Bible Commentaries
Zechariah 12

Verses 1-21

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THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAH (CONCLUDED)

Zechariah 12-14

This chapter concludes our study of the prophet, Zechariah. This includes the later part of the second division of the prophecy. The last six chapters of Zechariah seem to give a forecast of the history of Israel from the time of the prophet’s writing down to the end of the nation’s history, just as in the book of Revelation we interpret the seven seals, the seven trumpets, etc., as a forecast of the history of the church to the second advent.

We have had the vision of the shepherd who was to feed the flock of slaughter, who found the flock disloyal, unfaithful, and unappreciative, and who broke the staff, dissolving the union between the two, signifying that this office as shepherd was ended; how that a worldly shepherd was appointed over them, and then followed a brief history of the tragedy of Israel’s history, when they smote ther shepherd and put him to death. In this chapter we take up the consummation of it all, the last, final struggle, and the ushering in of the messianic age as found in Zechariah 14.

In Zechariah 12:1-9 we have the salvation of Jerusalem, the spiritual history of the people, their inner life, national and religious, pictured as the life of their capital, Jerusalem. The clue to it we find in the later part of verse I, where he speaks of Jehovah as the One that forms the spirit of man within him, and this section gives the details as to how Jehovah formed the spirit of Israel, the true kernel of the nation, the center of the national life. We have here Jerusalem represented as the center of Israelitish life, the capital of the nation, besieged by all nations, God protecting her against them and making her the "cup of reeling" and the "burdensome stone" and the "pan of fire" unto all the peoples round about. He says, "I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling, or a bowl filled with wine of which the nations shall drink, and it shall make them drunk and they shall reel and stagger."

That perhaps refers to the commotion that was created among the nations previous to the Maccabean age, and afterward, when all the nations that apparently could come in contact with Judah and Jerusalem seemed to be possessed with a passion to destroy her. The anti-Judaistic feeling, or anti-Semitic feeling, was very prominent through those centuries, and the larger fulfilment of this prophecy is the hate of Judaism which has run through all the centuries since. The Jews have been a cup of reeling to all the peoples that have come in contact with them. He says here, "Upon Judah also shall it be in the siege against Jerusalem." All is now concerned about Jerusalem and Judah, the tribe in whose territory Jerusalem is situated.

Again he says, "I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples, and all that burden themselves with it shall be sore wounded." This may refer to the fact that near many cities in the east, it was the custom to have a stone where all the young men could try their strength in lifting it. Or it may refer to a great boulder in the ground to be raised up out of its position and cast away, and as they dig about the stone and lift it up, the only thing they accomplish is to bruise and tear their own hands. The stone is fixed and immovable. The latter is the more probable interpretation. Anyhow, it means that all through the centuries Jerusalem has been a fixed, established fact. God put Jerusalem there and intended that no nation would move the center of his people; that they could not move Jerusalem. They fought round about it and for it and against it for a century or two, but it remained. And he says, "All the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it."

Zechariah 12:4 shows what Jehovah is going to do upon all the enemies that come against Jerusalem: "I will smite every horse with terror, and his rider with madness; and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah." His eye is upon Judah for a special purpose. Zechariah 12:5 gives the result: "The chieftains of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in Jehovah of hosts their God." Jerusalem was in Judah, the capital of Judah, and the chieftains of Judah now wake up to the fact that their strength and stability and hope are centered in Jerusalem, their capital, and when they realize that, they fight bravely for their city, and the result is that all the nations are defeated.

Zechariah 12:6 says, "I will make the chieftains of Judah like a pan of fire among wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves." The fulfilment of that may be found in the fact that when the Maccabean heroes rose to fight down Hellenism, thousands of the Jews saw that their national life was at stake if they did not fight for their religion and their country, and rallied around the banner of the Maccabeans, and thus their enemies time and again were overthrown, though there may be a larger fulfilment later on.

In Zechariah 12:7 he says, "Jehovah also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory . . . of the inhabitants of Jerusalem be not magnified above Judah." In other words, God was going to so deal with them that the people of Jerusalem would have no occasion to feel that they were above the people of the country. Then those inhabitants of Jerusalem and of Judah shall be revived in their national life and spirit. God will put the spirit of the hero in them. "In that day shall Jehovah defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David," the hero warrior, who, when a boy faced the lion and the bear, and when but a youth, a giant; "and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of God," or as a supernatural being, having superhuman powers. That hath a fulfilment in the house of David represented by Jesus Christ, as God or as the angel of God, and his disciples who were as heroic as David. Zechariah 12:9 refers to the fact that Jehovah has made it hard for all nations that have oppressed the Jews, and in a large measure this has been fulfilled, because those nations have suffered. "In that day" here refers to whatever day was referred to in the several prophecies of the passage, reaching down to the time of Christ and his apostles.

