I will pour on David’s house and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication. They will look to me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him as one mourns for his only son, and will grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for his firstborn.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 10. Prayers. Septuagint and Chal. “pity.” Bible.—After the Machabees more synagogues were erected, and the people were more faithful; yet this chiefly regards the new law, in which the spirit prays with us ineffably. Romans 8:26. Calmet.—Me. So far the prophet speaks in Christ’s name. He afterwards relates how the people will grieve for him, beating their breasts. Lu. 23:48. This was clearly verified in Christ. John 19:31. Menochius.—But in the gospel we read, him whom they have pierced, as the context seems here to require. Bible.—Some Hebrew copies read in like manner, ( Calmet.) the Erfurth MS. 2. having aliu, “on him,” though Michaelis remarks not this important variation. The Jewish transcriber would not alter his text to make it conformable to the New Testament. Kennicott—Septuagint “they shall look upon me for having insulted,” or skipped. Calmet.—Yet “Saint John did not much regard what the Greek contained, but interpreted word for word as he had read in Hebrew,” as the other sacred writers did when there was any material difference. S. Jerom, quoted by Kennicott. Dis. ii. p. 347, and so forth Bible.—Adopting this reading, we may explain this of Judas, whom the people greatly bewailed. 1 Maccabees 9:20. He was a figure of Christ, whom the prophet had chiefly in view. All the Jews who embraced the faith verify this prediction, ( Calmet.) as those particularly did who had been instrumental to the death of our Saviour, and afterwards entered into themselves. Acts 2:37. Both Jews and Gentiles have all contributed by their sins to crucifying their Lord; and, at the last day, all shall look on him as their judge or as their deliverer.—Pierced. Hebrew dakaru. Bible.—Septuagint have transposed d and r, which are very similar, and read rokdu, “have danced,” or derided. Saint Jerome—The original implies, have outraged or blasphemed, as well as pierced. They shall henceforward cease to despise God and his law. Calmet.
After “me”, the Hebrew has the two letters “Aleph Tav” (the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet), not as a word, but as a grammatical marker.