Section II Oracles After the Building of the Temple

Zechariah 9:1—14:21

As we open the second section of Zechariah's prophecy we are made immediately aware that we have passed into a new era and a new prophetic situation. Abruptly and without warning the precious promises of a glorious future for Zion end and we find ourselves reading tidings of sorrow and disaster for nations and cities which appear in Zechariah's account for the first time. There is also a significant change in phraseology. No longer is it “the word of Jhe Lord” but the burden of the word of the Lord prefixed to two groups of prophecies composed of three chapters each (9:1; 12:1).

Zechariah is now well advanced in years, and these burdens rest heavily upon his spirit. As they unfold, however, the glories of the Messiah and of His universal reign come into view. While the visions of the first section were concerned primarily with contemporary events, particularly the rebuilding of the Temple, the second division is primarily futuristic. It points the way toward the coming of Christ and describes affairs in Israel and in the world when the kingdom of Christ shall be consummated and “Holiness unto the Lord” shall be the watchword of the whole earth.

A. THE BUBDEN OF HADRACH, 9:1—11:17

This is the first of two “burdens” which constitute the material of the second division of Zechariah. The Hebrew word means “oracle” as well as burden (1). It is probably from a root meaning to “lift up”—i.e., the voice, especially when the announcement is of a “burdensome” or threatening character.¹

1. Preparation for the Messiah (9:1-8)

The early troubles of the returned remnant in the reconstruction of the city and Temple are now at an end, but Jerusalem finds herself hemmed in and pressed by Syria and Tyre on the north and by Ashkelon, Gaza, and Ekron on the south (see map 2). It is therefore for the encouragement of the Jews that Zechariah foretells an approaching invasion before which these strong and hostile neighbors shall be swept away. Living Prophecies renders the verse, “This is the message concerning God's curse on the lands of Hadrach and Damascus; for the Lord is closely watching all mankind, as well as Israel.” The oracle declares that the cities of Syria were under the judgment of God—Hadrach, and Damascus (1) and Hamath (2) being singled out specially. Hamath was one hundred miles north of Damascus; the city of Hadrach was probably in the same neighborhood, although its exact site is not known. The second part of v. 1 is obscure, but it probably means that the eyes of man (better, perhaps, “Aram” or Syria, RSV), as well as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the Lord in awesome contemplation of His just judgments.

Next to fall would be Tyrus (Tyre) and Zidon (Sidon), the chief cities of Phoenicia, despite the fact that they were in a worldly sense very wise (2). The prophet declares that although Tyrus did build herself a strong hold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets … the Lord will cast her out, and … smite her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire (3-4). Tyre was situated on an island about a half mile from the mainland and completely surrounded by massive walls. But although she considered herself impregnable, the calamities foretold by Zechariah actually came upon her. Alexander the Great built an artificial mole from the mainland to the island and after a seven-month siege completely destroyed the proud city and murdered thousands of its inhabitants.

Philistia lay south of Tyre, and the fall of Tyre would naturally cause alarm to the less fortified cities in Alexander's path. Ashkelon shall see it, and fear; Gaza also … and be very sorrowful; likewise Ekron; for her expectation (that Tyre would be able to assist her) shall be ashamed (5). Gaza's king was to perish, and Ashkelon was to be depopulated. A “mongrel people” (instead of bastard) were to inhabit Ashdod, and the pride of the Philistines was to be utterly crushed (6). The prophet predicts that, after abandoning the heathen practice of eating blood, the remnant of Philistia shall be for our God (7). This means that they were to be converted to the faith of Israel. And he shall be as a governor in Judah means “that the Philistine … shall take his place, ruler and people, as one of the divisions of the Jewish nation.”² Ekron as a Jebusite means that this Philistine city would become like Jebus (Jerusalem). Josephus declares that such an incorporation of Philistines into the Jews actually occurred. Verse 8 is a promise of protection for Judah while her neighbors were being devastated by the invader: I will encamp about mine house because of the army, because of him that passeth by, and … returneth.

The prophet thus foresees the conquering career of Alexander the Great (336-323 B.C.). It is no accident that this passage precedes the prediction of the Messianic King. In the eyes of Zechariah the great warrior was preparing the way for Christ. “In this anticipation the prophet read the future more truly than he at that time could have realized,” J. E. McFadyen rightly observes; “for, through the spread of the Greek language which followed in the wake of his conquests, Alexander was all unconsciously preparing the way for the LXX [Septuagint] and the New Testament in which the story of our Lord was told to all the world: so that in a sense little dreamed of either by Alexander or Zechariah, Alexander was one of those who prepared the way for the coming of the Lord.”³ Such an interpretation of Zecha-riah's prediction seems to be in harmony with Peter's view of Old Testament prophecy (see I Pet. 1:10-11).

