Zechariah 12:12

12 And the land shall wail; families and families by themselves; the families of the house of David by themselves, and the women of them by themselves; families of the house of Nathan by themselves, and the women of them 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 And I shall pour out on the house of David, and on the dwellers of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace, and of prayers; and they shall behold to me, whom they pricked. And they shall bewail him with wailing, as on the one begotten son; and they shall make sorrow on him, as sorrow is wont to be made in the death of the first begotten son. (And I shall pour out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace, and the spirit of prayer; and they shall look upon me, whom they have pierced. And they shall bewail me with wailing, as if over their only child; and they shall make sorrow upon him, as sorrow is wont to be made upon the death of the first-born son.)

11 In that day great wailing shall be in Jerusalem, as the wailing of Hadadrimmon in the field of Megiddon. (On that day great wailing shall be in Jerusalem, like the wailing of Hadadrimmon on the Plain of Megiddo.)

12 And the land shall wail; families and families by themselves; the families of the house of David by themselves, and the women of them by themselves; families of the house of Nathan by themselves, and the women of them by themselves;

13 families of the house of Levi by themselves, and the women of them by themselves; families of Shimei by themselves, and the women of them by themselves.

14 All other families, families and families by themselves, and the women of them by themselves.