Jesus was mourned for being pierced

JESUS WAS MOURNED FOR BEING PIERCED
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
ZECHARIAH 12:10 “And I will pour out on the house
of Davidand the inhabitants of Jerusalema spirit[a]
of grace and supplication. They will lookon[b] me, the
one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as
one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for
him as one grieves for a firstbornson.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Christ Piercedby Us
Gordon Calthrop, M. A.
Zechariah 12:9-11
And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations
that come againstJerusalem.…
(to children): — There canbe no doubt about the reference of these words. St.
John quotes them in his Gospel, and refers them to Christ. "They" are the
Jews, andmore particularly the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And the prophet
informs us that a time is coming when the people of Jerusalemshall look upon

Jesus, and bitterly repent of having refused to acceptHim as their Messiah
and their King.
1. The Jews were, and still are, God's people, though now they are God's
people in disgrace. He chose them out of all the nations of the earth, and drew
them close to Himself, and gave them the Scriptures, and the temple, and the
sacrifices,and thus prepared them for the coming of the Messiah, orChrist,
who was promised in the prophets. But when the Messiahdid come they
rejectedHim. Their greatand terrible crime brought down God's wrath upon
them. About forty years after the crucifixion of Jesus the Romans came and
laid siege to Jerusalem, killed many Jews, andburnt the beautiful temple. We
are expresslytold that this destruction of Jerusalemwas a punishment for the
murder of Christ. From that time the Jews have been driven out of their own
land, and scatteredabroadamongst the nations of the earth. There are Jews
almost everywhere. But the Bible says that one day they will be gathered
togetherinto their own land again. But will they be Christians when they
return? I think not. They will still rejectthe Lord Jesus Christ. But I believe
that, when assaultedby enemies, the Lord Jesus Christwill come down from
Heaven, and appear for the rescue of His people, to deliver them. At that
moment they shall look on "Him whom they pierced," and the effectof their
looking will be that they will mourn over their sin, and repent of it, and
become true followers and disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then they
will become the most successfulpreachers ofthe Gospelthat the world has
ever seen.
2. Now turn to ourselves. It is possible to look on Jesus, who was pierced, and
to say, "Well, He was pierced, and I am gladof it, for He deserved His fate.
He pretended to be what He was not." That is what the Jews nowadaysthink,
and what many of them do not hesitate to say. And many of us are inclined to
say, "I had nothing to do with the piercing of Jesus. Iwas not there at the
time. It was a fearful deed, and I am sorry for the sufferings of Jesus, but I
really do not think it true in any sense that I pierced Him!" Let us pause a

moment, and think. The Lord Jesus, who was the Son of God and Son of Man,
bore upon the cross the whole dark load of human sin. All the sins of all
mankind were gathered, as it were, into one vast horrible mass, and laid upon
Him, the Sin-bearer; and He could not get rid of it, or "put it away" exceptby
dying. By dying on the cross He took it away from .us, and shook it off
Himself. Now your Sin and mine were in that load, and because oursin
formed part of the burden which was laid upon Christ we had something to
do with His death. We helped to pierce Him. Our sin made it necessarythat
Christ should die, and therefore you and I had something to do really with
"piercing" Christ, and nailing Him to His cross. But unless we have the
teaching of God's Holy Spirit, we shall never think rightly or feelrightly in
this matter. It was when "the Spirit of grace and supplication" was poured
out upon the inhabitants of Jerusalemthat they lookedon Him whom they
pierced, and repented of their sin. What a deep feeling we have when a thing
is brought home to ourselves, andwe are made to feel that we did it. If we feel
that we pierced Christ two things will happen.
(1) We shall have a horror of sin.
(2) We shall come to understand the wonderful love of God.Greaterlove hath
no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Jesus, the Son of
God, gave up His life for us; He died upon the cross for us; for there was no
other way of saving us from our sins. Surely, if we have not gothearts of
stone, we shall feel thankful, most thankful, for what He has done, and love
Him because He first loved us.
(Gordon Calthrop, M. A.)
GospelMourning a Fruit of Saving Faith
D. Wilson, M. A.

Zechariah 12:9-11
Here we have a glorious privilege mentioned, namely, a view or manifestation
of a crucified Redeemer;and the gracious exercisethatis consequentialto this
distinguishing and glorious privilege. "They shall mourn for Him." From the
words we observe that all whose privilege it is to get a supernatural discovery
of a crucified Redeemerwill mourn for Him, as wounded and pierced for
their sins.
I. THE GLORIOUS PRIVILEGE.
1. Though Christ is not now visible to the bodily eyes, yet such a sight of Him
as is necessaryin order to the exercise offaith upon Him, and a real
participation of the benefits of His purchase is attainable by persons in this
world.
2. A spiritual and saving sight of Christ as crucified is what all should be
concernedto obtain when they are attending upon the ordinances of the
Gospel, upon the dispensationof the Word and sacraments.
3. Such a sight of Christ as is necessaryin order to the exercise offaith and
repentance is an effect of the gracious operationof the Holy Spirit upon the
heart of a sinner.
4. A spiritual manifestation of Christ is in a specialmanner necessaryon a day
of fasting and humiliation.

5. A saving manifestation of Christ is a rare and distinguishing privilege.
6. A saving manifestation is ever accompaniedwith godly sorrow for sin.
II. THE GRACIOUS EXERCISE.
1. Godly sorrow for sin supposes aninward and thorough change of heart,
and mind, and nature.
2. It is real sorrow.
3. Such a sorrow as flows from a particular convictionof sin.
4. It is great sorrow.
5. It is evangelicalsorrow.Application —
(1) Both faith and repentance are fruits of the Spirit.
(2) True repentance is a fruit of saving faith.
(3) True faith is rare.

(4) Formality in religion easilyexplained.
(D. Wilson, M. A.)
Jesus'PiercedSide
A. Schroter.
Zechariah 12:9-11
Out of the piercedheart of Jesus proceeds a streamof tears, of grace, and of
prayer. For us, also, as we look at the pierced side of the Saviour, there opens
—
I. A FLOOD OF TEARS. The prophet foretells the time when Israel at the
sight of the Man of Sorrows shallbreak forth into deep lamentation, when the
waterwhich flows from the pierced side of the Saviour shall be turned into a
stream of tears, flowing from the hearts of the children of Israel. It is the
simplest but certainly also the most painful truth, that your sins and mine
have brought Jesus to the Cross. Therefore a glance atHim must become a
crystal glass whichreflects our sins more distinctly, and which represents us
in our sins blackerthan the whole law from Sinai, with its thunder and
lightning, its curse and judgment, can do.

II. A STREAM OF GRACE. In ancient Athens, mercy was representedwith
eyes streaming with tears, holding in her hand a torn and bleeding heart. By
God's grace we have free access to the Father. We have a Saviour who opens
the Father's heart for us, and we need no other Mediator.
III. A FOUNT OF PRAYER. In these prophetic words the Lord declares that
He will pour out the Spirit of prayer and of grace. The streamof grace from
the wounds of the Saviour, which He causes to be poured over us, is to become
a fount of prayer, flowing from our heart to God's heart. There has scarcely
ever been a time in which the streams of Divine grace were so abundantly
poured forth in the preachedWord, as well as in works ofmercy, and in zeal
for the Lord's house, as in our days. But how long will it last, if the Spirit of
supplication does not join the spirit of grace?And that is wanting. Ours is a
prayerless time.
(A. Schroter.)
Looking At Him Who was Pierced
W. Thompson.
Zechariah 12:9-11
When the late Dr. Andrew Bonarwas sitting in his study one day, a man and
woman entered, to see him about joining the church. When they had told their
errand the doctor said to them, "Whenany one comes to me and wishes to
join the church, I generallyask them a few questions. Now, first, how did you

come to think of joining the church? Ah! "saidthe woman," it was all through
our little son. One night I was telling him about the Jews killing my Lord
Jesus, and how they nailed Him to the cross onCalvary, and, looking up into
my face, he asked, 'Mother, was it your sins that nailed Him to the cross?'Ah,
sir, I could not answerhim. There was a big lump in my throat; and when he
saw that I did not reply he turned to his father and said, 'Father, was it your
sins that nailed Jesus to the cross?'I stole a look at my husband, and I saw a
tear glistenin his eye — he could not answereither. Then the little boy
claspedhis hands and said, 'O Lord Jesus, it must have been my sins which
nailed Thee to the cross.'From that time, sir, he has been a changedboy, and
it was that which made us think of joining the church."
(W. Thompson.)
Looking to Christ as Pierced, and Mourning for Him
James Henderson, D. D.
Zechariah 12:9-11
May we not reckonthe passagein which our text occurs, as one of those of
which the prophets themselves, by whom they were uttered, did not at first
understand the full import? How should we be affectedby the contemplation
of the sufferings and death of the Lord Jesus?
1. We should mourn to think of what He had to endure. A tale of woe may
touch our hearts with sadness although we may have no personalconcern

with the individual of whom it is told. If we saw an innocent man led forth to
execution, our hearts would be greatly moved. We wondernot then that when
Jesus was deliveredup to the will of His enemies, when one so holy, so meek,
so beneficent, was led forth to be crucified, the spectacle couldnot be seen
unmoved.
2. We should mourn to think of the wickednessofthe men by whom He was so
treated. Were the men of that generationwhich lived when Jesus was
crucified, wickedabove all others before them, or after them? No! Though
temptation and opportunity combined to involve them in a crime, probably
the greatesteverperpetratedon earth, they afford but a specimenof that
depravity, it may be less fully developed, which we all have inherited.
3. We should mourn for our own sins, as we see in what was inflicted on our
surety the exceeding sinfulness and deep demerit of sin. How hateful must sin
have been in the sight of a holy God, when for it He hid His face from His Son,
and gave Him up to the pains of an accurseddeath!Notice some of the happy
effects of penitent grief.
(1) To yield to it may give even present relief to the troubled mind.
(2) This sorrow may have a beneficialinfluence on all our tempers and
affections.
(3) This sorrow may give evidence of our interest in the promises of pardon
and of peace with God. Sorrow for sin cannotbe acceptedas a price for
forgiveness;yet we may find in the sense ofit some proof that the change is
begun which must be wrought by the Spirit of Christ in all to whom He
applies the redemption which is through His blood.

