Zechariah 13
February 3
Reading: Zechariah 13
1 "On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.
2 "And on that day, declares the LORD of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, so that they shall be remembered no more. And also I will remove from the land the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness. 3 And if anyone again prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will say to him, 'You shall not live, for you speak lies in the name of the LORD.' And his father and mother who bore him shall pierce him through when he prophesies.
4 "On that day every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies. He will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive, 5 but he will say, 'I am no prophet, I am a worker of the soil, for a man sold me in my youth.' 6 And if one asks him, 'What are these wounds on your back?' he will say, 'The wounds I received in the house of my friends.'
7 "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
against the man who stands next to me,"
declares the LORD of hosts.
"Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered;
I will turn my hand against the little ones.
8 In the whole land,
declares the LORD,
two thirds shall be cut off and perish,
and one third shall be left alive.
9 And I will put this third into the fire,
and refine them as one refines silver,
and test them as gold is tested.
They will call upon my name,
and I will answer them.
I will say, 'They are my people';
and they will say, 'The LORD is my God.'"
Zechariah 13 continues the oracle begun in the previous chapter. Judgment is coming on the nations and rescue for Jerusalem. In chapter 13:1 we read a promise of a fountain of living water opened for God’s people that brings cleansing from sin and impurity.
In addition, the rescue that is coming is deliverance from idolatry and false prophets. (vss. 2-6) There is coming a day, when the Messiah comes, that God’s people will not want to be false prophets or listen to false prophets. Verse six is an odd passage. What it is portraying is a day when people will not want to show off their scars from pagan, idolatrous, ritual cutting; but they will instead receive wounds from being a part of the people of God, from persecution.
Verse 7 continues this picture of persecution, but now with regard to the Messiah and those who follow Him. “My Shepherd” is clearly the Messiah who we heard about in 12:10.
…so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.
The stricken Shepherd we read of in Zechariah 13 recalls the prophesy of Isaiah 53. In fact, Zechariah 13:7 is quoted by Jesus in Matthew 26:31 and Mark 14:27 to explain that His disciples will all leave Him as He goes to the Cross.
Zechariah 13:8-9 describes the remnant of God’s people. The “one third” brings to mind the one third prophesied by the cutting of Ezekiel’s beard in Ezekiel 5. They were scattered to the wind so that they could be brought back to the Lord. Here, in Zechariah, the remnant will be refined like silver and gold so that they will call on the name of the Lord. They will be God’s people and they will say that He is their God. These are the ones who follow the Messiah.