The apostle
(Galatians 4:25,26)
distinguishes between "Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with
her children"--the remaining carcase of the Jewish church that
rejected Christ, and "Jerusalem that is from above, that is free, and
is the mother of us all"--the Christian church, the spiritual
Jerusalem, which God has chosen to put his name there; in the foregoing
chapter we read the doom of the former, and left that carcase to be a
prey to the eagles that should be gathered to it. Now, in this chapter,
we have the blessings of the latter, many precious promises made to the
gospel-Jerusalem by him who
(Zechariah 12:1)
declares his power to make them good. It is promised,
I. That the attempts of the church's enemies against her shall be to
their own ruin, and they shall find that it is at their peril if they
do her any hurt,
Zechariah 12:2-4,6.
II. That the endeavours of the church's friends and patrons for her
good shall be pious, regular, and successful,
Zechariah 12:5.
III. That God will protect and strengthen the meanest and weakest that
belong to his church, and work salvation for them,
Zechariah 12:7,8.
IV. That as a preparative for all this mercy, and a pledge of it, he
will pour upon them a spirit of prayer and repentance, the effect of
which shall be universal and very particular,
Zechariah 12:9-14.
These promises were of use then to the pious Jews that lived in the
troublous times under Antiochus, and other persecutors and oppressors;
and they are still to be improved in every age for the directing of our
prayers and the encouraging of our hopes with reference to the
gospel-church.
The Security of the Church; Punishment of the Church's Enemies; Promises to Judah.
B. C. 500.
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the
LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the
foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within
him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the
people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against
Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for
all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in
pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together
against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with
astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine
eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the
people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The
inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of
hosts their God.
6 In that day will I make the governors of Judah like a hearth
of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and
they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand
and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her
own place, even in Jerusalem.
7 The LORD also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the
glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of
Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah.
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; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel
of the LORD before them.
Here is,
I. The title of this charter of promises made to God's Israel; it is
the burden of the word of the Lord, a divine prediction; it is
of weight in the delivery of it; it is to be pressed upon people, and
will be very pressing in the accomplishment of it; it is a
burden, a heavy burden, to all the church's enemies, like that
talent of lead,
Zechariah 5:7,8.
But it is for Israel; it is for their comfort and benefit. As
even the fiery law
(Deuteronomy 33:2),
so the fiery prophecies and fiery providences that come from God's
right hand, come for them; the word that speaks terror to their enemies
speaks peace to them, as the pillar of cloud and fire, which turned a
bright side towards the Israelites, to direct and encourage them, but a
black side towards the Egyptians, to terrify and dispirit them. Happy
are those that have even the burdens of God's word for them, as well as
the blessings of it.
II. The title of him that grants this charter, which is prefixed to it
to show that he has both authority to make these promises and ability
to make them good, for he is the Creator of the world and our Creator,
and therefore has an incontestable irresistible dominion.
1. He stretches out the heavens; not only he did so at the
first, when he said, Let there be a firmament, and he made
the firmament, but he does so still; he keeps them stretched out
like a curtain, keeps them from running in, and will do so till
the end come, when the heavens shall be rolled together as a
scroll. No bounds can be set to his power who stretches out the
heavens, nor can any thing be too hard for him.
2. He lays the foundation of the earth, and keeps it firm and
fixed on its own basis, or rather on its own axis, though it is
founded on the seas
(Psalms 24:1),
nay, though it is hung upon nothing,
Job 26:7.
The founder of this earth is no doubt the ruler of it, and judges in
it, and those deceive themselves who say, The Lord has forsaken the
earth, for, if he had, it would have sunk, since it is he that not
only did lay its foundations at first, but does still lay them, still
uphold them.
3. He forms the spirit of man within him. He made us these
souls,
Jeremiah 38:16.
He not only breathed into the first man, but still breathes into every
man the breath of life; the body is derived from the fathers of our
flesh, but the soul is infused by the Father of spirits,
Hebrews 12:9.