(James Henderson, D. D.)
Looking to Jesus in Penitential Sorrow
Biblical Illustrator
Zechariah 12:9-11
The legendof Camille, the artist who sold his soul to the devil in order to gain
powerto paint to the life whatever subjecthe chose, is full of suggestion. After
a long life of sin, Camillo painted a picture of the Christ, the Man of Sorrows.
The tender, searching eyes were sucha source of annoyance to him and to his
sinful friends that he veiled the picture and went to a priest with his story.
Following the priest's advice, he unveiled the picture and let the eyes of the
Christ searchhis soul. Then he went out and made such reparation as he was
able to the lives he had wronged. But he had no peace. The priest sent him
back to the unveiled Christ. Again he went out, and ordered a dealerto buy
up and destroy every inch of canvas he had painted that would suggestevil
thoughts. Still he had no peace. Again and yet againhe was led to realise and
to renounce and to undo sin after sin. But the peace he longed for was
withheld. At length, as he knelt in prayer before the Christ, came the
realisationthat he had sinned, not only againsthis fellow men, but against
Christ, and he yielded his life to Him. Then as the eyes of Christ lookedinto
the sorrow and anguish of his soul, there came also joy and peace.

Looking to the Pierced One
Biblical Illustrator
Zechariah 12:9-11
And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that
come against Jerusalem.…
Not only an external grace and favour was promised to the Jews, but an internal
light of faith, the author of which is the Spirit; for He it is who illuminates our
minds to see the goodness ofGod, and it is He also who turns our hearts. As
Zechariah declares that the Jews would at length "look to" God, it follows that the
spirit of repentance and the light of faith are promised to them, so that they may
know God as the author of their salvation, and feel so assured that they are already
saved, as in future to devote themselves entirely to Him. "Whom they have
pierced." Here also the prophet indirectly reproves the Jews for their great
obstinacy, for God had restored them, and they had been as untameable as wild
beasts:for this piercing is to be taken metaphorically for continual provocation, as
though he had said that the Jews in their perverseness were prepared as it were for
war, that they goaded and pierced God by their wickedness as by the weapons of
their rebellion. As then they had been such, he says now that such a change would
be wrought by God that they would become quite different, for they would learn to
"look to Him whom" they had previously pierced. John says that this prophecywas
fulfilled in Christ, when His side was pierced with a spear (John 19:37). And this is
most true; for it was necessary that the visible symbol should be exhibited in the
personof Christ, in order that the Jews might know that He was the God who had
spoken by the prophets. The Jews then had crucified their God when they grieved
His Spirit; but Christ also was, as to His flesh, pierced by them. And this is what
John meant — that God by that visible symbolmade it evident that He had not
only been formerly provoked in a disgraceful manner by the Jews, but that at
length, in the personof His only begotten Son, this great sin was added to their
disgraceful impiety, that they pierced even the side of Christ.

( John Calvin.)
Sinners Mourning for Their Pierced Lord
C. Bradley, M. A., Bishop Launcelot Andrewes.
Zechariah 12:9-11
What is true of a converted Jew, is true also of a converted Gentile.
I. THE CHARACTER OF GODLY SORROW.It is like a parent's sorrowfor the
death of a child. This is a real, not a pretended sorrow. If we look into our hearts
many of us will see that our sorrow for sin is all pretence. This is a deep, not a
superficial or slight sorrow. We may really mourn for a friend, and yet mourn for
him very little. Not so when our children die. Our grief then is pungent and bitter.
It is not only in the heart, but do, as very low in it. It is a secret sorrow. Most of us,
when our hearts are full, wish to be alone. Deep emotions of any kind send us to
our chambers.
II. ONCE OF THE CAUSES THAT EXCITE GODLY SORROW."Lookon Me
whom they have pierced." Who is the speaker here? God Himself, but God in
Christ. What is meant by "looking" on Him? Outward bodily actions are made use
of to describe inward operations, the actings of the mind. These penitents look on
Him as "pierced." Some say the reason why the Jews are not converted is that we
do not sufficiently exhibit the Lord Jesus to them in His exaltation and glory.
Others say if we want to prize the Lord Jesus more, we must think of Him more as

enthroned in heaven. We must not suffer men to mislead us. If we want life for our
perishing souls, if we wish to have our hard hearts broken to pieces, it is on His
Cross, noton His throne, that we must contemplate our Lord. And these contrite
sinners look on Jesus as pierced by them. "The chastisement of our peace was on
Him," so we wounded Him.
III. HOW IS IT THAT GODLY SORROW ARISES FROM THIS SOURCE?
Why does looking on the crucified Lord make the believer mourn? How, I would
ask, can it be other wise, as we think of our dying Lord, dying for us? Learn the
high place that we ought to give sorrow for sin among the Christian graces.
(C. Bradley, M. A.)
I. THE OBJECT OR SPECTACLE PROPOUNDED. Certain it is that Christ is
here meant.
1. Specify and particularise the person of Christ, by the kind and most peculiar
circumstances of His death. Not a natural but a violent death. The Psalmist says,
"They pierced my hands and my feet," which is only proper to the death of the
Cross. The prophetintimates that his heart was pierced, and this was peculiar to
Christ.
2. Sever Christ from the rest of His doings and sufferings, to see what that is which
we specially are to look to — Christ pierced. The perfection of our knowledge in
or touching Christ, is the knowledge of Christ pierced. Know this, you know all. In
the object, two things offer themselves.

(1) The passion, or suffering itself. Consider the degree; for transfixerunt is a word
of gradation; expressing the piercing, not of whips and scourges, or of nails and
thorns, but of the spear point, which went through the very heart itself. May a soul
be pierced? It is not a spear head of iron that entereth the soul, but a metal of
another temper, the dint whereof no less goreth and woundeth the soul in
proportion than those do the body. Soul-piercing includes sorrow and reproach.
II. THE PERSONS. When one is found slain, it is usual to inquire by whom he
came by his death. We incline to lay the sin of Christ's death on the soldiers, the
executioners; on Pilate the judge; on the people who urged Pilate; or on the elders
of the Jews who animated the people. The prophet here says that they who are
willed to "look upon Him," are they who "pierced Him." In every case of
condemnation to death, sin, and sin only is the murderer. It was not Christ's own
sin that He died for. It must have been for the sin of others that Christ Jesus was
pierced. God laid on Him the "transgressions of us all." It was the sin of our
polluted hands that pierced His hands; the swiftness of our feet to do evil that
nailed His feet; the wicked devices of our heads that gored His head; and the
wretched desires of our hearts that pierced His heart. If we feel that we were the
cause of this His piercing, we ought to have remorse, to be pierced with it.
III. THE ACT OR DUTY ENJOINED. To look upon Him. A request most natural
and reasonable. To this look Christ invites us. "Upon Me." Our own profit inviteth
us. Our danger may move us to look. In the act itself are three things.
1. That we do it with attention.
2. That we do it oft, again and again; with iteration.

3. That we cause our nature to do it, as it were, by virtue of an injunction.In the
original it is a commanding injunction. Look upon Him, and be pierced. Look upon
Him, and pierce that in thee that was the cause of Christ's piercing, sin and the lusts
thereof. As it was sin that gave Christ these wounds, so it was love to us that made
Him receive them, being otherwise liable enough to have avoided them all. So that
He was pierced with love, no less than with grid. And it was that wound of love
made Him so constantly endure all the other. Which sight ought to pierce us with
love too, no less than before it did with sorrow. We should join looking with
believing. And believing, what is there that the eye of our hope shall not look for
from Him? What would He not do for us, that for us would suffer all this? Our
expectation may be reduced to these two things, — the deliverance from the evil of
our present misery; and the restoring to the good of our primitive felicity Shall we
always receive grace, even streams of grace, issuing from Him that is pierced, and
shall there not from us issue something back again, that He may look for and
receive from us, that from Him have and do daily receive so many good things? No
doubtthere shall; if love which pierced Him, have pierced us aright.
(Bishop Launcelot Andrewes.)
True Mourning for Christ
M. H. Ricketts.
Zechariah 12:9-11
Though this prophecy is fulfilling there is not complete fulfilment. There was,
among the Jews, no such general grief as Zechariah pictures. They showed no

signs of heart-broken sorrow. We must seek further for the mourners looking on
the pierced One. There is no doubtwhere they are to be found. Christians have
succeeded to the place, and occupymore than the place, of the Jews; it is ourselves
who are to be "looking upon Him whom we have pierced." Some great divines
hold that Zechariah's words describe the special mourning of Lent and Holy Week
and Good Friday. In any case we have a picture of the effect which a real spiritual
view of the cross must produceupon faithful Christians, and one which supplies us
with a test of our Good Friday reality and sincerity. It is a hard test, but we must
not flinch from it. It is of God's ownproposing; nay, rather, it occurs in the
announcement of His most gracious purpose. Compare our recollections of earthly
bereavements with our memory of Christ's death. Can we say that we feel for
Christ at all as we feel at the death of husband or wife, father or mother? Yet God
expects us to feel very deeply. We know that Christ's passion ought to excite in us
the deepest imaginable sorrow. As there was never sorrow like unto His sorrow; as
there was never death like unto His death; as there was never love like unto His
love, so we cannot wonder if we are expected to feel a grief for Him as great as
that which springs from the severest trial of our human affections. Yet it may
safely be said that, generally, it is not so. We fall far short of that which is to be the
state of the citizens of the true city of David, and of the inhabitants of Christian
Jerusalem.
(M. H. Ricketts.)
Penitential Sorrow
Zechariah 12:10-14
D. Thomas
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, etc. To
whatever particular event this passage refers, the subject is obvious and most
important, viz. that of penitential sorrow. And five things in connection with it are
noteworthy.
I. THE SUBJECTS OF THIS PENITENTIAL SORROW. Theyare Jews, and not
Gentiles. "The house of David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem" - expressions
which designate the whole Israelitish people. The Jewish people had often been
reduced to this state of sorrow. When in Babylonian captivity they wept when they
"remembered Zion." "The scene," says Dr. Wardlaw, "depicted bears a very close
resemblance to those recorded to have taken place on the restoration from Babylon,
when Jehovah, having influenced them individually to return to himself, and to set
their faces, with longing desire, to the land of their fathers, inclined their hearts,
when thus gathered home, to social and collective acts of humiliation and prayer.
The prayers of Ezra and Nehemiah on those occasions might be taken as models, in
the 'spirit and even the matter' of them, for the supplications of Judah and Israel
when brought back from their wider and more lasting dispersions."
II. THE CAUSE OF THIS PENITENTIAL SORROW. "Iwill pour." The Prophet
Joel (Joel 2:28) refers to this outpouring of Divine influence. "And it shall come to
pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh." All genuine
repentance for sin originates with God. He sends down into human souls the spirit
of grace and of supplications. The spirit of grace is the spirit that produces in the
mind of man the experience of the grace of God;and this experience works
repentance and inspires prayer.
III. THE OCCASIONOF THIS PENITENTIAL SORROW,"And they shall look
upon me whom they have pierced." "The expression, 'uponme,'" says
Hengstenberg, "is very remarkable. According to ver. 1, the Speaker is the Lord,
the Creator of heaven stud earth. But it is evident from what follows that we are
not to confine our thoughts exclusively to an invisible God who is beyond the
reach of suffering, for the same Jehovah presently represents himself as pierced by
the Israelites, and afterwards lamented by them with bitter remorse. The enigma is

solved by the Old Testament doctrine of the Angel and Revealer of the Most High
God, to whom the prophetattributes even the most exalted names of God, on
account of his participation in the Divine nature, who is described in ch. 11. as
undertaking the office of Shepherd over his people, and who had been
recompensed by them with base ingratitude." "They shall look upon me whom they
have pierced, and they shall mourn for him." The "me" and the "him" are the same
Person, and that Person he who says, in ver. 10, "I will pour upon the house of
David." In the first clause he is speaking of himself; in the second clause the
prophet is speaking of him. The Messiah was pierced, and pierced by the Jews:
"They pierced my hands and my feet." A believing sight of Christ produces this
penitential sorrow.
"Alas! and did my Saviour bleed,
And my Redeemer die?
Did he devote his sacred head
For such a worm as I?"
IV. THE POIGNANCY OF THIS PENITENTIAL SORROW. "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." "There are few states of deeper and
acuter sorrow than this - that which is felt by affectionate parents when bereft of
those objects of their fondestaffections; the one solitary object of their
concentrated parental love; or the firstborn and rising supportand hope of their
household." As to the poignancy of this grief, it is further said, "In that day shall
there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the
valley of Megiddon," etc. Perhaps the greatest sorrow ever known amongst the
Jews was the sorrow in the valley of Megiddon, occasioned by the death of King
Josiah (2 Chronicles 35:24). Jeremiah composed a funeral dirge on the occasion,
and other odes and lamentations were composed, and were sung by males and
females. But true penitential sorrow is far more poignant than that occasioned by
the death of an only son or a noble king. It is tinctured with moral remorse.

