Chapter 18

Consequences of Rejecting God’s Shepherd Ruler

1. Why is it not strange that Jehovah should compare rulers lesser than Himself with shepherds?

THE GREATEST Ruler of all repeatedly compared himself to a shepherd. Take, for example, this beautiful comparison that He makes when foretelling how tenderly he would lead his exiled people back to their homeland: “Look! The Sovereign Lord Jehovah himself will come even as a strong one, and his arm will be ruling for him. Look! His reward is with him, and the wage he pays is before him. Like a shepherd he will shepherd his own drove. With his arm he will collect together the lambs; and in his bosom he will carry them. Those giving suck he will conduct with care.” (Isaiah 40:10, 11) It would not be strange, then, that he should compare lesser rulers on earth to shepherds.

2. To what plants does Jehovah liken outstanding worldly rulers, and to what does he similarly liken the remnant liberated from Babylon?

² He also likened outstanding rulers to trees, tall in stature. The royal Pharaoh of ancient Egypt is thus compared to a stately tree. (Ezekiel 31:1-18) Even the exiled remnant whom Jehovah uses his Messiah or Anointed One to liberate and lead out of symbolic Babylon back to their God-given native land he compares to trees. He does so when he speaks of the assignment of work that He gives to his Messiah, namely: “To comfort all the mourning ones; to assign to those mourning over Zion, to give them a headdress instead of ashes, the oil of exultation instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of the downhearted spirit; and they must be called big trees of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah, for him to be beautified.”​—Isaiah 61:1-3.

3, 4. (a) How does Zechariah draw a contrast between those “big trees of righteousness” and worldly “trees”? (b) According to Zechariah 11:1-3, why is there to be a howling and roaring?

³ Those symbolic “big trees of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah,” are referred to in the preceding tenth chapter of Zechariah’s prophecy, Zec 10 verses 3-12. How great a contrast is now drawn between them and the symbolic trees on elevated levels of our oppressive world! In Zechariah’s day the majestic mountains of Lebanon were clothed with forests of its world-famous “cedars of Lebanon” and other fragrant evergreen trees. How sad to think of such forests being ravaged by an inextinguishable conflagration! It is enough to make one howl. A suchlike howling by the world must yet come, for, almost like a sequel to chapter ten of Zechariah’s prophecy, chapter eleven opens up with the divine command to give vent to such howling. We read:

⁴ “Open up your doors, O Lebanon, that a fire may devour among your cedars. Howl, O juniper tree, for the cedar has fallen; because the majestic ones themselves have been despoiled! Howl, you massive trees of Bashan, for the impenetrable forest has come down! Listen! The howling of shepherds, for their majesty has been despoiled. Listen! The roaring of maned young lions, for the proud thickets along the Jordan have been despoiled.”​—Zechariah 11:1-3.

5. When must such plantations of symbolic trees burn down, causing whom to howl?

⁵ No fire-prevention doors are provided for Lebanon. When Jehovah’s fixed time comes for his consuming fire to sweep through the majestic land, the doors of symbolic Lebanon must open up at His command to admit the fire. Even the tremendous cedars of Lebanon must fall before the divinely kindled flames, and that is why the associated juniper tree needs to howl. The massiveness of the tree does not make it fire resistant. That is why there must be a howling on the part of the impenetrable forests of massive trees on the highlands of Bashan to the east of the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee. These too must burn down in the world conflagration during the coming “great tribulation,” the tribulation of all tribulations for mankind. This will be a time of howling for shepherd rulers.

6. Why will the shepherd rulers howl because of the consuming of symbolic “trees,” and also roar like lions of the Jordan thickets?

⁶ If we listen in by faith to the clear-sounding message of Bible prophecy we can hear the howling of those worldly shepherd rulers. In the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at the battleground of Har–Magedon, they will be despoiled of their majesty of appearance and of office. (Revelation 16:14-16) They themselves are pictured by those majestic trees of Lebanon and massive trees of Bashan. They are also, symbolically, the “maned young lions.” Just as the maned young lions roar because there has been a burning down of the proud thickets along the banks of the Jordan River, in which these lions used to lurk, so will these lionlike shepherd rulers roar in consternation as they find themselves deprived of lurking places from which they used to pounce upon their unwary victims, the public, the people.

7. How does Malachi 4:1 refer to the same fiery day, and what will be the outcome of it to the shepherd rulers?

⁷ The time of fiery consumption that will despoil these worldly shepherds of their imposing dignity, stature and powerful position was also foretold by the prophet Malachi, who came on the scene some decades after Zechariah. Likening the presumptuous and wicked ones to plants, Malachi (4:1) says: “‘Look! the day is coming that is burning like the furnace, and all the presumptuous ones and all those doing wickedness must become as stubble. And the day that is coming will certainly devour them,’ Jehovah of armies has said, ‘so that it will not leave to them either root or bough.’” These political shepherds have claimed to rule because, by means of a democratic election, they have received a “mandate from the people” or because they have been born into the line of descent of some royal family, or because the clergy of Christendom have assigned to them the “divine right of kings.” However, this does not make them theocratic shepherds, or rulers appointed by the Great Theocrat through his Messiah. Hence the coming fiery day for executing God’s judgment will devour all their false claims. Neither root nor bough of them will remain.

DIVINELY APPOINTED SHEPHERD

8. How have the shepherd rulers sold the “sheep” to be killed or slaughtered, and who is it that can raise up an unselfish shepherd?

⁸ Since the governmental rulers are compared to shepherds, then their subjects, the people, are compared to a flock of sheep. The shepherdlike rulers have treated the sheep as if they belonged to them and have been willing to sell them into the hands of those selfish persons who could exploit and misuse the sheeplike people. They have, in effect, delivered them over to be killed, slaughtered for the sake of ambitious men who pay the price to get control or the advantage of the people. More than that, the governmental shepherds have led the people in a course that will at last result in their being slaughtered in the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at the world situation called Har–Magedon. (Revelation 16:14-16; 19:11-21) Is there, however, no real “shepherd” who really has the interests of all the people at heart, and who is willing to expend himself rather than to exploit the sheep? Who can raise up such a shepherd, so that the individual sheep can put themselves under his care and guidance and be spared from the terrible killing? It is Jehovah.

9. In enacting a prophetic drama, what flock is Zechariah told to shepherd?

⁹ To picture this fact, the prophet Zechariah was used in enacting an allegory or prophetic drama. The prophet Zechariah himself describes it, in these words: “This is what Jehovah my God has said, ‘Shepherd the flock meant for the killing, the buyers of which proceed to kill them although they are not held guilty. And those who are selling them say: “May Jehovah be blessed, while I shall gain riches.” And their own shepherds do not show any compassion upon them.’”​—Zechariah 11:4, 5.

10. Who are the symbolic “flock,” to whom does the ownership belong, and why was Zechariah appointed to be the shepherd of the “flock meant for the killing”?

¹⁰ How pitiful the state of the “flock meant for the killing”! Back there this “flock” was the nation of Israel. The psalmist addressed the One who really owns this flock, saying: “O Shepherd of Israel, do give ear, you who are conducting Joseph just like a flock.” Acknowledging the ownership of that One, the psalmist said: “He is our God, and we are the people of his pasturage and the sheep of his hand.” (Psalm 80:1; 95:7) In view of His ownership, he had the right to appoint a faithful shepherd over them. This he did, by appointing the prophet Zechariah. This new earthly shepherd did not get a “mandate from the people,” democratically. He was theocratically appointed by the God Ruler, Jehovah. This heavenly Owner had in mind the saving of some individuals of this “flock meant for the killing.” He had already said: “Jehovah their God will certainly save them in that day like the flock of his people; for they will be as the stones of a diadem glittering over his soil.” (Zechariah 9:16) In furtherance of that purpose the Great Theocrat appointed Zechariah to shepherd the flock.

11. In what way did the “shepherds” selling them show no compassion for the sheep, and how were they accomplices in the slaughter of them?

¹¹ Zechariah was unlike the shepherd rulers who felt authorized to sell Jehovah’s sheep for personal gain. By thus enriching themselves, they felt that God was making them rich. After the heartless sale, these traitorous shepherd rulers hypocritically said: “May Jehovah be blessed, while I shall gain riches.” By so doing the shepherds to whom the sheeplike people entrusted themselves did not “show any compassion upon them.” Those shepherds knew that the buyers to whom they sold the “sheep” would kill them off in pursuit of ambitious, self-seeking schemes. Worse still, these buyers would not be “held guilty” for such slaughter. At least the shepherds who did the selling would not hold the buyers guilty. They were in that way accomplices in the slaughter. To them the sheep were merely a “flock meant for the killing.”

12. Whose sheep do people of Christendom claim to be, and are their earthly religious shepherds appointed theocratically?

¹² All this calls to mind a similar situation existing in Christendom in this twentieth century. The people, professing to be Christians, claim to be God’s sheep. They will apply to themselves Psalm 95:7 (quoted above) and recite in unison at church Psalm 23:1 (Authorized Version): “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” But these church people also look to earthly “shepherds.” In a religious sense especially, the clergymen of Christendom claim to be the shepherds of these sheep, each one of the hundreds of religious sects having its own flock. However, these shepherds are not theocratically appointed like Zechariah, for they are ordained each one by the ruling group of his own sect or denomination, or by a bishop or other ranking church dignitary, or by a congregation. Do such clergymen imitate those shepherds of Zechariah’s day?

13. How have such clergymen imitated the shepherds of Zechariah’s day in selling the “sheep” to be slaughtered?

¹³ It has been courageously pointed out that the clergy of Christendom, with their hundreds of millions of church members under their spiritual control, could have prevented world war in the year 1914 C.E. But they did not do so.a Without protest they surrendered their flocks to more than four years of the most brutal warfare till then in all human history. They, in fact, sold their flocks, in order that they might escape persecution for insisting on strict Christianity, and in order to gain favor with the military and the governmental shepherds. This was no less the case with World War II, which, like the first, started right in the heart of Christendom. The “killing” in this second world combat was still more horrible than that of the first one. Moreover, the religious clergy have catered to the commercial profiteers and to the politicians. They have meddled in politics and have sold their flocks to office-seekers who have no conscientious qualms about exploiting the people.

14. Who do the “shepherds” claim has thus enriched them, and why do the buyers of the sheep have no conscientious qualms at exploiting the sheep or causing their slaughter?

¹⁴ By gaining riches in this way, as far as material goods and popularity with the ruling class of this world is concerned, they feel that God has blessed them. And so they piously say: “Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich.” (Zechariah 11:5, AV) Because the “buyers” of the poor sheep have the blessing of the religious clergy they have no sense of guilt at exploiting the sheep or even causing the violent, mass slaughter of the sheep. “They are not held guilty” by the clergy of Christendom, but continue to be retained as full church members in good standing. It is very manifest, therefore, that the “shepherds,” religious and governmental, “do not show any compassion” upon the “sheep” of Christendom.

15. As to being exploited by traitorous shepherds, how do we know that the people have loved to have it that way?

¹⁵ In spite of all that, it has been just as God said, in Jeremiah 5:31: “The prophets themselves actually prophesy in falsehood; and as for the priests, they go subduing according to their powers. And my own people have loved it that way; and what will you men do in the finale of it?” And how do we know that those who profess to be God’s people “have loved it that way”? By observing that God’s professed people have not followed the leading of the faithful shepherd whom God has raised up, as pictured by the prophet Zechariah. They continue to let the traffickers in “sheep,” the buyers and the sellers, lead them on to the “killing.” Hence, when they have the consequences of their course come upon them, do they deserve any compassion?

16. As to that question about compassion, what is the divine answer in Zechariah 11:6?

¹⁶ The divine answer is given to the prophet Zechariah, the theocratic shepherd: “‘For I shall show compassion no more upon the inhabitants of the land,’ is the utterance of Jehovah. ‘So here I am causing mankind to find themselves, each one in the hand of his companion and in the hand of his king; and they will certainly crush to pieces the land, and I shall do no delivering out of their hand.’”​—Zechariah 11:6.

17. To what self-seeking, loveless state will Jehovah let the “flock meant for the killing” come, and why will their calling out be in vain?

¹⁷ So, too, with reference to modern-day Christendom. The time must come when Jehovah will cease to show compassion upon the “flock meant for the killing.” He will let the loveless sheeplike people prey upon one another, the shepherds (religious and governmental) upon the sheep, the king or royal shepherd upon the sheep, and the sheep upon one another. It will be a state of anarchy. What could result from this but a general state of collapse for organized human society? The system of things will no longer hold together, things not being done systematically any longer according to worldly wisdom. Symbolically speaking, the anarchistic, chaotic victimizers of one another will unavoidably “crush to pieces the land,” that is, their organized earthly estate. Call as loudly and as long as they then will, Jehovah will “do no delivering out of their hand.” Why should he? They had repeatedly refused to follow his own appointed shepherd.

THE SHEPHERD’S WAGES​—THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER

18. What kind of appointment was Zechariah’s appointment to shepherd the “flock” of Israel, and what question arises as to his services?

¹⁸ To what extent do those who merely claim to be God’s people appreciate the spiritual “shepherd” whom he has raised up and sent to them? This is prophetically pictured for us in the experience of the prophet Zechariah. Not by a popular mandate, but by a theocratic appointment he was sent to “shepherd” the flock of Israel. How much was he appreciated? How highly were his services valued? He is very frank in telling us:

19. How many staffs did Zechariah take, how many shepherds did he efface in one month, and how did he show that he was breaking his covenant with the people?

¹⁹ “And I proceeded to shepherd the flock meant for the killing, in your behalf, O afflicted ones of the flock [or, possibly, ‘in behalf of the tradesmen of the flock,’ margin]. So I took for myself two staffs. The one I called Pleasantness, and the other I called Union [literally, Binders], and I went shepherding the flock. And I finally effaced three shepherds in one lunar month, as my soul gradually became impatient with them, and also their own soul felt a loathing toward me. At length I said: ‘I shall not keep shepherding you. The one that is dying, let her die. And the one that is being effaced, let her be effaced. And as for the ones left remaining, let them devour, each one the flesh of her companion.’ So I took my staff Pleasantness and cut it to pieces, in order to break my covenant that I had concluded with all the peoples. And it came to be broken in that day, and the afflicted ones of the flock who were watching me got to know in this way that it was the word of Jehovah.”​—Zechariah 11:7-11.

