--- title: "Zechariah 12 - Study King James Bible with barnes notes on the whole bible" description: "Read Zechariah 12 with barnes notes on the whole bible commentary. 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 t" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/zechariah/12" --- [ Read](/kjv/zechariah/12)[ Commentary](/study/zechariah/12)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/zechariah/12) Audio 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. [Zechariah 11](/study/zechariah/11) [Zechariah 13](/study/zechariah/13) ## Commentary To verse 1 **The burden of the word of the Lord for -**Rather, “upon (see at [Nahum 1:1](/kjv/nahum/1/1), p. 129) Israel.” If this prophecy is a continuation of the last, notwithstanding its fresh title, then “Israel” must be the Christian Church, formed of the true Israel which believed, and the Gentiles who were grafted into them. So Cyril; “Having spoken sufficiently of the Good Shepherd Christ, and of the foolish, most cruel shepherd who butchered the sheep, that is, antichrist, he seasonably makes mention of the persecutions which would from time to time arise against Israel; not the Israel according to the flesh, but the spiritual, that Jerusalem which is indeed holy, “the Church of the Living God” [1 Timothy 3:15](/kjv/1-timothy/3/15). For as we say, that “he” is spiritually a Jew, who hath the “circumcision in the heart,” [Romans 2:29](/kjv/romans/2/29), that through the Spirit, “and not” in the flesh “through the letter;” so also may “Israel” be conceived, not that of the blood of Israel, but rather that, which has a mind beholding God. But such are all who are called to sanctification through the faith in Christ, and who in Him and by Him, know of God the Father. For this is the one true elected way of beholding God.” Since the Good Shepherd was rejected by all, except the “poor of the flock,” the “little flock” which believed in Him, and thereupon the “band” of “brotherhood” was dissolved between Israel and Judah, “Israel” in those times could not be Israel after the flesh, which then too was the deadly antagonist of the true israel, and thus early also chose antichrist, such as was Bar-Cochba, with whom so many hundreds of thousands perished. There was no war then against Jerusalem, since it had ceased to be (see the notes on [Micah 3:12](/kjv/micah/3/12)). But Zechariah does not say that this prophecy, to which he has annexed a separate title, follows, in time, upon the last; rather, since he has so separated it by its title, he has marked it as a distinct prophecy from the preceding. It may be, that he began again from the time of the Maccabees and took God’s deliverances of the people Israel then, as the foreground of the deliverances to the end ). Yet in the times of Antiochus, it was one people only which was against the Jews, and Zechariah himself speaks only of the Greeks; [Zechariah 9:13](/kjv/zechariah/9/13); here he repeatedly emphasizes that they were “all nations” ([Zechariah 12:2-3](/kjv/zechariah/12/2-3), [Zechariah 12:6](/kjv/zechariah/12/6), [Zechariah 12:9](/kjv/zechariah/12/9)). It may then rather be, that the future, the successive efforts of the world to crush the people of God, and its victory amid suffering, and its conversions of the world through the penitent looking to Jesus, are exhibited in one great perspective, according to the manner of prophecy, which mostly exhibits the prominent events, not their order or sequence. : “The penitential act of contrite sinners, especially of Jews, looking at Him “whom they pierced,” dates from the Day of Pentecost, and continues to the latter days, when it will be greatly intensified and will produce blessed results, and is here concentrated into one focus. The rising up of God’s enemies against Christ’s Church, which commenced at the same time, and has been continued in successive persecutions from Jews, Gentiles, and other unbelievers in every age, and which will reach its climax in the great antichristian outbreak of the last times, and be confounded by the Coming of Christ to judgment, is here summed up in one panoramic picture, exhibited at once to the eye.” **Which stretcheth forth the heavens -**God’s creative power is an ever-present working, as our Lord says, “My Father worketh hitherto and I work” [John 5:17](/kjv/john/5/17). His preservation of the things which He has created is a continual re-creation. All “forces” are supported by Him, who alone hath life in Himself. He doth not the less “uphold all things by the word of His power,” because, until the successive generations, with or without their will, with or against His Will for them, shall have completed His Sovereign Will, He upholds them uniformly in being by His Unchanging Will. Man is ever forgetting this, and because, “since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as from the beginning of the creation” [2 Peter 3:4](/kjv/2-peter/3/4), they relegate the Creator and His creating as far as they can to some time, as far back as they can imagine, enough to fill their imaginations, and forget Him who made them, in whose bands is their eternity, who will be their Judge. So the prophets remind them and us of His continual working, which people forget in the sight of His works; “Thus saith the Lord; He that createth the heavens, and stetcheth them out; He that spreadeth forth the earth and its produce, who giveth breath to the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein” [Isaiah 42:5](/kjv/isaiah/42/5); and, “I am the Lord who maketh all things, who stretcheth out the heavens alone, who spreadeth abroad the earth by Myself” [Isaiah 44:24](/kjv/isaiah/44/24); speaking at once of that, past in its beginning yet present to us in its continuance, but to Him ever-present present; and of things actually present to us, “that frustrateth the tokens of the liars” [Isaiah 44:25](/kjv/isaiah/44/25); and of things to those of that day still future, “that confirmeth the word of His servant, and performeth the counsel of His messengers” [Isaiah 44:26](/kjv/isaiah/44/26) : the beginning of which was not to be till the taking of Babylon. And the Psalmist unites past and present in one, “Donning light as a garment, stretching out the heavens as a curtain; who layeth the beams of His chambers on the waters, who maketh the clouds His chariot; who walketh on the wings of the wind; who maketh His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire; He founded the earth upon its base.” [Psalms 104:2-5](/kjv/psalms/104/2-5). And Amos, “He that formeth the mountains and createth the winds, and declareth unto man his thoughts” ([Amos 4:13](/kjv/amos/4/13), add [Amos 5:8](/kjv/amos/5/8)); adding whatever lieth nearest to each of us. **And formeth the spirit of man, within him -**Both by the unceasing creation of souls, at every moment in some spot in our globe, or by the re-creation, for which David prays, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” [Psalms 51:10](/kjv/psalms/51/10). He who formed the hearts of people can overrule them as He wills. Cyril: “But the spirit of man is formed by God in him, not by being called to the beginnings of being, although it was made by Him, but, as it were, transformed from weakness to strength, from unmanliness to endurance, altogether being transelemented from things shameful to better things.” Cyril: “It is the custom of the holy prophets, when about to declare beforehand things of no slight moment, to endeavor to show beforehand the Almightiness of God, that their word may obtain credence, though they should declare what was beyond all hope, and (to speak of our conceptions) above all reason and credibility.” ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/zechariah/12#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/zechariah/12#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/zechariah/12","name":"Zechariah 12 - Study King James Bible with barnes notes on the whole bible","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/zechariah/12#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read Zechariah 12 with barnes notes on the whole bible commentary. 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 t","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/zechariah/12#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/zechariah/12"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/zechariah/12#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","name":"Study Bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible","name":"barnes notes on the whole bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/zechariah","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/zechariah","name":"Zechariah"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/zechariah/12","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/zechariah/12","name":"12"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]} ```