Jesus was the piercer of the heart

JESUS WAS THE PIERCER OF THE HEART
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Zechariah 12:10 10"And I will pour out on the house
of Davidand the inhabitants of Jerusalema spiritof
grace and supplication. They will look on 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.
The Pierced One Pierces The Heart
BY SPURGEON
“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
mourns for his only son and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is
in bitterness for his first-born.”
Zechariah 12:10
THIS prophecy, first of all, refers to the Jewishpeople. And I am happy that
it confirms our hearts in the belief of the goodwhich the Lord will do unto
Israel. We know of a surety, because Godhas said it, that the Jews will be
restoredto their own land and that they shall inherit the goodlycountry
which the Lord has given unto their fathers by a Covenant of saltforever.
But, better still, they shall be converted to the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ
and shall see in Him the house of David restoredto the throne of Israel. The
day is coming when they shall see in Jesus ofNazareth, that Messiahfor

whom their saints lookedwith joyful expectation, of whom the Prophets spoke
with rapture, but who was despisedand rejectedof their blinded sires.
Happy day! Happy day! When our JewishBrethren shall all be found
worshipping before the Lord of Hosts through their greatHigh Priest, who is
a Priestforever, after the order of Melchizedek!We must remember the
prophecy concerning this thing. We must enquire of the Lord concerning His
promise. We must expect its fulfillment, labor for it and then beyond a doubt,
when the due seasonshallhave arrived, Israelshall own her king and upon
the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalemthe Spirit of Grace and
supplication shall be poured out.
We intend to hear our text, upon the present occasion, as it speaks to
ourselves. A greatmistake is very common among all classesofmen–it is
currently believed that we are, first of all, to mourn for our sins and then to
look by faith to our Lord Jesus Christ. Mostpersons who have any concern
about their souls but are not as yet enlightened by the Spirit of God think that
there is a degree of tenderness of conscienceandof hatred of sin which they
are to obtain, somehow or other, and then they will be permitted and
authorized to look to Jesus Christ. Now you will perceive that this is not
according to the Scripture, for, according to the text before us men first look
upon Him whom they have pierced and then, but not till then, they mourn for
their sin!
This is the common folly of men–they look for the effect in order to produce
the cause. Theyforgetthe old proverb and put the cart before the horse. But
our text plainly indicates what is the cause, and puts it first, assuring us that
the effectwill follow. Repentance is in no sense a title to faith in Christ. It is,
on the other hand, a legitimate consequence offaith. In certain diseasesthe
surgeonaims at producing an outward eruption which carries off the internal
poison and so assistsin the cure. But no man would be justified in refraining
from medical advice until he could see the eruption in his skin–that being a
healthy sign, a prognostic of cure–a result of medicine, and by no means a
preparation for it.
So repentance is the bringing into our ownsight the sin which lurks within. It
is a result of the medicine of faith. But we should be foolish, indeed, if we
refused to believe until we saw in ourselves that repentance which only faith
can produce! That repentance which is unattended by faith in the Lord Jesus
is an evil repentance which works wrath and only sets the soul at a greater
distance from God than it was before. Sweet, heart-melting, reconciling
repentance brings the soul to love the Lord and to hope in His mercy–this
precious gem always glitters on the hand of faith and nowhere else.

Without faith it is impossible to please God. And consequently an unbelieving
repentance has nothing in it acceptable to God. Unbelieving repentance may
be so deep as to drive us to hang ourselves, like Judas, but its only result
would be to secure for us Judas’s doom. Without faith, if our hearts could
break–ifour eyes could become perpetual fountains of tears–ourrepentance
would in no way whateverbe regardedby God except as a continuance of our
sin. We would really be rejecting the Lord Jesus and setting up our own
bitterness of soul in competition with the finished work of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Let us be quite clearon this point, then, to start with, that it is not
mourning for sin which causes orprepares the wayfor our looking to Christ.
It is our looking to Jesus which makes us weep and mourn for Him and works
in us the sweetbitterness of true repentance. We will considerthree points–
first, what there is in a sight of the PiercedOne to make us mourn. Secondly,
what is the characteroftrue mourning for sin. And thirdly, what is that which
connects Jesus andthis true mourning. The text tells us that looking does it
all–“Theyshall look upon Me whom they have piercedand they shall mourn
for Him.”
1. WHAT IS THERE IN A SIGHT OF JESUS TO MAKE US MOURN
FOR SIN? Let us not answerthis question merely in a doctrinal fashion.
But as we proceedlet us pray that the Holy Spirit may bring our minds
to feel the melting force of the greatSacrifice on Calvary so that we may
bedew His Cross with tears of holy penitence. Come with me, Brethren,
to Golgotha’s terrible mount of doom that we may sit down and watch
the death-pangs of the greatLover of men’s souls. There on that
transverse woodbleeds the Incarnate Son of God. His head yields ruby
drops where the crown of thorns has pierced it.
His hands and feet flow with rivulets of blood. His back is all one wound. His
face is marred with bruises and filthy with the spittle of the mockers. His hair
has been plucked from His cheeks. His eyes are bloodshot. His lips are
parched with fever. His whole body is a mass of concentratedagony. He hangs
yonder in physical pain impossible to be fully described, while the misery of
His soul, crushed beneath the wheels ofthe chariot of Justice, constitutes a
woe far more terrible. His soulis exceedinglysorrowful, even unto death,
while His body is as a cup full to the brim with grief–whatif I say a sponge
saturatedwith infinite miseries?
While Jesus bleeds on yonder tree, our hearts bleed, too. If we have tears at
any time, let us shed them now, for now or never must we weep. The first
cause for deep sorrow lies in the excellencyof the Sufferer’s Person. He who
hangs there is no other than that Son of God before whom angels veil their

