Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Zechariah 12:10
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 whom 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.
10. I will pour ] The word denotes the abundance of the effusion. Comp. Joe 2:28 [Heb., 3:1]. “Quod verbum doni largitatem et copiam indicat.” Rosenm.
the house of David, &c.] Because they, restored to their proper place and dignity (Zec 12:8), are as it were the head of the nation. But from the head the holy unction shall flow to the whole body (“ the land,” Zec 12:12). Comp. Psa 133:2.
the spirit of grace and of supplications ] i.e. the Spirit which conveys grace and calls forth supplications. The word “grace” is not here used in its primary sense of the favour of God towards man, but in that secondary sense, with which readers of the N. T. are familiar, of the effects of that favour in man, by the gifts and influences of the Holy Spirit. See Joh 1:16; 1Co 15:10; and for the expression, “the Spirit of grace,” Heb 10:29, where, as Dean Alford shews, the second member of the “alternative very neatly put by Anselm; Spiritui sancto gratis dato, vel gratiam dante,” is to be accepted.
upon me whom they have pierced ] unto me, R. V. The Speaker is Almighty God. The Jews had pierced Him metaphorically by their rebellion and ingratitude throughout their history. They pierced Him, literally and as the crowning act of their contumacy, in the Person of His Son upon the Cross, Joh 19:37. Comp. Rev 1:7. “Confixerant ergo Deum Judi quum mrore afficerent ejus Spiritum. Sed Christus etiam secundum carnem ab illis transfixus fuit. Et hoc intelligit Joannes, visibili isto symbolo Deum palam fecisse non se tantum olim fuisse indigne provocatum a Judis; sed in persona unigeniti Filii sui tandem cumulum fuisse additum scelest impietati, quod ne Christi quidem lateri pepercerint.” Calv. There is no sufficient ground for adopting with Ewald and others the reading, upon him.
his only son ] Comp. Jer 6:26; Amo 8:10.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
10 14. The penitent Sorrow of the People for Sin
The conversion (Zec 12:10-14) and moral reformation (Zec 13:1-6) of the people shall accompany their deliverance from their enemies (Zec 12:1-9). On the royal house and the royal city first God will pour out His Spirit, and as the consequence they shall regard Him, whom they have pierced and wounded by their sins, with the deepest sorrow and bitterness of soul, Zec 12:10. The mourning in Jerusalem shall be such as to recall that which was occasioned by the great national calamity of the death of Josiah in battle, Zec 12:11. But the outpouring of the Spirit and the penitent grief called forth by it shall extend to the whole nation, so that every family throughout the land, the sexes apart, shall form itself into a separate group of mourners, Zec 12:12-14.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And I will pour – As He promised by Joel, I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh (Joe 2:28. See vol. i. pp. 193, 194), largely, abundantly, upon the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, all, highest and lowest, from first to last, the Spirit of grace and supplication, that is, the Holy Spirit which conveyeth grace, as the Spirit of wisdom and understanding Isa 11:2 is the Spirit infusing wisdom and understanding, and the Spirit of counsel and might is that same Spirit, imparting the gift of counsel to see what is to be done and of might to do it, and the Spirit of the knowledge and of the fear of the Lord is that same Spirit, infusing loving acquaintance with God, with awe at His infinite Majesty. So the Spirit of grace and supplication, is that same Spirit, infusing grace and bringing into a state of favor with God, and a Spirit of supplication is that Spirit, calling out of the inmost soul the cry for a yet larger measure of the grace already given. Paul speaks of the love of God poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us Rom 5:5; and of insulting the Spirit of grace , rudely repulsing the Spirit, who giveth grace. Osorius: When God Himself says, I will pour out, He sets forth the greatness of His bountifulness whereby He bestoweth all things.
And they shall look – with trustful hope and longing. Cyril: When they had nailed the Divine Shrine to the Wood, they who had crucified Him, stood around, impiously mocking. But when He had laid down His life for us, the centurion and they that were with him, watching Jesus, seeing the earthquake and those things which were done, feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God Mat 27:54. As it ever is with sin, compunction did not come till the sin was over: till then, it was overlaid; else the sin could not be done. At the first conversion, the three thousand were pricked in the heart. when told that He whom they had taken and with wicked hands had crucified and slain, is Lord and Christ Act 2:23, Act 2:36. This awoke the first penitence of him who became Paul. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? This has been the center of Christian devotion ever since, the security against passion, the impulse to self-denial, the parent of zeal for souls, the incentive to love; this has struck the rock, that it gushed forth in tears of penitence: this is the strength and vigor of hatred of sin, to look to Him whom our sins pierced, who Paul says, loved me and gave Himself for me. Osorius: We all lifted Him up upon the Cross; we transfixed with the nails His hands and feet; we pierced His Side with the spear. For if man had not sinned, the Son of God would have endured no torment.
And they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for an only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for a first-born – We feel most sensibly the sorrows of this life, passing as they are; and of these, the loss of an only son is a proverbial sorrow. O daughter of My people, gird thee with sackcloth and wallow thyself in ashes, God says; make thee the mourning of an only son, Most bitter lamentation Jer 6:26. I will make it as the mourning of an only son Amo 8:10. The dead man carried out, the only son of his mother and she was a widow, is recorded as having touched the heart of Jesus. Alb.: And our Lord, to the letter, was the Only-Begotten of His Father and His mother. He was the first-begotten of every creature Col 1:15, and we saw His glory, the glory as of the Only-Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth Joh 1:14. This mourning for Him whom our sins pierced and nailed to the tree, is continued, week by week, by the pious, on the day of the week, when He suffered for us, or in the perpetual memorial of His Precious Death in the Holy Eucharist, and especially in Passion-Tide. God sends forth anew the Spirit of grace and supplication, and the faithful mourn, because of their share in His Death. The prophecy had a rich and copious fulfillment in that first conversion in the first Pentecost; a larger fulfillment awaits it in the end, when, after the destruction of antichrist, all Israel shall be converted and be saved. Rom 11:26.
There is yet a more awful fulfillment; when He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they which pierced Him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him Rev 1:7. But meanwhile it is fulfilled in every solid conversion of Jew pagan or careless Christian, as well as in the devotion of the pious. Zechariah has concentrated in few words the tenderest devotion of the Gospel, They shall look on Me whom they pierced. Lap.: Zechariah teaches that among the various feelings which we can elicit from the meditation on the Passion of Christ, as admiration, love, gratitude, compunction, fear, penitence, imitation, patience, joy, hope, the feeling of compassion stands eminent, and that it is this, which we especially owe to Christ suffering for us. For who would not in his inmost self grieve with Christ, innocent and holy, yea the Only Begotten Son of God, when he sees Him nailed to the Cross and enduring so lovingly for him sufferings so manifold and so great? Who would not groan out commiseration, and melt into tears? Truly says Bonaventure in his goad of divine love: What can be more fruitful, what sweeter than, with the whole heart, to suffer with that most bitter suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ?
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 10. I will pour upon the house of David] This is the way in which the Jews themselves shall be brought into the Christian Church.
1. “They shall have the spirit of grace,” God will show them that he yet bears favour to them.
2. They shall be excited to fervent and continual prayer for the restoration of the Divine favour.
3. Christ shall be preached unto them; and they shall look upon and believe in him whom they pierced, whom they crucified at Jerusalem.
4. This shall produce deep and sincere repentance; they shall mourn, and be in bitterness of soul, to think that they had crucified the Lord of life and glory, and so long continued to contradict and blaspheme, since that time.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And I; God the Father, so Act 2:17,18; Isa 44:3.
Will pour, in plentiful measures, as a plentiful rain is poured forth on a thirsty ground: this was fulfilled on Christs exaltation, when he received gifts for men, and, being glorified, gave the Spirit, sent the Comforter to his disciples and believers; this is daily performed to the children of God, and will be continually performed till we all are made perfect, and are brought to be with Christ for ever.
Upon the house of David; on some of that royal family; or, typically considered, it is the whole family of Christ, his house, who was the seed of David, and who is called David their king, Eze 37:24; Hos 3:5. Upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem; literally understood it was fulfilled extraordinarily, Act 2:4,5; and, no doubt, in the ordinary manner to many of whom no mention is made: mystically, the inhabitants of Jerusalem are all the members of Christ, all believers of all ages.
The Spirit of grace; which is the fountain of all graces in us, and which makes us lovely in the eye of our God; grace to purify us and to beautify us, that God may delight in us.
And of supplications, or prayer, which is an early, inseparable fruit of the Spirit of grace: by the Spirit we cry, Abba, Father, and are helped to perform this duty, Rom 8:26.
They, all those who have received this Spirit, shall look upon me, with an eye of faith, and turn to Christ, love, obey, and wait for him.
Whom they have pierced: every one of us by our sins pierced him, but many of the Jews nailed him to the cross, and actually murdered the Lord of life. This, as foretold, so was very punctually fulfilled, and recorded in the account of his death given by John, Joh 19:34,35,37; this hath then a particular respect to the Jews, though not confined to them.
They shall mourn for him; grieve, and heartily lament the crucifying the Lord Jesus Christ, not only as the sinful, cruel act of their fathers, but as that in which their sins had a great share.
As one mourneth for his only son; with a very great and deep, with a long and continued sorrow, with an unfeigned and real sorrow, such as is the sorrow of a father in the death of an only son; they shall retain it inwardly, and express it outwardly, as in the funeral mournings on such occasions.
Shall be in bitterness for him: this speaks the inwardest affection of the mourner; there may be tears in some cases without grief or bitterness in the spirit, but here both are joined; true repentance will bitterly lament the sins which brought sorrows and shame upon our Lord.
As one that is in bitterness for his first-born: this bitterness is compared to the grief of one who loseth his first-born, to confirm and illustrate what he had just before spoken of Christians mourning for Christ.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. Future conversion of theJews is to flow from an extraordinary outpouring of the Holy Spirit(Jer 31:9; Jer 31:31-34;Eze 39:29).
spirit of grace . . .supplications“spirit” is here not the spiritproduced, but THE HOLYSPIRIT producing a”gracious” disposition, and inclination for”supplications.” CALVINexplains “spirit of grace” as the grace of Goditself (whereby He “pours” out His bowels of mercy),”conjoined with the sense of it in man’s heart.” The”spirit of supplications” is the mercury whose rise or fallis an unerring test of the state of the Church [MOORE].In Hebrew, “grace” and “supplications” arekindred terms; translate, therefore, “gracioussupplications.” The plural implies suppliant prayers”without ceasing.” Herein not merely external help againstthe foe, as before, but internal grace is promised subsequently.
look upon mewithprofoundly earnest regard, as the Messiah whom they so long denied.
piercedimplyingMessiah’s humanity: as “I will pour . . . spirit”implies His divinity.
look . . . mournTruerepentance arises from the sight by faith of the crucified Saviour.It is the tear that drops from the eye of faith looking on Him.Terror only produces remorse. The true penitent weeps over his sinsin love to Him who in love has suffered for them.
me . . . himThe changeof person is due to Jehovah-Messiah speaking in His own personfirst, then the prophet speaking of Him. The Jews, to avoidthe conclusion that He whom they have “pierced” isJehovah-Messiah, who says, “I will pour out . . . spirit,”altered “me” into “him,” and represent the”pierced” one to be Messiah Ben (son of) Joseph, who was tosuffer in the battle with Cog, before Messiah Ben David should cometo reign. But Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabicoppose this; and the ancient Jews interpreted it of Messiah. Ps22:16 also refers to His being “pierced.” So Joh 19:37;Rev 1:7. The actual piercing ofHis side was the culminating point of all their insulting treatmentof Him. The act of the Roman soldier who pierced Him was their act(Mt 27:25), and is soaccounted here in Zechariah. The Hebrew word is always used ofa literal piercing (so Zec 13:3);not of a metaphorical piercing, “insulted,” asMAURER and otherRationalists (from the Septuagint) represent.
