Zechariah 13:4

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive: THE PROPHETS SHALL BE ASHAMED - of the false prophecies which they have uttered in times past, and which the event has confuted. NEITHER SHALL THEY WEAR A ROUGH GARMENT - sackcloth. The badge of a prophet (; ), to mark their frugality alike in food and attire. Such as Elijah and his antitype, John the Baptist, wore (); also, to be consonant to the mournful warnings which they delivered. TO DECEIVE. It is not the dress that is here condemned, but the purpose of deception for which it was worn-nam...

Zechariah proceeds with the same subject, but in other words and in another mode of speaking, and says, that so great would be the light of knowledge, that those who had previously passed themselves as the luminaries of the Church would be constrained to be ashamed of themselves. And he farther shows how it was that so great and so gross errors had arisen, when the whole of religion had been trodden under foot, and that was because Satan had veiled the eyes and minds of all, so that they could not distinguish between black and white. And such ignorance has been the source of all errors under the Papacy. How great has been the stupidity of that people, as they have indiscriminately admitted whatever their ungodly teachers have dared to obtrude on them? And in their bishops themselves, and in the whole band of their filthy clergy, how great a sottishness has prevailed, so that they differ...

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...

Verse Zechariah 13:4. _NEITHER SHALL THEY WEAR A ROUGH GARMENT_] A _rough_ _garment_ made of _goats'_ hair, _coarse_ wool, or the _coarse pile_ of the _camel_, was the ordinary garb of God's prophets. And the false prophets wore the same; for they pretended to the same gifts, and the same spirit, and therefore they wore the same kind of _garments_. John Baptist had a garment of this kind....

THE PROPHETS SHALL BE ASHAMED, EVERY ONE OF THEM - They who before their conversion, gave themselves to such deceits, shall be ashamed of their deeds; as, after the defeat of the seven sons of the chief priest Sceva, “fear fall on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified, and many that believed came and confessed and showed their deeds: many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together and burned them before all, and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So mightily,” Luke subjoins, “grew the word of God and prevailed” Acts 19:13. Neither shall wear a rough garment to deceive Feigning themselves ascetics and mourners for their people, as the true prophets were in truth. The sackcloth, which the prophets wore...

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

AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THAT DAY, [THAT] THE PROPHETS SHALL BE ASHAMED, EVERYONE OF HIS VISION, WHEN HE HATH PROPHESIED,.... He shall be ashamed of the doctrines he has delivered, they will appear to all men so ridiculous and absurd; as the doctrines of merit, and the works of supererogation; of transubstantiation and purgatory; of pardons, penance, c: NEITHER SHALL THEY WEAR A ROUGH GARMENT TO DECEIVE or, "a hairy garment" q; such as the first and ancient inhabitants of the earth wore, who used the skins of beasts for covering, as Diodorus Siculus r observes: and Pausanias s says of the first natives of Locris, not knowing how to weave and make garments, used to cover their bodies, to preserve them from the cold, with the undressed skins of beasts, turning the hair outward, as more becoming: and such a hairy garment, or much like it, Elijah wore; hence he is called a hairy man,...

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...