faces with their wings. He is Lord of Heaven and earth–concerning Him the
Father saidof old, “Let all the angels of Godworship Him.” At His behests
the cherubim and seraphim fly to the utmost verge of space, gladto be the
messengersofHis goodpleasure. He is the Light and Brightness of Heaven,
the express Image of his Father’s Glory.
“Without Him was not anything made that was made,” and by Him all things
consist. And yet the King of Heavenlays aside His crown, strips Himself of
His purple, takes off His golden rings, becomes anInfant of a span long and
after a life of suffering yields Himself to a slave’s deathupon the wretched
gibbet of the Cross!My Soul, do you not sorrow that so Divine a Person
should sink so low? Think of the purity of His Characteras Man! In Him was
never any sin and yet He suffers! His whole life was spent in doing good.
Unselfishly He spared not Himself.
And now men do not spare Him their worstcruelty! He gives food to the
hungry, health to the sick, life to the dead. He has not time for Himself so
much as to eatbread. He shuns no labor for the goodof others. He seeksno
ease forHimself. And yet the men whom He would bless conspire to curse
Him! He lives a life of perfect holiness, in no way causing any to offend. His
life is the pure light of the sun of love, it has no darkness whateverin it. His
acts are as a river flowing with crystal streams of loving kindness, untainted
by selfishness orambition. And yet He bleeds! Heaven’s brightest Jewelis cast
into the mire–earth’s purest Gold is trod in the streets. He who is of Heaven
the Sun, suffers an eclipse!He who is of earth the brightest Star, is hidden
beneath black clouds.
O You Immaculate Man, shall I see You bleed without compassion? O You
Almighty God, shall I see You Incarnate in the flesh, suffering throes and
pangs unworthy of Your Godhead, without feeling the commiserationof my
soul stirred towards You? Can we, Brethren, think of the beauty of our Lord
without being filled with bitterness of soul for Him? Shall those eyes which are
as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, whichonce were washedwith
milk, now be drowned in tears of blood? His cheeks, whichare as a bed of
spices, as sweetflowers–shallthese be given to them that pluck off the hair?
Those hands which are setwith jewels, shallthey be pierced? Shall His legs,
which are as pillars of marble setupon socketsoffine gold become all
bespatteredwith the streamof His heart’s gore?
Oh, here is sorrow if you will! That precious casketof His body, so rich that
Heaven’s treasures and earth’s wealth togethercould not furnish such
another! That dear case ofjewels is castout as an unclean thing and made a

Victim without the camp! O, who will give me tears? I weep, I must weep for
my sins!–
“My sins, my hateful, cruel sins,
His chief tormentors were!
Eachof my crimes became a nail,
And unbelief the spear.
‘Twas you that pulled the vengeance down,
Upon his guiltless head,
Break, break my heart!
O burst my eyes,
And let my sorrows bleed.”
All human eyes, if they were forever full of tears, could not express the woe
that One so glorious, so pure, so loving, so condescending, shouldin His own
world find no shelter, and among His own creatures find no friends! But
contrariwise, in this world be rackedupon the Cross and among His creatures
meet His murderers! This should make us mourn bitterly for sin.
Look up again, my Soul, and perhaps anotherword may help to melt you,
stubborn though you are. Let us remind ourselves ofHis sufferings.
Remember Gethsemane? In that gardenHis soul is exceedinglysorrowful.
Though He is not in labor, but simply in the exercise of prayer, a sweatcomes
streaming from every pore–notthe common sweatofmen who toil, but, O
God, it is a sweatofblood! “He sweat, as it were, greatdrops of blood falling
down to the ground.” The pains of Hell alone can furnish a fit parallel for the
awful misery of Christ that night. And perhaps even there such sufferings
were never sustained as Christ endured in the garden! Betrayed by His chosen
friend, He is hurried awayto the Sanhedrim and there accusedofblasphemy.
Oh, cruel charge againstthe Son of the Highest! Then He is draggedawayto
Pilate and then awayto Herod, to be slandered before both tribunals.
Meanwhile, they scourge His back with the scourge,the very thought of which
is enough to make a man shudder–it is said to have been made of the sinews of
oxen intertwisted with pieces of sharp and raggedbone–so thatevery blow
tore through the flesh to the very bone. He is scourgedthus and then beaten
with rods. He is set upon a mimic throne and crownedwith thorns. They spit
in His face. They insult His Person. They bow the knee and say, “Hail, King of
the Jews.”Theybuffet Him with their hands. Shame never descendedto a
lowerdepth–mockerycould devise nothing worse than that crown of thorns
and that reed scepter.