as one mourneth for . . .son (Jer 6:26; Amo 8:10).A proverbial phrase peculiarly forcible among the Jews, who feltchildlessness as a curse and dishonor. Applied with peculiarpropriety to mourning for Messiah, “the first-born amongmany brethren” (Ro 8:29).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And I will pour out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem,…. The Jews that belong to the family of Christ, and to the heavenly Jerusalem, the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven:
the Spirit of grace and of supplications; by which is meant the Holy Spirit of God, who is called the “Spirit of grace”; not merely because he is good and gracious, and loving to his people, and is of grace given unto them; but because he is the author of all grace in them; of gracious convictions, and spiritual illuminations; of quickening, regenerating, converting, and sanctifying grace; and of all particular graces, as faith, hope, love, fear, repentance, humility, joy, peace, meekness, patience, longsuffering, self-denial, c. as well as because he is the revealer, applier, and witnesser of all the blessings of grace unto them: and he is called the “Spirit of supplications”; because he indites the prayers of his people, shows them their wants, and stirs them up to pray; enlarges their hearts, supplies them with arguments, and puts words into their mouths; gives faith, fervency, and freedom, and encourages to come to God as their Father, and makes intercession for them, according to the will of God: pouring it upon them denotes the abundance and freeness of his grace; see Isa 44:3:
and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced; by nailing him to the tree at his crucifixion; and especially by piercing his side with a spear; which, though not personally done by them, yet by their ancestors, at least through their instigation and request; and besides, as he was pierced and wounded for their sins, so by them: and now, being enlightened and convicted by the Spirit of God, they shall look to him by faith for the pardon of their sins, through his blood; for the justification of their persons by his righteousness; and for eternal life and salvation through him. We Christians can have no doubt upon us that this passage belongs to Christ, when it is observed, upon one of the soldiers piercing the side of Jesus with a spear, it is said, “these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled; they shall look on him whom they have pierced”; and it seems also to be referred to in Re 1:7 yea, the Jews themselves, some of them, acknowledge it is to be understood of the Messiah. In the Talmud f, mention being made of the mourning after spoken of, it is asked, what this mourning was made for? and it is replied, R. Dusa and the Rabbins are divided about it: one says, for Messiah ben Joseph, who shall be slain; and another says, for the evil imagination, that shall be slain; it must be granted to him that says, for Messiah the son of Joseph that shall be slain; as it is written, “and they shall look upon whom they have pierced, and mourn”, c. for, for the other, why should they mourn? hence Jarchi and Kimchi on the place say, our Rabbins interpret this of Messiah the son of Joseph, who shall be slain and the note of Aben Ezra is, all the nations shall look unto me, to see what I will do to those who have pierced Messiah the son of Joseph. Grotius observes, that Hadarsan on Ge 28:10 understands it of Messiah the son of David. The Jews observing some prophecies speaking of the Messiah in a state of humiliation, and others of him in an exalted state, have coined this notion of two Messiahs, which are easily reconciled without it. The Messiah here prophesied of appears to be both God and man; a divine Person called Jehovah, who is all along speaking in the context, and in the text itself; for none else could pour out the spirit of grace and supplication; and yet he must be man, to be pierced; and the same is spoken of, that would do the one, and suffer the other; and therefore must be the , or God-man in one person. As to what a Jewish writer g objects, that this was spoken of one that was pierced in war, as appears from the context; and that if the same person that is pierced is to be looked to, then it would have been said, “and mourn for me, and be in bitterness for me”; it may be replied, that this prophecy does not speak of the piercing this person at the time when the above wars shall be; but of the Jews mourning for him at the time of their conversion, who had been pierced by them, that is, by their ancestors, hundreds of years ago; which now they will with contrition remember, they having assented to it, and commended it as a right action; and as for the change from the first person to the third, this is not at all unusual in Scripture:
and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for [his] only [son]; or, “for this” h; that is, piercing him; for sin committed against him; because of their rejection of him, their hardness of heart, and unbelief with respect to him; and on account of their many sins, which were the occasion of his being pierced; which mourning will arise from, and be increased by, a spiritual sight of him, a sense of his love to them, and a view of benefits by him. Evangelical repentance springs from faith, and is accompanied with it; and this godly sorrow is like that which is expressed for an only son; see Am 8:10 and indeed Christ is the only begotten of the Father, as well as the firstborn among many brethren, as follows:
and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for [his] firstborn; sin is a bitter thing, and makes work for bitter repentance.
f T. Bab. Succah, fol. 52. 1. g R. Isaac Chizzuk Emunah, par. 1. c. 36. p. 309. h “super hoc”, Junius Tremellius “propter hoc”, Gussetius; “super illo”, Piscator, Cocceius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
But the Lord will do still more than this for His people. He will renew it by pouring out His spirit of grace upon it, so that it will come to the knowledge of the guilt it has incurred by the rejection of the Saviour, and will bitterly repent of its sin. Zec 12:10. “And I will pour out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they will look upon me, whom they have pierced, and will mourn over him like the mourning over an only one, and will grieve bitterly over him, as one grieves bitterly over the first-born.” This new promise is simply attached to the previous verse by consec. ( ). Through this mode of attachment such connections as that suggested by Kliefoth, “But such glory can only be enjoyed by rebellious Israel when it is converted, and acknowledges and bewails Him whom it has rejected,” are precluded, as at variance with the text. There is not a word in the text about conversion as the condition on which the glory set before them in Zec 12:3-9 was to be obtained; on the contrary, conversion is represented as one fruit of the outpouring of the spirit of prayer upon the nation; and this outpouring of the Spirit is introduced by , which corresponds to in Zec 12:9, as a new feature in the salvation, to be added to the promise of the destruction of the nations which fight against Jerusalem. The fact that only the inhabitants of Jerusalem are named, and not those of Judah also, is explained correctly by the commentators from the custom of regarding the capital as the representative of the whole nation. And it follows eo ipso from this, that in Zec 12:8 also the expression “inhabitants of Jerusalem” is simply an individualizing epithet for the whole of the covenant nation. But just as in Zec 12:8 the house of David is mentioned emphatically along with these was the princely family and representative of the ruling class, so is it also in Zec 12:10, for the purpose of expressing the thought that the same salvation is to be enjoyed by the whole nation, in all its ranks, from the first to the last. The outpouring of the Spirit points back to Joe 3:1., except that there the Spirit of Jehovah generally is spoken of, whereas here it is simply the spirit of grace and of supplication. Chen does not mean “prayer,” nor emotion, or goodness, or love (Hitzig, Ewald), but simply grace or favour; and here, as in Zec 4:7, the grace of God; not indeed in its objectivity, but as a principle at work in the human mind. The spirit of grace is the spirit which produces in the mind of man the experience of the grace of God. But this experience begets in the soul of sinful man the knowledge of sin and guilt, and prayer for the forgiveness of sin, i.e., supplication; and this awakens sorrow and repentance. , they look upon me. Hibbt , used of bodily sight as well as spiritual (cf. Num 21:9). The suffix in (to me) refers to the speaker. This is Jehovah, according to Zec 12:1, the creator of the heaven and the earth. , not “Him whom they pierced,” but simply “whom they pierced.” , that is to say, is not governed by hibbtu as a second object, but simply refers to , to me, “whom they pierced,” is chosen here, as in Jer 38:9, in the place of the simple , to mark more clearly as an accusative, since the simple might also be rendered “who pierced (me):” cf. Ges. 123, 2, Not. 1. Daqar does not mean to ridicule, or scoff at, but only to pierce, thrust through, and to slay by any kind of death whatever (cf. Lam 4:9). And the context shows that here it signifies to put to death. With reference to the explanation proposed by Calvin, “whom they have harassed with insults,” Hitzig has very properly observed: “If it were nothing more than this, wherefore such lamentation over him, which, according to the use of , with governing the person, and from the similes employed, is to be regarded as a lamentation for the dead?” It is true that we have not to think of a slaying of Jehovah, the creator of the heaven and the earth, but simply of the slaying of the Maleach Jehovah, who, being of the same essence with Jehovah, became man in the person of Jesus Christ. As Zechariah repeatedly represents the coming of the Messiah as a coming of Jehovah in His Maleach to His people, he could, according to this view, also describe the slaying of the Maleach as the slaying of Jehovah. And Israel having come to the knowledge of its sin, will bitterly bewail this deed. does not mean thereat, i.e., at the crime, but is used personally, over him whom they have pierced. Thus the transition from the first person ( ) to the third ( ) points to the fact that the person slain, although essentially one with Jehovah, is personally distinct from the Supreme God. The lamentation for the only son ( yashd : cf. Amo 8:10) and for the first-born is the deepest and bitterest death-wail. The inf. abs. hamer , which is used in the place of the finite verb, signifies making bitter, to which misped is to be supplied from the previous sentence (cf. , Jer 6:26).
The historical fulfilment of this prophecy commenced with the crucifixion of the Son of God, who had come in the flesh. The words are quoted in the Gospel of John (Joh 19:37), according to the Greek rendering , which probably emanated not from the lxx, but from Aquila, or Theodotion, or Symmachus, as having been fulfilled in Christ, by the fact that a soldier pierced His side with a lance as He was hanging upon the cross (vid., Joh 19:34). If we compare this quotation with the fact mentioned in Joh 19:36, that they did not break any of His bones, there can be no doubt that John quotes this passage with distinct allusion to this special circumstance; only we must not infer from this, that the evangelist regarded the meaning of the prophecy as exhausted by this allusion. The piercing with the spear is simply looked upon by him as the climax of all the mortal sufferings of Christ; and even with Zechariah the piercing is simply an individualizing expression for putting to death, the instrument used and the kind of death being of very subordinate importance. This is evident from a comparison of our verse with Zec 13:7, where the sword is mentioned as the instrument employed, whereas daqar points rather to a spear. What we have observed respecting the fulfilment of Zec 9:9 by the entry of Christ into Jerusalem, also applies to this special fulfilment, viz., that the so to speak literal fulfilment in the outward circumstances only served to make the internal concatenation of the prophecy with its historical realization so clear, that even unbelievers could not successfully deny it. Luke (Luk 23:48) indicates the commencement of the fulfilment of the looking at the slain one by these words: “And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts.” (For the smiting of the breasts, comp. Isa 32:12, .) “The crowds, who had just before been crying out, Crucify him, here smite upon their breasts, being overpowered with the proofs of the superhuman exaltation of Jesus, and lament over the crucified one, and over their own guilt” (Hengst.). The true and full commencement of the fulfilment, however, shows itself in the success which attended the preaching of Peter on the first day of Pentecost, – namely, in the fact that three thousand were pricked in their heart with penitential sorrow on account of the crucifixion of their Saviour, and were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Act 2:37-41), and in the further results which followed the preaching of the apostles for the conversion of Israel (Acts 3-4). The fulfilment has continued with less striking results through the whole period of the Christian church, in conversions from among the Jews; and it will not terminate till the remnant of Israel shall turn as a people to Jesus the Messiah, whom its fathers crucified. On the other hand, those who continue obstinately in unbelief will see Him at last when He returns in the clouds of heaven, and shriek with despair (Rev 1:7; Mat 24:30).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
The Spirit To Be Poured Out
Verse 10:
The Pierced One Revealed To The Delivered Remnant
Verse 10 is a promise from the Lord that He will pour out upon the house of David, and the occupants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplication in that day, Mal 2:15; Isa 32:15; Isa 44:3-4; Isa 59:21; Joe 2:2. This comes as a result of the conversion of the Jews, Jer 31:9; Jer 31:31-34; Eze 39:29. The converted Jews shall then be empowered by the Holy Spirit, much as He has empowered the church, Act 2:1-4; When they look upon Him bodily, face to face, whom they have pierced, Joh 19:37; Rev 1:7. They shall then mourn for Him as one who mourns for his only son, or only heir, Jer 6:26; Amo 8:10. And they shall be in bitterness of mourning, as one who is in bitterness of sorrow for the loss of his firstborn, Zec 13:6; Deu 30:3; Act 1:9; La 4;19.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
At the beginning of this verse the Prophet intimates, that though the Jews were then miserable and would be so in future, yet God would be merciful to them: and thus he exhorts them to patience, that they might not faint through a long-continued weariness. For it was not enough to promise to them what we have noticed respecting God’s aid, except Zechariah had added, that God would at length be merciful and gracious to them after they had endured so many evils, that the world would regard them as almost consumed.
As to the effusion of the spirit, the expression at the first view seems hard to be understood; for what is it to pour forth the spirit of grace? He ought rather to have said thus, “I will pour my grace upon you.” But what he means is, that God would be merciful, for his spirit would be moved to deliver the Jews; for he compares the spirit of God here to the mind of man, and we know that Scripture often uses language of this kind. The phrase then, I will pour forth the spirit of grace, may be thus suitably expressed — “I will pour forth my bowels of mercy,” or, “I will open my whole heart to show mercy to this people,” or, “My Spirit shall be like the spirit of man, which is wont to move him to give help to the miserable.”
We now then understand the sense in which God may be fitly said to pour forth the spirit of grace. It may yet be taken in a more refined manner, as meaning that God would not only show mercy to his people, but also make them sensible of his mercy; and this view I am inclined to take, especially on account of what follows, the spirit of commiserations, or, of lamentations, for the word, תחנונים, tachnunim, commonly means lamentations in Hebrew. Some render it “prayers,” but improperly, for they express not the force of the word. It is always put in the plural number, at least with this termination: and there is but one place where we can render it commiserations, that is, in Jer 31:9 —
“
In commiserations will I restore them.”
