Zechariah 12:10–14

It was in Jerusalem that our Lord was rejected and condemned to be crucified. It was in Jerusalem that the gospel was first preached. And it is in Jerusalem that Jehovah will first begin the work of grace when He returns to Zion. Nothing could more magnify His grace and unchanging love. And nothing could more fully reveal the helpless condition of man than the fact recorded here: it is Jehovah who will pour out on His people the spirit of grace and pleas for mercy — the same Jehovah they had rejected in the person of Jesus. All things truly are of God; and so, as the apostle writes, "by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God."

Zechariah wrote this 500 years before the crucifixion. He speaks of a future time of trouble. The Gentiles will gather around Jerusalem, and God will appear on their behalf when all seems lost. They will then recognise in their deliverer God the One whom they pierced. The "I" of the passage is certainly God, Jehovah of Israel. Yet if they had once "pierced" Him, He must have taken a body and come in humiliation. In whom can all this meet but in Jesus of Nazareth, the Lord God of Israel?

Through John, the Spirit records in chapter 19 about Jesus, "one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear... These things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled... They will look on him whom they have pierced." Here we have God's own divinely given answer to our earlier question! And when Thomas (a picture of the favoured remnant of Israel in a future day) saw the wounds — looking on the Pierced One, risen from among the dead — he exclaimed, "My Lord and my God!"

God seeks to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. That destruction is given here as the occasion of the conversion of the Jews — when they come to recognise Him whom they had pierced.

This grief has no equal. To deepen the sense of the sorrow, it is called bitterness for Him, like the bitterness of one grieving for a firstborn. Blessed grief, we may add. It shares in that sorrow according to God, which produces a repentance no one regrets, and its end will prove to be light, blessing, and joy. Such weeping may last for the night, but joy will come in the morning.

Their fathers' guilt and the nation's sin, which they are tied to, will become plain to them. Looking on Him whom they as part of Israel pierced, they will mourn. What an awakening there will be! Centuries of national unbelief judged in a moment... Their mourning is not the bitterness of despair, as if they had learned there is no hope. It is the sorrow of broken hearts at discovering the love He had shown them, and their rejection of it.

What a day it will be when the Spirit of grace and supplication comes on the remnant of His people, and they see Him appear in the clouds of heaven and know Him by the pierced side! The great vision Saul had on the road to Damascus will then be repeated. The young Pharisee saw Him as one "untimely born." In his own experience he was the pledge that the remnant of the nation Paul belonged to would one day pass through the same experience.

Revelation announces that all the tribes of the earth will wail because of Him — not in repentance, but because it seals their doom, and they realise it.

A place in the valley of Megiddo where there had been great mourning. The prophet quotes it as a picture of the great mourning there will be at Jerusalem. That mourning will come when Judah's sin comes home to their conscience — the sin of demanding the death of their Messiah. Most take the reference to be the time when Josiah was struck down in that same valley, though the histories do not speak of any mourning there.

This is the same mourning as the previous verse describes. It is the mourning that follows their discovery that the One they had pierced was none other than Jehovah. Now, to show how deep and strong it is, the prophet points to one of the most disastrous events that had ever happened to the nation: the death of Josiah, who was fatally wounded in battle with Necho, king of Egypt, in the valley of Megiddo. For in truth the death of this king was the sunset of the kingdom of Judah. A few gleams of light may have lingered afterwards in Jehovah's mercy. But they soon faded into utter night, for both kings and people were deaf to the pleading of the prophets.

King Josiah had been the instrument in God's hand to bring about the most exceptional revival in the last days of Judah's kingdom. In a war with Egypt, that same Josiah had been cut off in the prime of his life. In a lamentation, Jeremiah and many others with him expressed the mourning that this event had brought into the hearts of people and prophet.

Note the last proud assault of vast opposing armies before the Millennium is set up. Jerusalem is the prize in view. It is called the battle of Armageddon (the hill Megiddo). The place of repentance and restoration for Israel, by contrast, is likened to mourning in the valley of Megiddo.