20. What was the use for the staffs, and what did Zechariah name the staffs respectively, and why?

²⁰ As a shepherd, Zechariah took as part of his equipment two staffs, the one for guiding the sheep and the other for protecting them. The former shepherd boy David makes reference to these in Psalm 23:1-4, saying: “Jehovah is my Shepherd. . . . Even though I walk in the valley of deep shadow, I fear nothing bad, for you are with me; your rod and your staff are the things that comfort me.” The one staff, evidently the one for guiding the sheep, Zechariah called Pleasantness, this referring to the favor that was shown to the sheep. The other staff, evidently the rod for beating off attackers of the sheep, he called Union (literally, Binders, for keeping a unity). It was a favor from Zechariah’s God, Jehovah of armies, toward the sheep that Jehovah assigned Zechariah to act as shepherd of the sheep. So one staff was named Pleasantness.

21. Of what kind of sheep was Zechariah made the shepherd, and of what nationalities were these made up, and whom did Zechariah represent as shepherd?

²¹ However, Jehovah’s prophet was not made a shepherd over literal sheep. They were symbolic sheep, namely, the house of Israel, made up then of a remnant from the kingdom of Judah and a remnant made up of members from the ten-tribe northern kingdom of Israel, the principal tribe of which was Ephraim. Accordingly Zechariah was theocratically appointed to take a spiritual supervision over the remnant of all the house of Israel, like a ruler or governor. In this office he really represented Jehovah, the heavenly Shepherd.

22. Was Zechariah obliged to do shepherding for nothing, why was his shepherding obligatory upon the Israelites, and what shows whether a contract was involved?

²² The prophet Zechariah was not to do shepherding for nothing. For services rendered he was entitled to a wage. At the termination of his services he could rightly demand his pay. Inasmuch as he was the shepherd appointed by the Great Theocrat Jehovah, his shepherding was something obligatory upon the remnant of Israel to accept and to show appreciation for by the value that they placed upon it. Was there a specific contract or engagement made with the house of Israel that would allow for such shepherding? That there was such a contract or covenant is implied by what Zechariah tells us when explaining his resigning from the work, saying: “So I took my staff Pleasantness and cut it to pieces, in order to break my covenant that I had concluded with all the peoples.” (Zechariah 11:10) That is, with “all the peoples” of Israel.

23. Whose contract with Israel was it that was here involved, and why so?

²³ Whose “covenant” or solemn contract was it, then? Seemingly, it was Zechariah’s personal covenant. But let us remember that it was Jehovah who said to him: “Shepherd the flock meant for the killing.” (Zechariah 11:4) This is what Jehovah did because the acting shepherds were selling for slaughter or killing the sheep of the flock that really belonged to Jehovah God. This meant that it was Jehovah’s covenant that was here involved; it was in the discharging of his covenant with Israel that he made this appointment of a prophet to be the nation’s shepherd. In harmony with this basic fact, the footnotes of Biblia Hebraica (Hebrew Bible), by Rudolf Kittel, Stuttgart, West Germany, says that, instead of “my covenant that I had concluded,” we should probably read: “the covenant of Jehovah that Jehovah had concluded.” This is because here the pronominal endings in the Hebrew text that are generally translated as “my” and “I” are really abbreviations for the divine name Jehovah.​—See the footnotes on the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, 1971 edition.

24. (a) How long did Zechariah shepherd the flock, and how do we know? (b) In whose behalf did he shepherd the flock?

²⁴ There were other shepherds working at the time. It appears that they resented the intrusion of Jehovah’s prophet into their field of activity. Zechariah worked as a shepherd for at least one month, for he tells us: “I finally effaced three shepherds in one lunar month, as my soul gradually became impatient with them, and also their own soul felt a loathing toward me.” (Zechariah 11:8) Just who these three shepherds were, we are not told. But because he had been appointed by the Most High God, Zechariah had the superior authority among them, so that he could dismiss the three of them. How much longer after effacing those three shepherds he continued shepherding, we do not know. Why he tended the flock at all, at Jehovah’s command, was just as he explained: “I proceeded to shepherd the flock meant for the killing, in your behalf, O afflicted ones of the flock.” (Zechariah 11:7, NW; AV; Yg) This was more compassionate on Zechariah’s part than for him to “shepherd the flock meant for the killing in behalf of the tradesmen of the flock.” (NW, margin; JB; RS; AT; Ro) These sheep had in effect been abandoned to the tradesmen. (Mo) How heartless!

25. (a) What feeling developed between Zechariah and the three shepherds, and why? (b) At whose instance was the “covenant” with the flock broken, and how do we know?

²⁵ Zechariah did not become impatient with the flock of afflicted sheep. His “soul,” his whole being, became impatient with the three delinquent shepherds. Because he was faithful and compassionate in shepherding the flock, those shepherds loathed Zechariah. He did not work along with their schemes. It was only after effacing them as shepherds that, at Jehovah’s due time, Zechariah gave up his job. Thus the “covenant” that had been “concluded with all the peoples” of Israel was broken. That this came about, not at his own inclination, but according to the Great Shepherd’s own direction and decision, Zechariah indicates. For, after cutting to pieces his staff called Pleasantness as an act symbolic of breaking the covenant, he goes on to say: “And it came to be broken in that day, and the afflicted ones of the flock who were watching me got to know in this way that it was the word of Jehovah.”​—Zechariah 11:10, 11.

26. What did the breaking of the covenant mean for the flock of Israel as regards their welfare and unity?

²⁶ What did this breaking of the covenant mean for the flock of peoples of Israel? Just what Zechariah said on discontinuing his shepherding: “I shall not keep shepherding you. The one that is dying, let her die. And the one that is being effaced, let her be effaced. And as for the ones left remaining, let them devour, each one the flesh of her companion.” (Zechariah 11:9) When Jehovah’s appointed shepherd was ordered to withdraw, who, then, would take care of the flock? Those who sought to make capital of the flock would let the dying ones die off, the ones being effaced or disappearing go without attention in order to bring them out of their lost condition, and the ones left remaining fight among themselves, devouring one another by showing no love but by taking selfish advantage of one another.

27. The covenant was broken due to a lack of further compassion on whose part, and what would be the result when the determination to break off compassion took effect?

²⁷ So, then, did the breaking of the covenant result from mercilessness on Zechariah’s part? No, but it resulted because Jehovah’s time for showing compassion had run to its limit and had come to its end. That is why Zechariah was previously told: “‘For I shall show compassion no more upon the inhabitants of the land,’ is the utterance of Jehovah. ‘So here I am causing mankind to find themselves, each one in the hand of his companion and in the hand of his king; and they will certainly crush to pieces the land, and I shall do no delivering out of their hand.’” (Zechariah 11:6) Because of the peoples not heeding God’s appointed shepherd, whom he sent to them in his compassion, what anarchy was to result! What a clash of self-interests! What oppression! What insecurity! What ruin to the system of things under the crushing activities of the lawless, disorderly ones! What a terrible experience awaited the flock of Jehovah’s professed sheep when this divine determination went into effect!

WAGES AND THE VALUE PLACED UPON THE SHEPHERD

28. Whom did Zechariah here picture, and what kind of appointment did that one get, and what sign of it was given?

²⁸ Zechariah was enacting a prophetic picture or allegory. He pictured a greater shepherd in the fulfillment of the prophecy. This one was Jehovah’s Messiah, Jesus the descendant and permanent heir of King David. (Matthew 1:1-6) After this one had worked as a carpenter in Nazareth of Galilee until he was thirty years of age, he was sent to be a spiritual shepherd of the nation of Israel. The rulers of the land, political and religious, did not ask him to become such. His shepherd appointment was not by a “mandate from the people,” but it was a theocratic appointment and it ranked him higher than all man-made “shepherds.” At Nazareth itself, his hometown, he pointed to his being anointed with Jehovah’s spirit to be the Messiah and hence to act as shepherd of the flock of God’s people. The prophet, John the Baptist, saw this Jesus being anointed with the holy spirit by a visible manifestation. This happened right after John had baptized Jesus in the Jordan River according to Jehovah’s will.​—John 1:19-36.

29. How did Jesus, in a parable, show how the sheep were turned over to him by a symbolic “doorkeeper”?

²⁹ John the Baptist, as the forerunner of the Messiah Jesus, acted as a “doorkeeper” to the sheepfold of Israel. Jesus Christ referred to this when he spoke in a parable and said: “Most truly I say to you, He that does not enter into the sheepfold through the door but climbs up some other place, that one is a thief and a plunderer. But he that enters through the door is shepherd of the sheep. The doorkeeper opens to this one, and the sheep listen to his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has got all his own out, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, because they know his voice. A stranger they will by no means follow but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers. . . . The thief does not come unless it is to steal and slay and destroy. I have come that they might have life and might have it in abundance. I am the fine shepherd; the fine shepherd surrenders his soul in behalf of the sheep.”​—John 10:1-11.

30. (a) To whom did Jesus confine his shepherding, and how did he indicate this? (b) How and when did Moses foretell this prophet?

³⁰ Confining his own efforts exclusively to the flock of Israel, he sent out his twelve apostles and said to them: “Do not go off into the road of the nations, and do not enter into a Samaritan city; but, instead, go continually to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.’” (Matthew 10:5-7) Before he considered the request of a Phoenician woman to heal her badly demonized daughter, Jesus reminded her: “I was not sent forth to any but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 15:22-24) This was in accord with the covenant of divine law that Jehovah God had made with the house of Israel through his mediator Moses at Mount Sinai in 1513 B.C.E. In counseling the Israelites to be obedient to that covenant by shunning demonism of all kinds, Moses said to the Israelites shortly before his death: “A prophet from your own midst, from your brothers, like me, is what Jehovah your God will raise up for you​—to him you people should listen.” (Deuteronomy 18:15) That promised prophet greater than Moses was the Messiah, Jesus.​—Deuteronomy 18:16-19; Acts 3:22, 23.

31. How is it evident from the record that Jesus showed compassion on the sheep, but what about other shepherds?

³¹ That Jesus had real compassion on the flock of Israel just as the true Messianic shepherd should have is evident from the account: “Jesus set out on a tour of all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the good news of the kingdom and curing every sort of disease and every sort of infirmity. On seeing the crowds he felt pity for them, because they were skinned and thrown about like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matthew 9:35, 36) There is nothing else for us to conclude but that the others who should have been shepherds were failing in their duty.

32. Whom did the “three shepherds” whom Zechariah dismissed picture in Jesus’ day?

³² Who, then, in order to fulfill the prophetic picture, were the “three shepherds” whom Jesus Christ would efface, cut off, dismiss from their assumed positions? The record of Jesus’ life shows no three individual men as fulfilling the prophetic pattern. Evidently the three shepherds whom the prophet Zechariah discharged pictured three classes of men in Jesus’ time. Three classes do appear in the record, who had governmental as well as religious power in Israel. These were (1) the Pharisees and (2) the Sadducees, both of which classes were represented in the Jewish Sanhedrin at Jerusalem. That judicial body had governmental functions to some extent under the Roman governor as well as religious functions. Thus a certain Nicodemus, a Pharisee member of the Sanhedrin, was a “ruler of the Jews.” (John 3:1, 2; 7:50-52) Joseph, a rich man of Arimathea, was also a member of the Sanhedrin. (Matthew 27:57-60; Luke 23:50-53) The Sanhedrin was quite divided between Pharisees and Sadducees. (Acts 23:1-9) Besides such Jewish sectarians, there were also (3) the Herodians, the “party followers of Herod.”​—Mark 12:13.

33. How, as pictured in Zechariah’s case, did Jesus become “impatient” with those “three shepherds”?

³³ Similar to the feeling of the “three shepherds” toward Zechariah as a shepherd, these three groups quickly “felt a loathing” toward Jesus Christ as the Messianic shepherd. They plotted or cooperated together against Jesus to discredit him in the eyes of the flock of Israel. (Matthew 22:15-22; Mark 3:6) Jesus did not efface, cut off or dismiss these three hostile groups “in one lunar month” literally. The literal “lunar month” in Zechariah’s case would picture a short period of time in Jesus’ case. (Zechariah 11:8) From the very start of his ministry Jesus refused to have anything to do with those self-seeking ruling groups, that is, as far as joining in with them is concerned. Finally, at the close of his ministry his soul did become “impatient” with them. On public occasions he put all three groups to silence as far as government and doctrine are concerned. (Matthew 22:15-45) The result was, as stated in Matthew 22:46: “Nobody was able to say a word in reply to him, nor did anyone dare from that day [Tuesday, Nisan 11 of 33 C.E.] on to question him any further.”

34. (a) What did Jesus say at the climax of his denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees? (b) As if breaking the staff called Pleasantness, what did he say to Jerusalem?

³⁴ Jesus Christ had just told them: “The kingdom of God will be taken from you and be given to a nation producing its fruits.” (Matthew 21:23-43; Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-44) Shortly after that declaration he openly denounced the scribes and the Pharisees as oppressive shepherds and religious hypocrites. Said he at the climax of his denunciation: “Therefore you are bearing witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Well, then, fill up the measure of your forefathers. Serpents, offspring of vipers, how are you to flee from the judgment of Gehenna?” (Matthew 23:1-33; Mark 12:38-40; Luke 20:45-47) Then, as if cutting to pieces the shepherd’s staff called Pleasantness, he added: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the killer of the prophets and stoner of those sent forth to her,​—how often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks together under her wings! But you people did not want it. Look! Your house is abandoned to you.”​—Matthew 23:37, 38.

35. By those words, what was Jesus announcing to the Jews concerning God’s Law Covenant with them, and what did the “afflicted ones” watching Jesus then know?

³⁵ When Jehovah God abandoned the Jewish temple of his worship at Jerusalem that meant that he was breaking the covenant of law that he had made with the nation of Israel through Moses. So Jesus, as the shepherd foreshadowed by Zechariah, was announcing that the covenant that Jehovah had concluded with the peoples of Israel was about to be broken. The “afflicted ones” of the flock of Israel who were watching Jesus and hearing his words “got to know in this way that it was the word of Jehovah.”​—Zechariah 11:11.

36. What did this mean regarding God’s pleasantness toward Israel, and finally what terrible consequences came for rejecting Jehovah’s Shepherd Ruler?