V. THE UNIVERSALITY OF THIS POIGNANT SORROW. "And the land shall
mourn, every family apart," etc. All the families of the land shall mourn, and all
shall mourn "apart." Deep sorrow craves loneliness.
CONCLUSION. There is one event in history - whether such an event is referred
to here or not - that answers better to the description here of penitential sorrow than
any other in the chronicles of the world; it is the Day of Pentecost. Thousands of
Jews assembled together on that day from all parts of the known world. Peter
preached to the vast assembly and charged them with having crucified the Son of
God. The Holy Spirit came down upon the vast congregation, and the result was
that, "When they heard this, they were pricked in their heart" (Acts 2:37). Far on in
the future, it may be, a period will dawn in Jewish history when such penitential
sorrow as is here described will be experienced by all the descendants of Abraham.
- D.T.
COMMENTARIES
BensonCommentary
Zechariah 12:10. And I will pour, &c. — God’s signalinterposition in behalf
of Judah and Jerusalem, aftertheir future restoration, having been foretold,
the prophet proceeds to foreteltheir conversionto Christianity. But though
the prophet speaksofthis after he has foretold their restoration, it does not
follow that it shall take place after that event. It is certainly much more
probable that they will first be brought to repentance for the sin of rejecting
and crucifying their Messiah, and to believe in him with their heart unto
righteousness, andthen that God will bestow upon them that greatmercy of

re-establishing them in the possessionof Canaan:see note on Zechariah12:2.
“The Jews had stumbled and fallen at the stone of stumbling and rock of
offence, the Messiah, in his humble appearance, as Isaiahforetold. That no
one might be surprised at this sudden change oftheir affairs, [namely, their
restorationto their own land, and their prosperity therein,] Zechariahtells us,
they should themselves be first changed, and repent heartily of that sin which
had been the cause of their fall, for God should pour out on them the spirit of
grace and supplication, that they might look with compunction of heart on
him whom they had pierced; and he should, by his Spirit, improve those good
dispositions into a thorough conviction of his being the Messiah, whom they
had rejected:for this they should weepbitterly, Zechariah 12:11, and make
earnestsupplications till receivedagaininto his grace and favour. This done,
it follows, Zechariah13:1, In that day shall a fountain be opened, &c. Now
who were they whose sin and uncleanness were washedaway, but the house of
David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem;the same who had sinned, and
mourned, and repented, and were therefore pardoned? What did they mourn
for, but for him whom they had pierced, and whose deaththey had bewailed
with all the solemnities of true mourners? It was then the act and sin of the
house of David, and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that they pierced and
slew him whom they now lookedupon; for which their land was treatedas
polluted, and removed out of God’s sight into captivity, not to be restoredto
them till their sin was remitted upon their true repentance. Thus much is
evident from the context:” see Chandler’s Defence, andDodd.
But though this passagemay chiefly relate to the future and general
conversionof the Jews to the Christian faith, Which St. Paul calls life from the
dead, and therefore will not receive its full accomplishmenttill that event
takes place;yet it may also be understood of some other prior conversions of
the Jewishpeople, and particularly of those of the many thousands brought to
repentance by the preaching of John the Baptist, of Christ, and his apostles.
For it appears from the accounts we have in the New Testament, that though
the rulers and leading men among the Jews were notconverted in that age of
the Christian Church, yet a vast number of the people were. So that this
prophecy has, in some degree at least, been alreadyfulfilled, and the spirit of

grace and supplication hath been poured out in a measure, if not upon the
house of David, yet upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem. In the expression, They
shall look upon me whom they have pierced, (the words being spokenby
God,) is implied, that in the piercing of Christ, Godhimself, figuratively
speaking, was piercedthrough the wounds of his beloved Son, he being
infinitely dear to his heavenly Father, and his cause the cause ofGod. This
passageis undoubtedly cited in St. John’s gospel, John19:37. Οψονται εις ον
εξεκεντησαν, They shall look on him whom they have pierced. Foralthough
the presentHebrew text is, ‫יבה‬ ‫ו‬ ‫,ילה‬ They shall look unto me, betweenforty
and fifty MSS. are produced which read ‫,וובי‬ unto him, with the concurrence
of other authorities. They shall mourn for him — They shall heartily lament
the crucifying of the Lord Jesus, not only as the sinful, cruel act of their
fathers, but as that in which their sins had a great share. As one mourneth for
his only son — With an unfeigned and real, a greatand long-continued, a
deep and lasting sorrow, such as is the sorrow of a father on the death of an
only son: they shall retain it inwardly, and express it outwardly, as in the
funeral mournings on such occasions.And shall be in bitterness for him —
True repentance will bitterly lament the sins that brought sorrows and pain
upon the Son of God.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
12:9-14 The day here spokenof, is the day of Jerusalem's defence and
deliverance, that glorious day when God will appear for the salvationof his
people. In Christ's first coming he bruised the serpent's head, and broke all
the powers of darkness that fought againstGod's kingdom among men. In his
secondcoming he will complete their destruction, when he shall put down all
opposing rule, principality, and power; and death itself shall be swallowedup
in that victory. The Holy Spirit is gracious and merciful, and is the Author of
all grace or holiness. He, also, is the Spirit of supplications, and shows men
their ignorance, want, guilt, misery, and danger. At the time here foretold, the
Jews will know who the crucified Jesus was;then they shall look by faith to
him, and mourn with the deepestsorrow, not only in public, but in private,
even eachone separately. There is a holy mourning, the effectof the pouring
out of the Spirit; a mourning for sin, which quickens faith in Christ, and
qualifies for joy in God. This mourning is a fruit of the Spirit of grace, a proof

of a work of grace in the soul, and of the Spirit of supplications. It is fulfilled
in all who sorrow for sin after a godly sort; they look to Christ crucified, and
mourn for him. Looking by faith upon the cross ofChrist will cause us to
mourn for sin after a godly sort.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
And I will pour - As He promised by Joel, "I will pour out My Spirit upon all
flesh" (Joel2:28. See vol. i. pp. 193, 194), largely, abundantly, "upon the
house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem,"all, highest and lowest,
from first to last, the "Spirit of grace and supplication," that is, the "Holy
Spirit" which conveyeth "grace," as "the Spirit of wisdom and
understanding" Isaiah 11:2 is "the Spirit" infusing "wisdom and
understanding," and the "Spirit of counseland might" is that same Spirit,
imparting the gift "ofcounsel" to see whatis to be done and "of might" to do
it, and the Spirit "of the knowledge andof the fear of the Lord" is that same
"Spirit," infusing loving acquaintance with God, with awe at His infinite
Majesty. So "the Spirit of grace and supplication," is that same Spirit,
infusing grace and bringing into a state of favor with God, and a "Spirit of
supplication" is that Spirit, calling out of the inmost soul the cry for a yet
largermeasure of the grace alreadygiven. Paul speaks of"the love of God
poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us" Romans
5:5; and of "insulting the Spirit of grace" , rudely repulsing the Spirit, who
giveth grace. Osorius:"When God Himself says, 'I will pour out,' He sets
forth the greatnessofHis bountifulness whereby He bestowethall things."
And they shall look - with trustful hope and longing. Cyril: "When they had
nailed the Divine Shrine to the Wood, they who had crucified Him, stood
around, impiously mocking. But when He had laid down His life for us, "the
centurion and they that were with him, watching Jesus, seeing the earthquake
and those things which were done, fearedgreatly, saying, Truly this was the
Son of God" Matthew 27:54. As it ever is with sin, compunction did not come
till the sin was over:till then, it was overlaid; else the sin could not be done. At
the first conversion, the three thousand "were pricked'in the heart.' "when
told that He "whom they had takenand with wickedhands had crucified and
slain, is Lord and Christ" Acts 2:23, Acts 2:36. This awokethe first penitence

of him who became Paul. "Saul, Saul, why persecutestthou Me?" This has
been the centerof Christian devotion ever since, the security againstpassion,
the impulse to self-denial, the parent of zeal for souls, the incentive to love;
this has struck the rock, that it gushed forth in tears of penitence: this is the
strength and vigor of hatred of sin, to look to Him whom our sins pierced,
"who" Paul says, "lovedme and gave Himself for me." Osorius:"We all lifted
Him up upon the Cross;we transfixed with the nails His hands and feet; we
pierced His Side with the spear. Forif man had not sinned, the Sonof God
would have endured no torment."
And they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for an only son, and shall be
in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for a first-born - We feel
most sensibly the sorrows ofthis life, passing as they are; and of these, the loss
of an only sonis a proverbial sorrow. "O daughter of My people, gird thee
with sackclothand wallow thyself in ashes,"Godsays;"make thee the
mourning of an only son, Most bitter lamentation" Jeremiah 6:26. "I will
make it as the mourning of an only son" Amos 8:10. The dead man carried
out, "the only son of his mother and she was a widow," is recordedas having
touched the heart of Jesus. Alb.: "And our Lord, to the letter, was the Only-
BegottenofHis Father and His mother." He was "the first-begotten of every
creature" Colossians1:15, and "we saw His glory, the glory as of the Only-
Begottenofthe Father, full of grace and truth" John 1:14. This mourning for
Him whom our sins pierced and nailed to the tree, is continued, week by week,
by the pious, on the day of the week, whenHe suffered for us, or in the
perpetual memorial of His Precious Deathin the Holy Eucharist, and
especiallyin Passion-Tide. Godsends forth anew "the Spirit of grace and
supplication," and the faithful mourn, because of their share in His Death.
The prophecy had a rich and copious fulfillment in that first conversionin the
first Pentecost;a larger fulfillment awaits it in the end, when, after the
destruction of antichrist, "all Israelshall" be converted and "be saved."
Romans 11:26.

