I will pour on David’s house, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they will look to me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and will grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves for his firstborn. In that day there will be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. The land will mourn, every family apart; the family of David’s house 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 wives apart;
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Zechariah 12:10-13 sits inside this longer paragraph.
A revelation, Yahweh’s word concerning Israel. Yahweh, who stretches out the heavens, and lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him says: “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling to all the surrounding peoples, and it will also be on Judah in the siege against Jerusalem. It will happen in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples. All who burden themselves with it will be severely wounded, and all the nations of the earth will be gathered together against it. In that day,” says Yahweh, “I will strike every horse with terror, and his rider with madness; and I will open my eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. The chieftains of Judah will say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in Yahweh of Armies their God.’ In that day I will make the chieftains of Judah like a pan of fire among wood, and like a flaming torch among sheaves; and they will devour all the surrounding peoples, on the right hand and on the left; and Jerusalem will yet again dwell in their own place, even in Jerusalem. Yahweh also will save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of David’s house and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem not be magnified above Judah. In that day Yahweh will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem. He who is feeble among them at that day will be like David, and David’s house will be like God, like Yahweh’s angel before them. It will happen in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. I will pour on David’s house, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they will look to me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and will grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves for his firstborn. In that day there will be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. The land will mourn, every family apart; the family of David’s house 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 wives apart; all the families who remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.
Parallel Translations
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I will pour on David’s house, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they will look to me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and will grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves for his firstborn.
In that day there will be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.
The land will mourn, every family apart; the family of David’s house 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 wives apart;
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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.
In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.
And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart;
The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart;
Show all 3 translations
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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 because they have thrust him through; 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.
In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.
And the land shall mourn, every family apart: the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart;
The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of the Shimeites apart, and their wives apart;
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Messianic Prophecies (1)
Passages read as foretelling the Messiah, with the fulfillment reading and the counter-reading set side by side.
Cross-references (54)
- Revelation 1:7 (vv10, 12) Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. All the tribes of the earth will mourn…
- Ezekiel 39:29 (v10) I won’t hide my face from them any more; for I have poured out my Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the Lord Yahweh.”
- Joel 2:28-29 (v10) “It will happen afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will…
- John 19:34-37 (v10) However one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. He who has seen has testified, and his…
- Jeremiah 6:26 (v10) Daughter of my people, clothe yourself with sackcloth, and wallow in ashes! Mourn, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation, for the…
Show all 52 cross-references
- Acts 2:33 (v10) Being therefore exalted by the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out…
- Romans 8:26 (v10) In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don’t know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession…
- Matthew 24:30 (vv10, 12) and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man…
- Amos 8:10 (v10) I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will make you wear sackcloth on all your bodies, and…
- Romans 8:15 (v10) For you didn’t receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
- Ephesians 6:18 (v10) with all prayer and requests, praying at all times in the Spirit, and being watchful to this end in all perseverance and requests for all…
- Hebrews 12:2 (v10) looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and…
- 2 Kings 23:29 (v11) In his days Pharaoh Necoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates; and king Josiah went against him; and…
- 2 Chronicles 35:24 (v11) So his servants took him out of the chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had, and brought him to Jerusalem; and he died, and…
- Psalms 22:16-17 (v10) For dogs have surrounded me. A company of evildoers have enclosed me. They have pierced my hands and feet. I can count all of my bones.…
- Jeremiah 31:9 (v10) They will come with weeping. I will lead them with petitions. I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which…
- Jeremiah 50:4 (v10) “In those days, and in that time,” says Yahweh, “the children of Israel will come, they and the children of Judah together; they will go on…
- Acts 2:17 (v10) ‘It will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your young…
- Acts 10:45 (v10) They of the circumcision who believed were amazed, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was also poured out on…
- Acts 11:15 (v10) As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, even as on us at the beginning.
- Titus 3:5-6 (v10) not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and…
- Isaiah 32:15 (v10) until the Spirit is poured on us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is considered a forest.
- Isaiah 44:3-4 (v10) For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and streams on the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on…
- Acts 2:37 (v10) Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
- Jude 1:20 (v10) But you, beloved, keep building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.