He fashions men's hearts; they are in his hand, and he
turns them as the rivers of water, and casts them into what
mould he pleases, so as to serve his own purposes with them; and he can
therefore save his church by inspiriting his friends and dispiriting
his enemies, and will eternally save all his chosen by forming their
spirits anew.
III. The promises themselves that are here made them, by which the
church shall be secured, and in which all its friends may enjoy a holy
security.
1. It is promised that, whatever attacks the enemies of the church may
make upon her purity or peace, they will certainly issue in their own
confusion. The enemies of God and of his kingdom bear a great deal of
malice and ill-will to Jerusalem, and form designs for its destruction;
but it will prove, at last, that they are but preparing ruin for
themselves; Jerusalem is in safety, and those are in all the danger who
fight against it. This is here illustrated by three comparisons:--
(1.) Jerusalem shall be a cup of trembling to all that
lay siege to it,
Zechariah 12:2.
They promise themselves that it shall be to them a cup of wine, which
they shall easily and with pleasure drink off, and they thirst for its
spoils, nay, they thirst for its blood, as for such a cup; but it shall
prove a cup of slumber, nay, a cup of poison, to them,
which, when they take it into their hands, and think it is all their
own, they shall not be able to drink off: the fumes of it shall give
them enough. When the kings were assembled against her, and saw
how God was known in her palaces for a refuge, they trembled
and hasted away; fear took hold upon them, as we find,
Psalms 48:3-6.
Thus Alexander the Great was struck with amazement when he met Jaddus
the high priest, and was deterred thereby from offering any violence to
Jerusalem. When Sennacherib laid siege against Judah and
Jerusalem he found them such a cup of stupifying wine as laid
all his mighty men asleep,
Psalms 76:5,6.
Some read it, I will make Jerusalem a post of contrition or
breaking. Those that make any attempts upon Jerusalem do but run
their heads against a post, which they cannot move, but are sure to
hurt themselves. The blast of the terrible ones is as a storm
against the wall
(Isaiah 25:4),
broken by it, but not shaking it. God's church is a cup of consolation
to all her friends
(Isaiah 66:11),
but a cup of trembling to all that would either debauch her by errors
and corruptions or destroy her by wars and persecutions. See
Isaiah 51:22,23.
(2.) Jerusalem shall be a burdensome stone to all that
attempt to remove it or carry it away,
Zechariah 12:3.
All the people of the earth are here supposed to be gathered
together against it, some one time and some another; there has been
a succession of enemies, from age to age, making war upon the church.
But though they were all at once in a confederacy against it, and had
formed a resolution to cut off the name of Israel, that it should be
no more in remembrance
(Psalms 83:4),
they will find it a task too hard for them. Those that are for keeping
up and advancing the kingdom of sin in the world look upon Jerusalem,
even the church of God, as the great obstacle to their designs, and
they must have it out of the way; but they will find it heavier than
they think it is; so that,
[1.] They cannot remove it. God will have a church in the world, in
spite of them; it is built upon a rock, and is as Mount Zion,
that abides for ever,
Psalms 125:1.
This stone, cut out of the mountain without hands, will not only
keep its ground, but fill the earth,
Daniel 2:35.
Nay,
[2.] It will break in pieces all that burden themselves with it,
as that stone smote the image,
Daniel 2:45.
All that think themselves a match for it shall be cut in pieces
by it. Some think it is an allusion to a sport which Jerome, upon this
place, says was in use among the Jews, as among us: young men tried
their strength, and strove for mastery, by heaving up great stones,
which, if they proved too heavy for them, fell upon them, and bruised
them. Those that make a jest of religion, and banter sacred things,
will find them a burdensome stone, that it is ill-jesting with
edged-tools, and though they make light of it (saying, Am not I in
sport?) they bring upon themselves an insupportable sinking load of
guilt. Our Saviour seems to allude to these words when he speaks of
himself as a burdensome stone to those that will not have him for their
foundation-stone, which shall fall upon them and grind them to
powder,
Matthew 21:44.
(3.) The governors of Judah shall be among their enemies like a
hearth of fire among the wood, and a torch of fire in a sheaf,
Zechariah 12:6.