Away they hound Him, tearing off the purple robe which must have glued
itself to His bleeding flesh–they roughly tearit away. And then they put on His
own garments and hasten Him to the malefactor’s Tyburn. Rudely they strip
Him. Cruelly they fling Him down. Savagelythey pierce His hands and His
feet. They lift up His Cross and dislocate His every bone with the jar given to
it, as it is fastenedin the earth. They sit down to look at Him in derision and
gloatover His pains. The weight of the body tears the nails through His hands
and when the weightfalls upon His feet, the nails force themselves in long
wounds through the nerves of His blessedfeet!
Feveris brought on by His fearful wounds. He is faint with pain. His mouth is
dried like an oven. In His extremity, He cries, “Ithirst!” They thrust vinegar
into His mouth–that is the only comfort they will render Him–vinegar mingled
with gall! The hot sun scorchesHim until He cries, “All My bones are out of
joint: My heart is like wax. It is melted in the midst of My bowels. My
strength is dried up like a potsherd. And My tongue cleaves to My jaws. And
You have brought Me into the dust of death.”
Even the light is denied Him. He hangs shivering in midday-midnight. The
thick darkness did but express the darkness which might be felt which
coveredall His soul. His agonies had become so intense that they must not be
beheld by any onlooker. The darkness, therefore, formedas it were, a secret
chamber wherein Christ might do battle with His direst griefs. Griefs like
Himself, immense, unknown. Godlike sorrows now hold fast the Sonof God–
only His Deity enabled Him to sustain the struggle. The storm passes andat
last, shouting, “It is finished,” with bowedhead, He gives up the ghost.
Have we no tears for such sorrows as these? Shallwe have no mourning for
such griefs? How is it that if we read the story of a common man, suffering by
his ownfolly, we freely weep? And over the silly story of a love-sick maid we
will feelour pity stirred? But here on Calvary, where the King of Heaven is
tortured with unutterable woe, tormented with sorrows so tremendous that
they overtop all other griefs as a mountain exceeds the molehills, we are like
flints or steeland scarcelyfeelcompassionmove? O God, pour out upon us
the spirit of grief and commiseration, that we may mourn for Him–
“Strike, mighty Grace, my flinty soul,
Till melting waters flow,
And deep repentance drowns my eyes
In agonizing woe.”
Perhaps we have not come to the very centerof heart-breaking thought. The
wonder is that Jesus Christ should suffer thus as the result of sin–ofour sin. A

young man ran awayfrom home and left his agedmother that he might
plunge into sin–after a few shameful years he came back to his country and
sought his home. When he knockedatthe cottage doorhe askedfor his
mother, but she was not there. “What name did you say, Sir? She died years
ago.” “And how did she die?” Well, they sayshe had a son who treated her
with cruelty and at lastleft her to indulge his own evil passions. She couldnot
bear it, for she loved him much. She sickenedandno one could comfort her.
She died, they say, of a brokenheart. And that is her grave over the hedge
yonder in the Churchyard."
Well might the sinner turn away with reeling brain and wish himself under
the turf at her side. “I slew my mother by my sins.” If he weeps not at this he
must be a devil, indeed. Jesus Christ, my Lord, hangs on that tree slain by my
sins–shallI not sorrow now? Had I never sinned, there had been no need of a
Savior for me. Had we never rebelled againstGod, there would have been no
swordof vengeance to plunge into His heart–
“Was it for crimes that I had done
He groaned upon the tree?”
This is sad, indeed. Can you get the thought, my dear Friends, that you made
Christ die–yes, you–ifthere were no other man. You could not, if there had
been only you to save–youcouldnot enter Heaven without the dying groans of
that Savior. There must be an Atonement made no less than His great
Sacrifice for you and you alone. Therefore take the whole of it to yourself, and
now, will you not sorrow at the sight of the pierced Savior?
Let us remember, too, as we continue at the foot of the Cross, that Jesus
Christ does not merely suffer for sin but He suffers FOR YOU. I do not know,
but perhaps this may be the heart-breakerwith some who never did repent of
sin before. O you who look to Him believingly, Jesus Christ loves your poor
guilty soul at such a rate that He suffers all this for you! I pray you as you
look to Him dying upon the Cross, forgetnot that every drop yonder flows for
you. How could you have despised Him who died for you! Determined to save
you He went down to the very lowestdepths to bring you up and yet you have
heard the Gospeland neglectedit! You have lived all these years in sin! You
have been day after day a neglectorofthe Word of God, perhaps a Sunday-
breaker!It may be a swearer,using this very name of Christ to curse by and
yet He suffered this for you.
O believing Sinner, for you these wounds, for you that sweatofgore, for you
that Cross, foryou that spear, for you that mangled frame lying in the tomb
motionless in the graspof death! Will not this make you feelthat you cannot

any longerharbor the lusts which are the enemies of Christ, but that you must
castout, once and for all from your soul, these cruel foes which made the
Savior bleed? While I am talking upon this theme, I feelmore than at any
other time in my own life my own insufficiency. I cry as Elijah did, “Woe is
me! ForI am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the
midst of a people of unclean lips!”
O, it needs an angel’s tongue to tell out a Savior’s grief! Yes, even a seraph
might fail. It needs the SaviorHimself to tell you in worthy words how He
suffered and what was the love which led Him through the woe. Surely the
Cross makes sinhateful when we see it by the light of the Spirit of all Truth.
One more remark here upon this first point. It should make us mourn for sin
when we think that this suffering of Christ for us can be attributed to nothing
else than His own marvelous love towards us who were so undeserving. What
could have brought Christ from on high except motives of pure affection? Can
you conjecture any other cause? Did He want Glory?
My Brothers and Sisters, was notthe Glory of Heaven enough for Him?
Besides, if it could have been possible for Him to need Glory, is He not
Omnipotent? Could He not, in a moment, have createdten thousand thousand
worlds filled with inhabitants all too glad to be permitted to sing His praise?
Could He gain anything, let me ask you, by coming here below? And was
there anything in you or me to merit what He did? Far, far awaybe the
accursedthought of my merit! But even if we could merit anything, could we
merit this Sacrifice? Couldwe merit that bloody sweat? O Virtue, you could
never merit this! No, heroism at its highest point and self-sacrificesublime to
its most exalted degree could never merit that the Son of God should die!
Sin accomplishedwhatVirtue could not. Sin brings the Savior from on high–
Virtue never could have procured poor countrywoman have left their
kingdom and their throne to follow her poverty and lift her up ultimately to
their wealth. But who ever heard of the equal of this? That God’s own Son,
“though He was rich, yet for our sakesHe became poor, that through His
poverty we might be made rich”? Worms were never raisedso high above
their meanestfellow worms and therefore they could never stoopas Christ
did! If an angel could die for ants, that would look like condescension–butfor
Christ to die for men is more wondrous by far!
If the noblestcherubim before the Throne should shed his heart’s blood for a
poor insect, you would think it marvelous! But for God Himself to take a
creature’s form, to bleed for such insignificant, despicable, worthless things as
men–this is a wonder which has set Heaven ringing ever since it was known
and will make eternity echo with shouts of praise. Surely, dear Friends, if