2. Presentation oj the Messiah (9:9-12)

The way having been prepared for His advent, the Messianic King now appears (9). Interpreters, liberal and conservative Christians as well as Jewish, see this as an indubitable Messianic prediction. Dentan comments: “The prophet sees the army of Alexander as only a tool in the hand of God. Riding invisibly with it is the God of Israel and the long expected Prince of Peace, who is about to enter Jerusalem and reestablish … the spiritual glories of the ancient kingdom of David.”⁴ Collins claims, “The reference to Christ is direct and immediate.”⁵ The Jewish interpreter Eli Cashdan quotes Rashi to the same effect: “This can only refer to King Messiah of whom it is said, And his dominion shall be from sea to sea, since we do not find any ruler with such wide dominion during the days of the Second Temple.”⁶ And T. T. Perowne justly observes: “No event in Jewish history answers even typically to this prediction.”⁷ When Jesus of Nazareth entered Jerusalem on the first “Palm Sunday,” He was consciously fulfilling this great prophecy and presenting himself to the city as the long-awaited Messianic King.

The entrance of the King, says Zechariah, is to be the occasion for great rejoicing in Jerusalem. See Luke 19:37-40 for the fulfillment of this prediction.

The Messiah's character is described by the prophet: He is just, and having salvation (9). The RSV translates: “Triumphant and victorious is he.” Having salvation is a passive participle in Hebrew and should be literally rendered “being saved” (in the sense of being divinely vindicated).⁸ By raising Jesus from the dead, God ratified our Lord's Messianic claims and vindicated Him before the eyes of His crucifiers. Peter declared at Pentecost: “God hath made this same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36). This is also the sense of Paul's assertion that Jesus was “designated Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:4, RSV). By entering Jerusalem mounted on a donkey, Jesus not only proclaimed himself the Zecharian Messiah; He also committed himself to His enemies and to God—in the confidence that in His impending death the Father would vindicate Him by raising Him from the dead (cf. Mark 10:32-34). Therefore His entry was “triumphant and victorious,” as the prophet had foretold.

He is … lowly, and riding upon an ass (9), for He is the promised Prince of Peace. The Messiah is to be no worldly conqueror riding upon a war horse, says Zechariah, but a humble King riding upon a lowly beast of burden, the animal used for peaceful purposes. “To this day in the East asses are used, as they are represented in the Song of Deborah, by great officials, but only when these are upon civil, and not upon military, duty.”⁹ Moreover, His reign shall resemble His character: I will cat off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth (10). The Prince of Peace shall banish all military equipment when His kingdom is fully established (cf. Isa. 2:4). Ephraim (Israel) as well as Jerusalem shall enjoy the promised blessing of peace in the Messianic age. The seas mentioned by Zechariah were undoubtedly the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea, while the river was the Euphrates. The language means that the Messianic kingdom shall extend to the earth's utmost bounds. Compare Isaiah's prophecy of Christ: “For every tramping soldier's boot in the middle of the battle turmoil and every coat rolled in blood shall be burned—fuel for the fire. For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given; the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. There shall be no end to the increase of [His] government or to the peace upon the throne of David and upon His kingdom, in that it is firmly established and supported in justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this” (Isa. 9:5-7, Berk.)

Speaking still to the daughter of Zion, Zechariah likens her in her captive state to prisoners in a pit wherein is no water (11). Such captives faced inevitable and horrible death. Such would be the fate of Israel but for the blood of thy covenant (cf. Exod. 24:5-7). Because of this covenant they are termed prisoners of hope and exhorted to turn … to the strong hold (12).

3. Program of the Messiah (9:13—10:12)

a. The promised victory of Zion over Greece (9:13-17). “The next oracle seems singularly out of keeping with the spirit of the last, which declared the arrival of the Messianic peace,” George Adam Smith admits. But he quotes Stade's observation that frequently in chapters 9 through 14 “a result is first stated and then the oracle goes on to describe the process by which it is achieved.”¹⁰ We should bear this in mind as we study these’ chapters.

Most commentators agree that there should be a full stop at v. 12, for in 13 a new topic is introduced, as Smith points out above. In vv. 13-17 God gives a promise of victory and freedom to Judah. The victory, we should note, is to be God's. He simply uses His people as His weapons: Judah as a bow, Ephraim as arrows, and Zion as a sword (13). The thrust of Zion is to be against Greece. In Zechariah's day the Greeks had already come to the attention of the Near East. Jews returning from the Captivity would have heard of the burning of Sardis (in 499 B.C.) and the battle of Marathon (in 490 B.C.) More recently the victories of the Greeks over Xerxes at Salamis, Platea, and Mycale (in 480-479 B.C.) would have come to the attention of Nehemiah and his contemporaries. The word Greece (Heb. Javan) should be understood in its widest meaning as applicable to all Hellenists in the Mediterranean area.

