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THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAH
Lesson 29, Chapter 13

Since we barely got started last time in Zechariah chapter 13, let’s re-read the
entire chapter. Open your Bibles to Zechariah 13.

READ ZECHAHARIAH CHAPTER 13 all

Zechariah has to be one of the most impactful prophecies that affects us
personally and in our age, if only we’ll notice it. It is the red flag going up that
we either pay attention to or we don’t. And our choice will have much to do
with what we see play out before us in world events, and how we understand
those events. And, even more, what are we to do about it. That means, we’re
going to need to discuss what is revealed in real world, practical terms, that
aren’t always the most pleasant.

I spoke last time about an important biblical principle set-down in the Torah. It
is that living water is needed to cleanse a person from their ritual impurities.
And, that it must be the blood of an innocent creature that is sacrificed to
atone and pay for the guilty party’s sins. Sins and uncleanness are related, but
are two different things. Therefore, blood does NOT cleanse from impurity, and
living water does NOT cleanse from sins. So, how is it that we can say that
Yeshua is that fountain of living water…mayim chaim in Hebrew… when we
are told that we are washed “white as snow” (meaning cleansed) by Christ’s
blood? The answer is, a song is not Scripture, and the words of that song are
factually incorrect.

And, yet indeed, at Yeshua’s crucifixion, a source of both atonement for sins
AND cleansing from uncleanness occurred.

CJB
John 19:32-35
32
The soldiers came and broke the legs of the first
man who had been put on a stake beside Yeshua, then the legs of the
other one;
33
but when they got to Yeshua and saw that he was
already dead, they didn't break his legs.
34
However, one of the
soldiers stabbed his side with a spear, and at once blood and water
flowed out.
35
The man who saw it has testified about it, and his

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testimony is true. And he knows that he tells the truth, so you too can
trust.

Now, I have heard all sorts of medical and scientific possible explanations for
why water could have come out of Yeshua along with blood. But, even they
don’t claim that this might be typical or even frequent. People of that era
regularly saw people die… death was not sanitized and mostly out of sight then
as it is now. They well knew what poured out from a sword or spear wound,
and it certainly wasn’t water! That’s why a particular witness to Yeshua’s death
made note of it… it was a strange sight…not at all usual.

But, when we realize the many mentions in the Bible of the Messiah being a
fountain of living water, and next we learn that upon His death and having His
side punctured that blood AND water flowed out, then we get the connection
between the Torah commands about the efficacy of living water for cleansing
impurity and the Gospel account of water pouring out from Yeshua. His death
was a fulfillment and proof that He was the fulfillment of the command to wash
with living water in order to be cleansed from impurities.

Let’s get back to another issue within that first verse. The end of the verse
says that the fountain of living water is “… to cleanse them from sin and
impurity”. There are 2 categories of sacrificing that deal with sin: the Asham
and the Hatta’at. The Asham is to atone for the sin itself; the wrong
behavior. The Hatta’at is to atone for the condition that sin now places a
worshipper in. And thus, it also involves immersion (that is, a washing with
living water). So, it is not that sin can be atoned for with water; it is that sin
causes one to become ritually impure, and the remedy for that impure
condition is immersion. Technical, yes, but something that the Jews fully
understood, and so when this subject is talked about in the New Testament,
the rules of it are not re-taught…. they already knew them. Gentiles, however,
have no idea of it, and so take some of these New Testament statements
incorrectly. Some even becoming Church doctrinal rules.

Verse 2 says:

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CJB
Zechariah 13:2 "When that day comes," says YEHOVEH-Tzva'ot, "I
will cut off the very names of the idols from the land, so that no one
even remembers them anymore. I will also expel the [false] prophets
and the spirit of uncleanness from the land;

As with chapter 12, this second verse of chapter 13 begins with the End Times
signaling protocol of “when that day comes” or “on that day”. So, as part of
what happens in the End Times, God will “cut off” the names of idols from the
land (meaning the Holy Land… Israel). In Hebrew, cut-off is kareth. It is a
most negative and fearful word that means to separate and sometimes
includes the notion of destruction. The separation, and also the destruction,
might be physical or spiritual or both. For instance, when a person contracted
Tzara’at, that spiritually caused skin disease that is said to expose a person’s
inward sinful condition, they are to be cut-off from their community. This
means to be separated away from the remainder of the community that is,
presumably, healthy and not in a condition of sin-caused uncleanness.

