Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of bewilderment unto all the peoples round about, and also against Judah shall it be in the siege against Jerusalem.
Zechariah 12 opens a new "burden" — a weighty message from God. It goes straight to the last great siege of Jerusalem, when the nations around close in on the city. God does not promise to remove the armies. He promises to make the city itself something they cannot swallow.
The image comes from drinking. The ESV calls Jerusalem a "cup of staggering"; older translations say "trembling" or "bewilderment".
This word bewilderment has in it the thought of causing people to reel or stagger like a drunken person. When anyone meddles with Jerusalem, enemy or friend, God will make them act as if they had drunk a drug that leaves them unable to think or act straight.
A second picture joins the cup.
When they besiege it, they will find it a cup of 'trembling', or 'bewilderment', because nothing will go the way they imagine it will. It will also be a 'burdensome' stone, far beyond their power to lift or to carry.
Two things stand out in the wording: who the message is addressed to, and who the "surrounding peoples" are.
The burden of the word of the LORD here is for Israel. Notice that the whole people are before Him now. It is not just Judah… "Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples" — it is the nations again, of course not the Jews.
The phrase may stretch wider than Israel's immediate neighbours.
The term "round about" Jerusalem may include the armies that have come from far away, either to oppose or support the antichrist. It may also have in mind the nearby nations that are the long-standing enemies of Israel.
The verse adds that the siege falls on Judah as well as on the city. The attacking force is wide, and it has an aim in view.
All nations will find in Jerusalem a cup that makes them lose their mind — not just Assyria and the nations around Palestine, but also the mighty armies of the west… The "beast" and the false prophet will think that by occupying Jerusalem they have found the way to stop the true King from setting up His government there.
Commentators differ on who leads the attack.
The main point of this chapter, we judge, is the deliverance of Jerusalem and Judah, not the exact naming of the enemy who is destroyed. Even so, it is clear that at that time there will be an alliance of the Gentile nations against Judah and Jerusalem. The head of this alliance is not named.
The picture is not new. God had already given this same cup to His own people as discipline, and now it changes hands.
The closing verses of Isaiah 51 tell the effect of these disciplinary dealings. They then declare how God will reverse the process and punish those who inflicted judgment on Israel… When the Arm of the Lord wakes up for them, the hour of their deliverance will strike. The "cup of trembling" will pass out of their hands and into the hands of those who oppressed them.
The siege is not only a military event. It shows what God intends toward a people who had rejected their own King.
All the nations should be gathered round Jerusalem, but only to find it a burdensome stone that should crush them. God would judge the power of man, but would raise up His people in sovereign grace… This is sovereign grace to the chief of sinners: the weak but beloved Judah. To all her rebellion against God she had added the scorn and rejection of her King and Saviour.
What follows the rescue is repentance, not celebration alone. Only a portion of the nation comes through.
God will defend the city and its people in a miraculous way, and He will destroy the nations (v. 9). He will pour out the spirit of grace and supplication on the remnant of Israel — "all the families that remain"; and "they shall look upon Him whom they have pierced, and mourn."
- Cup — Jerusalem becomes a drink that makes her attackers stagger. Meddle with this city and you lose the power to think straight.
- Reversal — Jerusalem drank this cup herself under God's discipline. Now it passes to the ones who afflicted her.
- Reach — the ones who stagger are the nations, not the Jews. The phrase may cover old neighbours and armies from far away.
- Restraint — the chapter's focus is the rescue of Judah and Jerusalem. The prophet never names the head of the alliance.
- Result — the siege ends in sovereign grace to a guilty people. God gives them a spirit of grace and supplication, and they mourn over the One they pierced.
And it shall come to pass in that day [that] I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone unto all peoples all that burden themselves with it shall certainly be wounded, and all the nations of the earth shall be assembled together against it.
Zechariah has just described a people who refused the good Shepherd. Now every nation on earth closes in on Jerusalem, and two questions follow: why do they gather, and what makes one city too heavy to lift?
The siege does not come out of nowhere. The previous chapter described a people who refused the good Shepherd and welcomed an evil one instead.
Anyone who reads the Scriptures with a clear eye can see it: first Christ was despised, and at the last comes Antichrist. They refused the good Shepherd, and they accept the evil shepherd. God then repays His guilty people with judgment. In the next chapter (Zechariah 12) we see the nations gathering against Jerusalem. Receiving the Antichrist, after rejecting the Christ, is the ground of God's terrible judgments… If they gather themselves together, and God uses them to deal with Jerusalem, He will turn His hand and use Jerusalem to deal with the nations.
Older translations call this stone "burdensome." It is a weight no army can lift. The phrase "in that day," repeated through the chapter, fixes when this happens.
