Zechariah 12:11-14

In that day When the Jews shall mourn for their sins, and for that great sin, the crucifying the Lord of glory; there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem A mourning expressed by the greatest the Jews ever experienced, the mourning for Josiah slain in Hadadrimmon, a town in the valley of Megiddon. There the lamentations for that good prince began, and were continued for many days from thence to Jerusalem, whither his body was carried to be interred in the sepulchre of his fathers; and there all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him, and appointed the day to be annually observed with lamentations: so that from thenceforward the mourning for Josiah became a proverb for an extraordinary lamentation. And the land shall mourn, every family apart The whole land shall mourn in a most solemn manner: and every family shall sequester themselves from business and conversation for that purpose. The house of David apart, and their wives apart Those of the royal family, who have rejected Christ, shall lead the way. Even husbands and wives shall abstain from each others company, as was usual in times of solemn humiliation. Or, as some learned men suggest, in solemn processions, it was usual for the several orders of men to go distinctly, and likewise for the women to go in ranks by themselves, each tribe, or order of men and women, using a distinct form of lamentation, and expressing their sorrow in different words. This was probably done in the mourning for Josiah, and observed in the times after the return from captivity: see 2 Chronicles 35:25, to which ceremonies the expressions of text may allude. The family of Nathan apart David had a son named Nathan, 2 Samuel 5:14. This branch of the royal family seems to be here meant, as that by Solomon is implied in the preceding clause. “It is possible,” says Newcome, “that at the final restoration of the Jews, the genealogies of some tribes may be found to have been preserved; and that the family of David may be traced up to more than one of its collateral branches; each of which, on account of its distinguished eminence, is to mourn apart.” The house of Levi apart If the tribe of Levi be intended, it may be observed, the sacerdotal tribe were the most bitter persecutors of Christ; they hired the traitor, they sought witnesses; the high-priest, the head of that family, condemned him to die: for all which sins they shall one day be called upon to reckon with God, and therefore, above other tribes, are particularly named as chief mourners, for their injustice and cruelty to their Messiah. But probably a Levi, mentioned Luke 3:29, is meant. The family of Shimei apart For Shimei, the LXX., Arabic, and Syriac have Simeon. “As Nathan, Simeon, and Levi, are all reckoned among the progenitors of Christ, Luke 3:29, may not their families be mentioned by name as more particularly concerned in the guilt to be lamented? For neither did his brethren believe in him, John 7:5.” Blayney. All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart Thus, after the mention of four particulars, he completes the induction by a general clause. As if he had said, It would be tedious to mention every family and their wives, though but once, therefore a general comprehensive account may suffice: some of every family, of the whole remnant of Israel, shall mourn, look to, believe in, and obey Christ. Thus the mourning of the Jews for their Messiah shall bear some proportion to their violence and cruelty against him; and they, through faith, shall live by the death of him whom they slew, and rise to glory by him whom they loaded with reproaches! What will not grace do, when it converts, accepts, comforts, and glorifies such offenders!