John Calvin Commentary Zechariah 12:11

"In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon." — Zechariah 12:11 (ASV)

The Prophet says nearly the same thing to the end of the chapter; but as the event was worthy of being commemorated, he embellishes it with many figurative terms. He then says that the lamentation for the death of Christ would be like that after the death of Josiah. For those who would have Hadadrimmon be a man’s name have no reason for what they hold and are indulging in mere conjecture. Indeed, it is almost universally agreed that Hadadrimmon was either a town connected with the plain of Megiddon or a country near Jezreel. But as for what it was, this is a matter of no great consequence. Indeed, I believe that Hadadrimmon was a neighboring town, or a part of that country in which the plain of Megiddon was situated.

We may now observe that this comparison which the Prophet institutes is very fitting; for when Josiah was slain by the King of Egypt, it is said in 2 Chronicles 35:25 that a yearly lamentation was appointed. The Jews then were accustomed every year to lament the death of Josiah, for from that time it was evident that God was so displeased with the people that they no longer had any hope of deliverance. Indeed, Jeremiah in his mournful song had special reference to Josiah, as appears from sacred history.

And, among other things, he says that Christ our Lord, in whose life lived our life, was slain for our sins. Jeremiah then acknowledges that it was a special proof of God’s vengeance that that pious king was taken away, and that the Jews were thus, as it were, forsaken and afterwards became like a dead body, inasmuch as they only breathed in the life of Josiah.

At the same time, he reminds us that the kingdom, which God had intended to be the type and image of the kingdom of Christ, had, as it were, ceased to exist. For the successor of Josiah was deprived of all royal honor, and finally, not only the whole dignity but also the safety of the people were trampled underfoot.

Therefore, the Prophet most fittingly applies this lamentation to the death of Christ; as though he had said that the Jews lamented yearly the death of Josiah because it was evidence of God’s dreadful vengeance that they were deprived of that pious ruler; and that now there would be a similar lamentation when they perceived that their light of salvation was extinguished because they had crucified the Son of God, unless they humbly acknowledged their great wickedness and obtained pardon.

Thus, we now see the true meaning of the Prophet when he says that the lamentation in Jerusalem would be like that in Megiddon.

Should any object and say that the death of Christ was not accompanied with tears and mourning, I answer that the penitence of believers only is described here. For we know that only a few of the whole people were converted to God. But it is not surprising that the Prophet speaks generally of the whole nation, though he referred only to the elect of God and a small remnant, for God regarded those few who repented as the whole race of Abraham.

Some mention the women of whom Luke speaks, but this interpretation seems too confined and strained. And we also find that that lamentation was forbidden by Christ:

“Weep,” he says, “for yourselves and for your children,
not for me.” (Luke 23:28)

Since Christ then shows that that weeping was vain and useless, we may surely say that what is said here by Zechariah was not then fulfilled.

And we must bear in mind what I have said before: that by lamentation and sorrow is described the repentance with which the Jews were favored—not indeed all of them, but those who had been ordained to salvation by the gratuitous adoption of God.