In Zechariah 12:10-14 we have the conversion of the Jews. This is a remarkable passage, one of the author’s favorite passages, a vision of the conversion of the people of Judah and Jerusalem after this great conflict is over. It is a picture of their spiritual life, the life of the spirit of the nation from its religious standpoint. Now look at the promise: "I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication." "Grace" refers to those qualities of the spirit that adorn the person when God’s spirit is given. Coupled with that is the spirit of supplication, "And they shall look unto me whom they have pierced." We have no reference to one pierced by them excepting as suggested in Zechariah 13:7-9 and that is presupposed in this statement. They had pierced their own shepherd, the representative of God, and now he pictures the time coming when they shall look unto him. God is speaking: "Whom they have pierced," the one whom they have wounded, the one against whom they had poured out their bitterest hatred. This is going to be a great conversion of the Jewish nation.

This prophecy has a fulfilment in the events of Pentecost and following, but the greatest fulfilment is to follow in the conversion of the Jews as a nation. At that time there will be a bitter mourning, a great mourning; they shall mourn as one mourns for his only son; the Jews could appreciate what that meant better than we can – the only one left to bear his name, the only one to keep that name alive in Israel. It shall be as when they mourned for Josiah, who was slain by Pharaohnecoh in the valley of Megiddon when they mourned at Hadadrimmon, a little village just a few miles from the scene of battle. There will be national mourning and a family mourning, for the land shall mourn every family apart. Then he mentions certain families to indicate how completely that is going to be carried out. The family of David, the royal family, then the family of Nathan, one of the sons of David, brother of Solomon, an obscure member of the royal family, which indicates all members of the royal family, the men in one part, the wives in another, men and women separately. The family of the house of Shimei, one of the little or obscure families of the tribe of Levi, to indicate how that every family shall mourn: families mourning, men mourning alone, women mourning alone. This was fulfilled when they looked upon the cross; there many of the people looked upon him whom they pierced, as John says quoting this passage of Zechariah as being literally fulfilled.

It was fulfilled in the larger sense when at Pentecost three thousand men and more, pricked in their hearts, said, "Men and brethren, what shall we do? We have killed our Messiah!" And in a few weeks thousands, more looked unto him whom they had pierced. For decades afterward many more and through the centuries there have been a few. More and more the Jews are coming to this point when they will look unto him whom they pierced, and there is no grief more poignant, more penetrating to the human heart than the grief of a loyal Jew who realizes that his nation killed their Messiah. God will pour out his spirit upon the nation and all the nation shall look unto him whom they have pierced, mourning as for an only son.

In Zechariah 13:1-6 we have the cleansing of the people as the result of the mourning and supplication above described. The fountain opened for sin and uncleanness was opened for the house of David, the royal family who needed cleansing, needed it as well as the people, showing that he has not in mind the Messiah, for the Messiah did not need cleansing. It is also to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and it is for sin and uncleanness. It is a picture of a fountain flowing to cleanse, something like Ezekiel’s picture where he says, "I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and cleanse you from your sins," and David’s "Purge me with hissop and I shall be clean." Upon this passage is based our song: There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuel’s veins, And sinners plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains.

That is the fulfilment of it for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Of course it applied to them first, but it is not confined to them in its application. Then he shows how idols, prophets, and unclean spirits shall be cut off: "I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land and they shall no more be remembered." That was partly true in the refining of Judaism that followed the Maccabean age, but it receives its fulfilment only in Christianity, the daughter of Judaism, for it is only where Christianity goes that the idols are cut off and are not remembered. Not only the idols are cut off, but the unclean spirits pass out of the land. This again has its fulfilment where the gospel goes, for it is only where Christianity flourishes that these unclean spirits are put out.

Then the prophets are to be cut off also. Prophecy is going to be so discredited that there will be no more of it permitted. He says here that when anyone shall prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, "Thou shalt not live"; we are not going to have any preacher in our family, and in order to get him out of the way they thrust him through, saying, "Thou speakest lies in the name of Jehovah." Now this cannot refer to the true prophet and preacher, but to every kind and species of false prophets.

It refers to all kinds of sorcerers, diviners, especially fakirs. And if there shall be one of those that escape, he shall be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies. They are not going to wear a hairy garment to deceive, trying to make themselves look like Elijah, and make people believe they are real prophets as Elijah was. It will be a good thing when preachers cast off all their ecclesiastical "toggery." He shall say, "I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground; for I have been made a bondman from my youth. And one will say, How do you account for those wounds?" Then he shall answer, "These are the wounds I received in the house of my friends."

