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Matthew Henry |
Z E C H A R I A H.
CHAP. XIII.
In this chapter we have,
I. Some further promises relating to gospel-times. Here is a promise of
the remission of sins
(ver. 1),
of the reformation of manners
(ver. 2),
and particularly of the convicting and silencing of false prophets,
II. A clear prediction of the sufferings of Christ and the dispersion
of his disciples thereupon
(ver. 7),
of the destruction of the greater part of the Jewish nation not long
after
(ver. 8),
and of the purifying of a remnant of them, a peculiar people to God,
| Evangelical Predictions; The Destruction of False Prophets. | B. C. 500. |
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1 In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of
David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for
uncleanness.
2 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of
hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the
land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause
the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.
3 And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet
prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say
unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name
of the LORD: and his father and his mother that begat him shall
thrust him through when he prophesieth.
4 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets
shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he hath
prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive:
5 But he shall say, I am no prophet, I am a husbandman;
for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.
6 And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in
thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was
wounded in the house of my friends.
Behold the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world, the sin
of the church; for therefore was the Son of God manifested, to
take away our sin,
1 John iii. 5.
I. He takes away the guilt of sin by the blood of his cross
(v. 1):
In that day, in the gospel-day, there shall be a fountain
opened, that is, provision made for the cleansing of all those from
the pollutions of sin who truly repent and are sorry for them. In
that day, when the Spirit of grace is poured out to set them a
mourning for their sins, they shall not mourn as those who have no
hope, but they shall have their sins pardoned, and the comfort of their
pardon in their bosoms. Their consciences shall be purified and
pacified by the blood of Christ, which cleanses from all sin,
1 John i. 7.
For Christ is exalted to give both repentance and remission of sins;
and where he gives the one no doubt he gives the other. This
fountain opened is the pierced side of Jesus Christ, spoken of
just before
(ch. xii. 10),
for thence came there out blood and water, and both for
cleansing. And those who look upon Christ pierced, and mourn for
their sins that pierced him, and are therefore in bitterness for him,
may look again upon Christ pierced and rejoice in him, because it
pleased the Lord thus to smite this rock, that it might be to us a
fountain of living waters. See here,
1. How we are polluted; we are all so; we have sinned, and sin is
uncleanness; it defiles the mind and conscience, renders us odious to
God and uneasy in ourselves, unfit to be employed in the service of God
and admitted into communion with him, as those who were ceremonially
unclean were shut out of the sanctuary. The house of David and
the inhabitants of Jerusalem are under sin, which is
uncleanness. The truth is, we are all as an unclean thing, and
deserve to have our portion with the unclean.
2. How we may be purged. Behold, there is fountain opened for us to
wash in, and there are streams flowing to us from that fountain, so
that, if we be not made clean, it is our own fault. The blood of
Christ, and God’s pardoning mercy in that blood, revealed in the new
covenant, are,
(1.) A fountain; for there is in them an inexhaustible fulness. There
is mercy enough in God, and merit enough in Christ, for the forgiving
of the greatest sins and sinners, upon gospel-terms. Such were some
of you, but you are washed,
1 Cor. vi. 11.
Under the law there were a brazen laver and a brazen sea to wash in;
those were but vessels, but we have a fountain to ourselves,
overflowing, ever-flowing.
(2.) A fountain opened; for, whoever will, may come and take the
benefit of it; it is opened, not only to the house of David, but
to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to the poor and mean as well as
to the rich and great; or it is opened for all believers, who, as the
spiritual seed of Christ, are of the house of David, and, as living
members of the church, are inhabitants of Jerusalem. Through Christ all
that believe are justified, are washed from their sins in his
blood, that they may be made to our God kings and priests,
Rev. i. 5, 6.
II. He takes away the dominion of sin by the power of his grace, even
of beloved sins. This evermore accompanies the former; those that are
washed in the fountain opened, as they are justified, so they are
sanctified; the water came with the blood out of the pierced side of
Christ. It is here promised that in that day,
1. Idolatry shall be quite abolished and the people of the Jews shall
be effectually cured of their inclination to it
(v. 2):
I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land. The
worship of the idols of their fathers shall be so perfectly rooted out
that in one generation or two it shall be forgotten that ever there
were such idols among them; they shall either not be named at all or
not with any respect; they shall no more be remembered, as was
promised,
This was fulfilled in the rooted aversion which the Jews had, after the
captivity, to idols and idolatry, and still retain to this day; it was
fulfilled also in the ready conversion of many to the faith of Christ,
by which they were taken off from making an idol of the ceremonial law,
as the unbelieving Jews did; and it is still in the fulfilling when
souls are brought off from the world and the flesh, those two great
idols, that they may cleave to God only.