Hadadrimmon means "sound of the pomegranate." The pomegranate is full of seeds, and it is often connected with the fruitful blessing of the Millennium. So the mourning of the Jews will be like the sound of promised blessing in store for them. True repentance is the sure sign of blessing to come.

We find here not only a sketch of what will take place in Jerusalem, but also the spiritual history of us all. We have completely separated ourselves from God. We cannot return to Him except by showing repentance. This repentance will not leave the people of Jerusalem in despair. Nor can it do so for the Christian. The sorrow of those who will find a Saviour in "Him whom they have pierced" will not be despair. It is like what Joseph's brothers felt when they recognised that their deliverer was the brother they had sold to the Gentiles.

In a time yet to come for the Jewish people, in Zechariah 12:10-14, this day will not be left out. Then there will be a great mourning at Jerusalem, "as the mourning of Hadad-rimmon, in the valley of Megiddon". It will then be time for this same people... to receive again, as the king of glory, the Messiah whom they had rejected and crucified. The remnant of the future will be unable to celebrate the feast of tabernacles (Zech. 14:16) until after this great day of atonement.

If it is a national sorrow, it is also a household sorrow — in fact an individual sorrow. It is sure proof of how thorough a work of repentance the Spirit of God will do in their hearts. Every family, and every individual in the family, will own the sin of having crucified the Lord... It is true that Christ died for the nation. The nation — that is, the remnant brought into that place before God — will own its sin in rejecting the Messiah. Yet every individual must own his sin "apart," alone in the presence of God, to come under the value and power of the sacrifice of Christ.

"Every family apart." The work is so close and so real that we even hear of "their wives apart." The nearest and closest relationships are cut off, so that there may be now, for the first time, "truth in the inward parts."... They go alone, each before God, so that everything may come out and be cleared. Surely this should warn us about the danger these days of huge meetings, revivals and the like. This is not said to weaken anyone's confidence, but so that all may see how serious it is for souls to be alone with God about their sins.

The house of David is mentioned for the reason given earlier in the chapter. The kings were held responsible for the state of the nation, and it was the sin of this house that brought the kingdom to its judicial end. Nathan is named perhaps as the representative of the prophets, since he was the prophet in David's days. The house of Levi stands here especially for the priestly family... And it was the chief priests who wanted Jesus condemned. They cried out, deliberately denying their national history and their national hopes: "We have no king but Caesar."

The work will go further back still; it will reach right up to the beginning... Levi and Simeon, or Shimei, were the very heads who conspired in revenge for their sister Dinah. They made the names of Jacob's sons stink in the earliest days. Now the descendants of these two, who were together in their cruel wickedness, are named together as they bow alone to confess each his own guilt before Jehovah.

The family of the reproving prophet is also there: Nathan's descendants are mourning too. Instead of reproving David now, they judge themselves without sparing, and each confesses his own sin... So there will be no question of David exposed before Nathan, or of Nathan dealing with David. Each will find his own sin. All will grieve over their common sin against the Messiah.

This repentance will not produce a condition of despair for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Nor can it do so for the Christian. The sorrow of those who will find a Saviour in "Him whom they have pierced" will not be despair. It is like what Joseph's brothers felt when they recognised that their deliverer was the brother they had sold to the Gentiles... The generations will not face God collectively as one nation, but house by house, with the men apart and the women apart.

The prophet tells us that "all other families" will mourn separately. This whole scene will be the final fulfilment of the great Day of Atonement. Only then will God's people understand the meaning of this type.

The house of Levi stands here especially for the priestly family. In setting out the causes of God's intervention in judgment in the reign of Zedekiah, the Holy Spirit says, "All the officers of the priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations. And they polluted the house of the LORD that He had made holy in Jerusalem" (2 Chronicles 36:14). And it was the chief priests who cried out, "We have no king but Caesar" (John 19:15), to secure the condemnation of Jesus. In saying it, they knowingly denied their national history and their national hopes.

A family who will mourn apart at the repentance of Jerusalem, Zechariah 12:13. Some connect this with another Shimei; but SIMEON is the reading in the margin, and in the Septuagint, the Arabic and the Syriac versions.

