Zechariah 12:11

"In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadad-rimmon 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, and their wives apart; the family of the Shimeites, and their wives apart. All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart."

The effect of this passage is best seen by keeping all of it in mind. Note the triple "mourning" (Zechariah 12:11,12), and especially the recurrence of the word "apart," eleven times in three verses! This emphasis upon the word "apart" makes it impossible to see this passage as depicting any kind of a great national celebration of mourning in which everybody takes part.

It should also be observed that the four specific families mentioned, those of David, Nathan, Levi, and Shemet, are mentioned not primarily at all, but as examples, or typical of "every family apart" (Zechariah 12:12), and of "all the families that remain, every family apart" (Zechariah 12:14). The subject of the passage is "all the families" or "every family"; and the prominent Jewish families mentioned are merely a parenthesis indicating the application. The solution for this difficult passage lies in the understanding of "every family" and "all the families" Note this:

"For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named (Ephesians 3:14,15)."

In this passage, Paul was speaking of the totality of the Christian family of God, not only in heaven, but upon earth as well. Thus "every family," "all the families" are expressions emphasizing the universality of the mourning of "all mankind" for "him whom they pierced." This is wondrously fulfilled in two ways.

(1) It is fulfilled in the worldwide, universal, continual observance of the death of Christ, every Sunday for some two thousand years already, an observance destined to continue until the second advent of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have reference to the Lord's supper. In every congregation of faithful believers on earth, on every Sunday of their whole lives, the communicants gather to "show forth the Lord's death until he come." "Apart"? Certainly, each community of believers celebrates this "mourning" individually at the time and place pertaining to them. This worldwide phenomenon is indeed great enough, universal enough, and sufficiently connected with "him whom they pierced" to justify our understanding it as the thing prophesied here. But there is yet to be another fulfillment of it.

(2) This mourning over the "Son of Man" who was pierced upon Calvary will at last be shared by every man ever born on earth. The topic sentence and theme of the Book of Revelation is:

"Behold he cometh with the clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they that pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn over him" (Revelation 1:7)

The entire prophecy of Revelation concerns the universal and final judgment of all mankind; and significantly, the terminology of this key sentence in Revelation indicates the mourning of humanity at the Judgment. Jesus himself mentioned this connection:

"And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" (Matthew 24:30).

What a broadening effect these revelations have upon the "mourning" of humanity over the Christ whom they pierced. Thus, "they" who did the piercing are not merely those who ordered, desired, and participated in the actual "piercing." They include all of every time and place who "crucify the Lord again, and put him to an open shame" (Hebrews 5:6). Included also are those who disbelieve and reject the salvation which Jesus brought to man.

One other thing should be noted in these final four verses, and that is the reference to Hadad-Rimmon. That was supposed to have been the place where the good king Josiah was slain, an event followed by great mourning throughout Israel; and perhaps that is as good an understanding of the place as any. Critical scholars have attempted to identify Hadad-Rimmon as the site of an orgy of pagan mourning over some mythological incident in paganism. Delcor, as quoted by Baldwin, found it "repugnant that the mourning of a pagan deity should be put on a level with mourning for the Lord,"[34] a viewpoint which we share. If there is a reference in this expression to paganism, it could very well have been for the purpose of showing that not merely believers in Christ would "mourn for him," but that the whole disbelieving, pagan world would also be involved in it. They will really have something to mourn about when they see the Lamb sitting upon the throne, at which time:

"The kings of the earth, and the princes, and the chief captains, and the rich, and the strong, and every bondman and freeman, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains; and they say to the rocks and the mountains, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of wrath is come; and who is able to stand?" (Revelation 6:15-17).

The second advent of Jesus Christ will be an occasion of very bad news indeed for the millions of earth who have lived lives of rebellion against him; and the mourning that shall sweep over the entirety of earth's populations who at last see this and can no longer deny it will be a mourning like none that ever happened before. We are sure that this passage portrays such a mourning as effectively as it could have been done.