Zechariah
Zechariah 12
Chapter XII · Vol. III, pp. 1497–1499
1 Jerusalem a cup of trembling, and a burdensome stone to the confusion of her adversaries. 6 The victorious restoring of Judah. 10 The repentance of Jerusalem.
1 The burdena of the word of the LORD bfor Israel, saith the LORD, which cstretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and dformeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, eI will make Jerusalem a cup of 1trembling2 unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah, and against Jerusalem.3
e Is.51.1,23. ch.9.13-16; 10.4,5; 14.3,14. Eze.xxxviii. xxxix.
1 Or, slumber or poison.
2 A cup of trembling. As the hand of the infatuated drunkard becomes paralyzed and trembles; so shall the enemies of God's people, at first drunk with wrath, finally tremble with fear.—C.
3 Or, and also against Judah shall he be which shall be in siege against Jerusalem.
3 And in gthat day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it4 shall be cut in pieces, thoughh all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
g ch.14.1-3,13,14. Mi.5.8,9. Eze.xxxviii. xxxix., with Mat.21.44. Da.2.34,44.
4 Burden themselves with it. Either to disturb it from its place, or to carry it away.—C.
h ch.14.1,14. Mi.4.11. Eze.38.4-7,15,16. Re.17.14.
4 Ini that day, saith the LORD, jI will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will kopen 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, 5The 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 llike an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, non the right hand and on the left: and oJerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.
7 The LORD also pshall save the tents6 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.
p Je.30.18. 1 Co.1.27-29,31. Je.9.23,24. 2 Co.4.6.
6 Save the tents. Will save those first who are encamped in the open country, so that the inhabitants of the walled cities may see that the deliverance is from God alone.—C.
8 In that day qshall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; rand he that is feeble7 among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be sas God,8 as the angelt of the LORD before them.
q ch.2.5; 9.15,16.
r ch.10.12. He.11.34. Joel 3.10.
7 Or, abject. Heb. fallen, Mi.7.8.
s Jn.17.21-23.
8 Shall be as God. The house of David being concentred and represented by Messiah, who is both God and man, Jn.1.1,14.—C.
t Ex.23.20. Is.63.9. Mi.2.13. Jos.5.13,14. Mal.3.1.
9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that Iu will seek to destroy9 all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
10 And vI will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the xspirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me ywhom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, zas 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 ashall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon1 in the valley of Megiddon.2
a Ac.2.37. Ju.20.47. 2 Ch.35.22-25. 2 Ki.23.29. Jos.17.16.
1 The mourning for Josiah. See 2 Ch.35.24,25.—C.
2 The mourning here referred to is that of the Israelites for the good king Josiah, who was mortally wounded in battle against Pharaoh-Necho, in the valley of Megiddo. The town of Megiddo was situated in the plain of Esdraelon, near the eastern extremity of the ridge of Carmel. About two miles south of its ruins is a small village called Rummâneh, which doubtless marks the site of the Hadad-Rimmon here mentioned.—P.
12 And bthe land shall mourn, every 3family apart; cthe family of the house of David apart, and dtheir wives apart; the family of the house of eNathan apart, and their wives apart;
b ver.10,11. Je.3.12,13,21,25; 31.9,18,19. Ro.11.15.
3 Heb. families families.
c Je.13.18. Jonah 3.5,6.
d 1 Co.7.5.
e 2 Sa.5.14, or 7.2-4; 12.1.
Notes
Ver. 1-9. These promises began to be accomplished in the victories of the Jews over the Syro-Grecians and other enemies in the time of the Maccabees, but will be more fully accomplished in the destruction of the Turks, who shall attack the Jews when newly returned from their present dispersion. They have also an accomplishment in the Lord's making all the attempts of Jews, heathens, or antichristians, against his gospel church, to issue in their own destruction, and the glorious deliverance and protection of his people. And in both cases deliverances, temporal or spiritual, are attended with a plentiful effusion of the Spirit, and deep repentance for sin. 10-14. [See Introduction, ch. iv. sect. 18, 19.]
Ver. 10. The Jewish traditions refer this passage to Messiah, so that the Christians cannot be accused of turning it to their own purposes. And when Israel shall come to a sense of their sin in 'crucifying the Lord of glory,' and 'look upon him' whose hands and feet their fathers 'pierced,' then shall their glory return, and their sin and uncleanness shall be washed away for ever. C.
Reflections.—Thrice happy are they who have the Almighty Jehovah, and all the burdens and blessings of his Word, on their side! He will effectually render his church and ministers a terror to all the wicked, as he hath done from age to age. For easily he can infatuate the counsels and enfeeble the courage and strength of all sinners. Happy are they whose strengthener, protector, and peace-making governor is the Lord and his Christ! And thrice happy is it when the destruction of enemies is attended with an outpouring of the Holy Ghost upon all ranks, great and small; and when magistrates and ministers are patterns to others in evangelical, bitter, and particular humiliation for sin!