- Exodus 12:30 (v12) Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a…
- 2 Samuel 5:14 (v12) These are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,
- Isaiah 59:19-21 (v10) So they will fear Yahweh’s name from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come as a rushing stream, which…
- Jeremiah 31:18 (v12) “I have surely heard Ephraim grieving thus, ‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf. Turn me, and I will be…
- Zechariah 7:3 (v12) and to speak to the priests of the house of Yahweh of Armies, and to the prophets, saying, “Should I weep in the fifth month, separating…
- Luke 3:31 (v12) the son of Melea, the son of Menan, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David,
- 1 Corinthians 7:5 (v12) Don’t deprive one another, unless it is by consent for a season, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer, and may be together…
- Exodus 6:16-26 (v13) These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari; and the years of the life of Levi…
- Numbers 3:1-4 (v13) Now this is the history of the generations of Aaron and Moses in the day that Yahweh spoke with Moses in Mount Sinai. These are the names…
- 2 Samuel 7:2-4 (v12) the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but God’s ark dwells within curtains.” Nathan said to the king,…
- 2 Samuel 12:1 (v12) Yahweh sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, “There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.
- 2 Samuel 16:5 (v13) When king David came to Bahurim, behold, a man of the family of Saul’s house came out, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera. He came out…
- 1 Kings 1:8 (v13) But Zadok the priest, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Rei, and the mighty men who belonged to David, were not with…
- 1 Chronicles 3:19 (v13) The sons of Pedaiah: Zerubbabel and Shimei. The sons of Zerubbabel: Meshullam and Hananiah; and Shelomith was their sister;
- 1 Chronicles 4:27 (v13) Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters; but his brothers didn’t have many children, and all their family didn’t multiply like the…
- 1 Chronicles 23:7 (v13) Of the Gershonites: Ladan and Shimei.
- 1 Chronicles 23:10 (v13) The sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zina, Jeush, and Beriah. These four were the sons of Shimei.
- 2 Chronicles 29:14 (v13) and of the sons of Heman, Jehuel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel.
- Proverbs 1:23 (v10) Turn at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you. I will make known my words to you.
- Jeremiah 3:21 (v12) A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping and the petitions of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they…
- Jeremiah 4:28 (v12) For this the earth will mourn, and the heavens above be black, because I have spoken it. I have planned it, and I have not repented,…
- Jeremiah 13:18 (v12) Say to the king and to the queen mother, “Humble yourselves. Sit down, for your crowns have come down, even the crown of your glory.
- Joel 2:16 (v12) Gather the people. Sanctify the assembly. Assemble the elders. Gather the children, and those who nurse from breasts. Let the bridegroom go…
- Jonah 3:5-6 (v12) The people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from their greatest even to their least. The news…
- Malachi 2:4-9 (v13) You will know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my covenant may be with Levi,” says Yahweh of Armies. “My covenant was with…
- 2 Corinthians 7:9-11 (v10) I now rejoice, not that you were grieved, but that you were grieved to repentance. For you were grieved in a godly way, that you might…
- Psalms 51:12 (v10) Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Uphold me with a willing spirit.
52 distinct cross-references across this passage (54 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (21 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv10–13 At the beginning of this verse the Prophet intimates,…
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.”
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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 Jeremiah 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: 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 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.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv10–13 That is, whom they have continually vexed with their…
That is, whom they have continually vexed with their obstinacy, and grieved my Spirit, John 19:37, where it is referred to Christ’s body, which here is referred to the Spirit of God.
They shall have the feeling of my grace by faith, and know that I have compassion on them.
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They shall turn to God by true repentance, whom before they had so grievously offended by their ingratitude.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv10–12 Zec 12:10 And I will pour upon the house…
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 (υπερεπλεονασε), 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.
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Of grace and of supplications] Or deprecations of that utter destruction that shall befall other nations. God will save his people, but so as by prayer, Psa 32:6 2Ch 7:14 Zec 13:9, he will grace his own ordinance, draw many suitors, and derive many praises to himself. See Eze 36:37 Psa 50:15; Psa 116:2. Some render it, a spirit of grace and of lamentations, sc. before the Lord, when they felt the nails, wherewith they had pierced Christ, pricking their own hearts, Act 2:37, punctually pricking and piercing them, κατενυγησαν τη καρδια (Bishop Andrews, 333).
And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced] Dacaru, whom they have daggered, or digged, as Psa 22:16, him they shall look upon and lament, οψονται, κοψονται, 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 the understanding; which, till it be convinced, the heart cannot be compuncted. Sight of sin must precede sorrow for sin. The prodigal came to himself ere he repented of his loose practices; men must bethink themselves, or bring back to their hearts (as the Hebrew hath it, 1Ki 8:47), ere they will say, We have sinned and dealt perversely, we have committed wickedness; see Jer 8:6 Psa 38:18. An infant in the womb cries not because he sees not; but as soon as it comes into the light he sets up his note. Get, therefore, your eyes anointed with eye salve, with this spirit of grace and supplications; so shall you soon see (saith Mr Bradford, martyr) your face foul arrayed, and so shameful, saucy, mangy, pocky, and scabbed, that you cannot but be sorry at the contemplation thereof. It is the Spirit that convinceth the world of sin; neither can the waters flow till his wind bloweth, Psa 147:18. A sigh is not breathed out for sin till the Spirit imbreathe the same into us.
