8. Zechariah 12:10

“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they will look on Me whom they have pierced and they will mourn for him as one mourns for his only son and will be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.” (Zechariah 12:10)The 12th through 14th chapters of Zechariah speak of the last days and the culmination of world history. The prophet speaks of the trials and temptations that will plague the Jewish people at this time. It is stated that during this time the Jewish people will call on the Lord for deliverance (Zechariah 13:9) and it is then that the Messiah comes and delivers them (Zechariah 14:4). Zechariah 12:10 states that when the coming of the Messiah occurs, great lamination and sorrow will be the result. The Jewish people will “look on Me who they have pierced and they will mourn for him as one mourns for his only son…” At this time, the Jewish people will recognize that Jesus is their long awaited Messiah Who was rejected in His first appearance on the earth.

Jewish Objections

The Jewish objection to this exegesis of Zechariah 12:10 has three main positions. A) The person “pierced” here is the warrior Messiah of Israel, not Jesus of Nazareth. B) God cannot be pierced. C) The spirit of grace and supplication referred to in verse 12 never occurred in Jesus Christ’s lifetime.

A. “The Person “pierced” is the warrior messiah, not Jesus”

The first argument is given by Gerald Sigal“On that day, they (the nation of Israel i.e., the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem…) shall look to me (God) whom they (the nations spoken of in verse 9, that shall come up against Jerusalem) have pierced; then they (Israel) shall mourn for him ( the Messiah who will die in battle at this time…” 106He continues:“All of the nation’s dead will be mourned, but the mourning over the death of the warrior Messiah symbolizes the collective grief as the people mourn for the fallen of Israel.” 107There are two problems with this Jewish interpretation of Zechariah 12:10. First, the word “they” used all three times in verse 10 refers to Israel. Verse 10 begins by stating explicitly, “the house of David” and the word “they” used throughout this verse obviously refers to “the house of David” (Israel). In no way can the “they” in “whom they have pierced” refer to the Gentile nations without totally confusing the intent of the verse. If the author had this as his intention, he would have distinguished the second reference of “they” from Israel, by referring to the Gentile nations directly. But he does not do this, thereby applying the entire verse to the people of Israel. This is an important distinction, because by designating the word “they” to the Gentiles, the relationship of Christ’s death and the Jewish rejection of Him as the Messiah is sidestepped.The second problem with this interpretation of Zechariah 12:10 is that it attributes the subject “Me whom they have pierced” to the “warrior Messiah”. Who is the warrior Messiah? Sigal makes no effort to give theological support for this person. Where in the Scriptures does it speak of the coming “warrior Messiah”? He gives no Scriptural support but states that the Talmud saw this person as the “warrior Messiah, the son of Joseph who will be slain at this time (B.T.Sukkah 52a)”. Jewish scholar Raphael Patai explains how the concept of this “warrior Messiah” came into being. He says,“Scholars have repeatedly speculated about the origin of the Messiah ben Joseph legend and the curious fact that the Messiah figure has been split in two. It would seem that in the early legend, the death of the Messiah was envisaged, perhaps as a development of the Suffering Messiah….” 108“When the death of the Messiah became an established tenet in Talmudic times, this was felt to be irreconcilable with the belief in the Messiah as the Redeemer who would usher in the blissful millennium of the Messianic age. The dilemma was solved by splitting the person of the Messiah in two: one of them, called Messiah ben Joseph was to raise the armies of Israel against their enemies and after many victories and miracles would fall victim to Gog and Magog. The other Messiah ben David will come after him and will lead Israel to the ultimate victory, the triumph and the Messianic era of bliss”.109There is no way that the Scriptures can be twisted to teach of such a person. The book of Zechariah is Messianic in nature. It is the Messiah that causes “the house of David to mourn as one mourns for his only son”. No such allusion to a “warrior Messiah” or a “second Messiah” will ever find agreement with the Messianic teaching of the Hebrew Scriptures.

B. “God cannot be “pierced”.

B.) The second argument is related again by Mr. Sigal;“Of course, God cannot be literally pierced. The idea of piercing God ,expresses the fact that Israel stands in a very special relationship to God… To attack (pierce) Israel is to attack God. That is why God says: ‘Me whom they have pierced’.” 110Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures God identifies Himself with Israel. In each case the context makes this intention clear (Exodus 23:22; Isaiah 49:25). But in the Zechariah 12:10 passage, the Lord Jehovah expressly states that the one pierced is to be literally applied to Himself. The Lord speaks in the exact same sense as other instances in the Old Testament (Exodus 20:3,5-7; Ezekiel 6:3,4; Amos 8:9; Jeremiah 7:19-23).If one questions Zechariah 12:10 and the direct reference of the Lord to “Me”, then every passage in the Scriptures where the Lord communicates to mankind and then refers to Himself must likewise be questioned. To hold to such a position is untenable. Based on what criteria does one determine when the Lord speaks and refers to Himself and when He does not? A position such as this leads to total confusion.If Mr. Sigal understood properly the incarnation, he would recognize that the God-man – “Yeshua” – Jesus Christ was indeed pierced. With a clear understanding of this New Testament truth, he would not have to opt for a distorted and strained interpretation of Zechariah 12:10. This passage is strong evidence not only for the death and piercing of the Messiah, but also for His deity.

C. “The spirit of grace and supplication never occurred in Jesus’ lifetime”

The third Jewish argument is stated by Samuel Levine; “Now, if this refers to the first coming of Jesus, then what was the spirit of grace and supplication? It never seemed to have occurred. In addition, there certainly was no great mourning in Jerusalem and throughout the land by all of the Jewish families after the death of Jesus. On the contrary, since many Jews, according to the Gospels, encouraged the crucifixion, if anything there was a great rejoicing rather than mourning. Thus, without any doubt, Zechariah 12:10 does not refer to Jesus.” 111This objection is based on a simple mistake on Mr. Levine’s part. Zechariah 12:10 was not fulfilled in Christ’s first appearance and subsequent death on the cross. Instead ,it refers to His Second Coming in which He will usher in the events and the kingdom described in Zechariah 12-14. The “spirit of grace and supplication” is an event that is yet to occur. When the Messiah, the Lord Jesus returns, the Jewish people will recognize Him as the “pierced one”, who was slain in history past on the cross. They will then weep and mourn for Him, recognizing fully that Jesus of Nazareth is their Messiah whom they rejected.

8. Summary

This prophecy is indeed a strong source of prophetic evidence for the piercing and slaying of the Messiah. The Hebrew word “dagar”, which means “pierced or thrust through” 112 is used ten times in the Hebrew Scriptures and in eight of those ten times, it refers to the piercing of a sword or spear with an accompanying death. There is no question that the piercing in Zechariah 12:10 refers to the death of the subject. With this evidence, tied to the fact that this entire portion of Scripture is Messianic in nature, the evidence for it’s fulfillment in Jesus Christ is very strong. But just as other Scriptural passages that refer to Jesus are rejected by Jewish polemicists, Zechariah 12:10 is found to be no exception. This rejection will continue for many Jewish people until the day when the actual realization of Zechariah 12:10 is fulfilled. In the meantime, hundreds of Jewish people face God and eternity apart from the Savior of all men, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.“Behold, he comes with clouds and every eye will see him and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth will wail because of him. Even so, Amen.” Revelation 1:7