nothing else canmake us loathe sin and weepbefore God, this should do so.
And yet, I confess, Ispoil the theme. When Mark Anthony brings out the body
of Julius Caesar, he excites the sympathies of the Roman people by the sight of
the mantle of the murdered man.
He makes them weepand then he cries, “What? Do you weepwhen you but
behold your Caesar’s vesture wounded! Look you here–here is himself–
marred, as you see, by traitors.” Such speechputs tongues into the silent
stones of Rome!Whereas, alas, I, poor worthless creature as I am, talk of my
Master, stabbedby ourselves, bleeding out of love to us, at so poor a rate that
I cannot stir your souls, nor scarcemy own! Almighty Spirit, well is it written
that You will come to give the spirit of supplication, for except You shall
come, we shall neither look to Christ, nor weep, nor mourn because ofHim!
II. SecondlyWE ARE TO SPEAK UPON WHAT TRUE MOURNING FOR
SIN IS. It is not necessarilyfeeling greatterrors nor frightful tears. There is
no need that you should doubt the mercy of God–allthese things may come
with repentance, as smoke attends fire, but they are not a part of it. They
often spoil repentance–theycannotmake it more acceptable.
True mourning for sin is the work of the Spirit of God. There is no mourning
until first the Spirit is poured out. Then men look and then they mourn.
Repentance is too choice a flower to grow in Nature’s garden. If you have one
sigh after Christ–if you have one particle of hatred of sin–God the Holy Spirit
must have given it to you, for poor human nature with its utmost strain can
never reach to a spiritual thing. “Thatwhich is born of the flesh is flesh. And
that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” True repentance, then, must come
from on high. Lord, send it to us now!
True repentance has a distinct and constantreference to the Lord Jesus
Christ. If you repent of sin without looking to Christ, away with your
repentance!If you are so lamenting your sin as to forget the Savior, you have
need to begin all this work over again. Wheneverwe repent of sin we must
have one eye upon sin and another upon the Cross. Or, better still, let us have
both eyes upon Christ, seeing our sin punished in Him and by no means let us
look at sin exceptas we look at Jesus. A man may hate sin just as a murderer
hates the gallows–butthis does not prove repentance. If I hate sin because of
the punishment, I have not repented of sin–I merely regretthat God is just.
But if I cansee sin as an offense againstJesus Christand loathe myself
because I have wounded Him, then I have a true brokenness ofheart. If I see
the Saviorand believe that those thorns upon His head were plaited by my
sinful words. If I believe that those wounds in His heart were pierced by my

heart sins. If I believe that those wounds in His feet were made by my
wandering steps and that the wounds in His hands were made by my sinful
deeds–thenI repent of sin after a right fashion. Only under the Cross canyou
repent. Repentance elsewhere is remorse which clings to the sin and only
dreads the punishment. Let us then seek, under God, to have a hatred of sin
causedby a sight of Christ’s love.
True repentance is real and often intense in its bitterness. The text tells us it is
a sorrow like that of one who weeps for his only son. A son is a gift from God.
A goodson, especially, is a treasure to his father’s heart. But here is a dead
son before me–I think I hear the father’s cries, “O my sonAbsalom, my son,
my sonAbsalom! Would God I had died for you, O Absalom, my son, my
son!” Here I see an only son, which was not David’s case, forhe had Solomon
yet sparedto him.
I think I see the woman at the gate of Nain with her only son carried out to be
buried, making much lamentation, with grievous pomp of heartfelt woe. Yes,
and it is not only that, it is the first-born son, the beginning of the father’s
strength. And the man who has watchedhim and seenhimself in his first-
born’s growing form, will not be comforted because his son–his only son, his
first-born son is dead. Such is true weeping for sin–it cuts to the heart–it
pierces to the quick.
“Oh,” says one, “I cannot believe in Christ, for I have no such bitterness.” My
dear Friend, you never will have it till you believe in Christ! You are to trust
in Jesus Christ to get this! You are not to feel this and then trust in Christ.
Come, you hard Heart, come to Christ to be softened. Come, you Hell-
hardened Steel, come to Christ to be melted in the furnace of His Divine
affection. Come as you are, Sinner, feeling or unfeeling and look up to Jesus!
There is life in a look at Him and life for you now. And the first sign of life will
be a real and intense sorrow for sin.
True sorrow for sin is eminently practical. No man may sayhe hates sin if he
lives in it. It will make us see the evil of sin, not merely as a theory, but
experimentally–as a burnt child dreads fire. We shall be as much afraid of it
as a man who has lately been stopped and robbed is afraid of the thief upon
the highway. And we shall shun it–shun it in everything–not in greatthings
only, but in little things, too. True mourning for sin will make us very jealous
over our tongue lest it should saya wrong word. We shall be very watchful
over our daily actions lestin anything we should offend. And eachnight we
shall close the day with painful confessionsofshortcoming and eachmorning
awakenwith anxious prayers, that this next day God would hold us up that we
might be saved.

