446 VISIONS AND PROPHECIES OF ZECHARIAH
The blessed effect of the outpouring of the spirit of grace and supplication on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem " in that day " will be that " they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and mourn"
(a) They shall look (^aiTi, v hibitu] with no ordinary or mere passing look, but " with trustful hope and long ing," as one has paraphrased it. Among the other mean ings which this particular verb has is that of " to regard," " to consider," " to contemplate," " to look upon with pleasure." It is used, for instance, in that remarkable story of the brazen serpent in Num. xxi. 9, which, as it seems to me, was in the mind of Zechariah when he uttered this prophecy : " And Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it on a pole (or the standard ), and it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld it (or looked unto ^arn, v hibif), tJie serpent of brass, he lived" With this same eager look of faith and hope shall Israel in that day behold and contemplate Him, who is the great antitype of the brazen serpent, and who was " lifted up " for us on the Cross, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life. It is this word also which is used in Num. xii. 8, as describing the beatific view of the very " form " or " similitude " of God, which it was the distinction and privilege of Moses above the other prophets to " behold." Thus also, not " in a vision " or " in a dream," but face to face, and with no longer any veil to hide His glory, shall Israel in that day " look upon " Him who came once in humiliation to suffer and die, but who shall be manifested now in the glory of His Father and with His holy angels. 1
() " Unto Me," or " Upon Me ($K, elai}.
This sets forth the character and majesty of Him whom they shall behold as their great Deliverer, for the One who speaks throughout the chapter, as already
1 See also, for instance, Ps. xxxiv. 5 : "They looked unto Him and were lightened " ; and Isa. li. I, 2 : "Look unto the Rock whence ye were hewn" ; "Look unto Abraham," etc.; where the same word is used to express the "look," not only of faith, but of contemplation.
