This opened fountain is Christ’s pierced side (John 19:34, 37), which was opened for the accomplishing of redemption.

Verses 2-4 speak of God’s causing the false prophets to pass from the land. This cleared the way for Christ to come in as the real Prophet. However, Christ said that He was not a prophet but a tiller of the ground. This means that He was not the kind of prophet, a false prophet, mentioned in the preceding verses. Christ came to be the real Prophet (Matt. 13:57; Deut. 18:15-19, cf. Acts 3:22) but was rejected and wounded in His side in the house of Israel, His relatives in the flesh (vv. 5-6; 12:10). That wound became the base of their redemption, which Christ accomplished for them in His death.

The children of Israel killed Christ, but in this sweet word Christ counts their action as wounds from those who love Him.

Christ, the Fellow of Jehovah, came as the God-sent Shepherd to the children of Israel (Zech. 11:7; Matt. 9:36; John 10:11) but was attacked unto death by them (v. 7a; Matt. 26:31; Acts 2:23). As a man Christ was both a relative of the children of Israel and a Fellow of Jehovah. As He was hanging on the cross, His relatives wounded Him (v. 6), and God called in the sword to strike Him.

Little ones here refers to the people of Israel. This indicates that God reacted to the rejection of Christ by the children of Israel and turned His hand upon them as the little ones by punishing them through Titus the Roman prince and his army in A.D. 70 and scattering them into the nations to be despised, humiliated, persecuted, and destroyed throughout the age of grace until today (Matt. 21:41a; Matt. 23:38; 24:2). This is God’s sovereign preparation of a people to receive the Redeemer with His redemption and His salvation. See note Zech. 12:10^1b and note Zech. 12:10².

In the great tribulation at the consummation of the present age, in all the land of Israel two-thirds of the people will be cut off, slaughtered, by Antichrist in his persecution of the Jews (Rev. 11:2; 13:7). One-third of the remnant will be left in the land and will be brought through fire and refined like silver and tried like gold by the persecution of Antichrist (vv. 8-9a). These will be those who are written in the book as the secret record (Dan. 12:1b). They will call on the Lord’s name, and the Lord will answer them. The Lord will say that they are His people, and they will say that the Lord is their God (v. 9b). They will be saved into the enjoyment of the riches of the Triune God, first in the millennium to be the priests to teach the nations (Zech. 8:20-23; Isa. 2:3) and then in the New Jerusalem to participate in all the blessings God has ordained in eternity and for eternity (see Rev. 21:12b and note Rev. 21:12⁴, par. 2). This is the household salvation to Israel (Rom. 11:26-27). See note Dan. 12:1^3d.