One of the larger topics in Zechariah has been false prophets. These are NOT
pagan prophets. They are NOT outsiders. They are Hebrews… m any of which
have gone to the religious seminaries of that era called Prophet Academies.
These are not God-appointed prophets; they are prophets that are given
academic papers and had the title of “prophet” conferred upon them at
graduation by a teacher. Unlike the God-appointed Prophets such as Elijah, or
Isaiah, or Zechariah, these prophets who were taught how to be prophets are
better known as guild-prophets. They are prophets for hire. It is an
occupation, and not a calling. These, along with others of the Jews’ religious
teachers are called false prophets by God.

Then, of course, the Jews still did believe that many other gods were alive and
well, and they had no problem worshipping one of them for fertility, perhaps
another for rain, but still also include worship of Yehoveh. Each of these gods
and goddesses had names. But, Yehoveh says that He will get rid of these
idols whose use has resulted from the teachings of false prophets, and from
His people actually paying homage to pagan gods. When you add the threat of
being cut-off as pertaining to idols, it means inherently to destroy. And, to
speak of idols inherently includes the idea of idol-worship. The problem of idol

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worship is not only that it is an offense to God, but it also pollutes the land. I’ll
repeat: it is meant in this verse that we closely associate the idea of false
prophets, idolatry, and impurity. Thus, when God removes any of these
associated items, He will eliminate all.

As for modern times, which is what the End Times is obviously speaking about,
I’m unaware of the Jews as a people directly worshipping the gods of pagans.
But I do know there is a tolerance among some Jewish sects for Allah, God of
Islam, and even for the gods and goddesses of various other Eastern religions.
Not necessarily believing in them, yet standing up for those pagan religion’s
rights to possess those gods within the Holy Land of Israel. That is, it’s an
issue of religious tolerance and equity. This is going to come to an end… all of
it… at a point fairly early in the End Times.

Thus, as I mentioned a minute ago, the false prophets (these are Jewish false
prophets in Zechariah’s era) will be ejected from the Promised Land, and along
with them will go the “spirit” of uncleanness they harbor. The “spirit” of
something means the proclivity of our minds to adopt or to do something as
right and proper. So, as an example, to have the spirit of the Anti-Christ,
means having the mental proclivity to do what is antithetical to what Yeshua
and His Father have told us. It forms the basis for how the Anti-Christ himself
will think and operate.

Verse 3 is pretty startling, if not severe to the point of brutality.

CJB
Zechariah 13:3 so that if anyone continues to prophesy, his own
father and mother who brought him into the world will tell him, 'You
cannot continue to live, because you are speaking lies in the name of
Yehoveh; then his own father and mother who brought him into the
world will stab him to death.

“If anyone continues to prophesy” means people who somehow escaped the
false prophet expulsion from the land. And, equally likely, some others who
decide to label themselves as prophets that step up to take their place. It is
most critical for a Bible student to understand that the last God-appointed
Biblical Prophet was Malachai. That is, a prophet in that Old Testament mold.

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This brings certain repercussions with it. It means that the definition of what a
prophet is and does changes after Malachai. When the New Testament speaks
of a prophet it is not speaking of a person that speaks directly to God, or is
receiving a new oracle to be pronounced. The new definition falls closer in line
with what we would label as a Bible Teacher. That is, this type of person
teaches what is already given and recorded. And, his or her job is NOT to add
to it, or subtract from it, or to allegorize it to fit modern societal attitudes. It is
to rightly teach what God intended to tell us.

Even the Apostle John who received the revelation of the Apocalypse was not
in the mold of an Old Testament Prophet. God more or less gave him an ability
of discernment to better understand what was hidden behind all those
recorded words of Scripture. Truly, John’s awesome work was progressive
revelation in action. I am leery of giving what John did any kind of a title or
label. He was pretty unique.

Most interestingly the responsibility for dealing with these remaining, or newly
exposed, false prophets are their parents. Here’s the rub: despite whatever
that means about dealing with a son that is a false prophet, the more
important thing to note is that false prophets will still be around. And, I think
this means including throughout the Millennial Kingdom period. After all, there
will be a rebellion at the end of that 1000-year reign, so someone has been
spreading untruths or there would be no reason to have rebellious thoughts.