2. False prophecy shall also be brought to an end: I will cause the
prophets and the unclean spirit, the prophets that are under the
influence of the unclean spirit, to pass out of the land. The
devil is an unclean spirit; sin and uncleanness are from him; he
has his prophets, that serve his interests and receive their
instructions from him. Take away the unclean spirit, and the prophets
would not deceive as they do; take away the false prophets that produce
sham commissions, and the unclean spirit could not do the mischief he
does. When God designs the silencing of the false prophets he banishes
the unclean spirit out of the land, that wrought in them, and was a
rival with him for the throne in the heart. The church of the Jews,
when they were addicted to idols, did also dote much upon false
prophets, who flattered them in their sins with promises of impunity
and peace; but here it is promised, as a blessed effect of the promised
reformation, that they should be very much set against false prophets,
and zealous to clear the land of them; they were so after the
captivity, till, through the blindness of their zeal against false
prophets, they had put Christ to death under that character, and, after
that, there arose many false Christs and false prophets, and
deceived many,
Matt. xxiv. 11.
It is here foretold,
(1.) That false prophets, instead of being indulged and favoured,
should be brought to condign punishment even by their nearest
relations, which would be as great an instance as any of flagrant zeal
against those deceivers
(v. 3):
When any shall set up for a prophet, and shall speak lies in
the name of the Lord, shall preach that which tends to draw people
from God and to confirm them in sin, his own parents shall be the first
and most forward to prosecute him for it, according to the law.
“If thy son entice thee secretly from God, thou shalt surely
kill him. Show thy indignation against him, and prevent any further
temptation from him.” His father and his mother shall thrust him
through when he prophesies. Note, We ought to conceive, and always
to retain, a very great detestation and dread of every thing that would
draw us out of the way of our duty into by-paths, as those who cannot
bear that which is evil,
Rev. ii. 2.
And holy zeal for God and godliness will make us hate sin, and dread
temptation, most in those whom naturally we love best, and who are
nearest to us; there our danger is greatest, as Adam’s from Eve, Job’s
from his wife; and there it will be the most praiseworthy to show our
zeal, as Levi, who, in the cause of God, did not acknowledge his
brethren, nor know his own children,
Deut. xxxiii. 9.
Thus we must hate and forsake our nearest relations when they come in
competition with our duty to God,
Natural affections, even the strongest, must be over-ruled by gracious
affections.
(2.) That false prophets should be themselves convinced of their sin
and folly, and let fall their pretensions
(v. 4):
“The prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision; they
shall not repeat it, or insist upon it, but desire that it may be
forgotten and no more said of it, being ready themselves to own it was
a sham, because God has by his grace awakened their consciences and
shown them their error, or because the event disproves their
predictions, and gives them the lie, or because their prophecies do not
meet with such a favourable reception as they used to meet with, but
are generally despised and distasted; they perceive the people ashamed
of them, which makes them begin to be ashamed of themselves. And
therefore they shall no longer wear a rough garment, or
garment of hair, as the true prophets used to do, in imitation
of Elijah, and in token of their being mortified to the pleasures and
delights of sense.” The pretenders had appeared in the habit of true
prophets; but, their folly being now made manifest, they shall lay it
aside, no more to deceive and impose upon unthinking unwary people by
it. A modest dress is a very good thing, if it be the genuine
indication of a humble heart, and is to instruct; but it is a bad thing
if it be the hypocritical disguise of a proud ambitious heart, and is
to deceive. Let men be really as good as they seem to be, but not seem
to be better than really they are. This pretender, as a true penitent,
[1.] Shall undeceive those whom he had imposed upon: He shall say,
“I am no prophet, as I have pretended to be, was never designed nor
set apart to the office, never educated nor brought up for it, never
conversant among the sons of the prophets. I am a husbandman,
and was bred to that business; I was never taught of God to prophesy,
but taught of man to keep cattle” Amos was originally such a one
too, and yet was afterwards called to be a prophet,
But this deceiver never had any such call. Note, Those who sorrow
after a godly sort for their having deceived others will be forward to
confess their sin, and will be so just as to rectify the mistakes which
they have been the cause of. Thus those who had used curious
arts, when they were converted showed their deeds, and by
what fallacies they had cheated the people,
[2.] He shall return to his own proper employment, which is the fittest
for him: I will be a husbandman (so it may be read); “I will
apply myself to my calling again, and meddle no more with things that
belong not to me; for man taught me to keep cattle from my
youth, and cattle I will again keep, and never set up for a
preacher any more.” Note, When we are convinced that we have gone out
of the way of our duty we must evince the truth of our repentance by
returning to it again, though it be the severest mortification to us.
