonderful power to purge away their unclean habits. The Hebrew word opened has a continuing force, that is, the Word of God will continue to have precious effect in their lives from that time onward.
There also will be a cleansing of the promised land (v. 2). The Lord of hosts will sovereignly work to completely purge even the names of idols out of the land: their very memory will perish. The false prophets, energized by unclean spirits, will no longer have any place. In fact, prophecy will not be required at all, and anyone who attempts to pass as a prophet will be manifestly false. When one does this, the person’s closest relatives are instructed to declare him false and be the first to pierce him through in solemn judgment. This illustrates the fact that not every individual who enters the millennium of blessing on earth will be born again, but the judgment of rebellious acts will be swift and decisive. Compare Isa 65:20 which teaches that if one dies at 100 years of age, he will be still virtually a child in age, and will die only under a curse because of his own sin.
Isa 65:20 reminds us of Deu 13:6-10 which speaks of anyone (either brother, son, daughter, wife or friend) enticing others to serve other gods. That person was to be killed. Thus, in the Millennium, if anyone prophesies, it will not be God who has sent him; therefore, the underlying motive will be to turn people to false gods.
When the millennial kingdom is introduced, false prophets will be ashamed of their visions, knowing full well they are guilty of deception, and they will no longer wear a hairy mantle to deceive people into believing them (v. 4). Elijah and John the Baptist wore such garments, but this was in accord with the stern self-judgment that characterized them, and of their genuine mourning over the condition of the people to whom they prophesied. Prophecy was generally given because of a poor state among the people, but prophecy and mourning will be out of place when the Lord Jesus introduces the thousand years of peace.
NOT A PROPHET, BUT THE TRUE SERVANT
(vv. 5-9)
“And He shall say” (v. 5). This refers to a specific Man in contrast to the prophets of verse 4. The Lord Jesus will not be a prophet in that day: “He shall say, I am no prophet.” Then He adds, “I am a tiller of the ground; for man acquired me [as a bondman] from my youth” (JND). The Hebrew word for tiller of the ground or farmer comes from a root meaning “to serve” (Strong’s Concordance). From His youth the Lord Jesus was devoted to the service of mankind. While He was on earth He was a prophet (Luk 7:16), but even then His servant character was more prominent than His prophecy. However, there will be no need for prophecy after He comes to reign, yet He will remain a Servant forever (Exo 21:5-6 and Luk 12:37). How good to see that service is much nearer to the heart of God than is prophecy! May we too be found always in a spirit of willing service. We are not to neglect prophecy in such an evil day as ours, but prophecy may still be given in a spirit of lowly service.
“And one shall say unto Him, What are those wounds in thy hands?” (v. 6-JND). If He is simply a servant, why such wounds? The questioner is evidently one who has no knowledge of the crucifixion of this blessed Servant of God who had so graciously served man in his deepest need. The question could not come from Judah, for Judah was guilty of Christ’s crucifixion, and Zec 12:10-14 shows Judah in deep repentance before this question is asked. So it seems likely that the question comes from among the ten tribes who will return to the land about this time.
There are those who deny that this passage has reference to the Lord Jesus, but the internal evidence is transparently clear that it can refer to no one else. The answer, “those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends,” reminds us that it was His closest friends, the tribe of Judah, that had so grievously wounded the Lord Jesus.
Verses 7 to 9 embrace the entire time from the rejection and crucifixion of Christ until the introduction of His millennial kingdom. This type of prophecy is often found in Scripture, that is, the emphasis on important facts and their connection, though they are separated by a long period of time. The intervening history is left out in order to focus upon the significance of the prominent facts. “Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the Man who is My companion, says the Lord of hosts. Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; then I will turn My hand against the little ones.” It is God who speaks, but He used the sword of ungodly men in the carrying out of His words. Israel was virtually His sword, awakened in bitter animosity toward the Man who is God’s companion, His equal. In fact, because of His claim to be the Son of God, Israel was determined to kill Him. Only Christ has such a relationship as this, for He is God. But not only did Israel strike Him: God’s sword of judgment pierced His soul when alone He bore the agony of God’s forsaking on account of the guilt of our sins.
The sheep would be scattered. At the very time of the Lord’s crucifixion the disciples were scattered (Mat 26:31-32; Joh 16:32), none being able to stand with Him in that terrible hour. More than this, following that most awesome death of all deaths, the people of the land of Israel were scattered in every direction among other nations, and this has continued all through the dispensation of grace toward the Gentiles.
