More Blessings promised to Judah and Israel.—The Nation Victorious.—Judah and Ephraim blessed, gathered and restored, and their enemies overcome.
The tenth chapter continues to unfold Israel’s future blessings and restoration, and in it Ephraim, the house of Israel, is especially mentioned. The chapter begins with a contrast. In the first verse there is a call to prayer, and the assurance of an answer given; in the second verse the idols are mentioned which Israel worshipped and which give no comfort.
Ask of Jehovah rain in the time of the latter rain. The former rain and the latter rain are often spoken of in the Word. It is of course first to be understood of the natural rain coming from the clouds upon the land. The rain withheld and the land becomes a desert, the rain given and the land flows again with milk and honey. I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, thy wine and thine oil. . . . Take heed to yourselves that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; and the Lord’s wrath will be kindled against you and He shut up the heavens, that there be no rain and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you. (Deut. xi: 14-17.)
The first rain came upon the seed placed into the ground, while the latter rain was necessary to ripen the fruit. Israel’s sin, unbelief, disobedience and apostacy have shut the heavens and keep them shut so that there is no rain and the land is a wilderness, waste and desolate. An abundance of rain is promised to them when Jehovah appears again. Much of late has been said that Palestine becomes fruitful once more. It is said that the statistics show that during the last years the rainfall has increased by so many inches. This statement is denied by others. Some believers make much of this rainfall and think that it is a sign of His coming, an indication that God’s favor is being restored to the land. This is incorrect. The abundance of rain, the latter rain, is not promised for the land at this present time, but it will come after the great tribulation, and is closely connected with the manifestation of the Lord from heaven in the clouds. The fruitfulness as it is seen now in the land—by no means general, but only in spots—is brought about mostly by artificial means, such as irrigation. During the great tribulation there will be no rain. (Rev. xi: 6.) Modern Zionism, in its God-dishonoring unbelief, with its immense resources of wealth and influence, may succeed in transforming the land of the Fathers. Indeed this is their scheme—building railroads, channels for irrigation, factories, mines, institutions of learning, etc. But the great tribulation will sweep it all away once more, and disaster will come swiftly when the plan of a Jewish Kingdom, without Him who is the King of the Jews, seems to be realized. It is not for the believer to look now for the promised latter rain. All this looking for signs has a tendency to foster the idea that the church will pass through the tribulation. If that were the case we might well look to the signs around us and look (as some believers do) where Antichrist is to come from.
The latter rain stands in connection with the Lord’s manifestation for Israel. Let us know, follow on to know Jehovah: like the morning His coming is sure, and He shall come like the rain for us, like the latter rain watering the earth. (Hosea vi: 3.) O ye children of Zion, rejoice and be glad in Jehovah your God; He gives you the former rain in a just measure, and sends you in showers the early and the latter rain as in times of old. (Joel ii: 23.) It is time to seek Jehovah, until He come to rain righteousness upon you. (Hosea x: 12.) But the latter rain is also a type of spiritual blessings. It includes all the blessed promises in spiritual things, and especially does it stand for the full harvest which comes in after the heaven is opened and that great outpouring of the Spirit takes place. (Joel ii: 28.) It is unscriptural to expect now in this time such a latter rain, just as it is unscriptural to expect now the rain upon the land of Israel. How many prayers there are now in Christendom, well meant undoubtedly; prayers for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, prayers for a new Pentecost, even prayers for the outward manifestations; all these prayers have no scriptural foundation, and cannot be answered now in the dispensation in which we live. There will be the latter rain, the outpouring of the Spirit upon all flesh; but it stands in connection with the day of the Lord and with God’s earthly people.
Truly, as the beginning of Zechariah x. has it, in the time of the latter rain there will be prayer for it, but the prayer does not come from the lips of church-saints, but it comes from the lips of the Jewish remnant. The assurance is given that Jehovah will send the showers of rain, and before they come He will create the lightning. The lightnings stand for His wrath and judgment, which will proceed before the showers of blessing. In His coming He will be like the lightning falling from the clouds.
The second verse puts before us another picture. The apostacy of the nation and their idolatry are now brought before us. The original word for idols is teraphim, and these were household gods, which were consulted by them. Spiritism (or as it is also called Spiritualism), this awful delusion so strong in the last times, is not a new thing. We can trace it to the remotest ages, and the nations which are still in the darkness of heathendom still practice it. It is very powerful in India and in China, and upheld by the father of lies from where it springs. Israel knew it likewise, and was closely connected with its abominations. The teraphim were little figures which in some way by movements or mysterious noises gave an answer to questions. Men did then go about as sorcerers, and mediums had visions and dreams. Hearken not to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the King of Babylon. They prophesy a lie unto you. (Jer. xxvii: 9.) Let not your diviners that are in the midst of you deceive you. . . . I have not sent them, (Jer. xxii: 8, 9.) What an awful sin it was that Israel could thus join themselves to idols and practice the abominable things. Soon the punishment fell upon them and they were carried into captivity, as the second verse states. Therefore they have wandered like a flock, they are oppressed because there is no shepherd. Jehovah had been rejected by them, and in this rejection is seen the rejection which followed when they rejected the Son. Here Hosea iii: 4 is to be taken into consideration. The children of Israel shall abide many days (the dispersion in which they are now) without a king and without a prince, without a sacrifice and without an image, without an ephod and teraphim. The next verse speaks of their conversion in the latter days. During their dispersion they will have neither the old worship of Jehovah nor will they hold any longer to the teraphim and ask guidance of them. How truly it has all been fulfilled, However there is a word which the Lord spoke, which is here likewise to be mentioned. It is one of the many misunderstood passages in the New Testament. We find it in Matthew xii: 43-45. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest and findeth none. Then he saith I will return to my house from whence I came out; and when he has come he findeth it empty, swept and garnished. Then he goeth and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there, and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be unto this wicked generation. The unclean spirit of idolatry had left the nation after the return from the captivity, but there is in that wicked generation at last a return of the same evil spirit with seven others worse than the spirit of idolatry, and the last of that man (unbelieving Israel) is worse than the first. This seems to us is the true application of this passage. Israel is rapidly nearing the time when unclean spirits with idols will have control over them. He who comes in his own name, the false Messiah, the devil’s masterpiece with all his delusions and lying wonders, will be worshipped by them and the outcast demons will enter the house again. This is clearly seen in Zech. xiii: 2. It shall be in that day (after the nation has looked upon the pierced one), saith Jehovah of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall be remembered no more; and also the prophets and the spirits of uncleanness will I cause to pass out of the land. A return to teraphim, sorcery, divination, etc., is already noticeable in our day. The superstitions of talmudical Judaism are many, and the modern revival of the ancient teraphim, in Spiritism, through mediums, tables, etc., finds not a few followers among the Jews. What will it be when the man of sin is in the earth? All the world will wonder after the beast.
