“Zechariah 12 — The Final Yom Kippur: The Pierced One and the Mourning of YasharEL at the Miqpād Altar”

 

Preface

This study explores the profound prophetic depth hidden within Zechariah 12:10–14, where the piercing of Yahuah Himself, manifested in Yahusha, reveals the mystery of divine justice and redemption. It traces how the Hebrew text shifts from “Me” to “Him,” showing that the Eternal became flesh to bear the blood-guilt of Adam and redeem YasharEL.

Moving through layers of Torah symbolism — the Miqpād altar, cities of refuge, Red Heifer, and Yom Kippur — the study unveils the final pattern: when the families of YasharEL mourn, they are spiritually numbered, purified, and restored at the true altar “outside the camp.” It is both a picture of judgment and mercy, death and renewal, culminating in the final Jubilee trumpet and Sukkoth — when the redeemed dwell with Elohim in immortal tents.

This note invites the reader to see Scripture not as separate dispensations, but as a single divine revelation of the Redeemer of Blood — the One whom we pierced, who became both Avenger and Refuge, Priest and Sacrifice, Elohim and Man.

Zechariah 12:10 in Hebrew (no vowels):

ושפכתי על בית דוד ועל יושבי ירושלם רוח חן ותחנונים והביטו אלי את אשר דקרו וספדו עליו כמספד על היחיד והמר עליו כהמר על הבכור

📖Zec 12:10  “And I shall pour on the house of Dawiḏ and on the inhabitants of Yerushalayim a spirit of favour and prayers. And they shall look on Me whom they pierced, and they shall mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son. And they shall be in bitterness over Him as a bitterness over the first-born. 

🔨Breaking it down:

1. והביטו אלי = “They will look to me” (אלי = to me).
   👉 This is Yahuah speaking in first person.

2. את אשר דקרו = “the one whom they pierced.”
   👉 Hebrew uses את here to mark the object. It means “me — the one they pierced.”

3. וספדו עליו = “and they will mourn for him (עליו = him).”

4. 👉 עליו = “for him / over him.” This is third person.

So what happens?

• First it says: “They will look to ME, the one they pierced.”

• Then it says: “They will mourn for HIM.”

It’s the same person (Yahuah → Yahusha), but Hebrew switches from Me (first person) to Him (third person).
This is why English Bibles sometimes look confusing — some keep it as “me,” some as “him.”

Prophecy was looking forward to the transitioned form and when the transitioned form i.e. Yahusha came the Him (third person) switches to My (first person. e.g. My Father).

👨Why does it say “HIM” later?

Because the mourning is compared to the loss of:

• היחיד (ha-yachid) = the only one / only son.

• הבכור (ha-bekhor) = the firstborn.

So the “him” is the unique son who was pierced — Yahusha.

The prophecy then shifts focus to mourning:

• The grief is expressed in human, relational terms: “as one mourns for his only son, as one grieves for a firstborn.”

• The Him (עליו) identifies the pierced one as the Son — Yahusha, the yachid and the bekhor.

👉 “Him” makes the mourning personal, concrete — the unique Son, cut off.

👨🏼Why does it say “Me” when read in prophecy?

Because the mourning is identified to the origin/source person who He Himself was.

👉 The One pierced is none other than Yahuah in flesh.

This is why John quotes it in 📖Revelation 1:7: “Every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him.”

The “Him” is Yahusha, but Revelation is unveiling that this “Him” is the same as “Me” in Zechariah.

🗝️The Prophetic Layer

So you have two perspectives in one verse:

• “Me” = the divine origin, Yahuah Himself speaking. This reveals who Yahusha truly was — Elohim manifested in flesh.

• “Him” = the incarnate Son, the visible pierced one — the object of national mourning and recognition.

👉 In other words:

• “Me” = the identity (origin/source).

• “Him” = the incarnation (manifestation).

❔Why does the focus feel to shift? Two reasons:

1. Hebrew idiom and word order. Hebrew often places a first-person expression and then uses a third-person pronominal suffix later when continuing the thought. That can sound to readers like a switch, but it’s a cohesive anaphoric reference (the same person).

2. Cantillation/punctuation and translation tradition. The Masoretic cantillation can mark a pause after אלי, and some ancient versions (LXX, Theodotion) and some readers interpret the break so the clause reads differently. John (John 19:37) quotes a Greek form that separates “look on me” from “whom they pierced,” which fuels different English renderings. But the Hebrew consonantal line has both the 1st-person marker (אלי) and the later 3rd-person suffix (עליו).

Is it because the mourning is for the yachid (the only/only-born)?

The verse itself uses the words היחיד (hayachid) and הבכור (habachor) in the mourning simile: כמספד על היחיד (as the lamentation for an only one) and כהמר על הבכור (as the bitter lamentation for the firstborn). The grief imagery is precisely “as for the only-born / firstborn,” which in the prophetic/typological reading is applied to the singular, unique suffering figure — so our reading of yachid / the only-born as the centre of mourning is supported by the Hebrew terminology.

📕The Fulfillment

• At His crucifixion: humanity saw only the “Him” — the suffering man pierced.

• At His return: YasharEL will see the “Me” — the divine identity revealed behind the man.

• That’s why the tribes mourn: they pierced the Son, but in piercing Him, they pierced Yahuah.

🫯Hadadrimmon / Megiddo — significance

• Hadad-Rimmon (הדדרממון) in Zechariah 12:11 is understood in the tradition as a toponym in the plain (valley) of Megiddo.