Not that their own passions shall make them incendiaries and firebrands
to all about them; no; Zion's King is meek and lowly, and all
subordinate governors must be like him; but God's justice will make
them avengers of his cause, and theirs, upon their enemies. Those that
contend with them will find it is like an opposition given by briers
and thorns to a consuming fire,
Isaiah 27:4.
It will go through them, and burn them together. It is God's wrath, and
not theirs, that is the fire which devours the adversaries. God's fire
is said to be in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.
Isaiah 31:9.
The enemies thought to be as water to this fire, to extinguish it and
put it quite out; but God will make them as wood, nay, as a sheaf of
corn (which is more combustible), to this fire, not only to be consumed
by it, but to be made thereby to burn the more strongly. When God would
make Abimelech and the men of Shechem one another's destroyers fire is
said to come out from the one to devour the other,
Judges 9:20.
So here, Fire shall come out from the governors of Judah to
devour all the people round about, as from the mouth of God's
witnesses to consume those who offer to hurt them,
Revelation 11:5.
The persecutors of the primitive church found this fulfilled in it,
witness Lactantius's history of God's judgments upon the primitive
persecutors, and the confession of Julian the apostate at last. Thou
hast overcome me, O thou Galilean! The church's motto may be,
Nemo me impune lacesset--He that assails me does it at his peril. If
you are weary of your life, persecute the Christians, was once a
proverb.
2. It is promised that God will infatuate the counsels and enfeeble the
courage of the church's enemies
(Zechariah 12:4):
"In that day, when the people of the earth are gathered together
against Jerusalem, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and
his rider with madness;" and again, "I will smite every horse of
the people with blindness, so that they shall be no way serviceable
to them; blinding the horses will be as bad as houghing them." The
horses and their horsemen shall both forget the military exercise to
which they were trained, and, instead of keeping ranks and observing
the rules of their discipline, they shall both grow mad, and ruin
themselves. The church's infantry shall be too hard for the enemy's
cavalry; and those who were upbraided with trusting in horses shall be
baffled by those who were forbidden to multiply horses.
3. It is promised that Jerusalem shall be re-peopled and replenished
(Zechariah 12:6):
Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in
Jerusalem. The natives of Jerusalem shall not incorporate in a
colony in some other country, and build a city there, and call that
Jerusalem, and see the promises fulfilled in that, as those in
New England called their towns by the names of towns in Old England.
No; they shall have a new Jerusalem upon the same foundation, the same
spot of ground, with the old one. They had so after their return out of
captivity, but this was to have its full accomplishment in the
gospel-church, which is a Jerusalem inhabited in its own place;
for, the gospel being to be preached to all the world, it may call
every place its own.
4. It is promised that the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be enabled to
defend themselves, and yet shall be taken under the divine protection,
Zechariah 12:8.
See here in what method God preserves his church, and those that are
his, from the gates of hell to and through the gates of heaven.
(1.) He does himself secure them: In that day shall the Lord defend
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, not only Jerusalem itself from being
taken and destroyed, but every inhabitant of it from being any way
damaged. God will not only be a wall of fire about the city, to
fortify that, but he will encompass particular persons with his favour
as with a shield, so that no dart of the besiegers shall touch
them.
(2.) He does it by giving them strength and courage to help themselves.
What God works in his people by his grace contributes more to their
preservation and defence than what he works for them by his providence.
The God of Israel gives strength and power to his people, that
they may do their part, and then he will not be wanting to do his. It
is the glory of God to strengthen the weak, that most need his help,
that see and own their need of it, and will be the most thankful for
it.
[1.] In that day the feeblest of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall
be as David, shall be men of war, as bold and brave, as skilful and
strong, as David himself, shall attempt and accomplish great things, as
David did, and become as serviceable to Jerusalem in guarding it as
David himself was in founding it, and as formidable as he was to the
enemies of it. See what divine grace does; it makes children not only
men, but champions, makes weak saints to be not only good soldiers, but
great soldiers, like David. And see how God often does his own work as
easily and effectually, and more to his own glory, by weak and obscure
instruments than by the most illustrious.
