Idolatry Cut Off. Zechariah_13:1-9
The prophet Zechariah lived at the same time as Haggai and was interested in the same effort to induce the Jews to carry on the rebuilding of their neglected Temple. The prophecies are dated a few years later than those of Haggai. In contrast to the direct and simple language of Haggai, Zechariah employs many figures and symbols to enforce his message. He especially wished to give encouragement and help to the leader and governor of the people, Zerubbabel, and the priest Joshua.
In the latter part of the book there are many pictures of the glorious and happy future, which God had in store for His people and of the Deliverer, who was to come to rule over them. There will come a great day “when the Lord shall be King over all the earth.”
The Oracle of the Lord of Hosts
III. JUDGMENT AND REDEMPTION, Zechariah 9-14
5. The Remnant Purified by Chastisement, Zec_13:1-9
“In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the people of Jerusalem for [cleansing from] sin and impurity.
IDOLATRY CUT OFF
“In that day,” declares the LORD of hosts, “I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered. I will also remove the [false] prophets and the unclean spirit from the land.
And if anyone still [appears as a prophet and falsely] prophesies, then his father and his mother who gave birth to him will say to him, ‘You shall not live, for you have spoken lies in the name of the LORD’; and his father and his mother who gave birth to him shall pierce him through when he prophesies.
And in that day the [false] prophets will each be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies, and they will not wear a hairy robe [of true prophets] in order to deceive,
but he will [deny his identity and] say, ‘I am no prophet. I work the ground, because a man sold me as a slave in my youth.’
And one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then he will answer, ‘Those wounds I received in the house of my friends.’
THE SHEPHERD STRUCK
“Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, And against the Man, My Associate,” Declares the LORD of hosts. “Strike the Shepherd so that the sheep [of the flock] may be scattered; And I will turn My hand and stretch it out against the little ones [of the flock]. [Mat_26:31-32]
“It will come about in all the land,” Declares the LORD, “Two parts in it will be cut off and perish, But the third will be left alive. [Hos_2:23; Rom_11:5]
“And I will bring the third part through the fire, Refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will listen and answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ And they will say, ‘The LORD is my God.'”
A DAY OF TESTING
This Fountain was opened, when the soldier pierced the Savior’s side. But it is not enough for God to forgive; He must deal drastically with the waywardness of his people. And so thorough would be the work, that parents would rather their son should die than assume for filthy lucre and without the divine call, the lucrative profession of a prophet. A township would arise against a man suspected of being a prophet, who, in his terror, would pretend that he was a tiller of the ground. And if they discovered marks in his body which indicated that he had been previously branded as a false prophet, he would rather assert that his friends had been the cause of his affliction, than that he had any sympathy with the prophetic office.
Note that remarkable anticipation, Zec_13:7-9. See Mat_26:31. Jesus knew that He was the Father’s fellow. He thought it not robbery to be equal with God. “We will come unto Him, and make our abode with Him.” But He is also the Man. By the grace of the One Man, we may reign in life, Rom_5:17.
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