When they besiege the city, they will find it a cup of "trembling," or "bewilderment," because nothing will go the way they imagine. It will also be a "burdensome" stone, far beyond their power to lift or carry. At last God will be acting for His people and with them, and that will change everything. Verse 3 begins, "And in that day…" Another "day" is going to dawn, and the phrase "in that day" comes again in verses 4, 6, 8, 9 and 11. It is the "day of the Lord," which other prophets have spoken about.
Jerusalem is no ordinary city under siege. God weighs her guilt too, and He judges anyone who meddles with her — attacker or self-appointed protector.
The prophecy then goes on to show how the eyes of God take account of both the guilt of Jerusalem and the guilt of those nations who burden themselves with it. Jerusalem is God's centre on earth. He will not put up with the proud meddling of men, whether they attack the city or protect it in a patronising way. It is God who will deal with her and purge her.
This is not just a local war. The strongest armies in the world join in, and their aim goes beyond taking land.
All nations will find in Jerusalem a cup that drives them out of their minds — not only the Assyrian and the nations around Palestine, but also the mighty armies of the west: "All who lift it will surely hurt themselves" (v. 3)… The "beast" and the false prophet will think that by occupying Jerusalem they have found the way to stop the true King from setting up His government there.
Some link this stone with the stone of Matthew 21:44, where Christ Himself is the stone. Kelly keeps the two apart:
I see no reason to identify the stone in Zechariah 12:3 with the stone in Matthew 21:44. The first clearly means Jerusalem itself. The second means the Lord Himself, in two positions that match His two comings. First, in His humiliation, He is like a stone lying in the ground, and "whoever falls on this stone will be broken to pieces"… Next, He is exalted to heaven, and when He comes again in power and great glory He will carry out destroying judgment — "when it falls on anyone, it will crush him." "A burdensome stone" is a different idea, and it will be true of Jerusalem in the last days.
Judgment on the nations is only half of that day. God also raises up His own people, and they have done nothing to deserve it.
All the nations will gather round Jerusalem, only to find it a burdensome stone that crushes them. God would judge the power of man, but would raise up His people in sovereign grace… This is sovereign grace shown to the worst of sinners — weak but beloved Judah. On top of all her rebellion against God, she had despised and rejected her King and Saviour.
- Cause. The people refused the good Shepherd and accepted the evil one. That is the ground of God's judgment, and the nations gather next.
- Weight. The stone is too heavy to lift. Every siege ends in bewilderment, because nothing goes the way the armies imagine.
- Centre. Jerusalem is God's centre on earth. He allows no proud meddling, neither attack nor patronising protection. He deals with her Himself.
- Reach. The siege draws in far more than nearby nations; the armies of the west come too. Their aim is to keep the true King from reigning there.
- Result. The same day crushes the nations and raises up the people who rejected their King. Judgment on man's power; sovereign grace to the guilty.
In that day, saith Jehovah, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness; but I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the peoples with blindness.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And the leaders of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength through Jehovah of hosts their God.
Zechariah 12 describes a day when the nations gather against Jerusalem and God acts to save His people. Verse 5 is not a battle report but a thought forming in the minds of Judah's leaders.
The chapter belongs to the final crisis. One writer notes the order: God rescues before Judah has done anything to deserve it.
All the nations would gather around Jerusalem, only to find it a heavy stone that would crush them. God would judge the power of man, but would raise up His people in sovereign grace. He would destroy the nations that had come up against Jerusalem. The rescue of the people by the power of the LORD comes first. This is sovereign grace to the chief of sinners — weak but beloved Judah, who had added to all her rebellion against God the despising and rejection of her King and Saviour.
The verse does not report a speech out loud. It reports a thought inside the leaders, whom older translations call the governors of Judah. One writer sees that hidden thought as the first trace of God's rescue at work.
Notice that this is an inward conviction worked in the hearts of the governors of Judah. No doubt the Lord Himself worked it. Even if they do not know it, it is the sign that His work of deliverance has begun.
Judah's leaders fix their hope on the very people who seem least able to help — a city ringed by armies.
To human eyes at such a moment the people of Jerusalem seem finished. The nations have them under siege in their own city. They look helpless, exposed to the full fury of the enemy. Yet it is to these doomed-looking people that the leaders of Judah look. They are led to feel that their strength lies in them — and if in them or through them, then only from the LORD their God.
Another writer reads the same line as leaders valuing the faith of the city.
At that time the governors or leaders of the surrounding area of Judah will recognise the value of Jerusalem as the centre of their nation. They will appreciate the faith of the people in the city, who came through such storms. Their faith becomes a strength for the leaders of Judah, "through the LORD of hosts, their God."
The closing words of the verse are not decoration. The title answers the very thing Judah was facing.
The very name of God matters here. It is the LORD of hosts, in contrast with the hosts of men who had gathered against His people. This name is tied to the people of Jerusalem, and it is used here to give confidence to the governors of Judah.