“The Jewish commentators regarded this verse as a prediction of the wars waged successfully by the Maccabean heroes against the Greek rulers of Syria. Rashi gives the following paraphrase: ‘In the end, the Greeks will take the kingdom from the hand of the kings of Persia; they will ill-treat you, but I will bend Judah for Me as a war-bow, and they shall make war against Antiochus in the days of the Hasmoneans.’” ¹¹

Verses 14 and 15 underscore the truth that it is God who shall accomplish the victory for His people. Verse 14 probably means He will use the powers of nature to accomplish His purposes. In v. 15 the prophet describes the completeness of the victory: “He will defend His people and they will subdue their enemies, treading them beneath their feet. They will taste victory and shout with triumph. They will slaughter their foes, leaving horrible carnage everywhere” ( Living Prophecies). Verse 16 brings out the preciousness of God's people: they are His flock and the stones (jewels) of a crown. In v. 17 Zechariah catches a glimpse of the restored land of Judah: “Yea, how good and how fair it shall be!” (RSV)

b. Encouraging prospects (10:1-5). The promise of temporal prosperity with which the preceding chapter ends is continued and expanded in 10:1-2. The people are to look to God for the latter rain (1), which fell in the spring and ripened the maturing grain and vineyards. Bright clouds is better translated “storm clouds,” for these accompany the latter rain.

The injunction, Ask … of the Lord rain, is endorsed by a reminder of the vanity of looking to idols (2). In the past they went their way (in the sense of straying) and were troubled (afflicted), because there was no shepherd to tend them; their rulers had proven false. God's anger was kindled against the shepherds, and … the goats (3; cf. Ezek. 34:17). In their dire straits God himself became the Shepherd and made them “splendid steeds for his campaign” (3, Moffatt). “In this passage,” Collins observes, “the prophetic perfect, the equivalent of the future, is used. In the fixity of the divine purpose, the promised transformation was as good as effected.”¹² Verse 4 amplifies the promise that out of Judah should come conquerors. Smith-Goodspeed makes the imagery clear:

From them shall come the cornerstone,

   from them the tent-pin,

From them the bow for war, and from

   them all the officers.

And they shall fight, because the Lord is with them (5). Such great warriors and leaders did arise from Judah during the Maccabean period, but the ultimate reference may be to “the Lion of the tribe of Juda,” by whose almighty power the kingdom of God shall, in the end, triumph over all its opposition. “For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet” (I Cor. 15:25).

c. The restoration of the nation (10:6-12)

I will make the house of Judah strong,

and rescue the house of Joseph,

bring them home in my compassion,

till they be as though I had never expelled them (6, Moffatt).

With the hiss (8, cf. Isa. 5:26) or whistle, as a beekeeper summons his bees (cf. Isa. 7:18) or a shepherd his flock, God promises to bring back into the land of Gilead and Lebanon (10) His people who are “scattered” (RSV) in far countries (9), especially in Egypt and Assyria (10). One problem of Zechariah's day was too few inhabitants in Judah. God promised a massive return of His people until place shall not be found for them. Nothing will deter Him, but as of old His people “shall pass through the sea of Egypt” (11, RSV; cf. Isa. 11:15-16). And their strength shall come from Jehovah himself. And I will strengthen them in the Lord; and they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the Lord (12).

4. The Two Shepherds (11:1-17)

a. The destruction of Jerusalem (11:1-3). In this chapter we have a companion picture to that drawn in c. 10. There the picture is bright with the coming of the Messiah, the victories He would achieve, and the blessings He would bestow. This picture is dark with His rejection and the tragic consequences which would ensue. The chapter opens with a vivid description of these consequences:

Open your doors, O Lebanon,

to let fire burn up your cedars!

Wail, O pine-tree,

the cedar is down

[[the glorious trees despoiled]].

Wail, O oaks of Bashan,

the thick-set forest is felled!

Hark to the shepherds deploring

their glorious pastures ruined!

Hark to the young lions roaring,

for the jungle of Jordan is blasted! (1-3, Moffatt.)

“The desolating scourge, approaching as it ever did from the north, overthrows the pride of Lebanon and Bashan, and then, sweeping southward down the Jordan valley, falls upon the shepherds of Israel.”¹³ The cedars of Lebanon, the oaks of Bashan, and the other similar phrases signify the rulers and leaders of the doomed nations. Both Assyria and Egypt are compared in Scripture to the stately cedar (cf. Isa. 10:33-34; Ezek. 31:3-15).

As we shall see from what follows, it is the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman armies which the prophet foretells.¹⁴

b. The rejection of the Good Shepherd (11:4-14). The causes of the above judgment are dealt with in this section, called by S. R. Driver “the most enigmatic in the Old Testament.” The basic idea, however, seems clear enough. The catastrophe which befell Jerusalem flowed from the age-long, persistent misconduct of the people and their shepherds (or rulers). It climaxed in their rejection of the Good Shepherd, sent by God to feed His flock.

