“Awake, sword, against my shepherd, and against the man who is close to me,” says Yahweh of Armies. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; and I will turn my hand against the little ones.
Parallel Translations
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“Awake, sword, against my shepherd, and against the man who is close to me,” says Yahweh of Armies. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; and I will turn my hand against the little ones.
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Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.
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Awake, O sword, against My shepherd, and against the man that is near unto Me, saith the LORD of hosts; smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered; and I will turn My hand upon the little ones.
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 (73)
Passages linked to Zechariah 13:7 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Mark 14:27 Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of me tonight, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’
- Matthew 26:31 Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of me tonight, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’
- John 16:32 Behold, the time is coming, yes, and has now come, that you will be scattered, everyone to his own place, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
- Isaiah 40:11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.
- Mark 14:50 They all left him, and fled.
- Ezekiel 37:24 “ ‘ “My servant David will be king over them. They all will have one shepherd. They will also walk in my ordinances, and observe my statutes, and do them.
- Jeremiah 23:5-6 “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and he will reign as king and deal wisely, and will execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely. This is his name by which he will be called: Yahweh our righteousness.
- Micah 5:2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you one will come out to me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings out are from of old, from ancient times.
- Zechariah 11:7 So I fed the flock of slaughter, especially the oppressed of the flock. I took for myself two staffs. The one I called “Favor”, and the other I called “Union”, and I fed the flock.
- Jeremiah 47:6 “ ‘You sword of Yahweh, how long will it be before you are quiet? Put yourself back into your scabbard; rest, and be still.’
- John 10:10-18 The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who doesn’t own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. The wolf snatches the sheep, and scatters them. The hired hand flees because he is a hired hand, and doesn’t care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and I’m known by my own; even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep, which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd. Therefore the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down by myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. I received this commandment from my Father.”
- Revelation 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
- Micah 5:4 He shall stand, and shall shepherd in the strength of Yahweh, in the majesty of the name of Yahweh his God: and they will live, for then he will be great to the ends of the earth.
- Zechariah 11:4 Yahweh my God says: “Feed the flock of slaughter.
- Matthew 11:27 All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows the Son, except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and he to whom the Son desires to reveal him.
- John 10:30 I and the Father are one.”
- Romans 4:25 who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification.
- 2 Corinthians 5:21 For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
- Hebrews 13:20 Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an eternal covenant, our Lord Jesus,
- 1 Peter 2:24-25 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness. You were healed by his wounds. For you were going astray like sheep; but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
- 1 Peter 3:18 Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit,
- 1 Peter 5:4 When the chief Shepherd is revealed, you will receive the crown of glory that doesn’t fade away.
- Deuteronomy 32:41-42 if I sharpen my glittering sword, my hand grasps it in judgment; I will take vengeance on my adversaries, and will repay those who hate me. I will make my arrows drunk with blood. My sword shall devour flesh with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the head of the leaders of the enemy.”
- Psalms 2:2 The kings of the earth take a stand, and the rulers take counsel together, against Yahweh, and against his Anointed, saying,
- Isaiah 9:6 For a child is born to us. A son is given to us; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
- Isaiah 53:4-10 Surely he has borne our sickness and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he didn’t open his mouth. He was taken away by oppression and judgment. As for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living and stricken for the disobedience of my people? They made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him. He has caused him to suffer. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he will see his offspring. He will prolong his days and Yahweh’s pleasure will prosper in his hand.
- Ezekiel 21:4-5 Seeing then that I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore my sword will go out of its sheath against all flesh from the south to the north. All flesh will know that I, Yahweh, have drawn my sword out of its sheath. It will not return any more.” ’
- Ezekiel 21:9-10 “Son of man, prophesy, and say, ‘Yahweh says: “A sword! A sword! It is sharpened, and also polished. It is sharpened that it may make a slaughter. It is polished that it may be as lightning. Should we then make mirth? The rod of my son condemns every tree.
- Ezekiel 21:28 “You, son of man, prophesy, and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says this concerning the children of Ammon, and concerning their reproach: “A sword! A sword is drawn! It is polished for the slaughter, to cause it to devour, that it may be as lightning;
- Daniel 9:24-26 “Seventy weeks are decreed on your people and on your holy city, to finish disobedience, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. “Know therefore and discern that from the going out of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem to the Anointed One, the prince, will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be built again, with street and moat, even in troubled times. After the sixty-two weeks the Anointed One will be cut off, and will have nothing. The people of the prince who come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end will be with a flood, and war will be even to the end. Desolations are determined.
- Matthew 1:23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall give birth to a son. They shall call his name Immanuel;” which is, being interpreted, “God with us.”
- Matthew 10:42 Whoever gives one of these little ones just a cup of cold water to drink in the name of a disciple, most certainly I tell you he will in no way lose his reward.”
- John 1:1-2 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.
- John 5:17-18 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, so I am working, too.” For this cause therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
- John 5:23 that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him.
- John 8:58 Jesus said to them, “Most certainly, I tell you, before Abraham came into existence, I AM.”
- John 10:38 But if I do them, though you don’t believe me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”
- John 14:1 “Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me.
- John 14:23 Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him.
- John 16:15 All things that the Father has are mine; therefore I said that he takes of mine and will declare it to you.
- Ezekiel 34:23-24 I will set up one shepherd over them, and he will feed them, even my servant David. He will feed them, and he will be their shepherd. I, Yahweh, will be their God, and my servant David prince among them. I, Yahweh, have spoken it.
- Hosea 12:3-5 In the womb he took his brother by the heel; and in his manhood he contended with God. Indeed, he struggled with the angel, and prevailed; he wept, and made supplication to him. He found him at Bethel, and there he spoke with us, even Yahweh, the God of Armies; Yahweh is his name of renown!
- Revelation 22:13-16 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Blessed are those who do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify these things to you for the assemblies. I am the root and the offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.”
- Isaiah 27:1 In that day, Yahweh with his hard and great and strong sword will punish leviathan, the fleeing serpent, and leviathan the twisted serpent; and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea.
- Zechariah 11:11 It was broken in that day; and thus the poor of the flock that listened to me knew that it was Yahweh’s word.
- Matthew 18:10 See that you don’t despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.
- Matthew 18:14 Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
- Matthew 26:56 But all this has happened that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him and fled.
- Luke 12:32 Don’t be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.
- Luke 17:2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, rather than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble.
- John 1:29 The next day, he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
- John 3:14-17 As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.
- John 14:9-11 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me for the very works’ sake.
- John 17:21-23 that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me. The glory which you have given me, I have given to them; that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that you sent me and loved them, even as you loved me.
- John 18:8-9 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. If therefore you seek me, let these go their way,” that the word might be fulfilled which he spoke, “Of those whom you have given me, I have lost none.”
- Acts 2:23 him, being delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by the hand of lawless men, crucified and killed;
- Acts 4:26-28 The kings of the earth take a stand, and the rulers take council together, against the Lord, and against his Christ.’ “For truly, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed, to do whatever your hand and your council foreordained to happen.
- Romans 3:24-26 being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God sent to be an atoning sacrifice, through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness through the passing over of prior sins, in God’s forbearance; to demonstrate his righteousness at this present time; that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him who has faith in Jesus.
- Romans 5:6-10 For while we were yet weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man. Yet perhaps for a righteous person someone would even dare to die. But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we will be saved from God’s wrath through him. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life.
- Romans 8:32 He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things?
- Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,”
- Philippians 2:6 who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped,
- Colossians 1:15-20 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created in the heavens and on the earth, visible things and invisible things, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things are held together. He is the head of the body, the assembly, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. For all the fullness was pleased to dwell in him, and through him to reconcile all things to himself by him, whether things on the earth or things in the heavens, having made peace through the blood of his cross.
- Hebrews 1:6-12 When he again brings in the firstborn into the world he says, “Let all the angels of God worship him.” Of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, and his servants a flame of fire.” But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your Kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.” And, “You, Lord, in the beginning, laid the foundation of the earth. The heavens are the works of your hands. They will perish, but you continue. They all will grow old like a garment does. You will roll them up like a mantle, and they will be changed; but you are the same. Your years won’t fail.”
- Hebrews 10:5-10 Therefore when he comes into the world, he says, “You didn’t desire sacrifice and offering, but you prepared a body for me. You had no pleasure in whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come (in the scroll of the book it is written of me) to do your will, O God.’ ” Previously saying, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you didn’t desire, neither had pleasure in them” (those which are offered according to the law), then he has said, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He takes away the first, that he may establish the second, by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
- 1 Peter 1:18-20 knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish or spot, the blood of Christ, who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in this last age for your sake,
- 1 John 2:2 And he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.
- 1 John 4:9-10 By this God’s love was revealed in us, that God has sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
- Revelation 1:11 saying, “What you see, write in a book and send to the seven assemblies: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”
- Revelation 1:17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me, saying, “Don’t be afraid. I am the first and the last,
- Revelation 2:23 I will kill her children with Death, and all the assemblies will know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts. I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.
- Revelation 13:8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been killed.
- Revelation 21:6 He said to me, “I have become the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give freely to him who is thirsty from the spring of the water of life.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain It was pleasant and delightful to hear what the…
It was pleasant and delightful to hear what the Prophet said at the beginning of the chapter, for he promised that a fountain would be opened, by which the Jews might cleanse away all their filth, and that God, having been reconciled, would be bountiful to them. As then he had promised so blessed and happy a state, what he had said before might have been so taken, even by the true and faithful servants of God, as though the condition of the Church were to be after that time free from every trouble and inconvenience; hence Zechariah anticipates such a conclusion, and shows that the happy state which he had promised was not to be so looked for, as it though the faithful were to be free from every affliction, for God would in the meantime severely try his Church. Though then God had promised to be bountiful to his Church, he yet shows that many troubles would be mixed up with its prosperity in order that the faithful might prepare themselves to endure all things.
This discourse may indeed appear abrupt, but its different parts harmonise well together, for God so regulates his benefits which he bestows on his Church in this world, as ever to try it in various ways. What is here said was especially necessary, since very grievous afflictions were nigh at hand: for, as it is evident from history, that nation was on the borders of despair when the coming of Christ approached. This then is the reason why the Prophet seems at the first view to join together things so contrary. For what he has hitherto promised tended to prepare the faithful to bear all things patiently, inasmuch as deliverance was nigh. But in the meantime it was needful that they should be expressly encouraged to persevere, lest they should succumb under the extreme evils which were not far distant.
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The sum of the whole is, that before the Lord would cleanse his Church and bring it back to perfect order, very grievous calamities were to intervene, for a dreadful disorder there must be when God smites the very shepherds; and the apostrophe, when God addresses the sword, a thing void of reason, is very emphatical. It is much more striking than if he had said, “A sword shall be raised against my shepherds and against my ministers, so that the flock shall be dispersed.” But the metaphor, as I said, is much more expressive, when God directs his words to the sword itself; Awake, watch, O sword, — how? against my shepherd
Most of our interpreters confine this passage to the person of Christ, because in Matthew 26:31, this sentence is quoted,
“Smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered:”
but this is no solid reason; for what is said of a single shepherd ought probably to be extended to the whole order. When God says in Deuteronomy 18:15,
“A prophet will I raise up from the midst of you,”
though mention is indeed made of one Prophet only, yet God includes all the Prophets; as though he had said, “I will never deprive you of the doctrine of salvation, but in every age will I show that I care for you, for my Prophets shall be ever present, by whose mouth I shall make it known that I am near you.” This passage is quoted as referring to Christ, and very suitably, because all the Prophets spoke by his Spirit, and at length he himself appeared, and by his mouth the heavenly Father spoke familiarly with us, and fully explained his whole mind, as it is said in the first chapter to the Hebrews
“In various ways and often did God speak formerly to the fathers by the Prophets, but now in these last times by his only-begotten Son.”
As then Christ possesses a supremacy among the Prophets, and hence rightly applied to him are the words of Moses; so also as he is the head and prince of shepherds, this pre-eminence justly belongs to him. But what is said by the Prophet is however to be viewed as a general truth. In short, God threatens the people, and declares that there would be a dreadful disorder; for they would be deprived of their shepherds, so that there would be no government among them, or one in great confusion.
The word עמית, omit, is rendered by some, kindred, (contribulis — one of the same tribe,) by others, kinsman, (consanguineus — one of the same blood,) and by others, one connected, (co-haerens,) that is, with God; and they have considered that this passage cannot be understood of any but of Christ alone: but they have taken up, as I have said, a false principle. The Greek version has citizen (τὸν πολίτην,) and some render it, as Theodotion, kindred (sumfulon — one of the same tribe.) Jerome prefers the rendering, one connected or united with me (cohaerentem mihi.) The word, according to the Hebrews, means an associate, a neighbor, or a friend, or one in any way connected with us. God, I have no doubt, distinguished pastors with this title, because he gave a representation at himself by then to the people; and the more eminent any one is, the nearer, we know, he is to God: and hence kings and judges, and such as exercise authority, are called his sons. So also pastors are called his associates, for they spend their labor in building up the Church. He is the chief Pastor, but he employs his ministers to carry on his work. This is the reason why they are called the associates of God, that is, on account of the connection between them, for they are co-workers with God, as Paul also teaches us. In short, the Prophet calls pastors the associates of God in the same sense in which Paul calls them fellow-workers. (συνεργους 1 Corinthians 3:9.)
Having said that the sword was permitted, nay, commanded, to rise against the shepherd, he immediately adds, that the sheep were dispersed. We then see that in these words is set forth a calamity that was to be feared, and which the people were not able to escape, in order that the faithful might not be too much disheartened, as though God would disappoint them, but that they might stand firm amidst grievous troubles and violent commotions. Since then this disorder was nigh, Zechariah bids the faithful to continue firm and patiently, and quietly hope, until God showed himself again propitious to them, and those evidences of his favor appeared of which he had before spoken. We now see what the design of the Prophet was. But we must especially notice, that it is a sure presage of the people’s ruin and destruction when pastors are taken from them; for when God intends to keep us safe, he employs this instrumentality, that is, he raises up faithful teachers, who rule in his name; and he rules them by his Spirit, and fits them for their rank and station: but when he strikes them, he not only forsakes the people, but also shows that he is the avenger of wickedness, so that the people themselves are destroyed. This is the import of the Prophet’s words.
But this, as I have already observed, was fulfilled in Christ; for he accommodated the passage to himself when his disciples fled from him. Though they were but a small flock, being very few in number, yet they were scattered and put to flight. In that case then, as in a mirror, appeared how truly it had been said by Zechariah, that the scattering is nigh when a pastor is smitten.
By the word sword, he means affliction; for though Christ was not slain by a sword, yet crucifixion and violent death are fitly designated by the word sword.
It follows at the end of the verse, And I will turn my hand to the little ones. Some consider that the little ones would be exposed to many evils, because the Lord would ever hold his rod in his hand to chastise them. But the Prophet, I have no doubt, meant what is far different, — that God would show mercy to them, when the body of the people had been as it were torn into many parts. For all the godly might have been wholly dejected when their shepherds were taken away, and when the people were become like a straying flock. God then comes to their aid, and testifies that his hand would be extended over the miserable and the poor ones, who had been almost overwhelmed by a mass of evils.
This passage is also very serviceable to us in the present state of the Church: for we see how God has lately cut off many pastors, so that what is called the Church is become like a mutilated body. We also see that God often deprives of good and faithful pastors those who have abused his truth, or with impious contempt rejected it. We might then in this case be terrified and cast off all hope of salvation, were we not to remember what Zechariah teaches us here, even that though the Church were contemptible in the world, and though the faithful were few in number, and all of them exposed to calamities, yet God’s hand will be over them, so as to gather for himself again a Church from the torn members. This is the import of the whole. It follows —
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 The Prophet warneth the Jews, that before this great…
The Prophet warneth the Jews, that before this great comfort should come under Christ, there should be an horrible dissipation among the people: for their governors and pastors should be destroyed, and the people should be as scattered sheep: and the Evangelist applieth this to Christ, because he was the head of all Pastors, Matt. 26:31.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Zec 13:7 Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and…
Zec 13:7 Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man [that is] my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.
Ver. 7. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd] A powerful expression, containing a commission given out to the sword by way of apostrophe.
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Awake] Or, up, as the Septuagint; up and about, thou that hast long lain locked up in the scabbard. Thus the sword is of God’s sending; it is "bathed in heaven," Isa 34:5 Eze 14:17 Jer 47:6-7. It is he that awakes it and sets it on work; he commands it, Amo 9:4, and ordereth it, Jer 50:25. Let this patient us under it, as it did Job, Job 1:15; Job 1:17; Job 1:21. Among philosophies the most noted sect for patience was that of the Stoics, who ascribed all to destiny.