[2.] The house of David shall be as God, that is, as the
angel of the Lord, before them. Zerubbabel was now the top-branch
of the house of David; he shall be endued with wisdom and grace for the
service to which he is called, and shall go before the people as an
angel, as that angel (so some think) which went before the people of
Israel through the wilderness, which was God himself,
Exodus 23:20.
God will increase the gifts and abilities both of the people and
princes, in proportion to the respective services for which they are
designed. It was said of David that he was as an angel of God, to
discern good and bad,
2 Samuel 14:17.
Such shall the house of David now be. The inhabitants of Jerusalem
shall be as strong and fit for action as nature made David, and their
magistrates as wise and fit for counsel as grace made him. But this was
to have its full accomplishment in Christ; now the house of David
looked little and mean, and its glory was eclipsed, but in Christ the
house of David shone more brightly than ever, and its countenance was
as that of an angel; in him it became more blessed, and more a
blessing, than ever it had been.
5. It is promised that there shall be a very good understanding between
the city and the country, and that the balance shall be kept even
between them; there shall be no mutual envies or jealousies between
them; they shall not keep up any separate interests, but shall heartily
unite in their counsels, and act in concert for the common good; and
this happy agreement between the city and the country, the head and the
body, is very necessary to the health, welfare, and safety of any
nation.
(1.) The governors of Judah, the magistrates and gentry of the
country, shall think honourably of the citizens, the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, the merchants and tradesmen; they shall not run them
down, and contrive how to keep them under, but they shall say in
their hearts, not in compliment but in sincerity, The
inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength, the strength of my
country, of my family, in the Lord of hosts their God,
Zechariah 12:5.
They will therefore, upon all occasions, pay respect and deference to
Jerusalem, as the mother-city, the ruling-city, and the city that is to
be first served, because they look upon it to be the bulwark of the
nation and its strongest fortification in times of public danger and
distress, which therefore they would all come in to the assistance of
and come under the protection of, and this not so much because it was a
rich city, and money is the sinews of war, nor because it was a
populous city and could bring the greatest numbers into the field, nor
because its inhabitants were generally the most ingenious active men,
the best soldiers and the best commanders (of Zion it shall be said,
This and that brave man were born there), but because it was
a holy city, where God's house and household, the temple and the
priests, were, where his worship was kept up and his feasts were
observed, and because it should now be more than ever a praying city,
for upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem God will pour a spirit
of supplication
(Zechariah 12:10);
therefore the governors of Judah shall say, These are my
strength; they are so upon the account of their relation to, their
interest in, and their communion with, the Lord of hosts, their
God. Because the Lord of hosts is in a particular manner
their God (for in Salem is his tabernacle and his
dwelling-place in Zion), therefore they shall be my
strength. Note, It is well with a kingdom when its great men know
how to value its good men, when its governors look upon religion and
religious people to be their strength, and consider it their interest
to support them, and learn to call godly praying people, and skilful
faithful ministers, the chariots and horsemen of Israel, as
Joash called Elisha, and not the troublers of the land, as Ahab called
Elijah.
(2.) The court and the city shall not despise, nor look with contempt
upon, the inhabitants of the country; no, not the meanest of them, much
less upon the governors of Judah; for God will put signal honour upon
Judah, and so save them from the contempt of their brethren. As
Jerusalem was dignified by special ordinances, so Judah shall be
dignified with special providences. God says
(Zechariah 12:4),
I will open my eyes upon the house of Judah, upon the poor
country people. Proud men scornfully overlook them, but the great God
will graciously look upon them and look after them. Nay,
(Zechariah 12:7),
the Lord shall save the tents of Judah first. Those that dwell
in tents lie most exposed; but God will remarkably protect and deliver
them before those that dwell in Jerusalem. He will appear glorious in
what he does for the inhabitants of his villages in Israel,
Judges 5:11.