One writer finds a fixed order in God's way of working. He points back to David for proof.
First the Lord works in the heart of these leaders. Then He shows their strength… As always, the Lord first prepares His instruments in secret. When the time comes to use them, He shows they are fit for the work. That is how He trained David. While David kept his father's sheep, his fights with the lion and the bear prepared him to defeat Goliath, the enemy of Israel.
Some have read Judah as joining the invading nations. One writer says this verse will not carry that reading.
I also do not think Zechariah 12:5-6 can carry that writer's reading, as if Judah were fighting against Jerusalem at that time.
- Grace first. Rescue comes first, by God's power alone. He raises up a people who had rejected their own King.
- Heart first. God works a conviction inside the leaders — the first sign that His rescue has begun.
- Look first. They look where no strategist would look: to a surrounded city, and through it to the LORD their God.
- Name first. The title "LORD of hosts" answers the hosts of men camped outside the walls.
- Power last. What God prepares in secret He later shows in public. He trained David long before Goliath.
In that day will I make the leaders of Judah like a hearth of fire among wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the peoples round about, on the right hand and on the left; and Jerusalem shall dwell again in her own place, in Jerusalem.
Zechariah 12 shows the nations massed around Jerusalem. In the middle of that siege, God turns Judah's leaders into fire: a blazing pot among logs, a torch dropped into dry grain. So when does this happen? Who are these leaders? And how does a people under attack become the ones doing the devouring?
Nothing in Israel's past matches this picture. One writer sets it beside Zechariah's other promises of a restored city and draws a blunt conclusion:
Again, how unlike anything that has yet happened in Jewish history is a prophecy like this one, and how completely it fails to fit the Church. To apply it either to Israel's past history or to the Church is to turn prophecy into a mockery, and to strip the Word of God of all value.
Some translations call these men the "governors" or "leaders" of Judah, where the ESV has "clans." The verse before this one records what they say to themselves. This verse shows what God then makes of them. The order matters, and so does the mercy behind it:
But here we see that He keeps His eyes open over the house of Judah. How great is His grace! The house of Judah had rejected Him, yet He will take note of that same house first! After that He will begin to work through the leaders of Judah. They say in their hearts, "The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength through Jehovah of hosts their God." The remnant of Jerusalem that has remained faithful to God will be their moral support.
These leaders do not appear from nowhere. God trains His workers out of sight before He displays them, and one verse holds the whole rescue:
As always, the Lord first prepares His instruments in secret. Then, when the time comes to use them, He shows how fit they are for the work. So He trained David while he was tending his father's flocks. Through his fights with the lion and the bear, He made David ready to beat Goliath, the enemy of Israel. In the same way these princes of Judah have been trained. Now, when He launches them against the nations, nothing can stand before them. They are like a raging, devouring fire that consumes all that comes before it… into this one verse the Spirit of God has crowded the whole deliverance of Jerusalem, along with the restoration and blessing that follow.
God does not rescue Israel from the sidelines. He acts through them:
Zechariah 10 shows how God will use Judah and Ephraim in that day. He will fight not only for them, but in them and by them. It is a great mistake to think that Jehovah will do it all single-handed.
But God does not use them everywhere. Some enemies fall with no human hand at all:
The destruction of the Western armies described in Revelation 19:19-21, and the overthrow of the hordes of Russia and her allies in Ezekiel 39, will happen without any human help at all. But against other enemies God intends to use a delivered Israel. Zechariah 9:13, Zechariah 12:6 and other Scriptures make this plain.
This is not a pattern for Christians to copy now. One writer explains why:
God could not use the saints of the present age for this work, at least not while they are still on earth. The present age is one of pure, perfect grace. The Church's place is to walk in the steps of Him who suffered and took it patiently, and who cried from the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." But an age of righteousness will just as surely follow this present age of grace.
The verse ends with Jerusalem settled again on her own site. The verses around it keep pointing past the human agents to God:
Verse 6 tells us that the Lord uses the governors of Judah as His devouring flame against the nations that have tried to destroy His people. He promises that Jerusalem will be lived in again as before. So that there should be no strife between the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Lord steps in to save "the tents of Judah" first… Whatever the instruments, it is the Lord Himself who has stepped in, for He says, "I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem" (verse 9).
- Grace first. God opens His eyes on the very house that rejected Him, and only then works through its leaders.
- Training first. He prepares His instruments quietly — as with David and the lion — before He launches them.
- Fire next. A blazing pot among logs, a flaming torch among sheaves: leaders made into a fire nothing can stand before.
- Reach after that. They devour the peoples around them, right and left. Other enemies God destroys with no human hand at all.
- Result last. Jerusalem is lived in again in her own place. The credit goes to the Lord, who says He will destroy every nation that comes against her.