O sword] Framea, which seems to come of ρομφαια (the Septuagint’s word here), by putting φ before ρ; or Gladie, which comes a clade, from destruction; like as the Hebrew word Chereb, from desolating and laying waste. Hence the sword is said to "contemn the rod," Eze 21:10; Eze 21:13, that is, all lighter and lesser judgments, which are but its forerunners, and whereof it seems to say, What does this silly rod do here? Will not men stoop? Let me come: I will make them either bend or break; either yield, or I will have their blood.
Against my shepherd] i.e. Saith Calvin, against magistrates and ministers, God’s under shepherds and associates in feeding the flock, labourers together with him, 1Co 3:9. But because Christ is the great Shepherd, Heb 13:20, and "the good Shepherd," Joh 10:11, Optimus maximus, that is, God’s fellow companion, and yet, suspending his glory, became a man, to seek him out a flock in the wilderness; and afterwards laid down his life for his sheep, Joh 10:11, underwent the deadly dint of God’s devouring sword put into the hands of those men of God’s hand, Psa 17:13, who put him to many a little death all his life long, and at length to that cursed and cruel death of the cross: at which time the Shepherd was smitten and the sheep scattered, as this text is most fitly applied, Mat 26:31; therefore I understand it chiefly of Christ, the chief Shepherd and Bishop of our souls, who "was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities," &c., Isa 53:5. And this not by chance, or malice of his enemies only (though they laid upon him without mercy, nailing him to the tree in the hands and feet, which in all men are the most sensitive parts of the body, as being fullest of nerves and sinews, but in him much more as being of the finest temperature and most exquisite sense), but by the determinate counsel of God, as St Peter shows those kill-Christs, Act 2:28, and according to the Scriptures, that went before of him, and foretold all his passion, even to the casting of the dice upon his clothes, Psa 22:1-31 Isa 53:1-12, by the reading of which lively description of Christ’s sufferings in that chapter, Johannes Isaac, a Jew, confesseth that he was converted to the faith of Christ, Hoc ego ingenue confiteor, ait ille, caput illud ad fidem Christi me adduxisse. He is called God’s Shepherd, because God anointed and appointed him to that office, putting a charge into his hands, Joh 10:1-18; Joh 17:13-21, that he might tend them and tender them, and at length return them up again to his heavenly Father, without loss of any one. He is also called the Man by an excellence, that matchless man the chief of ten thousand; as his mother is called hagnalma, that famous virgin, whom all generations are bound to call blessed. He is Man God, both in one; and is therefore also called God’s fellow, or mate, as being consubstantial to the Father according to the Godhead, and very near akin to him according to the manhood, by reason of the hypostatical union of both natures into one person; the man Christ Jesus.
Smite the shepherd] That that blessed fountain of his blood {mentioned Zec 13:1} may be opened, and the flock of God washed and healed and satiated, as the people were at the time when the rock was smitten and so set abroach; and as when God clave a hollow place in the jaw bone of the ass, so that there came water thereout, Samson drank and was revived, Jdg 15:19; and as when the alabaster box of ointment was broken all the house was filled with a sweet savour.
And the sheep shall be scattered] Scattered and scattered; shifting for themselves, and leaving Christ to the mercy of his enemies, who seized upon him, as so many carrion kites {a} upon a silly dove. Thomas (who once said, Come, lest us go die with him) disappears and is lost; Peter follows aloof off, but better he had been further off; John (if at least it were he) flees away stark naked for haste; Judas comes nearer to him, but to betray him with a kiss. But is this thy kindness to thy friend? Christ had indented with the enemy beforehand for their security, Joh 18:8, so that they needed not have retreated so disorderly, and scattered as they did. But "the fear of man bringeth a snare," Pro 29:25. Howbeit, man’s badness cannot break off the course of Christ’s goodness. For though they thus unworthily forsake him, and leave him at the worst (as they say), yet I will turn my hand, saith he, upon the little ones, i.e. I will recollect my dispersed flock (how little soever either for number, or respect in the world) and bring back my banished. So soon doth it repent the good Lord concerning his servants. He remembereth not iniquity for ever, saith the prophet, because mercy pleaseth him; and again, "He remembereth us in our low estates; for his mercy endureth for ever," Mic 7:18 Psa 136:23. He looked back upon Peter when his mouth was now big swollen with oaths and execrations, and set him a weeping bitterly. He called for Thomas after his resurrection, and confirmed his weak faith by a wonderful condescension. He sealed up his love to them all again, restoring them to their ministerial employment; and not so much as once upbraiding them with their base dereliction but only with their unbelief. Lyra and other sense the text thus: I will turn my hand upon the little ones, that is, I will so smite the Shepherd Christ, that not only the sheep shall be scattered, but the little lambs also, even the least and lowest Christians, shall have their share of sufferings, shall feel the weight of my hand, shall pledge the Lord Christ in that cup of afflictions that I have put into his hand shall be conformed to the linage of God’s Son as his co-sufferers, that he may be the firstborn among many brethren, Rom 8:29. And this was fulfilled in the persecutions that followed soon after our Saviour’s death. Eccle sia haeres crucis, saith Luther; and Persecution est Evangelii genius, saith Calvin. Persecution is the black angel that dogs the Church, the red horse that follows the white at the heels. And the comfort is, that God’s holy hand hath special stroke in all those afflictions, that are laid upon his faithful people, "I will turn mine hand."
{a} A bird of prey of the family Falconidae and subfamily Milvinae, having long wings, tail usually forked, and no tooth in the bill. ŒD
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 Many words are spent by interpreters to show what…
Many words are spent by interpreters to show what they think to be the connexion of the words; it is easier to say what are the contents and design of them. It is possible they are subjoined to the former to vindicate Christ from the suspicion of an impostor, though he was wounded, for this his Father did foretell by Zechariah four hundred and ninety years, more or less, beforehand, so that these wounds are not marks of an impostor, but testimonies of his truth, and that he is the Messiah.
Awake: it is God commission, or rather prediction, the imperative put for the future.
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O sword; i.e. afflictions, persecutions, and the cross.
Against my shepherd; who is my faithful Shepherd, and will lay down his life for my sheep; who became man, that he might be my servant and die.
My fellow, or my equal, who was ever with me, and my delights, Pro 8:30. Man my fellow speaks Christ man with us and God with his Father, God-man in one person. Smite the shepherd; this great and good Shepherd shall be smitten, i.e. die for my sheep, and before he dieth shall suffer much for them.
The sheep shall be scattered; as affrighted, destitute of one to look after them, and which must be partakers in sufferings with their Shepherd.
I will turn mine hand: God will, say some, turn his hand against the little ones, smite them too; but others say this turning the hand is in favour, and for protection; it is a hand turned over them, as if he would keep the blow off them, while others, fitter to bear it, do suffer.
Upon the little ones; new, and therefore weak converts and disciples.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain Here is a prophecy,
Here is a prophecy,
I. Of the sufferings of Christ, of him who was to be pierced, and was to be the fountain opened. Awake, O sword! against my Shepherd, Zac 13:7. These are the words of God the Father, giving order and commission to the sword of his justice to awake against his Son, when he had voluntarily made his soul an offering for sin; for it pleased the Lord to bruise him and put him to grief; and he was stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted, Isa 53:4, Isa 53:10. Observe, 1. How he calls him. "As God, he is my fellow;" for he thought it no robbery to be equal with God. He and the Father are one. He was from eternity by him, as one brought up with him, and, in the work of man's redemption, he was his elect, in whom his soul delighted, and the counsel of peace was between them both. "As Mediator, he is my Shepherd, that great and good Shepherd that undertook to feed the flock," Zac 11:7. He is the Shepherd that was to lay down his life for the sheep. 2. How he uses him: Awake, O sword! against him. If he will be a sacrifice, he must be slain, for without the shedding of blood, the life-blood, there was no remission. men thrust him through as the good Shepherd (compare Zac 13:3), that he might purchase the flock of God with his own blood, Act 20:28. It is not a charge given to a rod to correct him, but to a sword to slay him; for Messiah the prince must be cut off, but not for himself, Dan 9:26. It is not the sword of war that receives this charge, that he may die in the bed of honour, but the sword of justice, that he may die as a criminal, upon an ignominious tree. This sword must awake against him; he having no sin of his own to answer for, the sword of justice had nothing to say to him of itself, till, by particular order from the Judge of all, it was warranted to brandish itself against him. he was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, in the decree and counsel of God; but the sword designed against him had long slumbered, till now at length it is called upon to awake, not, "Awake, and smite him; strike home; not with a drowsy blow, but an awakened one;" for God spared not his own Son.
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II. Of the dispersion of the disciples thereupon: Smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. This our Lord Jesus himself declares to have been fulfilled when all his disciples were offended because of him in the night wherein he was betrayed, Mat 26:31; Mar 14:27. They all forsook him and fled. The smiting of the Shepherd is the scattering of the sheep. They were scattered every one to his own, and left him alone, Joh 16:32. Herein they were like timorous sheep; yet the Shepherd thus provided for their safety, for he said, If you seek me, let these go their way. Some make another application of this; Christ was the Shepherd of the Jewish nation; he was smitten; they themselves smote him, and therefore they were justly scattered abroad, and dispersed among the nations, and remain so at this day. These words, I will turn my hand upon the little ones, may be understood either as a threatening (as Christ suffered, so shall his disciples, they shall drink of the cup that he drank of and be baptized with the baptism that he was baptized with) or as a promise that God would gather Christ's scattered disciples together again, and he should give them the meeting in Galilee. Though the little ones among Christ's soldiers may be dispersed, they shall rally again; the lambs of his flock, though frightened by the beasts of prey, shall recover themselves, shall be gathered in his arms and laid in his bosom. Sometimes, when the sheep are scattered and lost in the wilderness, yet the little ones, which, it was feared, would be a prey (Num 14:31), are brought in, are brought home, and God turns his hand upon them.
III. Of the rejection and ruin of the unbelieving Jews (Zac 13:8); and this word has, and shall have, its accomplishment, in the destruction of the corrupt and hypocritical part of the church. It shall come to pass that in all the land of Israel two parts shall be cut off and die. The Roman army laid the country waste, and slew at least two-thirds of the Jews. Some understand by the cutting off, and dying, or two parts in all the earth, the abolishing of heathenism and Judaism, that Christianity, the third part, might be left to reign alone. The Jewish worship was quite taken away by the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. And, some time after, Pagan idolatry was in a manner extirpated, when the empire became Christian.
IV. Of the reformation and preservation of the chosen remnant, those of them that believed, and the Christian church in general (Zac 13:9): The third part shall be left. When Jerusalem and Judea were destroyed, all the Christians in that country, having among them the warning Christ gave them to flee to the mountains, shifted for their own safety, and were sheltered in a city called Pella, on the other side Jordan. We have here first the trials and then the triumphs of the Christian church, and of all the faithful members of it. 1. Their trials: I will bring that third part through the fire of affliction. and will refine and try them as silver and gold are refined and tried. This was fulfilled in the persecutions of the primitive church, the fiery trial which tried the people of God then, Pe1 4:12. Those whom God sets apart for himself must pass through a probation and purification in this world; they must be tried that their faith may be found to praise and honour (Pe1 1:6, Pe1 1:7), as Abraham's faith was when it was tried by the command given him to offer up Isaac, Now know I that thou fearest me. They must be tried, that both those that are perfect and those that are not may be made manifest. They must be refined from their dross; their corruption must be purged out; they must be brightened and bettered. 2. Their triumphs. (1.) Their communion with God is their triumph: They shall call on my name, and I will hear them. They write to God by prayer, and receive from him answers of peace, and thus keep up a comfortable communion with him. This honour have all his saints. (2.) Their covenant with God is their triumph: "I will say, It is my people, whom I have chosen and loved, and will own; and they shall say, the Lord is my God, and a God all-sufficient to me; and in me they shall boast every day and all the day long. This God is our God for ever and ever."
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,.... Not Judas Maccabeus,…
Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,.... Not Judas Maccabeus, slain in battle by Bacchis (w), as Grotius fancies; but Christ, Jehovah's Shepherd; for these are the words of Jehovah the Father, concerning his Son, whom he calls "my Shepherd"; because he has a property in him, as well as in the flock; and he was chosen, called, set up, and sent as such by him; on whom he laid the straying of all the sheep; and who as such died and rose again, and is accountable to his divine Father for the flock committed to him: by "the sword" awoke against him are meant either the sorrows and afflictions of Christ, which, like a sword, pierced through his soul; or the violent death he was put to, being stricken and cut off for the transgressions of his people; or the Jews, who were the instruments of it; so wicked men are called, Psa 17:13 or rather the glittering sword of justice, which was drawn against him, and sheathed in him; which is called upon to "awake", it seeming as though it was asleep; it having been a long time since the first sin of Adam was committed, in which all his posterity was concerned, and for which satisfaction to divine justice must be made; and longer still since Christ became a surety, and engaged to do it; moreover, it was a great while since it was promised that he should come, and be smitten and wounded for sin; and, after he was come into the world, it was some time before the orders were given to this sword to awake against him:
even against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts; the human nature of Christ is signified by "the man"; not that he was really man before his incarnation, only in the purpose and covenant of God; and he often appearing in a human form; and the Scripture speaking of things future as present; though here it regards him in the days of his flesh, and as suffering: his divine nature is expressed by being "the fellow" of the Lord of hosts; not only being near to him in place and affection, but his equal, being truly a divine Person; of the same nature, glory, and majesty, with him (x), though distinct from him; and so fit to be the Shepherd of the flock:
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smite the Shepherd; the order is given to the sword of justice, by the Lord of hosts, to smite the Messiah, the Shepherd, even unto death: this was according to his purpose; was his will of command; agreeable to his mind; what he took a kind of pleasure in, and in which he had a hand himself; for it is rendered "I will smite", Mat 26:31,
and the sheep shall be scattered; particularly the apostles, who, upon the seizure of Christ, were scattered from him, and one another, whereby this prophecy was fulfilled, Mat 26:31,
and I will turn my hand upon the little ones; the same with the sheep, the disciples of Christ (y); yea, all that Christ died for, and to whom God is gracious for his sake; even all the little ones that believe in him; who are few in number, little in their own sight, and contemptible in the eyes of the world; pusillanimous, fearful, and of little faith, as the apostles of Christ were at the time he died: on these the Lord turned his hand; not his chastising hand, though that is sometimes on the saints; much less his hand of justice, which was laid on Christ, and it would have been unjust to have laid it on sinner and surety both; but his hand of grace and mercy, power and protection; which was upon the apostles in their ministrations, succeeding them to the conversion of sinners, and preserving them from their enemies; and all the elect are saved in consequence of the death of Christ, and redemption by him. Aben Ezra says this prophecy refers to the great wars which shall be in all the earth in the times of Messiah ben Joseph; but they regard the times of Christ the son of David, who is already come. The Targum is,
"be revealed, O sword, against the king, and against the ruler his companion, who is like unto him;''
and Jarchi interprets it of the king of Moab; and Aben Ezra of every king of the nations that shall in the above times reign over the earth, who thinks himself to be as God; which sense Kimchi approves of, and observes, that the "little ones" are governors and princes, who are less than kings: and another Jewish writer (z) says the sense is, awake, O sword, against the king of Ishmael, who is called the king of the Turks (the grand seignior), that rules over Asia and Africa; which are more than three fourths of the world, and the greater part of the Jewish nation are in captivity under his hand; him God calls his Shepherd, because he hath given into his hand to feed his flock in their captivity, and this flock is the nation of Israel; and he is called the man his fellow, because he thinks himself, through the pride and haughtiness of his heart, to be as God; and upon the ruin of this prince, he supposes, will be the deliverance of the Jews, who, being scattered into several parts, will, in separate bodies, return to their own land: and by the "little ones" he thinks are meant the kings of the nations of Edom, or of the Roman nations, which are the lesser pastors of the sheep. Manasseh ben Israel (a) makes mention of the same exposition of the passage, but is of opinion that the words are rather to be understood of the pope of Rome, who calls himself a pastor, and next to God, and his vicar on earth; and against him and those like to him, inferior in power, God will make war. But much more agreeable, and very remarkable, are the words of R. Samuel Marochianus (b), who, writing of the coming of the Messiah, says,
"I fear, O my Lord, that that which Zechariah the prophet said, "I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered", was fulfilled when we smote the Shepherd of those little ones and holy apostles.''