Thus, in the mystical body, God gives more abundant honour to that
part which lacked, that there may be no schism in the body (see
1 Corinthians 12:22-25),
which is the reason here given why the glory of the house of
David, which has great power, and the glory of the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, who have great wealth, and both which live in great
pomp and pleasure, may not magnify themselves against Judah and
the tents of Judah, the dwellers in which work hard, and fare
hard, and perhaps are not so well bred. Note, Courtiers and citizens
ought not to despise country people, nor look with disdain upon those
whom God opens his eyes upon and who are first saved,
while it is so hard for the rich and great to enter the kingdom of
God. If God by his grace has magnified the dwellers in the tents of
Judah, having chosen the weak and foolish things of the world and
chosen to employ them, we affront him if we vilify them, or magnify
ourselves against them,
James 2:5,6.
This promise has a further reference to the gospel-church, in which no
difference shall be made between high and low, rich and poor, bond and
free, circumcision and uncircumcision, but all shall be alike welcome
to Christ, and partake of his benefits,
Colossians 3:11.
Jerusalem shall not then be thought, as it had been, more holy than
other parts of the land of Israel.
Promises to Judah; Evangelical Predictions.
B. C. 500.
9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to
destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of
supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have
pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his
only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in
bitterness for his firstborn.
11 In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as
the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.
12 And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of
the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of
the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart;
13 The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives
apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart;
14 All the families that remain, every family apart, and their
wives apart.
The day here spoken of is the day of Jerusalem's defence and
deliverance, that glorious day when God will appear for the salvation
of his people, which, if it do refer to the successes which the Jews
had against their enemies in the time of the Maccabees, yet certainly
looks further, to the gospel-day, to Christ's victories over the
powers of darkness and the great salvation he has wrought for his
chosen. Now we have here an account of two remarkable works designed
in that day.
I. A glorious work of God to be wrought for his people: "I will seek
to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem,
Zechariah 12:9.
Nations come against Jerusalem, many and mighty nations; but they shall
all be destroyed, their power shall be broken, and their attempts
baffled; the mischief they intend shall return upon their own head."
God will seek to destroy them, not as if he were at a loss for ways and
means to bring it about (Infinite Wisdom was never nonplussed), but his
seeking to do it intimates that he is very earnest and intent upon it
(he is jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and has the day of
vengeance in his heart) and that he overrules means and
instruments, and all the motions and operations of second causes, in
order to it. He is framing evil against them; when he seems to
be setting them up he is seeking to destroy them. In Christ's first
coming, he sought to destroy him that had the power of death,
and did destroy him, bruised the serpent's head, and broke all the
powers of darkness that fought against God's kingdom among men
and against the faithful friends and subjects of that kingdom; he
spoiled them, and made a show of them openly. In his
second coming, he will complete their destruction, when he shall put
down all opposing rule, principality, and power, and
death itself shall be swallowed up in that victory.
The last enemy shall be destroyed of all that fought against
Jerusalem.
II. A gracious work of God to be wrought in his people, in order to the
work that is to be wrought for them. When he seeks to destroy their
enemies he will pour upon them the Spirit of grace and
supplication. Note, When God intends great mercy for his people the
first thing he does is to set them a praying; thus he seeks to destroy
their enemies by stirring them up to seek to him that he would do it
for them; because, though he has proposed it and promised it, and it is
for his own glory to do it, yet he will for this be enquired of by
the house of Israel,
Ezekiel 36:37.
Ask, and it shall be given. This honour will he have to himself,
and this honour will he put upon prayer and upon praying people. And it
is a happy presage to the distressed church of deliverance approaching,
and is, as it were, the dawning of its day, when his people are stirred
up to cry mightily to him for it. But this promise has reference to,
and is performed in, the graces of the Spirit given to all believers,
as that
Isaiah 44:3,
I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, which was fulfilled when
Jesus was glorified,
John 7:39.
It is a promise of the Spirit, and with him of all spiritual
blessings in heavenly things by Christ. Now observe here,
1. On whom these blessings are poured out.
(1.) On the house of David, on the great men; for they are no
more, and no better, than the grace of God makes them. It was promised
(Zechariah 12:8)
that the house of David should be as the angel of the
Lord. Now, in order to that, the Spirit of grace is poured upon
them; for the more the saints have of the Spirit of grace the more like
they are to the holy angels. When God was about to appear for the land,
he poured his Spirit of grace upon the house of David, the leading men
of the land. It bodes well to a people when princes and great men go
before the rest in that which is good, as
2 Chronicles 20:5.
The house of David is all summed up in Jesus Christ, the Son of
David; and upon him, as the head, the Spirit of grace is poured
out, from him to be diffused to all his members; from his fulness we
receive, and grace for grace.
