@Zec 13:1-9. CLEANSING OF THE JEWS FROM SIN; ABOLITION OF IDOLATRY; THE SHEPHERD SMITTEN; THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND CUT OFF, EXCEPT A THIRD PART REFINED BY TRIALS.
1. Connected with the close of the twelfth chapter. The mourning
penitents are here comforted.
fountain opened--It has been long opened, but then first it shall be
so "to the house of David," &c. (representing all Israel) after
their long and weary wanderings. Like Hagar in the wilderness they
remain ignorant of the refreshment near them, until God "opens their
eyes" (@Ge 21:19) [MOORE]. It is not the fountain, but their eyes
that need to be opened. It shall be a "fountain" ever flowing; not a
laver needing constantly to be replenished with water, such as stood
between the tabernacle and altar (@Ex 30:18).
for sin . . . uncleanness--that is, judicial guilt and moral impurity.
Thus justification and sanctification are implied in this verse as both
flowing from the blood of Christ, not from ceremonial sacrifices
(@1Co 1:30 Heb 9:13,14 1Jo 1:7; compare @Eze 36:25). Sin in
Hebrew is literally a missing the mark or way.
2. Consequences of pardon; not indolence, but the extirpation of sin.
names of . . . idols--Their very names were not to be mentioned; thus
the Jews, instead of Mephibaal, said Mephibosheth (Bosheth meaning a
contemptible thing)
(@Ex 23:13 De 12:3 Ps 16:4).
out of the land--Judea's two great sins, idolatry and false prophecy,
have long since ceased. But these are types of all sin (for example,
covetousness, @Eph 5:5, a besetting sin of the Jews now). Idolatry,
combined with the "spirit" of "Satan," is again to be incarnated in "the
man of sin," who is to arise in Judea (@2Th 2:3-12), and is to be
"consumed with the Spirit of the Lord's mouth." Compare as to
Antichrist's papal precursor, "seducing spirits . . . doctrines of
devils," &c., @1Ti 4:1-3 2Pe 2:1.
the unclean spirit--Hebrew, spirit of uncleanness
(compare @Re 16:13);
opposed to "the Spirit of holiness" (@Ro 1:4), "spirit
of error" (@1Jo 4:6). One assuming to be divinely inspired, but in
league with Satan.
3. The form of phraseology here is drawn from @De 13:6-10 18:20. The substantial truth expressed is that false prophecy shall be utterly abolished. If it were possible for it again to start up, the very parents of the false prophet would not let parental affection interfere, but would be the first to thrust him through. Love to Christ must be paramount to the tenderest of natural ties (@Mt 10:37). Much as the godly love their children, they love God and His honor more.
4. prophets . . . ashamed--of the false prophecies which they have
uttered in times past, and which the event has confuted.
rough garment--sackcloth. The badge of a prophet
(@2Ki 1:8 Isa 20:2), to mark their frugality alike in food and attire
(@Mt 3:4); also, to be consonant to the mournful warnings which they
delivered. It is not the dress that is here condemned, but the purpose
for which it was worn, namely, to conceal wolves under sheep's clothing
[CALVIN]. The monkish hair-shirt of Popery, worn to inspire the
multitude with the impression of superior sanctity, shall be then cast
aside.
5, 6. The detection of one of the false prophets dramatically
represented. He is seized by some zealous vindicator of the law, and in
fear cries out, "I am no prophet."
man--that is, one.
taught me to keep cattle--As "keeping cattle" is not the same as to
be "an husbandman," translate rather, "Has used (or 'appropriated') me
as a servant," namely, in husbandry
[MAURER]. However, husbandry and
keeping cattle might be regarded as jointly the occupation of the person
questioned: then @Am 7:14, "herdman," will accord with
English Version. A Hebrew kindred word means "cattle." Both
occupations, the respondent replies, are inconsistent with my being a
"prophet."