Zechariah himself was called upon to enact the role of the, Good Shepherd in an allegory which recalls the pictures in Jeremiah and Ezekiel of the overthrow of false shepherds and the appointment of a true shepherd (cf. Jer. 23:1-8; Ezek. 34; 37: 24-28). “Thus says the Lord my God: Shepherd the flock destined for slaughter, whose owners will slay them and say they are not guilty; while those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the Lord, I have become rich. Their shepherds do not spare them’” (4-5, Berk.). Their rulers, both civil and religious, were so devoid of patriotism and spirituality they had no sense of responsibility toward the people entrusted to their care. Because they had no pity on the people, therefore God said, I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land … but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land (6).

The prophet did as he was told and took upon himself the task of shepherd of Israel. “So I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slain … And I took two staffs; one I named Grace [symbolizing the divine favor promised God's people], the other I named Union [symbolizing the unity that should exist between Judah and Israel]. And I tended the sheep” (7, RSV). In one month he cut off three shepherds (8). This is an obscure point but Calvin understood it to signify that God “took the greatest care of His flock, for He loved it, and omitted nothing necessary to defend it.” Some think the sentence is a scribal gloss.

Despite all the care bestowed upon the flock, the shepherd's services were unappreciated. “So I said, ‘I will not be your shepherd; what is dying, let it die, let the lost be lost, and let the survivors devour one another” (9, Moffatt). The prophet then took his “staff Grace, and … broke it” (RSV), thereby annulling the covenant of grace with Israel. This signified that the nation was to become prey to her enemies. Those who watched this dramatic act knew that it was the word of the Lord (11).

Zechariah then requested his wages for services rendered, if they felt disposed to pay him. He left it to the people to decide what their services were worth. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver (12), the price of an injured slave (cf. Exod. 21:32).

Up to this point the prophet has spoken as the representative of the Lord. Now the Lord himself speaks, Cast them to the potter¹⁵ in the house of the Lord (13). Zechariah ironically calls this a goodly price. The amount shows how meanly they thought of him and his services. The fact that the silver was cast in the house of the Lord means that it was God himself to whom they paid the wretched sum.

It is impossible to read of the insulting response accorded by the people to the good shepherd without feeling how prophetic the whole passage is. Israel had not had an abundance of good shepherds in the course of her history (cf. Ezek. 34); but when the greatest shepherd of all came, ready to lay down his life for the sheep (cf. John 10:15), he was despised and rejected, sold for a price of a slave (Mt. 26:15) and nailed to a cross. “The guilty sacrifice the innocent, but in this execute their own doom. This is a summary of the history of Israel” (G. A. Smith).¹⁶

In Matt. 27:10 this symbolical incident of the shepherd is shown specifically to have been fulfilled in the betrayal of Jesus. He was sold for “thirty pieces of silver,” and this amount was later cast down in the Temple by the remorseful Judas and then used to purchase a “potter's field.” In Matt. 27:9 this prophecy is assigned to Jeremiah. One possible explanation for this is that a scribe mistook “Zechariah” for “Jeremiah” in copying the text. The probability is that Matthew was quoting from a group of Old Testament passages dealing with this theme and listed under “Jeremiah.”¹⁷

After this incident the prophet broke the “second staff Union,” thus signifying the “annulling [of] the brotherhood between Judah and Israel” (14, RSV).

c. The worthless shepherd (11:15-17). Having enacted the role of the Good Shepherd, the prophet is now called upon to impersonate a foolish ( “worthless,” Moffatt) shepherd (15). For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces (16). “By the unfaithful shepherd in this passage is to be understood the Roman oppressor, who destroyed the Jewish state and mercilessly harassed the Jews subsequent to their rejection of Christ.”¹⁸ This “worthless shepherd” must bear responsibility for his own actions and be punished accordingly:

May the sword strike his arm

    and his right eye!

May his arm be withered,

    and his right eye blinded! (17, Moffatt.)

B. THE BURDEN OF ISRAEL, 12:1—14:21

As in the former burden (9:1), this section opens with the general title, The burden of the word of the Lord (1); and like it, this title belongs to the entire group of prophecies which follow, extending to the end of the book. Here, however, the burden is not “upon” or “against” (Heb., bh) Israel, but for or “concerning” (Heb., al) Israel. Her enemies are to be severely punished by the Lord because of their ruthless mistreatment of His people.¹⁹

The predictions of this final section of Zechariah are tied together by the phrase in that day, which occurs sixteen times in these three chapters.²⁰ This certainly means that the ultimate fulfillment of this oracle to Israel will occur in “the day of the Lord” (14:1). That is the eschatological day which shall be ushered in at the second coming of Christ, when “his feet shall stand … upon the mount of Olives” (14:4), from which He ascended after His resurrection (Acts 1:11-12).