CJB
Revelation 20:7-10
7
When the thousand years are over, the
Adversary will be set free from his prison
8
and will go out to deceive
the nations in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather
them for the battle. Their number is countless as the sand on the
seashore;
9
and they came up over the breadth of the Land and
surrounded the camp of God's people and the city he loves. But fire
came down from heaven and consumed them.
10
The Adversary who
had deceived them was hurled into the lake of fire and sulfur, where
the beast and the false prophet were; and they will be tormented day
and night forever and ever.

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I realize that in this brief mention of the battle at the end of the 1000-year
reign of Christ, nothing is said about false prophets deceiving the people. But,
as we witness all throughout the Bible, everyone we read about from a
negative viewpoint was not at one time wonderfully good and obedient, and
then they go to bed and wake up evil and rebellious. These changes come with
time…slowly, almost imperceptibly. So, the people of the Millennial Kingdom
have, over time, been primed and made ready to accept the lies of the
Adversary, and clearly many do. Thus, we should never get the idea of a
perfect and sinless Millennial Kingdom era.

Quite literally, the parents of those newly revealed false prophets are to be
executed by their parents. Why is the crime so serious that it warrants the
death penalty? Because they are saying things in the name of God… claiming
Godly authority… but at the same time knowing it is false. I won’t pause here
for long, but this is one of those moments that I spoke about to begin today’s
lesson. The urgency I have been feeling for the last few years to speak a bit
more boldly against wrong teachings that have become virtually embedded
within the Church… and which many more teachers than only myself have
been sensing… compels me to risk being seen as a but a critical Church
basher.

Very often I’m asked to add more application as I teach. And, yet, the truth is
that actual application isn’t always positive. The Old Testament Prophets were
the kings of application, and very few people accepted it because it involved
being willing to see their wrong and change. Over the many years that I have
been teaching the Bible, I have received numerous letters and emails from
denominational pastors who are deeply troubled, because they have come to
see that what they are being required to teach is often not biblically true. They
are taught in their seminaries, and required, to teach and advocate only their
denomination’s doctrinal creeds or risk losing their jobs. They have families,
they’ve been Pastors for many years, and it’s all they know. If they quit and
leave, they don’t know how they’ll be able to support their families. And, some
other reasons for their dilemma are also brought up. Yet, they also don’t want
to be seen before God as false prophets and face those dire… and promised…
consequences. Their situation is very real and difficult, and I have only 1
response to give to them. If you know you are teaching falsehoods in the

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name of God, you are putting not only yourself but your congregations in great
danger. God will protect His Holy Name at all costs. Over and over in the Bible
we read of examples of this, and here in Zechariah is yet another. A false
prophet’s parents are instructed to execute the son they love for his grave
offense against God.

The Church’s usual response is: well, Jesus changed all that. All those laws,
and warnings, and severe consequences were done away with at the cross.
That is perhaps the most dangerous false doctrine ever devised. Nowhere in
the New Testament do we find such a thing. But we do find Yeshua reminding
the few thousand listening to Him during His Sermon on the Mount, that
whatever He tells them it should never be construed as meaning that His
Father’s laws and commands (the Torah) and prophetic oracles (the Prophets)
have been abolished.

CJB
Matthew 5:17-19
17
"Don't think that I have come to abolish the
Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete.
18

Yes indeed! I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so
much as a yud or a stroke will pass from the Torah - not until
everything that must happen has happened.
19
So whoever disobeys
the least of these mitzvot and teaches others to do so will be called
the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever obeys them and so
teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.

And yet, the entire Church refutes this powerful and plain statement that until
the current heavens and earth are no more, the Torah and the Prophets are
not only NOT abolished, not even the tiniest detail of them will change or
terminate. And, it is our duty to obey it all. Not my words, they are Yeshua’s.

We must not pass on this and just think of it as some bumper-sticker
statement among hundreds of others. Or that perhaps we can look to Paul to
override it (which he never does). How we determine whether to believe and
obey, or to deny and disobey this command from Yeshua will determine out
entire mindset about how to understand God’s Word to us. If we go with the
Church’s mindset, we will misinterpret the Bible. In fact, we won’t even look at

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the Torah and the Prophets to see what they say. But, if we believe Yeshua
and obey Him, we will understand God’s Word to us as it was intended.