[3.] He shall acknowledge those to be his friends who by a severe
discipline were instrumental to bring him to a sight of his error,
v. 6.
When he who with the greatest assurance had asserted himself so lately
to be a prophet suddenly drops his claims, and says, I am no prophet,
every body will be surprised at it, and some will ask, “What are
these wounds, or marks of stripes, in thy hands? how camest
thou by them? Hast thou not been examined by scourging? And is
not that it that has brought thee to thyself?” (Vexatio dat
intellectum–Vexation sharpens the intellect.) “Hast thou not been
beaten into this acknowledgment? Was it not the rod and reproof that
gave thee this wisdom?” And he shall own, “Yes, it was; these are the
wounds with which I was wounded in the house of my friends, who
bound me, and used me hardly and severely, as a distracted man, and so
brought me to my senses.” By this it appears that those parents of the
false prophet that thrust him through
(v. 3)
did not do it till they had first tried to reclaim him by correction,
and he would not be reclaimed; for so was the law concerning a
disobedient son–his parents must first have chastened him in vain
before they were allowed to bring him forth to be stoned,
But here is another who was reduced by stripes, and so prevented the
capital punishment; and he had the sense and honesty to own that they
were his friends, his real friends, who thus wounded him, that they
might reclaim him; for faithful are the wounds of a friend,
Prov. xxvii. 6.
Some good interpreters, observing how soon this comes after the mention
of Christ’s being pierced, think that these are the words of that great
prophet, not of the false prophet spoken of before. Christ was wounded
in his hands, when they were nailed to the cross, and, after his
resurrection, he had the marks of these wounds; and here he tells how
he came by them; he received them as a false prophet, for the chief
priests called him a deceiver, and upon that account would have him
crucified; but he received them in the house of his friends–the Jews,
who should have been his friends; for he came to his own, and,
though they were his bitter enemies, yet he was pleased to call them
his friends, as he did Judas (Friend, wherefore hast thou
come?) because they forwarded his sufferings for him; as he called
Peter Satan–an adversary, because he dissuaded him from
them.
| Sufferings of Christ Predicted. | B. C. 500. |
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7 Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man
that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd,
and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon
the little ones.
8 And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the
LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third
shall be left therein.
9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will
refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is
tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will
say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.
Here is a prophecy,
I. Of the sufferings of Christ, of him who was to be pierced, and was
to be the fountain opened. Awake, O sword! against my Shepherd,
v. 7.
These are the words of God the Father, giving order and commission to
the sword of his justice to awake against his Son, when he had
voluntarily made his soul an offering for sin; for it pleased the
Lord to bruise him and put him to grief; and he was
stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted,
Isa. liii. 4, 10.
Observe,
1. How he calls him. “As God, he is my fellow;” for he thought
it no robbery to be equal with God. He and the Father are
one. He was from eternity by him, as one brought up with him,
and, in the work of man’s redemption, he was his elect, in whom his
soul delighted, and the counsel of peace was between them both. “As
Mediator, he is my Shepherd, that great and good Shepherd that
undertook to feed the flock,”
He is the Shepherd that was to lay down his life for the sheep.
2. How he uses him: Awake, O sword! against him. If he will be
a sacrifice, he must be slain, for without the shedding of blood, the
life-blood, there was no remission. Men thrust him through as the good
Shepherd (compare
v. 3),
that he might purchase the flock of God with his own
blood,
Acts xx. 28.
