One in Messiah Congregation
Zechariah
12The Lord is the " pronoun I " in all these verses below. (
first person ) This indicates deity!!Zech.12
[1] The 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.
[2] Behold, 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.
[3] And 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.
[4] In 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.
[5] And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.
[6] In 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.
[7] The 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.
[8] In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them.
[9] And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
[10] And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
[11] In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.
[12] And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart;
[13] The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart;
[14] All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.
KJV
: Zech 12:10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.Jewish Publication S. 1917 edition
10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they shall look unto Me because they have thrust him through; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born.
Stone tanak is totally wrong with because of "those" ( should be Me ) whom they have stabbed"
I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitant of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplications. They will look toward Me because of those whom they have stabbed; they will mourn over him as one mourns over an only [child], and be embittered over him like the embitterment over a [deceased] firstborn.
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The key differences in these three translations occur in the clause “ they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, ”. The KJV suggests that the people have pierced the speaker, who is God.
The Jewish Publication Society and the Stone Edition suggest that people are lamenting to the speaker, God, about a third party, in the plural form, who has been pierced. Below is an English transliteration of the Hebrew of the passage with a word-for-word rendering beneath it:
Vehibbiytu elay et asher-daqaru And they will look unto me whom they have pierced
Contrast these 3 versions and it is easy to see the JPS & Stone Tanach errors.
The first verb, vehibbiytu, occurs some 69 times in the Hebrew Bible, and twice in this exact same form. Its other occurrence in this exact form is in Exodus 33:8, which the Jewish Publication Society has no problem translating “and looked”.
The second word is simply a preposition with an object suffix, elay, which occurs extremely frequently and means “unto me”. The next word, et, is an object marker, which is untranslatable and occurs thousands of times. The word asher is also an everyday word in biblical Hebrew meaning “which” or “whom”.
The final word, daqaru, is less common, but is by no means a rare word by Hebrew standards. It is used 11 times in the Hebrew Bible and is in a form so simple that a first semester Hebrew student easily recognizes it. The verb is a third person plural, meaning “they pierced”. In a similar form, a third person singular, this word occurs in Numbers 25:8, and the Jewish Publication Society translates it quite simply “and thrust”, referring to Phinehas stabbing the Israelite who had brought the curse onto Israel.
So where is the “uncertain” Hebrew?
The Jewish Publication Society understood this Hebrew in other verses. Quite simply, the problem for the Jewish Publication Society is one of theology, not translation.
The problem is that the speaker in this passage is clearly God, who says he will fill Jerusalem and the House of David with a spirit of grace. Then God says that he will be pierced by the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the House of David.
How can Jewish people, or any people, pierce God?
That is the shocking message of Zechariah, and all who believe that God spoke through Zechariah would let the text stand as it is.
The alternative translations offered by the Jewish Publication Society and the Stone Edition Tanakh make no sense.
In the case of the Jewish Publication Society, a main verb is completely changed without explanation and a subject is switched with an object (“they pierced” is changed to “they have thrust him through”). Neither change has any legitimate basis whatsoever. In the case of the Stone Edition, a phrase is added which is completely absent in the Hebrew (“because of those”).
The nature of these unfounded changes is so drastic, that any verse could be made to say anything if these “rules” of Hebrew are followed.
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Old Jewish interpretation of this passage:
Rabbi Moses Alshech:
'They shall look unto Me, for they shall lift up their eyes unto Me in perfect repentance, when they see Him whom they have pierced, that is Messiah, the Son of Joseph; for our Rabbis, of blessed memory, have said that He will take upon Himself all the guilt of Israel, and shall then be slain in the war to make atonement in such manner that it shall be accounted as if Israel had pierced Him, for on account of their sin He has died; and, therefore, in order that it may be reckoned to them as perfect atonement, they will repent and look to the blessed One, saying that there is none beside Him to forgive those that mourn on account of Him who died for their sin; this is the meaning of 'They shall look upon Me'.[5]Jerusalem Talmud, Sukkah
52A: And the land shall mourn, every family apart (Zech. 12:12). Two have interpreted this verse. One said: "This is the mourning over the Messiah," and the other said: "This is the mourning over the Evil Inclination" (which will be killed by God in the Messianic days).[2]Babylonian Talmud Sukkah
52A: and the land shall mourn (Zech 12:12). What is the reason of this mourning? R. Dosa and the rabbis differ about it. R. Dosa says: "(They will mourn) over the Messiah who will be slain," and the rabbis say: "(They will mourn) over the Evil Inclination which will be killed (in the days of the Messiah) … ."[3]Rashi (and also RaDak):
Our Rabbis interpreted it as referring to Messiah ben Joseph.[4]A marginal reading to the Targum
At this point it is appropriate to note the relevant part of the Reuchlinianus marginal reading: "And I shall cause to rest upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of prophecy and true prayer. And afterward the Messiah son of Ephraim will go out to do battle with Gog, and Gog will slay him in front of the gate of Jerusalem. And they shall look to me and shall inquire of me why the nations pierced the Messiah son of Ephraim."
