Chapter 13
No title for this chapter. Pushed together with 12 in the ESV as if the division is arbitrary, and need not be there.
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. [Zec 13:1 ESV] Perhaps the brook coming from the Third Temple will begin to flow?
2024 - Or is this a new dispensation. Old Covenant, New Covenant, Jewish Return Covenant? Jesus said he was living water. This description makes sense in light of that.
Then, a division, titled "Idolatry Cut Off". So maybe it is only vs 1 that should have stayed with 12.
vs two references "that day". This term is used many times through here....
Even the memory of the names of idols will be cut off. There will be no more prophets. They'll be removed. False prophets will be killed, even by their own parents. Prophecy will not be tolerated. False prophets will deny that they were ever prophets, even claiming they were stolen as babies and brought up to declare false prophecy.
2024 - What does "that day" mean? It doesn't say IN that day, but ON that day, as if a single day is what is in view. In Zech 2:11 and 3:10, we have IN that day. Then follow 18 occurrences of ON that day. One of those, only one, seems to be a reference to something that happened in Zechariah's time. Here is that one:
11 So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep traders, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the LORD. [Zec 11:11 ESV]. In context, this is part of Zechariah's description of events after God tells him to become shepherd of a doomed flock. The staffs Favor and Union are part of this. This is a very symbolic, very difficult passage for me, but it reads like some of the passages in Jeremiah where Jeremiah was told to go and do something in front of the people, a symbolic act, and then to explain what he was telling them. So I think Zechariah is talking here about one specific day. If that is so here, then we can perhaps project that same idea to the rest of the "on that day"'s in Zechariah.
2024 - Continuing..."In that day" in Hebrew is "yom hu". "Yom" is "in day", "hu" is that, in Zech 2:11. Exactly the same in 3:11. But "on that day", which first appears in 9:16, it is...exactly the same as far as transliteration. Are the cantillation marks different? No. Exactly the same. And in fact, NASB95 translates them all "in that day". So there is nothing here, and I have spent 30 minutes on a difference in translation that implied a "difference" to me, when in fact there is no difference at all, and in fact, we don't know if "that day" refers to a single day or a period of time. I think I am much more inclined to say it is a period of time, since my "trigger" that it means something different turned out not to be there at all.
2024 - So. A period of time. Is it about the Millennial? Or does it start immediately after the rapture as the Jews begin to move from all over the world toward Jerusalem?
2024 -This verse:
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. [Zec 13:2 ESV]. A future time when there are no idols in memory and no prophets in Israel, nor any spirit of uncleanness. This seems to include prophets as of a kind with idols and the spirit of uncleanness. So I don't think we're talking about "true" prophets here, but false ones. It gets really serious after that. The implication is that in this time the people, Israel, will have not only a perfect discernment of false prophecy, but also a complete intolerance of it, to the point where parents will kill their own children for claiming to be prophets. Israel will know that no prophets exist at all in that time, so any prophet, even their own child, is false and deserves death. To me THIS kind of environment ties in with the prophesy in Jeremiah where God says he will "put a new spirit in you", and that "all will know me", and that "no one will be taught by his brother". None of these things will be necessary, because they will ALL have inerrant, total discernment. Prophets will be a complete waste of time. While the New Covenant that we have is partially like this, with the indwelling Holy Spirit, Zechariah is talking about something an order of magnitude more intense.
2025 - This strange verse: 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, [Zec 13:4 ESV]. Surely this references both Elijah and John the Baptist. This is to show unmistakably that not even one identifying himself as these two will be a true prophet. Is this about the Millennial where no prophet is needed because Christ is present? It can't be about the intertestamentary period can it? I mean, John showed up out of that period. His appearance ended that period. Jesus warns about false prophets twice in Matthew 24. In 24:5 where I believe he is speaking of the time between his crucifixion and 70 AD, before the Temple stones are thrown down, and again in 24:24-26, when I believe he is talking about the time between the appearance of the AoD and second coming - on the white horse with his armies. Could Zechariah be talking about one of these? I think the attitude of mothers and fathers towards the prophets Zechariah means tells us that this period of time has not happened yet, in our day. So not the time between crucifixion and 70 AD, and surely there has been no other time like this. So we have to say this time is yet future...but not the Millennial if it ties to 24:24-26. Zechariah is talking about the time between the AoD and the second advent. And yet...the next verse is quoted by Jesus in the garden.
The chapter changes to verse format. This must all be discussed:
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.'" [Zec 13:7-9 ESV]
Vs 7 looks ahead to the crucifixion of Jesus. The man who stands next to me affirms the deity and equality with God of Jesus Christ. "Strike the shepherd..." Jesus quoted this in Gethsemane (Mt 26:31?).
