John Calvin Commentary Zechariah 12:12-14

"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 the Shimeites apart, and their wives apart; all the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart." — Zechariah 12:12-14 (ASV)

Zechariah seems to have used more words than necessary to complete his subject, for he appears to be diffuse on a plain matter. But we ought to pay attention to its vast importance, for it seemed incredible that any of that nation would repent, since they had almost all been given up to a reprobate mind.

For who could have thought that there was any place for the favor of God, since all, as far as they could, even from the least to the greatest, attempted to involve Christ in darkness? When, therefore, the Sun of Righteousness was, as it were, extinguished by the Jews, it seemed probable that they were a nation rejected by God. But the Prophet here shows that God would be mindful of His covenant, so that He would turn to Himself some of all the families.

Lament, he says, shall the land. This indeed we know did not take place regarding the main body of the people. But God, to whom a small flock is precious, designates the faithful here as the whole land—those who had felt how grievously they had sinned and were so pricked in their hearts as though they had pierced the Son of God (Acts 2:37).

And though the Jews had destroyed themselves, yet through special and wonderful favor, three thousand were converted at one sermon by Peter. Then many in Greece, Asia Minor, and in the East repented, and many Churches arose everywhere, as if God had created a new people. If these things are rightly viewed by us, we will not think it unreasonable that Zechariah promises repentance to the whole land.

What he said before of Jerusalem should not be understood as if he limited what he said to one city, but by this name he includes the whole nation, dispersed throughout distant parts of the world.

He says now that this lamentation would be in every family apart. By this phrase he means that it would not be a feigned or pretended ceremony, as when one person begins to weep and draws tears from the eyes of others. The Prophet then testifies that it would be real sorrow, for one would not imitate another, but everyone, impelled by his own feeling, would really grieve and lament.

This then is the reason why he says that families would lament apart. Indeed, the faithful should encourage others by their example and urge them to repent. But in a congregation, hardly one in ten prays earnestly for pardon and really laments on account of his sins.

Since, therefore, people are thus prone to hypocrisy and are confirmed in it by the whole practice of their lives, it is no wonder that the Prophet, in order to portray real sorrow, represents here every family by itself. It is as if he had said, “The family of David will know that it had sinned, and the family of Levi, though it may not observe such an example, will yet inwardly acknowledge its guilt.” We now see why Zechariah repeats the word apart so often.

By saying that the women wept apart, he undoubtedly means the same thing as what we find in the second chapter of Joel (Joel 2:1):

Go forth let the bridegroom from his chamber,
and the bride from her recess.

Men in grief, we know, withdraw from all pleasures and all joy. Since men usually separate themselves from their wives during the appointed time of public grief or mourning, the Prophet depicts the women as being by themselves. He intimates at the same time that the women would not wait until the men showed them an example of mourning, but that they would of their own accord, and through their own feeling, be inclined to lament.

But we must bear in mind what I recently said: the grief which the Jews felt for the death of Christ is not what is described. Rather, it is the grief by which they were touched when God opened their eyes to repent for their own perversity.

For the death of Christ, we acknowledge, is a cause of joy to us rather than of sorrow. But the joy arising from Christ’s death cannot shine in us until our guilt really wounds us through God appearing to us as a threatening judge.

From this sorrow arises the desire to repent and the true fear of God. This is why God Himself will give us joy, for He will not have us, as Paul says, be swallowed up with sorrow. He lays us prostrate, that He may raise us up again.

Now, why he names the house of Levi, and the house of Shimei, or of Simeon, and the house of David, and the house of Nathan, rather than the other tribes, is uncertain. Yet it seems probable to me that by the family of David he means the whole tribe of Judah, and the same by the family of Nathan.

As for the tribe of Levi, it excelled in honor on account of the priesthood, but no honor belonged to Simeon. Why then are Issachar, Reuben the first-born, and the other tribes omitted here? It might indeed have been that more members then remained from the tribes of Simeon and Levi than from the tribe of Zebulun or of Issachar or of Reuben; but this is uncertain, and I am not inclined to make much of mere conjectures.

But I am inclined to think that the family of David and the tribe of Levi are here mentioned not for the sake of honor but of reproach, because the royal family and the priests were those who crucified Christ, and pierced God in the person of His only-begotten Son. Jerome conjectures that the family of Nathan is named because he was a celebrated Prophet and eminent above others, and that the Prophets are represented by him. He says that many teachers arose from the tribe of Simeon; but I do not know where he got his information, for he offers no proofs.

But I am satisfied with the simple view already given: that the Prophet by mentioning certain families intended to include the whole people, and that he does not omit the royal family nor the priests, because they were especially the ones who crucified Christ. And we know that Christ descended from Nathan, though Jerome thought the Prophet to be intended here rather than Nathan, one of Christ’s ancestors; but these matters are of little importance.

Lastly, he says that this lamentation would be common to all the remaining families. Although few had returned, except those from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and from the tribe of Levi, Zechariah, as I think, here means by “the remaining families” the elect who had been miraculously delivered from the common destruction.

For blindness had so prevailed that the rejection of the whole people by God was evident. Under this designation, then, I consider the remnants of grace, as Paul says, to be included.

It is as if the Prophet had said that he had spoken of sorrow not with regard to the whole nation indiscriminately, but to that part which was a remnant according to the gratuitous election of God.