Once again, true repentance is continual–a man does not repent for a few
weeks andthen have done with it. RowlandHill said that repentance was one
of the sweetestearthly companions. And the only regrethe had in the thought
of going to Heaven was that his dear friend, Repentance, couldnot go with
him there. Repentance is the most heavenly thing out of Heaven. Well did our
hymn say–
"
Lord, let me weepfor nothing but sin!
And after none but You!
And then I would–
O that I might–
A constantweeperbe!"
True Believers repent to their dying day–they are always repenting. Their life
is made up, it is said, of sinning and repenting–I will not say that–believing
and repenting is their life–and sin is the disease whichmars it. No time can
wearawaythe bitterness of repentance. If a man loses his child, time happily
softens his grief. Every other trouble yields to time, but this never does. It is so
sweeta sorrow that we can only thank God we are permitted to enjoy and to
suffer it until we enter into our eternalrest.
This, then, is true sorrow for sin. But let me say, whateveris or is not true
sorrow for sin, I do entreatmy hearers not to try and getsorrow for sin before
they come to Christ. The Gospelis, “He that BELIEVES in Jesus is not
condemned.” Whether you have sorrowedenoughfor sin or not, if you trust
Jesus Christ, you are not condemned. Your salvationis not procured by your
tears, nor by your feelings, but by Him whom you have pierced! Look to Him,
awayfrom self. Look not even to your ownfaith, but look to the Objectof
your faith. Now fixedly behold Him and trust Him and your heart will break
and be poured out like waterbefore the Lord.
III. WHAT IS THAT WHICH CONNECTS JESUS CHRIST AND THE
MOURNING? How am I to getat Christ? This used to puzzle me. I thought if
I could walk a thousand miles to see Him, I would setoff joyously. Oh, if I
could but fall at His feet and lay hold of Him! I thought this would be very
easy–touching the hem of His garment–orcrying, “God be merciful to me!”
But this thought long puzzled me–“How canI get to Christ?” So many fleshly
notions mix themselves with our thoughts before we are born againthat we
are very much like poor Nicodemus and say, “Can a man enter his mother’s
womb a secondtime, and be born again?”

We have gross and carnalthoughts concerning spiritual things. Now, our
connectionwith Jesus is a look, not with these eyes, of course, but with the
eyes of the heart. We all know what it is to look at a thing. We are told to look
at a certain subject in politics or science–weare told to look into it. There is
nothing to see with your eyes, but you see into it with your mind. And this is
the kind of look which is intended here, “They shall look upon Me whom they
have pierced.”
You cannot, with all your looking, see Christwith these eyes!But thinking of
Him and believing in Him is the look which is meant. In describing this look,
let me saythat it is very simple. Why, looking is not a hard thing! I never
heard of a college fortraining people to look. I never in my life heard of
anyone trying to teach another personto look!There may be a defectin
people’s eyes, but still if they have any eyes at all, they may look. Theymay
happen to have cross eyes, but a crossed-eyedlook atChrist will save the soul.
They may have a waterfallin the eye, so that there is scarcelya cornerleft,
but it is not looking with a full eye, it is not looking with a bold eye–itis the
looking in any way–the simple act of looking which saves a soul.
A man may not be able to read a single letter in a book, but he canlook to
Jesus. A man may not be able to spell a word of one syllable, but he canlook.
A man may have no moral courage, but he can look. He may be destitute of all
the virtues and yet he can look. A man may be a thief, a whoremonger, an
adulterer, but he can look. A man may be castout of society, transported, shut
up betweenstone walls, but he can look. Looking is a thing so simple that
neither moral nor physical preparations are required. Looking!Such is faith
in Jesus Christ. As the sin-bitten ones lookedto the brazen serpent so do we
look awayfrom self to Christ and we live!
Observe, secondly, as it is a simple look so it is a look which requires no merit
in order to precede it. We have an old proverb, to wit, “a cat may look at a
king,” and certainly a poor man may. There is no hurt done by looking. If the
queen were here, I should not ask her leave to let me look. And if there were a
crossing sweeper, ora mud-lark, or even a pickpockethere, he certainly
would commit no offense by looking. On the other hand, there would be no
merit in looking. Where is the merit of looking at a thing? It is too simple
either to need merit before it or to have merit in it.
So you who are the worstof the worst! You who feel nothing in yourself which
is good!You who can not even say that you feelyour own emptiness and
vileness–nothing of your own is neededto precede that look by way of
preparation. Look, look to Jesus as you are, and you shall be saved! The look
which saves the soul, again, should be an attentive look. If you have lookedto

Christ and cannot see anything there to comfort you, look again! Look again!
Perhaps eachman is comforted in a different way by looking to Christ. One
sees Christto be God and he says, “Ah, then, He can save me.” Another dwells
mainly upon Christ’s being Man and he says, “Ah, then, He can pity me and
be willing to receive me.”
One fixes his eyes upon God’s having appointed Christ to save him–that
comforts him. Another remembers the infinite value of Christ’s sufferings and
that cheers him. If one point in Christ does not comfort you, look to another.
Keep your mental eyes fixed upon what Jesus Christ is. Ah, my dear Friends,
I am telling you this, but how difficult it is to make you do it until the Holy
Spirit brings you! Why the first thing I get from any of you when I talk to you
about your souls is, “O Sir, I do not feel.” I know then that you are looking to
self. O my dear Hearers, you who have some concernabout your souls, I
would beseechmy God to weanyou from this which must damn your souls–
this looking to SELF!
Come, I pray you, consider! You are too vile, too sinful ever to have anything
goodin you to look at! Why will you searchfor goodness where there is none?
“Why do you spend money for that which is not bread? And labor for that
which satisfies not? Hearkendiligently unto Me and eat that which is good
and let your soul delight itself in fatness.” You cando so if you look at the
Cross!I know you will raise your “buts,” or cry, “But I cannot believe.” There
you are, looking to your faith instead of Christ. There He hangs! He bears
upon His shoulders the sin of man and whoevertrusts Him shall be saved.
Can you not trust Him? Nottrust your God? Canyou not trust Him, your
Brother born to bear your adversities? Nottrust GOD? Why I protestbefore
you all if I had all your sins upon my shoulders, I could trust Him!
When John Hyatt lay a-dying, someone saidto him, “Canyou trust Jesus with
your soul now?” “Ah,” said he, “I could trust Him if I had a million souls! I
could trust Him with them all.” Do not tell me, awakenedSouls, you cannot
trust your Master!When did He everlie to you? Whom did He ever castout?
When did He break His promise? Who ever came to Him and was rejected?
When did He sayto the chief of sinners, “Your sins shall never be forgiven”?
Thousands have been to Him and He has receivedthem.
I sought the Lord and He heard me. I tried to save myself by feelings of
repentance and praying, but it was all of no avail. At last, in sheer despair, I
flew like a dove pursued by the hawk straight awayto Jesus Christ, the Rock,
and found shelter in His wounds. O that you would do so!Come, I pray you,
have done with that self of yours–

