David Baron

“ Jerusalem with its inhabitants and the house of David we are to understand the unbelieving portion of Israel ; and by Judah with its princes, Christendom, or the true people of God, formed of believing Israelites and increased by believing Gentiles. Judah is not opposed to Jerusalem, but simply distinguished from it, just as the Jewish kingdom or people is frequently designated by the prophets as Jerusalem and Judah. ”

“ It is strikingly pictured as a mourning which shall not only be manifested in public, but be participated in by each family apart. And not only are families spoken of as mourning apart from families, but individuals, compelled by the deep sorrow which shall overwhelm them, shall weep apart by themselves.
This depicts a sorrow greater than any previous sorrow. Even husbands shall mourn apart from their wives, and wives apart from their husbands, because each individual man or woman will be overwhelmed with his or her own individual share in the guilt of having slain their Messiah. ”

“ FINAL CONFLICT AND DELIVERANCE 435
then, when the enemy lifts his hand for the last blow in order utterly to destroy them, " that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance " the visible appearance of Jehovah in the person of their Messiah Jesus takes place. The uplifted arm of the adversary becomes suddenly withered ; and because Jehovah intervenes as the shield of the remnant that remains, therefore " the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city " (xiv. 2) . ”

“ It is the look of peace and adoration ; for His love is infinite, unchanging, and omnipotent. It is the look which never ceases and never ends ; for now the veil is taken away, and we with open face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory. ”

“ In his commentary on this passage in the Bible he says : " They shall look back to mourn because the Gentiles had pierced some amongst them, and killed some of them."
But in his commentary on the Talmud he says : "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" (Sukkah, fol. 52, col. l) . ”

“ The sense of the whole passage is, that when Gog and Magog come against Jerusalem after the redemp tion, they will go up by the land of Judah, for the desire of their faces will be to come against Jerusalem first ; and they will not be anxious first to subdue the whole land of Israel, for they will think, when we have subdued Jerusalem, the whole land will fall before us. But they will go up to Jerusalem by the way of the land of Judah, which is their natural route, and they will take with them the children of Judah against their will to go with them to besiege Jerusalem ”

“ Higher Criticism," and who has a very large following among Christian- commentators and theological writers in this country, considers the mourning pictured by the prophet in the scripture "as a mourning over the Jews fallen in the defence of their city," as martyrs for their country and faith ; those slain in the battlefield he considers to be "those pierced by the heathen." ”

“ Man may seek to do a thing and fail, but " woe indeed to those whom Almighty God shall seek to destroy " ; for that on which His heart is once set He will assuredly accomplish, whether it will be in blessing on His people or in vengeance on His enemies.
The Great Spiritual Crisis in Israels History
The first nine verses of the 1 2th chapter of Zechariah describe prophetically, as we have seen, Israel s great national deliverance and the destruction of the armies of / the confederated anti-Christian world-powers which shall be gathered in the final siege of Jerusalem. ”

“ And while the enemies of God s people will find themselves in such straits at the very moment when they imagined that they had gained the victory, and while, instead of chasing the vanquished Jews in headlong flight, they themselves are described as rushing upon destruction, Jehovah will open His eyes upon the house of Judah , which stands here for the whole covenant nation. ”

“ He who comes to conquer their foes comes also to subdue their hearts." Hence, great as their triumph will be, great as will have been their individual might in the last stage of their conflict with the surrounding hosts (so that " he that is feeble among them will be as David ") , t, when they return from their victory, this their glorious day of triumph will end in self-abasement and tears. ”

“ His own," 29
450 VISIONS AND PROPHECIES OF ZECHARIAH
as well as in relation to men generally and Him they have with wicked hands " pierced " and slain! No wonder that " in that day," when the spirit of grace and supplica tion is poured upon them, and their eyes are open to behold Him, and to recognise the fearful national crime which they committed, to their own sorrow and hurt, they shall mourn over Him " with the mourning for an only one," and shall be in bitterness for Him as he is in bitterness " who mourneth for his first-born." ”

“ In the Revelation, for example (chap. xvi. 14) , it is said that spirits of devils, working miracles, shall go forth to gather the kings of the whole world to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. ”

“ In a few MSS, how ever, the marginal correction vta, alav " unto Him," instead of ^K, elai " unto Me," was made by Jewish hands ; and in several instances this " Keri," or marginal reading, has, as is sometimes apt to be the case, crept into the text itself.
letter, and which stands for the King our Righteousness, the King our Righteousness, Jesus the Messiah. To this Metatron is again applied in the Talmud (Sanked. p. 256) , the passage Ex. xxiii. ”