The Pierced Shepherd of Israel

III A Series of Revelatory Oracles

D Redemption, Text: 12:1-13:9

Title: The Pierced Shepherd of Israel

Introduction

In interpreting these passages one only has two options. Either their fulfillment is material and physical in the distant future, or it is spiritual in the victory of Christ over sin and death that began at the cross and is also in the distant future. There are no other viable interpretations because the things mentioned here have not yet happened in the material and physical realm. We should, therefore, have no difficulty in seeing that these prophecies do indeed refer to a fulfillment in the distant future by Christ. They are full of references to the suffering of Jesus our Messiah. In chapter 13 we read of the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness which is an obvious reference to the cleansing power of Jesus blood symbolized in our baptism. We also read of the wounds Messiah receives in the house of His friends, meaning in the house of His own people. We also read of the sword awakened against the true Shepherd which is undoubtedly referring to his death as securing the re-entrance to Eden which was guarded by the cherubim with flaming swords. At the end of chapter 12 we read of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit producing mourning for the one whom they had pierced as occurred on the Day of Pentecost when Peter told the Israelites gathered that they had participated in the death of their own King and Messiah, and we read in Acts 2:37 and 38, When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Surely this was mourning for the one whom they had pierced. In chapter 11 we read of the judgment of God upon the Old Testament theocracy and their subjugation to the Roman Empire and its pagan “shepherds.” The natural progression of Zechariah’s prophecy is from the present into the near future and ultimately to the distant future. Here, then, we are entering the New Covenant era. Thus the Jerusalem spoken of is not the old Jerusalem but the New Jerusalem which is the mother of us all. Barnes writes, “If this prophecy is a continuation of the last, notwithstanding its fresh title, then “Israel” must be the Christian Church, formed of the true Israel which believed, and the Gentiles who were grafted into them.” Cyril of Alexandria writes; “Having spoken sufficiently of the Good Shepherd Christ, and of the foolish, most cruel shepherd who butchered the sheep, he seasonably makes mention of the persecutions which would from time to time arise against Israel; not the Israel according to the flesh, but the spiritual, that Jerusalem which is indeed holy, the Church of the Living God” In this formation of the true city of God three things occur, destruction, deliverance, and division.

I Destruction

in 12:1-14 we read of the failure of the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of its enemies. This is the word of the Lord concerning Israel. The Lord, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of man within him, declares: “I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves. On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness,” declares the Lord. “I will keep a watchful eye over the house of Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations. Then the leaders of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the Lord Almighty is their God.’ “On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume right and left all the surrounding peoples, but Jerusalem will remain intact in her place. “The Lord will save the dwellings of Judah first, so that the honor of the house of David and of Jerusalem’s inhabitants may not be greater than that of Judah. On that day the Lord will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the Angel of the Lord going before them. On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem. “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a 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. On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be great, like the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. The land will mourn, each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives, the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, and all the rest of the clans and their wives. This passage is loaded with images from Old Testament conflicts, but it is actually a spiritual battle. The new Jerusalem is a rock because it is the habitation of God built upon the foundation in which Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone. It is immoveable. Jerusalem is unfazed and untouched by the attacks and God preserves the tents of Judah surrounding the city as well as the inhabitants of the city. The small and the great are delivered as Paul writes in I Corinthians 1:26-29, Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not —to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. The most feeble are empowered to bring down the Goliath of sin and unbelief. Kings, priests and prophets as well as the people are brought to repentance in verses 10-14. This is the key to understanding the passage. All this triumph over destructive forces is brought about, not by their prowess, but by repentance and faith. This speaks of the remnant who trusted in Christ after the descent of the Spirit of God at Pentecost. There is extremity in the mourning because of its breadth touching every family, every level of society, and every person in the new Israel. And also because of its depth for in the Hebrew mind there is no loss greater than the loss of the family heir, the only son. The death of an only son would be the heaviest blow that could happen. That this is spiritual counsel and not material prophecy is the view of John Calvin and he sums up the passage: “There is nothing better for us than to be gathered under the shadow of God’s protection, however destitute of any fortress the Church may be, yea, were she to have innumerable enemies hostile to her, and to be without any strength to resist them. Though then the Church were thus grievously tried, and be in the midst of many dangers, and exposed even to death, let us learn from this passage that those are miserable indeed who through fear or cowardice separate themselves from her, and that they who call on God, and cast on him the care of their safety, shall be made blessed, though the whole world were mad against them, though the weapons of all nations were prepared for their ruin, and horses and horsemen were assembled to overwhelm them; for the defense of God is a sufficient protection to his Church.” The Church has enemies but it also has the means of changing them into friends. During the American Revolution, Pastor Peter Miller, of Ephrata, Pennsylvania, enjoyed the friendship of George Washington. In Ephrata also lived Michael Wittman, an evil-minded sort who did all he could to oppose and humiliate the pastor. Michael Wittman was arrested for treason and sentenced to die and Peter Miller traveled seventy miles to Philadelphia to plead for his life. “No, Peter,” General Washington said. “I cannot grant you the life of your friend.” “My friend!” exclaimed the old preacher. “He’s the bitterest enemy I have.” “What?” cried Washington. “You’ve walked seventy miles to save the life of an enemy? That puts the matter in different light. I’ll grant your pardon.” Beloved enemy!