📖Zec 12:11  “In that day the mourning in Yerushalayim is going to be great, like the mourning at Haḏaḏ Rimmon in the valley of Meḡiddo. 

• The common interpretation: the phrase alludes to the great lamentation held there — traditionally the mourning for the righteous king YoshiYahu/Josiah (who was wounded at Megiddo; see 2 Chr 35:20–25 / 2 Kgs 23:29–30). The “mourning of Hadad-Rimmon” became proverbial for deep national lament.

📖2Ki 23:29  In his days Pharaoh Neḵo sovereign of Mitsrayim went up against the sovereign of Ashshur, to the River Euphrates. And Sovereign Yoshiyahu went out to him, and he killed him at Meḡiddo when he saw him. 

📖2Ki 23:30  And his servants conveyed his body in a chariot from Meḡiddo, and brought him to Yerushalayim, and buried him in his own burial-place. And the people of the land took Yeho’aḥaz son of Yoshiyahu, and anointed him, and set him up to reign in his father’s place. 

• Many lexica/encyclopedias identify Hadad-Rimmon with a site in the Megiddo valley (some identify with modern Rummaneh). The name itself links to pagan deity names (Hadad, Rimmon), which points to an older place-name later used as the locus of profound mourning. Joshua 17:11 territorial lists around Manasseh / Megiddo region aligns with the geography — Megiddo and its plain were within tribal allotments and battle routes.

👪 “משפחה משפחה (mashpachah mashpachah)” — family from family, and David / Nathan lines

• The doubled משפחה משפחה in Zech 12:12 emphasizes families/households one-by-one — a comprehensive, household-by-household mourning. The genealogical observation is exactly the kind of  prophet’s repetition can carry: the royal line (David) and a parallel line (Nathan) — Matthew preserves Davidic branches and some names (Neri, Shelem) appear in variant genealogical strands in different Gospel traditions. 

  📖 Zec 12:12  And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart;

  The curse on Yekonyah/Konayah (Yehoyakin/Jehoiachin) and the childless nuance also plays into the prophetic concern with legitimate seed/lineage. So the prophetic phrase “mispachah mispachah” fits our reading of tribal/lineal sorrow (Davidic and collateral branches) — families mourning within families.

 🌴Levi and Shimi (Simeon) — curse/anger tie

• Zechariah mentions priestly/leaders/tribal responses later; the reference noted to tribe-names (Levi, Shimi/Simeon) and Yaaqob’s words in Gen 49 (“their anger is fierce / Simeon and Levi…”) is a classical intertextual move: prophets often recall patriarchal blessings/curses when describing tribal behavior. That link makes sense theologically and literarily.

  📖 Zec 12:13  The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart;

  
  

🌿 Zechariah 12:14 — mourners are the remnant of the family

📖Zec 12:14  all the rest of the clans, every clan by itself, and their women by themselves. 

• The verse’s language about “those left from the households” fits the prophetic pattern: a remnant/one who remain (נשארים-nesharim) who truly recognize and mourn. The tie to a spiritual remnant (not the carnal nation) is a valid reading in canonical prophetic–apocalyptic theology.

  The word translated as ‘rest/remainder’ is the Hebrew word ‘shar’ שאר which means ‘stayed ones/residue’. It has the root word ‘shar שר’ which typifies the umbilical cord, and navel, as a cord that binds the infant to the mother.

😢Yom Kippur / spiritual mourning / Ruach YasharEl

• The corporate national mourning described in Zech 12 (and picked up in Revelation’s “every eye shall see him” pattern) fits typologically with Yom Kippur themes — identification with Yahuah and repentance/atonement. The linking of the heavenly city / New Yerushalayim and the spiritual pilgrimage language (Heb 13:14; Heb 13:12–13) is consistent with the New Testament reading of prophetic lament as centering on the pierced/atoning one.

🐄 Yahusha as the “Red Heifer” / outside the gate

• The typology that Yahusha is both the pierced one and the one who fulfills the out-of-camp sacrifice imagery (parah adumah / outside the gate) matches the NT author’s explicit linkage (Heb 13:12–13). The prophet’s “they looked on me whom they pierced” resonates with the crucifixion/outside-camp sacrificial motif.

📖Heb 13:12  And so יהושע also suffered outside the gate, to set apart the people with His own blood. 

📖Heb 13:13  Let us, then, go to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. 

✝️Where was the Red Heifer sacrificed?

The Red Heifer was sacrificed at the miqpad altar

1. What does “Miqpād” mean?

The Hebrew word מפקד (miqpād) comes from the root פקד (paqad).

• paqad = to visit, to appoint, to muster, to number, to inspect.

• So miqpād = “place of numbering / mustering / oversight.”

👉 In the Temple system, the Miqpād altar was outside the camp/city. It’s where the ashes of the red heifer were stored and where sacrifices for purification were burned.
It’s also associated with a mustering point — where people or things are inspected, numbered, appointed for judgment or service.

2. Spiritual meaning of Miqpād

• It’s the place outside the camp.

• The place of reproach and cleansing.

• The place where people/things are numbered, inspected, appointed.

👉 In prophetic setting: This is the place where Yahusha was impaled — outside the gate.
This is also the place where the families are “numbered” (miqpād = muster) before Yahuah in mourning.

3. Connection to Yom Kippur (future fulfillment)

Yom Kippur = the Day of Atonement.

• In Torah, it’s when the nation is afflicted, sins confessed, atonement made.