But even there it may be rendered lamentations consistently with the whole verse; for the Prophet says, “They shall weep,” and afterwards adds, “In lamentations will I restore them.” The greater part indeed of interpreters render it here, prayers; but the Hebrews prefer to translate it commiserations, and for this reason, because they consider that the spirit of grace is nothing else but simply grace itself. The spirit of grace is indeed grace itself united with faith: for God often hears the miserable, extends his hand to them, and brings them a most effectual deliverance, while they still continue blind and remain unconcerned. It is then far better that the spirit of grace should be poured forth on us, than grace itself: for except the spirit of God penetrate into our hearts and instils into us a feeling need of grace, it will not only be useless, but even injurious; for God at length will take vengeance on our ingratitude when he sees his grace perishing through our indifference. What then the Prophet, in my opinion, means is, that God will at length be so propitious to the Jews as to pour forth on them the spirit of grace, and then the spirit of lamentations, in order to obtain grace.
They who render the word prayers, do not, as I have already said, convey the full import of the term. But we may also take commiserations in a passive sense and consistently with its common meaning: I will pour forth the spirit of grace, that they themselves may perceive my grace; and then, the spirit of commiserations, that having deplored their evils, they may understand that they have been delivered by a power from above. Hence Zechariah promises here more than before; for he speaks not here of God’s external aid, by which they were to be defended, but of inward grace, by which God would pour hidden joy into their hearts, that they might know and find by a sure experience that he was propitious to them.
But if the word תחנונום, tachnunim, be rendered commiserations, the meaning would be, as I have already stated, that the Jews, through the dictation and the suggestions of the Holy Spirit, would find God merciful to them; but if we render it lamentations, then the Prophet must be viewed as saying something more — that the Jews, previously so hardened in their evils, as not to flee to God for help, would become at length suppliants, because the Spirit would inwardly so touch their hearts as to lead them to deplore their state before God, and thus to express their complaints to Him: (161) and this view is more fully confirmed by what follows.
They shall look to me, he says, whom they have pierced. We then see here that not only an external grace or favor was promised to the Jews, but an internal light of faith, the author of which is the Spirit; for he it is who illuminates our minds to see the goodness of God, and it is he also who turns our hearts: and for this reason he adds, They shall look to me (162) For God, as I have already reminded you, deals very bountifully with the unbelieving, but they are blind; and hence he pours forth his grace without any benefit, as though he rained on flint or on and rocks. However bountifully then God may bestow his grace on the unbelieving, they yet render his favor useless, for they are like stones.
Now, as Zechariah declares that the Jews would at length look to God, it follows, that the spirit of repentance and the light of faith are promised to them, so that they may know God as the author of their salvation, and feel so assured that they are already saved, as in future to devote themselves entirely to him: they shall then look to me whom they have pierced. Here also the Prophet indirectly reproves the Jews for their great obstinacy, for God had restored them, and they had been as untameable as wild beasts; for this piercing is to be taken metaphorically for continual provocation, as though he had said, that the Jews in their perverseness were prepared as it were for war, that they goaded and pierced God by their wickedness or by the weapons of their rebellion. As then they had been such, he says now, that such a change would be wrought by God that they would become quite different, for they would learn to look to him whom they had previously pierced. We cannot finish today.
(161) The two words are thus expressed by the Septuagint, [ πνεῦμα χάριτος και οἰκτιρμου ] — “the Spirit of grace and of commiseration;” and in similar terms by the Targum. For the last word, Jerome, Drusius, and Piscator have “ deprecationum — of entreaties;” and our version, Newcome, and Henderson, “supplications.” Both these authors have “A spirit,” etc., as though an impulse or a disposition is meant by “Spirit,” as Grotius understood the expression: but “Spirit” here signifies the same as Spirit in Joe 2:28, “I will pour out my Spirit,” etc.; and is called “The Spirit of grace and entreaties” or supplications, because he, the divine Spirit, is the author of them. Renewing grace and sincere entreaties come from the Spirit. The latter word, derived from a reduplicate verb, signifies more than supplications; it means earnest supplications or entreaties. — Ed.
(162) Respicient ad me , [ והביטו אלי ]. The same phrase is rendered “look upon,” in Exo 3:6; Num 21:8; and “look unto,” in Psa 34:5; Isa 22:11 Newcome follows our version, while Henderson follows Calvin, “look unto me.” Inasmuch as the phrase admits of these two meanings, and as St. John, not following the Septuagint, interpreted it in the sense of our version, it ought to be so regarded — to look upon as an object before our eyes. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Zec. 12:10.] This a complete contrast to preceding; nothing warlike, but all subdued and spiritual, a clear and definite prophecy of the future conversion of the Jews, in consequence of a special and extraordinary outpouring of the influences of the Holy Spirit [Henderson], Jerusalem] The whole covenant nation. Spirit] which brings grace, and which results in supplication. Look] Applied to bodily and mental vision (cf. Num. 21:9; Isa. 32:11), with the idea of confidence in thing looked at. Me] Jehovah (Zec. 12:1). Mourn] The consequence of looking. Him] JehovahMessiah speaking in his own person first, then the prophet speaking of him [Fausset]. Pierced] Thrust through, to slay by any kind of death (cf. Lam. 4:9). Mourning most bitter and deep, as for an only son].
Zec. 12:11.] An illustration given, the greatest recorded, mourning for Josiah in Hadadrimmon], a city in the valley of Megiddon (2Ch. 35:22).
Zec. 12:12.] It is universal mourning. All the families and households of the nation mourn, and not the men only, but also the women. To this end the prophet mentions four distinct leading and secondary families, and then adds in conclusion, all the rest of the families, with their wives [Keil].
HOMILETICS
ISRAELS SIN AND ISRAELS SORROW.Zec. 12:10-14
As the former portion of the chapter sets forth the outward protection of providence shown toward the New Testament Israel, by means of which it emerged victor from all trials and conflicts, and saw its enemies utterly discomfited, this portion turns to the other side of Israels experience, and deals with its outward 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 Saviourthe whole preceded and induced by a copious shower of spiritual influences of the same kind as those predicted by Joel (Joe. 2:28) and 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 [Lange].
Israels sin. They shall look upon me whom they have pierced. Indignities and insults offered to the Son of God. Upon me. By wicked hands they crucified and slew the Messiah. From that day to this the impenitent and unbelieving Jews have given their hearts consent to the judgment and deeds of their fathers; have reiterated the cry, His blood be on us and on our children; have through many successive generations continued to crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh. On this account it is here said, even of the Jews who shall repent and believe in a yet future generation, They shall look upon him whom they have pierced,an expression which signifies not merely that their sins, like the sins of the whole world, contributed to bring sufferings upon the Saviour, but which describes the state of mind and heart toward Jesus; their being, though not in act, yet in spirit, his murderers, as their fathers were [Wardlaw].
II. Israels mourning. The sorrow described by comparisons was a repentance unto salvation which needs not to be repented of.
1. It was universal. Not confined to Jerusalem, but the land, the whole nation, shall mourn. Four leading classes are mentioned. The priesthood or family of the house of Levi; the royal lineage or family of the house of David; the prophets or family of the house of Nathan; the scribes or family of the house of Shimei.
2. It was intense. Like the sorrow of loving parents bereft of the only object of their affection, a sorrow most deep and bitter, the death-wail of the Egyptians (Exo. 11:1). A mourning like the national distress at the loss of Josiah.
3. It was personal, each family apart. Our relations to God are personal, and our grief must be solitary. There is a sorrow as well as a joy with which strangers intermeddle not. The power of God came down upon the Indians when David Brainerd was preaching. 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 [cf. Lange]. I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
The deeper the sorrow, the less tongue hath it [Talmud].
THE SPIRIT OF SUPPLICATION.Zec. 12:10
Not in vain did Moses and others long for a copious outpouring of the Holy Ghost. God answered their appeals, and one of His promises lies before us. Addressed towards the close of the Babylonish captivity to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, it must not be limited to these alone. In contrast to the fearful judgment of God upon their enemies, they were promised the rich gifts of the Spirit of grace and of prayer, that is, according to the most probable interpretation, the influence of the Spirit which imparts grace through which he teaches to pray in truth; and in consequence of this benefit, says the Lord, they shall look on me whom they have pierced. The complete fulfilment of this promise must be looked for in the future. Looking at the Holy Ghost in the special character here represented, as the best instructor of the prayer which is well-pleasing to God, in the first place, it is through him that a sense of the necessity of prayer is awakened. The necessity exists for all, but experienced by comparatively few. Who must not often confess, We can scarcely urge sluggish flesh and blood to pray? Who then teaches men to seek and inquire after God earnestly? Who permits the sinner no rest until his broken heart is fashioned to pray? The Holy Spirit teaches man to cry after God, convinces the sinner of sin, and constantly fans the flame, and lo, it blazes bright and high! It is through him that boldness in supplication is heightened. We lack courage to approach, but he banishes fear, begets confidence, and enables us to go joyfully to the Father in the Sons name; places hallelujahs on the lips which recently uttered with trembling, If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquity, O Lord, who shall stand? It is the Holy Ghost through whom the tendency of prayer is so directed that it glorifies God and is abundantly blessed to ourselves. If more disposed to what is pleasant than necessary, and we allow ourselves to be deceived by appearances, he shows us our folly, and induces us to ask the best gifts with the most pressing urgency. Do there come momentswhat Christian knows them not?in which we scarce can tell what we ought to pray forthe Spirit helps our infirmities, &c. (Rom. 8:26); so that all the varying, conflicting desires of the restless heart are subservient to one object, that Gods name should be glorified, and his will in and through us be perfectly accomplished. Even as regards frustrated wishes, the desires are not in vain. He that searcheth the heart knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit; and through the same Spirit again is the hearing of prayer assured to us. The amen of faith so heedlessly taken on the lips he places in the heart, and instructs Gods children to trust that the answer, whatever its form, will not fail to be sent. The infallible promise associated with prayer in the name of Jesus he aids us to comprehend in all its depth, and to adapt to our wants; but preserves from the folly of unreasonably ascribing to God a course of action, as if we might extort that which had not been determined in his counsel for our happiness. Thus it is he through whom, finally, the fellowship of prayer is perfected; because where he lives, there have all whom he guides to the throne of grace an actual fellowship with one anotherwith the Son, with the Father. Thus he forms and trains a constantly increasing number of worshippers in spirit and in truth; and those whom he here teaches to pray he teaches on high to praise. O, ye who have felt something of this, should ye not pray for the Holy Ghost? Ye who know him, should ye not pray more fervently in the Holy Ghost, without whom our defective speaking to God shall never be true prayer? [J. J. Van Oosterzee].
EVANGELICAL REPENTANCE.Zec. 12:10
These words clearly describe the chief characteristics and the chief means of kindling evangelical repentance.
I. It is mourning for sin. Not feeling great terror nor shedding many tears. Natural conscience may inflame remorse and sudden judgments overcome, but sorrow from shame may work death. Godly sorrow is a bitter thing, but not mixed with despair. It is a personal practical mourning for sin; it pierces (pricks) the heart (Act. 2:37) and leads to amendment of life.
II. It springs from looking to the Lord Jesus. It is a common mistake to think that we must first mourn and then look to Jesus. The mourning springs from the looking. They shall look upon me and mourn. We may be convinced of sin in various ways, but sorrow for sin springs from a look at the cross. In a crucified Saviour we see the malignity, guilt, and vileness of sin. All excuses are given up, and we are humbled in the dust. A quick returning pang shoots through the conscious heart. But the arrow that wounds brings the balm that makes alive. Peter saw his master, went out and wept bitterly, and was restored.
III. It is the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart. There is neither mourning nor looking without the outpouring of the Spirit. All holy affections, desires, principles, and states of mind are the result of the Spirit. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Hence the precise influence conceived by the prophet is overcoming evil, imparting grace, and developing this grace in supplication. Prayer is the first result of a converted soul. Behold, he prayeth. The gift of prayer is not always in our power, says Lessing.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Zec. 12:10. Learn
1. That a great change will take place in the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalemin both princes and people. On the first preaching of the gospel many of people believed, but scarcely any of the rulers; now all descriptions of men are to bow to the Redeemers sceptre.
2. The cause to which this change is ascribed is the pouring upon them of a spirit of grace and supplication. The spirit of true religion is an emanation of the grace of God, which necessarily leads to importunate prayer. The present state of the unbelieving Jews would seem to render their conversion hopeless; but when the influences of the Holy Spirit shall descend upon them, the heart of stone shall become a heart of flesh.
3. The great medium of effecting this change will be the remembrance of him whom their fathers crucified, and whom they themselves have pierced by persecuting his followers and continuing so long in enmity and unbelief. A realizing view of Jesus on the cross, as slain for us, will dissolve the most obdurate spirit into contrition and godly sorrow [Sutcliffe].
Zec. 12:10. The predictions. The repentance and mourning of the Jews is immediately foretold, but the fact implied is his having been pierced. There are in truth two predictions: the one, that Messiah should be pierced; the other, that the penitent Jews should look on him whom they had pierced. They relate to widely distant periods. Since the first was fulfilled eighteen centuries have passed away. But it was fulfilled, and this gives ground of assurance that the other will be fulfilled in its time [Wardlaw].