It is not a charge given to a rod to correct him, but to a sword to
slay him; for Messiah the prince must be cut off, but not for
himself,
Dan. ix. 26.
It is not the sword of war that receives this charge, that he may die
in the bed of honour, but the sword of justice, that he may die as a
criminal, upon an ignominious tree. This sword must awake against him;
he having no sin of his own to answer for, the sword of justice had
nothing to say to him of itself, till, by particular order from the
Judge of all, it was warranted to brandish itself against him. He was
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, in the decree
and counsel of God; but the sword designed against him had long
slumbered, till now at length it is called upon to awake, not, “Awake,
and smite him; strike home; not with a drowsy blow, but an awakened
one;” for God spared not his own Son.
II. Of the dispersion of the disciples thereupon: Smite the
Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. This our Lord Jesus
himself declares to have been fulfilled when all his disciples were
offended because of him in the night wherein he was betrayed,
They all forsook him and fled. The smiting of the Shepherd is
the scattering of the sheep. They were scattered every one to his
own, and left him alone,
John xvi. 32.
Herein they were like timorous sheep; yet the Shepherd thus provided
for their safety, for he said, If you seek me, let these go their
way. Some make another application of this; Christ was the
Shepherd of the Jewish nation; he was smitten; they themselves
smote him, and therefore they were justly scattered abroad, and
dispersed among the nations, and remain so at this day. These words,
I will turn my hand upon the little ones, may be understood
either as a threatening (as Christ suffered, so shall his disciples,
they shall drink of the cup that he drank of and be baptized
with the baptism that he was baptized with) or as a promise that
God would gather Christ’s scattered disciples together again, and he
should give them the meeting in Galilee. Though the little ones among
Christ’s soldiers may be dispersed, they shall rally again; the lambs
of his flock, though frightened by the beasts of prey, shall recover
themselves, shall be gathered in his arms and laid in his bosom.
Sometimes, when the sheep are scattered and lost in the wilderness, yet
the little ones, which, it was feared, would be a prey
(Num. xiv. 31),
are brought in, are brought home, and God turns his hand upon them.
III. Of the rejection and ruin of the unbelieving Jews
(v. 8);
and this word has, and shall have, its accomplishment, in the
destruction of the corrupt and hypocritical part of the church. It
shall come to pass that in all the land of Israel two parts shall be
cut off and die. The Roman army laid the country waste, and slew at
least two-thirds of the Jews. Some understand by the cutting
off, and dying, or two parts in all the earth,
the abolishing of heathenism and Judaism, that Christianity, the third
part, might be left to reign alone. The Jewish worship was quite taken
away by the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. And, some time
after, Pagan idolatry was in a manner extirpated, when the empire
became Christian.
IV. Of the reformation and preservation of the chosen remnant, those of
them that believed, and the Christian church in general
(v. 9):
The third part shall be left. When Jerusalem and Judea were
destroyed, all the Christians in that country, having among them the
warning Christ gave them to flee to the mountains, shifted for
their own safety, and were sheltered in a city called Pella, on
the other side Jordan. We have here first the trials and then the
triumphs of the Christian church, and of all the faithful members of
it.
1. Their trials: I will bring that third part through the
fire of affliction. and will refine and try them as
silver and gold are refined and tried. This was fulfilled in the
persecutions of the primitive church, the fiery trial which
tried the people of God then,
Those whom God sets apart for himself must pass through a probation and
purification in this world; they must be tried that their
faith may be found to praise and honour
as Abraham’s faith was when it was tried by the command given him to
offer up Isaac, Now know I that thou fearest me. They must be
tried, that both those that are perfect and those that are not may be
made manifest. They must be refined from their dross; their
corruption must be purged out; they must be brightened and bettered.
2. Their triumphs.
(1.) Their communion with God is their triumph: They shall call on
my name, and I will hear them. They write to God by prayer, and
receive from him answers of peace, and thus keep up a comfortable
communion with him. This honour have all his saints.
(2.) Their covenant with God is their triumph: “I will say, It is my
people, whom I have chosen and loved, and will own; and they
shall say, the Lord is my God, and a God all-sufficient to me; and
in me they shall boast every day and all the day long. This God is
our God for ever and ever.“
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