Zechariah 12:1-71The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. 2Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. 3And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. 4In that day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness. 5And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the Lord of hosts their God. 6In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem. 7The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah. (Zechariah 12:1‑7)
Jehovah, the Creator, speaks here of Israel, His chosen, though so wayward, people. All the nations, except those comprised in the Roman empire which will have already met its judgment at the instant of the Lord’s coming again to the earth, will be assembled together against Jerusalem (Psalm 83). That land and that city have again and again been coveted by the kings of the earth, and not knowing of the Lord’s intervention on behalf of the Jews and the destruction of the western hosts, the associated Gentile powers under the king of the north or in league with him, will continue with a previously begun campaign to ravage the land of Israel.
When the Lord comes to the earth a second time, all that fear Him among the Jews will have long before left Jerusalem in obedience to His instructions in Matthew 24:15-20,15When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains: 17Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 18Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 19And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: (Matthew 24:15‑20) upon the setting up of idolatry in the temple there. Having first destroyed the western Gentile powers, he will deliver the oppressed remnant and deal in instant and unsparing judgment with the Jewish rebels, cleansing Jerusalem before the (second) appearance of the eastern Gentile powers who are concerted in the siege.
Jerusalem and Judah will be made of God a cup of trembling (or bewilderment) unto all the peoples round about (verse 2), and a burdensome stone for all. All that burden themselves with Jerusalem shall be wounded (verse 3), and this siege will be unlike any of the city’s many past ones, for Jehovah will, upon this occasion, act on behalf of His people, smiting every horse with astonishment and his rider with blindness, every horse of the peoples (Gentiles) with blindness.
The (new) leaders of Judah, front among the believing remnant, —the former leaders exercising authority under the wicked and apostate king having been put to death by the Lord—will say in their heart. The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in (or rather, through) Jehovah of hosts their God. What a change this means, in Judah and Jerusalem, so long the center of godlessness and manifold wickedness, the scene of the cross of Christ!
Then will He (that is to say, the Lord, who will be owned as Jehovah equally with His Father and the Holy Spirit) make the leaders of Judah executors of His judgments on the peoples round about, and Jerusalem shall he inhabited again in her own place. Of all the tribes of Israel, deepest in sin has been Judah, the tribe responsible for rejection of the Messiah when He came in lowly grace. The other tribes of the sons of Jacob might well hold this against their brethren of Judah, and therefore (amazing depth of divine grace!) Jehovah shall save the tents of Judah first (verse 7).
ML 10/10/1937