Zechariah 12:1

This chapter begins the second division of the second half of Zechariah. It begins, like the beginning of the first division (Zechariah 9:1) with the authentication of the message as coming from God Himself, and indicates the subject matter as being "The burden of the word of Jehovah concerning Israel" (Zechariah 12:1), contrasting sharply with the subject matter in the first section, "The burden of the word of Jehovah" upon the world powers. For comment on "burden," see under Zechariah 9:1.

It is vital to any understanding of this chapter to identify the "Israel" of which the prophet spoke. It must not be understood in any way as a discussion of the fleshly, racial kingdom of the Jews, either before or after the first advent of Christ. The time period under consideration in this prophecy is after the staff BANDS had been cut asunder, severing forever any connection between racial Jews and the kingdom of God. See full discussion of this under Zechariah 11:14, above. The "Israel" in view throughout this chapter, and this section, is primarily "the true Israel of God," the church of Jesus Christ. Many discerning scholars have emphasized this.

"Jehovah reveals the holy and indestructible character of the new spiritual body. Israel (here) is the new people of God under the rule of the Messiah.[1]

Although literal Israel had been rejected, a new people of God arises, the Messianic theocracy, which is also called Israel, whose fortunes the prophet herein delineates."[2]

The first and second advents of Jesus Christ are not dearly distinguished; consequently some of the events foretold were fulfilled in the first, and some yet remain to be fulfilled in the second coming of our Lord. Of course, the apostle Matthew also mingled in exactly the same manner such widely separated events in his glorious 24th chapter. That there are indeed events of the last days included here was discerned by Robinson:

"Zechariah 12-14 contain an oracle describing the victories of the new Theocracy and the coming of the day of the Lord. This section is emphatically eschatological, presenting three distinct apocalyptic pictures."[3]

Although "Israel" is not mentioned again by that name in the balance of the chapter, "It is to be understood as the elect people of God as distinct from the nations, heathen."[4] Despite the whole chapter's having reference to the spiritual Israel, we should not be surprised that the terminology of the old Israel is used by the prophet. The reason for this appears in the fact that for the time then present in the days of Zechariah, the "true Israel" was still collectively identified with the old; and, "In conformity with the historical situation, we find, therefore, sometimes the one, sometimes the other locality referred to, and sometimes both together."[5]

Zechariah 12:1-2

"The burden of the word of Jehovah concerning Israel. Thus saith Jehovah, who stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him: Behold I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling unto all the peoples round about, and upon Judah also shall it be in the siege against Jerusalem."

In Zechariah 12:2, there is a problem regarding the translation of the reference to Judah.

King James Version: "They shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem."

Douay: "And Juda also shall be in the siege against Jerusalem."

Of course, these are radically different statements; and this student does not claim any capability of deciding between conflicting translations of difficult Hebrew texts. Many of the current versions have gone back to the KJV and render it so as to say that Judah was on the side of Jerusalem; but the conviction endures in some that Judah was on the wrong side in this conflict. We shall explore both of these possible meanings:

(1) If Judah was on the right side, with Jerusalem. This view would indicate the meaning that Judah is another expression referring to the true "Israel" of God. Since Jerusalem used by itself has the utility of standing for the entirety of the New Israel (Revelation 21-22), it would be difficult indeed to explain the superfluous addition of Judah as another term meaning the same thing.

(2) If Judah was on the wrong side, fighting with the heathen nations against the true Church of God, exclusively identified as the true "Israel of God" in the reign of Messiah, then the passage would have the force of teaching that the racial and fleshly Jews throughout New Dispensation would be arrayed not with God's people, but against them. In the light of other passages in the Bible, and in view of the history of racial Israel since Pentecost, we do not hesitate to express a preference for this meaning, as found in the Douay Version, and as espoused by a number of present-day scholars: "Judah was opposing Jerusalem";[6] "This suggests that Judah is linked with the enemies of Jerusalem, and with them receives the cup of reeling."[7] For generations, this meaning of the passage has been discerned. Smith has:

"The nations, not particularized here as they have been, gather to the siege of Jerusalem, and, very singularly, Judah is gathered with them against her own capital."[8]

Why then, has the current crop of versions eliminated this thought from the passage? Mitchell made it a gloss, and discarded it.[9] Dummelow said, "This does not make sense";[10] and Unger accepted the KJV rendition as "the only one that makes sense."[11] It appears from this, then, that the principal reason for rejection of the Douay version as to the meaning of this, lies in the subjective reaction of the scholars themselves. This second meaning (Douay) makes excellent sense; for the passage then becomes a categorical prophecy of what has happened in the case of the racial Israel throughout the whole Christian dispensation and down to this very day. Of course, this would not make any sense to a scholar that doesn't understand it!

This prophecy of racial Jewry being opposed to Christianity has been so understood since the times of Jerome. "Maurer and Jerome translate, `Also upon Judah shall be the cup of trembling.'"[12]

"Make Jerusalem a cup of reeling ..." means that all the powers that oppose themselves against Christianity throughout the dispensation shall be overcome with drunkenness and madness (Zechariah 12:3). "If you are weary of your life, persecute the Christians,"[13] was once a proverb.

"The siege against Jerusalem ..." does not refer to any historical assault upon literal Jerusalem, but to the long and bitter conflict between Christianity and the forces of Satan, a warfare still going on and destined to continue until the overthrow of "the cities of the nations" (Revelation 16:19) during the great world holocaust just preceding the final Judgment. In the meantime, Jerusalem, the City of God, the Church of Jesus Christ shall continue on earth unshaken by the hostile forces opposed to her.