“None but Jesus, none but Jesus
Can do helpless sinners good.”
This look is sometimes a wondering look–Iknow it was to me. When I saw
Him hanging on the Cross for me, I could not understand such love, and I
cannot fathom it now. I can understand some of the things which Christ has
done for me. But I cannot make out why He should die for me–why He should
love such a heap of filth, such a walking dunghill as man is! Why He should
give His blood–every drop of which is more costlythan rubies! Why He
should give His tears, which are richer than diamonds! Why He should give
His heart, which is better than a mine of gold! Why He should close those lips
which are sweeterthan harps of angels and shut those eyes, which are
brighter than so many suns–andall for such a clod of earth, such a rebellious
piece of rottenness as man! Oh, this is marvelous!How can we understand it?
We canonly fall down before His feet and while we trust Him add to our faith
a holy adoring wonder!
This look must, in every case, be a personalone. You cannot be saved by
another man’s faith. I do beseechofall to whom this word shall come–detest,
loathe, abominate the lie that any man can perform spiritual acts for another!
No “sponsor” canpromise to renounce the works of the flesh for another! No
man can stand at the font and declare that he believes for another! No man
can promise that an unconscious slumbering baby shall believe in God. No
man can sayin God’s name what he knows is a lie–that the child does believe–
when it cannot believe and probably is asleepatthe time and not occupied
with any mental operation, much less believing what it never heard and what
it could not understand if it did hear!
O, I pray you, shun this blasphemy! The curse of England has been this
dogma of baptismal regeneration, for it leads men to shake off their personal
responsibility and obligations to God. Your godfathers and godmothers, your
confirmation, your priests and rural deans and canons and I know not what of
man’s invention, can do no more for you than so many witches with their
incantations. You must flee to Christ yourselves and by simple faith lay hold
on Jesus!All this frippery and nonsense ofman’s invention must be pulled
down! O for a rough hand to pull it down, to let the sinner see that he stands
before God, naked and defenseless, exceptas he flees to Christ, and in the
passionand life of Jesus, finds salvation!
A personalfaith it must be and what if I urge you to let it be an immediate
faith? It will be no easierto flee tomorrow than it is today. It is the same thing
that you will have to believe tomorrow as it is today–that Jesus Christ gave
Himself for your sins. This is God’s testimony, that Christ is able to save. O

that you would trust Him! My Soul, you have regretted a thousand things, but
you have never regrettedtrusting Christ in your youth! Many have wept that
they did not come to Christ before, but none ever lamented that they came too
early. Why not this very day? O Holy Spirit, make it so!Behold, the fields are
showing the greenears ready for the harvest! The seasonadvances and the
fields are prophesying the harvest. O that we might see some greenears today,
some greenears prophetic of a blessedharvestof souls!
As to myself, I cross this day into another year of my own life and history and
I bear witness that my Masteris worth trusting! Oh, it is a blessedthing to be
a Christian! It is a sweetthing to be a Believerin Christ and though I, of all
men, perhaps, am the subject of the deepestdepressionof spirits at times, yet
there lives not a soul who can say more truthfully than I, “My soul does
magnify the Lord and my spirit has rejoicedin God my Savior.” He who is
mighty has lookedupon me with eyes of love and made me His child and I
trust Him this day as I have trusted Him before.
But now I would to God that this day some of you would begin to trust in
Him! It is the Spirit’s work only, but still, He works through means. I think
He is working in your heart now. Young Man, those tears look hopeful–I
thank God that those eyes feel burning now. I pray you do not go chatting on
the road home and miss any goodimpression. Go to your chamber, fall upon
your knees, cry out to God, entreat His favor! This day let it be! None of the
devil’s tomorrows–awaywith them! Away with them!
“Todayif you will hear His voice, harden not your heart.” May the Spirit of
God constrainyou to “Kiss the Son, lestHe be angry and you perish from the
Way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessedare all they that put their
trust in Him.” Amen.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
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 whateverparticular event this passage refers, the
subject is obvious and most important, viz. that of penitential sorrow. And
five things in connectionwith it are noteworthy.
I. THE SUBJECTSOF THIS PENITENTIAL SORROW. Theyare Jews, and
not Gentiles. "The house of David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem" -
expressions whichdesignate the whole Israelitishpeople. The Jewishpeople
had often been reduced to this state of sorrow. When in Babylonian captivity
they wept when they "remembered Zion." "The scene," saysDr. Wardlaw,
"depictedbears a very close resemblanceto those recorded to have taken
place on the restorationfrom Babylon, when Jehovah, having influenced them
individually to return to himself, and to settheir faces, with longing desire, to
the land of their fathers, inclined their hearts, when thus gathered home, to
socialand collective acts ofhumiliation 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 PENITENTIALSORROW. "Iwill pour." The
Prophet Joel(Joel2:28) 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 OCCASION OF THIS PENITENTIALSORROW, "And they shall
look upon me whom they have pierced." "The expression, 'upon me,'" says
Hengstenberg, "is very remarkable. According to ver. 1, the Speakeris the
Lord, the Creatorof heavenstud 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 Jehovahpresently represents
himself as pierced by the Israelites, and afterwards lamented by them with
bitter remorse. The enigma is solvedby the Old Testamentdoctrine of the
Angel and Revealerof the MostHigh God, to whom the prophet attributes
even the most exaltednames of God, on accountof his participation in the
Divine nature, who is describedin ch. 11. as undertaking the office of
Shepherd over his people, and who had been recompensedby them with base

