Zechariah 13
PATagainst the other. The inhabitants of Jerusalem used to value themselves above their brethren, because their city was the place of God’s residence, and the seat of the royal family; to take away all occasion of such an emulation, God will first appear iu behalf of those Jews that livo in the open country. Vcr. 8. In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David.] He shall inspire those within the city with unusual courage, so that the feeblest among them shall do as great exploits as David did of old. And the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them.] Or, At the head of them. The Messias, who is the principal branch of the house of David, shall lead them on, as he formerly went before the Israelites in the wilderness, and conducted them to tho land of Canaan, by the name of the angel of God’s prese?ice. (See Exod. xxiii. 20, &c. Isa. lxiii. 9. and the note there.) A general promise of pardon proclaimed to the Jews upon their conversion, and particularly of their being cleansed from idolatry, and the false pretences to prophecy, upon their belief in Christ; whose death is foretold, and the saving of a third part of that people, after a severe trial.
Zechariah 13:1
MNthat day shall a fountain be opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and foruncleamiess. The house of David, with the other inhabitants of Jerusalem, upon their solemn humiliation, described xii. 13, 14. and believing in him whom they had crucified and rejected, -shall obtain a full and free pardon of all their sins, being admitted into the church of Christ by baptism. (See Acts ii. 38, 30. xiii. 38, 39.) The word fountain properly expresses the Christian baptism, which was often administered in fountains and rivers; and likewise alludes to the Jewish washings, which were usually performed in running waters, and were prescribed for the expiation of legal pollutions, expressed here by the word niddah, which properly signifies separation from the company of others; a censure inflicted by the law upon unclean persons. Kimchi understands it of the captivity or destruction of the Jews, inflicted upon them for their sins, which sequestered them from their own land, and made them unfit to attend upon God’s worship; as unclean persons were excluded from the precincts of the temple. (Compare Ezek. xxxvi, 17.)
Zechariah 13:2
1 ivill cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall be no more remembered. The Jews were forbidden to mention the naincs of the heathen idols, if they could, avoid it: (see Exod. xxiii. 13. Josh, xxiii.7. Psal. xvi. 4.) so when idolatry should be utterly extirpated, the names of idols should be buried in oblivion. In the popish countries many of the Jews comply with the idolatry there practised, as some of their own writers confess. (See the note upon Isa. Ixv. 7.) Manasseh ben Israel (de Termino Vitae, lib. iii. 4.) expounds that threatening, (Deut. xxviii. 64.) that they shall serve other gods, which neither they nor their fathers have known, wood and stone, as if it should be fulfilled in their captivity under the Romans, which they suppose is not yet expired. Here it is foretold, that this sort of idolatry shall be abolished upon their conversion: or else we may understand it of the putting down that idolatry now practised in Judea, both by the Greek and Latin Christians, before the Jews come to be settled in their own country. (Compare this text with Micah v. 12 — 14.) r And also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.] By the prophets are here meant the false prophets, as the LXX. translate it, who understand the word nabi in that sense, in several places of Jeremiah. (Compare Micah iii. 11, Zcph. iii, 4.) The unclean spirit is the same with a lying spirit, or a false pretence to prophecy and inspiration. (Compare 1 Kings xxii. 22. Rev. xvi. 13.) The Jews were always very much addicted to sorcery, charms, and other sorts of divination, as is observed in the note upon Mai. iii. 5. and it is probable that several pretenders to prophecy will arise among them, near the time of their future restoration, to discourage their return home.
Zechariah 13:3
When any shall yet prophesy, then his father and mother— shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name.of the Lord: and— shall thrust him through when he prophesieth.] These false pretenders to prophecy, who discouraged their brethren’s conversion and return, were confuted by experience; things falling out quite otherwise than they had foretold. (See ver. 4.) This shall raise a just zeal against such impostors, so that even their parents shall be forward to put in execution against them vol. iv.. <g I the penalties inflicted by the law upon false prophets and seducers. (Deut xiii. G. 8, 9. xviii. 20.) They shall treat such a one. in the same manner, as their fathers did the true Prophet, the Messias, shall pierce or thrust him through; for the same verb is used in the Hebrew here, and xii. 10..
