Zechariah 12:8

That as a preparative for all this mercy, and a pledge of it, he will pour upon them a spirit of prayer and repentance, the effect of which shall be universal and very particular,

He that is feeble among them - shall be as David - Here is a marked difference between Judaism and Christianity. So clear, full, and efficient shall be the salvation of believers under the Gospel that the feeblest among them shall be as strong, as full of courage, and as successful as David when he went against Goliath. The least in the kingdom of heaven was greater than John the Baptist.

Jerusalem, however, also shall be specially strengthened against the foe. feeble . . . shall be as David--to the Jew, the highest type of strength and glory on earth (2Sa 17:8; Joe 3:10). angel of the Lord before them--the divine angel that went "before them" through the desert, the highest type of strength and glory in heaven (Ex 23:20;

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

In that day the Lord shall defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble, rather, he theft stumbleth among them, shall be as David - The result of the care and the defense of God is here wholly spiritual, “the strengthening of such as do stand, and the raising up of such as fall.” It is not simply one feeble, but one “stumbling” and ready to fall, who becomes as David, the great instance of one who fell, yet was raised. Daniel says of a like trial-time, “And some of those of understanding shall stumble, to try them and to purge and to make them white, to the time of the end” Dan 11:35. Ribera: “Such care will God have of protecting the sons of the Church, when it shall be infested with persecutions, that he who shall have fallen through human infirmity, either deceived by heretics or overcome by fear of tortures, shall arise the more fervent and cautious, and with many tears shall make amends for his sins to God, as did David. “He who stumbled shall be as David,” because the sinner returneth’ to repentance. This is not said of all times, nor of all (for many have stumbled, who never rose) but chiefly of the first times of the Church and of people of great sanctity, such as were many then.” And the house of David shall be as God - They who stumbled became really like David; but he, though mighty and a great saint of God, though he once fell, was man. How then could the house of David be really like God? Only fully in Him, who, “being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God” Php 2:6; who said, “He who hath seen Me, hath seen My Father also” Joh 14:9; “I and the Father are one” Joh 10:30. And this the prophet brings out by adding, “as the Angel of the Lord before them,” that is, that one Angel of the Lord, in whom His very Presence and His Name was; who went before them, to guide them (see “Daniel the prophet” pp. 519-523). […]