ingratitude." "Theyshall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they
shall mourn for him." The "me" and the "him" are the same Person, and that
Personhe who says, in ver. 10, "I will pour upon the house of David." In the
first clause he is speaking ofhimself; in the secondclause the prophet is
speaking ofhim. The Messiahwas 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 Saviourbleed,
And my Redeemerdie?
Did he devote his sacredhead
For such a worm as I?"
IV. THE POIGNANCYOF THIS PENITENTIALSORROW. "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 ofdeeper and acutersorrow than this - that which is felt by
affectionate parents when bereft of those objects of their fondest affections;
the one solitary objectof their concentratedparentallove; or the firstborn
and rising support and hope of their household." As to the poignancy of this
grief, it is further said, "In that day shall there be a greatmourning in
Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon," etc.
Perhaps the greatestsorrow everknownamongstthe Jews was the sorrow in
the valley of Megiddon, occasionedby the death of King Josiah(2 Chronicles
35:24). Jeremiahcomposeda funeral dirge on the occasion, andother odes
and lamentations were composed, and were sung by males and females. But
true penitential sorrow is far more poignant than that occasionedby the death
of an only sonor 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." Deepsorrow craves loneliness.
CONCLUSION. There is one event in history - whether such an event is
referred to here or not - that answers betterto the description here of
penitential sorrow than any other in the chronicles of the world; it is the Day
of Pentecost. Thousands ofJews assembledtogetheron that day from all parts
of the knownworld. Peter preachedto the vast assemblyand chargedthem
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 Jewishhistory when such penitential sorrow as is here described
will be experiencedby all the descendants of Abraham. - D.T.
Biblical Illustrator
The burden of the Word of the Lord for Israel
Zechariah 12:1
The burden and glory of God's Word to Israel
J. Leckie, D. D.
God presents Himself here as creating and speaking. It is to Israel that HIS
Word is primarily addressed, for it is Israelthat recognisesHis Word, and by
IsraelHis Word is carried to the world, which thus becomes also Israel.
Remember the meaning of the name, and its origin. Prince of God was the
name which Jacobgotfrom that long wrestling in the dark — Israel, prince of
God, because he had powerwith God. The name denotes the fact and the
powerof communion. Israel is composedof those who seek Godand cling to
Him, who worship Godin the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no
confidence in the flesh.
I. THE CREATOR OF THE HEAVENS AND EARTH AND THE SPIRIT
OF MAN HAS AN ISRAEL. The idea of Israel is fellowshipwith God and
powerwith God, gained in and by that fellowship. Is such an idea reasonable?
We think it a poor conceptionof God which represents Him as so mighty and
rich that He does not care for fellowship with souls. Do you think to convince
me that God is wanting in sympathies and affections by showing that He is

Almighty? The argument is all in the opposite direction. Should I have more
ground to believe in His heart if He were less than all-powerful and all-wise!
There is in man a longing after relationto the Infinite. All his history proves
this. Something in him cries out after God, and the heavens and the earth
have tended to intensify this cry. Man is haunted by a something issuing from
heaven and earth that will not let him rest. It would have been sad if man had
craved an infinite friend, had yearned after nearness to a perfect and eternal
living One, and felt no hope, countenance, or stimulus in the world around
him. But man stands in no such barren and dead world. A living world is
round him, material, but full of spiritual suggestion, inviting him to seek God,
and waking him up againwhen he grows dull and hard. Will it be said that
this does not make probable the idea of an Israel — men that have power with
God, it gives support to the idea of communion with God, but not to that of
prayer, an asking that influences the Divine will? The answeris obvious.
Communion with God, in the case ofa being like man, an imperfect, sin-laden
being, must take largely the form of prayer. Such a being, coming nearto
God, cannotbut ask from Him. And this asking, so inevitable, cannotbe a
futile thing. If asking be a necessitywith the spirit that has communion with
God, there must be room and need for it on the side of God. What is true on
the human side is true on the Divine side. The whole doctrine of prayer is
found in the spirit of man, in the longings and necessities, andthere can be
nothing in real contradiction to these. They who seek Godhave a peculiar
affinity with Him. God as a moral being has moral affinities. It is not a
lowering or limiting of God to believe that He has an Israel.
II. GOD HAS A WORD FOR HIS ISRAEL. Neither the heavens nor the earth
nor the spirit of man take the place of a word. They are eacha revelation. But
they are fuller of questions than of answers. The heartof man needs a word. It
is only in words that there is definiteness. One of the distinguishing
peculiarities of man is that he employs words. By these he reaches the fulness
of his being. He makes his thought clearto himself, and gives it an outward
existence by words. He makes all shadowyand vague things firm and abiding
by words. And shall not God meet him on this highest platform? A Word of
God is a necessityto the human soul God has a word to Israelwhich makes
fellowship close andconfiding. The word gives man the necessaryclue to the
interpretation of the universe and himself. It is God's Word to Israelas the
ideal man Israelis the ideal and complete man, and it is in proportion as any
man approaches the ideal that he fully comprehends and embraces the
messageofGod's Word to Israel.

