John Calvin Commentary Zechariah 13:3

"And it shall come to pass that, when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of Jehovah; and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth." — Zechariah 13:3 (ASV)

The same concession is made in this verse, where Zechariah speaks of the office of prophesying. He indeed confines what he says altogether to false teachers, for he takes it as granted that there was then no attention given to God’s servants, since false spirits had conspired together, so that nothing pure or sound remained in the Church.

Since then a false and diabolical faction had prevailed, Zechariah calls them Prophets as if they were all such, because they were heard as the Lord’s servants during that disorder of which mention is made.

But he proceeds further in this verse than before, and says that there would be so much zeal in God’s children when renewed by his Spirit, that they would not spare even their own children, but would slay them with their own hands when they saw them perverting the truth of God.

Zechariah no doubt alludes to Deuteronomy 13:1, where God requires such rigorous severity in defending pure doctrine that a father was to rise up against the son whom he had begotten. A husband was to lead his wife to death rather than indulge his love and pardon impiety, if the wife solicited him or others to forsake God.

The Lord then would have all the godly burn with so much zeal in the defense of lawful worship and true religion, that no connection, no relationship, nor any other consideration connected with the flesh, should avail to prevent them from bringing their neighbors to punishment when they see that God’s worship is profaned and that sound doctrine is corrupted.

This was the rule prescribed by the law. Now after religion had been for a time neglected, and even almost trodden underfoot, Zechariah says that the faithful, when they have repented, would be endowed with so much zeal for true religion that neither father nor mother would tolerate an ungodly error in their own son, but would lead him to punishment.

For they would prefer the glory of God to flesh and blood. They would prefer to all earthly attachments that worship which ought to be more precious to us than life itself.

But it must at the same time be observed that this zeal under the reign of Christ is approved by God. For Zechariah does not here confine what he teaches to the time of the law, but shows what would take place when Christ came: namely, that this zeal, which had become nearly extinct, would again burn in the hearts of all the godly.

It then follows that this law was not only given to the Jews, as some fanatics truly imagine, who would have for themselves today a liberty to disturb the whole world, but the same law also belongs to us.

For if today thieves, robbers, and sorcerers are justly punished, doubtless those who, as much as they can, destroy souls, who by their poison corrupt pure doctrine (which is spiritual food), who take away from God his own honor, and who confound the whole order of the Church—doubtless such men should not escape unpunished.

Indeed, it would be better to grant license to thieves, sorcerers, and adulterers than to allow the blasphemies that the ungodly utter against God to prevail without any punishment and without any restraint.

And this is evident enough from the words of our Prophet.

Those who immediately fret out of regard for their own relatives also show little consideration. When faithful ministers and pastors are compelled to warn their people to beware of the artifices of Satan, these people seek to bury every recollection of this, because it is likely to cause resentment, because it leads to reproach.

What if their children were to be brought forth for punishment? How could they bear this, even though they might remain at home? For they cannot heed a frank warning from their own pastor when they find that impious errors are reproved, which we see prevailing—I say, not in our neighborhood only, but also in our own bosom and in the Church.

Let them, therefore, acknowledge their own folly, so that they may learn to put on new courage and value the glory of God and the pure doctrine of religion more highly than their own carnal attachments, by which they are too firmly held. And this is also the reason why the Prophet says, who have begotten him, and he repeats it twice: nor was it in vain that God had those words expressly added,

“The husband shall not allow the wife who sleeps in his bosom to go unpunished;
nor shall the father pardon his son whom he has begotten,
nor the mother her own offspring, whom she has nourished, whom she has carried in her womb.”
(Deuteronomy 13:6, 9)

All these things are said so that we may learn to forget whatever belongs to the world and to the flesh when God’s glory and the purity of doctrine are to be vindicated by us.

Now the Prophet shows clearly that all this is to be understood of false teachers, for he adds, For falsehood hast thou spoken in the name of Jehovah.

At the same time, the atrocity of their sin is pointed out here. For if we rightly consider what it is to speak falsehood in the name of Jehovah, it will certainly appear to us to be more detestable than killing an innocent man, destroying a guest with poison, laying violent hands on one’s own father, or plundering a stranger.

Whatever crimes, then, one can think of, they do not compare to this: when God himself is involved in such dishonor as to be made an abettor of falsehood.

What indeed can more distinctively belong to God than his own truth? And it is also his will to be worshipped by us according to this distinction: God is truth.

Now, to corrupt pure doctrine—is it not the same thing as if one substituted the devil in the place of God? Or sought to transform God, so that there should be no difference between him and the devil? Hence, the greatest of all crimes, as I have already said, does not compare to this horrible and monstrous wickedness.

For how much does the salvation of souls exceed all the riches of the world? And then, how much more excellent is the worship of God than the fame and honors of mortals? Besides, does not religion itself, the pledge of eternal life, swallow up, in a way, everything that is sought in the world?

But the name of God ought to be most sacred to us, for whose sanctification we daily pray. Therefore, when what is false is brought forward in the name of God, is he not, according to what I have already said, as it were, violently forced to take on the role of the devil, to renounce himself, and to deny that he is God?

Hence, we see the Prophet's intent when he shows that there is no place for pardon when the ungodly thus wantonly rise up to pervert pure doctrine, and in doing so, confound all things so as to destroy true religion completely.

He adds, Pierce him shall his father and his mother who have begotten him. It is much harder to kill their son with their own hands than to bring him to the judge and leave him to his fate.

But the Prophet has taken this from the law—that so much zeal is required from the faithful that, if it is necessary, they must exterminate from the world such pests as deprive God of his own honor and attempt to extinguish the light of true and genuine religion.