John Calvin Commentary Zechariah 12:6

"In that day will I make the chieftains of Judah like a pan of fire among wood, and like a flaming torch among sheaves; and they shall devour all the peoples round about, on the right hand and on the left; and [they of] Jerusalem shall yet again dwell in their own place, even in Jerusalem." — Zechariah 12:6 (ASV)

He adds another metaphor for the sake of further confirmation, for he says that the chiefs of Judah would be like a melting pot: some translate it as a hearth, but incorrectly and without meaning. He afterwards compares them to a flaming torch, and heathen nations to wood and stubble or chaff.

The Spirit also speaks this way in other places, and the reason should be noted: for when the ungodly assail the Church of God, all things seem to threaten its ruin, but God declares that they shall be like chaff or wood. “The house of Israel,” says Isaiah, “shall be a flaming fire, and shall consume all the wood of the forest.” So also in this place, there shall indeed be a great host of enemies assembled against Israel, but the Lord will consume them, for he will be like fire in the midst of his people. His people also shall be, through the secret power of the Spirit, like a burning pot or a torch, which shall consume the chaff, in which there is nothing substantial.

But the Prophet shows again that the deliverance of the Church is always wonderful. Therefore, those who rely on human and earthly means, and willfully bind God to their own ways, act foolishly. For whenever God promises to be their deliverer, their inquiry is, “But how can this be? From where will this aid come to us? How will the hand of the Lord be stretched forth to us? From where will he gather his army?” Since then we are accustomed to inquire so anxiously, and thus drive away from us the aid of God, let this truth, taught by the Prophet, be kept in mind—that though great numbers of enemies may come upon us, they shall yet be like a heap of wood, and we like fire. For though we have no strength, yet the Lord by his hidden favor will cause our enemies, even by coming near us, to be consumed.

To the same purpose is the next similitude—that they would be a torch in handfuls of chaff; for here also the singular number is used for the plural. Then follows an explanation: Consume shall they on the right hand, and on the left, all nations around.

Zechariah seems here to ascribe an insatiable cruelty and a revengeful passion to the faithful, who yet are to be influenced by a meek spirit, so that they may imitate their heavenly Father. But here he speaks not of their disposition and feeling, but only shows that all the ungodly shall be frustrated in their expectation of success, and not only so, but that they shall also be destroyed. Then the more furiously they assail the Church, the more sudden their destruction will be; for though the faithful may wish to spare them, yet God, the righteous judge, will not spare them. In short, the work of God himself, as in other places, is ascribed to the Church.

In the last place he declares that Jerusalem shall stand in its own place, where it was. There is here a sort of repetition, and it was made because enemies thought, as we have already stated, that they could destroy Jerusalem so as to obliterate it completely. But the Prophet on the other hand says that it would be established in its own place, because God had chosen it as the place where he intended to be worshipped, and he had chosen it, as it is often said by Moses, to commemorate his own name. In a word, he intimates that the Church would be perpetually established: though all mortals conspired for its ruin and assailed it on every side, yet the sanctuary of God, as he had promised, would continue there still, even until the advent of Christ. For then, we know, Jerusalem was to be completely destroyed, together with the temple, as an end was to come on all these things, and the world was to be renewed.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that since the condition of all those who fight under the banner of the cross of Christ seems today hard and even miserable—O grant, that relying on your promises, by which you encourage us, we may continually persevere, and not hesitate to remain in your fold, though wolves lie in wait for us on every side, and robbers also and thieves furiously assail us, so that we may ever remain under the protection of your hand, and never envy the children of this world on account of their pleasures, ease, and worldly advantages, but patiently bear to be agitated by constant fear, so that we may with quiet minds wait until you show us, when we come to die, that our salvation is safe and secure in your hand; and having thus at length passed through all troubles, we may come to that blessed rest, which your only-begotten Son has procured for us by his own blood.—Amen.