There is yet a more awful fulfillment; when "He cometh with clouds, and
every eye shall see Him, and they which pierced Him, and all kindreds of the
earth shall wail because ofHim" Revelation1:7. But meanwhile it is fulfilled
in every solid conversionof Jew paganor carelessChristian, as well as in the
devotion of the pious. Zechariahhas concentratedin few words the tenderest
devotion of the Gospel, "Theyshall look on Me whom they pierced." Lap.:
"Zechariahteaches that among the various feelings which we can elicit from
the meditation on the PassionofChrist, as admiration, love, gratitude,
compunction, fear, penitence, imitation, patience, joy, hope, the feeling of
compassionstands eminent, and that it is this, which we especially owe to
Christ suffering for us. For who would not in his inmost self grieve with
Christ, innocent and holy, yea the Only BegottenSonof God, when he sees
Him nailed to the Cross and enduring so lovingly for him sufferings so
manifold and so great? Who would not groanout commiseration, and melt
into tears? Truly says Bonaventure in his 'goadof divine love:' 'What can be
more fruitful, what sweeterthan, with the whole heart, to suffer with that
most bitter suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ? '"
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
10. Future conversionof the Jews is to flow from an extraordinary outpouring
of the Holy Spirit (Jer 31:9, 31-34;Eze 39:29).
spirit of grace … supplications—"spirit" is here not the spirit produced, but
THE Holy Spirit producing a "gracious"disposition, and inclination for
"supplications." Calvin explains "spirit of grace" as the grace ofGod itself
(whereby He "pours" out His bowels of mercy), "conjoinedwith the sense of
it in man's heart." The "spirit of supplications" is the mercury whose rise or
fall is an unerring test of the state of the Church [Moore]. In Hebrew, "grace"
and "supplications" are kindred terms; translate, therefore, "gracious
supplications." The plural implies suppliant prayers "without ceasing."
Herein not merely external help againstthe foe, as before, but internal grace
is promised subsequently.

look upon me—with profoundly earnestregard, as the Messiahwhom they so
long denied.
pierced—implying Messiah's humanity: as "I will pour … spirit" implies His
divinity.
look … mourn—True repentance arises from the sight by faith of the
crucified Saviour. It is the tearthat drops from the eye of faith looking on
Him. Terroronly produces remorse. The true penitent weeps overhis sins in
love to Him who in love has suffered for them.
me … him—The change of person is due to Jehovah-Messiahspeaking in His
own person first, then the prophet speaking ofHim. The Jews, to avoid the
conclusionthat He whom they have "pierced" is Jehovah-Messiah, who says,
"I will pour out … spirit," altered "me" into "him," and representthe
"pierced" one to be MessiahBen(sonof) Joseph, who was to suffer in the
battle with Cog, before MessiahBenDavid should come to reign. But Hebrew,
Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic oppose this; and the ancient Jews interpreted it
of Messiah. Ps 22:16 also refers to His being "pierced." So Joh19:37; Re 1:7.
The actualpiercing of His side was the culminating point of all their insulting
treatment of Him. The act of the Roman soldier who piercedHim was their
act (Mt 27:25), and is so accountedhere in Zechariah. The Hebrew word is
always used of a literal piercing (so Zec 13:3); not of a metaphoricalpiercing,
"insulted," as Maurer and other Rationalists (from the Septuagint) represent.
as one mourneth for … son—(Jer6:26; Am 8:10). A proverbial phrase
peculiarly forcible among the Jews, who felt childlessnessas a curse and
dishonor. Applied with peculiar propriety to mourning for Messiah, "the
first-born among many brethren" (Ro 8:29).

Matthew Poole's Commentary
And I; God the Father, so Acts 2:17,18 Isa 44:3.
Will pour, in plentiful measures, as a plentiful rain is poured forth on a thirsty
ground: this was fulfilled on Christ’s exaltation, when he receivedgifts for
men, and, being glorified, gave the Spirit, sentthe Comforter to his disciples
and believers;this is daily performed to the children of God, and will be
continually performed till we all are made perfect, and are brought to be with
Christ for ever.
Upon the house of David; on some of that royal family; or, typically
considered, it is the whole family of Christ, his house, who was the seedof
David, and who is calledDavid their king, Ezekiel37:24 Hosea 3:5. Upon the
inhabitants of Jerusalem;literally understood it was fulfilled extraordinarily,
Acts 2:4,5; and, no doubt, in the ordinary manner to many of whom no
mention is made: mystically, the inhabitants of Jerusalemare all the members
of Christ, all believers of all ages.
The Spirit of grace;which is the fountain of all gracesin us, and which makes
us lovely in the eye of our God; grace to purify us and to beautify us, that God
may delight in us.
And of supplications, or prayer, which is an early, inseparable fruit of the
Spirit of grace:by the Spirit we cry, Abba, Father, and are helped to perform
this duty, Romans 8:26.
They, all those who have receivedthis Spirit, shall look upon me, with an eye
of faith, and turn to Christ, love, obey, and wait for him.

Whom they have pierced: every one of us by our sins pierced him, but many
of the Jews nailedhim to the cross, andactually murdered the Lord of life.
This, as foretold, so was very punctually fulfilled, and recordedin the account
of his death given by John, John 19:34,35,37;this hath then a particular
respectto the Jews, though not confined to them.
They shall mourn for him; grieve, and heartily lament the crucifying the Lord
Jesus Christ, not only as the sinful, cruel actof their fathers, but as that in
which their sins had a greatshare.
As one mourneth for his only son;with a very greatand deep, with a long and
continued sorrow, with an unfeigned and realsorrow, such as is the sorrow of
a father in the death of an only son; they shall retain it inwardly, and express
it outwardly, as in the funeral mournings on such occasions.
Shall be in bitterness for him: this speaks the inwardestaffectionof the
mourner; there may be tears in some cases withoutgrief or bitterness in the
spirit, but here both are joined; true repentance will bitterly lament the sins
which brought sorrows and shame upon our Lord.
As one that is in bitterness for his first-born: this bitterness is comparedto the
grief of one who losethhis first-born, to confirm and illustrate what he had
just before spokenof Christians mourning for Christ.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
And I will pour out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of
Jerusalem,....The Jews that belong to the family of Christ, and to the heavenly
Jerusalem, the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven:

the Spirit of grace and of supplications; by which is meant the Holy Spirit of
God, who is calledthe "Spirit of grace";not merely because he is goodand
gracious, and loving to his people, and is of grace given unto them; but
because he is the author of all grace in them; of gracious convictions, and
spiritual illuminations; of quickening, regenerating, converting, and
sanctifying grace;and of all particular graces, as faith, hope, love, fear,
repentance, humility, joy, peace, meekness, patience, longsuffering, self-
denial, &c.; as well as because he is the revealer, applier, and witnesserofall
the blessings ofgrace unto them: and he is calledthe "Spirit of supplications";
because he indites the prayers of his people, shows them their wants, and stirs
them up to pray; enlarges their hearts, supplies them with arguments, and
puts words into their mouths; gives faith, fervency, and freedom, and
encouragesto come to God as their Father, and makes intercessionfor them,
according to the will of God: pouring it upon them denotes the abundance and
freeness ofhis grace;see Isaiah44:3,
and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced; by nailing him to the
tree at his crucifixion; and especiallyby piercing his side with a spear; which,
though not personally done by them, yet by their ancestors, atleastthrough
their instigation and request; and besides, as he was pierced and wounded for
their sins, so by them: and now, being enlightened and convictedby the Spirit
of God, they shall look to him by faith for the pardon of their sins, through his
blood; for the justification of their persons by his righteousness;and for
eternal life and salvationthrough him. We Christians can have no doubt upon
us that this passagebelongs to Christ, when it is observed, upon one of the
soldiers piercing the side of Jesus with a spear, it is said, "these things were
done that the Scripture should be fulfilled; they shall look on him whom they
have pierced";and it seems also to be referred to in Revelation1:7 yea, the
Jews themselves, some ofthem, acknowledgeit is to be understood of the
Messiah. In the Talmud (f), mention being made of the mourning after spoken
of, it is asked, whatthis mourning was made for? and it is replied, R. Dusa
and the Rabbins are divided about it: one says, for Messiahben Joseph, who
shall be slain; and another says, for the evil imagination, that shall be slain; it
must be granted to him that says, for Messiahthe son of Josephthat shall be

slain; as it is written, "and they shall look upon whom they have pierced, and
mourn", &c. for, for the other, why should they mourn? hence Jarchiand
Kimchi on the place say, our Rabbins interpret this of Messiahthe sonof
Joseph, who shall be slain; and the note of Aben Ezra is, all the nations shall
look unto me, to see what I will do to those who have pierced Messiahthe son
of Joseph. Grotius observes, that Hadarsan on Genesis 28:10 understands it of
Messiahthe sonof David. The Jews observing some prophecies speaking of
the Messiahin a state of humiliation, and others of him in an exaltedstate,
have coined this notion of two Messiahs, whichare easilyreconciledwithout
it. The Messiahhere prophesiedof appears to be both God and man; a divine
PersoncalledJehovah, who is all along speaking in the context, and in the text
itself; for none else could pour out the spirit of grace and supplication; and yet
he must be man, to be pierced; and the same is spokenof, that would do the
one, and suffer the other; and therefore must be the or God-man in one
person. As to what a Jewishwriter (g) objects, that this was spokenof one that
was pierced in war, as appears from the context; and that if the same person
that is pierced is to be lookedto, then it would have been said, "and mourn for
me, and be in bitterness for me"; it may be replied, that this prophecy does
not speak ofthe piercing this person at the time when the above wars shall be;
but of the Jews mourning for him at the time of their conversion, who had
been pierced by them, that is, by their ancestors,hundreds of years ago;
which now they will with contrition remember, they having assentedto it, and
commended it as a right action;and as for the change from the first personto
the third, this is not at all unusual in Scripture:
and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son; or, "for this"
(h); that is, piercing him; for sin committed againsthim; because oftheir
rejectionof him, their hardness of heart, and unbelief with respectto him;
and on accountof their many sins, which were the occasionofhis being
pierced; which mourning will arise from, and be increasedby, a spiritual sight
of him, a sense ofhis love to them, and a view of benefits by him. Evangelical
repentance springs from faith, and is accompaniedwith it; and this godly
sorrow is like that which is expressedfor an only son; see Amos 8:10 and