³⁶ This meant that Jehovah was no longer to show pleasantness toward his disobedient chosen people. He was about to “show compassion no more” upon the inhabitants of the “land of Judah.” That land was to suffer all the horrors of the invasion of Judea and the destruction of its cities and strongholds, including Jerusalem and its temple, in the cruel years of 70-73 C.E. Jesus Christ foretold this tragedy on that same day of Nisan 11 of 33 C.E., in his prophecy regarding the “conclusion of the system of things.” (Matthew 24:1-22; Mark 13:1-20; Luke 21:5-24) This national calamity was, if nothing else, a painful indication that the Mosaic Law covenant between God and Israel had been broken. What terrible consequences for rejecting God’s Shepherd Ruler!

37. How was the value that was placed on Zechariah’s shepherding shown, what did Jehovah then tell him to do, and what did he now cut in pieces?

³⁷ Just how highly was Jehovah’s appointed shepherd valued by the peoples of Israel? The prophet Zechariah illustrates it in his own experience and thereby foreshadows something of greater significance. He tells us: “Then I said to them: ‘If it is good in your eyes, give me my wages; but if not, refrain.’ And they proceeded to pay my wages, thirty pieces of silver. At that, Jehovah said to me: ‘Throw it to the treasury​—the majestic value with which I have been valued from their standpoint.’ Accordingly I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw it into the treasury at the house of Jehovah. Then I cut in pieces my second staff, the Union, in order to break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.”​—Zechariah 11:12-14.

38. What was the value of that pay given to Zechariah, and how did Jehovah refer to this pay?

³⁸ “Thirty pieces of silver”​—thirty silver shekels—​was the price of a slave according to the Mosaic Law covenant. (Exodus 21:32) Was the prophet Zechariah or the value of his shepherd services worth no more than a slave? And since Zechariah had been appointed by the Heavenly Shepherd Jehovah, the valuation placed upon his appointed representative Zechariah was the same as a valuation placed upon Jehovah as a Shepherd. Jehovah could speak of it as the “value with which I have been valued from their standpoint.” (Unless Zechariah were here making a parenthetical reference to himself!) True, Jehovah did speak of it as a “majestic value” instead of a slave’s value; but evidently this expression was used, not in satisfaction, but in sarcasm or in a cutting manner. It meant that the lack of appreciation was felt.

39. What did Zechariah’s cutting of the staff Union (or, Binders) to pieces indicate respecting the twelve-tribe nation of Israel?

³⁹ At such devaluation of the shepherd who represented Jehovah the basis for unity in the flock of God’s professed people was taken away. There would not be a case of one shepherd, one flock. This would take away the protective power that unity raises up against attacks from outside. So it was with good timing that Zechariah cut to pieces the staff called Union (or, Binders) at this point. This was to illustrate that the foundation for “brotherhood” between those of the kingdom of Judah and those of the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel was taken away. It was over the issue of having one Messianic king, one of the royal line of David, that the nation of twelve tribes was broken up into two kingdoms, Judah and Israel, after King Solomon’s death in 997 B.C.E. So the breaking of the Mosaic Law covenant meant, not only the end of Jehovah’s “pleasantness” or favor to his once chosen people, but also that divine care and protection for keeping the nation together as a harmonious whole had ended. The spiritual bonds that make for brotherhood had been taken away, and the mere fleshly bond would not be strong enough to hold them together as brothers.

40. (a) Why was this undervaluing of Jehovah’s shepherd more serious in the case of the one pictured by Zechariah? (b) What should a shepherd ruler receive as pay from his subjects?

⁴⁰ The undervaluing of God’s provisions and the rejecting of them always lead to sad consequences. Great as was the undervaluing of Jehovah as the Great Shepherd in the case of the prophet Zechariah, it was far surpassed in the case of the Messianic Shepherd pictured by Zechariah. That one was nobody else but the Son of God, whom God sent from heaven to become the Fine Shepherd to surrender his soul or lay down his perfect human life in behalf of all sheeplike human creatures. (John 10:14-18) Since the Messiah Jesus was acting as a shepherd in behalf of his heavenly Father, he could have exercised his right to ask for his wages in behalf of his Father. What wages or pay is it that a governmental shepherd asks of his subjects? It is that his subjects should render support to him and to his government whether in a material way or in loyal services rendered. The appointed officers under the governmental shepherd are the ones that should see to it that the shepherd gets such wages or pay from all his subjects. Just as Solomon, a theocratically appointed king, wrote: “My son, fear Jehovah and the king. With those who are for a change, do not intermeddle.”​—Proverbs 24:21.

41. (a) Did Zechariah force the people to pay him his shepherd wages? (b) When could the Jewish representatives have paid Jesus as shepherd, but when were they forced to place a value upon him?

⁴¹ For almost three and a half years Jesus served faithfully as a spiritual shepherd over the “lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Toward the close of his shepherd work, during his last week of his life in human flesh on earth, he did not go directly to the shepherdlike representatives of Israel, as the prophet Zechariah did, and ask for his wages or pay. Zechariah told those in his day that if they did not want to pay they did not need to: “If it is good in your eyes, give me my wages; but if not, refrain.” (Zechariah 11:12) In Jesus’ case, when, in triumphal fashion, he rode on an ass’s colt into Jerusalem, the shepherdlike representatives of Israel could have paid him the wage of giving him their acceptance of him as the true Messiah sent and anointed by Jehovah. But they refrained from doing this. Nonetheless, they were forced, just three days later (Nisan 12, 33 C.E.), to place a money value on him as a spiritual shepherd. How? Let us read:

42. What value was stipulated to Judas Iscariot for Jesus, and when?

⁴² “Then one of the twelve, the one called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said: ‘What will you give me to betray him to you?’ They stipulated to him thirty silver pieces. So from then on [Nisan 12] he kept seeking a good opportunity to betray him. On the first day of the unfermented cakes [Nisan 14] the disciples came up to Jesus, saying: ‘Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the passover?’”​—Matthew 26:14-17.

43. What was Jesus’ attitude toward the sale of him by his known betrayer, and when was the sale consummated?

⁴³ Those religious shepherds gave Judas Iscariot the thirty silver shekels. (Mark 14:10, 11; Luke 22:3-6) Jesus foreknew that he would be betrayed and that the betrayer was Judas Iscariot. (Matthew 17:22, 23; 20:17-19; 26:1, 2, 24, 25) Jesus did nothing to hinder the sale of him by betrayal. (Matthew 26:45-57) In fact, he expedited the betrayal, that it might occur at God’s due time, for, at the Passover supper he identified Judas Iscariot and dismissed him with the words: “What you are doing get done more quickly.” The betrayer immediately went out to carry out his bargain with the religious shepherds. (John 13:21-30) Hours later that Passover night the betrayal took place and Judas Iscariot had earned his money. (John 18:1-14) The evaluating of Jesus the Messianic Shepherd had been consummated. At thirty silver shekels, the price of a slave according to the Mosaic Law covenant! A majestic value!

44, 45. (a) What was done with the money at which Zechariah was priced? (b) What was done with the money that Judas Iscariot accepted for betraying Jesus?

⁴⁴ Judas Iscariot accepted this price. He had been the treasurer of the twelve apostles, but he did not put the money into their money box. He kept it for himself​—for a while! (John 12:4-6) In the ancient case of the prophet Zechariah, he did not keep the thirty silver shekels that had been paid to him as his wages. The money really belonged to his Master, Jehovah, and so Jehovah said to him: “Throw it to the treasury.” Zechariah did so. (Zechariah 11:12, 13) His action was a premonition of something. Not that Zechariah prefigured Judas Iscariot, but, just the same, like Zechariah, Judas did not keep his thirty silver shekels. What he did with them, or, rather, what resulted from his disposing of the betrayal money is reported to us:

⁴⁵ “When it had become morning, all the chief priests and the older men of the people held a consultation against Jesus so as to put him to death. And, after binding him, they led him off and handed him over to Pilate the governor. Then Judas, who betrayed him, seeing he had been condemned, felt remorse and turned the thirty silver pieces back to the chief priests and older men, saying: ‘I sinned when I betrayed righteous blood.’ They said: ‘What is that to us? You must see to that!’ So he threw the silver pieces into the temple and withdrew, and went off and hanged himself. But the chief priests took the silver pieces and said: ‘It is not lawful to drop them into the sacred treasury, because they are the price of blood.’ After consulting together, they bought with them the potter’s field to bury strangers. Therefore that field has been called ‘Field of Blood’ to this very day. Then what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying: ‘And they took the thirty silver pieces, the price upon the man that was priced, the one on whom some of the sons of Israel set a price, and they gave them for the potter’s field, according to what Jehovah had commanded me.’”​—Matthew 27:1-10.

46. (a) How did the apostle Peter later speak about Judas Iscariot and the disposal of the thirty shekels? (b) What inconsistency did the priests show respecting the blood that those thirty shekels represented?

⁴⁶ Because the money used by the priests in the purchase of the potter’s field had been provided by Judas Iscariot, the apostle Peter speaks of Judas as having bought the field for the burial of Jews who died while visiting in Jerusalem or of proselytes. Peter said to the Christian congregation regarding Judas: “This very man, therefore, purchased a field with the wages for unrighteousness, and pitching head foremost [after hanging himself up high] he noisily burst in his midst and his intestines were poured out. It also became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that that field was called in their language A·kelʹda·ma, that is, Field of Blood.” (Acts 1:18, 19) The priests merely acted for Judas in taking the money out of the temple sanctuary where Judas had thrown the thirty silver shekels and conveyed it to the seller of the potter’s field. The priests saw the unfitness of dropping the “price of blood” into the temple treasury, but at the same time they thought themselves fit to serve in that temple in spite of their having caused that blood to be shed.

47. (a) How could it be that the apostle Matthew could say Jeremiah and yet really mean Zechariah? (b) How does the Aramaic Version dispose of the difficulty?

⁴⁷ We notice that, in Matthew 27:9, 10, the apostle Matthew says that it was the saying of the prophet Jeremiah that was fulfilled. If Matthew was referring to that section of the Hebrew Scriptures known as The Prophets and this section in Matthew’s day was headed by the prophecy of Jeremiah, then the name Jeremiah would include all the other prophetic books, including that of Zechariah. In such a case Matthew would really be meaning Zechariah although using the name Jeremiah.b The Holy Bible from Ancient Eastern Manuscripts (Peshitta) omits the name and reads: “Then what was spoken by the prophet was fulfilled, namely, I took the thirty pieces of silver, the costly price which was bargained with the children of Israel, and I gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.” (George M. Lamsa, 1957) The Syriac New Testament translated into English from the Peshitto Version, by James Murdock (copyrighted 1893), reads the same way, in omitting the prophet’s name.c

48. (a) How does Matthew’s loose translation of Zechariah’s prophecy show the disposal of the thirty shekels? (b) This fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy confirms that he pictured whom here?

⁴⁸ Since Matthew 27:9, 10 corresponds with Zechariah 11:13 and with nothing in the book of Jeremiah, Matthew’s quotation must have been a loose translation of Zechariah 11:13. The way in which Matthew translated Zechariah 11:13 was evidently meant to show how the fulfillment of Zechariah 11:13 worked out, namely, that “they took,” the priestly representatives of Israel took, the thirty silver pieces from the floor of the temple, and “they [the priests, acting instead of the individual, Judas Iscariot] gave them for the potter’s field.” Zechariah 11:13 does not tell us how the thirty silver shekels that Zechariah threw into the treasury of Jehovah’s temple were particularly disposed of later. Matthew, however, does tell us how the fulfillment of the prophecy did dispose of the money, to fit the altered circumstances. This fulfillment would confirm that the shepherd Zechariah here pictured the betrayed and sold Messianic Shepherd, Jesus, so cheaply priced.

49. The fulfillment of Zechariah’s breaking of the staff called “the Union” took place when, and with what consequences to the Jews?

⁴⁹ Just as Zechariah thereafter broke the second staff, called “the Union” or “Binders,” so the betrayal of Jesus for thirty silver shekels did lead to Jehovah’s canceling of the Mosaic Law covenant with Israel. When the resurrected Jesus ascended to heaven and appeared in God’s presence and presented to Him the value of his perfect human sacrifice, then the Mosaic Law covenant was blotted out, and the promised new covenant was inaugurated with spiritual Israel, Christian Israel. (Ephesians 2:13-16; Colossians 2:14-17; Hebrews 9:24-28) This left the natural, circumcised Jews that refused the new covenant mediated by Jesus Christ exposed to the false Jewish Christs. It left them without a true theocratic bond of union, and their disunity into a number of religious sects worked out disastrously for them at the siege and destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in the year 70 C.E.

50. How has Christendom, in effect, placed a cheap price on the Messianic Shepherd Jesus Christ, how is she guilty of covenant breaking, and how will failure to have God’s Pleasantness affect her?

⁵⁰ Like ancient Israel, Christendom with her hundreds of sects has rejected the shepherdly care of the Messianic Shepherd, the heavenly Jesus Christ. How so? Not according to her pious professions, of course, but according to her acts. She has betrayed him by betraying his true disciples, whom she has persecuted, even to the death in many cases. She has refused the services of the spiritual shepherds whom the heavenly Messianic Shepherd has sent to her. What she has done to them, she has, in effect, done to him. (Matthew 25:40, 45; Mark 9:37; John 15:20, 21) Thus she has placed a cheap price on his shepherdly services, rejecting them. This reveals that she is not in harmony with the new covenant, which she claims applies to her; and so, by taking her at her word, she has broken that new covenant. So she does not enjoy the Pleasantness or favor of Jehovah God, and He does not protect her to keep her in unity. She too is exposed to all the false Christs. Her disunity will continue until the coming “great tribulation” that was pictured by Jerusalem’s destruction in 70 C.E.​—Matthew 24:21, 22.

“A USELESS SHEPHERD”

51. (a) Christendom’s rejection of the Messianic Shepherd leaves the people to the leadership of whom? (b) Instead of accepting the Messianic Shepherd whom Jehovah provided, Christendom has chosen what organization?