Zechariah 13:4
The prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he hath prophesied. The event proving quite otherwise than they had prophesied. Neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive.] The prophets used to wear hairy or rough garments; (see Isa. xx. 2.) this they did, partly in imitation of Elijah, that was so <;lad, (2 Kings i. 8.) and partly because it was a despicable or mournful habit, and suitable to their office, which was to denounce God’s judgments against prid^ and luxury. [John Baptist wore such a garment, as was suitable to the office of a preacher of repentance."] The words import, that these prophets shall disown their former pretences, and no longer wear such a garment, as a badge of their profession.
Zechariah 13:5
But he shall say, I am no, prophet, I am a husbandman, &c. To save themselves from punishment, (ver* 3.) each of them shall profess husbandry, and say that his employment from a child had been to look after cattle or till the ground, as the verb hiknani may be translated.
Zechariah 13:6
And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thy hands? &c. When such a severe inquisition is made against false prophets, every one shall be ready to observe what marks or characters are printed upon the hands of such a pretender, and to ask him, How they came there? And he shall answer in his own justification, This is not the mark or character of any idol, but only a token that I am a servant belonging to such a family. It was an ancient custom for masters to set a mark upon their slaves or goods; and there was sometimes a particular character imprinted upon the worshippers of certain idols: so we read in the third book of Maccabees, that the worshippers of Bacchus had an ivy-leaf imprinted upon their bodies. Such impressions were often made upon the hands, to which that expression alludes, (Rev. xiii. 16.) of receiving the mark of the beast upon the right hand. Several interpreters understand this verse of the wounds of Christ; but I conceive the following words more properly belong to that subject.
Zechariah 13:7
Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd, and against the man that ismy fellow. Here begins a new prophecy, importing that the Messias, the great Shepherd, as he is described in this prophecy, (xi. 4, &c. and in Isa. xl. 11. Ezek. xxxiv. 23.) though with respect to his Divine nature he be equal iviih God the Father, (Phil. ii. 6.) yet shall be delivered up to death, by 6od’s determinate counsel and appointment: (see Acts ii. 23. iv. 28.) A sivordis put for any instrument of the Divine justice, as hath been observed upon xi. 17. Smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.’] This our Lord applies to his disciples being scattered every man to his own, upon his being apprehended and put to death. (Matt, xxvi. 31. John xvi. 32.) And I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.] This sentence may be translated in two contrary senses. The Hebrew phrase rendered here turn mine handy may signify either to punish, or to spare; in the former sense it is taken, Psal. Ixxxi. 14. in the latter, Ezek. xx.- 22. where our translators render it, I withdrew my hand. In like manner the word tsair signifies great ^s well as little, as hath been 2 H [chap* XIV* observed upon Micah V. 2. viz. it is translated to this sense in some copies of the LXX. and so Dr. Pococlc understands it here. (Not. in portam Moste, dap. 2.) If we follow our English translation, the serine rtiaybe, I will shew mercy to my little flock, dispirited by the death of their Master, and will quickly shew him to them alive again, to their joy and comfort. If we translate the words, I will turn my hand upon the great ones, they denounce a severe judgment against the Jewish rulers; for their sin in crucifying Christ; agreeably to the r import of the following words.
Zechariah 13:8
In all the land two parts therein shall be cut off, &c. Those severe judgments which our Saviour foretold should come upon them, (Matt, xxiv.) shall consume tivo parts in three of the nation, but a third part shall escape the general destruction, and be left to be dispersed over (he world to preserve a posterity to future generations.
