And I will pour out upon the house of David, and upon
the
inhabitants of Jerusalem
The Jews that belong to the family of Christ, and to the heavenly
Jerusalem, the church of the firstborn, whose names are written
in heaven: the Spirit of grace and of
supplications;
by which is meant the Holy Spirit of God, who is called the
"Spirit of grace"; not merely because he is good and gracious,
and loving to his people, and is of grace given unto them; but
because he is the author of all grace in them; of gracious
convictions, and spiritual illuminations; of quickening,
regenerating, converting, and sanctifying grace; and of all
particular graces, as faith, hope, love, fear, repentance,
humility, joy, peace, meekness, patience, longsuffering,
self-denial; as well as because he is the revealer, applier, and
witnesser of all the blessings of grace unto them: and he is
called the "Spirit of supplications"; because he indites the
prayers of his people, shows them their wants, and stirs them up
to pray; enlarges their hearts, supplies them with arguments, and
puts words into their mouths; gives faith, fervency, and freedom,
and encourages to come to God as their Father, and makes
intercession for them, according to the will of God: pouring it
upon them denotes the abundance and freeness of his grace; see (
Isaiah 44:3 )
: and they shall look upon me whom they have
pierced;
by nailing him to the tree at his crucifixion; and especially by
piercing his side with a spear; which, though not personally done
by them, yet by their ancestors, at least through their
instigation and request; and besides, as he was pierced and
wounded for their sins, so by them: and now, being enlightened
and convicted by the Spirit of God, they shall look to him by
faith for the pardon of their sins, through his blood; for the
justification of their persons by his righteousness; and for
eternal life and salvation through him. We Christians can have no
doubt upon us that this passage belongs to Christ, when it is
observed, upon one of the soldiers piercing the side of Jesus
with a spear, it is said, "these things were done that the
Scripture should be fulfilled; they shall look on him whom they
have pierced"; and it seems also to be referred to in ( Revelation
1:7 ) yea, the Jews themselves, some of them, acknowledge it
is to be understood of the Messiah. In the Talmud F6,
mention being made of the mourning after spoken of, it is asked,
what this mourning was made for? and it is replied, R. Dusa and
the Rabbins are divided about it: one says, for Messiah ben
Joseph, who shall be slain; and another says, for the evil
imagination, that shall be slain; it must be granted to him that
says, for Messiah the son of Joseph that shall be slain; as it is
written, "and they shall look upon whom they have pierced, and
mourn" for, for the other, why should they mourn? hence Jarchi
and Kimchi on the place say, our Rabbins interpret this of
Messiah the son of Joseph, who shall be slain; and the note of
Aben Ezra is, all the nations shall look unto me, to see what I
will do to those who have pierced Messiah the son of Joseph.
Grotius observes, that Hadarsan on ( Genesis
28:10-16 ) understands it of Messiah the son of David. The
Jews observing some prophecies speaking of the Messiah in a state
of humiliation, and others of him in an exalted state, have
coined this notion of two Messiahs, which are easily reconciled
without it. The Messiah here prophesied of appears to be both God
and man; a divine Person called Jehovah, who is all along
speaking in the context, and in the text itself; for none else
could pour out the spirit of grace and supplication; and yet he
must be man, to be pierced; and the same is spoken of, that would
do the one, and suffer the other; and therefore must be the
(yeanyrwpov) , or God-man
in one person. As to what a Jewish writer F7
objects, that this was spoken of one that was pierced in war, as
appears from the context; and that if the same person that is
pierced is to be looked to, then it would have been said, "and
mourn for me, and be in bitterness for me"; it may be replied,
that this prophecy does not speak of the piercing this person at
the time when the above wars shall be; but of the Jews mourning
for him at the time of their conversion, who had been pierced by
them, that is, by their ancestors, hundreds of years ago; which
now they will with contrition remember, they having assented to
it, and commended it as a right action; and as for the change
from the first person to the third, this is not at all unusual in
Scripture: and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for
[his] only [son];
or, "for this" F8; that is, piercing him; for sin
committed against him; because of their rejection of him, their
hardness of heart, and unbelief with respect to him; and on
account of their many sins, which were the occasion of his being
pierced; which mourning will arise from, and be increased by, a
spiritual sight of him, a sense of his love to them, and a view
of benefits by him. Evangelical repentance springs from faith,
and is accompanied with it; and this godly sorrow is like that
which is expressed for an only son; see ( Amos 8:10 ) ( Luke 7:12 ) and indeed
Christ is the only begotten of the Father, as well as the
firstborn among many brethren, as follows: and shall be in
bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for
[his] firstborn;
sin is a bitter thing, and makes work for bitter repentance.