Bible Commentary

Zechariah 13:1

Zechariah 13:1

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public Domain

In that day. At the time when the great mourning (.) takes place, or, more generally, in the Messianic period, when all these things shall be fulfilled. Shall be a fountain opened, etc.

Shah be opened and continue open. The allusion is to the lustral rites practised in the consecration of the Levites, who were to have "water of sin" sprinkled on them, and to "the water of separation," or "water of uncleanness" (the word found in our passage), used for purposes of legal purification (see ; ).

Instead of this merely ceremonial cleansing, there should be in the Christian Church the cleansing of the soul by the blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:2; 1 ). Septuagint, ἔσται πᾶς τόπος διανοιγόμενος, "Every place shall he opened."

The house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem represent the whole nation, as in ; the cleansing is as universal as the sin (see the announcement in ; ; ).

For sin and for uncleanness. The latter word is used for the separation on account of uncleanness (Le 15:20, etc.); and the two terms together comprise all guilt and pollution.

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