III. GOD'S WORD TO ISRAEL IS A BURDEN. This expressionis often used
by the prophets. No doubt it expresses, in the first instance, the weightof
obligation and responsibility in the declaring of God's message, but this rests
on the fact that the Word of God is a weighty matter for all men.
1. God's Word is a burden by reasonof the weight of its ideas. Thoughts that
may be put into words are of all degrees ofweight — some light as a feather,
some heavy as a world. Thoughts weigh upon the mind, even though they are
felt to be precious. The ideas in God's Word are the weightiestof all — God,
soul, sin, salvation, renewal, eternity. Men are never right till they try to lift
these thoughts and weighthem. They are no judges of the weightof things till
they try these.
2. God's Word is a burden of momentousness and obligation. There are many
weighty thoughts that have little or no practicalmoment. But the thoughts in
God's Word are of pressing and supreme importance. They are light, food,
shelter, life. To rejectthem is ruin. Everything must depend on how we stand
to these words.
3. God's Word is a burden which is easierto bear in whole than in part. The
half or quarter, or some little fraction of God's Word is worse to bear, harder
and heavier than the whole. A single truth takenout of the whole may be quite
oppressive and intolerable. It may crush all joy and courage out of life. The
truth about sin needs the truth about grace and redemption in order to be
borne. The truth about duty needs the Divine promises. Reliefis to be found
not by throwing off any truth, but by taking up more. The hardest truths
become pleasantin proper company. Every truth has relations to all the rest,
and is not properly itself without them. Let the effort be to take the whole
truth, and to take it as a whole. Then it will no more oppress than the vast
load of atmosphere which every man carries.
4. The Word of God is a burden which removes every other load. Thought,
conviction, and feeling bring their inevitable burden. And if a man rejects
burdens he is but making up a heavierburden. If a man will not have the
burden of God's Word, then the whole riddle of the universe becomes his
burden. But if I take up God's Word, and actually carry it as God's Word, I
have no further care. There is provision for driving awayevery fear and every
care in that Word.
(J. Leckie, D. D.)
Which stretchethforth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth

The universe
Homilist.
I. That the universe INCLUDES THE EXISTENCE OF MATTER AND OF
MIND. The phrase "heavens" and"earth" is used here and elsewhere to
representthe whole creation.
1. It includes matter. Of the essenceofmatter we know nothing; but by the
word we mean all that comes within the cognisance ofour senses, allthat can
be felt, heard, seen, tasted. How extensive is this material domain!
2. It includes mind. Indeed, mind is here specified. "And formeth the spirit of
man within man." Man has a spirit. Of this he has strongerevidence than he
has of the existence of matter. He is conscious ofthe phenomena of mind, but
not consciousofthe phenomena of matter.
II. THAT THE UNIVERSE ORIGINATED WITHONE PERSONAL
BEING. It had an origin. It is not eternal. The idea of its eternity involves
contradictions. It had an origin; its origin is not fortuitous, it is not the
production of chance. Its origin is not that of a plurality of creators;it has
one, and one only, "the Lord."
III. THIS ONE PERSONALCREATOR HAS PURPOSES CONCERNING
THE HUMAN RACE. The "burden" may mean the sentence ofthe Word of
the Lord concerning Israel.
1. No events in human history are accidental.
2. The grand purpose of our life should be the fulfilment of God's will.
IV. HIS PURPOSE TOWARDSMANKIND HE IS FULLY ABLE TO
ACCOMPLISH. His creative achievements are here mentioned as a pledge of
the purposes hereafterannounced. Every purpose of the Lord shall be
performed. Has He purposed that all mankind shall be convertedto His Son?
It shall be done.
(Homilist.)
COMMENTARIES
BensonCommentary

Zechariah 12:10. And I will pour, &c. — God’s signalinterposition in behalf
of Judah and Jerusalem, after their 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 oftheir 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 especiallyowe 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, acknowledge it 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 lastverb 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 said to 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
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-
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 TalmudF6, 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 Messiah ben 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 θεανθρωπος, orGod-man
in one person. As to what a JewishwriterF7 objects, that this was spokenof
one that was piercedin war, as appears from the context; and that if the same
person that is piercedis 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 personat 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 person to 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"F8;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.
Is Zechariah 12:10 a Messianic prophecy?
Question:"Is Zechariah 12:10 a Messianic prophecy?"
Answer: Zechariah 12:10 reads, “And I will pour out on the house of David
and the inhabitants of Jerusalema spirit of grace and supplication. They will
look on 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
firstborn son.” This prediction, that Israel will see someone whomthey
“pierced,” is amazing because it is God Himself speaking—the Lord is the
One who is “pierced.” This appears to fit later descriptions of Jesus Christ’s
suffering. Indeed, the New Testamentspecifies thatthis prophecy is truly
Messianic.
This verse indicates a future time when the Jewishpeople will plead for the
mercy of God. This will happen when they see “the one they have pierced.”
Zechariah’s verse is mentioned in John 19:36-37 when Jesus, hanging on the
cross, was piercedwith a spear: “These things happened so that the scripture
would be fulfilled: . . . ‘They will look on the one they have pierced.’”
Revelation1:7 adds, “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will
see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will
mourn because ofhim”—definitely an allusion to Zechariah12:10. Isaiah 53:5
also predicts that the Messiahwould be pierced: “But he was pierced for our
transgressions.”
In addition to the idea of a “pierced” God is the conceptof the “only child.”
Zechariah’s mention of a “firstborn son” bears an unmistakable connectionto
Jesus as God’s Son. The Hebrew word bekor was translatedin the Septuagint
as prototokos, the same term used for Jesus in Colossians1:15:“He is the
image of the invisible God, the firstborn [prototokos]ofall creation.” And, of

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