In verses 3-5 we see once more the events which belong to Israel’s future. Mention is made first of the House of Judah. Against the shepherds His anger is kindled, and the he-goats will be punished (false leaders of the people and their enemies.) Then Jehovah visits His flock, the house of Judah, and He will make them like His goodly horse in war. Like heroes they are treading down the foes. They fight successfully against the enemies, for Jehovah is once more with them and the day of vengeance has come, and the riders on horses are put to shame by them. The parables of Balaam tell us what Israel will be at last, and how like a young lion they will spring upon the prey. Even now in dispersion the Jew inspires terror and is feared by the nations. This fear, which produces anti-Semitism (so strong in our times), has a good reason, for they will soon be the head of the nations and no longer the tail.
The words in the fourth verse, From him (Judah) the cornerstone, from him the nail. . . have been differently interpreted. The nail is in the oriental house a large pin, often very beautifully ornamented, and the most costly things are hanged thereupon. And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s house. And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house. (Isaiah xxii: 23, 24.) The Shemeth rabbah, a Jewish interpretation, says on this verse, this is King David; as it is said, the stone which the builders rejected is become the chief cornerstone. Some say it is spoken concerning the Lord, that He is the cornerstone and the nail. It refers to Him no doubt, but what is spoken of Him finds also a fulfillment in restored Israel. Thus Israel is yet to be the cornerstone upon which everything rests in the earth, and the nail upon which hangs the glory.
The rest of the chapter speaks of restoration of the house of Judah and the house of Israel. The house of Judah will be strengthened, and the house of Joseph (the ten tribes) will be saved. Ephraim, standing likewise for the house of Israel, shall become like a hero, and their heart shall rejoice, and their sons shall see and rejoice, their heart shall exult in Jehovah. I will hiss to them and will gather them, for I have redeemed them, and they shall increase as they did increase. And I will sow them among many peoples, and in far countries they shall remember me, and with their children they shall live and return. (Verses 7-9.) Their bringing back will be from the land of Egypt and from Assyria. With it is the judgment of the nations; they will be cast down and the restored people shall walk in His name.
The prophecy brings before us the old question concerning the ten tribes or the house of Israel. These tribes are generally called the “lost tribes,” and as such they have been found perhaps a hundred times by as many different persons. The North American Indians, the Afghans, the Nestorians, tribes in the interior of Africa as well as in China, and even the Hottentots of South Africa, have been declared to be the lost tribes. We believe that this looking for the lost tribes and to locate them is something against which the Holy Spirit warns when He declares, But avoid foolish questions and genealogies and contentions and striving about the law, for they are unprofitable and vain. (Titus iii: 9.) Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions rather than godly edyfing which is in faith. (1 Tim: 1-4.) We think it wrong to go into such speculations on matters which the Lord purposely has hid in His Word. We would have nothing else to say on this topic were it not for a very strange teaching which has fascinated many minds and which has become very popular both in England and in America. We have reference to the so-called Anglo-Israel theory. According to this theory the lost tribes have been found in the Anglo-Saxon race, and that God has kept His promises made to the house of Israel and fulfilled them and fulfills them now in the two nations, America and England. It is a theory, and the Word of God is used to prove it. This may be done with any theory, and scripture twisted out of its place can be made to prove almost anything. Anglo-Israel is a delusion, and it is strange that so many believers have become infatuated with it and suffer consequently from it. The theory is based upon a very serious mistake in the exposition of the prophetic Word. All through prophecy we find promises which belong to the house of Israel (and to Judah likewise), the conflicts, the victories over their enemies, temporal blessings, etc. These promises are to be realized in the latter days. The phrase “latter days,” however, is misunderstood, and believed to be the days in which we live; while in fact the latter days are still future and have not yet been reached. Prophecies which are spoken concerning the future are looked upon as already fulfilled.
In this way the ninth verse in our chapter is misunderstood, And I will sow them among the peoples, and in far countries they shall remember me, and with their children they shall live and return. This passage is often quoted in Anglo-Israel literature, and is always put down as being fulfilled in the Anglo-Saxon race. We claim that it has not yet been fulfilled, but will be fulfilled when the house of Judah has been restored, and they as well as the house of Israel are in the land and form one people, God’s earthly kingdom people. This is true of all the promises which Anglo-Israelism claims to have found a fulfillment.
It is true they are now scattered among the nations and the Lord knows them and He knows where they are and in due time He will send hunters to hunt them out and fishers to fish them in (Jer. xvi: 16); and they will be brought back to the land upon horses and in chariots, etc. (Isaiah lxvi: 20.) After that they will be sown among the peoples. They are then in the far countries and increase as they did before and are a blessing to the nations and not a curse. Their seed shall be known among the Gentiles and their offspring among the people, all that see them shall acknowledge them that they are the seed which the Lord has blessed. (Isaiah lxi: 9.) Judah’s return will be from all directions, but according to the tenth verse Ephraim will be brought back from Egypt and Assyria. Anglo-Israel is a very poor Ishmael attempt to help God to keep His promises.
When all this takes place the Lord will pass through the sea and there will be affliction. The Nile is mentioned, and in Assyria the pride will be brought down, no sceptre any longer in Egypt. Only then after this manifestation will they walk (Judah and Israel) in His name, and not before.
Scenes of overthrow and slaughter.—The Shepherd with the two staves, Beauty and Bands.—He is rejected.—The thirty pieces of silver.—The foolish shepherd and his punishment.
The eleventh chapter presents a very dark scene. So far we have seen that the prophet saw in visions and heard from the Lord nothing but blessings and mercies for Israel, restoration both national and spiritual, overthrow of all their enemies, destruction of the world powers, establishment of the theocracy and world conquest; but now the scene changes completely. That which precedes all these blessed events, the events for which indeed the earth and groaning creation is waiting, is now unfolded in all the terrible details, Israel’s apostacy and dreadful punishment on account of the rejection of the Shepherd, and instead of Him there is given a foolish shepherd.
