Zechariah 12:1 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

Zechariah 12:1 a is an editorial heading probably added when the two collections Zechariah 9-11, Zechariah 12-14 were appended to the earlier book of Zechariah. The text of this section is corrupt in places, but the sense is on the whole clear. We have reference both to the earlier days of the struggle, when Jerusalem was in the hands of the Hellenisers and the heathen, while the Maccabees, who derived their forces from the country districts, were fighting against the Syro-Greek government, and also to the time when Jerusalem as a whole with the possible exception of the citadel, which only surrendered in 141 B.C. was in the hands of the Maccabees, and Jewish power was becoming a serious menace to the neighbouring peoples as well as a thorn in the side of the government. Jerusalem became a cup of reeling to all the peoples, when the Maccabean leaders inflicted their appalling blows on Philistia, Edom, Ammon, etc. The MT of Zechariah 12:2 b is untranslatable. It cannot mean that Judah will take part in the siege of Jerusalem, for Zechariah 12:2 a represents Jerusalem as already a bowl of reeling to the neighbouring peoples, and therefore already in Jewish hands. The context implies that Judah should be described as supporting those who hold Jerusalem. Zechariah 12:3 repeats the statement of Zechariah 12:2 a with a change of metaphor. Those who attack Jerusalem find themselves crushed as it were beneath a burdensome stone. The metaphor was perhaps suggested by an actual incident in some great quarry such as that of Baalbec, a huge stone having injured those who were endeavouring to transport it. The description of all the nations as gathered together against Jerusalem, which is a constant feature of the late apocalyptic literature, is due to the inclusion in the Syro-Greek empire of most of the nations known to the Jews. This empire is actually described in the Book of Daniel as consisting of all peoples, nations, and languages. The figures of the horses and riders and the smiting with blindness are derived from the older Scriptures (cf. 2 Kings 6:18). Read in Zechariah 12:4 b as for all the house of Judah, I will open their eyes. The chieftains of Judah will be the Maccabean leaders, but for chieftains read thousands, i.e. clans. The word rendered strength (Zechariah 12:5) occurs nowhere else; for are my we should probably read have. Zechariah 12:6 describes the achievements of the Maccabees. They were a small fire, but kindled a great matter, working havoc among the neighbouring peoples, and restoring Jerusalem, i.e. its loyal Jewish population whom the Hellenisers had expelled. In future the Lord will so protect the city that the family of its most feeble inhabitant will have a stability like that of David's dynasty (cf. 2 Samuel 7, Psalms 89:20 ff., Isaiah 55:3). The term house of David may denote merely the ruling classes of Jews in Jerusalem who occupied the position once held by the family of David. But since in Zechariah 10 and Zechariah 12 it is mentioned as sharing in the nation's guilt, and the Maccabean leaders, who were in command at Jerusalem at the time, would hardly have been so described, the phrase is perhaps to be understood literally. It is evident from the NT that the family of David was not extinct in the first century A.D., and in the Maccabæ an age its members may well have been included in the aristocracy even if they were subordinate to the sons of Tobias in wealth and influence. Perhaps, like the latter, they had adopted Hellenism, and put forward their claims as descendants of David only when the Maccabean achievements had brought the idea of Jewish independence within the sphere of practical politics. No conclusion can be drawn from the silence of the Books of Maccabees on the matter, for they are strongly partisan, and are considerably later than the events which they record; while Josephus, as his many contradictions show, is by no means an infallible guide. In the OT, as in the NT, we have first-hand information, though given, it may be, only in hints, of events and movements on which later documents are silent. In Zechariah 10 read him (mg.) for me; the sentence is perhaps somewhat mutilated. The writer regards the troubles of Judah and Jerusalem as due to the guilt which rests on the country in consequence of some murder, guilt which can be expiated only by general mourning and fasting. The name of the victim is not given, but it was evidently well known; and since the guilt involves the whole land, the murdered person must be the head of Judaism, i.e. a High Priest. It is true that Onias was murdered not at Jerusalem, but at Antioch; but since the murder was planned by a Jew, and was due to his failure to find support among his own people, the whole nation might well be regarded as responsible for it. The house of Nathan and the house of Levi are clearly prominent among the Jewish aristocracy, but we have no information about them.