The Father Shields Jerusalem
Jerusalem becomes a stone that injures every nation trying to lift it, and her weakest defender fights like David. Then the mood changes completely: our Father pours out a spirit of grace, and they look on Jesus, whom they pierced, and mourn as for an only child.
12 1A burden: the word of our Father concerning Israel—the declaration of our Father, who stretches the heavens, founds the earth, forms the human spirit within:
2"Look, I am making Jerusalem a cup that sends all surrounding peoples reeling; Judah too will be in the siege against Jerusalem. 3On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all peoples; all who lift it will be badly gashed, while all nations of the earth gather against her.' 4On that day, declares our Father, I will strike every horse with panic, its rider with madness. I will watch over the house of Judah but strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. 5Then Judah's clans will say in their hearts, 'Jerusalem's people are strong through their Father, the Father of heaven's armies.'
6"On that day I will make Judah's clans a firepot among wood, a flaming torch among sheaves; they will consume all the surrounding peoples right and left, while Jerusalem stays secure in her place.
7"Our Father will save Judah's tents first, so David's house and Jerusalem's people are not glorified above Judah. 8On that day our Father will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the weakest among them will be as mighty as King David. And the royal descendants will be like our Father, like the messenger of our Father who goes before Jerusalem's people. 9'And on that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
Looking on the One They Pierced
10"And I will pour out on the house of David and on those who live in Jerusalem a spirit of grace and of pleas for mercy, so that they will look on me—on Jesus, whom they have pierced—and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly over him as one grieves over a firstborn. a a v10 Here our Father points to his Son: the One pierced is Jesus. The Gospel of John sees this verse fulfilled at the cross, and Revelation echoes it — those who once rejected him will one day look on him and mourn, and find the way home. 11On that day Jerusalem's mourning will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in Megiddo's plain. b b v11 Megiddo was the great battle-plain of Israel, remembered for deep national mourning — a byword for the most bitter grief a people could know. 12The land will mourn, each family alone: David's house alone, and their wives alone; Nathan's house alone, and their wives alone; 13the family of Levi's house alone and their wives alone; the family of Shimeites alone and their wives alone; 14and all the remaining families, each family on its own, and their wives on their own.'"