“Then I will turn My hand against the little ones.” The expression the little ones infers those who appear to be little-“the poor of the flock” (Zec 11:11), the despised remnant of godly Israelites. Even these will suffer for a long time, though we know that God will preserve them by His grace through all the suffering and eventually manifest His goodness toward them in the coming day of millennial glory.
Verse 8 goes on to the end of the age, passing over our current dispensation of grace, for this prophecy considers God’s dealings with Israel. The end of the age for them will involve the Great Tribulation and the introduction of the blessing of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus. In the land of Israel two thirds of the population will be cut off in death, while one third will be left to enter the thousand years of peace (v. 8). The estimated population of Israel in 1992 was 4,770,000. This means that well over three million will be cut off in death in that land in 3.5 years! How staggering will such a decimation be! A great sifting of Israel has continued in Gentile countries for centuries, such as the holocaust of six million of them under Hitler at the time of World War II. But this slaughter of Zec 13:8 will take place in the land. We read in Eze 20:34-38 of the Lord’s dealings with Israel (evidently the ten tribes) also at the time of the end, bringing them out from among the nations and pleading with them in the wilderness, causing them to pass under the rod and purging out the rebels from among them. Though they will be brought out from the countries in which they were living, these rebels will not enter the land of Israel, for the ungodly will be sifted out before they reach the land.
Therefore, Zec 13:8 must refer to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin who will be sifted in the land. Rev 14:20 refers to this time of tremendous bloodshed, speaking of “the space of 1600 furlongs,” which is the length of the current land of Israel, approximately 200 miles or 320 kilometers.
The remaining “third part” are evidently “the little ones” of verse 7. Their faith will be tried by the fire of great tribulation. The hand of God will be on them in severe chastening as a father chastens his child. This is to refine the silver, for the fire does this: it separates the dross from the true silver or from the gold, that the pure metal may shine in all its radiance and give delight to the great Refiner. Mal 3:2-4 connects this occasion with the coming of the Lord, as He Himself sits as a refiner and purifier of silver. Well may it be asked, “Who may abide the day of His coming?” This reminds us of the words of 1Pe 4:17 concerning God’s dealings at present: “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end be of those who do not obey the gospel of God?” The same fire that will refine and purify believers will burn up unbelievers, for there is nothing of pure silver in them.
Those who are refined, however, will honestly call upon the name of the Lord. He will hear them and respond with the cheering word, “This is My people.” This is in contrast to God having before disowned Israel for centuries because of their rebellion, calling them “not My people” (Hos 1:9). Then Israel will wholeheartedly say, “The Lord is my God.” Though they have before rejected the Lord Jesus, they will then say just as did Thomas when he saw the wounded hands and side of the Lord Jesus, “My Lord and my God” (Joh 20:26-28).
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
13:1 In that day there {a} shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.
(a) He shows what will be the fruit of their repentance, that is, remission of sins by the blood of Christ, which will be a continual running fountain, and purge them from all uncleanness.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Israel’s cleansing 13:1-6
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
In that day God would open a fountain for the complete spiritual cleansing of the Israelites, both for their moral sins and for their ritual uncleanness (cf. Ezekiel 47). The figure of a fountain pictures abundant cleansing that would continue indefinitely. This will be the fulfillment of God’s promise to forgive the sins of His people Israel in the New Covenant (Zec 3:4; Zec 3:9; Jer 31:34; Eze 36:25; cf. Rom 11:26-27). "The blood of Jesus . . . cleanses us from all sin" (1Jn 1:7). The cleansing is available now, but God will cleanse multitudes of Israelites in the future, after they turn to their Messiah in faith (Zec 12:10-14).
"The problem of sin is the central problem in the OT. It began in the garden of Eden and will not be eradicated until the final day of Yahweh." [Note: Smith, p. 280.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
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9. FOUR RESULTS OF JERUSALEMS DELIVERANCE
Zec 12:8-14; Zec 13:1-6
Upon the deliverance of Jerusalem, by the help of the converted Judah, there follow four results, each introduced by the words that it happened “in that day”. {Zec 12:8-9; Zec 13:1-2} First, the people of Jerusalem shall themselves be strengthened. Second, the hostile heathen shall be destroyed, but on the house of David and all Jerusalem the spirit of penitence shall be poured, and they will lament for the good shepherd whom they slew. Third, a fountain of sin and uncleanness shall be opened. Fourth, the idols, the unclean spirit, and prophecy, now so degraded, shall all be abolished. The connection of these oracles with the preceding is obvious, as well as with the oracle describing the murder of the good shepherd. {Zec 13:7-9} When we see how this is presupposed by Zec 12:9 ff., we feel more than ever that its right place is between chapters 11 and 12. There are no historical allusions. But again the language gives evidence of a late date. And throughout the passage there is a repetition of formal phrases which recalls the Priestly Code and the general style of the post-exilic age. Notice that no king is mentioned, although there are several points at which, had he existed, he must have been introduced.