II Deliverance

In 13:1-6 we are given insight into the spiritual deliverance that waits the true Israeln On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity. “On that day, I will banish the names of the idols from the land, and they will be remembered no more,” declares the Lord Almighty. “I will remove both the prophets and the spirit of impurity from the land. And if anyone still prophesies, his father and mother, to whom he was born, will say to him, ‘You must die, because you have told lies in the Lord’s name.’ When he prophesies, his own parents will stab him. “On that day every prophet will be ashamed of his prophetic vision. He will not put on a prophet’s garment of hair in order to deceive. He will say, ‘I am not a prophet. I am a farmer; the land has been my livelihood since my youth.’ If someone asks him, ‘What are these wounds on your body?’ he will answer, ‘The wounds I was given at the house of my friends.’, In prophetic language, this entire passage, chapters 12 and 13, is alluding to the gospel plan of salvation: faith (looking unto the pierced one), repentance (mourning over sin) and baptism (the fountain of cleansing). Thus the deliverance is a spiritual one for Israel and all the true children of Abraham who share his faith. Accompanying this spiritual deliverance there are other factors that point directly to the new covenant, namely the removal of idols and the discipline of false prophets. These two things go together. The false prophets represented false gods like the prophets of Baal whom Elijah taunted and defeated on Mount Carmel in I Kings 18. They are all removed. The extended references to the fate of the false prophets are based on the Old Testament laws which prescribed the death penalty. This passage seems to indicate that the false prophet has recognized his infamy and claimed ‘“I am not a prophet. I am a farmer; the land has been my livelihood since my youth.” The wounds he has received are the result of the infliction of his parents discipline. However, in this case, in the new covenant this language is symbolic and the false prophet would be brought to repentance through church discipline. Some people have erroneously thought that verse 6 is speaking of the wounds of Christ, but that is clearly not in view here as the subject has not changed and the person being asked about the wounds is the false prophet. It is important that we keep in view the already-not yet perspective of prophecy. Idols and false prophets are already being purged, but the purging is not yet total and complete until the end of the age and the return of Christ. In the New Testament John admonishes Christians to keep themselves from idols and there are warnings about false prophets, but the situation has drastically changed from Old Testament times when Israel constantly ran after idols. We remember Elijah’s complaint to the Lord that he was the only one left, and God said He had 7000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal, but that means there were 3-5 million who had bowed the knee to Baal. As bad as the Christian church has occasionally become it has never been anything like that.

III Division

The division that takes place is simply the separation of the Jewish people who believe in Messiah, Jesus, from those who do not. In verses 7-9 we read, “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me!” declares the Lord Almighty. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn my hand against the little ones. In the whole land,” declares the Lord, “two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’ ” Here the sword of divine justice is addressed, and commanded to pierce the one who is “close” to God. The Hebrew word translated man is most often translated “neighbor” in the Old Testament. Who other than the second person of the trinity is the neighbor of God, the Father. There can be no doubt that this is the case. The victim is “my shepherd,” and the command comes from God Himself. Peter says in Acts 2 that Jesus was crucified according to the determinate counsel of God. It was the plan. This is a description of the punishment for our sin emanating from God’s justice that Christ endured on the cross of Calvary. This is unmistakable, for Jesus Himself quotes this passage in Matthew 26:31, Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: “‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ The disciples did fall away but only temporarily, while many in Israel stumbled over the death of the Messiah and fell away permanently. It is these of whom the prophet speaks. Those that remain are purified through the justifying grace of God. In the end they declare “The Lord is our God.” This is a sentence that we might easily pass by as commonplace, but it is highly significant. We should recall again Elijah’s words to Israel on Mt.Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” Literally if Yahweh is God follow Him, but if Baal is god follow him. Then the prophets of Baal shouted and danced and cut themselves to no avail for the sacrifice on the altar was not consumed. Then, after totally drenching the altar, Elijah prayed, and the fire of God consumed the water, the sacrifice, and even the stones of the altar, leaving no doubt about who was God. And the people’s response is in I Kings 18:39, When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “Yahweh—he is God! Yahweh—he is God!” In our text the people say the same thing, “Yahweh is our God.” In this they demonstrate their allegiance to the true God and not to idols. There is always a remnant to trust in the Lord.