Moreover, it may be observed, that the word for "little ones" sometimes signifies great ones, as Mr. Pocock (c) has observed, and particularly in this text; which, according to the sense some give of it, mentioned by R. Tanchum, is, "I will turn mine hand upon the illustrious and the princes", and not "upon the little ones", as commonly understood; and which he takes to be the best of the expositions adduced: and with this agree the several oriental versions; some copies of the Septuagint read, "upon the shepherds"; and so the Arabic version; and the Syriac version renders it, "the superiors"; and so may very well be applied to the apostles of Christ, who were in the highest office in the church, and shepherds of the flock; on whom, after the death of Christ, God turned his hand of power, which was upon them, and was with them in their ministrations, making them successful wherever they went; and also his hand of providence was upon them, protecting and preserving them, until they had done the work they were sent about. After this prophecy concerning the Messiah, occasionally inserted here, the prophet returns to his prediction of the state of the church, and what shall befall it in the latter day.
(w) Vid. Joseph. Antiqu. l. 12. c. 11. sect. 2. (x) "socius, proximus; speciatim tribuitur Messiae, qui patri caelesti est conjunctissimus et intimus, cum sit ejusdem numero essentiae, gloriae, ac majestatis cum eo". Stockius, p. 794. (y) So Stockius, p. 912. (z) R. Isaac Chizzuk Emunah, par. 1. c. 37. p. 310. 311. (a) De Resurrect. Mort. l. 3. c. 5. sect. 5. p. 290. (b) Apud Burkium in loc. e Mullero. (c) Not. Miscell. in Port. Mosis, c. 2. p. 18.
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 O sword - Afflictions, persecutions, and the cross. My…
O sword - Afflictions, persecutions, and the cross. My shepherd - Who is my faithful shepherd, and will lay down his life for my sheep. My fellow - This speaks Christ; man with us, and God with his father, God-man in one person. The shepherd - This great and good shepherd. Turn mine hand - God will turn his hand in favour, and for protection will keep the new, and weak disciples.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 7. Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd] This…
Verse 7. Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd] This is generally understood of Jesus Christ. The sword is that of Divine justice, which seemed to have been long asleep, and should long ago have struck either MAN, or his SUBSTITUTE, the Messiah. Jesus is here called God's Shepherd, because he had appointed him to feed and govern, as well as to save, the whole lost world. This is a prosopopoeia, and the address to the sword is very poetic. There is a fine passage in AEschylus to the same effect: -
Ξενος δε κληροις επινωμᾳ,
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Χαλυβος Σκυθων αποικας,
Κτεανων χρηματοδαιτας
Πικρος, ωμοφρων σιδαρος,
Χθονα ναιειν διαπηλας
Ὁποσαν αν και φθιμενοισι κατεχειν,
Των μεγαλων πεδιων αμοιροις,
AESCHYL. Sept. cont. Theb. 733.
"The rude barbarian, from the mines
Of Scythia, o'er the lots presides;
Ruthless to each his share assigns,
And the contested realm divides:
To each allots no wider a domain
Than, on the cold earth as they lie,
Their breathless bodies occupy,
Regardless of an ampler reign:
Such narrow compass does the sword--
A cruel umpire-their high claims afford."
POTTER.
The man that is my Fellow] ועל גבר עמיתי veal geber amithi, "upon the strong man," or "the hero that is with ME;" my neighbour. "The WORD was God, and the WORD was WITH God;" Joh 1:1. "I and my Father are ONE;" Joh 10:30.
Smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered] This is quoted by our Lord, Mt 26:31, in relation to his disciples, who should be scattered on his crucifixion: and they were so; for every one, giving up all for lost, went to his own house.
And I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.] I will take care of the little flock, and preserve them from Jewish malice and Gentile persecution. And so this little flock was most wondrously preserved, and has been increasing from year to year from that time to the present day.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Zec 13:7-9. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd —…
Zec 13:7-9. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd — Here “the prophet goes back to the great subject of prophecy, the Messiah, after having foretold some events posterior to his appearance; and he then proceeds to other events subsequent to that grand epocha in the history of the Jews, and of mankind; some near it, and some remote.” — Newcome. That the sufferings and death of Christ are here predicted, is certain from Christ’s having applied this prophecy to himself, a few hours before he was apprehended in order to be put to death, as St. Matthew (Mat 26:31) and St. Mark (Mar 14:27) inform us, where, foretelling to his disciples that they should all be offended because of him that night, he added, For it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered; and his applying it so directly to himself and his disciples, is as much as if he had said, in direct terms, that this was a prediction of what should happen to himself and them; so that it seems an entire perversion of the passage to apply it to any other subject. He alone, strictly speaking, was and is God’s shepherd and the man, his fellow, or friend, or very near to him, as Houbigant renders עמית, and as it certainly properly signifies, no thing or person being so near and dear to God as his beloved Son; the consequence of whose crucifixion was the scattering for a time of his disciples. And I will turn my hand upon the little ones — Houbigant reads, instead of smite, I will smite the shepherd; but I will turn, or bring back, my hand upon the little ones: that is, upon that third part of the people, which was to be tried as gold in the furnace. This is that part which, it is said, Zec 13:9, shall call on the name of the Lord: whence it is justly inferred that the two other parts of the Jewish nation, which were to perish, were those Jews who received not the gospel, and who were slain by the Romans: for it is said of the third part, They shall call on my name, in opposition to the two parts who should be cut off and die, Zec 13:8. But, even of that third, many Jews, who had believed the gospel, fell away, as when gold or silver is tried, much dross is found among it. So that the number of Jews who should continue in the faith of the gospel is left very small; which the event sufficiently proves, as we learn from the Acts of the Apostles: see Houbigant. Upon the whole we learn from these verses, as Dr. Sharpe observes, the following particulars: “That the shepherd, called the fellow of God, was to be smitten; the sheep were to be scattered; two parts of all that inhabited the land were to be cut off, and die; a third only left, which was to be brought through the fire, refined as silver, and tried as gold. Then it follows, Zec 13:9, They shall call, &c. The like events happened under the gospel: the shepherd was smitten, the sheep were scattered, they were to endure severe trials, and their faith was to be more precious than gold tried with fire. To the Jews, our Saviour said, Behold, your house is left unto you desolate; and verily I say unto you, ye shall not see me until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Our Saviour here foretels the desolation and destruction of Jerusalem; and, instead of comforting the Jews with the prospect of a third temple, and the restoration of bloody sacrifices, in some future age, or advent of the Messiah, he expressly declares they shall see him no more, till they shall acknowledge him by saying, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” — Dr. Sharpe’s 2d Argument, p. 356.
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 Awake, O sword - So Jeremiah apostrophises the sword,…
Awake, O sword - So Jeremiah apostrophises the sword, “O thou sword of the Lord, when wilt thou be quiet?” Jer 47:6. The prophets express what “will be,” by a command that it should be; “Make the heart of this people heavy” Isa 6:10. But by this command he signifies that human malice, acting freely, could do no more than His “Hand and” His “counsel determined before to be done” Act 4:28. The envy and hatred of Satan, the blind fury of the chief priests, the contempt of Herod, the guilty cowardice of Pilate, freely accomplished that Death, which God had before decreed for the salvation of the world. The meaning then is, (Ribera), “the sword shall be aroused against My Shepherd, that is, I will allow Him to be smitten by the Jews. But by ‘the sword’ he designates death, persecution, wounding etc. as above, the ‘sword upon his right arm’ Zec 11:17, and, where the passion of Christ is spoken of, ‘Deliver my soul from the sword’ Psa 22:20. So also, ‘All the sinners of the people shall die by the sword’ Amo 9:10,” (Jerome), “which cannot be taken literally; for many sinners perish by shipwreck, poison, drowning, fire.” Amos then “so spake, because many died by war, yet not all by the sword, but others by pestilence and famine, all which he includes under ‘the sword’ Amo 9:10. This smiting began, when the Lord was taken, and His sheep began to be scattered; but the prophecy which, before, was being gradually fulfilled, was fully fulfilled in His death, and the apostles were dispersed till the day of the Resurrection at eventide.”
Against the Man, My Fellow - that is, One united by community of nature. A little before, God had spoken of Himself as priced at “the thirty pieces of silver,” yet as breaking the covenant which He had made with all nations for His people; as “pierced through, yet as pouring the spirit of grace and supplication” on those who pierced Him, that they should mourn their deed, and as, thereon, ever cleansing them from sin. As Man, God was sold, was pierced. : “God, in flesh, not working with aught intervening as in the prophets, but having taken to Him a Manhood connatural with Himself and made one, and through His flesh akin to us, drawing up to Him all humanity. What was the manner of the Godhead in flesh? As fire in iron, not transitively but by communication. For the fire does not dart into the iron, but remains there and communicates to it of its own virtue, not impaired by the communication, yet filling wholly its recipient.”
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The bold language of the Fathers only expressed the actuality of the Incarnation. Since the Manhood was taken into God, and in Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and God and Man were one Christ. then was it all true language. His Body was “the Body of God” ; His flesh “the flesh of the Word” ; and it was lawful to speak of “the flesh of the Deity” , of “the Passion of the Word” , “the Passion of Christ, my God” , “the Passion of God” , “God dead and buried” , “God suffered” , “murderers of God” , “the Godhead dwelt in the flesh bodily, which is all one with saying that, being God, He had a proper body, and using this as an instrument, He became Man for our sakes, and, because of this, things proper to the flesh are said to be His, since He was in it, as hunger, thirst, suffering, fatigue and the like, of which the flesh is capable, while the works proper to the Word Himself as raising the dead and restoring the blind, He did through His own Body,” is but a continuance of the language of Zechariah, since He who was sold, was priced, was Almighty God. Jesus being God and Man, the sufferings of His Humanity were the sufferings of God, although, as God, He could not suffer.
Now, conversely, God speaks of the Shepherd who was slain, as “My Fellow,” united in Nature with Himself, although not the Manhood of Jesus which suffered, but the Godhead, united with It in one Person, was Consubstantial with Himself. The name might perhaps be most nearly represented by “connatural.” : “When then the title is employed of the relation of an individual to God, it is clear that that individual can be no mere man, Jut must be one, united with God by unity of Being. The Akin of the Lord is no, other than He who said in the Gospel “I and My Father are One” Joh 10:30, and who is designated as “the Only-Begotten Son, who is in the Bosom of the Father” Joh 1:18. The word, it seems, was especially chosen, as being used in the Pentateuch, only in the laws against injuring a fellow-man. The prophet thereby gives prominence to the seeming contradiction between the command of the Lord, “Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd,” and those Of His own law, whereby no one is to injure his fellow.
He thus points out the greatness of that end, for the sake of which the Lord regards not that relation, whose image among men He commanded to be kept holy. He speaks after the manner of people. He calls attention to the greatness of that sacrifice, whereby He “spared not His own Son, but freely gave Him up for us all” Rom 8:32. The word ‘Man’ forms a sort of contrast with “My Fellow.” He whom the sword is to reach must unite the Human Nature with the divine.” Jews too have seen that the words, “My Fellow,” imply an equality with God; only since they own not Him, who was God and Man, they must interpret it of a false claim on the part of man , overlooking that it is given Him by God.
And I will turn My hand o upon the little ones - Doing to them as He had done to the Shepherd. So our Lord forewarned them: “If they have persecuted Me they will also persecute you” Joh 15:20 : “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me, before it hated you” Joh 15:18 : “Ye shall be hated of all men for My name’s sake” Mat 10:22; Luk 21:17 : “they will deliver you up to the councils and scourge you in the synagogues; and ye shall be brought before governors and kings for My name’s sake” (Mat 10:17-18; add Luk 21:12): “they shall deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all men for My name’s sake” Mat 24:9; and to the Scribes and Pharisees, “I send unto you prophets and wise men and scribes, and some of them ye shall kill and crucify, and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues and persecute them from city to city, that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth” Mat 23:34-35.
The little ones - As Jeremiah speaks of “the least of the flock” Jer 49:20, and the Lord said, “fear not, little flock” Luk 12:32, little and weak in itself but mighty in Him and in His grace. Three centuries of persecution, alike in the Roman empire and beyond it in Persia, fulfilled the prophet’s words and deepened the foundation of the Church and cemented its fabric.
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 Sword. This address rouses attention. (Calmet) --- The sword…
Sword. This address rouses attention. (Calmet) --- The sword implies all the torments which Christ endured. (Worthington) --- He explains this of himself; only instead of strike, he says I will strike, (Matthew xxvi. 31.) as the sword was directed by God. (Haydock) --- Patris voluntate percussus est. (St. Jerome) --- Cleaveth. Hebrew hamithi, "my amiable one;" (Haydock) "of the same tribe with me;" (Aquila) "of my people." (Symmachus) St. Jerome observes, that Septuagint and Theodotion have read v for the last i, and render "his neighbour," or citizen. Yet some editions of the Septuagint retain "my fellow-citizen." (Haydock) --- Little ones. Septuagint, Arabic, &c., "shepherds," (Calmet) which "many ill apply to the Jewish princes." (St. Jerome) --- Tsoharim means also "the little," Micheas v. 2. Christ takes care of his little flock, (Luke xii. 32.; Haydock) and is always one with the Father, John viii. 29., and x. 30. (Calmet) --- He recalled the flying apostles, and gave them courage. (Worthington)
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 A. The Shepherd is smitten at Jehovah’s Command, and…
4. THE SWORD AWAKING AGAINST THE SHEPHERD AND THE FLOCK.
Zec_13:7-9
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A. The Shepherd is smitten at Jehovah’s Command, and the Sheep scattered, yet not hopelessly (Zec_13:7). B. The Excision of Two Thirds of the Flock (Zec_13:8). C. A further Refinement by Sorrow with a joyful Issue (Zec_13:9).
7 Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
And against a man, my fellow,301 saith Jehovah of Hosts
Smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered,
And I will bring back my hand31 upon the little ones.
8 And it shall be in all the land, saith Jehovah,
Two parts therein shall be cut off,32 shall die,
And the third shall be left therein.
9 And I will bring the third part into the fire,33
And will refine them as silver is refined,
And will try them as gold is tried;
He34 shall call upon my name and I will answer;35
I will say36It is my people,
And he shall say, Jehovah is my God.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Here again there is evidently a very sudden change of subject. The prophet passes at once from recounting the evasions of a pretender to prophecy to a dramatic representation of the good shepherd suffering under a divine infliction. No transition could well be more abrupt. Moreover, he seems to turn back on his course, quite forsaking the chronological order he has heretofore pursued in developing the Messianic revelation. In the ninth chapter he set forth the lowly king, individualizing his peculiar entrance into the holy city; in the eleventh he gave a symbolical representation of his rejection by the covenant people, with a distinct allusion to the wages of his betrayer; in the twelfth he stated the wonderful efficacy of the sight of his pierced form in awakening the deepest penitence and securing pardon and renewal. Yet here instead of advancing farther, a return is made to the fact of the Messiah’s death. How are we to account for this startling transition and seemingly retrograde movement? Of the former, Professor Cowles (M. P., p. 367) suggests an ingenious explanation founded upon the law of association of ideas. “The close analogy between the false prophet, whose hands had been gashed and pierced ‘in the house of his friends,’ and the Messiah, whose hands were pierced in a death by crucifixion among those who ought to have been his friends, suggested the latter case and led the prophet to speak of it here.” The learned Professor has certainly given the clew to the connection, but I should prefer to state it in a different way. The relation is one of contrast rather than of likeness. Zechariah had been speaking of a miserable pretender to prophecy, a man marked with the scars of his reasonless wounds received in idol-worship, and vainly attempting to falsify their origin. Now he turns to the true prophet arid teacher, the faithful shepherd whose scars are real and significant, who was not only wounded but slain, and whose death was the salvation of his flock. But in stating this fact, the prophet introduces a new and peculiar element in the tragedy,—one which he at least had not before emphasized or even adverted to. This is the immediate agency of Jehovah in bringing about the bloody result. It is God who arouses the sword sleeping in its scabbard, He points it at his own fellow, He gives the command to thrust it home.
