Zechariah Chapter 12 - The Prophet Zechariah and Binitarianism

Unitarianism is dismantled by the prophet Zechariah several times in the Oracle given to him by the Lord, including within chapter 12.

Key: 

1. The words highlighted in red are God Almighty (Yahweh) speaking 
2. The words highlighted in green are the Prophet Zechariah speaking
3. The words highlighted in blue are Judah speaking

The oracle of the word of the LORD concerning Israel: Thus declares the LORD, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him: “Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah. On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it. On that day, declares the LORD, I will strike every horse with panic, and its rider with madness. But for the sake of the house of Judah I will keep my eyes open, when I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. Then the clans of Judah shall say to themselves, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem have strength through the LORD of hosts, their God.’ “On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a blazing pot in the midst of wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves. And they shall devour to the right and to the left all the surrounding peoples, while Jerusalem shall again be inhabited in its place, in Jerusalem. And the LORD will give salvation to the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not surpass that of Judah. On that day the LORD will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the LORD, going before them. And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look ON ME,  ON HIM whom they have pierced, they shall mourn FOR HIM, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly OVER HIM, as one weeps over a firstborn. On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. The land shall mourn, each family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the Shimeites by itself, and their wives by themselves; and all the families that are left, each by itself, and their wives by themselves. (Zechariah 12:1-14)

Five Observations

• 1a) God speaks of God (as another person). Zechariah stops speaking (vs 4) and the rest of the passage he quotes God Almighty (YHVH). A distinction is made when Zechariah is speaking: "On that day DECLARES THE LORD(vs 4)" Zechariah emphatically affirms he is quoting The Lord Almighty. However in contrast to when the Lord himself speaks these exact same words (the term declares is omitted to show a distinction):  "ON THAT DAY THE LORD WILL...(vs 8) ". Since we know Zechariah is speaking in the third person about the Lord. It is clear then, the Lord is also speaking about the Lord. God is more than one person. Contextually and grammatically, God must be the speaker then, through the rest of the passage.

• b) The Lord speaking of the Lord in third person as another person is further substantiated in vs 8: "On that day the LORD...on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the LORD, going before them." Another translation makes this more clear: "he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them."

• c) The Lord also speaks of the Lord in the third person in vs 10 “And I will pour out on the house of David...when they look on ME, on HIM whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for HIM, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over HIM, as one weeps over a firstborn

• d) If one wishes to assert Prophet Zechariah is the one speaking in vs 8, they must show why he characteristically (throughout the entire book and even this passage) omits his insertion of his standard: "Thus DECLARES the LORD" (as in vs 12:1;4)

• 2) Those who are defenseless who need divine protection from God Almighty, he empowers them, and how does God's liken his strengthening of the weak, he equates that to "be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the LORD, going before them" David of course is a term used for the Messiah (Ezekiel 38). Eloheem in this context must refer to YHVH since in the plural form with singular phrasing, it can only denote a plural of intensity: God Almighty. "Messenger of the Lord" is equated along side of Eloheem and David. All three are ontologically being equated together as perfect examples of God's power and strength. To be like David is to be like God which is to be like the Messenger of the Lord.  Bob Utley points out: "In two passages David is likened to the angel of the Lord (cf. I Sam. 29:9; II Sam. 14:17,20; 19:27)"  As Michael Heisar points out the Bible in Genesis 48:16 equates God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob with the "redeeming Angel" using a singular verb, and Camilla Hélena von Heijne (The Messenger of the Lord in Early Jewish Interpretations of Genesis pg 335) tells us two targums (Onqelos, Neofiti) equate the Angel of the Lord with God in Genesis 48. Prophet Zechariah is not inventing anything new when he equates the Judah to be as the Messiah, as God as the Angel of the Lord.

• 3) God (vs 10) himself speaks with a singular pronoun in the first person claiming he is pierced whilst claiming they looked on him, in the third person. Constables notes say: "The unusual combination “they will look to Me whom they have pierced” and “they will mourn for Him” suggests two different individuals, but the deity of the Messiah solves this problem. Yahweh Himself would suffer for the people in the person of Messiah. The suffering could be figurative (they wounded His holiness) or substitutionary (He died in place of others). Other references to this text point to a substitute suffering (e.g., John 19:37; Rev. 1:7; cf. Isa. 53:5, 8)."