⁵¹ When Jehovah’s Fine Shepherd, Jesus Christ, and his true undershepherds are rejected by people who profess to worship the God of the Holy Bible, there is nothing left for such people but to come under the leadership of selfish, worldly-minded shepherds. (1 Peter 5:1-4) Jehovah denounced the self-seeking governmental shepherds and reassured the sheeplike people by saying: “I will raise up over them one shepherd, and he must feed them, even my servant David. He himself will feed them, and he himself will become their shepherd. And I myself, Jehovah, will become their God, and my servant David a chieftain in the midst of them. I myself, Jehovah, have spoken.” (Ezekiel 34:23, 24) Jesus Christ, the son of ancient King David, is that promised Shepherd. In the year 1919 C.E. Christendom discounted the value of his pastoral care and rejected him and his kingdom. Instead, she chose a man-made international organization for world peace and security, the League of Nations, the successor to which, the United Nations, has 132 member nations in 1972. She has reaped the consequences of this.

52. What consequences has Christendom reaped from rejecting the Messianic Shepherd and his leadership?

⁵² What consequences? A crop of ambitious, self-exalting governmental shepherds, together with their religious associates. Through the prophet Zechariah Jehovah God illustrated such consequences: worldly shepherds as prefigured by “a useless shepherd,” a foolish, incompetent, worthless class of leaders. After all these decades of experience with such leaders since 1919 C.E., we can see how they conform to the type of shepherd that Jehovah God prophetically described, as recorded by Zechariah, who writes:

53. Whose implements was Zechariah told to take for himself, and how would the shepherd raised up carry on, and what would happen to him?

⁵³ “And Jehovah went on to say to me: ‘Take yet for yourself the implements of a useless shepherd. For here I am letting a shepherd rise up in the land. To the sheep being effaced he will give no attention. The young one he will not seek, and the broken sheep he will not heal. The one stationing herself he will not supply with food, and the flesh of the fat one he will eat, and the hoofs of the sheep he will tear off. Woe to my valueless shepherd, who is leaving the flock! A sword will be upon his arm and upon his right eye. His own arm will without fail dry up, and his own right eye will without fail grow dim.’”​—Zechariah 11:15-17.

54. The conditions in the nations today prove that the people have what kind of “shepherds,” and why have such leaders been allowed to rise up?

⁵⁴ Are not the people today, even those of Christendom, not to speak of those of heathendom, like sheep effaced or lost out of the picture, broken and unhealed, hungry or threatened with world famine, fed upon by corrupt, graft-taking, parasitical valueless shepherds, who devour them even to their “hoofs” or who lead them over ways so rough as to tear their “hoofs”? The conditions in the nations, both so-called Christian and pagan, give eloquent answer to that question. How much longer can the “sheep” keep going? But this is the consequence of refusing Jehovah’s Messianic Shepherd. Since they have chosen it that way, he has let a useless, valueless, hurtful shepherd class rise up in the land even of Christendom.

55. Why did Zechariah, though taking for himself the implements of a useless shepherd, not suffer the woe that Jehovah pronounced against a valueless shepherd of that kind?

⁵⁵ The prophet Zechariah was told to illustrate the rising up of such a “useless shepherd” class in our time, as well as in the time of Jesus Christ and his apostles in the first century C.E. Zechariah did not himself become such a useless, foolish shepherd; he was merely told to take the implements or equipment of a shepherd and picture the presence and faulty conduct of such kind of shepherd. Consequently, Zechariah did not suffer the woe that Jehovah pronounced upon such a delinquent, valueless, heartless shepherd.

56. How has a “sword” been upon the “arm” and the “right eye” of such a “valueless shepherd” class?

⁵⁶ The whole world of mankind may expect no relief or deliverance from such governmental shepherds of human choice and appointment. Jehovah’s executional sword of authority is against such shepherd rulers, who themselves have long borne the “sword” of executional power. (Romans 13:4; Acts 12:1, 2) Because of not having Jehovah’s blessing in this their “time of the end,” their “arm” of power and ability is already withering up; their “right eye,” their best eye for discerning remedies and for governmental oversight, grows dimmer and dimmer. But in the world’s coming “great tribulation” Jehovah will destroy that “useless shepherd” class, eyes, arms and all.

[Footnotes]

“‘They have enthroned a war devil,’ he said, ‘in the place of God. The churches do not take themselves seriously. They are satisfied to be a mere item of the social organization and to defend their countries and rulers​—just or unjust. The church is muzzled and throttled into submission. It is like a dumb dog, old and toothless, that can no longer bite.

“‘Many of us expected the Socialist power to avert such a war as this, and were bitterly disappointed in the Socialists of Europe when they failed to do so. But we never looked to the churches, mosques and synagogues to prevent war. None of us expected such a thing from them, and we know what would happen to any leader of the Church of England who would dare raise his voice against his country’s part in the present strife.

“‘Franz Josef goes through the empty form of washing the feet of a dozen pilgrims every Easter and the church is satisfied with him. The Czar is the head of his church on Sunday and the head of his army during the week.

“‘And when the nations were preparing for this war they never consulted the churches because they knew that just as they relied upon their ambulance corps and their commissaries they could rely upon the churches to uphold them.

“‘It would be better for missionaries to teach Christianity at home first.’

“The rabbi concluded:

“‘Our souls are wounded when we read of the destruction of cathedrals at Rheims and elsewhere, yet these cathedrals were destroyed long ago and it is only their outer walls that have now fallen.

“‘War gods, money gods and power gods have been destroying these edifices century after century.’”​—New York American, October 12, 1914, page 4.

Chapter 19

The Kingdom Withstands International Assault

1. By what force uncontrolled by scientists has the pronouncement from beyond outer space been communicated to us, being made available to most of us also by what means?

INTERNATIONAL communications​—by cablegram, by telegram, by telephone, by radio, by television—​have carried the pronouncements of shepherdlike rulers to the ends of the earth. The seeming importance of such pronouncements made them deserving of such widespread newscasting. But, by a force that the scientists of this twentieth century have been unable to harness, a pronouncement of the highest importance has been communicated from beyond outer space to our earth. That high rating of this pronouncement is not too high, for it is the pronouncement of the Creator of earth and heaven, and it has been communicated by means of his invisible active force, namely, his holy spirit. Also, by means of hundreds of millions of printed copies of the Holy Bible, in hundreds of languages, that pronouncement has been made available for consultation by the vast majority of the population of the earth. As we read this pronouncement bearing the name of the Creator, let us judge for ourselves whether it is of international importance now:

2. According to that pronouncement, what will Jehovah make Jerusalem resemble to the nations, and like what will He make his people to the attacking nations?

² “A pronouncement: ‘The word of Jehovah concerning Israel,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, the One who is stretching out the heavens and laying the foundation of the earth and forming the spirit of man inside him. ‘Here I am making Jerusalem a bowl causing reeling to all the peoples round about; and also against Judah he will come to be in the siege, even against Jerusalem. And it must occur in that day that I shall make Jerusalem a burdensome stone to all the peoples. All those lifting it will without fail get severe scratches for themselves; and against her all the nations of the earth will certainly be gathered. In that day,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘I shall strike every horse with bewilderment and its rider with madness; and upon the house of Judah I shall open my eyes, and every horse of the peoples I shall strike with loss of sight. And the sheiks of Judah will have to say in their heart, “The inhabitants of Jerusalem are a strength to me by Jehovah of armies their God.” In that day I shall make the sheiks of Judah like a fire pot among trees and like a fiery torch in a row of newly cut grain, and they must devour on the right hand and on the left all the peoples round about; and Jerusalem must yet be inhabited in her own place, in Jerusalem.’”

3, 4. Why have the natural, circumcised Jews been unable to come up with an explanation of Zechariah 12:1-6 that applies to the history of their nation?

³ Those words of Zechariah 12:1-6 are a puzzle to the natural circumcised Jews of today. They have tried to find a fulfillment of those prophetic words in the ancient history of their nation between the time of this “pronouncement” in the sixth century before our Common Era (about 518 B.C.E.) and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman legions in the year 70 C.E. But they have been unable to come up with anything authentic in verification of the prophecy. Why not? It is because the fulfillment of the “pronouncement” reaches its culmination or climax in an Israel and Jerusalem of a higher order than that of natural, fleshly Israel and earthly Jerusalem. Thus when the earthly Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed in 70 C.E. there was a Jerusalem that then remained. Not an earthly one, of course. It was the one of which the writer of Hebrews 12:22-24 speaks. Although writing about 61 C.E., about nine years before earthly Jerusalem was demolished in 70 C.E., he writes to Christianized Hebrews:

⁴ “But you have approached a Mount Zion and a city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem, and myriads of angels, in general assembly, and the congregation of the firstborn who have been enrolled in the heavens, and God the Judge of all, and the spiritual lives of righteous ones who have been made perfect, and Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and the blood of sprinkling, which speaks in a better way than Abel’s blood.”

5. What was the “congregation of the firstborn” to which those Christianized Hebrews had approached by about 61 C.E., and what city did this “congregation” have?

⁵ “The congregation of the firstborn who have been enrolled in the heavens” to which those Hebrew Christians had approached was not the congregation of natural, fleshly Israel, of which they had been a part until their conversion to Christianity. Rather, it was the “congregation” of spiritual Israel and it had been brought into the “new covenant” that Jesus the mediator had validated with his own “blood of sprinkling” that speaks in a better way than did the blood of Abel the first martyr of Jehovah. In a perfect match with these facts, this spiritual Israel had a higher Jerusalem, the “city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem.”

6. What did earthly Jerusalem as Jehovah’s throne city picture, and when and to what was there a transfer of the thing thus pictured?

⁶ The earthly Jerusalem was where the line of kings in David’s royal family had had its throne, which was called “Jehovah’s throne” because the occupant thereof represented Jehovah God who was the real and invisible King of Israel. Since Jehovah had covenanted with King David for an everlasting kingdom with a permanent heir of him in the throne, Jerusalem as the throne city stood for the God-given right to a kingdom in the hands of a descendant of King David. (1 Chronicles 29:23; 2 Samuel 7:14-16) Jesus Christ, “son of David, son of Abraham,” was that Permanent Heir. Consequently, when Jesus Christ, resurrected from the dead, made his ascent to heaven and appeared in God’s presence and sat down at his right hand, his heirship and his unforfeited right to the kingdom went along with him. Thus that Kingdom right was transferred from the earthly Jerusalem to the “heavenly Jerusalem” in the year 33 C.E.​—Acts 2:29-36; Psalm 110:1, 2; Hebrews 10:12, 13.

7. In view of the overturning of the Davidic kingdom in earthly Jerusalem in 607 B.C.E., when was it that Jehovah made Jerusalem a “bowl causing reeling to all the peoples” (Zechariah 12:2)?

⁷ In the year 607 B.C.E. the Babylonians overturned the kingdom of David at earthly Jerusalem, and the kingdom was to become no one else’s “until he comes who has the legal right,” at which time God would give it to that one. (Ezekiel 21:25-27) When did that one with the “legal right” come and receive the kingdom from Jehovah the great Theocrat? It was in 1914 C.E., at the end of the Gentile Times about October 4/5 (Tishri 15). Then Jehovah enthroned his Son Jesus Christ in the “heavenly Jerusalem.” Then, too, in fulfillment of Psalm 110:1, 2 Jehovah sent the rod of Christ’s strength out of the heavenly Mount Zion, saying: “Go subduing in the midst of your enemies.” By that act and at that time the Great Creator of heaven and earth carried out his pronouncement and made Jerusalem, the “heavenly Jerusalem,” to be a “bowl causing reeling to all the peoples.”​—Zechariah 12:1, 2; Revelation 11:15.

8. (a) When King David made Jerusalem his throne city, what did the Philistines try to do, and with what result? (b) When and how did notice begin to be served on Christendom as regards Christ’s enthronement at the end of the Gentile Times?

⁸ Two thousand nine hundred and eighty-three years before that, King David had captured earthly Jerusalem and made it his capital city. On hearing that, his bitter enemies the Philistines came up against Jerusalem and tried to unseat David. Two successive miraculous defeats sent the assailants reeling back to Philistia. (2 Samuel 5:17-25; Psalm 2:1-6) What, then, do we find in the case of the “heavenly Jerusalem” with its newly enthroned King Jesus Christ, the Permanent Heir of David? For decades prior to 1914 C.E., even since the year 1876 C.E., the nations and peoples of the world had been notified that the Gentile Times would close in that year.a Dedicated, baptized Christians, like Charles Taze Russell who became president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, were used to serve this notice, especially upon the nations of Christendom. These professed Christian nations spurned the notification and launched their first world war July 28, 1914.

9. During World War I, how did those embattled nations gather around “heavenly Jerusalem” as around a drinking “bowl” for their pleasure?

⁹ During this war the embattled nations took advantage of martial law and wartime hysteria and nationalistic fervor to persecute these dedicated, baptized, spirit-anointed Christians who had served notification upon them and who had taken their stand for Jehovah’s established Messianic kingdom. Thus the nations gathered around them as around a drinking bowl, to take draughts of pleasure and glee at venting their opposition to God’s Kingdom representatives. As these dedicated, anointed Christians were part of the “congregation of the firstborn who have been enrolled in the heavens,” those nations were, in effect, gathered around the “heavenly Jerusalem” as around a drinking “bowl.” For a time those nations did experience great exhilaration, as foretold in Revelation 11:7-10.

10, 11. How, after World War I, did “heavenly Jerusalem” come to be under siege by the nations, and were these also “against Judah”?

¹⁰ After World War I ended on November 11, 1918, the worldly nations did not cease their hostility to God’s established Messianic kingdom as set up in the “heavenly Jerusalem.” In the following years they adopted the League of Nations as a substitute for God’s heavenly kingdom. They thus began a figurative siege of the “heavenly Jerusalem.” This siege expressed itself in the nations’ opposition and persecution against the anointed remnant of the “congregation of the firstborn” who proclaimed the Messianic kingdom of the “heavenly Jerusalem.” Inasmuch as these disciples of Jesus Christ upheld him as “the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the root of David,” they were spiritual Judeans, or spiritually of the tribe of Judah. So, along with the heavenly Jerusalem, these spiritual Judeans were under siege by the anti-Kingdom nations. It was just as it had been foretold, in Zechariah 12:2:

¹¹ “Here I am making Jerusalem a bowl causing reeling to all the peoples round about; and also against Judah he will come to be in the siege, even against Jerusalem.” (NW) “Lo, I am about to make Jerusalem an intoxicating bowl unto all the peoples around. Moreover, the cities of Judah will be under siege along with Jerusalem.” (AT) “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a fearful place to all the people round about her, also there shall be a siege both against Judah together with Jerusalem.” (Lamsa) “Lo, I am making Jerusalem a cup of reeling to all the peoples round about, and also against Judah it is, in the siege against Jerusalem.”​—Yg.

