Some Notes on Zechariah and Doctrine and Covenants 45

 

The prophet Zechariah as depicted by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel.

One passage from Doctrine and Covenants 45 is especially noteworthy as it reinterprets and expounds upon three prophecies from Zechariah 12–14. It does this, however, in reverse order of when these prophecies appear in the received book of Zechariah. This is apparent in the following chart, with bold emphasis added in each scripture reference for easy comparison.

 

Doctrine and Covenants 45	Zechariah
48 And then shall the Lord set his foot upon this mount, and it shall cleave in twain, and the earth shall tremble, and reel to and fro, and the heavens also shall shake.	14:4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
51–52 And then shall the Jews look upon me and say: What are these wounds in thine hands and in thy feet? Then shall they know that I am the Lord; for I will say unto them: These wounds are the wounds with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. I am he who was lifted up. I am Jesus that was crucified. I am the Son of God.	13:6 And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.
53 And then shall they weep because of their iniquities; then shall they lament because they persecuted their king.	12:10 They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, 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 firstborn.

In Zechariah 12–14, Zechariah offers significant insight to some of the events that will occur during the Second Coming. This has long been noted by many Christians, and some scholars have noted that passages and themes from Zechariah 13–14 are also referenced in Mark’s account of the Olivet Discourse in Mark 13. This further connects the two prophecies as eschatological in nature from a Christian viewpoint.[1] As such, it is not surprising to see the Lord explicitly connect these passages to the eschaton in the Doctrine and Covenants as well.

One clear connection between these two passages, for instance, is the setting of the Mount of Olives. In Zechariah 14:4–5, the Lord will come to the Mount of Olives and cause it to divide in two, allowing Israel to flee from their enemies and be saved by the Lord. In Matthew 24/Mark 13, Jesus is teaching on this mountain about the events leading up to His triumphant return. While He makes no clear reference to His return to the Mount of Olives in that Sermon, it was understood by the ancient Christians that Jesus would return to the Mount of Olives, just as an angel taught the Apostles (see Acts 1:11–12). The same mount is referred to in Doctrine and Covenants 45, and quotes nearly verbatim portions of Zechariah’s initial prophecy.

The Lord then refers to another prophecy in Zechariah 13. While Zechariah 13:6 was originally a part of a larger prophecy referring to the end of false prophets (another theme found in the Olivet Discourse), the Lord adapts the language to fit a new context.[2] In its original context, these are the words of a false prophet who had been wounded by faithful Israelites. In Section 45, however, these are the words of Jesus Christ. BY so adapting this language, there is a sense of underlying irony as Jesus was mistakenly identified as a false prophet in mortality. Thus, identifying Himself as one “wounded in the house of my friends” would be especially impactful for Israel, who would recognize this ironic twist and therefore lead them to “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 firstborn” (Zechariah 12:10). Despite being mistaken for a false prophet in mortality, however, Jesus still remembered the covenants He had made with Israel and had come to save them and bring them back into His presence.

The wounds received in the house of His friends are furthermore connected to wounds that Israel gave the Lord in Zechariah 12:10. Moreover, this passage was cited in John 19:37 to specifically refer to the wounds Jesus received as He was crucified, and these wounds would further identify Jesus as the Messiah. After recognizing Jesus as their Savior, Stephen E. Robinson and H. Dean Garrett note that this event would begin “the long-awaited collective repentance and conversion of the Jews. This is not repentance for the death of Christ, for these Jews are not guilty of that. Rather, it is the same repentance that all who come unto Christ must go through.”[3]

One final noteworthy aspect of this passage is how the Lord cites Zechariah 12–14 using Seidel’s Law, an ancient Israelite technique of citing a text in reverse order to mark for the reader or listener that another prophet was being referred to. While most prominent in ancient texts such as the Bible or Book of Mormon, it is possible that the Lord’s use of an inverted citation from Zechariah here was purposeful to signify another text was being cited, especially given that the Lord does not name the text he is drawing from.[4]

All of the above shows a level of familiarity with the biblical passages in question that is unlikely to have originated with Joseph Smith. Joseph had not read the Bible all the way through at this time, and though he was working on a new translation of the Bible, would not deal with Zechariah until nearly the end of his translation. He may have heard these passages or read them independently, but if he was familiar with them did not draw attention to the connection between these passages and this revelation when it was given. In fact, Joseph never appears to link these two in any of his public or private writings or sermons.

Rather, the inclusion of these passages invites readers to more closely examine the Doctrine and Covenants as a rich source for divine revelations that were given to the Prophet Joseph. In this case, it is most likely that the Lord, familiar with Zechariah’s prophecy, was able to utilize it when speaking to Joseph the Prophet.

NOTES

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[1] See K. R. Harriman, “The King Arrives, but for What Purpose? The Christological Use of Zechariah 13–14 in Mark 13,” Journal of Theological Interpretation 10, no. 2 (2016): 283–298. While Mark 13 does not reference the same verses used in Doctrine and Covenants 45, it does help demonstrate that these chapters have deep significance for the Second Coming for ancient as well as modern Christians.

[2] For discussions on Zechariah 2–6 as referring to the end of false prophets in the land, see

Carol L. Meyers and Eric M. Meyers, Zechariah 9–14: A New translation with Introduction and Commentary in Anchor Bible Commentary, vol. 25C (New York: Doubleday, 1993), 361–384; Mark J. Boda, Haggai, Zechariah in The NIV Application Commentary, ed. Terry Muck et al. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009), 490–493.

[3] Stephen E. Robinson and H. Dean Garrett, A Commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants, vol. 2 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2001), 64.

[4] For an introduction to this technique, see Donald W. Perry, Preserved in Translation: Hebrew and Other Ancient Literary Forms in the Book of Mormon (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University, Religious Studies Center; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2020), 89‒92.