1. The gracious blessing given.
(1) Look at the promise itself. The Holy Spirit. First, as a Spirit of grace. The gift of Gods free favour, testifying to grace alone in the sinners salvation; the author of gracious dispositions and affections in the human soul, bringing men in harmony with Gods methods of grace in the gospel, and teaching them to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. Then the Spirit of supplications, because coming from God. He draws immediately to God. He teaches all under his agency, not merely convincing them of the duty, but inclining them to avail themselves of the privilege of prayer. Wherever the Divine Spirit dwells, communion with God will be the characteristic feature of the favoured individual in whom he abides. When his influences come largely upon families, churches, and communities, the result will be a concert of prayera union of hearts, and a united outpouring of those hearts at the footstool of God [Wardlaw].
(2) Look at the extent of the promise. The effusion is not fitful nor scanty, but generous and abundanta pouring rain upon all classes, highest and lowest, individually and socially.
2. The wonderful result. First, they shall look with a simple, earnest, attentive, and personal look, with trustful hope and longing, on me [Pusey]. Then they shall mourn, most deeply and universally, the whole land, family by family. As males and females sat and worshipped separately, so every family apart and their wives apart.
I was a stricken deer that left the herd [Cowper].
Every family apart. Apply this to ministers. The priestly tribe had its own special in the day of national mourning. The chief priests moved the people, and thus shared their guilt. Are ministers not reminded of their shame? Is not grief becoming them when reviewing their treatment of Gods people? Who can estimate the criminality of the clergy, asks one, during ages of corrupt and persistent oppression of the truth? Let the guilt of our neglect and contempt of God and his word ever abase and cause us to mourn apart.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 12
Zec. 12:10. Look. Their eye shall affect their heart (Rev. 1:7; Lam. 3:51); for the eye is the instrument both of sight and of sorrow; and what the eye never sees the heart never rues. The sun looketh upon the earth, draweth up vapours thence, and distilleth them down again; so doth the sun of understanding; which, till it be convinced, the heart cannot be compuncted. Sight of sin must precede sorrow for sin [Trapp].
Zec. 12:11-14. Mourning. 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 all hope and glory were interred in the same grave. 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 [Lange].
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(10-14) These are verses of almost unprecedented difficulty. If the words and they shall look on me whom they pierced stood alone, they might possibly be taken in a figurative sense, as denoting that they shall look to the Lord whom they had so grievously contemned (see Notes on Joh. 19:37). Such is the view of the passage taken by Calvin, Rosenmller, Gesenius, &c., and apparently by the LXX.; but this figurative sense of the word cannot be supported by usage; it always means to thrust through (see my Hebrew Students Commentary on Zechariah, pp. 111, 112). Moreover, the words which follow, and they shall mourn for him, can only mean, according to the said interpretation, that they shall mourn over the slain Jehovaha notion grotesque, if not blasphemous. We might, indeed, get somewhat over this difficulty by rendering the words and they shall mourn over itviz., the matter; but such an explanation would be forced, and greatly destroy the effect of the following words, as for his only son and for his firstborn. Neither can we, reading on Him for on me, understand the words and they shall look on him whom they pierced as referring to some unknown martyr, or to the Messiah directly, since such a reference would be so abrupt as to have presented no meaning to the prophets original hearers. We are compelled, therefore, to propound a theory, which we believe to be new, and which will obviate most of the difficulties of the passage. We consider these verses to be misplaced, and propose to place them after Zec. 13:3, and will comment further on them there.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Penitential mourning and supplication, Zec 12:10-14.
The blessings vouchsafed in Zec 12:1-9 are purely temporal and physical; but with few exceptions the Messianic anticipations of the prophets include spiritual blessings (compare Hos 14:1-3; Joe 2:27 ff.; Isa 4:5-6). Zechariah is no exception to this rule. He also is convinced that the physical victory will be followed by the outpouring of rich spiritual gifts. The fullness of the latter is not touched upon until Zec 13:1 ff., but the “spirit of grace and supplication” (Zec 12:10) is one of them. Zec 12:10-14, speaks of the preparation of the people for the divine fullness. Like Hosea, our prophet emphasizes repentance as a condition of complete restoration to the favor of God, and of the enjoyment of the spiritual blessings (see p. 605). When the people become fully conscious of the depth of the divine mercy manifesting itself in the wonderful deliverance described in Zec 12:1-9, they will be seized by a heartfelt sorrow for past sins, and in deep humility they will prostrate themselves before Jehovah.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
10. The spirit of grace and of supplications See on Joe 2:28. Grace is, as in many other passages in the Old Testament, the favor shown by Jehovah toward his people (compare Zec 4:7). In this passage it is thought of as active within man, making him conscious of wrongdoing and leading him to make supplication for mercy and pardon (compare Rom 2:4, “the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance”).
The house of David, the inhabitants of Jerusalem The former as in Zec 12:7; the latter may represent the population of the whole land, for the spiritual blessings are surely not to be limited to the inhabitants of the capital. The entire nation, from the rulers down, shall turn in humble penitence to Jehovah, and then they shall become partakers of the spiritual gifts (compare Zec 13:1).
They shall look upon me whom they have pierced The speaker is Jehovah; the subject of look and have pierced is the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; me can refer only to Jehovah, whom they have pierced (metaphorically) by their cruel rebellion. The look is one of contrition.
Mourn for him The pronoun can refer only to some representative of Jehovah whom they rejected. “The prophet may have pictured to himself the man of God, whom he leaves mysteriously indefinite, as a prophetic national leader, who incurs at the hands of princes and people the fate prepared, according to tradition, by Manasseh for Isaiah, by Jehoiakim for Uriah (Jer 26:20 ff.), and by several rulers almost for Jeremiah.” Some interpret him as referring to Jehovah himself for me. If so, the change from the first to the third person must be explained by the tendency, which is common in prophetic discourse, not to distinguish clearly between Jehovah and his representative (compare introductory remarks to Zec 11:4-14). The thought might be expressed more clearly in a paraphrase, “They shall look unto me whom they pierced in the person of my representative, and they shall mourn for him whom they thus cruelly rejected.” There may be an allusion to the fate of the good shepherd whom the people rejected (compare Zec 11:4-14). On the other hand, some see in the representative of Jehovah the good high priest Onias III, who was deposed in 175 and slain in 170 ( 2Ma 4:27-34 ). In Joh 19:37, this passage is applied to Jesus (see Introduction p. 603f). Some Hebrew manuscripts and some manuscripts of LXX. read unto him instead of upon me, R.V. unto me, and some modern commentators consider it the original.
However, it seems preferable to retain the present Hebrew text; the change into him is probably due to the desire of a pious Jew to remove a reading which he considered offensive, because it made God himself the object of a murderous attack. The rest of the verse indicates the bitterness of the grief (see on Amo 8:10).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
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
Repentance and Conversion
v. 10. And I will pour upon the house of David, v. 11. In that day, v. 12. And the land shall mourn, every family apart, v. 13. the family of the house of Levi, v. 14. all the families that remain, every family apart and their wives apart.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Zec 12:10-14. And I will pour, &c. The Jews had stumbled, and fell at the stone of stumbling and rock of offence, the Messiah in his humble appearance, as Isaiah foretold. But that no one might be surprised at this sudden change of their affairs, Zechariah tells us, they should themselves be first changed, and repent heartily of that sin which had been the cause of their fall; for God should pour out on them the spirit of grace and supplication, that they might look with compunction of heart on him whom they had pierced; and he should by his Spirit improve those good dispositions, which his grace and the methods of his dealing with this people had begun in them, into a thorough conviction of his being the Messiah whom they had rejected; for this they would weep bitterly, Zec 12:11 and make earnest supplications, till received again into his grace and favour. This done, it follows, chap. Zec 13:1. In that day there shall be a fountain opened, &c. Now who were they whose sin and uncleanness were washed away, but the house of David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem? The same who had sinned, and mourned, and repented, and were therefore pardoned? What did they mourn for, but for him whom they had pierced, and whose death they bewailed with all the solemnities of true mourners? It was then the act and the sin of the house of David, and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that they pierced and slew him whom they now looked upon; for which their land was treated as polluted, and not to be restored to them till their sin was remitted upon their true repentance. Thus much is evident from the context.
And who was he whom they pierced?One of dignity, undoubtedly, whose murder was attended with grievous aggravations, since it affected the princes, the priests, the people, even all the tribes; one very dear to God, since his cause is God’s, and God owns himself to have been pierced through his wounds, chap. Zec 13:6-7. One might challenge the unbelieving Jews or Gentiles to name any other besides the Christians’ Messiah. The Jews looked for the fulfilment of this prophesy at their restoration from the present captivity. The later Jews own that it is a prophesy of the murder of the Messiah, the son of Joseph, by the Gentile army, at their return from this captivity. It is therefore, according to them, a prophesy of the Messiah; for as there is no ground nor ancient tradition for a two-fold Messiah, it is plain that their old traditionary sense, which they have thus corrupted, did apply it to that one Messiah. But that it cannot be interpreted of the Gentiles killing him, hence appears, that they were the same people that killed him who mourned for him, and to whom a fountain was opened for him. They sinned in killing him, for which God removed them out of their land, and would not resettle them therein, till they had repented of it. This puzzles the Jews exceedingly; they have been in their present dispersion sixteen or seventeen hundred years; their sins have not been greater in this dispersion than before and under the Babylonian captivity; nay they are less, by the sin of idolatry; yet then on a repentance superficial enough, after seventy years, God restored them to their land. Now, though they fast and mourn, and shew all the external tokens of an universal repentance, God will not be propitious. Does not God’s inexorableness shew clearly that some sin is still unrepented of?What can it be, which is so big with evils, so extensive in its consequence?They cannot say but Zechariah had informed them. It is the piercing unto death him whom God favoured, and this sin and punishment will not be removed, without an antecedent, general, and deep repentance.
Zechariah said nothing new to them in all this. David before described such sufferings of the Messiah under the figure of his own person, Psa 22:16. Isaiah is more direct, and foretels of another, Isa 53:5-8. And at last Daniel declares without ambiguity, Dan 9:26 that Messiah the prince should be cut off. Can an unprejudiced mind deny after this, that Zechariah had the same intention which we see carried through all these prophets; or, that he spake not of their piercing the same person who is foretold in Daniel to be Messiah the prince. The light hereof shone so strongly upon a Jew of note in his nation, R. Moses Hadrasan, that he applies this passage in Zechariah to Messiah, the son of David; and he had the authority of the ancients for it, by the confession of Kimchi. We may just observe farther, that the Hebrew word dakaru, rendered pierced in this verse signifies, “Piercing through, even to death.” See the next chapter, Zec 12:3. Isa 13:15. And the subsequent verses of our prophet manifestly imply a real death. In consequence whereof they shall mourn bitterly, as for an only son, and that a first-born, as at the mourning which began for Josiah in Hadad-rimmon; most probably the place of the battle where Josiah was slain. There the lamentations for that good prince began, andwere thence continued for many days as far as Jerusalem, whither his body was carried to be interred in the sepulchre of his fathers; and there all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him, and appointed the day to be annually observed with lamentations; so that thenceforward the mourning for Josiah became a proverb for an extraordinary lamentation; and as in other funeral mournings, so in this, the men and women in every house were to separate for many days, Zec 12:12, &c. in proportion to the dignity, rank, and worth of the deceased.
While these things are all joined together as they lie in the passage before us, the murder of an illustrious person of the Jewish nation, a general sin and punishment of the offenders, and as general a pardon and restoration upon a true sorrow for and sincere repentance of that sin,it is impossible to find out any thing in history which answers to this prophesy besides the crucifixion of the Messiah. See Bishop Chandler’s Defence, p. 88. Joseph. Antiq. book 10: chap. 6 and Joh 19:37.
REFLECTIONS.1st, The promises contained in this chapter refer either to the church of God in general, or the Jewish people in particular, when in the last days God shall bring them into his fold. The prophesy is called a burden, because it is filled with terror to Israel’s enemies; and it is prefaced with an awful description of him who undertakes to accomplish his own word. He stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth; the Creator, Governor, and Upholder of all things, who formeth the spirit of man within him; the God of the spirits of all flesh, who has the sovereign dominion over them, and executes all his counsels for the good of his church, encouraging the hearts of his believing people, and injecting terrors into his enemies. God promises,
1. To make the efforts of all the enemies of his church issue in their confusion. They who in these latter days persecute God’s people, and lay siege against them, shall have a cup of trembling put into their hands. Be their foes never so many, never so mighty, spiritual or temporal, instead of prevailing against the church of God, they shall pull down ruin upon their own heads, as a burdensome stone, which crushes the man who attempts to lift it up. God’s eyes of love and favour are upon his believing people; therefore their foes shall be smitten with blindness, astonishment, and madness, and baffled in all their enterprises; while the governors of the church, the ministers of Christ, by the gospel-word that they preach, like a devouring fire and a torch in a sheaf, shall bear down all before them; and none shall be able to resist the wisdom and spirit by which they speak.