1. The first of the four effects of Jerusalem’s deliverance from the heathen is the promotion of her weaklings to the strength of her heroes, and of her heroes to divine rank. {Zec 12:8} In that day Jehovah will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the lame among them shall in that day be like David himself, and the house of David like God, like the Angel of Jehovah before them.
2. The second paragraph of this series very remarkably emphasizes that upon her deliverance Jerusalem shall not give way to rejoicing, but to penitent lamentation for the murder of him whom she has pierced-the good shepherd whom her people have rejected and slain. This is one of the few ethical strains which run through these apocalyptic chapters. It forms their highest interest for us. Jerusalems mourning is compared to that for “Hadad-Rimmon in the valley” or “plain of Megiddo.” This is the classic “battlefield of the land,” and the theatre upon which Apocalypse has placed the last contest between the hosts of God and the hosts of evil. In Israels history it had been the ground not only of triumph but of tears. The greatest tragedy of that history, the defeat and death of the righteous Josiah, took place there; {2Ch 35:22 ff.} and since the earliest Jewish interpreters the “mourning of Hadad-Rimmon in the valley of Megiddo” has been referred to the mourning for Josiah. Jerome identifies Hadad-Rimmon with Rummani, a village on the plain still extant, close to Megiddo. But the lamentation for Josiah was at Jerusalem; and it cannot be proved that Hadad-Rimmon is a place-name. It may rather be the name of the object of the mourning, and as Hadad was a divine name among Phoenicians and Arameans, and Rimmon the pomegranate was a sacred tree, a number of critics have supposed this to be a title of Adonis, and the mourning like that excessive grief which Ezekiel tells us was yearly celebrated for Tammuz. {Eze 8:14} This, however, is not fully proved. Observe, further, that while the reading Hadad-Rimmon is by no means past doubt, the sanguine blossoms and fruit of the pomegranate, “red-ripe at the heart,” would naturally lead to its association with the slaughtered Adonis.
“And it shall come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations who have come in upon Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication, and they shall look to whom they have pierced; and they shall lament for him, as with lamentation for an only son, and bitterly grieve for him, as with grief for a first-born In that day lamentation shall be as great in Jerusalem as the lamentation for Hadad-Rimmon in the valley of Megiddo. And the land shall mourn, every family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of Shimei by itself, and their wives by themselves; all the families who are left, every family by itself, and their wives by themselves.”
3. The third result of Jerusalems deliverance from the heathen shall be the opening of a fountain of cleansing. This purging of her sin follows fitly upon her penitence just described.
“In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David, and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.” {Cf. Eze 36:25; Eze 47:1}
4. The fourth consequence is the removal of idolatry, of the unclean spirit, and of the degraded prophets from her midst. The last is especially remarkable: for it is not merely false prophets, as distinguished from true, who shall be removed; but prophecy in general. If is singular that in almost its latest passage the prophecy of Israel should return to the line of| its earliest representative, Amos, who refused to call himself prophet. As in his day, the prophets had become mere professional and mercenary oracle-mongers, abjured to the point of death by their own ashamed and wearied relatives.
“And it shall be in that day-oracle of Jehovah of Hosts-I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall not be remembered any more. And also the prophets and the unclean spirit will I expel from the land. And it shall come to pass, if any man prophesy again, then shall his father and mother who begat him say to him, Thou shalt not live, for thou speakest falsehood in the name of Jehovah; and his father and mother who begat him shall stab him for his prophesying. And it shall be in that day that the prophets shall be ashamed of their visions when they prophesy, and shall not wear the leather cloak in order to lie. And he will say, No prophet am I! A tiller of the ground I am, for the ground is my possession from my youth up. And they shall say to him, What are these wounds in thy hands? and he shall say, What I was wounded with in the house of my lovers!”