And they shall mourn for him] Or, for it, viz. for their crucifying the Lord of glory in their forefathers, and having a great hand in it themselves; since their and our sins were thorns and nails that pierced him, the lance that let out his heart blood, &c. We bound him with cords; we beat him with rods; buffeted him with fists, reviled him with our mouths, nodded at him with our heads, &c. We were the chief actors and principal causes that set to work Judas, Pilate, &c. Oh stand a while with the devout women, and see him bleeding, groaning, dying, by the wounds that we gave him; and mourn affectionately over him, as here.
They shall mourn] With such outward pomp and rites as are used at funerals; as wringing the hands, beating the breasts, shaking the head, and the like external gestures and expressions of heaviness.
And shall be in bitterness] By inwardness of extreme grief; as when David’s heart was leavened with it, Psa 73:21; it was soured with godly sorrow, and soused in the tears of true repentance. So Peter went forth and wept bitterly, Mat 26:15; waters of Marah flowed from Mary Magdalen’s eyes, which were as a fountain for Christ’s feet: here sorrow was deep and downright, producing repentance never to be repented of. The sorrow we conceive for an unkindness offered to Christ must not be slight and sudden, but sad and soaking; like that of the Israelites met at Mizpeh, when they drew water before the Lord, 1Sa 7:6, whereunto the prophet Jeremiah seemeth to allude when he seriously wisheth that his head were waters, Jer 9:1, and David, with his river of tears, Psa 119:136. His heart was soft and soluble. Now softness of heart discovers sin; as the blots run abroad and seem biggest in wet paper; and as when the cockatrice egg is crushed it breaks forth into a viper, Isa 59:5. Now to make and keep the heart soft and tender, the consideration of Christ’s dolorous passion must needs be of singular use and efficacy; as the sight of Caesar’s bloody robes brought forth greatly affected the people of Rome, and edged them to revenge. The hardest heart, soundly soaked in the blood of Christ, the true scape goat, cannot but relent and repent for such a horrid villany.
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.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv10–13 And I; God the Father, so Act 2:17,18; Isa…
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 Christ’s 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.
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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.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv10–13 And I will pour out upon the house of…
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,
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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 Rev 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 Gen 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 Amo 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.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv10–13 I will pour - This was fulfilled on Christ's…
I will pour - This was fulfilled on Christ's exaltation, when he sent the Comforter to his disciples, it is daily performed to the children of God, and will be continually, 'till we are brought to be with Christ forever. The house of David - The whole family of Christ, his house who was the seed of David, and who is called David, Ezek. xxxvii, 24. The spirit of grace - Which is fountain of all graces in us. Pierced - Everyone of us by our sins pierced him, and many of the Jews literally. Mourn - They shall literally lament the crucifying of the Lord Jesus. In bitterness - True repentance will bitterly lament the sins which brought sorrows and shame upon our Lord.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv10–12 Verse 10. I will pour upon the house of…
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.
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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.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv10–11 Zec 12:10. And I will pour, &c. — God’s…
Zec 12:10. And I will pour, &c. — God’s 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 God’s 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 Chandler’s 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. John’s gospel, Joh 19:37. Οψονται εις ον εξεκεντησαν, They shall look on him whom they have pierced. For although the present Hebrew text is, הבישׂו אלי, They shall look unto me, between forty and fifty MSS. are produced which read אלוו, 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.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv10–12 And I will pour - As He promised by…
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.”