We will briefly review the entire chapter before taking up the study of it in details. The first three verses contain a sublime description of the visitation which was to come upon the land of Israel. In the fourth verse the nation is seen as a flock of slaughter, and the buyers who slaughter them are not guilty, and their sellers are getting rich by it. The inhabitants of the land are not spared; all is waste and there is no deliverance. In the seventh verse the reason of all this judgment is seen. The Prophet does a symbolic act. As a shepherd he represents the good Shepherd of Israel, the Messiah. He comes to save them from the terrible calamity, but he is rejected. The shepherd has two staves, Beauty and Bands. He breaks one first and asks his price, and they offer him the price of a slave, thirty pieces of silver, which he at the word of Jehovah casts from himself. The second staff is broken. Instead of the staves the Prophet takes the instruments of a foolish shepherd, undoubtedly weapons of destruction. They perish, they stray, they are wounded, they suffer and are devoured. At last the foolish shepherd is punished. This is a birdseye view of the chapter. We will consider the details under three divisions: The judgment upon the land and the slaughter of the flock; the cause of it. The Shepherd rejected and set aside. And in the third place the foolish shepherd.
I. The judgment upon the land, the temple, and the slaughter of the flock (verses 1-6).
Open thy doors, Lebanon;
Let the fire devour thy cedars.
Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen;
Because the lofty ones are spoiled.
Howl, oaks of Bashan,
For the high forest is come down.
A voice of the howling of the shepherds:
For their glory is spoiled.
A voice of the roaring of young lions,
For the pride of Jordan is spoiled.
What an awful picture these three verses present to us, and how sublime the language! Everything is swept away by a mighty conflagration. It starts among the lofty cedars of Lebanon; the fir tree is its prey, and the oaks of Bashan as well as the high forest come down, and it ends at the Jordan. In the midst of it is heard the howling of the shepherds and the roaring of the young lions. We have in these three verses a description of the terrible and complete judgment which was to fall and which has fallen upon the land of Israel on account of their disobedience and wickedness. The destruction of the temple by fire is of course included in this scene of burning and devastation. Jewish interpretation sees especially in these verses the prophecy of the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. The following is a quotation from the Talmudical tract Yoma. “Our Rabbis have learnt from tradition that forty years before the destruction of the temple the lot never used to fall to the right hand but to the left. The lamp of the evening light would not burn, and the doors of the temple used to open of their own accord, until Rabbi Yochanan, the son of Zakkai, rebuked them. He said to it, O Temple, Temple, why art thou terrifying thyself? I know well that thy end is to be destroyed, for already Zechariah, the son of Iddo, hath prophesied,Open thy doors, O Lebanon, and let a fire consume thy cedars!”As the time of Jerusalem’s overthrow and the devastation of the land drew nearer, after the rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles, strange signs in heaven and earth were seen in Jerusalem and throughout the land. They were signs of warning of the coming doom, and must have had a special significance for the remnant of Jewish-Christians who still were in the doomed city. Josephus mentions a series of these signs: “A comet which had the appearance of a huge sword hang over the city for a whole year. While the people were assembled at the feast of unleavened bread, at the sixth hour of the night, a sudden bright light shone about the temple. On Pentecost, when the priests entered by night into the temple they said that they heard many voices proclaim, Let us depart hence. A certain Jew, the son of Ananus, began suddenly to cry in the temple: ‘A voice from the East and a voice from the West! A voice from the four winds! A voice against Jerusalem and against the Temple! A voice against the bridegrooms and the brides! A voice against the whole people!’ Day and night in the narrow streets he repeated this cry in a loud voice. He was severely beaten. He uttered neither shriek nor pain nor prayer for mercy, but raising his sad and broken voice he cried at every blow of the scourge, ‘Woe, woe to Jerusalem!’ For four years the son of Ananus paid no attention to anyone, and never spake excepting the same words, Woe to Jerusalem! He neither cursed anyone who struck him nor thanked anyone who gave him food, but continued to cry, ‘Woe, woe to the city and to the temple!’” (Milman’s History of the Jews, Vol. II.) The above event spoken of in the tract Yoma, which the pious Rabbi Yochanan thought to be in fulfillment of Zechariah xi:1, is also mentioned by Josephus. He says, “The eastern gate of the inner temple, which was of brass and very heavy, and had been with difficulty shut by twenty men, was seen to open by itself about the sixth hour of the night.”
Once more Jerusalem is to be compassed about by armies and then there will be signs in earth and in the heavens. Earthquakes will shake the city, mountains will sink down and valleys will be exalted, the sun will be darkened and the moon turned into blood, fire and smoke will arise. The climax of it all will be the manifestation of the Lord who will overthrow Israel’s enemies.
Other interpreters among the Jews declare that this prophecy speaks of the destruction of the temple.
The correct interpretation is that it includes all the devastation of the land, the burning of the temple, the slaughter of the flock, the spoiling of the shepherds, the Jewish leaders and the complete overthrow of the land and of the people. How awful the fulfillment of the prophecy has been! The Lord’s voice full of tears cried, long after Zechariah’s mournful vision, “If thou hadst known, at least in this thy day, the things which belong to thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side. And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee, and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another.” The measure was full. After terrible wars amongst themselves, the fire advanced in the direction from Lebanon, in the form of the Roman army full of vengeance, spreading ruin and misery wherever they went, till after a long and dreadful siege Jerusalem fell, the temple was burnt, and over a million human beings were slain. Not one stone was left upon another. Up to now this judgment has been the most appalling, the tribulation then, the greatest; but there is another tribulation coming of which the former destruction of Jerusalem is but a faint type, and that tribulation which is even now so close at hand will find a climax in the day of wrath, the day of vengeance of our God. The next three verses speak of the flock of slaughter and the last attempt divine love made to save the doomed nation. Zechariah is commanded to feed them.
Thus saith Jehovah my God;
Feed the flock of slaughter;
Their possessors slay them and are not guilty:
And they that sell them say,
Blessed be Jehovah, for I am getting rich;
Their own shepherds pity them not.
I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith Jehovah;
I will deliver the men every one into his neighbor’s hands,
And into the hand of his king:
And they shall smite the land,
And out of their hand I will not deliver them.
What a dreadful condition of the sheep of His pasture, the lost sheep of the house of Israel, God’s flock! Even so it was, strangers ruled over them, and they were their prey, getting rich on them and not guilty. Still worse their own shepherds, the civil and ecclesiastical rulers of the nation, spared them not. God had indeed given them up. Well may we stop and think for a moment of the apostacy of Christendom and its final overthrow and judgment so clearly seen in the book of Revelation. Even now the flock of slaughter is seen and all getting ripe for the day of wrath!
The action of Zechariah by divine command, like the crowning of the high priest in the sixth chapter, is a typical one. Zechariah is a type of the good Shepherd of Israel, the Messiah. The disobedient nation, the flock of slaughter, had taken God’s servants and beat one and killed another and stoned another. When He sent servants more than the first, they did unto them in like manner (Matt. xxi: 35). After this came the last attempt of divine love. God sent His Son as a Shepherd to seek and feed the lost sheep. He was not accepted, but they rejected Him. We will consider this now in the second section.