Here then is a sufficient reason for the seeming reversion of an orderly progress. It was desirable to suggest the divine agency in the atoning death of the Good Shepherd, and that not simply for its own sake as indicating the completeness and perpetuity of the satisfaction rendered (Isa_53:10), but also in order to set forth the assimilation of character and course between the Shepherd and his flock. Both are to suffer, although in different relations and for different purposes. The smiting of the leader involves in the first instance at least the scattering of the sheep. And although Jehovah will turn his hand for good upon the little ones [the little flock, Luk_12:32], yet afterwards there will be severe and most destructive visitations, cutting off two parts out of three, and even the third part that remains is not to escape unscathed. It shall be cast into a furnace, and there be subjected to intense and protracted heat, until as in the case of the precious metals the dross and alloy are consumed and the pure gold and silver is left. The head and the members of the spiritual body then are to pass through a like experience. He suffered, and they also shall suffer. And this statement forms a necessary limitation of the glowing passages in earlier predictions which seem to promise unbroken prosperity and an endless train of outward blessings (Zec_9:17, Zec_10:7; Zec_10:12, Zec_12:6; Zec_12:9). On the contrary, while the flock will have “peace” in its shepherd, peace in its largest and best sense, yet in the world it shall have “tribulation.” In the general it is true, and always has been true, that “through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom of God” (Act_14:22). The sphere of the prediction is not to be arbitrarily restricted. It speaks of “the land,” of course the land of Israel, but only in so far as it represents the theatre upon which the adherents, nominal or real, of the Messiah are found, and whether they belong to Israel after the flesh or not. It is the Church of the future in its composite nature to which Zechariah refers, and of which he affirms a characteristic feature, which is not fortuitous or unmeaning, but an express appointment of Jehovah of Hosts; intended to bring the followers of the Saviour into a fellowship of suffering with Himself.
The three verses of this passage are closely connected. First, there is a clear statement of the smiting of the shepherd by Jehovah Himself, and then a representation of the effect of this procedure upon the flock. Such effects are not transient but abiding, or rather, the immediate result typifies what is to be the general condition of the flock while it is passing through the wilderness of this world.
Zec_13:1. Awake, O sword.…my fellow. The object of address in this startling dramatic outburst is not some unknown person (Hitzig), but the sword itself, as in Jer_47:6. O sword of Jehovah, how long wilt thou not, etc. The sword here is used representatively for any means of taking life. Exo_5:21; Rom_13:4. The Romans called the right of the magistrates to inflict capital punishment, jus gladii. Uriah was pierced by the arrows of the Ammonites, yet the Lord said to David (2Sa_12:9), “Thou hast slain him by the sword of the children of Ammon.” The person against whom the sword is to execute its deadly mission is described as Jehovah’s shepherd, the natural reference of which is to one or the other of the shepherds mentioned in Zechariah 11. Some suppose that the foolish shepherd (Zec_11:15; Zec_11:17) is intended (Grotius, Ewald, Maurer, Hitzig), but this does not follow necessarily from his being pierced by the sword, since in Isaiah 53. Jehovah is represented as bruising his righteous servant in whom He finds no fault. It is, moreover, put out of the question by the succeeding clause, the man my fellow, which could not, on any reasonable view, be applied to an unworthy person. גֶּבֶר עַמִיתי is very variously rendered in the versions,—LXX., fellow-citizen, Aqu., kinsman, Sym., of my people, Syr., friend, Targ., associate who is like him, Vulg., who cleaves to me, Theod., neighbor. The word עמית is found only here and in Leviticus, where it occurs eleven times (Lev_19:11; Lev_19:15; Lev_19:17, etc.), and always with a pronominal suffix, and as a concrete noun. Its general force is shown in Lev_25:15, where it is used interchangeably with brother. It is certainly an abstract noun by its formation, and is so rendered by many (Gesenius, Fürst), but the uniform usage in Leviticus is decisive against this. Moses employs the term evidently to denote a close and intimate connection. Perhaps there is no nearer English equivalent than that of the E. V.,—fellow. גֶבֶֹר is not the ordinary word for man, but one derived from a root signifying to be strong, yet it is doubtful if any stress is to be laid upon this circumstance (Neumann), but it is scarcely doubtful that the term calls attention to the fact that he who is Jehovah’s fellow is also a man (Job_16:21). Who now is this peculiar being? Not Judas Maccabajus (Grotius), nor Pekah (Bunsen), nor Jehoiakim (Maurer), nor Josiah as representing the Davidic line (Pressel), nor the whole body of rulers including Christ (Calvin), but the Messiah (Fathers, Reformers, and most moderns). The unity indicated by the term fellow is one not merely of will or association, much less of function, but of nature or essence. It is common to object to this view that it is foreign to the sphere of the Old Testament, which knows nothing of the trinity of persons in the Godhead, so clearly revealed in the New. But this begs the question,. And if it be admitted that a plurality of persons is distinctly taught in the later Scriptures, it is the most natural thing possible to find indications in the earlier revelation pointing in this direction,—not proof-texts, nor direct assertions, but statements like those in Psa_2:10; etc., which, although they may have been mysterious to those who first read or “heard them, are to us illuminated by rays reflected back from the Light of the world. Were there any doubt it would be removed by the express allusion of our Lord in Mat_26:31-32, Mar_14:27, where He applies the latter half of the verse to Himself and his disciples. Yet. this part cannot be separated from what precedes. Both must have a common subject. Smite the shepherd. The poetical apostrophe to the sword is here continued. Michaelis and others suppose the address to be indefinite, because the noun is feminine while the verb is masculine, but such an enallage of gender is not uncommon in Hebrew. See an early example in Gen_4:7. For the metaphor in the scattering of the sheep, see 1Ki_22:17. In our Lord’s quotation, he uses the LXX.,37 with the exception of the initial word, which he resolves into a future, I will smite. This only brings out more clearly what is the obvious thought of the whole passage,—the direct agency of Jehovah in the smiting. As the Apostle Peter said on the day of Pentecost, that while the Jews had by wicked hands crucified the Saviour, yet this was done by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Our Lord Himself said to the man who ordered the crucifixion, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above (Joh_19:11). The sheep who are scattered, are most naturally understood as the flock which the shepherd had to feed (Zec_11:4), i. e., not the entire race of men on one hand, nor merely the Christian Church on the other, but the covenant nation, embracing both believing and unbelieving members. This is no hindrance to the specific application of the words made by our Lord in his quotation. The dispersion of the disciples upon the occasion of Christ’s arrest, was but one fulfillment of this extensive statement, I will bring back my hand. This phrase=to make a person once more the object of one’s active care, is in itself indefinite, and may be used in a good sense or a bad one. Here the former seems preferable (as in Isa_1:25), as it indicates an exception to the general rule, and this exception is made in favor of the little ones, who are apparently “the wretched of the flock,” in Zec_11:7; Zec_11:11, the poor and pious portion of the nation. Hengstenberg in loc. denies this, but does not seem to be consistent with himself. Indeed, the difference stated here between the whole flock scattered and the little ones mercifully revisited, is simply what the two following verses state in a more expanded form as a contrast between a general devastation of the whole body and the fate of a small portion which is preserved through the trial, and by means of it is refined, purified, and blessed.
Zec_13:8-9. These verses dilate the thought of the previous verse in regard to the scattering of the flock and the return of God’s hand in mercy to the little ones.
Zec_13:9. In all the land=not the earth (Mark., Kliefoth) but the land in which the Lord had undertaken the office of a shepherd, and with which the Prophet throughout is chiefly concerned (Zec_12:12), the holy land (Hengstenberg, Ewald, Kohler); yet not this in its literal sense, but as representing the domain covered by the kingdom of God. The prediction cannot be consistently interpreted as referring only to the. national Israel.
The peculiar expression פִי־שְׁנַיִם=a mouth of two, is taken from the Pentateuch (Deu_21:17), where it indicates the double portion inherited by the first-born. In the same sense it is used by Elisha (2Ki_2:9), where the younger prophet by no means asked to have twice as much of the Spirit as Elijah had, but to receive a first-born’s share in what he possessed, so that he might thus become his acknowledged heir and successor. Here, the phrase evidently means two-thirds, since what remains is called the third. Shall be out off, shall die. The latter verb removes any ambiguity lurking in the former, and shows that not only exile but a literal death is intended. This frightful sweep of judgment is paralleled by the words of Eze_5:2-12, where the Lord predicts that a third part shall perish by pestilence and famine, another third by the sword, and the remaining third be scattered to the winds, which of course, although it is not so stated, might be recovered again. (Cf. also the preservation of a tenth amid a general overthrow in Isa_6:13).
Zec_13:9. Bring the third part into the fire. The third part, although it will escape destruction, does not do so on the ground of inherent righteousness, but rather of grace. Its constituent parts need a sore discipline, and it is not withheld. They are refined and purified by processes as severe as those to which the precious metals are subjected. The metaphor is common in Scripture (Psa_60:10; Isa_48:10; Jer_9:7; Mal_3:3. The Apostle Peter (1Pe_1:6-7) wrote, “wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, may be found unto praise and honor and glory.” But who constitute this third part 1 Some say, the entire race of the Jews during the whole period of the present dispersion (C. B. Michaelis, Kohler, et al.), but, as Hengstenberg justly urges, in that case unbelieving Judaism would be regarded as the sole and legitimate continuation of Israel, which is simply impossible. The true application is to the entire kingdom of God on earth, whether composed of Jews or of Gentiles. True believers are precious in the Lord’s eyes as silver and gold, and He, subjects them to an intense and lengthened trial, but the design and result is not to destroy but to refine. The attainment of this result is well expressed by the concluding words, showing the mutual intercourse and confidence of the people and their Lord. They call and He answers. He claims them for his people, and they claim Him for their God. Everything is included under these comprehensive phrases (cf. Zec_8:8; Hosea 2:25; Jer_24:7; Jer_30:22).
Professor Cowles thus states the connection of the verses: “The manifestation of Jesus Christ in the flesh served to reveal the utter rottenness of the visible Jewish Church. When the Shepherd was smitten, the mass of that Church went to ruin; only a few of the little ones were saved. So in the advanced ages of the Christian Church, corruption became again fearfully prevalent, and another great sifting process became indispensable before the era of the final conquest and triumph of Christ’s kingdom could open” (M. P., 368).
THEOLOICAL AND MORAL.
1. The salient point of the entire passage is the immediate agency of Jehovah of Hosts in the suffering and death of the Good Shepherd. We lose sight of an ungrateful people, of their scornful rejection of the unspeakable gift, and of the spear by which human hands pierce a royal benefactor, and are set face to face with a tragedy in which one divine person gives over another to a violent death. A man, a real, veritable man is the subject of the infliction, but that man is the fellow of Jehovah. The wondrous constitution of his personality, a divine nature wrapping around itself our humanity in an indissoluble union, rendered this possible. Its actual occurrence is the most significant truth in Christian theology. The atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ was in no sense an act of will-worship, a device from without to appease the wrath of a Moloch sitting upon the throne of the universe. On the contrary, it was the expression of God’s infinite wisdom and love, the result of his own self-moved grace and compassion. As the record runs in the fore-front of the Gospel, God so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son. And that Son said in prophecy, “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God” (Psa_40:7-8; Heb_10:9-10), and in his own person, “I lay down my life; this commandment have I received of my Father” (Joh_10:17). It was then God the supreme, God the judge, God whose law was broken, who originated and carried through the great sacrifice. And behind all the voluntary and wicked actors in the scenes of the prsetorium and the Mount of Calvary stood Jehovah of Hosts, saying, Awake, O sword. The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. It pleased the Lord to bruise Him. He put his soul to grief. The Apostle speaks of the love of Christ as that which passeth knowledge; but the same is equally true of the sternal Father. “God only knows the love of God.” No human plummet is long enough to sound the depths of that grace which led Jehovah of Hosts to say of his only-begotten, Smite the shepherd. The Lord Jesus was his own Son, the brightness of his glory and the very image of his being, and therefore the object of infinite complacency, dear to Him beyond all human expression or conception, and yet He spared Him not, but freely delivered Him up for us all.
2. The references of our Lord to this passage bear mainly upon its statement concerning his followers. In John (Joh_16:32) we read, “Behold the hour cometh, yea is now come that ye shall be scattered every man to his own, and shall leave me alone.” Matthew (Mat_26:31) gives a later and fuller expression, “All ye shall be offended because of me this night, for it is written, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.” The prophecy was fulfilled, but very far from being exhausted, in the dispersion of the disciples when our Lord was arrested. The cause of the flight of the twelve was that their faith was staggered and their confidence impaired by such an untoward event. So it has always been. “The offense of the cross” shows itself in every generation. The ignominious death of the Shepherd is a stumbling-block to the flock. But this does not continue in “the little ones,” the faithful few. They are recovered by the Lord’s own hand, and made to rejoice in that which once was most offensive. This is intimated by the Saviour in the words which follow the quotation in Matthew given above, “But after I am risen again I will go before you into Galilee.” This going before (προάξω), is a pastoral act in which the shepherd leads the way, and is followed by the flock. Just as the Saviour gathered again those who fled in fear on the night of the betrayal, so does He still gather those who at first start back from a near view of the cross.
They find that cross not only the conspicuous badge of their profession but its characteristic feature. In a remarkable passage in the Gospel of Matthew (Mat_16:21-25), our Lord first foretells his own sufferings at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and then immediately proceeds to set forth similar trials as the necessary result of attachment to Him. His adherents must needs take up their cross and follow Him even to Golgotha. The motto of the Reformed in Holland—the Church under the Cross—is true of all believers. “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” “The friendship of the world is enmity with God.” “If ye were of the world, the world would love its own, but because ye are not of the world but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” “If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” Believers then are not to count it strange when a fiery trial befalls them, as if it were a strange thing (1Pe_4:12). So far from being strange, it is a normal procedure. God’s people are to be “partakers of Christ’s sufferings.” In their case, as in his, the cross precedes the crown.
When great providential calamities, such as war, pestilence, famine, occur, they are not exempt. But the stroke which overwhelms and destroys others, is to them overruled for good. Bad trees are mercilessly rooted out, but the good are only “purged” or pruned. The spurious, reprobate metal is cast away, but the genuine article comes out of the furnace purified and ennobled. It was needful for them to go through the process. The holiest of mere men is improved by passing through the fire. A high encomium was pronounced upon Job before his afflictions, yet the issue of his unparalleled probation taught him that he was vile, and laid him in dust and ashes (Job_40:4; Job_42:6). Sorrows are one of the tokens of sonship; to forget this is to faint in the day of adversity. “The fellowship of his sufferings” (Php_3:10), the community of shepherd and flock in trials, is one of the blessed mysteries of the Christian life. Believers drink of Christ’s cup and are baptized with his baptism. Companionship in sorrow links them by closer ties and brings them into tenderer communion than is possible in any other way. And so the assimilation proceeds rapidly from glory to glory. The suffering people are changed into the image of their once suffering Lord, and they justly glory in infirmities.
3. The summit of human felicity is described in the mutual proprietorship which the Prophet, following his predecessors, ascribes to God and his people. On the one hand, Jehovah says, It is my people. The foundation passage on this point is given in Exo_14:5; “Ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all peoples; for all the earth is mine.” The whole earth is the Lord’s, and all nations belong to Him as Creator and Preserver, but He has been pleased to choose one to stand to Him in a particular and moat endearing relation. Israel is his סִוֻלּה, set apart and distinguished from all others as a possession of peculiar value. Cf. Deu_7:6; Deu_14:2; Deu_26:18; Psa_135:4; Mal_3:17. Language of the same tenor is applied in the New Testament to the Christian Israel; “a purchased possession” (Eph_1:14), “a peculiar people” (Tit_2:14; 1Pe_2:9). Prom the mass of fallen men, Jehovah chooses an innumerable multitude whom He condescends to call his portion or inheritance. Oh them He lavishes the riches of his grace, and in them He reveals his glory to the admiration of all holy intelligences., And they are fitted to this high destiny, being conformed to the image of their Lord, and obedient to his will. As such He spares them in times of trial as a man spareth his own son that serveth him (Mal_3:17), has “his delights” with them (Pro_8:31), and rejoices over them with the joy of a bridegroom over his bride (Isa_62:5).
On the other hand, the people say, Jehovah is my God. Not only do they acknowledge Him as divine and profess his worship in distinction from heathen or infidels, but they recognize Him as their infinite portion. The knowledge of Him is the best of all knowledges, and his service is the highest form of enjoyment. His favor is life, his loving-kindness better than life. His perfections are a sure pledge of their safety, blessedness, and glory. His gifts are many and precious, but He himself is better than them all, and the intimate and sacred communion his people are permitted td hold with Him fills the measure of their happiness. Even under the shadows of the Old Testament they found their supreme delight here. O God, thou art my God, my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee (Psa_61:1). Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides Thee (Psa_73:25).