Vs 8 I believe moves on ahead to the Tribulation and Great Tribulation. All these are in thirds. The first several trumpets affect one third of earth, a third of the trees, crops, grass, waters, and so on. Many will die as a result. Two thirds of the world will die. Very likely two thirds of the Jews alive at that time will prove unfaithful as they are refined. At the end of great trib, which is to say "on that day", only the faithful third will remain to enter Jerusalem and the Millennial kingdom with Christ.
2025 - Right or wrong, I resist interpreting a passage that appears to be chronological as if it goes way out to the tgt FIRST, and then comes back to the crucifixion after that. I prefer to make the adjustments to interpretation in such a way that the passage remains chronological - even if it is about a sequence of events far in the future. What we have is that idols will be removed, prophets will be removed, unclean spirits will be removed, all at some future time. We can, without any problems, have these three things occur together or in close sequence. Zechariah was after the return from Babylon, so that bookends the earliest time about which he could be talking. We have "in that day" in vs 1, and again in vs 4, with "also". So the characteristics of vs 1 will be accompanied by the characteristics of vs 4, where no one will want to be recognized as a prophet.
2025 - Hmm...Once the MoL declares himself god, worshiping any other idol than the AoD will have a death penalty. Even fake prophets will be arrested and killed. Real prophets will deny that they ever were prophets lest they be arrested and killed. To this point, things fit with AoD to Second Advent. So I am left then with there being two fulfillments of "Strike the shepherd..." Could the second one be the two witnesses? They will be killed, after the AoD is set up if I have the timing right, and after the Jews have begun to recognized Christ, and recognize what they've done. This can fit.
(2025 - Later. No, I don't think this is about real prophets pretending to not be prophets. Zech 13:2-6 are about God shutting down idols, demons, FALSE prophets once and for all, and about Israel - the Jews - no longer tolerating false prophets. This is akin to what we see Jeremiah promise about no one needing a brother to tell him what scriptures mean. Everyone will just know. This looks to me like it could be starting up BEFORE the Millennial actually arrives. But somewhere along here Joel's old men dreaming dreams has to show up also. I don't see how this prophecy in Zechariah and Joel's prophecy can overlap. They must be separate.
2025 - The thirds then in vs 8. We see one third in Revelation 8, during the trumpet judgments. A third of the grass and trees, a third of the oceans, a third of the fresh water. It might be that the seals take out a third, and then the trumpets take out a third...but then there is this too, right after the two witnesses: 13 And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. [Rev 11:13 ESV]...This is still during the trumpets, but it is hard to get a third out of 7000. Maybe though, "that hour" is when the persecution of the Jews stops. Maybe this is the failure of the plan the MoL had in place for genocide of the Jews? With the "resurrection" of two witnesses and the earthquake, some "group" of Jews, though 2/3rds have been murdered, will be released...maybe even by the earthquake. Locked up prophets? The 144,000?
2025 - It is surely a true statement that the end of the trial is at the Second Advent. After that, all are protected. That's what this means.
2026 - We KNOW when 13:7 occurs. It is in Gethsemane. We don't know if that is the near or the far, or if this one is only fulfilled once. I think it is safe to interpret what comes before vs 7 in Gethsemane as ALL occurring in some form before that. Can we find anyplace after Gethsemane when the shepherd is struck so the sheep scatter? A time much closer - even within the lifetime - of Zechariah?
2026 - If we go back to 13:1, and Jesus is the water, the fountain, then this is about the New Covenant. Let's say Zechariah is speaking ONLY of the coming of Messiah. In Jesus time the Romans were in Israel with all their idols. Dozens of them, and these were preceded by Greek idols. They overlap. Their names are confusing. Removal of the prophets could be a referenced to the intertestamentary period, the silence of God prior to the arrival of the Messiah. Hmm...that works too. That next, about parents killing children for their claims of being prophets during this time might be a reiteration that ANY prophet during the intertestamentary is false, and the Law should be fulfilled...or at least we have this as hyperbole to show the universal falseness of prophets during the intertestamentary period.
2026 - But that leaves us with the "shame" of the prophets? What is that? Well it goes on to show the "wounds between the arms", which an MSB note says refers to the cutting of themselves during "ecstasy" rituals that pagan priests and prophets did. In this time of absolute rejection of idolatry, a pagan priest might well have been stoned if discovered. I seem to recall Jews choosing death rather than worship Caesar as a god, because it was idolatry. Zealous anti-idol culture. Wow. All this works in the immediate future of Zechariah, as he prophesies of Jesus.
2026 - And here is another principle of interpreting prophecy. If there is ANY part who's application time can be determined with certainty, as when a quote from the NT tells us explicitly hey here is what that OT prophet was talking about, then we put a nail in that moment, and interpret before and after that in terms of the years before and after it.
2026 - And that means vss 8-9 happen after the crucifixion/resurrection. 70 AD is after that. The siege of Jerusalem is after that. The second half of the double punishment is after that. The Jews are exiled from Jerusalem after that. And the refining, the testing, of God's own people continues to this day, and may well not be completed until the end of the 70th week. This all seems to work very very well as the way to interpret Zechariah 11.