(2.) On the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the common people; for the
operations of the Spirit are the same upon the mean and weak Christians
that they are upon the strong and more grown. The inhabitants of
Jerusalem cannot influence public affairs by their powers and policies,
as the great men of the house of David may, yet they may do good
service by their prayers, and therefore upon them the Spirit shall be
poured out. The church is Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem; all true
believers, that have their conversation in the heaven, are inhabitants
of this Jerusalem, and to them this promise belongs. God will pour
his Spirit upon them. This is the earnest which all that believe
in Christ shall receive; thus they are sanctified; thus they are
sealed.
2. What these blessings are: I will pour upon them the Spirit.
That includes all good things, as it qualifies us for the favour of
God, and all his other gifts. He will pour out the Spirit,
(1.) As a Spirit of grace, to sanctify us and to make us
gracious.
(2.) As a Spirit of supplications, inclining us to, instructing
and assisting us in, the duty of prayer. Note, Wherever the Spirit is
given as a Spirit of grace, he is given as a Spirit of sanctification.
Wherever he is a Spirit of adoption, he teaches to cry, Abba,
Father. As soon as ever Paul was converted, Behold, he
prays,
Acts 9:11.
You may as soon find a living man without breath as a living saint
without prayer. There is a more plentiful effusion of the Spirit of
prayer now under the gospel than was under the law; and the further the
work of sanctification is carried in us the better is the work of
supplication carried on by us.
3. What the effect of them will be: I will pour upon them the Spirit
of grace. One would think that it should follow, "And they shall
look on him whom they have believed, and shall rejoice" (and it is true
that that is one of the fruits of the pouring out of the Spirit, whence
we read of the joy of the Holy ghost), but it follows, They
shall mourn; for there is a holy mourning, that is the effect of
the pouring out of the Spirit, a mourning for sin, which is of use to
quicken faith in Christ and qualify for joy in God. It is here made the
matter of a promise that they shall mourn, for there is a mourning that
will end in rejoicing and has a blessing entailed upon it. This
mourning is a fruit of the Spirit of grace, an evidence of a work of
grace in the soul, and a companion of the Spirit of supplication, as it
expresses lively affections working in prayer; hence prayers and tears
are often put together,
2 Kings 20:5.
Jacob, that wrestler with God, wept and made supplication. But
here it is a mourning for sin that is the effect of the pouring out of
the Spirit.
(1.) It is a mourning grounded upon a sight of Christ: They shall
look on me whom they have pierced, and shall mourn for him. Here,
[1.] It is foretold that Christ should be pierced, and this scripture
is quoted as that which was fulfilled when Christ's side was pierced
upon the cross; see
John 19:37.
[2.] He is spoken of as one whom we have pierced; it is spoken
primarily of the Jews, who persecuted him to death (and we find that
those who pierced him are distinguished from the other
kindreds of the earth that shall wail because of him,
Revelation 1:7);
yet it is true of us all as sinners, we have pierced Christ, inasmuch
as our sins were the cause of his death, for he was wounded for our
transgressions, and they are the grief of his soul; he is
broken with the whorish heart of sinners, who therefore
are said to crucify him afresh and put him to open shame.
[3.] Those that truly repent of sin look upon Christ as one whom they
have pierced, who was pierced for their sins and is pierced by them;
and this engages them to look unto him, as those that are deeply
concerned for him.
[4.] This is the effect of their looking to Christ; it makes them
mourn. This was particularly fulfilled in those to whom Peter preached
Christ crucified; when they heard it those who had had a hand in
piercing him were pricked to the heart, and cried out, What
shall we do? It is fulfilled in all those who sorrow for sin after
a godly sort; they look to Christ, and mourn for him, not so
much for his sufferings as for their own sins that procured them. Note,
The genuine sorrows of a penitent soul flow from the believing sight of
a pierced Saviour. Looking by faith upon the cross of Christ will set
us a mourning for sin after a godly sort.
