Zechariah 12:12-13
The land will mourn, each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives, the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives. (NIV)
Today’s Reading: Zechariah 12:10-14
All of Israel is mourning as they look on the one they have pierced. When they realize that Jesus is their Messiah and that he was crucified for their transgressions, they mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and a firstborn son. But God specifically mentions four groups of people whose mourning He wants us to know that are of particular importance:
- Clan of the house of David and their wives
- Clan of the house of Nathan and their wives
- Clan of the house of Levi and their wives
- Clan of Shimei and their wives
These people are mentioned most likely because these clans are the lineage of the Messiah or have some relevance to the Messiah. And in fact, Jesus is connected to each as another proof that he is the Messiah.
We know King David is heavily mentioned throughout Scripture. Jesus’s lineage back to King David was through both Mary and Joseph:
“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.
“So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David” (Luke 2:1-4).
Joseph and Mary both descended from David. Matthew chapter 1 records the lineage of Jesus through Joseph and Luke chapter 3 records the lineage of Jesus through Mary. Both accounts trace back to King David. But the tree splits after David. Joseph comes from David’s son Solomon while Mary comes from David’s son Nathan:
“and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife” (Matt 1:6).
“the son of Nathan, the son of David, the son of Jesse” (Luke 3:31-32).
Recall that David committed adultery with Bathsheba who at the time was married to Uriah. Solomon’s mother was Bathsheba and Matthew calls this out in his genealogical account. However, Nathan’s mother was also Bathsheba:
“David reigned in Jerusalem thirty-three years, and these were the children born to him there: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan and Solomon. These four were by Bathsheba daughter of Ammiel” (1 Chr 3:4-5).
Some scholars believe that Zechariah is referring to the prophet Nathan who advised King David throughout his reign. It’s certainly possible but most believe that the “clan of Nathan” refers to David’s son Nathan to show the genealogy of the Messiah.
Next we come to the clan of Levi. Jesus was related to Levi through his mother Mary. Recall that John the Baptist’s parents Joseph and Elizabeth are descendants of Aaron who was from the tribe of Levi:
“These were the clans of Levi according to their records. Amram married his father’s sister Jochebed, who bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived 137 years” (Ex 6:19-20).
“In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron” (Luke 1:5).
“In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, ‘Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you… Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month’” (Luke 1:26-28, 36).
Luke tells us that Mary and Elizabeth were related. Mary was descended from the house of David but that is only through her father. It’s possible her mother was a descendant of Levi making her related to Elizabeth. However they are related, Luke provides us the connection of Jesus to the house of Levi.
If we stop here, we have a clear connection to David, Nathan and Levi. These three houses would specifically mourn the crucifixion of Jesus because that’s his family. Jesus serves as a priest through the house of Levi and as a king through the house of David and Nathan. However, if the scholars who believe that the house of Nathan is speaking of the prophet Nathan, then you have Jesus serving as prophet, priest and king through these three genealogies.
Shimei is the hard one. There were a bunch of men named Shimei recorded in Scripture. A few are:
- Shimei, the son of Gershon, the son of Levi (Ex 6:16-17).
- Shimei, the son of Gera the Benjamite from the house of Saul (2 Sam 16:5).
- Shimei, the son of Ela, in Benjamin (1 Kings 4:18).
- Shimei, the son of Pedaiah, the son of Jeconiah, the son of King Jehoiakim, the son of King Josiah from the house of Solomon (1 Chron 3:10-19).
- Shimei, the son of Mishma, the son of Simeon (1 Chron 4:24-26).
- Shimei, the son of Gog, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Joel from the house of Reuben.
There were even more people named Shimei than even these that I’ve mentioned. It was a pretty common name throughout Scripture. Most scholars believe that the first Shimei that I mentioned, the grandson of Levi, is most likely the clan that Zechariah is speaking about. It follows a similar pattern if Nathan is the son of David through whom the Messiah is born, Shimei would be the grandson of Levi through who the Messiah is related.
So why bother with all of this genealogy? Scripture is full of genealogies of all kinds of people. For me, I believe it’s there to show us that these are real people. We are thousands of years removed from these stories. But God wants to show us that these aren’t fairy tales. They aren’t made up stories to prove some moral point. These were real people with moms and dads who walked the earth just the same as us.
And more specifically, Jesus is real. He really was God and he really came to earth being born to Mary and Joseph. He had parents and grandparents and everyday life for Jesus was very similar to our everyday life with all of the family obligations and drama we deal with. But through all of that, he never sinned. He was tempted in every way that we are because he was fully human. But he was fully God and that made him the perfect sacrifice. And now he has made us perfect. We can believe it because it’s all true.
“Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” (Heb 5:8-9).
Christ in the Old Testament 
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