Rashi in his commentary to Sukkah 52a (11th c.)
The words, "The land shall mourn," are found in the prophecy of Zechariah, and he prophesies of the future, that they shall mourn on account of Messiah, the son of Joseph, who shall be slain in the war of Gog and Magog.
Cited in A. M'Caul, Rabbi David Kimchi's Commentary Upon the Prophecies of Zechariah, Translated from the Hebrew with Notes, and Observations on the Passages Relating to the Messiah (London: James Duncan, 1837), p. 161.
Note that this interpretation contrasts with Rashi's commentary on the Bible, in which he gives a different interpretation of the passage.
Ibn Ezra (12th c.)
All the heathen shall look to me to see what I shall do to those who pierced Messiah, the son of Joseph. Cited in M'Caul, p. 158.
Abrabanel (15th c.)
It is more correct to interpret this passage of Messiah, the son of Joseph, as our rabbis of blessed memory have interpreted in the treatise Succah, for he shall be a mighty man of valour, of the tribe of Joseph, and shall, at first, be captain of the Lord's host in that war, but in that war shall die. Cited in M'Caul, p. 159.
Moses Alshekh (16th c.)
I will do yet a third thing, and that is, that "they shall look unto me," for they shall lift up their eyes unto me in perfect repentance, when they see him whom they pierced, that is Messiah, the son of Joseph; for our rabbis, of blessed memory, have said, that he will take upon himself all the guilt of Israel, and shall then be slain in the war to make an atonement, in such a manner, that it shall be accounted as if Israel had pierced him, for on account of their sin he has died; and therefore, in order that it may be reckoned to them as a perfect atonement, they will repent, and look to the blessed One, saying that there is none beside Him to forgive those that mourn on account of him who died for their sin: this is the meaning of "They shall look upon me."
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Talmud - Mas. Sukkah 52a
And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart.
1 Is it not, they said, an a fortiori argument? If in the future
2 when they will be engaged in mourning and the Evil Inclination will have no power over them,
3 the Torah
4 nevertheless says, men separately and women separately, how much more so now
5 when they are engaged in rejoicing and the Evil Inclination has sway over them.
6 What is the cause of the mourning [mentioned in the last cited verse]?1 — R. Dosa and the Rabbis differ on the point. One explained, The cause
is the slaying of Messiah the son of Joseph,7 and the other explained, The cause is the slaying of the Evil Inclination. It is well according to him who explains that the cause is the
slaying of Messiah the son of Joseph, since that well agrees with the Scriptural verse,8 but according to him who explains the cause to be the slaying of the Evil Inclination, is this [it may be objected] an occasion for mourning? Is it not rather an occasion for rejoicing? Why then should they weep? — [The explanation is] as R. Judah expounded: In the time to come
9 the Holy One, blessed be He, will bring the Evil Inclination and slay it in the presence of the righteous and the wicked. To the righteous it will have the appearance of a towering hill, and to the wicked it will have the appearance of a hair thread. Both the former and the latter will weep; the righteous will weep saying, ‘How were we able to overcome such a towering hill!’ The wicked also will weep saying, ‘How is it that we were unable to conquer this hair thread!’ And the Holy One, blessed be He, will also marvel together with them, as it is said, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, it shall
10 also be marvellous in My eyes.
11 R. Assi stated, The Evil Inclination is at first like the thread of a spider, but ultimately
12 becomes like cart ropes, as it is said, Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart-rope.
13 Our Rabbis taught, The Holy One, blessed be He, will say to
the Messiah, the son of David (May he reveal himself speedily in our days!), Pss.2[7] I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. ( resurrection of the dead )[8] Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.‘Ask of me anything, and I will give it to thee’, as it is said, I will tell of the decree etc.
this day have I begotten thee, ask of me and I will give the nations for thy inheritance.14 But when he will see that the Messiah the son of Joseph is slain,
he will say to Him, ‘Lord of the Universe, I ask of Thee only the gift of life’.’As to life’, He would answer him, ‘Your father David has already prophesied this concerning you’, as it is said, He asked life of thee, thou gavest it him, [even length of days for ever and ever].Pss.21[4] He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever.
15 R. ‘Awira or, as some say, R. Joshua b. Levi, made the following exposition: The Evil Inclination has seven names. The Holy One, blessed be He, called it Evil, as it is said, For the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth.
16 Moses called it the Uncircumcised, as it is said, Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart.
17 David called it Unclean, as it is said, Create me a clean heart, O Lord,
18 which implies that there is an unclean one. Solomon called it the Enemy, as it is said, If thine enemy
19 be hungry, give him bread
20 to eat and if he be thirsty give him water to drink.21 For thou wilt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord will reward thee;
22 read not, ‘will reward thee’
23 but ‘will cause it to be at peace with thee.
’24 Isaiah called it the Stumbling-Block, as it is said, Cast ye up, Cast ye up, clear the way, take up the stumbling-block out of the way of my people.
25 Ezekiel called it Stone, as it is said, And I will take away the heart of stone out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh.
26 Joel called it the Hidden One, as it is said, But I will remove far off from you the hidden one.
27 Our Rabbis taught: ‘But I will remove far off from you the hidden one’,
27 refers to the Evil Inclination which is constantly hidden in the heart of man; and will drive him into a land barren and desolate
28 means, to a place where there are no men for him to attack; with his face toward the eastern sea,28 [implies] that he set his eyes against the First Temple
29 and destroyed it and slew the scholars who were therein; and his hinder part toward the western sea28 [implies] that he set his eyes against the Second Temple and destroyed it and slew the scholars who were therein. That his foulness may come up and his ill-savour may come up28 [means] that he leaves the other nations in peace and attacks only Israel.
30 Because he hath done great things.28 Abaye explained, Against scholars
31 more than against anyone;
32 as was the case when Abaye heard a certain man saying to a woman, ‘Let us arise betimes and go on our way’. ‘I will’, said Abaye, ‘follow them in order to keep them away from transgression’ and he followed them for three parasangs across the meadows. When they parted company
33 he heard them say, ‘Our company is pleasant, the way is long’.
34 ‘If it were I’,
35 said Abaye, ‘I could not have restrained myself’, and so went and leaned in deep anguish against a doorpost, when a certain old man
36 came up to him and taught him: The greater the man, the greater his Evil Inclination. R. Isaac stated, The [Evil] Inclination of a man grows stronger within him from day to day, as it is said, Only
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(1) Zech. XII, 12.
(2) The time alluded to in the text cited.
(3) So that levity is least to be expected.
(4) Sc. Scripture, in the statement ‘and their wives apart’.
(5) At the festivities of the Water-Drawing.
(6) And undue levity is most likely.
(7) The precursor of the Messiah ben David, the herald of the true Messianic age.
(8) Zech. XII, 10.
(9) The Messianic age.
(10) E.V., ‘Should it’.
(11) Zech. VIII, 6.
(12) If the man continues to yield to temptation.
(13) Isa. V, 18.
(14) Ps. II, 7 and 8.
(15) Ps. XXI, 5.
(16) Gen. VIII, 21.
(17) Deut. X, 16; the heart is the supposed seat of the Evil Inclination.
(18) Ps. LI, 12.
(19) The Evil Inclination.
(20) Sc. the study of the Torah.
(21) Sc. the study of the Torah.
(22) Prov. XXV, 21 and 22.
(23) Yeshalem lak.
(24) Yashlimenu lak.
(25) Isa. LVII, 14.
(26) Ezek XXXVI, 26.
(27) Joel II, 20; E.V., ‘northern one’.
(28) Ibid.
(29) Synonymous with sea (cf. Rashi).
(30) Lit., ‘the enemies of Israel’, a euphemism.
(31) Who are ‘great’ men.
(32) Does the Evil Inclination act.
(33) Each one having had to go in a different direction.
(34) Sc. much as they would have liked to go together they must part company since they had to go in different directions.
(35) Lit., ‘he who hates me’, euphemism.
(36) Tradition identifies the anonymous old man with the spirit of Elijah.
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By piercing Yeshua, we all (Jewish or non-Jewish) pierced God. How can it be said that we pierced him, since we did not hold the spear? The answer to this was predicted 800 years before Yeshua was born.
Isa.53[5] But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.When the soldier pierced Yeshua, it was because of our sin. If we had not sinned, he would not have needed to be pierced. We pierced him. Those inhabitants of Jerusalem at the end of days, who will look unto God, they pierced him too.
Pss.22[16] For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. John.19[34] But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.[37] And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.
Shalom