• 4) The ArtScroll "Stone Edition" (publised by Mesorah Publications Ltd) translates this verse as follows...."I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitant of Jerusalem a spiritt of grace and supplications. They will look toward Me because of those whom they have stabbed; they will mourn over him as one mourns over an only [child], and be embittered over him like the embitterment over a [deceased] firstborn." However, how accurate is the switch from the highlighted plural to singular ? ProfBenTziyyon translates this as “...they will look toward Me because of any individual whom they have stabbed”. The Net Bible comments on the reason why these sorts of translations exist: "Because of the difficulty of the concept of the mortal piercing of God, the subject of this clause, and the shift of pronoun from “me” to “him” in the next, many mss read אַלֵי אֵת אֲשֶׁר (’ale ’et ’asher, “to the one whom,” a reading followed by NAB, NRSV) rather than the MT’s אֵלַי אֵת אֲשֶׁר (’ela ’et ’asher, “to me whom”). The reasons for such alternatives, however, are clear – they are motivated by scribes who found such statements theologically objectionable – and they should be rejected in favor of the more difficult reading (lectio difficilior) of the MT. tn Or “on me.” Bob Utley comments: "▣ "so that they will look on Me" The VERB (BDB 613, KB 661) is a Hiphil PERFECT. The Hebrew PREPOSITION translated "on" (BDB 39) in this verse should really be translated as "to" or "unto" (see New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, vol. 3, p. 9 and The Expositor's Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 683). It speaks of looking to this one for help or grace (cf. Num. 21:9; Isa. 45:22 for this usage of the PREPOSITION)."

• 5a) Further more the anti-missionaries are contradicted by the Talmud which concedes the passage is specific and messianic: "One said that the eulogy will be for the Messiah son of Joseph who has been killed, that is why the mourning will be so bitter, as it is written: They will look toward me, the one they have stabbed; they will mourn over him as one mourns over an only his only child. The death of God's anointed is certainly cause for great grief." (Talmud Bavli, Sukkah 25a)

• b) John Gill elaborates: "yea, the Jews themselves, some of them, acknowledge it is to be understood of the Messiah. In the Talmud, mention being made of the mourning after spoken of, it is asked, what this mourning was made for? and it is replied, R. Dusa and the Rabbins are divided about it: one says, for Messiah ben Joseph, who shall be slain; and another says, for the evil imagination, that shall be slain; it must be granted to him that says, for Messiah the son of Joseph that shall be slain; as it is written, "and they shall look upon whom they have pierced, and mourn" for, for the other, why should they mourn? hence Jarchi and Kimchi on the place say, our Rabbins interpret this of Messiah the son of Joseph, who shall be slain; and the note of Aben Ezra is, all the nations shall look unto me, to see what I will do to those who have pierced Messiah the son of Joseph. Grotius observes, that Hadarsan on (Genesis 28:10-16) understands it of Messiah the son of David. The Jews observing some prophecies speaking of the Messiah in a state of humiliation, and others of him in an exalted state, have coined this notion of two Messiahs, which are easily reconciled without it. The Messiah here prophesied of appears to be both God and man; a divine Person called Jehovah, who is all along speaking in the context, and in the text itself; for none else could pour out the spirit of grace and supplication; and yet he must be man, to be pierced; and the same is spoken of, that would do the one, and suffer the other; and therefore must be the (yeanyrwpov) , or God-man in one person. As to what a Jewish writer objects, that this was spoken of one that was pierced in war, as appears from the context; and that if the same person that is pierced is to be looked to, then it would have been said, "and mourn for me, and be in bitterness for me"; it may be replied, that this prophecy does not speak of the piercing this person at the time when the above wars shall be; but of the Jews mourning for him at the time of their conversion, who had been pierced by them, that is, by their ancestors, hundreds of years ago; which now they will with contrition remember, they having assented to it, and commended it as a right action; and as for the change from the first person to the third, this is not at all unusual in Scripture:"

• 5c) However if the passage is specific and messianic, yet the original reading is "upon ME", we have explicit proof that God is the Messiah, or at least God will become the Messiah at the time these prophecies are fulfilled.

This list is by no means a complete list of worthwhile observations but a start