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Zechariah, Prophet of God's remembrance, part 39

Zechariah 13:7 says,

⁷ “Awake, O sword, against My shepherd, and against the man, My Associate,” declares the Lord of hosts. “Strike the Shepherd that the sheep may be scattered; and I will turn My hand against the little ones.”

Dr. Bullinger’s note on this verse in The Companion Bible reads:

“This verse stands wholly unconnected, unless we regard it as looking back from the yet future glory to the time of His rejection.”

He appears to be somewhat confused about the general flow of Zechariah’s prophecy. The Wycliffe Bible Commentary takes the verse as a divine command to His sword:

“God is addressing the sword to smite his Shepherd, who can be no other than the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Mt 26:31). Christ’s death is seen here as the act of the Father.”

Undoubtedly, this view is correct, but the commentary assumes that “My Associate” is another way of referring to “My shepherd.” In my view, “My Associate” actually points specifically to Judas, not to Christ Himself.

Who is My Associate?

Recall that Judas was a man from Hebron. Hebron means “association.” The “associate” in this case comes from the Hebrew word, amit, which carries the same meaning as Hebron.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h5997/nasb95/wlc/0-1/

The Wycliffe Bible Commentary renders it “My fellow,” saying,

“God speaks of his Shepherd as his Fellow, his Equal. When the word is used in Leviticus (6:2; 18:20; 25:14, 15, 17; and others), it is equal to brother. There is no stronger statement in the OT regarding the unimpeachable deity of Israel’s Messiah, the Son of God.”

In other words, this commentary says that this verse proves the deity of Christ. While I too believe in the deity of Christ as “the only-begotten God” (John 1:18), I do not think this is what Zechariah was prophesying here.

First of all, when David wrote about Ahithophel (the prophetic type of Judas in the Absalom conspiracy), he lamented in Psalm 55:12-15,

¹² For it is not an enemy who reproaches me, then I could bear it; nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me, then I could hide myself from him. ¹³ But it is you, a man my equal, My companion and my familiar friend; ¹⁴ we who had sweet fellowship together, walked in the house of God in the throng. ¹⁵ Let death come deceitfully upon them; let them go down alive to Sheol, for evil is in their dwelling, in their midst.

Ahithophel was Bathsheba’s grandfather and therefore was the great grandfather of Solomon. David found it difficult to deal with the pain of his betrayal. In Acts 1:20 the apostles quoted two more psalms which David wrote about Ahithophel but which they applied prophetically to Judas. Psalm 69:25 says,

²⁵ May their camp be desolate; may none dwell in their tents.

Psalm 109:8 says,

⁸ Let his days be few; let another take his office.

This was why the apostles replaced Judas with another (Acts 1:24-26). Judas, of course, had already hanged himself (Matthew 27:5), even as Ahithophel had done after he betrayed his friend David (2 Samuel 17:23). Hence, the sword of justice fell upon them for their treachery.

Hence, in my view, we ought to understand Zechariah 13:6, 7 in this way:

⁶ And one [investigator] will say to Him [Christ], “What are these wounds between your arms?” Then He will say, “Those with which I was wounded in the house of My friends.” ⁷ [The verdict is then handed down from the Judge, saying,] “Awake, O sword [of justice], against My shepherd [Christ], and against the man [Judas], My associate [friend, equal, brother],” declares the Lord of hosts. “Strike the Shepherd [Christ] that the sheep may be scattered [by the Romans in 70 A.D.]; and I will turn My hand against the little ones.”

As the Sacrifice for sin, the sword of divine justice fell upon Him to pay for the sin of the world, but the sword also was directed against His enemies who killed Him and the “friend” who betrayed Him.

The Sword Falls upon Judah

In Zechariah 13:8, 9, the Judge’s verdict continues,

⁸ “It will come about in all the land,” declares the Lord, “that two parts of it will be cut off and perish; but the third will be left in it. ⁹ And I will bring the third part through the fire, refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them; I will say, “They are My people,” and they will say, “The Lord is my God.”

In the Roman war that followed, it appears that two-thirds of the population of Judah were either killed or sold into slavery. The Jewish historian, Josephus, tells us that 1.1 million Jews were killed (Josephus, Wars of the Jews 6.9.3), and another 97,000 were enslaved (Josephus, Wars of the Jews 6.9.3). I do not know what the population of the nation was in those days, but the verdict that Zechariah heard by inspiration was that two-thirds “will be cut off and perish.”

Zechariah also seems to say that the surviving third would repent, “call on My name,” and become “My people.” Many Christian teachers today assume this means that in the coming war two-thirds of the Israelis will again be killed and that the surviving third of them will become believers in Christ. Perhaps this will prove to be true. All we can say for sure is that the Judge’s verdict was fulfilled in the Roman war (70-73 A.D.). Whether or not there will be a repeat of this in the latter days has yet to be proven. Today’s situation is far more complex than it was in the first century, because now the prophecies against Edom and against Gog and Magog are also being fulfilled at the same time. Only God Himself can sort out the complexities of the problem according to His principles of justice.

Even so, the survivors will call upon the name of the Lord and become “My people.” Paul writes in Romans 10:11-13,

¹¹ For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” ¹² For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; ¹³ for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

In Exodus 19:5, God linked Israel’s status as His people to their acceptance of the Old Covenant and their ability to fulfill their vow. They failed, as Scripture tells us, and thus failed also to be “My people.” So 40 years later God made a second covenant, which reflects a type of the New Covenant. In Deuteronomy 29:1 we are told of this second covenant in the plains of Moab, and we read then of God’s oath or vow in Deuteronomy 29:12, 13,

¹² that you may enter into the covenant with the Lord your God, and into HIS OATH which the Lord your God is making with you today, ¹³ in order that He may establish you today as His people and that He may be your God, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

In other words, in view of Israel’s failure to fulfill their own vow to God, here God took upon Himself the responsibility to make it happen. Nonetheless, fulfilling God’s vow would require the Holy Spirit working to change the hearts of men. Such salvation cannot happen apart from God’s sovereign act, starting with Christ’s death and resurrection and then by sending the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

God recognizes no one as His people apart from applying the blood of Christ to the altar of his heart, and the Holy Spirit must also be received to begin the work of inner transformation. This is the revelation of the New Testament. To be called “His people” is not based on physical genealogy going back to Abraham, for then the Israelites coming out of Egypt would have been His people automatically by right of birth. But God gives them opportunity to become His people through His covenant.

The Old Covenant rewards anyone who can fulfill his vow of obedience perfectly—that is, to all who are sinless. Unfortunately, all have sinned (Romans 3:23), so that covenant, mediated by Moses, was a failure. Only through the New Covenant, in which God took the oath for Himself, can anyone become His people. But this requires accepting the Mediator of that New Covenant.

Acts 4:12 says,

¹² And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.