II. The Shepherd set aside and rejected (verses 7-14).
“So I fed the flock of slaughter, verily the most miserable sheep. And I took to myself two staves; the one I called Beauty, the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock. And I cut off the three shepherds in one month; for my soul became impatient with them, and their soul also abhorred me. And I said, I will not feed you: the dying, let it die; and the cut off, let it be cut off; and the left over, let them devour each the flesh of the other. And I took my staff, Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples. And it was broken in that day, and thus the wretched of the flock who gave heed to me knew that this was the word of Jehovah. And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my wages; and if not, forbear. So they weighed as my wages thirty pieces of silver. And Jehovah said to me, Throw it unto the potter; the goodly price at which I am valued of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and threw them into the house of Jehovah, to the potter, Then I broke my second staff, Bands, that I break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.”
Much has been written on this difficult passage. The very first sentence in the paragraph speaks of divine love. He came, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace, in the likeness of man, as a servant and a gentle shepherd to feed the miserable ones. Looking at the multitudes who followed Him when He had come, He was moved with compassion, for they were distressed and scattered as sheep having no shepherd (Matt. ix: 36). True shepherds indeed they had not. Prophets sent by Jehovah had long before ceased to come, and those who ruled them were miserable leaders of the blind, concerning whom Jehovah spoke through Ezekiel, “Woe unto the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves; should not the shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, ye kill the fatlings, but ye feed not the sheep. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost” (Ezekiel xxxiv: 3-5). But now Jehovah Himself has come to be their Shepherd, “Behold, I Myself, even I, will search for My sheep and find them out” (Ezekiel xxxiv: 11). And when He came and God was manifested in the flesh, He turned indeed to the most miserable of the sheep—the publicans and the outcasts, sinners and harlots, gathered around Him. The Prophet as the type of the good Shepherd has two staves. The one is called Beauty (marginal reading, graciousness). The second one is Bands. The Shepherd carries a staff to protect and guide His flock. In the second Psalm the returning Lord is seen shepherding the nations with a rod of iron, but here the two staves cannot mean instruments for correction, but they are the staves of comfort and love. God’s mercy and favor are clearly indicated in these two staves. The first one, Beauty, which is cut asunder first, and that before the wages of the Shepherd, the thirty pieces of silver, are given, stands no doubt for the gracious offer with which the King, preaching the kingdom, came among His people, to His own. He proclaimed that which prophets had spoken before, God’s mercy and love, long promised, now to be carried out. He Himself had come to redeem His people and deliver them from their mighty enemies as well as from the false leaders. But the offer, the kingdom preaching, is rejected, the staff, Beauty, is cut asunder, the covenant with the peoples (Amim in Hebrew), His own, is now broken. The kingdom is to be taken away and given to another nation. After the breaking of the staff, Beauty, there comes the giving of the wages, the thirty pieces of silver. The Shepherd who broke the staff is treated like a slave.
The second staff in His hands, Bands, speaks of union, binding together, bringing into fellowship. It typifies the priestly side of the good Shepherd who died for the flock. This staff is broken after the thirty pieces were given for Him, and cast into the temple. They cried, Away with Him! we have no King save Caesar! Crucify Him! His blood be upon us and upon our children! The cross bears the superscription, This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, and from the lips of the rejected King and Shepherd there came the prayer for His people, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. The doom came not at once upon the nation. Once more the love of the Shepherd is preached to the miserable sheep, and the remission of sins offered in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, but it ends in rejection too; no bringing together into One followed. The foolish shepherd appears next, and after him the good Shepherd will appear again with His two staves, Beauty and Bands, kingdom and mercy, bringing and binding together. He will then be a Priest upon His throne. This interpretation is the most satisfactory one, and in harmony with the entire scope of Zechariah’s visions and prophecies.
Who are the three shepherds to be cut off in one month by the Shepherd? Are they persons or not? Many answers have been given to these questions, and many theories have been advanced to solve the difficulty. It is not necessary to mention any of them. The three shepherds are not persons, but they stand for the three classes of rulers which governed Israel, and were in that sense shepherds. We read of these shepherds in Jeremiah ii: 8, priests, rulers, and prophets. The Lord likewise mentions them in Matthew xvi: 21, elders, chief priests and scribes. When He came He was indeed weary with them, and denounced their hypocrisies and wickedness. They in turn hated and abhorred Him, and conspired to put Him to death. The Lord Himself cut them off. He pronounced His woes and judgments upon them, but the judgment was not at once carried out. When Jerusalem was taken their rule came to an end and they were cut off.
But there are mentioned the wretched of the flock that gave heed unto the Shepherd, and they knew that it was the word of Jehovah. These wretched ones are the faithful ones who followed the Shepherd, the small remnant. (Compare with chapter xiii: 7.) The others who rejected the King and the Shepherd were indeed not fed, but were dying and cut off.
The wages of the good Shepherd, thirty pieces of silver, and these thrown into the house of Jehovah to the potter is to be considered next. Thirty pieces of silver was the price of a slave who had been killed. If the ox gore a manservant or a maidservant, the owner shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver (Exodus xxi: 32). Oh, what unfathomable love! The Lord from heaven became like a slave. The love He looked for He found not. It was refused to Him, and instead He was insulted, mocked, and treated like a miserable slave. There was one of the twelve who was called Judas Iscariot. He went to the chief priests and said, What are you willing to give me, and I will deliver Him unto you? And they weighed unto him thirty pieces of silver (Matt. xxvi: 14). The money at the command of Jehovah is thrown away by the prophet with indignation, into the house of Jehovah, to the potter. Perhaps the prophet never knew the real significance of his act, but we know it from the New Testament. Then Judas which betrayed Him, when he saw that He was condemned, repented himself and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned in that I betrayed innocent blood. But they said, What is this to us? See thou to it. And he cast down the pieces of silver into the sanctuary, and departed and hanged himself And the chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, It is not lawful to put them into the treasury since it is the price of blood. And they took counsel and bought with them the potters’ field to bury strangers in. Wherefore that field was called the field of blood unto this day. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah, the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of Him that was priced, whom certain of the children of Israel did price, and they gave them for the potters’ field, as the Lord appointed me (Matt. xxvii: 3-9). How striking the fulfillment. However, here is a difficulty. In Matthew it is stated that Jeremiah spoke the prophecy, and Zechariah’s name is not mentioned at all. How can this be explained?
