And it must occur that in case a man should prophesy anymore, his father and his mother, the ones who caused his birth, must also say to him, “You will not live, because falsehood is what you have spoken in the name of Jehovah.” And his father and his mother, the ones who caused his birth, must pierce him through because of his prophesying.’”​—Zechariah 13:2, 3.

20. How, figuratively speaking, did fleshly parents pierce their son through for prophesying falsely?

²⁰ Any attempted interpretation of prophecy, if it proved to be incorrect in the light of historic events and the clearer understanding of the Bible, was corrected, regardless of who had offered the interpretation. Loyalty to God and to his inspired Word was the issue here to be met. So, as an illustration of the loyalty required, even if a fleshly son should offer a wrong interpretation of divine prophecy and should persist in it, like a false prophet, then his own fleshly parents in their loyalty to God would have nothing further to do with him on a religious basis. Christian parents could not do as under the Mosaic Law covenant, namely, have him put to death; but they could pronounce him spiritually dead to themselves in spite of their parenthood of him physically. In this way, figuratively speaking, they “must pierce him through because of his prophesying.” (Zechariah 13:3; compare Deuteronomy 13:1-5.)