In
this chapter we have, I. Some further promises relating to gospel-times.
Here is a promise of the remission of sins (ver. 1), of the reformation of
manners (ver. 2), and particularly of the convicting and silencing of false
prophets, ver. 2-6. II. A clear prediction of the sufferings of Christ and
the dispersion of his disciples thereupon (ver. 7), of the destruction of
the greater part of the Jewish nation not long after (ver. 8), and of the
purifying of a remnant of them, a peculiar people to God, ver. 9.
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Evangelical
Predictions; The Destruction of False Prophets.
B. C. 500.
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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. 2
And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD
of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land,
and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and
the unclean spirit to pass out of the land. 3 And it shall come
to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his
mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou
speakest lies in the name of the LORD:
and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when
he prophesieth. 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:
5 But he shall say, I am no prophet, I am a husbandman; for
man taught me to keep cattle from my youth. 6 And one
shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he
shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of
my friends.
Behold the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world, the sin of
the church; for therefore was the Son of God manifested, to take
away our sin, 1 John iii. 5.
I. He takes away the guilt of sin by the blood of his cross (v. 1): In
that day, in the gospel-day, there shall be a fountain opened,
that is, provision made for the cleansing of all those from the pollutions
of sin who truly repent and are sorry for them. In that day, when the
Spirit of grace is poured out to set them a mourning for their sins, they
shall not mourn as those who have no hope, but they shall have their sins
pardoned, and the comfort of their pardon in their bosoms. Their consciences
shall be purified and pacified by the blood of Christ, which cleanses
from all sin, 1 John i. 7. For Christ is exalted to give both repentance
and remission of sins; and where he gives the one no doubt he gives the
other. This fountain opened is the pierced side of Jesus Christ,
spoken of just before (ch. xii. 10), for thence came there out blood
and water, and both for cleansing. And those who look upon Christ
pierced, and mourn for their sins that pierced him, and are therefore in
bitterness for him, may look again upon Christ pierced and rejoice in him,
because it pleased the Lord thus to smite this rock, that it might be to us
a fountain of living waters. See here, 1. How we are polluted; we are
all so; we have sinned, and sin is uncleanness; it defiles the mind and
conscience, renders us odious to God and uneasy in ourselves, unfit to be
employed in the service of God and admitted into communion with him, as
those who were ceremonially unclean were shut out of the sanctuary. The house
of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem are under sin,
which is uncleanness. The truth is, we are all as an unclean thing,
and deserve to have our portion with the unclean. 2. How we may be purged.
Behold, there is fountain opened for us to wash in, and there are streams
flowing to us from that fountain, so that, if we be not made clean, it is
our own fault. The blood of Christ, and God's pardoning mercy in that blood,
revealed in the new covenant, are, (1.) A fountain; for there is in them an
inexhaustible fulness. There is mercy enough in God, and merit enough in
Christ, for the forgiving of the greatest sins and sinners, upon
gospel-terms. Such were some of you, but you are washed, 1 Cor. vi.
11. Under the law there were a brazen laver and a brazen sea to wash in;
those were but vessels, but we have a fountain to ourselves, overflowing,
ever-flowing. (2.) A fountain opened; for, whoever will, may come and
take the benefit of it; it is opened, not only to the house of David,
but to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to the poor and mean as well as
to the rich and great; or 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. Through Christ all that believe
are justified, are washed from their sins in his blood, that they may
be made to our God kings and priests, Rev. i. 5, 6.
II. He takes away the dominion of sin by the power of his grace, even of
beloved sins. This evermore accompanies the former; those that are washed in
the fountain opened, as they are justified, so they are sanctified; the
water came with the blood out of the pierced side of Christ. It is here
promised that in that day, 1. Idolatry shall be quite abolished and the
people of the Jews shall be effectually cured of their inclination to it (v.
2): I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land. The
worship of the idols of their fathers shall be so perfectly rooted out that
in one generation or two it shall be forgotten that ever there were such
idols among them; they shall either not be named at all or not with any
respect; they shall no more be remembered, as was promised, Hos. ii.