• In prophecy, it points to the final national mourning when YasharEL (spiritual YasharEl) recognizes Messiah.

Zechariah 12:10–14 = this future Yom Kippur moment:

• Yahuah pours out the Spirit of grace.

• They look on Me / Him whom they pierced.

• Every family mourns separately (David, Nathan, Levi, Simeon — representing royal, prophetic, priestly, tribal lines).

• This is a national “day of affliction of soul.”

👉 📖Revelation 1:7 ties this directly to Messiah’s second coming: “Every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the land will mourn because of Him.”

That mourning = the prophetic Yom Kippur.

4. Miqpād altar in this future setting

If Miqpād = mustering place, then:

• At Yahusha’s crucifixion, He was the “Red Heifer” burned outside the camp at the miqpād.

• At His return, the same place becomes the spiritual mustering point — the gathering of the remnant families of YasharEl.

• The families are “numbered” (miqpād) as they mourn family by family.

👉 In other words: The Miqpād altar = the meeting ground where the remnant is inspected, numbered, and purified — outside the carnal city, in Messiah.
This is where the true Yom Kippur is fulfilled: not in ritual, but in spiritual nation of YasharEL mourning for the Pierced One.

5. How it all ties together

• Miqpād = numbering/inspection place.

• Yahusha = Red Heifer, crucified at the miqpād altar outside Yerushalayim.

• Zechariah 12 = prophecy of future spiritual YasharEL mourning (Yom Kippur).

• Families mourning = the spiritual YasharEL remnant being numbered family by family at the miqpād.

• Revelation 1:7 = ultimate fulfillment when Messiah returns and all tribes mourn.

So the picture is:

At His first coming, Yahusha was the sacrifice at the Miqpād altar.
At His second coming, the remnant families of YasharEL will be mustered at the Miqpād altar spiritually — the place of numbering, outside the camp, in Messiah — and will mourn as in Yom Kippur.

🔎Concelaed in the Mourners 

1. House of David → Kingship

• David = the royal line, kingship, throne.

• In Messiah, this points to the Messianic King — Yahusha as Son of David.

• In mourning, the royal line acknowledges that their true King was pierced.
  👉 At the Miqpād altar: kingship is numbered and purified. Every crown is laid down before the Pierced King.

📖Rev 4:10  the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and bow before Him who lives forever and ever, and they cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 

📖Rev 4:11  “You are worthy, O ADON, to receive esteem and respect and power, for You have created all, and because of Your desire they are, and were created.” 

2. House of Nathan → Prophetic line

• Nathan was another son of David. His line appears in Luke’s genealogy, showing a preserved branch apart from the cursed line of Solomon through Yekonyah.

• This represents the prophetic role — truth-bearer, promised seed bearer, confronting sin, preserving promise.

• 👉 At the Miqpād altar: the prophetic families mourn, realizing all prophecy pointed to the One pierced whom the woman bore in birth pangs and saved in child bearing. The remnant prophets are numbered as witnesses to Messiah.

3. House of Levi → Priesthood

• Levi = priestly tribe, temple service.

• They were cursed for anger with Simeon (Gen 49), yet chosen for priestly service later.

• Their mourning = the priests finally recognize the true High Priest, Yahusha.

• Levi's anger was cursed and it was prophesied that he would be scattered in YasharEL along with Simeon

📖Gen 49:7  “Cursed be their displeasure for it is fierce, and their wrath for it is cruel! I divide them (Levi and Simeon) in Ya‛aqoḇ and scatter them in Yisra’ěl. 

📖Numbers 18:20–21 “Yahuah said to Aaron: You shall have no inheritance in their land, nor shall you have any portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the children of YasharEL. Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in YasharEL as an inheritance in return for the work which they perform.”

📖Deu 18:1  “The priests, the Lěwites, all the tribe of Lěwi, have no part nor inheritance with Yisra’ěl. They are to eat the offerings of יהוה made by fire, and His inheritance. 

📖Deu 18:2  “But among his brothers Lěwi has no inheritance. יהוה is his inheritance, as He has spoken to him. 

🧺Joshua 21 lists the distribution:

• The Levites were given 48 cities scattered throughout YasharEL with surrounding pasture lands.

• These included the 6 Cities of Refuge.

1️⃣ The division: 42 + 6

📖Numbers 35 :6 “Among the cities you shall give to the Levites there shall be six cities of refuge, which you shall appoint for the manslayer to flee to; and in addition to them forty-two cities.”

So total = 48.

• 42 = ordinary Levitical dwelling cities.

• 6 = special Levitical refuge cities (3 west of Jordan, 3 east).

When the land was divided under Joshua 21, the tribe of Levi received 48 cities scattered through the twelve tribal territories.

Levitical family	Cities & tribal sources	No. of cities
Kohathites – priests (sons of Aaron)	from Yahudah, Simeon, Binyamin	13
Remaining Kohathites	from Ephraim, Dan, ½ Manasseh (west)	10
Gershonites	from Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, ½ Manasseh (east)	13
Merarites	from Reuben, Gad, Zebulun	12
Total		48 cities (6 of them Cities of Refuge)

2️⃣ Who lived in the six cities of refuge?

• They were Levitical cities (Joshua 20 :7-9; 21:13-38).

• Levites lived there permanently.

• When someone accidentally killed another person, he could flee there.

📖Numbers 35 :11-12 “Then you shall appoint cities… that a manslayer who kills any person accidentally may flee there. They shall be to you cities of refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment.”

So inside those six cities:

• Levites (priests and teachers).

