Zechariah 12 Study Notes

12:3 On that day may be translated “in the future.” When all the nations of the earth gather against her may be a hyperbolic statement and not necessarily a reference to a final epic battle. However, some commentators think this language refers to a specific battle in the end times (Armageddon). In either case, Zechariah’s intent was to energize the current inhabitants of Jerusalem by looking ahead to God’s blessings.

12:10-14 The announcement of God’s blessing on Jerusalem shifts to spiritual reconciliation, which is dependent on divine grace and human contrition. The interpretive crux is the identity of me whom they pierced, especially when the prophet declared, they will mourn for him. The best explanation is that God’s true followers will recognize that by their disobedience and rejection of the divine Shepherd, they in effect pierced God’s soul. In their remorse, family after family will weep with the deepest bitterness imaginable. Verse 10 also anticipates Jesus’s crucifixion, as indicated by the quotation in Jn 19:37.