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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? ‘“
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv10–13 Prayers. Septuagint and Chaldean, "pity." (Haydock) --- After the…
Prayers. Septuagint and Chaldean, "pity." (Haydock) --- After the Machabees more synagogues were erected, and the people were more faithful; yet this chiefly regards the new law, in which the spirit prays with us ineffably, Romans viii. 26. (Calmet) --- Me. So far the prophet speaks in Christ’s name. He afterwards relates how the people will grieve for him, beating their breasts, Luke xxiii. 48. This was clearly verified in Christ, John xix. 31. (Menochius) --- But in the gospel we read, him whom they have pierced, as the context seems here to require. (Haydock) --- Some Hebrew copies read in like manner, (Calmet) the Erfurth Manuscript 2 having aliu, "on him," though Michaelis remarks not this important variation. The Jewish transcriber would not alter his text to make it conformable to the New Testament. (Kennicott) --- Septuagint, "they shall look upon me for having insulted," or skipped. (Calmet) --- Yet "St. John did not much regard what the Greek contained, but interpreted word for word as he had read in Hebrew," as the other sacred writers did when there was any material difference. St. Jerome, quoted by Kennicott. (Dis. ii. p. 347, &c.) (Haydock) --- Adopting this reading, we may explain this of Judas, whom the people greatly bewailed, 1 Machabees ix. 20. He was a figure of Christ, whom the prophet had chiefly in view. All the Jews who embraced the faith verify this prediction, (Calmet) as those particularly did who had been instrumental to the death of our Saviour, and afterwards entered into themselves, Acts ii. 37. Both Jews and Gentiles have all contributed by their sins to crucifying their Lord; and, at the last day, all shall look on him as their judge or as their deliverer. --- Pierced. Hebrew dakaru. (Haydock) --- Septuagint have transposed d and r, which are very similar, and read rokdu, "have danced," or derided. (St. Jerome) --- The original implies, have outraged or blasphemed, as well as pierced. They shall henceforward cease to despise God and his law. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v10 s Zec_12:10 to Zec_13:1.
2. REPENTANCE AND CONVERSION.
s Zec_12:10 to Zec_13:1.
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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 Israel’s 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. חֵן 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. הִבִּיט 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 אֵת before אַשֶׁר, 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. דָקָרוּ was rendered by the LXX. κατωρχήσαντο 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, Rosenmüller, 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 Saviour’s 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 quotation—him 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 Egypt’s ten plagues (Exo_11:6). There was an incipient fulfillment of this prophecy in the fact mentioned by Luke (Luk_23:48), that at Christ’s crucifixion, “all the people. … smote their breasts.” (The primary meaning of סָפַד 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 Sisera’s mother (Jdg_5:28), as mentioned in the Song of Deborah! Equally frivolous are Pressel’s 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.12–14. 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, Köhler) 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 (Köhler), 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 (Köhler), 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 עָלָיו 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 דיר, 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 Calvin’s 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 Maccabæus, 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 אֱליֵ ,אֵלַי the poetic form of אֶל, and rendered “they look to Him whom they pierced.” This is simply desperate, for אֱלֵי 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 אֵת. 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 אל never means hero (see Fürst, sub voce), and besides, הִבִּיט is usually construed with the preposition אֶל. 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 Calvin’s 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 Father’s sovereign love. The latter—the Holy Spirit—had of course been present and active in the previous stages of the Church’s 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 (שָׁפַד=pour out) employed by Joel three centuries before. (Isaiah uses a different word, יצק, 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 soul’s own merits and claims are considered. But this very conviction of total unworthiness is accompanied with a conviction of Christ’s 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 Brainerd’s 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.—רוּה. 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—הַחַ וּנִים 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.—אֵלַי is to be preferred to אֵלָיו. 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.—עָלָיו cannot be rendered “on account of it,” על because after סָפד 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.—הָמֵרִ 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.—הֲדַדרִמּוֹן. A ἄπ. λεγ. on which etymology throws no light.
[21]Zec_12:13.—הַשִּׁמְעִי=The Shimeite—a 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.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv10–13 Future conversion of the Jews is to flow from…
Future conversion of the Jews 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 spirit produced, but THE HOLY SPIRIT producing a "gracious" disposition, and inclination for "supplications." CALVIN explains "spirit of grace" as the grace of God itself (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 fall is an unerring test of the state of the Church [MOORE]. In Hebrew, "grace" and "supplications" are kindred terms; translate, therefore, "gracious supplications." The plural implies suppliant prayers "without ceasing." Herein not merely external help against the foe, as before, but internal grace is promised subsequently.
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look upon me--with profoundly earnest regard, as the Messiah whom they so long denied.
pierced--implying Messiah's humanity: as "I will pour . . . spirit" implies His divinity.
look . . . mourn--True repentance 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 sins in love to Him who in love has suffered for them.
me . . . him--The change of person is due to Jehovah-Messiah speaking in His own person first, then the prophet speaking of Him. The Jews, to avoid the conclusion that He whom they have "pierced" is Jehovah-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 to suffer in the battle with Cog, before Messiah Ben David should come to reign. But Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic oppose this; and the ancient Jews interpreted it of Messiah. Psa 22:16 also refers to His being "pierced." So Joh 19:37; Rev 1:7. The actual piercing of His side was the culminating point of all their insulting treatment of Him. The act of the Roman soldier who pierced Him was their act (Mat 27:25), and is so accounted here in Zechariah. The Hebrew word is always used of a literal piercing (so Zac 13:3); not of a metaphorical piercing, "insulted," as MAURER and other Rationalists (from the Septuagint) represent.
as one mourneth for . . . son-- (Jer 6:26; Amo 8:10). A proverbial phrase peculiarly forcible among the Jews, who felt childlessness as a curse and dishonor. Applied with peculiar propriety to mourning for Messiah, "the first-born among many brethren" (Rom 8:29).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv10–11 Penitential mourning and supplication, Zec_12:10-14.
