Zechariah 11,12
Zechariah tells us that in the dark days immediately prior to the return of the Lord, all the
surrounding nations will lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. He goes on to reveal that at this time of terrible national peril God will pour out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem “the spirit of supplication and of Grace”, bringing about national repentance and with it national restoration.
In looking at these chapters of Zechariah it is necessary to start by dispelling a common
misapplication that is often applied to some of their verses. To highlight the nature of the confusion let’s look as an example at the following verse and how it is sometimes misinterpreted:
In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a fire pan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place – Jerusalem.
(Zechariah 12:6)
Many have claimed these verses as relating to modern Israel’s success in the six day war and other
conflicts, but this is clearly taking the prophecy out of context when we consider the narrative of chapters 11 & 12 as a whole. In order to establish the correct context let’s start from chapter 11, verse 3 and make a quick pass through these chapters gaining an overview of their meaning.
There is the sound of roaring lions! For the pride of the Jordan is in ruins. Thus says the LORD my God,
"Feed the flock for slaughter, whose owners slaughter them and feel no guilt; those who sell them say, 'Blessed be the LORD, for I am rich'; and their shepherds do not pity them. For I will no longer pity the inhabitants of the land," says the LORD. "But indeed I will give everyone into his neighbor's hand and into the hand of his king. They shall attack the land, and I will not deliver them from their hand."
(Zechariah 11:1-6)
We see here that the Lord completely turns the nation over to devastation. Given that aspects of the verses following clearly relate to the time of Jesus first coming (verses 12 & 13, the religious leaders P a g e 58
paying 30 pieces of silver for Judas’s betrayal of Jesus and that money ultimately being used to buy the potter’s field), then it probably makes sense to understand the verse above as belonging to the same general era, and therefore to see them as having been fulfilled in the destruction of the Jewish nation by the Romans (which culminated in the final taking of Jerusalem and destruction of the
temple in 70AD).
So I fed the flock for slaughter, in particular the poor of the flock. I took for myself two staffs: the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bonds; and I fed the flock. I dismissed the three shepherds in one month. My soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me. Then I said, "I will not feed you.
Let what is dying die, and what is perishing perish. Let those that are left eat each other's flesh." And I took my staff, Beauty, and cut it in two, that I might break the covenant which I had made with all the peoples. So it was broken on that day. Thus the poor of the flock, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the LORD. Then I said to them, "If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain." So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver. And the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the potter"—that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD for the potter.
(Zechariah 11:7-13)
Beauty (also translated “Grace”) is cut off. God cuts off his covenant of protection with the nation because of their rejection of Messiah. This is surely why they have experienced 2000 years of
suffering, because God has for a time cut off his protection. Israel may be likened in this situation to a backslidden Christian. The promises to them are still to be fulfilled, but for a time they are turned over to the devil that through suffering and loss repentance may come.
In verse 8 God also dismisses the three Sheppard’s of the nation that abhorred him. Some interpret
this as prophet, priest and king and Israel really hasn’t had a true prophet, priest or king since the wars between the Jews and the Romans that led to the scattering of the nation not long after the
time of Christ.
Then, straight away, a contrast is drawn between the Sheppard rejected, and a foolish Sheppard that will follow.
For indeed I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are cut off, nor seek the young, nor heal those that are broken, nor feed those that still stand. But he will eat the flesh of the fat and tear their hooves in pieces. "Woe to the worthless shepherd, Who leaves the flock! A sword shall be against his arm And against his right eye; His arm shall completely wither, And his right eye shall be totally blinded."
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(Zechariah 11:16-17)
This foolish Sheppard is believed by many to be the Antichrist. If so it suggests that having rejected the true Messiah they will for a time follow a false Messiah. It is no doubt significant that some
religious Jews today say that they will know Messiah because he will help them rebuild their temple.
Yet concerning the temple, II Thessalonians speaks of the Antichrist as one who:
…opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
(II Thessalonians 2:4)
So if he does helps them to build the temple, his hidden intent will be that he may ultimately sit as God in it.
Now, carrying on into Zechariah chapter 12:
The burden of the word of the LORD against Israel. Thus says the LORD, who stretches out the
heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him: "Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.
(Zechariah 12:1-3)
Here we see Jerusalem besieged by a multi-national force of great size. The context of this certainly seems to be the modern restored nation of Israel in the last days since it is at this time, at the point of the nation’s greatest calamity, that the LORD himself intercedes.
