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Mark 13:26 to Zechariah 12:10

NT Text: Mark 13:26

OT Source(s):

  • Zechariah 12:10 ("they will look on Me, the One they have pierced ... and mourn")
  • Daniel 7:13-14 (the Son of Man coming on the clouds — the dominant element in Mark's compression)

Source: Beale & Carson (eds.), Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (2007)

Reference Type: Allusion

Connection Method(s): Promise-Fulfillment

Anchor Text: Zech 12:10 — They Shall Look on Him

Significance: Mark's parousia saying — "they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory" — is the Markan parallel to the Olivet composite of Matthew 24:30. Mark retains the Danielic core (Daniel 7:13, coming with the clouds) but compresses out the explicit Zechariah mourning-clause that Matthew preserves ("all the tribes of the earth will mourn"). The Zechariah 12:10 connection here is therefore inherited through the shared synoptic tradition rather than carried by a distinct verbal echo in Mark 13:26 itself: the same dominical saying that fuses Zechariah's looking-on-the-pierced-one with Daniel's cloud-coming underlies all three synoptics, and Mark's "they will see the Son of Man" presupposes the looking-upon that Zechariah 12:10 supplies. Read alongside Matthew's fuller form and Revelation 1:7's matching composite, Mark's compressed parousia announcement still bears witness to the one figure who unites the two prophecies — the cloud-coming Son of Man is the pierced One. The hope this holds out is that the returning Judge bears in His glorified body the marks of His self-giving; to "see" Him is to behold the crucified Lord exalted, and so to be moved from dread to adoring trust in the One who was pierced for us.