The false prophets of Zechariah’s era, and now in this part of Zechariah 13,
are indeed speaking about the End Times and the period that we, today, are
either standing just in front of, or are standing upon, that threshold into the
final days of the history of man as we have known it, when suddenly all of
these prophecies will come to life in head spinning suddenness. If one is not
prepared, there is little chance of catching up to what is happening. We have
the needed tool to ferret out false prophets: it is called the Bible. All we have
to do is to compare what you are being told with what God’s Word actually
says.

As to the matter of the biological parents of the false prophet dealing with him,
the underlying issue is that false prophecy is one of the component parts of
idolatry. And the Law of Moses deems that even close relatives of the idolater
are to put that idolatrous family member to death.

CJB
Deuteronomy 13:5 -12
5
You are to follow YEHOVEH your God, fear
him, obey his mitzvot, listen to what he says, serve him and cling to
him;
6
and that prophet or dreamer is to be put to death; because he
urged rebellion against YEHOVEH your God, who brought you out of
the land of Egypt and redeemed you from a life of slavery; in order to
seduce you away from the path YEHOVEH your God ordered you to
follow. This is how you are to rid your community of this wickedness.
7

"If your brother the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter,
or your wife whom you love, or your friend who means as much to you
as yourself, secretly tries to entice you to go and serve other gods,
which you haven't known, neither you nor your ancestors-
8
gods of
the peoples surrounding you, whether near or far away from you,
anywhere in the world -
9
you are not to consent, and you are not to
listen to him; and you must not pity him or spare him; and you may
not conceal him.
10
Rather, you must kill him! Your own hand must be
the first one on him in putting him to death, and afterwards the hands
of all the people.
11
You are to stone him to death; because he has
tried to draw you away from YEHOVEH your God, who brought you out

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of the land of Egypt, out of a life of slavery.
12
Then all Isra'el will hear
about it and be afraid, so that they will stop doing such wickedness as
this among themselves.

So, what are we to do as modern-day parents of an offspring who is in an
official position within the Church or any Christian or Jewish organization, who
we realize is teaching manmade doctrine that refutes God’s Word? Clearly
we’re not talking about accidental mistakes or somewhat minor errors or
nuances. We’re talking about the obvious elephant-in-the-room, so to speak.
Even if we had the strength to do what Deuteronomy and Zechariah says to
do, our Western societies would never allow us to take such severe actions.
Yet, we can confront them, warn them, and certainly not support them.
Beyond that, it is going to be a matter of our conscience. See… I told you that
wanting application isn’t always the prettiest or most positive thing, especially
when it comes to parents dealing with their children.

Verse 4 continues with the issue of false prophets.

CJB
Zechariah 13:4 When that day comes, each one of the prophets
will be shamed by his vision when he prophesies. He will stop wearing
a hair cloak to deceive people;

Over and over God’s oracle through His prophet emphasizes that this is an End
Times prophecy with the words “when that day comes” or “on that day” or
something similar are presented. So, hopefully the applications I have given to
you will draw your minds to mentally picture the present and near future, and
our religious organizations as they exist today, as opposed to some imaginings
of ancient times. And, therefore, just who today’s false religious prophets are
or might be. Do not think of Wickens or Islam or other non-Judeo-Christian
faiths because this is ONLY speaking about those who teach falsely in the
name of Yehoveh or Yeshua. And for all practical purposes that is ONLY
Judaism and Christianity. But, since Hebrew Roots/Jewish Roots might be
looked at as a separate 3
rd
group who worships and speaks in the name of
Yehoveh and Yeshua, then it is not possible for me to honestly separate us
from those other 2, as well. That is, don’t ever think that Messianic Judaism or
Hebrew Roots teachers cannot also be seen by God as false prophets.

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Therefore, we who represent ourselves as teachers of this 3rd group are
equally responsible and must be held equally as accountable. We, too, must be
examined against God’s Word as the document of truth. And, if what we teach
doesn’t match the Bible, then we are teaching falsely. Again, minor errors or
small nuances or gray areas are not what I’m speaking about. Mostly it is
about knowing the truth but teaching a human doctrine in its place. As
humans, the best of us will make mistakes, but hopefully learn from them. I
am not the judge of where that line is; only God.

It is interesting that the title of prophet occurs 6 times in chapter 13, and each
time God is judging against them. In an earlier chapter, I told you of the irony
involved in Zechariah’s words. The irony was that a true Prophet of God
announced himself as such, and more, he wore a special garb that visibly
identified him as a prophet. However, Zechariah’s prophecy was that at one
point in the future, the person who said they were a prophet and who wore the
garb of a prophet was to be considered as a FALSE prophet. This is because
the false prophets were able to disguise themselves by adopting a title long
used to designate a Godly Prophet, and by donning a hairy (a furry) mantle
(and article of clothing), it visually was part of a uniform that said they were
Prophets of God. In time, false prophets figured out that by wearing the garb
and announcing themselves as prophets, people would believe them and be
led astray. So, how were regular folks supposed to know who was a true
prophet and who was false? The answer: the TRUE prophets would no longer
call themselves prophets nor would they wear a special article of clothing to
identify their status. It was a complete reversal. I’m not sure what that is
bringing to mind for you, but if a rather startling and unsettling mental picture
of who this is talking about (and I think it is rather obvious) is not in your
mind, then I don’t think you’ve understood what we’ve just read. I don’t feel
comfortable with saying any more about that, for now.

What Zechariah said earlier about this irony is being reiterated here as
something that has burst into action (still speaking about the End Times), but
something else happens, too. Now the time has come that the false prophets
have caught on that wearing the garb and calling themselves prophets needs
to stop because people are on to their deception. So, they stop calling
themselves prophets and remove the garb. They go on prophesying, but they

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are far harder to catch. Again, if you are paying attention, it says that we can
no longer go by whether a prophet calls himself a prophet or not, or wears the
garb or not, as the one telling the truth. What are we to do if none of that
helps us to determine that teacher’s teachings as truth or lies? That what he
says is inspired from God or inspired by some other source or motivation? It
keeps coming back to the same thing: we must rely on the Word of God. Does
what someone says about God and truth match what we read in the Bible?
That is the validation. Not his charisma, not the size of his group of followers,
not his academic credentials, not the exquisiteness or size of his offices and
headquarters, and not his claims or lack of claims. This new reality requires
more work on our part.

Think about this for a minute. In times BEFORE the invention of the printing
press, the availability of Scripture was only in the hands of the kings, leaders
of theological schools, priests, and the most wealthy. It was out of reach of
any average person, so they needed some tangible way to determine if who
they were listening to was telling them the truth… or not. But for the last
hundred years and more, Bibles have gone from readily available to nearly
free (if not entirely free), and in nearly every language on earth. For the
literate, there is no excuse for not reading and studying God’s Word to know if
we’re sitting under a true prophet or a phony. That means that the average
person’s level of accountability before God has only risen. Ignorance of the
Bible is now one of decision and choice. And if we choose to be ignorant and
not do the work of reading and studying God’s Word, then it is every bit as
much on us as it is on those false prophets if we believe wrongly. So, there
you go: more application and it is not particularly fun, is it?

Verse 5 just continues the thought of verse 4.

CJB
Zechariah 13:5 and instead, he will say, 'I'm no prophet, I just
work the soil; since my youth I've only wanted to be an ordinary man.'

It seems like we’re wandering in circles about how to identity true versus false
prophets, and even more, as a teacher of God’s Word, how are we to identify
ourselves? What title are we to choose? But, let’s not let verse 5 confuse us.
What this is, is actually a paraphrase of something the Prophet Amos said

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when he was responding to the priest of Bethel, Amaziah, who said he was
committing treason against Jeroboam.

CJB
Amos 7:14 'Amos gave this answer to Amatzyah: "I am not trained
as a prophet, and I'm not one of the guild prophets - I own sheep and
grow figs.

Essentially, Zechariah is re-establishing the pattern of the historical, traditional
true prophets of God, as opposed to that of the guild prophets or the plain-old
false prophets. And, the first thing we can watch for is that the prophet is not
claiming his right to be Prophet of God simply because he went to a prophet
academy on account of wanting to learn how to be a prophet. No true prophet
has to learn to be one. It is a gift and assignment from God. No true prophet
sets out to be one. Somehow, in some unfathomable way, he finds himself
having been channeled by an invisible hand into the position. That is not to
say… especially in a world of over 8 billion people… that this is true in every
case. But, it is proverbial… it is a rule of thumb that can have its exceptions.

Amos’s attitude of identifying himself as a shepherd and a farmer is another
truth detector. Being a prophet was not a change in profession. It was
something that God asked him to put his life on hold for awhile to do. God had
a message He wanted delivered and that is all. It was not a call to a lifelong
vocation. But, even if temporary, it was something that, especially in ancient
times, could put his life and fortune in jeopardy. And generally speaking, it
was always unpopular and most certainly never led to a better economic
outcome. I cannot think of a God-ordained Prophet that was always a prophet.
Nor, to move forward a few hundred years to Yeshua’s era, can I think of one
of the original 12 Disciples who began life with a longing to be an evangelist
for the Messiah. Paul, the most famous and prolific of all New Testament
writers, was an academic, but it was all about the doctrines of the Gamaliel
branch of the Pharisees, and their teachings. It took a spectacular encounter
with the risen Yeshua before He was diverted into being a spokesman for the
Messiah. And even then, we learn that he was a tradesman and did not look to
his evangelistic efforts as an occupation or source of personal income. I hope a
picture is beginning to emerge of what a true prophet is, how to detect them,
and then what our personal responsibility is within that process of detection.

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To that end of detecting a true versus a false prophet, we read this in verse 6:

CJB
Zechariah 13:6 If someone asks him, 'Then what are these gashes
between your shoulders?' he will answer, 'I got hurt at my friends'
house.'

“If someone asks” begins another perspective, or source of inquiry, about how
to know if a prophet is true or false. And, it is something that if seen calls for
the repudiation of the person who exhibits these behaviors. This particular
detector is given in the form of a question to the strawman of a prophet “what
are these gashes between your shoulders”, and next the strawman’s answer:
“I got hurt at my friend’s house”.

Although we cannot point to precise evidence about it, it is known that various
sects and groups of prophets (from Hebrew prophets to pagan prophets)
committed all sorts of bizarre behaviors such as gashing themselves with
knives, whipping themselves, doing things that intentionally caused bruising,
starving themselves and more as a means of indicating an especially high
piety. It was common enough, that like a Meth addict that has a mouthful of
rotted teeth, no matter what other reason they may offer for why their teeth
look that way, clearly it is obvious that it is their use of Meth. So, it was when
a person who was obviously attempting to look especially pious displayed
many of these signs of self-abuse, but they lie and answer “I got hurt at my
friend’s house”.

There is an underlying subtlety here that we should notice. The sort of false
prophets being envisioned here without doubt point to the occupational, guild-
prophets. They usually remained tight with their fellow guild members for their
social life. Thus, a prophet with all the earmarks that our strawman prophet
displayed says he would have been a guild-prophet living in a communal
situation with his colleagues. Thus, it is a further deception for him to say that
he was injured in the house of his friends, rather than with his fellow guild-
prophets who helped one another with these injurious behaviors to further
their hope to be seen as serious prophets that their patrons would hire and
believe.

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At verse 7, this oracle shifts gears. It now goes on to offer more nuances to
the coming judgment in which Israel will be sifted and purified. How does this
happen? In a most painful way. Those who survive the attack of the gentile
nations in Israel (the remnant) will be transformed into the most honestly,
sincerely holy people that God had always intended Israel to be. The
remainder… the pretenders, the corrupt, the liars… die in the war. Here is
verse 7:

CJB
Zechariah 13:7 "Awake, sword, against my shepherd, against the
man who is close to me," says ADONAI -Tzva'ot. "Strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered; I will turn my hand against the young
ones.

This and the remainder of the verses of chapter 13 have a more poetic tone
and structure to them than the earlier verses. This is a rather common method
of constructing prophecy used by other prophets as well. So, it means that the
words are chosen more towards their emotional impact as well as for working
for the rhyme and meter of Hebrew poetry. So, when this begins, “awake n O
sword”, it is a poetic and lofty way of having God summon the sword to go
forth and injure. Therefore, it can be said that the hand that wields the sword
is Yehoveh’s.

Since it would be appropriate to say that this is the sword of Yehoveh, then it
means that it is an instrument of God’s divine judgment. Who is getting
punished? The disobedient. Notice how it mentions that the sword (the
judgment) is against “My” shepherd. Therefore, this concerns Hebrews and not
foreigners. Since the shepherds are the standard metaphor used for leaders,
and the people they lead follow “My shepherd”, then the people are the
Israelites. Thus, this about God’s furious judgment against the religious
leadership of Israel.

We’ll stop here for today, and finish up chapter 13 next time.