Does this passage describe Jesus?

Zechariah writes, “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn” (Zech. 12:10). John states that this passage predicts Jesus (Jn. 19:37; Rev. 1:7). Is this the case?

Yes. Consider our exegesis of this verse below:

“I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” The focus is on the messianic “house of David.” This fulfills the Davidic Covenant to have a messianic king (2 Sam. 7:11-16).

“The Spirit of grace and of supplication.” This fits with several other predictions (Ezek. 39:29; Joel 2:28-29; Acts 2:16-21). We agree with Barker^[1] that this refers to God changing the nation through the power of the Holy Spirit (Isa. 32:15; 44:3; 59:20–21; Jer. 31:31, 33; Ezek. 36:26–27; 39:29; Joel 2:28–29).

“They will look on Me whom they have pierced.” Up until this point, Yahweh has been speaking in the first person (Zech. 12:1-9). In this text, he says, “They will look on Me” (wĕhibbîṭû ʾēlay). Yahweh himself will be “pierced” (dāqar) by the people—specifically by his “friends” (Zech. 13:6).

This closely parallels Isaiah’ predictions of the Suffering Servant. We agree with Hengel when he writes, “Countless interpreters of Zechariah have therefore suspected, I believe correctly, the influence of the Suffering Servant Song of Isaiah 53.”^[2] Consider some of the parallels:

“They have pierced.” This isn’t a metaphorical use of the word “pierced” (dāqar) any more than it is metaphorical usage a few verses later: “His father and mother who gave birth to him will pierce (dāqar) him through when he prophesies” (Zech. 13:3). Moreover, this “piercing” brings about forgiveness for the people (Zech. 13:1). Metaphors cannot produce literal results.

“They will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.” The language of mourning over an “only son” and “firstborn” has clear fulfillment in Jesus. Moreover, this goes on to describe the national repentance of the people in Israel. This fits with what we read in Romans: “All Israel will be saved” (Rom. 11:26; cf. Mt. 23:37-39).

How do interpreters understand this passage?

The NT authors understood this to refer to Jesus. John cites this passage to refer to Christ’s crucifixion (Jn. 19:37; Rev. 1:7). Barker writes, “John only quotes half of this verse in John 19:37, showing that the verse has not been totally fulfilled—only progressively fulfilled. This likely won’t come to fruition until just before the Second Coming or perhaps at the Second Coming.”^[3]

Many rabbis interpreted this passage as messianic. Consider several examples:

Some interpreters argue that the figure in verse 10 is the nation of Israel. But this is nonsense. How can the nation of Israel suffer and atone for itself? Klein writes, “How can the nation suffer vicariously for the nation? [Furthermore] if the Servant and the pierced martyr in v. 10 represent the nation, what sense does the verse make if the nation mourns for the murdering of itself?”^[4]

Some early copyists found this so difficult that they changed the text. Baldwin writes, “The early translators evidently found this verse an embarrassment, for their versions show marked variations on the Hebrew.”^[5] They changed the word “pierced” to “insulted” or “spurned.” Moreover, they changed “on Me” to “on him.” But these are later Hebrew manuscripts. Baldwin writes, “Greek, Syriac Aramaic and Latin follow the better Hebrew manuscripts and read to me. Evidently some early copyist(s) felt that the prophet could not have intended to put into the mouth of the Lord the apparent contradiction that he had been put to death, and therefore changed the pronoun.”

^[1] K. L. Barker, “Zechariah,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Daniel and the Minor Prophets, vol. 7, ed. F. E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1986), 683.

[2] Bernd Janowski and Peter Stuhlmacher, The Suffering Servant: Isaiah 53 in Jewish and Christian Sources (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2004), 85.

^[3] K. L. Barker, “Zechariah,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Daniel and the Minor Prophets, vol. 7, ed. F. E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1986), 683-684.

^[4] George L. Klein, Zechariah, vol. 21B, The New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: B & H Publishing Group, 2008), 368.

^[5] Joyce G. Baldwin, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 28, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1972), 205.