indeed Christ is the only begottenof the Father, as well as the firstborn among
many brethren, as follows:
and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn;
sin is a bitter thing, and makes work for bitter repentance.
(f) T. Bab. Succah, fol. 52. 1.((g) R. Isaac Chizzuk Emunah, par. 1. c. 36. p.
309. (h) "super hoc", Junius & Tremellius; "propter hoc", Gussetius;"super
illo", Piscator, Cocceius.
Geneva Study Bible
And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, the spirit of {e} grace and of supplications: and they shall look
upon me whom they have {f} pierced, and they shall mourn for {g} him, as one
mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in
bitterness for his firstborn.
(e) They will have the feeling of my grace by faith, and know that I have
compassiononthem.
(f) That is, whom they have continually vexed with their obstinacy, and
grieved my Spirit. In Joh19:37 it is referred to Christ's body, whereas here it
is referred to the Spirit of God.
(g) They will turn to God by true repentance, whom before they had so
grievously offended by their ingratitude.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
10. I will pour] The word denotes the abundance of the effusion. Comp. Joel
2:28 [Heb., 3:1]. “Quodverbum doni largitatem et copiam indicat.” Rosenm.
the house of David, &c.] Becausethey, restoredto their proper place and
dignity (Zechariah 12:8), are as it were the head of the nation. But from the
head the holy unction shall flow to the whole body (“the land,” Zechariah
12:12). Comp. Psalm 133:2.
the spirit of grace and of supplications] i.e. the Spirit which conveys grace and
calls forth supplications. The word “grace”is not here used in its primary
sense ofthe favour of God towards man, but in that secondarysense, with
which readers of the N. T. are familiar, of the effects ofthat favour in man, by
the gifts and influences of the Holy Spirit. See John1:16; 1 Corinthians 15:10;
and for the expression, “the Spirit of grace,”Hebrews 10:29, where, as Dean
Alford shews, the secondmember of the “alternative very neatly put by
Anselm; Spiritui sancto gratis dato, vel gratiam dante,” is to be accepted.
upon me whom they have pierced] unto me, R. V. The Speakeris Almighty
God. The Jews had pierced Him metaphorically by their rebellion and
ingratitude throughout their history. They pierced Him, literally and as the
crowning act of their contumacy, in the Personof His Son upon the Cross,
John 19:37. Comp. Revelation1:7. “Confixerant ergo Deum Judæi quum
mærore afficerentejus Spiritum. Sed Christus etiam secundum carnem ab
illis transfixus fuit. Et hoc intelligit Joannes, visibili isto symbolo Deum palam
fecisse nonse tantum olim fuisse indigne provocatum a Judæis; sed in persona
unigeniti Filii sui tandem cumulum fuisse additum scelestæ impietati, quod ne
Christi quidem lateri pepercerint.” Calv. There is no sufficient ground for
adopting with Ewald and others the reading, upon him.

his only son] Comp. Jeremiah 6:26; Amos 8:10.
10–14.The penitent Sorrow of the People for Sin
The conversion(Zechariah12:10-14)and moral reformation (Zechariah 13:1-
6) of the people shall accompanytheir deliverance from their enemies
(Zechariah 12:1-9). On the royal house and the royal city first God will pour
out His Spirit, and as the consequencethey shall regard Him, whom they have
pierced and wounded by their sins, with the deepestsorrow and bitterness of
soul, Zechariah12:10. The mourning in Jerusalemshallbe such as to recall
that which was occasionedby the greatnational calamity of the death of
Josiahin battle, Zechariah12:11. But the outpouring of the Spirit and the
penitent grief calledforth by it shall extend to the whole nation, so that every
family throughout the land, the sexes apart, shall form itself into a separate
group of mourners, Zechariah12:12-14.
Pulpit Commentary
Verses 10-14. -§ 2. There shall ensue an outpouring of God's Spirit upon
Israel, which shall produce a great national repentance. Verse 10. - I will
pour. The word implies abundance (comp. Ezekiel39:29; Joel2:28). The
house of David, etc. The leaders and the people alike, all orders and degrees in
the theocracy. Jerusalemis named as the capitaland representative of the
nation. The spirit of grace and of supplications. The spirit which bestows
grace and leads to prayer. "Grace"here means the effects produced in man
by God's favour, that which makes the recipient pleasing to God and
delighting in his commandments (Hebrews 10:29). They shall look upon me
whom they have pierced. The Speakeris Jehovah. To "look upon or unto"
implies trust, longing, and reverence (comp. Numbers 21:9; 2 Kings 3:14;
Psalm34:5; Isaiah22:11). We may saygenerally that the clause intimates that
the people, who had grieved and offended God by their sins and ingratitude,
should repent and turn to him in faith. But there was a literal fulfilment of
this piercing, i.e. slaying (Zechariah13:3; Lamentations 4:9), when the Jews

crucified the Messiah, him who was God and Man, and of whom, as a result of
the hypostatic union, the properties of one nature are often predicatedof the
other. Thus St. Paul says that the Jews crucified"the Lord of glory" (1
Corinthians 2:8), and bids the Ephesianelders "feedthe Church of God,
which he hath purchasedwith his own blood" (Acts 20:28;for the reading
Θεοῦ, see the critics). St. John (John 19:37)refers to these words of Zechariah
as a prophecy of the Crucifixion (camp. Revelation1:7). The LXX. renders,
Ἐπιβλέψονται πρὸς μὲ ἀνθ ῶν κατωχρήσαντο, "Theyshalllook to me because
they insulted," either reading the last verb differently, or understanding it
figuratively in the sense ofassailing with cutting words; but there is no doubt
about the true reading and interpretation. Vulgate, Aspicient ad me quem
confixerunt. "Me" has been alteredin some manuscripts into "him:" but this
is an evident gloss receivedinto the text for controversialpurposes, or to
obviate the supposed impropriety of representing Jehovahas slain by the
impious. That St. John seems to sanctionthis reading is of no critical
importance, as he is merely referring to the prophecy historically, and does
not profess to give the very wording of the prophet. A suffering Messiahwas
not an unknown idea in Zechariah's time. He has already spokenof the
Shepherd as despisedand ill-treated, and a little further on (Zechariah 13:7)
he intimates that he is strickenwith the sword. The prophecies of Isaiah had
familiarized him with the same notion (Isaiah 53, etc.). And when he
represents Jehovahas saying, "Me whom they pierced," it is not merely that
in killing his messengerand representative they may be saidto have killed
him, but the prophet, by inspiration, acknowledgesthe two natures in the one
Personof Messiah, evenas Isaiah(Isaiah 9:6) calledhim the "Mighty God,"
and the psalmists often speak to the same effect(Psalm 2:7; Psalm45:6, 7;
Psalm110:1, etc.; comp. Micah5:2). The "looking to" the strickenMessiah
beganwhen they who saw that woeful sight smote their breasts (Luke 23:48);
it was carried on by the preaching of the apostles;it shall continue till all
Israelis converted; it is re-enactedwheneverpenitent sinners turn to him
whom they have crucified by their sins. Critics have supposedthat the person
whose murder is deplored is Isaiah, or Urijah, or Jeremiah;but none of these
fulfill the prediction in the text. They shall mourn for him. There is a change
of persons here. Jehovahspeaks ofthe Messiahas distinct in Personfrom
himself. As one mourneth for his only son... for his firstborn. The depth and

poignancy of this mourning are expressedby a double comparison, the grief
felt at the loss of an only son, and of the firstborn. Among the Hebrews the
preservationof the family was deemedof vast importance, and its extinction
regardedas a punishment and a curse, so that the death of an only sonwould
be the heaviestblow that could happen (see Isaiah47:9; Jeremiah 6:26; Amos
8:10). Peculiarprivileges belonged to the firstborn, and his loss would be
estimatedaccordingly(see Genesis 49:3;Exodus 4:22; Deuteronomy 21:17;
Micah6:7). The mention of "piercing," just above, seems to connectthe
passagewith the Passoversolemnities andthe destruction of the firstborn of
the Egyptians (see Expositor, vol. 6. p. 131, etc.).
Keil and DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament
The secondvision is closelyconnectedwith the first, and shows how God will
discharge the fierceness ofHis wrath upon the heathen nations in their self-
security (Zechariah 1:15). Zechariah1:18. "And I lifted up mine eyes, and
saw, and behold four horns. Zechariah1:19. And I said to the angel that
talkedwith me, What are these? And he said to me, These are the horns which
have scatteredJudah, Israel, and Jerusalem. Zechariah1:20. And Jehovah
showedme four smiths. Zechariah 1:21. And I said, What come these to do?
And He spake to me thus: These are the horns which have scatteredJudah, so
that no one lifted up his head; these are now come to terrify them, to cast
down the horns of the nations which have lifted up the horn againstthe land
of Judah to scatterit." The mediating angelinterprets the four horns to the
prophet first of all as the horns which have scatteredJudah; then literally, as
the nations which have lifted up the horn againstthe land of Judah to scatter
it. The horn is a symbol of power(cf. Amos 6:13). The horns therefore
symbolize the powers of the world, which rise up in hostility againstJudah
and hurt it. The number four does not point to the four quarters of the
heaven, denoting the heathen foes of Israelin all the countries of the world
(Hitzig, Maurer, Koehler, and others). This view cannotbe establishedfrom
Zechariah 1:10, for there is no reference to any dispersionof Israelto the four
winds there. Nor does it follow from the perfect ‫ּורז‬ that only such nations are
to be thought of, as had already risen up in hostility to Israel and Judah in the
time of Zechariah; for it cannotbe shownthat there were four such nations.
At that time all the nations round about Judah were subject to the Persian

empire, as they had been in Nebuchadnezzar's time to the Babylonian. Both
the number four and the perfectzērū belong to the sphere of inward intuition,
in which the objects are combined togetherso as to form one complete
picture, without any regard to the time of their appearing in historical reality.
Just as the prophet in Zechariah 6:1-15 sees the four chariots all together,
although they follow one another in action, so may the four horns which are
seensimultaneously representnations which succeededone another. This is
shown still more clearly by the visions in Daniel2 and 7, in which not only the
colossalimage seenin a dream by Nebuchadnezzar (ch. 2), but also the four
beasts which are seenby Danielto ascendsimultaneously from the sea,
symbolize the four empires, which rose up in successionone after the other. It
is to these four empires that the four horns of our vision refer, as Jerome,
Abarb., Hengstenberg, and others have correctly pointed out, since even the
picturing of nations or empires as horns points back to Daniel 7:7-8, and
Daniel 8:3-9. Zechariah sees these in all the full development of their power, in
which they have oppressedand crushed the people of God (hence the perfect
zērū), and for which they are to be destroyedthemselves. Zârâh, to scatter,
denotes the dissolution of the united condition and independence of the nation
of God. In this sense allfour empires destroyed Judah, although the Persian
and Grecianempires did not carry Judah out of their ownland.
The striking combination, "Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem," in which not only
the introduction of the name of IsraelbetweenJudah and Jerusalemis to be
noticed, but also the fact that the nota acc. ‫יא‬ is only placed before Yehūdâh
and Yisrâ'ēl, and not before Yerūshâlaim also, is not explained on the ground
that Israeldenotes the kingdom of the ten tribes, Judah the southern
kingdom, and Jerusalemthe capitalof the kingdom (Maurer, Umbreit, and
others), for in that case Israelwould necessarilyhave been repeated before
Judah, and 'ēth before Yerūshâlaim. Still less canthe name Israel denote the
rural population of Judah (Hitzig), or the name Judah the princely house
(Neumann). By the factthat 'ēth is omitted before Yerūshâlaim, and only Vav
stands before it, Jerusalemis connectedwith Israeland separatedfrom
Judah; and by the repetition of 'ēth before Yisrâ'ēl, as well as before
Yehūdâh, Israelwith Jerusalemis co-ordinatedwith Judah. Kliefoth infers
from this that "the heathen had dispersed on the one hand Judah, and on the