It is difficult to understand exactly the meaning of this passage. Apparently, this is an excuse on the part of the prophet, who has been caught and he seeks to evade the consequences. He was wounded in the house of his friends. They put those marks upon him. So then these constitute no reason for condemning him. That is one idea. A great many apply this to Christ himself. When he shall appear and the Jews, his own people, shall ask him, "Whence those wounds between your hands?" Then he shall say, "These are the wounds I received in the house of my friends," i.e., among you Jews. That is the larger fulfilment, but the immediate application of it seems to be to the wretched fakers that had no business to preach. There are many of them yet in the East with marks upon their hands to signify their profession.

In Zechariah 13:7-9 we have the smiting of the Shepherd. This is the climax of the nation’s tragedy. The putting of its shepherd to death. The fulfilment of this is in Jesus Christ who was smitten and his little flock scattered. The larger fulfilment is in the fact that the sheep put to death their Christ, and have been scattered ever since. "Awake, O sword," says Jehovah, "against my shepherd and against the man that is my fellow." In Gethsemane we see the application of this. Although his only beloved and only begotten Son prayed until the sweat broke forth from his brow, that the sword might pass, God says, "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow." The sword must descend, the shepherd must be smitten. It was then that he turned his hand upon "his little ones" the humble and meek, and as a result two parts of the people were to be cut off, two-thirds of the nation destroyed, and it was so in the intervals following Jesus’ death and the destruction of Jerusalem. "And I will bring the third part (and he did bring a great multitude of the Jews) into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people; and they shall say, Jehovah is my God." The fulfilment of that occurred in the history of the Jews after the crucifixion.

We have the final assault upon and deliverance of Jerusalem in Zechariah 14:1-8. This brings us to the last chapter and the consummation, the final act in the great drama as pictured by this prophet, Zechariah: "Behold, a day of Jehovah cometh." There have been many days of Jehovah, when he smote nations and peoples, when he overturned things upon earth, but there is to come a greater day, a day when Jehovah shall manifest his judgments in power. The first result of this day will be the strange fact that Jerusalem shall be captured. Jerusalem the center, the nation’s very life core shall be captured. "Thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee, and I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; the city shall be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished," as was customary in the capture and sack of a city. "And half of the city shall go into captivity and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city."

Now, what is going to happen when this terrible fate overtakes the city? "Then shall Jehovah go forth and fight against those nations as when he fought in the day of battle." Although Jerusalem shall be captured and half her people sold into slavery, yet Jehovah will then appear at the crisis to save the city. "His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives," which is before Jerusalem on the east and towers between two and three hundred feet higher than Mount Moriah, or Zion, upon which Jerusalem was situated. "And the Mount of Olives shall be cleft in the midst toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley and half of the mountain shall be removed toward the north and half of it toward the south," that is, there shall be a great supernatural manifestation of God’s power to make a way of escape for the people from their city. This has never been literally fulfilled, and never will be. The idea is that when the crisis comes upon God’s people, he will make a way of escape, and thus he pictures the way of escape as a cleaving of the mount, separating it and opening a valley for the people to flee. "Ye shall flee by the valley of the mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azel." We don’t know just where Azel was, some little place east of Jerusalem. "And ye shall flee like as ye fled from before the earthquakes in the days of Uzziah king of Judah," which event Amos refers to and which followed just two years after he began his preaching. "And Jehovah my God will come and all the holy ones with thee," and that period for a short time shall be a day of gloom. "It shall come to pass in that day that the earth shall not be light; the bright ones, the sun, the moon, and the stars shall withdraw themselves." "It shall be one day which is known unto Jehovah, not day, not night," twilight gloom, murk, half-night, and half-day, but it shall come to pass that at eventide as the day draws to an end, a new day will dawn and there will be light at eventide. This prophecy is yet unfulfilled. The time forecast here is the final gathering of the nations against the Jews, gathered back into their land, just before the millennium. This is the great battle of Jehoshaphat in the plain of Esdraelon, where Jehovah intervenes and saves the Jews from a shameful defeat. It is a great spiritual conflict under the symbol of war. Here the veil falls from their eyes and they behold the Christ as their Saviour. The nation is converted, as it were, in a day and the millennium is here ushered in. (See Revelation of "The Interpretation.”)