This thought is applied by Augustine (Civ. Dei, 22:20) to the future home of the spirits of the just. “The reward of righteousness will be He who Himself imparted righteousness, and who promises Himself than whom there can be no gift better or greater. For what else has He said by his Prophet, ‘I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people;’ what else but this: ‘I will be that wherein they shall be satisfied; I will be all things that men righteously desire; life and health, and food and abundance, glory and honor, and peace and all things?’ For so do we rightly understand also what the Apostle says, That God may be all in all. He will be the end of all our desires, who will Himself be seen without end, will be loved without satiety, will be praised without weariness. This affection, this business, this function of our being will be common to us all, like life everlasting itself.”
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Moore: Zec_13:7. Awake, O sword, etc. How fearful an evil is sin when it could call forth the sword against God’s own coequal and well-beloved Son! The death of Christ was the judicial sentence of God against sin, the endurance of the penalty of the law, and therefore, strictly vicarious and propitiatory. No human merit can mingle with the infinite merit of the work of Christ, for He trod the wine-press alone.
Ralph Erskine: Awake, O sword, etc. This text, sirs, is a very wonderful one, as ever a poor, mortal man preached upon. For in it there is a cloud, a black clould of Christ’s bloody passion which we are to celebrate the memorials of this day; but like the colud that led Israel in the wilderness, though it had a black side toward Christ, yet it has a bright and light side toward all the Israel of God; for this cloud of blood distills in a sweet shower of blessings unto poor sinners; there is a light in this cloud wherein we may see God in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.
Calvin: Will refine them, etc. The stubble and the chaff are cast into the fire, but without any benefit, for they are wholly consumed. But when gold and silver are put in the fire, it is that greater purity may be produced, and what is precious be made more apparent. Do any ask whether God can by his Spirit alone draw the elect to religion, and if so, why this fire of affliction is necessary? The answer is, that the Prophet speaks not of what God can do but of what He will do, and we ought not to dispute on the subject but be satisfied with what He has appointed. Though chastisement is hard while we are undergoing it, yet we should estimate it by its result, the peaceable fruits of righteousness (Heb_12:11).
Footnotes:
[30]Zec_13:7.—.גֶּבֶר עַמיתי These two nouns are in apposition, just as in the analogous phrase אִישׁ חֲסִידֶדָ in Deu_33:8.
[31]Zec_13:7.—הַשׁבתי ידי=return my hand, stretch it out again. Cf. 2Sa_8:3.
[32]Zec_13:8.—יִכָּרהְוּ=shall be cut off. In Zec_14:2 this verb denotes cutting off by transportation, but here its sense is determined by the following verb.
[33]Zec_13:9.—בָאֵשׁ Into the fire, is more literal and expressive than the E. V. through.
[34]Zec_13:9.—הוּא He shall call. It is better to preserve the singular in the rendering, as more idiomatic and more vivid.
[35]Zec_13:9.—אְענה=not simply will hear, as in E. V. (although that necessarily includes a reply), but distinctly, answer. Cf. Isa_65:24; Isa_41:17. So Dr. Biggs (Emendations).
[36]Zec_13:9.—אמןתי Before this preterite, the English translator of Calvin says that a vav conversive is dropped, which he undertakes to supply from the LXX., Syriac, and Arabic versions. But the addition is as unauthorized as it is tasteless.
[37]Stier (Reden Jesu, in loc.) declares that Matthew did not use the LXX., which is true in respect to the common text of the Seventy, but not in regard to the Codex Alexandrinus, from which be differs only in the unimportant point mentioned in the text. The Vat. and Sinait. codd. read, πατάζατε τοὺ̀ς ποιμένας καὶ ἐκσπάσατε τα πρόβατα
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 Expounded by Christ as referring to Himself (Mat 26:31-32).…
Expounded by Christ as referring to Himself (Mat 26:31-32). Thus it is a resumption of the prophecy of His betrayal (Zac 11:4, Zac 11:10, Zac 11:13-14), and the subsequent punishment of the Jews. It explains the mystery why He, who came to be a blessing, was cut off while bestowing the blessing. God regards sin in such a fearful light that He spared not His own co-equal Son in the one Godhead, when that Son bore the sinner's guilt.
Awake--Compare a similar address to the sword of justice personified (Jer 46:6-7). For "smite" (imperative), Mat 26:31 has "I will smite." The act of the sword, it is thus implied, is GOD'S act. So the prophecy in Isa 6:9, "Hear ye," is imperative; the fulfilment as declared by Jesus is future (Mat 13:14), "ye shall hear."
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sword--the symbol of judicial power, the highest exercise of which is to take away the life of the condemned (Psa 17:13; Rom 13:4). Not merely a show, or expression, of justice (as Socinians think) is distinctly implied here, but an actual execution of it on Messiah the shepherd, the substitute for the sheep, by God as judge. Yet God in this shows His love as gloriously as His justice. For God calls Messiah "My shepherd," that is, provided (Rev 13:8) for sinners by My love to them, and ever the object of My love, though judicially smitten (Isa 53:4) for their sins (Isa 42:1; Isa 59:16).
man that is my fellow--literally, "the man of my union." The Hebrew for "man" is "a mighty man," one peculiarly man in his noblest ideal. "My fellow," that is, "my associate." "My equal" ([DE WETTE]; a remarkable admission from a Rationalist). "My nearest kinsman" [HENGSTENBERG], (Joh 10:30; Joh 14:10-11; Phi 2:6).
sheep shall be scattered--The scattering of Christ's disciples on His apprehension was the partial fulfilment (Mat 26:31), a pledge of the dispersion of the Jewish nation (once the Lord's sheep, Psa 100:3) consequent on their crucifixion of Him. The Jews, though "scattered," are still the Lord's "sheep," awaiting their being "gathered" by Him (Isa 40:9, Isa 40:11).
I will turn . . . hand upon . . . little ones--that is, I will interpose in favor of (compare the phrase in a good sense, Isa 1:25) "the little ones," namely, the humble followers of Christ from the Jewish Church, despised by the world: "the poor of the flock" (Zac 11:7, Zac 11:11); comforted after His crucifixion at the resurrection (Joh 20:17-20); saved again by a special interposition from the destruction of Jerusalem, having retired to Pella when Cestius Gallus so unaccountably withdrew from Jerusalem. Ever since there has been a Jewish "remnant" of "the little ones . . . according to the election of grace." The hand of Jehovah was laid in wrath on the Shepherd that His hand might be turned in grace upon the little ones.
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Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain FATE OF THE FOOLISH SHEPHERD AND HIS FLOCK, Zec_13:7-9.
FATE OF THE FOOLISH SHEPHERD AND HIS FLOCK, Zec_13:7-9.
These verses appear to stand by themselves; it is exceedingly difficult to establish a connection with Zec_13:1-6, or with chapter 14. Therefore most recent commentators believe that the verses have been accidentally transposed from their original context; they place them after Zec_11:17, and interpret them as an announcement of judgment upon the foolish shepherd (Zec_11:15) and his flock — upon the latter because it rejected the good shepherd. The transposition is not supported by any external evidence, but even the English reader can see that Zec_13:7-9, is a more suitable continuation of Zec_11:17, than of Zec_13:6, and this conviction grows as one studies the attempts to justify the present position. A comparison of Zec_11:16 + Zec_13:7, with Eze_34:4-5, leads to the same conclusion, which may be accepted as correct.
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7. Jehovah is the speaker, who summons the sword (Zec_11:17) to awake and smite the foolish shepherd (Zec_11:15).
My shepherd — The foolish shepherd may be called the shepherd of Jehovah, because he was appointed by him. Those who retain the verses in their present position connect the phrase with him of Zec_12:10 (see there), but the other interpretation is preferable.
The man that is my fellow — The expression of intimacy is not strange, if the foolish shepherd was a high priest (see on Zec_11:15), for as such he would stand in a peculiarly close relation to Jehovah (compare Zec_3:7); and this would also be true if he was not an ecclesiastical but a civil ruler. The foolish shepherd will be punished because he ill-treated the flock, and the flock will suffer because it rejected the good shepherd (Zec_11:4-14).
Shall be scattered — Because they will be without a shepherd (compare Nah_3:18).
I will turn mine hand upon the little ones — Better, against; for this is not a promise of help but the continuation of the threat. Little ones refers not to the shepherd boys, but to the lambs; the provocation has been so great that he cannot spare even the young of the flock (compare Isa_9:17).
Zec_13:8-9 expand the announcement of Zec_13:7. In the judgment to come two parts of the flock shall be cut off; only one part shall escape; but even this third part is not ready to enjoy the presence and favor of Jehovah; it needs purification (compare Jer_9:7; Isa_6:13).
Fire — Since fire is used for the purification of metals, it becomes a symbol of every means of purification, in this case of affliction and judgment (Isa_4:4; compare Isa_1:25 ff.). The purification accomplished, the purified remnant (see on Amo_5:15) will enjoy closest fellowship with Jehovah.
I will hear them — When they pray (compare Psa_50:15; Psa_34:15-17). For the rest of the verse see on Hos_2:23.
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 7. Awake, O sword] We have a similar apostrophe…
7. Awake, O sword] We have a similar apostrophe in Jer_47:6.
my shepherd] This may refer primarily to any Jewish king or ruler, for even a heathen king raised up by God to befriend His people is called by Him “My shepherd,” Isa_44:28. But it is at the same time a distinct prophecy of Christ. See chap. Zec_11:4, note.
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my fellow] The word occurs only here and in Leviticus, where it is frequently found (e.g. Lev_6:2 [Heb., 5:21]; Lev_19:15; Lev_19:17), and is usually rendered, “neighbour,” ὁ πλησίον, LXX. In its highest sense it belongs exclusively to the Shepherd who could say, “I and my Father are one.” Joh_10:26-30.
True to the sound canon of interpretation which he always adopts, Calvin, while fully acknowledging the reference of this passage to Christ and its complete fulfilment in Him, contends that just as the prediction of “a prophet” in Deuteronomy (Deu_18:15) embraces the whole prophetical order, as well as “the Prophet” to whom they all gave witness, so here, while the Chief Shepherd is distinctly pointed at, the shepherds of God’s people generally are included, and called His “fellows,” because they are associated with Him in the work of government. “Sicuti ergo Christus primatum obtinet inter prophetas, et ideo bene aptatur ad illum locus Mosis; ita etiam quoniam pastorum est princeps et caput, merito hoc competit in ejus personam. Sed generalis tamen est prophetæ doctrina.… Hæc ratio est cur vocentur socii Dei, propter conjunctionem scilicet, quia sunt co-operarii Dei, quemadmodum Paulus etiam docet (1Co_3:9). Denique eodem sensu vocat propheta pastores Dei socios, quo Paulus vocat ipsos συνεργούς.” In applying this canon, however, to the prophecies of the O. T. it must be borne in mind that, as the stars grow pale before the rising sun, so as the coming of Christ draws near, typical persons and offices fade more and more out of sight, and the terms and reference of the promises belong more immediately and exclusively to Him.
the sheep shall be scattered] In interpreting this prophecy of His own death and its consequences, our Lord seems to restrict the “sheep” here to the Apostles, of whom we are told that, when He was apprehended, they all “forsook Him and fled” (Mat_26:31; Mat_26:56). We may say, with Bengel, that “the disciples were the representatives of the whole flock (instar totius gregis) which should afterwards be gathered by them.” But with Zechariah the flock is the Jewish Church, and it is better therefore to regard our Lord’s words as intimating the completeness of the dispersion which the prophet had foretold. Not only the flock at large, which had rejected Him as their shepherd, but even His own sheep, the faithful poor (“the poor of the flock,” chap. Zec_11:11; the “little ones” of this verse) shall be scandalized at first and flee away from the Cross.
I will turn mine hand upon] For correction, but in mercy, Zec_13:8-9. Comp. Isa_1:25, where the phrase is used in the same sense. Stier has some interesting remarks on the reference to this part of the prophecy in our Lord’s promise to His disciples in Mat_26:32. “The hand and power of God in the risen Shepherd returned from death is turned upon them and gathers them together.”
Zec_13:7-9. The purifying chastisement
The smiting of the Shepherd shall lead to the dispersion of the flock, which shall not, however, be universal, Zec_13:7; for while two-thirds of it shall perish, one-third shall be spared, Zec_13:8, and shall be brought by the refining process of affliction into happy and intimate relationship with God, Zec_13:9.
The opening of the section is apparently abrupt, and Ewald and other critics would accordingly transfer these verses to the end of chap. 11. The difficulty cannot satisfactorily be removed by the view (adopted by Mr Wright) that in the preceding verses (2–6) “much more is described than a sound reaction against the pretences of false prophets,” and that “the age is represented as impatient of any such supernatural claims,” a temper of mind, which is held to have been precisely that which led the Jews of that day to reject the claims of Jesus of Nazareth, and so to become the authors of the smiting of the Shepherd. Such a view mars the sequence of the foregoing prophecy, the deliverance, the penitence, the cleansing, the amendment, and moreover it was not because He claimed to be a prophet, nor because they were impatient of any such claim (for they both expected and recognised it, Joh_1:21; Joh_6:14; Joh_9:17; Luk_7:16; Luk_24:19; Mat_21:4; Mat_21:6; comp. Mat_14:5), but because “He made Himself the Son of God” (Joh_19:7), that the Jews took their part in the smiting of the Shepherd. The true explanation of the apparently abrupt transition is to be found in the fact that this section is rather parallel with, than consecutive upon the earlier section of this burden. (Comp. the parallel series of visions, the seals, the trumpets, the vials, in the Apocalypse.) Having opened the future in the first section up to the great moral reformation of the end, the prophet now turns back again to a point even earlier than that with which that section commenced, and opens it again by a new vista from the smiting of the Shepherd to the same goal of perfect holiness which he had reached before. At the same time he guards against the mistake, which the promises of the earlier section might have fostered, that the goal was to be reached without discipline. “Adhuc bona et jucunda prædixit vates. Ne autem qui hæc legerent in hanc inducerentur opinionem, populi Judaici conditionem futuris temporibus fore immunem ab omni molestia et calamitate, jam annunciat priusquam Jova populum suum repurget atque revocat in perfectum ordinem, gravissimas clades fore intermedias.” Rosenm. At the same time, there may possibly be such a connection of thought between Zec_13:6-7, as is suggested by Stier (Reden Jesu, Mat_26:31). “There is a transition in the parallel of ‘wounds’ and ‘wounded’ of Zec_13:6, with the ‘wound’ (‘smite,’ the same root) of Zec_13:7, which signifies—In a quite different sense ‘will the true Prophet and Shepherd suffer for the guilt of others: let Himself be smitten by them who hate Him, because He loves them.’ ”
The Second Section. Zec_13:7 to Zec_14:21
The purification and final glory of Israel
This Second Section of the Second Burden and conclusion of the whole Book describes the purifying chastisement that shall come upon the people, Zec_13:7-9; the great final conflict and deliverance of Jerusalem, Zec_14:1-7; the prosperity of the transformed and renovated city and land, Jehovah being King, 8–11; the destruction of the hostile nations, 12–15, and homage of the residue, 16–19; and the perfect holiness of Jerusalem, as the crown of all, 20, 21.
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 (7) My shepherd.—Unless we are to consider that these…
(7) My shepherd.—Unless we are to consider that these verses ought to be transferred to the end of Zechariah 11 (see Notes there), we must take this expression as a title of honour.
Fellow.—This word, except here, occurs only in Leviticus. It means either neighbour, fellow, or, according to others, neighbourly relationship, fellowship. Perhaps the “foolish shepherd” (Zec_11:15) could hardly be called by the Lord “the man of my fellowship.” If so, this argument is conclusive for the retention of this passage in its present position. Other arguments in the same direction are that the mention of the “third part” (Zec_13:8) is very similar to the mention of “half of the city” (Zec_14:2), and that the use of hââretz in the sense of “the land” (Zec_13:8) is parallel with Zec_14:9, rather than with Zec_11:6; but it must not be forgotten that, as far as the word itself is concerned, it may in all these passages mean “the land,” or in all “the earth.” It is only possible to decide on its meaning according to one’s own view of the context.
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Wicked men are the Lord’s sword (Psa_17:13); through them was to be executed His determinate counsel (Act_2:23). The smiting of the shepherd was on account of the sin of the flock. The shepherd, then, must be understood to be He whom they are before represented as having insulted and rejected (Zec_11:12). Part of this verse is quoted by our Lord (Mat_26:31).
I will turn mine hand—viz., in merciful chastisement. (Comp. Isa_1:25.)
The little ones.—The word occurs only here in this form. It means perhaps the humble and patient, and so denotes those who are called afterwards “the third part” (Zec_13:9).