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.
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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).
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv10–12 10. I will pour] The word denotes the abundance…
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.
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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 Judæi quum mærore 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 Judæis; sed in persona unigeniti Filii sui tandem cumulum fuisse additum scelestæ 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.
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.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv10–13 (10-14) These are verses of almost unprecedented difficulty. If…
(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, Rosenmüller, 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 Student’s 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 Jehovah—a notion grotesque, if not blasphemous. We might, indeed, get somewhat over this difficulty by rendering the words and they shall mourn over it—viz., 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 prophet’s 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.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv10–13 Vers. 10-14. There shall ensue an outpouring of Gods…
Vers. 10-14. There shall ensue an outpouring of Gods Spirit upon Israel, which shall produce a great national repentance.
I will pour. The word implies abundance. (comp. Eze_39:29 Joe_2:28) The house of David, etc. The leaders and the people alike, all orders and degrees in the theocracy. Jerusalem is named as the capital and representative of the nation. The spirit of grace and of supplications. The spirit which bestows grace and leads to prayer. "Grace" here means the effects produced in man by God"s favour, that which makes the recipient pleasing to God and delighting in his commandments. (Heb_10:29) They shall look upon me whom they have pierced. The Speaker is Jehovah. To "look upon or unto" implies trust, longing, and reverence. (comp. Num_21:9 2Ki_3:14 Psa_34:5 Isa_22:11) We may say generally that the clause intimates that the people, who had grieved and offended God by their sins and ingratitude, should repent and turn to him in faith. But there was a literal fulfilment of this piercing, i.e. slaying, (Zec_13:3 Lam_4:9) when the Jews crucified the Messiah, him who was God and Man, and of whom, as a result of the hypostatic union, the properties of one nature are often predicated of the other. Thus St. Paul says that the Jews crucified "the Lord of glory", (1Co_2:8) and bids the Ephesian elders "feed the Church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood". (Act_20:28; for the reading Yeou , see the critics) St. John (Joh_19:37) refers to these words of Zechariah as a prophecy of the Crucifixion. (comp. Rev_1:7) The LXX renders, Epibleqontai pro any wn katwcrhsanto , "They shall look to me because they insulted," either reading the last verb differently, or understanding it figuratively in the sense of assailing with cutting words; but there is no doubt about the true reading and interpretation. Vulgate, Aspicient ad me quem confixerunt. "Me" has been altered in some manuscripts into "him:" but this is an evident gloss received into the text for controversial purposes, or to obviate the supposed impropriety of representing Jehovah as slain by the impious. That St. John seems to sanction this reading is of no critical importance, as he is merely referring to the prophecy historically, and does not profess to give the very wording of the prophet. A suffering Messiah was not an unknown idea in Zechariah"s time. He has already spoken of the Shepherd as despised and ill-treated, and a little further on (Zec_13:7) he intimates that he is stricken with the sword. The prophecies of Isaiah had familiarized him with the same notion (Isaiah 53, etc.). And when he represents Jehovah as saying, "Me whom they pierced," it is not merely that in killing his messenger and representative they may be said to have killed him, but the prophet, by inspiration, acknowledges the two natures in the one Person of Messiah, even as Isaiah (Isa_9:6) called him the "Mighty God," and the psalmists often speak to the same effect. (Psa_2:7 Psa_45:6, 7 110:1, etc.; comp. Mic_5:2) The "looking to" the stricken Messiah began when they who saw that woeful sight smote their breasts; (Luk_23:48) it was carried on by the preaching of the apostles; it shall continue till all Israel is converted; it is re-enacted whenever penitent sinners turn to him whom they have crucified by their sins. Critics have supposed that the person whose murder is deplored is Isaiah, or Urijah, or Jeremiah; but none of these fulfill the prediction in the text. They shall mourn for him. There is a change of persons here. Jehovah speaks of the Messiah as distinct in Person from himself. As one mourneth for his only son... for his firstborn. The depth and poignancy of this mourning are expressed by a double comparison, the grief felt at the loss of an only son, and of the firstborn. Among the Hebrews the preservation of the family was deemed of vast importance, and its extinction regarded as a punishment and a curse, so that the death of an only son would be the heaviest blow that could happen. (see Isa_47:9 Jer_6:26 Amo_8:10) Peculiar privileges belonged to the firstborn, and his loss would be estimated accordingly. (see Gen_49:3 Exo_4:22 Deu_21:17 Mic_6:7) The mention of "piercing," just above, seems to connect the passage with the Passover solemnities and the destruction of the firstborn of the Egyptians (see Expositor, vol. 6. p. 131, etc.).