In Zechariah 14:9-11 we have the prophetic picture of the kingdom of Jehovah, king over all the earth, which is in exact accordance with the visions drawn by Isaiah, Micah, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah. "Jehovah shall be one and his name one," that is, there is to be the one God, with one name. "And the land shall be made like the Arabah," the valley of the Jordan, which was so attractive to Lot that he chose it for his cattle and flocks. The land is going to be made like that valley from Geba, a little place north of Jerusalem, to Rimmon on the south, away down in the land of Simeon, we do not know exactly where. Then he goes on with his description of this city, how it is to be built, its dimensions and its various gates, "And there shall be no more curses but Jerusalem shall dwell safely." All this will be fulfilled in the millennium.

Next comes the plagues upon her enemies (Zechariah 14:12-15). The nations that war against Jerusalem shall be utterly destroyed; he gives a picture of the plagues that shall fall upon these nations. "Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, their eyes shall consume away in their sockets, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. . . . They shall turn one against another. There shall be a great tumult from Jehovah among them, and they shall lay hold everyone on the hand of his neighbor, and they shall rise up against his neighbor, and Judah shall fight at Jerusalem." In spite of that, all the wealth of the nations round about shall be gathered together, gold, silver, and apparel in great abundance. Afterward in spite of all the enemies the Jews shall have the wealth, privileges, power, influence of the world. This will be fulfilled in the destruction of the enemies of the Jews before the millennium at which time the Jews will be converted.

The remaining nations shall keep the Feast of Tabernacles at Jerusalem. The remaining nations means those who have not warred against Jerusalem, but have assumed either a friendly or a neutral attitude. This is the millennial age, this is the time pictured by Isaiah and Micah and the others, when all the nations shall be Jews, and they are to come up and worship the King, Jehovah of hosts, and keep the Feast of Tabernacles. Now if this is to be literally fulfilled, then all the nations of the world shall have to become Jews and go up to Jerusalem and keep the Feast of Tabernacles in October. Can we imagine that our Christianity shall have such a setback as that; that we shall all have to revert back to Judaism? This is a picture of the nations converted to the God of Israel expressed in the terms of Judaism. But if any of these nations will not keep the Feast of Tabernacles, they are to have no rain upon them, and Egypt, which is independent of rain because of the overflow of the Nile, is not forgotten by the prophet, but is mentioned as liable to punishment, though he doesn’t say what punishment that is. This is the prophet’s picture of the conversion of the Gentile nations to Judaism, and when we enlarge Judaism into Christianity and picture the conversion of the nations to Christianity, which is the real fulfilment of this, we have the larger fulfilment.

And lastly, Jerusalem shall be holy. "The bells upon the horses shall be holy to Jehovah. And the pots before Jehovah’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar." All this means there are to be so many people, and they are all to observe the sacrifices and feasts, and they must make every pot in Jerusalem as large as one of those great basins in the Temple. And more than that every one of those pots in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holy unto Jehovah. This is the Judaistic and ceremonial idea of holiness. And they that sacrifice shall come and take of them and boil therein. Ezekiel had kitchens in his picture of the Temple for boiling the sacrifices. Zechariah says that there are going to be great holy pots, and they are, to boil in them. "In that day there shall be no more a Canaanite," that is, there shall be no more heathen, the foreigner, and unclean person, and unworthy person in Jerusalem and in Judah. "All shall be clean," which is in exact accordance with Revelation 21:27. where John says. "There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, or maketh an abomination or a lie." "Blessed are they that have washed their robes, that they may have the right to come to the tree of life and enter into the gates of the city." John’s picture is richer and larger and fuller than Zechariah’s but in substance they are the same.

QUESTIONS

1. What is the prophetic picture of Zechariah 12:1-9 and what is the fulfilment of it?

2. What is meant by the "cup of reeling," "the burdensome stone, "the pan of fire," and what is the day referred to in the expression, "in that day"?

3. What is the prophetic picture of Zechariah 12:10-14 and what is its fulfilment?

4. What illustration in verse 2, and what is the significance of the families mourning apart?

5. What prophetic picture of Zechariah 13:1-6 and in what does it have fulfilment?

6. What allusion in Zechariah 13:6?

7. What prophecy of Zechariah 13:7-9 and where do we find its fulfilment?

8. What is the meaning of "little ones" (Zechariah 13:7), "two parts cut off" in Zechariah 13:8, and "the third part refined" in Zechariah 13:9?

9. What prophetic picture of Zechariah 14:1-8 and what is the fulfilment of it?

10. What prophetic picture of Zechariah 14:9-11 and what is the fulfilment of it?

11. What is pictured in Zechariah 14:12 and what is the fulfilment of it?

12. What final picture of Zechariah and when will it be realized?