What happensPermalink
God declares that the nations will gather against Jerusalem, only to find the city an immovable burden and themselves thrown into confusion. God will save Judah and Jerusalem, strengthening even the weakest among them and destroying the nations that attack them. Then He will pour out on the house of David and Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy. The people will look upon the one they pierced and mourn for Him as for a firstborn child. Mourning will spread throughout the land, with every family grieving.
Why it mattersPermalink
The coming day brings both deliverance from enemies and repentance within God’s people. God will defend Jerusalem and strengthen the house of David, but His saving work also produces deep mourning over the pierced one. John 19:37 identifies Jesus with this pierced figure. The people’s mourning prepares for chapter 13, where God opens a fountain to cleanse them from sin.
Key versePermalink
And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.