Zechariah 12:12

12 The land will mourn, each of the clans by itself: the clan of David's house by themselves, and their women by themselves; the clan of Nathan's house by themselves, and their women by themselves;

Zechariah 12:12 Meaning and Commentary

Zechariah 12:12

And the land shall mourn
That is, the inhabitants of it; not only Jerusalem, but the land of Judea, and the people in it everywhere: in the Talmud ^F15 it is said, this is the mourning of the Messiah, that is, on his account:

every family apart;
though the mourning will be general and public, yet it will be not in a body of the whole people together, but separate and distinct:

the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart;
the men by themselves, and the women by themselves, which is according to the custom of the Jews in public worship; those that belong to the family of David shall mourn because of the Jews' long rejection of the King Messiah, Jesus the son of David, the Saviour, whom God raised up of his seed:

the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart;
not of Nathan the son of David, the brother of Solomon, as some think; for, as Aben Ezra observes, he and his family are comprehended in the family of David; but of Nathan the prophet, who will mourn because the Jews have so much slighted Jesus the great Prophet, the Lord raised up in Israel, his doctrines and ordinances.

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 T. Hieros. Succah, fol. 55. 2.

Zechariah 12:12 In-Context

10 but I will pour out a spirit of grace and mercy on David's house and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They will look to me concerning the one whom they pierced; they will mourn over him like the mourning for an only child. They will mourn bitterly over him like the bitter mourning over the death of an oldest child.

11 On that day, the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning of Hadad-Rimmon in the Megiddo Valley.

12 The land will mourn, each of the clans by itself: the clan of David's house by themselves, and their women by themselves; the clan of Nathan's house by themselves, and their women by themselves;

13 the clan of Levi's house by themselves, and their women by themselves; and the Shimeites' clan by themselves, and their women by themselves;

14 and all the remaining clans, each clan by itself, and their women by themselves.