17. This was fulfilled in the rooted aversion which the Jews had, after the
captivity, to idols and idolatry, and still retain to this day; it was
fulfilled also in the ready conversion of many to the faith of Christ, by
which they were taken off from making an idol of the ceremonial law, as the
unbelieving Jews did; and it is still in the fulfilling when souls are
brought off from the world and the flesh, those two great idols, that they
may cleave to God only. 2. False prophecy shall also be brought to an end: I
will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit, the prophets that are
under the influence of the unclean spirit, to pass out of the land.
The devil is an unclean spirit; sin and uncleanness are from him; he
has his prophets, that serve his interests and receive their instructions
from him. Take away the unclean spirit, and the prophets would not deceive
as they do; take away the false prophets that produce sham commissions, and
the unclean spirit could not do the mischief he does. When God designs the
silencing of the false prophets he banishes the unclean spirit out of the
land, that wrought in them, and was a rival with him for the throne in the
heart. The church of the Jews, when they were addicted to idols, did also
dote much upon false prophets, who flattered them in their sins with
promises of impunity and peace; but here it is promised, as a blessed effect
of the promised reformation, that they should be very much set against false
prophets, and zealous to clear the land of them; they were so after the
captivity, till, through the blindness of their zeal against false prophets,
they had put Christ to death under that character, and, after that, there
arose many false Christs and false prophets, and deceived many, Matt.
xxiv. 11. It is here foretold, (1.) That false prophets, instead of being
indulged and favoured, should be brought to condign punishment even by their
nearest relations, which would be as great an instance as any of flagrant
zeal against those deceivers (v. 3): When any shall set up for
a prophet, and shall speak lies in the name of the Lord, shall preach
that which tends to draw people from God and to confirm them in sin, his own
parents shall be the first and most forward to prosecute him for it,
according to the law. Deut. xiii. 6-11, "If thy son entice thee
secretly from God, thou shalt surely kill him. Show thy
indignation against him, and prevent any further temptation from him."
His father and his mother shall thrust him through when he prophesies.
Note, We ought to conceive, and always to retain, a very great detestation
and dread of every thing that would draw us out of the way of our duty into
by-paths, as those who cannot bear that which is evil, Rev. ii. 2.
And holy zeal for God and godliness will make us hate sin, and dread
temptation, most in those whom naturally we love best, and who are nearest
to us; there our danger is greatest, as Adam's from Eve, Job's from his
wife; and there it will be the most praiseworthy to show our zeal, as Levi,
who, in the cause of God, did not acknowledge his brethren, nor know
his own children, Deut. xxxiii. 9. Thus we must hate and forsake our
nearest relations when they come in competition with our duty to God, Luke
xiv. 26. Natural affections, even the strongest, must be over-ruled by
gracious affections. (2.) That false prophets should be themselves convinced
of their sin and folly, and let fall their pretensions (v. 4): "The
prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision; they shall not repeat
it, or insist upon it, but desire that it may be forgotten and no more said
of it, being ready themselves to own it was a sham, because God has by his
grace awakened their consciences and shown them their error, or because the
event disproves their predictions, and gives them the lie, or because their
prophecies do not meet with such a favourable reception as they used to meet
with, but are generally despised and distasted; they perceive the people
ashamed of them, which makes them begin to be ashamed of themselves. And
therefore they shall no longer wear a rough garment, or garment of
hair, as the true prophets used to do, in imitation of Elijah, and in
token of their being mortified to the pleasures and delights of sense."
The pretenders had appeared in the habit of true prophets; but, their folly
being now made manifest, they shall lay it aside, no more to deceive and
impose upon unthinking unwary people by it. A modest dress is a very good
thing, if it be the genuine indication of a humble heart, and is to
instruct; but it is a bad thing if it be the hypocritical disguise of a
proud ambitious heart, and is to deceive. Let men be really as good as they
seem to be, but not seem to be better than really they are. This pretender,
as a true penitent, [1.] Shall undeceive those whom he had imposed upon: He
shall say, "I am no prophet, as I have pretended to be, was never
designed nor set apart to the office, never educated nor brought up for it,
never conversant among the sons of the prophets. I am a husbandman,
and was bred to that business; I was never taught of God to prophesy, but taught
of man to keep cattle" Amos was originally such a one too, and yet
was afterwards called to be a prophet, Amos vii. 14, 15. But this deceiver
never had any such call. Note, Those who sorrow after a godly sort for their
having deceived others will be forward to confess their sin, and will be so
just as to rectify the mistakes which they have been the cause of. Thus
those who had used curious arts, when they were converted showed
their deeds, and by what fallacies they had cheated the people, Acts xix.