In that day," says the LORD, "I will strike every horse with confusion, and its rider with madness; I will open My eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, 'The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in the LORD of hosts, their God.' In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a firepan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place—Jerusalem. "The LORD will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not become greater than that of Judah. In that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like P a g e 60
David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the LORD before them. It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
(Zechariah 12:4-9)
Despite some possible foreshadowing similarities, this passage is NOT about any of Israel’s wars of the last 60 years, which is made clear by what follows:
"And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one
mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.
(Zechariah 12:10)
You see, at the time of this prophecy’s fulfillment Israel turns in repentance to their Messiah. This did not happen after the six day war.
This is elaborated on as follows:
… And the land shall mourn, every family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of Shimei by itself, and their wives by themselves; all the families that remain, every family by itself, and their wives by themselves.
(Zechariah 12:11-14)
There is deep national mourning for their rejection of Messiah, and so with this national repentance comes national restoration and their Messiah returns to save them, just as Hosea also writes when
the Lord says through him:
I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.
(Hosea 5:15)
So it really is quite clear what Zechariah chapters 11 & 12 are about and the context within which their verses should be interpreted. In the case of all the world’s armies gathering against Israel, and their miraculous victory over them, the timing is undoubtedly the last days of the tribulation.
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THE MYSTERY OF AN INDEPENDENT ISRAEL
If we stop and consider the Zechariah passages it shouldn’t take us too long to notice that it is hard to reconcile the situation of Israel as an independent nation at the end of the tribulation in Zechariah with the prophecy in Revelation 11:2 which tells us that the Gentiles “will tread the holy city
underfoot for forty-two months”, seemingly in the latter half of the tribulation. If we add up the
accounts of Revelation 11 and Zechariah 12 the most logical conclusion is that a significant event
must happen in between the gentile occupation of Jerusalem and the later siege by the gentile
armies surrounding Jerusalem. Consider:
Revelation 11 - Gentiles occupy Jerusalem for 42 months, presumably making it part of the kingdom of the beast.
Zechariah 12 - Gentiles surround an independent Jerusalem preparing to attack her.
From this there seems to be one inescapable conclusion. Somehow Jerusalem (and perhaps the
wider areas of Judah) break free from the kingdom of Antichrist.
We don’t really know how this happens, but here is a fairly plausible theory. In the latter part of the tribulation we know that the Antichrist’s kingdom comes under plague after plague and many
terrible devastations. What better time would there be for Israel to throw off the occupying power
than during this time of trouble. In many ways the Jews fight for independence in the end times
could be seen to pick up where the wars of the Jews against the Romans left off (when the Jews
were crushed, defeated and scattered among the nations shortly after the time of Christ). Thus the
wars of the Jews and end times may be intimately connected in prophecy. For instance Zechariah 11
appears to start with the wars of the Jews, and Zechariah 12 with the siege against Jerusalem in the last days. In chapter 11 they are defeated, but in chapter 12 they are victorious even as they mourn for the one they pierced. These two parts of the same old war flow consecutively in the passages,
yet are vastly different in outcome and therefore clearly quite separate events.
If the general thrust of this speculation concerning Israel and the beast is accurate, then it gives a clue as to why the nations are gathered against Jerusalem in chapter 12. Perhaps in the world scene, picked up on at this point in Zechariah, the Jews will have only just thrown off the occupation of “the beast”. Thus the gathering of surrounding armies against her may in fact be the counter attack of the beast against a rebellious Israel. Presumably they come to destroy this stubborn and fiercely
independent Jewish nation; the nation that continually rebelled against a whole succession of gentile empires. They resisted Babylon, were destroyed but came back into the land during the time of the
Persians. They rebelled against the Seleucid rule of Antiochus and freed themselves of external rule P a g e 62
for a time. They rebelled against Roman rule and were scattered and destroyed, yet were
reestablished as a nation nearly 2000 years later. From the combined word of prophecy we know
that yet once more they are to be occupied, trampled down and nearly destroyed. But, that in this
last instance, when they fight back they will after coming to the brink of annihilation ultimately be victorious as Christ empowers them and returns to fight for them. Then finally at this time the nation will be free from all influence of gentile powers, and free to serve its God as Messiah establishes his kingdom over all the earth.
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