6. wounds in thine hand--The interrogator still suspects him: "If
so, if you have never pretended to be a prophet, whence come those
wounds?" The Hebrew is literally, "between thine hands." The
hands were naturally held up to ward off the blows, and so were "thrust
through" (@Zec 13:3) "between" the bones of the hand. Stoning was the usual punishment; "thrusting through" was also a fit retribution
on one who tried to "thrust Israel away" from the Lord (@De 13:10);
and perfects the type of Messiah, condemned as a false prophet, and
pierced with "wounds between His hands." Thus the transition to the
direct prophecy of Him (@Zec 13:7) is natural, which it would not be
if He were not indirectly and in type alluded to.
wounded in . . . house of my friends--an implied admission that he
had pretended to prophecy, and that his friends had wounded him for it
in zeal for God (@Zec 13:3). The Holy Spirit in Zechariah alludes
indirectly to Messiah, the Antitype, wounded by those whom He came to
befriend, who ought to have been His "friends," who were His kinsmen
(compare @Zec 13:3, as to the false prophet's friends, with
@Mr 3:21, "His friends," Margin, "kinsmen"; @Joh 7:5; "His
own," @Joh 1:11; the Jews, "of whom as concerning the flesh He
came," @Ro 9:5), but who wounded Him by the agency of the Romans
(@Zec 12:10).
7. Expounded by Christ as referring to Himself (@Mt 26:31,32).
Thus it is a resumption of the prophecy of His betrayal
(@Zec 11:4,10,13,14), and the subsequent punishment of the Jews. It
explains the mystery why He, who came to be a blessing, was cut off
while bestowing the blessing. God regards sin in such a fearful light
that He spared not His own co-equal Son in the one Godhead, when that
Son bore the sinner's guilt.
Awake--Compare a similar address to the sword of justice personified
(@Jer 46:6,7). For "smite" (imperative), @Mt 26:31 has "I will
smite." The act of the sword, it is thus implied, is
GOD'S act. So the
prophecy in @Isa 6:9, "Hear ye," is imperative; the fulfilment as
declared by Jesus is future (@Mt 13:14), "ye shall hear."
sword--the symbol of judicial power, the highest exercise of which
is to take away the life of the condemned (@Ps 17:13 Ro 13:4). Not
merely a show, or expression, of justice (as Socinians think) is
distinctly implied here, but an actual execution of it on Messiah the
shepherd, the substitute for the sheep, by God as judge. Yet God in this
shows His love as gloriously as His justice. For God calls Messiah "My shepherd," that is, provided (@Re 13:8) for sinners by My love to
them, and ever the object of My love, though judicially smitten
(@Isa 53:4) for their sins (@Isa 42:1 59:16).
man that is my fellow--literally, "the man of my union." The Hebrew for "man" is "a mighty man," one peculiarly man in his noblest ideal.
"My fellow," that is, "my associate." "My equal"
([DE
WETTE]; a
remarkable admission from a Rationalist). "My nearest kinsman"
[HENGSTENBERG], (@Joh 10:30 14:10,11 Php 2:6).
sheep shall be scattered--The scattering of Christ's disciples on His
apprehension was the partial fulfilment (@Mt 26:31), a pledge of the
dispersion of the Jewish nation (once the Lord's sheep, @Ps 100:3)
consequent on their crucifixion of Him. The Jews, though "scattered,"
are still the Lord's "sheep," awaiting their being "gathered" by Him
(@Isa 40:9,11).
I will turn . . . hand upon . . . little ones--that is, I will
interpose in favor of (compare the phrase in a good sense, @Isa 1:25)
"the little ones," namely, the humble followers of Christ from the
Jewish Church, despised by the world: "the poor of the flock"
(@Zec 11:7,11); comforted after His crucifixion at the resurrection
(@Joh 20:17-20); saved again by a special interposition from the
destruction of Jerusalem, having retired to Pella when Cestius Gallus so
unaccountably withdrew from Jerusalem. Ever since there has been a
Jewish "remnant" of "the little ones . . . according to the election of
grace." The hand of Jehovah was laid in wrath on the Shepherd that His
hand might be turned in grace upon the little ones.
8, 9. Two-thirds of the Jewish nation were to perish in the Roman wars, and a third to survive. Probably from the context (@Zec 14:2-9), which has never yet been fulfilled, the destruction of the two-thirds (literally, "the proportion of two," or "portion of two") and the saving of the remnant, the one-third, are still future, and to be fulfilled under Antichrist.
9. through . . . fire--of trial
(@Ps 66:10 Am 4:11 1Co 3:15 1Pe 1:6,7). It hence appears that the
Jews' conversion is not to precede, but to follow, their external
deliverance by the special interposition of Jehovah; which latter shall
be the main cause of their conversion, combined with a preparatory
inward shedding abroad in their hearts of the Holy Spirit
(@Zec 12:10-14); and here, "they shall call on My name," in their
trouble, which brings Jehovah to their help (@Ps 50:15).
my people--(@Jer 30:18-22 Eze 11:19,20 Ho 2:23).