other hand Israel togetherwith Jerusalem," andunderstands this as
signifying that in the nation of God itself a separationis presupposed, like the
previous separationinto Judah and the kingdom of the ten tribes. "When the
Messiahcomes," he says, "a small portion of the Israelaccording to the flesh
will receive Him, and so constitute the genuine people of God and the true
Israel, the Judah; whereas the greaterpart of the Israel according to the flesh
will rejectthe Messiahatfirst, and harden itself in unbelief, until at the end of
time it will also be converted, and join the true Judah of Christendom." But
this explanation, according to which Judah would denote the believing portion
of the nation of twelve tribes, and Israeland Jerusalemthe unbelieving, is
wreckedonthe grammaticaldifficulty that the cop. ‫ו‬ is wanting before
‫ריב‬ ‫.יארה‬ If the names Judah and Israel were intended to be co-ordinated
with one another as two different portions of the covenantnation as a whole,
the two parts would necessarilyhave been connectedtogetherby the cop. Vav.
Moreover, in the two co-ordinatednames Judah and Israel, the one could not
possibly stand in the spiritual sense, and the other in the carnal. The co-
ordination of 'eth-Yehūdâh with 'eth-Yisrâ'ēl without the cop. Vav shows that
Israelis really equivalent to the Jerusalemwhich is subordinated to it, and
does not containa secondmember (or part), which is added to it, - in other
words, that Israelwith Jerusalemis merely an interpretation or more precise
definition of Yehūdâh; and Hengstenberg has hit upon the correctidea, when
he takes Israelas the honourable name of Judah, or, more correctly, as an
honourable name for the covenant nation as then existing in Judah. This
explanation is not rendered questionable by the objection offeredby Koehler:
viz., that after the separationof the two kingdoms, the expressionIsrael
always denotes either the kingdom of the ten tribes, or the posterity of Jacob
without regardto their being broken up, because this is not the fact. The use
of the name Israelfor Judah after the separationof the kingdoms is
establishedbeyond all question by 2 Chronicles 12:1;2 Chronicles 15:17; 2
Chronicles 19:8; 2 Chronicles 21:2, 2 Chronicles 21:4; 2 Chronicles 23:2; 2
Chronicles 24:5, etc.
(Note:Gesenius has correctly observedin his Thesaurus, p. 1339, that"from
this time (i.e., from the severanceofthe kingdom) the name of Israel beganto

be usurped by the whole nation that was then in existence, and was used
chiefly by the prophets Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Deutero(?)-Isaiah, andafter
the captivity by Ezra and Nehemiah; from which it came to pass, that in the
Paralipomena, evenwhen allusion is made to an earlierperiod, Israel stands
for Judah," although the proofs adduced in support of this from the passages
quoted from the prophets need considerable sifting.)
Jehovahthen showedthe prophet four chârâshı̄m, or workmen, i.e., smiths;
and on his putting the question, "What have these come to do?" gave him this
reply: "To terrify those," etc. Forthe order of the words ‫וא‬ ‫בא‬ ‫ייה‬ ‫ילי‬ ‫,תי‬
instead of ‫ייה‬ ‫ילי‬ ‫וא‬ ‫בא‬ ‫,תי‬ see Genesis 42:12;Nehemiah2:12; Judges 9:48.
‫יהרהוא‬ ‫ילי‬ is not a nominative written absolutelyat the head of the sentence in
the sense of"these horns," for that would require ‫יילי‬ ‫;יּלרהוא‬ but the whole
sentence is repeatedfrom Zechariah 1:2, and to that the statementof the
purpose for which the smiths have come is attachedin the form of an
apodosis:"these are the horns, etc., and they (the smiths) have come." At the
same time, the earlier statementas to the horns is defined more minutely by
the additional clause ‫ופו‬ ‫יהא‬ ‫,וגה‬ according to the measure, i.e., in such a
manner that no man lifted up his head any more, or so that Judah was utterly
prostrate. Hachărı̄d, to throw into a state of alarm, as in 2 Samuel 17:2. Them
('ōthâm): this refers ad sensum to the nations symbolized by the horns.
Yaddōth, inf. piel of yâdâh, to castdown, may be explained as referring to the
powerof the nations symbolized by the horns. 'Erets Yehūdâh (the land of
Judah) stands for the inhabitants of the land. The four smiths, therefore,
symbolize the instruments "of the divine omnipotence by which the imperial
powerin its severalhistoricalforms is overthrown" (Kliefoth), or, as Theod.
Mops. expresses it, "the powers that serve God and inflict vengeance upon
them from many directions." The vision does not show what powers God will
use for this purpose. It is simply designed to show to the people of God, that
every hostile powerof the world which has risen up againstit, or shall rise up,
is to be judged and destroyed by the Lord.

PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
ADAM CLARKE
Verse 10
I will pour upon the house of David - This is the way in which the Jews
themselves shall be brought into the Christian Church.
"They shall have the spirit of grace,"Godwill show them that he yet bears
favor to them.
They shall be excitedto fervent and continual prayer for the restorationof the
Divine favor.
Christ shall be preachedunto them; and they shall look upon and believe in
him whom they pierced, whom they crucified at Jerusalem.
4. This shall produce deep and sincere repentance;they shall mourn, and be
in bitterness of soul, to think that they had crucified the Lord of life and glory,
and so long continued to contradictand blaspheme, since that time.
BRIAN BELL
. PERCEIVING THE PIERCED PRINCE!(10-14)

2.8. (10)In the future day, Israel will see the pierced Messiahreturn from
heaven.
2.8.1. It will be the same Messiahthey rejectedlong ago, bearing the
selfsame wounds they inflicted then.
2.8.2. The Spirit of Grace – The outpoured Spirit would “sensitize” the
inhabitants of Jerusalemto the One they pierced.
2.8.2.1. Acts 2(Pentecost)was ofcourse the 1stinstallment!
2.8.3. Is.53:5[NIV]“But he was piercedfor our transgressions,he was
crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace
was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
2.8.4. Rev.1:7 “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see
Him, even they who pierced Him.”
2.8.5. Poem– C.E.Peglar
His brow is marred & on His side
Wence flowedthe cleansing, crimsontide
The Marks of love are found.
In every wound I read the guilt
And thank Him that His blood was spilt
To bring this sinner nigh.
2.8.6. So, the One whom they Rejected(12:10a), they will Receive(13:1),
by Repenting(12:10b-14), & thus Receiving forgiveness &
cleansing!

STEVEN COLE
God, the Mighty Savior(Zechariah 12:1-14)
RelatedMedia
Just outside of Madrid is a famous old monastery, the Escorial. The kings of
Spain have been buried there for centuries. The architect who built the
church made an arch so low that it frightened the king. Fearing that it would
collapse, he ordered the architect to add a column to uphold the middle of the
arch. The architect protestedthat it was not necessary, but the king insisted
and so the column was built.
Years later, the king died and the architectthen revealedthat the column was
a quarter of an inch short of touching the arch, and that the arch had not
saggedin the slightest. I have heard that tour guides still pass a lath between
the arch and the column as mute proof of the architect’s knowledge (Donald
Barnhouse, Let Me Illustrate [Revell], p. 245).
That arch illustrates our salvation, which comes totallyfrom the Lord. It
stands because ofGod, not because ofanything that fallen sinners can add to
it. But, like the Spanish king, people want to add something to help Godout.
The idea that salvationis totally from God is an affront to our pride. So even
many that profess to believe in Christ as Saviorare prone to think that their
salvationrests at leastpartially on something that they must do, rather than
completely on what God has done. We keepadding our columns, but God’s
Word clearly shows that God’s salvationdoes not need our human support.

God’s mighty power will save His people according to His purpose.
Zechariah 12-14 contains the second“burden” that the prophet receivedfrom
God (see 9:1). This burden focuses onIsrael, and specificallyon Jerusalem(22
times in these chapters). The phrase “that day” occurs 17 times and “the
nations” occurs 14 times, pointing to the period of time when God brings His
purpose for Israeland the nations to culmination. As we saw lastweek,
chapter 11 predicts Israel’s rejectionof Jesus, the GoodShepherd, and her
subjection during the Tribulation to the worthless shepherd. This will plunge
the nation into a time of severe testing, describedby Jeremiah(30:5-7) as “the
time of Jacob’s distress.”Daniel(12:1) calls it “a time of distress such as never
occurredsince there was a nation until that time.”
This time of testing culminates in the Battle of Armageddon (Joel3:9-16; Rev.
16:16-21;Zech. 12:1-9; 14:2-3), when God will gather all the nations against
Jerusalemto battle. At the lastminute, just before Israelis annihilated, God
will supernaturally rout the enemy and deliver His people. Our text describes
the physical deliverance of Israelin verses 1-9, and the spiritual deliverance of
Israelin verses 10-14.The greatmilitary victory that God will achieve for His
helpless people illustrates the greatspiritual salvationthat He also brings.
Both sections emphasize the truth that God is mighty to save His people
according to His purpose.
1. God is mighty to save His people physically (12:1-9).
First, God establishes His sovereignauthority and poweras seenin His role as
the creatorand sustainerof the universe. Then He shows whatwill take place
with His chosenpeople, Israel, in the end times, and how He will “destroyall
the nations that come againstJerusalem” (12:9).