They who apply this to the Jewish people, refer the prophesy either to the times of the Maccabees, or rather suppose it has respect to their future greatness; and that when they are returned to settle in their own land, the Mahometan powers will go up to besiege them, whose armies chiefly consist of cavalry, and shall fall on the mountains of Israel, defeated and destroyed by the Jewish forces.
2. God will establish his church and build it up great and glorious, defending every faithful member thereof with his arms of love and power. On him in those last and blessed days the governors of Judah shall place their confidence, he being the strength of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the bulwark of the country, and not any human supports, with which, as fortifications, they may be surrounded. The meanest, who dwell in tents, he will save; and none of the more distinguished and honourable members must arrogate to themselves any part in the salvation, and magnify themselves over their brethren, as if they owed to them their protection and support, when the whole is from God, and all alike debtors to unmerited grace, by which the weakest believer shall be as David, able to cope with their mightiest foes; and the house of David, the spiritual descendants of Jesus, David’s son, a royal generation, they shall be as God, strong as the arm of omnipotence; as the angel of the Lord before them, all Christ’s power being engaged for them, and they interested in it; he is their strength and their Redeemer.
Some understand this as literally to have its accomplishment, when Jerusalem shall be built on the very spot where it stood of old, and be again inhabited; even in Jerusalem: on which occasion the eastern antichristian powers shall assemble against it, and God will save them, both in the country and city, in some most distinguished manner; so that his arm shall be visible, and the glory be ascribed to him alone. 2nd, To apply these great things to the days of the Maccabees, seems to enervate the prophesy; a greater than they is surely here intended.
1. All the enemies of Christ’s church and people shall be destroyed, as before was promised.
2. A spirit of grace, and supplications, and mourning, shall be poured forth upon all the people of God.
[1.] A spirit of grace; the Spirit of God shall be given to them, as a quickening, illuminating, converting sanctifying, comforting Spirit, the author of every divine and gracious temper in them, and witnessing to his own blessed work in the hearts of believers.
[2.] A spirit of supplications; for every gracious soul is immediately brought to his knees, and lives in an habitual course of waiting upon God; his soul can no more live without prayer than his body without breath: he is stirred up to the exercise of prayer, and assisted in the act by that Spirit of adoption which enables him to cry, Abba, Father, and helps his infirmities; and, in answer to his supplication, grace for grace is bestowed, by which means he increaseth with the increase of God.
[3.] A spirit of mourning. They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and mourn; see Joh 19:37. Their eye shall be directed in prayer to Christ, through whom alone the sinner has access to God; and the view of a crucified Jesus will melt their heart and make their eyes overflow. When we consider that he was wounded for our transgressions, that our sins were the nails, the spear which pierced the body of the Saviour, this will produce that godly sorrow which worketh repentance unto salvation not to be repented of; which nothing but faith, as placed before the cross, beholding the evil of sin, can ever beget in us: and this mourning will be heart-felt and bitter, like that of a parent for his first-born son, or like the several mournings of Israel for Benjamin at the rock Rimmon, Jdg 20:47 and for Josiah in the valley of Megiddon, where that pious king was slain, 2Ki 23:29. And this will be the case with every individual believer, with every family, with every society of real Christians; the highest in rank, and the holiest by office, shall herein set the example; and all shall concur in lamenting their sin and wickedness, and looking to Jesus for pardon and peace.
They who refer this to the people of the Jews particularly, suppose that at their conversion, which will be general and sudden, this shall be fulfilled; when, the veil being taken from their hearts, they shall behold that Messiah whom they crucified, and, returning to him with weeping and supplication, shall testify their unfeigned remorse and sorrow for that black deed.
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: 1258
THE MEANS OF EVANGELICAL REPENTANCE
Zec 12:10. 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 whom 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 first-born.
REPENTANCE is a subject, with which every one supposes himself to be sufficiently acquainted, but which is indeed very rarely understood. The Scriptures speak of a repentance unto salvation, not to be repented of [Note: 2Co 7:10.]; intimating thereby, that there is a repentance, which is not unto salvation; and which therefore itself needs to be repented of. The text in this view deserves our deepest attention, since it opens to us,
I.
The nature of evangelical repentance
The sorrow, produced in the heart of a true penitent, is exceeding deep
[Nothing can be more pungent than the grief of a parent who has lost his first-born, his only son [Note: Luk 7:12.]. Yet to that is the mourning of a penitent twice compared. In either case, the soul is bowed down greatly; it is indisposed for receiving gratifications from those vanities, with which it was before amused; and loves to indulge in pensive solitude, and painful reflections. The parents anguish indeed may be softened by the assiduities of surviving friends; and may wholly lose its pungency through the lapse of time. But nothing can mitigate the pangs of a wounded spirit, nothing silence the accusations of a guilty conscience, till the balm of Gilead, the blood of Jesus, be applied to it: nor even then will sin ever cease to be the grief and burthen of the soul [Note: Eze 16:63.].]
But repentance is then only to be called evangelical, when it has immediate respect to Christ
[Twice is it said in the text, that men shall mourn for him, that is, for Christ [Note: Comp. Joh 19:37.]. Not that the miseries, which Christ endured on the cross, are the proper grounds of a penitents sorrow; but rather, it is his grief that he has so dishonoured Christ by his sins, and that he has yet again and again crucified him afresh by continuing in sin. Many, who are not really humbled, are concerned for their sins as having subjected them to Gods displeasure [Note: Exo 10:16-17. 1Ki 21:29.]; but it is the true penitent alone, who mourns for sin, as dishonouring Christ, and as counteracting all the gracious purposes of his love.]
This will more fully appear by considering,
II.
The means by which it is to be attained
The effusion of the Spirit is the primary means of producing penitence in our hearts
[The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of grace and of supplication, because he is the Author and Giver of all grace, and because it is through his agency alone that we are able to pray. And this Spirit Christ will pour out upon us. He not only has a right to send the Holy Spirit, as being God equal with the Father, but in his mediatorial capacity he is authorized and empowered to send forth the Spirit, having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, on purpose that he may impart to us out of his own immeasurable fulness. To him all must look for this blessing [Note: Act 5:31.]; and all may look with an assurance of obtaining it, provided they truly and earnestly desire it [Note: Joh 14:13-17.]. The great and learned, the house of David, must submit themselves to his influence; nor shall the poorest or most illiterate of the inhabitants of Jerusalem be destitute of this mercy, if they will but ask it of their heavenly Father [Note: Luk 11:13.]. Nor till this Spirit convince us of our sin, can any of us know our state, so as to be suitably and abidingly affected with it [Note: Joh 16:7-8.].]
As a secondary mean, the Spirit turns our eyes unto a crucified Saviour
[Nothing but a view of Christ as dying for us, can ever thoroughly break our obdurate hearts. But this has a powerful tendency to produce ingenuous sorrow; because, while it shews us the malignity of sin in most awful colours, it discovers to us also the remedy provided for the expiation of sin. In the one view, we are humbled by a sense of our extreme vileness; in the other, we are overwhelmed with a sense of the Redeemers love: and a combination of these two effects constitutes that ingenuous shame and sorrow, which may be denominated evangelical repentance.]
We may improve this subject,
1.
For conviction
[All acknowledge that they need repentance, and profess an intention to repent. But let not any imagine that the slight acknowledgments, and faint purposes of amendment, which are usually made on dying beds, are sufficient. If the comparison in the text be just, nothing will suffice, but a heart broken and contrite under a sense of sin. And precisely such is the view which the Apostles also give of true repentance [Note: 2Co 7:11. Jam 4:9.]. O that we may never rest in any thing short of such repentance, lest, instead of looking now on Christ with salutary contrition, we behold him hereafter (as we must do) with endless and unavailing sorrow [Note: Rev 1:7.].]
2.
For encouragement
[Many are discouraged by reason of the hardness and obduracy of their hearts. Indeed we all feel, that notwithstanding we have so much cause to weep day and night for our sins, and are really desirous to do so, we can rarely, if ever, bring our souls to any measure of tenderness and grief. But let us look more at Christ as dying for us; and not confine our attention, as we too often do, to our sins. Let us particularly beg of Christ to pour out his Spirit upon us, and then the heart of stone shall soon give way to a heart of flesh [Note: Eze 36:26.]. The Spirit of grace and of supplications will easily effect, what, without his aid, is impossible to man: and the rocky heart, once struck by him, shall yield its penitential streams through all this dreary wilderness [Note: Alluding to Num 20:11.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
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 whom 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 first-born. 11 In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of IIadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. 12 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; 13 The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; 14 All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.
Here is the great Gospel promise of the New Testament dispensation; as Christ, with all his fulness, was the promise of the Old. And had the Prophet Zechariah been raised up by God the Holy Ghost, to have brought the Church of Jesus this one promise only, every true believer in Christ would have found cause to bless the Lord for the ministry of this man, through every period of the Church. This was, and is the great blessing in the charter of grace, which Jehovah promised Christ as God-man-Mediator in that covenant, as the result of his great undertaking. The Father engaged to give it to the seed of Christ, and to his offspring. And to this the Lord Jesus had an eye in all he told the Church concerning the Holy Ghost, and his seven-fold gifts, which should take place after his departure and return to glory, when he had finished redemption. See Isa 44:1-5 and Isa 59:21 . Hence all those blessed assurances of Christ we meet with in his farewell Sermons. Joh 14 ; Joh 15 and Joh 16 Chapters; in which the blessed Jesus hath so particularly described both the person and offices of God the Holy Ghost. I would beg the Reader to look at those scriptures I have referred to, and then read the account of the first outpouring of the Spirit, on the day of Pentecost, in confirmation of the same. Act 2 . throughout. And, as an antidote and preservative against the infidelity of the present adulterous and sinful generation, look at those scriptures also which tend to confirm the same, in assuring the Church, that the indwelling residence of the Holy Ghost in the hearts of believers, was promised in all ages of the Church, from the first descent of the Spirit, after Christ’s ascension, until Christ shall again return in glory. See Eph 4:8-13 ; 1Co 12 throughout. Act 19:2 ; Rom 8:9-17 . When the Reader hath paid all due attention to those several portions of the word of God, let him look attentively to this blessed verse of Zechariah. Let the Reader observe upon whom the effusions of the Holy Ghost is promised to be poured out; namely, the house of David, even our. Almighty David, Christ; and the whole inhabitants of his Church, Jerusalem; that is, both Jew and Gentile, agreeably to the Father’s promise. Isa 49:6 . I beg the Reader next to observe the characters marked of those blessed outpourings; namely, the spirit of grace, and of supplications. By the spirit of grace, we may include the whole gifts of God the Holy Ghost, teaching, illuminating, comforting, directing, and blessing the seed and offspring of Christ, in the knowledge and love of all the persons of the Godhead, for their merciful manifestations in the covenant of redemption. And by the spirit of supplications, must comprize the whole of prayer and praise, in the exercise of all those goings forth of the soul of a believer upon the person, work, and righteousness of the Lord Jesus. Psa 43:3-4 ; Rom 8:26-27 ; The verse then goes on to describe the result of the Spirit’s work in the heart; and they shall look on him whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him. Here we have not only a sure and unerring prophecy of Christ’s being pierced, but also a blessed prophecy of a work to be wrought by the Holy Ghost in the heart of all his redeemed. The believer is led by that grace poured out, so to look to Christ, as One whom we have pierced; that is, to see that our sins became the cause of Christ’s death. And the soul on whom the Holy Ghost pours out of his gracious influences, so beholds Christ, and so regards the cross. Not the Jews, not Herod, not Pontius Pilate, but my sins (the soul will then say) that crucified the Lord of life and glory. Hence will follow the mourning as for an only son, a bitterness as for a first born; that is, sincere heartfelt sorrow; nothing feigned, but real, deep, and lasting. The mourning is so great as to be compared to that in the sorrow of Hadadrimmon, in the valley of Megiddo. Some have thought that two seasons of Israel’s mourning are here referred to, The first in the destruction of the Benjamites, at the rock Rimmon. See Jdg 20:45-47 . And the other, in the instance of Josiah, killed at Megiddo. 2Ki 23:29-30 . But the Reader should further observe, that this mourning under the Spirit’s operations, is described, not only as a general mourning, in which the whole land. that is, the whole family of Christ, both Jew and Gentile, mourn; but special, and personal mourning. Sin is a personal thing, and therefore every individual child of God, groaning under sin, will feel that true sorrow, which a view of Christ on the cross, dying for sin, must and will occasion. The families apart, and their wives apart, seems to intimate; that these gracious impressions are to themselves secret and retired. The heart knoweth its own bitterness. Pro 14:10 . The ministers, the house of Levi, are said to weep between the porch and the altar. Joe 2:17 . Such is the spirit of grace and supplication, and such are the gracious effects!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Zec 12:10 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 whom 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.