• Refuge-seekers (those awaiting trial).

The Levites’ presence kept justice, mercy, and Torah instruction available to the fugitives.

• 👉 Levi was thus scattered throughout all YasharEL, embedded in every tribe’s territory.

• 👉 At the Miqpād altar: the priestly families are numbered. The earthly priesthood yields to the heavenly Priest who was sacrificed outside the gate.

3️⃣ Why six?

Six in Torah always marks labor / man’s stage before rest (six days of work → Sabbath).
The manslayer’s stay there lasted until the death of the high priest (Num 35:25).

📖Num 35:25  And the congregation shall rescue the man-slayer from the hand of the revenger of blood, and the congregation shall return him to the city of refuge where he had fled, and he shall remain there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the set-apart oil. 

When the high priest died → the manslayer was released.
That’s a prophetic picture of atonement and release at the death of the true High Priest (Yahusha).

So:

• 6 refuge cities = protection during man’s era of toil.

• Death of the High Priest = transition into freedom → the 7th day rest.

4️⃣ The rule itself

📖Num 35:25  And the congregation shall rescue the man-slayer from the hand of the revenger of blood, and the congregation shall return him to the city of refuge where he had fled, and he shall remain there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the set-apart oil. 
📖Num 35:26  But if the man-slayer at any time goes outside the limits of the city of refuge where he fled, 
📖Num 35:27  and the revenger of blood finds him outside the limits of his city of refuge, and the revenger of blood executes the man-slayer, he is not guilty of blood, 
📖Num 35:28  because he should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest the man-slayer is to return to the land of his possession.

So while the high priest lived, protection existed only inside the city. 
After the high priest’s death, the manslayer was legally free to return home; the avenger could no longer kill him without becoming a murderer himself.

5️⃣ Who judged the manslayer?

📖Num 35:12 And they shall be cities of refuge for you from the revenger, and the man-slayer is not to die until he stands before the congregation for right-ruling.

📖Num 35:24 then the congregation shall judge between him who struck someone and the revenger of blood, according to these right-rulings.
📖Num 35:25 And the congregation shall rescue the man-slayer from the hand of the revenger of blood, and the congregation shall return him to the city of refuge where he had fled, and he shall remain there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the set-apart oil.

The Hebrew word translated as 'congregation' is 'edah עדה' which comes from the root word 'ed עד' which means witness. So, its evident that this congregation were judiciary in gathering witnesses to see if the man slayer was innocent or guilty.

The Hebrew word translated as 'revenger of blood' is 'גאל הדם goel hadam' 

Hebrew	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Notes
גאל	goel	redeemer, kinsman-redeemer	from root גאל — to redeem, avenge, act as next of kin
הדם	hadam	the blood	from root דם — blood, life

The word “hadam” (הדם)

Without vowels: הדם
Root: דם (dam) — meaning blood.

So הדם = ha-dam = “the blood.”

Connection between דם (dam) and אדם (adam):

Hebrew	Transliteration	Meaning	Relationship
דם	dam	blood	the life-fluid, essence of life
אדם	adam	man, human, Adam	literally “the blooded one,” “the one from red earth”

👉 The word אדם (adam) literally contains דם (dam) — man is named for the blood that carries life and the red color of the ground (adamah, אדמה).

📖Genesis 2:7 “And Yahuah Elohim formed adam from the dust of the adamah and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.”

📖Leviticus 17:11 “For the life of the flesh is in the blood (dam), and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls.”

Meaning in the title “Goel haDam” (גאל הדם)

Literally: “The Redeemer of the Blood.”
Spiritually: “The Redeemer of Adam.”

Because dam is inside adam, the phrase can be read twofold:

• Legal / literal: the avenger or redeemer of spilled blood.

• Prophetic / redemptive: the Redeemer of mankind — of Adam’s fallen bloodline.

👉 Yahusha as the Goel haDam is therefore the Redeemer of Adam’s blood — redeeming humanity itself.

📖Ephesians 1:7 “In Him we have redemption through His blood (dam).”

Hebrew element	Concept	Fulfilment in Yahusha
דם (dam)	Blood, life, atonement	His precious blood shed for remission of sins (Matt 26:28)
אדם (adam)	Man, mankind	“Son of Adam” who restores humanity (Luke 19:10)
גאל (goel)	Redeemer, kinsman	The Kinsman-Redeemer who took flesh and bought us back (Heb 2:14–17)

6️⃣ The literal Torah rule

In the Torah, the goʾel ha-dam (גאל הדם) acted when a life was taken.
He pursued the killer until atonement was made—either through lawful execution of a murderer or the death of the high priest for one who killed by accident (Num 35).
The point was that blood defiles the land and must be covered by other blood or by atonement (Num 35 :33).

7️⃣ How the prophets turn that image inward

The prophets extend the same language to YasharEL’s spiritual violence:

• “Your hands are full of blood” (Isa 1 :15).

• “They shed innocent blood… and the land was defiled” (Ps 106 :38).

So all YasharEL—and by extension all humankind—is pictured as blood-guilty, not only for physical murder but for covenant-breaking.

8️⃣ The crowd at the crucifixion

When the gospels show the people shouting “Crucify Him,” they are representing the entire human condition: the law-keepers and law-breakers alike rejecting the Righteous One (Acts 3:14-17).
Kepha/Peter tells that same crowd:

📖Acts 3 :15–17 “You killed the Author of life, whom Elohim raised from the dead… and now, brothers, I know you acted in ignorance.” 