Zechariah 13:9
And it shall come to pass, that I ivill seek to destroy all the nations, &c. See ver. 3. G. Vcr. 10. A?id I will pour npon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications, &c] I will bestow a plentiful share of grace upon the descendants of David’s family, and the rest of the Jews, whereby they shall be brought to a deep humiliation for their own sins, and a true compunction of heart for the great sin of their forefathers in crucifying me their Lord and Saviour. The conversion of the Jews is compared by St. Paul to life from the dead, Rom. xi. 15. and therefore must lie effected by an extraordinary and uncommon degree of grace, which shall then be given them (see Isa. liv. 13. Ezek. xxxix. 29. Joel ii. 28. and the notes upon those places): such an efficacious call as may bring them to a due sense of their own and their fathers’ sins, and a hearty lamentation for them. (Sec Jer. xxxi. 9. 1. 4. Ezck. xvi. 61. G3. xx. 43. xxxvi. 31. and the notes there.) And they shall look npon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn over him as one that mournethfor his only son.] The words point out the outward means whereby their conversion shall be wrought; viz. that the Lord, i. e. the Messias, shall come: (xiv. 5.) i\ e. Christ shall appear in the heavens, sitting on a bright cloud, as his coming is described, Rev. xiv. 14. (Compare i. 7. Dan. vii. 13.) This is probably meant by the sign of the So?i of man in lieaven, mentioned Matt. xxiv. 30. compared with Mark xiii. 26. This sight shall strike them with horror and astonishment for their sin in rejecting me their God, whom their fathers put to an ignominious death, and themselves have. by their blasphemies crucified afresh. Then they shall beg pardon for their own and their fathers’ sins, with the deepest signs of mourning and humiliation, expressed by a proverbial speech, as equal to the mourning of a father for an only son. (Compare Jer. vi. 26. Amos viii. 10.) The Jews themselves have applied this text to the Messias, as may be seen in Grotius’s notes upon the place, and Bishop Pearson’s Exposition of the fourth article of the Creed. David did before describe his sufferings under the figure of piercing his hands and his feet, Psal. xxii. 16. and Isaiah foretold he should be wounded for our transgressions, liii. 5. This text is at large explained and vindicated in the Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield’s Defence of Christianity from the ancient Prophecies, p. 107. Vcr. 11. In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.] Josiah was slain at, or near Mcgiddo; (2 Kings xxiii. 29.) it may be the field where the battle was fought might be called Hadadrimmon. St. Jerome saith, it was a place near Jezrecl, called in his time Maximianopolis. Tho valley or plain of Jezrecl was a large plain, (see Josh. xvii. 16.) called the plain of Esdraelon, Judith i. 8. it comprehended the valley of Mcgiddo in it. There the lamentation for Josiah began, which was continued from thence to Jerusalem, whither his body was brought to be buried, where all Judah mourned for him, and appointed an anniversary commemoration and lamentation for him. (2Chron. xxxv. 24, 25.) So the mourning for Josiah became a proverb for a public and solemn lamentation. Such a national humiliation shall the Jews’ observe for their crucifying the Messias. And I ivill bring the third part through the fire, andtcill refine them as silver is refined, &c] I will make them pass through the furnace of affliction: (Isa. xlviii. 10.) the wicked among them shall bo consumed as dross, and they that repent and believe shall be saved. (See Ezek. xx. 38. and the note there.) They shall call upon my name, and I ivill hear them.’] When I have poured upon them the spirit of grace and supplication, (xii. 10.) they shall humbly implore pardon foi* their sins, and I will graciously hear and answer their prayers. (Compare x. 6. Isa. Ixv. 24. Hos. ii. 21. Joel ii. 32.) I ivill say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.] For their disobedience I broke my covenant with them, (xi. 10.) and they were no longer my people; but upon their repentance and conversion, they shall be as though I had not cast them off, (x. 6.) and I will renew my covenant-relation with them. (Compare viii. 8. Lev. xxvi. 12. Jer. xxx. 22. Ezek. xi. 20. xxxvi. 28. xxxvii. 27.)
And the land shall mourn, every family apart. The whole land shall mourn in a most solemn manner; and every family shall sequester themselves from business and conversation for that purpose. (Compare vii. 3.) The house of David apart, and their wives apart.] Those of the royal family who have rejected Christ shall lead the way. Even husbands and wives shall abstain from each other’s company, as is usual in times of solemn hu-. initiation: (see Joel ii. 16.) or, as a very learned person suggests, in solemn processions it was usual for the several orders of men to go distinctly, and likewise for the women to go in ranks by themselves; this was in all likelihood used in funeral mournings, where each tribe or order of men and women used a* distinct form of lamentation. For example, the tribe of Judah lamented, Ah, my brother! tho rest of the tribes answered, Ah, Lord! (see Jer. xxii. IS.) This probably was done in the mourning for Josiah, (sec 1 Esdras i. 32.) and observed in the times after the return from captivity, (see 2 Chron. xxxv. 25. compared with xxxvi. 22.) to which ceremony the expressions of the text allude. TJie family of the house of Nathan.] David had a son named Nathan, (2 Sam. v. 14. Luke iii. 31.) This branch of the royal family seems here meant.
The family of Shimei apart. Some suppose that this family was noted for breeding up persons eminent in the knowledge of the law; such wasSameas, a noted rabbi, who lived in our Saviour’s time, as St. Jerome informs us in his commentary on Isa. viii. The LXX. read the house of Simeon; which tribe was intermixed with that of Judah. (Josh. xix. 9.)
All the families that remain apart. The prophet having mentioned the tribes and families of chiefest note in his time, comprises the rest under this general expression,