The prophecy certainly as it was fulfilled was not given by Jeremiah at all, but through Zechariah. There can be doubt that his name should appear here instead of Jeremiah, but that Jeremiah’s name is quoted must have a meaning. Rotherham in his translation of the New Testament makes a foot note in which he says, “Zech. xi: 12, 13: Perhaps as included in a scroll headed by Jeremiah.” But this is not satisfactory. The question would be if there is anything in Jeremiah which could have a connection with the typical action of Zechariah. There is a similar action in Jeremiah, which, as a whole, speaks of the same event which Zech. xi: 13 has, and which is seen in fulfillment in Matt. xxvii. Read in Jeremiah the eighteenth and nineteenth chapters. The word “Topheth” in Jeremiah means an unclean place, a burial ground. It seems as if Jeremiah’s name appears here so as to call attention to the fact that the prophet spoke of the event likewise, and that Zech. xi. and Jer. xviii. and xix. must be compared and read together.
III. The foolish shepherd (verses 15-17).
And Jehovah said to me, Take unto thee again the instruments of a foolish shepherd. For, behold, I raise up a shepherd in the land; the perishing he will not visit, the scattered ones he will not seek for, the wounded he will not heal, the strong he will not feed, but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and their hoofs he will break off. Woe to the worthless shepherd that leaveth the flock! The sword upon his arm and upon his right eye. His arm shall be utterly withered and his right eye completely blinded.
The prophet now impersonates another shepherd, one who is foolish and wicked, and in his hands he does no longer hold the staves of Beauty and Bands, but the instruments of the foolish shepherd to wound and to hurt are in his possession. This foolish shepherd is the opposite from the good shepherd. He came to heal, to seek, to save, and to feed, but the foolish shepherd scatters, does not heal, nor does he feed the flock; but he eats the flesh of the fat. The description of this false shepherd is like the description of the shepherds in Ezek. xxxiv., as quoted before. Ezekiel’s prophecy concerning the gathering of the flock is future still, but before He gathers the lost and scattered sheep of Israel and brings them back to their land and gives them the one Shepherd and David His servant, there will be false shepherds. The true One rejected, the nation becomes the prey of the foolish shepherds. Poor, blinded Israel! How many wicked shepherds they have had, and how often the prey of wicked leaders. False Messiahs appeared among them again and again to find strong and numerous following. Still the foolish shepherd, the last one, the very embodiment of Satan himself; the accuser, has not yet come. Forerunners there have been many. Herod was one of them, but not that man of sin, the son of perdition who will appear and be worshiped as God, right before the King of kings and the true Shepherd of His flock appears to slay that wicked one with the breath of His mouth and by the brightness of His coming (2 Thess. ii.). The Lord said, I am come in My Father’s name, and ye receive Me not; if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive (John v: 43). That one who comes in his own name has not yet come, and when at last he is here, it will be for Israel the time of greatest trouble and tribulation for all them that inhabit the earth. The third section of our chapter finds its complete fulfillment in the Antichrist, the false Messiah, the beast, the little horn, the leader of the enemy, the false prince of Israel; thus the foolish shepherd is called throughout the prophetic word. The dreadful punishment will be executed upon the foolish shepherd in the day of the Lord’s coming with His saints for the salvation of His people Israel.
The eleventh chapter in Zechariah is the darkest in Israel’s history. The night began with their apostasy and rejection of the Lord of Glory, their own brother, their loving Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. It ends in darkness greater still under the regime of the foolish shepherd. But the morning cometh after that dark night, and Israel’s sun will never set again.
The second burden, from Chapter xii–xiv.—Jerusalem and the nations.—The conflict of the end.—The chiefs of Judah and the strength promised to the feeble.—Nations destroyed.—Outpouring of the Spirit and looking upon Jehovah, the pierced One.—The great national mourning.
We have before us the second burden, which begins with the eleventh chapter and closes with the fourteenth. The events seen in the first burden, that is in chapters ix., x. and xi., were in part fulfilled, but in the second burden we find prophecies which have seen no fulfillment whatever; they are all future. There is only one prophecy which is fulfilled, the one of the smitten shepherd at the end of the thirteenth chapter. The great future events which are recorded in the second burden are: The victory of Jerusalem over the hostile nations, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the appearing and beholding of the pierced One, the national repentance of Israel, the cleansing of the nation, the final conflict and the Lord coming with His saints, the complete overthrow of the enemies and the establishment of the kingdom in the earth, with Jerusalem as a center. These three chapters form indeed a glorious finale to the wonderful visions and prophecies which Jehovah gave to the prophet. The fourteenth chapter is the summit.
Not a few interpreters have committed the serious error and have tried to find a fulfillment of these chapters somewhere, and if no historical events could be made to suit the occasion, a spiritual application had to be made and a spiritual fulfillment in the so-called “Israel of the New Testament,” the church, invented, which of course never satisfies the prayerful student of the word.
In reading the twelfth chapter carefully, it will be seen at once that here we have prophecies which not alone refer to Jerusalem and Judah exclusively, but which cannot yet have seen a fulfillment. The end of the chapter shows Israel’s conversion. The Spirit is poured out. They look upon the pierced One, Jehovah; repentance and cleansing follows throughout the land. This brings before us the hour of Israel’s salvation, the same which the Holy Spirit unfolds through Paul, in Romans xi. It is an event which will take place after the fullness of the Gentiles will have come in (the church removed from the earth). And so all Israel shall be saved; even as it is written, There shall come out of Zion a Deliverer; He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: And this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins (Rom. xi: 25- 37). There is no saved Israel now and there can be no national turning of Israel unto the Lord at this present time, but when the Lord comes and they shall look upon Him, that salvation will be at hand. This coming of the Lord to Israel when they shall see His glory will be preceded by nations rising against Jerusalem. Not one nation, but nations, will make war once more with Jerusalem; nor will Jerusalem in that future siege fall into the hands of the enemies, but the city and the people will be victorious. The period of the Maccabees is not meant, nor is there anything in the past which could even be a partial fulfillment of Zech. xii. It is all future.
Let us look now at the details of the chapter. Thus saith the Lord, who stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him (verse 1). The speaker is Jehovah, the Almighty One who created the heavens and the earth, and who formeth the spirit of man within him. Why such a beginning of this second burden? To show that He who has given all these promises is able to do it. Men may fail and are powerless to give help. Indeed, Israel will be utterly helpless then when the enemy comes in like a flood, but in that hour of extremity Jehovah Himself, the Omnipotent One, the One through Whom and in Whom and for Whom heaven and earth were created, will come, and in His majestic appearing deliver Jerusalem and His people at last. But when He appears for their salvation and they look upon Him, they see Jehovah whom they pierced, Jehovah-Jesus, the One who was once rejected, but who now comes in power and in glory. This first verse shows the speaker in the entire chapter is Jehovah, and is one of the strongest Old Testament passages which show that the Redeemer, the One who came as an obedient servant to suffer and to die, is Jehovah.
