Deeper Commentary
Zechariah Chapter 13
Zechariah 13:1 In that day there will be a spring opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness- The purifying is alluding to Mosaic rituals of purification from sin and uncleanness, and also of preparing the priests for service. This spring is mentioned in Joel 3:18, where it apparently emerges from the temple mount. And in a symbolic sense it is used in John's Gospel and Rev. 21 of the cleansing available in Christ. Entry to the new covenant offered to the exiles had involved receiving purification and the Spirit as it were sprinkled on their hearts (Ez. 36:25). They didn't want this at that time, and yet it shall be given finally in the last days to those who want it. Whether or not there will be a literal spring from mount Zion at the Lord's return is to my mind a too literal and secular perspective. John and Revelation, along with Ez. 36:25, are clear that the essence is that the repentant mind will be washed by the Spirit, just as it can be for those in this life who accept God's dominion over them, His Kingdom.
Zechariah 13:2 It will come to pass in that day, says Yahweh of Armies, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they will be remembered no more. I will also cause the prophets and the spirit of impurity to pass out of the land- In contrast to the spirit of grace that will be poured out (Zech. 12:10), all other spirits will be driven out. The "that day" is that of :1, which finally will be the Lord's return. At Zechariah's time, there were still problems with idol worship and false prophets; and we can deduce from Nehemiah and Mal. 3:5; Zech. 10:2 that these were problems even after the restoration from Babylon. But the essence of these issues will again be seen in latter day Judah. Idolatry is now covetousness (Eph. 5:5; Col. 3:5), and this is currently the spirit of latter day Judah. "The spirit of impurity" surely connects with their being "three unclean spirits like frogs" which lead the nations of the eretz promised to Abraham to Armageddon (Rev. 16:13).
Zechariah 13:3 It will happen that, when anyone still prophesies, then
his father and his mother who bore him will tell him, ‘You must die,
because you speak lies in the name of Yahweh;’ and his father and his
mother who bore him will stab him when he prophesies- LXX "Bind him".
Binding is part of the condemnation process (Mt. 22:13). We are reading
about what is to happen "in that day" (:2), which finally refers to the
last day when the Lord returns. We may have envisaged here the
resurrection to judgment at that time of the false prophets of Zechariah's
time, and their parents. Those who remain impenitent will then be judged
and condemned. Then, their parents would be obedient to the commands of
Dt. 13:6-10 about what to do if your son was a false prophet.
Zechariah 13:4 It will happen in that day, that the prophets will each
be ashamed of his vision, when he prophesies; neither will they wear a
hairy mantle to deceive- This verse could suggest that the
resurrected false prophets repent, no longer wearing prophetic garb in
imitation of Elijah; or at least, they suffer the shame of condemnation as
they recall what they did. Too much stress should not be laid upon the
Hebrew tenses here.
Jacob's flight into Syria is set up as typical of Israel going into dispersion as a punishment for their idolatry. But they will return, as Jacob did. Then Israel will not wear a rough garment to deceive any more as Jacob did in order to deceive his father; then they will have renounced the human side of Jacob and captured his final spirituality for their own.
Zechariah 13:5 But he will say, ‘I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the
ground; for I have been made a bondservant from my youth’- This again
could be read as a statement of repentance by the resurrected false
prophets, insisting that they were no longer prophets. Or it could be a
desperate denial of their being false prophets; the accused would be
claiming that he only wore a hairy garment because he was an agricultural
labourer. It is this denial which leads to the objection of :6.
Zechariah 13:6 One will say to him, ‘What are these wounds in your
hands?’. Then he will answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house
of my friends- This appears to be in objection to the resurrected
false prophet protesting his innocence in :5. In this case, there is an
element to which the judgment process is a collective affair, with people
effectively judged by others, like the men of Nineveh judging first
century Israel; see on Rev. 16:15. The wounds in the palms would refer to
the self-inflicted wounds made by the prophets of Baal, as happened at the
time of Elijah's contest with them on Carmel. The Hebrew behind "With
which I was wounded" apparently implies 'Which I wounded myself with', and
this would confirm the application to how the false prophets wounded
themselves in worship sessions. This implies that the resurrected
still have some characteristics of their previous life. And the false
prophet in this case caves in and admits, that he had done this in the
house of his friends. He recognizes that the house of Baal was the house
of his friends, and his claim to have been an agricultural labourer-slave
with wounds in his hands from his labour was just an untrue excuse.