18. [2.] He shall return to his own proper employment, which is the fittest
for him: I will be a husbandman (so it may be read); "I will
apply myself to my calling again, and meddle no more with things that belong
not to me; for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth, and cattle
I will again keep, and never set up for a preacher any more." Note,
When we are convinced that we have gone out of the way of our duty we must
evince the truth of our repentance by returning to it again, though it be
the severest mortification to us. [3.] He shall acknowledge those to be his
friends who by a severe discipline were instrumental to bring him to a sight
of his error, v. 6. When he who with the greatest assurance had
asserted himself so lately to be a prophet suddenly drops his claims, and
says, I am no prophet, every body will be surprised at it, and some will
ask, "What are these wounds, or marks of stripes, in thy
hands? how camest thou by them? Hast thou not been examined by
scourging? And is not that it that has brought thee to thyself?" (Vexatio
dat intellectum--Vexation sharpens the intellect.) "Hast thou not
been beaten into this acknowledgment? Was it not the rod and reproof that
gave thee this wisdom?" And he shall own, "Yes, it was; these are
the wounds with which I was wounded in the house of my friends, who
bound me, and used me hardly and severely, as a distracted man, and so
brought me to my senses." By this it appears that those parents of the
false prophet that thrust him through (v. 3) did not do it
till they had first tried to reclaim him by correction, and he would not be
reclaimed; for so was the law concerning a disobedient son--his parents must
first have chastened him in vain before they were allowed to bring him forth
to be stoned, Deut. xxi. 18, 19. But here is another who was reduced by
stripes, and so prevented the capital punishment; and he had the sense and
honesty to own that they were his friends, his real friends, who thus
wounded him, that they might reclaim him; for faithful are the wounds of
a friend, Prov. xxvii. 6. Some good interpreters, observing how soon
this comes after the mention of Christ's being pierced, think that these are
the words of that great prophet, not of the false prophet spoken of before.
Christ was wounded in his hands, when they were nailed to the cross, and,
after his resurrection, he had the marks of these wounds; and here he tells
how he came by them; he received them as a false prophet, for the chief
priests called him a deceiver, and upon that account would have him
crucified; but he received them in the house of his friends--the Jews, who
should have been his friends; for he came to his own, and, though
they were his bitter enemies, yet he was pleased to call them his friends,
as he did Judas (Friend, wherefore hast thou come?) because they
forwarded his sufferings for him; as he called Peter Satan--an adversary,
because he dissuaded him from them.
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Sufferings
of Christ Predicted.
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B.
C. 500.
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7 Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and
against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD
of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will
turn mine hand upon the little ones. 8 And it shall come to
pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD,
two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be
left therein. 9 And I will bring the third part through the
fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold
is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is
my people: and they shall say, The LORD
is my God.
Here is a prophecy,
I. Of the sufferings of Christ, of him who was to be pierced, and was to be
the fountain opened. Awake, O sword! against my Shepherd, v.
7. These are the words of God the Father, giving order and commission to the
sword of his justice to awake against his Son, when he had voluntarily made
his soul an offering for sin; for it pleased the Lord to bruise him
and put him to grief; and he was stricken, smitten of God, and
afflicted, Isa. liii. 4, 10. Observe, 1. How he calls him. "As God,
he is my fellow;" for he thought it no robbery to be equal
with God. He and the Father are one. He was from eternity
by him, as one brought up with him, and, in the work of man's redemption, he
was his elect, in whom his soul delighted, and the counsel of peace was
between them both. "As Mediator, he is my Shepherd, that great
and good Shepherd that undertook to feed the flock," ch. xi. 7.
He is the Shepherd that was to lay down his life for the sheep. 2. How he
uses him: Awake, O sword! against him. If he will be a sacrifice, he
must be slain, for without the shedding of blood, the life-blood, there was
no remission. Men thrust him through as the good Shepherd (compare v.