Behold, I make Jerusalem a cup of reeling
To all the nations round about;
Upon Judah also shall it be,
In the siege against Jerusalem.
And it shall come in that day, I make Jerusalem
A burdensome stone for all the peoples:
All that are burdened with it shall be wounded;
All the nations of the earth shall gather against it.
(Verses 2 and 3.)
This brings us back to the first and second night visions concerning the nations that are at ease, and thus helped forward their affliction, the four horns which scattered Judah and Israel. The ending three chapters bring out much of the details of what we saw in the first three chapters in an outline. What an unfolding there is now! Jehovah remembers Jerusalem and is jealous for her, and Jerusalem is now to become a cup of reeling (like a drunken man) unto all the nations round about. Isaiah long before Zechariah saw the judgment coming. The cup of fury which Jerusalem drank is now to be emptied by the enemies, and they will have to drink the cup of reeling. Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of His fury; thou hast drunken the bowl of the cup of reeling and drained it . . . . Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of reeling, even the bowl of the cup of My fury; thou shalt no more drink it again. And I will put it in the hand of them that afflict thee, which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over; and thou hast laid thy back as the ground, and as the street to them that go over (Isaiah ii: 17, 22, 23). What a wonderful harmony in the prophetic word! Jerusalem has been drinking all along the cup of reeling, the cup of His fury, even drained the cup; but while Jerusalem is thus drinking divine displeasure, the nations, and with them that awful monstrosity called Christendom, are getting ripe for the cup of wrath. A judgment is hastening rapidly, and Jerusalem will be for the nations the cup of reeling. We saw in the first night vision that the nations at ease were condemned by Jehovah. He is sore displeased with them. They have hurt His people and His inheritance. Terrible accusation against Christendom too, which has always been and is now the great stumbling block to the Jew, with its man-made institutions, creeds and self-exaltation. The reader will understand we do not mean the church, the one body; this is not applicable to true believers. Man-made Christendom is the enemy of Jerusalem, and hates God’s loving thoughts for the peace of Jerusalem. If there is blindness in part upon Israel, it is equally true that blindness is upon the Gentiles. There is planning and scheming for expansion, world reformation and possession in Christendom, which leaves out and ignores completely God’s purposes, and sets aside, as higher criticism does, the oracles of God. No thought in Christendom that Jehovah will ever make good His promises to the seed of Abraham, therefore no thought of the Jew, no love for poor Israel; on the other hand they are despised and hated. It is startling, indeed, to see how Europe, the territory of the Roman Empire, which will form yet the confederacy of kingdoms under one head, is at present boiling over with antisemitism, and the heart of Europe, France, is the very hotbed of it. There was never a time when antisemitism was so strong and so universal as it is now at the end of the much boasted of nineteenth century. What will it be when the salt of the earth, the church, is removed? The restraint is then taken away and the outbreak will come. The Jew is the thorn in the flesh of the nations; he is hated and feared. However, the second and third verses of our chapter do not speak of the enemies of Israel, as they are away from the land of Israel, but the prophecies show the nations having come up against the city of Jerusalem. Before this can be fulfilled Jerusalem must be once more not alone inhabited by Jews, but be the city of the nation again as it was in the past, a partial return of the Jews to Palestine must have taken place, and great prosperity resting upon their endeavors for a time. Mighty armies are seen then coming up against the city and the land, and while in the land and in the city there will be tribulation, the reign of the false Messiah, outside the armies sent out by the confederacy of nations will be gathered. It is of this gathering of the nations before Jerusalem in the tribulation the great, the twelfth chapter speaks. In the exegesis of the fourteenth chapter we will have occasion to describe this coming siege of Jerusalem.
In speaking of these coming events it is necessary to bear in mind that they have nothing to do with the church. Believers sometimes are confused in this respect in not holding strictly to the coming of the Lord for His saints, and the absence of the church in the earth during the tribulation, and after this—His coming with His saints. Because the Jews are not yet in possession of the land and Jerusalem is not yet a Jewish city, some have reasoned that the coming of our Lord must be a good ways off yet, and on account of these events not being seen now, they say we cannot say that the Lord can come any moment for His church. There is not one scripture which teaches that before the Lord comes for His church the Jews must have returned or Jerusalem be a national headquarter for Israel once more, etc. It is true a partial restoration of the Jews in unbelief has commenced, and there is a remarkable national awakening such as has never been before, but the full development of this restoration will come after the church has left the earth and has been joined to her Lord in the air. An exodus of Jews will take place, the land will become theirs, and the well laid plans and schemes of the present time will be all carried out. Political combinations will be their chief hopes as well as others for success. As Pharaoh of olden times did hasten after the children of Israel when they had left his domain, so it seems the nations will come after them and besiege Jerusalem. Everything is getting ready for this. Let every believer rejoice in the blessed hope that no saint will be in the earth when at last these sad scenes of a passing dispensation are enacted.
In that day, saith Jehovah,
I will smite every horse with astonishment,
And his rider with madness:
I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah,
And every horse of the peoples I will smite with blindness,
And the chiefs of Judah shall say in their heart,
The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength,
In Jehovah of hosts their God.
In that day I will make the chiefs of Judah
Like a pan of fire among wood,
And as a torch of fire among sheaves;
And they shall devour all the peoples round about,
On the right hand and on the left;
And Jerusalem shall dwell in her own place, even in Jerusalem
(verses 4-7).
These verses are descriptive of the calamity which will befall the enemies of Israel. Jehovah will smite them. The stone falling from heaven will smite the image at its feet and will pulverize it. The enemies of Israel will suffer as complete a defeat and destruction as Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea. In pride and blindness they had rushed on, and while pursuing Israel the face of the Lord looked out of the cloud and confused the Egyptian hosts, and the returning waters swept them all away, the horse and the rider and the chariots. It is but a faint type of what it will be when Jehovah will roar out of heaven, and His glory will appear. The slain of the Lord will then indeed be many. Judah and the chiefs will be used in that judgment. They shall be a devouring fire. The fourteenth chapter will lead us into a closer investigation.
The following two verses speak of the order how the coming of Jehovah will save His waiting people.
Jehovah shall save the tents of Judah first,
That the glory of the house of David
And the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem
May not lift itself up over Judah.
