Zechariah 13:6

"And one shall say unto him, What are those wounds between thine arms? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends."

(1) There are two ways of interpreting this verse, and we simply do not know which is correct. We shall note the interpretation first which is popular with current expositors.

These understand the verse as a further extension of the thought of Zechariah 13:5, which is supported by the use of the first clause with its pronoun referring to the false prophet. The picture is that of a former pagan priest who is questioned by those seeking to expose him by calling attention to the "wounds" between his arms, usually understood to be the markings of self-inflicted cuts incurred in the service of pagan deities (See 1 Kings 18:28). The former pagan priest denies even that evidence by answering that he had received such wounds "in the house of my friends," an answer, which by any understanding of it must be counted evasive. "This answer also is nothing more than an evasion."[13] This is by far the most natural and the easiest explanation of this difficult passage. But some see in the expression, "I was wounded in the house of my friends" a prophecy of our Lord.

(2) The understanding of this place as a prophecy of Jesus requires that the "wounds" be understood, as did Keil: "The expression `between the hands' can hardly be understood in any other way than as relating to the palms of the hands."[14] This interpretation also requires that the connection with verse five be denied, which is strongly done by Unger who alleged that it is independent of it. "The supposition that this verse is inseparably connected to Zechariah 13:2-5, and therefore still has the false prophet in mind, flagrantly ignores the context."[15] Some scholars even allege that Christ had a connection with the "false prophet" in this section, because the Pharisees put him to death as a "deceiver," or false prophet, but we simply cannot accept that. If there indeed was a prophecy of Christ in the reply of this former pagan priest who said, "I was wounded in the house of my friends," it would have to be in the same category as the prophecy of the false high priest of Israel in John 11:52-54. Of course, Jesus was "wounded" in the house of those who "should have been" his friends; and he even referred to Judas as, "Friend," when the traitor approached to plant the betrayal kiss upon his cheek, but, to this point, we have never found a New Testament reference referring this passage to Jesus Christ. Such a New Testament reference is what the advocates of this interpretation need to establish the place as an authentic prediction concerning Jesus.