(7-9) It has been objected that “The mention of the ‘house of David’ (Zec_12:7; Zec_13:1) is inconsistent with the supposition of the authorship of Zechariah.” The answer is obvious, viz., that the house of David had not ceased with the captivity; on the contrary, Zerubbabel was its representative on the return. There is, too (not to mention cases more generally known), a family living to this day at Aleppo, the members of which, on account of its claim to be descended from the “house of David,” are, in accordance with Gen_49:10, always allowed to take precedence of all others in exercising the functions of dayyânîm, “judges”; the famous Abarbanel also laid claim to be a descendant of David. Moreover, the thought expressed by the prophet in Zec_12:7, that the glory of the house of David, and that of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, should not magnify itself over Judah, is one which could never have entered into the conceptions of a prophet writing before the exile.
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The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 7-9. For the smiting of the good Shepherd…
Vers. 7-9. For the smiting of the good Shepherd Israel is punished, passes through much tribulation, by which it is refined, and in the end (though reduced to a mere remnant) is saved.
Awake, O sword. Zechariah proceeds to show the course of the purification of the people. The mention of the false prophet and the shameful wounds in his flesh leads him to the contrast of the true Prophet and the effects of his "piercing." The abruptness of the commencement of the verse is dramatic, and gives no sufficient cause for supposing that this paragraph ought to be transferred (as Ewald and others desire) to the end of Zec 11. (For a similar apostrophe, comp. Jer_47:6) It is introduced here to show that all that happened to the Shepherd was done after the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God; and as if the sword could never have dared to act thus except it were permitted by the Divine will. The "sword" represents any kind of instrument that inflicts death. (comp. Exo_5:21 2Sa_12:9 Isa_27:1) My Shepherd. The Shepherd of Jehovah, who is speaking. He is the good Shepherd, the Representative of Jehovah, mentioned in Zec_11:4, etc., the Messiah, who is identified with Jehovah in Zec_12:10. The Septuagint has, tounav mou , "my shepherds" (Vatican), as if no particular person was indicated, but rather all the leaders of the people of God; but the next clause seems to render the reference definite. The man that is my fellow. The word rendered "man" means rather "mighty man;" that rendered "fellow" occurs often in Leviticus, but nowhere else, (Lev_5:2 Lev_6:2 Lev_19:11, Lev_19:15, Lev_19:17, etc.) and is usually translated "neighbour;" it implies one united to another by the possession of common nature, rights, and privileges. God could speak only of One thus associated with himself, that is, of him who could say, "I and my Father are One". (Joh_10:30) The term is variously translated by the versions. Septuagint, Andra = polithn mou : Aquila, Andra sumfulon mou : Vulgate, Virum cohaerentem mihi. That the Shepherd is Messiah is proved by Christ"s application of the following clause to himself. (Mat_26:31) Smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. When Christ was apprehended, all the disciples forsook him and fled; (Mat_26:56) and what they did was done by others. Even the faithful few were scandalized at the cross The command, "Smite the Shepherd," like the apostrophe, "Awake, O sword," shows that it was God"s purpose that was being there executed. (see Joh_19:11 Act_2:23) It is also thus intimated that the dispersion of the Jews, and their denationalizing, were results of this rejection and smiting of the Shepherd. This dispersion is farther explained in vers. 8, 9, where it is shown that to some it will be ruin, to others salvation. I will turn mine hand. "To turn," or "bring back the hand over," is used in a good and a bad sense. (comp. Isa_1:25 Amo_1:8) There is a promise of comfort in the use of the phrase here. God"s hand shall cover and protect some, while he punishes the others. Those thus protected are called the little ones, the humble and meek. This recalls Christ"s words to his disciples, "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father"s good pleasure to give you the kingdom". (Luk_12:32)
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Vers. 7-9. A wonderful sentence.
"Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow," etc. The prophet here seems again to "hark back," as at the openings of ch. 9. and 11. (where see remarks and references), from the "glory" that was to "follow" to the "sufferings" that were to precede. At any rate, we have the highest authority (Mat_26:31, Mat_26:56) for understanding this passage of the "sufferings" and death of our Lord himself. This being so, how does its language present that great "Passion" to us? As something surpassingly wonderful
(1) in itself; and
(2) in its results.
I WONDERFUL IN ITSELF. Here is a man spoken of here is a command given respecting him by the Lord of hosts.
1. How wonderful the man spoken of!
(1) He is supreme in office. All other men are to him but as sheep. He is to them in the position of a shepherd. He is also recognized and appointed as such (my Shepherd") himself. Nor is there any other whatever so appointed, except by his direction and in a subordinate place. (see Isa_40:11Jo Isa_10:11 Heb_13:20 1Pe_2:25 1Pe_5:4)
(2) He is supreme in nature. He is Jehovah"s "fellow," or equal, just as men dwelling together in Palestine as neighbours (see Lev_19:15, 17 25:14, 15, etc., where the same word is employed) were fellows, or equals. Higher than this higher, i.e., than the highest who can possibly be?
2. How wonderful the command, things being thus!
(1) Consider its purport; viz. that such a one should be smitten at all; should be smitten also with such a weapon a weapon of so judicial a nature; (Rom_13:4) a weapon of so deadly a character, aiming at life itself. (Mat_26:52) Why should the "sword" be thus called upon to "awake as though previously "asleep" and neglecting its duty against him? Who less deserving, in himself, to suffer thereby? Who more fit, rather, in every way, to employ it? (see Joh_5:22 Act_17:31, etc.)
(2) Consider its Author the Lord of hosts. The marvel is the same as that we read of in Isa_53:10, "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief". (see also Act_2:23 Rom_8:32) It is the Judge of judges, the eternal Father himself, who bids the sword awake against him!
II WONDERFUL IN ITS RESULTS. For these, as described to us here, are:
1. Most unexpected. The immediate result, indeed, that of scattering the sheep, is not at all unexpected. What more likely, what more certain to follow, humanly speaking, from smiting the Shepherd? But the ultimate result, that of saving these "little ones" (so many understand end of ver. 7), that of preserving the sheep by thus slaying their Preserver, (comp. Joh_18:8, 9 Mat_27:42, beginning; Gal_3:13 Isa_53:5, end) is unexpected indeed. Has not the very idea, indeed, seemed the height of "foolishness" to many (1Co_1:23) who thought themselves "wise"?
2. Most widely diverse. This extraordinary method of preserving the flock was not expected to preserve all within reach of its influence. On the contrary, far too many amongst them something like two to one of them, in fact, all taken together ("in all the land") would decline to avail themselves of it.
(1) Its effect upon these who despise it for it would have effect upon these would be their uttermost ruin. The method of deliverance, by being thus inverted, would become their destruction. The weapon of defence, by being turned thus against them, becomes a weapon of death. (see 2Co_2:16, beginning; Luk_2:34 Heb_2:3)
(2) Its effect on those who embrace it, on the other hand, would be their uttermost salvation. Observe the various steps. First, they are "left;" that is, (see Eze_9:8) not destroyed. Next, they are purified by disciplinei.e. saved from the power of sin as metals by fire; and this as thoroughly at the last (comp. Heb_12:23, end) as when gold has been "tried" till it requires trying no longer. Concurrently with this, on the other hand, they are saved so thoroughly from the condemnation of sin, that they have full access to God"s presence and attention; and when they openly speak of God as their Portion, (as such persons will do, Psa_16:5 Psa_119:57) are acknowledged by him as his portion in a similar manner. (see Psa_67:6 Jer_10:16 Jer_51:19 Deu_32:9 Son_2:16) They are favoured by him, in fact, both secretly and openly too. (Mat_6:6)
Three brief thoughts to conclude.
1. How lofty the superstructure of the gospel salvation! Salvation itself, understood rigorously (as we have noted), is only not being lost. Actually, as here described to us, it is all that heart can desire the heirship of all things through Christ. (Rom_8:17 Gal_4:7 1Co_3:22, 1Co_3:23)
2. How deep its foundations! Penetrating to the very greatest depths, as it were, of the Divine nature and plans. (Rev_13:8)
3. How certain its truth! Like that house which the Saviour himself describes (Mat_7:24 Mat_7:25) as being founded on a rock founded, in fact, on that "Rock of Ages," which not all the "ages" can shake. (comp. Heb_12:27, Heb_12:28)
The sword.
There is here something of heaven and earth. Jehovah speaks. He lays his command on the sword of justice, to awake and "smite." This implies death, and death not of a common sort, but as a judicial act, under the sanction of law. We take the scene to illustrate the tragedy of Calvary. (Mat_26:31Jo Mat 16:32) Three questions may be asked.
I WHO? The rebellious Babylon, Rome, Jerusalem? No. "The man that is my fellow." Who is this? Search, and where can you find such a one? Abraham was God"s friend, but not his "fellow." Prophets and kings, martyrs and confessors, all stand aside. None but Christ answers the description. He is the First and the Last and the only One, in human likeness, who could say, "I and my Father are One
II WHY? Justice has its reasons. All that God does must be in accordance with eternal right. But here is mystery. The Man who alone was "without sin," holy and perfect the solitary man, in human form, who was nearest of kin to God himself to be dealt with as if he were a transgressor, and as if he had done things worthy of death, this is exceeding strange. The key is in the term "Shepherd." Implies covenant relationship. Substitution of person and of sufferings. The One for the many; the Shepherd for the sheep.
III WHAT THEN? We reasonably expect results worthy of such a tragedy. Twofold.
1. Judgment. Not only as to the disciples, but the Jewish people.
2. Mercy. Tender compassion. Gracious interposition. Glorious resolve. "I will turn my hand upon the little ones." Let us note that there is but one alternative hand or sword. If we pass by God"s hand stretched out to save, we must perish by the sword. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. F.
Vers. 7-9. God"s government of the world.
"Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts" smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones. And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my Name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God." Here we have God"s government of the world in two aspects, bringing penal ruin on many in a community, and remedial discipline upon a few; appearing as the sword of justice in the one case, and as a refiner"s pot in the other. Here we have it
I AS BRINGING PENAL RUIN UPON MANY.
1. The destruction of their leader. "Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd."! In the Bible language political religious leaders are represented as shepherds. For example, it was applied to Cyrus. (Isa_44:28) The person defined is represented as "the man that is my fellow." Dr. Keil"s rendering is, "the man who is my neighbour;" and Dr. Henderson"s, "the man who is united to me." Who is this man? On this question there are different opinions. "Calion thought it was Zechariah himself as representative of all the prophets, and that the prophecy referred only indirectly to Christ. Grotius, Eichhorn, Bauer, and Jahne apply it to Judas Maccabaeus; Ewald, to Pekah; Hitzig, to the pretended prophets spoken of in the preceding verses." The expression, "my fellow," does not necessarily. mean one who is equal in nature and character, but rather one who has fellowship of interests and aims. The poorest labourer in the cause of gospel truth is a "fellow" with the Archbishop of Canterbury, even a fellow labourer of Christ, and fellow labourer with God himself. Evangelical writers, however, apply the language to Christ, without much critical examination and without hesitation. They do this mainly on the ground that Christ himself quotes the passage, on the night in which he was betrayed, as an illustration of what was immediately awaiting him. "Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad". (Mat_26:31) He does not say that the prophecy referred to him, but merely that the passage was about to be illustrated in his history. The Shepherd was to be smitten, and the sheep scattered. This, indeed, is a common fact in the history of the world; when the leader is gone the fold is scattered. Christ was, indeed, about to be smitten smitten to death, not by the "sword" of Divine vengeance, as is impiously held by some, but by the wrath of his human enemies. "Awake, O sword." "These are words," says an old orthodox expositor, "of God the Father giving orders and commission to the sword of his justice to awaken to his Son." It is the sword of justice that he may die as a criminal on an ignominious tree; awaking to smite him, not with a drowsy blow, but with a mighty one." Dr. Watts has the same idea"The Father plunged his flaming sword In his atoning blood. From all such representations of the benign God of the universe, and the Infinite Father of love, my reason and heart revolt as from a monstrous creed or cursed blasphemy. However, I am not going to debate either the question whether the words were intended for Christ or not, or, if they were, the accuracy or otherwise of the interpretations thus given. Our point is that God often brings sufferings on a people by striking down their leader. There are few greater calamities that can befall a people than when nations lose their shepherds and leaders, or when Churches lose their pastors. Even when families lose their heads the loss is incalculable.
2. The dispersion of the flock. This comes to most communities when the true leader is taken away. The removal of a leader in a family a parent often leads to a scattering of the children. So with the leader in a Church the pastor; and so with the leader of a nation. When the shepherd has gone, the flock is scattered, and the scattering is a great evil. Unity is strength and harmony; division is weakness and disorder. When communities are broken up and dispersed, the various members often place themselves in antagonism with each other, and rivalries, jealousies, and envyings run riot.
3. The ruin of multitudes. "And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein." Probably this refers primarily to the destruction of two-thirds of the inhabitants of Judea by the Roman arms, and the famine or the pestilence and other destructive influences which are the usual concomitants of all wars. Thus the afflictions of the great majority of the human race, here represented as the two-thirds of a community, come upon them as the retribution of justice the Divine sword here invoked. They are not disciplinary, but penal. The victims do not morally improve under them, they grew worse. They are "cut off and die.
II BRINGING REMEDIAL DISCIPLINE TO A FEW. "And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my Name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God." The very calamities which were penal and utterly ruinous to two-thirds of that population were morally disciplinary and improving to the remaining third. In the one case they were the strokes of the "sword" of justice. In the other the calamities were but fire in the "pot of the refiner." Just as the refiner purifies his silver and his gold by fire, God in mercy spiritually improves his people by the trial and the sufferings which he inflicts. These, taught by the purifying influence of trials:
1. Pray and are heard. "Shall call on my Name, and I will hear them.
2. Are accepted of God as his people, They acknowledge their relationship. "I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, the Lord is my God.
CONCLUSION. Amidst all the difficulties connected with this passage, this doctrine stands out in sublime prominence that afflictions which are penal and destructive to the many are remedial and merciful to the few.
All experience shows this to be true. Two men stand before me. Both are equally afflicted with similar sufferings. The one writhes, murmurs, and rebels under his afflictions; he becomes intensified in his enmity to God. Like Pharaoh, his heart is hardened; he dies a rebel, and is lost. The "sword" of justice has struck him. The other becomes spiritually thoughtful, repentant, resigned, humbled, and devout. The "fire" has purified him, and like David he says, "It is good for me that I was afflicted," and like Paul, "I glory in tribulation. D.T.
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 Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd
Zec_13:7
Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd
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The sword of Jehovah smiting His Shepherd
We have our Lords own authority for applying this passage to Himself.
I. The description here given us of Him. In looking at the terms in which our Lord is here described, we are struck at once with the natural manner in which they bring together His Divine and human nature. This mode of describing Him is of frequent occurrence in the Old Testament. It seems as though the Holy Spirit exulted beforehand in that union of the two natures, which was to be accomplished in His nature, and wished the ancient Church also to foresee and exult in it. In the text, He is described in the same twofold character. He is a man, and yet the man that is My fellow, saith the Lord of hosts. My fellow signifies my equal, my companion. It is expressive of our Lords Divine equality with the Father, and His eternal existence with Him. It intimates exactly what St. John afterwards plainly declared,--The Word was with God, and the Word was God. But He is man as well as God. Not, however, originally, naturally man, as He was God. Here is an anticipation of a character He afterwards took on Him. And this assumption of our nature was necessary for the work of suffering He had to go through. In this human nature, He is set forth in the text under a third character. He is a shepherd. So called because the charge of His people devolves upon Him; because He performs towards them a shepherds part, watching over, providing for, and guiding them. He is called Gods shepherd, because the flock under His charge is Gods flock, a flock committed to Him by God, to be rendered back by Him to God again. Happy they who are fed by Him.
II. the command given by Jehovah. It is couched in figurative and highly poetic language. The Lord places Himself on the throne of a king or magistrate. They who bear these offices have often a sword near them as an emblem of their authority, and if need be, a ready instrument to execute any sentence they may pass on the guilty. Here the Lord describes Himself as suddenly addressing the sword near Him, and calling on it to smite, not the guilty but His own Son, and Him as shepherd.
1. We see in it that the sufferings of our Lord were divinely appointed. The persecuting Jews indeed were willing agents in all they did against Him. They did it voluntarily; yet they did whatsoever Gods hand and Gods counsel had determined before to be done.
