Who is "HIM" whom they pierced

[Santiago Cuellar]

Zachariah 12:10-14

10 “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. 11 On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will
be as great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.
12 The land shall mourn, each family [1] by itself: the family of the
house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family
of
the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; 13 the
family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves;
the family of the Shimeites by itself, and their wives by themselves;
14 and all the families that are left, each by itself, and their
wives
by themselves.

Commentary-
Zech. 12:10–14 Mourning for Sin. Interest in Judah recedes as these
verses focus primarily on the house of David and Jerusalem. The
“pouring out” of the spirit elsewhere in the OT always indicates the
pouring out of God's Spirit (v. 10; see Ezek. 39:29; Joel 2:28–29).
The Spirit will give grace and pleas for mercy (Zech. 12:10), which
implies both repentance on the part of the people and forgiveness
from
the Lord. They will mourn because of the one whom they have pierced
(v. 10), a word that usually connotes being stabbed to death by a
sword or spear (see Num. 25:8). The mourning will be like that for a
firstborn son, an only child on whom all hope for continuation of the
family line rested, or like the mourning for (or at) Hadad-rimmon
(Zech. 12:11). Under one interpretation, Hadad-rimmon is a name for
the Canaanite god, Baal, whose worship involved lament for his death
and descent into the underworld. But it is doubtful that Zechariah
would be predicting a day of blessing when Jerusalem's mourning would
resemble the mourning of those in a pagan worship ceremony. A better
interpretation is that Hadad-rimmon could be the name of a town near
Megiddo, making this a reference to the deep mourning that followed
King Josiah's death in a battle there (v. 11; see 2 Chron. 35:24).
The
identity of the one who is “pierced” (Zech. 12:10) and on whom the
inhabitants of Jerusalem . . . look is difficult to discern. If “on
me”
is defined by the following phrase (“whom they have pierced”), then
the reference is to God himself, perhaps in the person of the
shepherd
who will be struck in 13:7, a prophecy that John 19:37 sees fulfilled
in the person of Jesus (Messiah ben-Yosef). The mourning will affect
the entire community, family by family, men and women alike. Two
particular lines are singled out: the royal line of David, by way of
his son Nathan (Zech. 12:12; cf. 1 Chron. 14:4), and the priestly
line
of Levi (Zech. 12:13), by way of his grandson Shimei (1 Chron. 6:16–
17).

Notice the different interpretation in Hebrew Scripture:

Jewish Publication Society Bible (1917): And I will pour upon the
house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of
grace and of supplication; and they shall look unto Me "because they
have thrust him through"; and they shall mourn for him, as one
mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one
that is in bitterness for his first-born.

Judaica Press NACH Series; translation by R' A. J. Rosenberg: And I
will pour out upon the House of David and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem
with a spirit of grace and supplications. And they shall look to me
"because of those who have been thrust through" [with swords], and
they shall mourn over it as one mourns over an only son and shall be
in bitterness, therefore, as one is embittered over a firstborn son.

The Jerusalem Bible, Koren Publishing: But I will pour upon the house
of David, and upon the inhabitants of Yerushalayim the spirit of
grace
and of supplication: and they shall look towards me, "regarding those
whom the nations have thrust through". And they shall mourn for him
(that is slain) as one mourns for an only son, and shall be in
bitterness over him, as one that is in bitterness for a firstborn.

Soncino Books of the Bible; edited by R' Dr. A. Cohen: And I will
pour
upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the
spirit of grace and of supplication; and they shall look unto Me,
"because they have thrust him through"; and they shall mourn for him,
as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him,
as one that is in bitterness for his first-born.

ArtScroll Stone Edition Tanach; ArtScroll/Mesorah: I will pour upon
the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of
grace and supplications. They will look toward Me "because of those
whom they have stabbed", they will mourn over him as one mourns over
an only [child], and be embittered over him like the embitterment
over
a [deceased] firstborn.

There is an ambiguity in the Hebrew text in terms of whether the
subject (i.e., the "victim") here is an individual or a group – the
particular pronouns used here are applied in both ways in the Hebrew
Bible – there are two ways to interpret this passage within this
messianic perspective. Both interpretations are consistent with the
Hebrew text as well as with Jewish tradition.

I personally believe in The "singular pronoun scenario" which depicts
a great hero who will fall in the battle of the nations against
Jerusalem that was described earlier in the chapter (Zech 12:3).
Because this person will be one of towering stature among the Jewish
people, the mourning for him will be great and widespread; the entire
nation and all of Jerusalem are described as being in a state of
great
mourning (Zech 12:12). But, this crying and mourning will lead people
to repent and return to observance of Torah, as had happened in
previous times:

Numbers 14:39-40 – (39) And Moses spoke these words to all the
Children of Israel; and the people mourned greatly. (40) And they
arose early in the morning, and they ascended to the top of the
mountain, saying; "Behold, we are here, and we will go up to the
place
of which the L-rd has spoken, for we have sinned."

This particular scenario fits well with the Rabbinic
"two Messiahs" paradigm. According to this Talmudic
tradition, the first "Messiah", (mashi'ah ben Yosef), Messiah son of
Joseph, will be a hero out of either the Tribe of Ephraim or the
Tribe
of Menasheh (recall that Joseph's sons were Ephraim and Menasheh). He
will fight, and be killed in the Great War, an event that will be the
catalyst for all of Israel to turn to God and repent. After that,
(mashi'ah ben David), Messiah son of David, the Davidic Messiah, will
appear and usher in the messianic era with its promised redemption of
Israel. The intensity of the sadness is quantified in Zechariah 12:11
by comparing the mourning in Jerusalem with the mourning in the
valley
of Megiddo. This reference points to the death of King Josiah, the
last of the great and righteous kings of Judah (2 Kgs 23:25), who was
killed in a battle with Pharaoh Necho, King of Egypt. As Adventists
we
believe that ben-Yosef and ben-David are the same person.

So the question is, who is "ME" and who is "HIM"?
A paraphrase of Zechariah 12:10B(KJV) will illustrate what I
understand of this verse / prophecy: (its my opinion...you are
welcomed to share it or not)

And THEY [Literally means the handful of corrupted members of the
Jewish court and the Romans, involved in the crucifixion (not the
Jews
as a People), but can figuratively mean anyone Jew or non-Jew who
have
rejected Yeshua as Messiah..aka Non-Believers.] shall look upon ME
[Messiah] whom THEY [Non-Believers] have pierced; and THEY [Non-
Believers] shall mourn for HIM [Messiah] as one mourneth for his only
son, and shall be in bitterness for HIM [Messiah] as one that is in
bitterness for his firstborn.

Now to say that this verse means that the Jews killed Yeshua, is not
an
accurate statement because if anyone "killed" Him then there is no
redemption!

Yeshua rather insisted: “My Father loves me: because I lay down my
life, and take it up again. No one takes it from me, I lay it down of
my own
free will. I have authority to lay it down and to take it up again. I
willingly do what my Father commands” (Yochanan 10:17-18)

But there is still the issue of the pronoun "I" as used in Zechariah
12:10A. How does God's speaking in the 1st-person in Zechariah 12:10A
fit in with the rest of the verse, Zechariah 12:10B? Maimonides says:
God is One without having the attribute of a UNITY, hence the "I" and
God in the first person in Zechariah 12:10A. And as Jewish traditions
and sages teach, there is no UNITY like God's UNITY.

In Summary – It is my understanding that the Jews will recognize the
one that they have pierced (Yeshua Messiah ben-Yosef) and Salvation
will come to the Jewish People and they will welcome our King Yeshua
Messiah ben-David!