Is Zechariah 13:6 Talking About Jesus or Someone Else?

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

I was talking to a friend at church the other day and we discussed a number of things. Gene asked me what I thought about Zechariah 13:6 and whether or not I thought it referred to Jesus as the

Lamb of God. Turns out we agreed on it, that this verse does NOT refer to Jesus and we also both agreed on WHY that is the case.

It has to do with one simple word: context

It is extremely easy to go through the Bible and build a theology around a verse or two here and there. People do it all the time. It’s tragic if for no other reason than the damage it can cause to people. But this is also a very strong indicator of the times in which we live. Generally speaking, people do not know how to study God’s Word. They treat each book as though the final author was the individual human whose name is attributed to that particular book. What people too often fail to understand is that GOD, not Paul, not Peter, not John, not Obadiah, not Zechariah, etc., etc., etc., is the ultimate Author of the book He chose to write and present to humanity. God made it happen. God chose roughly 40 individuals over a period of around 1,600 to 2,000 years to write down His thoughts, describe His attributes and actions, and tell us ahead of time the things that were going to happen because He would make them happen.

People too often forget that when the Bible was written by human authors, chapter and verse designations were not used. Each book penned like a letter. When you write a letter or an email to someone, do you number the individual sentences? Do you chapter the paragraphs? No, you write it and then send it. The person receiving it has no difficulty understanding what your letter says because they understand it based on the whole. They do not go to one sentence or phrase and build a character of you based on that, do they? It would be completely irresponsible if they did, wouldn’t it?

Yet, when it comes to the Bible, we see 66 unique and individual books that must be learned and learned within their own special vacuum, if you will. We often fail to see God’s Word as a cohesive unit made up of 66 sections. No, we all have our favorite books, our favorite verses. While there is nothing wrong with that, we too often tend to see these special sections of the Bible has standing out more than other parts. To us, they become more important than other sections. That’s not right because everything God has revealed to us is equally (and extremely) important. While it’s fine to memorize certain passages, we need to ensure that we do not remove them from their context and attempt to understand them apart from that context. We also must always remember that when we speak of context, we must include ALL of God’s Word. It must be allowed to compare itself to itself.

When I write a book, it would bother me if someone took one or two sentences and stated that those two sentences represent a thorough and accurate summary of my book. How can that be if the book itself is 299 pages? That makes no sense. God’s Word is hundreds and hundreds of pages (referring to one without man-made notes added to it). How can we decide based on one small section of Scripture that a specific theology is being put forth? We must compare ALL of Scripture to the REST of Scripture before we can adequately come to such a decision.

When we look at Zechariah 13:6, we see how too many people fail to understand what is actually going on here. They fail because they fail to consider the CONTEXT. Context literally means everything and without it, the meaning is up for grabs. Do we actually believe that when God wrote His Word, He wanted the meaning to be up for grabs? Don’t we have a tremendous responsibility to understand His Word as HE intended it to be understood, not what we think it means? Yes, we have that responsibility, which is why when we approach His Word, we must do so with a true humility, a willingness to be corrected and guided by the Holy Spirit. Let’s take a look at the text in question, shall we? I’m glad you asked.

“And one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then he will say, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends’.”

Right away, anyone can see why there is this tendency to see this one verse of Scripture referring to Jesus as the Suffering Servant. Unfortunately, the context has not even been considered at all and it is the context that makes every bit of difference.

The context of just chapter 13 of Zechariah is about false prophets. Take the time to read just that chapter. But remember, that chapter ties back to previous content of Zechariah as well, which is also part of the context.

God is basically stating that He will bring about the demise of the false prophet “in that day,” (verse 1). What day is that? It is the day of judgment when Jesus returns to this earth as Judge, King, Victor, and God in the flesh. This “day” is also included in the “day of the Lord” sections of the Bible where it is discussed that when Jesus returns, all will be set right. In fact, in that “day,” when there is no longer a need for prophets at all, anyone who says he is a prophet would automatically be a false prophet and verse 3 tells us that his own parents would turn on him and put him to death!

In other words, the entirety of Zechariah 13 so far is dealing with false prophets. Jesus was never part of that, though He was accused of it. As we continue down through the text, we learn more about how these false prophets operate. Many false prophets of old would often cut themselves during their ceremonies. One great example of this is with the prophets of Baal verses Elijah on Mt. Carmel (cf. 1 Kings 18). They did this to heighten their senses and to prove how deliberate and dedicated they were to the gods they worship. A modern counterpart of this is seen in Islamic ceremonies where drawing blood is an accepted and encouraged part of the “worship” service.

When a person cuts themselves over and over again through repeated ceremonies, they will develop scars and scarring. These will be very noticeable to other people because they will be on the arms, head, hands, and even the person’s back. By the time we get to verse 6, it is clear that we are still talking about false prophets and what these false prophets will do to hide the fact (in that future day) that they were/are false prophets. In other words, to avoid being dealt with harshly, they will say whatever they can to avoid detection, even lying to do so.

Those “wounds” – the false prophet will say – are wounds I received in the house of my friends. It’s like when Harry Reid appeared in public with a severe black and bandaged eye, bruises and if I remember correctly, a few broken ribs. He looked terrible, but what did he say was the source of his “wounds”? A faulty piece of exercise equipment in his home. As it turns out, his own brother became the chief suspect though not officially as more and more people scrutinized the situation. Reid was covering for his brother and for himself with lies.

It’s no different from a woman being beaten by her abusive husband/boyfriend, but telling everyone that she’s a klutz or that she tripped and fell down the stairs. She is lying to cover for someone.

This is what these false prophets will do in that future day when prophets themselves are no longer needed. They will lie to cover for themselves because they do not want people to know that they were once false prophets. Punishment would be swift.

Zechariah 13:6 has nothing to do with Jesus though too many people continue to think it does. The verse has a context and the context has everything to do with false prophets, not THE Suffering Servant!

Context makes the difference between truth and lies. There are too many errant interpretations of Scripture because people are not willing to study ALL of it. In fact, too many people today think they understand the Bible when in reality, they don’t. Their interpretations are just plain gibberish, yet they think themselves wise.

Folks, we are talking about God’s WORD. Not one of us will EVER get it right 100% of the time in this life. We need to stop acting as though we have arrived and be willing to humble ourselves before God’s mighty hand. He will impart wisdom and discernment only to those who truly seek His face and His truth. If you cannot do this where God’s Word is concerned, then unfortunately, you are probably wasting your time by doing more harm to yourself and others than any good that might come from it.

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective