The significance of the designations of families who will mourn in Zechariah 12

Question

As the prophet Zechariah proclaims the greatness of Jerusalem's mourning, he says:

¹²“All Israel will mourn, each clan by itself, and with the husbands separate from their wives. The clan of David will mourn alone, as will the clan of Nathan, ¹³the clan of Levi, and the clan of Shimei. ¹⁴Each of the surviving clans from Judah will mourn separately, and with the husbands separate from their wives. —12:12-14 (NLT)

This is a strange collection of named clans. Judah is broken down into separate clans, including the clan of David named separately. Levi is named together as a clan; and then both Nathan and Shimei are named. This is not the list that would expect upon hearing the phrase "the clans of Israel." Why are these particular clans named? Levi, Judah and David are well known; who are Nathan and Shimei?

Answer 1

First, an important correction: the text here (at least the Masoretic version) does not actually mention Judah; that appears to be an editorial addition in the NLT. The text of v14 is:

כֹּל, הַמִּשְׁפָּחוֹת הַנִּשְׁאָרוֹת--מִשְׁפָּחֹת מִשְׁפָּחֹת, לְבָד; וּנְשֵׁיהֶם, לְבָד.

JPS 1917: All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.

So verses 12-14 call out the families of: David, Nathan, Levi, and the Shimeites (and then "all the families that remain").

There are two possibilities for Nathan: the prophet, and David's son. If "Shimeites" refers to David's son Shammua, that might suggest that Nathan means David's son for parallelism. Further, Rashi suggests (below) that "all the families that remain" means all the other families of the house of David; if he is right, then that's a further argument for Nathan not being the prophet.

If we follow that theory, then the text could have just said the house of David and that would have included everybody. Prophetic writings sometimes use parallel formations for poetic effect even if they are not logically necessary, so that could be what is going on here. I do not know, however, why Nathan and Shammua would be particularly singled out among David's sons.

This leaves the question of why the Levites, who are not David's tribe, would be called out specially. I weakly speculate that they, being the overseers of the temple, have a special relationship to Jerusalem; just as King David and his family is named, perhaps they are too. But Zechariah can be a pretty hard book to understand, so I could well be wrong.

The medieval scholar Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzchak) offers the following comments on these verses:

the house of Nathan: the prophet. Some say that it refers to Nathan the son of David, as it is said (II Sam. 5:14): “Shammua and Shobab, and Nathan and Solomon.”

the house of Levi: The priests and the Levites.

the family of the Shimeites: Shammua the son of David. Scripture first makes a generality about the house of David, and then it specifies each one.

All the remaining families: of the house of David.

Answer 2

I think the Nathan of Zechariah 12: 12 is the the Nathan, the son of Bathsheba who is the alternate blood line of David through Mary given in Luke 3.23-28 , why? "As I live," says the LORD, "though Coniah [the same is called Jeconiah and Jehoiachin] the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet on My right hand, yet I would pluck you off; and I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those whose face you fear-the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the hand of the Chaldeans. So I will cast you out, and your mother who bore you, into another country where you were not born; and there you shall die. But to the land to which they desire to return, there they shall not return. "Is this man Coniah a despised, broken idol-A vessel in which is no pleasure? Why are they cast out, he and his descendants, And cast into a land which they do not know? O earth, earth, earth, Hear the word of the LORD! Thus says the LORD: 'Write this man down as childless, A man who shall not prosper in his days; For none of his descendants shall prosper, Sitting on the throne of David, And ruling anymore in Judah.'" (Jeremiah 22:24-30) for more see this great arrival I read on this. http://www.spiritandtruth.org/questions/132.htm?x=x

Answer 3

The only Shimei I know of is that man who cursed David when he was fleeing from Absalom.

So David and his men continued down the road, and Shimei kept pace with them on a nearby hillside, cursing as he went and throwing stones at David and tossing dust into the air. —2 Samuel 16:13 (NLT)

Several Nathans are named in the Bible, and most of them are not major characters. In this context, with David and Shimei, it is most natural to designate Nathan as the prophet from the same time period.

This verse implies a restoration of the Davidic kingship (a very important doctrine for the post-exilic period!) by its designation of the clans of Israel by people from his time. Judah and Levi were not from David's time themselves, but the Judahites and Levites were two of the main clans inhabiting Jerusalem. Remember, even though "Israel" was mentioned in verse twelve, this is the grief of Jerusalem from verse 11.

I can think of two reasons for the mention of Shimei.

• He represents the inclusion of the other tribes of Israel (besides the Judahites and Levites) in the covenant of God, even though it is centered on Jerusalem.
• He represents the restoration of rebellious Israelites. Shimei was a man who had committed supreme acts of treason; he hated the Messianic king. This is the essence of sin. The mourning in the passage is a true repentance over sin as a result of grace shown in the Yeshua the Messiah (see verse 10; compare John 19:37, Revelation 1:7).

Also two reasons for the mention of Nathan:

• He is the godly counterpart of Shimei. In the restoration of Davidic/Messianic kingship, God's people will be the righteous.
• He is a prophet; priests (well, Levites) and kings (the clan of David) having already been mentioned. Thus the threefold office of Messiah is shown (it comes out in a number of ways in this book), the three offices which those who are in him participate in by their union with him.

Thus all the people of the true Israel are subsumed here: those were once wicked; those who are now righteous; those who are prophets; those who are priests; those who are kings. No one is left out. The mystery not yet revealed in this passage, though, is that because Christ will mediate in all three roles, those who were wicked will be righteous, and they will stand with him in his offices.