1. Final Victories of Israel (12:1—13:6)

a. The deliverance of Jerusalem (12:1-9). An unusual solemnity attaches to the opening words of this oracle. To remove all doubt as to His ability to deliver His people, God prefaces the prediction of this glorious event by an appeal to His creative and sustaining power. He speaks as the Creator, who stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him (1). He would make sure that we stagger “not at the promise of God through unbelief” but be “fully persuaded that, what he” hath “promised” he is “able also to perform.”

“The vision itself,” F. B. Meyer reminds us, “refers to a time yet future, though perhaps not far away, when the Jewish people shall have returned to their own land, but still in unbelief.”²¹ The nations of earth will be in league against Jerusalem, but their confederacy is doomed to be overwhelmed with infinite disaster. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto ali the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem (2). Jerusalem is a great bowl or cup about which the nations gather, eager to drink its inviting contents, but it becomes “a cup that causes reeling” (Berk.); it causes them to stagger and fall (cf. Isa. 51:22). In v. 3 the figure changes: In that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces. The moving of heavy stones in antiquity was often the occasion for tragic accidents and loss of life. George Adam Smith thinks the reference is to the effort of workmen to dislodge giant boulders from the earth. Their hands would be lacerated by the stones as they attempted to tear them from their bed or to carry them.²² Jerome thought the figure was taken from a weight-lifting contest such as he had seen in Palestine. The lift proves too much for the contestants, who drop the stone from their grasp, cutting and wounding themselves.

I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah (4) is a metaphor denoting a favorable attitude. Her enemies would be put to confusion; every horse would be struck “with panic, and its rider with madness” (RSV). Every horse of the people would be sll the horses of Israel's enemies. Seeing the confusion of the attackers, the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the Lord of hosts their God (5).

The princes of Judah will share in Jerusalem's triumph. In this connection two arresting similes are employed. “In that day I will make the clans of Judah like a little fire that sets the forest aflame—like a burning match among the sheaves” (6, Living Prophecies.) The result of this conflagration among Jerusalem's enemies will be the survival of the city in her own place (6).

In this deliverance the tents of Judah first are saved, so that the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah (7). In a footnote, The Berkeley Version notes that it was not from Jerusalem but from Bethlehem of Judea that the Messiah was to come. The glory shall belong neither to Judah nor to Jerusalem but to the Lord. By His help he that is feeble … shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them (8). Wardlaw writes regarding this promise: “The general meaning is that the Lord God will strengthen the weakest and give additional elevation, honour, and influence to the highest, and add divinely to the might of the mightiest, so that no opposing power shall ever stand before them, any more than when that divine angel of the covenant was commissioned to be their conductor and guardian of Whom Jehovah said, MY NAME IS IN HIM.”²³

b. Repentance of Israel (12:10-14). Following their deliverance from their enemies, God shall pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications (10). The word grace here means the gifts and influences of the Spirit.²⁴ The word continues: And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him (10). T. T. Perowne rightly observes: “The Speaker is Almighty God. The Jews had pierced Him meta phorically by their rebellion and ingratitude throughout their history. They pierced Him literally and as the crowning act of their contumacy, in the Person of His Son upon the Cross, John xix. 39.”²⁵ The fulfillment of this prophecy in the mourning of those who pierced Him is still future, awaiting the return of the long-rejected Messiah. This prophecy is supported by the prophecy of John on Patmos: “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so. Amen” (Rev. 1:7). !

The mourning for Christ will be as the wailing of one for the death of his only son … as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn (10), and as the mourning of Hadad-rimmon (11), i.e., the mourning of the nation over the death of King Josiah. Hadad-rimmon is believed to have been a city in the valley of Megiddon, where Josiah was slain. Although only Jerusalem is mentioned as being involved in the mourning, it is clear from the verses that follow that the city stands for all Israel.

Several interpreters see the families specifically mentioned in w. 12 and 13 as representative of the leading classes of the people: the family of the house of David—the royal family; the family of the house of Nathan—the prophetic line (12); the family of the house of Levi—the priesthood; the family of Shimei—the scribes and teachers of Israel (13). The mourning will not only be universal; it will be lonely: every family apart, and their wives apart (14). We sin alone; we repent alone. “The mention of their wives as mourning apart is in reference to the practice of males and females sitting and worshipping separately.”²⁶

Mourning for Christ began at the time of the Crucifixion (Luke 23:48). The number of mourners increased greatly at Pentecost (Acts 2:36-41). Since by their sins all men were involved in the piercing of Christ, the mourning of every penitent is a partial fulfillment of this word of prophecy. But the final fulfillment will occur when Christ appears the second time. Then “a nation shall be born in a day,” for in connection with the Messiah's return in glory “all Israel shall be saved” (Rom. 11:26; cf. comments on 14:16-19).

c. The conversion and sanctijication of Israel (13:1-6). In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness (1). The day is the same as that in 12:11. The piercing of the rejected Messiah was in reality the opening of the fountain, but the provisions of Calvary will not effect the national salvation of Israel until Christ returns on clouds of heaven (Rev. 1:7).²⁷