Ver. 10. And I will pour upon the house of David ] Pour, as by whole pailfuls; God is no penny father; no small gifts fall from so great a hand; he gives liberally, Jas 1:15 , and is rich to all that call upon his name, Rom 10:12 ; abundant in kindness, Exo 34:6 , plenteous in mercy, Psa 103:8 ; the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ hath over abounded ( ), hath overflowed all the banks, 1Ti 1:14 , indeed, it hath neither bank nor bottom. Oh pray for that blissful sight, Eph 1:18 ; Eph 3:18-19 , that spirit of wisdom and revelation.
Of grace and of supplications
And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced
And they shall mourn for him
They shall mourn
And shall be in bitterness
As one that mourneth for his only son for his firstborn] sc. With a funeral sorrow; such as was that of the Shunammite, of the widow of Nain, and of Rachel, who refused to be comforted. There is an ocean of love in a father’s heart; as we see in Jacob towards Joseph, in David towards Absalom, in the father of the prodigal, &c. Christ was God’s only Son in respect of his Divine nature; he was also the firstborn among many brethren. And yet “God so loved the world,” &c. So? how? So as I cannot tell how; for this is a Sic So, without a Sicut: In the same way, even so should our sorrow be, for having a wicked hand in his dolorous death. The prophet here seems to be at a stand, as it were, whence to borrow comparisons to shadow it out by. Great is the grief of children for their deceased parents, as of Joseph for Jacob, Gen 50:1 , he fell upon his father’s face, as willing to have wept him alive again if possible. So our Edward I, returning from the wars in Palestine, rested himself in Sicily; where the death of his son and heir coming first to his ear, and afterwards of the king, his father, he much more sorrowed his father’s departure than his son’s; whereat King Charles, of Sicily, greatly marvelled, and, demanding the reason, had of him this answer: The loss of sons is but light, because they are multiplied every day; but the death of parents is irremediable, because they can never be had again. Thus he. Howbeit, love rather descendeth than ascendeth, and Abraham could better part with his father, Torah, than with his son, his only son Isaac, whom he loved, Gen 22:2 . Before he had him, Lord God, said Abraham, what wilt thou give me so long as I go childless? Gen 15:2 . His mouth was so out of taste with the sense of his want, that he could relish no comfort. But now to be bereft of him, and that in such a manner, as he might conceive by that probatory precept, Gen 22:2 , this must needs go to the very heart of him, for though he had put on grace, yet he had not put off nature. Both Jacob and Jacob’s father (as Junius understandeth that passage, Gen 37:35 ) wept savourly for Joseph, and would go down into the grave unto their son mourning. True it is, that the loss of some wife may be greater than the loss of some son (Abraham came from his own tent to Sarah’s tent to mourn for her, Gen 22:2 , and she was the first that we read of in Scripture mourned for), but the prophet here speaketh of the mourning of husband and wife together; and they can lose no greater outward blessing than their firstborn, if an only one especially.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Zec 12:10-14
10I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. 11In that day there will be great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo. 12The land will 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; 13the family of the house of Levi by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the Shimeites by itself and their wives by themselves; 14all the families that remain, every family by itself and their wives by themselves.
Zec 12:10 I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication The phrase I will pour out (BDB 1049, KB 1629, Qal PERFECT) is used quite often in the OT to denote God giving the Spirit (cf. Eze 39:29; Joe 2:28-29, a different word but same concept in Isa. 12:15; Isa 44:3). The terms grace (BDB 336, cf. Zec 4:7) and supplication (BDB 337, cf. Jer 31:9) are from the same root. This is a strong verse which emphasizes the national conversion of Israel to faith in God’s crucified (pierced) Messiah (cf. Rom 11:25-27; Joh 19:37; Rev 1:7). The physical deliverance of Zec 12:2-9 are not complete without the spiritual deliverance of Zec 12:10!
The phrase a spirit of (NRSV, NJB) or the Spirit (NASB, NKJV) has no ARTICLE in the Hebrew text. This is not a reference to the Holy Spirit, but the human spirit:
1. positive attributes
a. Deu 34:9, filled with the spirit of wisdom
b. Isa 28:6, a spirit of justice
2. negative attributes
a. Num 5:14; Num 5:30, a spirit of jealousy
b. Isa 19:4, a spirit of distortion
c. Isa 29:10, a spirit of deep sleep
d. Hos 4:12, a spirit of harlotry
These physically delivered Jewish people will be empowered by God to see and understand their spiritual need and God’s redemptive plan.
Other prophetic texts where the Spirit is poured out are Isa 44:3; Eze 39:29 and also the classic text of Joe 2:28. It is God who energizes and motivates the fallen human spirit to appropriate and righteous attitudes and actions.
so that they will look on Me The VERB (BDB 613, KB 661) is a Hiphil PERFECT. The Hebrew PREPOSITION translated on (BDB 39) in this verse should really be translated as to or unto (see New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, vol. 3, p. 9 and The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 683). It speaks of looking to this one for help or grace (cf. Num 21:9; Isa 45:22 for this usage of the PREPOSITION).
whom they have pierced This VERB (BDB 201, KB 230, Qal PERFECT) means to pierce through (kill, cf. Num 25:8; Jdg 9:54; 1Sa 31:4; 1Ch 10:4). This is a different word from the one in Isaiah 53, but the theological concept is exactly the same (cf. Joh 19:37; Rev 1:7).
they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only son The VERB (BDB 704, KB 763) is another Qal PERFECT. This seems to imply their repentance and faith (look to) in the one whom they had pierced (cf. Isa 53:5). The mourning (lit. wailing or lamenting BDB 704, cf. Zec 12:10-12) will be intense like that over an only son (cf. Jer 6:26), who in a Jewish home was an especially important person.
Zec 12:10 has been extremely difficult for the rabbis to interpret.
1. Therefore, they developed from this verse the concept of two Messiahs; one of the son of David and one of the son of Joseph, who was going to die (cf. the Babylonian Talmud, Sukkah, 52a). This same theory also appears among the Essenes of the Dead Sea community.
2. The modern translators of the Jewish Publication Society of America turn this verse into a lament by Israel to God to spare the remnant of the invading nations, but admits in the footnote that the Hebrew is uncertain.
they will weep bitterly The term (BDB 600, KB 638, Hiphil INFINITIVE ABSOLUTE), which is used twice, means a bitter outcry (cf. Isa 22:4).
Zec 12:11 In that day there will be great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo There have been many theories to try to describe what is referred to here:
1. the RSV and NRSV translate this as referring to a person
2. the KJV and NKJV, following Jerome, interpret this to refer to a city located four miles from Megiddo (the site of the end-time battle, cf. Zec 12:2-9)
3. recent scholars believe that this refers to a Canaanite deity, Ba’al, mentioned in 2Ki 5:18. This word, Hadadrimmon is made up of two proper names (one Syrian and one Assyrian) which are used in the OT for ancient deities
4. the term is ambiguous
It is possible that it refers to the mourning over Josiah’s death at this geographical location (609 B.C., cf. 2Ki 23:29 ff; 2Ch 35:20 ff). The exact allusion is uncertain, but great mourning occurred over something and this is simply the illustration used to back up the emphasis of Zec 12:10.
Zec 12:12 And the land will mourn This could mean several things.
1. the term land stands for the inhabitants of the land, as in Zec 12:12; Zec 13:8
2. the land is affected by human actions (e.g., Gen 3:17-19; Deuteronomy 27-29; Rom 8:19-25)
every family by itself This is a continuing emphasis on the gravity and extent of the mourning. The royal family is mentioned, David and his son Nathan (cf. 2Sa 5:14; 1Ch 3:5; 1Ch 14:4; Luk 3:31; this is the line of David [i.e., Judah]). Levi and his son (Shimeites) are mentioned in Num 3:18; 1Ch 6:17. The royal family and the priestly family (Shimeites were Levites, cf. Exo 6:16-17; Num 3:12-18; Num 3:21) are uniquely involved in this mourning as representatives of the entire people. It is also possible to note that Zechariah combined the royal and priestly roles (cf. Zechariah 3, 4, as well as Zec 6:9-15).
The Mishnah teaches that these verses prove that men and women should mourn and worship separately (cf. Sukkoth 51b, 52a).
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.
These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought-provoking, not definitive.
1. Is the continuing allusion in the prophets to the people of God’s battle with the surrounding nations a continuing event, a contemporary event of the prophet, or a future event? Why?
2. Why and how did the rabbis develop the theory of two Messiahs?
3. List the prophecies in this chapter which were fulfilled in the life of Jesus.
4. Will national Israel repent and turn to the Messiah one day? (Give references)
5. What is your interpretation of Zec 12:11 and why?
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
look = look attentively with hope and concern; as in Gen 19:17, Gen 19:26. Quoted in Mat 24:30. Joh 19:37. Compare the first occurance. (Gen 15:5), and Ex, Zec 33:8. This is the effect of the gift of the Spirit.
upon = unto.
Me, Western codices read “Me”; but the Eastern read “Him”, with one early printed edition.
Whom they have pierced. See Joh 19:34, Joh 19:37. Rev 1:7.
pierced. H eb, da kar. Occurs eleven times, and always means thrust through. Compare Zec 13:8.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Zec 12:10. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications:
This is a promise concerning Israel. Long have the Jews rejected the Christ, but the day is coming when they shall acknowledge Jesus of Nazareth to be the promised Messiah. In that day, this promise will be fulfilled. God must always give the spirit of grace ere men will pray aright; and wherever grace is given, there is always true prayer.
Zec 12:10. And they shall look upon me whom 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.
Discovering that they have rejected the true Messiah, they will be overcome with the most acute grief that was ever endured, grief altogether inconceivable.
Zec 12:11. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.
One of the greatest mournings that was ever known was that when Josiah was lain in battle, and the people lamented that their best of kings was so early taken away from them. Such shall be the sorrow that shall fall upon repenting Israel.
Zec 12:12. And the land shalt mourn, every family apart;
There shall be universal mourning throughout the whole land; yet it shall be special and particular to each household: every family apart.
Zec 12:12-14. 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.
True repentance is the distinct act of each individual. It cannot as a rule be performed in the mass. There is a general repentance which, like that of the Ninevites, has a special excellence about it, because it affects a whole city or nation; but that is not the kind of repentance which is described here. In this case, the sharpness of personal conviction of sin cuts and wounds the conscience of each individual, and there is a bitter cry uttered by each one as if he were the only sinner in the world. Oh, how sincerely you and I would repent if we felt as if we were the only ones who had ever broken Gods law; yet such a repentance as that we must feel if we would be personally forgiven.
This exposition consisted of readings from Zec 12:10-14; Zechariah , , 13 :l, 2.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Contrition
And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they shall look unto me whom 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.Zec 12:10.
This is one of the prophecies given to Israel during its later period, when the vigorous spiritual life of the nation had already departed. But Moses expressed the same thought in his prophetic prayer: Would God that all the Lords people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them! (Num 11:29). These prophecies are evidence of the Old Testament prophetic conviction that the dispensation of the Holy Spirit in those days was exceedingly limited; that the real dispensation of the Holy Spirit was still tarrying; and that only in the days of the Messiah was it to come in all its fulness and glory.
1. In this remarkable prophecy, dealing with national repentance, the state of things usually depicted in the Old Testament Scriptures is inverted; for while we are generally shown a people undergoing misery and suffering, and then raised, as the result, to heights of prosperity, we see here a people delivered from their straits and hardships and brought forth into a large place, and thereby awakened to a sense of fault, and laid low in the dust of contrition.
The Jewish Remnant returned from the Babylonian Captivity, and, occupied with efforts to re-establish themselves in their land and to rebuild their ruined Temple, were enduring many difficulties and severities, especially from the opposition of neighbouring tribes, whose hostility was for ever harassing and thwarting them; and into the breast of the anxious prophet, whose mission it was to cheer and animate, there steals, amid his broodings, a vision of all these pestering tribes, uniting at length in a tremendous assault upon the poor struggling Remnantto be utterly routed and destroyed. He sees Jerusalem made a cup of trembling to its foes; the Lord smiting every horse with astonishment and his rider with madness; the governors of Judahlike a hearth of fire among the wood, and like a flaming torch in a sheafdevouring the assailants on the right hand and on the left; the feeblest of Israel as irresistible as David, and the house of David as God. It was one of those visions, in dark times, of triumph and glory beyond that are never fulfilled; and, in dreaming thus of marvellous blessing for his country, Zechariah was only following in the wake of the prophets who had preceded him. His distinction is that he dreams of this splendid victory to come as bringing with it a great national mourning and lamentation for sin. He sees the whole land, not surrendered to rejoicing, not jubilant with feast and song, but clothed from end to end in sackcloth of repentancea solemn silence in the streets; every family withdrawn to weep apart. That was his idea of what should bea people stirred by extraordinary mercies to a deep impression of their unworthiness.