12. How did the spiritual Judeans manifest a different spirit from what they had shown during World War I, thus taking what apostolic stand?

¹² Whereas in 1919 C.E. the worldly nations adopted the League of Nations as an international organization for world peace and security, the anointed remnant of the spiritual Judah started proclaiming as never before the good news of the kingdom of the “Lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the root of David.” So from then on the worldly nations began laying siege against this spiritual Judah on earth, prolonging and persisting in their endeavors to overpower the resistance and nonconformity of these spiritual Judeans. Quite differently from their general course of action during World War I, these spiritual Judeans refused to be put in fear by the nations. They discerned their commission from the Most High God more clearly than previously, and they chose the apostolic course: “We must obey God as ruler rather than men.” (Acts 5:29) They stuck to this course even amid World War II. They stuck to an absolute Christian neutrality toward the international controversies, such as they had openly declared on November 1, 1939. The nations were quite stunned at the strictly neutral stand of these Christian witnesses of Jehovah.​—See The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom, as of November 1, 1939, pages 323-333.

13. By what course have the nations got “severe scratches for themselves,” and why?

¹³ The intransigent stand of Jehovah’s Christian witnesses for neutrality, their courageous resort to the legal courts of the land to maintain their civil rights, their steadily increasing preaching of the good news of Jehovah’s Messianic kingdom, all this has sent the nations reeling. The Kingdom right, as represented by the “heavenly Jerusalem,” has become a “burdensome stone” to the nations. For trying to lift it out of the way of their ambitious worldly schemes for global domination by tampering with the Kingdom preachers, the meddling nations have got “severe scratches for themselves.” No satisfaction for themselves, but smarting pains of humiliating failure. Their reputations have been hurt. They cannot remove or nullify the Kingdom’s right to be preached, nor can they silence the remnant who obey Jehovah’s command to preach it world wide.

14. How has Jehovah fulfilled even already his pronouncement regarding the enemy horses and their riders, and upon whom does he open his eyes, and why?

¹⁴ Already, in a figurative way, Jehovah of armies has done according to His pronouncement. He has bewildered those who fight against the spiritual Judeans, the ambassadors for His kingdom. The riders of the war machine have been made to act madly, as in the case of frustrated dictators who have become blind with fury. Their war strategists know no more what direction to take, as if for loss of sight. But Jehovah opens his eyes and keeps them open in order to direct the strategy of the spiritual “house of Judah.”

15. How have the spiritual Judean sheiks been inflammatory “like a fire pot among trees and like a fiery torch in a row of newly cut grain,” to the right and to the left?

¹⁵ As for the “sheiks of Judah,” spiritually speaking, the governing body of the “house of Judah” and the overseers of the congregations of the spiritual Judeans, Jehovah fills these with a fiery zeal in behalf of the earthly interests of the Kingdom of the “heavenly Jerusalem.” “Like a fire pot among trees and like a fiery torch in a row of newly cut grain,” they set things aflame in a spiritual way, causing great religious discussions and controversies to flare up and consuming the influence of many shepherd rulers so that they are exposed as “fighters actually against God” and many of their “sheep” turn away to God’s kingdom. To the right and to the left this occurs among the peoples. In consequence of this fiery activity and positiveness of these “sheiks of Judah,” the spiritual Judeans keep remaining in their God-given spiritual estate, inhabiting it with increased numbers. They do not abandon the cause of the “heavenly Jerusalem.”

16. The “sheiks of Judah” acknowledge that their strength to do this under siege comes from what source, and what does that source employ in their behalf?

¹⁶ It is not in their own strength that these “sheiks of Judah” and their fellow Judeans accomplish this spiritually devastating work among those who besiege hostilely the cause of God’s reigning kingdom. In their hearts of appreciation they confess that the strength to do this under siege by all the world comes from a superhuman, supernatural source. It comes from the “heavenly Jerusalem,” where the enthroned King Jesus Christ reigns and has gone forth subduing among his enemies. He has associated with him the holy angels. “Are they not all spirits for public service, sent forth to minister for those who are going to inherit salvation?” (Hebrews 1:13, 14; Matthew 25:31) Those anointed Christians who were approaching the “city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem” and who ended their earthly course in death and were resurrected to life and immortality in the heavens, these also could afford invisible strength to the courageous, energetic “sheiks of Judah” and fellow Judeans on earth. (Revelation 2:26-29) Behind all this assistance from heavenly Jerusalem is “Jehovah of armies their God.”

ANNIHILATION IN STORE FOR ATTACKING NATIONS

17, 18. (a) Why will the nations not be able to crown their long siege with victory? (b) According to his pronouncement, what will Jehovah do to those nations coming against “Jerusalem”?

¹⁷ The worldly nations cannot crown with victory their long, persistent siege against God’s kingdom and those who serve as its ambassadors throughout the earth. The Almighty God will give these spiritual Judeans renewed powers of endurance to withstand the anti-Kingdom siege, but he will weaken and finally obliterate the God-defying besiegers. This is the significance of the further words of the divine “pronouncement,” in Zechariah 12:7-9:

¹⁸ “And Jehovah will certainly save the tents of Judah first, to the end that the beauty of the house of David and the beauty of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not become too great over Judah. In that day Jehovah will be a defense around the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and the one that is stumbling among them must become in that day like David, and the house of David like God [or, ‘godlike ones’], like Jehovah’s angel before them. And it must occur in that day that I shall seek to annihilate all the nations that are coming against Jerusalem.”

19. (a) What is indicated by the expression “the tents of Judah”? (b) Why will the “beauty” of others involved not become “too great over Judah”?

¹⁹ That expression “the tents of Judah” indicates that the spiritual Judeans are not withdrawn behind the protective walls of cities but are out in the open field, fearlessly defending the interests of the Messianic kingdom as represented by Jerusalem, the throne city. Reasonably, then, before the attackers could come directly against the city, they would have to clear away all the “tents of Judah” that are ringed about the city in its defense. That is why Jehovah of armies has to save the “tents of Judah” first, because these are the first and direct target of attack. For that reason they will be able to boast of Jehovah’s salvation of them the same as will the inhabitants of the “heavenly Jerusalem,” the Kingdom location. These “tents of Judah” will have the beauty of Jehovah’s salvation just the same as the “house of David” represented by the royal Son of David, Jesus Christ, and the same as the “inhabitants of Jerusalem,” the resurrected joint heirs of the Messianic kingdom, Christ’s already resurrected and glorified disciples.​—Romans 8:15-17; 2 Timothy 2:11, 12.

20. (a) How has Jehovah made the “inhabitants of Jerusalem” to be like David, and David’s house to be like Jehovah’s angel? (b) How has Jehovah defended the “inhabitants of Jerusalem”?

²⁰ If, in the case of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Jehovah defends them and keeps them from stumbling to a fall in that he makes them strong and courageous like David the fighting king, he will do likewise with the spiritual Judeans in their “tents” out in the field. The historical record that the anointed remnant of spiritual Judeans has made for itself till now shows that He has done this. And he will continue to do this in the future, to the full carrying out of his promise. Also, because of the larger responsibility that is involved, Jehovah has done still more for the “house of David,” which “house” is represented by the Permanent Heir of David, Jesus Christ. Jehovah has made him “like God, like Jehovah’s angel before them.” No, not like Jehovah himself, but like Jehovah’s “angel,” who led the sons of Israel out of slavery in Egypt in 1513 B.C.E. (Exodus 14:19; 23:20, 23) Jehovah of armies has already defended the inhabitants of the “heavenly Jerusalem” by authorizing his reigning King Jesus Christ to cast Satan the Devil, “the god of this system of things,” out of heaven and to keep him out.​—Revelation 12:7-13; 2 Corinthians 4:4.

21. (a) In harmony with the house of David’s acting like Jehovah’s angel, what is one of the appropriate titles of the Representative of that “house”? (b) How long will the enemy keep up the siege of Jerusalem, and why till then?

²¹ So the godlike Son of David, Jesus Christ, acts like Jehovah’s angel in behalf of spiritual Judeans in their “tents” on earth. Appropriately one of the names by which he has been called is Mighty God. (Isaiah 9:6, 7) How, then, could all the nations of this world, backed by Satan the Devil, triumph against him and against the “tents of Judah” before whom he serves as Jehovah’s angel? By force of circumstances their siege of the Messianic kingdom is bound to fail. In their lust for world domination they will never lift the siege and withdraw in admission of defeat or failure. They will keep up the siege down to the last!

22. (a) Why will Jehovah not have to look far when seeking to annihilate the nations? (b) When will be the occasion for him to annihilate them?

²² Will Jehovah of armies have to seek far in that day when seeking to “annihilate all the nations that are coming against Jerusalem”? By no means! By their persistent opposition to his Messianic kingdom and their support of the man-made international organization for world peace and security and their harassment and persecution of the spiritual Judeans, those nations are piling up a condemnatory record against themselves. The Supreme Judge of all is aware of the account that has to be settled in full measure against them. When their final attack upon the “tents of Judah” takes place, producing the world situation figuratively called Har–Magedon, they will fill up their allowed account to the full.

23. To what will Jehovah reduce those nations, and by means of whom, and with “beauty” for whom?

²³ On examining that account, the searching Jehovah of armies will find every justification for him to annihilate those nations coming against the Kingdom of his “heavenly Jerusalem.” By means of his reigning King, who is “like God, like Jehovah’s angel,” he will reduce those nations absolutely to nothing. (Revelation 16:13-16) O with what “beauty” that will crown the “house of David” and the “inhabitants of Jerusalem” and the “tents of Judah”!

THE ONE “PIERCED THROUGH” WHO BECAME KING

24, 25. (a) Will there be a wailing for those annihilated nations? (b) A wailing over whom is it that Jehovah foretells as being outstanding?

²⁴ There will be no wailing and lamentation over those presumptuous nations whom Jehovah of armies annihilates in the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Har–Magedon. But there was wailing and lamentation at a mournful event that paved the way for the “beauty of the house of David and the beauty of the inhabitants of Jerusalem” in that glorious day of divine salvation. As the “pronouncement” of Jehovah the Creator of heaven and earth continues on, we learn what that event was, for we hear Him say:

²⁵ “And I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of favor and entreaties, and they will certainly look to the One whom they pierced through, and they will certainly wail over Him as in the wailing over an only son; and there will be a bitter lamentation over him as when there is bitter lamentation over the firstborn son. In that day the wailing in Jerusalem will be great, like the wailing of Hadadrimmon in the valley plain of Megiddo. And the land will certainly wail, each family by itself; the family of the house of David by itself, and their women by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their women by themselves; the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their women by themselves; the family of the Shimeites by itself, and their women by themselves; all the families that are left remaining, each family by itself, and their women by themselves.”​—Zechariah 12:10-14; NW; JB; Mo; RS; AT.

26. To the question of who was the one whom they pierced through, we turn to what apostle’s writing for the answer, and how does he answer our question?

²⁶ Who is that “One whomb they pierced through” and to whom “they will certainly look”? Cutting through the entanglement of human guesses, we go direct to the inspired answer furnished by the One who made this prophetic “pronouncement.” From the record written down by the Galilean John, who was an eyewitness of the impalement of Jesus Christ between two impaled evildoers on Friday, Nisan 14, 33 C.E., we quote these inspired words:

Then the Jews, since it was Preparation, in order that the bodies might not remain upon the torture stakes on the Sabbath, (for the day of that Sabbath was a great one,) requested Pilate to have their legs broken and the bodies taken away. The soldiers came, therefore, and broke the legs of the first man and those of the other man that had been impaled with him. But on coming to Jesus, as they saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Yet one of the soldiers jabbed his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he that has seen it has borne witness, and his witness is true, and that man knows he tells true things, in order that you also may believe. In fact, these things took place in order for the scripture to be fulfilled: “Not a bone of his will be crushed.” And, again, a different scripture says: “They will look to the One whom they pierced.”​—John 19:31-37.

27. In his writings, what other connections does John make of Jesus with that one “pierced through”?

²⁷ There is also another connecting of this Jesus Christ with the ‘piercing through’ when the same apostle John writes:

To him that loves us and that loosed us from our sins by means of his own blood​—and he made us to be a kingdom, priests to his God and Father—​yes, to him be the glory and the might forever. Amen.

Look! He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, and those who pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth will beat themselves in grief because of him. Yes, Amen.​—Revelation 1:5-7.

28. What does the medical doctor Luke write, to indicate that Jesus was “pierced through” after, not before, he died?

²⁸ Thus the piercing of Jesus’ side occurred sometime after he had expired, not before, concerning which Doctor Luke writes:

Well, by now it was about the sixth hour [12 o’clock noon], and yet a darkness fell over all the earth until the ninth hour [3 o’clock in the afternoon], because the sunlight failed; then the curtain of the sanctuary was rent down the middle. And Jesus called with a loud voice and said: “Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit.” When he had said this, he expired. Because of seeing what occurred the army officer [centurion] began to glorify God, saying: “Really this man was righteous.” And all the crowds that were gathered together there for this spectacle, when they beheld the things that occurred, began to return, beating their breasts. Moreover, all those acquainted with him were standing at a distance. Also, women, who together had followed him from Galilee, were standing beholding these things.”​—Luke 23:44-49; also, Mark 15:33-41.

29. How, as in Thomas’ case, did that pierced side of Jesus enter into the proof that he had been resurrected from the dead?

²⁹ The pierced side of Jesus Christ was also an important item that entered into the proof that Jesus was later raised from the dead. The apostle Thomas, who did not get to see Jesus on the day of his resurrection (Sunday, Nisan 16, 33 C.E.), said to those who had seen him materialized in the flesh that day: “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails and stick my finger into the print of the nails and stick my hand into his side, I will certainly not believe.” A week later, Jesus again materialized in flesh, in a body like that of his impalement, and said to Thomas: “Take your hand and stick it into my side, and stop being unbelieving but become believing.”​—John 20:24-27.

30. (a) How was the wailing by Jesus’ disciples of greater seriousness than the “wailing of Hadadrimmon in the valley plain of Megiddo”? (b) What more was needed than the mere wailing in grief in order for the “spirit of favor and entreaties” to be poured out on them?

³⁰ In fulfillment of Zechariah 12:10-14, the faithful apostles and other disciples of Jesus Christ must have wailed and lamented, there at earthly Jerusalem. Their lamenting was over the death of the “only-begotten Son” of God, “the firstborn of all creation,” “the beginning of the creation by God.” (John 3:16; Colossians 1:15; Revelation 3:14) So the lamenting over him was of greater seriousness than the previous “wailing of Hadadrimmon in the valley plain of Megiddo.” (Zechariah 12:11; compare 2 Kings 23:28-30; 2 Chronicles 35:20-25.) Jehovah did pour out upon those faithful disciples the “spirit of favor and entreaties.” Especially so, since those disciples “were hoping that this man was the one destined to deliver Israel.” (Luke 24:21) But, in order to gain divine favor, more than mere grief must be expressed in such wailing and bitter lamentation. There must be belief in the one who was pierced through and belief in the value of his sacrificial death. On the basis of such belief or faith, divine favor can be extended to the grieved one and then his entreaties due to faith will be answered.

31, 32. (a) To receive the “spirit of favor and entreaties,” how must one look at him who was pierced through, even though one was of “the house of David”? (b) Even if of the “inhabitants of Jerusalem,” what would one have to do besides wail in order to receive the “spirit of favor and entreaties”?

³¹ To prove worthy of receiving that divine “spirit of favor and entreaties” a person must look with eyes of faith, “look to the One whom they pierced through.” A person might be of “the house of David,” but, just one’s being of that royal rank according to fleshly descent by no means guarantees that one will be with the Messiah in the heavenly kingdom as one of his joint heirs.

³² A person might be one of the “inhabitants of Jerusalem” on earth; but his being of the earthly capital city of King David by no means guarantees him a place in the “heavenly Jerusalem.” Such a person should grieve because of any community responsibility that may be attaching to him for the death and piercing through of the Messiah Jesus. So the wailing and bitter lamentation must include sorrow over the fact that the Messiah had to die over our sins and must also include repentance over such sins. Then Messiah’s death will be of benefit to the one lamenting and he will receive the “spirit of favor and entreaties.”

33. (a) How did this rule apply also to a person even though he was of “the house of Levi,” or the “family of the Shimeites”? (b) Or, if one was of the “family of the house of Nathan,” as Jesus’ mother Mary was?

³³ This would apply also to a person who, according to the flesh, was of the “house of Levi.” Although as a Levite he served at the earthly temple in Jerusalem, with its altar of animal sacrifices, he still needed the perfect human sacrifice of the One pierced through. The “house of Levi” also included the “family of the Shimeites.” (Exodus 6:16, 17; Numbers 3:17-21) So these also needed a sacrifice able to ransom sinful human creatures. The “family of the house of Nathan” belonged to the royal family of David. (2 Samuel 5:13, 14) Mary the earthly mother of Jesus Christ was born into the line of descent of this Nathan the son of David. (Luke 3:23-31) Despite their royal connections according to the flesh, those of this family needed to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, and that he was “pierced through” in order to fulfill divine prophecy and to prove worthy of the heavenly kingdom.

34. (a) From what standpoint must everyone, regardless of family, house, or sex, wail and lament over the pierced one? (b) How must we today do so in order to receive the “spirit of favor and entreaties”?

³⁴ Everybody, no matter of what family or house, needed to wail and lament in repentant grief over the need for the Messiah to die as a ransom sacrifice for sins. Woman as well as man needed to do so. That is why the prophecy repeatedly says that there must be wailing on the part of “their women by themselves.” (Zechariah 12:12-14) Likewise each one of us today must look with repentance and in faith to Messiah Jesus, the One whom the enemies of Jehovah’s Messianic kingdom were permitted to ‘pierce through.’ If we do so, we shall receive the “spirit of favor and entreaties.”

35. When are our tears of wailing and lamentation over the ‘piercing through’ of the Messiah wiped away?

³⁵ Our tears of wailing and lamentation are wiped away when we discern, also, that the Messiah Jesus was “pierced through” for the vindication of Jehovah’s universal sovereignty. His finally being “pierced through” proved that he had maintained his perfect integrity to the Sovereign Lord Jehovah to the death. As a reward he was honored with being enthroned as Messianic King in heaven.

[Footnotes]

Chapter 20

A “Third Part” Preserved in a Purged Land

1. Has Christendom failed in producing the kind of land that honest-hearted people want, and upon whose promise to produce the desired Paradise must we depend today?

WHAT decent, honest-hearted, righteously disposed people want today is a land in which the inhabitants live clean lives and there is no religious hypocrisy or fraud and deception. Christendom, after trying out her hundreds of varieties of so-called Christian religions, has failed to produce such a land. All hope has now been lost that she will ever be able to do so. Not one land can she set forth as her showpiece to prove that she can purge out wickedness and religious uncleanness. She has nowhere brought about a spiritual paradise among her hundreds of millions of church members. If the Creator of heaven and earth were to depend upon her to bring about a purged earth with pure, undefiled religion, it would never come about. But the Almighty God will yet bring this about, in his way, by means of his own theocratic organization. His promise to do so still stands sure, for all right-minded people to trust in today.

2. After telling of the wailing over the one “pierced through,” what does Jehovah tell of being opened up for sin and for an abhorrent thing?

² It is most interesting to examine how God illustrates his purpose to do this remarkable thing. In his “pronouncement” he has just finished speaking about the wailing and bitter lamentation in his land over the piercing through of the Messiah to whom the inhabitants of the land had pinned their hopes. (Zechariah 12:1, 10-14) Immediately following upon this, he proceeds to say: “In that day there will come to be a well opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for an abhorrent thing.”​—Zechariah 13:1.

3. What proves whether Christendom has availed herself of that “well” that was opened up for sin and for an abhorrent thing?

³ Do we today see ‘sin and an abhorrent thing’ prevailing throughout the earth, even in Christendom? If we do, then it is evident that Christendom has not availed herself of that “well” that was to be opened “in that day.” We are in “that day” now, are we not? Here the word “day” does not refer to a twenty-four-hour day. How can we determine whether we are in that favored “day”? This we can do by considering all the circumstances involved.

4. (a) Who opens that “well,” to provide water for what purpose? (b) According to the Scriptures, what are some of the abhorrent things that do not belong in God’s temple?

⁴ That “day” is prominently marked by a “well.” This well was opened by Jehovah, for he himself is the One that digs it by means of his loving provisions. He sees to it that it is filled with pure water. What is the stated purpose of this water? Not that of drinking in order to quench thirst, but that of purification. The “well” with its water is opened “for sin and for an abhorrent thing.” Among things abhorrent to God is the one described in Leviticus 20:21: “And where a man takes his brother’s wife, it is something abhorrent. It is the nakedness of his brother that he has laid bare. They should become childless.” An abhorrent or impure thing has no place in God’s temple. (2 Chronicles 29:3-5) An abhorrent thing is to be thrown away, even if it involves silver and gold. (Ezekiel 7:19) By acting outrageously before God, one can make oneself an “abhorrent thing.” (Lamentations 1:8) The Israelite who defiled himself by touching a dead corpse was considered as something abhorrent and as not to be touched until after he had been cleansed with the water mixed with the ashes of a sacrificed red cow.​—Numbers 19:2-22.

5. How had the inhabitants of the land made it before the Israelites took possession of it, and why did Jehovah open up a “well for sin and for an abhorrent thing” in behalf of the remnant that had been restored there?

⁵ Before the Israelites had taken possession of the land of Canaan, the land had been made abhorrent, filthy, impure, “because of the impurity of the peoples of the lands, because of their detestable things with which they have filled it from end to end by their uncleanness.” (Ezra 9:11) But after the Israelites themselves had occupied the land for some time, they too made the land abhorrent, filthy, impure, so that Jehovah could say: “The house of Israel were dwelling upon their soil, and they kept making it unclean with their way and with their dealings. Like the uncleanness of menstruation their way has become before me.” (Ezekiel 36:16, 17; Leviticus 15:19-33) Rightly, then, Jehovah did not want the land of his restored remnant to become again an abhorrent land or to continue to be such. That is why he opened up this “well” to cleanse away sin or an abhorrent thing.

6. As this was after the restoration from Babylon, why did the “house of David” and the “inhabitants of Jerusalem” need such a well for cleansing? (b) For how many, really, was the “well” meant, and how could these avail themselves of it?

⁶ So the “well” was opened “to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” But let us not lose from sight that these were of the remnant of Israelites who were liberated from Babylon and who returned to the land of Judah to rebuild the temple of their God at Jerusalem. Consequently, although there was among them a “house of David,” they did not have a king of the lineage of King David sitting on a royal throne at Jerusalem. Zerubbabel, who had come from Babylon, was of the “house of David” but was merely appointed by King Cyrus of Persia to be governor of Judah. (Zechariah 4:6-10; Matthew 1:6-13) The Messiah had yet to come for them to get a king of the “house of David.” Naturally, then, as here meant, the “house of David” and the “inhabitants of Jerusalem” needed cleansing from “sin” and any “abhorrent thing.” They needed that “well” to be opened. In fact, the “house of David” and the “inhabitants of Jerusalem” represented their whole nation. The whole nation needed that “well” with its cleansing water, and they could avail themselves of this divine provision when they came up to Jerusalem for their annual festivals.

7. When was that “well” opened up to the “house of David” and the “inhabitants of Jerusalem,” and with what results at the start?

⁷ When was that “well” opened to the “house of David” and the “inhabitants of Jerusalem” and to the nation whom these represented? This was after the One whom they “pierced through” to the death on the impalement stake outside the walls of Jerusalem on Passover Day of 33 C.E. was resurrected from the dead. This enabled him to ascend to heaven and enter into the presence of Jehovah God and present to him the sin-atoning value of his shed blood. Thereafter on the festival day of Pentecost, Sivan 6 of 33 C.E., Jehovah God used the sin-atoning Messiah, Jesus Christ, to pour out the holy spirit upon his faithful disciples in Jerusalem, about 120 of them, to begin with. Later, that same day, about three thousand Jews confessed their guilt at having shared in the killing of the Messiah, Jesus, and they got baptized in water to become his disciples and they, too, were baptized with the holy spirit.​—Acts 1:2-5, 15; 2:1-36.

8, 9. (a) What did Peter’s counsel to those thousands of conscience-stricken Jews on the day of Pentecost mean, as respects the “well”? (b) What assurance of this did Peter give later to Jews at the temple?

⁸ When, now, the Christian apostle Peter said to those thousands of conscience-stricken Jews, “Repent, and let each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the free gift of the holy spirit,” what did that mean? (Acts 2:37, 38) It meant that it was “that day” foretold in Zechariah 13:1. It meant that the “well” had been opened “to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for an abhorrent thing.” Could there have been an “abhorrent thing” greater than that of instigating and sharing in the violent death of the Messiah, Jesus? Likely quite a number of Jews among those thousands of Jews had looked upon the impaled body of Jesus Christ when it was “pierced through” by the spear of the Roman soldier guard. (John 19:37) But even such an “abhorrent thing” the water from that opened “well” could cleanse away. Peter gave assurance of this when he later said to Jews at the temple in Jerusalem:

⁹ “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers also did. But in this way God has fulfilled the things he announced beforehand through the mouth of all the prophets [including Zechariah 12:10], that his Christ would suffer. Repent, therefore, and turn around so as to get your sins blotted out, that seasons of refreshing may come from the person of Jehovah and that he may send forth the Christ appointed for you, Jesus.”​—Acts 3:17-20.

10. According to Paul, how many natural Jews availed themselves of that “well,” and how long was Jerusalem with her “house of David” seemingly the literal location of that “well”?

¹⁰ That was in the year 33 C.E., but even down to the year 56 C.E. the apostle Paul under inspiration pointed out that only a remnant of the natural, circumcised Jews looked to the “pierced through” Messiah, Jesus, in faith and availed themselves of the “well” of cleansing waters: “At the present season also a remnant has turned up according to a choosing due to undeserved kindness.” (Romans 11:5; 9:27, 28) In the year 70 C.E. Jewish Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman legions and she ceased to be available for an application of Zechariah 13:1 to her literally, and her “house of David” became lost to identification by means of genealogical records, for these became lost.

11. Parallelwise, when did a remnant of spiritual Israelites come upon the scene, and what did they appreciate as respects God’s anger toward them (Isaiah 12:1, 2)?

¹¹ However, there is a parallel fulfillment of Zechariah 13:1 to the remnant of spiritual Israelites, who have to do with the “heavenly Jerusalem,” the “city of the living God.” During the first world war of 1914-1918 C.E., the remnant of spiritual Israelites came under Babylonish bondage and proved to be guilty of spiritual shortcomings and uncleanness. In the year 1919 there came a liberation of them from the organization of Babylon the Great and her political, military paramours. Then they began to appreciate and discern the application of the words of Isaiah 12:1, 2: “And in that day you will be sure to say: ‘I shall thank you, O Jehovah, for although you got incensed at me, your anger gradually turned back, and you proceeded to comfort me. Look! God is my salvation. I shall trust and be in no dread; for Jah Jehovah is my strength and my might, and he came to be the salvation of me.’”a So now, as in Zechariah’s time, there was a restored remnant, liberated from Babylon the Great and devoting themselves to the building up of Jehovah’s pure worship at his spiritual temple.

12. (a) When was a “well” of purifying waters opened up to them, and why? (b) How was the prophecy of Ezekiel 36:24, 25 thus fulfilled?

¹² This restored anointed remnant of spiritual Israelites needed to be cleansed from all “sin” and any “abhorrent thing” that had attached to them during their bondage under Babylon the Great and her worldly paramours. As something suited to their spiritual needs then, the “well” of purifying water was opened up to them by the merciful Jehovah, in that liberation year of 1919 C.E. At once they began to avail themselves of the cleansing water of that “well.” Then, in a spiritual way, was fulfilled the divine promise in Ezekiel 36:24, 25: “And I will take you out of the nations and collect you together out of all the lands and bring you in upon your soil. And I will sprinkle upon you clean water, and you will become clean; from all your impurities and from all your dungy idols I shall cleanse you.” During their spiritual bondage in Babylon the Great, the remnant had touched the dead things of the war-mad world; and now it was as if Jehovah through Christ were sprinkling the repentant remnant with the “water for cleansing,” mixed with the ashes of the slaughtered red cow.​—Numbers 19:1-13.

13. Among those restored spiritual Israelites, who among them needed to be cleansed, to correspond with the “house of David” and the “inhabitants of Jerusalem,” and why so?

¹³ This was required in the case of all the repentant, restored members of the remnant of spiritual Israel. There were none too high in importance or responsibility, resembling the “house of David,” nor any too ordinary or commonplace and numerous, resembling the “inhabitants of Jerusalem,” to be excused from this cleansing by means of the water from the “well” of Jehovah’s provision. The general governing body of the remnant of spiritual Israel, and also the official elders as overseers of the local congregations of these spiritual Israelites needed to be cleansed just the same as did the dedicated, baptized members of their congregations. (Acts 20:17-28; 14:23; Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 3:1-7; 4:14; Titus 1:5-9) There was a community uncleanness among them. In preaching, teaching and daily living they were obliged to be clean in their restored spiritual estate. In line with keeping themselves unspotted from this world, they were brought to the position of maintaining strict Christian neutrality toward the violent conflicts of the nations that heaped up dead corpses.​—James 1:27; John 15:18, 19; 17:14.

LOYALTY TO GOD TRANSCENDS FAMILY TIES

14, 15. (a) “That day” must be a time also for testing what quality toward Jehovah? (b) In Zechariah 13:2, 3, what guiding illustration of this did Jehovah give?

¹⁴ “That day” in which the “well” is opened up “for sin and for an abhorrent thing” is also a day for testing the degree of one’s loyalty to God. The remnant that was restored from Babylon in 537 B.C.E. was forewarned of this. In describing how loyal to Him his worshipers must be and would even be, the Sovereign Lord God proceeded to say further to his prophet Zechariah:

¹⁵ “‘And it must occur in that day,’ is the utterance of Jehovah of armies, ‘that I shall cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they will no more be remembered; and also the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness I shall cause to pass out of the land. And it must occur that in case a man should prophesy anymore, his father and his mother, the ones who caused his birth, must also say to him, “You will not live, because falsehood is what you have spoken in the name of Jehovah.” And his father and his mother, the ones who caused his birth, must pierce him through because of his prophesying.’”​—Zechariah 13:2, 3.

16. What is the “land” out of which Jehovah has cut off the “names of the idols,” and what has this resulted in among the spiritual Israelites of today?

¹⁶ As regards our time since the year 1919 C.E., Jehovah of armies is here speaking about the spiritual estate of his restored remnant of spiritual Israelites. Because this God, who requires exclusive devotion to himself, has caused the “names of the idols” to pass out of the “land” of their relationship with Him, they now refuse to worship the “wild beast” out of the sea and also the “image” of that wild beast. Or, if we say it plainly without the use of those Bible symbols of political institutions, the spiritual Israelites refuse to worship the political state as a whole on a world scale and also the League of Nations and its successor, the United Nations. In this way they avoid suffering the divine penalty for carrying the “mark” of the “wild beast.” (Revelation 13:1-18; 14:9, 10) Because they have “approached a Mount Zion and a city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem” and they are “enrolled in the heavens,” their “citizenship exists in the heavens.” (Hebrews 12:2, 23; Philippians 3:20) So they do not yield themselves to the delirium of earthly nationalism. They do not render any worshipful gestures or attitudes to nationalistic idols. Idol names are not remembered. The loyal spiritual Israelites praise the name of Jehovah as the true God, in heartfelt, full allegiance to Him.

17. In view of what warnings of Jesus Christ and the apostle John was it timely for Jehovah to cause false prophets to pass out of the “land”?

¹⁷ Jehovah has also caused the false prophets and “spirit of uncleanness” to pass out of the spiritual estate of his restored remnant. Jesus Christ forewarned us concerning this “conclusion of the system of things” that “false Christs and false prophets will arise and will give great signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible, even the chosen ones.” (Matthew 24:3, 4, 24, 25) The apostle John warned: “Beloved ones, do not believe every inspired expression [or, every spirit], but test the inspired expressions to see whether they originate with God, because many false prophets have gone forth into the world.” (1 John 4:1) Accordingly, there would be need among the restored remnant of spiritual Israelites to guard against false prophets invading or rising up in the midst of their spiritual estate on earth.

18, 19. (a) What did Jehovah’s causing the false prophet to pass out of the land require the reinstated remnant of spiritual Israel to do? (b) What counsel of the apostle Peter concerning prophecy did they heed?

¹⁸ How, then, did Jehovah keep their “land” or spiritual estate pure in worship by fulfilling his promise: “Also the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness I shall cause to pass out of the land.”? (Zechariah 13:2) It was by causing any wrong understandings of the Bible prophecies that had been entertained before the remnant’s reinstatement in their “land” in 1919 C.E. to be corrected. The “time of the end,” the “conclusion of the system of things,” that began in 1914 at the end of the Gentile Times was God’s appointed time for the fulfillment of many prophecies. These could not be understood until they were just about to be fulfilled or after they had been fulfilled. So in the light of all that was taking place since 1914 the reinstated remnant looked anew into the prophecies that God had reserved for the “time of the end” for their fulfillment. (Daniel 12:4; Revelation 10:6, 7) This included a restudy of the books of Ezekiel and Revelation, an explanation of which had been attempted and published in July of 1917 in the book entitled “The Finished Mystery.” Thus the restored remnant heeded the words:

¹⁹ “We have the prophetic word made more sure; and you are doing well in paying attention to it as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until day dawns and a daystar rises, in your hearts. For you know this first, that no prophecy of Scripture springs from any private interpretation. For prophecy was at no time brought by man’s will, but men spoke from God as they were borne along by holy spirit.”​—2 Peter 1:19-21.

20. How, figuratively speaking, did fleshly parents pierce their son through for prophesying falsely?

²⁰ Any attempted interpretation of prophecy, if it proved to be incorrect in the light of historic events and the clearer understanding of the Bible, was corrected, regardless of who had offered the interpretation. Loyalty to God and to his inspired Word was the issue here to be met. So, as an illustration of the loyalty required, even if a fleshly son should offer a wrong interpretation of divine prophecy and should persist in it, like a false prophet, then his own fleshly parents in their loyalty to God would have nothing further to do with him on a religious basis. Christian parents could not do as under the Mosaic Law covenant, namely, have him put to death; but they could pronounce him spiritually dead to themselves in spite of their parenthood of him physically. In this way, figuratively speaking, they “must pierce him through because of his prophesying.” (Zechariah 13:3; compare Deuteronomy 13:1-5.) With their full consent, such a false prophet would be expelled, disfellowshiped, from the Christian congregation. By such loyalty on the part of all members of the restored remnant, the “prophet” of falsehood would be made to pass out of their “land.”

21. How, too, was the “spirit of uncleanness” made to pass out of their spiritual “land”?

²¹ Yes, too, the “spirit of uncleanness” would thus be made to pass out of their spiritual “land.” If that spirit were an inspired expression of uncleanness by a would-be prophet or was any tendency, trend, or inclination to uncleanness, it would be disapproved and resisted by the loyal ones. As a consequence any uncleanness as to religious teaching or as to moral behavior would be forced to pass out, under the driving force of God’s holy spirit. The God-given spiritual estate must be maintained as a “land” where clean, Scriptural living is carried on. Persons spiritually and morally unclean must be disfellowshiped therefrom.​—2 Corinthians 6:14 to 7:1; compare Deuteronomy 13:6-18.

RELIGIOUS HYPOCRISY EXPOSED

22, 23. (a) How does Jehovah put the false prophets to shame? (b) How does Jehovah describe the false prophets trying to hide their reason for feeling shame?

²² Jehovah, the God of the true prophets, will put all false prophets to shame either by not fulfilling the false prediction of such self-assuming prophets or by having His own prophecies fulfilled in a way opposite to that predicted by the false prophets. False prophets will try to hide their reason for feeling shame by denying who they really are. They will try to avoid being killed or being pronounced spiritually dead by Jehovah’s loyal worshipers. He foretold this by having his true prophet Zechariah continue on to say:

²³ “And it must occur in that day that the prophets will become ashamed, each one of his vision when he prophesies; and they will not wear an official garment of hair for the purpose of deceiving. And he will certainly say, ‘I am no prophet. I am a man cultivating the soil, because an earthling man himself acquired me from my youth on.’ And one must say to him, ‘What are these wounds on your person between your hands?’ And he will have to say, ‘Those with which I was struck in the house of my intense lovers.’”​—Zechariah 13:4-6, NW; JB; NE; NAB; contrast Amos 7:14-17.

24. The scar-producing wounds on the deceptive prophet were admitted by him to be inflicted by whom, and what would this indicate as to loyalty to God in comparison with attachment to fleshly loved ones?

²⁴ Thus Jehovah foretold that his people, in their “land” of restoration, would be so well instructed with his Word and would be so loyal to Him and His true prophecies that they would refuse to be friends and intense lovers of any false prophet. If they did not kill him, then they would discipline him and strike him so hard in their indignation that visible wounds and scars would result. Such marks on his person, yes, on his breast which would be partly exposed, would betray his identity in spite of the fact that he had discarded official garments that he had assumed to wear as a bona fide prophet of Jehovah God. From whom had he got such scar-producing wounds? From his intense lovers, whether these were his own fleshly parents or his intimate associates. However, their intense loyalty to Jehovah as the God of true prophecy would be stronger than their till-then intense love for a deceptive prophet. They would place love of God and his inspired Word above personal friendships with fleshly relatives or associates. Such a course would cause “the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness” to pass out of the “land” of Jehovah’s repatriated people.

25. This course of supreme loyalty to Jehovah has been adopted by whom and since when, and how has this affected their spiritual “land”?

²⁵ This course of supreme loyalty to the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has been the one adopted by the anointed remnant since 1919 C.E. This has resulted in the disfellowshiping or excommunicating of religious apostates or rebels from the theocratic organization that Jehovah the heavenly Theocrat has established among his obedient remnant. The loyal remnant have found out that it is not the mere “official garment of hair,” not a professional uniform or type of dress, that makes a true prophet of the one living and true God. That is why they have left Babylon the Great, including Christendom, with its distinctively garbed religious priests, preachers, monks and nuns. What makes a true prophet of Jehovah today is his true Christian personality as his identification and his loyal adherence to Jehovah’s Word and its prophecies. It is no wonder, then, that Jehovah’s witnesses while acting as ministers of God’s Word wear plain business suits or the regular attire of the common people. So the loyal remnant are willing to brush aside intense love for close associates and to inflict spiritual “wounds” upon these in disapproval and rejection of apostates. This has kept their theocratic “land” a spiritual realm of clean godly living.

STRIKING THE SHEPHERD CAUSES A SCATTERING

26. (a) As a prophet, Jesus Christ was struck and wounded for what reason? (b) How did Jehovah foretell this through the prophet Zechariah?

²⁶ Jehovah’s greatest prophet on earth was struck and wounded to the death, but this was for his proving to be a true prophet of the Most High God down to the end. (Deuteronomy 18:15-22; Acts 3:13-23) His violent death caused a short-time scattering of his disciples who were loyal to him. The true prophet Zechariah was used to foretell this, for God went on to say to him: “‘O sword, awake against my shepherd, even against the able-bodied man who is my associate,’ is the utterance of Jehovah of armies. ‘Strike the shepherd, and let those of the flock be scattered; and I shall certainly turn my hand back upon those who are insignificant.’”​—Zechariah 13:7.

27, 28. To avoid the mistake made by some modern Bible translators, whose application of Zechariah 13:7 will we correctly accept, and according to what record thereof?

²⁷ Certain modern Bible translators would apply those words to the “useless shepherd,” the “valueless shepherd,” by transferring the words of Zechariah 13:7-9 and attaching them to Zechariah 11:17. (See translation by Moffatt, An American Translation, The New English Bible.) But we shall make no mistake if we take the application of the words of Zechariah 13:7 as made by Jehovah’s greatest Prophet on earth, Jesus Christ. It was on the night of the Jewish Passover at Jerusalem, Nisan 14 of 33 C.E. Jesus had just celebrated the Passover supper and thereafter had inaugurated the Lord’s Supper (or, Evening Meal), and was now on his way with his eleven faithful apostles to the Garden of Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives. At this point we read the record:

²⁸ “Then Jesus said to them: ‘All of you will be stumbled in connection with me on this night, for it is written, “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered about.” But after I have been raised up, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.’”​—Matthew 26:31, 32; Mark 14:27, 28.

29. (a) In awaking against Jesus Christ, how was it that the sword was awaking against Jehovah’s Shepherd as “the able-bodied man who is my associate”? (b) Why could Jehovah have confidence in Jesus Christ when calling for the sword to awake against him?

²⁹ Did the Great Prophet Jesus make a true application of the words taken from Zechariah 13:7? Shortly afterward that same Passover night the “sword” of warfare did awake against Jehovah’s true Shepherd, even against the able-bodied man who was His earliest and closest associate, Jesus Christ his Son. This was his only-begotten Son, “the firstborn of all creation,” “the beginning of the creation by God.” (John 3:16; Colossians 1:15; Revelation 3:14) Before his birth as a human creature, he had enjoyed spiritual life with Jehovah God in heaven and had associated with his heavenly Father when He created all other things, Jehovah using his only-begotten Son as his agent in doing so. (John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:16-18) Therefore, Jehovah had the fullest confidence in his Son, even when he was a perfect, able-bodied man on earth. He was convinced that his Son would keep his integrity under warfare by the enemy. In this assurance he called for the martial “sword” of the enemies to “awake” against his Son.

30. Why did Jesus quote Zechariah 13:7 as if Jehovah were doing the striking, and why did Jesus not resist being struck?

³⁰ Since it was Jehovah who prophetically issued the command to “strike the shepherd,” it was as if He himself were striking the shepherd. Hence Jesus could quote the prophetic words of Zechariah 13:7 as if his heavenly Father were saying: “I will strike the shepherd.” (See the Greek Septuagint translation in The Septuagint Bible, by Charles Thomson.) The crowd that came that Passover night under the guidance of the betrayer Judas Iscariot did come with literal swords and clubs. Jesus did not try to resist the fulfillment of the prophecy. If his heavenly Father had given the command for Jesus now to be struck, then he would submit to it.

31. What question did Jesus ask after telling Peter to sheathe his sword that had been drawn in defense, and what further part of Zechariah 13:7 now came true?

³¹ So, when the apostle Peter tried to defend Jesus with a sword, Jesus told him to return the sword to its sheath and commented: “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father to supply me at this moment more than twelve legions of angels? In that case, how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that it must take place this way?” Then after Jesus had asked the crowd why they had come out against him, a peaceful, public preacher, “with swords and clubs as against a robber,” he added: “But all this has taken place for the scriptures of the prophets to be fulfilled.” At this point the scripture of Zechariah was not all fulfilled. A further part came true, when, as the record states: “Then all the disciples abandoned him and fled.” In that way “those of the flock” were scattered.​—Matthew 26:51-56; Mark 14:47-50; John 18:1-9.

32. Who were “those who are insignificant,” and how did Jehovah turn his hand back upon them, according to Zechariah 13:7?

³² Jesus had correctly applied the prophecy. That night when he as the Fine Shepherd was struck with the “sword,” his sheep did become scattered, thus being stumbled in connection with him. But how was the further part of Zechariah 13:7 fulfilled: “And I shall certainly turn my hand back upon those who are insignificant.”? This proved to be a merciful and favorable turning back of Jehovah’s hand, as in the case of Isaiah 1:25, 26. With his “hand” of applied power Jehovah of armies protected the scattered sheep. These fearful apostles were “insignificant” in comparison with their Fine Shepherd Jesus Christ. Also, from the standpoint of the Jewish world of that day they were “insignificant,” not important enough to be taken into custody on that night of Jesus’ arrest. Yet not in Jehovah’s estimation were they “insignificant,” and he turned his compassionate attention to them and protected and preserved them. On the third day therefrom, on Nisan 16, he brought them together again to have the resurrected Jesus appear to them and resume shepherding them.​—Luke 24:33-43; John 20:1-29.

33. How did the enemies strike at Jehovah’s Shepherd with their “sword” during World War I, with what intent, and how did Jehovah turn his hand back upon the “insignificant” ones?

³³ At the climax of World War I in 1918 C.E., there was a similar scattering of the sheep of the governmental Shepherd Jesus Christ, whom Jehovah had enthroned in the heavens, in order to “go subduing in the midst of your enemies.” (Psalm 110:1, 2) Those earthly enemies had really declared war against the heavenly Shepherd whom Jehovah had appointed to shepherd the world of mankind. Unable to use the “sword” of war directly against Jehovah’s governmental Shepherd, they struck at “those of the flock” on earth by using their war powers and measures and arrangements against these “sheep,” to scatter them in the hope of separating them permanently, unable to be reorganized. But, as in the first century, Jehovah of armies turned his hand back upon these “insignificant” ones of the remnant of spiritual Israel. Marvelously he protected and preserved them, and in the first postwar year of 1919 C.E. he brought them together again in an organized fashion. At this reviving and exalting of them in His service, their seemingly triumphant enemies were astounded and became fearful.​—Revelation 11:7-13.

“TWO PARTS” ARE CUT OFF

34. From what is a tremendous part of the world population being cut off, and why so?

³⁴ The striking of Jehovah’s Shepherd and Associate led to consequences that have affected all mankind, even to this day. A modern-day parallel of it in our twentieth century has had marked effects upon this generation that has been living in this “time of the end,” this “conclusion of the system of things.” A tremendous part of the world population are being “cut off” from any share in the God-given spiritual estate or “land” of divine favor and blessing. Because of their preoccupation with the material and political and social things of this present system of things, they are indifferent or ignorant as regards the far-reaching prophecy of Zechariah 13:8, 9 that is being fulfilled toward them. Note what it says:

35. How many “parts” does Zechariah 13:8, 9 say will be “cut off”?

³⁵ “‘And it must occur in all the land,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘that two parts in it are what will be cut off and expire; and as for the third part, it will be left remaining in it. And I shall certainly bring the third part through the fire; and I shall actually refine them as in the refining of silver, and examine them as in the examining of gold. It, for its part, will call upon my name, and I, for my part, will answer it.’”

36. Did the fact that the spiritual remnant were liberated and reinstated in their “land” in 1919 C.E. mean that Jehovah was through refining and examining them, and what typical picture shows whether or not?

³⁶ Let us remind ourselves that these words were spoken, through the prophet Zechariah, to the repatriated remnant of Israel in the “land” of Judah. That ancient Israelite remnant would typify or prophetically prefigure the anointed remnant of spiritual Israelites in this “time of the end,” this “conclusion of the system of things” that began when the Gentile Times ended in 1914 C.E. After the severe trials and bondage experienced during World War I, the surviving remnant of spiritual Israelites were liberated and reinstated in their God-given spiritual estate or “land” in 1919, in the spring of that meaningful year. The fact that those of this surviving remnant had come through the persecution and afflictions of that first world conflict did not mean that they were now finished with their being tried and examined by the heavenly Refiner Jehovah God. It was not so in the case of the Israelite remnant (including Zechariah) who were liberated from fallen Babylon in 537 B.C.E. They had quite a time getting the second temple of Jehovah completed at Jerusalem, first by the year 515 B.C.E. It has been correspondingly so with the remnant of spiritual Israel since 1919.

37. What did Malachi prophesy about sixty years later concerning Jehovah’s refining work and the restoring of pure worship at His temple?

³⁷ The prophet Malachi, who prophesied in the land of Judah about sixty years after Zechariah lived, foretold that Jehovah, accompanied by his “messenger of the covenant,” would come to his temple. There He would sit “as a refiner and cleanser of silver” and he would “cleanse the sons of Levi.” Why? So as to bring about a restoration of the pure worship of the true God at his temple. Then, just as predicted by Malachi, “They will certainly become to Jehovah people presenting a gift offering in righteousness. And the gift offering of Judah and of Jerusalem will actually be gratifying to Jehovah, as in the days of long ago and as in the years of antiquity.”​—Malachi 3:1-4; written about 443 B.C.E.

38. What more would there be to it besides the cleansing of the sons of Levi, in order to cleanse the land?

³⁸ There would be more to it than the cleansing of the sons of Levi as temple functionaries, in order to make the “land” of his restored people a land of clean, godly living. Jehovah also said: “‘And I will come near to you people for the judgment, and I will become a speedy witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against those swearing falsely, and against those acting fraudulently with the wages of a wage worker, with the widow and with the fatherless boy, and those turning away the alien resident, while they have not feared me,’ Jehovah of armies has said. ‘For I am Jehovah; I have not changed. And you are sons of Jacob [Israel]; you have not come to your finish. . . . Return to me, and I will return to you,’ Jehovah of armies has said.”​—Malachi 3:5-7.

39. Was there a fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy in the first century C.E., and what indicates whether there should be any fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy since 1914 C.E.?

³⁹ There was a first-century fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy at the time that the Messiah Jesus was present in the flesh among the nation of Israel. (Matthew 11:7-10; Mark 1:1, 2; Luke 7:24-27) There should likewise be a further fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy after Jesus Christ was enthroned in the heavens in the year 1914 C.E. and thus became present in his kingdom. At the due time thereafter Jehovah God, accompanied by him as “the messenger of the covenant,” must have come to his spiritual temple for the judgment of all his worshipers there, including those who were merely professing to worship Him. Certainly Jehovah must have been at his spiritual temple as the Supreme Judge by the year 1919, when he liberated the spiritual Israelites from Babylon the Great and restored them to their “land” or God-given spiritual estate on earth.

40. How did Jehovah act like a Refiner of precious metal, and who were due to be “cut off” from 1919 C.E. onward?

⁴⁰ In harmony with the prophetic picture, Jehovah would act as a refiner of his professed people. He would clear away those who were like dross. He would treasure and keep those who were like pure precious metal, like clarified silver and gold. So from 1919 C.E. onward it would be the time for certain ones to be cut off from the “land” that was to be inhabited by his restored people. Spiritually speaking, such “cut off” ones must “expire” as far as vital relationship with Jehovah is concerned.

41. In his parable of the sower, what did Jesus say about the cutting off of some?

⁴¹ Who, then, are the “two parts in it” that are “cut off and expire”? (Zechariah 13:8) This is something for the reigning King Jesus Christ as the “messenger of the covenant” to indicate for us. This has to do with the “conclusion of the system of things,” the “time of the end” in which we have been living since 1914. (Daniel 12:4; Matthew 24:3-14; 28:20) What did Jesus say about this critical period? In explaining the parable of the sower he said:

“The sower of the fine seed is the Son of man; the field is the world; as for the fine seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; but the weeds are the sons of the wicked one, and the enemy that sowed them is the Devil. The harvest is a conclusion of a system of things, and the reapers are angels. Therefore, just as the weeds are collected and burned with fire, so it will be in the conclusion of the system of things. The Son of man will send forth his angels, and they will collect out from his kingdom all things that cause stumbling and persons who are doing lawlessness, and they will pitch them into the fiery furnace. There is where their weeping and the gnashing of their teeth will be. At that time the righteous ones will shine as brightly as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”​—Matthew 13:37-43.

42. Who specifically are those symbolic “weeds,” and from what are they cut off, and by whom?

⁴² That parabolic illustration foretold a cutting off of a large part in the conclusion of the system of things, where we are now living since 1914 C.E. The part cut off during this time is the symbolic weeds, who picture the “sons of the wicked one,” Satan the Devil, the “enemy” who sowed such weeds. They were for a long time mistaken for being symbolic wheat, mistaken for being the “sons of the kingdom,” that is to say, anointed Christians with a call to the heavenly kingdom. They pretended to be Christians, and so they were confused with the true anointed Christians who are heirs of the Kingdom. But their development to what they really are in this time of the “harvest” has proved them to be “weeds,” imitation Christians, who, like the Devil their sower, are enemies of the Kingdom. Rightly, they are “cut off” from association with the “wheat” class. The heavenly angels, as “reapers,” are the ones used to cut them off. These pitch the “weeds” into the “fire” and such weeds will not come through that “fire.” Their false identity is destroyed, and finally they themselves also.

43. In his prophecy on the “sign” of the conclusion of the system of things, how did Jesus describe the harvest of the chosen ones, and thereafter whose cutting off did he foretell?

⁴³ However, there is another “part” or class that is “cut off” in this “conclusion of the system of things.” Jesus Christ foretold this “part” or class in his marvelous prophecy regarding the “sign” of his presence and of the conclusion of the system of things. (Matthew 24:3) In this prophecy he tells of the “harvest,” which history shows began in the year 1919 C.E., and he said: “He will send forth his angels with a great trumpet sound, and they will gather his chosen ones together from the four winds, from one extremity of the heavens to their other extremity.” (Matthew 24:31) Then, toward the middle of this prophecy, he said:

“On this account you too prove yourselves ready, because at an hour that you do not think to be it, the Son of man is coming.

“Who really is the faithful and discreet slave whom his master appointed over his domestics, to give them their food at the proper time? Happy is that slave if his master on arriving finds him doing so. Truly I say to you, He will appoint him over all his belongings.

“But if ever that evil slave should say in his heart, ‘My master is delaying,’ and should start to beat his fellow slaves and should eat and drink with the confirmed drunkards, the master of that slave will come on a day that he does not expect and in an hour that he does not know, and will punish him with the greatest severity and will assign him his part with the hypocrites. There is where his weeping and the gnashing of his teeth will be.”​—Matthew 24:44-51; compare with this Luke 12:42-46 with its similar parable.

44. What class, then, does that “evil slave” picture, and why is that class cut off, and from what?

⁴⁴ Here it is the “evil slave” who is “cut off,” he being assigned his part, not with the fellow slaves of his master, but with the hypocrites, with the unfaithful ones, after he has been punished with the greatest severity. Just as the “faithful and discreet slave” pictures a class of anointed Christians who are actually in the household of the Master Jesus Christ as his “domestics,” so that “evil slave” pictures a class. This class of Christians, unlike the “weeds,” was anointed with God’s spirit and was a part of the Master’s household, he being a fellow slave therein. However, this class turns unfaithful, becomes self-seeking, loses self-control over its appetites, mistreats fellow slaves in an abuse of power and authority, and becomes careless and indifferent toward the matter of having to account with its Master at his coming. Therefore, during this “conclusion of the system of things,” this time of his second and invisible “presence,” as King, he cuts this “evil slave” class off. He disfellowships them to the religious hypocrites and to the unfaithful ones. There they expire.

45. Thus how many “parts” have been “cut off,” and who have been brought through the “fire,” and why have they called upon God’s name?

⁴⁵ Thus “two parts” or the majority of those professing to be Christians at this time are cut off from the “land” or God-given spiritual estate of Jehovah’s restored remnant. But the Sovereign Lord God has brought a “third part,” a minority of those professing to be heirs of God’s heavenly kingdom, through the “fire” of testing and examining as to their faith, personality and works. These have humbly submitted to the refining process as applied by the great Refiner, although it has been trialsome. To endure the figurative heat, they have had to call upon Jehovah’s name, and he has answered them according to the sincerity of their hearts.

46. What has Jehovah said to this “third part,” and how, and what has this “part” said in response?

⁴⁶ In fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah 13:9, the heavenly Supervisor of his “land” has not cut off this “third part” from the God-given spiritual estate of his restored remnant. He has said, by his evident favor toward them and by his marvelous dealings with them as His witnesses: “It is my people.” In turn, the faithful anointed remnant has said: “Jehovah is my God.” Outstandingly so since July 26, 1931, when those of this anointed remnant embraced the name “Jehovah’s witnesses.” They have remained active on their spiritual “land” to this day, praising their God.

47. Who is it out of all the nations that attach themselves to the “third part” to join in worship at Jehovah’s temple?

⁴⁷ It is to this “third part” that has been left remaining in this spiritual “land” that the “ten men out of all the languages of the nations” attach themselves, taking hold of the skirt of these faithful spiritual Jews or Israelites. To these the international “great crowd” as pictured by the “ten men” are saying: “We will go with you people, for we have heard that God is with you people.” (Zechariah 8:20-23) In increasing numbers, by the tens of thousands in a year, these associate themselves with the anointed remnant on their “land” and worship Jehovah at his temple.​—Revelation 7:9-15.

[Footnotes]