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Vers. 10-14. Penitential sorrow.
"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," etc. To whatever particular event this passage refers, the subject is obvious and most important, viz. that of penitential sorrow. And five things in connection with it are noteworthy.
I THE SUBJECTS OF THIS PENITENTIAL SORROW. They are Jews, and not Gentiles. "The house of David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem expressions which designate the whole Israelitish people. The Jewish people had often been reduced to this state of sorrow. When in Babylonian captivity they wept when they "remembered Zion." "The scene," says Dr. Wardlaw, "depicted bears a very close resemblance to those recorded to have taken place on the restoration from Babylon, when Jehovah, having influenced them individually to return to himself, and to set their faces, with longing desire, to the land of their fathers, inclined their hearts, when thus gathered home, to social and collective acts of humiliation and prayer. The prayers of Ezra and Nehemiah on those occasions might be taken as models, in the "spirit and even the matter" of them, for the supplications of Judah and Israel when brought back from their wider and more lasting dispersions.
II THE CAUSE OF THIS PENITENTIAL SORROW. "I will pour." The Prophet Joel (Joe_2:28) refers to this outpouring of Divine influence. "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh." All genuine repentance for sin originates with God. He sends down into human souls the spirit of grace and of supplications. The spirit of grace is the spirit that produces in the mind of man the experience of the grace of God; and this experience works repentance and inspires prayer.
III THE OCCASION OF THIS PENITENTIAL SORROW, "And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced." "The expression, "upon me, says Hengstenberg, "is very remarkable. According to ver. 1, the Speaker is the Lord, the Creator of heaven stud earth. But it is evident from what follows that we are not to confine our thoughts exclusively to an invisible God who is beyond the reach of suffering, for the same Jehovah presently represents himself as pierced by the Israelites, and afterwards lamented by them with bitter remorse. The enigma is solved by the Old Testament doctrine of the Angel and Revealer of the Most High God, to whom the prophet attributes even the most exalted names of God, on account of his participation in the Divine nature, who is described in ch. 11. as undertaking the office of Shepherd over his people, and who had been recompensed by them with base ingratitude." "They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him." The "me" and the "him" are the same Person, and that Person he who says, in ver. 10, "I will pour upon the house of David." In the first clause he is speaking of himself; in the second clause the prophet is speaking of him. The Messiah was pierced, and pierced by the Jews: "They pierced my hands and my feet." A believing sight of Christ produces this penitential sorrow. "Alas! and did my Saviour bleed, And my Redeemer die? Did he devote his sacred head For such a worm as I?
IV THE POIGNANCY OF THIS PENITENTIAL SORROW. "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." "There are few states of deeper and acuter sorrow than this that which is felt by affectionate parents when bereft of those objects of their fondest affections; the one solitary object of their concentrated parental love; or the firstborn and rising support and hope of their household." As to the poignancy of this grief, it is further said, "In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon," etc. Perhaps the greatest sorrow ever known amongst the Jews was the sorrow in the valley of Megiddon, occasioned by the death of King Josiah. (2Ch_35:24) Jeremiah composed a funeral dirge on the occasion, and other odes and lamentations were composed, and were sung by males and females. But true penitential sorrow is far more poignant than that occasioned by the death of an only son or a noble king. It is tinctured with moral remorse.
V THE UNIVERSALITY OF THIS POIGNANT SORROW. "And the land shall mourn, every family apart," etc. All the families of the land shall mourn, and all shall mourn "apart." Deep sorrow craves loneliness.
CONCLUSION. There is one event in history whether such an event is referred to here or not that answers better to the description here of penitential sorrow than any other in the chronicles of the world; it is the Day of Pentecost. Thousands of Jews assembled together on that day from all parts of the known world. Peter preached to the vast assembly and charged them with having crucified the Son of God. The Holy Spirit came down upon the vast congregation, and the result was that, "When they heard this, they were pricked in their heart". (Act_2:37) Far on in the future, it may be, a period will dawn in Jewish history when such penitential sorrow as is here described will be experienced by all the descendants of Abraham. D.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v12 And the land shall mourn, every family apart
Zec_12:12
And the land shall mourn, every family apart
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Personal and family fasting
On the pouring out of the Spirit the land is to mourn, every family apart, and their wives apart.