In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
And the feeble one among them in that day shall be as David;
And the house of David shall be as God (Elohim),
As the angel of Jehovah before them.
And it shall come to pass in that day,
That I will seek to destroy all the nations,
That came against Jerusalem (verses 7-9).
Judah will inhabit the land and many will dwell in tents, while Jerusalem will be a strong and fortified city. The danger from the hostile armies will be the greatest with the dwellers in the tents. Accordingly, Jehovah will save the tents of Judah first. Jerusalem will come next. The purpose is that the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not lift themselves up over Judah. The house of David is especially mentioned. We have not had David brought before the prophet in the night visions nor in the prophecies which followed, but here in the twelfth chapter the house of David is mentioned not less than five times, which is very significant. We have the glory of the house of David in verse seven, the strength of David and the supremacy of it in verse eight. The spirit of grace and supplication is given to the house of David, and the family of the house of David will mourn. Jews have a tradition which states that the last descendant of the house of David died in Spain centuries ago. There are no genealogies at present to prove that the kingly house of David is extinct or not, but prophecies like the one we have in consideration, and many others which speak of the prominence of David and the house of David in the day when Jehovah will be manifested, make it very clear that among the wandering sons of Israel there are yet lineal descendants of the house of David. If they do not know it themselves, Jehovah knows it, and they will know it through Him. The feeble ones, literally the stumblers, among His people in that day of manifestation will be like David. What a hero David was! A man of war and strength conquering always and never conquered. And now the stumbler in Israel, the weakest one, will have strength and courage like David. And David shall be as God, as the angel of Jehovah before them. This is a startling promise. A similar word is found in Exodus vii: 1, And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh; and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. The house of David will during the millennium be supreme in rule and in glory. A lineal descendant of David, a prince, will sit upon the throne of his father David and rule as a vice-regent of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose throne is then in the heavens over the earth. Thus in the earth the house of David will be as God and as the angel of Jehovah before them (Ezek. xxxiv: 23, 24; xlvi.).
The closing verses of the chapter claim our special attention, for in them we have a fundamental prophetic passage. The spiritual side of the salvation of Jerusalem is now brought out.
And I will pour out upon the house of David,
And upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
The spirit of grace and supplication;
And they shall look upon Me whom they pierced,
And they shall mourn for Him as the mourning for an only son,
And be in bitterness for Him as one in bitterness for the firstborn.
In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem,
As the mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megiddon.
The mourning then is described as a universal one. All the families will mourn; family by family apart, and their wives apart. Such a mourning and weeping has never before been seen in the earth nor will there be one like it again.
But why mourning and weeping? Should there not rather be joy and feasting, gladness and hallelujahs? The hallelujahs will come during the entire millennium, but the beginning will be mourning, national, by Israel. The mourning is on account of Him, Jehovah, who has appeared in His glory and whom they now behold. The long expected Messiah has at last appeared, and He is Jehovah. His coming for their salvation is as Daniel saw Him, after the last beast, the terrible one, the nondescript with its ten horns and the little horn between, had risen from the sea. I saw in the night visions, and, behold, there came with the clouds of heaven, one like unto a Son of Man, and He came even unto the Ancient of days, and they brought Him near before Him. And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the people, nations, and languages should serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed (Daniel vii: 13, 14). A cloud appears in the heaven over Jerusalem. It is at once recognized as no common cloud, but as the divine glory cloud, (the Shekinah, which had been with Israel of old and was always the sign of Jehovah’s presence with His people). We can imagine in some measure how this sign will be welcomed by the remnant of Israel in the hour of their extremity when there is and cannot be help from man. The cloud speaks as of old, of divine interference. Our Lord puts the whole scene before us when He said in His Olivet discourse, But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light (what an awful darkness that will be! well may then the rejecters of the Gospel seek death from the wrath which is now coming), and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And He shall send forth His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect (not the church) from the four winds, from one end of heaven unto the other (Matthew xxiv: 29-31). The sign of the Son of Man which is spoken of here will undoubtedly be the cloud of glory which will bring Him from heaven to the earth. Some believers in the coming of the Lord have mentioned the sign of the Son of Man to be seen in the heaven as if that sign stood in relation to the church and would be welcomed by believers, the saved ones, as the sign that their redemption is now at hand. We read not long ago in a pamphlet in which certain coming signs in constellation of stars, etc., were mentioned, as being foretold in prophecy, and teaching the church that the coming of the Lord must be at hand. This is a mistake. There is nowhere in prophecy a sign mentioned appearing in the heaven to show the church that the Lord is at hand. The church, that is the one body, does not need such a sign. When the sign of the Son of Man appears in the heaven there will be no more church in the earth to see it. It will be “immediately after the tribulation of these days;” the church will not be in that tribulation. The sign is for Israel. Ezekiel beheld that glory which is then to be seen in the heavens. I looked, and, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, a great cloud with a fire infolding itself, and a brightness round about it, and out of the midst thereof as the color of amber out of the midst of the fire. And out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. . . . And above the firmament that was above their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man upon it above. And I saw as the color of amber, as the appearance of fire within it round about, from the appearance of his loins and upward, and from the appearance of his loins and downward, I saw as if it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness round about him. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord (Ezekiel i: 5, 26, 28). This vision will actually be seen by Israel in the day of the manifestation of the Lord. He will return in like manner upon a cloud as the glorified Son of Man as He went up into heaven. In Acts i: 11, where the promise of His return is given, it is likewise to be remarked that that promise does not present the Hope of the church, our blessed Hope, as believers. It is very often used as speaking of that Hope which is so dear to every believer’s heart. However, the promise given by the two men in white apparel, in Acts i., is a promise to Israel. It is the coming in like manner as He went into heaven, that is the coming of the Lord with His saints and not for His saints. There is still another passage which is in close connection with the appearing of Jehovah, the pierced One, in Zechariah xii., namely, Revelation i: 7, Behold He comes with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they which have pierced Him and all the tribes of the land shall wail because of Him. Yea. Amen. This passage corresponds with the one before us in Zechariah. The tribes in Revelation are the same as mentioned in Zechariah, and the wailing in Revelation stands for the mourning with which the twelfth chapter in Zechariah closes. What a scene that will be when at last Israel will look upon Him! When the signs of His coming,—the coming of the Redeemer—Jehovah increase, and