That is exactly the category of the manslayer who killed without intent—guilty, yet given refuge.

9️⃣ The avenger and the refuge

In the type:

• The avenger of blood has a legal right to pursue.

• The city of refuge and the death of the high priest remove that claim.

In the fulfilment:

• Divine justice itself is the goʾel ha-dam—the rightful avenger of the blood of the innocent.

• Yahusha becomes both our city of refuge and our High Priest whose death satisfies justice.
  His own blood answers the claim that our blood could never pay.

🔟 “They shall look upon Me whom they pierced”

Zechariah 12 :10 pictures the moment when that truth becomes visible:
the guilty look on the Pierced One and mourn as for an only son.
John applies it directly to the crucifixion (John 19 :37) and Revelation 1 :7 extends it to the final revelation—“every eye shall see Him, even those who pierced Him.”

So yes, Scripture allows the recognition that we—humanity—share in the guilt of the piercing, but its purpose is not to condemn us again; it is to move us to repentance and to refuge in the very One we pierced.

1️⃣1️⃣ The outcome

In the pattern:

Type	Fulfilment
Manslayer	Humanity guilty through ignorance and sin
Avenger of blood	Divine justice demanding life for life
City of refuge	Safety in Messiah
Death of high priest	Atonement in Messiah’s death
Release	Justification and new life

1️⃣ 2️⃣ How this pattern points to Messiah Yahusha

Torah pattern	Fulfilment in Yahusha
Elders judge guilt or innocence	The Word of Elohim reveals our condition (John 12:48).
High priest’s life stands for the nation	Yahusha’s life and death stand for all mankind.
Death of high priest ends the avenger’s claim	Death of Yahusha ends the accuser’s legal right (Rom 8 : 33-34).

1️⃣3️⃣ Symbolic meaning in Messiah

Type	Fulfilment
Manslayer	Humanity guilty of bloodshed “not on purpose” (ignorance, Acts 3:17).
City of refuge	Place of safety in Messiah while judgment still stands (Heb 6 :18).
Death of the high priest	Death of Yahusha—atonement that ends the old claim of the avenger (Satan, the accuser).
Release to inheritance	Resurrection life and entry into the Kingdom; the accuser loses all legal right (Rom 8 :1, 33-34).

👉The type points beautifully to Yahusha.

1️⃣ 4️⃣ What, then, was the high priest’s part?

The high priest’s function was atoning, not judicial:

• He was the one “anointed with the set apart oil” (Num 35:25).

• His life represented the nation’s standing before Yahuah.

• When he died, that national atonement was renewed, and the accidental blood-guilt attached to the land was lifted.

  “But after the death of the high priest the manslayer may return to the land of his possession.” (Num 35 : 28)

So his death, not his courtroom action, released the manslayer.

1️⃣5️⃣ What if the avenger still lay in wait?

Once the high priest died, the go’el hadam (blood-avenger) had no lawful claim any more.
If he attacked the manslayer after that moment, the avenger himself would be guilty of bloodshed (Deut 19:10-13).

📖Deu 19:10  so that innocent blood is not shed in the midst of your land which יהוה your Elohim is giving you as an inheritance, or blood-guilt shall be upon you. 
📖Deu 19:11  “But when anyone hates his neighbour, and shall lie in wait for him and rise against him and strike his being so that he dies, then he shall flee to one of these cities, 
📖Deu 19:12  and the elders of his city shall send and bring him from there, and give him into the hand of the revenger of blood, and he shall die. 
📖Deu 19:13  “Your eye shall not pardon him, but you shall purge the blood of innocent blood from Yisra’ěl, so that it might be well with you. 

The Torah’s design was to:

• satisfy justice (life for life if killing was intentional),

• but also stop endless blood-feuds when the killing was accidental.

The death of the high priest functioned as a legal and spiritual boundary; it expiated the remaining guilt attached to the land and to the killer. Hence, the literal Torah follower outside of Mashiyach Yahusha would be held guilty of persecuting the man slayer who is now forgiven and cleared of his death sentence.

📖Rev 20:9  And they came up over the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the set-apart ones and the beloved city. And fire came down from Elohim out of the heaven and consumed them. 

Book of Revelation uses the same language 'camp of the set-apart ones' i.e. those who have fled to Yahusha for refuge as He is the Beloved city as New Yerushalayim measures to Him.

📖Luk 11:50  so that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world shall be required of this generation, 
📖Luk 11:51  from the blood of Heḇel to the blood of Zeḵaryah who perished between the slaughter-place and the Dwelling Place. Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation. 
📖Luk 11:52  “Woe to you learned in the Torah, because you took away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.” 

🔎Truth-points drawn from that picture:

• We are the manslayers — guilty of shedding blood, both Torah’s and the Righteous One’s.

• Yahusha stands as the Goel ha-Dam — the Avenger who also redeems Adam’s fallen bloodline.

• He is the City of Refuge — the place where the guilty flee and live.

• His own death as High Priest satisfies the law’s demand; justice is fulfilled.

• Through His blood the land is cleansed from blood-guilt and restored to peace.

• In Him, mercy and justice meet — the Avenger becomes the Redeemer.

• When we look on the Pierced One, the accuser’s claim ends and true atonement begins.

• Those outside the Beloved will try to destroy His people but He will avenge them.

1️⃣6️⃣ 42 dwelling cities & the rhythm of increase

The number 42 shows up repeatedly in Scripture as the number of journey / testing / transition:

• YasharEL’s 42 wilderness stations from Egypt to Canaan (Num 33).