A. GOD’S SUPREME AUTHORITYAND POWER ARE SEEN IN HIS
SURE WORD AND IN HIS ROLE AS CREATOR AND SUSTAINER OF
THE UNIVERSE (12:1).
“Burden” means a messagefrom God that is weightedwith important words
of judgment and deliverance. We might say, “That’s a heavy message.”It is a
burden “ofthe word of the Lord concerning Israel.” This is further
underscoredby “Thus declares the Lord…” So before he even describes who
the Lord is, Zechariah wants us to know that this is not his human word; it is
the word of Almighty God.
Then he describes Godas the one “who stretches outthe heavens, lays the
foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him.” The Hebrew
participles refute the idea of deism, that God createdthe earth, but has
nothing to do with it now. Rather, He continually stretches out the heavens,
lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him (E.
W. Hengstenberg, Christologyof the Old Testament[Kregel], p. 355). As
Colossians 1:17 states ofJesus, “in Him all things hold together.” If Jesus
decided to “let go,” the universe would chaoticallyself-destruct!He is the
Lord who is speaking here! If He spoke the universe into existence and
sustains it by the word of His power (Heb. 1:3), then when He states what is
going to transpire in the future, He has the authority to make it happen. We
should thus believe His word and submit ourselves to Him as the Sovereign
Lord.
B. GOD’S MIGHTY POWER TO SAVE IS SEEN IN THE WAY THAT HE
WILL DELIVER ISRAEL FROM ALL HER ENEMIES (12:2-9).
If all that we had to go on was 12:2-9, we might conclude that the battle will
not be too bad for Israel. These verses show how God will strengthen the
nation for battle so that her enemies will be defeated. But 13:7-9 and 14:2-3
revealthat things will get pretty desperate for Israel before the Lord
intervenes. The city will be captured, houses plundered, womenraped, and

half of the city exiled before the Lord fights againstthe nations. Two parts of
the land will be cut off and perish and the third part will be brought through
the fire. Only after this will Israel be delivered.
God will make Jerusalema cup that causes reeling to all the nations (12:2).
The nations will greedily consume Israel like a cup of wine, but instead of
satisfying them, it makes them staggerandfall to the ground. God also
promises (12:3) to make Jerusalema heavy stone, so that whoevertries to lift
it will only injure himself. Also, God will strike the horses with bewilderment
and the riders with madness (12:4). Scholars differ over whether there will be
literal cavalry in the campaignof Armageddon or whether the prophecy uses
language ofthe times (maybe God will cause the computer systems to go
haywire!).
Some understand verse 5 to mean that the leaders (NASB, “clans”)of Judah
will side with the nations until they recognize that God is empowering those in
Jerusalem(F. Duane Lindsey, in The Bible Knowledge Commentary [Victor
Books], 1:1566). Orperhaps the faith of those in Jerusalemwill inspire these
leaders to trust in God. He will make them like a fire to consume their
enemies (12:6).
Then (12:7) Godpromises to “deliver the defenseless country[“tents of
Judah”] before the fortified and well-defended capital, so that both may
realize that the victory is of the Lord” (Charles Feinberg, God Remembers
[American Boardof Missionto the Jews], p. 225). Merrill Unger observes,
“The Lord will manifest Himself in such deliverance as will honor faith, unite
His people, and cause them mutually to make their boastwholly in the Lord,
instead of partially in themselves” (Zechariah: Prophet of Messiah’s Glory
[Zondervan], p. 212, italics his). God promises further that the weakestofthe
inhabitants of Jerusalemwill be like David and the leaders (“the house of

David”) will be like God, further described as like the angelof the Lord going
before them.
In 12:9, when the Lord says [literally] that He “will seek to destroyall the
nations that come againstJerusalem,”it is not as if there is any doubt about
the outcome!Verse 1 shows us God’s omnipotent ability to do whatever He
purposes to do. Rather, it is using human language in the sense of focusing full
attention on the matter, so as to say, “WhenGod sets His mind on doing it, it’s
a done deal!” (See Unger, p. 213.)
God’s reasonfor delivering His chosenpeople physically (12:2-9) is so that
later He can save them spiritually (12:10-14), and all of this is for His glory.
Many of God’s people cantestify that God saved their lives from physical
death years before He later saved their souls from spiritual death. John
Newton, the wickedslave trader, who was savedto become a pastor and hymn
writer (“Amazing Grace”), more than once narrowly escapeddeath before his
conversion. Once he fell overboardwhen he was drunk and was harpooned to
get him back on deck, but he survived! If God has sparedyour life, but you
have not yet come to Christ, He wants you to turn in faith to Him today!
There is anotherlessonhere: The safestplace for any of God’s people is in the
centerof His will and purpose. When Zechariah wrote, many Jews were still
in Babylon. Perhaps they thought, “It’s just not safe to move back to
Jerusalem. There is no army there and no wall around the city. The place is
surrounded by hostile neighbors. I’ll just stayhere in Babylon.”
But Zechariahis showing them that evenif all the hostile nations in the world
are lined up againstJerusalem, it is the safestplace in the world to be, because
Almighty God has promised to destroythe nations that come against
Jerusalem. This doesn’t mean that we should throw cautionto the wind, or

that there are not times when God’s servants should flee for their lives. But it
does mean that God watches overHis people (12:4), and that no one cantouch
them unless it fits with God’s purpose. All the armies on earth canline up
againstGod’s people, but they will not thwart God’s mighty purpose to save
His people for His glory.
2. God is mighty to save His people spiritually (12:10-14).
Verse 10 is one of the most remarkable prophecies in the Bible. There is no
way to explain it apart from the incarnation, death, and resurrectionof one
who is both God and man. The speakerthroughout this passagehas beenGod,
who now says, “Theywill look on Me whom they have pierced.” “Pierce”is
consistentlyused of someone being run through by a swordor spear(Num.
25:8; Judges 9:54; 1 Sam. 31:4). No one canpierce God, unless God first takes
on human flesh. And the Jewishnation cannot somedaylook on this one
whom they pierced unless He is then living, having been raisedfrom the dead.
When the soldier thrust his swordthrough Jesus’side as He hung on the
cross, he inadvertently fulfilled this prophecy in remarkable detail (John
19:36-37)!
Before we look at severalaspects ofthe spiritual salvation that Godpromises
to bring to His chosenpeople, note that it is entirely of God. God does not say,
“I would like to save My people someday, but they must exercise their free
will in order for the process to happen.” Nor is this prophecy based only on
God’s foreknowledge ofwhat will happen, but rather on His mighty power
that causes itto happen. In other words, God isn’t looking down through the
centuries here and exclaiming, “Finally, after all these years, I can see that the
Jews will softentheir own hearts by their own free will and trust in Me! I’ve
always wantedthem to do this, but I couldn’t do anything about it because of
the sovereigntyof human free will. I’m so glad that they finally decided to
follow Jesus!”

That is how many evangelicals view salvationin our day, but it is definitely
not what the Bible teaches. It shows that salvation is of the Lord, from start to
finish. While we must trust in Jesus Christ and repent of our sins, neither
saving faith nor repentance originates in the fallen human heart. They are
God’s gift, so that none can boast(Eph. 2:8-9; Acts 5:31; 11:18).
Note briefly five things about God’s salvation:
A. GOD OFTEN PREPARES US FOR SALVATION THROUGH TRIALS.
Before Godsaves the Jews spiritually, He will take them through the awful
events of the Tribulation, culminating in the horrifying campaignof
Armageddon. Lest you think that God is merely describing what will happen
in the future, apart from His causation, in 14:2, He states, “ForI will gather
all the nations againstJerusalemto battle….” Those nations will be
accountable for their hatred againstthe Jews, but behind all events is God,
“who works all things after the counselof His will” (Eph. 1:11).
When you encounter trials, you are prone to doubt either God’s love or His
sovereignpower. You may even go so far as to doubt His existence:“If there is
a loving, all-powerful God, then why are these terrible things happening to
me?” But our text is clear that God is by far stronger than the most powerful
armies in the world and that He cares for His people, whom He will save.
There are Christians who saythat anything bad that happens to us is from the
devil and that it was not God’s will (imagine!). But the implication, then, is
that Satangot one over on God! The Bible is clearthat God sometimes uses
Satanto carry out His will, but Satancan go no farther than Godpermits
(Job 1-2). It brings far more comfort to know that even severe trials are under
God’s sovereignwill, than to think that somehow they are not.

In the chemistry lab, every substance has its melting point. The same is true of
the hard human heart. God graciouslybrings trials into our lives to softenus
and prepare us to receive His grace. Beforethe trials, we didn’t know that we
needed God. We thought that we were in control. So God yanks the rug out
from under us by bringing all the armies of the world againstus to cause us to
cry out to Him for help!
B. GOD BRINGS US TO SALVATION THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT.
God promises to pour out on the Jews “the Spirit of grace and of
supplication.” This is a reference to the Holy Spirit (Isa. 44:3; Ezek. 39:29;
Joel2:28-29;note all three persons of the Trinity in Zech. 12:10). Jesus told
Nicodemus that the new birth is effectedby the Spirit (John 3:5-8). “It is the
Spirit who gives life” (John 6:63). Unless the Spirit of God convicts us of sin,
righteousness, andjudgment (John 16:8) and imparts new life to us, we
remain dead in our transgressions andsins (Eph. 2:1, 5), excluded from the
life of God because ofour hard hearts (Eph. 4:18). Salvation, like the original
creation, requires the sovereignpowerof God (2 Cor. 4:4, 6).
He is calledhere “the Spirit of grace and of supplication.” Grace means God’s
undeserved favor. The Jews who piercedtheir Messiahdo not deserve God’s
favor, and neither does any sinner. Grace means that we do not have to clean
up our lives or accumulate goodworks in order to qualify for salvation. Those
things follow salvation, but they do not precede it to prompt God to act.
The “Spirit of supplication” means that when He graciouslyintervenes in a
sinner’s heart, that sinner cries out to God, “Save me, Lord, or I perish!” All
subsequent prayer stems from God’s gracious Spirit of supplication moving
us to cry for help. If you recognize that you are a sinner in God’s sight and
you have cried out to Him to save you, it is because He has poured out His

