notion of two Messiahs, which are easily reconciled
without it. The Messiah here prophesied of appears
to be both God and man; a divine Person called Jehovah,
who is all along speaking in the context, and in the
text itself; for none else could pour out the spirit of
grace and supplication; and yet he must be man, to be
pierced; and the same is spolicn of, that would do the
one, and suffer the other; and therefore nlust be the
\~yeanyrwpov\~, or God-man in one person. As to what a
Jewish writer g objects, that this was spoken of one that
was pierced in war, as appears from the context; and
that if the same person that is pierced is to be looked
to, then.it would have becu said, and mourn for me, and
be in bitterncss for me; it may be replied, that this pro-
phecy does not speak of the piercing th is person at the ti me
when the above wars shall be; but of the Jews mouru-
ing for him at the time of their conversion, who had
been pierced by them, that is, by their ancestors, hun-
dreds of years ago; which now they will with con-
trition remember, they having assented to it, and com-
mended it as a right action; hnd as tbr the change from
the first person to the third, this is not at all unusual
in Scripture: and they shall mourn for him as one mourn-
ethfor his only son; or, for this n; that is, piercing him;
for sin committed 'agaiust him; because of their re-
jection of him, their hardness of heart, and unbelief
with respect to him; and on account of their many
sins, which were the occasion of his being pierced;
which mouruing will arise from, and be increased by,
a spiritual sight of him, a sense ,ffhis love to them, and
a view of benefits by him. Evangelical repentance
springs from faith, and is accompanied with it; and
this godly sorrow is like that which is expressed for an
only son; see Amos viii. 10. Luke vii. l2. and indeed
Christ is the only-begotten of the Father, as well as the
first-born among many brethren, as follows: and shall
be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for
his first-born; sin is a bitter thing, and makes work
for bitter repentance.
Vet. 11. In that day shall there be a great mourning
in Jerusalem, &c.] Great numbers being awakened,
convinced, and converted, and brought to true repent-
ance: as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of
Megiddon. Lightfoot {i} thinks the prophet alludes to
the two great and general lamentations of Israel; the
one about the rock Rimmen, where a whole tribe was
come.to 400 (it should be 600) men, Judg. xx. 47. and
may be rendered, the sad shout of Rimmen ; and the
other in the valley of Megiddo, for the death of Josiah.
Some take Hadadrimmon to be the name era man, as
Aben Esra; and the Targum and Jarchi say who he
was, and also make two mournings to be alluded to {k};
paraphrasing the words thus, "at that time mourning
"shall be multiplied in Jerusalem, as the mourning of
"Ahab the son of Omri, whom Hadadrimmon the
"son of Tabrimmon slew in Ramoth-gilead; and as
ú ' the mourning of Josiah, the son of Amen, whom
"Pharaoh-necho, or the lame, slew in the valley of
"Megiddo :" and-so the Syriac version renders it,
"as the mourning of the son of Amon in the valley
"of Megiddo." Of the ilrst of these, see 1 Kings xxii.
31--37. and of the latter, 2 Kings xxiii. 29. according
to Jerom, it was the name of a place in the valley of
Megiddo, near to Jezred; and which, in his time,
went by the name of Maximianopolis, called so in
nour of the Emperor Maximian; it was seventeen
miles from Caesarea in Palestine, and ten miles from
Jezreei {l}; and mention is made by Jewish {m} writers of the
valley of Rimmon, in which place the elders inter-
calated the year; though Jerom elsewhere" says, that
Adadrimon was a king, the son of Tabrimmon, who
reigned at Carchemish, whom Pharaoh-necho slew
at the same time he slew Josiah. Both words, Hadad,
or Adad, and gimmon, are names of idols with the
Syrians.
Ver. le. And the land shall mourn, &c.] That is,
the inhabitants of it; not only Jerusalem, butthe land
ofJudea, aud the people in it evorywhere: in the
mudø 'tis said, this is the mourning of the Messiah,
that is, on his account: every .family apart; though
the mourning will be general and public, yet it will be
not in a body of the whole people together, but sepa-
rate and distinct: the family of the house of David
apart, and their wives apart; the men by themselves,
and the women by thetnselves, which is according to
the custom of the Jews in public worship; those that
belong to the family of David shall mouru because of
the Jews' long rejection of the King Messiah, Jesus the
Son of David, the Saviour, whom God raised up of
his seed: the family of the house of Nathan apart, and
their uives apart; not of Nathan the son of David, the
brother of Solomon, as some think; for, as Aben Ezra
observes, he and his family are comprehended in the
family of David; bnt of Nathan 'the prophet, who will
mourn because the Jews have so much slighted ,Jesus
the great Prophet, the Lord raised up in Israel, his
doctrines and ordinances.
Ver. 13. The family of the house of Levi apart, and
their wives apart, &c.] Because of the contempt of the
priestly office of Christ, which theirs prefigured, and
was abolished by his; becaue of their trampling upon
his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice: the family of
Shimei apart, and their wives apart; not of Shimea the
son of David, I Chron. iii. 5. as Jarchi thinks, for his
family is comprehended in the family of David; nor of
Shimei the son of Merari, and grandson of Levi,
I Chron vi. 16, for the same reason: some think that;
by way of prophecy, the family of Semei, mentioned
among the progenitors of Christ, Luke iii. c26, is in,-
tended; and others have thought of Shammai, a famous
Misnic doctor in the times of Christ, whose disciples
were called the house or family of Shammai, of which
frequent mention is made in the Misna and Talmud:
but the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, read the
family of Simeon; mentioned together with Levi, as
brethren in iniquity, and now mourn for the common.
concern they had in the crucifixion of Christ, and their
refusal of him.

{g} R. Isaac Chizzuk Emunah, par. 1. c. 36. p. 309.
{h} \^wyle\^ super hoc, Junius & Tremellius; propter hoc, Gussetius;
super illo, Piscator, Cocceius.
{i} Works, vol. 1. p. 46.
{k} Vid. T. Bab. Megillah, fol. 3. 1. & Gloss. in ib. & Moed Katon, fol.
28. 2.
{l} Vid. Reland. Palestina Illustrata, tom. 2. p. 892.
{m} T. Hieros. Chagigah, fol. 78. 4.
{n} Trad. Heb. fol. 86. I.
{o} T. Hieros. Succah, fol. 55. 2.