• 42 generations from Abraham to Messiah (Matt 1:17).

• In prophecy, 42 months = period of witness and trial (Rev 11 :2-3).

So the 42 Levitical dwelling cities signify the continual ministry of teaching and witness through the pilgrimage of YasharEL’s history — the life that sustains the nation until the final release (Jubilee).

1️⃣7️⃣ Linking 42 + 6 to the increase promise (Lev 25 :18-22)

📖Lev 25:18  ‘And you shall do My laws and guard My right-rulings, and shall do them. And you shall dwell in the land in safety, 
📖Lev 25:19  ‘and the land shall yield its fruit, and you shall eat to satisfaction, and shall dwell there in safety. 
📖Lev 25:20  ‘And since you might say, “What do we eat in the seventh year, since we do not sow nor gather in our crops?” 
📖Lev 25:21  ‘Therefore I have commanded My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth the crop for three years. 
📖Lev 25:22  ‘And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat of the old crop until the ninth year. Eat of the old until its crop comes in. 

In Leviticus 25 Yahuah promises that in the sixth year cycle of Shemitah He will give an increase sufficient for three years (the 49th, 50th, and until new harvest of 51st).

That means:

• Year 42 → 48 = ordinary shemitah cycles of work and rest.

• Year 48 (6th of 7th cycle) = special increase.

• Year 49 (Sabbatical) = no sowing; they eat from the stored abundance.

• Year 50 (Jubilee) = land still rests, yet they continue eating from that same increase.

• Year 51 (first of new cycle) = new seed sown; new harvest begins to ripen.

Now let's watch the echo:

• 42 (= 6 × 7) → six full “weeks” of seven = the normal span of work and provision.

• 6 refuge cities → a seventh-type grace added on top, covering those who must flee.
  Together = 48 → the whole period of sustained mercy and supply before Jubilee (the 49-50 rest).

So the 42 + 6 form the living model of the increase that bridges the end of one cycle and the start of the next:

• 42 = service & teaching during the working cycles.

• 6 = mercy & refuge until the High Priest’s death.

• After that death → release → Jubilee rest → the 49-50-51 overflow of Leviticus 25.

1️⃣8️⃣ Fulfilment in the change of priesthood

📖Hebrews 7 :11-12 “If perfection were through the Levitical priesthood… what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedek? For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law.”

In Messiah Yahusha:

• He is the High Priest whose death ends the manslayer’s exile — the refuge becomes freedom.

• He is also the Jubilee increase that bridges the end of the Levitical age (the 42-city ministry) and the beginning of the eternal rest (the Melchizedek reign).

• The six refuge cities prophetically mirror His mercy extended until the final release.

1️⃣9️⃣ The historical level – literal flight

📖Luke 21 :20–21 “When you see Yerushalayim surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains…”

That was fulfilled when Roman legions surrounded the city in AD 66–70. The believers in Yahusha actually did flee across the Yarden to Pella; not one of them was trapped in the siege (Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. 3.5).
So the command to flee is first of all practical deliverance from the judgment that was coming on the carnal city. The same spiritual pattern is seen when the elect are surrounded within the assemblies and the call to flee which they will hear.

2️⃣0️⃣ The prophetic pattern – refuge before judgment

Now the symbolism lines up with the six-plus-one rhythm:

Symbol	Meaning in Torah	Echo in Yahusha’s words
Six refuge cities	Mercy during man’s age of toil; manslayer waits there until the high priest’s death (Num 35 :25).	Mercy and escape offered to those who “flee” from the world’s coming wrath while the present age still runs.
Seventh release (death of high priest)	When the high priest dies, the manslayer goes free → Jubilee rest.	When the true High Priest, Yahusha, died, the door of refuge opened for all who flee to Him (Heb 6 :18).
Flee to the mountains	Safety above the plain of judgment (cf. Gen 19 :17 – Lot fleeing to the hills).	The call to come out from Babylon, to higher ground of faith before the last tribulation (Rev 18 :4).

2️⃣1️⃣ The eschatological layer – end of the sixth cycle

In prophetic rhythm:

• Six cycles (42 = 6 × 7) = the whole period of human history under toil.

• The 6 refuge cities = grace extended through those same ages.

• When the High Priest’s death and return are fully revealed → the “seventh day,” the Jubilee rest.

Yahusha’s “flee” sayings mark the closing moments of the sixth age—the last chance to seek refuge before the trumpet of Jubilee sounds and the kingdoms of this world become His (Rev 11 :15).

2️⃣2️⃣ The spiritual application – where to flee now

📖Hebrews 6 :18–20: “…we who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where Yahusha has entered as a forerunner for us, having become High Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

So the believer’s city of refuge today is Yahusha Himself.
To “flee to the mountains” is to rise above the low ground of the old order and to take shelter in the High Priest whose death has already secured release.

Stage	Torah pattern	Prophetic fulfilment
42 cities (6 × 7)	Daily priestly ministry during man’s age of labor.	History of witness and teaching until the end.
6 refuge cities	Mercy during danger; protection until high priest’s death.	Refuge in Messiah for those who heed His warning to flee. His divinity is in humanity and humanity is denoted by 6.
High priest’s death → release	Manslayer goes free.	Death of Yahusha = atonement; His return = Jubilee freedom.
“Flee to the mountains”	Rise to safety above judgment.	Call to come out from the doomed system before the final rest.

4. House of Shimei (Simeon) → Tribal inheritance

• Shimei is linked with Simeon, Yaaqob’s second son.