2. Sorrow or disaster, whether by inducing a humbler temper and self-estimate, or by giving an impression of wrath and punishment, or by desolating the external scene and driving the heart in upon itself, is often the means of rousing men to a recognition and conviction of their sins. It was so continually with the ancient Hebrews; reverse and suffering awoke them time after time to the error of their ways, and set them repentingwith tears, perhaps, that were sincere enough, and not without some temporary purifying effect. Is it not, however, a finer thing, and the sign of a finer nature, when good fortune provokes earnest thoughts with regard to duty and our imperfect discharge of it; when discontent with ourselves and our moral attainment, regret for past deficiencies and failings, with anxiety to be worthier than we are, are excited by signal benedictions, by some great deliverance or success; when, the more life smiles for us and brings us of pleasantness and beautiful possession, the more we yearn to be deserving? Such was the nobler disposition which Zechariah dreamt of being manifested in his countrymen. He imagined them no longer swept to repentance merely before the cutting blast of affliction, but softly constrained to it by the magnitude of their mercies; when most exalted and enriched in condition, then, most deeply penetrated with the sense of their shortcomings, and most burdened with aspiration to amend and excel. He saw the whole nation in the hour of their grand triumph moved to confess and renounce their sins at the feet of God; not, as we have often been called to do, in a season of sharp distress or imminent peril, when harvests have failed or pestilence has stalked through the land, but when trouble has given place to the brightness of unexampled prosperity. To be moved thus was something higher than Israel had yet attained to; and this, after all, is true gratitude to heaven beneath a shower of blessings; to have the sweet shower touching us with unrest and pain that we were not worthier, and kindling new solicitude for self-improvement. To give true thanks for what we receive is to throb with passion, to be comelier and more perfect men.
3. It is God Himself who begins the work of grace in the heart of man. I will pour outthe spirit of grace and supplication. It is not in fallen man to renew his own heart. Can the adamant turn itself to wax, or the granite soften itself to clay? Only He who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth can form and reform the spirit of man within him. The power to make the rock of our nature flow with rivers of repentance is not in the rock itself. As long as the heart is untouched by the spirit of grace, it either remains in a state of utter insensibility in reference to God and sin on the one hand, or, on the other hand, it is troubled with feelings of reproach and fear, but without being persuaded and changed. In ordinary circumstances the sinner is disposed to think as seldom as possible of God and the relation in which he stands to Him. There may be times, however, when he is shaken out of his habitual self-complacency. Possibly disease has seized upon him, and death seems in hard pursuit, and hell appears not far behind. Or the conscience is awakened, he cannot tell how, from its habitual lethargy; it speaks to him as one having authority, and summons him as it were to the bar of Gods judgment, to give an account of his actions. Now, the great body of mankind flit between these two extremes, being generally in a state of insensibility, but at times troubled with regrets as to the past and fears as to the future. But as the heart when in the one state, that of unconcern, is in a sinful condition, so in the other state, of mere compunction and fear, it is far from being in a healthy condition. We need the power from on high on the one hand to arouse us from our habitual carelessness, and on the other hand to conduct to genuine faith and true peace. We may seek for repentance, and like Esau seek it carefully with tears; but we can find no place for repentance till He who knows our hearts and has access to them unlocks them and opens up fountains within us. Mere natural reproaches of conscience and alarms of coming judgments may stun the heart for a time, but they cannot break or melt it.
4. When the heart grows sensitive to the touch of Gods Spirit, the result is seen in prayer and supplications. Prayer is just the breathing of the Spirit in us; power in prayer comes from the power of the Spirit in us, waited on and trusted in. Failure in prayer comes from feebleness of the Spirits work in us. Our prayer is the index of the measure of the Spirits work in us. To pray aright, the life of the Spirit must be right in us. For praying the effectual, much-availing prayer of the righteous man everything depends on being full of the Spirit. God in heaven gives His Spirit in our hearts to be there the Divine power praying in us, and drawing us upward to our God. God is a Spirit, and nothing but a like life and Spirit within us can hold communion with Him. It was for this that man was created, that God might dwell and work in him, and be the Life of his life. It was this Divine indwelling that sin lost. It was this that Christ came to exhibit in His life, to win back for us in His death, and then to impart to us by coming again from heaven in the Spirit to live in His disciples. It is this, the indwelling of God through the Spirit, that alone can explain and enable us to appropriate the wonderful promises given to prayer. God gives the Spirit as a spirit of supplication, too, to maintain His Divine life within us as a life out of which prayer ever rises upward.
McCheyne used to say that a great part of his time was occupied in getting his heart in tune for prayer. It does take time sometimes, and the heart never would get in tune if it were not for the Holy Spirit of God. It is He who prepares the heart for prayer; He who creates within us the desire to pray. This does not mean that we ought never to pray save as we are certain of the impulse of the Holy Spirit. We ought always to pray, and even though the heart be out of tune, though it be dull and cold and heavy, even though we do not feel like praying, we ought to bow humbly and reverently before God, and tell Him how cold and prayerless our hearts are, and as we thus wait in silence before Him our hearts will be warmed and stirred and strangely impressed with the mind of God, and coming thus into tune with the heart of God it shall be made indeed a heart of prayer.1 [Note: W. E. Biederwolf.]
We always receive three gifts from God when we pray humbly and earnestly. The first, St. Nilus says, is the gift of prayer itself. God wishes to bless thee for a longer time while thou art persevering in thy prayer; for what more blessed than to be detained in colloquy with God? We pretend for a while not to hear the petitions of those we love, because we so love to hear them asking. So Joseph feigned with his brethren. You say, observes St. John Climacus, I have received nothing from God, when all the while you have received one of His greatest gifts, perseverance in prayer. He delays to hear His saints, says St. Gregory, that He may increase their merits. By this perseverance we prepare ourselves to receive the Grace with much greater fruit than if it were given us at once. St. Isidore says, God delays to hear your prayer either because you are not in good dispositions to receive what you ask, or that you may be able to receive more excellent gifts which He is desirous of conferring upon you. So, says Gerson, it happens to us as it does sometimes to a beggar, to whom men give a more liberal alms because they have kept him waiting at their door so long.2 [Note: The Spirit of Father Faber (1914), 39.]
5. Supplication melts into contrition as we direct our eyes to the cross, which our sins erected. They shall look unto me whom they have pierced: and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son. Calvin and other commentators interpret the piercing of the text metaphorically for the continual provocation of their God. In the Septuagint the reading is, They shall gaze upon me because they insulted. But St. John, who, if he did not translate for himself from the Hebrew, used another version than the Septuagint, has, They shall look on him whom they pierced. The Fourth Evangelist, at any rate, has no hesitation in applying the prophecy to the piercing of the Saviour on Calvarys cross.
Many years ago there was a striking picture to be seen in one of the galleries of Paris. It was the picture of the dead Christ. On the left side was a child holding in its two tiny hands the pale, worn, strained Hand of the Saviour. The child had been gazing on the dark, blood-stained wound in the centre of the Palm, and the eyes were brimful of tears, the brows were knit, the face was grieved with anguish, and the lips quivered!1 [Note: F. Harper, Echoes from the Old Evangel, 44.]
You all remember the action of Michael Angelos Christ,the right hand raised as if in violence of reprobation; and the left closed across His breast, as refusing all mercy. The action is one which appeals to persons of very ordinary sensations, and is very naturally adopted by the Renaissance painter, both for its popular effect, and its capabilities for the exhibition of his surgical science. But the old painter-theologian [Orcagna], though indeed he showed the right hand of Christ lifted, and the left hand laid across His breast, had another meaning in the actions. The fingers of the left hand are folded, in both the figures; but in Michael Angelos as if putting aside an appeal; in Orcagnas, the fingers are bent to draw back the drapery from the right side. The right hand is raised by Michael Angelo as in anger; by Orcagna, only to show the wounded palm. And as, to the believing disciples, He showed them His hands and His side, so that they were glad,so, to the unbelievers, at their judgment, He shows the wounds in hand and side. They shall look on Him whom they pierced.2 [Note: Ruskin, Val d Arno, x. 256 (Works, xxiii. 149).]
(1) The cross reveals our sin.The vileness of an object is revealed by contrast with some other of perfect purity. The shadows of the mountains are best realized when we can contrast them with their lights; dark caves are appreciated properly only in the day, as they defy the sunbeams of heaven. So is it with these vile souls of ours; they never seem so vile as when they are brought alongside the pure heart of Christ, and are seen in their natural relations to Him.
(2) The cross condemns our sin.It is apparently easy to shuffle off responsibility by affirming that we were not partakers in the blood of the prophets, that we were not parties to the crucifixion of Christ; we may even subscribe, as the Jews did, to build monuments for the martyrs, and condemn their murderers, yet our spirits may be all the while such as to make us responsible for the past. We cannot cut ourselves adrift from our antecedents or our ancestry, as sailors slip a cable in the night. Christ indeed affirmed a principle in His day about descending and accumulating responsibility which we must recognize. He told His contemporaries that their treatment of Himself demonstrated that they were the persecuting children of those persecuting sires who had shed the blood of the prophets, and that all that blood would be required of them since they were about to murder Him. Their repudiation of the murder of the prophets, their subscriptions to build their tombs, their effort to sever themselves from the responsibilities of the past, would not avail them so long as they cherished vindictive feelings towards the incarnate God.
(3) The cross is the instrument of true repentance.We cannot intelligently contemplate the crucifixion without feeling that our spiritual attitude is naturally such towards Christ as to involve us in the crime of His death. Sin we see clearly is Deicide, and deserves death and exile from God for ever. We come, in fact, through the cross into a state of apprehension lest the just judgment of God overtake us on account of sin.
But once the love of the cross is felt as a regenerating power, we come to feel very differently regarding our sins. That is to say, we do not so much fear the punishment they deserve, we do not sorrow over them as those that have no hope, but we come to sorrow over them as wrongs done to our nearest and dearest friend, and we turn from them and from ourselves with deepest loathing. In a word, we come to sympathize with the law that condemns us; we take Gods side against ourselves, and hate the sin more than we fear the punishment.
(4) This repentance is of a most thoroughgoing kind.The grief for sin itself is overborne and compassed about by the greater grief occasioned by the sad results of sin upon the person of the pierced One. Sin is grieved over as it is against the Lord: even as David cries, Against thee, thee only, have I sinned. The mourning of a penitent is not because of hell; if there were no hell he would mourn just as much. His grief is not for what sin might cost himself, but for what it has cost the Substitute. He bemoans himself thus: Oh, how could I have pierced Him? How could I have wounded the Beloved? Lover of my soul, how could I have pierced Thee? True penitents smite upon their breasts as they behold their Saviour bleeding on the tree. This is genuine contrition.
They shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. The Israelite was specially sensitive concerning the death of his offspring. To lose his firstborn was as when a nation loses its prince. To lose his only son was to quench the light of the house. The old man mourns, I am as good as dead. I am blotted out of the book of the living, for I have now no son to bear my name. The lamp has gone out in my tent, for my son, my only son, my firstborn, has gone down to the gates of the grave! The case was hopeless for the future; none remained to continue his family among those who sit in the gate, and the old man rent his clothes and wept sore.
The prophet could not recollect any mourning which he had ever heard of that was like it, except the lamentation of the people for the death of Josiah. Then all Judah mourned, and Jeremiah wrote sad dirges, and other prophets and poets poured forth their lamentations. Everywhere throughout the land there went up an exceeding great and bitter cry, for the good king had fallen, and there were no princes of like mind to follow him. Alas, poor nation, it was thy last bright hour which saw him ride to the battle; in his death thy star has set! In the valley of Hadadrimmon the lamentation began, but it spread through all the land. The fatal fight of Megiddo was mourned by every woman in Jerusalem. Bravely had Josiah kept his word, and sought to repel the Egyptian invader; but the hour of Judahs punishment was come and Josiah died. A mourning as sincere and deep comes to us when we perceive that Jesus died for us. Blessed be His name; the joy that comes of it when we see sin put away by His death turns all the sorrow into joy.
The text is one of those prophetic passages which, viewed from whatever standpoint, are luminous with rays of prophetic anticipation. Jehovah speaks. The time cometh when the rebellious people shall mourn, beholding the pierced One. That piercing became a possible and literal event when the Incarnate Son of Jehovah yielded His body to the nails and to the spear. The evangelist St. John quotes the ancient prediction, They shall look on him whom they pierced, as having become a fact through the cross on Calvary. His application of the words to Christ expresses a prophecy of continued fulfilment in the New Testament age. The words of Zechariah are a Messianic prophecy, and applicable only and wholly to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We see the fulfilment of them commencing in the circumstances of His crucifixion, but continued in a nobler sense after Pentecost, when many of those who had clamoured for His blood, looked back with horror on their deed, and, repenting, were converted. We find the prophecy fulfilled in the mental gaze on Him whom their sins have pierced, which is repeated in the daily conversion of souls, both of Gentile and of Jew. That look is the essence of Christian worship, in the approach to God through Christ the crucified, in the continual memorial of Christs death at the altar, in the observance of holy Passiontide.1 [Note: G. H. Gwilliam, in The Expository Times, xi. 395.]
