Zechariah 12:1

The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel,.... And against their enemies; for the good of the church of God, for its joy, comfort, and salvation; or, "concerning Israel" (x); what shall befall

The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.

CHAPTER 12 Jerusalem a cup of trembling, and a burdensome stone, to the confusion of her adversaries, . The victorious restoring of Judah, . The repentance of Jerusalem, . The burden of the word of the Lord: see this whole passage . For Israel; or touching, concerning, as the Gallic version; upon, against, the Hebrew bears it; and some take it in one, some in the other sense, though I think the main of the chapter persuades it is to be rendered, for, in the behalf of Israel, i.e. the church of Christ among the Jews until their rejection, and among the Gentiles ever since their vocation; both have their concern in the things here foretold. Saith the Lord; who giveth out promises of great things to a people in a very low state, and therefore to raise their hope tells them by his prophet what he hath done. Which stretcheth forth the heavens, as a curtain, saith Isaiah, ; who did more easily spread abroad the heavens, than any creature can spread forth a curtain about your bed, or a canopy over your head; by an almighty power going along with the act of his will, saying, Let it be, all that immense body of the material, visible heavens immediately spread forth itself. And layeth the foundation of the earth, upon his own almighty word; on that the chief corner-stones thereof do lie, . Formeth; in admirable wisdom, and with more especial artifice, framed, so the Hebrew imports, as 46:11. The spirit; the immortal soul, that spiritual being which animateth us. Who hath done all this he can do all that is here promised for Israel, and threatened against Israel’ s enemies.

Zechariah 12:1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.Ver. 1. The burden of the word of the Lord] That is, a declaration of his mind and counsel for Israel’ s comfort and his enemies’ confusion. To the Israel of God it is onus sine onere, such a burden as the wings are to the bird, a burdenless burden. To the enemies, a burdensome stone, Zechariah 12:3, heavier than the sand of the sea, Job 6:3. For Israel] Not against Israel, though Calvin so taketh it; and by Israel understandeth the ten tribes, and those other captives that, loth to leave those houses they had built and those gardens they had planted in Babylon, Jeremiah 29:5, neglected to return to Jerusalem for fear of the Samaritans and other ill neighbours; whose ruin is therefore here foretold by three excellent similitudes, after a stately preamble, drawn, 1. From the power of God, whereby he stretcheth forth the heavens, Job 37:18; Job 26:7, that huge expanse, as a curtain, or as a molten looking glass. 2. From the wisdom of God, in laying the foundation of the earth, and hanging it, by geometry, as we say, in the midst of heaven, like Archimedes’ pigeon, equally poised with its own weight. “ Terra pilae similis, nullo fulcimine nixa, Acre subiecto tam grave pendet onus. ” (Ovid. Fast. l. 6.) 3. From the goodness of God, who formeth the spirit of man within him] Who hath made us these souls, Isaiah 57:16, which he doth daily create and infuse into men’ s bodies; yea, and that alone, without any help of their parents: hence he is called "the Father of spirits," Hebrews 12:9, and the spirit of a dying man is said to return to God that gave it, Ecclesiastes 12:7. This last text convinced Augustine (who held sometime, with Origen, that the soul as well as the body was begotten by the parents) far more than the peremptory rashness of Vincentius Victor; who censured boldly the father’ s unresolvedness (when he doubted concerning the original of a rational soul), and vaunted that he would prove by demonstration that souls are created de novo, by God. Aristotle, Nature’ s chief secretary, was much puzzled about this point of the soul; which, indeed, cannot fully be conceived of nor defined by man. Only this we can say, that the soul, as it comes from God, so it is like him; viz. one immaterial, immortal, understanding spirit; distinguished into three powers, which all make up one spirit.

XII. (1-9) The opening of this chapter is similar to that of Zechariah 9, and marks the beginning of the second half of these latter prophecies. This prophecy, as far as Zechariah 12:9, seems to recur to the same events as were foretold in Zechariah 9, 10 : viz., the successful contests of the Maccabean period. (1) Israel.—Comp. Malachi 1:5, &c., and “all the tribes of Israel” (Zechariah 9:1). Elsewhere, in Zechariah 9-11 (except in Zechariah 11:14), the terms used are Ephraim (Zechariah 9:10; Zechariah 9:13; Zechariah 10:7) and Joseph (Zechariah 10:6), as well as Judah (Zechariah 9:8; Zechariah 9:13; Zechariah 10:3; Zechariah 10:6; comp. Ezekiel 37:15-28). These and similar terms were interchangeable after the captivity, and refer, with a few exceptions, to the nation of the Jews in general. With this verse comp. Isaiah 42:5; Amos 4:13.

CHAPTER XII The first part of this chapter, with several passages in chap xiv., relates to an invasion that shall be made on the inhabitants of Judea and Jerusalem in the latter ages of the world, some time after the restoration and settlement of the Jews in their own land. It also describes, in very magnificent terms, the signal interposition of God in their favour. From this the prophet proceeds in the latter part of the chapter, 10-14, to describe the spiritual mercies of God to converting his people; and gives a very pathetic and affecting account of the deep sorrow of that people, when brought to a sense of their great sin in crucifying the Messiah, comparing it to the sorrow of a parent for his first-born and only son, or to the lamentations made for Josiah in the valley of Megiddon, 2 Chronicles 35:24-25. A deep, retired sorrow, which will render the mourners for a season insensible to all the comforts and enjoyments of the most endearing society. NOTES ON CHAP. XII Verse 1. The burden of the word of the Lord] This is a new prophecy. It is directed both to Israel and Judah, though Israel alone is mentioned in this verse. Which stretcheth forth the heavens] See on Isaiah 42:5. Formeth the spirit of man within him.] Then it is not the same substance with his body. It is a SPIRIT within HIM.

Chap. Zechariah 12:1-9. Jehovah’s protection of His people As in the former Burden, the first section opens with a general Title (printed as such in R. V.), very similar to that of the First Burden (Zechariah 9:1), and belonging like that to the whole group of prophecies which follow. The coming oracle proceeds from Jehovah, the Creator of the universe and of man; able therefore to accomplish what He predicts, Zechariah 12:1. All nations shall gather against Jerusalem, which shall prove to them like a cup of which they drink but to totter and fall, Zechariah 12:2, or a heavy stone which only wounds and crushes those who essay to lift it, Zechariah 12:3. Horse and rider alike in the armies that gather against her shall be panic-stricken and blinded, Zechariah 12:4, while the rulers of the country shall acknowledge her, thus rendered by God impregnable, as the bulwark of their land, Zechariah 12:5, and shall take courage to attack and consume the discomfited foe around her walls, so that she stands forth again a free and populous city, Zechariah 12:6. Thus the country at large shall have its share from God in the glory of the victory, and so all rivalry between it and the capital shall be excluded, Zechariah 12:7. The capital, however, shall under the protection of the Almighty be worthy of its position as the abode of heroes, while the royal family shall lead the nation no less worthily than the Angel of Jehovah did of old time, Zechariah 12:8. And all this, because God Himself will make it His aim to destroy all the enemies of His people, Zechariah 12:9.

The burden of the word of the Lord for - Rather, “upon (see at Nahum 1:1, p.

VARIOUS THE FUTURE OF ISRAEL, Zechariah 12:1 to Zechariah 14:21.The heading (Zechariah 12:1) names the subject of these utterances, Israel, a term used here not in a national but in a religious sense of the people of Jehovah.