• Simeon + Levi were cursed together for violence.

• Simeon often disappears in tribal lists (scattered among Yahudah).

📖Gen 49:7  “Cursed be their displeasure for it is fierce, and their wrath for it is cruel! I divide them (Levi and Simeon) in Ya‛aqoḇ and scatter them in Yisra’ěl. 

Below is the map showing Simeon scattered within Yahudah.

📖Joshua 19:1,9: “The second lot came out for Simeon… their inheritance was in the midst of the inheritance of the children of Yahudah… The inheritance of the children of Simeon was out of the portion of the children of Yahudah, for the portion of the children of Yahudah was too much for them; therefore the children of Simeon had their inheritance within Yahudah’s inheritance.”

👉 Simeon didn’t have its own defined borders but lived inside Yahudah’s land.

• Their mention here = even the forgotten/scattered tribes have a place in the mourning.
  👉 At the Miqpād altar: tribal families are numbered. The scattered ones return and mourn for the Pierced One.

6. Prophetic Significance

• Simeon = absorbed, little remembered (almost no mention in later lists, Rev 7 omits Simeon by name, but Joseph/Manasseh take his slot).

• Levi = scattered, but present everywhere as priests and teachers of Torah. Levi’s scattering = transformed into blessing, because Levi clung to Yahuah at Sinai when the golden calf was worshiped (Exodus 32:26)

📖Exo 32:26  And Mosheh stood in the entrance of the camp, and said, “Who is for יהוה? Come to me.” And all the sons of Lěwi gathered themselves to him. 

👉 Scattered for discipline → but in Levi’s case, turned into service.
👉 This is why Moses blesses Levi differently:

📖Deuteronomy 33:10 “They shall teach Yaaqob Your judgments, and YasharEL Your Torah; they shall put incense before You, and a whole burnt sacrifice on Your altar.”

7. Family by family, wives apart

Zechariah emphasizes each family mourns separately — David apart, Nathan apart, Levi apart, Shimei apart, “all the families that remain.”

• This means no one hides in the crowd.

• Each household faces the inspection (miqpād = numbering).

• Each recognizes their role (king, prophet, priest, tribe) was fulfilled only in Messiah.

8. Spiritual picture at the Miqpād altar

• Outside the gate = outside the carnal city.

• Numbering place = every family is inspected and mustered.

• Mourning = Yom Kippur fulfillment: afflicting the soul, confessing the sin of piercing Messiah.

• Red Heifer = Yahusha’s sacrifice provides the cleansing water for those who come to the altar.

👉 This is why Hebrews says: “Let us go to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach” (Heb 13:13).
At the future Yom Kippur, the remnant families come to the Miqpād altar spiritually (outside Yerushalayim, spiritual) — where they are numbered, mourn, and are cleansed.

🎺The Yobel declared in 49th year of Shemitah

1. Sevens in Torah = Oaths & Completion

• In Hebrew, the word for seven (שבע) is also the root for oath (שבועה).

• To “seven oneself” = to swear a covenant oath (Genesis 21:31, Be’er-Sheba = “well of the oath/seven”).

• So every cycle of seven marks covenant completion and renewal.

2. Seven Sevens → 49 years

• Torah commands counting 7 x 7 years = 49 years.

• At the end of 49 years, on Yom Kippur, the shofar of release (shofar yobel) is sounded (Leviticus 25:9).

• This is the jubilee trumpet. It proclaims:

  • Liberty to captives.

  • Debts released.

  • Land returned.

  • Everyone goes back to their inheritance.

👉 Spiritually: this points to the resurrection and restoration of all things.

3. Jubilee = Yobel (50th year)

• The 50th year is the Jubilee (יובל, yobel).

• But Torah says the shofar is blown on Yom Kippur of the 49th year, starting the Jubilee.
  👉 This shows atonement comes first → then release and restoration follow.

So in prophetic picture:

• Yom Kippur = depcits the ruach nation mourning (Zech 12:10), repentance for piercing the Messiah.

• Then Jubilee = freedom and restoration of inheritance.

4. 120 Jubilees = 6000 years

📖Genesis 6:3 “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever… his days shall be 120 years.”

• We studied this before, this not just as man’s lifespan, but as 120 jubilees.

• 120 x 50 = 6000 years of history under sin before the 7000 brings in the rest.

👉 So:

• 6000 years = man’s labor under sin.

• At the end: the final Jubilee trumpet sounds — freedom, resurrection, restoration.

5. Zechariah 12 & Future Yom Kippur

• Zechariah 12:10–14 = the prophetic Yom Kippur when tribes of YasharEL mourn.

• “They shall look on Me whom they pierced” → national repentance.

• This mourning = afflicting of souls on Yom Kippur.

At the end of 6000 years:

• The Jubilee trumpet sounds on Yom Kippur.

• The remnant tribes are mustered (miqpād = numbering).

• They mourn for the Pierced One, Messiah Yahusha.

6. From Yom Kippur → Sukkoth (new tents)

• After Yom Kippur comes Sukkoth (Feast of Booths/Tents).

• YasharEL dwelt in temporary tents (sukkah) as a reminder they were pilgrims.

• Shaul says: “If our earthly tent (body) is destroyed, we have a building from Elohim… eternal in the heavens” (2 Cor 5:1-2).

📖2Co 5:1  For we know that if the tent of our earthly house is destroyed, we have a building from Elohim, a house not made with hands, everlasting in the heavens. 