2. Here, too, we see that the sufferings of our Lord were most severe. Man can inflict much misery, but his power is limited. When God calls off our attention from man as the author of our Lords sufferings, and directs it to Himself, we feel at once that our Lord must be a most severe sufferer. The language of the text conveys this idea forcibly. It is sword--not a scourge or a rack. It is smite; strike hard. Mark the word awake. It implies that, up to this hour, the sword of Jehovah had been sleeping. Now it is to awake, to rise up in its vigour and majesty. It is to strike in the greatness of its strength.
3. The text represents our Lords sufferings as surprising. Against whom? The very Being of all others, whom we should have expected Him to shield from every sword. The Being who is the nearest and dearest to Him, the man that is His fellow. To add to our surprise, the Lord seems to afflict Him, not reluctantly, but willingly; yea, more than willingly, almost eagerly. He is well-pleased in this thing for His righteousness sake.
III. The consequences which are to follow the execution of this coward.
1. The shepherd is to be smitten, and the sheep, frightened at the violence done to Him, are to be scattered.
2. The smiting of this shepherd is to be followed by a signal interposition of Jehovah in behalf of the scattered sheep. I will turn My hand upon the little ones. This term represents to us the feeble and helpless condition of our Lords followers at the time of His crucifixion. These timid disciples of our Lord were strangely kept together, in spite of their unbelief and fears, after His crucifixion, and sheltered from every danger. And we know what the early Church soon became. It was a wonder in the world, itself doing wonders.
Look at the practical purposes to which we may turn this text.
1. To strengthen our faith in Holy Scripture. I do not allude to the predictions we find in it, which were afterwards so exactly fulfilled. I refer rather to that beautiful harmony of thoughts and expression, which exists between this verse of the Old Testament, and another passage of the New. (Compare the passage Joh_10:1-42.)
2. The fearful evil of sin. There are moments when we cannot read this text without an inward shudder--it exhibits the great Jehovah to us in a character so awful, and in an attitude so dismaying. He is represented as an offended Judge, calling for, and eager for the sacrifice of His own dear Son. Evidently, the evil of sin is a reality; the Divine justice is a reality; the inflexible unbending character of Gods law is a reality; his determination to punish every breach of it, everywhere throughout His wide universe, is a reality. The cross of Jesus Christ proclaims all these things to be most solemn realities.
3. The perfect safety of all who are indeed resting for safety on our crucified Lord. You have nothing to fear from this awful God. In the greatness of Him whom He here commands to be smitten for you, you may see the sufficiency, the completeness, and more than that,--the grandeur and glory of the atonement He has made for sins. (C. Bradley.)
Jehovahs sword
I. The commission given to Jehovahs sword.
1. Whom was it to smite?
2. In whose hand was it to inflict the stroke?
II. The grounds and reasons of this commission.
1. To show His indignation against sin.
2. To reconcile justice with mercy in the salvation of sinners.
III. The effects and consequences of it.
1. The immediate effect was the scattering of our Lords disciples.
2. The ultimate effect was their restoration and recovery. (G. Brooks.)
The Passion sermon
It is the observation of SS. Austine and Gregorie, that the four beasts mentioned by St. John mystically represent the four main acts of Christ, or works of mans redemption, His Incarnation, Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension. I have to do with a prophecy somewhat dark before the light of the Gospel shone upon it. Awake, O Sword, etc.
I. The speaker, the Lord of hosts.
II. The speech. O Sword. As all the creatures are Gods soldiers, so when He employeth them against man they are called His swords. When the Lord is pleased to execute His wrath He never wanteth instruments or means. Of the blow here threatened, God Himself is the Author. God never awaketh His sword to smite, but for sin. In this shepherd there was no sin of His own. Against My Shepherd. Popish writers say that a shepherd should have three things, a scrip, a hook, and a whistle. This Shepherd is the good, the universal Shepherd. Daniel says,--The Messias shall be slain, but not for Himself, God hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. The first and main cause of the Shepherds slaughter is, our sins. The man. Hebrews have four words for man--Adam, red earth; Enesh, a man of sorrow; Ish, a man of a noble spirit; Geber, a strong man. My fellow, for in Him the Godhead dwelleth bodily: and yet a man. Gods fellow to offer an infinite sacrifice for all mankind, and a man that He might be Himself the sacrifice killed by the sword that is now awake to smite Him. Consider this, and tremble, ye that forget God. The Shepherd is smitten; if you look to it in time, it may be for you; if not, a worse disaster remaineth for you than befell these sheep. (D. Featly, D. D.)
The character and sufferings of Christ
I. The character of Christ, as here represented.
1. Gods Shepherd (Psa_23:1). Great Shepherd (Heb_13:20). Chief Shepherd (1Pe_5:4). The term shepherd is relative, and refers to His followers, whom He calls His sheep (Joh_10:16). It expresses His tender care over them, which is always proportioned to their peculiar trials, temptations, etc. (Isa_40:11). He expresses also His love to them, infinitely surpassing the love of the sons of men. He died for the sheep (Joh_10:15).
2. Gods fellow--His equal. They are one in essence, intimately and essentially one. They are one in power, When on earth the Son did the works His Father did. One in honour and glory. His sacrifice was voluntary. As Jehovahs equal, He had an absolute right and propriety in Himself, and could lay down His life, and take it up again, when He pleased (Joh_10:17-18).
II. The awful mandate here given against Gods Shepherd and Gods Fellow. Awake, O Sword, smite the Shepherd! The command proceeds from the Eternal Father, whose justice demanded the death of our Lord (Isa_53:10). Divine justice had no demands on Christ, simply considered as the Son of God; only when viewed as our voluntary substitute.
1. The principal scenes of sorrow were in the Garden of Gethsemane.
2. Also in the hall of judgment.
3. Calvary was the place that witnessed the dreadful deed.
III. The effect to be produced. The sheep shall be scattered.
1. By the sheep are meant the disciples of our Lord.
2. Jesus foretold that His disciples would forsake Him. It was fully accomplished (Mat_26:56).
IV. Behold the tender compassion of a gracious God. He promises to turn His hand upon the little ones. Little ones who at that time had but little knowledge of human nature, little faith, and little courage. See Gods gracious dealings with the apostles and disciples of Christ. Thus He will deal also with all the faithful followers of Christ. Improvement.
1. Behold in this awful transaction the displeasure of God against sin.
2. As Divine justice is fully satisfied by the tremendous sufferings of Jesus Christ, here we behold sufficient ground for a sinners hope of pardon. Jesus hath died; the sinner may be forgiven (Rom_3:25). (T. Hannam.)
The character of Christ as the Shepherd of Israel
That this text contains clear and remarkable revelation of the Saviour no one of spiritual discernment can hesitate to believe. It is one of the clearest of those prophetic testimonies which declared to the Church beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
I. The description here given of the Saviour.
1. My Shepherd. What precise view of the Saviours place and character is this expression intended to convey? The expression significantly points to His mediatorial character and work. It reminds us that a people have been committed to His hands--that He has graciously undertaken on their behalf and that, in the whole matter of their salvation, He is their head, representative, surety. Whatever is affirmed in the text concerning Him is affirmed in this view of His character and work. The ideas suggested by this title as to the benefits derived by His people from the exercise of His mediatorial offices are full of interest and comfort to the children of God. Why is He designated My Shepherd? Because He was appointed and commissioned by the Father, in the counsels of eternity, to execute this office.
2. The man. Believers, in their zealous regard for the glory and honour of the Divine Redeemer, sometimes lose the comfort to be derived from a believing contemplation of the man Christ Jesus. The righteousness wrought out was wrought out in the nature of man.
3. The fellow of Jehovah. The equal of Jehovah. God was manifest in the flesh. This is the crowning of truth in the doctrine of salvation.
II. The view of Gods dealings. Our thoughts are directed to the immediate infliction of the Fathers wrath. He pierced Him even to the soul, till the sword of infinite justice was satisfied with blood. Learn--
1. Every word in the text is comforting and instructive to the sheep of Christ.
2. There is precious light in this subject for awakened and trembling sinners.
3. There is here a lesson of solemn warning to careless sinners. (Robert Elder, A. M.)
Messiah smitten
We know what was the transaction in which this prophecy was fulfilled; we know the awful epoch which that transaction bears. We hasten to no imaginary scene, but to a true historic one--to an actual time in the calendar of the worlds ages.
I. The character of the victim. We perceive in His character--
1. Manhood, found in fashion as a man. Man, as never man otherwise could be. Man by a most astonishing process of condescension and self-diminution.
2. Mediation is included. As the shepherd guards his flock, and perils his own life for its rescue and deliverance, so we are considered as entrusted to the hands of Christ, that He may ward off every danger from us to which we are exposed. How far reaching is His sympathy! How touching is His care.
3. Co-equality is supposed. If He be the associate and compeer of the Lord of hosts, then it may suggest the emulation of His honours, the expression of His glories, the assimilation of His deeds, and the concentration of His affections.
II. The peculiarity of the action. The sword is the emblem of state, of authority, of power, of justice, or retributive execution.
1. This person is the subject of Divine complacency.
2. This person was the object of the Divine infliction.
The sword is not the weapon of correction, of momentary chastening; it is the instrument of vengeance and of wrath. The same personage is the subject of Divine complacency and of Divine infliction. How is it explained? Christ is without sin. He is relatively liable for certain penalties, to which He subjects Himself voluntarily and solely. Substitution is the simplifying principle of all. We cannot place the doctrine of atonement on any other than the vicarious principle. See then--
(1) The necessity for the atonement.
(2) Mark the nature of justice.
(3) Learn what is sin.
(4) We see what is the great concert and covenant between the Father and the Son.
(5) What must be the position of the unbeliever who rejects the atonement of Christ, to whom all this is as strange things, an idle dream? (R. Winter Hamilton, D. D.)
The Shepherd of the flock smitten
Observe that it is God the Eternal Father who gives the decree for the smiting of the Shepherd. Saith the Lord of hosts. We have no sympathy with the unguarded language of those who speak of God as an avenging deity, whose wrath can be appeased and propitiated only by offerings of blood. Love is a thing that cannot be bribed. Gods love needed not thus to be purchased. That love was the primal cause of all blessing to His creatures. The manifestation, however, of love on the part of a great moral Governor must be compatible with the exercise of His moral perfections. Gods justice, holiness, righteousness must be upheld inviolate. While mercy and truth go before His face, justice and judgment must continue the habitation of His throne. As the Omnipotent, God could do anything. So far as power is concerned, He could easily have dispensed with any medium of atonement. But what God, as the Omnipotent, could do, God, as the holy, just, righteous, true, could not do. He could not promulgate laws and leave the transgressor to mock them with impunity. Was there, then, in the case of guilty man, any possible method by which the honour of Gods name and character and throne could be preserved intact, and yet the transgressor be saved? Reason is silent here. The principle of substitution--the innocent suffering for the guilty--is one undreamt of in earthly philosophy. The Shepherd has been smitten. The Divine honour has been upholden. Mercy and truth have been betrothed before the altar of Calvary; God hath joined them together for the salvation of the human race, and that marriage covenant never can be disannulled. Justice is now equally interested with love in the rescue of the fallen. (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)
Christ smitten by the Father
I. The person to be smitten.
1. He is Jehovahs fellow. He is in equality with God.
2. He is man. His humanity--His manhood--are as distinctly affirmed as His Deity and His equality with God.
3. The title given to Him as the Son of man--the Shepherd.
II. The sword which is to wake against Him.
1. What is this sword? It is the sword of Divine justice.
2. What are we to understand by its awakenings? Every manifestation of God in punishing sin is as nothing compared with the manifestation in Christs sufferings.
3. Who demands this sword, who calls for its awakening? The Lord of hosts. The crucifixion as much as the exaltation of Christ was the Lords doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.
4. What was the sword to awaken to? It was to smite unto death.
III. The reasons why it was said, awake, o sword, against the victim. It was to make manifest Divine justice, that there should be no connivance with the enormity of sin.
IV. The effects which followed. The sheep were scattered. But they were brought back again from their dispersion. (J. Stratten.)
The fellow of Jehovah
I. The terms in which our Lord is described.
1. The man that is the fellow of Jehovah.
2. Jehovahs Shepherd.
II. The command given in reference to Him.
1. It relates to sufferings divinely appointed.
2. It relates to sufferings most severe.
3. It relates to sufferings most surprising.
III. The consequences which are to follow the execution of this command.
1. The dispersion of the sheep.
2. A signal interposition in their behalf. (G. Brooks.)
The solitariness of Christs death
Four things to consider.
1. The commission given to the sword by the Lord of hosts.
2. The person against whom it is commissioned.
3. The dismal effect of that stroke; and
4. The gracious mitigation of it. Doctrine--That Christs dearest friends forsook and left Him alone in the time of His greatest distress and danger.
(1) Who were the sheep that were scattered from their Shepherd, and left Him alone? They were those precious elect souls that He had gathered to Himself, who had long followed Him, and dearly loved Him, and were dearly beloved by Him. They had faithfully continued with Him in His temptations. They were resolved so to do.
(2) But were they as good as their word? Did they stick faithfully to Him? Theirs was not a total and final apostasy, only a temporary lapse. It was a very sinful and sad relapse; for it was against the very articles of agreement, which they had sealed to Christ at their first admission to His service. So it was unfaithfulness. It was against the very principles of grace implanted by Christ in their hearts. They were holy, sanctified persons, in whom dwelt the love and fear of God. By these they were strongly inclined to adhere to Christ in the time of His sufferings, as appears by those honest resolves they had made in the ease. Their grace strongly inclined them to their duty; their corruptions swayed them the contrary way. It was much against the honour of their Lord and Master. By this their sinful flight they exposed the Lord Jesus to the contempt and scorn of His enemies. As it was against Christs honour, so it was against their own solemn promise made to Him before His apprehension, to live and die with Him. They break promise with Christ. It was against Christs heart-melting expostulations with them, which should have abode in their hearts while they lived. It was against a late direful example presented to them in the fall of Judas. In him, as in a glass, they might see how fearful a thing it is to apostatise from Christ. It was against the law of love, which should have knit them closer to Christ, and to one another. This their departure from Christ was accompanied with some offence at Christ.
3. The grounds and reasons of this scattering. Gods suspending wonted influences and aids of grace from them. They would not have done so had there been influences of power, zeal, and love from heaven upon them. But how, then, should Christ have trodden the wine press alone? As God permitted it, and withheld usual aid from them, so the efficacy of that temptation was great, yea, much greater than ordinary. As they were weaker than they used to be, so the temptation was stronger than any they had yet met withal. It is called, Their hour and the power of darkness. That which concurred to their shameful relapse, as a special cause of it, was the remaining corruptions that were in their hearts yet unmortified.
4. The issue and event of this sad apostasy. It ended far better than it began. They were scattered for a time, but the Lord turned His hand upon them to gather them. Peter repents of his perfidious denial, and never denied Him more. All the rest like wise returned to Christ, and never forsook Him any more. And though they forsook Christ, Christ never forsook them.
Inference--
1. Self-confidence is a sin too incident to the best of men. Little reason have the best of saints to depend upon their inherent grace, let their stock be as large as it will. Shall we be self-confident after such instances of human frailty?
2. A resolved adherence to God and duty, though left alone, without company, or encouragement, is Christ-like, and truly excellent.
3. Though believers are not privileged from backslidings, yet they are secured from final apostasy and ruin.
4. How sad a thing it is for the best of men to be left to their own carnal fears in the day of temptation.
5. How much a man may differ from himself, according as the Lord is with him or withdrawn from him.
6. The best of men know not their own strength till they come to the trial.
7. The holiest of men have no reason either to repine or despond, though God should at once strip them of all their outward and inward comforts together. (John Flavel.)
The flock scattered
I. The person here represented is smitten by the sword of divine justice. This is none other than the Messiah, the Christ. To Him alone can the language here used to describe the object of the smiting apply. No other being but He is at once man and the fellow of Jehovah, the Lord of hosts; and He alone is the Shepherd whom God promised to set over His people Israel to feed them as a flock.
II. The stroke inflicted on Him. This was the deadly stroke of Divine justice. The sword had long slept in its scabbard, but when the fitting time arrived God summoned the sword to awake and do execution on the appointed victim. There is but one event to which the command here given can be understood as pointing--the slaying of Him who, as Gods Shepherd, laid down His life for the sheep. Wherefore was He thus smitten? Because, though Himself sinless, He bore the sins of others. The flock had gone astray, and incurred the penalty of apostasy, and He, the Shepherd, had come to give His life for theirs.