Henderson declares that v. 1 “exhibits the two grand doctrines of the gospel—justification and sanctification.”²⁸ Christ's death opened a fountain (1) for sin and (2) for uncleanness. Justification is by the Blood of atonement (Rom. 3:21-26); sanctification is by “the Spirit of grace” (II Thess. 2:13; I Pet. 1:2). Justification means the putting away of our sin, the rectification of a wrong relationship with God, so that by faith we are restored to the favor of a holy and just God. Sanctification in the broadest sense means the entire moral renewal of our fallen natures, beginning with “the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus 3:5) and being made complete by the baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matt. 3:11; Acts 1:4-5; 15:8-9).

On the Day of Pentecost, Peter pointed to the cleansing fountain: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38).

With marvelous eloquence John Bunyan brought out the force of these words, “every one of you”:

“But I struck Him on his head with the rod: is there any hope for me?” Every one of you, saith the apostle. “But I spat in his face: is there forgiveness for me?” Yes, is the reply, for every one of you. “But I drove the spikes into his hands and feet, which transfixed him on the cross: is there cleansing for me?” Yes, cries Peter, for every one of you. “But I pierced his side, though he had never done me wrong; it was a ruthless, cruel act, and I am sorry for it now: may that sin be washed away?” Every one of you, is the constant answer.

As it was at the beginning of this age, so it will be at its close—with this difference, that whereas then some few thousand souls stepped into the fountain, “in that day” the vast majority of Israel shall wash there and be clean. Then the words of the Apostle Peter, spoken in the very dawn of this era, will be fulfilled. When Israel repents and is converted, “the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:19-21).

Since the beginning of the Christian age the true fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness has availed for millions of penitent seekers in the Church of Jesus Christ. But Perowne sees more: “Beyond that in another age, in which in all its particulars, and with a completeness, it may be, and exactness of detail which it had never before attained to, the whole prediction shall be fulfilled.”²⁹

In that day, saith the Lord of hosts … I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land (2)—their very memory will be banished. False prophets and the unclean spirit by which they are moved shall be expelled. So great will be the zeal for pure religion that parents of any false prophet who may remain shall destroy him for speaking lies in the name of the Lord (3). Such discredit will be cast on the false prophet in that day that he will be ashamed of the things of which he was formerly proud. He will no longer wear a rough garment to deceive (4) the people into thinking him a prophet; but he shall say, I am no prophet, I am an husbandman; for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth (5). And if any shall still regard him with suspicion, because of wounds in his hands (6), he will say, I was wounded in the house of my friends. These wounds refer to “incisions which false prophets made on themselves” (I Kings 18:28).

This last verse has generally been associated with the marks of the nails in the hands of Christ. This, however, is not the natural meaning of the statement, and it is nowhere so applied in the New Testament. The passage is more accurately rendered, “What are these wounds between your hands?” (Berk.) A footnote explains: “Hebrew, ‘between your hands,’ means ‘in the chest’ or ‘in the back,’ the same as ‘between your arms.’” A footnote in Living Prophecies comments: “That this is not a passage referring to Christ, is clear from the context. This is a false prophet who is lying about the reason for his scars.”

2. Final Victories of the Shepherd-King (13:7—14:21).

a. The smiting of the Shepherd (13:7-9). The opening of this section is so abrupt that most modern critics place these verses at the end of chapter 11, after the account of the worthless shepherd. They are a continuation of the Good Shepherd motif (cf. 11:1-17), but they fit well here as a sequence to the preceding prophecies of the deliverance, repentance, conversion, and sanctification of Israel. “Moreover, it was not because He claimed to be a prophet, nor because they were impatient with any such claim … but because ‘He made Himself the Son of God’ (John xix. 7), that the Jews took their part in the smiting of the Shepherd.”³⁰

The apparently abrupt transition may be explained by the fact that this section is parallel with, rather than consecutive upon, the preceding passage. Having pictured the future conversion and transformation of Israel, the prophet now turns back to a point even earlier than that with which the previous section began. He opens once more with a new view of the vista from the smiting of the Shepherd to the goal of true sanctification which was reached before.³¹

Awake, O sword, against my shepherd … saith the Lord of hosts: smite the shepherd (7). This is a distinct prophecy of Christ, who is Jehovah's Shepherd entrusted with the care of His flock. “In His Person, He is uniquely suited to His task, being a man and yet Jehovah's fellow (7). The word gebher, rendered man, is emphatic, indicating that the shepherd is a man par excellence; while the word Kamith, fellow, contains the idea of fellowship on equal terms. The smiting of any mere Jewish ruler … could not therefore be regarded as the ultimate and true fulfillment of this prophecy.”³² While it is said that He was crucified by the hands of wicked men, it is also stated that He was “delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23).

The immediate effect of the smiting of the Shepherd is given: the sheep shall he scattered. Christ leaves no doubt as to the meaning of these words. “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” (Matt. 26:31). The flock, however, was not to be left in this scattered condition, for the prophecy continues: I will turn mine hand upon the little ones. A literal rendering of this passage is, “I will turn back my hand over the humble ones,” in the gracious sense of Isa. 1:25.” The hand and power of God in the risen Shepherd returned from death is turned upon them and gathers them together” (Stier). Scattered by His crucifixion, the dispersed disciples were gathered again by His resurrection (Matt. 26:32).

Verses 8 and 9 are the basis for the New Testament doctrine of “the remnant of grace” (Rom. 11:5). It is not necessary to interpret two parts (8) and a third part (9) literally. The truth of this prophecy is that while there was a widespread destruction of the Jews after Christ's crucifixion (in the siege of Jerusalem by Titus in A.D. 70 and in subsequent attacks upon the Jews), a remnant of Israel did believe on Jesus as the Christ and became the nucleus of the Christian Church which evangelized the Graeco-Roman world. I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God (9).

b. The day of the Lord (14:1-15). Behold, the day of the Lord cometh (1). It is impossible to regard this mysterious and sublime prophecy as fulfilled already. There is nothing either in the capture of Jerusalem under the Maccabees or in its subsequent destruction by the Roman armies which adequately fulfills the conditions of Zechariah's words. When have all nations been gathered together against Jerusalem to battle (2)? When has the mount of Olives been cleft in the midst (4)? What day has ever broken in the east as described in vv. 6 and 7?

Of course it is possible to put metaphorical and spiritualizing interpretations on all these touches. But to do so is to jeopardize the whole force and value of prophetic Scripture. If the predictions of the Advent of our Lord in the days of his humiliation were so literally fulfilled, why should we suppose that the predictions of the Second Advent in great glory must be treated in metaphor?³³

This chapter returns to the prophetic picture of the siege of Jerusalem depicted in c. 12. The nation is still in unbelief. The prophecy opens with a fresh account of the great siege but goes on to reveal the wonderful deliverance God will bring about for Jerusalem. The picture is as vivid as if the prophet were describing an actual historic event he had witnessed.

In 1919 David Baron wrote of this prediction:

First of all we have to suppose a restoration of the Jews in a condition of unbelief—not a complete restoration of the whole nation, which will not take place till after their conversion, but of a representative and influential remnant. It seems from Scripture that in relation to Israel and the land there will be a restoration, before the second advent of our Lord, of very much the same state of things as existed at the time of His first advent when the threads of God's dealing with them nationally were finally dropped, not to be taken up again “until the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled.”³⁴

The creation of the State of Israel in 1948 augurs an approaching fulfillment of Zechariah's prophecy. “Now learn a parable of the fig tree,” said Jesus; “When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors” (Matt. 24:32-33).

The day of the Lord was an eschatological phrase which had long been used by prophets (cf. Amos 5:18-20; Isa. 2:12). This prediction is of the “great and notable day of the Lord” when Christ shall return to execute the end-time judgment of history. According to the biblical view, history is moving toward an end. The day of the Lord has had many inner-historical fulfillments in times of crisis, when God has judged history and brought about a partial victory of His kingdom. The most significant of these fulfillments was the death and resurrection of Jesus, when the kingdom of Christ was inaugurated.³⁵ There is yet to be a suprahistorical fulfillment of history, when Christ returns to consummate the Kingdom. The inner-historical fulfillment was anticipatory of this future suprahistoric fulfillment. When the day of the Lord here envisioned by Zechariah is complete, there shall “be time no longer” (Rev. 10:6). “Then cometh the end,” when God shall be “all in all” (cf. I Cor. 15:24-28).

This day of the Lord will begin with the nations of the earth gathering against Jerusalem, and the city shall be taken (2). The siege will be successful in its beginnings. Scenes of horror and brutality are described, such as accompany the fall of a city into the hands of an angry enemy. Half of the city shall go forth into captivity, the prophet declares, but the residue of the people shall not be cut off (2). Jerusalem is to be preserved for the great event which is next announced: Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations (3). The Apostle John says of the same event, “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him” (Rev. 1:7).