His coming for their salvation draweth nigh, perhaps their hearts will be gladdened, and there will be rejoicing. They see the sign in the heavens and there will be the glad shout, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of Jehovah, this is our God, we have waited for Him. And now they behold a person upon that cloud. He is a Son of Man. Again they look and they see that His hands and His feet and His side are pierced. Who can this be with pierced hands, feet and side, who cometh thus in power and glory from the heavens to save His people? The truth so long denied by them flashes upon them, This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, the rejected One, the One who suffered that shameful death on yonder hill, whose hands and feet were pierced, and from whose loving side and heart the Roman spear drew forth blood and water. Jehovah-Jesus, the pierced One, is seen again. There way up in the heavens He is seen! Sun and moon have been darkened, as we quoted above from Matthew xxiv., but instead of their light there flashes another light over the heavens. The veil is lifted. God, Jehovah, has broken the long, long silence. He speaks again. The proud nations tremble, fear and trembling seize hold upon all the children of men. The day of vengeance, the day of wrath, the day of burning and recompense is at hand. All eyes are turned upward to behold that startling vision. The cloud, and in that cloud a throne, and upon the throne the Lamb of God, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, Jehovah, the pierced One, the Lord Jesus Christ. Not alone are His eyes like a flaming fire, but according to Habakkuk’s vision (Habukkuk iii.), His glory covereth the heavens, brightness is round about Him and rays (of glory) come out of His hands and His side, and there was the hiding of His power. Long, long ago David had by the Spirit of the Lord entered into the sufferings of his Son, whom he called Lord, and in the Psalm which begins with the cry of the forsaken One, My God, My God, why has Thou forsaken Me? he speaks of His hands and His feet pierced. It is true that the unbelieving Jews and all the enemies of a verbal inspiration of the word of God, higher critics, etc., with them, have tried to change the word “pierced” in the twenty-second Psalm, and make something else out of it. But it is pierced and will be so in all eternity. The One of whom David spoke came and was rejected, suffered, sacrificed Himself to put away sin, was nailed on the cross, and was pierced through. On the third day He was raised from the dead, and for forty days He showed Himself in His glorified body to His friends. In that body of the risen Lord the nailprints and the pierced side were seen. Thomas, unbelieving as he was, and as such a type of Israel abiding in unbelief still, would not believe the testimony of his brethren, and demanded the return of the Lord and to put his hands into His side and to see in His hands the prints of the nails. The second time the Lord appears, and Thomas is called to His side to touch His body, to see the nailprints. Convinced because he sees he cries out, My Lord and my God! And when He took His own to the mountain where He gave them His command and His blessing, when His loving hands were spread out in blessing, they all saw the marks of His passion in His hands and there in His side. And thus He went into heaven, and while you read this, dear friend, He is there in the Holy of Holiest, appearing now in the presence of God for us, the all-sufficient One. Can then there be a doubt that when He does appear again, the second time, to build the tabernacle of David which is fallen down, that these marks of His suffering will not be seen? They will be the marks for Israel. They will know Him by the nailprints as the One so long rejected and hated without a cause.
The conversion of Saul of Tarsus is a little sample of what is yet to be with the seed of Abraham. The light which shone around this blinded, self-righteous Pharisee on his way to Damascus, a light brighter than the Oriental noonday sun, will then shine out of heaven in the Lord’s own glory. The Voice which spoke to him, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest, will speak again out of that light to the prostrated nation. It does likewise remind us of the rejected brother who became great and a saviour after his rejection by his own, and who in loving words said to his brethren, so guilty and conscience stricken, I am Joseph your brother. What a wonderful event that will be when at last they that pierced Him shall behold Him. Suspended somewhere in the air will be seen the vision of the Lord in His glory, and thus every eye shall see Him. It will be the day when a nation is born. The Spirit poured out, they will look upon Him, and the great national mourning follows.
This great mourning will be like the mourning in Hadad-rimmon in the valley Megiddon. To what events do these places refer? The second book of Chronicles, chapter xxxv., verses 22-37, give us the history of that great mourning. Nevertheless, Josiah would not turn his face from him (the King of Egypt), but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Neco, from the mouth of God (these words are found in the twenty-first verse), and came to fight in the valley of Megiddon. And the archers shot at King Josiah; and the King said to his servants, Have me away, I am sore wounded. So his servants took him out of the chariot and put him into the second chariot that he had and brought him to Jerusalem; and he died and was buried in the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and all the singing men and singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations unto this day; and they made them an ordinance in Israel, and behold they are written in the Lamentations. Likewise in 2 Kings xxiii: 29. In Josiah’s days Pharaoh-Neco, King of Egypt, went up against the King of Assyria to the river Euphrates, and King Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddon when he had seen him. And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddon and brought him to Jerusalem.
Hadad-rimmon was a village nearby in the valley of Megiddon. The pious King Josiah died, pierced by an arrow on account of the evil deeds of the nation. After his death there was a great mourning because he had been slain, and his death was soon followed by greater calamities, ending with the Babylonian captivity. The application to the Lord Jesus Christ and the coming national mourning of the nation every reader can make for himself
It is interesting to read the Jewish interpretations of this important chapter. We quote from the Babylonian Talmud: That mourning, what was it about? Rabbi Yose and the Rabbis differ on the point. The one says it is for Messiah, the Son of Joseph, when He is killed; and the other says, It is for theYetzer Horo(evil desire, sin), when it is killed. All is clear in the case of him that says, It is for Messiah, the Son of Joseph, when He is killed, for then we can understand what is written, And they shall look upon Me whom they pierced, and they shall lament for Him (Zech. xii: 10). But in the case of him that says it is for sin when it is killed? Would it be mourning that is needed? Surely rejoicing would then be needed. Thus expounded, Rabbi Jehudah, of the Western house, in the Messianic times, the Holy One, blessed be He, is going to bring forth the evil desire and slay him in the presence of the righteous and the wicked. Unto the righteous the evil desire appears like a mountain, and unto the wicked he appears like a hair. The righteous weep and the wicked weep. The righteous say, How did we ever get the better of this high mountain? And the wicked say, How is it that we did not get the better of this hair? (Yalkut on Zechariah.)
The Jews have invented a double Messiah, one who is called the Son of Joseph and the other the Son of David. The Son of Joseph is pierced, and after He has been slain, Jehovah will send Messiah, Son of David. It is not denied that the Son of Joseph is a Messiah, an anointed One. This teaching is to solve the difficulties they have in explaining the suffering Messiah and the victorious Messiah. We have often talked with orthodox Jews for hours on the fact that there is only one Messiah, and He whom they expect as Son of David is truly the One who died and was pierced through for our sins. Human words cannot describe the great mourning when at last it is known by His appearing in the clouds, that Jesus, the Son of David, is the once rejected stone and now become the head of the corner. The first verse of the thirteenth chapter belongs to the twelfth. However, we will leave it for the next chapter.