The duties of fasting consist of--
I. An external and circumstantial part.
1. A proper time must be set apart for these duties. And this is to be regulated by Christian prudence, as best suits the circumstance of the person or family. As to the quantity of time to be spent in personal or family fasting and humiliation, the duty, I judge, is to regulate it, and not it to regulate the duty. None need be solicitous as to what quantity of time, more or less, they spend in these exercises, so that the work of the time be done.
2. A proper place is to be chosen where the person or family may perform the duty without disturbance from others (see Mat_6:18).
3. Abstinence is included in the nature of the thing; abstinence from meat and drink, and all bodily pleasures whatsoever, as well as ceasing from worldly business. The rule for abstinence from meat and drink Cannot be the same for all. These, however, are but the outward shell of these duties.
II. The internal any spiritual part.
1. Serious meditation and consideration of our ways. Such times are to be set apart from conversing with the world, that we may the more solemnly Commune with our own hearts as to the state of matters between God and us. In them we are diligently to review our past life.
2. Deep humiliation of soul before the Lord; the which was signified by the sackcloth and ashes used, under the law, on such occasions.
3. Free and open confession of sin before God, without reserve.
4. The exercise of repentance in turning from sin unto God, both in heart and life, the native result of deep humiliation and sincere confession. The true way to deal with a hard heart is to believe the Gospel. Without faith it is impossible to please God, and therefore impossible to reach true humiliation, right confession, and sincere repentance, which are very pleasing to Him.
5. Solemn covenanting with God, entering into or renewing covenant with Him in express words.
6. Extraordinary prayer, in importunate addresses and petitions unto oar covenanted God, for that which is the particular occasion of our fast. Now consider personal fasting and humiliation in particular.
III. The Divine warrant for it.
1. God requires it in His Word, and that both directly and indirectly.
2. It is promised that the saints shall perform this duty.
3. It is recommended unto us by the practice of the saints mentioned in Scripture.
4. The duty of personal fasting and humiliation may be thus evinced.
(1) There is nothing in the nature of religious fasting and humiliation that of itself is public, or necessarily requiring a plurality of persons to join therein. The preaching of the Word and celebration of the sacraments do, in their own nature, require society, and therefore are not to be used by a single person alone in his closet. But one may keep a fast alone.
(2) Extraordinary duties are called for on extraordinary emergents and occasions. If, then, a church or congregation is called to fasting and humiliation on such occasions, is not a particular person called to the same, or such occasions in his cave?
(3) Extraordinary duties to be performed by a whole nation, church, or congregation cannot soon be overtaken, because all bodies are slow in their operations. What should particular persons do in such cases? Should they not keep personal and family fasts? Now consider a providential call to personal fasting and humiliation.
1. When there is any special evil actually lying upon us, the Church, or our neighbour, in whom we have a special concern; whether it be a sinful or a penal evil. And when the tokens of Gods high displeasure are gone out in afflicting providences, it is time for us to roll ourselves in the dust, and so to accommodate our spirit and way to the dispensation, humbling ourselves before Him with fasting.
2. When there is any special stroke threatening or impending.
3. When there is some special mercy or favour to be desired of the Lord. Take a variety of these particular cases--
(1) When through a long track of sinning and careless walking, the case of ones soul is left quite in disorder and confusion.
(2) when one is under convictions, entertaining some thoughts to reform.
(3) when the conscience is defiled with the guilt of some atrocious sin.
(4) when one would fain get over a snare he is often caught in, and have victory over a lust that hath often mastered him.
(5) When one is under a dead desertion.
(6) When one is under a felt and smarting desertion.
(7) When one is pressed with some outward affliction, whether in his body, relations, name, substance, or otherwise.
(8) When, by the aspect of providence, one is threatened with some such affliction.
(9) When one would have light and direction in some matter of special weight.
(10) When duty being cleared in a matter of special weight, it comes to the setting to.
(11) When one, having some unordinary difficulty to encounter, is in hazard of being ensnared either into sin or danger.
(12) When one hath in view some solemn approach unto God; in which case a special preparation is requisite . . .
Now consider some directions anent personal fasting and humiliation.
1. Make choice of a fit time and place.
2. Make some preparation for it the night before
3. Rise early in the morning, even sooner than ordinary.
4. Let holy thoughts at once have access to your soul.
5. Let your ordinary duties of prayer and reading of the Word be first performed; for extraordinary duties are not to jostle out the ordinary.
6. Begin with a solemn review of your sins--the sins of your nature, of your childhood, of your youth, of your middle age
To recommend the practice of these duties to persons and families, these five things are offered in favour thereof; namely, that the practice of them is a proper means--
1. To bring strangers to religion acquainted with it.
2. To recover backsliders.
3. To prevent relapses.
4. To prepare for a time of trial.
5. To get matters clear for eternity. (T. Boston.)
.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v10 Zec_12:10.] This a complete contrast to preceding; nothing warlike,…
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] Jehovah—Messiah 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].
