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In Zechariah 12:2, 3 God says,
2 “Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling [KJV, “a cup of trembling”] to all the peoples around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah. 3 It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it [amas, “carry its load; support it”] will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.”
This refers to the earthly Jerusalem. God vows to make the city “a cup that causes reeling.” In other words, Jerusalem will be like a cup of strong drink. Those who drink from that cup will become drunk. In the second metaphor, God will make Jerusalem “a heavy stone,” which will injure anyone who tries to carry it or support it.
The metaphors are different, yet they carry the same meaning. In both cases, those who support the earthly Jerusalem will be debilitated by drunkenness and injury. If we view this through the eyes of the apostle Paul, who tells us that the earthly city represents the Old Covenant and is “in slavery with her children” (Galatians 4:25), the prophecy applies to the Zionists today who support the earthly city’s claim to be the chosen “mother” of the Kingdom.
Jeremiah 25:18 says,
18 Jerusalem and the cities of Judah and its kings and its princes, to make them a ruin, a horror, a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day.
If Jerusalem was “a curse” in the days of Jeremiah, it was still a curse in Zechariah’s day. This does not mean that those who come against Jerusalem will be cursed. The curse came because of Jerusalem’s sin. Being under that divine curse, God gave it to Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 27:6). Years later, God did the same when He gave it to the Romans in 70 A.D.
Again, we read in Jeremiah 7:9-15 how the prophet spoke against Jerusalem, comparing it to Shiloh. Shiloh was where the Ark of the Covenant was first placed after Israel crossed the Jordan River. God forsook Shiloh a few centuries later because of Israel’s sin, and His presence never returned there. After being moved to various places over a period of 80 years, David took it to Jerusalem. But a few centuries later, God forsook that location as Shiloh. Why?
Jeremiah 7:9-11 tells us,
9 “Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear falsely, and offer sacrifices to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known, 10 then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name and say, ‘We are delivered!’—that you may do all these abominations? 11 Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” declares the Lord.
A “den of robbers” is a hideout where lawless men can hide from law enforcement and from divine justice. This was the situation in Jesus’ day, leading to the inevitable destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of Rome (Matthew 21:13).
Later, the prophet says in Jeremiah 26:6,
6 then I will make this house like Shiloh, and this city I will make a curse to all the nations of the earth.
Again, God was not blaming the other nations for the sins committed in the temple. Neither was He intimating that if other nations came against Jerusalem or tried to destroy the temple that He would put them under a curse. Far from it. Those who supported Jerusalem and tried to defend it from the foreign army that God had raised up against the city are the ones who were to become drunk, lose their reason, and become injured.
Jeremiah 44:12 also says, “And I will take away the remnant of Judah…. and they will become a curse, an object of horror, an imprecation and a reproach.”
So we must interpret Zechariah 12:2, 3 in a way that is consistent with Jeremiah revelation. The Zionist interpretation is not only unfounded, it is the product of the madness caused by drinking from “the cup of reeling.”
On the deepest level, Jerusalem is under the curse of the law because, as Paul explains, it is the Old Covenant, which can save no one. The only solution is for us to repent and support the New Covenant city, the heavenly Jerusalem, whose foundations were established by the Mediator of the New Covenant, Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 2:5).
God has no intention of turning the earthly city into the heavenly city. The Old Covenant will never bring forth the promise of God, because it is based on the will of man. The heavenly city is another city, and it is the same city that Abraham looked for (Hebrews 11:10).
The fate of Jerusalem is not limited to the city itself but the entire land of Judah. Zechariah 12:3 says, “when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah.” This, of course, was seen when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem and again when the Romans repeated it later. We have seen it at least twice before, and this is soon to be repeated in our time.
Jeremiah 19:10, 11 likens Jerusalem to an earthen (earthly) jar, which was to be smashed in the valley of Ben-hinnom. The word of God says, “Just so will I break this people and this city, even as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot again be repaired.” Though the city has been broken more than once in the past, it was always repaired, or rebuilt, and so it remains to this day. Yet the day will come when the destruction will be so complete that it will not be possible to repair it.
That is when Jeremiah’s prophecy will be fulfilled. That is when Zechariah’s prophecy will be fulfilled as well. That will be the result of God’s curse upon the city. In fact, this is also why the glory of God will never again rest in the earthly Jerusalem. He forsook the city “like Shiloh,” and so God never looked back. Instead, He sought a new temple made of living stones, which was His original intention from the beginning. All other earthly structures were mere types and shadows, imperfect profiles of better things to come.
Zechariah 12:4 says,
4 “In that day,” declares the Lord, “I will strike every horse with bewilderment and his rider with madness…"
Horses represent military defense that is based on the arm of flesh (Isaiah 31:1-3). The imagery here shows bewildered (drunken) horses with riders gone mad, having drunk deeply from “the cup of reeling.” Hence, the prophet was not pointing to foreign invaders but to the people of Jerusalem and Judah who were defending themselves against the armies that God had raised up to bring judgment.
We see this also in Isaiah 29:1-3, where God presents Himself as the Commander of foreign armies coming to lay siege to Jerusalem and to destroy it. The inhabitants of Jerusalem in that day are presented as God’s enemies (Isaiah 29:4), based on God’s definition in Leviticus 26:40, 41). God’s enemies are those who are in disagreement with Him and who violate the Covenant that they swore to uphold. So we read in Isaiah 63:10,
10 But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; therefore He turned Himself to become their enemy, He fought against them.
Modern Zionist interpretations insist that God’s enemies are the foreign armies coming against Jerusalem. The law and the prophets say otherwise. This is why it is vitally important to know both the law and the prophets as well as the New Testament writings.
Zechariah 12:4 continues,
4 … But I will watch over the house of Judah, while I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness.
The true House of Judah is headed by the Messiah-King of Judah, Jesus Christ, the Son of David. Zechariah was not referring here to men’s definition of a Jew, but God’s definition. God will watch over those who believe the New Covenant and who support Jesus Christ’s claim to the throne of David—the throne which His enemies denied Him during His earthly ministry.
Zechariah 12:5 says,
5 “Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘A strong support for us are the inhabitants of [heavenly] Jerusalem through the Lord of hosts, their God’.”
The prophet was talking about the true “clans of Judah,” those with heart circumcision, not those with outward circumcision claiming to be Jews. Those Paul said ARE Jews (i.e., people of Judah) are those who believe in Christ and support His claim to the throne of Judah. These are the sober-minded ones who have not drunk from the “cup of reeling” and are the ones who have the right to become sons of God (John 1:13).
Zechariah, like all of the Old Testament prophets, does not clearly distinguish between the two cities or the two groups of people claiming to have Judah citizenship. These issues were not fully clarified until the Spirit of Truth was given to the church in Acts 2. Hence, that which was obscure in the Old Testament prophetic writings, has been clarified in the New Testament.