(2.) It is a great mourning.
[1.] it is like the mourning of a parent for the death of a beloved
child. They shall mourn for sin as one mourns for an only son,
in whose grave the hopes of his family are buried, and shall be
inwardly in bitterness as one that is in bitterness for his
first-born, as the Egyptians were when there was a cry throughout
all their land for the death of their first-born. The sorrow of
children for the death of their parents is sometimes counterfeited, is
often small, and soon wears off and is forgotten; but the sorrow of
parents for a child, for a son, for an only son, for a first-born, is
natural, sincere, unforced, and unaffected, it is secret and lasting;
such are the sorrows of a true penitent, flowing purely from love to
Christ above any other.
[2.] It is like the mourning of a people for the death of a wise and
good prince. It shall be like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the
valley of Megiddon, where good king Josiah was slain, for whom
there was a general lamentation
(Zechariah 12:11),
and perhaps the greater because they were told that it was their sin
that provoked God to deprive them of so great a blessing; therefore
they cried out, The crown has fallen from our head. Woe unto us, for
we have sinned!
Lamentations 5:16.
Christ is our King; our sins were his death, and, for that reason,
ought to be our grief.
(3.) It is a general universal mourning
(Zechariah 12:12):
The land shall mourn. The land itself put on mourning at the
death of Christ, for there was then darkness over all the land,
and the earth trembled; but this is a promise that, in consideration of
the death of Christ, multitudes shall be effectually brought to sorrow
for sin and turn to God; it shall be such a universal gracious mourning
as was when all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord,
1 Samuel 7:2.
Some think this is yet to have its complete accomplishment in the
general conversion of the Jewish nation.
(4.) It is also a private particular mourning. There shall be not only
a mourning of the land, by its representatives in a general
assembly (as
Judges 2:5,
when the place was called Bochim--A place of weepers), but it
shall spread itself into all corners of the land: Every family
apart shall mourn
(Zechariah 12:12),
all the families that remain,
Zechariah 12:14.
All have contributed to the guilt, and therefore all shall share in the
grief. Note, The exercises of devotion should be performed by private
families among themselves, besides their joining in public assemblies
for religious worship. National fasts must be observed, not only in
our synagogues, but in our houses. In the mourning here foretold the
wives mourn apart by themselves, in their own apartment, as Esther and
her maids. And some think it intimates their denying themselves the use
even of lawful delights in a time of general humiliation
1 Corinthians 7:5.
Four several families are here specified as examples to others in this
mourning:--
[1.] Two of them are royal families: the house of David, in
Solomon, and the house of Nathan, another son of David, brother
to Solomon, from whom Zerubbabel descended, as appears by Christ's
genealogy,
Luke 3:27-31.
The house of David, particularly that of Nathan, which is now the chief
branch of that house, shall go before in this good work. The greatest
princes must not think themselves exempted from the law of repentance,
but rather obliged most solemnly to express it, for the exciting of
others, as Hezekiah humbled himself
(2 Chronicles 32:26),
the princes and the king
(2 Chronicles 12:6),
and the king of Nineveh,
Jonah 3:6.
[2.] Two of them are sacred families
(Zechariah 12:13),
the family of the house of Levi, which was God's tribe, and in
it particularly the family of Shimei, which was a branch of the tribe
of Levi
(1 Chronicles 6:17),
and probably some of the descendants of that family were now of note
for preachers to the people or ministers to the altar. As the princes
must mourn for the sins of the magistracy, so must the priests for the
iniquity of the holy things. In times of general tribulation and
humiliation the Lord's ministers are concerned to weep between the
porch and the altar
(Joel 2:17),
and not only there, but in their houses apart; for in what families
should godliness, both in the form and in the power of it, be found, if
not in ministers' families?
Matthew Henry "Verse by Verse Commentary for 'Zechariah' Matthew Henry Bible Commentary".
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