Levi and Simeon, or Shimei, were the very heads who conspired in revenge for their sister Dinah. In the earliest days they made the name of Jacob's sons a disgrace. Now the descendants of these two, who stood together in their cruel wickedness, are named together as they bow alone to confess each his own guilt before the LORD. There is no more beautiful picture of the power of divine grace searching the heart. It trusts the Lord fully, yet condemns one's own sins to the very end.

If it is a national sorrow, it is also a household sorrow — indeed an individual sorrow. This is sure proof of how thorough the work of repentance will be that the Spirit of God works in their hearts. Every family, and every individual in the family, will own the sin of having crucified the Lord. Each family, isolated by its own personal convictions, confesses apart the depth of its sin. No fear of judgment or punishment comes in to spoil the character and the truth of their sorrow. Their souls are restored according to the efficacy of the work of Christ.

The mourning and repentance of the people will be deep. Husband and wife will be apart in this. Their repentance will be so deep that it cannot be shared with another.

Repentance, as always, is an intensely individual matter. "The spirit of grace" will move them, and they will give up every thought of deserving anything under law. A century or so earlier they had mourned deeply in the valley of Megiddo over the early death of Josiah. But now there will be a mourning across the whole land. It will be so deep that everyone has to be alone before their God. Long ago Nathan had to come to David and convict him of grievous sin, saying, "You are the man!" But now the house of Nathan has to be apart in their own sorrowful self-judgment.

Deep and bitter as the mourning will be, it will be the prelude to the glorious reign of Christ for a thousand years. The Jewish nation will no longer be the tail but the head of the nations. This is because their King will be the Lord Jesus Christ — the very One they crucified. Yet His atoning death now brings them into these glorious blessings. The nation will keep the great day of atonement in knowledge and in truth as never before.

Finally, the family of the house of Shimei. Shimei was the subject who cursed David (2 Sam. 16:5-8). So the whole range of the population of Judah and Benjamin is represented. The phrase "all the families that remain" shows the same thing, after the Great Tribulation has terribly reduced the land. How wonderful it will be to see this formerly rebellious nation bowed in genuine repentance at the feet of the Lord Jesus! … This will be a truly national repentance, but wonderfully individual at the same time.

In the past Nathan had to come to David and convict him of grievous sin, saying, "You are the man!" Now the house of Nathan has to be apart in their own sorrowful self-judgment. Simeon and Levi were once brothers who acted together in an act of cruelty, as Genesis 49:5 shows. Now their families will be apart, bowed in self-judgment before their God.

"Every family apart." The work is so close, so real, that we even hear of "their wives apart." The nearest and closest relationships are broken off, so that there may be now, for the first time, "truth in the inward parts." … All are convicted. Each is so deeply filled with the sense of his own sins that he thoroughly feels the need to be alone with God. It is not only real but deep work; it is not the mere effect of feeling or sympathy fed by a weeping crowd. They go alone, each before God, so that everything may be out and clear. Surely this should be a warning about the danger in our own day of huge meetings, revivals and the like.

The closest relationship counts for nothing in the presence of sin and of God as its judge. Each must be alone: the husband apart and the wife apart. Each is shut out from every influence and every thought except what He is. That is true despite what each had been to Him whom they pierced, yet who died for them.

If it is national, it is also a household sorrow — even an individual one. It is a sure proof of how thoroughly the Spirit of God will work repentance in their hearts. Every family, and every individual in the family, will own the sin of having crucified the Lord. "Each family, isolated by its own personal convictions, confesses apart the depth of its sin. No fear of judgment or punishment comes in to spoil the character and the truth of their sorrow. Their souls are restored according to the efficacy of the work of Christ." … Christ died for the nation, and the nation will own its sin in rejecting the Messiah. But every individual must own his sin "apart," alone in the presence of God, to come under the value and efficacy of the sacrifice of Christ.

The sin of the nation, mourned over in this way by the remnant, is washed away. "On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness." The opening of this fountain "to the house of David" and "to Jerusalem" needs little explanation. It must mean that God applies the benefits of Christ's death to them. There is no other fountain for sin and uncleanness.