Zechariah 12:10

I will pour The word denotes the abundance of the effusion. Comp. Joel 2:28 [Heb., 3:1]. "Quod verbum doni largitatem et copiam indicat." Rosenm.

the house of David, &c. Because they, restored to their proper place and dignity (Zechariah 12:8), are as it were the head of the nation. But from the head the holy unction shall flow to the whole body (" the land," Zechariah 12:12). Comp. Psalms 133:2.

the spirit of grace and of supplications i.e. the Spirit which conveys grace and calls forth supplications. The word "grace" is not here used in its primary sense of the favour of God towards man, but in that secondary sense, with which readers of the N. T. are familiar, of the effects of that favour in man, by the gifts and influences of the Holy Spirit. See John 1:16; 1 Corinthians 15:10; and for the expression, "the Spirit of grace," Hebrews 10:29, where, as Dean Alford shews, the second member of the "alternative very neatly put by Anselm; Spiritui sancto gratis dato, vel gratiam dante," is to be accepted.

upon me whom they have pierced unto me, R. V. The Speaker is Almighty God. The Jews had pierced Him metaphorically by their rebellion and ingratitude throughout their history. They pierced Him, literally and as the crowning act of their contumacy, in the Person of His Son upon the Cross, John 19:37. Comp. Revelation 1:7. "Confixerant ergo Deum Judæi quum mærore afficerent ejus Spiritum. Sed Christus etiam secundum carnem ab illis transfixus fuit. Et hoc intelligit Joannes, visibili isto symbolo Deum palam fecisse non se tantum olim fuisse indigne provocatum a Judæis; sed in persona unigeniti Filii sui tandem cumulum fuisse additum scelestæ impietati, quod ne Christi quidem lateri pepercerint." Calv. There is no sufficient ground for adopting with Ewald and others the reading, upon him.

his only son Comp. Jeremiah 6:26; Amos 8:10.