📖2Co 5:2  For indeed in this we groan, longing to put on our dwelling which is from heaven, 

• At the resurrection, the faithful receive new immortal bodies = sukkot made without hands.

👉 So the flow is:

• Yom Kippur mourning = repentance of Ruach YasharEl.

• Trumpet sounds = Jubilee release, resurrection.

• Sukkoth = dwelling in new bodies, Messiah tabernacling with His people.

7. Transformation into His Glorious Body

📖Philippians 3:21 who shall change our lowly body, to be conformed to His esteemed body, according to the working by which He is able even to bring all under His control. 

This is the ultimate Jubilee release:

• From death into life.

• From corruptible body into incorruptible.

• From earthly tent into heavenly sukkah.

🔥Synopsis in One Flow

• Seven = oath. Each seven marks covenant cycles.

• Seven sevens (49 years) → on Yom Kippur, the trumpet (shofar yovel) sounds.

• 50th year = Jubilee: liberty, inheritance restored, captives freed.

• 120 Jubilees (6000 years) = mankind’s history under sin. At the end: the final Jubilee trumpet.

• On that day: Zechariah 12 is fulfilled → tribes mourn for the Pierced One.

• This mourning = the true Yom Kippur of Ruach YasharEl.

• Immediately after: Sukkoth → we receive our new tents (bodies), Messiah dwells with us.

• The Jubilee = the resurrection, when we are transformed into His glorious body.

In other words:

The final Yom Kippur is not ritual — it is when all families of the earth mourn for Messiah.
The final Jubilee trumpet is the resurrection trumpet (1 Cor 15:52).
The final Sukkoth is when we are clothed in immortal bodies and tabernacle with Him forever.

And that's exactly what these feasts stood as a shadow for.

🔢Detailed Summary

Zechariah 12:10–14 begins with Yahuah’s declaration: “They will look on Me whom they pierced, and mourn for Him.”
The Hebrew text intentionally alternates between first and third person — “Me” and “Him” — to reveal the dual nature of the Messiah: Yahuah speaking in first person, yet pointing to Yahusha, the visible “Pierced One.”

This verse becomes the key to understanding all prophetic mourning: it is both divine revelation and national repentance. When YasharEL looks upon the One pierced, they recognize both their own guilt and their Redeemer.

🩸 The Red Heifer and Miqpād Altar

The Miqpād altar—from paqad, “to number, to inspect, to appoint”—was outside the camp, where the ashes of the Red Heifer were stored. It symbolized the place of numbering and purification.
Yahusha fulfilled this when He suffered “outside the gate” (Heb 13:12–13). At His second coming, the same Miqpād becomes the spiritual numbering place where the remnant of YasharEL mourns and is cleansed — their “day of affliction of soul,” the true Yom Kippur.

⚖️ Goel haDam — The Redeemer of Blood

From the Torah pattern in Numbers 35:

• The manslayer (Adam) represents all humanity guilty of bloodshed.

• The avenger of blood (Divine Justice) demands life for life.

• The city of refuge pictures Messiah as our hiding place.

• The death of the high priest ends the avenger’s claim — fulfilled when Yahusha, our eternal High Priest, died once for all.

Thus, Yahusha becomes both the refuge and the redeemer, turning judgment into mercy — the Goel haDam, Redeemer of Adam’s bloodline.

🕊️ Mourning Families and Lineages

The families of David, Nathan, Levi, and Shimei (Simeon) mourn separately — symbolizing the royal, prophetic, priestly, and tribal lines.
Each stands inspected (miqpād) before Elohim, confessing their role in the piercing of the Messiah.

• The House of David confesses the true King.

• The House of Nathan confesses the prophetic Word fulfilled.

• The House of Levi confesses the true High Priest.

• The House of Shimei (Simeon) — scattered within Yahudah — confesses the forgotten and scattered ones now gathered in repentance.

Each family mourns apart, showing personal conviction — not collective ritual — fulfilling the pattern of Yom Kippur.

🕯️ Forty-Two Cities and Six Refuges

The 48 Levitical cities (42 dwelling + 6 refuge) mirror the structure of redemptive history:

• 42 = the journey of teaching and witness (6×7 cycles of labor).

• 6 refuge cities = mercy extended through the age of man.

• The death of the High Priest releases the guilty — the transition into Jubilee rest.

• 48 total = completion before the 49th–50th year (Yom Kippur to Jubilee).

These cycles culminate in Yahusha, who bridges the Levitical age (labor) with the Melchitsedeq reign (rest).

📯 Yom Kippur → Jubilee → Sukkoth

At the close of 6000 years (120 Jubilees × 50), the shofar of Yom Kippur sounds — marking both mourning and release.
Zechariah 12 portrays this exact moment: the tribes of YasharEL mourning for the Pierced One as the atonement is revealed.
Immediately follows the Jubilee—release of captives and restoration of inheritance—then Sukkoth, where the redeemed dwell in new immortal bodies (“tents not made with hands”).

Thus, the prophetic flow is:

• Yom Kippur → recognition and mourning of YasharEL.

• Jubilee → resurrection and restoration.

• Sukkoth → eternal dwelling with Elohim.

🔥 The Central Revelation

The prophecy unveils one truth:

“We are the manslayers, and Yahusha is the Redeemer of Blood — the Avenger who also became our Refuge.”

In piercing Him, humanity pierced Elohim in flesh.
At His return, YasharEL sees the “Me” behind the “Him,” the divine identity of Yahuah-Yahusha revealed.