It is interesting to read the Jewish interpretations of this important chapter. We quote from the Babylonian Talmud: That mourning, what was it about? Rabbi Yose and the Rabbis differ on the point. The one says it is for Messiah, the Son of Joseph, when He is killed; and the other says, It is for the _Yetzer Horo_ (evil desire, sin), when it is killed. All is clear in the case of him that says, It is for Messiah, the Son of Joseph, when He is killed, for then we can understand what is written, And they shall look upon Me whom they pierced, and they shall lament for Him (Zech. xii: 10). But in the case of him that says it is for sin when it is killed? Would it be mourning that is needed? Surely rejoicing would then be needed. Thus expounded, Rabbi Jehudah, of the Western house, in the Messianic times, the Holy One, blessed be He, is going to bring forth the evil desire and slay him in the presence of the righteous and the wicked. Unto the righteous the evil desire appears like a mountain, and unto the wicked he appears like a hair. The righteous weep and the wicked weep. The righteous say, How did we ever get the better of this high mountain? And the wicked say, How is it that we did not get the better of this hair? (Yalkut on Zechariah.) The Jews have invented a double Messiah, one who is called the Son of Joseph and the other the Son of David. The Son of Joseph is pierced, and after He has been slain, Jehovah will send Messiah, Son of David. It is not denied that the Son of Joseph is a Messiah, an anointed One. This teaching is to solve the difficulties they have in explaining the suffering Messiah and the victorious Messiah. We have often talked with orthodox Jews for hours on the fact that there is only one Messiah, and He whom they expect as Son of David is truly the One who died and was pierced through for our sins. Human words cannot describe the great mourning when at last it is known by His appearing in the clouds, that Jesus, the Son of David, is the once rejected stone and now become the head of the corner. The first verse of the thirteenth chapter belongs to the twelfth. However, we will leave it for the next chapter. CHAPTER XIII. _The fountain against sin and uncleanness opened--Idols and false prophets destroyed--The smitten Shepherd and the sheep scattered--The Remnant saved--Two-thirds cut off and a third part refined by fire._ As mentioned in the closing sentence of the exposition of the last chapter, the first verse of the 13th chapter belongs to the 12th chapter. The division of the Bible into chapters is very often at fault and helps much to obscure the real meaning. "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for Uncleanness." That day will be the day when they have looked upon Him, Jehovah, the pierced One, and the fountain which is opened is the same blessed fountain of which the saints now sing: