Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Zechariah 13:9

And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It [is] my people: and they shall say, The LORD [is] my God.

9. the third part ] Comp. Rom 11:5.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

I will bring the third part through the fire – Such is always Gods ways. Thou hast proved us, O God; Thou hast tried us, like as silver is tried. Thou broughtest us into the snare, Thou laidest trouble upon our loins: we went through fire and water, and Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place Psa 66:9-11. I have refined thee, but not with silver, I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction Isa 48:10; and, Through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of God Act 14:22.

Dionysius: In adversity virtue is most tried, and it is shown what advance a person has made; for patience hath a perfect work Jam 1:4; and it is called the touchstone of all other virtues, as is written; God tried His elect as gold in the furnace and received them as a burnt offering ; and, All the faithful who have pleased the Lord have passed through many tribulations . And the angel Raphael saith to Tobias, Because thou wert accepted of God, need was that temptation should prove thee . Adversities are granted to the elect of God, and therefore to be rejoiced in with the whole heart. Fire, crosses, racks were prepared; swords executioners torturers were put in action; new forms of suffering were invented, and yet Christian virtue remained moveless, unconquered: the fiercer the onslaught, the more glorious was the triumph. : The more suffered, the more believed in Christ. Osorius: Whose virtue they adimired, these they imitated, and shared the suffering, that they might be partakers of the glory. This was that fire, whereby God willed that His own should be tried and purified, that, with Christ whom they gave themselves to imitate, they might enjoy everlasting glory.

I will bless him and will say, It is My people – Dionysius: not only by creation as the rest, but by devotion and worship, by predestination and infusion of grace, by singular Providence, by mutual love; and it shall say, The Lord is my God, whom alone above all things, I long for, love, worship.

This promise is oftentimes renewed through the prophets, oftentimes fulfilled in Christ, whenever the Church is recalled from listlessness by fiery trials, and through them her children are restored to deeper devotedness and closer union with God.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Zec 13:9

And I will bring the third part through the fire

Trials and triumphs of the Christian

This chapter, though consisting of nine verses only, is a little Gospel.

In some of the preceding verses are to be found all the particulars of the Gospel–such as, the substitution of Christ as a sacrifice in behalf of His offending people, the satisfaction made to Divine justice by His death, the purification of the Church through sanctified afflictions, the blessed privileges and intercourse they are allowed to enjoy with their God and Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ. The text was fulfilled when the nation was destroyed by the Roman army, and when, amidst all the dreadful scenes which were then beheld, He preserved His own people. This is the primary meaning of the text, but it refers also to the dealings of God with all His people, in all generations of the Church, down to the end of time. The words describe the trials and triumphs of Gods people. The trials which come before their triumphs in some cases, and the triumphs which accompany their trials in others.

I. The trials of the children of God. I will bring them through the fire.

1. This implies that He will bring them into the fire. Afflictions are our lot. They are what we must expect. We may resist them, avoid them, be angry with them, harden our hearts under them, ascribe them to second causes, but we cannot escape them.

2. The nature of afflictions. They are called fire, which denotes the severity of the Divine chastenings. Afflictions must be felt, or they are not afflictions. If we do not feel, the end of these afflictions is not answered.

3. The end and design of affliction. I will bring them through the fire. God does not chastise for the sake of chastising. Fire is searching, and fire is purifying.

II. The triumphs of the Christian.

1. Ultimate deliverance. It is a happiness to know that He can bring you through, and a still greater happiness to know that He will bring you through.

2. Communion with God. They that belong to God make their requests known to Him. He has commanded and encouraged them to do this. In this we may win a triumph.

3. Covenant relation to God is another part of the Christians triumph. God owns them in adversity. There is no backwardness on the part of the believer to own the relationship when God says that it exists. (W. Thomas.)

As silver is refined

I saw in Rome, says a modern writer, an old coin, a silver denarius, all coated and crusted with green and purple rust. I called it rust, but was told that it was copper, the alloy thrown out from the silver until there was none left within; the silver was all pore. It takes ages to do it, but it does get done. Souls are like that. Something moves in them slowly, till the debasement is all thrown out. Some day, perhaps, the very tarnish shall be taken off. Well, there is this alloy, this tarnish in all of us, and the education of life is to purge it all away–by sorrows, by disappointments, by failures, by judgments–

By fires far fiercer than are blown to prove

And purge the silver ore adulterate.

(Great Thoughts.)

Gods method of dealing with His people

The wisdom, sovereignty, and power of the Supreme Ruler are nowhere more clearly and impressively set forth and illustrated than in the fundamental methods which mark His government of mankind. What these methods or principles are it is not difficult to determine from Scripture and providence. And the choice of methods and the disclosure of them are made for the purposes of instruction and moral discipline. Among these methods are the following–

1. Agencies wholly inadequate, seemingly, to accomplish purposes so grand and infinite.

2. Instruments, weak and foolish in themselves, chosen to confound things that are mighty–the wisdom, philosophy, pride, and wealth of the world.

3. Gods method is one to compel faith–the whole structure of the Supernatural rests on faith.

(1) It is true in regard to the Scriptures. From Genesis to Revelation we see as through a glass, darkly. God gives light enough to discern duty, but not to satisfy a thousand anxieties. We must believe, trust, patiently wait, or perish.

(2) Providence is a book full of painful mysteries. We cannot break the seals and interpret. Darkness that may be felt encompasses our path here. We are shut up to faith.

4. The Divine method is the method of severe discipline. By the way of the Cross to the Crown! Fellowship in suffering the condition of joint heirship in glory. Whom He loves He rebukes and chastens.

5. Gods method is one of slow growth and development. Light, grace, prosperity, favour, discipline, as we can bear it.

6. Gods method of dealing has respect to that system of rewards and punishments which forms a part of His moral government. Sin and misery, virtue and happiness, obedience and reward, are so conjoined in this life that no man can mistake the will of God, or reasonably doubt that the law of eternal rectitude is bound ultimately to prevail.

7. Occasionally by terrible acts of righteousness God reveals Himself to the nations, that all the earth may know there is a God in Israel. (Homiletic Monthly.)

I will say, It is My people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God–

Intercommunion between God and man

What a vivid representation this passage affords of the personality of God! Here He appears as One who thinks, observes, feels, and purposes; a far higher and juster view of the Eternal Power than that which sees only abstract law behind and above Nature. And how striking is the intercommunion here pictured between the Creator and His creatures! Owing to man having been made in the Divine image, he is capable of spiritual intercourse with his Maker. And what a delightful intimacy distinguishes this communion!

I. The voice of God–It is My people.

1. My rightful people. The Lord of all asserts His authority, puts forward His claim. This is a view of religion often overlooked. We are Gods by right.

2. My loved people. We hear in this utterance the tone of affection. There is a touching tenderness in the possessive my, in such expressions as my friend, my father, my son, my husband, my wife. So here, when the Lord says, My people.

3. My redeemed people.

4. My sealed people. It is usual to mark property with the owners name. It is by the renewed character and the obedient life that the Lords property in His own people is most surely attested. The Lord knoweth them that are His, and, Let everyone that nameth the name of the Lord depart from iniquity. Religion may be regarded as consisting of mans acknowledgment of Gods revelation; an acknowledgment which is first of the heart–when it is faith; next of the language–when it is confession; and further, of the life–when it is obedience.

II. The voice of man. The Lord is my God.

1. This cry is a response to the Divine assurance. It is the faithful echo to the heavenly voice.

2. The Lord alone is our God, whom we honour supremely. None other divides our heart with Him.

3. The Lord is our God to trust. The greatest and most pressing need of man in this life is One upon whom his weakness and helplessness can absolutely rely.

4. The Lord is our God, to appropriate and enjoy. What gladness fills the soul when a long hoped for discovery has been made, a long sought treasure found, a long lost friend recovered!

5. The Lord is our God, to serve and glorify.

6. The Lord is our God forever. Our God is the eternal God. (J. R. Thomson, M. A.)

.

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 9. I will bring the third part through the fire] The Christian Church shall endure a great fight of afflictions, by which they shall be refined-not consumed.

They shall call on my name] In this way shall they offer all their prayers and supplications to God.

I will say, It is my people] The Church that I have chosen in the place of the Jews who have filled up the measure of their iniquity.

And they shall say, The Lord is my God] And thus communion shall be established between me and them for ever. Thus there shall be a general restoration.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

I will bring the third part through the fire; that part that is preserved shall be brought into afflictions, hot as fire.

And will refine them as silver is refined; these afflictions shall purify them, and so better them, as silver and gold are bettered by the furnace, made fitter to be vessels of honour.

They shall call on my name; pray to me, and own me for their God.

I will hear; I will answer them, and own them for my people, my purified people, &c.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

9. through . . . fireof trial(Psa 66:10; Amo 4:11;1Co 3:15; 1Pe 1:6;1Pe 1:7). It hence appears thatthe Jews’ conversion is not to precede, but to follow, their externaldeliverance by the special interposition of Jehovah; which lattershall be the main cause of their conversion, combined with apreparatory inward shedding abroad in their hearts of the Holy Spirit(Zec 12:10-14); andhere, “they shall call on My name,” in their trouble, whichbrings Jehovah to their help (Ps50:15).

my people (Jer 30:18-22;Eze 11:19; Eze 11:20;Hos 2:23).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And I will bring the third part through the fire,…. Into tribulation, as the Targum explains it; or into great distresses, comparable to fire, as Kimchi observes; this is the hour of temptation that will be in the Philadelphian church state, Re 3:10. Daniel’s time of trouble, such as there never was since there was a nation, Da 12:1 and the time of the slaying of the witnesses, Re 11:7:

and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried; their graces, principles, and profession, will be tried; their dross and tin will be removed, and they will be purged and purified; a more pure and glorious state of the church will take place, in which there will be great purity of Gospel worship, discipline, and conversation; when the word will be more purely preached, the ordinances more purely administered, and the saints will live more holy lives and conversations, signified by the witnesses ascending up into heaven, Re 11:12:

they shall call on my name; which includes the whole of divine worship, and particularly designs prayer, that pure offering and incense, which shall now be offered to the name of the Lord in every place, Mal 1:11 hence it follows,

and I will hear them; accept their prayers, and give an answer to them: so the Targum paraphrases the words,

“he shall pray in my name, and I will receive his prayer:”

I will say, It [is] my people; the Lord will make it appear to themselves and others that they are his special, peculiar, and covenant people, by calling them out of Babylon; by bestowing his favours upon them; and by granting his presence with them, as well as by the witnessing of his Spirit to them; see Re 18:4:

and they shall say, The Lord [is] my God: they shall know him to be their covenant God and Father, and claim their interest in him, and acknowledge him as such; which is the greatest happiness that can be enjoyed, Ps 144:15.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Zechariah proceeds further here, that when God shall cut off two parts of the people, he will yet save the third for this end — that it might be proved by various kinds of trials, and be made to bear many afflictions. With regard to the two parts, the Lord did not afflict them in order to turn them to repentance, but resolved wholly to destroy them. The third part then is reserved for salvation; and yet it is necessary even for them to be cleansed through many afflictions.

Very useful is this doctrine; for we hence first conclude that many, not only from the world, are led into perdition, but also from the bosom of the Church: for when three hundred shall profess to worship God, one hundred only, says Zechariah, will be saved. There are always among the people many hypocrites; nay, the grains lie hid in the midst of much chaff and refuse; it is therefore necessary to devote to ruin and eternal death a larger number than those who shall be saved. Let us then not envy the ungodly, though their prosperity may disturb us and cause us to grieve. (Psa 37:2.) We think them happy; for while God spares and supports them, they deride us and triumph over our miseries. But under this circumstance, the Holy Spirit exhorts us to bear patiently our afflictions; for though for a time the happiness of the ungodly may goad us, yet God himself declares that they are fattened in order to be presently slain, when they shall have gathered much fatness. This is one thing.

Then it is in the second place added, that after the greater part, both of the world and of the Church, (at least such as profess to belong to it,) shall be destroyed, we cannot be retained in our position, except God often chastises us. Let us then remember what Paul says, that we are chastised by the Lord, that we may not perish with the world; and the metaphors which the Prophet adopts here are to the same purpose; for he says, I will lead them through the fire. He speaks here of the faithful whom God has chosen into salvation, and whom he has reserved that they might continue safe: yet he says, that they shall be saved through fire, that is, hard trials. But he sets forth this still more clearly, He will prove them, he says, as silver and gold (176) The stubble and the chaff, as John the Baptist teaches us, are indeed cast into the fire, (Mat 3:12,) but without any benefit; for the fire consumes the refuse and the chaff, and whatever is corruptible. But when the gold and the silver are put in the fire and are purified, it is done that greater purity may be produced, and also that what is precious in these metals may become more apparent: for when the silver is drawn out of the mine, it differs not much from what is earthy. The same is the case with gold. But the furnace so purifies the gold and silver from their dross, that they attain their value and excellency. Hence Zechariah says, that when God casts his faithful people into the fire, he does this according to his paternal purpose in order to burn out their dross, and thus they become gold and silver who were before filthy and abominable, and in whom much dross abounded. We see then that the elect of God, even those who may be rightly counted his children, are here distinguished from the reprobate, however they may profess God’s name and worship.

Now this passage is not inconsistent with that in Isaiah,

“

I have not purified thee as silver and gold, for thou hast been wholly consumed.” (Isa 48:10.)

Though God tries his elect by the fire of afflictions, he yet observes moderation; for they would wholly faint were he to purify them to the quick. It is however necessary to pass through this trial of which the Prophet now speaks: and thus the state of the Church is here described — that it ought to be always and continually cleansed, for we are altogether unclean; and then, after God has washed us by his Spirit, still many spots of uncleanness remain in us; besides, we contract other pollutions, for it cannot be but that much contagion is derived from those vices by which we are on every side surrounded.

He now adds, He will call on my name, and I will answer him (177) With this consideration God mitigates what was in itself hard and grievous. It is hard to see so many dreadful evils, when God treads under foot the greater part of the world, and when his vengeance bursts forth on the Church itself, so that his severity on every side fills us with fear. But this also is added — that we are daily to feel the fire, as though God meant to burn us, while yet he does not consume us. Hence the Prophet shows how these miseries are to be sweetened to us, and how sorrow becomes not too grievous; for we are tried by the cross and the scourges and chastisements of God in order that we may call on his name. Hearing follows calling; and nothing can be more desirable than this. The Prophet then proves from the happy effect, that there is no reason for the faithful to murmur against God, or impatiently to bear their evils, because being purified they can now really flee to him.

Were any to ask, whether God can by his Spirit only draw the elect to true religion? If so, why is this fire of affliction and hard trial necessary? The answer is, that he speaks not here of what God can do, nor ought we to dispute on the subject, but be satisfied with what he has appointed. It is his will then, that his own people should pass through the fire and be tried by various afflictions, for this purpose — that they may sincerely call on his name. We must at the same time learn that it is the true preparation by which the Lord brings back the elect to himself, and forms in them a sincere concern for religion, when he tries them by the cross and by various chastisements; for prosperity is like mildew or the rust. We cannot then look to God with clear eyes, except our eyes be cleansed. But this cleansing, as I have said, is what God has appointed as the means by which he has resolved to render his Church submissive. It is therefore necessary that we should be subject, from first to last, to the scourges of God, in order that we may from the heart call on him; for our hearts are enfeebled by prosperity, so that we cannot make the effort to pray. But this consolation is ever to be applied to ease our sorrows, when our flesh leads us either to perverseness or to despair; let this remedy occur to us, that though chastisement is hard while it is felt, it ought yet to be estimated by what it produces, as the Apostle also reminds us in Heb 12:11. Let us especially know that the name of God is then seriously invoked, when we are subdued, and all ferocity, and all the indulgence of the flesh, are corrected in us: for we are like untamed heifers, as Jeremiah says, when God indulges us. (Jer 31:18.) Hence the discipline of the cross is necessary, so that earnest prayer may become vigorous in us.

He shows at last how God may be invoked, for we are taught that he will be kind and propitious to us, whenever called upon. It would not indeed be enough for us to groan under the burden of afflictions, and to be thus awakened to prayer, except God himself allured us and gave us hope of favor. Hence the Prophet adds, I will say, My people they are; and they will say, Jehovah our God is he. The Prophet in short means, that unless the promises of God shine on us, and invite us to prayer, no sincere prayer can ever be drawn from us. How so? Because we first come to God by faith alone, and this opens the gate to us, and all prayers not founded on faith are rejected; and further, we know that men naturally dread the presence of God, and will do so until he gives them a taste of his goodness and love. Hence what Zechariah says here is especially worthy of notice, — that God’s word precedes, so that we may follow with confidence, and be able to enter through the gate opened to prayer, for except he first says, “ye are my people,” we cannot claim the privilege of entering into his presence and say, “thou art our God.” For who has bound God to us, that he should be a God to us? even he himself; for he has bound himself to us when he promised that we shall be his people. There is then, as I have said, no right beginning to prayer until we are taught that God is ready to hear our prayers, as it is said in Psa 65:2, “Thou God hearest prayers, and all flesh shall come to thee.”

(176) I would render the first lines of this verse thus —

And I will bring the third part into the fire, And will purify them as he who purifies silver, or, as the purifier of silver,

And will try them as he who tries gold, or, as the trier of gold.

The participle following “as” I regard as active, and not passive, as made by the Punctuists. — Ed.

(177) The singular number “he,” or rather “it,” refers to “the third part” at the beginning of the verse. Henderson, renders these lines literally, “It shall invoke my name,” etc. According to our version and Newcome, this is partly done. It would be better in a translation to adopt the plural throughout —

They shall call on my name, And I will answer them; And I will say, “My people are they;” And they will say, “Jehovah is our God.”

There is a conversive [ ו ] wanting before “say” in the third line, for the verb is in the past tense; it is supplied by the Septuagint, the Syriac, and the Arabic. Here is an instance of manifest omission, not supported by any MS., but by the early versions. — Ed.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(9) The third part.Amidst all the calamities which should overtake the land, a remnant should be saved and purified. In the light of the Gospel we may (if we retain them in their present context) understand these words as fulfilled in those who embraced Christianity; but the prophet, from the Old Testament stand-point, speaks vaguely, and after the analogy of the past captivity (Isa. 6:13).

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

DISCOURSE: 1261
GODS METHOD OF DEALING WITH HIS PEOPLE

Zec 13:9. I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, it is my people; and they shall say, The Lord is my God.

AFFLICTION is the lot of mankind in general, and more especially of those who fear the Lord, who are all, in their measure, predestinated to he conformed to the image of Christ, as well in sufferings as in glory. In the context we are told what Christ would have to endure when once he should become incarnate; Awake, O my sword, against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts; smite the shepherd. It is true, that Christ was to make satisfaction for sin by his sufferings and death; and in that view there is no occasion for us to drink of his cup: but it is true also that he learned obedience, and was made perfect, by the things which he suffered; and these ends are no less necessary to be accomplished in us; nor can they be effected in any better way. On this account God has determined to bring the third part through the fire; that so he may fit them for the fuller enjoyment of himself, both in this world and the world to come.

The text informs us how God deals with his people,

I.

In respect of trials

he people of God are but a small remnant
[Perhaps the text may refer to that period when the Christian Church was to be delivered from the destruction which was coming on the Jewish nation. At that time they were very numerous in Juda, and might, in general terms, be represented as a third part. But in every age and place they have been comparatively a little flock, or, as the Apostle calls them, a remnant according to the election of grace. Even in one of the most distinguished Churches in the apostolic age we read that there were but few who had kept their garments undefiled: and, if those who bear the Christian name at this day were tried by the standard of Gods word, the number of true disciples would be found very disproportioned to the collective body.]

But, whether few or many, they are all brought to God through the fire
[It is no uncommon thing for persons to receive their first serious impressions by means of some afflictive dispensation: many must say with David, Before I was afflicted I went astray. But, in whatever way they are converted to God, they seldom continue long in his service without experiencing some temporal or spiritual affliction. God, who is a wise physician, knows what is most conducive to the health of our souls. He sees that there is much folly bound up in our hearts, and that nothing but the rod of correction can effectually drive it out. He sees it necessary to try us, as gold, and to purify us as silver, that we may both manifest what we are, and become what we should be. If we be only superficial Christians, who, like the stony-ground hearers, have no root in ourselves, we shall be offended as soon as tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word: but if we be Israelites indeed, the trial of our faith, which is much more precious than gold, which, though it stand the trial of fire, yet perisheth at last, will be found to praise, and honour, and glory in the day of his appearing [Note: 1Pe 4:12; 1Pe 1:6-7.]. Besides, the very best have much amiss within them, which escapes their notice, till God counsels them in the night season of affliction, and discovers to them the hidden abominations of their hearts. On this account especially the saints have testified with one consent that they have found it good to be afflicted; and have seen reason to bless God more for their heaviest trials, than for their richest comforts.]

That their trials, however, are not unmixed, will appear by considering how God deals with them,

II.

In respect of enjoyments

If the Christian has much bitterness of heart, with which others are unacquainted, so has he also much joy, with which a stranger intermeddleth not. He enjoys,

1.

Communion with God

[Before he was converted he knew nothing of fellowship with a reconciled God and Father. He performed perhaps many outward acts of worship, but never prayed from his inmost soul. He felt not the greatness of his wants; he knew not the excellency of spiritual attainments: he was not persuaded of the efficacy of prayer: no wonder therefore that he never cried to God in earnest, and consequently, that he never obtained an answer to his prayer. Not even Paul himself, notwithstanding all his zeal, had ever prayed aright, till Christ appeared to him in his way to Damascus [Note: Act 9:11.]. But the true Christian is enabled to pour out his soul before God: and to him is that promise fulfilled: Before they call I will answer, and while they are yet speaking I will hear [Note: Isa 65:24.]. Often does he go to God weak, weary, or disconsolate, and return from a throne of grace strengthened with might, and filled with peace and joy.

Nor is this happy state a little promoted by his trials. When he is long at ease, he is too apt to relax his exertions, and to rest in a cold and carnal frame: but afflictions drive him to his God, and necessitate him to wrestle in prayer till he obtains the desired aid [Note: Gen 32:24-26.].]

2.

Confidence before God

[God is unspeakably gracious to the soul that seeks him. He will not only answer the prayers of his people, but will shed abroad his love in their hearts, and give them such tokens of acceptance with him, as, in effect, to say to them, Thou art mine. He will seal them with the Holy Spirit of promise, and set his mark upon them in such a manner, that they themselves may know their relation to him. Moreover, by these manifestations of his favour he will embolden them to claim him as their God. Like the Church of old they shall make their boast of him; My beloved is mine, and I am his, This God is my God for ever and ever [Note: Son 2:16. Psa 48:14.].

This assurance too, no less than their fellowship with God, is advanced by means of afflictive dispensations. Their tribulation makes them apply to God for patience; the acquisition of patience gives them an experience of his truth and faithfulness; and this experience begets a lively hope [Note: Rom 5:3-4.], yea, oftentimes an unshaken confidence in God, which is as an anchor of their souls both sure and steadfast.]

Address
1.

Those who are but little conversant with trials

[Doubtless it is a mercy to be free from troubles, because they are not joyous at the present, but grievous. But what do you find to have been the effect of this exemption? Have you not, like Jeshurun, waxed fat and kicked? When you have eaten and been filled, have you not forgotten the Lord your God [Note: Deu 8:10-14; Deu 32:15.]? Do you not find that your corruptions are unmortified? Are you not conscious that you have never yet experienced that exalted state of communion with God, and of confidence before him, which it is both your privilege and your duty to enjoy? Guard then against these pernicious effects of ease; for the prosperity of fools, as we are told, will destroy them [Note: Pro 1:32.]. Let the attainment of a holy and heavenly frame be desired by you far more than any temporal comfort. In a little time all present things, whether pleasing or painful, will come to an end: and then they only will be found happy, who sought an interest in Christ, and had the Lord for their God [Note: Psa 144:15.].]

2.

Those who are tossed with tempests and not comforted

[Though God brings his dearest children into the fire, he does not leave them there; he engages to bring them through it. While they are yet in it, he will be with them, that they may not be burned [Note: Isa 43:2.]: yea, he will sit by them as a refiner and purifier of silver, to watch the process which he has ordained for their good [Note: Mal 3:3.]. He knows what heat is requisite for the accomplishment of his gracious purposes; and, when their dross is purged out, he will bring them forth as vessels of honour meet for their Masters use [Note: Job 23:10.]. Be patient then under your trials, knowing from whom they proceed, and for what blessed ends he has appointed them: and be rather solicitous to have your troubles sanctified than removed. Only let them drive you to a throne of grace, and not, as they too often do, discourage you from drawing nigh to God. Let them make you more earnest in seeking an assured confidence in his love, and an increasing meetness for his glory. Then shall you in due time be numbered with those blessed spirits, who came out of great tribulation, and made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. Nor need you fear but that the eternal weight of glory which you shall possess, shall abundantly compensate the light and momentary afflictions which you endured in the way to it.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

REFLECTIONS.

Reader! here is a fountain indeed opened for sin and uncleanness; Jesus hath opened it, and supplied it with his heart’s blood. The grand question is, are we washed in it? Have we found it to be peace-speaking blood, and heart-cleansing blood? Can we truly say of it, as David did of the whole covenant; it is all my salvation, and all my desire!

Precious Lord Jesus! the sword hath indeed awakened, at the command of Jehovah, against thee, when thou stoodest as the surety of thy people. But, oh! thou sin-bearing Lamb of God! what shall I offer thee of thanks and praise, since by thy stripes my soul is healed, and thou wert made, in for thy redeemed, that they might be made the righteousness of God in thee!

Lord! I thank thee, in all the exercises of my warfare, when bringing me through the fiery trials of sorrow and temptation; the conflict is not to know, whether I am thine, for that is already proved, and the issue is not doubtful; but it is to prove me, and to shew me what is in mine heart; that thy grace may have all the praise, and all the glory, from beginning to end. Oh! for unceasing grace while Jesus owns me to be his, to say with the Church of old, my beloved is mine, and his desire is towards me.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Zec 13:9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It [is] my people: and they shall say, The LORD [is] my God.

Ver. 9. And I will bring the third part through the fire ] Few they were, but not faultless; they must, therefore, go through the fire, that there they may leave their dregs and dross behind them. For Quod ignis est auro, lima ferro, ventilabrum tritico, lixivium panno, sal carni, hoc tribulatio est viro iusto, saith Corn. a Lapide upon this text; that is, what the fire is to the gold, the file to iron, the fan to wheat, the soap to clothes, the salt to flesh, that is tribulation sanctified to a righteous man. God is said to have his “fire in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem,” Isa 31:9 , to carry his through fire and through water, Psa 66:12 , from above to send fire into their bones, Lam 1:13 , to put them to the fiery trial, 1Pe 4:12 ; yea, he himself is a refiner’s fire unto them, and fullers’ soap. Mal 3:2 See Trapp on “ Mal 3:2 “ He knows them to be right gold, which will endure the seventh fire (alchemy gold will not so), and, therefore, he puts them to it; “that the trial of their faith, being much more precious than that of gold that perisheth, though tried in the fire, may be found to praise and honour and glory,” 1Pe 1:7 ; himself, meanwhile, goeth with them into the fire and pulleth them out as a brand, Zec 3:2 Non sic impii, not so the ungodly, Psa 1:4 . True it is, the trial of their works also shall be by fire, 1Co 3:13 , and they shall give an account one day with all the world on a light flame about their ears, 2Pe 3:12 . Then shall they find that the law they are judged by is a fiery law, the tribunal is of fire, Eze 1:27 , the judge a consuming fire, Heb 12:29 , his attendants seraphims, that is, flaming creatures, Heb 1:7 , his pleading with sinners in fire of flame ( ), 2Th 1:8 , the place of punishment a lake of fire fed with a river of brimstone, Isa 30:33 , a formidable fire it is, fed with tormenting temper, and kindled by God’s own breath instead of bellows. Bellarmine is of the opinion that one glimpse of this fearful fire were enough to make a man not only turn Christian and sober, but hermit and monk, and to live after the strictest order that can be. Pope Clement V, upon the death of a nephew of his, and one of his catamites, a sent his chaplain to a conjuror, to inquire how it fared with him in the other world. The conjuror showed him to the chaplain, lying in a bed of fire in hell. This news so affected the wretched Pope, that he never held up his head, but, Nabal-like, died within a few days after it. But oh what a dreadful shriek gave his guilty soul, to see itself launching into an infinite ocean of scalding lead, and to think that it must swim naked therein for ever.

And will refine them as silver is refined ] This is all the hurt he doth them by the fire; he hides pride from them, Job 33:19 , &c., and divides between the sin which he hates and the son whom he loves. For by this the iniquity of Jacob shall be purged; and this is all the fruit, the taking away of their sin, Isa 27:9 , which they may very well spare, and never hurt themselves. Surely, as one poison is antidotary to another, so is affliction to sin; when sanctified, it is no more penal, but medicinal; not a curse, but a cure: as oil of scorpions is good against the biting of scorpions; as the wine wherein a viper hath been drowned cureth a leprosy; as the juice of hemlock (a deadly plant) heals hot corroding ulcers, and assuageth the inflammation of the eyes; or as rhubarb, though full of choler, doth mightily purge choler. Moses neglected to circumcise his child (as we do our hearts, it is such a bloody work) till God met him and would have killed him. David could never see the benefit of affliction till God, by those sharp waters, had cleared up his eyesight. Gehazi’s leprosy cured him; his white forehead made him have a whiter soul. Surely, as the refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, so is affliction to the soul. Corrections of instruction are the way of life, Pro 6:23 , but “he that refuseth correction despiseth his own soul,” Pro 15:32 . Winds and thunder clear the air (whereof they are the besoms, saith Rupertus), so do crosses the soul. If the outward man decay, the inward is thereby renewed, 2Co 4:16 ; and the winter of the one is the spring of the other. As the viper, when he is lashed, casteth up his poison; so doth the good soul, when afflicted, purge itself from all filth of flesh and spirit, striving to perfect holiness in the fear of God. These Jews, after they had been in the Babylonish furnace for idolatry, hated and feared that sin as much as the burnt child dreads the fire. They would die any death rather than admit an idol. Josephus tells how stoutly they opposed Pilate and Petronius, that would have set up Caesar’s statue in their temples, offering their throats to the swords of the soldiers rather than they would endure that idol in God’s house. What God is now doing with them, and for them, in this long time of their sad desolation and dispersion, who can tell? There are those who think that, after much purging and proving, as here, God will gather a Church of them to himself; according to that which followeth; “They shall call upon my name, and I will hear them: I will say, it is my people,” &c. And that upon their profession of Christ shall come the sorest time of affliction that ever was, Zec 14:1-2 , when Gog and Magog, with all his troops and armies, shall compass the beloved city, Rev 20:8-9 . But the Jews shall get a glorious conquest; for God himself from heaven will miraculously fight for them, Zec 14:3-5 , together with all the holy angels, the ministers of his judgments, Zec 14:5 . Sure it is, that the Turks fear some such thing as this; and therefore they cannot abide that any Jew among them should turn Christian. In the year 1528 a certain Jew, dwelling in Constantinople, became a good Chrisitian, and was baptized; which the Turks understanding, were vehemently exasperated against him for it; fearing lest his conversion should prove prejudicial to their Mahometan religion, and, therefore, they apprehended and cruelly murdered him.

And try them as gold is tried ] viz. That when I have tried them they may come forth as gold, Job 33:10 . Hence God’s people fall into manifold temptations, Jas 1:2 ; they fall, they go not into them step by step, but are precipitated, plunged into them; and not into one of them, or a few, but into manifold temptations, or trials; yea, fiery trials, so afflictions are called, because thereby God proves what is in his people, Deu 8:16 Rev 2:10 . Not to better his own knowledge of them either; for he knows all things, and is intimo nostro intimior nobis, Joh 2:25 Act 1:24 Heb 4:12 . Artificers perfectly know the nature and properties of their own works, and shall not God see? Psa 94:9-10 . But tentat ut sciat, hoc est, ut seire nos faciat (August.), he trieth us, 1. That he may make discoveries of himself unto us, especially of his power and goodness; and so get him a name, as Isa 63:11-13 2Co 12:9 . Elijah would have water poured upon the sacrifices, yea, the altar covered therewith, that God’s power might the more appear, in consuming it with fire from heaven, and the people thereupon might cry, Jehovah, he is God! Jehovah, he is God! 1Ki 18:39 : think the same here. 2. That he may make discoveries of us to ourselves, and to others; who are apt to misjudge and undervalue us; as not only Satan did, Job 1:9 , but even Elihu also (though otherwise a good man, and the best of his friends), xxxiv. 36. But when they see our holy carriage under the cross, they can say of us, as that centurion did of our Saviour, Luk 23:1-56 “Verily, this was the Son of God”; and as one Culocerius, in the Church-histery, when he saw the piety and constancy of the martyrs, he cried out, Vere magnus est Deus Christianorum, The Christian’s God is a great God indeed. But as by afflictions we are made known to others, so to ourselves much more. We are apt either to overvalue or else to undervalue ourselves, till put to the trial; as is to be seen in the history of Saunders and Pendleton. Hard weather tries what health; wind and storms what sap; withered leaves soon fall off. Rotten boughs with heavy weights quickly break. Wooden vessels, set empty to the fire, soon break and leak; not so vessels of gold and silver. The best divination what men are is at the parting-way, as Eze 21:21 . When the fire comes to green wood it will appear what is within; when the pond is empty, what is in the bottom. It is not known what corn will yield

And will refine them as silver is refined ] This is all the hurt he doth them by the fire; he hides pride from them, Job 33:19 , &c., and divides between the sin which he hates and the son whom he loves. For by this the iniquity of Jacob shall be purged; and this is all the fruit, the taking away of their sin, Isa 27:9 , which they may very well spare, and never hurt themselves. Surely, as one poison is antidotary to another, so is affliction to sin; when sanctified, it is no more penal, but medicinal; not a curse, but a cure: as oil of scorpions is good against the biting of scorpions; as the wine wherein a viper hath been drowned cureth a leprosy; as the juice of hemlock (a deadly plant) heals hot corroding ulcers, and assuageth the inflammation of the eyes; or as rhubarb, though full of choler, doth mightily purge choler. Moses neglected to circumcise his child (as we do our hearts, it is such a bloody work) till God met him and would have killed him. David could never see the benefit of affliction till God, by those sharp waters, had cleared up his eyesight. Gehazi’s leprosy cured him; his white forehead made him have a whiter soul. Surely, as the fining-pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, so is affliction to the soul. Corrections of instruction are the way of life, Pro 6:23 , but “he that refuseth correction despiseth his own soul,” Pro 15:32 . Winds and thunder clear the air (whereof they are the besoms, saith Rupertus), so do crosses the soul. If the outward man decay, the inward is thereby renewed, 2Co 4:16 ; and the winter of the one is the spring of the other. As the viper, when he is lashed, casteth up his poison; so doth the good soul, when afflicted, purge itself from all filth of flesh and spirit, striving to perfect holiness in the fear of God. These Jews, after they had been in the Babylonish furnace for idolatry, hated and feared that sin as much as the burnt child dreads the fire. They would die any death rather than admit an idol. Josephus tells how stoutly they opposed Pilate and Petronius, that would have set up Caesar’s statue in their temples, offering their throats to the swords of the soldiers rather than they would endure that idol in God’s house. What God is now doing with them, and for them, in this long time of their sad desolation and dispersion, who can tell? There are those who think that, after much purging and proving, as here, God will gather a Church of them to himself; according to that which followeth; “They shall call upon my name, and I will hear them: I will say, it is my people,” &c. And that upon their profession of Christ shall come the sorest time of affliction that ever was, Zec 14:1-2 , when Gog and Magog, with all his troops and armies, shall compass the beloved city, Rev 20:8-9 . But the Jews shall get a glorious conquest; for God himself from heaven will miraculously fight for them, Zec 13:3-5 , together with all the holy angels, the ministers of his judgments, Zec 13:5 . Sure it is, that the Turks fear some such thing as this; and therefore they cannot abide that any Jew among them should turn Christian. In the year 1528 a certain Jew, dwelling in Constantinople, became a good Chrisitian, and was baptized; which the Turks understanding, were vehemently exasperated against him for it; fearing lest his conversion should prove prejudicial to their Mahometan religion, and, therefore, they apprehended and cruelly murdered him.

And try them as gold is tried ] viz. That when I have tried them they may come forth as gold, Job 23:10 . Hence God’s people fall into manifold temptations, Jas 1:2 ; they fall, they go not into them step by step, but are precipitated, plunged into them; and not into one of them, or a few, but into manifold temptations, or trials; yea, fiery trials, so afflictions are called, because thereby God proves what is in his people, Deu 8:16 Rev 2:10 . Not to better his own knowledge of them either; for he knows all things, and is intimo nostro intimior nobis, Joh 2:25 Act 1:24 Heb 4:12 . Artificers perfectly know the nature and properties of their own works, and shall not God see? Psa 94:9-10 . But tentat ut sciat, hoc est, ut scire nos faciat (August.), he trieth us, 1. That he may make discoveries of himself unto us, especially of his power and goodness; and so get him a name, as Isa 63:11-13 2Co 12:9 . Elijah would have water poured upon the sacrifices, yea, the altar covered therewith, that God’s power might the more appear, in consuming it with fire from heaven, and the people thereupon might cry, Jehovah, he is God! Jehovah, he is God! 1Ki 18:39 : think the same here. 2. That he may make discoveries of us to ourselves, and to others; who are apt to misjudge and undervalue us; as not only Satan did, Job 1:9 , but even Elihu also (though otherwise a good man, and the best of his friends), Job 34:36 . But when they see our holy carriage under the cross, they can say of us, as that centurion did of our Saviour, Luk 23:47 “Verily, this was the Son of God”; and as one Culocerius, in the Church histery, when he saw the piety and constancy of the martyrs, he cried out, Vere magnus est Deus Christianorum, The Christian’s God is a great God indeed. But as by afflictions we are made known to others, so to ourselves much more. We are apt either to overvalue or else to undervalue ourselves, till put to the trial; as is to be seen in the history of Saunders and Pendleton. Hard weather tries what health; wind and storms sap the strength; withered leaves soon fall off. Rotten boughs with heavy weights quickly break. Wooden vessels, set empty in the fire, soon break and leak; not so vessels of gold and silver. The best divination what men are is at the parting way, as Eze 21:21 . When the fire comes to green wood it will appear what is within; when the pond is empty, what is in the bottom. It is not known what grain will yield till it come to the flail; nor what grapes, till it come to the press. Grace is like the stone chrysolampis, quem lux celat prodit obscurum, which shines brightest in the dark (Solinus). The skill of a pilot is unknown but in a tempest; the valour of a captain but in a battle; the faithfulness of a wife but in an assault. The wicked tried are found to be but reprobate silver; or, at best, but alchemy gold, that endureth not the seventh fire. They are , as crocodiles, chameleons, bats, spunges, &c. They murmur when tried, as Psa 78:40-41 ; or curse, as Micah’s mother, Jdg 17:2 ; or fret, and howl upward, as wolves when hungry, Isa 8:21 ; or faint in the day of affliction, as Saul, who lay upon the ground like a beast, 1Sa 28:20 , or Nabal, who lay in his bed like a block; or desert God and his cause, as those renegades, Dan 11:32 , and those in the Palatinate, who defected to Popery as fast as leaves fall off the trees in autumn. Many titular Christians among us were, in times of peace, but as wolves in a cage, but as lions tamed by art; they wanted nothing but liberty and opportunity to show their wolvish and worrying natures, which now these late shedding and discriminating times have sufficiently discovered. “Have all these workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up God’s people as they eat bread, and call not upon God,” Psa 14:4 . They shall call upon my name, and I will hear them. No time for hearing of prayers and obtaining of suits like that of affliction. Those are mollissima fandi tempera, the time of affliction is the very time of supplication; then our hearts are largest, then God’s ear is most open. Then the saints may have anything for asking, Psa 50:15 ; Psa 91:15 . Thus Lot had Zoar at his request, Gen 19:18-23 . Paul had all the souls in the ship given him, Act 27:22-25 Jacob, greatly fearing to be bereft of his Benjamin, prayed, God give you bowels of mercy before the man, Gen 43:14 . He prayed it, and he had it, Gen 43:30 “For Joseph made haste; for his bowels did yearn upon his brother,” &c. God reserves his best comforts for the worst times; as the feast maker kept his best wine till the last, Joh 2:10 ; as the mother brings forth ber conserves and cordials when the child is the most sick. Israel was never so royally provided for as in the wilderness. I will bring her into the wilderness and speak to her heart, Hos 2:14 . As a bone, once broken, is stronger after setting, and as lovers are never greater friends than after falling out; so is it between God and his people. Affliction exciteth devotion, as the bellows do the fire, and excited devotion prevaileth much, Jas 5:16 .

I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God] By a gracious compliance they shall, with highest estimations, most vigorous affections, and utmost endeavours, bestow themselves upon that God that hath so far owned and honoured them as to strike a covenant with them; the fruits whereof are sure mercies, compassions that fail not, all the blessings of this and a better life. A covenant is the collection of many promises, as a constellation is the collection of many stars; and though it be (in sum) but one promise, “I will be thy God,” yet it is such a one as comprehends all, and is therefore fifteen times, at least, mentioned in Scripture. It is the substance of the covenant of grace, saith Junius; the soul of it, saith Pareus; the head or top of it, saith Musculus; Deus meus et omnia, saith Luther, God is mine, all is therefore mine. But then, as God must be our All-sufficient, so we must be his altogether; and when he cries out, Who is on my side, who? “One shall say, I am the Lord’s; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand to the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel,” Isa 44:5 . Oh it is a blessed sign that God hath chosen us first, 1Jn 4:19 , when we choose God, as Psa 73:25 , sincerely avouching him for our God. Sincerity (or evangelical perfection) is the only absolute condition of the covenant of grace, Gen 17:1 . God and the saints have ever judged of men by this: “Judge me, O Lord, according to mine integrity,” saith David. The promises are made to it, Psa 119:1 Mat 5:8 . God’s eye is upon it, as in David the man after God’s own heart. He blesseth the little that such have, as in Nathanael, Cornelius, the eunuch. He passeth by their infirmities, as in Asa, 1Ki 15:14 , and accepteth their services nevertheless, as 2Ch 30:19-20 .

a A boy kept for unnatural purposes. D

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

hear answer.

It is My People. Reference to Pentateuch (Lev 26:12). App-92.

God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

bring: Psa 66:10-12, Isa 43:2, 1Co 3:11-13, 1Pe 4:12

refine: Job 23:10, Pro 17:3, Isa 48:10, Mal 3:2, Mal 3:3, Jam 1:12, 1Pe 1:6, 1Pe 1:7

they shall call: Zec 10:6, Zec 12:10, Psa 34:15-19, Psa 50:15, Psa 91:15, Isa 58:9, Isa 65:23, Isa 65:24, Jer 29:11, Jer 29:12, Hos 2:21-23, Joe 2:32, Act 2:21, Rom 10:12-14

It is my people: Zec 8:8, Lev 26:12, Lev 26:44, Lev 26:45, Deu 26:17-19, Psa 144:15, Isa 44:1-6, Jer 30:22, Jer 31:33, Jer 32:38, Eze 11:20, Eze 36:28, Eze 37:27, Hos 2:23, Mat 22:29-32, Heb 8:10, Rev 21:3, Rev 21:4, Rev 21:7

Reciprocal: Exo 6:7 – I will be Exo 15:2 – my God Exo 16:12 – ye shall know Lev 2:9 – an offering Num 31:23 – abide Jdg 3:1 – prove 2Sa 7:24 – art become 1Ch 17:22 – thy people 2Ch 13:10 – the Lord 2Ch 32:31 – to try him Job 7:18 – try Job 28:1 – where they fine it Psa 11:5 – trieth Psa 16:2 – thou hast Psa 17:3 – proved Psa 26:2 – General Psa 50:7 – I am Psa 63:1 – thou Psa 139:23 – know Psa 140:6 – I said unto Pro 27:21 – the fining Isa 1:9 – a very Isa 4:4 – washed away Isa 24:15 – glorify Isa 30:17 – till ye Isa 41:10 – for I am thy God Isa 43:1 – thou art mine Isa 44:5 – I am Isa 51:16 – Thou art Jer 3:22 – we Jer 6:29 – the founder Jer 9:7 – I will Jer 11:4 – ye be Jer 24:5 – I acknowledge Jer 24:7 – and they Jer 31:1 – will Jer 42:2 – left Eze 14:11 – that they Eze 20:38 – I will purge Eze 22:15 – consume Eze 24:11 – that the filthiness Eze 34:24 – I the Lord will Eze 36:37 – I will yet Eze 37:23 – they be Dan 11:35 – to try Dan 12:10 – shall be Hos 2:1 – Ammi Amo 9:4 – go Amo 9:10 – the sinners Zep 3:12 – leave Zec 11:7 – I will Zec 14:2 – shall not Mal 3:17 – they shall Mat 3:11 – he shall Mar 13:20 – for Luk 3:16 – and with Luk 17:37 – wheresoever Act 27:23 – whose Rom 8:28 – we know Rom 15:6 – with 1Co 3:13 – and the fire 2Co 6:16 – I will be 2Co 8:5 – first Heb 1:8 – O God Heb 11:17 – when Heb 11:37 – being destitute 1Pe 4:18 – if Rev 3:10 – to try

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge