Zechariah 13:7
“Awake, sword, against my shepherd,
against the man who is close to me!”
declares the Lord Almighty.
“Strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered,
and I will turn my hand against the little ones. (NIV)
Today’s Reading: Zechariah 13:1-9
Zechariah 13 continues the prophecy found in Zechariah 12. God begins every few verses with the phrase “On that day” which is referring to the day when Jesus returns. Zechariah 13:1 says:
“On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.”
This reinforces the idea that when Jesus returns, he is coming back for God’s people of Israel. They will repent and believe that Jesus is their Messiah. There will be great mourning in the land because they will look upon Jesus with fresh eyes and realize that they had a hand in crucifying him. They will mourn the years of lost time spent rejecting Jesus instead of living for him as their Savior. On that day, Jesus will wash away all of Israel’s sin. A fountain of forgiveness will be opened to all the Jews who believe in Jesus and their sins will be cleansed.
Through verse 6, Zechariah’s prophecy gives more detail about the events of that day. Idols and false prophets will be removed from the land. Then in verse 7, Zechariah shifts his focus back to the Messiah – God’s shepherd. Just as in chapter 11 where Zechariah is told by God to play the role of His shepherd, God again in 13:7 says the Messiah is His shepherd. The Messiah is God’s shepherd and “the man who is close to me” God says.
The Hebrew word used here is ʽāmît meaning one who is in a close united relationship. This word is only used once here in Zechariah. The only other place it is found in Scripture is in Leviticus where it is used eleven times. It is typically translated as “neighbor” or “friend”. It describes someone who is on equal moral footing. This is more than a friend of God, it is someone who is God’s equal.
This shepherd who is an ʽāmît to God could not be a mere man. No mortal man is on equal footing with God. This shepherd who is the Messiah to come will be God in the flesh. Jesus claimed to be God’s equal in one breath and interestingly enough, he said it in the context of a parable about him being the Good Shepherd:
“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one” (John 10:27-30).
This word ʽāmît was chosen deliberately from Leviticus where it is used to describe God’s people’s relationship with each other. For example:
“Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor (ʽāmît) frankly so you will not share in their guilt. Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord” (Lev 19:17-18).
Then when ʽāmît is applied to God this one time in Zechariah, it is being especially chosen to indicate that the Messiah has the same relationship with God that the Israelites had with each other. Jesus, the Messiah, the Good Shepherd, would come to earth as God’s equal. John makes sure that we understand this was the case:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 14).
Just as Jesus and the Father are one, his desire for us is to have the same relationship with each other. God made it a law in Leviticus to love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus also commanded it of us:
“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you” (John 15:12).
Jesus demonstrated what agape love looks like. He and the Father areʽāmît and we saw how Jesus loved the Father. He expects the same from us. We are to love each other in the same way. Not because he commands it of us. But because we are saved by the love of Jesus. If we truly love Jesus, we will love each other. God has placed us as believers on equal footing. We are all saved by grace. So our response should only be love just as Jesus loved us.
Christ in the Old Testament 
Leave a comment