Zechariah 12:8-14
Zechariah 12:8
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.
The LORD will defend Judah and especially the inhabitants
of Jerusalem.
Behold, O God our shield, and look upon
the face of thine anointed. (Psalm
84:9) The feeble believer shall
be just like the mighty warrior symbolized by David.
The next phrase is a Messianic phrase when it speaks of the house of
David being like God. The Lord
Jesus Christ who is the second person of the Godhead comes from the line of
David and will rule all the nations of the world when he comes on the scene in
500 years. The angel of the LORD
was an Old Testament description of Christ when he made his appearances before
his incarnation in Bethlehem.
And the angel of the LORD called unto him
out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
(Genesis 22:11)
Zechariah 12:9
And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek
to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
The day mentioned here is the time when Christ comes upon
the earth and then after his earthly ministry is done, he goes back to Heaven
and sends the Holy Spirit and the beginning of world evangelism takes place.
Then when the last person becomes saved, that will usher in the last day
when all the nations of the world will stand before the LORD and those who are
not saved will be subject to eternal damnation.
{32} And before him shall be
gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd
divideth his sheep from the goats:
{33} And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
(Matthew 25:32-33) In
the physical sense of the times Zechariah was written, God will also come to the
defense of Judah against any foreign nations that attempt to attack since the
Messiah must come through Judah and be born in Bethlehem.
Zechariah
12:10
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.
The house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem are
synonyms for the true believer in Christ as it refers to the New Jerusalem which
is comprised of only true believers.
The spirit of grace and supplications is another term for the Holy
Spirit. When he indwells a person,
they becomes saved by the grace of God and not through any keeping of the law.
To
the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
beloved. (Ephesians 1:6)
The true believers who were in Jerusalem at the time of the crucifixion
will see the Lord Jesus in his payment for sin.
And again another scripture saith,
They shall look on him whom they pierced.
(John 19:37) The true
believers would mourn for him but the unbelieving Jews who colluded with each
other and got the Romans to crucify him would not mourn but would be happy to
see him crucified and out of their lives.
The bitterness the true believers experience will be a painful grieving
as a parent who lost their firstborn child.
And knew her not till she had
brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.
(Matthew 1:25) Jesus was
the firstborn of Mary and he was also the firstborn from the dead, that is,
never to die again.
And he is the head of the body, the
church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he
might have the preeminence.
(Colossians 1:18)
Zechariah
12:11
In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem,
as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.
On the day that the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified,
there was a great mourning in the city of Jerusalem.
{27} And there followed him a
great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him.
{48} And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the
things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned.
(Luke 23:27 & 48) The
mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon was over the death of Josiah
when he was killed in battle in the valley of Megiddo.
{24} His servants therefore took
him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they
brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres
of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.
{25} And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the
singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them
an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.
(2 Chronicles 35:24-25)
Zechariah
12:12
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;
After the crucifixion, there would be such lamenting and
mourning over the death of the Lord Jesus Christ that it would reach down to the
individual families in Jerusalem and all the ranks of that society would
experience that sadness because at this time they were grieving since the third
day when Jesus was resurrected had not yet arrived so the true believers in
Jerusalem were in mourning till then.
In Jewish custom the wives were separate from their husbands in the homes
so they would grieve apart in their own rooms as the children would also.
Here we have specific names mentioned.
The house of David would mourn because Jesus was in the Davidic line and
was the Messiah. Then Nathan the
prophet is mentioned and they would mourn because Jesus was also a great prophet
and the things he prophesied had and would come to pass.
And I fell at his feet to worship
him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy
brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of
Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
(Revelation 19:10)
Zechariah
12:13
The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives
apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart;
Then the house of Levi is mentioned because the Lord
Jesus Christ being the High Priest for his people was shown contempt which means
that the Jews showed scorn for the Levitical Priesthood.
Then the family of Shimei was mentioned in that Shimei was the one that
cursed David in 2 Samuel 16. They would
have mourned because like Shimei cursing David, the people of Jerusalem cursed
Christ even when he was on the cross.
And the people stood beholding.
And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save
himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.
(Luke 23:35) And they that
passed by reviled him, wagging their heads,
(Matthew 27:39)
Zechariah
12:14
All the families that remain, every family apart, and
their wives apart.