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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
ISRAEL’S SIN AND ISRAEL’S 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 Israel’s 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 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) 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].
Israel’s 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. Israel’s 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 Son’s 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 moments—what Christian knows them not?—in which we scarce can tell what we ought to pray for—the 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 God’s 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 God’s 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 another—with 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 Jerusalem—in 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 Redeemer’s 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 God’s free favour, testifying to grace alone in the sinner’s salvation; the author of gracious dispositions and affections in the human soul, bringing men in harmony with God’s 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 prayer—a 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 abundant—a 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 God’s 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].
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v10 Repentance and Conversion
Repentance and Conversion
v. 10. And I will pour upon the house of David, the entire royal family, the royal priesthood of the Church of the New Testament, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the members of His congregation in general, the Spirit of grace and of supplications, Him who works in the heart of man the certainty of the divine grace and urges him to seek forgiveness of sins by daily prayer; and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, as they nailed their Redeemer to the cross, Joh 19:34; Rev 1:7, and they shall mourn for Him as one mourneth for his only son, acknowledging their transgression in killing the Prince of Life, Act 3:15, and shall be in bitterness for Him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn, almost the greatest grief and sorrow known to the Jews.
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v. 11. In that day, when the greatness of their crime in putting their own Messiah to death, would be brought home to some of the people, shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as is ever the case when men realize that their sins were the cause of Christ’s death, as the mourning of Hadad-rimmon, when the men of Judah mourned so bitterly over the death of their King Josiah, who was mortally wounded near that place in the Plain of Esdraelon, 2Ch 35:22 ff. in the Valley of Megiddon, this being the name of the battlefield.
v. 12. And the land shall mourn, every family apart, every section of the nation taking part in this expression of sorrow:. the family of the house of David, those of royal descent, apart and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan, probably those belonging to the prophetic order, apart and their wives apart;
v. 13. the family of the house of Levi, those belonging to the priestly family, apart and their wives apart; the family of Shimei, the teachers of the people, apart and their wives apart, so that two were of royal line and two of priestly descent;
v. 14. all the families that remain, every family apart and their wives apart. Nor would this sorrow of true repentance be in vain. Zec 13:1. In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to the entire nation, as representative of the Church of the New Testament, in whose members the fruit of Christ’s redemption is realized, for sin and for uncleanness. The blood of Christ, shed for the sins of the whole world, has prepared a water of sprinkling which thoroughly cleanses sinners from their uncleanness. Cf 1Jn 1:7. It is the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which is shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, also in Holy Baptism. Tit 3:5-6.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv10, 12 I will pour out a spirit of compassion and…
I will pour out a spirit of compassion and pleading on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem
Causing the people to be compassionate and to plead is spoken of as if the spirit were a liquid that Yahweh would pour on them. AT: "I will cause the house of David and inhabitants of Jerusalem to have mercy on others and to pray to me for mercy" (See: Metaphor)
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a spirit of compassion and pleading
Here this means to have a characteristic of compassion and pleading.
the house of David
Here "house" represents descendants. AT: "the descendants of David" (See: Metonymy)
the one they have pierced
"the one whom they stabbed to death"
for an only son
It is understood that the "son" has died. AT: "for an only son who has died" (See: Ellipsis)
the laments in Jerusalem will be like the laments at Hadad Rimmon
Hadad Rimmon may have been the place where the good King Josiah died of battle wounds after the Battle of Megiddo. It appears that the custom arose to hold periodic mourning there for his death. Some people, however, think that Hadad Rimmon was the name of a false god who was believed to die every year, an event for which his worshipers would go into mourning. (See: How to Translate Names and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
Megiddo
This is the name of a plain in Israel. (See: How to Translate Names)
translationWords
spirit
compassion
plea
house of David
Jerusalem
mourn
lament
son
die
firstborn
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv10–12 12:10 pour out: This word describes the outpouring of…
12:10 pour out: This word describes the outpouring of God’s spirit of prophecy upon Israel and all people on the day of the Lord (cp. Ezek 39:28-29; Joel 2:28-29) and God’s judgment upon the wicked (Lam 2:4; Hos 5:10; Zeph 3:8). • a spirit of grace: God’s unmerited and unsought favor persuades God’s people to seek him in contrite and repentant prayer (see Ps 86:15-16). • me whom they have pierced: The New Testament understands the piercing of God as a reference to the piercing of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth (John 19:34-37; Rev 1:7).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.