III. The consequence to the flock of this smiting of the Shepherd. It was twofold. The sheep were to be scattered, but God was to turn back His hand over the humble and meek ones of His flock. The former of these applied to the dispersion of His disciples as consequent on His crucifixion; the other was realised when the Lord, having been raised from the dead, showed Himself to individuals and to groups of them. But though preserved and rescued, Christs little flock would not escape all trouble and suffering. God would bring them through the fire, and refine and purify them in the furnace of affliction. (W. L. Alexander, D. D.)
Gods government of the world
I. As bringing penal ruin upon many.
1. The destruction of their leader. In the Bible language political religious leaders are represented as shepherds. It was applied to Cyrus (Isa_44:28). The person defined is represented as the man that is my fellow. Dr. Keils rendering is, the man who is my neighbour; and Dr. Hendersons, the man who is united to me. Who is this man? On this question there are different opinions. Calion thought it was Zechariah himself, as representative of all the prophets, and that the prophecy referred only indirectly to Christ. Grotius, Eichhorn, Bauer, and Jahne apply it to Judas Maccabeus, Ewald to Pehak, Hitzig to the pretended prophets spoken of in the preceding verses. The expression my fellow does not necessarily mean one who is equal in nature and character, but rather one who has the fellowship of interests and aims. Evangelical writers, however, apply the language to Christ without much critical examination and without hesitation. They do this mainly on the ground that Christ Himself quotes the passage on the night in which He was betrayed, as an illustration of what was immediately awaiting Him (Mat_26:31). He does not say that the prophecy referred to Him, but merely that the passage was about being illustrated in His history. The shepherd was to be smitten, and the sheep scattered. This, indeed, is a common fact in the history of the world; when the leader is gone the fold is scattered. Our point is that God often brings sufferings on a people by striking down their leader. There are few greater calamities that can befall a people than when nations lose their shepherds and leaders, or when churches lose their pastors. Even when families lose their heads the loss is incalculable. Here is--
2. The dispersion of the flock. This comes to most communities when the true leader is taken away. The removal of a leader in a family, a parent, often leads to a scattering of the children. The scattering is a great evil. Unity is strength and harmony; division is weakness and disorder. When communities are broken up and dispersed the various members often place themselves in antagonism with each other, and rivalries, jealousies, and envyings run riot.
3. The ruin of multitudes. And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. Probably this refers primarily to the destruction of two-thirds of the inhabitants of Judea by the Roman arms, and the famine or the pestilence and other destructive influences which are the usual concomitants of all wars. Thus the afflictions of the great majority of the human race here represented as the two-thirds of a community come upon them as the retribution of justice--the Divine sword here invoked. They are not disciplinary, but penal. They are cut off and die. Here we have Gods government of the world.
II. Bringing remedial discipline to a few. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, etc. The very calamities which were penal, and utterly ruinous to two-thirds of that population, were morally disciplinary and improving to the remaining third. In the one case they were the strokes of the sword of justice. In the other the calamities were but fire in the pot of the refiner. These by the purifying, influence of trials--
1. Pray and are heard. Shall call on My name, and I will hear them.
2. Are accepted of God as His people.
They acknowledge their relationship. I will say it is My people, and they shall say, the Lord is my God. Conclusion. This doctrine stands out in sublime prominence--that afflictions which are penal and destructive to the many are remedial and merciful to the few. (Homilist.)
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 Zec_13:7.] A new turn, rather abruptly, to the Messiah,…
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Zec_13:7.] A new turn, rather abruptly, to the Messiah, who is designated shepherd] and fellow] lit. the man of my union, i.e. not a neighbour, but conjoined, closely related. Man] Heb. mighty man, “by way of eminence” (Virum cohærentem mihi.—Vulg.) Sword] Figure of any means for taking human life (cf. Exo_5:21; 2Sa_12:9; 2Sa_11:24). Wicked Jews intended (cf. Psa_17:13), and regarded as asleep, therefore summoned to perform the deed. Turn] Interpose in favour of the little ones (Isa_1:25).
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Zec_13:8.] Bringing back the hand explained. “The dispersion of the flock will deliver two-thirds of the nation in the whole land to death, so that only one-third will remain alive” [Keil].
Zec_13:9. Fire] Severe affliction, to refine and purify (cf. Isa_48:10; Jer_9:6; Mal_3:3). The result, mutual intercourse and confidence between God and his people. Everything is included under these phrases (cf. ch. Zec_8:8; Hos_2:2-5; Jer_24:7).
HOMILETICS
THE SMITTEN SHEPHERD AND THE SCATTERED FLOCK.—Zec_13:7
These words are a direct prophecy concerning the sufferings of the Saviour, and are appropriated by him to himself (cf. Mat_26:31). We condense and arrange Wardlaw’s thoughts on the subject.
I. The viotim smitten. First, the official character. “My shepherd.” The designation presupposes a flock, and Jehovah’s flock. A shepherd and a flock are essential to each other. The shepherd here is one who fulfils a shepherd’s functions by the appointment of another. He had himself a proprietary right in the flock as well as he for whom he acted; but here he appears, as elsewhere, in the capacity of a servant. Jehovah many times represents his people—both the typical and the spiritual Israel—under the image of a flock. Here they are his flock, cared for by a deputed guardian and guide. Under the character of a shepherd Messiah is repeatedy predicted (Eze_34:23; Isa_40:10-11). Then we have the personal aspect. “The man who is my fellow.” Various renderings have been given to the words: the man, my companion; my friend; my associate; my confidant; my equal; the man whom I have associated with myself; the man who is united to me. They convey the idea of communion, fellowship on equal terms, union, equality (cf. Joh_10:27-30; Joh_14:9). Since Jehovah himself declares this “man” to be his fellow, we shall not rob him of his own appropriate and exclusive glory by rendering homage to Christ according to his own representation.
II. The deadly stroke. The “sword” here invoked, under a bold figure, is the sword of Divine justice—of punitive, retributive righteousness (cf. Deu_32:40-41; Jer_47:6-7; Eze_21:1-5). It is addressed as slumbering, and summoned to “awake.” The language is prophetic, and looks forward “to the fulness of time” when the “man”—Jehovah’s fellow—was to appear. Manifestations of God’s justice had been seen, but from the entrance of sin into the world this sword might be said to have slept in its scabbard. Now the law must be vindicated, a nobler victim smitten; not sinners themselves, but their willing and Divine substitute. The smiting, then, includes all the sufferings—the substitutionary and atoning death of Jesus. Jehovah himself summoned the sword. “He bruised him.” “He put him to grief,” &c. Yet were all in the strictest sense voluntary. Jesus undertook the task with the full view of all it would cost. “Lo, I come,” &c.
III. The twofold result. First, “the sheep shall be scattered.” We are naturally led to see by the language of our Lord that the “scattering” from him of his adherents and friends—which formed a part, and to a spirit of sensibility like his not a trifling one, of his sufferings—was included in this prediction (cf. Mat_26:31-56). The verse which follows relates to the dispersion of the mass of unbelieving Jews—an act of judicial vengeance for their unbelief and rebellion. The second result is, “I will turn (or turn back) my hand upon the little ones.” “The little ones” here describes tender affection (cf. Mat_18:6; Mat_18:10; Mat_18:14). Jesus appeared to his disciples, and accosted them as “children” and “little children.” The language is that of love and kindness, not, as some think, that of threatening and judicial severity. The hand is that of God; the “little ones,” children of God in Jesus Christ; and it is “turned,” or turned back, “upon them” for gracious care and protection. The hand of avenging justice had smitten the victim and was fully satisfied, but these “little ones” were set free. They may be scattered for a time, but not lost. He will “turn his hand” to gather, bless, shield, and save them. The fulness of blessing rests in Jehovah’s favour.
IN THE FURNACE; OR, TWOFOLD EFFECTS OF TRIAL.—Zec_13:8-9
These words predict the destruction of two-thirds of the inhabitants of Judea, by famine, pestilence, and wars; but the remaining third part, after severe testing and affliction, will come out of the furnace a spiritual and purified people, enter into a new relationship with God, and enjoy all the blessings of his covenant. The former part has been fulfilled; the latter part is carried on now, and will terminate in the conversion of the Jews to God.
I. Some are destroyed. There will be a frightful sweep of judgments, and “two parts therein shall be cut off, and die.” In the visible Church there is a mixture of good and bad, sound and unsound. When God tests the Church by affliction, many are proved unworthy; receive not the correction, but harden themselves, and perish in their sin.
II. Others are preserved. “The third part shall be left therein.” They will pass through the fire, and be refined as silver and gold by the process. The process is slow, but the issue certain, even with the Jews. How is it in our afflictions? All will have to pass through the fire. The reprobate metal will be cast away, the genuine gold will be refined and ennobled. “Afflictions sent by Providence melt the constancy of the noble-minded, but confirm the obduracy of the vile. The same furnace that hardens the clay liquefies gold; and in the strong manifestations of Divine power Pharaoh found his punishment, but David his pardon” [Colton].
“’Tis a physic that is bitter to sweet end” [Shakspeare].
AFTER THE FURNACE; OR, PURIFIED INTERCOURSE.—Zec_13:9
The purifying effect of trial will be earnest calling upon God, and reciprocal intercourse with him. “The door of the furnace leads to the closet,” says one. Christians pray best when they have endured trials. We adapt this Outline—
I. The exercise. “They shall call.”
1. How simple is true prayer! A “call,” not in pompous tones nor lengthy words. “The simplest form of speech that infant lips can try.”
2. How earnest is true prayer! A call, an intense feeling for God, a crying out for his help.
3. How constant is true prayer! “They shall call.” A constant practice with them.
4. How sure the ground of true prayer! “On my name.” Not a venture, not an uncertain cry for pity, but a personal, believing application to God who answers.
II. The mutual joy. First, God says, “It is my people,”—chosen to stand in special and loving relation to him. He spares them in trial, and fits them for their high destiny. He turns to them in covenant grace, and with renewed and complacent delight “lifts upon them anew the light of his countenance.” Second, they renounce their unbelief, and cling to him. Weaned from idolatry by affliction, they declare in gratitude and humility, “Jehovah is my God.” They not only worship him above other gods, but own him as their portion. His favour to them is life, and his loving-kindness is better than life. His gifts are precious, but he himself exceeds them all. “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Zec_13:7. The little ones. How amazing is this promise of God, when we contemplate this hand in its omnipotence, and think at the same time on our own utter insignificance, our deep unworthiness, our woeful weakness! We count it much to stoop one day in the year to be little with little ones. God stoops anew from time to time to bless the most humble with special favour. Christ preached the gospel to the poor; chose his first subjects from fishermen and publicans. Animating truth! Almost before we are aware of our lost and low condition the outstretched hand presents itself, a token and pledge of communion, strength, and guidance. What evidence more clear that he has no thoughts of anger towards us? In the aid which our fellow-men render there is alternately much hardness and much weakness, so much unwillingness and distrust, that it is often better to be forsaken than surrounded by men. But God’s tender hand brings balm to the most painful wound wrought by men’s hands, and our littleness or weakness, if possible, brings us yet more within his beneficent reach. May this, so rich a fountain of consolation, ever be to us a sanctifying thought! We must stoop low ere we can taste the consoling truth. Humility is the foundation of all spiritual blessings; nay, God himself can build upon no other. Direct yourselves constantly to this promise. Though he may turn his hand upon the little ones, it is not, as some think, that they may always remain weak and little, but grow in the knowledge and grace of Christ. Show, then, that his hand is not stretched out to you in vain, and in turn be followers of God by your care over the little ones that surround you [J. Van Oosterzee].
Zec_13:8-9. Learn—
1. In the times of severest judgments upon the visible Church, God may have a few preserved. “The third part shall be left.”
2. Although these few may be preserved, they will not be entirely free from trial. They must be tested and exercised in the fire. “I will bring the third part through the fire.”
3. The design of this trial is to purify them from dross, and make them shine the brighter in God’s service. “I will refine them as silver,” &c. “Fiery trials make golden Christians.”
To them a God. I will be that wherein they shall be satisfied; I will be all things that men righteously desire: life and health, and food and abundance, glory and honour and peace and all things [Augustine]. The promise is oftentimes renewed through the prophets, oftentimes fulfilled in Christ, whenever the Church is recalled from listlessness by fiery trials, and through them her children are restored to deeper devotedness and closer union with God [Pusey].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 13
Zec_13:7. Little ones. Louis IX., king of France, was found instructing a poor kitchen-boy; and being asked why he did so, replied, “The meanest person hath a soul as precious as my own, and bought with the same blood of Christ” [Arvine].
Zec_13:8-9. Fire. I remember some years ago I went into a glass-house; and, standing very attentive, I saw several masses of burning glass, of various forms. The workman took a piece of glass, and put it into one furnace, then he put it into a second, and then into a third. I said to him, “Why do you put this through so many fires?” He answered, “0, sir, the first was not hot enough, nor the second, and therefore we put it into a third, and that will make it transparent.” Thus we must be tried and exercised with many fires, until our dross be purged away, and we are made fit for the Master’s use [Whitfield].
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 The Shepherd Smitten.
The Shepherd Smitten.
With great abruptness the prophecy here takes a different turn, as the prophet sets forth the manner in which redemption was secured.
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v. 7. Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, the same one who addressed the people in 11:12, and against the Man that is My Fellow, Him who is true God, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for the Messiah is the eternal Son of God, who was in the bosom of the Father from eternity and by Him begotten in the great eternal today, saith the Lord of hosts, who here summons the sword for time Messiah’s great Passion, to carry out the infliction of suffering by which the redemption of mankind was to be gained. Smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered, a word which Jesus applied to Himself on the evening before His death, Mat 26:31; and I will turn Mine hand upon the little ones, literally, "I will bring back My hand upon the little ones"; for He intended to redeem the wretched, the poor and lowly, for of these was made up His Church.
v. 8. And it shall come to pass that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein, the great majority of the people, shall be cut off and die, being offended in Him and therefore rejected from His herd; but the third, only a small part, shall be left therein.
v. 9. And I will bring the third part through the fire, the test of affliction and persecution as it soon came to the first congregation, and will refine them as silver is refined and will try them as gold is tried, Cf 1Pe 1:6-7. They shall call on My name, and I will hear them, graciously giving them the attention which assured them of His certain assistance; I will say, It is My people, and they shall say, The Lord is my God. This has ever been the relationship obtaining between the God of the covenant and His Church on earth, and this intimate communion is one of the miracles of the Church till the end of time. Cf Joh 14:23.
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 General Information:
General Information:
Zechariah often wrote prophecy in the form of poetry. Hebrew poetry uses different kinds of parallelism. (See: Poetry and Parallelism)
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General Information:
Here Yahweh begins speaking.
Sword! Rouse yourself against my shepherd
"You, sword! Go and attack my shepherd." Here Yahweh speaks to a sword as if it were a person. Here it represents enemies. AT: "You, enemies! Go and attack my shepherd" (See: Personification)
my shepherd
This speaks of a servant of Yahweh as if he were a shepherd. AT: "my servant who is like a shepherd" (See: Metaphor)
the man who stands close to me
This is an idiom. AT: "the man who is my close companion" or "the man who is my friend" (See: Idiom)
this is the declaration of Yahweh of hosts
Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. See how you translated this in Zechariah 1:3. AT: "this is what Yahweh of hosts has declared" or "this is what I, Yahweh of hosts, have declared" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
the flock will scatter
The people of God are spoken of as if they were sheep. AT: "my people will run away like sheep" (See: Metaphor)
I will turn my hand against the lowly ones
The idiom "turn my hand against" means to act hostile towards someone. AT: "I will attack the lowly ones" (See: Idiom)
the lowly ones
This probably refers to all the Israelites who are weak and defenseless.
translationWords
sword
shepherd
Yahweh of hosts
flocks
hand
lowly
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 13:7-9 This message describes a coming day when God’s…
13:7-9 This message describes a coming day when God’s appointed shepherd of Israel would be struck down, and the sheep (the people of Israel) would be scattered. A portion of the nation would be given over to divine judgment, while part of the nation would experience spiritual renewal, fulfilling Zechariah’s vision of God once again among his people (see 1:16; 2:5, 10-11; 8:3, 23). The Gospel writers connect portions of this passage (13:7) to the scattering of Jesus’ disciples as a result of the events surrounding his arrest, trial, and execution by the Romans (see Matt 26:31, 56).
13:7 The sword is personified as a warrior being called to awake in battle, heightening its image as God’s servant, an instrument of death (see Isa 31:8; 34:6; 66:16). • My shepherd signifies the Messiah, the coming leader of Israel (see Ezek 34:23; 37:24). • My partner conveys the equality of the shepherd with God (see Matt 26:31; Mark 14:27).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.