6. Contrition issues in cleansing. The prophet goes on to promise in the name of God, 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. We are delivered from guilt, we are saved from sin, through the grace and Spirit of God. A radical change is wrought within us; grace bringeth salvation; what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. The blood shed, instead of crying out for vengeance, is found to cry out for pardon to be extended to the guilty; the place of our deep conviction becomes the scene of our deliverance. The valley of Achor is constituted a door of hope; inability yields to the triumphant grace of God; salvation reaches us through the cross.
The propitiation of His blood lies on our part in its humbling, convicting, melting power upon human souls, in the power which it has to make us ashamed, and discontented with our poor quality, with our low level, and to agitate us with strong sighs after nobler being and living. In proportion as He sets us weeping with pungent regret and wistful aspiration, there is a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness.
It was from this passage that Cowper got his idea of the guilt-cleansing fountain of Christs blood; yet, instead of a fountain filled with the blood of an atoning victim, what the Jewish writer had evidently in his mind was a fountain filled with the tears of the peoples genuine and deep contrition. Such was the fountain in which he conceived of them as losing all their guilty stains. Like another Jewish writer, he had learnt to feel, Thou desirest not sacrifice; thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. He saw heavens pardon granted at once to repentance. What a fountain for washing, he thought, in those silent and sincere tears of which I dream!1 [Note: S. A. Tipple.]
In a work jointly written by [the Quaker saint] William Bayley [who died in 1675] and John Crook, the following remarks occur:We do in the sight of God really own the blood of the Son of Man, both as bespeaking the remission of sin past, through faith in it, and as sprinkling the conscience of true believers, and cleansing them from all sin. By all which it is manifest to be of infinite value. But because we testify that it is not the bare, historical, and literal belief of those things that justifies or makes us really free from that wrath which comes upon every soul of man that doeth evil; but only the life and virtue of this blood, received into the heart by that living faith which Christ alone is author of: therefore we are branded with slighting the blood of the Christ though we testify that without the life and virtue of this blood there is no remission.2 [Note: F. A. Budge, Annals of the Early Friends, 211.]
Contrition
Literature
Biederwolf (W. E.), How Can God Answer Prayer? 125.
Bonar (H.), Light and Truth: Old Testament, 364.
Edgar (R. M.), The Philosophy of the Cross, 160.
Harper (F.), Echoes from the Old Evangel, 44.
Kuyper (A.), The Work of the Holy Spirit, 114.
McCheyne (R. M.), Memoir and Remains, 465.
McCosh (J. M.), Gospel Sermons, 46.
Murray (A.), The Ministry of Intercession, 116.
Oosterzee (J. J. van), The Year of Salvation, i. 466.
Paget (F. E.), Helps and Hindrances to the Christian Life, i. 135.
Smellie (A.), In the Hour of Silence, 203.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, x. (1864), No. 575; xxiii. (1877), No. 1362; xxxiii. (1887), No. 1983; 1. (1904), No. 2901.
Vaughan (J.), Sermons (Brighton Pulpit), New. Ser., xxv. (1885), No. 1296.
Christian World Pulpit, xxiii. 237 (S. A. Tipple); lxvii. 185 (G. Body).
Church of England Pulpit, lix. 182 (G. Body).
Church Pulpit Year Book, 1912, p. 52.
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
I will pour: Pro 1:23, Isa 32:15, Isa 44:3, Isa 44:4, Isa 59:19-21, Eze 39:29, Joe 2:28, Joe 2:29, Act 2:17, Act 2:33, Act 10:45, Act 11:15, Tit 3:5, Tit 3:6
the house: Zec 12:7
the spirit: Psa 51:12
of supplications: Jer 31:9, Jer 50:4, Rom 8:15, Rom 8:26, Eph 6:18, Jud 1:20
they shall look: That this relates to the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth, and to his being pierced by the soldier’s spear, we have the authority of the inspired apostle John for affirming; and this application agrees with the opinion of some of the ancient Jews, who interpret it of Messiah the son of David, as Moses Hadarson, on Gen. 28, though Jarchi and Abarbanel refer it to the death of Messiah the son of Joseph, whom they say was to be the suffering Messiah, while the former is to be the triumphant Messiah. Psa 22:16, Psa 22:17, Joh 1:29, Joh 19:34-37, Heb 12:2, Rev 1:7
they shall mourn: Jer 6:26, Amo 8:10, Mat 24:30, Mat 26:75, Act 2:37, 2Co 7:9-11
Reciprocal: Gen 21:16 – Let Gen 45:3 – for they Exo 12:8 – with bitter Lev 3:2 – kill it Lev 23:27 – afflict Num 21:9 – when he Num 24:17 – I shall see him Num 29:7 – afflict Deu 16:3 – the bread Deu 30:2 – return unto Jdg 2:4 – the people Jdg 11:34 – neither 1Sa 7:2 – lamented 1Ki 8:47 – saying 1Ki 17:17 – the son of the woman Ezr 10:1 – weeping Ecc 7:3 – is better Isa 29:24 – also Isa 45:22 – Look Jer 3:21 – A voice Jer 31:19 – Surely after Eze 7:16 – mourning Eze 20:43 – and ye shall Eze 36:27 – I will Eze 36:31 – shall loathe Eze 37:14 – shall put Joe 2:12 – with fasting Zec 13:1 – the house Zec 13:9 – they shall call Mat 5:4 – General Mat 23:39 – Blessed Mat 26:24 – Son of man goeth Luk 7:12 – the only Luk 7:38 – weeping Luk 8:42 – one Luk 8:52 – all Luk 9:38 – for Luk 13:35 – Blessed Luk 22:62 – and wept Luk 23:33 – they crucified Luk 23:35 – the people Luk 24:44 – in the prophets Joh 16:8 – he will Joh 16:14 – for Joh 19:37 – They Act 2:38 – and ye Act 3:18 – all Act 5:31 – to give Act 9:11 – for Act 11:18 – granted Act 26:23 – Christ Rom 11:23 – General 2Co 7:11 – that Gal 3:14 – might Eph 2:18 – by 2Ti 2:25 – if Tit 2:11 – the grace Heb 6:1 – repentance Heb 6:6 – they crucify Heb 10:29 – the Spirit Jam 4:9 – afflicted 1Pe 1:12 – sent
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Zec 12:10. This spirit of supplication was to be caused by the awful treatment accorded the Son of God in the city of Jerusalem. We are sure this is the meaning of this passage, for it is quoted and so applied in Joh 19:37. The remainder of the verse applies to others who were to be grieved over the cruel treatment given to Jesus. For the proof of this see Joh 16:20.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Zec 12:10. And I will pour, &c. Gods signal interposition in behalf of Judah and Jerusalem, after their future restoration, having been foretold, the prophet proceeds to foretel their conversion to Christianity. But though the prophet speaks of this after he has foretold their restoration, it does not follow that it shall take place after that event. It is certainly much more probable that they will first be brought to repentance for the sin of rejecting and crucifying their Messiah, and to believe in him with their heart unto righteousness, and then that God will bestow upon them that great mercy of re-establishing them in the possession of Canaan: see note on Zec 12:2. The Jews had stumbled and fallen at the stone of stumbling and rock of offence, the Messiah, in his humble appearance, as Isaiah foretold. That no one might be surprised at this sudden change of their affairs, [namely, their restoration to their own land, and their prosperity therein,] Zechariah tells us, they should themselves be first changed, and repent heartily of that sin which had been the cause of their fall, for God should pour out on them the spirit of grace and supplication, that they might look with compunction of heart on him whom they had pierced; and he should, by his Spirit, improve those good dispositions into a thorough conviction of his being the Messiah, whom they had rejected: for this they should weep bitterly, Zec 12:11, and make earnest supplications till received again into his grace and favour. This done, it follows, Zec 13:1, In that day shall a fountain be opened, &c. Now who were they whose sin and uncleanness were washed away, but the house of David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the same who had sinned, and mourned, and repented, and were therefore pardoned? What did they mourn for, but for him whom they had pierced, and whose death they had bewailed with all the solemnities of true mourners? It was then the act and sin of the house of David, and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that they pierced and slew him whom they now looked upon; for which their land was treated as polluted, and removed out of Gods sight into captivity, not to be restored to them till their sin was remitted upon their true repentance. Thus much is evident from the context: see Chandlers Defence, and Dodd.
But though this passage may chiefly relate to the future and general conversion of the Jews to the Christian faith, Which St. Paul calls life from the dead, and therefore will not receive its full accomplishment till that event takes place; yet it may also be understood of some other prior conversions of the Jewish people, and particularly of those of the many thousands brought to repentance by the preaching of John the Baptist, of Christ, and his apostles. For it appears from the accounts we have in the New Testament, that though the rulers and leading men among the Jews were not converted in that age of the Christian Church, yet a vast number of the people were. So that this prophecy has, in some degree at least, been already fulfilled, and the spirit of grace and supplication hath been poured out in a measure, if not upon the house of David, yet upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem. In the expression, They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, (the words being spoken by God,) is implied, that in the piercing of Christ, God himself, figuratively speaking, was pierced through the wounds of his beloved Son, he being infinitely dear to his heavenly Father, and his cause the cause of God. This passage is undoubtedly cited in St. Johns gospel, Joh 19:37. , They shall look on him whom they have pierced. For although the present Hebrew text is, , They shall look unto me, between forty and fifty MSS. are produced which read , unto him, with the concurrence of other authorities. They shall mourn for him They shall heartily lament the crucifying of the Lord Jesus, not only as the sinful, cruel act of their fathers, but as that in which their sins had a great share. As one mourneth for his only son With an unfeigned and real, a great and long-continued, a deep and lasting sorrow, such as is the sorrow of a father on the death of an only son: they shall retain it inwardly, and express it outwardly, as in the funeral mournings on such occasions. And shall be in bitterness for him True repentance will bitterly lament the sins that brought sorrows and pain upon the Son of God.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
12:10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of {e} grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have {f} pierced, and they shall mourn for {g} him, as one mourneth for [his] only [son], and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for [his] firstborn.
(e) They will have the feeling of my grace by faith, and know that I have compassion on them.
(f) That is, whom they have continually vexed with their obstinacy, and grieved my Spirit. In Joh 19:37 it is referred to Christ’s body, whereas here it is referred to the Spirit of God.
(g) They will turn to God by true repentance, whom before they had so grievously offended by their ingratitude.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Israel’s national conversion 12:10-14
The focus now changes from physical to spiritual deliverance (cf. Deu 30:1-10).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The Lord also promised to pour out on the Davidic rulers and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, representing all the Israelites, a spirit of remorse. Grace would be the motive for this outpouring, and supplication to God (for what the Jews had done to their Messiah) would be the result. This God-given conviction would cause them to mourn when they looked (in faith) to Him (better than on Him) whom they had formerly pierced (i.e., slain; cf. Num 21:9; Isa 45:22; Isa 53:5; Joh 3:14-15; Joh 19:34).
"It is not so much a mourning for the act committed, but for the Person involved. Compare Joh 19:37; Rev 1:7." [Note: Feinberg, God Remembers, p. 231.]
"The idea is that they will humble themselves and recognize that they were saved by another whom they pierced." [Note: Smith, p. 277.]
They would mourn as one mourns over the death of one’s only (beloved, cf. Gen 22:2; Jer 6:26; Amo 8:10) son or his or her firstborn son.
"It is a picture of penitence as vivid and accurate as any found anywhere in the Scriptures." [Note: Chambers, p. 94, in Lange’s commentary.]
The Jews will do this either just before the Messiah returns to the earth or when He returns to the earth (cf. Isa 27:9; Isa 59:20-21; Jer 31:31-37; Amo 9:11-15; Rom 11:25-27; Rev 1:7). The spirit in view will be a result of the ministry of the Holy Spirit who conveys grace (compassion; cf. Heb 10:29) and calls forth supplication (prayer; cf. Isa 32:15; Isa 44:3; Isa 59:20-21; Jer 31:31; Jer 31:33; Eze 36:26-27; Eze 39:29; Joe 2:28-29). The coming of the messianic kingdom is contingent on Israel’s repentance, God’s sovereign control, and the Spirit’s enabling grace. [Note: See Stanley D. Toussaint and Jay A. Quine, "No, Not Yet: The Contingency of God’s Promised Kingdom," Bibliotheca Sacra 164:654 (April-June 2007):131-47.]
The unusual combination "they will look to Me whom they have pierced" and "they will mourn for Him" suggests two different individuals, but the deity of the Messiah solves this problem. Yahweh Himself would suffer for the people in the person of Messiah. The suffering could be figurative (they wounded His holiness) or substitutionary (He died in place of others). Other references to this text point to a substitute suffering (e.g., Joh 19:37; Rev 1:7; cf. Isa 53:5; Isa 53:8).
". . . like Thomas their excruciating and inexpressibly penetrating cry of deepest contrition will be, ’My Lord and my God!’ (Joh 20:28)." [Note: Unger, p. 217.]