The Facts on Jesus the Messiah (Harvest House, 1993) pp. 42-43

 

Zechariah 12:10—Who is Jehovah, “the one they have pierced,” for whom Jerusalem and all the nation of Israel will weep and mourn? The Biblical Text (500 B.C.)

  And I will pour on the house of David, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of prayers. And they shall look on Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they shall be bitter over Him, as one that is in bitterness over the firstborn (Zechariah 12:10, emphasis added). The Explanation of the Text Zechariah is a key Messianic book for providing additional evidence that the Jewish Messiah was to be not just a man, but the incarnation of God Himself. “Perhaps in no other single book in the Old Testament scriptures is Messiah’s Divinity so clearly taught as in Zechariah.”* In Zechariah 2:10 the prophet has already emphasized the startling revelation that God Himself would live among the Jewish people: “‘Shout and be glad, 0 Daughter of Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,’ declares the LORD” (NIV, emphasis added). Here, Zechariah is relating the words of Jehovah God, who says, “They will look on Me whom they have pierced.” Jehovah Himself claims to be the one Israel has pierced. But when did Israel ever pierce Jehovah? Notice that in the middle of the statement, “They will look on Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him,” the pronouns are significantly changed. They refer to different persons. What was at first a reference to Jehovah now becomes a reference to an unidentified “Him” that the entire nation of Israel will mourn for. Again, two specific persons are spoken of: 1) the Lord who is pierced and 2) an unknown Him who will be mourned over as an only Son. Delitzsch and Gloag comment: Some endeavor to escape the Messianic application of the prediction by supposing that the word “pierced” is to be taken in a metaphorical sense…. But it is doubtful if the word can be taken in this… sense; it denotes “to thrust through,” “to pierce as with a spear.” Besides, the mourning here is expressed as the mourning for the dead: One “mourning for his only son, and in bitterness for his first born.”* This passage certainly raises some important questions. If the Hebrew word for “to pierce,” is “to thrust through, to slay by death,”* then when did Israel ever slay Jehovah? And how could the Creator of heaven and the earth be slain by men? It would seem that this passage, like Isaiah 9:6, Micah 5:2, and others, can only be explained through an incarnation of God Himself: Messiah would be both God and man. *For full documentation, please see The Facts on Jesus the Messiah.