3), that he might purchase the flock of God with his own blood,
Acts xx. 28. It is not a charge given to a rod to correct him, but to a
sword to slay him; for Messiah the prince must be cut off, but not for
himself, Dan. ix. 26. It is not the sword of war that receives this
charge, that he may die in the bed of honour, but the sword of justice, that
he may die as a criminal, upon an ignominious tree. This sword must awake
against him; he having no sin of his own to answer for, the sword of justice
had nothing to say to him of itself, till, by particular order from the
Judge of all, it was warranted to brandish itself against him. He was the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, in the decree and
counsel of God; but the sword designed against him had long slumbered, till
now at length it is called upon to awake, not, "Awake, and smite him;
strike home; not with a drowsy blow, but an awakened one;" for God spared
not his own Son.
II. Of the dispersion of the disciples thereupon: Smite the Shepherd, and
the sheep shall be scattered. This our Lord Jesus himself declares to
have been fulfilled when all his disciples were offended because of him
in the night wherein he was betrayed, Matt. xxvi. 31; Mark xiv. 27. They all
forsook him and fled. The smiting of the Shepherd is the scattering
of the sheep. They were scattered every one to his own, and left him
alone, John xvi. 32. Herein they were like timorous sheep; yet the
Shepherd thus provided for their safety, for he said, If you seek me, let
these go their way. Some make another application of this; Christ was
the Shepherd of the Jewish nation; he was smitten; they themselves
smote him, and therefore they were justly scattered abroad, and dispersed
among the nations, and remain so at this day. These words, I will turn my
hand upon the little ones, may be understood either as a threatening (as
Christ suffered, so shall his disciples, they shall drink of the cup that
he drank of and be baptized with the baptism that he was baptized
with) or as a promise that God would gather Christ's scattered disciples
together again, and he should give them the meeting in Galilee. Though the
little ones among Christ's soldiers may be dispersed, they shall rally
again; the lambs of his flock, though frightened by the beasts of prey,
shall recover themselves, shall be gathered in his arms and laid in his
bosom. Sometimes, when the sheep are scattered and lost in the wilderness,
yet the little ones, which, it was feared, would be a prey (Num. xiv. 31),
are brought in, are brought home, and God turns his hand upon them.
III. Of the rejection and ruin of the unbelieving Jews (v. 8); and
this word has, and shall have, its accomplishment, in the destruction of the
corrupt and hypocritical part of the church. It shall come to pass that
in all the land of Israel two parts shall be cut off and die. The Roman
army laid the country waste, and slew at least two-thirds of the Jews. Some
understand by the cutting off, and dying, or two parts
in all the earth, the abolishing of heathenism and Judaism, that
Christianity, the third part, might be left to reign alone. The Jewish
worship was quite taken away by the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.
And, some time after, Pagan idolatry was in a manner extirpated, when the
empire became Christian.
IV. Of the reformation and preservation of the chosen remnant, those of them
that believed, and the Christian church in general (v. 9): The
third part shall be left. When Jerusalem and Judea were destroyed, all
the Christians in that country, having among them the warning Christ gave
them to flee to the mountains, shifted for their own safety, and were
sheltered in a city called Pella, on the other side Jordan. We have
here first the trials and then the triumphs of the Christian church, and of
all the faithful members of it. 1. Their trials: I will bring that third
part through the fire of affliction. and will refine and try
them as silver and gold are refined and tried. This was fulfilled
in the persecutions of the primitive church, the fiery trial which
tried the people of God then, 1 Pet. iv. 12. Those whom God sets apart for
himself must pass through a probation and purification in this world; they
must be tried that their faith may be found to praise and
honour (1 Pet. i. 6, 7), as Abraham's faith was when it was tried by the
command given him to offer up Isaac, Now know I that thou fearest me.
They must be tried, that both those that are perfect and those that are not
may be made manifest. They must be refined from their dross; their
corruption must be purged out; they must be brightened and bettered. 2.
Their triumphs. (1.) Their communion with God is their triumph: They
shall call on my name, and I will hear them. They write to God by
prayer, and receive from him answers of peace, and thus keep up a
comfortable communion with him. This honour have all his saints. (2.)
Their covenant with God is their triumph: "I will say, It is my
people, whom I have chosen and loved, and will own; and they shall
say, the Lord is my God, and a God all-sufficient to me; and in me they
shall boast every day and all the day long. This God is our God for ever
and ever."