Zechariah is foretelling a literal appearance of the rejected Saviour. Where His feet often stood when He was here in the days of His flesh they shall be placed once again. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east… and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee (4-5; cf. Matt. 25:31; Col. 3:4; I Thess. 4:14; Jude 14). This can only mean that there will be a glorious fulfillment of the words of the two men who stood by the apostles on Olivet: “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). F. B. Meyer observes with spiritual insight:

It was when his brethren were in the greatest straits that Joseph made himself known unto them, and when the Jews are in their dire extremity, they will cry aloud for help and deliverance from Him whom they rejected. That memorable scene in the ancient land of the pyramids will be reproduced in all its pathos, when the long-rejected Brother shall say to His own brethren after the flesh, “I am Jesus, your Brother whom ye sold unto Pilate; and now be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye delivered Me up to be crucified: for God did send Me before you to preserve a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance” (see Gen. xlv. 1-15).³⁶

When the chosen people shall have recognized their great Deliverer, He will begin to deliver them. “It may be that they will recognize Him in the act of their deliverance. The cleaving mountain shall make a way of escape, as of old the cleaving sea.”³⁷ These are the travail pains of the end. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night (6-7). This will be a special day understood only by the Lord. With the natural light abated, this particular day will be neither day nor night as we understand them. No doubt the literal and the figurative are blended in the next prediction: But it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light (7).

And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out of Jerusalem; half of them toward the Dead Sea, and half of them toward the Mediterranean Sea (8). Living waters shall flow out of Jerusalem “for the healing of the nations.”³⁸ These waters will flow unabated in summer and in winter, unaffected by the seasons.

And the Lord shall be king over all the earth (9). John on Patmos also glimpsed this day and wrote, “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever” (Rev. 11:15). Since God is sovereign Lord of creation and history, this victory is certain; The day of the Lord shall come. In that day, the prophet continues, shall there be one Lord, and his name One. This will be the ultimate fulfillment of the Old Testament Shema (Deut. 6: 4-5). The unity of God's nature must mean the final acknowledgment of His sovereign name. The New Testament makes it clear that this sovereignty God shall exercise in “the name of Jesus” (Phil. 2:9-11).

While this passage predicts the literal return of Christ, there are many figurative touches upon the account, and it is impossible in each case to separate the literal from the metaphorical. It speaks of the cleaving of the mount of Olives (4-5), the irruption of God's own day (6-7), the issue of living waters (8), the depression of the surrounding country as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem (10, the extremities of the land of Judah) with the exaltation of the city (lifted up), and the removal of the curse of sin (11). These are stars in the heaven of God's prophecy.

Coming to v. 12, however, we seem to touch more literal ground again. Since the advent of nuclear fission we understand something of the horror of men's flesh consuming away while they stand upon their feet (12). The confusion which God shall send to the armies of the enemies of Jerusalem is reminiscent of many an Old Testament account of battle (13). Moreover, the descriptions in vv. 14 and 15 seem easy enough to grasp. This is the language of Jewish apocalypse, and it describes a scene which John depicts in rich and glowing eloquence in the Christian Apocalvpse (cf. Rev. 19:11-18).

c The millennial reign oj Christ (14:16-21). The quickened eye of the prophet now catches sight of the coming victory of the kingdom of God on earth. And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles (16). The fair vision which filled the horizon for the great Hebrew prophets was always that of Jerusalem exalted as the religious metropolis of the world. Spiritually, the whole trend of the world's religious thought has been toward the city where Christianity was born and cradled (cf. comments on 8:21-23). But such a prophecy as this cannot be entirely spiritualized. Honest exegesis demands that we understand this prediction to be that the literal city of Jerusalem will become the religious capital of the world during the millennial reign of Christ.³⁹

It is imperative that we exercise care, however, lest we fail to recognize those metaphorical elements which are certainly a part of this prophecy. It is not required that we understand v. 16 to be a prediction of the restoration of the literal feasts of the Old Covenant⁴⁰ but rather an assurance “that the gladness, the restfulness, the festal array, which pervaded the city at that time of the year, in the olden days, shall characterise the religious life of the world, the focus of which will be 'the beloved city.’” ⁴¹

And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain (17). This and the next two verses remind us that, even in the great day when the glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea, some will be impenitent. Egypt (18-19) here, as so often in the Old Testament, symbolizes defiant rebellion against the true God. “The true conception of the Millennium does not imply that every single soul will be regenerate; but that the preponderating influences of the world shall be in favour of things that are just, pure, lovely and of good report.”⁴²

In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts (20-21). When the victory of Christ shall be accomplished, the sacred words which were inscribed on the mitre of the high priest, “HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD,” will be inscribed on the bells of the horses and the common vessels of household use. This symbolizes the abolition of the distinction between the sacred and the secular. In the Old Testament law, special days, places, and articles were set apart to God as holy. It was not possible for God to teach men what holiness meant except by this process of prohibition and separation. But when the lesson was fully learned, the Levitical code was abolished. The horses which were formerly taboo for the people of God will be as sacred in that day as the vessels of the temple of Jehovah. Christ sanctifies the whole of life, and when He is fully regnant in the affairs of this world, all shall be consecrated to Him.

“Holiness unto the Lord” is our watch

   word and song,

“Holiness unto the Lord” as we're

   marching along.

Sing it, shout it, loud and long.

“Holiness unto the Lord,” now and

   forever!

—MRS. C. H. MORRIS