It is tempting to apply these words to the Lord Jesus showing wounds in His hands from the nails of the cross. But this is quite outside of the context.
Zechariah 13:7 Awake, sword- The idea is that the sword of
judicial judgment of men (Rom. 13:4) is commanded by God; whatever happens
as a result of it was therefore willed by God and was not random chance.
Against My shepherd- The intended shepherd was Zerubbabel and then Joshua. But they didn't live up to this. The intended scenario was that this shepherd would be smitten, and Judah again be scattered in captivity. But for whatever reason, perhaps because of the repentance and prayer of a tiny minority, that didn't happen. But the prophetic word came true at the time of the Lord Jesus, and the scattering and salvation of the weak faithed disciples became its fulfilment. Therefore the shepherd here clearly finally refers to Jesus (Mt. 26:31), although the shepherd elsewhere in Zechariah refers to the Angel- another proof that there was one specific Angel in the Old Testament that foreshadowed Jesus, presumably Gabriel.
And against the man who is close to Me, says Yahweh of Armies- The term can mean a close relative, an 'equal' only insofar as they are related. The term is supremely relevant to the relationship between Father and Son.
Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; and I will turn My hand against the little ones- The "little ones" are the lambs of the scattered sheep, and the term is also used of the disciples (Mt. 10:42; 18:6,10), who are also the scattered sheep (Mt. 26:31). The image of scattered sheep in the absence of shepherds is used of Judah's scattering as a result of their bad shepherds (Jer. 10:21; 23:1,2; Ez. 34:5,6). But this intended second scattering of Judah didn't then happen; the disciples as it were bore the fulfilment of it when they were scattered from the Lord and then spiritually reformed- for the Hebrew phrase "turn My hand against" doesn't have to mean that God was against the lambs. "Against" can as well be translated "upon" (as AV), and the identical Hebrew term is used in Is. 1:25: "I will turn My hand upon you and purge away your dross". There is the idea there of God's direct intervention in order to ultimately save.
Zechariah 13:8 It shall happen that in all the land, says Yahweh, two parts in it will be cut off and die; but the third will be left in it- This appears to continue in the context of :7 and therefore refers to the fate of the flock once the shepherd is cut off. I suggested on :7 that there was an initial scenario of the appointed "shepherd" of Judah being smitten, and the people being scattered again; and now we learn that there would have been the cutting off of two thirds within the land, and then the final spiritual purging of the remaining third. The cutting off is that of :2, where the same word is used of the cutting off of idols and those who worshipped them. For those who worship and trust them are like unto them (Ps. 115:8); the cutting off of the idols (:2) meant the cutting off of those who worshipped them (:8). But there has never been a time when two thirds of Judah were cut off and a third brought to repentance (:9). Perhaps, given that the preceding verse talks about the first century, the idea was that the Roman invasion would have led to a third repenting. This would fit in with the clear possibility that there was for the Lord Jesus to have returned in AD70. But they didn't repent. So this threatened scenario was deferred, and will therefore come true in the last days. The reference to "all the eretz" may intend us to understand that this is not in fact talking solely about Judah in Palestine, but about all the inhabitants of the eretz promised to Abraham; and a third of them will come to repentance.
Zechariah 13:9 I will bring the third part into the fire, and will
refine them as silver is refined, and will test them like gold is tested.
They will call on My name, and I will hear them. I will say, ‘It is My
people;’ and they will say, ‘Yahweh is my God’- This could well be speaking of how God cut off men like Zerubbabel
who were poor shepherds, although potential Messiahs; and it could
have then happened that during the ‘cutting off’ of Jewish population
during the Antiochus invasions, a minority could have repented and ushered
in the true restoration. But this didn’t happen, and so the prophecy had a
deferred fulfilment, although humanly speaking somewhat out of context, in
the cutting off of the good shepherd, the scattering of the disciples, and
their spiritual refining.
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