Spirit of grace and supplication on you. If you know Christ as Savior, but you
lament the hardness of your heart, and you are crying out, “God, soften my
heart towards You,” it is because His Spirit of grace and supplication is
working in you.
C. GOD’S SALVATION BRINGS US TO SEE THE SAVIOR
ACCURATELY.
Israelwill “look on Me whom they have pierced.” As I said, the only way that
this canbe explained is if the one piercedis both God and man. In the 16th
century, John Calvin fought againstthe same errors that we face in
Unitarianism and the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who deny that Jesus is fully God.
He comments on this text to show that Christ is the same in essence withthe
Father and the Spirit, but distinct in person. Thus God the Fatherwas not
pierced, because He did not take on human flesh. But He can say, “Theyshall
look on Me” because He is one in essence withthe Son (Calvin’s
Commentaries [Baker], on The Twelve Minor Prophets, pp. 365-367). While
you do not need to understand the Trinity to be saved, you really cannot
understand the gospelunless Godopens your eyes to see that Jesus is fully
God and fully man. He had to be God to be sinless, so that His sacrifice would
be acceptable to the Father. He had to be man or that sacrifice couldnot
apply to humans.
But not only must we see the Savioraccurately, as God and man; we must also
see that “He was pierced through for our transgressions”(Isa. 53:5). There is
no salvation apart from Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor. 1:23-24;2:2). Apart
from the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness forsins (Heb. 9:22). To
follow Jesus as a greatmoral example is not enough. To be saved, you must
apply His shed blood to your sins.
The Jews who will be living during the Battle of Armageddon did not
physically kill Jesus. True, their ancestors did. But God says here that they

pierced Christ. We need to apply this to ourselves:I piercedChrist by my
sins! You pierced Him! If you do not see that fact, you do not understand
God’s salvation.
Thus God often prepares us for salvation through trials. He brings us to
salvationthrough His Spirit and by opening our eyes to see the Savior
accurately.
D. GOD’S SALVATION REQUIRES THAT WE LOOK TO THE SAVIOR
IN FAITH.
The emphasis in looking “on Me whom they have pierced” is not on looking
on the Messiahliterally, but on looking to the Messiahin faith (Kenneth
Barker, Expositor’s Bible Commentary [Zondervan], 7:683). It is the same as
when Moses erectedthe bronze serpent, and whoeverlookedto it in faith lived
(Num. 21:9). Some interpret this as happening at the secondcoming of Christ,
but I understand it to be just prior to that event. At that point, there will be a
widespreadconversionof the Jews, as Paulstates in Romans 11:25-27. No one,
Jew or Gentile, canbe savedapart from looking in faith to Jesus Christ as the
crucified and risen Son of God.
E. GOD’S SALVATION PRODUCES GENUINE REPENTANCEIN THE
HEARTS OF HIS PEOPLE.
Israelwill mourn over the pierced Savior, as one mourns for an only son, and
as the Jews mourned for the goodKing Josiahin the plains of Megiddo, when
Pharaohkilled him.
Genuine repentance is not something that a person must work up in order to
be saved. But it does necessarilyaccompanysaving faith, so that the New
Testamentviews saving faith and repentance as flip sides of the same coin

(Acts 20:21; 26:18). Just as saving faith is not a one-time thing, but ongoing, so
with repentance. Ongoing repentance should mark the life of a believer, as we
continually look to the Saviorwho was pierced for our sins.
As believers, we should look frequently to the Saviorwhom we pierced, and
mourn. It must be personal, so that even husbands and wives mourn
separately. Thatis the point of the repetition of “by itself” (12:12-14). The
family of David refers to the rulers; the family of Levi refers to the priests.
“All the families that remain” refers to everyone else. True repentance is not
glib, shrugging off sin as no big deal. Jesus said, “Blessedare those who
mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matt. 5:4). The Lord’s Supper is a good
time to look in faith to the Savior whom we pierced.
Conclusion
Why did God give this remarkable prophecy to people who lived at least2,500
years before it would take place? It was not so that they could draw up
prophecy charts and read books abouthow soonthese things would take
place. He gave these prophecies to comfort His people as they went through
trials and facedthreatening enemies with the solid truth that He is a mighty
Savior, and that no one can touch His electapart from His purpose.
That’s how He wants us to apply it. If you have not yet repented of your sins
and trusted in Christ as your Savior, God may have kept you alive until now
so that today you would look on Him whom you pierced and mourn. If you
have trusted in Christ, He wants you to know that no enemy, whether
“tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, orperil, or
sword,” or even death itself, will be able to separate you from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:35-39)!
DiscussionQuestions

What theologicalproblem arises if you ascribe all trials to the devil? What
problem arises if you ascribe them to the Lord?
Should we pray that God would bring trials into the lives of loved ones to
bring them to repentance? Why/why not?
Why is it essentialto understand properly who Jesus is? Cana person be
savedand deny the deity or humanity of Jesus?
How does mourning oversin fit in with “rejoice always”?
Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2003,All Rights Reserved.
THOMAS CONSTABLE
Verse 10
The Lord also promised to pour out on the Davidic rulers and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, representing all the Israelites, a spirit of remorse. Grace would
be the motive for this outpouring, and supplication to God (for what the Jews
had done to their Messiah)would be the result. This God-givenconviction
would cause them to mourn when they looked(in faith) to Him (better than on
Him) whom they had formerly pierced (i.e, slain; cf. Numbers 21:9; Isaiah
45:22;Isaiah 53:5; John 3:14-15;John 19:34).
"It is not so much a mourning for the act committed, but for the Person
involved. Compare John 19:37; Revelation1:7." [Note:Feinberg, God
Remembers, p231.]
"The idea is that they will humble themselves and recognize that they were
savedby another whom they pierced." [Note:Smith, p277.]

They would mourn as one mourns over the death of one"s only (beloved, cf.
Genesis 22:2;Jeremiah6:26; Amos 8:10) son or his or her firstborn son.
"It is a picture of penitence as vivid and accurate as any found anywhere in
the Scriptures." [Note:Chambers, p94 , in Lange"s commentary.]
The Jews will do this either just before the Messiahreturns to the earth or
when He returns to the earth (cf. Isaiah27:9; Isaiah 59:20-21;Jeremiah
31:31-37;Amos 9:11-15;Romans 11:25-27;Revelation1:7). The spirit in view
will be a result of the ministry of the Holy Spirit who conveys grace
(compassion;cf. Hebrews 10:29)and calls forth supplication (prayer; cf.
Isaiah32:15; Isaiah44:3; Isaiah 59:20-21;Jeremiah 31:31;Jeremiah31:33;
Ezekiel36:26-27;Ezekiel39:29;Joel2:28-29). The coming of the messianic
kingdom is contingent on Israel"s repentance, God"s sovereigncontrol, and
the Spirit"s enabling grace. [Note:See StanleyD. Toussaintand JayA. Quine,
"No, NotYet: The Contingencyof God"s PromisedKingdom," Bibliotheca
Sacra164:654(April-June2007):131-47.]
The unusual combination "they will look to Me whom they have pierced" and
"they will mourn for Him" suggests two different individuals, but the deity of
the Messiahsolvesthis problem. Yahweh Himself would suffer for the people
in the personof Messiah. The suffering could be figurative (they wounded His
holiness)or substitutionary (He died in place of others). Other referencesto
this text point to a substitute suffering (e.g, John 19:37;Revelation1:7; cf.
Isaiah53:5; Isaiah53:8).
". . . like Thomas their excruciating and inexpressibly penetrating cry of
deepestcontrition will be, "My Lord and my God!" ( John 20:28)." [Note:
Unger, p217.]

RON DANIEL
hey Will Look On Me Whom They Have Pierced
This is one of the most difficult passagesforthe Jews to explain away. After
all, how can God be pierced? The explanation is of course simple to us. Justas
it was prophesied,
Ps. 22:16 ...Theypierced my hands and my feet.
Isa. 53:5 ...He was piercedthrough for our transgressions...
God's piercing occurred when He was hung on the cross, His hands and feet
were pierced. Then, the soldiers came, and...
John 19:33-37 ...whenthey saw that He was already dead, they did not break
His legs;but one of the soldiers piercedHis side with a spear, and immediately
there came out blood and water. And he who has seenhas borne witness, and
his witness is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also
may believe. For these things came to pass, that the Scripture might be
fulfilled, "NOT A BONE OF HIM SHALL BE BROKEN." And again
another Scripture says, "THEY SHALL LOOK ON HIM WHOM THEY
PIERCED."
They will look on Him again. Revelationsays,

Rev. 1:7 BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye
will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will
mourn over Him...
A C GAEBELEIN
Zechariah 12:10-14. This is anothergreat Messianicprophecymentioned in
the New Testament. In John 19:37 it is written, after the blessedside of our
Lord had been pierced, “And againanother Scripture saith, They shall look
on Him whom they pierced.” It is significantthat the Holy Spirit speaking in
the preceding verse, “that the Scripture be fulfilled,” avoids this wellknown
phrase in the verse we quoted and does not say that the looking on Him has
been fulfilled. It was not then fulfilled, nor is it fulfilled during the age of
Gospelpreaching, but its fulfillment comes in the day which is prophetically
describedin the verses before us. Matthew 24:30 and Revelation1:7 refer also
to this portion of our chapter.
We do not follow the rationalistic reasonings ofthe schoolof criticism on this
passage, nordo we mention the many question marks which these modern
infidels have put over againstthis greatprophecy. One of the mildest critics,
Canon Driver, says:“The passageis, however, one of those which our
ignorance of the circumstances ofthe time makes it impossible to interpret as
a whole satisfactorilyor completely. As the text stands the speakermust be, of
course, Yahweh, and it is, no doubt, true that the Jews had pierced Him
metaphorically by their rebellion and ingratitude throughout their history....
‘They pierced Him literally as the crowning act of their contumacy, in the
Personof His Sonon the cross’(T.T. Perowne;quoted by Driver), but these
considerations do not explain the passagehere.” The New Testament

quotations as given above are to any believer sufficient evidence that the Lord
Jesus Christ is meant, and therefore explain the passage fully.
What a day it will be when the Spirit of grace andsupplication comes upon
the remnant of His people, when He appears in the clouds of heaven, when
they shall see Him and know Him by the pierced side. The great vision of Saul
on the road to Damascus will then be repeated;the young Pharisee saw Him
as one “born out of due season.” He was in his experience the earnestthat the
remnant of the nation to which Paul belongedwould some day pass through
the same experience. (See Studies in Zechariah, pp. 120-125.)A great
mourning follows. It will be like the mourning in Hadad-rimmon in the valley
of Megiddon 2 Chronicles 35:22-27;2 Chronicles 35:1-27 :2 Kings 23:29.
What a day of repentance it will be when this takes place.
JOHN GILL
Verse 10
And I will pour out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of
Jerusalem,....The Jews that belong to the family of Christ, and to the heavenly
Jerusalem, the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven:
the Spirit of grace and of supplications; by which is meant the Holy Spirit of
God, who is calledthe "Spirit of grace";not merely because he is goodand
gracious, and loving to his people, and is of grace given unto them; but
because he is the author of all grace in them; of gracious convictions, and
spiritual illuminations; of quickening, regenerating, converting, and
sanctifying grace;and of all particular graces, as faith, hope, love, fear,
repentance, humility, joy, peace, meekness, patience, longsuffering, self-

Jesus was mourned for being pierced

Jesus was mourned for being pierced

Empfohlen

Empfohlen

Weitere ähnliche Inhalte

Was ist angesagt?

Was ist angesagt? (20)

Ähnlich wie Jesus was mourned for being pierced

Ähnlich wie Jesus was mourned for being pierced (20)

Mehr von GLENN PEASE

Mehr von GLENN PEASE (20)

Kürzlich hochgeladen

Kürzlich hochgeladen (20)

Jesus was mourned for being pierced