Zechariah 13:4 Commentary and Bible Study

The false prophets are ashamed, not in the sense that they are convicted and ashamed before God at what they have done, but in that they must do it secretly, knowing it to be wrong. In New Testament times, in the true church, there will be no prophets like these wandering visionaries described by Zechariah; there will be clarity and true teaching. They may try to pass themselves off as prophets but God’s people will not be deceived. There will be a wariness about bringing false teaching into the church, because when the church makes clear what it believes, false teachers will be afraid to bring in heresy. Yes, ‘grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. ³⁰ Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them’ (Acts 20:29-30), but they will have to do so with subtlety and not openly. He will not openly wear the garments of a prophet.See how the false prophets suddenly turn humble in their efforts to evade detection. He denies being a prophet when charged with this, and lies, saying, ‘No, I am a husbandman, a farmer, and I have done this all my life.’ The lie is not plausible however, and someone points out the obvious: Why then do you have those wounds in your hands?’ – the self-inflicted wounds associated with the blood oath which he and his fellow false prophets have made together. Again he is driven to utter a further lie – ‘I got those wounds by accident in the house of a friend.’