Zechariah 13:1

In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. IN THAT DAY - connected with the close of Zechariah 12:1. The mourning penitents are here comforted. THERE SHALL BE A FOUNTAIN OPENED. It has been long opened, but then first it shall be so "to the house of David" (representing all Israel), after their long and weary wanderings. Like Hagar in the wilderness, they remain ignorant of the refreshment near them, until God "opens their eyes" (Genesis 21:19). (Moore.) It is not the fountain, but their eyes that need to be opened. It shall be a "fountain" ever flowing: not a laver, needing constantly to be replenished with water, such as stood betwe...

From this verse we again learn, that Zechariah promised the spirit of repentance to the Jews, so that they would find God still propitious to them, when their circumstances were brought to the verge of despair: for it would not have been enough for them to feel sorrow, except God himself became propitious and merciful to them. He had said indeed that the Spirit of grace and of commiserations would be poured forth; but he had not as yet taught clearly what he now adds respecting remission and pardon. After having then declared that there would be felt by the Jews the bitterest sorrow, because they had as it were pierced God, he now mentions the fruit of this repentance. And hence also appears what Paul means by sorrow not to be repented of; for it generates repentance unto salvation. When then our sorrow is blessed by the Lord, the end is to be regarded; for our hearts are thereby raised...

1-6 In the time mentioned at the close of the foregoing chapter, a fountain would be opened to the rulers and people of the Jews, in which to wash away their sins. Even the atoning blood of Christ, united with his sanctifying grace. It has hitherto been closed to the unbelieving nation of Israel; but when the Spirit of grace shall humble and soften their hearts, he will open it to them also. This fountain opened is the pierced side of Christ. We are all as an unclean thing. Behold a fountain opened for us to wash in, and streams flowing to us from that fountain. The blood of Christ, and God's pardoning mercy in that blood, made known in the new covenant, are a fountain always flowing, that never can be emptied. It is opened for all believers, who as the spiritual seed of Christ, are of the house of David, and, as living members of the church, are inhabitants of Jerusalem. Christ, by the...

CHAPTER XIII _After the humiliation and conversion of the Jews, foretold in_ _the preceding chapter, they are here promised the full pardon_ _of their sins, and a deliverance from idolatry and false_ _prophets_, 1-6. _Prophecy concerning the death of the Messiah, and the_ _persecution of his disciples_, 7. _The remaining verses may refer to those Jewish converts to_ _Christianity who survived the calamities which their country_ _suffered from the Romans_, 8, 9. NOTES ON CHAP. XIII Verse...

IN THAT DAY THERE SHALL BE A FOUNTAIN OPENED - Zechariah often repeats, “in that day” Zechariah 12:3, Zechariah 12:6, Zechariah 12:8, Zechariah 12:11; Zechariah 13:1, Zechariah 13:4; Zechariah 14:6, Zechariah 14:8,...

EXPOSITION ZECHARIAH 13:1 § 3._ This repentance will lead to purification from past defilement, and a reaction against idolatry and false prophet._ ZECHARIAH 13:1 IN THAT DAY. At the time when the great mourning (Zechariah 12:1.) takes place, or, more generally, in the Messianic period, when all these things shall be fulfilled. SHALL BE A FOUNTAIN OPENED, etc. Shah be opened and continue open. The allusion is to the lustral rites practised in the consecration of the Levites, who were to have "water of sin" sprinkled on them, and to "the water of separation," or "water of uncleanness" (the word found i

IN THAT DAY THERE SHALL BE A FOUNTAIN OPENED,.... Which Aben Ezra and Kimchi understand literally; but R. Moses the priest figuratively; and so the Targum, which interprets it of the doctrine of the law being open as a fountain of water; and so Abendana, who compares it with Isaiah 2:3 but rather it should be understood of the preaching of the Gospel, and the administration of Gospel ordinances; though better of Christ himself, the fountain of gardens, and of living waters, from whose pierced side, of whom mention is made as pierced in the preceding chapter Zechariah 12:10, sprung blood and water; blood for justification, remission, and cleansing, and water for sanctification: and best of all of his blood particularly, called a "fountain", not so much for the quantity of blood shed, as for its full virtue a

Zechariah 12:10. _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. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. 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; the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; all the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart._...

CHAPTER 13 _ 1. The cleansing (Zechariah 13:1) _ 2. The blessed results of the cleansing (Zechariah 13:2) 3. The smitten Shepherd (Zechariah 13:7) 4. Salvation and condemnation (Zechariah 13:8) Zechariah 13:1. This verse is misplaced; it belongs to the preceding chapter. It is a prophecy of the cleansing of the repenting portion of God's earthly people. The fountain of cleansing, so beautifully expressed by Cowper: There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuel's veins, And sin

The result of the national repentance is the removal of guilt. The figure of the fountain is perhaps suggested by Ezekiel 47. The first sign of Judah's true restoration will be the abolition of all idolatry and of the spirit of uncleanness, _i.e._ Greek disregard of Hebrew laws of purity. There will also be a total abolition of all the professional prophets who, like modern fortune-tellers and palmists, traded upon the credulity of the foolish. The utter disrepute into which the prophetic order had fallen was due to the abandonment by the better teachers since Ezra's time of the older forms of prophecy for the exposition of the written Scripture. In other words, the true prophets had become scribes, while those who merely prophesied for a livelihood still carned on the calling which they had brought into disrepute. Some of the scribes were no doubt in the highest sense of the word prophe...